Chapter 25
It didn't take Bulma too long to finally accept the fact that she was going to be a mother in the very near future, even though the thought was still a bit overwhelming. She really had no idea what to expect. Sure, she knew what went on inside the body of a pregnant woman; that had been one of the most basic processes she'd learned in her anatomical sciences courses at college. But knowing general facts and tendencies didn't do much to ease her mind about the matter. For one thing, she knew that no two pregnancies were ever alike, and there was really no telling what kind of problems lay in store for her. For all she knew, she could have severe complications later on in the baby's development, complications that she and/or the baby could die from. That, of course, was her worst fear. She knew the chances of that happening were fairly slim in this day and age, but there was another factor to consider as well. It was what set her apart from all women on this planet: she was carrying a baby that was half-Saiyan. She wasn't sure what effects that fact might have on her delivery, so she worried about that.
On the other hand, she did have to take into account the fact that her own personal strength and resilience were far beyond those of normal human women. Even if her baby was half-Saiyan, perhaps she was strong enough that it wouldn't matter. After all, Chichi had Gohan, and Chichi was more along the lines of a normal-strength human-relatively speaking, of course. Knowing that helped her confidence some, but not enough to wipe all doubts from her mind.
It wasn't long before Bulma decided to go to her mother to find out if she had any advice or information that might give her more confidence in what she was doing. It turned out to be the best thing she could have done.
"Hey Mom," she said one evening as she was helping her mother cook dinner. "I've been thinking this whole baby thing over, and I'm getting kind of nervous. I mean, I don't exactly know what I'm getting into here. I don't know a thing about kids, and I know even less about having one. How will I be able to know that whatever I'm doing will be the right thing for the baby?"
Mrs. Briefs smiled and gave Bulma a light squeeze. "That's where having me around might come in handy," she laughed. "You're looking at a woman who's been though all that already, honey! If you have questions, I can give you the answers!"
Bulma's eyes lit up almost immediately. "Of course!" She exclaimed, smacking herself in the head for not seeing it until now. "You've already had a kid! Me! You could help me figure all this stuff out a lot better than I could on my own! Thanks, Mom! I can always count on you for the right answers, can't I?" She laughed, giving her mom a hug right back.
"I do my best," Mrs. Briefs laughed, sounding very flattered indeed. "So tell me; what would you like to know?"
From that point on, Bulma went straight to her mother with nearly all her questions. And she learned a great deal about what she might expect. She listened eagerly to her mother's accounts of her own experiences of pregnancy, and although not all of what she learned sounded very pleasant, some of it sounded downright wonderful.
It was during one such talk with Mrs. Briefs that Bulma realized for the first time that she actually wanted to have the baby. Mrs. Briefs was explaining some little quirks of pregnancy to her over lunch when this epiphany dawned on Bulma.
"So anyway," her mother said, sipping her tea and smiling at Bulma. "There are some things you always hear about when there's talk of having a baby, and a lot of them aren't as founded in truth as you might think. For example," she said, holding up her index finger. "That whole business about strange cravings is ridiculous, in my opinion. I don't really know if this is true for everybody, but my eating habits didn't change a bit when I became pregnant with you. Your father can vouch for that. I don't know if it's unique to each person or what. Personally, I think it's just a way of demanding attention from your husband," she giggled. "Maybe I should have tried it just for the fun of it." She and Bulma both laughed at that. "But that brings me to another point," she said, smiling happily. "What I ate didn't change, but neither did how much I ate. You don't have to stuff yourself just because you're going to have a baby. I personally think this 'eating for two' stuff is a load of hooey. At least, that's what my doctor told me, and I believed him," she laughed. "All you're going to achieve by overeating like that is making yourself fat. The best advice I can give you is to eat when you're hungry and don't eat when you're not. And that's precisely what you've been doing for years, so I don't think that'll be too hard for you. Just make sure that, in addition to your food, you're taking those prenatal vitamins the doctor prescribed for you too."
"I am," Bulma said, nodding and laughing. "And I've got a load of other appointments with those doctors in the works too. I'm getting more attention now than I did after getting beaten up by Vegita and Nappa!"
"Good," Mrs. Briefs said, nodding in approval. "You can't be too careful. Better to see the doctors too often than not enough. Besides, we can afford some extra visits, so feel free to take advantage of us as much as you like!"
Bulma laughed. "Sure thing," she said, grinning. "Well, here's another thing, Mom. What about morning sickness? I know that happens, because I had a professor in college who suffered terribly from it. I haven't had any problems with it myself, though. Do you think I will?"
Mrs. Briefs shook her head. "It does happen to a lot of women," she agreed. "But the women of our family generally don't have a problem with it. I never had it," she said, shrugging matter-of-factly. "And I'm fairly sure you won't either. I wouldn't worry too much about it, if I were you."
