In Your Dreams

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


Chapter 54


“So who will it be, Vegeta? Your child or your mate?”

“..............”

“Hurry now. You’ve known about this deal for months and should have made your decision by now. If you want the scientific world to keep quiet about Saiyajins, then you must sacrifice one or the other. There is no other way I can keep my colleges quiet about your existence.”

A low growl. “I know what the deal was, damn it!”

Goku did his best to remain still as he regained consciousness, and the conversation he overheard sent a chill down his spine. Did he understand this right? It sounded like Vegeta was being asked to give one of them up. But to who?

The sluggish Saiyajin slowly cracked open one eye and took in his surroundings. He was still in the closet lying in his nest, and he could see Vegeta standing in the doorway. The prince was holding a bundle of blankets in his arms, and Goku could only assume it was the baby.

Goku’s gaze shifted to another man who stood with his back toward him, and he felt his blood run cold when it became readily apparent based on the white coat he wore that he was a doctor. It must have been Bulma’s friend, Villacastin.

Goku struggled to get up, but his body felt as if it were made of lead and his limbs would not respond. He knew this feeling well. He’d been drugged. The hitch in his breathing must have alerted the others to his waking, because both Vegeta and the doctor turned and fixed their gazes on him.

Villacastin actually looked as if he felt sorry for him. Vegeta’s expression, however, was far more frightening. It was completely blank.

A long moment of silence elapsed, and finally a low coo from the bundle in the prince’s arms pulled Vegeta’s attention away from Goku. The younger Saiyajin watched as the other man smiled down at his child and ran a gentle finger down the infant’s face.

And then, without even casting a second glance at Goku, he turned and began to walk away.

“Take Kakarotto.”

Goku’s eyes narrowed and his heart plummeted into his stomach as the prince disappeared from his sight, and he struggled to call him back as Dr. Villacastin sighed and approached his unresponsive body. No matter how hard he tried he couldn’t make his voice work. Black eyes widened as the doctor knelt down in front of him and pulled out a large needle.

“This will only hurt for a moment....”

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“NO!! VEGETA!!!!”

Goku screamed as he bolted upright, and his screams only increased in volume when a pair of strong hands pushed him back down and held him still. He was struggling so hard against the iron grip that he didn’t hear his mate calling his name at first, but that deep voice eventually managed to reach his ears between his cries for help.

“Kakarotto! KAKAROTTO!! Calm down! I’m right here!”

Goku struggled to pull air into his starved lungs as he finally stopped fighting against the hands that held him down to the mattress he was laying on. At first the tears in his eyes blurred his vision, but after several blinks he was able to clearly see Vegeta leaning over him. It was his mate’s hands that were clamped around his wrists, not Villacastins’.

The older man’s expression was full of worry and concern, and Goku drew another deep breath into his lungs to calm his racing heart before speaking. His voice was raspy and his throat felt like sandpaper from all the screaming he must have been doing.

“Don’t let him take me away...”

Vegeta’s eyebrow rose. He was obviously confused. “No one is taking you away, Kakarotto. You were having a nightmare.”

The younger Saiyajin watched his mate for a long moment, looking for any signs that he may have been lying. However, the prince’s gaze remained full of concern, and he was soon convinced that it had indeed all been a nightmare.

Vegeta would never leave him like that....

However, Goku could not stop the trembles that continued to wrack his body, and he blinked away the last of his tears when Vegeta sighed and gently pulled him upright and into a tight embrace. The younger man winced at the soreness he felt in his lower stomach, but the discomfort was not so great that he would refuse the security his mate’s arms provided him.

Goku let his eyes slip closed as Vegeta ran a hand up and down his back, and he turned his face into the crook of the older man’s neck and inhaled his scent deeply into his lungs. The two Saiyajins remained that way for several minutes before Vegeta spoke softly into his ear.

“Are you ok now?”

Not trusting his voice at the moment, Goku nodded against the older man’s neck, and he was almost unable to stop the moan of disappointment that threatened to spill from his lips when Vegeta eased away from him.

Goku remained sitting up, and he looked down at himself in order to find the source of the throbbing pain that was radiating from his belly. He frowned when he saw that his lower stomach had been bandaged with white gauze. His eyes turned back to his mate when the older man began to speak.

