A/N: Hey everybody! Disclaimer- the pace is about to pick up, so get ready for it. Thanks to Critics (I'll see that as a compliment haha), Lostin2004 (I love that you see something of TFS in Krillin/Bulma lol. I didn't try to model it, but I do love that series and something might have slipped in! Get ready for more intensity), beaucoup riant (Here I bring you Bulma's POV, but unfortunately, things get a little too hectic for a true deep dive! Still, I hope you enjoy the ride!), Guest (thank you so much!), lmamc (Here you go!), Mallison9809 (oh, they've connected alright lol. They are truly infuriating in this fic, I know. So together and so dense), and NNP (not literally, but definitely figuratively stopping, but I'll leave it at that ;) ). Thank you guys so much for reviewing! It keeps me moving.

Chapter 34:

Bulma asked what was in Vegeta's expression because she couldn't read it. But he was trying and failing to look blank, and that was not a good sign… Normally, his inscrutable faces were perfect, unassailable.

But he hadn't punished her for searching with her last question, so she dared to ask one more.

"Why are you looking at me like that?"

"How would I know?"

As gruff as ever, but there was something else hidden in there… and she couldn't read it, and she didn't know if she could begin to try. If he had been anyone else, she would have called it 'flirtatious', even something …too vulnerable.

But he was Vegeta, and he wasn't going to give her even a moment to try and dissect it. Instead, his forehead pushed against hers, lifting her face to his so he could swallow her mouth and ask for more. And she loved the taste of him, as his lips opened against hers and sank in for the long haul. When he was like this, nothing else even mattered. He was sweet, in the only place that was familiar to her and the only place he allowed it, and only recently: when he touched her.

He was roaming her body now, with his hands. She wondered briefly whether there was any threat of being caught. Where Trunks, Gohan, and Goku had gone… whether they had time at all. She wanted to create time for it, because she couldn't pull away.

But then Vegeta abruptly froze over her, in a way that let her know that something was off.

"Wh—"

"Shhhhhhh," he hissed. He had pulled away, but his arms were still viced around her so she couldn't have moved had she wanted to. His fingers were like iron, and she even held her breath while Vegeta slowly descended onto his knees. His breath puffed out against her stomach and she inhaled as he stared there …like something would going to burst out of it like in those terrible, Earth movies about space. She had to actively still her tongue from questioning him again. Suddenly, his hands softened and she felt his thumb stroke just under her belly button.

"Vegeta," she muttered. But he wasn't listening to her, as he prodded her. "Vegeta, tell—"

She stuttered back a step as he rose to stand again, his face white. Her heart dropped to see him look so obviously frightened by something. Was she sick? Had something happened in the lab? Some exposure she wasn't aware of?

She wasn't sure what to ask first, but he didn't wait for her questions. Swiftly, he lifted her into his arms and zipped out of the Gravity Chamber, making her stomach turn unpleasantly. "HEY! St—"

Her perspective shifted as Vegeta did stop, but didn't release her, rather shifted her in his arms in order to kick through a door and enter a darkened room. It lit over-brightly as they entered and he settled her neatly on top of an examination table.

She winced, because the table was cold, and then cried out in surprise when he yanked her back into his arms like the table was going to eat her. What the fuck had gotten into him?

"Vege—KNOCK IT OFF!"

She kicked her legs up, which did absolutely nothing to him as he appeared to seek out the reason for her auditory exclamation of discomfort. He was acting like a lunatic!

"Your …Your Majesties!" A vaguely-familiar man burst into the room and Bulma wondered if he had suspected a break-in.

Vegeta apparently had decided that there were no visible threats in the vicinity and put her back down. This time, she held braced herself for the chill and Vegeta narrowed his eyes at the man. "You are a physician."

"Yes, Your Majesty."

He pointed at Bulma, whose surprise at all of Vegeta's behavior was shifting to a kind of mortified anger. "You will examine her now or I will raze this place to the ground."

"VEGETA!" Bulma snapped.

The man reddened. "Of course I will, but what am I meant to be looking for, Sire?"

Vegeta refused to answer him, grinding his teeth and staring at the wall. The doctor looked down kindly at Bulma. "Uh, what …symptoms do you have, Your Majesty?"

