"What do you mean it's Vegeta's ship?" Goku quickly questioned

"I mean what I said Goku. It's Vegeta, he's returned;" Bulma snapped back, all signs of her anger returning. "He'll be landing in the next few minutes."

Goku turned to look at Gohan who was already staring back at him, neither of them knowing what to say. Goku could feel his heart rate starting to climb again as it sunk in that he was about to come face to face with the man who had given him their baby. This had been what he had wanted for months, and now that it was about to happen, he was unsure why he was suddenly so nervous.

"Are you okay dad? You're still looking a bit grey." Gohan asked.

"We have to go, Vegeta can't see me like this, not just yet, I have to be ready for this first." Goku said in an obvious panic.

"Don't be such a wimp, it's only my dad, we all know he is stronger than you anyway." Trunks gloated, who received an icy stare in return from Gohan.

Bulma was stood at her console staring at the flashing warning, she too was in shock with this sudden and unexpected development. Her head was flooded with everything she wanted to say and scream at Vegeta all at once for his disrespect and mistreatment towards her and their son, for his unannounced departure and betrayal. With this running through her head, even Bulma's great brain was struggling to process it all.

With Goku a nervous wreck and Bulma in a daze, Gohan felt the need to take control of the situation again. "Trunks, help you mom prepare for the landing, Dad you come with me I'm going to take you to another part of the house where you can rest. We'll deal with Vegeta when you ready."

"Okay good." was all Goku replied with as he followed his son out of the room.

Bulma then came to life realizing that after all the years he had spent living with her, Vegeta still didn't know the landing procedure, or even how to land the ship itself, all his previous landings had been that of a crashing nature. She began punching commands into the computer preparing to seize control of the ships systems in order to successfully land it in one piece. (Normal procedure was to communicate with the pilot and direct them where to land or have them transfer control, but in this case Bulma felt taking control was more appropriate.)

"Vessel now in range, Primary functions relinquished, full command of ship functions initiated. Tracking systems engaged - estimated time of arrival 60 seconds." informed the computer.

"YAY, my dad is home!" Trunks chuckled.

Bulma sat back from the console, closed her eyes and took a deep breath. This was going to be difficult; these next 60 seconds of calm might be the last ones she had for a while, best to enjoy them while they lasted.

Meanwhile at the opposite end of the house in one of the many spare bedrooms Goku's panic was increasing, he could only assume that his hormones were getting the better of him again. This was what he had wanted for so many months, to see the man he loved, for him to be there when their baby was born, now this was likely going to be the case he was riddled with anxiety.

"Gohan, what if Vegeta rejects the baby and me? We didn't exactly leave things on great terms; I've been so focused on wanting him back for so long I never thought about how he might react any other way than to be happy? But I've no reason to assume…I mean I..."

"DAD! Calm down, you're over thinking things, just sit down and relax, it's been a difficult day. Yes, this is a little unexpected I must admit, but we're going to take it one step at a time, you don't need any more excitement."

THUD

"Oh, Kami oh, Kami, he's landed" Goku rambled in a shaky voice, circling the room, ignoring the twang he just felt in his back.

The only ever time Gohan has seen his father in a flap like this is with the mention of a needle. "You're going to be fine dad, just take it easy and breath, remember what I said? One step at a time." Gohan reassured his dad.

This was exactly what Gohan was hoping for; he was delighted that Vegeta had returned for several reasons. One; being that he knew it would make his dad happy. Two; that it would be good to have another full blooded Saiyan on the scene who might be able to give them some answers, if nothing else to give extra support for Goku, and thirdly because it would take some of the heat off him. Gohan then realized that realized he was expecting a lot of Vegeta upon his return, the question was, Is he really that reliable? Gohan remained positive, they were going to find out one way or the other.

It was dark, the sounds of screaming could be heard in the distance. The normally bright and colorful snake way was now sinister and threatening. How could the situation in the other world have deteriorated so quickly, and to this magnitude? The Kai were the Gods of the other world, how could they not have foreseen this happening? All it would take now to make this situation worse was if the prisoners in hell were to break free, thankfully at the minute the demon elder responsible for this disaster seemed to have no interest in them.

King Kai of the north had taken refuge in the once beautiful, now decimated and abandoned palace of princess snake awaiting the arrival of the supreme Kai's aid. Since the supreme Kai had merged with Kibito, King Kai had yet to meet the new aid of his superior and had no idea who to look out for.

King Kai was taking a big risk in coming here, exposing himself like this, since he was already dead if his body was to be destroyed then that would be existence as he knew it over, that was something to be avoided. He had to find out if the rumors were true, he prayed that they weren't.