“You lost consciousness the moment the baby was born. You were bleeding a lot from a few tears around the birth canal, so Dr. Villacastin had to come patch you up... And don’t worry, I watched him the entire time. All he did was put in a few stitches.”

Vegeta had been quick to add that last part upon noticing what little color Goku had in his face had drained the moment the doctor’s name had been mentioned. The prince waited a moment before continuing.

“He also gave the baby a thorough check-up. Everything is fine...”

Goku looked up from his bandages when he heard the hesitation in the other Saiyajin’s voice. “...But?”

Vegeta sighed and folded his arms over his chest. “But the baby will not drink the formula Bulma made.... And, uh....We noticed shortly after you lost consciousness you began lactating...”

Goku raised an eyebrow and tilted his head to the side slightly. “I’m what?”

A hint of a blush appeared on the prince’s cheeks as he motioned to the younger man’s chest. “You’re producing milk, Kakarotto...”

Large black eyes once again dropped down, and Goku’s face turned a furious shade of red when he noticed for the first time that there was indeed a milky white liquid slowly seeping from his nipples. The Saiyajin squeaked in shock and quickly pulled fistfuls of blankets up to cover his chest.

Vegeta coughed and looked away when Goku’s wide eyes fixed on his own. “Kakarotto, I know it’s asking a lot, but it’s been a couple hours already, and it’s important the baby eat something soon....”

Now the younger Saiyajin’s face turned from red to purple and his expression morphed into that of a mortified individual. “You want me to.... to....” He couldn’t even say it.

The prince grit his teeth as he turned his gaze back to his mate. “I understand you’re embarrassed, but I wouldn’t ask you if our child didn’t depend on it, Kakarotto. Bulma said the child needs essential nutrients that only your milk will have for the first 48 hours after delivery. If the baby doesn’t get them, then the immune system will be crippled for the rest of the child’s life.”

Goku continued to stare at his mate for a long moment, and his knuckles had turned white around the blankets he still grasped in his fists. Every fiber of his being was repulsed by the very idea of nursing this child, but Vegeta would NOT have asked him to do something so degrading if it wasn’t absolutely necessary. Despite his feelings about the baby, the child was innocent, and he would not let an innocent suffer if he could prevent it.

“...Ok...”

The prince’s eyes snapped up when Goku finally responded, and the older man let a genuine smile spread across his face before he leaned forward and placed a quick kiss on his flustered mate’s lips.

“Thank you, Kakarotto.”

Vegeta quickly rose from his place on the side of the bed and left the bedroom. Goku could hear several hushed voices speaking down the hallway, and several minutes later the prince re-entered the room with a small bundle cradled in his arms. The older Saiyajin quietly pushed the door closed behind him with his foot before be padded over to the bed, and Goku found himself reluctant to raise his eyes from the blankets around him as the mattress shifted below his mate’s weight.

His hesitation was obvious, but it was only Vegeta’s pleading voice that finally made him look up.

“Kakarotto...”

Goku’s eyes met the older man’s for a moment before they dropped down to the child his mate held. He couldn’t see the baby around the blanket that covered the infant, so he slowly reached forward to draw the fabric back. However, Goku saw Vegeta draw the child back for only a second before he stilled again.

The small movement was painfully obvious to the younger man though, and he pulled his hand back and pressed it to his own chest. Hurt bubbled up inside him and he felt unshed tears building in the corner of his eyes.

“I... I won’t hurt him, Vegeta...” He couldn’t prevent his voice from cracking as his emotions threatened to overwhelm him. Did the older man really think he would harm an infant? Had he really acted to hatefully toward the child throughout the pregnancy? Kami, he was a monster!

For a long moment the only sound in the room was Goku’s uneven breathing as he struggled not to cry, and then....

“Her.”

The younger Saiyajin looked back up at Vegeta, and his breath hitched at the small smile of pride that had spread across the other Saiyajin’s lips. “We have a daughter, Kakarotto.”