"I have no idea," she growled, giving Vegeta a murderous glare.

Vegeta continued to stare at the wall. "Scan her abdomen and pelvic area."

"Vegeta, I swear to Kami that if you don't tell me what is going on—"

"Please lay back, Your Majesty."

She did so, but only because she was genuinely concerned that Vegeta had detected some awful disease and just couldn't bring himself to tell her that she wasn't going to make it after all. Maybe something with her resurrection through the Dragonballs had gone wrong? She shivered as he ran the scanner over her body and frowned, and did so again.

"Your Majesty." He was speaking to Vegeta now, which pissed her off immediately. "I see. You detected it so early?"

"So she is."

"If she doesn't find out what's going on RIGHT NOW, she is going to hurt someone!"

"Congratulations, Your Majesty," the physician said quickly, forcing a smile that he probably would have actually meant, had Vegeta not looked so furious. "You're …gestating."

"Gest—" she paused, as the words finally hit her. "Wait. You mean I'm pregnant?"

"Yes, exactly!" He seemed thrilled that she understood. Bulma raised herself to her elbows to look at Vegeta, her heart pounding.

So many different things rushed into her brain and heart, that she didn't know what to feel first.

Pregnant. She had been pregnant with Trunks and it had been the most wonderful, painful, heartbreaking, and heart-healing experience of her life. She would have never traded it for anything. She tilted her head, to try and see more than Vegeta's profile.

"Hey. Did you hear the doctor?"

"Of course I heard him," he responded blandly.

"But you already knew," she remembered, realizing that this whole bizarre act had been caused by him sensing the little baby inside of her. "Why…"

She wanted to ask why on earth he seemed so terrified at the idea, when Vegeta let out a long breath and put a hand on her shoulder. She didn't know whether he was trying to be supportive or keep her on the table.

"This shouldn't have been possible." He eyed the doctor. "How …along is the child?"

"Oh, it's very early!" the doctor said. "That's why I was surprised you could sense it at all, Your Majesty."

"How early is early?" Vegeta persisted.

"Why are you acting like this?" Bulma murmured, still shocked by the news. She really had had no clue… Her hand ghosted over her stomach, knowing now that something was there. Vegeta was still unreadable, and this was the biggest news that they could have received right now, and she wasn't exactly sure what she was feeling herself. But she wished that he would stop being so fucking cryptic!

"Are you angry?" she tried.

"I'm not angry," was all that he spared her before meeting eyes with the doctor again. "Is it too early to remove the child and put it in an incubation pod?"

"That is hard to say, given that your—the Queen is from another planet and I am not familiar with their gestational practices—"

"What—NO!" Bulma shrieked, pulled out of her shock once she realized what was being discussed. "No! You're not going near me with any pods! The baby is staying right where it is, Vegeta! What is wrong with you?! Have you lost your MIND?"

She paused, as if expecting an answer, but she was greeted with more hardened gazes at the wall and silence. His hand was still on her shoulder, holding her, but she sensed little comfort from it. More like he was preparing for her to bolt off the table.

But that was fine, she could rant from here just as well as he could refuse to answer her!

"I had Trunks the natural way, and this isn't going to be any different! Kami, how could you even suggest doing such a thing?! Besides, it's so early on that I didn't even know—nobody is probably going to be able to tell for forever, and nothing's going to change with—"

"Excuse us," Vegeta directed to the doctor. "I need to speak with her. The Queen," he cleared his throat, and his hand on her shoulder pressed more firmly, "now. You can return to bed or whatever the hell it was that you were doing before this appointment."

"Your Majesty."

The doctor had bowed himself out and Vegeta released his hold, but pinned her with his eyes. "No. Don't start."

"Start WHAT?!"

"Fighting me. Don't." He had leaned in, and she was feeling like breathing fire at him, ruining any good feeling that she could possibly have!

No matter what was going on, this was her child already, and she could not stand that he thought he could control this after she had been alone with Trunks growing inside of her! She understood it all better than he ever could or ever would!

