Wow, I didn't even notice that this fic surpassed the word count for A Thrilling Chase. I have been working on this for a really long time, lol.

Planet Vegeta

Two weeks had passed since contact was restored with the Earth. Nappa conversed with Bulma daily, catching him up on everything that happened. Then, he would relay that information to Vegeta. It would look suspicious if the prince went out every night. It drove him mad that he was still separated from Bulma, but there wasn't anything he could do about it. All he could do was wait around and hope Nappa didn't deliver bad news.

He couldn't believe she was pregnant. He was both ecstatic and horrified at the prospect. Their son couldn't have come at a worse time. There was a threat to both the Earth and Planet Vegeta, Bulma was in danger, and he couldn't even be around to protect her. Still, he was happy that he was having a child. It was never a lifelong dream of his, but he always wondered what it would be like to be a father. To raise a strong and proud Saiyan warrior of his own. Maybe it was because of how lost he felt without his mother or maybe it was his tumultuous relationship with his father, but he wondered how he could do things differently. He wanted to be there for his future child and do right by them. And now, he'd have his chance. And it would be with the woman he loved. But he couldn't focus on that until he could be with her again. And that made it so much worse.

Meanwhile, the murders had come to a screeching halt. No new ones had been reported in the past month. Some took comfort in this, but Vegeta couldn't. On top of Gero still being a problem, the murderer was still at large. He could be lying low, lulling them into a false sense of security before striking again. No one could predict his next move, no matter how hard they thought.

Vegeta needed to be the one to finally catch him. The king had ordered anyone who caught the murderer to bring him in alive, but with emotions so high, it wasn't hard to imagine an angry Saiyan offing him for good. But he could have answers about Gero and the Earth that they desperately needed. It could make the difference in bringing back the alliance. So, Vegeta had no choice but to be on alert and on edge at all times. When he wasn't keeping a watchful eye over the city, he was locked away in the training room getting stronger. It was all he could do to keep himself from going completely insane.

The lights in the training room suddenly turned on, blinding him. He was about to yell at whoever interrupted him, before seeing it was Nappa - he'd never interrupt unless it was an important matter. He exhaled and stood up, wiping his forehead with the back of his wrist. "What is it," he asked.

Nappa put his hands on his hips. "Well, Beets said he'd be able to get that printer set up at the station. It should be in working order by tonight."

"Good. Is that all?"

"No, and you won't like this. I think a lot of the council are planning on voting to sever ties with the Earth permanently."

"What?!"

He sighed, as he rubbed his temples. "Apparently, the investigation team found more dirt on Gero that implicates important figures on Earth. They found out Bulma's father studied under him, and they think that's proving them right. The king managed to talk them out of a vote, but if enough of them band together, they can force one."

"This is ridiculous," Vegeta muttered, pacing around the room in anger. "How did they even learn that?!"

"Your guess is as good as mine. Bulma said she had everything ready to send to us. Once Beets gets everything set up, I'll go and get it from her."

"No. I'll go." He was tired of everything being mediated to him - he wanted to be directly involved.

He shrugged. "Whatever you want, Vegeta. But we have to get it all together soon. We might not have another chance."

Vegeta ran his fingers through his hair, his shoulders tense. He hated that so much of this was out of his control. Being a prince didn't grant him very much power or say. And Nappa was only one man - he couldn't sway opinion one way or the other all alone. If only they had another ally.

He blinked, as a thought came to him. Maybe they did. "Nappa, I have an idea."

Vegeta found his father in the Grand Hall. It was newly restored with all new paintings and tapestries decorating its walls. His father often came here, when he got in certain moods. He was staring at the portrait of the late-queen: the closest he could get to being with his lost love.

He walked up and stood next to him. "Father, I must speak with you."

The king glanced down at him, before looking back at the portrait. "What is it you need, my son?"

"I wish to join the council meeting tomorrow. I need to speak with them."

"If that's what you want, then you may. Is that all?"

