Piccolo:
They had almost forgotten about the dragon.
"Can you make 17 and 18 human again?", Krillin addressed his question to Shenron.
"That is beyond my power."
"So my girlfriend wants an expensive necklace ..." Yamcha broke off immediately when he noticed the looks on the others' faces.
"Can you disable the self-destruct bombs in 17 and 18?" Again Krillin had spoken.
"I can do that."
"Then please do."
Again the dragon's eyes lit up. "Your wish is granted." The dragon disappeared. The seven Dragon Balls floated up and then scattered in all directions. The sky became bright again.
"Why did you wish for this?" Confusion spoke from Yamcha's voice.
"Well, I think 17 and 18 go well together." Krillin was still mumbling something to himself when he was interrupted.
"You idiot. 17 is my twin brother!"
Everyone turned around. At the other end of the platform, 18 was standing next to a pillar, seemingly hiding behind it the entire time. The android woman turned to face the edge of the platform, but then turned back to them briefly. "Ciao, see you." Then she flew off.
"Hey, Krillin, maybe that's how you'll see again." Yamcha patted the shorter man's shoulder encouragingly. Krillin blushed.
"You got it pretty good," Piccolo said, shaking his head slightly.
"I'm going to fly back to Chiaotzu now." Tien Shinhan said goodbye and left the platform.
"When are you flying back to the future?," Gohan asked Trunks.
"Not until tomorrow. I wanted to sleep in at least once more."
"Very well. Then we'll all meet at Bulma's tomorrow, agreed?" Everyone agreed to Gohan's suggestion. "And where are you going, Piccolo?"
"I'll wait until Kera is fit again. Then we'll go back to our hut in the forest."
"Can I visit you there then?"
Piccolo smiled. "Anytime!"
Krillin gave Piccolo a friendly nudge in the side. "'Our' hut. I never thought you'd say something like that." His mouth twisted into a mischievous grin. Piccolo folded his arms in front of his chest and refrained from commenting.
Yamcha, Trunks and Krillin flew off. Gohan wanted to follow them, hesitated and turned to Piccolo once more. He hugged the Namekian around the waist. "Will you please hug Kera for me?"
"Of course, kid." Smiling, he stroked Gohan's head once more before flying off.
When Gohan was out of sight, Piccolo walked quickly into the palace and entered the room where Kera lay. Popo had kept his word and sat down beside her bed.
"How is she?" asked Piccolo of the servant.
"Sleeping all the time."
Piccolo approached the bed and put a hand to her cheek. It felt warm and soft, as always. He searched for her aura. Her energy had risen a little.
"Can you please stay with her a little longer?"
Popo nodded and Piccolo left the room again. He stood next to Dende, who was standing at the edge of the platform. The little Namekian looked down strained.
"Who do you wish to see?" asked Piccolo of the younger man.
"Gohan. I want to know if he got home okay."
Piccolo went down on one knee and put his left hand on Dende's shoulder.
"Can you sense Gohan's aura?" Dende nodded. "Concentrate on that. Give the aura Gohan's form. Imagine it in real space."
Dende closed his eyes and breathed quietly. Piccolo waited patiently until Dende opened his eyes again and looked over the edge of the platform.
"I can see him!" The young Namekian smiled. Piccolo, too, was now looking over the edge of the platform again. There he saw Gohan arrive at his parents' house, land and enter. Chi-Chi immediately ran up to him, hugged him stormily and cried. The Ox King stood a little awkwardly by.
After a while, Gohan pushed his mother a little away from him and talked. Shortly afterwards, Chi-Chi collapsed. Gohan had told her that Goku had died. Piccolo turned away. He had seen enough. He was proud of Gohan for handling his father's death so well. He was no longer the little boy he had once trained. He was almost an adult.
Piccolo entered Kera's room.
"No change," Popo said.
"Thank you. I'll stay with her now." With a nod, he bade farewell to the servant, who left the room and closed the door behind him.
Piccolo sat cross-legged on the other side of the bed and watched Kera. Her breathing was calm. Her aura radiated the energy he was familiar with, still very low but stable. He closed his eyes and waited. At the edge of his consciousness, he noticed that it was getting dark.
Kera:
Kera opened his eyes and tried to concentrate. Where was she? The bed beneath her was soft, the room brightly lit. The light came through the two windows that were next to the bed. So it was daytime. The realisation did not help her, however. When she turned her head to the left, she saw Piccolo sitting cross-legged on the other side of the bed. He had his eyes closed.