Bulma nodded. "So what's labor like?" She asked. "Is it really painful?"
Her mother frowned. "It depends," she said, thinking for a moment. "That sort of thing is different from woman to woman. For some women, it's the most horrible pain they'll ever experience. For others, it's no more to them than a particularly strong cramp. It was pretty harsh for me, I have to admit," she said with a smile. "But it's always worth it."
Looking at her expression, Mrs. Briefs could see right away that Bulma was hoping she'd elaborate, and she smiled at her. "The moment you hold your child in your arms for the first time, all that pain will melt out of your body and your mind," she said. "You'll know that the fragile little life you're cradling in your arms is the product of the love you and Vegita share for one another. You two have achieved one of the most special and miraculous of acts. You have created life. That child," she said, patting Bulma lovingly on the tummy, "is a gift for both of you to treasure."
A light shone in Bulma's eyes that had never been there before. "Wow," she breathed, awestruck. "I've never considered that before." She giggled almost nervously and looked down at the table. "I wonder what kind of father Vegita will be?" She said with a happy grin.
Mrs. Briefs chuckled. "He strikes me as the type who doesn't know much about children either," she said with a smile. "I'd be willing to bet that he'll be rather intimidated at first."
Bulma laughed. "Vegita, intimidated by a little baby!" She laughed. "Now that's something that would be worth seeing!"
"Oh Bulma!" Mrs. Briefs laughed. They both laughed at the very idea of Vegita's being 'intimidated' by something so small and helpless. That was when Bulma decided that having a baby wouldn't be such a bad thing after all. Even if it had come at a bad time, she was beginning to like the idea.
For the next few months at least, her training with Vegita progressed as usual. In fact, it progressed much faster than usual. Vegita seemed to be making every effort to train her as hard and as long as he could. It was getting to the point where he was driving Bulma to unconsciousness nearly every day, and at first, Bulma couldn't understand why. She was beginning to get very frustrated after enduring the first month of it. She would have been the last person to admit that she thought he was being too rough with her, but she couldn't help thinking just that from time to time. It was as if it didn't even matter to him that she was already two months pregnant.
One day, during one such training session, she happened to be thinking those same mutinous thoughts. And when it came to the point where she knew she couldn't take another hit without getting knocked out, she finally snapped. As Vegita dove in for the kill, as it were, she ignored her reason and listened to her instincts. She slowed time and jumped aside, dodging his attack. Then, as he sailed past her, she brought both arms up above her head, fists clenched together, and with all the force she could muster, she slammed them down onto his back.
The effect was immediate. Vegita smashed into the floor, uttering a forceful grunt as the wind got knocked out of him. Bulma gradually and-rather unwillingly-gave up her hold on time, and its flow ebbed out into normalcy. She staggered backwards a bit, panting violently but refusing to let her wobbly legs buckle out on her. She knew an explosion was coming, but she simply refused to let her body give out on her before she could meet it with her own.
Vegita hadn't been hurt at all by his trip to the floor, but his surprise prevented him from righting himself immediately. But rise he did, once he got over the initial shock. Glaring at Bulma with a look so ineffable that can't be described by the English language, he slowly picked himself up and turned to face her, his fists balled tightly from his anger.
"Go ahead!" She snarled at him. "Go right on ahead! Yell and scream all you want to about it! I don't care! Training or not, I'm not about to let you knock me senseless again! Do you hear me? Not once!"
Vegita growled threateningly. "I told you to reserve that skill only for the times I specified!" He spat at her. "I won't tolerate such direct insubordination!"
"Go stuff yourself!" She snapped. "I'm not your punching bag, you insensitive asshole! I may be strong, but I'm still human! And the way you've treated me over the past month is intolerable! If it had been normal training that would be one thing, but this 'beat the holy shit out of Bulma until she collapses' garbage has got to stop! I'm two months pregnant, dammit! And if you cared at all, you'd realize that slamming me around all over the place and knocking me unconscious isn't doing me or the baby any good!"
Bulma was too involved in her own righteous fury to notice that her knees were shaking so terribly that her whole body was wobbling. She did notice though, when they finally gave out on her and she dropped to her hands and knees. "Damn you," she whispered fiercely through gritted teeth. She shut her eyes tightly and shook her head as tears began to come to the surface. "I just can't take it any more!"
Vegita sighed and shook his head. "Little fool," he muttered, walking over to the gravity machine and turning it off.
"Heh," Bulma laughed, her voice cracking a little. "Yeah, I am a fool," she said dryly, collapsing onto her side and drawing a ragged breath. "A fool for making myself endure this torture for so long."
Vegita snorted and, crossing his arms, leaned against the gravity machine and looked down at her. Bulma expected to see anger, or at least scorn on his face, but she saw neither. What she saw was more along the lines of indifference.
