Chapter 11

Piccolo was impressed with Gohan's progress, he was totally focused in a way he hadn't seen him since Buu... Both of them typically needed a senzu after their workouts now, and Piccolo could feel that Gohan was out growing him power-wise.

"Oh, by the way Piccolo, I won't be able to spar tomorrow, I'm going over to CC to see Goten and let Bulma 'examine' me" Gohan said with a slightly nervous laugh.

"Ok kid, no problem... I've been meaning to bring this up anyway, so you might as well address it while you're there tomorrow – I don't think I'm going to cut it for your training partner much longer. Your power base is back up to a respectable level, and honestly, unless you want to learn some new meditation techniques, there isn't going to be a whole lot I can do to help you improve after this. You'd be better off moving on to spar with a Saiyan now, I'm sure your father would be thrilled to take over from here" he said with a small hint of pride in his voice. Gohan heard it, and since he had, he couldn't very well wine about how he was wrong...

"Thanks, Mr. Piccolo. You know, my Dad would be even more thrilled to train with the both of us at once" he said with a grin.

"Yeah, but realistically, and it does pain me to say this, I'd just hold you guys back when you really got going at it, so I think I'll just stay here and go back to my meditation" Piccolo replied.

"Ok, I understand, thanks for everything!" Gohan said as turned to fly home. What the fuck was he going to do now?...

He stopped by a store that catered to all things 'baby' later that evening, and just wandered the isles for a while, taken aback by the sheer number of things they offered. He hadn't know ¾ of this stuff even existed, his mom had never used any of this with himself or Goten. Besides, most of it centered around 'safety' concerns – and no half-Saiyan baby would be fazed by any of the so called 'dangers' this stuff was meant to protect from. Ugh, this sucked. He was down to basically two options: clothes, or something 'decorative'. Both of which proved problematic because he didn't know if it was a boy or a girl yet... He was just about to give up and go gather the dragon balls, 'cause that would have been easier, when a baby blanket set caught his eye. It was a three pack with "gender neutral" backgrounds, white, green, and yellow, that had adorable little monkeys climbing trees, eating bananas, and playing with coconuts on it. It wasn't very expensive, he didn't feel like it would be enough of a gift, but he knew it was probably the only thing in the store he could actually show up with tomorrow and not be embarrassed about. It would have to do. He even paid the lady at the counter to gift wrap it nicely for him, he didn't want it to smell like booze if he tried to do it at home.

When he arrived at CC the next day, his cheerful yet slightly apologetic demeanor was firmly in place. Goten was thrilled to see him, and looking back, he probably shouldn't have been so worried about that. His Dad wrapped him in a big bear-hug, doing his best to apologize for Vegeta without actually saying anything about the incident. Gohan let himself relax, really relax, for just a minute, and hugged his Dad back. Then the moment passed, and he had to pull away.

"Hey Dad, you know, this might seem out of the blue, but I was wondering if you'd train me in the evenings after work each day. I didn't really realize how much I've missed sparring with you – I tried to get Piccolo on board too, but he thought it would be better if it were just the two of us" Gohan asked cheerfully. Goku's eyes lit up and a huge grin spread across his face.

"That would be great Gohan! I had kind-a thought you'd given up on training, but this is awesome!" Goku beamed.

"Well, I kind-of had, but I guess I'm starting to realize that this high-paying job I studied all my life for isn't as fulfilling as I thought it would be..." Gohan explained while rubbing the back of his neck. His Dad clapped him on the back and just laughed. When he was done there, Gohan turned to his little brother.

"Here, I got this for you – for the baby" he said. Goten's eyes lit up, and he practically glowed as he unwrapped it. Not the SSJ kind, just the normal happy pregnant glow.

"Awwwwe, it's perfect Gohan! I love it!" he gushed, showing it to Trunks, "Look, at the little baby monkeys!" Trunks smiled and thanked Gohan as well, he seemed to be adjusting to Goten's pregnancy pretty well. Goten pulled the blankets out of their package and was feeling their softness against his cheek, when he started to cry.

"I wish I had my tail" he said, rubbing his finger over one of the cartoon monkeys that was picking up a banana with its furry appendage. Trunks rubbed his back, and used the corner of one of the blankets to dry his tears.

"We only have four more dragon balls to go Goten, then you'll be whole again, I promise" Trunks said to him.

"You're going to wish for your tails back?" Gohan asked incredulously, "Are you sure that's a good idea? Neither of you exactly know how to control the Oozaru, do you?"

"No, but my Dad is going to teach us after the birth" said Trunks, "Apparently the birth will be much easier, less painful for him if he has his tail, and since he was getting is, me and our Dad's figured we could word the wish to include all if us. Do you want to get your tail back too Gohan?"

"Yes" he sighed, "definitely." He remembered his tail fondly, Trunks and Goten didn't even know what they were missing.

"Cool, we'll let you know when Dad's got the last one" he said.

"Vegeta's gathering the dragon balls all by himself?" Gohan was surprised.

"Yeah, he didn't really want to, but I can't take off and leave Goten right now, plus we've both got school – and your Dad was going to go, but kept worrying about Goten so much that Dad got annoyed (shock) with his whining and sent him away" Trunks laughed.

"Hey!" said Goku indignantly, "I was not whining!" Their laughter was interrupted by Bulma, Yamucha and Bulla arriving home.

