“I didn’t want you to choose her over me…” I repeated softly.

He no longer tried to pull away. He hardly even moved. I could feel his heart beating like mad in his chest. He was angry, I knew that, but his anger seemed to be dwindling.

I let my grip loosen, and then wrapped my arms around his tiny waist, drawing him towards me, his hips against my stomach. He kept his arms at his sides. He was lost in thought, as if trying to solve some complex problem.

“Vegeta,” My voice was breaking; spilling out of my mouth in a tone that I had not intended. “I’m sorry.”

His eyes darted up. There was no longer anger. It was something else. Depression, perhaps. It was easy to calm him down after he had vented. Much easier than trying to quiet him right away.

He took a deep breath, his chest expanding slowly, and then quickly retracting. “I think I need to go to bed.”

I was a little upset that we would not have sex, even though he had clearly said we would earlier, but I understood why he did not want to.

I nuzzled my face to his chest and listen to him breathing. His heart has slowed considerably. Even though he was quick to anger, he was also quick to calm; most of the time.

“I’m sorry,” I repeated.

“I know.” He stated bluntly. He did not push me away, though, which I was glad for. I loved how small his waist was, in comparison to my own, and the way his hips poked out just slightly underneath his tight chiseled abs.

His arms came to slowly wrap around my shoulders, his head resting on my own.

For several minutes we said nothing. After a while, he began to ask questions.

“Do you know what it is?”

“A girl.”

He snorted, but it was not an annoyed or angry snort. “The Princess will have a sister.”

I nodded, but said nothing.

“And you’re sure it’s mine?”

“Yes, I’m sure. She told me it was.”

He fell silent once more. He ran his fingers through my hair a few times before pulling back to look at me. “I want to see her.”

I nodded. “You have the right to.”

“And I want her to remember me. I want her to know who her father is.”

That seemed reasonable enough.

“And I want her to know that she is just as important as the triplets,” He paused. “And I don’t want her to be soft,”

“She’s a baby, Vegeta. Don’t get too far ahead.” I said gently, but he continued on.

“And I don’t want to treat her like I did Trunks.” This last part seemed to blurt out before he could stop himself.

I didn’t know what he meant by this.

Now that he had said it, he seemed to feel like he needed to explain it to me. “I ignored him. I still ignore him. He hardly even speaks to me.”

“They why don’t you try and talk to him?”

He seemed to drop the subject, disregarding my suggestion. “I want to see them tomorrow.”

I swallowed. I wasn’t sure how he was going to react to seeing them all, without him. I assumed he would put on his best stone-face, waltz in, take a look around, and then leave. I was in for a big surprise.

The next morning, he awoke at 4 am, before the sun was even up. He woke me as well.

“I think we should get ready to go,”

I let my head fall back to the pillow. “It’s four am,”

He nodded offhandedly, “I’m aware of what time it is. Come on. She’ll be awake in a few hours,”

“Why are you so eager to go see her? It’s not like she won’t be there at noon,”

He seemed taken aback by this. “She’s carrying my child,” The bewilderment in his eyes was a little stand-offish. “My baby, Kakorot.”

“Alright, fine, I’m sorry. But can’t we go see her later on? Like maybe after breakfast?”

“What if she leaves?”

“Where is a pregnant woman going to go on a Thursday?”

He seemed to consider this. “I want time to talk to Trunks.”

I nodded. “You’ll have time to talk to him, trust me.”

He seemed put off by this. He left the room without another word.

He returned nearly three hours later, Vienna rested on his hip, the boys at his feet. “They’re awake, Kakorot. Time to get up.”

I groaned, glancing at the clock. How could he be so awake at this hour? I made a motion to get up, but my arms went weak and I feel back down again.

“Who wants to wake up Papa?” His voice was icy, but the triplets did not seem to notice.

The boys jumped on me at the same time, falling hard onto my back. The wind was knocked from my lungs as they jumped, hollering incoherent words.

“Okay, I’m getting up!” I cried and sat up.

They giggled as they rolled off the bed and onto the floor. They immediately rushed to my side when I rose to my feet, blanket wrapped around my waist.

“Papa,” They began, and then started talking at the same time. I could only pick up the words that were in English or Japanese, and only when one became louder than the other.

I put up my hands, quieting them. “Let me get dressed, and then I’ll talk to you,”

They scampered out of the room, each trying to push the other over to begin a fight.

Vegeta put Vienna on her feet. “Go play with your brothers.” He muttered to her.

She left with a reluctant glace back at us.

I realized he was angry with me, but I wasn’t sure what to say that would not upset him further.

I put some clothes on and then turned to look at him. “Are you angry with me?”

He said nothing, only stared. His eyes were piecing, like he was looking right past me into my soul. It was haunting to think about; sending shivers down my spine. “Not angry,” he said eventually, “Frustrated. Aggravated. Irritated. Not angry, though.”

