Jenny had lost track of the time her mother and sister had been staying at the Lookout. Combining that with her weekly chemotherapy treatments, she felt like she was beyond exhausted. She couldn't stand their looks, their accusing eyes. The way Kacie commented on how she didn't look like she was sick at all. She tried to calm her breathing, reminding herself that they were just there to help. She carefully shifted Paige in her lap as she cut up her scrambled eggs. "Here honey, stop playing with Mommy's hair and eat your breakfast." She looked at the food, feeling her stomach churning at the thought and smell of the eggs. It had sounded good, but seeing it just put her off her appetite.

Her mother tilted her head at her daughter. "You'd better eat up too, you're starting to look all skin and bones. Don't let the breakfast I worked hard on go cold." She looked around the table, shifting uneasily in her chair at the stern look of her daughter's husband. She couldn't help it, that man unnerved her. She turned back to her daughter, "Finish your breakfast and Kacie and I will wash the dishes and then maybe we can go out for a little while. Get some fresh air."

Kacie huffed and pushed her eggs around on her plate. "Mooooom, don't do that. I'll wash my dishes, make Jenny do something for once. She looks fine." She looked at her sister, "You look fine enough to me. You just want free labor."

Piccolo's eye twitched at Kacie's comments. He didn't know how much longer he could bite his tongue. He'd found her incredibly self-centered and rude from the first moment he met her. He was trying to find the right moment to tell them to leave without coming across as a complete ass. Although he was quickly starting to not care. He clenched his jaw and shifted Alice in his lap as she carefully ate her eggs. He instead turned his attention to his other daughter, who was squirming in her mother's lap. "Paige, sit still and eat," he warned in a low voice.

Rose could feel the tension in the room. She didn't much care for Kacie either, but she wanted to keep the peace in the Lookout. Jenny most definitely did not need to be stressed at the moment and too much animosity was not good for Dende either. "I can do the dishes," she offered. "I don't mind."

Dende had a headache since the moment the two women had arrived at the Lookout, claiming to want to help their family out. However, the sister had taken one look at Jenny and decided she was faking it just to get attention. He rubbed at his temples and reached out to take his wife's hand in his own.

Jenny managed a small smile for Rose, "Would you? That would be great." She looked back over at her mom, "I'm sorry, I just don't think I can eat these eggs. They sounded good at first, but my nausea is acting up again."

Kacie rolled her eyes, "A likely excuse. You are so rude. Just eat it and throw it up later if you want." She made a face as she watched the little girl in her sister's arms twist around, reaching up and grasping a lock of dark hair and pulled. Hardly any effort and the fistful of hair came free, falling down into Jenny's plate of food. "Ewww, gross. You have a bald spot. Maybe if you got out in the sun more, you wouldn't be losing your hair." She mumbled under her breath, "Or maybe it's the same thing that made their skin green. No wonder she's sick."

The mother looked at her youngest daughter, "Kacie, don't be rude. She's just not feeling well. Cancer is a serious thing!" She looked back at Jenny, "Don't listen to her. We can get you some hair that won't fall out. We can go to a wig shop! Don't you remember when you were little and you donated all that hair to Locks of Love? Wouldn't it be something if you got your own hair in a wig?"

"Uh, Mrs. Wick, I highly doubt that's a possibility," Rose said nervously. Oh goodness. She really didn't know what to think of Jenny's mother. Blissfully unaware? That was probably the nicest way she could put it.

Piccolo slowly closed his eyes, trying to run through a quick meditation to calm himself. He'd winced when Paige pulled out Jenny's hair. It broke his heart to see that happening to his wife. And for Kacie to make smart-assed little comments about it just made his blood boil. "Maybe if you pulled your head out of your ass, you could see what was really happening to the people around you," he muttered.

Kacie's eyes went wide and her face turned red with rage. "What did you say to me?" She crossed her arms and looked between them all, "Fine, I'm just calling it as I see it. Jenny ups and leaves us and then when she needs 'help' calls us back a few years later to let us know she has 'cancer.' Then mom drags me all the way out here so we can be insulted by her dead beat husband? What exactly do you do again?"