But she blinked, and that anger shuttered away briefly, because those eyes were something else. They were rigid and demanding, but the underneath was something truly frightened, and it was the only reason she could even bear to hear him out. Vegeta's hands were on her shoulders.

"You want the truth? Here it is! You will NOT carry a child like this, not while Frieza could be moments from this planet!" His grip was imprisoning, and she could not remove it.

"I will carry a child like that," Bulma told him flatly, "because I am already doing it. And you didn't have that stupid sense you have, no one would be able to even tell."

"That's not the point, Bulma!" He hissed in something that sounded like a shriek. It stopped her breath for a moment, how serious and upset he was by this. It chilled her blood.

"If I can sense it, then who else could? You'd put this child in danger for sheer stubbornness?!"

"It's not!" She struggled to keep her voice down, unwilling to let the doctor hear something so private. Her hand closed over her abdomen, as if it could be protected from Vegeta's words, and his hand moved from her shoulder to her upper arm, hand shaking enough that it echoed through her. "She'll be just fine!"

Vegeta balked and his hold disappeared.

"What …what?" she said, unsure what his reaction was about.

"It will be a boy," he said, and though he was responding to her, it sounded more like it was meant for himself. "They're all boys…"

She didn't know why his voice was shaking too, and she momentarily didn't care. "Who are?"

He must have noticed, because now his teeth are gritted. "The children."

"No," she said. "Not the ones that—"

He kicked the doctor's desk, like it was the reflex of a pack mule, and it shunted across the office and SLAMMED against the opposite wall. Bulma jumped into silence, shocked.

"Stop trying to talk in circles!" he demanded, hands clenching up near his hair now, and if she wasn't so concerned about the child she was apparently carrying, and the fact that she needed to save her, she would have marveled at his utter lack of control—or how he was controlling his lack of it. He came nowhere near her now. And she didn't argue, because he was clearly too emotional to be reasonable. It was a marvel as much as it frightened her.

"Do you know how CLOSE I am to giving orders that you would never forgive me for, Bulma?! Let me THINK!" he roared.

Think about WHAT? She wanted to scream. He was sounding every alarm in her head now and her heart started to pound more fiercely. Whatever he was thinking, she wouldn't allow him to do it! She didn't know where his head was—for panic, she couldn't read him once again—but she hated whatever was causing this reaction.

But then, she had no time. Because somehow, someway, Trunks was there and he was gripping Vegeta by the neck.

"Trunks!" Her voice was hoarse and she didn't think either of them heard it.

"What the HELL are you doing to her?" Trunks spat out at his father, and Bulma finally remembered that she could move and tripped off the table, making for them.

"Why is she so scared—what were you DOING?" But things with Saiyans happened in super-speed. Vegeta must have done something, because Trunks' arm came splitting down and broke his grip on his father.

She didn't know what transpired next, except that as soon as she was within hitting distance, they made no more moves toward each other. Trunks looked over at her, lighter eyes searching.

"He didn't do anything," she said automatically, to reassure him. Trunks didn't appear reassured.

But then, out of the corner of her eye, she saw Vegeta visibly relax. Her suspicions flared, but she could see why it suddenly seemed like this would have been a favorable situation to him. Still…

"I'm not hurting her, brat," he told Trunks. "Look around you. We're in a physician's office."

Trunks looked stiffly between them instead, and Bulma's heart sank. She realized why Vegeta had turned the corner on his desperation. He thought she was going to be out-manned.

And she was scared that he might be actually right.

"What," Trunks said impatiently, "Is going on here?"

Telling Trunks was too much of a risk. She gave Vegeta her best, most subtle warning look.

"Sense the room," Vegeta suggested.

"Vegeta, NO. Not like this!"

Trunks was a wild card; a volatile wild card that had endured one too many surprises, unpleasant or not. And the last thing that Bulma wanted was for Trunks to hear that he would become an older sibling as the result of a power-play on his father's part.

His father, who he already nearly hated. But Trunks didn't have the patience to even try. "I don't sense anything… stop playing games!"