Goku’s eyes once again dropped back down to the bundle in his mate’s arms, and he watched as the older man drew back the blankets to reveal the tiny infant. Her skin was as alabaster as his own, and though her hair had yet to fully fluff out to its permanent shape, Goku could tell she had a mane very similar to Radditz’, only she had a few spiky bangs falling across her forehead. She had full pouty red lips and chubby cheeks with a small button nose. It was hard to tell whose eyes she had since she hadn’t opened them yet, but her eyebrows were drawn together in a very ‘Vegeta-like’ frown.

“Why... why is she so small?” Goku asked. Now that the blanket had been pulled back, he could clearly see just how tiny the child was. He remembered that Gohan had been much larger as a newborn.

Vegeta looked down at the baby he held and gave a small shrug. “She’s nearly full-term, so she’s healthy. The doctor has a theory that perhaps Saiyajins born to males are smaller because a male’s body isn’t able to expand as much to accommodate a growing fetus like a females’ is. So they’re born smaller. That would explain why your belly didn’t get nearly as large as Bulma’s or ChiChi’s did during their pregnancies.”

Goku nodded in understanding and gazed at the squirming child for a moment longer before raising his eyes to Vegeta’s. The older man grinned and shifted on the bed so that he sat beside his mate, and he gently handed their baby to the smaller man.

Goku visibly stiffened once the infant was cradled in his own arms. He was afraid of unintentionally harming the small being, and he was very aware of Vegeta’s eyes the entire time, seemingly watching his every move.

The younger man swallowed in an attempt to wet his suddenly dry throat before he drew the baby closer to his chest. His blush returned in full force when the little girl instinctively turned her head toward him and immediately latched onto his left nipple. Goku’s tail curled beneath the covers and he shifted uncomfortably as the infant cooed enthustically between suckles. A tiny black tail suddenly slithered out from beneath the blanket that was still wrapped around the baby, and the fuzzy appendage wrapped itself around one of Goku’s fingers.

Vegeta chuckled. “I think she found a new best friend.”

Goku’s brow drew together as a series of conflicting emotions suddenly washed over him, and he turned his head away from both Vegeta and the baby. His gaze remained fixed on the closet door on the other side of the room until he felt the infant finally stop suckling. He quickly, but gently handed the child back to his mate before turning away from them and curling up beneath the covers.

The younger man heard Vegeta sigh before he felt the mattress shift again when the prince rose from the bed. He listened as the larger man’s footsteps moved across the room, and when the door opened and closed with a barely audible ‘click’, he knew he was alone.

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Goku was confined to his room for bed rest for the next several days. Several people had visited him to congratulate him on his daughter and inquire about his health, but the Saiyajin couldn’t help but notice that most of his friends and family spent most of their time in the baby’s nursery. He could hear their combined voices quietly murmuring and cooing over the newest addition throughout most of the day and even throughout the night whenever the child would wake-up crying.

That was usually when Vegeta would enter with the baby, and Goku would feed the child until she quieted before silently handing her back to her father. Then he would watch as the two once again exited the bedroom and shut the door, leaving him alone once again.

He knew a baby needed a lot of attention and that it was normal for people to gush over a new arrival, but he still couldn’t help but feel isolated. He kept having urges to go see his child, but aside from when he was feeding her, he hadn’t been able to be alone with her. In fact, even during the feedings Vegeta was always there; watching.

Goku had hoped that maybe he might be able to develop a bond with the baby after it was born, but now he felt more disconnected than ever. No one had even told him the child’s name yet. Whenever someone would talk to him they always referred to the child as ‘the baby’, or ‘bundle of joy’, or ‘the little girl’. No one ever mentioned a name. Why? Wasn’t he entitled to know the name of his own child?!

Goku sighed and leaned back against the headboard as he stared dully at the closed door across the room. It was getting late, and the voices in the nursery were beginning to fade as everyone headed out for the night. They’d be back in the morning.

Bulma had brought him a tray full of food about an hour before, and she’d been very insistent that he eat every bite. She’d explained that if he didn’t nourish his own body, he wouldn’t be able produce enough milk for the baby.

It was always about the baby now.

His oldest friend had sat by his side and rambled about the infant fondly until he’d eaten everything she’d brought him, and the moment he’d finished Bulma had collected the dishes and ruffled his hair as if he were some child before dashing from the room. He heard her high pitched squealing manifest in the nursery a few seconds later.

