Second Chances: The Cup Runeth Over

//Kakarot got his wish. He's pregnant...//


Goku had broken the news very gently to Vegeta on that day. They were alone when he had told him, and sitting next to a lake watching the sun set. Goku held Vegeta's hand the whole time, and stumbled on his speech numerous times before he finally managed to tell Vegeta that they would be having a Saiyan baby. Vegeta had taken the news in stride, and even smiled and lovingly embraced and kissed his now expecting lover. Vegeta, not accustomed to experiencing such a wonderful high, fainted for a moment, only to be cradled in Goku's arms.


//With twins... Kakarot is carrying twin Saiyans!//


About two months into his pregnancy, Goku, already on a roller coast ride of emotions, was pushed to the breaking point during an argument with his wife. She was disgusted by the way he was starting to look, and told him so, still completely unaware of the two bundles of joy growing within him - but he'd rather suffer her hurting comments than tell her he was pregnant with Vegeta's children. In the end, as she demanded he tell her what was going on, Goku stormed out of the house, vowing to never return.



That was four months ago, before the seas on this nine-month ocean had a chance to get choppy. In that time, Goku had grown distant with his eldest son Gohan, now a freshmen in high school and concentrating more on his studies than spending quality time with his father. He was also growing more distant with his wife, Chi-Chi. Instead of concentrating on both her husband and her son, she was more concerned with Gohan. Plus, they would fight - and because of his ever-changing emotions, Goku would often cry every time Chi-Chi called him stupid or lazy, after which he would leave the house and find another place to crash for the night.


Goku hadn't been back since. Now some five months pregnant and having severed his ties with Chi-Chi, he made the recommendation to Vegeta that they find a place of their own. Nothing fancy. Just something quaint, comfortable, and big enough to support two children. And since they both weren't into the hustle and bustle of the city, Goku and Vegeta agreed that their new place be somewhere quiet, like in the country, where they didn't have to rely so much on the materialism of city life. They had found a nice home hidden deep within the woods sometime after. Surrounded by the lush, thick forest canopy, it would prove to be cool and cozy in the summer, but cold and frosty in the winter. Nonetheless, it was the right size, surrounded by forest and wildlife, and it was quiet. But most of all, it immediately felt like home to them.


*******************


//I watch him as he sleeps, unconsciously cuddles up with a blanket, pretending he's snuggling against me. I can clearly hear him murmur my name from time to time, then listen intently as his voice ebbs off into the calm silence that is our living room. I look at him for a moment, and take note of the usual look of contentment on his face, how his hand keeps rubbing at his rounded mid-section - apparently, he too can sense the sudden surges of the twins' ki like I can. It's grown strong. I'm confident now that things will be just fine. If we were still on Planet Vegeta and he gave birth to twins, Kakarot would be considered legendary just based on that fact alone...


Very few Saiyans, especially males, did not manage to carry twins to a full term - often times during childbirth, one of the babies died while the other one survived; sometimes, the mother - male or female - would die during the birth, the strain of carrying such offspring having drained them. It was considered a rarity that a Saiyan, male or female, be able to carry twins to term and have both babies survive the stress of birth. Hell, they might as well have put that up there with the Legend of the Super Saiyan - it happened just as often...


But Kakarot is different. When we met on Namek, it was I who knew of what he had became, even before he was made aware of it. He was a Super Saiyan. That's when I realized he was different. Only in him have I managed to find my equal. He is strong. But, it seems he has lost some of that strength...after what's been going on with his now ex-wife and his son Gohan. If it wasn't for Kakarot having so much faith in his son, that he pushed him to his full potential, Gohan would be nothing. And now, it seems the boy has lost touch with his Saiyan heritage and forgotten all his father taught him in exchange for some falsified dream of his mother's. What a waste of such a capable warrior. It's no wonder why Kakarot has been feeling depressed lately - the rug has finally been pulled from under his feet. No wife, no son. He's been left with nothing. But...he has me and will always have me, and soon, he'll have two beings he can really call `his'. I will help see him through this. As long as he's got me, he needs no one else.//


