The daylight was beginning to fade over Kami's Lookout, creating a spectacular sunset that seemed so close to Raditsu that he felt that he could reach out and touch the sun with one hand. At the moment, the burly Saiyajin was leaning on the guardrail at the edge of the lookout, alone. The others were with Kami, filling him in on what had happened thus far, but Raditsu already knew the events which had occurred, and thus didn't need to be around.

Ever since the arrival of Dai Shinnoma, Raditsu hadn'd had time to go off by himself and think. The campaign against Dai was the most trying task Raditsu had ever gone through - even more trying than killing Koola back on Vegetasei.

"Confusing, isn't it?"

The voice, rich and quiet, came from just behind Raditsu. The big warrior looked around sharply, but relaxed as he saw that it was only Cirell. "Don't scare me like that," he grumbled.

"Sorry." Her jacket rippling, Cirell moved to lean against the railing, her blue eyes watching the sunset. "It's confusing for me, too," she admitted after a moment. "In my time, all of us were dead by now."

"That's reassuring."

"Hey, don't feel bad. We've managed to last THIS long against Dai Shinnoma. Who's to say we won't defeat him?"

Raditsu let out the faintest hint of a sigh. "I don't know," he replied. "It's just that none of us have been able to do any signifigant damage except to kill off that reaper. Other than that, we just get thrashed."

"Don't worry about it. Now that Kami's agreed to help us, we have a fighting chance against the demons. We could even win."

Raditsu didn't answer. Something had just occurred to him. After a brief pause, he asked, "Cirell, why is it that you're sixteen in your timeline, yet in this timeline you aren't even born yet?"

A sly expression crossed Cirell's features. "Don't worry about that," she told him. "In this timeline, Bulma's pregnant with us already."

That came as a surprise to Raditsu, and it was all he could do to keep from falling over the balcony in surprise. "Are you serious?!" he asked incredulously.

"Deadly serious, father."

Raditsu was too overwhelmed with sudden pride to answer. Bulma was pregnant! He was going to be a father! And to make matters even better, he was going to be a father to someone born in HIS timeline!

Cirell's expression was one of noticably sadness. "I expected that," she murmured, looking out over the horizon. "You don't really think of me as your daughter now, do you?"

"Do you mind NOT laying heavy guilt on me right now?"

"Sorry."

"Hey, don't worry about it. You may be from a different timeline, but you still qualify as my daughter, and that's how I'm gonna treat you."

The look Cirell gave him was a grateful one.

-----

Bardock watched his son and granddaughter from his position next to one of the pillars supporting Kami's porch roof. The aging Saiya-jin was garbed in a white tee-shirt and black jeans, garments which he felt rather comfortable in - though at the moment, the creation of a bond between parent and child comforted him more. If Raditsu and Cirell hadn't been able to get along, the outcome of the campaign would have been swayed towards Dai.

Something deep within Bardock knew that this would be his last campaign. He was approaching his seventy-fifth year, and most folk would already consider him too old to be of much use on the battlefield. Bardock, however, intended to fight one last campaign before he went out.