"Piccolo?" she addressed him softly so as not to startle him.
He opened his eyes and smiled. "There you are again." He looked very relieved.
Kera angled her arms and tried to push herself up into a sitting position, but halfway there she realised she lacked strength. Her arms felt like pudding.
Quick as a flash, Piccolo jumped up, came around the bed and propped her up. He helped her to lean against the headboard of the bed.
Gratefully, she smiled at him briefly, but then screwed up her face again. She pressed her hand to her forehead. "My head is pounding," she said with a groan. "What happened? And where are we?"
"In Dende's palace. What's the last thing you remember?" he immediately asked a counter question.
"That we fired at Cell to distract him so Gohan could block Cell's attack. I couldn't get back up. I gave you energy and then ..." She shrugged. "... Then everything went black."
"Cell hit us back again. Vegeta then fired at Cell as well. That distracted Cell enough for Gohan to destroy Cell. He was victorious, Kera. He was so good."
Kera felt tears come to her eyes. "Then it's over? Earth is safe? Gohan did it. And Vegeta even helped." When Vegeta had refused to accept the Senzu Bean, she had had great doubts that he would ever fight for anyone but himself, but something had happened to him on the battlefield. And Gohan ... He had become so powerful. She couldn't put her pride into words.
Two tears rolled down Kera's cheeks, which Piccolo gently wiped away with his thumb. He left his hand on her cheek and she nestled against him with her eyes closed. After a while, Kera began to speak again.
"What about the others?"
"Trunks is alive again and will travel back to the future today. They will all meet at Bulma's to see him off. We revived all the humans with the Dragon Balls. Goku still spoke to us. He is staying in the afterlife. He said that he attracts trouble and would rather stay away from Earth. Gohan took it calmly. Krillin wished for the self-destruct bombs at 17 and 18 to be deactivated."
"I knew it!" she exclaimed. Piccolo looked at Kera in confusion. "Krillin is into 18."
Piccolo began to laugh. "Yes. That seems to be the case."
"Can we fly to the others to see Trunks off," Kera interrupted Piccolo's laughter.
He glanced at the clock mounted above the door. "I'm afraid we're too late for that. We can watch from here."
Kera flipped back the covers, swung her legs over the side of the bed, stood and slumped away. Piccolo caught her and picked her up in his arms.
"Still a little wobbly, huh?" Kera nodded and put her arms around his neck. She couldn't remember ever being this weak after a fight before. It didn't feel right and she felt ashamed of her weakness. At the same time, she enjoyed being carried to the edge of the platform by Piccolo. He stood next to Dende, to whom she called out a hello and smiled.
Together they looked down. Piccolo helped her focus on Gohan, who was in the Briefs' garden. His mother was there too. Her eyes looked red and puffy, as if she had been crying a lot. Kakarrot's death had hit her hard. Kera didn't want to imagine what it would be like if Piccolo could no longer be with her.
Trunks stood beside the time machine and looked over at Vegeta, who raised two fingers. His way of saying goodbye. Trunks smiled and raised two fingers as well. Bulma hugged him with little Trunks in her arms. Big Trunks boarded the time machine and waved to the attendants. The machine rose into the air and was gone in the next moment.
They watched Gohan for a moment more, who had not looked after the time machine but was looking in another direction, then they stopped watching and Piccolo took a step back from the edge.
"Kera, how are you feeling?" asked Dende.
"I feel pretty wobbly on my feet, my head is pounding and I feel sick." As if on cue, her stomach growled. "I'm really hungry." She grinned and looked at Piccolo, who couldn't help smiling either.
"May I examine you again?" Dende didn't make a face. Kera and Piccolo's laughter faded as they looked into the little Namekian's serious face.
"Sure," Kera replied. Piccolo carried her into the room where she had been sleeping and sat her on the bed. Dende followed them.
"Thank you, Piccolo. Can you please leave the room?" the young Namekian asked.
"Dende, what's wrong?" Kera looked unsettled.
"It's nothing bad, I just want to make sure you're okay."
"Then why should Piccolo leave the room?"
Dende cleared his throat. "I ... er ..."
"I'm going to tell Piccolo anyway, so he can stay," Kera spoke firmly.
Dende sighed. "All right."
He began his examination. He floated up and looked closely at Kera's scar on her upper arm. Only a light spot suggested that there had once been a deep cut there. He continued to look at her arms and legs. Nowhere was there a scratch to be seen.