"Hi Gohan!" Bulma said, "I'm so glad you agreed to come by, I was actually hoping I could coerce another blood sample out of you as well tonight" she said with a bat of her eyes. Bulla giggled in her father's arms, and looked at Gohan coyly.

"You better do what she says Gohan, Momma always get's her way!" she giggled.

"Yeesh Bulma, could you tone it down a little in front of the kid? At this rate she's gonna end up thinking women rule the world or something" Yamucha frowned. Bulma smiled at him slowly, the light in her eyes changing from playful to dangerous – and Bulla hopped down out of her fathers' arms with a squeal.

"You've done it now Poppa!" she laughed as she ran from him over to give Goku a hug.

"We do, Yamucha," she said from about an inch from his face, jabbing her finger into his chest, "or have you forgotten who 'wears the pants' around here?" she said as she flashed him a slightly feral grin. Yamucha paled and blushed at the same time, if that was possible.

"No, no, I haven't forgot" he said with wide puppy-dog eyes, while grinning from ear to ear and putting his hands up in a defensive manner. Bulma made a show of eying him up and down, as if she could tell by looking at him weather he remembered correctly or not. Bulma had loved discovering the dominant side of her nature, but Vegeta had patently refused anything that even resembled her being in charge of their "relationship". In the end she had been much happier after going back to the duly submissive Yamucha – he was putty in her hands this time around, having finally admitted that he totally got off on the "beat him to a bloody pulp if he so much as even looked at another girl" side of her... She smiled that wicked smile one more time, and then flashed back to her cheerfully intelligent scientist mode.

"Come on, Gohan, let's go down to the lab and get started, Yamucha should have dinner ready by the time we're done" she winked at her boyfriend as she pulled Gohan by the arm to follow her.

"Yeah, yeah," he said playfully, "I'll get right on that Rose." Bulma stopped in her tracks and cocked her head to the side, blinked slowly at him, and Yamucha gave a 'meep' and jumped into the kitchen. She grinned at the laughing Saiyans all around her and then continued down the hall.

Gohan was more than a little nervous about the 'exam'; he had been hoping he could save this for last and then run away as fast as possible once it was over, but after Bulma and Yamucha's little display back there, he didn't think it was wise to go against her wishes... So now he was laying in the med bay, completely naked, as Bulma squirted goo on him. He took deep, even breaths and stared intently at the ceiling until images began flashing on the machine's screen. He was seriously regretting not having become a doctor right now, then he could have just done the ultrasound to himself... Bulma captured a couple different images as she worked her way down – this was the part he was dreading – and then she slid the wand down gently on his left side, about an inch from his balls, took an image, stared at the screen for a moment, then pulled back.

"All done" she said gently, but with a light in her eyes and a knowing smile.

"What? Are you serious? That was faster than I thought it would be" he said in a relieved voice.

"Well, after doing your brother and Dad (Kami that sounded dirty), I know what I'm looking for now, so yeah, much quicker this time."

"Oh..., so..., you found what you were looking for?" he asked quietly.

"Yes, you should be just as capable of bearing children as the rest of your family, you've got all the 'equipment' necessary" she said, handing him a towel. She pointed to the last image on the screen, and brought his attention to a "Y" shaped section.

"I know you are familiar with the concept of a uterus, so I won't go into that, but I do want to go over this difference here" she gestured.

"You guys have a secondary opening, covered with a small flap behind your prostate, that allows access for the actual 'impregnation' part of it" Bulma said matter-of-factly.

"According to what Vegeta remembers of this particular trait though, you won't actually be using it as a 'birth canal' as I had thought. Apparently a slit will begin to open below your stomach when it's time to give birth, this is just an avenue for the sperm to gain entrance at the right angle." Gohan was not blushing as badly as he thought he would be, he was more like fascinated as he pulled his pants on. Letting her words sink in, he muttered to himself before he could help it,

"Great, so only if I'm getting pounded into really well do I have to worry about getting knocked up – that's just perfect." Bulma's eyes went wide, and a huge grin cracked her face before she started laughing hysterically. Gohan blushed and smacked him self in the forehead for letting that slip out. Bulma was literally crying she was laughing so hard. He put his shirt back on and started to leave when she grabbed his arm and tried to compose herself, apologizing to him.

"I'm sorry Gohan, it's just – damn, it's not you really... I mean it's not just you anyway; that had me losing it back there. I couldn't help it" she said as she wiped the tears away from her eyes.

"Um, OK..." he said, confused. Bulma was smiling while covering her eyes with her hand in frustration at the same time, but managed to keep it together as she went on.

"It's just that when I was done explaining the situation to your Dad before – he said the exact same thing – word for word Gohan. I just couldn't help it!" she finished with a shocked yet amused look on her face. Gohan closed his eyes and folded his arms across his chest, breathing out slowly. He looked her in the eye and couldn't believe the words that came out of his mouth next.

"Well, I guess now you know it IS hereditary then, don't you?" emphasizing the "is" to make sure she knew exactly which conversation he was referring to. Bulma was frozen with her mouth hanging open, not expecting that from shy little Gohan, but at least her cheeks had the sense to blush for her. He grinned and walked out of the room, leaving her with the medical equipment and an formerly unseen side of the eldest Son brother to mull over. As Gohan walked down the hall, he chided himself for being too close to flirting there – it was great to see that look of shock on her face, but he didn't want her to take it the wrong way... Oh well, not a lot he could do about it, he certainly wasn't going back in there now; he would just have to be more guarded in the future...