Locke

The crowds of people filling the wasteland buzzed with chatter, clustered around the large arena. My dad stood in the center, staring at his watch in anticipation.

When it hit noon exactly, he raised his voice for all to hear. "Welcome, one and all, to the second Cell Games!" A cheer rang out through the crowd. "Now, allow me to go over the rules. First of all, all rules included in the World Tournament are still valid here. Second, as I am aware many of the contestants have the ability to transform, it is strictly prohibited; you must remain in your most basic form at all times. Energy attacks and flying are also banned." He clapped his hands together. "That is all I have for you. Now, it is time for me to introduce our contestants!"

He went through a memorized list of contestants, going through people I'd never heard of, Hercule, and the Z-Fighters. Finally, he came to me. "And last, but certainly not least, the only one to have the privilege to train under me, I present my own son, Locke Brangwen-Gero." I raised a hand in greeting, but stayed planted in my lounge chair, transported via Capsule. "With all of the contestants announced, I will turn your attention to my wife, Rachel Gero, for the line-up."

My mom approached the ring with a microphone, but had to be helped up by Dad due to the large bulge in her stomach, inhabited by my little brother. She went through a list that everyone had been handed hours ago. Strangely enough, the last fight of the round, as well as the day, would be me versus Tien.

Cell thanked her and patted her pregnant belly before addressing everyone again. "Now then, the first fight between Son Gohan and Hercule Satan will be under way shortly."

With the annoucnements over, Piccolo decided to bring something up. "Hey, Locke?" he asked.

"Hm?"

"I noticed that Meadow isn't here yet. Is everything okay?"

I nodded. "Yeah. She was having some bad contractions, so I asked her to stay home and watch the livestream."

Gohan furrowed his brow worriedly. "It'd be pretty bad luck if she had the baby today," he commented.

I shrugged. "Not really. I mean, my match isn't until tonight; I wouldn't really miss much. Anyway, the doctors say she isn't due for another few days."

"You know those are just estimations," Trunks pointed out, "right?"

I shrugged again, but internally, they had me kinda worried. In the past nine months, I'd become increasingly scared. What if I wasn't ready to be a father? What if Meadow decided we weren't working and dumped me, taking the baby with her? What if something went wrong during birth and I lost one or both of them? It was f*cking terrifying!

A half-hour later, Gohan and Hercule entered the ring. The fight went as expected, with Gohan taking one punch and throwing the match on purpose. Just a note: Gohan was the only one that agreed to help Hercule this time around. The rest of us weren't going to be so nice.

The fights continued on, with Goten beating Krillin by ring-out and 18 K. some random guy, when my phone rang.

Goten

I'd been in a sour mood for the past nine months, but especially this week. Meadow was going to give birth any day now, and she and Locke still seemed perfectly in love. My chances of winning her back were quickly going down the drain. My only hope now was if Locke got cold feet and escaped into space, the only place he could hide.

Right as 18's fight was ending, Locke's phone rang and he checked it. His eyes snapped wide open and he blasted into the sky without a word, smashing his chair and cracking the ground beneath him. We all stood in stunned silence, but no one questioned it; likely, Meadow had informed him that she'd felt a kick and, like always, he'd raced off to prepare for the baby's arrival.

Then a few minutes later, 18 got a text. Her eyes widened, and she quickly responded. When another came, she showed us. It was only one word and unpunctuated, but it was all we needed.

Baby

I sunk into my chair and sighed, my heart sinking. "That's it, then. My chances are done for."

Locke

I hurried home and stuffed everything I'd gotten ready into two Capsules, along with a fairly cliche gift carried outside one, before racing to the hospital, where Meadow's dad had taken her.

I tried my best to slow my breathing as I stood outside the door, but it was difficult. This was the big moment; in an hour or so, I was going to be a dad. Steeling myself, I pushed open the door and took in the scene. Doctors and nurses preparing various devices, Meadow's parents worriedly sitting beside her, and my bride-to-be laying on a hospital bed, her bulging belly giving the occasional throb that only my enhanced senses picked up.

One of the doctors noticed me and started to bar the way, but Meadow's dad stopped him. "He's the father," he informed them.

"The huge teddy bear should have clued you in." I was let in and I took a seat beside the bed, setting said gift on the floor.

Meadow smiled and reached out her hand, which I gratefully took. "Sorry to take you from the tournament," she apologized.

"Forget it," I assured her. "This is more important."

Cell

I was alarmed when my sister informed me that my grandchild would arrive within the next hour or so, but I had to swallow my shock and continue my role as announcer and host. The fights were going by fairly quickly, but as a lot of people had entered, I didn't bother worrying about Locke missing his.

A little more than an hour later, while Piccolo and 17 duked it out in the ring, my phone buzzed. I checked it, then smiled with glee and relief. The message read: It's a girl! The next message was a picture of Locke and Meadow, joyful tears streaking down their smiling faces, while the latter held a tiny pink bundle with a precious sleeping face.