Karen looked sternly at her daughter, "Kacie, that's enough. We are family, we help each other."

Kacie rolled her eyes. "Yeah, sure. Looks like what Larry said about her was right. A cancer just waiting to metastasize. And here it is!" she said with a fake happy voice.

Jenny felt tears stinging at her eyes and she moved Paige aside to sit on her own as she stood up. "Just go home already," she gasped out before she turned and walked towards her room, stumbling only a little bit on the way out.

Kacie snorted, "See? She's not sick, she's just drunk again."

Dende pushed away from his seat as well. "Excuse me, I need to begin my rounds," he said. It wasn't entirely a lie, but ever since he and Rose had joined together, it was as if the world had entered a time of peace, but that peace would not last if he stayed in that room with that thing Jenny called a sister for very much longer.

"Jenny," Rose gasped and got quickly to her feet, hurrying to her sister-in-law's side. She carefully wrapped her arm around Jenny's waist to steady her. "Let's get you laid down in bed. You need to rest," she said softly before she looked over her shoulder at Kacie, "You are incredibly rude."

Piccolo gently set Alice on the seat next to him, his arms shaking with the effort of keeping his calm. He saw red as he turned his gaze on Kacie. "How dare you," he growled. "I have held my tongue since the moment you arrived because my wife asked me to. And I respected her wishes until this point. But you've crossed a line now." He could feel his power level rising dangerously and he had to fight the urge to take Kacie's head clean off her shoulders in that moment. "My wife is sick. YOUR SISTER is sick. And for you to sit there and accuse her of pretending to be ill or of being drunk is one of the most disrespectful things I've ever witnessed."

Kacie snorted and crossed her arms, "You don't know her that well then. I don't envy you at all. See, Mom? I told you she was just fine. She's even got people to back her up this time."

Karen rubbed at her face and bopped Kacie on the arm. "Stop that, your sister is ill. There's no good to be had from talking about her behind her back about such things." She looked off in the direction her daughter disappeared to and frowned.

Piccolo barely let Jenny's mother get her words out before he snapped back at Kacie. "I know her a hell of a lot better than you do. She's my mate. No one knows her better than I do," he growled. He suddenly got to his feet, looking down at her from his full intimidating height. "You have done nothing but stress my wife out since you got here. You are the most spoiled, self-centered, obnoxious, rude, disrespectful little bitch that I have EVER encountered. And that's saying a lot; I've lived with Sabriena!" His shoulders shook as he finished his rant and he took a deep breath.

Kacie looked visibly startled and looked at her mom who just sat and said nothing. She threw her hands up into the air, "Whatever. I don't have to sit here and listen to this bullshit!" She got to her feet and turned to storm from the room.

"BITCH!" Paige spat at her aunt as Kacie left the room and flung a piece of egg at her.

Piccolo crossed his arms and smirked down at his daughter. "Good girl, Paige."

Catie landed on the tile of the Lookout with a small bag clutched in her hand. She didn't know how Jenny was going to react to this, but she hoped it would somehow help her sister. She knew that despite the physical pain Jenny was in, the emotional part was what had really been bothering her. She hadn't seen much of Jenny lately, only short phone conversations before Jenny either fell to tears or said she was too tired to talk. But the one thing Jenny had mentioned that was really bothering her was the fact that she was losing her hair.

"Hey Dende!" Catie called with a smile and a big wave in the Namek's direction as she saw him walking the edge of the Lookout with little Alice in tow. She had to snicker at the little one; she was carrying a stick in her hand to mimic Dende's staff. "Where's Jenny? She awake?"

Dende turned and smiled sadly at Catie, pausing his work for a moment. "She's in her bedroom, of course. Yesterday wore her out I am afraid, I think the dose was increased this time around. She is taking it fairly hard today. Her mother and sister aren't helping matters either." He was glad Catie was there, it was a change of pace and perhaps it would give Jenny some energy to have a guest who genuinely cared about her. "Please go on in; Piccolo is in the nursery if you need anything." He watched her go before he turned back to Alice, resuming his quiet lesson with her.

