Kera:

Kera inhaled sharply. Her eyes narrowed. "Excuse me?" She could only control herself with difficulty. She felt her Saiyan genes taking over and making her angry. How dare he take charge of her life?

Piccolo seemed to sense that he had chosen the wrong words, for he swallowed hard.

"No one tells me what to do or what not to do!" Her eyes seemed to flash. Energy shimmered around them. Piccolo abruptly took a step back.

"Kera, I only wanted to ..." That was as far as he got.

"What did you want? Patronise me?"

"No. I ..." She didn't let him finish.

"You have no idea what it means to be a Saiyan. What an honour it is to serve your king." She bared her teeth like a wild animal. The merciless Saiyan warrior in her now had the upper hand.

"Now you listen to me. I just don't want you to put your life in danger if you ..."

"My king looks out for me, just as I look out for my king." Kera took a threatening step towards Piccolo. Piccolo braced himself inwardly for an attack.

But it failed to materialise. As she was about to take a second step towards him, she tensed up. Her legs buckled and her hands went to her stomach. The energy streaks around her body disappeared in an instant. Piccolo was immediately with her, supporting her.

"Dende," was all she could manage. Her eyes were painfully squeezed shut and her breathing was shallow. Piccolo immediately took her in his arms and flew as fast as he could to Dende.

Arriving at the Palace of Dende, he ran inside. Mister Popo greeted him and immediately grasped the situation. He pointed to a room and fetched Dende. Piccolo laid her down on the freshly made bed. Kera still had her hands on her stomach. Fear could be read on her face. Piccolo knelt beside the bed and stroked her gently. He didn't want to let his fear show, but she sensed his feelings very clearly.

Dende appeared and examined Kera. He didn't say a word and neither Kera nor Piccolo dared to speak.

When Dende had finished, Piccolo looked at him expectantly.

"There's nothing wrong with the babies." Piccolo and Kera breathed a sigh of relief.

"But why was I in such pain?"

Dende asked a counter question, "What happened before the pain started?"

Looking distressed, Kera and Piccolo exchanged a glance. "We had a fight."

"I see." Dende nodded knowingly.

"What do you mean?" Piccolo looked displeased.

"I think your children can already sense when something is wrong. Quarrels between you disrupt your bond. Your children don't seem to like that." Stunned by this realisation, Kera and Piccolo stared at Dende.

"So you mean our children wanted to end the quarrel?" inquired Piccolo.

Again Dende nodded. "A fight between parents is never nice for children." He rose and went to the door. There he stopped once more. "Get some rest. And talk to each other." Then he left the room and closed the door.

Kera was the first to speak. "Piccolo, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to react like that."

"I was ..." He didn't continue talking. Kera waited to see if he said anything else, but Piccolo stared at the wall behind her. Then it dawned on Kera.

"You were jealous." His eyes darted to her face and immediately back to the wall. With his shoulders and head he performed a short jerky movement, which could have been interpreted as a nod. Kera couldn't help a giggle, but immediately fell silent again when she saw the expression on his face. He did not feel like laughing. She moved closer to him, forcing him to look at her.

"Vegeta and I grew up together. Until Frieza destroyed our planet, we were barely an hour apart. Vegeta is not the evil, uncaring guy you always think he is. When our planet was destroyed, he changed from one day to the next. I had hoped that the Vegeta I had known all these years would come back. But then he sent me away to find Kakarrot. The influence under Frieza's reign did him no good. This morning in the mountains I saw the old Vegeta again. That made me happy." After a pause, she added. "And besides, he's my cousin, as you know."

"You were so familiar. So close."

"I always will be with him. We were both Saiyans who didn't fit into the system. But we had to fit into the system better than anyone else because we were part of the royal family. Whenever we found an opportunity, we ran, we hid. On Vegeta there were no romantic places where you could pursue your dreams. Everything was functional. Cold. Sometimes we hid in some storage room. Close together in the hope that no one would find us. Grateful for every minute we had to ourselves."

"Why didn't you ever tell me?"

Kera shrugged. Now it was her turn to stare at the wall. "I had repressed that memory. It only came back little by little, and with Vegeta earlier, it was as present again as if it had just happened."

Kera wasn't sure herself if that was really the truth. Something had flashed between Vegeta and her, but she couldn't put her finger on it. She blamed it on pregnancy hormones. Piccolo stroked her hand. She intertwined her fingers with his and looked at him. "Will you fly me home, please?"

"Dende said you should rest."