Just then he sensed a presence appear within the palace grounds, he heard footsteps approaching his way. Feeling a large lump in his throat and sweat on his forehead King Kai took the risk of exposing himself.

"King Kai of the North?" a young voice asked.

Feeling a great sense of relief, he answered "Yes, I presume you are the Supreme Kai's new apprentice."

"I am," the young Kai responded. "however, I wish we could have met under more pleasant circumstances."

"Indeed," King Kai agreed. "Do you have an update for me?"

"The situation is grave King Kai, my master has been infected and succumbed to the virus, there is nothing more we can do for him now. He will turn against us this eve as have the rest."

King Kai took a moment to realize the magnitude of responsibly that now rested on his shoulders. Just like the East, South, Western and Grand Kai, the Supreme Kai had now fallen, leaving only himself and the remaining untrained apprentice Kai's like his young companion here (who were small in numbers as the entire Kai population only came to about 80) to defeat this evil. Should they fail then the entire other world realm would become the new hell, not a pleasant fate for the current or future residents to spend the rest of eternity. Not to mention the extinction of the Kai who have ruled this realm for countless millennia.

"Then there is only one thing left to do;" King Kai said in a distant tone "to go back to the source of this evil and destroy it before it ever begins."

"Alter the timeline?!" the young Kai gasped, "You know that is forbidden!"

"Do you have any better suggestions at this stage young Kai? I think we both know that our combined strength and skill come nowhere near to the task at hand."

The young apprentice nodded in agreement. "Where is the source?" he inquired.

"Earth; 500 years ago. And I know just the people to help, though in their combined current condition they have about as much chance of defeating this as we do. There is only one among them presently who can help..." King Kai pondered. "…quick my young Kai, our time is running short, we must act now if we are to save other world."

Bulma approached the capsule corps branded vessel now stationed in her garden, fists clenched, heart racing. What was she going to say to him first? How was she going to approach the whole thing, Vegeta wasn't exactly the best person to get on the bad side of. Then again, neither was she and she wasn't about to start letting people walk over her now, even if it was Vegeta.

"What the hell is he doing in there?" she said "Afraid to come out and face me probably." she snickered to herself trying to make light of the situation. Again, deciding to take matters into her own hands Bulma approached the ship and opened a side panel, punched in a few commands and the airlock opened with a wheeze.

"Oh my..." Bulma trailed off as she suddenly felt woozy and lightheaded as she blacked out falling to the ground.

...

"Mom…mom wake up! What's wrong with you?" Trunks pleaded with his mother trying to wake her up.

"What? What happened?"

"I don't know mom; I came running out to see if dad was back and found you on the ground." Trunks answered.

"Vegeta...did he come out?"

Trunks shook his head in response as he helped his mother to her feet. Feeling her wave of dizziness dissipate, with the aid of her son she hurried inside the ship. There was a stale smell of sweat in the air; it was obvious the life support systems along with every other system on the ship had been running on minimal power.

"What happened here?" she asked, again all she got from Trunks was a shrug of his shoulders.

"Trunks I'm going to try and access the ships logs to find out what happened...the ship appears to be deserted, have a look around for me and see if you can find anything."

"Sure mom."

"Right let's find out what happened to Vegeta..." Bulma said to herself. She keyed in the commands to bring up a record of the ships flight plan. Everything seemed to be in order; this ship had not encountered any unexplained anomalies during the return flight. Sensors had detected an ion storm, but a course change had been manually entered. "Who entered the course correction? Vegeta wouldn't know how, he would plough right through an ion storm just for the challenge."

"MOM COME QUICK"

Bulma rushed from the command console to the lower deck to aid her son, fearing that he had found something that would shatter him. She wasn't far wrong. She burst into the master bedroom to find her son with tears in his eyes cradling a bloody, bruised, and battered Vegeta.

"I can't wake him up mom…" Trunks cried in a shaky voice

Bulma was unable to react straight away. There he was, the man that had caused her so much pain, the man who had abandoned her and their son, the man who had cheated on her and was soon to have another baby, a love child with her oldest friend. There he was just lying there, was he dead? She didn't know yet, and although she saw nothing but pain in her son's face, she was unable to move.

"MOM DO SOMETHING! HELP ME!" Trunks shouted at her, panic through his voice.

Bulma jumped to life, rushing to her son's side, she felt for a pulse…there was a very weak one.
"It's okay Trunks your Dad is alive, but we have to help him now. Listen to me very carefully, you must run to the house and get grandpa. Tell him we need the hospital wing operational and tell him to send some help so we can carry your dad in. Can you do that for me son?"

