Chapter 4 is up finally. It took me forever to sit and type this out. Anyway, I hope you guys like this one too, and just remember, review when done if you would be so kind.-

A few months later...

"God, what is ha...... happening to me? Am I sick or so... something?" Tiffany stumbled around her apartment trying to keep her balance long enough to get to the bathroom before she hurled all over her livingroom. As she knelt down to pray to the porcelain alter if you know what I mean. She couldn't help but wonder what was causing these sudden sick spells. It all started last month, she woke up and just threw up on the floor next to the bed. She figured that she was eating too much, since she was getting quite a belly, and that was causing her to throw up, but for the past few days she had barely eaten anything. Sherri said one day that she thought that she was pregnant. But how could she be pregnant? She thought that it could be Piccolo who made her pregnant, since he was the only man she had ever had sex with, but how? If she knew that he could do this to her, she would have demanded protection, but with neither of them having any knowledge about what exactly would become of this, they didn't give it a seconds thought.

Well, if this was the case, she would find out today since she had a doctors appointment to find out what was really wrong with her. She had stayed home from work too many days already, and she figured that Auni, Macie, and Amanda would eventually get tired of looking after the whole restaurant instead of just taking orders and waiting tables. Her doctor wasn't very far, but is was too far for her drive in her condition, so someone had to take her, and of corse it was Piccolo. He wanted to find out just as much as she did. Could he possibly have a child on the way? Would he finally be a father? He'd know in about an hour.

Piccolo knocked heavily on Tiffany's door. "Come in", she said as she walked from the bathroom in order to dress up enough to be able to leave. "Still bad?" Piccolo questioned the wobbly Tiffany. She just looked him dead in the eye as if to say "What do you think?"

"Thanks for taking me Piccolo. I never would have made it on my own."

"Yeah, ready yet."

"Yes, let's go before I barf again."

Piccolo cringed at the thought and helped her down the stairs so that he could pick her up and fly off to the doctor's office. Doing this wasn't such a wise idea. In Tiffany's fragile state, she easily got motion sickness and lost her lunch all over the place. She managed not to get too much on Piccolo, but still had to let it go somewhere, so why not let it fall to the ground. As it fell, it actually landed on a man who was talking on a cell phone, and who was also wearing a very expensive looking suit. Piccolo chuckled at the man's misfortune, but quickly stopped once Tiffany's face twisted up again. Thinking back on it, he would have rather have been in that other man's position than the one he was in at that moment.

A few more agonizing minutes later, they arrived. He let her down and helped her into the waiting room after going up to the front desk to sign in. No sooner than Tiffany sat down, her doctor came out and assisted her into a wheelchair. Piccolo got up, but was told to wait until he was done with Tiffany before he was able to come back.

"I'm sorry, but your regular doctor is on vacation, so I'm taking his place for now, my name is Dr. George Hamilton."

"Yes, of corse, now will you please tell me what's going on."

"Sure, we'll just take some basic tests that should find the problem soon. Do you have any pain anywhere?"

"Yes, in my back, and a little in my stomach."

"I see, and you say that you've been throwing up constantly?"

"That's right. I am always so hungry, but can never keep anything down, sometimes not even water."

"We might not even need to do many tests, and you said when you phoned in that you suspect it to be that you are pregnant?"

"Yes, but... I..."

"Well, let's just do an ultrasound first to see if that is the case."

Dr. Hamilton walked out of the room and came back a few minutes later with the ultrasound machine to see if there was a baby inside of her. He gelled up Tiffany's stomach and ran the device all over to try and find any sign of life. As he went on, he began to think that she wasn't pregnant until something came up on the screen that signified the presence of a baby.

"Just as I thought, see there, that is your baby. When was the last time you had sex?"

"A few months ago."

"Are you sure? If that is true, it should be a little more developed than it is now."

"Trust me, it was. Mid to early March I believe."

"Interesting. I don't guess anything will turn out wrong with it, but then again, it is still too early to tell. Is the man in the waiting room the father?"

"Yes."

"I've never seen anyone like him before, but what can I say, the only people I ever see are the doctors and nurses in this Hospital and the patients. I never seem to get out much."

"He is different, there's no mistaking that, but that's why I love him. I love him more than anything in the world, and I will love his child the same."

"Nurse, can you retrieve the husband for me, don't worry, he stands out like a green, sore thumb."

"Yes, doctor."

Tiffany thought hard about the word that the doctor just used.

"Husband."

"I'm sorry, I thought he was."