Vegeta breathed out his nose, knowing this was going to be a harder sell. "It's about the alliance. Nappa and I have everything sorted out. Can we count on you to back us?"

The king sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose. He turned towards him. "Vegeta, we've been through this. I looked the other way when you disobeyed the council's orders, but I cannot get involved in your schemes."

"I'm not asking you to get involved. I'm asking you to support us."

"And you know that I can't do that. The council already thinks I show favoritism towards you and voicing my support would only strengthen that."

"You're still on this?! You outrank them! Why are you so afraid of them?!"

"You confuse 'fear' with 'common sense'. If enough of them band together, they have the power to overthrow us. And if they find reason to believe I'm involved in treasonous activity, they will. Then all that our family has worked to achieve for generations will be for naught."

"That makes no sense! You have the entire kingdom behind you! Those fools know better than to unseat a popular monarch! You're the king! Start acting like it!"

He walked past him down the hallway. "I gave you permission to present everything. I cannot offer more support than that. I know you're worried about Bulma, but she's a strong-willed woman - she can care for herself."

"Not in her state."

He stopped walking and looked back at him. "What do you mean?"

"She's with child."

His eyes widened. "She is?!"

Vegeta nodded. As his father looked on in shock, he knew this changed everything. It was more than just the implications of their primogeniture. How many times had the king asked when he and Bulma were going to be mated or when he'd get to meet his future heir? If the alliance were severed now, that would never happen.

He marched up to him. "Do you understand now, father? Can I count on your support?"

After a long pause, the king nodded. "You have my word."

At sundown, Vegeta left the palace and made his way to the Tufflian station. By the time he got there, Beets was finishing setting up the printer to the machine, screwing in some loose bolts. It looked like it was all put together and ready to go.

Beets sat back on his legs and breathed out, wiping the sweat off of his brow. When he turned around and saw Vegeta, he scrambled up to his feet and stood at attention. "Your highness," he said in a panicked tone, "Th-the printer Nappa asked me to set up i-is ready to go, sir!"

"At ease - you don't need to be so formal." He walked past him and looked at the machine. "How does it work?"

"W-well, the person on the other end can send something to it, and you have to press that green button at the top to accept it. Then, it'll print everything out really quickly."

Vegeta nodded. "Anything else I should know?"

"N-no, your highness. If you need anything, then have Nappa reach me."

"I'll be sure to. You may leave now." Beets took a bow, before speedwalking out the door with his head down.

Vegeta pulled the stool up to the communicator. He quickly typed in the number for the station on Earth and hit enter. He crossed his arms, as he waited for the other end to pick up. Nappa said that Bulma usually picked up around this time of night. Hopefully, it wouldn't be too late there - in her state, she needed the rest.

The screen flashed on. Bulma was sitting on the other end, kicking her rolling chair to another side of the room. She grabbed some books off of the shelf, before kicking herself back in front of her monitor. "Hey," she said, without looking up. "Did you guys get that printer ready, yet?"

"We did."

Her eyes widened, when she looked at the screen. A smile formed on her face. "Vegeta! Hi! Sorry, I was expecting Nappa. Anyways, yeah! Great! Are you ready to get everything sent to you?"

He nodded. "I was told you had it all put together."

"That I do!" She typed at a keyboard. "I just need to drag a few things over here, and presto!" She hit a key on the keyboard. "It should be heading your way right now!"

The printer next to him pinged. When Vegeta hit the green button, it began to spit out papers. Dozens of them came out in seconds, creating an impressive stack. When they finished, he picked it up and sifted through the documents, giving them a quick glance. There were news articles about the destruction of Metro East, the attack on West City, and even older ones from when Gero was first exposed. Together, they'd paint a clearer picture of what kind of threat he was.

"Nappa told me that he doesn't think this will change everyone in the council's minds, but it might get them to reconsider cutting off the alliance."

He put the papers on the ground next to him. "Unfortunately, those are the best odds we have with those old bastards. I'll go over this with Nappa tonight. We should be able to present it to the council tomorrow."