Trunks nodded once not taking his teary stare from his dad. He was gone in a flash.

With her son gone Bulma could be alone with the man she thought she knew, she had things to say. It didn't matter if Vegeta heard her or not, she had to say what she was feeling out loud or it was going to kill her. She was surprised that she didn't really care what had happened to Vegeta right now, he was always getting into trouble, she figured this was nothing new.

"You son of bitch. You cheat on me then abandon the only family you have left. You come back in this state and expect me to save your life, how dare you! You have no idea what I have been through while you have been gone, what I have had to deal with. YOUR responsibilities, but then again, I guess you have never really cared about anyone but yourself. If you make it through this Vegeta I swear I can never forgive you for this. Somehow, I can forgive Goku; he has always been so selfless he deserves what he wants. But you, I gave you everything and look what I have in return…"

"Gohan I don't feel right, something is wrong I can tell." Goku said looking at his son

"I know Dad, something feels off. Vegeta is back I can feel it, but he is hurt, I should go and see wha..."

"No Gohan, I mean something is wrong with me, I feel like I'm being drained and I don't mean the baby, more like how I felt while I was fighting android 19 only this is worse, faster…"

Gohan scanned the area but found nothing… "Dad I'm confused there is nothing here, how can this be happening?"

"I don't know, it started as soon as the ship landed and that can't be a coincidence, Gohan the baby, he needs so much of my energy, at this rate he is going to starve if we don't get out of here! I can't fight but we can't let anything happen to him!" he said with panic apparent in his voice.

"Right, we need to get you to safety first, then we can worry about what is happening here. Can you use your instant transmission?" Gohan questioned

"No, that uses too much energy, at the minute I'm trying to save everything I have."

"Okay, the old-fashioned way it is then, I'll carry you and take us to Kami's, that is the only place far away enough I can think of."

Gohan lifted his dad and took off out the nearest window and headed straight for the lookout. Just as he thought things were about to get easier with Vegeta's return, it was looking obvious at this point that he had brought trouble back with him.

"I'm starting to feel better the further we get away Gohan, something is defiantly not right down there, we need to warn the others as well!" I hope Vegeta is okay, we need him. Goku thought to himself.

"If Dende is doing his job right then he is already keeping an eye on things, he will know we are headed there and tell the others to join us or hide elsewhere. Just until we figure out what is happening and then destroy it."

Bulma had made sure that Vegeta was moved to the hospital wing but she remained in the spaceship to figure out what had happened. She was still a scientist after all and mysteries like this had to be solved. If nothing else, it was a good excuse not to think about all the issues she was going to have to deal with now that Vegeta was back. That is if he survived, and much to her surprise she didn't feel too effected by that thought either way. Denial, perhaps, but for now her anger was too strong and it was blocking everything else. Bulma had come to terms with the fact that she never really had a proper marriage with Vegeta, he was never there, he always had his own agenda. He would return for food, clothing, training equipment, and when he wanted sex. It wasn't a healthy relationship.

"Bulma, this is Dende can you hear me?" The voice called out from the empty room, causing her a fright.

"Dende! Don't just jump into somebody's head like that, you scared me!"

"Oh, I'm sorry Bulma I didn't mean to."

"Well considering you never call or visit I guess this isn't a social call, has it something to do with Vegeta's return?"

"Yes I'm afraid so, we don't have a lot of time, something terrible is happening and I'm sorry to say but I don't have much more information than that at this time, but you all need to get to safety, Goku and Gohan are already on their way here, I suggest you gather everyone and head straight here!"

Bulma sighed Fuck sake Vegeta what have you brought back with you this time?

"Wow wow, hold on Dende, I'm going to need a little more than that, tell me exactly what you DO know."

"Okay, I'm afraid I wasn't keeping tabs on Vegeta while he was gone, so I'm not sure if it is Vegeta that has brought something back with him, although I think it is too much of a coincidence for it not to be. All I do know is there has been a sudden dip in life force in your area since that ship landed, like its being sucked away, but by who or what I don't know. You have already been partly drained I can sense it."

That must be why I passed out.

"Yes, Bulma exactly."

"Okay Dende, you have convinced me, I'll get the boys and meet you all there"

Goku and Gohan had been at the lookout for a short while, Goku felt back to normal again and it felt great to have the cool clean air high above the world blowing all around him again. He had always liked it up here, it was calm and relaxing. His son would be with them soon, in the short time Goku and the baby had spent together they had already been through joy, heartbreak and drama. He swore it would be different for this baby, no abandoning him to train, no threats made against him, he was going to keep him safe. His thoughts turned to Vegeta, he could tell that the prince was still alive, he could feel him, but he knew he was hanging on by a thread. He wanted so badly to see him, to hold him, to kiss him, to let him feel their baby, but if he was to keep their son safe then he had to keep his distance, at least for now. All the trouble going on seemed to be centered on the Saiyan prince.