"Lie on your back, please," he finally asked her. Kera stretched out on the bed. Dende knelt on the other side of the bed and put a hand on her stomach. He was silent for a moment, then took his hand down again.
"Kera, do you know what happened?"
"Not really. I gave Piccolo energy and then I blacked out."
"You used almost all your energy. I had to go very deep to find a very small spark of energy that still kept you alive."
"But I know my limits," Kera said. "Why should I give up so much energy? That ..." She broke off and shook her head.
"I can only make one guess," Dende replied.
"And what would that be?" Piccolo looked at Dende impatiently.
Dende looked up briefly at Piccolo, who had been standing beside the bed with his arms folded the whole time. Then he looked back at Kera. He took a deep breath.
"You've been using so much energy without realising it because your body is currently going through some changes. You're pregnant."
Kera stared at Dende. She had heard his words, but she hadn't understood them. "What?"
"You're going to be a mother," Dende rephrased his sentence.
Kera felt panic rising inside her. Her breathing quickened. How could this be? She looked up at Piccolo.
"You told me that your people cannot reproduce in this way."
Piccolo looked as irritated as Kera. "We don't either. We ... I ..." His head jerked to Dende. "Are you sure about what you said?" he snapped at the little boy.
"Yes, I'm sure." Dende had put some distance between himself and Kera, thus widening the gap with Piccolo.
Piccolo turned to Kera. "Can the child even ..." He could not finish the sentence.
"Are you trying to insinuate that I had something with another guy?" Kera's eyes sparkled angrily and she had clenched her hands into fists. "How dare you?" Kera tried to stand up, but Dende held her back.
"Stop!" he shouted loudly. "Stop arguing, please. I have no idea how this could have happened, but I will try to find out. I can show you that Piccolo is definitely the father."
"Show us!" growled Piccolo at Dende.
Dende looked to Kera, who nodded.
"Good, lie down and relax." Kera lay back down and Dende knelt beside her. Again he put his hand on her stomach, this time with the back of his hand down. He held his left hand about two hand lengths palm down over his other hand. He closed his eyes and remained silent. Tensely, Piccolo and Kera waited to see what would happen now.
A few seconds later, Dende's hands began to glow. A ball of light formed between his palms. At first it shone so brightly that Kera closed her eyes, dazzled. When she opened them again shortly afterwards, the light of the ball had dimmed. She now saw something inside. She blinked a few times, then realised what it was.
"Is that our baby?" whispered Kera.
"Your babies," said Dende.
Kera looked more closely. He was right. Two little bodies were nestled together. Each of them had two little arms and two little legs. The neck was not yet visible and went directly into the head. But what was most striking was that both had a greenish colouring.
For the second time that day, tears came to Kera's eyes. She didn't know what to feel. Her emotions were on a rollercoaster. Dende brought her back to the present as he heaved a loud sigh, folded his hands together and the image of the babies went out. Irritated, she looked at him and realised in the next moment that it must have been an enormous effort for him to conjure up that image.
"Thank you," she whispered. Dende smiled at her. Then Kera looked at Piccolo, who was still staring at the spot where the babies had been a few seconds ago.
"How long will it take to give birth?" asked Kera.
"Honestly, I don't know. How long does it take for Saiyans?"
Kera swallowed. "I don't know. Our planet was destroyed when I was a kid. I hadn't cared then, and later there was no one to ask."
"Okay. I'll try to find out too," Dende said, scrambling down from the bed. "I'll leave you to it then." He nodded to them again and left the room.
When she heard the click of the closing door, Kera looked up at Piccolo, who was still standing completely motionless beside the bed. She tapped him with one finger. "Hello, anyone else home?"
Very slowly, Piccolo turned his head towards her and looked into her eyes. "I'm going to be a father," he brought out haltingly.
"Yes. We're going to be parents." Pure joy flooded her with these words and she felt a comforting warmth spread through her body.
"I need some fresh air," Piccolo said in a toneless voice and was gone from the room in the next moment. The brief elation Kera had felt had disappeared from one second to the next and panic now took over again. What if Piccolo didn't want to have children at all? They had never talked about it, thinking it wouldn't become an issue anyway. To them Gohan had been like a son and they would have continued to look after him, to stand by Chi-Chi as well, but children of their own? Kera shook her head. She had never thought about it.
When Dende had told her she was pregnant, she had been happy after a short shock. But now? Would Piccolo leave her alone with the children?
Kera pulled her legs to her body, wrapped her arms around her knees and laid her head down. She was crying. She was afraid. Afraid of being alone, alone with two children and then failing as a mother.