Catie let her feet carry her to her sister's room, not even bothering to say anything to Piccolo as she passed the nursery. She wasn't sure what he would say and frankly she didn't care. She shut the bedroom door behind her and clicked on the light. Jenny cringed under the covers and Catie sighed. "Get up," she said. "We need to talk."

Jenny sighed under the covers, the light was painful. "Turn that off and I will," she said, but peeked out from the covers, wincing as the bright light hurt her eyes. She could see the worry in her adopted sister's face and she pushed herself up with some trouble. Her joints ached today and she felt weaker than she could remember. "I knew I should have called you," she said quietly, "Spare you a trip out to see all of this." She gestured to herself. She knew she looked terrible. Her hair was so bad, there were bald spots. She was fairly sure she could go as a skeleton on Halloween and not dress up for it. Her complexion left much to be desired.

Catie fought to keep her expression neutral. She'd never seen Jenny look like this before. "Good gods," she whispered and sat on the edge of the bed to take Jenny's hands in her own. "Honey, you didn't tell me it was this bad." She frowned as she cupped her sister's cold cheek in her hand. An anger rose up in her chest at the situation. Everyone was wondering why Jenny hadn't been around much, yet no one had bothered to find out the reason. Poor thing looked like death warmed over. She set her face with a determined look. "I have an idea," she said, "and you might not like it. You don't have to do it if you don't want to, but I thought it might make you feel a little better. Remember when you told me you were so upset about starting to lose your hair?"

Jenny turned away from her sister, reaching up to her head, but paused before she touched it. Every time she did, more fell out. Piccolo tried to hide it from her when he accidentally pulled some out when he was trying to soothe her, but she knew. She couldn't stop the tears that formed in her eyes and slid down her cheeks. "How could I forget?" she asked sadly before she looked back at Catie, eyeing the bag in her lap. "What was your idea?"

Catie swallowed and met Jenny's eyes with a level stare as she reached into the bag and slowly withdrew the electric shaver. She clicked it on and a loud buzzing filled the room. She turned it off and pressed it into Jenny's hand. "This shit has taken so much from you already. Don't let it take anything else. Do it on YOUR terms," she said in a quiet, but fierce voice.

Jenny looked down at the device Catie pressed into her hand and she swallowed hard. Her terms. It almost seemed like a foreign concept to her at the moment. Ever since she had learned she was sick, it seemed as if nothing was on her terms any more. Cancer had almost taken her life and chemotherapy was taking what was left of it. She thought about it, shaving her head before the chemicals could take it from her. Maybe Piccolo wouldn't be so afraid to touch her if she did this. He wouldn't have to worry about pulling out what was left of her hair. She found herself nodding, her world going blurry as tears filled her eyes. She wanted it; she wanted to take this back. How wonderful it would be if Piccolo would hold her again. Would he still want to if she was bald? She snorted, "Piccolo and I are going to match for a while, aren't we?" She gave another watery laugh and offered the shaver to Catie, "Could you do it? I don't think I have the strength."

Catie felt relief crash through her system at her sister's braveness. It was fantastic to hear that tiny little sad laugh from her throat. She bit her lips together and shook her head slowly. "No," she said. "I want YOU to do it. That's the whole point. If you can't reach the back, I'll help, but you're going to do as much as you can." She stood up and offered a hand to Jenny. "Come on, I'll help you walk to the bathroom. You can do this." She lowered her voice to a growl and took on a posh accent, "You're a Saiyan, woman! Now act like one!" She giggled at her own impression of Vegeta, unable to keep the stern look on her face.

Jenny snorted and let Catie help her up. "Hard-ass," she muttered and she wondered how she was going to get her hair. She felt so weak and helpless, but Catie was right. She needed to do this. Looking into the bathroom mirror, she winced at her own reflection. The dark circles under her eyes, her thinned hair, and her pallid skin. "I sure don't feel like a Saiyan at the moment," she said as she clicked the shaver on and lifted the device to her head, watching as her hair fell as she cut it away. She did as much as she could, her hand shaking with the effort until she couldn't hold her arm up any more and let it drop to her lap.

