Sorry it's been so long. Writers block and no time to actually write sucks. But here's the next chapter, hope you enjoy it! IT's a little shorter chapter i apologize. I'll try to update again soon! But no promises...

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The young boy was thrown against the wall once more. Blood trickled down his chin and he just chuckled breathlessly as he had been doing every time he had been thrown. There was nothing funny about the situation, in fact he was as close to death as he'd ever been. The thought couldn't help make him laugh a little.

"Who sent you?"

The voice was deep and angry. Zale knew it was the king, he wasn't deaf. He had heard him speak before. It was very dark in the room they had him in. His hands were locked together with handcuffs that drained his Ki so he couldn't fight back. It had been seven hours. Seven long hours of beatings, interrogating and bringing him closer and closer to death. He knew that he wasn't going to last long here, he knew that when he was sent on this mission. His leader, who was his father, had sent him to this planet knowing the boy wouldn't live long.

He couldn't finish his thinking, as he was hit across the room once more. His arms bent all the way backwards and he ground his teeth together to stop from yelling out once more.

"WHO SENT YOU?"

Zale started laughing once more

"Frustrating isn't it?" he looked straight at the King, turning his head slightly to be able to do so.

"Not being able to make me talk. Not getting the information you want," he was short of breath and his lungs felt like they were being squished together. But he had been trained to not speak, to say nothing at all. The torture he had endured on his home planet was much worse than everything he had gone through here. He was trained to be able to withstand whatever they threw at him, and he was doing his job. It was only a matter of time before the army was there and he could hopefully escape. He just had to get through this time as a prisoner.

He felt the warm hand stop on his cheek before the sting of the smack came and interrupted his peace in that moment.

Zale just shut his mouth and refused to say anything more. He was tired: He just wanted to rest once more. He was angry at himself for letting the Prince knock him out. He'd be sure to return the favor later. The next hour went by and he kept his mouth shut and the all impatient king couldn't handle not getting his way anymore and he left him to the captain of his army. Zale smirked to himself lightly as the King walked away. The Captain was much easier to deal with, and Zale intended to make his life a living hell before he was done here.

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Goten sat with Veala and Trunks while Vegeta was off trying to get information out of Zale. Bulma was still off with Vegeta's brother finishing the antidote to whatever it was that was making Veala sick.

She was doing no complaining, she wasn't coherent enough to anyways. All she did was groan a little and clench Goten's hand so tightly it was starting to hurt him.

They were just sitting there. They didn't say anything, they didn't have much to discuss. Trunks was pacing back and forth. His girlfriend had been there a moment before and he had gently pecked her cheek and told her everything would be fine before sending her away so she wouldn't see him freaking out. He had promised to go and train with her later that day.

Goten was just trying not to panic, everyone had been gone a long time. Bulma came back to check on Veala once and told them she was going to be a little bit longer. She seemed to trust the Saiyan making the potion to save her daughter. But Goten wasn't too sure, Tarble was supposedly an exile. He wasn't supposed to be there in the first place right? He knew the King wasn't one to trust easily. And Vegeta obviously did not trust this Tarble.

"G-Got-ten…" it was his Veala. His heart broke slightly when he heard her call him like that. She sounded so weak.

"I'm here Vey," he ran a hand through her hair lightly and then rested his hand on her cheek.

"I-It h-hurts…" she mutters out quietly, a few tears threatening to trickle down the sides of her cheeks.

"I know it does…just try to relax your mom will be here in a minute to help you feel better," he gently kept his fingers running through her hair lightly for just a few moments. He didn't want her father to see them like this, but he wanted to be there for her. He couldn't do anything for her…he felt so helpless. Goten heard the king and queen outside and quickly removed his hand from her hair, backing up just a little bit.

"Bulma I don't want to have to…."

"Vegeta! What choice do we have?! This has to work…it will work! Please…"

Goten felt his heart sink just a little. The queen never begged for anything, he had never heard her sound so helpless. This must have been really bad. The anxiety they all felt as they all just sat there waiting for whatever was coming, it was overwhelming. The King and Queen walked in the room with Tarble right behind them.

"This will work…won't it?" the queen turned to Tarble with a pleading look in her eyes.

"It should," Tarble said trying to seem confident.

"It better!" Vegeta growled at his younger brother who in turn gulped and walked over to the bed, opposite of Goten.

