Half-Brothers

Chapter 4: Memories and True Love

Notes: Um... Iunno. Flashback to Eighteen's childhood and why the androids became as cold as they were.

Vegeta hung up the phone ten minutes later, all color gone from his face. He walked back in and sat down at his place at the table, resuming eating automatically, as if he were a machine. Eighteen and Kyou looked at each other, and then to the full blooded saiyan who was busily shoveling food into his mouth as though he were trying to forget something.

"Vegeta..." Eighteen said softly, causing her husband to look up at her. "Who was on the phone?"

He gave her a look that said he'd tell her later. Kyou caught the look and shrugged, knowing it was probably none of his business anyway. They all finished eating in silence, the tension in the air thick enough to cut with a knife. Kyou wordlessly cleared the table and did the dishes, leaving them all to dry in the strainer.

Eighteen and Vegeta shared a look, one that said they were both worried about the boy. He seemed miffed at being left out of the loop, but Vegeta couldn't tell him... not yet. He motioned for Eighteen to follow him and he led her up to their room, closing the door and locking it.

The blonde android looked at him oddly, sitting on the edge of the bed and gazing up at him with inquisitive sapphire eyes. "So." she began curtly. "Who was on the phone?"

Vegeta walked over to the window and gazed out of it, silent for a moment as thoughts raced about in his brain. "It was Trunks..." he said softly, his gravelly voice quiet and almost mouse-like.

Eighteen's heart skipped a beat. "How did he find you?" she asked. "How... What in the hell would he want to do with you now? The brat's bound to be a grown man by now... Why would he want to dig up something from his past like that?"

The Saiyan Prince simply shook his head. "I don't know. But... a lot's been going on in his life lately, from what he told me. It's like he was just checking up on me to see how I was doing. More than I can say I've done for the boy..."

Eighteen stood and walked to his side, placing her hand on his shoulder. "There's nothing you could have done for him, Vegeta..."

He angrily brushed her hand away, his voice rising with his anger. "Yes there is! I should have been a man and stayed with my mate and taken care of the brat!" His fists clenched and unclenched almost convulsively, the tendons in his arms standing out against his skin.

Eighteen nearly cringed away from the raw emotion surging through the normally stoical saiyan before her. "Vegeta, listen to me." He turned to her, an expectant look in his eyes. "You can't beat yourself up over this. You're not going to go back in time and change the past. And besides, would you really want him to grow up in a home where he knew his father didn't love his mother? Children need to have a positive home life, with parents who care for each other, so that they can understand how important love is."

The proud saiyan snorted, opening his mouth to launch a retort. She held up a hand to silence him and, albeit reluctantly, he obeyed. "Kids who grow up in a loveless home end up leading loveless lives and put their own children through the same thing. It's not right to make a child go through something like that. No one deserves to go through their life without ever having someone care for them. It's like growing up in an abusive home. You're doomed to repeat it, more than likely, if it's the only way you see things when you're younger. Perceptions get warped, their whole view on the world gets distorted..." The blonde bombshell looked away out the window, remembering her own skewed childhood under the tutelage of Gero.

"What in the hell are you doing?!" the Doctor screamed at her.

She looked up at him, an innocent sparkle in her blue eyes. "Playing." she replied simply, resuming her activities with Seventeen. The two of them laughed as they launched a red ball back and forth, taking two steps back each time it was caught and passed.

Gero fumed with anger. How could his creations play?! They were machines of destruction! It'd take them a few years to grow and reach their full potential, but he'd never expected them to behave like normal children.

Seventeen looked over at the Doctor with his cold blue eyes, his eight year old frame the same slight build it would become when he grew up. He and Eighteen exchanged a wink and she repressed a giggle, nodding emphatically. A smirk overtook Seventeen's features, a facial expression which would become a trademark of his, and he chucked the ball at the back of Gero's head.

Seventeen and Eighteen both laughed uproariously as the Doctor became outraged. He picked the ball up and flung it as far away as he could, causing both children to pout. "You're no fun, Doc..." Seventeen said with a sad little sigh.

"Fun? FUN?! You're machines, dammit! You are NOT real children! You're not normal and you never will be! You'll always be different, always outsiders who stand beyond the boundary of humanity! So close to being real, and yet so horribly far that you can NEVER hope to join society!" he had screamed at them, veins standing out in his forehead.

Seventeen and Eighteen weren't disturbed by this statement at the time, they were just children who had been living in the mountains away from civilization, anyway. All they needed was each other, really. The shock "therapy" he'd given them for their little insubordination had scared both of them emotionless for several weeks. They knew that if they acted like nothing effected them, he'd leave them alone again...

Eighteen shuddered at the memory, reminiscing over how hard it had been for her to open up and act like something more than a simple piece of machinery programmed for one purpose. "No child deserves to grow up in a loveless home... No one deserves that..." she said quietly, her eyes shimmering with unshed tears as her gaze met his. "At least this way, Kyou knows that you care about him, although you'd like to deny it sometimes. And he knows that we love each other. Would you really have been able to raise Trunks properly if you knew you were in love with me, but your loyalty to Bulma kept you there?"

He said nothing and she went on. "You'd more than likely be angered with the boy, Vegeta... Upset with him because he was part of the reason you were stuck with someone you cared for deeply, but someone you didn't love."

"...I know."

"Then don't be so upset about it, Vegeta. I know that you still care for your son, and it's good to see that he still cares for you, as well. I also understand that you care for Bulma, and you feel as if you betrayed her by leaving her. I'm sure that she's found her true love after all this time, just as you did." Eighteen said softly. Gently cupping his face in her palms and gazing into his eyes, she pressed a gentle kiss to his lips and got up, heading to the door. She unlocked it and looked back over her shoulder at him. "You really shouldn't let things upset you as much as you do. You'll end up giving yourself a heart attack, love."

With that, she left the room, leaving Vegeta to brood over all that had just been brought back into his life.