Bulma frowned as she stared into the full length mirror. Turning to the side, she put her hand on her pregnant belly. Seven months. And she looked like a whale. She smiled sadly at herself in the reflection. A whale with glowing, perfect skin at least.

Looking down at her reflection, Bulma sighed. The only way she got to see her ankles anymore was in a mirror. Flexing her feet one at a time, she nodded. Some stiffness and swelling, but nothing major thank goodness. But what had Chi Chi told her? They performed a c-section on her to get Gohan at ten months, and he'd still looked small to her.

So. Ten months? Eleven months? How long did Saiyan-Human hybrids need to gestate? Should she pull her doctor aside and explain some things to him? Would the man believe her? Bulma sighed, she couldn't put it off much longer, actually. Not with her being seven months along already.

The cell phone rang, the ring tone of a popular science fiction program, interrupting her thoughts. Bulma smiled even as she answered her phone. When she'd been with Yamcha, the ring tones had been a reflection of that relationship. Sports fan songs. Not anymore.

"Hello?"

"Oh Bulma, dear!" Chi Chi's voice rang cheerfully from the cell phone.

"Your timing is perfect, I was just thinking about you." Bulma laughed.

Chi Chi laughed as well. "Sometimes it just happens like that. So, how are you doing these days?"

The turquoise-haired woman smiled wistfully and eyed her seven-monthed belly in the mirror. "Fat."

Chi Chi's voice stumbled a bit. "Huh?"

Bulma shook her head and shrugged. "I ate too much at dinner last night, never mind me. How are you?"

"I'm sure you're lovely as always, dear." Chi Chi said firmly. "I just wanted to call and thank you for your idea for sending Goku and Piccalo to driving school!"

"Oh?" Bulma's mind raced back to that last conversation and smiled. "Did they get their licenses?"

"Oh yes!" Chi Chi laughed. "Though they still don't like to drive me to town for supplies. Takes away from their training. These men hate being taken from their training!"

Bulma sighed and agreed emphatically. "Don't I just know it." She turned her head to look out the window, but the gravity chamber was too far over to the other side and she couldn't see it. Still, it's where her 'husband' spent nearly all his time these days.

Chi Chi however, completely misunderstood. "Bulma?" There was a long pause. "Did you and Yamcha make up dear? Now he's ignoring you to train. Oh, I wouldn't let it bother you too much."

"No, no!" Bulma answered hastily. Drat Vegeta and his need to keep their relationship a secret! "No, I was just sympathizing with you. Can't be easy married to a Saiyan." Her hand dropped down to her belly once more. "Or being the mother of one."

If Chi Chi thought Bulma's voice sounded odd or worried, she didn't let on. Instead she gave a chuckle and a little sigh. "It's different, I'll tell you that."

Bulma and Chi Chi were friendly, but not exactly close chums. Not secret sharing and slumber party close. But now they had something in common that no one else on Earth could understand. Bulma winced. Except not even Chi Chi knew about it yet! Stupid Vegeta and his secrets!

"What's it like being married to a Saiyan?" Bulma asked, hoping Chi Chi wouldn't ask why she needed to know.

The other woman laughed merrily. "Large grocery bills and long absences." She answered without thought.

Bulma laughed as well, though she ached to ask deeper, more personal questions. "I can only imagine, after seeing your boys eat."

Chi Chi laughed and told an amusing tale of Goku at a local buffet that refused to serve him anymore after running out of supplies every time the Saiyan visited. "And Gohan isn't much better!" The proud mother sniffed.

Gohan. Bulma smiled softly. The only other Saiyan-Human hybrid. The only ...the only one. Her frown disappeared. "Chi Chi? May I ask you something personal?"

Chi Chi stopped and fell silent for a moment. "You sound sad."

Bulma back-pedaled a bit. "Oh no, it's just. Why ...oh, this is ...I mean ...why is Gohan an only child? You weren't hurt during the pregnancy or anything, were you?"

