Chapter 36: on track

The living room was a mess in a certain home of a Son family. DVDs and videos were sprawled across the floor and coffee table along with a host of coffee mugs. A stressed Gohan was collecting the piles of movies in an attempt to tidy up while his wife watched from the sofa.

It was six months after the fight with Omega Shenron and Bulma was certain that Videl's baby was due any day now. That was enough to get one demi-saiyan into a panic as he tried to make sure everything was perfect and that Videl didn't over exert herself.

"Gohan, I'm not a cripple. Just let me help out a little bit. You've done enough all ready." Videl pointed out from her place on the sofa as she adjusted herself into a more comfortable position. Gohan smiled weakly at his wife as he tried to fit everything back into a cabinet.

"You should be resting up, you had that dizzy spell this morning." He pointed out and Videl waved it off with a pout.

"Well that's your baby's fault." She muttered. Gohan sighed and moved over to the sofa. He took her hands and looked into her eyes.

"I'm looking out for you both. You know what Bulma said back when we told her you were pregnant." He told her, that specific memory replaying through his head for the umpteenth time.

Bulma smiled as she looked over the happy couple. She ruffled through a few of her old notes as the couple waited for her to start talking.

"Well I'm sure you remember how short Saiyan pregnancies are. From what I've seen, they should normally last about six months, although this could be longer with all of the human DNA." She explained. Gohan nodded.

"Yea, I remember Pan taking a month longer then you thought she would." He pointed out.

"Yes, but she was the first child you had and they do have a tendency of taking the longest." Bulma agreed. Videl nodded as well before interrupting.

"Is there anything you really need to tell us about this?" she asked and Bulma placed her notes back onto her desk.

"Well you have already gone through it once so most of it you should remember like the cravings and mood-swings. You know that you won't get that big because of warrior species traits. A big bump has been proven to get in the way. All you really need to be reminded of is the shared ki. The mother and baby share their ki as long as the baby is in the womb so using it in excess could kill your baby. That's why saiyan pregnancies were rare on Vegetasei."

Gohan had taken Bulma's warnings to heart. He wasn't going to let Videl use too much of her ki, even if the baby probably had enough of its own at this point. If she did then the baby would be at risk so that meant no flying or anything similar for Videl.

"Look, Gohan, You've done enough. I know the guys are getting together to train today, why don't you join them? Pan will be home shortly so she'll be able to help me." Videl interrupted his train of thought. Gohan blinked as he stared at his wife.

"You sure? I can stay if you want-" he started but Videl shook her head.

"You've been cooped up in this house for too long. You should go train with your dad and Vegeta." She told him before getting a crafty smirk.

"You don't want me to get out the frying pan, do you?" she asked and Gohan got up.

"No thanks, I've been hit enough with that thing lately. But are you sure?" he asked and Videl made a playful swipe at him, smirking. Gohan laughed before he decided to leave. He didn't want to push his luck. After all, Videl's mood-swings were something not to be trifled with…

It was quite in the little café that Marron worked in. She was on her lunch break and was in the same old booth with her regular muffin and Goten sitting opposite her jabbering on about either Videl's pregnancy, Goku's last training session with him, or probably about how badly he wanted to change career. Usually she'd be listening to his every word but today her head was too full of thoughts as she continued to pick apart her muffin.

"…I just wish Pan would quit her little tail obsession. She may want hers back but that doesn't mean that she can try and pull mine off." Goten finished as he fiddled with a certain brown and furry something that was in his lap. Bulma had managed to re-grow all of the super four's tails within one full week after the Omega battle. The only problem was that Goten found it difficult to keep his wrapped round his waist.

Goten looked up from his tail and Coffee to see Marron staring thoughtfully at her muffin that had reverted into a large pile of crumbs. Goten frowned lightly and looked up at the girl's face.

"I thought I was supposed to be the messy eater, what's up?" he asked and Marron blinked as she was snapped out of her daydream.

"It's nothing." She said bluntly and Goten raised his brow. Marron sweat dropped slightly as she watched him.

"Erm…that is what you asked, right?" she asked.

"Well the answer could work, if it wasn't wrong. So what is wrong with you?" he replied, leaning in slightly. Marron fidgeted with her hands as she tried to find the right words.

