This is a family affair but mainly it is GohanxVidel . Some lovin' might ensue. Beware. I don't own any of the characters… it goes without saying.
My Baby is A Fighter by dance-pants
Gohan's point of view-In the waiting room/flashback
I climb to my feet for the umpteenth time today. Day? No, it is now night and that means we have all been here all day at the hospital. By 'we' I mean my mom, dad, my younger brother Goten, and my father in law Mr. Satan. Videl, my wife of just one year, has gone into premature labor with our first child, at 3:47 in the morning yesterday as a matter of fact.
I know the time because I have been spending most of my nights and early mornings downstairs in our living room reading, watching TV, eating or any combination of the three.
Videl and I cannot be intimate anymore and once a month, according to the moon; this causes problems for me—gotta love those saiyan genes. Not to mention that Videl has major mood swings now and she is not even half way through her second trimester.
I can remember looking at the clock after having finished watching some late night HBO movie. I was just about to fall asleep there on the couch when I hear Videl call. "Gohan! Gohan, get up here!" Those words struck through my haze of semi-consciousness. The tone of her voice filled me with worry.
Immediately I jumped up and half running, half flying ascended the stairs and entered the bedroom Videl and I once shared.
I didn't need to say anything to Videl. She was crouched on the bathroom floor; the light from above illuminated her long, dark hair and reflecting the puddle of cloudy liquid on the floor. The fear in her face was clear and my face must have mirrored her expression as I too was afraid. We both knew that it is way too early for her to have this child.
"Gohan…" she said with a trembling voice and then her expression changed from one of fear and shock to one of pain.
I crossed the room; my feet no longer touched the ground, and gathered her in my arms. I turned toward the window connected to our balcony, kicked it as gently as possible to open it (still I ended up breaking it off one of the hinges) and took off into the sky.
This whole incident elicited nothing but a pained moan from Videl; I thought she would have been angry at my choice of exits—since she became pregnant Videl had really mellowed out in her actions and needless to say there had been no crime fighting as of late. Videl had decided to be a stay at home mom for the first few years of our baby's life. She was already taking on a calm and motherly disposition, for the most part.
'Our baby' I liked the sound of that. We did not know the sex nor had we decided on a name for him or her. We thought we had time, understandably…
As I held her, I could feel her body tense and her fingers occasionally dug into my back and bicep. This worried me deeply, Videl was not one to give in to pain and react like this.
The night air whipped around us—cold, but my energy warmed the two of us as I flew. I felt bad because Videl had no extra clothes to put on which left her in only a sleeveless light blue night gown that went to mid-thigh. I hadn't thought to grab a bag before we left. "You okay?" I asked Videl to which she replied, "Yeah..." but through gritted teeth.
I looked down at Videl and knew that things were not alright. The pained expression on her face (not unusual for a woman in labor) was now constant and her eyes were scrunched shut.
"Shit…" she cursed softly, I sped up and the hospital was now in sight below us.
I touched down just in front of the automatic doors. It seemed to me that we'd been flying for ages but really it had only been four or five minutes. This is a hospital that is about 25 to 35 minutes away from our home by car—we've been meaning to move.
I was not too concerned with being seen that early in the morning, it was, after all, still dark outside. I rushed in with Videl in tow to the reception kiosk and speaking as clearly, loudly and as calmly as I could manage I said, "I've got an emergency here!" just like the movies.
The woman behind the desk, Eunice, that's what her tag read, popped her gum loudly and took a slow and condescending look at me from under heavily lidded eyes.
Her looked screamed 'Take a number shit head' even though the waiting room was nearly empty save for a sleeping elderly gentleman in the corner. Before she could shove a clipboard in my face or before I could call her a lazy bitch and demand action Dr. Ishii, Videl's doctor throughout the pregnancy, appeared behind Eunice seemingly on her way out (the white coat had been traded in for a tasteful navy blue cardigan with some sort of white shirt underneath along with khaki slacks.).
She took action--quickly. I can imagine the sight of us, the look of concern on my face, Videl's unusually flushed face and pained grunts; I held Videl high in my arms and she was all but sitting on the reception desktop. She was beginning to squirm.
Dr. Ishii made her way over to us through a side door with a wheelchair in tow, offering it to Videl. We made eye contact for a split second, and in that second she hesitated, as if sensing her mistake meanwhile, my arms tightened around Videl possessively. She walked in front of us through the doorway towards the delivery rooms and the NICU. She tossed a quick "Follow me" over her shoulder and we were off.