"I'm not training you so rigorously to punish you," he said soberly, frowning a little. "And I'm well aware that you're two months pregnant. I've done nothing to you to endanger either you or the child."
"That's a laugh," Bulma said, chuckling feebly. "I bet you really believe that, too."
Vegita smirked. "You underestimate yourself," he said, shaking his head at her. "Much as I hate to admit it."
"Have you ever considered that you might be overestimating me?" She asked him quietly, scowling and averting her eyes.
Vegita frowned. "Woman, what you fail to see is that the reason that I've increased your training regimen so dramatically is the very fact that you ARE only so far along in your pregnancy. I'm doing the best I can with what little time I have. It won't be very much longer before you're too far along to do much of anything."
"Oh God," Bulma groaned, rolling over onto her back and closing her eyes angrily. "Is that what this has been all about? For Heaven's sake, Vegita!"
"Am I wrong in thinking that Earth women also become somewhat disabled during the later stages of pregnancy?" He asked her with a rather perplexed frown.
"No," Bulma said angrily. "You're right about that. I just can't believe you've been putting me through all this hell just so you can try to make up for the time I'm going to lose in here later on! I mean, it's ridiculous! Killing me now isn't going to make things any easier on me later on, Vegita! I'm not a Saiyan, for crying out loud!"
"Feh. Don't remind me," he muttered, shaking his head in disgust.
"Look," she sighed, opening her eyes in exasperation. "I have no intention of quitting my training, Vegita. But you've got to ease up on me a little. This sort of thing would be too rough for me even if I weren't pregnant. Now granted, I'm going to have some catching up to do after I have the baby, but it won't be all that bad. Besides, I'll continue my training all the way through. The exercises may not be as harsh later on, but I'm not going to regress into inactivity simply to have a baby!"
Vegita scowled and thought it over for a few moments. He didn't seem too pleased about it; that much she could gather. But finally, he just shook his head and sighed.
"All right," he said at last. "I'll reduce the magnitude of your training to a more agreeable level. But you'll regret this later on; I can guarantee it."
Bulma sighed. "Maybe," she said grudgingly. "But now, I don't see it as anything but the right decision."
They remained where they were for a few moments then, not moving and not speaking. Finally Vegita shifted rather uncomfortably and cleared his throat. "Well, are you leaving or aren't you?" He asked her gruffly.
"Give me a few minutes," Bulma said with an embarrassed laugh. "I'm still trying to regain the feeling in my legs."
True to his word, Vegita did ease up on Bulma after that, and things were generally a lot more agreeable for her. Slowly but surely, the months crawled by, and after many successive decreases in difficulty, Vegita finally decided that sparring exercises and energy training had become too dangerous for Bulma. He placed her on a regimen of the most basic of physical exercises after that, in reduced but moderate levels of gravity, under his close supervision. It wasn't easy, but Bulma was determined to keep as fit as possible.
Her doctors didn't approve, of course, but since they didn't really know the true extent of Bulma's abilities, she didn't take their warnings all that seriously. She figured that as long as she didn't take any hard falls on her stomach, she wasn't going to hurt the baby. And Vegita had an interesting take on things. He had explained to her that Saiyan women often went on missions even during the middle and later stages of pregnancy. He told her that in their case at least, the strength of the mother not only protected the baby, but also was shared with it. Bulma didn't know if that applied to humans, but she was inclined to think so. Still, she knew she had to take extra care, and she did. She was very sparing with her flying nowadays, and didn't do much else that the doctors forbade her do. She was aware that she was in some ways beyond their scope of knowledge, but she didn't forget the fact that she was still human, and was prone to human frailties.
There were so many things to do to prepare for the baby's arrival. Bulma and her parents had a plan of action ready for the final moments; that was the easy part. It was harder preparing for everything else. Lamaze classes were a joke; of course Vegita was too busy training to come. Not that she expected him to be there for the actual delivery anyway. He had already told her that Saiyan men were rarely ever present at the births of their children, and that he wasn't going to be one to break tradition. Naturally, Bulma was a little put out with him for this, but after a while she grew to accept it. It was just another of his annoying quirks. Besides, she doubted he'd behave normally in the hospital anyway. It took very little to make Vegita blow his top, and the moment the doctors told him to do something he didn't want to do, he'd take it the wrong way and perhaps blast away an entire wing of the hospital or something. At least, that's what she figured. But she knew that she would prefer to have him there with her for support anyway. Oh well. With Vegita, sometimes you just had to take what you could get. He wasn't as perfect as she might have seen him initially, but she honestly didn't mind all that much. She knew she wasn't perfect either, and besides, the subtle niceties here and there made up for whatever annoyances she discovered in him. Vegita was Vegita. And she knew she should expect no more of him than that.
