In Your Dreams

Title: In Your Dreams
Author: Me
Pairings: Vegeta x Goku

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A/N - Looky, two updates in two days! Huzzah! Thank Talitha and her newest fic. It inspired me to write another chapter tonight. On the other hand, she DID steal my plot bunnies....But I'll forget about that... mostly cuz I have a horrible memor---....*forgets what she was saying* Hm.

Oh, and Rai - I appreciate your review and your opinion. I understand what you meant, and I thought of that, which is why Goku was less than thrilled when Vegeta made the statement. On the other hand, I thought it worked with these two. Vegeta isn't the most romantic person and I doubt he would consider anything he says 'inappropriate'. To him it was a huge compliment! Heck, Bulma is the prettiest woman he knows, after all. :P

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Chapter 44

By the time Vegeta woke up from his deep slumber the sun was already high in the sky. Heavy eyelids blinked open slowly, and the prince licked his dry lips as he squinted against the dabbled sunlight that managed to break through the canopy of trees above him.

For a moment Vegeta was confused. The nights’ previous events had momentarily escaped his memory, but when he rolled his head to the side and spotted his mate a few feet away everything came rushing back. A smirk tugged at his lips as he reviewed their romp in his mind’s eye, but soon a frown replaced it.

Kakarotto seemed agitated.

Vegeta slowly and silently sat up and took a moment to study the younger man, who was pacing back and forth and seemingly muttering under his breath. Goku had redressed in the pants he’d been wearing the night before, though since he had no shirt, his chest remained bare. A black tail snapped back and forth behind its’ owner, and the prince could clearly see the other Saiyajin’s brows were drawn together as if he were upset.

He didn’t like to see his mate in such a state of distress, but he was pretty sure he knew why the other man was acting this way.

“Kakarotto.”

The moment Vegeta’s voice broke through the silence Goku spun around, obviously surprised that he was awake. His shocked expression melted into a fake and forced smile, and the younger man rubbed the back of his head in a nervous gesture before taking several steps toward the prince.

“Ah, Vegeta! It’s about time you woke up! It’s almost lunchtime and I’m starving!”

The older Saiyajin nearly winced at the forced enthusiasm in the other man’s voice, and he growled in annoyance as he slipped his pants back onto his body. His less than cheerful mood must have confused Goku, because the smaller Saiyajin paused in mid-stride and tilted his head to the side.

“What’s wrong? After last night I thought you’d be in a great mood.”

Vegeta snorted and climbed to his feet, dusting the dirt from his bare skin as his eyes moved to lock with Goku’s.

“Last night should not have happened. I saw you, Kakarotto. You’re upset.”

The younger man blinked at him for a moment before laughing and waving his hand in dismissal. “Aw, no I’m not. Just sore. You were really... eh... enthusiastic, you know.”

Vegeta folded his arms over his chest and looked his mate up and down. His pale flesh was indeed littered with bruises, bite marks, and scratches, and he’d detected a slight limp when the younger man had walked toward him, but he knew it wasn’t anything Goku couldn’t handle.

No, this was about something more.

“You’re concerned about being pregnant.” he stated bluntly.

Goku’s smile immediately slipped from his face and he frowned darkly. The sudden and apparent change in mood surprised Vegeta, but before he could say anything the other Saiyajin’s smile returned.

Goku spun on his heel and began to walk away from the older man, interlacing his fingers behind his head as he went. “Man, I’m starving! Are you coming back to Capsule Corp?”

The prince grit his teeth when the other man clearly dismissed his earlier statement, and he began to take long strides toward his mate in an effort to stop him.

“Kakarotto!”

A sudden burst of airborne dirt and debris forced Vegeta to come to a halt and shield his eyes with his forearm, and by the time he was able to see again, Goku was hovering high above him.

“I’ll go on ahead, ok?! See you later!”

The younger man was gone before anything more could be said.

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Much to Vegeta’s annoyance Goku refused to even consider the possibility that he may be pregnant. In fact, he wouldn’t even talk about it. Whenever the prince attempted to bring it up Goku would either interrupt him and change the subject or find some reason to disappear.

Fortunately, the younger Saiyajin’s heat seemed to have passed. Apparently he’d caught his mate at the end of his cycle. That might mean he dodged the bullet when it came to getting Goku pregnant, but he still would have liked Bulma to test the other man to officially put the issue to rest.

As it stood Vegeta now spent all his time watching the other man’s activities and behaviors. Nothing really seemed to have changed by the time two weeks had passed since their midnight romp, and the prince was beginning to think that his fears were unjustified. Still, he kept a close eye on Goku and asked Trunks to do the same.

His son, no longer a danger to Goku since his heat ended, was the only one who knew about their coupling that night. It’d been obvious to the demi-Saiyajin when Vegeta had suddenly dropped his dinner on his plate, muttered Kakarotto’s name and then run out the door. So for that reason Vegeta had told his son to keep quiet about the situation, but to report back to him if he noticed anything odd.

So far there had been nothing, except maybe for the fact Goku seemed moodier. That was probably because he was tired of Vegeta being his shadow though.

It seemed for once the younger Saiyajin might have had a stroke of luck.

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A month after their heat induced mating, Vegeta awoke early in the morning to the sound of vomiting.

“Fuck.”

The prince rubbed the sleep from his eyes and sighed as he rolled out of bed and stumbled blindly in the dark toward the bathroom. The door was open a crack but the light was off. Obviously Goku had been trying to keep his little bout of sickness a secret from him. Too bad he was a light sleeper.