She studied the person in the mirror, hardly recognizing herself. It felt good to take control of something again. "I command you to do the rest. My terms," she said, sticking out her tongue at Catie in the mirror.

Catie snickered and nodded proudly. "As you wish," she grinned and took the clippers into her hand and finished the job for her sister. She leaned over Jenny's shoulder when the job was done and hugged her. "You're just as beautiful as you always were," she whispered and pressed a kiss to her cheek. She stood up straight and reached into the drawer of the vanity and pulled out a beautiful blue scarf that Sabriena had bought. She wrapped it around Jenny's head and tied it at the back of her skull. "Now there's one more thing," she said, meeting Jenny's eyes in the mirror. "I want you to come with me to Capsule Corp. Vegeta needs to see you so he can understand. I brought my car with me; I know you don't have the energy to fly right now."

Jenny's eyes widened and she shook her head. "You are out of your mind. If I let him see me like this, he is going to disown me. I'm not the daughter he wants. You can explain that to him, right? That I'll be back around when I'm feeling better?" She looked down at her hands, "I'm not what anyone wants right now. I don't think I could stand it if he… I don't want him to look at me like this."

Catie's eyes bloomed purple for a minute as her temper rose. "You are so lucky you're sick or I would punch you in the nose right now," she said. "Vegeta is not going to disown you. Good God, woman. The hell is wrong with you? I know he can be an ass, but he would NEVER turn his back on you. He never has before! Hell, I think he loves you more than he loves his biological kids." She crouched down and took Jenny's hands in her own again. "Jen, he doesn't understand what's happened. He hasn't seen you. He's not getting it," she said, tapping her own temple to emphasize her words. "And if I just go back and say, 'oh, she's sick, she'll be around when she feels like it,' he's still not going to understand. I know you're tired. And I know you're hurting. And if you wanna beat the hell out of me when you are better, I'll let you have a free shot. Please, come with me. He's your father. He's not going to turn away from you."

Jenny felt her own temper flare for a moment when Catie asked what the hell was wrong with her. But shouting back that she had cancer was a bit of an understatement. She wiped at her eyes and nodded. She wished Bulma or someone had explained to him what she was going through, but then again he was a visual man. Most people were. They heard the word cancer and went, 'oh that's sad' and then moved on with their lives not shedding a tear. "Fine, but if he," she stopped, "I'm going to punch you later."

Catie threw her head back and laughed. "That's my girl!" she grinned and planted a big, smacking kiss on Jenny's forehead and pulled her to her feet. She thought about telling her to get dressed, but then decided fuck it. Pajama pants and a tank were good enough. She looped her arm around Jenny's waist and pulled her arm around her own shoulders as she led her out of the bedroom. She paused outside of the nursery door. "Hey, Piccolo, I'm kidnapping your wife. Be back in a couple hours!" she called and continued on their way.

"Wait, what?!" he cried and bolted to his feet, nearly knocking Paige over as he scrambled to get to the door. He rushed past them and turned to block their way. "What's going on? Jenny, are you okay?" he asked, nearly panicked as he looked her over, thinking that perhaps she needed to go to the hospital for something or that she was somehow hurt. He eyed the scarf on her head. "What happened?"

"She's fine," Catie said in a calming voice, realizing she probably shouldn't have announced them to him like that. "We're just going to go see Vegeta for a minute. He hasn't seen her in a while. She'll be fine, I promise. I won't let anything happen to her."

Piccolo breathed heavily through his nose for a moment, but nodded. Perhaps it would be good for his wife to get out for a minute and not just to go to the hospital again. "Alright," he finally agreed. He cupped Jenny's face in his hand and pressed a kiss to her lips. "Don't overdo it, okay? And if you get tired, make her bring you straight home."

Jenny chuckled and kissed him again, sighing contentedly. "I promise," she said. "I'll be home for dinner, so you know, don't eat it all." She winked at him, Dende had been teasing her that a mouse ate more than she did now a days. "Let's go, Catie."