Vegeta felt the hairs on the back of his neck stand up as he concluded his latest journal entry. A presence was shifting about the room, drawing closer from behind. He felt familiar to the prince, like a nice old blanket. His posture relaxed from its timid, ridged state then, now knowing who it was trying to sneak up from behind him. "I can feel you Kakarot. Your ki sticks out like a sore thumb." Vegeta smiled, Goku's muscled arms snaking their way around Vegeta's chest, the warmth of his cheek pressing against his own in a warm snuggle. "Ah well, it was worth a shot anyway." Goku chuckled, giving his lover's cheek an innocent peck. Vegeta turned his head towards Goku then, a lop-sided grin on his face as he drew closer to the bigger man staring him in the eyes. A deep kiss ensued then, mouth to mouth and slow, with their tongues exploring the inside of each other's mouth like some uncharted territory, even though they had walked its path countless times. Vegeta lowered Goku onto his lap, the bigger Saiyan once again wrapped his arms around his lover's neck as his own back became supported by one of Vegeta's hands while the other languidly crawled up and under his sweatshirt.



It came to a stop on the right side of Goku's rather rotund belly and lingered there for a moment or two, curious as if thinking something could be detected beneath the flesh. Some kind of long-awaited sign that neither of them were only dreaming that this pregnancy was real for the sake of sanity. Vegeta watched Goku's face closely, checking for the faintest of movements. Goku looked at him, with a smile curving his lips. "Are you ok Kakarot?" asked the Saiyan Prince softly, his hand still having not moved from Goku's belly. "Yeah, I'm doing better. Ngh - did you feel that?" Goku asked suddenly, breathless. Fluttering. Movement. It was very much there and lightly knocking against the prince's fingertips. The sign they had been hoping for. "The twins - they kicked. I felt that last one. Kakarot...? I..." The prince stumbled then, his sentence having came to a nervous stop.


"Please, don't shut me out - tell me Vegeta. Let go. It's just you and me now." Goke asked in a wind soft whisper.



Goku took hold of Vegeta's hand gently, easing him into some sense of being comfortable during such an awkward time for him. It was only after this moment that he was able to see more clearly than ever before and finally, after years of denial, take hold of the one constant in his life, having been staring him in the eyes all along. "I...I love you, Kakarot. But I'm foolish to have not known of it until now..." A look of shame spread across the prince's face then, his eyes too embarrassed to gaze upon his lover. Goku cupped his cheek, craned his head up so his eyes were looking upon him once more. "I love you too Vegeta. But please, don't call yourself a fool. You're not. You just needed your space. And I'm glad you're now able to confide to me your feelings. To you I do return them, from my heart."


The twins seemed to kick right on cue after Goku finished talking, bringing both he and Vegeta to turn their attention to Goku's exposed belly. He took a deep breath then, and tilted his head back, closed his eyes, as another soft wave of fluttering kicks rippled about inside of him. //Yes, I can feel you two in there. I bet it's getting tight in there hm?// Goku chuckled to himself, the latter a question he knew his unborn couldn't answer, but asked anyway for the sake of a sheepish laugh. He hummed in his throat, Vegeta's. Lips and tongue kissing and licking the base of it respectfully. "I love you Kakarot..." he murmured against the bigger Saiyan's neck as he shifted his body from a sitting to a standing position, with Goku still in his arms. They kissed each other throughout the descent to the plush softness of the carpeted floor where they stretched out and continued their assualts on one another.


Vegeta had taken both his shirt and Goku's sweatshirt off when the bigger Saiyan suddenly tensed up from head to toe with a pained look on his face. Vegeta dismounted from Goku's knees and immediately took to his suffering love's side to hold his hand. "Ve-Vegeta...turn me to the side...it...ugh-" Goku choked with clenched teeth and shut-tight eyes. Vegeta said nothing in response but did only what his lover had so painfully requested of him. He turned him to his right side, where he suddenly curled up into a tight quivering ball. "What's going on Kakarot? You can't be having them already! It's too early!" Vegeta exclaimed on the verge of hysterics, having never known of such anxiety and fear at the same time. Anything could be happening for Kami's sake! But all the Saiyan Prince could do was sit there next to Goku and squeeze his hand, hoping that everything would be all right.