"No it's alright, it would be nice if he was."

The nurse came in with Piccolo and as soon as he entered the room, she shut the door and went back to the front office. Piccolo looked at the doctor and the strange position he had Tiffany. He had her on her back and was rubbing her stomach with some strange device.

"What's all this about?"

"Piccolo, come here and look at this."

"......... What..... is... it?"

"That, Piccolo, is are child."

".........."

Piccolo just stared at the screen projecting the images inside of Tiffany. As the doctor pointed to the part of the screen where the baby was. Piccolo walked up to the computer-like machine and placed the tips of his fingers on the picture of his child. "This is my child?" Piccolo just looked at it with a deep interest. It was hard to really tell it apart, but it was still so beautiful.

Any normal man might have let a tear out, but not Piccolo. The only sign he gave off was the feature of his face. It was still stern and strong, but something was different. His eyes softened up a bit and a twinkle of joy and hope could be seen inside. What seemed like hours was only a few minutes, and the doctor soon took the device away and allowed Tiffany to get up. As she got up, Piccolo was still staring at the now black screen. Tears flooded her eyes, and once Piccolo turned around, she wrapped her arms around him and let it all out into the fabric on his chest. He gave into her embrace and joined her by putting one arm around her waist and placing a hand on top of her head.

"Well, let me just brief you two on some things. Since the baby was conceived sometime in March, it should be due at around the November to December area."

"Thank you so much Dr. Hamilton."

"It was my pleasure. You two be safe."

"We will, take care."

Piccolo and Tiffany left the hospital and began the aerial trip back to the apartments. Tiffany held close to Piccolo and her heart filled with so much joy that it could just explode.

"Piccolo, I can't wait. What is today? Let me think. I think it is June, that's right, it's June sixteenth. I wonder what it'll be. What do you want it to be?"

"What do you mean?"

"You know, a boy or a girl."

"........ I don't care. A boy I guess."

"And I just want it to be normal. And..... ugh...... on no."

"............ Great!!!"

".... so... sorry."

"....."

August

Seeing as how it was a few months since her first checkup with Dr. Hamilton, Tiffany had gotten twice the size. The baby was always kicking, and one time when Piccolo was around, she got him to feel it. He just rolled his eyes and walked away, but deep inside, he was overjoyed. His baby was turning out fine. Since one of the parents was a Namek, the growth pattern of the fetus was strange and completely off any records in the hospital. It still seemed to be turning out fine and appeared that it would be due before normal, but then again.

Tiffany still had to work at the diner full time. The rent wouldn't pay itself, and Piccolo never seemed to help. He said he tried to find a 'job' for her sake, but all the employers were scared away. She couldn't blame him for trying, and since he was in and out constantly, he never added to her bills. She still did everything the same way at the diner, just with a few more sitting breaks. The baby did a number to her feet and ankles. On this particular day, Piccolo was watching Tiffany and the others as they worked. He just sit at the corner stool and watched as more and more people came in. Today was very busy, the busiest in weeks. They could still manage with four waitresses, but had to hire two more cooks. One was Sherri's husband, Anthony. He was a tall, black man who looked to be about 6'5 and weighed in at about 300 pounds. He was the nicest man Tiffany could ever know. The second was another man. He was much shorter than Anthony, maybe around 5'8 and weighed in at a steady 195 pounds. He was a friend of Auni's who had a heavy Hispanic accent. He always smiled, but never talked much.

At one time during the day, when Tiffany retrieved a tray full of food and drinks for a party, she had to struggle just to keep it level.

"Piccolo, why not help her out?"

"She can handle it. She is stronger than she appears."

"But still, you could score some points"

Piccolo just looked up at Macie and tried to figure out what she meant when she said 'points'. Macie tried to hint it out, but gave up on the hopeless case that was called Piccolo. he turned his head as Macie left and saw Tiffany reach the table without spilling anything. He made a slight smirk at her and then got up to leave her for another couple of days. Tiffany saw him leave, but didn't worry about it too much since she was so swamped.

The next day, Tiffany had another morning sickness episode, and all that was on her mind was the thought of ridding herself of the child inside of her. It was so frustrating to be fine one second, and then crouching over the toilet the next. Even with all of it's defaults, there was one good thing that it did. Whenever she was waiting on tables, she would get double the regular tip because she was expecting, and many of the woman could sympathize with her condition. In fact, she had been getting so many tips that she switched places at the register with Amanda.

