Chapter 13

He was seven out of ten months along, and looked like he had a melon of some sort lodged under his shirt... Trunks made it very clear that he thought it was sexy as hell, mostly by humping him constantly like he had this morning (ok, maaaaybe Goten had started that one), not that he minded – but it made going anywhere or moving in general cumbersome. He had asked ahead of time if they could just have a small birthday party here at CC, and everyone had agreed that was probably the best course of action. He was sleeping so much lately that he wasn't sure he could even stay awake for a whole movie or dinner out. He would doze off at any place or time of day, sometimes he just couldn't keep his eyes open. Vegeta said it was because the baby was drawing so much energy from him, and that it meant their little boy would be a strong one. The physical development of their son's body would only last for another month or so, and then the last two months of his gestation would be spent infusing him with the power and toughness that were the hallmarks of the Saiyan race. Basically, the longer before he went into labor, the better.

Vegeta had confided in him and Trunks during that same conversation (I know, weird, right?) that his mother's death during her pregnancy with Tarble had been why he came out so weak and feeble. He had survived, but having had only half the normal time to develop, he would never be anything but a runt, so his father had sent him away. Vegeta seemed to be more open to sharing the details he remembered about their race as Goten's stomach grew. He wasn't sure, but he thought that Vegeta may have been a tiny bit excited to be a grandfather. Goku had explained to him that grandparents got to have all the fun of playing with the children without the work of actually raising them, since they could just send them back home when they were done with them. Vegeta had definitely liked this reasoning; of course he took "fun" and "playing" to mean "sparring" and "fighting", but if Trunks and Goten had both survived being tested by Vegeta as children, they figured their son would too.

The party had gone off without a hitch, it was the first one they'd really had since the "we're divorcing /I'm pregnant/I'm gay/claim me now" one they'd had last the summer (Trunks 17th birthday had just happened to be the day after the gym class incident, so that party had been canceled as part of a month long punishment...) – it was nice to hang out and relax, have a good time with their friends, and eat all afternoon and evening. Goten would fall asleep for 20 minutes to a half-hour here and there, mostly with his head in Trunks' lap and his tail curled up in his, then wake up and go back to socializing again; it was down right adorable if you asked Trunks. Goten was just opening his eyes again from one of said respites, when he noticed Gohan staring at them. He smiled and sat up, working his way over to him across the lawn. Gohan had been training with Dad again for months now, and it definitely showed. He was confident and full of power as he lounged on a plastic chair, but something that Goten couldn't quite put his finger on felt, off, somehow...

"How did you like my party, Gohan?" he asked.

"It was great Goten, I'm glad everyone can all still get together and be cool after all that's changed" he said warmly, "and I'm glad you actually made it to 16 too, I wondered there a few times..." he said jokingly as Goten laughed with him.

"Hey, you wanna know what I found out from Vegeta the other day?" Goten asked after a few moments.

"Sure, what words of wisdom did our fearless Prince have to impart to you." They both were snorting over that one.

"Well, it wasn't actually advise or anything, he just happened to mention that he was glad their race wasn't going to die out like he thought – that even though he and Dad were the last full blooded Saiyans, they could still have hundreds of children over their lifetime."

"Hundreds?" Gohan said abruptly.

"Yeah, I never knew, and I doubt Dad did either, but apparently the average Saiyan life span is like 500 years, not that many of them got the chance to die of old age mind you" Goten replied. Gohan just sat there, flabbergasted at this new development.

"Even if we only live half that long, that's over two centuries!" he finally spoke.

"Well, actually, the mixes Vegeta could remember from other races all lived the normal Saiyan span, no matter what their other half would normally dictate... Saiyan genetics seem to dominate in that particular area. Pretty trippy, right? I never thought I'd live to be 500 years old, 16 seems like nothing compared to that..." Goten said in awe.

"Yeah, pretty trippy..." Gohan said weakly, "You know, I actually need to take off now, I've got work in the morning, I just wanted to wait for you to wake up so I could say goodbye before I left."

"Thanks Gohan!" Goten beamed and gave him a big hug before he took to the air, "Come back soon, ok?"