"Is everything okay Goku, can I get you anything?" Dende asked

"No thank you Dende, we're okay for now, have you spoken with Bulma?"

"Yes, she and the others should be here shortly."

"Good, we need to figure out what is going on and how to stop it if it happens again."

"We will Goku, we always do. Dende reassured. "How are you and the baby doing?"

"Oh yeah, I guess you haven't seen me yet since I've become pregnant, I'm sure it's a little weird for you to see?"

Dende giggled "Goku you're forgetting that I hatched from an egg. A male pregnancy is no stranger to me than a female pregnancy."

"Oh yeah, I forgot, well that's reassuring to know that at least one person isn't freaked out. Dende, I have been meaning to ask you if you have heard anything from King Kai? Or anybody from the other world for that matter?"

"No Goku I haven't, why do you ask?"

Goku raised an eyebrow in concern, "Something is wrong. King Kai was the one to break the news to me, he promised to find out as much information about Saiyan pregnancies as he could, that was nearly 8 months ago, we've heard nothing."

Dende nodded in agreement "That is very strange indeed, once we get our problem here sorted, I promise to look into this for you and help in any way I can."

Dende and Goku both looked across the lookout at the sound of an aircraft landing, Bulma and the others had arrived, they made their way over to greet them. Chi-Chi and Bulma exited the craft, Chi-Chi had a big smile across her face as she spotted Goku, obviously glad to see him. Trunks and Goten were next to exit the Capsule aircraft carrying something that looked like a stretcher, as Goku approached he could see that it was a stretcher, a stretcher carrying Vegeta!

HOLY SHIT!

Bulma could see the mixed emotions on Goku's face; he was obviously overwhelmed by the unexpected arrival. "Trunks insisted we bring Vegeta with us so that Dende could heal him. He wouldn't let me leave him there if there was danger around." She wasn't trying to make him feel better, but she felt he should at least understand why.

Goku nodded unable to speak, Trunks' demands were fair. Goku was torn, the man he had wanted to see more than anything for what seemed like a lifetime was right there, unconscious and hurt. However, where Vegeta went, trouble seemed to follow. The baby was aware of Goku's distress as he became very restlessly.

Yes son, that's him. Your daddy.

Gohan stood at his father's side and placed a hand on his shoulder in support, he realized this was a big moment for Goku. "It's going to be okay Dad, I'm here for you." He whispered, Goku nodded.

"Bulma let's get something to drink, the boys need time alone. Trunks, you and Goten take your father into one of the bedrooms so Dende can heal him, then come and find us so they can be alone." Chi-Chi ordered walking away with Bulma in her arm.

Goku and Gohan followed behind the boys in silence as they headed into the palace. "Gohan there seems to be no trouble at the minute, but that could change quickly, if trouble finds us, I need you to fight, can you do that?" Goku asked, turning to his son.

"Don't worry Dad, I'm not going to let anything happen to you, either of you. I'll protect you both at the first sign of trouble." Gohan replied.

They followed the boys into one of the smaller rooms who set Vegeta's stretcher onto a bed and quickly left just as Chi-Chi had ordered. Goku and Gohan stood back as Dende approached the bed holding his two hands over Vegeta preparing to heal him.

"Here we go..." he said as he started smothering Vegeta with healing rays.

Goku couldn't take his eyes off Vegeta as he waited for him to open his eyes, time seemed to be going slower than usual; it was taking too long. His heart was pounding; he couldn't remember the last time he felt this nervous. The baby was still restless, moving and kicking more than usual, Goku hoped it was because he could feel Vegeta's presence too.

Just then Dende lowered his hands. "That should do it, that was tough, Vegeta had lost a lot of energy, but he should be okay now." He said wiping the sweat away from his forehead. He turned to Goku who was looking sheepish, both Dende and Gohan nodded at each other and left the room to give them time alone. Goku moved to the bedside, he wasn't sure if Vegeta could hear him or if he were aware yet. His lips trembled with nerves as he considered pressing them against Vegeta's wanting to remember what they felt like on his.

"Veg…Vegeta can you hear me? I've missed you so much; I've something to tell…" Goku trailed off as he realized the prince had opened his eyes, and he was staring straight back at him.

To Be Continued….