I cocked my head. “Well, at least you’re not angry.” I had not meant to be sarcastic, but the words had been said before I could stop myself.

His eyebrows rose, but his mouth remained turned down into a slight frown.

“How come you’re not angry?” I asked casually, as if I did not really care if he told me or not.

“Because I’ve gotten to the point where I can tolerate the things you do and say without getting angry. It’s become easier to except them as part of your personality.”

“I see…” Though I really didn’t.

His arms came to cross his chest. “Are we going to leave now?”

The ride to Capsule Corp. was made much less awkward by the triplets. They loved to fly. They loved everything about it. They would point to things periodically; watching the scenery change.

When we landed, Vegeta wasted no time going inside. When he found that the door was locked, he let himself in by retrieving the key that was taped above the door.

He went in unannounced, and came to an immediate stop.

There was Bulma, nearly as thin as she had been nine months ago. In her arms, a tiny baby was cradled; asleep it seemed.

She had a look of surprise and confusion on her face.

A moment ago, Vegeta seemed to know exactly what he was going to say. Exactly what he was going to do. Now he stood completely still, as if shell-shocked.

Gently, he put the boys on the floor. Lysander immediately protested and begged him to pick him back up with forceful, pitiful whines, but Vegeta ignored him.

“She’s…” He began but stopped. He turned back to me, as if to ask if I had known the baby was born already. I shook my head. He looked back at her.

He straightened himself eventually, and cocked his head slightly. “You have a baby,” He said this as if he already knew she did, but was trying to think of something, anything, to break the silence.

“And so do you,” She said, her voice distant, “Three of them.”

The boys ventured back towards me with pigeon-toed steps. They felt the tension in the air, but could not understand the source of it all. They huddled at my feet, anxiousness overcoming them.

He stepped towards her, but then stepped back hesitantly. “Can I…?” He trailed off, letting her finished the rest.

“Hold her? She might be cranky,” She stepped towards him slowly and handed him the tiny infant. She seemed surprised when he actually held her correctly.

I heard her whine from my position at the door. The triplets tensed and huddled closer to me.

Vegeta pulled the blanket from her and held her away from him slightly. A tail slipped out from the blanket and hung limply.

He was at once convinced whose child this was. He hugged her to his chest and purred to her lowly. The sound was nearly inaudible, but I heard it, and the triplets did too, for they relaxed instantly.

“What’s her name?” he asked, pausing in his purring for a moment.

Bulma seemed awkward, standing there alone without anyone by her side. She hooked an arm behind her, where it came to grasp the other arm, which hung limply at her side. “I was going to let you name her, but you weren’t here…” She trialed off and then finally got to the point. “Her name’s Bra.”

He cocked his head at the name, as if he was unsure if he liked it. “I see.”

Bra was very young; probably not even a week old. She did open her eyes periodically, but they almost always crossed when she did, and they seemed to have a hard time focusing. When she would whine or get to the eager of crying, Vegeta would simply purr to her and she would silence immediately and fall back asleep.

We all went into the living room to ‘catch up’ I suppose. I was very uncomfortable, and I assumed Vegeta was too, but the triplets were completely oblivious to this.

They had a fixation with Bra, who had not left Vegeta’s arms since they had arrived. They seemed to want to communicate with her; in their baby-talk that had the occasional word in it; but she, obviously, was uninterested.

“Baby,” I said to them quietly.

“Baby…” They all cooed in unison. The amazement on their faces was indescribable. I could not remember the last time something had astounded me; and to see it come so easily to them was something amazing in of itself.

“Her name’s Bra,”

“Bra!” Vienna was the only on to respond. She had a wide grin on her face, her eyes lit up with glee.

“And what’s your name?” Bulma asked suddenly.

They turned to her and stared for a moment.

Vegeta said something to them in Saiyan, not taking his eyes of Bra.

Ly and Vienna said their names, but Ai did not say his own. He cocked his head and continued to stare.

I tapped him. “What’s your name?”

He looked at me, squinted, and then looked back to Bulma. “Aizel,” His voice was quiet, as if he were shy.

Of the three of them, I would not have expected Aizel to be shy. He was so rambunctious at home; it seemed only natural that he would be with other people. I guess that assumption had no ground.

Bulma leaned back on the couch, her arms coming to cross his chest loosely. “They’re so adorable,” She said this as if it were an afterthought, as if she had wanted to say something else first and then changed her mind.

“Thank you,” I said, but was unsure if this was the right response.

“How old are they?”

I counted for a moment in my head. “A little more than four months,”

She seemed too stunned to speak for a moment. “How can that be? They are walking. And talking.”

Vegeta answered this. “They are Saiyans. They developed much faster than humans.”