There were minor disputes here and there as time wore on, but nothing truly Earth shattering. Bulma and Vegita bickered over various things, but perhaps the most heated battle erupted over the issue of what to name the new member of the family.
It happened on the day that Bulma's ultrasound results finally were able to confirm the baby's gender. Bulma was so excited and eager to tell everyone the news that she didn't even bother driving back, like the doctors had ordered her to do. Instead, she flew home at top speed, and arrived at the compound only minutes later.
The first thing she did was to race to the gravity room to tell Vegita. When she reached it, she didn't even bother announcing her arrival. She instead punched the buttons at the control terminal to shut off the power, and cut off the lock to the door. Then she zoomed around to the door and flung it open, dashing inside.
She was only three feet inside before she crashed into Vegita, who had just turned toward the door. With a loud grunt, she bounced back off of him, and stumbled backward a little. Vegita grabbed her by the arms, and she just narrowly escaped tumbling backwards out the door.
"Whew!" She panted. "Thanks, Vegita!"
"What is the meaning of this?!" Vegita exploded at her, yelling in her face. "What in devil's name are you doing?! Have you lost your mind?!"
Bulma shook her head and waved her arms at him excitedly. "Never mind that!" She cried impatiently. "I couldn't wait to get back and tell you! It's a boy! We're having a boy!"
"A boy?" Vegita asked, momentarily stunned. "How do you know?"
"The ultrasound!" Bulma cried excitedly. "The doctor saw it in the ultrasound! And Vegita, he looks so beautiful!"
Vegita sighed and shook his head. "For God's sake, woman," he grumbled. "Don't you think you could have delivered this news more carefully? What if you had tripped and fallen? You're so clumsy as it is, I'm surprised the child has survived this long!"
Bulma shot him a very hurt look. "I've been very careful!" She exclaimed. "I just got excited, that's all! I just thought that, you know… well, I couldn't wait to tell you the news."
Vegita rolled his eyes skyward. "Earthlings," he said in disgust.
Bulma grinned at him. "So what do you think, dad?" She asked playfully. "In another four months, you'll get to see him face to face."
"Well, if he's as weak as his mother," Vegita snorted, "I shudder to think of all the work I have ahead of me."
Bulma laughed and gave him a few playful kicks in the shins. "You just wait until he's grown up a little. I'll bet you won't have to wait long to see that he'll be even stronger than I am!"
Vegita laughed heartily then. "You're right," he said with a grin. "I won't have long to wait for that, will I?"
He laughed again, and Bulma stuck her tongue out at him. "Oh, there are a few things I wanted to talk to you about," she said, suddenly remembering what else she needed to talk to him about. "First of all, there's something I haven't told you, but I've known it for a few months. I'm sorry for not telling you, but I wasn't really sure how I felt about it myself. But in the end, I decided that it would be best to just tell you and get it over with."
"Well spit it out, woman!" Vegita said impatiently. "What's got you so worked up?"
Bulma smiled slightly at him. "Our son has a tail," she said, wrapping her arms around behind him and patting him lightly with one hand where his tail used to be. "The doctors didn't really know what it was at first, but I did. And I didn't tell them, but they've guessed it by now. At any rate, I don't care what they think. That's not what's been bothering me. What's been bothering me about it is that I was worried about what might happen if we raise a child with a tail. I was afraid; afraid of the possibility that he might transform. The moon is gone, but someone might wish it back someday. You never know. But after a while, I decided that I wasn't being fair. It wasn't wholly my decision to make. This is something we have to decide together. Besides, I figured in the end that this was also something that you would know more about than I do. I want to know what you think. Do you want to have the tail removed when he's born? Or do you think we ought to leave it?"
Vegita frowned. "You're right," he said gravely. "This wasn't something for you alone to decide. I don't consent to removing his tail. That's one of the worst insults imaginable to one of Saiyan lineage. I suppose I can understand your concern, though," he said with a grudging shrug. "To the average Earthling, staring at a fully transformed Oozaru is like staring at death itself. If he were to transform, he would be a threat to all who were weaker than he. However," he said, arching an eyebrow. "You should have realized that I would easily be able to keep him in check. And what's more, I would be able to teach him how to control his power in such situations. Oozaru are not all mindless brutes. You saw that for yourself when I transformed."
"That's true," Bulma admitted. She looked into his eyes. "But what about me?" She asked quietly. "Until you were able to get him in check, what would happen to me? Would I be able to defend myself, or would he be to strong for me?"
Vegita snorted. "You'd be fine for the first five or six years at least," he said with a smirk. "But like you said, this planet's moon is gone. So you have nothing to worry about unless it gets wished back."