As the lunch hour came along, the three waitresses left in a group to go eat at some other place while the cooks made themselves something and Tiffany decided it was best to just skip lunch today for fear of throwing it all back up. She just sat down at a booth and fiddled with a pepper shaker until she fell asleep.

She was in another dream. It was just like the one before she got pregnant. It started off the same, but ended up leading in a completely different direction. She started off in the endless, black despair again, and soon found the keyhole from before. As she opened the door, this time with ease, she walked into someplace that was completely new. It looked as if it were a park, or something close to that. As she walked over the gentle, green hills, she finally came across someone in the distance. She ran faster and in no time came within ten feet of the mysterious figure. Like in her other dream, the person was herself. She was sitting on a metal bench, and since Tiffany approached from behind, all she could see was her twin's back..

No sound could be heard, but when Tiffany rounded the bench, she could she happiness and joy spread across her twin's face. She was looking at something in her arms, but when Tiffany looked down at it, all she could see was white, like it was some moving picture with the middle of it cut out. The only thing that Tiffany thought would be in there was a baby, her baby. As she stared back at her twin's face, she looked into her eyes and they just stared at each other. Then, for no apparent reason at all, the twin's face turned from happy and joyful to dark and melancholy. The twin then took her hands and covered her ears like there was some kind of loud, painful noise. The bench disappeared and then the twin was on her knees in the dirt.

Tiffany watched with a sense of fear and sadness as the copy of herself started pouring tears. The tears never ended as she started to scream something. It couldn't be heard, but since her twin was still staring into her face she could slightly read her lips. Why, was all she could make out before her twin bent down and hid her face into her legs and continued to cry. Rain came into play as her image faded away. Lightening flashed and Tiffany was now in a new place. She seemed to be in the park that she was in before she came across herself. She looked in the distance, but all she could see were black skies and flashes of lightening for miles.

As she walked away, she wasn't focused on anymore. She was now irrelevant, but what was shown to the dreamer was the ground that was stood upon. It looked like it had been dug up and then refilled. The soft ground was then changed into mud. Still showing the muddy hump of dirt, something was written in it. "Hurry, there is still time. Heed my words, only evil will become of this. You must...."

As the words stopped forming, they were filled by rain. It slowly erased all traces of anything being written in it. The sky then turned sunny and happy once again. Flowers bloomed all around the muddy mess and birds fluttered happily around. They candy coated the previous horror with squeaky chirps and the smells of several wild flowers. Soon, like the fading ending of a movie the dream blacked out and left Tiffany in the darkest void of her mind.

BANG!!! Tiffany awoke and felt like she did long ago when the thunder/lightning storm hit. She looked to the window she was seated next to only to find a child slamming on it. She calmed down and realized that she was all sweaty. More like completely drenched. There was a huge ring of sweat around the head of her red work shirt. "What happened", she asked as she felt her heart. It was pounding again.

"What is with these dreams?"

"Dreams? What kinda dreams?"

"O, nothing Amanda. Hey, how long ago did you guys get back?"

"About thirty minutes ago, give or take. Back to the dream, what was it about. You know, its said that dreams have symbolic meaning."

"Maybe, but not mine."

"Why not? Tell me a little about it."

"I'm not completely sure what was going on, but all I know is that it was like a mini movie. And I might be crazy, but I feel like it has to do with my baby.... Anyway, here comes some business. Get that will ya."

"...... Sure thing..."

Tiffany took a deep breath and was relieved that Amanda had left. For some reason, every time she tried to remember what happened in the dream, she felt tired and utterly exhausted. But, she didn't have time to think about it any longer, she had to work. She went to the bathroom and splashed her face to wash away the sweat and sleep from her face. When she came back out, more people had arrived. She signaled to Auni to hold back so that she could take it. The main reason she did this was because she spotted two women in the group.

Once they were done with they payed up and like Tiffany expected, the tip was generous, to say the least. The rest of the day was normal, they had several more people in and when the day ended she drove home, without any other episodes. When she got home, she unlocked her door and walked in, only to find that Piccolo was on her couch. She thought he was going to be gone for another few days, but instead he was asleep on her couch. She walked up beside him as his head laid propped up on one of the arm rests. She stared at his face and after admiring his manly, good looks, she placed a small kiss on his lips, and then went to the bathroom to get ready for bed.

Well, it was a little short, but o well, you either like it or you don't. If some of the pregnancy details were wrong or a little off, I'm sorry. I've never been pregnant before so I don't know 100 percent about it. I would have left it out, but it had to be in it so that the story would make since. Anyway, review please.