"Veala?" Tarble whispered gently, making her turn towards him and open her eyes, "I need you to open your mouth… do you think you can swallow this?"

Veala looked at the vial and nodded weakly, opening her mouth. Tarble slowly got it all down her throat and she coughed a few times, not used to the gross flavor of the medicine.

"Ew…" she coughed a little more then let out a breath. The medicine had helped open her lungs almost immediately, which she needed the most in that moment.

"Her lungs are opening up…which means that so far it's working…"

"What the hell does that mean Tarble? So far it's working, shouldn't that mean she's going to be fine?" Vegeta glared at the younger Prince.

"It means it'll work as long as she's strong enough to fight with the potion….it's not a complete antidote and she'll have to be strong to completely heal," he looked at his older brother and then to his niece.

"Not complete! What have you been doing for the last seven hours?! If this doesn't work I will see to it that you and that boy who did this to her die on the same day!"

"Vegeta!" Bulma grabbed his arm and proceeded to pull him backwards so they could talk 'privately' behind the door.

"Don't you take this out on him! He's only been helpful since he got here! He wants her to get better, just like you and I do,"

Vegeta clenched his fists and his eyes went cold and dark, he was suppressing his emotions once more.

Bulma could see him closing up; it wasn't something she liked to see. She looked down sadly a moment then hugged him gently whispering

"It'll be okay Vegeta… I can feel it,"

"You don't know that," he said not bothering to put his arms around her in return. "You can't know that, no matter how smart you think you are…"

"Vegeta, Veala's your daughter; she's going to be fine," Bulma pulled back and put her hands on his cheeks lightly, making him look into her eyes.

"She got her stubbornness from the both of us, and I know she won't let this thing keep her down,"

She gently brushed her lips against his, but he suddenly pulled her very close to him and kissed her roughly, she was one of his only comforts, and he needed her right now. He always needed her. She felt that every time he touched her, every time they kissed.

She pulled away from the kiss after a moment, slightly breathless and smiled at him, trying to be reassuring. But there was worry apparent in her eyes.

"She'll be fine…now come on, let's catch your brother up on what's been going on,"

Vegeta frowned and held her closer to him, refusing to let her go when she made an attempt.

"Why? He's going straight back to that planet when we're done here."

Bulma blinked in disbelief

"He may have just saved your daughter's life…and warned us about an attack on the planet…and you're not going to let him stay?" he just shook his head. She opened her mouth to ask why then figured mentally would get her farther. She tried to pry into his head to find out what his reasons were, but he wouldn't let her. He just growled lightly and pushed her away mentally.

"Don't pry Bulma; he's an exile for a reason!"

"But Vegeta!"

He just sighed frustrated and shook his head

"I don't want to talk about this right now, so we're dropping it! Let's go back to Veala," he pulled her with him back into the silent hospital room.

"….." Tarble looked from his brother back to the ground. What had he been expecting? At least he was going to be able to live. He wasn't expecting that much from his family.

Bulma mentally called out to Vegeta

'It doesn't matter what you say…I'll fight you on it if you try to make him leave. He's done nothing but try to help us and without him Veala probably wouldn't have survived the day. Don't let the past make you blind to what's going on now,'

She walked over to the bed and sat by her daughter, running a hand through her hair

"Thank you Tarble, for helping her, and for coming to warn us,"

The younger Saiyan prince smiled at his queen and sister in law.

"It was no problem. I'm sorry I had to come and bring you bad news…"

"M-Mom?" Veala asked weakly

"Hm?"

"Do I have to stay in here? Can I go back to my room?" she hated it in the hospital room, hated it with a burning passion and always asked to be moved.

"Only if someone is willing to stay with you until you're completely healed…Vegeta and I have things to be doing, and Trunks will be with the girls until everything is all settled down…so that leaves,"

"I'll stay with her," Goten said quietly, smiling a little at Veala when she looked at him.

"I will as well...if that's alright, to make sure she's doing alright with the medicine,"

Vegeta glared at Tarble and was about to say there was no way in hell he'd ever let that happen when Bulma stepped in first

"That would be amazing, both of you, come on Vegeta help me move her," her eyes said that they'd argue later, and he knew he wouldn't get the chance to win with her in that moment. He'd have to wait until they were alone.

He just nodded and walked over to pick up his little girl. Once she was safely in his arms and snuggled up all against him he walked her back to her bedroom.