"That's why I want you to fly me." She tilted her head and smiled at him. He straightened from his kneeling position in front of the bed, slid his arms under her body and lifted her up. Kera put her arms around his neck. Carefully he stepped through the door of the room, turned left and left the palace. Outside in the square, Dende stood talking to Mister Popo.

"You are leaving again?" asked the little Namekian.

Nodding his head, Piccolo pointed to Kera. "With your permission."

"Only if you promise me that Kera will rest for another day or two."

"I promise," they both replied. With a brief greeting, Piccolo rose into the air and flew home.

Arriving at the hut, he took Kera inside and laid her on the bed. She held him by the neck and pulled him with her so that he lay on top of her. He looked at her in amazement. She kissed him and spread her legs so that he lay between her. She knew he felt the heat between her legs when he let out a suppressed moan.

Half-heartedly, he tried to pull away from her. "I want you to rest."

Her lips trailed down his neck. With one hand she stroked his back, with the other she took off his turban.

"I can relax much better after this," she breathed against his neck. Piccolo's reserve was blown away with these words. In a split second he disengaged from her, removed his heavy cloak and sat on the bed, lifting Kera so that she was perched astride him.

A mischievous grin spread across her face. He saw lust in her eyes. But instead of kissing her stormily, he now wandered his lips along her neck. She arched her body so that he could reach every inch of her skin. His teeth grazed her skin again and again between kisses, eliciting a sigh from her.

The next four months after the Payk'arel and the sudden visit to Dende passed quietly. Kera and Piccolo kept to themselves a lot and rarely met with the others.

One day Kera and Piccolo were currently training. Her bulging belly was now clearly visible even under the loose suit. Piccolo launched a punch at her. Kera ducked and tried to counter, but had little hope of hitting. Pregnancy made her slower than she wished. But to her great surprise, Piccolo hit her in the stomach from below. She hadn't put that much force into the blow, at least he didn't show that he had felt anything. He had paused in the middle of the punching motion.

Kera immediately flinched and wanted to apologise, but when she looked up into his face, she stumbled. He was smiling. She looked at him questioningly.

"Gohan is calling me ... Us. He's a big brother now." Kera, too, was smiling now.

"Let's fly there right away," she said.

Piccolo nodded. "All right, then. He, Chi-Chi and the little one are at Bulma's house until they're fit enough to go back to the mountains."

In a flash, Kera retrieved the gift prepared for Chi-Chi and the baby and they flew off. Kera wanted to fly as fast as she could, but Piccolo reined in the pace. After about half the distance, he took her in his arms without warning. Kera accepted it. She didn't like to admit it, but her body felt different from what she was used to and she needed more breaks. She was grateful that Piccolo was so attentive and noticed every little insecurity of hers and helped her.

A short time later they landed in front of the Briefs' property and rang the bell. Bulma's mother opened the door and led them straight into the living room. There Bulma and Chi-Chi were sitting on the big sofa. Chi-Chi had the baby in her arms. Trunks was playing with his toys in a corner of the room, Gohan was sitting next to him.

Kera just called out a cheerful hello to the group and immediately went to Chi-Chi. Carefully, she sat down next to her and hugged her as best she could while sitting down and without squeezing the baby in.

"Congratulations." Kera looked at the little bundle in Chi-Chi's arms.

"Thank you. I've named him Goten." Chi-Chi glanced only briefly at Kera and then went back to looking at the little face sticking out of the blanket.

The baby was staring at Kera. Its large dark eyes seemed to fix on her. "He looks just like Kakarrot ... Uh, I mean, Goku."

Chi-Chi smiled sadly and nodded. "Will you take him, please? I'm going to the bathroom." She stood up and handed the blanket-wrapped baby to Kera. Somewhat awkwardly, Kera accepted the baby. Chi-Chi disappeared through the living room door and Kera suddenly felt completely abandoned. Uncertainly, she looked at the baby again and again.

Was she holding it right? Was she squeezing too hard? What did she have to do when the baby started crying?

She felt Piccolo stand behind the sofa and lean down to her and the baby. With one of his fingers, he gently stroked the child's little fist that was peeking out of the blanket. The little one's eyes moved to the green finger and his fist opened. Piccolo put his finger in and Goten took hold.

Piccolo chuckled so softly that only Kera could hear him. 'He's already very strong,' he said in her head.

Gohan, still sitting on the ground with Trunks, grinned at Kera and Piccolo as if he had heard Piccolo's words.

Chi-Chi came back and took Gohan from Kera again and sat down next to her. Piccolo sat down on the ground with Gohan and spoke softly to him while in between holding out various toys to Trunks and encouraging him to stack a tower of building blocks. Kera was amazed that Piccolo had taken on the role of babysitter as a matter of course. She smiled dreamily at the sight.

