A/N: So much romance... so much.

Warnings: Mild lemon ahead.

Disclaimer: I do not own Dragon Ball Z or anything affiliated with it.

-MalRev

The Ties That Bind

13

"Naomi, are you okay?"

My eyes opened and I sat up quickly, putting a hand over my chest to make sure my heart didn't beat out of my chest. Craig sat up alongside me and put one hand on my back, eyebrows knitted together with concern. We were lying under black sheets so we definitely weren't at my apartment but my clothes were still on and it didn't feel like I had been drugged. I caught my breath and wasn't surprised to feel Goku extremely close—he liked to lurk around when I was with other men. Hopefully he hadn't had the same dream I did or our relationship was about to get even more awkward.

Craig pressed the back of his palm to my forehead. "Nightmares again, or are you sick? I'll give Vic a call and tell him you won't be able to come into work. You need to relax."

"No, I can work," I said.

"I insist. You can stay here for the day and go home tomorrow when you're feeling better. You know I can't let you out there on your own when you have a fever. Erin told me she's been worried about you but I wasn't sure if she was overreacting. Try to go back to sleep, okay?"

There was no time for me to protest: Craig left the room and shut the door behind him. I sighed and flopped back down on the comfy bed, content with where I was. Another day off work wouldn't kill me, right? Vic had to be pissed I wasn't showing up and he still had to pay me. How could he possibly get away with something like that? I knew he had a crush on me but he was pulling some serious strings to pay someone who wasn't coming to work for a lame reason. I was taking advantage of him. A little.

I felt the bed sink a bit and turned to see Goku lying beside me, both grey eyes watching me curiously. He quickly covered my mouth before I could shriek in surprise and placed a finger to his lips. I glared at him angrily until he let go then crossed my arms like a child throwing a tantrum. If I was having a dream within a dream within a dream I was gonna blow my brains out. Between that and the interdimensional crush I had…. Well, there was almost no hope for me.

Goku looked around Craig's bedroom. "Nome, I know you're attracted to this man but you need to stop seeing him. Something feels… weird. I've been trying to track him whenever he's not with you but he sort of disappears. I'm pretty good at following people with or without my ki-sensing abilities and this guy vanishes off the face of the Earth. Plus, I couldn't find records of him living in New York."

"Will you relax?" I whispered. "He's hard to find, so what? I like that he's mysterious."

"Normal people don't walk off the face of the Earth and conveniently waltz back in at the right time. Isn't it odd that he showed up when you and I first met? It's like he was waiting for it to happen and now he's just watching us to see how our relationship is progressing."

"You are absolutely insane. Craig and I dated a while ago; don't you remember me mentioning that? It's coincidence, that's all. Now kindly leave so I can enjoy my day off being pampered tomorrow. Oh, and if he wanted us together he wouldn't be taking me away from you so frequently. Duh."

"It isn't that simple," Goku said. "Come on, let's go home. You need to go back to work tomorrow."

"No, stop telling me what to do. I'm staying here and you're leaving. Now. I'll scream and Craig will come in here and beat the hell out of you."

"I haven't been afraid of a human in a few decades. Don't you want to talk about that dream we both had? Not the one where we were married but what you just woke up from? If you'll come with me I'll tell you what I think it means by saying we're fated to be together."

The bedroom door opened and Goku was gone in an instant, leaving behind the horrible tugging sensation in my stomach. Craig smiled and carefully shut the door before making his way over to the bed, only clothed in a grey t-shirt and black boxers. He set his phone on the bedside table and crept under the covers to lie beside me in the warmth. A nagging suspicion in my head told me I should be more cautious but I wanted to be ignorant to the danger before me. I needed something to distract me from my flourishing crush on Goku.

Craig reached out to touch my face and smiled. "It's been a long time since I've had a pretty girl in my bed. Way too long. We can stay up nice and late since you're off the hook for work tomorrow."

My palms started feeling sweaty when his hand gently cupped the back of my head to pull me towards him until we were well within proper kissing distance. He smelled like Axe and mint; no doubt from a quick trip to the bathroom before he came back in the bedroom. Our lips met hesitantly, trying to figure out how the other person kissed, but soon we were locked together passionately with our hands in one another's hair. Craig rolled on his back to pull me on top of him and pushed my hips down against his without missing a beat. My thoughts drifted to Goku…

Oddly enough, I thought I could feel a vague anger boiling inside me. Craig moved on to kissing my neck and I struggled with the wildly misplaced emotion as his hands slid up my shirt to unhook my bra. Why did I suddenly feel so pissed off? Goku had mentioned he could feel my emotions before but it wasn't possible for me to do the same because I hadn't been trained how to. Or could it be that he was so furiously angry that it was burning through the barriers between us?