There was a very, very long pause now and Bulma was afraid she'd insulted the other woman. But finally Chi Chi spoke. "Are you pregnant? I know last time we spoke you asked some questions as well. Is Yamcha not living up to his responsibilities?"

Never more than now was Bulma tempted to break Vegeta's rule about secrecy. She really, really wanted to break down, cry it out, and tell Chi Chi everything. Instead, her words fell from between nearly numb lips. "No. But I know how much you adore Gohan, it's in your voice every time you mention him and all ..."

"Oh, oh my." Chi Chi gave a rough chuckle and caught her breath. "I suppose I do run on about my boy, I'm sorry."

"No, no, don't apologize!" The turquoise-haired woman rushed to respond. "I love hearing you talk about your son, but I just wondered and all, why he's an only child." She bit her lip and wondered how bad Chi Chi was going to be hurt when she found out that Bulma really was pregnant.

Chi Chi paused, and Bulma could almost hear the inner mental conversation about what to share and what not to share. Finally, Goku's wife took a deep breath. "It's not for lack of trying." Was all she said.

Bulma blushed all the way to her toes as she heard the longing in the other woman's voice, and all that was left unsaid spoke volumes. Gohan wasn't a baby anymore. So years. Years of trying, and failure. "I am so sorry I asked." She spoke almost too softly to be heard, tears welling up in her blue eyes.

Chi Chi gave a ragged little sound, then collected herself. "No. Maybe I should speak to someone about this. It's so hard since Goku is a Saiyan and all."

Bulma gave a wry smile that the other woman couldn't see, not over the phone.

"When I had Gohan, I was so naive and innocent. I mean, no one knew Goku was a Saiyan at that time, after all." Chi Chi continued. "I let the doctors induce me at ten months, thinking he was late. When I consider that I have no idea how long he should have stayed inside me, I have nightmares about it actually."

Bulma's hand tightened protectively on her pregnant belly, though she didn't speak.

"And, well ..." Chi Chi laughed, a bit over brightly, as if trying to hide her real emotions. "We weren't trying to have Gohan, not yet anyway. I just got pregnant so easily. And now that I want a second child, and it's not so easy this time."

Click.

Bulma's mental ears perked up. Thoughts spun around in her mind. Pills. Birth control pills. She'd been on them when she got pregnant. Her scientific brain spun and she had a lightening bolt of realization.

"Chi Chi?" Bulma said, not sure how to put this. "Perhaps you should recreate your body chemistry to be the same as when you first got pregnant with Gohan."

"Huh?"

Bulma nodded and her voice firmed up as she thought about it. "You weren't trying to get pregnant at the time, right? You took birth control pills?"

"Really Bulma!" Chi Chi shied away from the conversation a bit.

But the turquoise-haired woman would not be deterred, not after hearing the longing in the other woman's voice when she mentioned having a second child. "Perhaps because Goku is a Saiyan, it changes things. Maybe your body needs those birth control pills in order to GET pregnant, not the other way around."

How damned ironic! Bulma sank down into a nearby chair as she took a deep breath. By trying to prevent a pregnancy, she'd assured one! Maybe. Not a lot of test data to go by. But two Saiyan pregnancies while the woman was taking birth control? It was a valid hypothesis at least.

"But ...I ...I ..." Chi Chi was floundering a bit. "I don't know."

"What have you got to lose?" Bulma said gently.

The other woman took a deep breath before speaking. "I'll ...I'll think about it. But I don't think that'll work."

Bulma nodded, knowing she shouldn't press such a private issue. Besides, she would be able to show some proof once she had her own baby and could finally tell Chi Chi and all their friends the truth. Besides, it might all be a coincidence anyway.

A beeping noise on her phone, broke her thoughts. Bulma peered at the display and then scowled. "I'm sorry Chi Chi, I have to go now. One of the security alarms has been tripped."

Chi Chi gave a small gasp. "Do you need help?"

"No, no." Bulma reassured her. "We're fine."

"Well, you do have that man staying on your property." Chi Chi's voice turned cooler. "That stupid prince, you should make him help you out."

