Disclaimer: I don't own DragonBall Z.

Authors Note: Deadly Beauty is back! I never really 'retired' from writing; I have always had full intentions of putting out new work and continuing on with my old stuff. But with the birth of my daughter last August and being a new mummy and blah blah blah… it's all just excuses really. Well, excuses no more! Here is the first of a few new one shotters I have in the works. I hope you enjoy reading it, I know that it sure felt good to be writing again after such a long absence!

Enjoy

-D.B

You And Me

Her whole body trembled as she held the box in her hand. This was, without a doubt, the most daunting moment of her entire life and she hadn't even done anything yet! For what seemed like the millionth time, she read the instructions on the box, letting every single word, right down to the postal address and quality guarantee sink into her brain. She had to get this right the first time, she only had one shot.

"Right" 18 huffed as she pushed her hair back off her face and read the instructions one last time, "how hard could it be?"

Lifting her eyes from the box, 18 took a deep breath and glared at herself in the mirror – never had she imagined that she would be in this situation.

Never.

Slowly she pulled open the end of the box and out fell a small, plastic stick. 18 stared at it, suddenly doubting the ability of a stupid piece of plastic. She turned her gaze back to the box, which she still held delicately in her hands, as if it were made of glass.

'Clearblue Home Pregnancy Test. 99 Accuracy In An Easy To Use Home Test. Results In 3 Minutes!' the box proudly boasted.

18 sighed, it was going to be a long three minutes

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"18… 18 where are you? You said you would meet me outside 15 minutes ago!" Krillen bellowed as he trudged back inside the Kame House, a trail of sand following behind him. "18?" He called again, though he was fairly certain that he would not be greeted with a response.

Krillen headed upstairs, poking his head into the bedroom, he called out again, but did not get a reply. There was only one place left to look then. Turning on his heel, he headed for the small bathroom.

"18?" he knocked on the door, "You in there?"

The only response he got was a grunt.

"Can I come in?" he asked
"It's unlocked" 18 replied meekly, which Krillen assumed meant yes.

"What's taking you so….." Krillen trailed off, his cheery tone of voice gone, as the door swung fully open and he took in the unusual scene before him.

18 sat on the floor, resting against the bath, surround by scrunched up toilet paper, which she had obviously been using as make shift tissues. Stepping further into the room, Krillen kneeled down in front of the clearly distressed 18 and asked "What's wrong,18? Have you been crying?".

Without saying a word, or even lifting her eyes up to meet his, 18 produced the plastic stick from her closed hand and passed it to Krillen.

He observed it for a moment, looking at it from different sides and angels, holding it up into the light, before finally he gave in and asked, "What on Earth is this thing?".

He had barely even finished the sentence before 18 shoved the box into his hands. This time though, she looked at him, searching his face for his very first reaction, when he finally realised what to make of this situation.

It didn't take long, Krillen's eyes grew wide as everything began to sink in, and he realised exactly what he was looking at.

"18!" He finally met her gaze "You're pregnant!" Dropping both the test, and the box, he threw his arms around 18 and hugged her.

"Krillen… Krillen wait" 18 pried him off of her and looked at him quizzically "You're happy about this?"

Krillen's eyes sparkled as he replied, "18, you're my wife, I love you, so much, and now we're going to be parents. I've never been happier!" He exclaimed, then something clicked inside of his brain. His face dropped and his whole positive mood came crashing down around him.

"Why?" he asked, his voice thick with concern. He took 18's hand in his and gently squeezed them, "aren't you happy?"

"Krillen…" she sighed and trailed off, glad that he was still holding her hands "I can't be a mother, we both know that" She could feel the tears returning, and inwardly cursed herself for suddenly becoming so weak. Never had she cried before today, never, not once. But the second those two blue lines appeared on the test, she had become so overwhelmed with emotions, and before she even had a chance to think about it, the tears were flowing thick and fast.