I guessed they did look pretty old to be only four months. They looked like they were almost one, at the most; especially since they tended to mimic what other people said and did.

Vienna tried to climb onto Vegeta’s lap, but he set her back onto the floor, where she sat for a long time before getting onto my lap instead.

Bra began to whine, and then she began to cry.

I heard Vienna attempt to purr to her, but it came out as more of a whirring sound if anything.

“She needs a diaper change.” Bulma stated. “And a nap.”

Vegeta handed her over reluctantly and settled back as Bulma walked away. “She has blue eyes,” He said suddenly.

I was unsure what he was getting at, so I nodded. “Bulma’s eyes are blue.”

He nodded as well.

“Da, baby gone?” Ly asked, his little hands coming to grasp Vegeta’s knee.

“Yes, the baby’s gone. She has to go to sleep.”

“We go sleep?” He asked, a worried expression on his face.

“If you want,” He answered gently.

“No; no sleepy.” He put his arms up, and Vegeta lifted him onto his lap.

I ruffled Aizel’s hair. “How come you’re so shy?”

He didn’t seem to understand the question, so he did not respond to it. “Hungry.”

“Yeah,” Vienna agreed. “So hungry.”

“So hungry?” I asked, faking surprise, “Are you starving?”

“Yeah,” they agreed.

“What do you want?”

“Ketchup,” Aizel replied without skipping a beat.

“Ketchup?” I looked at Vegeta with a confused frown. He shrugged. “Okay, ketchup… anything else?”

“Cookies!”

“Ketchup and cookies?”

“How about some real food? I want some pig,” Vegeta said, “Some ribs.”

The moment he said that my own stomach growled. “I could go for ribs. You guys want ribs?”

I didn’t even have to ask them. They were up for any kind of food we would give them. They did not have all their teeth, but they had enough to chew some nice, fall off the bone ribs.

When Bulma returned, she sat down and said nothing.

“You want some ribs?” Vegeta asked without hesitation.

She blinked, and then frowned slightly. “I guess…”

“Good.” He stood up. “I’ll be right back.”

I knew he was going hunting, but I did not want to tag along. His way of hunting was a little too out there for me. So I stayed in with the triplets. And Bulma.

“Are you guys getting along?” She asked out of the blue.

I blinked and then nodded. “Yes…”

“He hasn’t pissed you off yet?”

“He sometimes frustrates me, but he hasn’t ‘pissed me off’… Why?”

“Because,” She said with a shrug, “He will.”

I was unsure why she was telling me this. She seemed to be trying to prove a point. “How are things here?”

“Fine,” She seemed uninterested in talking about herself. Her attention was completely on me. “Do you sleep in the same room?”

“Yes.”

She leaned forward, resting her elbow on her chin. “Do you still talk to Chi-chi?”

I shook my head.

“She’s pretty mad at you. Well, she’s actually madder at Vegeta. You should think about talking to her some time.”

I disregarded that suggestion immediately. What reason did I have to talk to her? What reason did I have to acknowledge she exists?

“Does he talk about me?” Her questions were become more and more off-topic it seemed. It was like she was trying to take a peek into our little world; like she wanted to understand it or something.

“Sometimes.”

“What does he say?”

“Just stuff.”

“What kind of stuff?”

“Like… just random things. It’s not bad things, just stuff about you. I can’t really be more specific than that.”

Her eyes shifted to the triplets that sat at my feet. They were beginning to doze off. They should probably have a nap as well. But I knew as soon as Vegeta came back and the food was ready, they would be wide-awake. “Does he talk about Trunks?”

I shook my head. “Not really.”

“I figured.” She said this under her breath, as if she resented him for that or something. “He never held Trunks like that.”

“What do you mean?”

“He hardly ever held Trunks when he was a baby. He pushed him away. He said he was making him tough. But I knew it wasn’t going to work.” She said this last part bitterly, like she had wanted to tell him that for a long time.

“He’s different now,” I stated.

She nodded. “I know. He just…” She sighed, “He doesn’t think like us. He doesn’t think like anyone I know.”

I understood what she meant. What was normal for him was much different then what was normal for you or I. “And he’s changed. He’s much more… normal, I guess. He isn’t as paranoid, he isn’t as angry; he doesn’t feel like the end of the world is coming-”

“He doesn’t push people away as hard as he used to.” She interrupted with a grave nod. “He hasn’t pushed you away yet.”

Silence fallowed. She made me more uncomfortable than she probably meant, but it was tolerable form of discomfort. She didn’t seem angry with me, or him even. She just seemed like she wanted to understand. Just she wanted to get it.

I had a feeling she never would understand, could not grasp what we had, but at least she was trying.

She watched as the children as they dozed off. She smiled gently. “I wish you two the best of luck. For them. I wish you luck as long as you can be good parents to them.”

I bowed my head. “Thank you. That means a lot.”