Piccolo stood in a busy supermarket, looking over a list in one hand and holding Goten in the other. Well, it was busy until he came in. And, as if by magic, most of the store was barren except for a stubborn few.
Piccolo snorted as he saw what was scribbled down in Chi-Chi's hand writing, 'four bottles of hot sauce'. He shook his head, folding it back into his jeans pocket. Since he would be in public today, he opted to wear more...casual clothing so he could move around a lot easier. Black baggy jeans and a long sleeved purple sweater seemed to suffice for the moment.
He heard the rattling of objects bumping around in a cart as Gohan skidded to a halt next to him, almost leaving skid marks on the overly white tile. "Did you get those supplements your mother asked for?"
Gohan grinned up at him, "Yup! Got all of the meat too!"
Piccolo glanced down into the cart, noticing there was a whole chocolate cake in the basket. He gave Gohan a look. "Do they kill dessert like creatures now?" He raised an eye ridge, a bit of mirth in his eyes.
A blush crossed Gohan's face, knowing he couldn't just pull the wool over his teacher's eyes. Not since the incident a year and a half ago. "Pleeease!" Gohan whined, "It'll be for mom too!" Goten saw the cake and started to agree with his brother, "Ya!"
"Not unless you dump a whole bottle of cumin on it." Gohan grimaced not quite sure if he was making that up. There was a sigh, "Fine. But I will claim that none of this was my idea."
"Right on!" They started making their way down the aisle. Gohan running to each shelf as Piccolo listed off the items that Chi-Chi wanted. Goten helped too, finding the items when Gohan couldn't. Like an adventurer leading the way.
"Papa!" Piccolo glanced over to the boy, humming in response. "I wanna look at the toys!"
"When we get all we need, Goten." Goten crossed his arms, sinking into his body. Tears at the ready. Then the tantrum erupted. Piccolo groaned. The boy was too smart. Knowing that Piccolo would crack up the weight of any sign of sadness. But he wasn't about to raise a brat. "No. Goten. Don't start." He placed Goten on the ground.
He raised his arms up, grabbing for the man, "Up Papa!"
He tried his best not to bear his fangs, "Not until you behave. Now grab my hand or I take you home right now."
Goten thought about his options, wiping tears from his face. Finally, he reached up for Piccolo's finger. Walking along with his family.
The cart was overflowing with food as they made it to an empty check out lane. Piccolo stood a little ways from the check out lane as Gohan placed all the food on the belt. The bager, clearly use to his presence, bagged with the same blank, uncaring stare as he did with everyone else. The cashier, however, was stuttering on every word he spoke. Glancing at the ex-demon himself. Gohan gave the man a patient grin as everything was finishing up.
Piccolo and Gohan laded in front of the house with arms full of bags. Goten strapped to the chest of Gohan.
Chi-Chi was napping on the couch in her "comfy clothes". Which consisted of grey sweatpants and an overly large green sweatshirt. Her eyes opened up groggily as the three entered the house, prepared to unload their bounty.
"Mm-you back a'ready?"
"Yup!" Gohan unstrapped his brother from him, setting the boy on the floor. Goten ran over to his mother, jumping onto the couch. Chi-Chi sat up a little bit, leaning against the arm of the couch.
"I wanna touch the baby!"
A soft smile graced her face as she ran her hands through her son's hair. She raised her shirt to revel a large baby bump. Not as big as either the boys were at that time frame, but not as small as she thought it would be.
Wonder etched over the three year old's face, like every time before. He placed a hand on her stomach, feeling it move. "Is it a brother mama?"
"I don't know sweetheart. That's the surprise of it!"
Goten nodded, not really understanding it. He laid his head on her stomach, listening intently with a smile on his face. Gohan ran over after the groceries were put away. Jumping onto the couch. Goten giggled, crawling over to his brother to only to be barraged with tickles. Piccolo stood behind the couch, leaning down to receive a kiss from his wife.
Chi-Chi laughed at the the T.V show. Her body shaking in Piccolo's lap with a bowl of spicy popcorn in her lap. Piccolo himself was leaning against the arm of the couch, one hand lazily rubbing Chi-Chi's protruding stomach and the other supporting his head.
Her head was resting against his chest as she shoved a fistful of popcorn into her mouth. Piccolo snorted in amusement. He flicked a few kernels off of the sides of her mouth before resuming to watch the show. One he still didn't quite understand.
His hand motions stopped when he felt a slight kick. He rested his hand at that spot, relishing the little barrage against the infants mother. Chi-Chi huffed, crossing her arms. "They've been doing that all day."
"They're going to be a little fighter."
"Oh great. Another child to give me more stress marks. Just what I need." She rolled her eyes, settling deeper into Piccolo.
"They'll be just like their mother." He placed a kiss on top of her hair, smelling all of the food that she made that day.
"You're quite the charmer when you need to be." Chi-Chi moved her head to look at him. Giving him a little smirk.
He hummed, his own smile forming on his lips. "Not that much of one. But I try." He tapped gently on her stomach. "You still don't want to know what gender the child is? Gohan mentioned that you human doctors can figure that out"
Chi-Chi shrugged, rubbing her belly herself, "It's more of a surprise that way!"
"Right. Exciting."
Scoffing, she placed her hand on Piccolo's arm. Tracing the designs in his arm. "Much more fun to bet on too. What do you want?" Piccolo looked at her in confusion. "Do you want a boy or a girl?"
He shook his head, staring at the T.V again, "Doesn't matter to me. A child is a child."
"I want a girl." Piccolo hummed. "Yes. A little baby girl that I dote on!"
"What do you call it when you do the same with the other two." He chuckled as his wife smacked him.