"Ok, buddy, you got it" he smiled and waved to him from the sky as he flew away. Goten frowned at the sky his brother had flown off into – that feeling hadn't gone away, in fact, it was... thicker, somehow, when he got closer to him. His brother seemed ok, but the feeling nagged at him all the same, like his subconscious thought it was important even though his mind was getting ready to dismiss it. He was pretty sure that if he had tried to talk about it with him here, it would go nowhere – too many people around constantly... He decided to make a chance for it to be just the two of them to bring it up.

The next day he waited until Gohan and Dad were almost done with their spar, and then IT'd directly into Gohan's apartment. He figured he would start some dinner for him while a waited – Gohan never ate with them after he sparred, saying he needed to get home and get cleaned up first. Goten was not prepared for the disarray of filth that awaited him there. Gohan had always been neat and tidy growing up, but it looked like a garbage dump in here now. Goten had been to his apartment a few times in the past, and never really thought anything of it being clean and orderly. Maybe he was working and training so much that he didn't have time to clean?, thought Goten... But as he looked around, he saw that almost every pile contained empty liquor bottles of some kind. Some weren't even empty, but were still mixed in with trash, clothes, dishes and food – the whole place reeked of alcohol now that he inhaled. That was probably because there was an open bottle of rum laying on its side just through the door to Gohan's bedroom, a dark stain beneath it where it had soaked into the carpet. What was going on here? It was completely unlike Gohan to be such a slob... he was definitely beginning to believe his subconscious about that feeling now – something was terribly wrong with his brother.

He walked over to pick up the bottle from the floor, and when he stood in the doorway to Gohan's room, his eye caught the glint of broken glass farther in. He sighed, and went in, expecting to find a broken bottle or possibly pile of them at this point, but he didn't. Leaning against the wall opposite the bed was a huge picture frame, the one that Dad had framed Gohan's gi from the Cell games in. He had done it for him when Gohan graduated high school, and gave it to him as a present to remember what was truly important. Chichi had been mad, thinking that he meant fighting was the only important thing in the world, but Gohan had explained to him that Dad had pulled him aside and said that was really trying to tell him was how proud he was of him for saving his friends and family and the whole earth. It was one of Gohan's most treasured possessions, and it was laying there crookedly, torn from its bracket on the wall, glass shattered and frame indented with what where obviously finger grooves from "someone" holding it too tightly. The gi had been torn out and there was dried blood on several of the shards of glass that still clung to the frame. Goten stared at it for a moment, and then looked around the room in shock. Then he noticed the gi was laid out smoothly on the foot of the bed, that neatly made comforter being the only spot of order in the chaos surrounding it. There was a smaller picture fame, for a regular sized photo, laying on top of it, and Goten couldn't resist the urge to pick it up. It was a group photo of their family and friends, all standing on the lawn of CC (those photo's didn't happen very often)... It must have been right after the Cell games, because Gohan was just a boy, Dad was missing from the bunch, and they were all standing in front of some spaceship looking thing that must have been the time machine. He was caught up in looking at how much certain people's faces had changed, and others' hadn't at all, when all of a sudden Gohan was in the doorway glaring at him.

Goten just stood there for a moment feeling slightly guilty, then put the picture back and crossed the floor to where Gohan stood in silence. He started to speak, reaching out a hand to his older brother as he did, but Gohan cut him off.

"Don't." he said as he knocked his hand away, "Don't ever come in here again Goten" his voice was cold with rage. Goten blinked and looked at him with a strange mix of indignation laced with pity, and it was too much for Gohan's fried nerves.

"Get out Goten."

"But, Goh-"

"I said GET OUT!" He screamed, and power poured off of him in a wave that blasted all the refuse around them into a whirlwind, cracked the walls, and made the floor buckle. Goten could finally place that feeling he had been getting around Gohan lately, and he immediately IT'd away as instructed; afraid of his sweet, shy brother for the first time in his life. When Gohan had powered up like that, he could practically smell it, the 'wrongness' was so thick – Gohan was going insane.