"Cell?" Rachel called. I looked up, noticing that 17 was rubbing his rear end as he picked himself up from the dirt.

"Oh, I'm sorry!" I raced into the ring and lifted Piccolo's hand into the air. "#17 has gone out-of-bounds. The winner is Majunior!" Piccolo smirked down at 17, who smiled weakly and limped back to the others. "Now, before the next match, I have one piece of information that has me too elated to keep to myself." I held the phone to where I could see it, smiling softly at the small family. "As of a few minutes ago, I am a grandfather." A cheer rose in the crowd. "Now, I'm going to hurry this up so I can enjoy this further. The next fight is between #8 and Son Pan."

Meadow

Locke couldn't hold back his tears as he gently cradled our newborn baby, though I couldn't really claim differently about myself. The bundle gave a light squeak that sent my heart fluttering.

"Her eyes are open," he informed me through his sob-induced hiccups. He relocated onto the bed and held her where I could see. Sure enough, the bright yellow rings stared at me, unable to comprehend what was happening.

I reached forward and stroked her thin layer of brown hair. "She needs a name," I decided. "That's the one thing we didn't plan, isn't it?"

Locke nodded, then held her out to me. "You go ahead. I'll wait for the next one."

I smiled, but shook my head. "You're the one that saved the world. I'll take the next one."

"Assuming you'll have more," Mom grumbled, but I could tell that even she was having trouble being angry right now.

He seemed unsure, but looked back at her tiny face, yellow eyes meeting their mirrors, thinking hard. "Alexis," he decided, then smiled and lightly stroked her head. "Do you like that, Lexi?"

I giggled and put my hand on his leg. "And you thought you couldn't do it."

"I didn't think I could do any of this." His smile softened and he lightly kissed her forehead. "But here I am, holding my baby girl, and suddenly the happiest person on Earth. How did I ever consider leaving this behind?"

"You did what now?" My smile became an agressive glare.

Locke gulped and grinned nervously. "I-I mean, becoming a dad would be terrifying as it is, but when I'm sixteen, just almost seventeen, as well as half a year older than my baby's mom... Yeah, I thought about it." He looked down and rubbed the baby's cheek with his thumb. "But I'm still here, right, Lexi? And I'm here to stay. Don't anyone worry about a thing."

I sighed and let his confession slide. "You'd better be, because if you did do that, you know that Cell, 17, 18, Goten, and Trunks would make you regret it. But I guess your programming would have stopped you, anyway." He nodded. "Can I see her?" He smiled and stood, walking closer to place my daughter in my arms. "Hi, Lexi," I cooed, looking into her piercing yellow eyes. Just by that one feature, I felt that she'd someday follow in her father's footsteps.

A little while later, while it had cycled back to being Locke's turn to hold Alexis, the TV playing on the other side of the room caught everyone's attention. "It's time for the final match of the first round: Locke Brangwen-Gero versus Tien Shinhan. Unfortunately, Locke has yet to return from the hospital after the birth of his daughter. I wish I could provide more help, him being my son, but as stated by the rules, Locke has two minutes to return to the ring or he will be disqualified." Cell looked at a handheld timer and started verbally counting down.

I looked at Locke, who was pretending not to have noticed. "Locke," I said carefully, "you need to go."

He shook his head. "I can't leave her."

I smiled. "Locke, what do you want her to hear when she grows up: that you ditched your first major tournament, or that you fought hard and came home a real warrior?" He looked unsure, but I held my arms out. "She'll be here when you're done." He nodded and set the baby in my arms. "Go easy on Tien, okay? Unlike you, he's completely human."

Locke smiled and brought two fingers to his forehead. "I'll see what I can do." Then he vanished.

I happilly bent down to kiss Alexis. "Let's root for Daddy together, okay?"

Locke

"I'm here!" I shouted as I appeared beside Dad and Tien.

Dad sighed in relief. "Then let's get this over with, so I can go see my granddaughter." He cleared his throat. "Contestants, take your positions." We both walked to opposite ends of the ring and took our stances.

"Congratulations," Tien said while Cell counted down again.

"Thanks," I responded. "But don't expect me to give you the win."

"Never."

"Three, two, one!"

And that's a wrap. I am really proud to say that this is the first fanfic I've ever completed, despite the nineteen GB I have full of these.

Now, this isn't quite over yet. I'll be uploading a shorter fic sometime in the near future, time-skipping through Alexis's childhood and other events, just for some better closure to the story. I'm not sure when I'll upload that, but it's unfortunately all I have nearly prepared now, even after having finished this so long ago, so I'll be kinda MIA for a while. I hope no one forgets me.

P.S.: I chose Alexis's name from a list of names meaning "kind". Just one more quick note.