"Then tell the boy yourself," Vegeta said to her, almost mockingly. Almost. It wasn't just protecting her baby. She would have never wanted to tell Trunks like this. But Vegeta wasn't going to hear her, she could already tell. If Trunks could be his ally…

"There's nothing wrong with me," Bulma said, shaking her head like the tension could fall from her like petals. How she wished she could. "It's not bad…"

"Don't give me or him your false guarantees, Woman!"

"Will someone just please tell me what is GOING ON?" Trunks yelled, looking furious. "Or are you two just going to keep having this conversation without me? Mom. What is wrong with you?! Why are you at a doctor? And why were you just freaking out?! I could feel you from a mile away!"

"I'm…" She couldn't tell Trunks. It wasn't sitting right. He'd side with Vegeta. He'd come here in a fury because of what had happened to her before. He wouldn't think straight. She kept her hand from moving back to her stomach, but Vegeta wasn't going to let her hedge any longer.

"Your mother is with child," Vegeta broke in.

"With…" Trunks faltered, and Bulma's heart skipped. "No. You're lying." Again, always, he looked to her for the truth. Bulma felt her cheeks get hot under the power of it. He looked even more doubtful than before. "That's not—that could not have even happened."

"Oh, were you there?" Vegeta asked, now mockery on full display.

"Stop!" Bulma shouted at him. "Why are you ruining this?! Trunks—"

"Would you like me to explain how it works?"

"Mom, tell me."

"This isn't a bad thing!" Bulma found herself screeching now, and forgetting to even hold off. "I am, and it's FINE! Or it would be, if everyone weren't acting like it was so terrible!"

Trunks' eyes got wider and wider until he was looking at her like she had lost her mind entirely.

"She won't listen to me, Trunks." Vegeta said from behind him.

"Mom, you can't…"

"Can't WHAT?"

"You CAN'T have a baby right now!" Trunks said, raising his voice. "Are you kidding? Frieza is almost here! Probably!"

"Most definitely," Vegeta growled. "And now we have this to be concerned about."

"Oh, now you're concerned?" Trunks gasped, eyes darkening as he looked at his father. "Just late, as usual, right? Too concerned with your own needs to—"

"Shut up, right now, boy." Vegeta growled. "It has nothing to do with you, and you know nothing of it! You want to be useful now? Convince your mother that she cannot carry this child to term!"

"What?" Trunks looked uncomprehending, having not been privy to Vegeta's questions of the physician.

"Forget the stupid, damn POD, Vegeta! I'm not doing it!"

"You'll do whatever keeps you alive!"

"What YOU thi—"

"I could kill you for this," Trunks bit out to Vegeta, face redder. Bulma got the impression that he couldn't grasp on to all of this, so he was going with the easiest thing he could. "Putting her in this position."

Bulma had had enough. "This position! Keeping me alive? STOP!"

There was a tone she had in her voice that, when used, could stop Trunks in his tracks. Fortunately, that was all she needed to do for both of them to turn away from each other and look at her. She started with Trunks, lifting a finger.

"First of all. This is not going to be used in a campaign against your father, okay? Whatever happened, I was not some unwilling participant—"

Trunks clapped his hands against his ears, looking more like the boy he actually was. "Argh, gross, Mom!"

"And you—both of you! I am NOT dying, and I am not MORE likely to die because there is a baby in here!" she yelled at them. "That's not how it works!"

"Oh, so did I just invent all of those stories I heard about THIS brat cracking your ribs in the womb? If I drew my own conclusions about your Earthling body's ability to carry our children, then SO BE IT!"

Trunks paled. "Mom…"

"And the time to worry about that was before, Vegeta! I know that you're just trying to worry Trunks too—"

"You can't do this, Mom."

"Hey, guys!" Goku was here, suddenly too. But he wasn't sounding as bright as usual. This whole thing was becoming comical.

Vegeta and Bulma groaned, and glanced unwillingly at each other over that unexpected moment of camaraderie. But Trunks still looked as if he was heading into a dead panic, so Bulma didn't mince words.

"What are you doing here, Goku?!"

"You felt upset, Bulma." He crooked a thumb back to the door. "And then I found your guard coming here, looking upset too. And I figured something wasn't right. But you're just fighting with Vegeta, like usual."