"Its just…we do this every day! You come in and I spend my lunch break with you and we have a good time just talking about what ever randomly pops up and that's great and all but…" she hesitated and took in a long breath.

"…I want to know when you're going to ask me on a real date."

Goten paled as she finished and coughed nervously.

"Err…a real date?" he asked and she nodded.

"Yes Goten, a real date. I know you like me; you have proven that by how much you were worrying when my dad got killed."

"Well...yea…but-" Goten started but Marron cut him off.

"What but? Are you afraid of turning out like Goku or something? Are you afraid that you'll hurt someone you actually like? Well that's not going to happen." She exclaimed. Goten frowned lightly at this.

"You can't guarantee that. Neither of us can! The guys in my family are just not very reliable when it comes to this stuff." He told her.

"Really? Because Gohan seems pretty reliable to me." she shot back and Goten lowered his head.

Silence passed between the two for a moment before Goten sighed.

"Fine. I'll take you on a proper date. Where ever you want to go I'll take you." He said slowly. Marron smiled at him.

"Now was that so hard?" she asked. Goten cracked a smile at her. Marron watched him and stood up as her break had ended.

"Look, I know you probably don't think going from good friends to a couple works all that well but it'll be ok. I'm going to make sure you have a good time. Besides, everything seems to be working fine for Trunks and Zara…"

"Come on Zar! Its not that bad!" Trunks called through the bedroom door. He was leaning against the wall next to it with his tail wrapped around his waist.

"How do you know? You've never even seen it before!" Zara's voice called through it and Trunks smiled to himself.

"Well if you just open the door then I would."

Just like they had agreed, Trunks and Zara had moved in with each other. They were currently living in Trunks's condo in west city. Zara's old cottage was being kept as a holiday home and a training retreat of sorts.

They had both been living happily together for the past six months but now one of the days – or weeks – Zara hated had once again arrived.

"Trunks! I'm in heat! Its one of the only times I find it difficult to keep control what with all the hormones and pheromones and all. It's a bad time and it'll affect you too." Zara yelled through the door as she stayed huddled up on top of the king sized bed. On the other side of the door, Trunks hit his head lightly against the wall he was leaning on before he looked at the door again.

"Can't I judge how bad it is? It's probably not as bad as you think. Besides we're bounded and practically married now! Do you really think it'll matter?" he called. Nothing but silence came from the other side of the door. Trunks thought that she had teleported out for a moment before the door's lock clicked and the door opened a fraction. He blinked and stepped away from the wall.

"Zara?" Trunks asked as he stepped into the room.

As soon as he had crossed the threshold, he felt light headed and slightly dizzy. He quickly came to a halt before noticing a curious smell in the room. It wasn't a bad smell but he couldn't exactly pinpoint it. But that was the last thing on his mind as his eyes fell onto Zara kneeling on the bed and biting her finger lightly. Her eyes had unusual amber haze across them that he assumed was part of the 'heat'.

He gulped and his breathing quickened as their eyes met.

"See, not so bad…" he muttered and swallowed again. His mouth had gone dry.

Zara closed her eyes and sighed before she looked at him again, breathing just as fast as he was. She swallowed hard before speaking.

"Oh, just get over here already!" she told him before Trunks was pulled towards her and the door slammed shut.

The next day was a busy one for Capsule Corp's home base. Bulma had some new inventions to go into testing that the labs were preparing for. Bulma was instructing some of the technicians when her son arrived, grinning like the Cheshire cat. Bulma smiled at him when she saw him coming.

"Why hello there. Shouldn't you be at work?" she asked before noticing the grin.

"And since when do you grin on a work day?"

Trunks rubbed the back of his neck and decided against telling his mother about his good mood.

"I'm here to retrieve some files I left in your office. Oh yea, and to tell you Zara is in heat so can't make it in today." He told her and Bulma frowned.

"Typical. It's the big day and she can't make it. Super strength and a knowledge of nuclear fusion would be a big help right about now." The aged scientist replied with a sigh before turning to lead her son to the office. She halted and blinked in surprise when she spotted a familiar golden-eyed girl standing in the doorframe of the office.