"You know what I meant! Just another girl to relate to." Suddenly, there was a twinkle in her eye. "Lets have a bet." She popped another piece of popcorn into her mouth, " If we have a boy...I'll let you trian Goten a whole six months early!" Piccolo's antenna perked up at the sound of that. "And if it's a girl...Goten has to wait another year."
"I suppose we can bet on that." Piccolo honestly wanted to argue, but with her sitting ontop of him made it...a clear option that it shouldn't be an option.
Piccolo was not prepared for this day. There was no conceivable way he could've even thought he was ready. At least when Cell came he knew what he was up against. This though? Not a chance. He could've written a book about how unready he was about the whole thing.
His heart pounding against his heart like a train. Sweat poured from his neck in a waterfall like fashion. Ringing in his ears made him thought he gone deaf.
Chi-Chi was in labor.
She was almost ten months pregnant, a little long but no one had a half Nakekian baby before, so who knew? Goten was over at Trunks today to give his mother a break. Piccolo and Gohan were sparing lightly in the front yard. Away from the house as always.
Then, out of no where, the front door slammed open. Cracks still on the wall from the event. Piccolo and Gohan stumbled from their positions, surprised. Then, Chi-Chi screamed 'PICCOLO!' so loud that even Gohan had to wince at how enormous it was. The said man spun on his heels to look at her.
She was bent over, her hand clutching at her stomach. Her eyes were bloodshot and her breathing was labored. Piccolo froze with a look like he was a deer trapped in head lights.
She ordered them to get Dende. With out a second though, Gohan rocketed to get the said god. Leaving Piccolo. Alone. With a very pissed and very stressed Chi-Chi. Piccolo went to her side, his wife instantly clutching at his bicep. Along the way to the bedroom, she stopped as she hissed through the pains. Piccolo only looking on worriedly and with discomfort of his own.
When she was laid on the bed, or at the very least sitting on it, he reached for the phone that was always on the side table. With speed dial handy, he called Bulma. Knowing full well that he could not deal with this alone.
And here he was now. Standing outside, under a tree, trying to bring his heart rate down. His sons were sitting there, Gohan trying is best to distract his brother with games. It was far enough for them not hear anything. But for him? He heard all of it.
He heard her screaming and crying. Cursing his and Dende's name. Mentions of maiming him over and over.
He couldn't be next to her though. The pain he would've gained would've been too much on himself and on her. And he hated himself for it. His love, his wife, was in there with her friend and a god...but not her husband. It pained him. Deeply.
Then. It stopped.
Piccolo sighed with the sense of release, rubbing the pain from his temples. But noticed something was amiss. He was told that infants after being born cry after.
He heard nothing.
He clenched his hands, drawing a bit of blood in his fists. He curtly told his boys, "Stay here." and went to the house. He went inside, only hearing faint whispers. The closer he walked to the bedroom, the faster his heart would bear.
Oh god, no. She didn't...she didn't…
Then, he heard her voice. Her wonderful, harpy of a voice. He couldn't have been more happier.
But what about…
As he went to knock on the door, it swung open to show a delighted Bulma. Her initial shock of seeing him just appearing faded as she opened the door wider to let him in, "I'll go get the boys."
She left behind him, shutting the door. Piccolo could hear water running, Dende most likely washing up. And then, the bed.
There Chi-Chi was, propped up with multiple pillows. Her hair was splayed out around her like a halo. Her sagging eyes were closed, but opened as he stood by the bed. She was tired. Oh so tired. She gave a meek, "Hey." Patting the side of the bed. He knelt down and then saw the little bundle in her arms.
Wonder graced the Namekian's face. Chi-Chi smiled a little wider, holding the little baby out. "Would you like to hold her?"
"H-Her?" Chi-Chi nodded, encouraging him. "I don't…"
"Just hold her head, love. Like you did with Goten."
He swallowed a lump in his dry throat. Gently reaching and holding the little one. She felt like a thousand pounds in his hands, even though she was only a couple. He peeled his gazed from his wife's face and decided to face his daughter. Sleeping as if she had always been in this world.
To his surprise she wasn't green. Only the pale skin like her mother. In fact, she looked mostly like her mother from her soft black hair and round cheeks. Of course, she didn't look like the human part of her mother. Large pointed ears sat on either side of her face. On her forehead sat two little antenna, drooping slightly. And her nose...looked exactly like his.
He lightly feathered his claw over her face. Her eyes blinked opened. Her pupils adjusted to the light. They looked like his own cat like slits.
"Clara."
Piccolo looked up, surprised, over at his wife. Who was smiling fondly at them.
"Her name is Clara. Short for Clarinet. Like her daddy."
Dende walked out of the bathroom, a huge smile on his face. "Congratulations Piccolo! So, uh…" He rubbed the back of his head, "Since, uh, this is the first Namekian hybrid has been heard of in centuries, I'll be over every couple of weeks. Reading medicine books about Namekians and humans between..."
There was a timid knock on the door, just loud enough for them to hear. Piccolo slowly rose to sit on the edge of the bed. The creaking in his knees telling him to move his butt. Chi-Chi called out as best she could, "Come in."
Gohan walked silently into the room, Goten hiding behind him. They stood in the doorway, looking at their feet. Chi-Chi chuckled hoarsely, "Don't be strangers. Come meet your sister."
"Sister?" Goten questioned.
Gohan sat on the bed in front of Piccolo, hauling his brother into his lap. Piccolo tried his best to give the boys the view of their new sister. Goten had to perch himself over Piccolo's arm while Gohan stared down in wonder.
"C-Can…" Gohan stuttered, "Can I hold her?"
Piccolo nodded, helping the boy cradle the little girl in front of Goten. "She's pretty, isn't she Goten?"
Goten scrunched up his nose, not quite sure if he should answer. Piccolo brushed his hand through both of his son's hair. "Her name is Clara."