Bulma opened her mouth, to say what she didn't know. There were a million things she could have said: to declare her independence, to reassure Trunks and Vegeta with pretty words, to put off Goku's questions, to even enter the painstaking process of explaining what was going on, so that Goku could possibly be the ally she needed, to stave off these two impossible Saiyans, who had somehow had started to believe that she was made of glass!

But then there was a fine tremble of the ground beneath them, enough that Bulma pitched slightly sideways, but Vegeta was already there, wrapping her up in steadying arms. She was so distracted by the sudden, strange feeling, that she didn't even elbow him away. Every eye went up to the ceiling above, wondering.

"What was that?" Trunks said, and the eerie silence left only an echo. Vegeta and Goku looked suddenly like twins—alert and on edge and waiting…

And then all hell broke loose.

VBVBVBVBVBVBVBVBVBVBVB

Geta was sweating, holding attention beside Frieza, as the Cold systems connected with Vegeta-sei patrol. As if they were breathing, he felt the fleet of a hundred ships at their back, their chill and uncomfortable air on his neck. He knew that Vegeta-sei probably felt the impact too—being surrounded by too many enemy craft to count. The hairs on his arms were standing on end, but it had been like that almost constantly, of late.

He had trained so much for this moment… but would it be enough?

A golden warrior flashed through his mind and dread sliced through him, the worst sort of blade, but he didn't allow himself to name that creature. That half-wretched, weak Earthling who could have never inherited—

It occurred to Geta that he'd be better off fighting the King, leaving the other to Frieza.

Frieza could certainly kill that bastard, couldn't he?

Focus. Geta's fingers bit into his palm. He had to focus on the current King. He had to focus on his father, who was the root of all that had gone wrong.

If Trunks had been sent off-planet, like Frieza had said before, then he wouldn't even be there! He wouldn't be a factor. And laying waste to Vegeta's flimsy empire would be even easier.

But it quickly became obvious that the Saiyans had anticipated their arrival; it was clear in the hesitation of the command center to allow them entry. Geta felt the entire group within the hull shift closer, waiting for an order to attack and unleash the force of the PTO on Vegeta-sei.

But Frieza smiled and shook his head slowly, as if he read the whole room.

"We make this …personal." The moist warmth on Geta's skin chilled as he chuckled softly. "They will allow us in. Don't worry about that."

It would be better for the Saiyans if it was a fight in open space, Geta fretted. Unless they had a secret weapon of some sort. They knew what this was! Was the bastard there? Was it just another lie?

He thought it might be anyway. Vegeta's whore died, but he would probably hold onto Trunks for his own purposes. Why send him away? If Vegeta saw what Geta had, as well …there was no possible way that Trunks was anywhere but on the planet.

It had to have been a lie. Or it wasn't, because maybe Vegeta was jealous? If a half-breed was the Legendary, and he wasn't?

Geta wasn't even sure that had actually happened, though. It couldn't have been anything more than a dream because it made no sense at all.

"Quiet those thoughts, monkey." Frieza suddenly chided him, bite in his voice. Geta almost jumped, but his instincts kicked in. It would cost him too much. "Your frantic overthinking is disturbing my peace."

"Yes, Lord Frieza." He didn't bother to deny it. It was a threat, and it was true, besides. Frieza's purpled gaze bent toward him, knowing nothing about the true nature of his thoughts, and how much he didn't know, even with all of that power.

"What will happen tonight will wreak devastation," Frieza told him. "But not for us. And you will rule those ruins…"

Us… Geta wished that there was no such thing. He wished that he had been left ANY other choice, because he knew that Frieza would keep these promises. And he knew that Frieza had no desire to keep the Saiyan planet whole.

He hated them all, except his own self.

And no matter what happened down there… he would be left standing!

If his false brother wasn't already there, he would be sure to find him, and end his existence too. No Saiyan would stand with a half-breed, even if they were hurting from Frieza's invasion. And he would be King.

Geta was strong enough to be King. Not because he was born with it, but because he had to be, in order to survive. His uncle hadn't come through because of his weakness, and that was proof that he was meant for better things.

Geta felt the ship shift as they entered the atmosphere of Vegeta-sei, and with it, the redness that he had missed—that he had refused to think about while he was gone. And the familiarity brought the beginning of untouched rage.