Bulma grimaced. That stupid prince was her husband, actually. "I'll look into it." She assured the other woman.

"He should do something to help you out, since you've been letting him camp out on your family land." Chi Chi sounded rather snide, actually.

Bulma gritted her teeth a moment and then agreed to 'make' that awful man help her out.

.III

Vegeta mopped the sweat from his face and bare torso. He frowned. The drying cloth was already so saturated that it was next to useless now. It could absorb no more. Flipping open the lid on the linen cart for a fresh cloth, the Saiyan frowned sharply.

Empty.

Vegeta scowled at poked at the communicator. "Woman! I need fresh drying cloths in here!" He knew full well she liked to call them towels, and refused to use that word just to get a rise out of his mate. "Woman!"

The Saiyan frowned. His mate wasn't responding. Irritated, he looked at the clock display and frowned. Oh yes. It was some sort of out-of-town conference and Dr. Briefs and his wife were not at home. But Bulma should be. She was now showing her pregnancy, and Vegeta had put his foot down that she wasn't to be seen in public until the baby was born.

Vegeta smiled darkly. Bulma hadn't liked THAT at all. Threw a hellacious fit. But he knew that her safety and the safety of his son were more important than anything else.

Safety. Vegeta's stomach rolled and he scowled sharply. Every day his mate grew bigger, rounder. And every day his concern sharpened. He'd even snuck a look at some of her books. The child was going to come out of her body through a small opening. And yet, day by day his child got bigger and bigger. It was enough to make him incredibly uneasy. He knew it was possible. He knew it was natural. It didn't help.

Small, fragile woman. Large, fragile child. And nothing he could do. Unacceptable.

And if he did not achieve Super Saiyan soon, he could lose them all.

Vegeta shook his head and turned toward the door. He needed new drying cloths, he was not going to check up on his mate and find out why she wasn't answering his summons.

Opening the door to the gravity chamber, he frowned at the fresh air. Looking to his side, he spied the space ship that Dr. Briefs had just finished repairing. The man could not resist a challenge. Vegeta took a deep breath.

The machine was ready. He was ready. It was time to leave. If he had any hope of becoming a Super Saiyan, it was not here on Earth. The distractions were too great.

But how could he leave his mate unprotected? How could he not? To save her and everyone else on this miserable planet, he needed to TRAIN! And he could not accomplish that here. HE NEEDED TO LEAVE!

Vegeta sighed and wiped an errant drop of sweat from his brow before it could fall into his eyes. First he needed to find his mate. To get him fresh drying cloths of course. Not to check up on her. He smiled grimly, not even fooling himself.

Entering the house, Vegeta frowned. Something was different. The doctor and his wife were not here, but it went beyond that. He looked over at the security panel. A red light. Vegeta caught his breath and narrowed his eyes.

The panel was showing a problem downstairs, one of the windows near Dr. Briefs' main household lab. Not his work room at Capsule Corps, no this was the room he used when he woke up in the middle of the night with the urge to tinker with something.

Furious. Vegeta allowed his unease and worry about his mate translate into rage. He was going to kill someone tonight. How dare they intrude on the residence housing his mate and unborn son?

Vegeta rounded the corner to the corridor and stopped cold. His blood froze and his blood pressure soared.

Bulma looked up with a bright smile, her slipper clad foot on the buttocks of the intruder as he lay trussed up and helpless on the floor. His mate lifted up her weapon which bore the Capsule Corps logo. "The best in non-lethal stopping power. And it ties them up." She wrinkled her nose adorably.

Vegeta saw red. "WOMAN!"

His mate gave him an unsure look, then blinked. "There's no problem here, my dear. I have it completely under control."

He could see that. And THAT was the problem! "I could have taken care of them!" He roared.

"You weren't here." Bulma shrugged. "And they were no problem at all."

One of the three incapacitated men gave a whimper from around the duct tape over his mouth.

The Saiyan opened his mouth and nothing came out. He was literally too angry to speak. Veins bulged around his eyes and his fists clenched.