"I really need to talk to you. Alone!" the telepathic message came fast before Zara disappeared inside the office. Bulma sighed and quickly marched right into the office, closing the door on a very confused Trunks. A moment later and the files Trunks had needed were tossed out through the crack in the door that closed to quickly for him to see inside. Trunks blinked.

"Err…thanks?" he called and turned to leave.

What the heck was that about? If I weren't late then I'd probably make her talk…Trunks thought before hurrying to the lab's exit.

Bulma watched though the blinds that covered the window of the door. She sighed when she watched Trunks leave and turned to face the girl sitting on her desk.

"Well he's gone. So what's the problem you'd rather talk to me about? And risk coming to a lab full of men whilst you're in heat too." Bulma asked and Zara looked up at Bulma nervously. Bulma stared at Zara's completely gold eyes.

"You're not in heat, are you?" Bulma asked slowly and Zara shook her head.

"That's the problem. I only started yesterday and it's supposed to last a week. And after that I'm supposed to get my period. Not only have one day and then nothing!" she exclaimed and Bulma quickly tried to calm her down.

"It probably isn't a sign of anything bad. Besides, You haven't exactly been able to pinpoint the exact second all of this starts with you, let alone the week, right?" Bulma pointed out and Zara frowned lightly at the older woman.

"I get that I'm not exactly predictable but this isn't normal. I can't just go one day and then have nothing! That's not how it works." Zara explained and then sighed before she got up and started pacing.

"Look, I can fight the likes of Goku and evil dragons and I can even keep my cool when under heavy fire but I panic at the thought of taking a pregnancy test. I need a little help but I don't want to tell Trunks yet just in case…you know." She explained. Bulma cracked a smile.

"Well that's ok. I'll go find us a test and we'll find out right here and now. And then maybe I'll have a grandkid to brag to Chichi about for a change…" the scientist trailed off as Zara watched, sweat dropping slightly.

Over five minutes later and Bulma had the test on her desk. The two women were waiting for the tab to turn blue anxiously. Bulma's eye twitched as she continued to watch Zara using her telekinesis to make several paper clips to float round in a figure of eight.

"Would you stop that? It's getting distracting…" Bulma muttered and the younger woman glanced at her.

"Would you prefer me pacing like normal people?" Zara asked and Bulma sighed. The paper clip thing was probably better then pacing.

The scientist turned to look at the test again and grinned. The strip had turned blue which could only mean one thing. Zara noticed where Bulma was staring and looked to. A lump caught in her throat.

She was pregnant.

"This is great! I'm going to be a grandma! Oh! There is so much to do! I'll have to make up the nursery again! And then there's naming it and…" Bulma's ranting went on deaf ears as Zara had already left.

Pan opened the door to her house and immediately set her backpack down on the floor.

"Mum! I'm back! Did you send dad out again?" she called to her mother. It was now early evening and she was back from another day of school.

"Pan? Is that- AH!" Videl cried from the living room. Pan noted the tone of pain in her mother's voice and hurried into the room. Videl was crouched over holding her small bump in pain. On the floor was a wet patch on the carpet.

"Its started," Videl started as soon as Pan had made it into the room, "I'm getting contractions and they're getting pretty close together."

Pan bit her lip and hurried to her mother's side, increasing her power level as a signal to any one of the nearby Z fighters.

"Don't worry mum, everything will be ok."

In the house next door, Gohan was practically pulling his father to the door.

"Come on dad, its bad enough Videl wanted to wait because of how long Pan's birth took but you're just slowing us down! And you're the one that knows instant translocation!" Gohan raved as Goku tried to keep up with his son.

"Well if you slowed down a second then I'd use it. Now calm down." Goku replied, putting his index and middle finger to his forehead. Gohan was tempted to yell at his dad for that comment but thought better of it as Goku preformed his little technique. They soon found themselves in Gohan's living room and the demi-saiyan quickly ran over to his wife.

"What took you?" Videl joked as she looked up at her husband. Gohan smiled at her.

"Blame dad, he's surprisingly slow for one of the fastest people in the universe." He joked. Videl cracked a smile before yet another contraction hit. Goku rushed over and instructed everyone to hold on to either him or Videl before he disappeared along with everyone else in the room.

A mere second later and they were in Satan city general hospitals reception. Gohan quickly stood up fully and flagged down someone to help his wife. Goku glanced nervously around the waiting area.