Bulma sighed. "All right then. Oh, but what about its being a weakness to him?" She asked, scratching her chin a bit. "I think it's safe to assume that he'll be pursuing a course in martial arts. But a tail is going to be a weakness if he doesn't train it properly. It took Son some very intense training to strengthen his enough. I suppose our son could do the same."
"Of course he could," Vegita snorted. "The fact that that idiot Kakarrot could do it is proof enough of that."
Bulma laughed and shook her head. "If it was so easy then why didn't Radditz do it?" She asked him with a coy grin.
Vegita scowled. "Because Radditz was a fool," he grumbled. "And a truly low-class warrior. He always assumed he could keep his tail out of reach. I guess he found out that theory's flaws the hard way."
Bulma nodded. "Well, I guess I agree with you then," she said with a shrug. "As long as you think it won't hurt him to leave his tail, we'll leave it. I won't mind that."
Vegita nodded back at her. "Was that all you wanted to discuss?" He asked her.
"No," she said, letting go of him and stepping back a little. "There was also the issue of what we are going to name him."
Vegita grunted and crossed his arms. "That's a simple matter," he replied. "He'll be named Vegita, just as his father, and just as my father's father named him."
"Er… I don't know," Bulma faltered. "I mean, if we were living on planet Vegita that would be one thing, but we're on Earth. Besides, don't you think it'll be confusing? You know, having two Vegita's in the same household?"
Vegita glared at her. "Well of course WE won't call him Vegita," he said impatiently. "That name is reserved for others to use. We can call him whatever we like. But even if he does grow up on Earth, he still needs a name that demands respect. He's of noble blood, after all."
Bulma was trying not to convey her thoughts in a way that would make Vegita angry, but she knew it was a lost cause. "Vegita," she sighed. "We can't call him that name. Not unless you want to call him Vegita Junior or something like that. And to be perfectly honest, I don't really think I want my son and my husband to have the same name."
"Oh you don't?" He said, his voice quieting dangerously. "And I suppose you have a better name in mind?"
"Well, yes," she lied defensively. "I've thought of lots of names that are better than that one. But I know you won't like any of them."
"I'm inclined to agree," he said with a sneer. "But I'm not entirely unreasonable. Go ahead. Try me."
Bulma glared back at him as she tried to come up with a name on the spur of the moment. "Er… how about… Trunks?" She said after a moment's hesitation. She suddenly had a peculiar sense of déjà vu, as if she'd heard that name somewhere before. "Yes. Trunks," she said, putting her hands on her hips and glaring defiantly at Vegita. "I think that's a perfect name, don't you?"
Vegita scowled at her. "No son of mine is going to have such an undignified name!" He growled.
"What's so undignified about it?" Bulma demanded.
Vegita gave her a dry laugh. "Nothing," he said with an angry grin. "That is, nothing if you want your son to be named after an article of clothing."
"And just what is wrong with that?" Bulma asked, and this time her voice quieted dangerously. She took a step closer to Vegita and glared fiercely at him.
"It's idiotic, that's what," Vegita replied, obviously not intimidated. "Only a fool would name his child after something so stupid."
"Oh yeah?" Bulma said angrily. "Well only a complete moron would name his child after vegetables!"
They glared furiously at one another, and one could all but see the sparks flying from one set of eyes to the other. Finally, Vegita smirked and shrugged his shoulders.
"Fine," he said affably. "We'll settle this how we'd settle it on planet Vegita. When you recover from the boy's birth, we'll do battle. And the winner will choose his name."
"Fine!" Bulma retorted hotly. "If that's what it'll take to please you, then I'm all for it!"
So that was that. The matter of their son's name went unresolved, at least for the time being. But that was about the worst conflict worth mentioning. For the most part, Bulma and Vegita didn't discuss the baby all that often. Bulma had learned in the beginning that Vegita was more absorbed in his training than he was in the baby, so she only bothered giving him the highlights. She would have preferred him to be more interested, but she was well aware that trying to change anything about Vegita was about as easy as teaching Goku trigonometry. She had to take him as he was. Still, she was sure just the same that he was more interested than he let on. And that-she figured-was enough.
Time marched on, and slowly but surely, Bulma's girth grew more and more. As the projected date for her delivery grew ever closer, she became more and more nervous. She was moodier than ever nowadays, and everyone around the compound knew it, and knew to stay clear of her when she looked just the slightest bit angry. Only Vegita was indifferent. Her training sessions with him were about the only thing that gave her a good chance to let off steam, and Vegita was probably the best man for the job. He found Bulma's hair-trigger temper nowadays to be tremendously amusing, and he wasted no opportunity to push her buttons. There were countless occasions of her deserting her exercises to fly at him in rage, and he teased and goaded her shamelessly whenever she did. Although Bulma sometimes thought he was trying to drive her crazy, he was really only having a little fun with her. Besides, he was actually doing a great deal of good, even if neither of them were entirely aware of it. He wore Bulma out so much that she was usually too tired afterwards to be angry with anybody else, and she was a much more agreeable person for most of the day. And truth be told, even if she did end up flying at him in an uncontrollable rage from time to time, she was grateful to be able to keep as active as she was. Even when she had reached a full eight months, she was still going strong, much to Vegita's satisfaction. Even he had little (valid) complaint to offer her regarding her efforts to keep trim and in shape throughout it all.