"If you need something ask Goten to get it for you. Your mother or I will be up to see you again in a little while,"

"Okay daddy…" Veala just cuddled into him a little more before whispering

"I'm sorry I'm so weak…and that I always cause problems…" she was really just speaking to herself and hoped to death her father hadn't just heard her.

Vegeta caught what she said but all he did was tighten his arms around her. He gently put her down on her bed and watched as she got all situated and comfortable. Then, making sure no one was in the room yet, pecked her forehead softly and ran a hand through her hair.

"Rest now little one," he said quietly and stood back up as everyone else caught up and walked in the room. He grabbed Tarble's arm as he was about to enter and shoved him backwards into the hall

"One wrong move and you're out of here for good, understand? I'm going to let you stay here until you screw up or your true plans for being here are revealed," Vegeta's glare would have scared several small children had they been in the room.

Tarble nodded a little hesitantly and gulped a little

"Vegeta I'm not here to hurt you…or your family. I just wanted to warn you of what's coming…and if you want me to leave I will,"

Vegeta glared at him once more then gave his signature 'Hn' and walked back down the hall going to his throne room. He had work to be doing, with a possible threat coming he had to plan for either a counter attack or to surprise the enemy and attack first. His time was limited.

Tarble walked back into his niece's bedroom and blinked a little. Never in a million years did he ever think he'd see his brother married and with children. And apparently it had been for a while because they were sixteen. He looked at the twins for a moment. Trunks was the spitting image of his father, minus the hair. And Veala looked just like her mom, again except for the hair. They seemed to know exactly what was going on with each other, and it looked like they loved and cared for each other very much. A little bit of jealousy entered into his wide array of feelings in that moment. He wished him and Vegeta could be like that. Or could have been when they were younger. He went to the farthest chair from her bed and sat down; he was suddenly exhausted from his trip. He hadn't slept well in a long time, maybe if he just closed his eyes for a minute….

A few hours later Goten was watching Veala almost alone, Tarble was asleep still. He had been asleep since he put his head down on her desk.

Veala was doing a lot better, even in just the short amount of time she'd been in her room. She had been asleep and as far as Goten knew she still was. He let out a small sigh and stood up to stretch it out. He walked to the balcony and opened the doors, letting some fresh air into the room. He walked out onto the balcony and looked down to the training field and what he saw made him chuckle a little. Trunks and Amy were sparring. And Amy was winning. Goten decided to give them their privacy and walked back inside, his best friend didn't need to know that he had seen him getting his royal ass kicked by a girl. He'd just go and climb into the bed with Veala and snuggle her until she woke up…Vegeta and Bulma had already been in there once and that had been an hour before, so he'd be safe for another little while…right? Just as he made it to the bed and was about to crawl next to her the doors opened and he bit back a curse and jumped a little backwards in surprise. It was Vegeta and Bulma and they both looked pissed at each other.

"Goten, we'll be taking Tarble. Can you handle Veala?" Bulma asked in a tone that let him know she was angry. Very angry.

"Y-Yes my lady…" he stuttered out and backed up a step. He'd seen her that angry before, and it had ended in several almost deaths, including his own.

Tarble had woken up when the doors were slammed open and he blinked a few times, trying to make it look like he'd been awake the whole time. Vegeta growled a little as Bulma walked over to Tarble and took his arm

"Come on we have things to discuss, in the throne room. Vegeta aren't you supposed to be getting Goku? Ready go," she pulled Tarble with her out the door.

Goten watched as the king proceeded to almost snarl in anger and slam the door on his way out making Goten cover his ears it had been so loud. He looked over to Veala and almost couldn't believe she was still asleep. He laughed a little quietly and gently sat down on the bed. He looked to the door making sure they weren't coming back and then as quickly as he could he lay on his side and wrapped his arms around Veala, nuzzling into her neck and sighing contently. He'd love to just stay there forever. She was the deepest sleeper he'd ever seen, she hadn't even flinched like she was going to wake up. Goten just continued to nuzzle into her, he'd just stay like that until he heard someone coming or she woke up and told him to beat it.

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Amy was on the ground beneath him. Trunks had finally pinned her down after she had almost beaten him. They were both breathing heavily and he swore his heart was racing ten times as fast as it usually was. Suddenly she started laughing and it was music to his ears. His cheeks got all the more red.