"You're tense," Craig said. "Why is that?"

"Hmm? Oh, I don't know. Probably just my nerves getting the best of me. It's been a while since I last did this so…"

"There's nothing to worry about. I'll get you back on your feet."

My bra strap clicked audibly and Craig smirked at me before turning us over so he was lying on top of me. He pulled down my shirt to kiss my breasts and I tried to relax so he didn't ask any more questions. When I looked over Craig's shoulder I had to dig my nails into his back to keep from screaming. Grey eyes watched me from across the room and moved back and forth—Goku was pacing. More importantly, he was watching me having sex with Craig. I couldn't help but stick my tongue out at him.

Craig lifted his head to look at me and Goku vanished. "Seriously, are you okay? You seem distracted. We can wait until you're feeling better if you want."

"Nope, right now is perfect," I said and pushed his head down to kiss him full on the mouth.

The anger flared violently and I felt someone grab my arm, then the feeling of Craig's lips was suddenly gone. When I opened my eyes I was sitting in my own bed with my arms awkwardly outstretched like they were trying to hold something. Goku crossed his arms irately and sat beside me, refusing to look in my direction. I dropped my hands and turned to punch his big biceps, which really didn't faze him. He glared angrily at the carpet and easily ignored my shrieking demands that he bring me back before Craig noticed I disappeared in a puff of smoke.

"What is your fucking problem?!" I demanded. "First you're all paranoid about him being a bad guy, then you tell me I'm not allowed to see him and now you're leaving me high and dry. You're ridiculous. When you try to sleep with your wife I'm gonna come running in and watch."

Goku snorted disdainfully. "You can do much better than that. I told you he gives me the creeps and I don't think—"

"Oh, Goku, I don't give a FUCK about what you think. We make out and you act like it never happened, then we both have crazy sex dreams and you act like THAT didn't happen. Do you just like playing with me? Does it give you a sense of power to know you have two women at your beck and call? I'm not gonna be toyed with by an unnecessarily possessive alien."

"I'm married with two children and one is almost your age. How am I supposed to feel? What am I supposed to do? Act on my urges and throw all of that away for a fling?" Goku rose from the bed and resumed pacing with his hands on his hips. "I made a vow when I married Chi-Chi and I would never hurt either of my sons that way. Gohan would be humiliated if his friends found out. We're going to see Bulma tomorrow to find out what she knows before it's too late."

"I've never pressured you into doing anything with me. You acted of your own accord so don't try to make me feel guilty. I already have enough shit on my plate right now. God, I haven't been this angry in so long that I keep forgetting how to stay pissed off. Run home to your family and leave me the hell alone so I can try to explain what happened to Craig. He's gonna call Homeland Security."

"You don't have your phone," Goku said.

"Then I guess I'll drive over there and apologize in person. My life has become nothing but difficult since you came around, buddy."

When I stood up and tried to walk past Goku he grabbed my arm to pull me in front of him. We glared at each other through the darkness and I tried to ignore the nagging idea in my mind that kissing him would be a great way to break the ice. He shook his head as his eyes searched my expression for any sign of weakness. There was no way I was giving in to his irritating charm. We were both breathing kind of heavy—I felt like I'd run a marathon.

"I want you," Goku said.

Those three words really threw me for a loop. I stumbled on my response, trying to come up with something witty that would lighten the mood, but he looked dead serious. My mouth fell open a bit trying to make a sound and nothing came out. What the hell was I supposed to say? I quickly sealed my lips shut and ripped my arm out of Goku's grasp, rubbing it a bit to bring back the sensation. He stared at me unblinkingly until I finally looked away at the floor and laughed a little.

"Get in line," I said. "There're a few guys who want me."

"You know I don't mean it like that. I want you. All of you. But I can't up and leave my wife and kids for a woman half my age. What does that say about me? I'm the protector of Earth, not an adulterer."

"You've known me for what, two weeks?"

"I've known you for much longer than that, Naomi."

I raised an eyebrow questioningly but someone started knocking furiously on the door and our conversation had to wait. Goku watched me leave the room, his eyes full of the many different emotions he was having a hard time sorting out. Was it possible for our relationship to be even more complicated?