Training or not, the day they all knew was coming couldn't be stopped. And come it did, at a time when none of them was expecting it.
Bulma was taking a walk around the compound one quiet, cloudless evening when it happened. She felt her water break. For a split second she froze, on the verge of panic. But then, she calmly walked back to the house and quietly informed her parents that the moment they'd been preparing for had finally arrived.
It was as if she had dropped a bomb on the household. Her mother immediately rushed upstairs to get their clothes and care package they had prepared in advance, and her father ran circles there in the kitchen while he tried frantically to remember what it was he was supposed to do. Bulma watched him curiously and wondered if he had done the same thing when her mother was in her predicament.
"You and Mom get the car ready," she said calmly, trying not to laugh at her father's comical antics. "I'm going to go tell Vegita that we're leaving. I'll come back with him if he wants to come, or without him if he doesn't. So make sure you leave enough room for him, just in case, okay?"
"R- right! Yeah! The car!" Her father exclaimed. "I have to get the car! Thanks Bulma!" He rushed out the kitchen door and ran to the workshop to grab his capsule case. Bulma shook her head and sighed as she left after him and walked swiftly to the gravity room. She was going to have to be really alert on the way to the hospital, because considering the frantic state of mind her father was in, he was liable to do something to get them all killed. She grinned. He was such a goof.
"Vegita," she said, turning on the vidcam and causing him to pause to look up at the screen.
"What is it?" He asked her gruffly, obviously not grateful for being interrupted. "What do you want now?"
"I just wanted to let you know that my parents and I are heading for the hospital," she said, her voice strangely subdued. "I thought I'd let you know in case you wanted to come too."
"Now why would I want to do a…" He began, looking up crankily, but when he saw the strangely pale face that met his eyes, he cut his sentence short. "You mean… now? It's happening?" He asked her in disbelief.
"Yes," she replied shakily. She was beginning to feel an odd wave of pain wash over her, and she stifled a gasp. "Ungh… I've got to get back…" She said in a somewhat disconnected voice. She left and walked shakily back toward the house, forgetting to turn off the terminal. She had the strangest feeling that something wasn't right, and she didn't have much time to waste walking around.
In seconds Vegita had come crashing out of the gravity room and rushed up to her side. "What the hell are you doing walking around the compound at a time like this?!" He demanded. She wavered a little as she turned to look at him, but she didn't slow her pace.
"I had to tell you before I left," she said with a grin. "What did you expect me to do? Go off and have the baby without telling you?"
Vegita growled impatiently. "Little fool," he said with a scowl. "You should know better than to go wandering off when our son's birth is knocking at the door! Why didn't you send one of your dimwit parents to come get me? Didn't you even consider what might have happened?"
But Bulma wasn't really listening. Another wave of pain hit her, and this one was more insistent than the last. "Oh…" She groaned, staggering a little and grabbing onto his shoulder to steady herself. "This isn't good…"
"Hey!" He exclaimed, his voice now sounding much less angry than anxious. "Are you all right?"
"Let me wait until it passes," she said through gritted teeth, clutching at him as if she could barely stand. "If I move I'll make it worse."
Vegita held her steady until she relaxed a little, and then she looked up at him apologetically. "I'm sorry," she said quietly. "I didn't expect it to hurt this much."
"This isn't going to do," he said with a determined scowl. "We aren't waiting any longer. Come on. I'll fly you there myself." His words were followed by a crash that came from the other side of the house.
"Oh my God!" Bulma gasped. "That sounded like the car!"
A loud string of profanity could be heard from the same area, and in a voice that couldn't be mistaken for any but her father's. Bulma shook her head. "The idiot got overexcited and crashed his car. Maybe it would be better if you did take me there. Let me tell my mom, okay, Vegita?"
Vegita helped Bulma to the house, where her mother was waiting for her, her cheeks an excited pink, and her whole body shaking with glee. "Come on dear, hurry up!" She cried. "Your father's disappeared, but I think he's off to get the car. Let's go get him!"
"I think he just crashed it," Bulma sighed. "Here. Take my capsule case and please drive him to the hospital for me. I don't think he's in any condition to drive. Vegita's going to take me. He can get me there faster anyway."