'What the hell…I was just so upset over Veala and now I'm thinking about what I want to do to this girl below me…she takes my mind off everything,'

"What's so funny?" he finally asked not bothering to get off her just yet.

"Nothing," she giggled slightly again. Her eyes were bright and happy

"You're just better at fighting than I thought you'd be…and you're smart too. I thought you'd be all muscle and no brains,"

Trunks couldn't help his growing smile

"That's a good thing, yes?"

She just smiled at him then finally noticed their position. She blushed and looked up into his eyes, she said softly

"I think it is…" her eyes went from his eyes to his lips and back to his eyes as she leaned up a little. He leaned down and their lips barely brushed together when someone called for them.

"Trunks!"

The young Prince jumped and fell on his back to the side of Amy. His cheeks were bright red and he cleared his throat as he saw it was his mother from the second floor.

"Yes?" he called up to her slightly embarrassed and slightly annoyed.

"I need you to come up here. Right now young man," she didn't wait for a response, she just walked back inside. Trunks and Amy sat there a moment in silence before Trunks cleared his throat and stood up, offered her a hand to help her up which she took. He smiled at her slightly. Amy's cheeks were a cute pink and she couldn't maintain eye contact with him for long.

"You should probably go…your mom sounded angry," she glanced up at him not expecting him to be as close as he was.

"Mmm!" she was surprised when he kissed her again. She was definitely not expecting that at all. Trunks had a hand tangled in her hair and the other was around her back pulling her closer to him. It was like something had sparked inside him, this need for her. And she felt it as well. After an electrifying kiss they parted slowly, Amy was breathing heavily and her eyes were half lidded.

Trunks chuckled softly and put his forehead against hers for a moment

"I'll pick you up for dinner tonight, as soon as I'm done with my parents alright? I have to go right now but I'll see you soon…." He pecked her nose and was gone. She was left there out of breath wondering what the hell had just happened. Her heart was pounding and her mind felt like it was racing.

"What's wrong with me," she questioned quietly. She had never been one to rush into anything, especially not this sort of thing. It was a little concerning, but at the same time she didn't think she wanted to back out of it. This Prince was going to be the death of her…

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"We need to wait it out! If what Tarble says is true they will be here in less than two months. And if we wait for them to come to us we'll have a home field advantage! We know the land of this planet and the air, plus out spaceships will see them coming first and can take out most of the army before they even land!" Bulma was arguing with Vegeta and Goku, with Tarble on her side.

"No, we need to attack first! We need to plan a surprise attack and get to that planet before they have a chance to strike here! If we wait for them to come here people here will die, and we don't need that! If we take the fight to them then we'll keep the number of casualties down to a minimum," Vegeta wasn't going to back down from this one. The last time something had attacked their planet, their home; it had ended with half his castle being destroyed, his children almost kidnapped, his kingdom almost taken over, and his mate became a super Saiyan (which was a good and bad thing for him to have to deal with).

"What happens if we leave to attack them first and they're already on their way here? The home planet will be defenseless, we need to stay here!" Bulma glared at her mate and King. He was never one to listen, but she would make him.

"We'll make sure they haven't left yet, we have the element of surprise and that's how it will stay! And the home planet will not be defenseless. We'll be leaving Trunks and Veala here to protect it and take over while we're gone,"

Bulma couldn't believe what she was hearing

"Vegeta they're just kids! They can't take over the planet for that long a period of time, who knows how long we'd be gone if we do that! Which we aren't, because we're staying here,"

Vegeta growled and glared at her

"Woman, we're not doing this your way, we're going to be training hard for the next few weeks so we'll be ready to get them first. That's the end of this pointless argument, we're doing this my way and that's final,"

"No way in hell Vegeta! You're going to…"

Trunks cleared his throat before his mother could go on and let out a sigh

"Mom, I see your side of the argument. I really do, but Veala and I would do just fine while you were gone. Dad's right. You have the element of surprise and if you don't use it you're going to regret it. People here will be lost if you wait, you have to go,"

Vegeta nodded in agreement with his son, silently thanking him for being so smart. Bulma glared at them both and shook her head, not backing down at all.