Catie made the trip back to Capsule Corp as quick as she could, knowing that Jenny probably couldn't tolerate a very long visit. She helped her inside and sat her on the couch in the living room. "Okay, you wait here and I'll go find Vegeta. Don't worry, it's going to be fine, okay?" she said softly as Trunks came into the room.

"Hey, there you are," he grinned at Catie. "Where'd you run off to? I thought we were gonna-" he paused in mid-sentence when he saw Jenny sitting there. "Hey," he said softly and hurried over to sit next to her. "I feel like I haven't seen you in forever." His tone was hushed as he spoke to her, his blood running cold through his veins at the sight of her.

"Sit with her while I find Vegeta," Catie said and hurried from the room.

Trunks nodded. His mouth worked for a moment as no words seemed to come to his mind. "Jenny, I…" He felt horrible. How hard had this been on her? He felt like kicking himself for not going to see her. He'd just heard that she slept a lot and was afraid of waking her if he dropped by. Now he wished he'd done it anyway.

Jenny chuckled, "Easy, brother. It's okay. I didn't want to see anyone, Catie forced me out at clipper point." She looked at Trunks and reached out with a shaking hand to tug on his hair. "Give me some of this, I need it more than you do," she teased him before she let herself lean against his shoulder. She didn't realize how much she had missed her family until she was among them. "Feels like all I've been doing is going to the hospital and sleeping. I'm wasting away into nothing."

Trunks swallowed the knot in his throat and wrapped his arm around her. He looked at his waist-long hair for a moment. "You want it?" he asked. "You know they make those wigs when people donate their hair. I'd totally do that for you, sis." He gently rubbed her arm as he leaned his cheek on her head. "You look like you're wasting away. You want me to run grab you something to eat? Or is the chemo making you sick?" He'd heard that sometimes the treatments could affect the way food tasted, but he'd never personally known anyone who had undergone chemotherapy before. "Anything you want, you just name it."

Jenny shook her head, the thought of food making her stomach churn. "No thanks. Chemotherapy yesterday put me off my appetite for a while. I can usually eat something substantial a week later, right before I go in for the next dose of treatment," she said, "But I do miss food. All I've been able to eat is soup. Or something that's easy on my teeth and my digestive tract." She sighed. "I want to eat steak and chocolate until I can't possibly take another bite," she said wistfully. Her fingers threaded through Trunks' hair and she thought for a moment what it would look like on her and she shook her head, "Piccolo would kill me if I showed up wearing your hair."

Trunks threw his head back and laughed. "Aw, c'mon, doesn't he think I'm pretty?" he teased and laughed harder at the expression on her face. "Yeah, that might be a little weird. Purple isn't really your color." He snickered and shook his head. "Ah well. The offer stands if you change your mind."

"Trunks, c'mon," Catie said as she stood in the doorway of the living room and Vegeta stepped up behind her.

"Yup," he said, realizing that Jenny would probably want to speak to Vegeta alone. "Love you, sis," he murmured and gave her a squeeze before he got up and followed Catie into the kitchen.

Vegeta was frozen to the spot, his arms crossed over his chest, his expression unreadable. His blood felt like ice water in his veins and his breath caught in his chest. Nothing could have prepared him to see his daughter like that. She was a shadow of herself, far too skinny, dark circles under her eyes, her hands and shoulders shaking as she sat on the couch. This wasn't the bright young woman he remembered. He took a cautious step forward, his arms falling to his sides as he breathed, "The hell?"

Jenny winced at the look he was giving her, the shock. She supposed she should have been used to it, but her family at the Lookout had gotten good at hiding their looks. She looked up at her dad, realizing she had missed him just as much as everyone else. "Hey Daddy," she said weakly, trying to sit up straighter but failing miserably as her strength left her, "Sorry I haven't been around, this thing has been kicking my ass pretty hard. I think I would have preferred your bootcamp again."

He rushed to her, crouching down so fast his knees slammed against the couch. "This is what it did to you?" he breathed, looking her over. He hadn't understood before. He knew it was serious, but he thought the surgery had fixed everything. That the treatment after was just a precautionary measure to make sure it didn't get out of hand again and that it just upset her stomach a little. He never expected her to show up looking so emaciated. Bulma had tried to explain it to him, but he just didn't get it. This earthling disease was foreign to him. Saiyans were able to fight off such things easily, their bodies constantly adapting to overcome any threat; sickness was practically unheard of for them more than an occasional head-cold. "Why didn't you tell me it was this bad?"