"Calm down, Man." She used the term of affection he craved the most from her. "My man." She smiled. "They were too weak for you, anyway. No challenge."

Vegeta gritted his teeth. The three men were obviously no challenge to him at all. But it was his duty to protect her! It wasn't like she was an ordinary Saiyan female who could take care of herself!

Suddenly, he blinked.

Ice replaced fire in his blood as the Saiyan Prince numbly watch his wife expertly deal with the police when they arrived. He continued to watch as the officials laugh as they carted off the trussed up intruders. He even managed to answer their stupid questions.

She handled it all. It wasn't like a Saiyan female, no. His mate hadn't killed them. But she had dealt with them efficiently and effectively.

Bulma could handle Earth problems. Normal problems. Even normal men breaking into her house to steal her father's secrets when they thought he was out of town.

It was up to Vegeta to handle the other problems. The ones not of Earth. The ones from Earth that were not 'normal'. Like the Red Ribbon Army and their androids.

If he left, she would not be an easy target. No. When he left. He was so lost in thought, it took him a moment to realize his mate was trying to garner his attention.

"Earth to Planet Vegeta."

The Saiyan's eyes finally looked down into her face. "More questions to answer for your officials?"

"No, no ...they finally left." Bulma yawned, obviously tired. "It was pretty cut and dried anyway, dear."

Vegeta gave her a long look, then smiled ruefully. "You knocked them on their asses."

Bulma's own smile turned smug. "I did, didn't I?"

Vegeta opened his arms to her. But his mate wrinkled her nose and shook her head. "You're all sweaty."

"I ran out of drying cloths." He said simply. "You need to keep a better stock."

Bulma stuck out her tongue at him. "It was stocked for three days. You've been in there for four."

"Stock it for four." He growled.

"Come out every third." She growled right back at him.

Vegeta eyed her in appreciation. He had been right to accept her offer of mating. She ...his heart skipped a beat and he stopped his thoughts there.

"I have to train." He managed to say out loud. He couldn't use the word 'leave' yet.

"I know dear, I know." She sighed an gave another jaw-cracking yawn.

Vegeta smiled almost proudly and reached out to touch one of the soft turquoise curls. "You sound exactly like your mother when you say that." He leaned in to kiss his mate.

One moment he was feeling tender and proud. The next a sharp pain had him hissing as he stepped back. She'd struck him! Astonished, Vegeta spit out some blood.

Bulma had open-palm struck him under the chin, forcing his head and neck upwards and he'd bitten his tongue. He stared at her in shock.

"How could you say that?" She screeched. "How could you say I sound like my mother! Take that back!"

Vegeta blinked. What the hell had happened? She hadn't been this upset facing down three strange intruders in her house! "Well, you don't sound like her now." He muttered and spit out some more blood.

"ARGH!" Bulma's face went red and, without warning, she shot him with her gun.

Weighted ropes caught him around the chest, thigh, and lower legs and wrapped numerous times around him. His eyes went wide though he easily kept his balance. "I thought you liked your mother."

"I love my mother!" Bulma stamped one foot. "But I don't want to be her! Never tell me I sound like my mother! I am not some sweet little thing that will stay at home and cook for anyone that comes over!"

The Saiyan wasn't sure what was going on, but now his temper was flaring again. "Well, you don't sound like her now. You're acting the shrew!"

Bang. She shot him again. More weighted ropes.

Vegeta gave her a droll look and flexed his muscles with only a hint of power. The ropes shredded.

Bulma screamed and threw the gun at his head, but it merely bounced off his chest harmlessly.

"You have gone crazy, woman!"

"Oh why don't you go ahead and leave! I know you want to! I can tell!" Bulma screeched at him, her face red and her eyes beginning to swell.

"I will leave and collect my drying cloths and ..."

"No. LEAVE!" Bulma yelled so hard her voice cracked, a whimper escaped her and she took a deep breath to steady her nerves. "Do you think I'm so stupid that I don't know you've been provisioning the space craft?"

Vegeta froze in place.