"They know," Frieza chuckled softly. "I assure you, they already know. The Monkey King is no innocent. So I suggest you prepare yourself for the fight to come."

Geta had nothing but the preparation for this moment, and with it, he would get it all back…

VBVBVBVBVBVBVBVBVBVBVBVB

The sound of a shrill alarm had Bulma covering her ears, and Goku saw Trunks flinch briefly at the noise. There was no more time to react than that: Vegeta seemed to know exactly what was happening from the grim set of his face, his arms still loose around Bulma, first looking at her.

"They're here," he shouted against her ear, over the piercing sound, and Goku felt a strange prick of elation. "The hangar comm is alerting us!" Vegeta didn't need to say any more than that; they all knew who he was talking about: Frieza. Except, Trunks looked momentarily stunned by the news, and Goku thought of Gohan. And Krillin.

"We've got to get the others!" At Goku's words, Trunks' foot wavered, like he was about to take a step, and then he pivoted back towards his mother, clearly conflicted.

"There's no time!" Vegeta snapped. "No time at all—Kakarot!" He shoved Bulma towards him, and Goku's hands spread automatically as she was deposited into them like a package. "Get this woman down into the underground network—Bok will lead you."

Bulma was shoving out of Goku's hold frantically and he let her, wondering what she would do. "NO! Vegeta—stop! You—the plan hasn't changed just because—"

"There was no plan!" Vegeta swore, his eyes already darting around as all three Saiyans sensed panicked ki just beyond the door, fleeing everywhere. Then Nappa, who Goku hadn't seen since he had gotten here, had (bizarrely) knocked on the door and opened it without waiting for invitation. He didn't ask why they were at a doctor, or what was going on. He only looked for the King in the room.

"Your Highness!"

"I know!" Vegeta yelled. "Cut those blasted alarms, Nappa! We'll give it all away it they keep on blaring! And when you've done with that, assemble the Elites to the usual location! We don't have a moment to spare! I will join you when I'm done here."

Nappa only spared a moment to examine the scene, his eyes resting the longest on Bulma before he bowed and disappeared to do whatever Vegeta wanted. And the King turned immediately on the blue-haired woman when he was gone again. "There was NEVER a plan to allow you free range in this fight! I let you do as you pleased, and I made it clear that—"

"You ASSHOLE!"

"Mom, PLEASE—"

"—if you want to get me down in some hole, you'll have to KILL me again, Vegeta!"

"HAVE SOME SENSE!" Vegeta bellowed, and though he may have fooled someone who didn't know him, Goku heard the absolute panic in his voice. "Before you were pregnant, I wasn't going to allow you to be seen by Frieza!"

"Pregnant?" Goku knew he hadn't raised his voice enough to be heard, but they probably would have ignored him anyway, now that they had started screaming at each other.

"—always acting like you don't NEED ME and you're WRONG!"

"IT'S EXACTLY THAT, YOU STUPID WOMAN!" Vegeta gripped his hair briefly, nearly ripping at it, and Goku felt practically speechless at the sight of Vegeta doing anything that was so obviously uncontrolled. It wasn't the Saiyan he had known. "Do you want to die again?" he continued. "As if the first time wasn't enough?!"

"Geta will be here." Trunks yelled abruptly, his voice tense.

Goku recalled that name—Vegeta's son who killed Bulma. The world seemed to get darker and Goku found himself grabbing Bulma's arm, deciding to do as Vegeta said. But Bulma tore out of his grip almost before he had it, speedy for a human.

"NO—Goku! Don't." Goku grimaced, because Bulma was making that face that meant that she would get exactly what she wanted or someone else was gonna pay for it…

"I CANNOT be worried about you!" Vegeta yelled, fingers clenching like he was near to shaking her. He didn't, though. He didn't touch her.

"Then DON'T! Worry about your KINGDOM, Vegeta!" she cried, her face furious and flushed. "OR—FINE! Our Kingdom! Just—just DO something besides worry about ME!"