She looked down at her hands, not wanting to see his expression, afraid to see disgust or anger. "I didn't want you thinking I couldn't handle it. That I am weak. I didn't want you thinking any less of me for what this has done." She felt tears slipping down her cheeks, beside herself with embarrassment. "I missed you, Daddy. Please don't send me away. I'm sorry I didn't call, I'm sorry I didn't tell you. I should have. I'm just so tired all of the time now. I know you hate weakness."

Vegeta took a moment to swallow the hard knot in his throat. He couldn't stand to hear the vulnerability in her voice. "Jennifer," he said, reaching out and taking her chin in his hand to raise her eyes to him. "I would never send you away. When I said you were my daughter, I meant it. I never turn my back on my family." He dragged a rough thumb over her cheek, wiping away the tears there. It frightened him to see her like this. Like she could just slip away from him at any moment. A jolt of anger shot down his spine as he realized there wasn't a damn thing he could do to fix it. He couldn't protect her from this. He realized how serious this was. He could lose her. Oh, his pride be damned. "I missed you, too," he whispered and pulled her into a hug.

Jenny let herself be pulled into his arms, nearly sobbing in relief as he held her tightly. She'd been foolish, thinking that no one would be able to stand to be around her or to look at her illness for all the ugliness it held. She weakly wrapped her arms around his neck and buried her face into his shoulder. She wished in that moment that she was all better so she could get out and enjoy life more. To train, to play with her daughters, to spend time with her friends.

Vegeta felt her shoulders jerk as she tried to stop herself from crying. Still holding onto her, he moved to sit next to her on the sofa and pulled her against his side. He heaved a sigh as he thought over his words before he spoke. "Jennifer, sometimes being strong isn't about locking everything away and trying to hide it from your loved ones. Sometimes the true test of our strength is letting go of our pride and letting the ones we care about share some of the burden," he said in a low voice. He turned his face to look at her, an understanding expression on his features. "If you need to cry, then cry. I won't think less of you, my daughter." And he pressed a firm kiss to her forehead.

She let herself relax into his arms, his words bringing more tears to her eyes but this time she didn't try to stop them. They rolled down her cheeks into the soft shirt he wore as she cried her worries and fear. She never would have guessed he would be this understanding, this kind to her. She supposed her fears and criticisms were partially her own. She was angry with herself for not being stronger, for succumbing to this disease in the first place. "Thank you," she sobbed.

"Shhh," he hushed her, letting her cry as he held her. Gods, he wanted to take it all away from her. He was furious that there was nothing they could do. He was even more upset that she had been dealing with this on her own, that he hadn't gone to see her, that he hadn't invested the time to fully understand what she was dealing with. He was painfully reminded that no matter how he viewed her, she was still human. He shook his head. She may have been born human, but in her heart she was a Saiyan now. "You're going to overcome this," he said. "You may not feel it right now, but you are too strong to lose this battle. Never forget, you are the daughter of the prince of Saiyans. This will not defeat you."

She tried to choke back the watery laugh and nodded. She knew she should pull back, but she didn't want to move. She just wanted to curl up and go to sleep in his arms like this. As if he could keep death away from her just by scaring it off. She wanted so much to believe his words, that she could beat this. The hospital staff said she could beat this, that this was like the final dash to the finish line. They forgot to mention all of the obstacles in her way. "I will beat this," she said.

A smirk pulled at Vegeta's lips and he nodded, proud of her. He could see how exhausted she was. He reclined back on the couch and pulled her to lay at his side, letting her rest her head on his chest. "Rest now," he said softly and rubbed gently at her back. With his free hand, he reached into his back pocket and withdrew his phone to do something he should've done a long time ago. He searched for information on this horrible disease so he could educate himself and figure out if there was anything, anything at all, that he could do to ease her pain, to help her recover. He would do absolutely anything for his daughter.