"Did you think I wouldn't realize that the provisions you've been storing are only enough for one? And that there is no room in that pod for me or a baby?" She hiccuped and glared at him. "Deny you're leaving."

The Saiyan Prince sneered, it was his fall back expression for whenever he felt unsure. "Of course I'm leaving."

"If I said I love you, would you change your mind?" Bulma said, her voice rough as she wiped some tears from her face.

"You love ice cream. You love kittens. You love your show on Thursday nights, the one with the doctors. You love your car." He paused and sneered again.

"I love you."

The sneer vanished and his dark eyes stared at her, but she could not read his expression. Nervously she chewed her bottom lip.

"Beyond all those things you mentioned. Above all of that. I love you." There. There it was. Out there. In his face.

The Saiyan blinked slowly. "All the more reason I need to leave."

"Don't play stupid. You know the meaning of the word love. You know there's a difference between loving a food and loving a person. It's a nuance thing." Bulma glared at him. "You know what I mean when I say that I love you."

Her voice dared him to deny it. He couldn't. "I know."

"You're still leaving." She didn't have to guess. She just knew.

"Yes."

"To train. Become a Super Saiyan."

"Yes." His voice was cold. Sure. Unyielding. "For us."

Bulma shook her head. "For you. If you were someone else, you'd take your mate and your child and relocate, out of danger. But no. Not you. Goku lives here. This is his home. He wants to protect Earth because he loves it. Not you. Not. You."

Vegeta stared at her, unable to refute her words.

"If you were leaving 'for us' you would evacuate us. You wouldn't fight for a world you could care less about. A people you look down on for being weak." She gave him a long look. "You're leaving to train because you WANT this fight."

"Woman."

"Don't 'woman' me!" She snapped at him. "Just go ahead and go."

"Would you leave Earth?" He asked her coolly.

"No." She reached behind her head and rubbed her stiff neck, no longer meeting his eyes. "But asking me to leave Earth never crossed your mind."

The Saiyan nodded. She was right, it hadn't even been a consideration. "I need to train to beat the Red Ribbon Army and the androids. You know this."

"You can train here." Her nerves shot, Bulma looked down at her pregnant belly and sighed. "And you don't need to fight the androids. You want to fight them. As a Super Saiyan." More than he wanted her. Bulma didn't say the last part out loud.

Vegeta didn't answer and finally she looked up at him with a watery smile and nodded. She turned away to leave. "Lock up before you leave the atmosphere, please." Her words were dismissive. And they rang false.

"Woman."

The one word had her stopping, though she didn't look back at him.

Vegeta eyed the length of her back. "I will return."

Not the words she wanted to hear exactly, but not bad. Bulma nodded, but didn't look back at him. "For me and the baby? Or the fight?"

Suddenly he was at her back, though she'd not heard him move. The Saiyan spun her around and leaned into her space. She backed up until she was up against the wall of the corridor. Vegeta pressed closer, their breaths mingling.

"I will return." His gaze bored into hers and demanded a response. Finally she nodded with something less than gracefulness. Still, she had nodded. He grunted in approval.

"For the fight. For my son. For you."

"In that order?" She whispered.

"Shut up." He growled and kissed her within an inch of her life.

Bulma hadn't wanted to respond. Not with him leaving. But his embrace was so warm and she needed him so much. With a small gasp, she opened her mouth to his insistent tongue. Fresh tears fell down her cheeks as she kissed him with all the longing of her heart and soul.

It took a long while before either came up for breath. Vegeta stared into the melting pools of her blue eyes. "I can't stay."

"I won't beg you." She said, the firmness in her tone belied by the tears still on her face.

He growled long and low then wiped one of the tears away with his thumb, bringing the digit to his mouth to taste her essence. "I promise to return."

She stared at him, wanting to beg him to stay but not able to bring her pride to bend that far. "You might not be welcome." She hissed.

He grinned full out and stole another long kiss. Finally he pulled back. "Liar." His smile faded and he took a deep breath. "Bulma. Woman. My mate. I feel ..."

The words he was trying to say just about stopped her heart. Would he, could he, finally tell her how he felt about her?