"That's great! So if you get them to reconsider, what happens then?"

"The Earth will essentially get a trial. Communication will open up long enough for you to make your case. You'll have to compile as many testimonies as you can to show that the anti-Saiyan sentiment was exaggerated and that Gero is a threat big enough to require our help."

She nodded. "My dad can talk about his history with Gero. And Krillin and Yamcha can talk about going up against Tao, when he attacked West City. As for the Saiyan thing, Raditz has been living here for months - he can speak on their character. And there's Goku, too."

Vegeta's eyes narrowed. "Who the hell is Goku?"

"He's a Saiyan that was raised on Earth. Surely that could help us, right?"

"Perhaps. You'll need to tell everyone who plans on testifying that they should be prepared to take questions from the council directly. Knowing them, they'll want to try and interrogate them and see if there are any holes in their stories." He rolled their eyes. "And they'll probably try to poke them in, too."

"I'll let them know."

"How are things on your end?"

She ran her fingers through her hair and sighed. "Aside from what happened in Metro East, things seem to be calm. At least for now."

"And the baby?"

"He's fine. Doctor told me everything's been growing okay." She grinned. "Do you want to see his sonogram?"

"What are you going on about, now?"

She kicked her chair towards the back of the room, grabbing something off of a table. "Here on Earth, we use ultrasounds to see how a baby's growing before they're born - I had one about a month ago. The picture that you get from it is called a sonogram." She kicked her chair back to the monitor, holding a folder. She opened it and took out a printed photo, holding it up to the camera. "And this one is Trunks!"

When he looked closely, he could see a figure lying on its back. He could make out a head and an arm and even a foot. Earth's prenatal technology seemed primitive, compared to what they had on Planet Vegeta. Yet seeing this blurry picture of his future son still filled him with emotions he hadn't felt before. A mixture of wonder and amazement, further solidifying to him that this was all happening. Was this how his mother and father felt when he came into this world?

"What do you think? Isn't it amazing?"

He closed his eyes, as he regained his composure. He sat back and smirked at her. "He gets his large head from you."

Her jaw dropped. "You're one to talk, fivehead!"

He laughed. "Is that really the best comeback you have? You'll need to be reeducated, when you return."

She rolled her eyes. "Whatever, jerk."

He chuckled. He had missed their little verbal spats. They had a lot of catching up to do, when she came home.

She looked at the screen, again. A serious look was in her eyes. "Vegeta, there's something else you should know. And it's gonna sound completely insane, so please just hear me out."

He frowned. "Alright."

She breathed out. "So, you remember when we were on Namek and Kami said that they were warned about the androids months ago?"

"Yes?"

She rubbed the back of her neck. "Well, it turns out… that warning came from a warrior from the future. And he's our son."

HIs eyes widened. He certainly wasn't expecting that.

"You see? It sounds insane, but it's the truth. We've been worried that the androids might attack again before we can get the alliance back up. Trunks said that he'd be there to help us fight them, but he doesn't know that all of this happened. So we're gonna use the Dragon Balls to try and tell him to get here sooner. As far as I'm concerned, the more help we get, the better off we'll be."

Vegeta couldn't wrap his head around that information. He knew Bulma would never lie to him about this, but it was still a lot to take in. As it sunk in, a sense of pride flourished in him. If bringing their son from the future would make that great of a difference, then he must have been a powerful warrior.

"Maybe you'll get to fight alongside him. He's only seventeen, but he's apparently already a Super Saiyan."

He was nowhere near that level of strength, when he was that age. "Of course he is. He's my son, after all."

She laughed. "I guess that's true. We have five of the Dragon Balls right now. We only need two more, so it shouldn't be long now."

"When he arrives, alert me. I'll be eager to meet him, myself."

"Will do." Someone yelled for her on the other end. "I'll be out in a minute," she yelled back, before looking at the screen. "Hopefully you can make all of that stuff work. Let me know how it all goes." She smiled. "I can't wait to see you again. I love you."

"You, too."