"I don't understand" Krillen looked at her, desperate to understand what was going on in his wife's head, this was supposed to be such a happy event for him, for both of them, but instead, he had spent the minutes succeeding the biggest news of his life, with a million terrifying and horrible thoughts invading his mind, pushing out any hope what so ever of a happy celebration.

"I…" Krillen trailed off and sighed a long heavy sigh. Without saying anything more, he put his arm around his wife and pulled her closer to him. He could feel her shaking against him; he had never seen his wife like this before, so full of emotion. He knew he needed to say something to her; he just had no idea what. How did one approach such a delicate topic? As it was though, he needn't worry, because 18 broke the silence between them first.

"I'm sorry" she shuddered, her voice husky from the tears she had shed, and those that were yet to fall.

"Sorry?" Krillen asked, looking his wife in the eyes "what for?"

"I'm a mess Krillen, look at me!" she exclaimed, her voice broke and before she was able to do anything about it, she was crying again. She was just so scared and confused.

She felt Krillen's arms around her, usually when he held her; she knew that everything would be okay, but not this time. This time his strong grip on her felt like a noose, and she needed to escape. Quickly, she jumped up of the floor, wiping her cheeks with her sleeve. Krillen jumped, startled by her sudden movement, and followed her to his feet.

"I'm sorry, Krillen" 18 met her husbands gaze; he was clearly upset and confused over the mornings events, "I just, need to be alone for a little while. I'll find you when I'm ready"

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Hours later, when the sun was beginning to set, 18 still hadn't approached Krillen. He knew better than to seek her out when she needed to be alone, but he had been left to stew on her bombshell all afternoon, and he needed to know exactly what was going on. He wanted to sing from the rooftops that he was going to be a dad. He wanted to hug and kiss his wife and celebrate like he had never celebrated before, but instead, he was left with a feeling of impending doom in his stomach, and doom was never good.

He decided it was time to find his wife.

It wasn't exactly a long search, because Krillen knew exactly where 18 would be, she only ever went to once place to think.

The sand was warm beneath Krillens' feet; he enjoyed the feeling of it between his toes. It was a glorious day on the island, as if the world were sending out its congratulations. He rounded the side of the pink house and sure enough, there was his wife, sitting in the hammock under the shade of a cluster of palm trees.

18 didn't move as Krillen approached her, although he knew that she knew he was there. 18, like just about any other woman in the universe, had the uncanny ability to predict someone sneaking up from behind, and now was no exception.

"I told you I would find you when I was ready, Krillen" 18 said, her voice much calmer than before now, Krillen knew, just by the tone of her voice, that it would be ok to talk to his wife. If she really, truly wanted to be alone, he would know about it.

"18, you've been out here all day, usually I don't even last an hour before I come out here and annoy you. I tried my best".

Now, 18 arched her neck and looked at Krillen, a small smile graced her delicate features, a smile that she reserved solely for Krillen.

"Can I join you?" Krillen asked meekly, unsure of what the response would be.

"Are you covered in sand?" 18 had to smile as she watched Krillen try to dust the sand off of himself, after she was suitably impressed with his efforts; she shuffled over and allowed him to climb into the hammock and rest beside her.

"So…" Krillen thought out loud after a lengthy silence between the pair, "I think we need to have a chat"

"You think?" 18 replied sarcastically, inside though, her stomach was doing somersaults. She hadn't felt like this since she first moved in at the Kame House.

"How did this happen, Krillen?" 18 tipped her head to look at her husband.

Krillen raised a curious eyebrow at his wife, "I would have thought that would have been pretty obvious"

18 whacked him in the arm, "You're an idiot Krillen, obviously I know how it happened. I just thought that it couldn't happen to me, because of…." She trailed off, unwilling to finish that train of though.

Krillen rested his hand on 18's stomach, still unable to wrap his head around the fact that his child was growing just beneath her skin. She quickly pushed his hand away though, clearly still not to sure about the whole situation.

"Sorry" Krillen mumbled, "I shouldn't have-" but 18 cut him off midway through his sentence

"Don't be sorry Kril," she called him by his pet name, "it's my fault, not yours"

"What do you mean, your fault?"