Suddenly she gasped and Vegeta leaped back, his eyes wide. Her hands flew to her belly as her Saiyan warrior stared, completely undone. "Was that the child?"

Bulma nodded, upset that he'd not finished what he'd been about to say. "She kicked you."

"He. Woman, get it right. That's my son." Vegeta swallowed hard. He'd felt the baby kick before, but not like that.

The turquoise-haired woman shrugged at him. "The ultrasound was inconclusive. She's turned wrong for the pictures. Gender still unknown". She lied to his face. For some reason she couldn't bring herself to admit that she was indeed having a son. If the stupid man wouldn't come to the appointments with her, he didn't deserve to know.

Vegeta growled.

"You ...you were about to say something." Bulma stepped closer to him, looking up into his face.

The Saiyan Prince nodded. He looked at his mate and knew deep in his gut, if he didn't leave now then it wasn't going to happen. He'd witnessed for himself the fact that she could take care of herself and ... and he had no more excuses.

Vegeta looked down into the face of his woman. "I leave tonight."

Stricken mute, Bulma swallowed hard and nodded, looking away in order to keep from bursting into pride shattering tears.

.III

Vegeta finished the last minute calculations and had entered them into the space pod. All was in readiness. He did a few final checks on the monitors and then frowned as he spied something in one of them.

No, not something. Someone.

Bulma watched the space ship from behind the oak tree, unable to stop herself.

"Come to say goodbye, after all?"

Bulma stiffened and turned around to face her husband who must have somehow sneaked out of the pod to fly up and land behind her.

"No. I wouldn't be hiding behind the damned tree if I meant to say anything else to you." She replied smartly.

Vegeta scowled and shook his head. "A proper mate would send me off correctly."

"But I'm not a proper mate, am I?" She poked him in the chest with one finger, which he caught in his hand. "I'm not Saiyan. I'm not tough enough to go with you."

The warrior shook his head at her. "Don't be silly, woman. And you know I go to train. We've been over this. You're the one who brought up the fact of me leaving."

Bulma nodded grimly. She had indeed. "But you were already preparing to go. I merely mentioned your actions."

The Saiyan Prince sighed and shrugged. "It is pointless to argue."

His mate nodded, but wasn't going to just let it go. "I didn't come out here to argue. I just wanted to watch you leave. You're the one who came over here."

Vegeta nodded. "I will return."

"When?"

He shrugged. "When it is time to fight."

Bulma's eyes widened. "That's over a year away!"

Vegeta simply nodded. "I will be back in time for the fight."

"But ..." Bulma stiffened her spine and stepped back. She recalled with perfect clarity Chi Chi's words about being married to a Saiyan. Large grocery bills and long absences. Bulma knew she had to come to terms that her husband wasn't human. He was a Saiyan warrior and a prince.

"Fine." She swallowed the bitter truth. He didn't love her enough to stay. If he loved her at all. "Don't expect to find me or the baby waiting for you."

The Prince smiled darkly. "I call you a liar, woman."

"It's a boy."

Vegeta stilled and his eyes dropped to her belly. "You are sure?"

"Yes."

Something in her voice had his eyes narrowing. "How long have you known?"

"Months."

His dark eyes flew up to meet her gaze and he nodded. "You fight dirty. I like that in a mate. It's almost Saiyan of you."

"You're still leaving." It was a statement, not a question.

Vegeta grabbed her and pulled her as close as her pregnancy belly would permit. He kissed her deeply, leaving her panting as he pulled back away. "Mate. I would take you into battle with me, anytime. Anywhere."

Then he was gone. Poof. Flying away toward his space pod.

Bulma turned to stare as the engines turned on and rough mechanical sounds filled the quiet evening. The space pod rose slowly, then picked up speed. Up and up it rose, going faster and faster.

Until it was gone.

Bulma stared at where the pod had disappeared and finally took a deep, steadying breath.

"Take me into battle?" She sighed. "I want you to tell me you love me, not that you admire that I can fight dirty. Stupid, dratted Saiyan."

.III