Mrs. Briefs looked up at Vegita and smiled broadly. "That's an excellent idea!" She cried, smiling brilliantly at him. "There isn't anyone I could trust this to more!"
Bulma kissed her mother goodbye, and then Vegita gently lifted her into his arms and took to the sky with her. Within seconds they had left the compound far behind them.
"I think Mom's right," Bulma said with a strained grin. "I couldn't be in safer hands, could I?"
"Hmph," Vegita grunted, looking characteristically indifferent. "At least I can get you there quickly and without the danger of being blown to bits in one of your father's little death-traps," he grumbled.
Bulma laughed weakly, but it was cut short by another, even sharper stab of pain. She lowered her head and her face paled, and Vegita looked anxiously at her.
"Vegita, I don't know for sure, but I think something's wrong," she said, her voice sounding very labored. "I don't think it's supposed to hurt this much."
"Why do you say that?" He asked nervously, noticing the ashen color her face had turned.
"Because this… ngh!" She cried through gritted teeth. "This is an unbearably high level of pain, even for me! Labor pains should at least be less than what you used to give me in the gravity room on a normal day. But this… ah!" She yelped, clutching his neck tightly and curling up in agony. Terrible, shooting pains were now racing up and down her spine and tearing through her abdominal muscles like a shock wave. "Vegita, this is more than I can bear!" She whimpered. Tears began to form in the corners of her tightly shut eyes. She was terribly frightened, but it was nothing in comparison to what she was doing to Vegita.
"Don't say that!" He demanded fiercely. "Don't you dare give up on me, do you hear? You are going to fight it! And you are going to win!"
Bulma wanted to smile reassuringly at him, but she could produce no more than a grimace. The pain hadn't subsided like it had before. It felt more like it was getting stronger. "I'm sorry, Vegita," she said, shutting her eyes again and balling her fists. "I'm not saying I'm ready to admit defeat. It's just that it hurts so much!"
Vegita didn't want to admit it, but he believed her when she said she thought something was wrong. Her body temperature had already begun to drop, and he could feel her heartbeat slowing. She was beginning to go into shock.
"Come on, woman; I know you can do it!" He barked at her, his flight speed increasing dramatically. "Don't give up! Dammit, you can call the brat whatever you like when it's over! Just fight back!"
Bulma forced her eyes open, and she raised a trembling hand up to his cheek. "I love you," she said shakily. And after she let out a final gasp of pain, he felt her body go limp. She had slipped into unconsciousness.
Vegita was flying at top speed now. "Bulma!" He roared. "Bulma, wake up! Stay with me!" But it was no use. She didn't even stir. "Damn!" He said fiercely through gritted teeth. Vegita knew then that it was all up to him. She needed medical attention, and fast. He flew at top speed then, and in less than a minute he had reached the hospital.
No one had ever accused Vegita of having an inordinately high degree of people skills, and none of the people who saw him when he burst in with Bulma would have volunteered. Naturally he didn't know anything about checking a person into the hospital, but it was less ignorance than it was panic that caused him to act as he did in trying to get assistance. The first thing he did was corner the first man he saw in a uniform and declare that unless he did something or found somebody to help his wife, he could consider himself a dead man. Little did Vegita know he had just cornered a janitor, who promptly ran screaming in fright from him. A nurse approached Vegita then and asked him what all the commotion was about.
"What do you think is wrong, you little fool?!" He bellowed at her. "Look at my wife! She's about to have a baby, and she's completely unconscious! Even an idiot like you should see that! I demand that you give her the attention she needs right now, or all of you will die!" He yelled at everyone in the room.
"Calm down young man," came a clear, stern voice from the other end of the room. Vegita spun around to see the elderly, bearded doctor who had, unbeknownst to him, treated his wounds from the gravity room fiasco. "That's Bulma Briefs you're carrying, isn't it?"
"Yes!" Vegita cried, leaping the entire length of the room in a single bound and landing in front of the doctor. "If you don't do something for her right now, I'll…"
"Be quiet," the doctor said in a cold, stern voice. "Save your threats for when we have time to hear them. I can tell just by looking at her that she's in serious trouble. Nurse Kim," he called to the lady nurse who had approached Vegita earlier. "Call the delivery room and tell them to prepare for an emergency Caesarean. Ms. Briefs will probably need one."
"Right away doctor," she said, scurrying over to the phone at the receptionist's desk.
"Now then," the doctor said, turning back toward Vegita. "We may not have much time, so I'll explain on the way to the delivery room what we need you to do. Follow me. We won't waste time on a stretcher. You can carry her." He led Vegita through two swinging doors and into a long corridor with elevators at one end. They took one of the elevators up to the third floor, and then the doctor led Vegita to the delivery room, explaining to him that he would need to leave Bulma in their care when they got there, but if he wanted to be present he could indeed do so after he had donned a clean pair of scrubs and a mask. Vegita grit his teeth at being ordered about by a lowly human, but he was well aware that this lowly human was now responsible for Bulma's well-being, so he endured it for her sake.