Goku screamed rather ferociously then, his pain reaching a fever pitch. And just as quickly as it had came, the pain was gone in an instant, leaving its victim gasping for breath. Vegeta examined his lover from head to toe with his eyes. It had finally happened, after being long thought of as an impossibility. Goku's tail had grown back, just as his own had some months ago during the night! And like Vegeta, Goku realized he too could control the movements of his characteristic Saiyan tail, only to have it tickle at Vegeta's face! "Aye, Kakarot! That damn thing tickles!" Vegeta laughed with his hands to his face trying to cover it from Goku's new tail. Goku flopped over to his back again, pregnant stomach and all, and pulled Vegeta down to rest with him on his chest where they then dozed off a few minutes later.


******************


Vegeta could hear Bulma's voice, speaking to him through the cool remnant of a dream. But, could he be dreaming of her? For what reason? No, he couldn't be dreaming of her...she sounded all too clear and fluid in her dialect, her tone. The whirlpool that was his pleasant dream was calling to him, threatening to suck him in if he did not go willingly. He heard her voice again, now calling to both he and Goku. The prince awoke then, wide-eyed and hearing Bulma's voice coming from the kitchen.


He expected to see her holding Baby Trunks and running around like a chicken with her head cut off. Instead, he seen her face on the video phone's screen. Her usually bright wide eyes were as big as saucers, filled with panic and worry. "Vegeta?! Goku?! Are you there?!" she was screaming on the verge of tears. Vegeta picked up the transmission. "What are you screaming about Woman?" he scoffed, being none too pleased that she had disturbed his nap with Goku. "Cut the chatter Vegeta! It's an emergency - Chi-Chi...she's on her way with Gohan to your house right now!" "What?! How the hell does she know where me and Kakarot live?!" asked Vegeta, angry. "She and Gohan were here at the company, and Gohan said he felt Goku's energy all of the sudden and then Chi-Chi demanded they go looking for him! That was fifteen minutes ago - they could be halfway there by now!" Vegeta watched Bulma on the tiny screen as she all but pulled her hair out in panic. And if that wasn't enough, Goku had just woke up!




"Shit. This is really how I wanted to spend my afternoon - caught in the crossfire between Kakarot and that psycho ex-wife of his! Damn it. Didn't you try and stop her and that brat of hers?" Vegeta snarled. "Are you kidding? It's beyond impossible to reason with her. It was either I let her go or she jam my head into a wall. But now that she's on her way over there, I'll get my head jammed into a wall anyway, knowing what I know about you and Goku. Look, just try to keep a cool head then after she leaves, call me back to tell me how it went, okay?" "Will you calm down Woman? I will, don't worry about it. I can't talk now - I can feel them coming...and quick!"


Before Goku and Vegeta could think of a way to escape from the oncoming predicament, there was a loud fist-like pounding on the door. Goku perked his eyes and ears up like a curious dog and glanced at Vegeta as he came from the kitchen with narrow eyes. "Kakarot, it's important that you and I keep a cool head right now. That's your ex-wife and son at the door. If things get out of control, use that technique of yours to take us somewhere else, far away from them, ok?" Vegeta asked, inching closer to the door while Goku made a spot for himself on the couch and stretched out. Another furious knock at the door, the tension beginning to mount. Vegeta opened the door.


"You bastard! Where is that disgraceful man?!" Chi-Chi snapped, nearly letting herself into Goku and Vegeta's house. Her eyes locked on their target, her feet stomped over to Goku laying on the touch, trying his best to cover himself. Chi-Chi stormed in his face then. "What the hell is the matter with you?! You disgusting pig! You ungrateful bastard; leaving your wife and son like that!" Her eyes could practically see through Goku's arms, and detected his abnormality. "I see all those years of stuffing your face at the dinner table have finally caught up with you! You have let yourself go; your such a pig! And speaking of pigs, why the hell are you living with Vegeta?!"