Goku didn't know why it made any difference, but Vegeta's face changed when she was talking about kingdoms, and it actually looked like Bulma might win this one. The alarms were suddenly gone, and Bulma kept talking, quickly, as if she was seizing on a chance, chest heaving and voice louder than it needed to be without the excess sound.

"I have—I have weapons! I need to get them out to your men! I have to give Cauli instructions! And don't tell me that this wasn't the plan, because I had a plan, whether you liked it or not! And it's not even a dangerous one! And you don't have TIME for this right now! Kami, Vegeta, I have guards! So go do YOUR job!"

"Dad…" Trunks said it too softly. And it seemed to bring Vegeta to the moment. He looked to Trunks.

"You are with me. And don't worry about this." Goku found Vegeta's black eyes on him in a way that made him shiver. "She will go to the lab. She will give her instructions, and distribute whatever she needs to distribute, and THEN, you will take her down to the underground because you will not leave her side until she is down there! And then I don't give a DAMN what you do Kakarot, but until then—"

"I…" Goku was conflicted. He didn't want to miss out on anything! And yet, the whole point of this was keeping Bulma alive, wasn't it?

Trunks was looking at Goku steadily, but his eyes were wide and his chest was going up and down too fast.

"Just the lab," Bulma said quickly, her eyes flitted from Vegeta to Goku and the look in them made Goku immediately relax with decision once again.

Because Goku had seen Bulma look at him a thousand times before, and he had to have learned something by this point.

He had a memory of it: it was just how she looked at him when they were younger. It said "you trust me, Goku. You protect me, and we'll go on an adventure!"

He wasn't going to miss out on a thing. Not when Bulma was looking at him like that.

It all happened in a split second, and he would have promised anyway, he just would have been thinking of a way to keep her safe faster. "I've got her, Vegeta," he swore with a raised voice. "I'll make sure nothing happens."

"You CAN'T—" Trunks started hotly, but Vegeta held out his arm, stopping him.

"We DON'T have time!" he declared to his son. To Goku, he said, "I'll tell you what I told Nappa: you break that promise, and it's your life that will go next."

Goku shrugged and smiled. He expected that from Vegeta. The words were so mean, but… Goku could sense something else. And that sense was Vegeta, trusting Goku with everything. He didn't need to say it for it to be true.

Bulma threw herself on Trunks, hugging him tightly. "I won't tell you not to go! Even though I want to…"

Trunks muttered something that not even Goku could hear in the relative silence, and Bulma brushed her hand against Trunks' cheek. Then, she turned to Vegeta, and spoke as unmistakably as she usually did.

"Kill him."

Her tone was as brutal as the words, but of course they would be. It was Frieza. And when Bulma said it, it meant something more to Vegeta. Goku could tell. She looked at no one else as she said it.

"I always intended to," Vegeta growled in response. "But I'll consider your command, little Queen."

Trunks sighed wearily, still looking stressed out, but his parents were paying him no attention.

"I told you I'd help you," Bulma smiled, and Goku suppressed a wince, because she was just a little too happy at having gotten her way. She might spoil it. "Today I'm making good on it."

Then, to Goku's jaw-dropping astonishment, Bulma grabbed Vegeta's face and kissed him, open-mouthed and intense. He froze, unable to believe what he was seeing, or that Vegeta didn't throw her off of him. But as Goku flushed, and Trunks looked away, he saw Vegeta lay his hand against Bulma's stomach.

There were strange things on this planet. And then there were strange things…

"Enough, Woman." Vegeta broke away from her. "If you remain safe, you can have whatever else you wish. If you go down to that damn bunker, that is—"

"I'll be safe," she told him insistently.

"Please, Mom."

She winked at her son, backing out of Vegeta's hold. "I promise. Slay that monster for me, will you?"

And then Vegeta pulled away from her without another look, grabbing Trunks by the shoulder and racing out the door. Goku heard him giving hurried instructions to Bulma's guard to follow them and that he had given Goku special instructions to protect the Queen.

Bulma matched gazes with him again and Goku only spoke when he knew that Vegeta was well out of earshot.

"I think you lied, didn't you, Bulma?"