Vegeta pushed open the door, allowing the moonlight from the window to shine into the bathroom. The silver sliver of light shone across the tiled floor and created a direct path to Goku, who was curled around the toilet with his face hovering above the bowl.

The older man knew he shouldn’t say ‘I told you so’, but he couldn’t resist leaning against the doorframe and grinning at the younger man as he flicked his tail behind him. His humor quickly faded though, when watery eyes turned toward him. A look of complete devastation was obvious on Goku’s pale face, and the ill Saiyajin only shuddered before turning back to the bowl for another round of painful dry heaving.

Vegeta sighed and flicked the light on, causing both of them to wince at the sudden burst of artificial sunlight. The prince blindly groped around the sink until his vision adjusted and eventually found a washcloth, which he wetted under a cool stream of water before kneeling down behind Goku. He placed the cool cloth on the back of Goku’s neck and rubbed his back until he stopped retching, and when the younger man settled, he moved the cloth to his feverish forehead and gently pulled the smaller man away from the toilet until he rested comfortably against his chest.

Vegeta held his mate close and rested his own back against the wall as he held the washcloth in place and hugged Goku close. For a moment the younger man was completely silent, but it wasn’t long before a strangled sob escaped through his lips. After that his body began to tremble uncontrollably and Vegeta could only shush him and wait for him to regain control.

They sat that way for a long while before sleep finally reclaimed them.

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When Vegeta had woken up a little later that morning he’d gathered Goku into his arms and moved them back to the bed. His body was stiff from sitting on the bathroom floor, and the soft mattress and silk sheets were a nice contrast.

After placing his mate on the bed the prince laid down and propped himself up on one elbow, content to simply watch the younger man sleep. His eyes eventually strayed down to Goku’s stomach, and he couldn’t resist the urge to brush his fingers across the firm abs.

While he knew Kakarotto wasn’t happy about being pregnant, he himself couldn’t deny his excitement. He’d often wondered since the moment he learned the other could conceive what a child carrying their genes would be like. He would be powerful, that was a given, but what would he look like? Would he look more like him, or his birth parent? Would he inherit Goku’s playful personality, or Vegeta’s attitude? Or would he be a fine blend of the two?

The possibilities were endless.

What confused the prince, however, was why it was Kakarotto was so reluctant to conceive. The younger man seemed to love children, and they were naturally drawn to him, so he doubted it was because his mate simply did not like the idea of having a baby around. There was a strong possibility Goku was afraid to carry the child within his own body. That would be enough to scare anyone, especially if you had no prior knowledge that you even had the ability to do so.

Vegeta nodded silently to himself. That had to be it. Bulma had been nervous when she’d first discovered she was pregnant; and with an alien no less, but after a couple of months her maternal instinct had kicked in and she became a natural born mother.

He was sure it would be the same with Kakarotto. The man already displayed a natural instinct to protect and nurture, so surely he would come to accept this new development and begin to enjoy his pregnancy.

Right?

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“This can’t be happening!”

Bulma and Vegeta blinked as they watched Goku fist his fingers in his hair and squirm on the table he currently sat on. It’d taken Vegeta nearly two days, but he’d finally convinced his mate to allow Bulma to run a pregnancy test on him just to be sure that was the reason behind his morning sickness.

As expected, it was positive.

Bulma coughed and glanced down at the papers in her hands before turning to Vegeta, who was by far the less hysterical of the two Saiyajins. “I take it you weren’t able to stay away, huh?”

The prince huffed and looked insulted as he folded his arms over his chest. “Kakarotto practically raped me. I had no choice but to cooperate or risk a mauling.”

A sudden shriek had all heads turning back in Goku’s direction.

“WHAT did you say?! I’d hardly describe you as an unwilling participant, and THIS...” the younger Saiyajin paused to point at his stomach. “is evidence enough!”

Sensing a rather ugly situation about to unfold, Bulma stepped between the two Saiyajins and raised her hands in what she hoped was a calming gesture.

“Hey, let’s calm down, you two. What’s done is done. Now we need to move forward and start planning for this baby.”

The color seemed to drain from Goku’s face at the mention of the ‘b’ word, and he suddenly became silent as his eyes moved down and to the side. His shoulders were slumped and his bottom lip seemed to poke out just a little.

Bulma continued on as if she didn’t notice. “I honestly have no idea how the birthing is going to work. In fact, I don’t even know how long the pregnancy will last, so this will be a learning experience for us all. First thing is first though, I’ll need to start collecting blood so I can store it for later use.”

Goku raised an eyebrow at this and looked up. “Later use?”

The blue haired woman smiled. “Yeah... just to be safe. You might need extra blood if anything goes wrong during delivery.”

Just when they didn’t think Goku’s face could turn any whiter, it did. “Wrong? What could go wrong?!”

Bulma chuckled and waved her hand in dismissal. “Don’t worry, it’s just precautionary.”

An awkward silence settled over the room and Vegeta eyed his mate closely. He seemed to be less and less accepting of the entire concept with each second that passed by. Deciding that Goku needed some time to let everything sink in, the prince stepped forward.

“You can start drawing his blood in a week or so. Right now he needs some space.”

Bulma nodded in agreement and Vegeta didn’t miss the appreciative look the younger Saiyajin sent his way. This made the larger man’s lip curl upward.

He wrapped his fingers around Goku’s bicep and gently tugged him off the table, nodding at Bulma as the other Saiyajin slid to the floor and followed along side the prince. The woman smiled but cast a concerned glance at her oldest friend.

It was obvious, even to her, that this pregnancy was not going to be an easy one.

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TBC