"Bulma, please just listen!" it was Goku this time. He hadn't seen her as angry and apprehensive as today in a long time. "Vegeta knows what he's doing and we don't really have any other options. It's either we wait and more people die or we attack first and they don't have a chance to retaliate. Weigh the pros and cons of both sides, it's not an easy decision but we all have to agree with Vegeta on this one, it's the only way to go,"

Bulma held her glare over all her boys and clenched her fists, slowly sighing as she was forced to give in.

"Very well," she folded her arms and refused to look at Vegeta, knowing he'd have that irritating smirk on his face because he won. This wasn't something they should be happy about winning over. Fighting was in their blood and they all enjoyed it to some effect, but when people's lives were in danger it wasn't so fun anymore.

Trunks looked around the room to the silent Tarble. He hadn't said one word.

"So what do you think about this Tarble?" he asked him. Vegeta and Goku looked the most surprised at this question. They were going to ask the exile?

Tarble paled a little and looked from Trunks to Vegeta then to the ground with a gulp

"I think it would be wise to attack them first, they have no idea that you know they're coming. It's the best strategy I can think of…"

Trunks nodded and looked at his mother and then to his father

"I don't think you should leave me and Veala here however,"

Vegeta scowled lightly, he knew this argument was coming

"Trunks, you know damn well that Veala won't be able to fight that soon, she's still too weak,"

"I never said she would be fighting," Trunks had a wicked gleam in his eyes and his father's trademark smirk was evident on his face. This made everyone wonder what the hell was going on in his head.

"What's going on in your head, son?" Vegeta glared at him

"She can stay in a ship, away from the fighting; all she'll need is the new telescope invention I've been working on. Basically it will show her everything that's going on. The enemy will be one color and we'll be another. She can stay away from all the fighting and help us all strategize and get out of there okay. You know she has the brains for it. She can strategize almost as well as mom can. Then I can help fight and Goten will be able to as well. Because we both know if she stays so does he,"

Vegeta and Bulma looked at each other for a minute, mentally talking to each other. Bulma then shook her head and looked at Trunks

"I'm sorry Trunks, but we need you and Veala to stay here. We'll need you both here to run things, and Goten as well,"

She didn't want her twins, or Goten to have to fight and see what they'd have to see. She wouldn't let it happen. Trunks frowned but didn't push the subject any further. They'd plan the rest of the battle and he'd have no say, he knew it.

As the meeting came to a close Bulma was still furious, she had put in some suggestions throughout even though she didn't want this plan to happen. Goku had been given orders to take Tarble to his new living courters; Vegeta was planning on keeping him around until they got back from this mission. He had lived on that planet for a long time and he'd know where the enemy was and where they were to go, Goku and Tarble left, both bowing to the King and Queen before leaving. Then Trunks, feeling the tension between his parents, wisely left right behind his uncle and Goku. He hoped that they'd make up soon, because if they weren't happy then no one would be.

Bulma was going to walk out, she was going to go train for a while and beat the crap out of some people. It would make her feel a lot better if she did, but as she tried to walk past her husband he grabbed her arm. She glared at him slightly then yelped a little as he pulled her closer to him

"Vegeta!"

"Where do you think you're going, woman?" he asked her keeping her right where she was.

"Anywhere you aren't!" she spit out trying to escape his grasp to no avail.

"Stop struggling, we both know I'm stronger than you," he not so gently grabbed both her hands and made sure she had no use of them. They were behind her back and he wasn't letting them go.

She glared at him once more, she was not happy with him in the slightest.

"Let me go!" she almost yelled at him in frustration.

"Not until you calm the hell down! Why are you so angry?! Because we aren't staying here like cowards and just waiting for the enemy to come to us?! Get it together Bulma!"

"Would you just let me go? I don't want to talk to you right now; in fact I don't really want to be in the same room as you right now! I'm going to go train and if you don't let me go right now you're going to be my first sparring partner and you'll get hurt!"

Vegeta glared at her a moment then a smirk came to his face.

"Tell you what, if you can beat me in a sparring match I'll let you go and do whatever you want,"

Bulma narrowed her eyes

"And if I can't?"

Vegeta chuckled evilly; it made shivers go up Bulma's spine. It was a chuckle that promised dirty things. It had been a while since they'd been together like that, and he was reminding her of that fact. She didn't know if she was okay with that. She was still angry with him. So she growled lightly, she would have to no lose then.

"Let's go," she told him.

He had a wicked look in his eyes that told her she might regret what she had just said, but she wasn't one to back down from a challenge. And neither was he.