"I don't know the first thing about parenthood Krillen, how can I be a mother? No child deserves to have me as a parent. What could I possibly teach them?"

Krillen was quite for a moment as he mulled over 18's little speech. "Are you saying you don't want to keep the baby?" he finally asked, his voice and hands shaking as he spoke, "because, if you don't, there are options"

"Krillen!" 18 scolded her husband, genuinely upset that he would suggest such a thing "I would never!"

"I know!" Krillen quickly defended himself, "I know, but I had to ask"

18 shot a nasty look Krillen, but the look on his face was enough for her to know he was infinitely sorry for even mentioning such a thing and she forgave him. He was only looking out for her, after all. Quickly, she glanced around the island, to confirm that they were indeed away from prying eyes, and when she was sure, she took his hand in hers and squeezed it.

"What are we going to do?" 18 asked, the reality of the whole situation sinking in, never in her wildest dreams had she imagined she would be able to fall pregnant, the idea had never even entered her mind before. Her, a mother – the whole notion seemed utterly absurd.

"Do about what?" Krillen answered her question with a question. To him the answer seemed simple; this was all he had ever wanted.

18 rolled her eyes and didn't say anything.

Krillen smiled and half rolled over in the hammock so he was looking directly into 18's eyes. She smiled at him again and he felt his breath catch in his throat, she was just so stunningly beautiful.

"I'll tell you what we're going to do," he smiled and kissed her forehead, "we're going to have a baby, and we are going to be amazing parents. Both of us. We are going to teach our child to have morals and respect and kindness for their fellow man. And our child will love us unconditionally in return, both of us, in spite of whatever flaws or imperfections we think we may have"

"But-" Krillen silenced his wife by placing a finger over her lips.

"I know what you're going to say 18, and I don't want to hear it, not a single word. I know that you're scared, I am too. But I promise you that this baby isn't going to love you any less because of what might have happened to you in the past, I don't love you any less, do I?"

"No" 18 replied quietly, the love she felt for her husband at that moment was almost overwhelming, at times like this she wondered exactly how she had ended up with someone as amazing as Krillen, she was unable to understand exactly why no one had snatched him up before her – as far as she could see, he was everything anyone could ever want in a man. He was smart, funny, kind, compassionate, understanding, forgiving and she didn't think he looked to bad either.

"Are you really scared?" she asked him, "or are you just saying that to make me feel better?"

Krillen laughed out loud at 18's question, "I'm terrified, but we'll get there. It's not like we have much choice, do we?"

18 was starting out to the sea, the sun was beginning to set and the sky was alight with beautiful, vibrate oranges and pinks, "I guess not" she said with a smile as she blinked herself back into reality and shifted her gaze from the beautiful ocean to her even more beautiful husband.

Once again, he reached over and placed his hand over 18's stomach, this time however, instead of pushing him away, 18 placed her hand on top of his and threaded her fingers with his.

She snuggled up next to Krillen, who smiled with delight at the gesture and kissed her forehead.

"Krillen" she spoke his name softly, she was just about to drop off to sleep

"Yeah?" he replied, far more awake than his wife, he was far to excited to sleep

"I'm glad we're having a baby"

Krillen held 18 a little tighter, scared that she might disappear if he let go. "Me too babe," he smiled, "Me too"

fin

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Authors Note: Please excuse any glaring spelling or punctuation errors, my 7 month old was trying to help me proof read, and I'm not sure if I got rid of all her keyboard mashing.

It certainly felt good to be writing again, I can only hope that you enjoyed this one. I have a few more short pieces in the works. I also hope to have a new chapter of "Serendipity" out in the coming weeks, so keep an eye out for that one if you feel like it.

Love to everyone, and thankyou for sticking by me and making me feel so so so welcomed in this community, I cannot thank you all enough for your kindness, I only hope I can repay you all somehow.

Deadly Beauty