He laid Bulma on the stretcher they had waiting for her outside the door, and wasted no words of protest when the nurse blocked his entry as he tried to follow them in. He simply pushed her aside and walked in after them, scowling distrustfully at each face he met.
They had moved Bulma into the center of the room and were in the process of attaching a heart monitor to her and prepping her for the ultrasound when he came in. The doctor left the others to begin and walked over to Vegita.
"Mr. Vegita," he said calmly, his voice no less stern but not as cold as before. "You were told that you must wear the appropriate clothing if you wanted to be in here. We try to keep this room as free from airborne contaminants as we can, and they can indeed come from you. It is in your wife's best interests for you to follow our instructions. Would you please step outside and put on the scrubs and facemask we have set aside for you? It will only take you a few moments, and it really is best for Bulma."
Vegita scowled and glared threateningly at him, but the doctor didn't back down. Scowling even more fiercely, Vegita turned and skulked out of the room. The doctor sighed and shook his head. "I wonder what cave she dug this Neanderthal out of," he grumbled, turning back to his task at hand.
Vegita came back a minute or two later to find the doctor and his aides in the middle of an anxious and urgent conversation. "This didn't show up on the last ultrasound, did it, Doctor?" One of them asked him. "This must have happened within the last week."
"I think it was very recent," he said soberly. "She would have been in the very moment it happened. But when or why, it doesn't matter. It's happened, so we need to deal with it as quickly as possible. We've no choice but to operate. Bring that table over here. And you," he said, pointing to one of the nurses. "Keep me updated on both their heart rates every fifteen seconds. Do you understand?"
Vegita didn't know what was going on, but he knew what the doctor meant when he said "operate." He grabbed one of the other doctors by the arm as he rushed past and demanded to know what was going on and why they were going to operate on Bulma. The petit man looked anxiously up at the head doctor, who glanced up at them and nodded.
"Take him outside, Nelson," he said, looking back down at what he was doing. "Explain to him what's going on."
"Yes sir," Nelson replied. "Come with me, Mr. Vegita," he said, pulling his arm free and motioning for Vegita to follow him out of the room.
When they had both left the room, Nelson cleared his throat and looked soberly up at Vegita. "Your wife will not be able to deliver this baby on her own," he explained calmly. "There is a good reason why she has lost consciousness. Somehow, a large tear has appeared on one side of her uterus, the region of her body where the baby is currently residing. We aren't sure what's caused the tear, but we do know that the pain must have been excruciating. We'll be able to fix it though," he said quickly, noticing the way Vegita's face had contorted. "We're going to do a Caesarean Section on her, and we'll patch up the tear after that. She should be fine, but it may take her a week or two to recover."
"What is a Caesarean Section?" Vegita asked him, cocking his head to one side to peer into the window on the left door.
"It's a simple operation, really," the doctor explained. "In cases where the mother is unable to deliver the baby, it must be delivered surgically. But Bulma hasn't lost a lot of blood, and both she and the baby have healthy heart rates," he said reassuringly. "I'm almost certain that both of them will make it out of this just fine."
"Very well then," Vegita said, nodding at him. "I will come in and watch. But let me warn you, Earthling," he growled threateningly. "If anything happens to her, or to my son, I will personally destroy all of you!"
At first Nelson took a step back in fear, but he had apparently dealt with similar threats before, because he didn't remain intimidated for long. "Oh honestly," he grumbled, shaking his head and motioning for Vegita to follow him back in. "There's no need to be so dramatic, you know."
The operation went by smoothly, and in less than an hour, one of the nurses brought a small but very loud bundle over to Vegita and asked him if he would like to hold his son. Vegita took him rather awkwardly from the nurse and held him in his arms. The baby screamed no less loudly than it had been up to this point, and a small tail was slowly wiggling its way out of one end of the blanket. He looked down into the squalling face of his child and an odd look of awe fell on his face.
"My… son," he said, gazing at him in wonder. "My child."
She smiled at Vegita and reached for the baby so that she could take it to the infant ward to be cared for. "Do you know what you will name him?" She asked him as he carefully handed him back to her. "I can fill out the birth certificate for you if you would like to stay here with your wife."
Vegita looked over at Bulma. The doctor and his nurses were still in the process of mending her, but although they shielded her body from his view, her face was unobstructed. It looked very white and drained, but strangely calm and peaceful. He turned back to the nurse.
"Trunks," he said solemnly. "My son's name is Trunks."
On to the next Chapter!