His friend's cheeks reddened. "No! I'm not going to do anything dangerous! But Vegeta has another thing coming if he thinks I'm going to sit on my hands! Besides…" her voice sounded a little off, "nowhere is safe right now…"

Goku thought he should say something to make her feel better, but then Bulma straightened up and pinned him with her gaze, all business. "Look. Let's worry about me hiding away once everything that I need to get done actually gets done! We've got to find Krillin and little Dende. Vegeta will send the General to me—"

She chattered on as they bounded out of the doctor's office, and Goku recalled that Vegeta said that she was pregnant. Bulma was going to have a baby, then. He knew that he had Gohan, but he wasn't sure that he truly grasped what this all meant. And he didn't think this was a good time to ask. He just got the feeling that he had to protect Bulma all the more. And that's exactly what he would do!

"Your Majesty." The guard bowed and took Bulma's arm, lightly but also firm. "The King has given me orders. Please tell me that you aren't planning any deviations."

Bulma threw him a smile and slipped out of his hand, moving closer to Goku, who didn't know why… it's not like he was going to need to protect her from her own guard. "Of course not," she told the towering Saiyan. "But we have to get to the lab now if we are going to make it in time! We can talk about all that later!"

"That inspires no confidence, Your Majesty."

Bulma ignored him and was already getting a head start, so while Goku and Bok were catching up to her, Goku decided to make him feel better.

"Don't worry, buddy! Vegeta said he'd kill me instead of you, if something happened to her. You're gonna be fine!"

VBVBVBVBVBVBVBVBVBVBVB

"Dad."

Trunks was surprised when Vegeta reared up at the address, stopping short in the hall that led to the Meeting Chamber. Especially since his eyes spoke to the fact that he wanted to be handling business now, not chatting in the hall with Trunks. But Trunks was too worried to leave it to silence.

"Mom agreed way too easily—"

"You think I don't know that?" his father interrupted brusquely. "That blasted Woman will cause us a wealth of trouble and a wealth of reward by the end of this. Accept it, and be ready for it when it happens. And put it aside for now."

"That's not—"

Trunks gasped when Vegeta grabbed him by the scruff, while the rest of the world continued to rush around them, bending him towards him with a disciplined ferocity that kept Trunks from stopping him. The look in his eyes wasn't threatening …it was just the King, grabbing him that he couldn't shake off.

He pulled Trunks so they were face-to-face, and he spoke in undertone. "Your mother may have had her own, perfectly manipulative reasons for saying so, but she was right about our worries. I want you to understand NOW, that the only way that you, or your mother, or that child she is inconveniently carrying at the moment are going to survive is if WE lead these people and we do not hesitate!"

Trunks didn't even dare blink at the words, waiting, sick with the burden and wanting to suddenly be told what to do. He didn't care if it was Vegeta doing it, because he did understand… Thinking about everything else was only trouble. None of it mattered right now. Frieza was at the gates.

"She is their Queen, Trunks. However she came to be it. And YOU are the Prince of All Saiyans! So stand with me, and forget everything else. If you can do that, we will be victorious and your mother will be fine. But you can't think of it. If you can't do this …then tell me now…"

It was …far more complicated than that. Trunks knew, and so, probably, did Vegeta. But the heart of it was true, and it was that, or they all died.

Before this, he had thought that he would go it alone. He thought that he didn't need his father or his stupid interference or his advice or orders! And then …it happened, and everything was nothing like he thought it would be. He didn't feel at all the same as he had an hour ago.

And Trunks' mother would not die again.

"I'm standing with you," Trunks vowed hoarsely, but strong enough that his father would mark it. "I'm with you …until it's over."

He couldn't guard his mother personally. But Goku was there with her, and Goku would die before he let anything happen to Bulma. Trunks understood also why Vegeta had arranged it the way that he did. Goku may not have been as strong, but …something about him felt indestructible. And there was no one he'd rather have protecting his mom.

Frieza was the problem, and he would follow his father's lead with Frieza. And the Elites. And he would do whatever his father asked of him. He committed to doing so now.

And he forgot what it might mean to see Geta's face.

A/N: Is anyone worried Bulma is going to sit in the bunker? This is the same woman who took her baby to an android war zone, not going to happen!