"Piccolo is quite good with children," Chi-Chi remarked as she held Goten to her breast for a drink. Kera, who had turned to Piccolo and hadn't noticed what Chi-Chi was doing, stared for a moment. Of course, that was part of it. Kera couldn't quite imagine that in a few months she would be able to hold two of these little bundles in her arms.

She looked at the back of Piccolo's head. 'You think too much.' His voice in her head felt like a warm caress.

'You're going to be a great father,' she sent back in her mind. She didn't see his smile, but felt it clearly.

"Kera, can you do me a favour?" Kera turned her attention to Bulma.

"If I can, I will," she replied.

"A good friend of mine is a geneticist. A few years ago, I gave him a sample of Goku's DNA, which he studied. When he heard there were two Saiyans still on Earth, he wanted samples from you too. Would that be okay with you?" Kera let the words run through her mind for a moment and was about to reply when she was interrupted by a voice at the entrance to the living room.

"Woman, how dare you ask such questions?" All eyes moved to the door. There, Vegeta stood leaning against the doorframe, glaring angrily at Bulma. Kera jumped up from the sofa and stood directly in front of Vegeta at the next blink. She fixed him angrily.

"How dare YOU talk to your mate like that? She gave you an heir. Treat her with more respect." Bulma and Chi-Chi sucked in a sharp breath. Piccolo rose, but Kera indicated with a wave of her hand that he should not come any closer.

Kera continued to fix Vegeta. He stared back. After what felt like an eternity, Vegeta broke eye contact, looked past Kera to Bulma and nodded at her. Bulma lowered her head a little, accepting his apology, which wasn't really an apology. The tense mood disappeared. Vegeta turned and stormed down the hall. Kera followed him.

Vegeta walked to the end of the hallway and opened a glass door that led into the garden. Before the door closed again, Kera slipped outside as well. Vegeta stopped a few steps behind the door, his hands clenched into fists. He sensed her presence.

"What was that about?" His voice trembled slightly with suppressed anger.

Kera stopped about two steps behind Vegeta and spoke to his back. "A Saiyan warrior doesn't talk to his mate like that. Your mother taught us more respect."

Vegeta turned in a flash, bridging the distance between them in a split second, and shoved Kera against the wall of the annex. Before she slammed into the wall with force, he placed a hand between the wall and her back. With the other hand he held her by the arm.

"You dare to lecture me?!" His face was very close to hers. She felt his breath on her cheek. But she didn't flinch, she just stared steadfastly into his eyes.

"Yes. Because I still remember well what it means to show respect. Especially for women who have given sons to their mates." Vegeta moved even closer until there were only a few inches between them. Against her will, Kera's heartbeat quickened. Not out of fear that he might hurt her, but out of anticipation. Perhaps a training opportunity would present itself. Her breathing quickened.

Vegeta released his right hand from her arm and moved up, over her neck until he stroked her cheek with one finger. Kera gasped in surprise.

"Be glad you're of my blood." In the next instant, Vegeta was gone.

Kera slid down the wall and clutched her chest to calm her pounding heart. The only thing she could think of was that she had wanted to fight Vegeta with every fibre of her body. A hard training battle that took everything they both had and then sinking down on a bed together, completely exhausted. Kera shook her head, trying to dispel the images. Where had these thoughts come from?

She was still sitting leaning against the wall, her hands around her head, when Piccolo knelt down beside her. "What happened?" She didn't look at him, just shook her head. Piccolo took her in his arms and flew with her to her hut. Halfway there, she made him stop and told him to land. In the middle of the mountains he went down and landed softly. Confused, he looked at her and wanted to ask what was wrong, but she held her finger over his mouth.

"Don't talk," was all she said and pulled him down to kiss him. He tried to break away again, but she held him tightly. His restraint melted away and he changed position, pressing her against a rock wall with her legs spread.

Afterwards they sat close together on the edge of the high rock and watched the sunset. "What was wrong with you earlier?"

Kera shrugged. "I had an argument with Vegeta that had me pretty rattled."

"A verbal fight?"

Kera nodded and said nothing more. She wondered what had actually happened. Vegeta had come close to her and had spoken to her in a very sharp tone, but nothing else had happened. Kera tried to recall the afternoon's incident, but she could only remember a few words they had exchanged. She could neither remember where the conversation had taken place nor what she had felt. Confused, she shook her head slightly.

"Are you all right?" Piccolo asked her.

"I think so. Somehow I have a feeling that something strange happened, but I can't remember." After a pause, she shrugged. "Maybe I'm just imagining it."