"Hey, do you want me to go get the others? 'Cause I can if you want." He quickly said.

"That's ok, Grandpa. I can call everyone. I should have enough change on me." Pan replied and Goku nodded and continued to look round nervously. Gohan and Pan exchanged a look and both of them smiled. It was a known fact that although Goku could handle most of the cliché and supped up super villains, he was terrified of needles and hated hospitals.

"You can go get mum and Hercule if you want. I bet they'll want to be here as soon as possible." Gohan said, smiling and Goku gladly disappeared again just as Videl was given a wheel chair.

The birth went by much faster then Gohan and Videl had expected. They remembered Pan's taking the better part of a weekend where as this birth went by much faster. It wasn't long before Videl was able to hold her newborn son.

Videl was sat up in her hospital bed with Gohan next to her. All of the others had shown up by then and were standing round the bed. A beaming Hercule and the rest of the son family were at the head of the bed whilst the Briefs and Chestnut families stood at the bottom watching the family with the newborn.

The newborn himself was wrapped up in a blue blanket that brought out his bright blue eyes that he had inherited from his mother. His hair was black and was sticking up in short tuffs in a normal saiyan style.

"Wow, he looks a lot like Gohan." Marron noted as she peered at the baby. Chichi grinned proudly at her new grandchild.

"Yes, he has the Son look about him." She commented.

"Lets just hope he doesn't inherit the brains of the typical son man." 18 muttered quietly enough to make her family and the Briefs chuckle. Goku stared at the others curiously whilst Pan pointed to the tiny tail that was wrapping round Videl's arm.

"What about that? He can't go outside as long as that's there. Not as long as Plant is in view anyway." The teenager pointed out.

"Well we can't cut it off. He might want to fight and if he doesn't have a tail then he won't ever be able to go super saiyan four." Gohan pointed out. Bulma smirked at this.

"Never fear, I have a solution, as always. I knew that he'd no doubt have a tail and that Gohan would want to train his son so I've been working on a device that will prevent the Oozaru transformation. It's kind of like a tail belt that will be worn round the base of the tail and soak up the Brutze waves. It's in my lab ready so I'll give it to you as soon as possible. I'll only need to know his tail width." She explained. The proud parents grinned at the news.

"That's great Bulma! You've done it again!" Gohan exclaimed.

"Yes she has," Chichi agreed, "but can she come up with an equally great name? After all, I'm not going to call my grandson 'him' for the rest of his life."

Gohan and Videl looked down at their baby thoughtfully and Gohan scratched his head nervously.

"Well I'm not very good with names. Videl was the one that came up with Pan." He admitted.

"Yea, after three hours of brainstorming." His wife pointed out.

"Well if you need help on deciding then we can help. Why don't you continue the name tradition of our family? He does look like Gohan after all." Chichi replied.

"I don't know. There aren't that many 'Go' names left." Videl pointed out.

"Well then why don't you try my name tradition? Something tells me that Trunks and Bra won't use it." Bulma suggested, only to be laughed at by her husband.

"Onna, I don't think Son Thong or Undies will really work."

This made the others in the room laugh and Bulma pout slightly.

"Well I don't really think 'Vegetable' is all that great a name either but it's still our sons middle name and I still married you." She muttered heatedly, earning a frown from Vegeta.

"Well as great a suggestions those are, I don't really think they'd work. Maybe we should stick to something simple like 'Fry'." Gohan said. Pan sweat dropped.

"You're kidding, right? That would make us both Fry Pan." She pointed out.

"I dunno…Son Fry has a nice ring to it." Goku commented. Pan stared blankly up at her grandpa.

"Please say you're joking Grandpa!" she exclaimed.

"Why would I be? It's an ok name, right guys?" Goku asked, turning to the others in the room. Videl and Gohan glanced at each other and smiled.

"I'm ok with it. How about we ask him?" Videl asked her husband. Gohan grinned and picked up his baby boy.

"Hey, are you Son Fry? Is that your name?" he asked and the baby giggled and gurgled at his daddy.

"I guess we take that as a good then." Krillen commented from the sides. Pan continued to sweat drop as she watched her family.

"I can't believe it. We're a frying pan…" she muttered before Bra's hand clasped onto her shoulder.