We ended up in a darkened delivery room and as the doctor hit the lights we were joined by a staff of 3 nurses. The first one I noticed was a brunette no older than Videl and with a nervous look on her face. The second was an aged woman with salt and peppered hair who exuded a peaceful and confident energy. The third one was a male nurse—blonde and built as shown by his short sleeved dark blue scrubs.
Now Videl was in a sitting position on the bed, I placed her there shortly after the lights went on and now I stood back as Dr. Ishii spoke with Videl. The realization of how early Videl was trying to deliver caused the doctor to speak in stern tones to the staff of nurses and she exited the room momentarily.
In the mean time the senior nurse was probing Videl's right arm for a vein while the other female busied herself with collecting the necessary equipment from the drawers and cabinets within the room.
The third nurse, the male, began the highly inappropriate (in my opinion) task of removing Videl's clothing.
As the nurses began working, I felt the need to back up and ended up standing near the doorway. However the sight of this man touching my Videl as she sat there, laboring to keep our first child in her body for as long as she could, was enough to snap me into action. Especially after hearing him say in a less that professional tone, "Let's get this gown and underwear off…"
I growled deep in my throat and all three nurses temporarily stopped their work to look at me. I knew this was a professional atmosphere but those saiyan instincts make themselves visible as well as audible at times; not to mention that I thought that the guy was a horny asshole. Add this guy's ability to rub me the wrong way along with the uneasiness and fear I had felt since leaving the house nearly 30 minutes ago and you had one semi stable demi saiyan.
Think about what would have happened if I was someone like Vegeta. My wife and child were on the line here. I looked up towards the ceiling and said a silent prayer 'Dende help me not to cross the line and blow someone to hell today'
Gohan's point of view- In the waiting room
I stop pacing and look over at Goten who is standing in front of the vending machine choosing what seems to be his hundredth snack of the day. He's getting taller now, although he is still a little more than a head shorter than I am.
"Goten, son don't waste you money on that stuff. Why don't you go on home and get something to eat?" my mother, Chi Chi, says. She is sitting in a chair just beside the door to the lobby, you know the one the doctor comes through like on ER and asks, 'Are you the family of so and so?'
My mother has a point-- the stuff in the machine does look pretty nasty. She also just wants to send Goten home; who knows how long this whole ordeal could take.
"But mom, I…" Goten starts, but is interrupted as Trunks returns from the restroom attracting all the eyes in the room momentarily.
Trunks meets my gaze and adds a small nod of his head, while walking over to Goten. He and Goten were sparring up near my childhood home in the woods when I put in the call to my mother from the hospital. Frantically mom had had Goten fly her to the hospital with Trunks following. That was hours ago.
Turning from Goten momentarily mom addresses Trunks asking, "Trunks would it be alright if you went to Capsule Corps now and took Goten with you?" her methods were solid, 'no' didn't seem like an acceptable answer. "Uh…sure Chi Chi, I mean I can call mom and tell her we are coming." Trunks quickly gets out his cell phone and hits the speed dial number for home.
"Hello?" is the groggy-sounding answer from the receiver, it's Bulma. "Mom? Sorry did I wake you?" is Trunks' guilty reply. "No, no I was just resting between rounds with your angel of a little sister." Trunks smiles, Bra had been born around six weeks ago and kept the entire family up and on there toes with her healthy voice.
"Is it alright if Goten and I come home to eat and hang out? I promise we'll keep it down.". "Sure." is the reply from Bulma and a quick 'love you' from both parties ends the conversation.
After hanging up, Goten and Trunks walk out of the waiting room. Through the windows I am able to see straight to the automatic doors and the foyer of the hospital. I saw the two boys step outside look around for a second and then blast off just a few dozen feet from the entrance. A risky choice of take off points even if it is night time.
I sit back down in my chair across from my mother and look around the waiting room. It is uncommonly empty. Mr. Satan's sitting in a chair in the corner asleep and drooling slightly.
Don't get the wrong idea, this day has been plenty stressful, and I am glad that the man has fallen asleep as opposed to yelling at the hospital staff. He had been saying things like, "you better see to it that my baby girls get the best care or you'll answer to me!"
My father, throughout all of this, remains calm and standing. I meet his gaze and I can feel the soothing energy and laid back persona that is Son Goku. My gaze turns to my mother as she bridges the small gap between our chairs and takes my hand.
"Don't worry Gohan, everything will be fine" she says smiling slightly. I just look at her for a moment, and then closing my eyes my mind wanders to the events that have led me to this moment in time.