Goku, on the verge of tears, covered his face and hunkered down into a tight ball of concealment. He began to cry into his hands then, unable to keep the pain bottled up. And to think, his little ones, though only able to make out the slightest of words from inside the womb, could still hear all the hurtful things that were being said to both their mother and father - Goku. It only made him cry harder, and louder, rendering him speechless.



"Oh please. Don't even try to play that sympathy card with me - you won't get a drop of it. You brought it upon yourself! Getting so fat that I don't even recognize you! And yet you have the gall to try and get me to feel sorry for you by putting on this crying act?"


Poor Goku, still trying to breathe through his tears and pain, found it hard to speak, but did so nonetheless." Don't... call me that. Y-your hur-hurting m-my fe-feelings. S-stop it..." He continued to cry with his head in his hands. Meanwhile, Vegeta could only stand back and watch his lover being verbally tormented and abused, with every hurtful word coming from Chi-Chi's mouth stabbing at the bloody remnants of Goku's heart. He could only bite down on his tongue, telling himself to not get involved. It was none of his business. But with Goku not saying a word and crying his eyes out while his ex-wife maimed what was left of his self-esteem, Vegeta was finding it harder and harder to not make Goku's business his.


"That's just music to my damn ears! I'm hurting your feelings! Did you ever stop and think maybe you were hurting mine?!" she rebuked sharply with a clenched fist. "You don't care about me, you never have... So stop acting like you do!" Goku retorted, no longer able to keep from getting to his feet. Tears were streaming down his red face, his eyes were blood shot, his body shivered from the emotional upheaval. He crossed his arms in a defensive manner, trying to protect his precious cargo, which only helped hide his round girth a little bit. It wasn't enough to keep Chi-Chi from noticing. "For Kami's sake, your more repulsive than I thought! But somehow I'm not surprised with the way you eat. Gohan, your father has turned into a slob; I want you to learn from this - don't turn into your father - a fat, disgusting blob of weakness."


Gohan took a step forward then, still looking rather emotionless and unwilling to come to his father's aid like he would have done in past instances. He nearly spat in disgust. "No kidding mom. What the hell happened to you Dad? Your...I can't even say the word." He felt a burning, stinging sensation on his cheek then, a bruise already starting to swell on his cheek. Vegeta had took it upon himself to silence the boy's criticism, and glared at him as if ready to pounce. "Shut your mouth you goddamned little runt! One more word out of you or the nut-job and I blast you both back to hell where you belong!" the prince grumbled vehemently, his eyes grew narrow, his spiked locks of hair turning into lethal daggers as his power and anger began to bubble and broil.



"Oh, maybe you can tell me why my husband looks so disgraceful Vegeta. It's your fault he's like this - all fat and out of shape." Chi-Chi scoffed, her fiery eyes trying in vain to burn a hole through Vegeta. His mind felt fuzzy then, and full of static. The voice of his lover speaking to him from the other side of the room.


//Vegeta...tell her. I'm too upset to. I'm not afraid...neither are the twins.//


//Good. Feel no fear Kakarot. I'll protect you.//


Vegeta refocused on Chi-Chi then, and crosed his arms, a scowl on his face. Now he would tell her everything, from his tryst and now full-blown romance with Goku, to the late night rendevous, the sexual escapades and the one such late night meeting of confession and intimacy that had planted the seeds that were their unborn children. Then he would watch her heart crack and shatter into a million pieces and laugh, knowing she got what she deserved. Vegeta curled his lips into a devilish smile. He was going to enjoy this.


"Can it bitch. It's my turn to speak - you've done enough killing, and now it's my turn. Kakarot doesn't love you anymore, and now I see why. You call him garbage when it has been you all along who is the garbage. You constantly yapping cunt. If you just stopped your bitching for one minute, you would have seen long ago how much pain you have caused Kakarot. But you humans are so deaf, dumb and blind to the obvious that it really comes as no surprise to me. Which is why Kakarot and I are lovers."


"Your WHAT?!!! Goku, sweety, please tell me it's not true! Please!" Chi-Chi exclaimed and nearly started to beg at Goku's feet.