"Well now you know what it feels like to be named after underwear." Bra whispered to her friend before laughing.

By now the women were crowding round the newborn and the men were spacing themselves out. Goten and Trunks stayed near the door as they watched the women.

"Great. It's going to be baby obsessed around here. They're all going to want one." Goten said gloomily. Trunks glanced at his friend before looking back at the women to see that Zara had ended up holding baby Fry. She was smiling down at the baby but Trunks didn't need that to know what she was feeling. He rubbed his bite mark nervously as he watched and continued to listen to Goten talk about his new nephew.

It didn't take long for it to get late and everyone started to file out. Krillen and his family and Vegeta and his except for Trunks all left. Trunks walked out of the small private room to find Zara sitting out side on a chair.

"Hey, there you are. I was thinking that it was about time we headed out." he said as he approached. Zara nodded.

"Ok, can we wait a minute though?" she asked and he nodded before sitting beside her.

"How are you holding up?" he asked. The answer he got wasn't one he had expected.

"I'm pregnant."

Trunks took a double take but he couldn't process those words. At least not right away.

"Buh wha?" was all he got out at first.

"Rational sentences, please." Zara said, staring almost blankly at him. She wasn't exactly pleased with his reaction.

"How? Why? How is that possible?" he asked and Zara folded her arms across her chest.

"I was in heat, Trunks. I tried to warn you. It is the only time I can get pregnant after all." She pointed out, leaning back in her chair.

"I think you failed to mention that part. Not that that's an excuse I guess. But we're not ready! We haven't even properly planned the whole wedding thing yet. First we're moving too slow and now we're at light speed! How did that happen?" he exclaimed, staring wide-eyed at just about anywhere but her.

"I know, but we said the same about the wedding thing after we got bounded. Maybe it's a sign. Like what Gohan said, we wouldn't have bounded unless we were ready so maybe it could be the same for this too." Zara said slowly. Trunks turned to look at her.

"You're starting to sound too calm. Aren't you worried?" he asked and Zara cracked a weak smile.

"You kidding? I'm terrified! I've just had longer to think it over. And I kind of want to know that we will do this together…" she said slowly and Trunks slid off his chair so that he could kneel on one knee in front of her.

"Of course we will. And we'll do the wedding thing as well. I haven't got a ring yet but I'd like to do the proposing thing anyway. I love you Zar and I'll do this with you no matter how incredibly scary it is." He told her. Zara stared at him before she leapt forward and embraced him in a tight hug.

"Thanks." She muttered before looking up and kissing him deeply.

Goku stood in the doorway of Videl's room with a smile on his face. He had over heard the young couples little conversation.

"Goku, what are you doing over here?" Chichi's voice asked as her arms wrapped round her husband from behind. Goku's smile broadened and he glanced round at her.

"Just getting a sense of what things will be like around here." He told her. Chichi blinked before smiling.

"And?"

"It looks pretty good so far." He replied and went back to watching the young couple in the hallway…

A/N: well it looks like next chapter is the epilogue. I had been planning on two chapters before this one that would have included a suggestion but I've decided against it, as it only would have prolonged the ending. That and possible explained a small decision I made with Bra but there should be enough of Trunks's rants on his family to cover that. You'll see what I mean next chapter.

Also next chapter I'm introducing not one but three new characters. Oh joy, it's going to be fun 13 years on. :)

Reviews:

Rejhan: Glad you liked. Chichi doesn't get enough credit normally for being super mum so I'm glad I got to do something sweet with her. As for the ending, I put up a hint above. There's going to be 4 teenagers running around…

Darksupersaiyan: will do, thanks for the review!

Super saiyan four chichi: really? You really are a Goku fanatic. I don't get that annoyed when everyone surpasses Vegeta and I'm v-man obsessed. Hats off to you.

Trugeta: heh, glad you liked. After everything I put Goten through, it would have just been spiteful to have Goku go off with Shenron. And I was worried that the bond explanation was too short. Glad it wasn't.

Masterofmonster: heh, glad you like! Goku stayed and now he gets to see his grand kids grow up. And lookie! Zara is pregnant! You know what that means! -Pokes Eli-

Well that's it from me. See you next Saturday!