Since then Goku had sat quietly with his own thoughts, and just when he was beginning to drift off to sleep, the door he’d been watching for so long finally opened with a ‘click’. Vegeta stepped inside with the baby and Goku looked at the clock beside the bed.

8:35 pm. Right on time for the last feeding before bed.

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Despite his drowsiness, Goku found himself unable to sleep that night. For hours he’d lain in bed watching Vegeta sleep across the room in a recliner chair. His mate hadn’t slept in the bed with him since the baby was born. When Goku had asked him why, Vegeta had explained he hadn’t wanted to wake him whenever he got up to check on their child. The prince had also wanted him to recover fully from the delivery before he chanced sleeping in the same bed again.

Goku hadn’t been happy with either answer.

Black eyes glanced at the clock. The bright red numbers read 2:36 am. The baby usually woke around 3:00 for another feeding.

The younger Saiyajin’s eyes drifted back to Vegeta before he drew in a silent breath and pushed back the covers. He quietly rose from the bed, wincing only a little when some of his stitches tugged beneath his shirt. After casting another quick glance at the older man, Goku padded across the room and silently slipped into the hallway. He shut his bedroom door behind him without a sound before sneaking into the nursery.

The room smelled of baby powder and Vegeta, along with the faint scent of his friends and family mixed in. Stuffed animals lined the walls and a nightlight in the shape of a teddy bear illuminated the room in a pale blue light.

Goku stood at the door for a long moment wringing his hands together nervously. The fur on his tail rippled as unease washed over him. He felt as if he shouldn’t be there. However, just when the Saiyajin was about to back out of the room, a soft rustling sound accompanied by a quiet whine caught his attention. Black eyes landed on the crib centered in the middle of the floor, and after a moment’s hesitation, Goku slowly advanced forward.

He kept his arms tucked against his chest and his hands balled into fists as if he were afraid of breaking something, and when he was close enough, Goku peered into the crib. The blue light from the nightlight shone between the bars, allowing the Saiyajin to clearly see the sleeping infant. She was on her belly with all her limbs tucked beneath her body. Her long spiky hair served as her only blanket, for the quilts had been kicked aside sometime earlier.

For a long time Goku watched her small back rise and fall with each breath, and he took a tentative step closer before he squatted down beside the crib. At this level he was able to see the baby’s face, and he couldn’t help but grin at the small dribble of drool that trickled down one cheek. She got the drooling thing from him.

Another small whimper left the child’s lips and Goku found himself reaching forward almost immediately. He slowly slipped his hand between the bars and let his fingers hover in the air for a moment before he gently lowered them into the infant’s hair. The Saiyajin’s mouth curled into a small smile when his daughter cooed in appreciation and squirmed beneath his long strokes, and for a moment Goku felt completely at peace for the first time in a long time.

“Kakarotto.”

And in that instant the moment was ruined. Goku’s heart jumped into his throat at the soft sound of his name and he wrenched his hand out of the crib as he jerked backward and fell onto his rear. His tail fuzzed out as he shuffled away from the baby until his back hit the wall, and he pulled his arms and legs up close to his body as he turned wide eyes to an equally startled Vegeta.

A long silence stretched between them before a small whimper drifted into the air, followed by the loud wail of a now awake baby.

Vegeta cast his mate one last look before crossing the room and scooping up the child. Goku noticed the way the older man’s eyes scanned the infant’s body; most likely looking for any injuries.

Again Goku felt as if he didn’t belong there, and he ducked his head when the prince once again turned his attention back to him.

“Kakarotto, what were you doing?”

It felt like an accusation, and the younger man flinched under the intense gaze. “I... I wasn’t, uh...I just wanted to....”

Vegeta sighed and turned his back on the other Saiyajin as he crossed the room and placed the still crying infant on the changing table.

“Forget it, Kakarotto. Go back to bed. I’ll be there in a minute.”

Goku watched his mate fuss over his daughter for a moment longer before pulling himself to his feet. A sharp sting shot across his abdomen, and the younger man knew he’d probably pulled some stitches out when he’d scrambled away from the crib. It wasn’t serious though. It would heal.

Casting one last glance at Vegeta, Goku quickly shuffled out of the nursery. He just wished that all wounds could heal as easily as the physical ones.

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TBC