Vegeta's heart filled with relish as the tables took a sudden turn. "Oh yeah, I keep forgetting, you and Kakarot never were lovers according to him. Which is fine, because he doesn't want you anymore anyway. He loves me - and here's the important part, the one you ceased to realize - and I love him back. And there's not a damn thing you can do about that - and if you were wise, you'd save your sorry ass now and go back to wherever it was you crawled out from. Messing with a Saiyan's mate is like poking at a hornets nest. That goes for the half-bred bastard as well."


Chi-Chi contorted her face into a sharp, hurtful frown, her eyes beginning to water. The sheer sight of her in such a broken state made Vegeta's skin crawl with relish. Gohan hunkered down into a fighting stance. Vegeta just cackled. "Easy there junior. This doesn't concern you. Now be a good boy and shut the fuck up. Talk...and I'll see you in hell." smirked the prince, getting in touch with his once heart of darkness again. Gohan backed off then, and kept his mouth shut. Chi-Chi had her back to the Saiyan Prince with her arms flailing about wildly as she scolded Goku once more. "Goku!! He's lying! He's just saying that to make me mad; you love me! You do! Don't you Goku?"


"I thought I did...but then I got smart. I was just a dumb kid when I met you. I've grown up Chi-Chi and now I see you for who you really are - you practically hid Gohan from me when he was born. I hardly ever got a chance to hold him or feed him, play with him, nothing. And it was because of you and the dream you failed to realize only to find a way to live it out through our son. Filling his head with your boderline obsessive dream of becoming a great scholar. You never gave me a chance to play catch or go fishing with my own son and because of that selfishness I don't even know my own flesh and blood anymore. That's not my Gohan standing at the door. My Gohan is out there somewhere, calling for his father..."


"But...Goku..."


"Stop it. The spineless punching bag Goku you married is dead. My name is Kakarot and I'm a Saiyan from the Planet Vegeta. You had your fun twisting me around your finger but that stops here and right now. From this day forward I'm starting over and walking down the path I was born to walk...with Vegeta at my side and soon, our offspring."


Goku pensively looked at his belly and held it with a smile of happiness playing across his face. Again, the twins seemed to kick on cue and lightly jabbed at their mother's belly as if to show their appreciation and Saiyan pride.


Chi-Chi nearly fainted. The bombshell that was Goku's pregnancy having been dropped and obliterating its target. "Shut up! Shut up! Shut up! That's not possible! I'm not hearing this! You're a man Goku, wake up! You can't be pregnant, much less with that monster's baby! Have you gone insane?"


Goku hugged his stomach protectively, eyes narrowing. "Don't call them monsters! And, whether you like it or not, yes I am pregnant with twins and they'll be raised by both me and Vegeta! I told you, I'm starting over! And you will have no part in this!"


"What has he done to you Goku? Vegeta's brainwashed you hasn't he? This is just some sick attempt at revenge. Your not really saying these things. Come on Goku, come home to us, your family."


"You can't change me. Stop trying. I am with my family. Vegeta is my family, our unborn children are my family. Your not my family. Now leave us alone..."


Chi-Chi took a few steps back then, hysterical, with Gohan coming to her side, still trying to make sense out of all that had recently happened. "I will not go until you come with me and your son!" she protested, trying to fight back the tears.


Goku easily went into Super Saiyan - he had mastered the level completely during his time in the Room of Spirit and Time,, now being able to effortlessly go super on a dime. "You will go and you will leave me alone. Now go. Get out of here."


Gohan and Chi-Chi made their way to the door, Goku coming out of his augmented Super Saiyan state. Chi-Chi gazed at Goku, her eyes filled with tears. "I hope your happy. This is the last time you'll ever see me or Gohan ever again! I hope you and Vegeta rot in hell and your babies are stillborn! That'll teach you!"


The thunderous clash of the door slamming soon ebbed off into the quiet distance that had once been a battlefield of the heart only minutes ago. The tranquility Goku and Vegeta knew as their living room having been returned to them, Vegeta cradled an emotionally broken and battered Goku in his arms, only to carry him to their bedroom where he would again watch him sleep as the last rays of sunset said goodbye for the night. The moon that was their new beginning getting ready to rise from the fiery ashes of a rocky past.