A/N: This is indeed the epilogue. I don't think I'll do a sequel. Maybe but probably not. It'd most likely be in Celeria's POV and have a pairing between her and Trunks. Bulla isn't born in this story but she was on her way. Ummm... so yeah. I'm really proud of myself for her name. It's based off a root, just like Kakarot and Bardock and Raditz are. Wikipedia is my friend.

Disclaimer: I do not own Dragon Ball Z or anything affiliated with it.

-MalRev

The Ties That Bind

20

As I stared at my daughter, trying to make sense of what she was saying, Gohan and Videl arrived on the scene looking like they were ready to fight. Goku shook his head and gestured at the two dead demons and I knelt down in front of the little girl with a tail wrapped comfortably around her waist. She smiled brightly and locked her arms around my neck in a hug that was too tight for my human bones.

"What do you mean?" I asked, afraid that I already knew the answer.

Her clear blue eyes blinked and she put her arms behind her head casually in the same way her father did. "The Door is shut. You can't go now. Everything is safe now and it feels… unshakey."

"I… I can't go back to my world?"

"Nope! It's all closed and fixed up good."

My chest tightened uncomfortably and I tried not to cry. I could never see my family again and never tell Erin I was okay. She would live in constant worry over me and what ended up happening. The portal had been sealed, leaving me stranded on the wrong side. Crippling loneliness and guilt hit me full force and I covered my mouth to keep from screaming. All of my friends were gone. I would never go out drinking with Erin again, never joke around with Vic at work, and never trip over Peter in the morning.

Worst of all, I'd never see either of my siblings get married and have kids of their own. Hell, I probably wouldn't get married. Panic started settling in when I looked up at my daughter again and she offered me a toothy grin. My life was predetermined. I never even had a choice. Now I was a mother to a half-alien child who had a tail growing out of her behind.

Powerful arms caught me when I fainted.

A warm compress on my forehead woke me up some time later. My eyes fluttered open and I saw Goku sitting beside me in a chair, smiling as I slowly came into awareness. The room was painted blue and had some decorations that made me think of being at the beach—we had to be in Capsule Corp. Sandy-colored sheets were tucked around my arms to keep me warm and there was a glass of water with some ice sitting on the nightstand. I tried to sit up but Goku gently pressed me back down.

The room was spinning as I pieced together the events of the day. It was nighttime now. I clutched my forehead and grimaced as nausea twisted around in my stomach. There were so many things to worry about that I couldn't see any positives. Tears slid down my cheeks and Goku leaned forward to brush them away with his thumb, trying desperately to comfort me.

"I know it's a lot to take in," he said, "but I'm here for you, Naomi. We all are. I already talked to Gohan and he's happy for us—he's playing with Celeria and Goten outside right now. She's perfectly healthy and strong, just like me." He scooted his chair closer, grey eyes glittering excitedly. "And she's really smart! She can talk and use big words and do math with Goten already."

"Ce-who-riah?" I echoed.

"Celeria. I thought it was pretty. We can name her something else if you want but I didn't want her to keep going around without a name." He twiddled his thumbs and looked at me from under his eyebrows; a shy giant.

"No, it's… unorthodox, but nice. It'll make her fit in well here. Not so much in my world, but that doesn't really matter anymore. I don't know if I'll ever be able to accept having a daughter. I didn't even know I was pregnant until Scoria started making me swell up like a balloon. Now I'm stuck here forever and we have a child to raise and… it's just surreal."

"It isn't all bad," Goku said earnestly. "My world has been peaceful for a long time now and it's much less dangerous than yours. You can trust people here and they won't hurt you in the end. We can live at my house in Mt. Paozu and raise Celeria and maybe Chi-Chi will let her play with Goten. I know it's hard for you to be taken away from your family like that but there are people here who love you."

I nodded tiredly. "I know that and trust me, I don't think I'll ever forget it. It doesn't change the fact that I left my family behind and they'll never be comforted. They'll think I ran away or I was murdered. Even Erin had no clue what was going on and she never will. It's gonna be hard living with myself knowing I've done that to them."

"None of us knew what would happen when Scoria and Fiamme were gone. We could only guess and do what we thought was right." Goku took my hands in his mine and kissed the top of my palms. "I'm so sorry. If you want to be alone, I understand."

When he moved to get up I quickly tugged on his hand so he stayed in his chair. "There's time for me to be sad later. Right now, you and I need to get better acquainted with Celeria and figure a few other things out." I took his face in my hands and smiled. "If it came down to a choice between my world and yours, you should know I would've picked yours a thousand times over."

Goku kissed me hard and yanked me out of bed into his lap. He ran his hands over my skin like he was making sure I was still intact and hugged me to bury his face in the crook of my neck. I hugged him back and kissed his hair then ran my fingers through it. After all the suffering, we could finally strive to achieve our own sense of normalcy. More tears sprang from my eyes and I hid my face in his thick hair.

"Our bond broke, too," Goku said when we broke apart. He rubbed his eyes on his sleeve and offered me a lopsided grin. "You finally slept without me and there's no more pain when we're separated. It's kind of a relief that we don't need to be attached at the hip."

It was good news. Now I was my own person once again. We kissed a few more times before he set me back on the bed and went to open the door for the next visitor. To my delight, Celeria was standing in the doorway with her hands clasped behind her back, wearing a very tiny version of her father's training clothes. She looked up at him for confirmation and ran to me, leaping into bed and knocking me over backwards. There was no tail attached to her anymore.

Celeria was definitely matured beyond her years. I was somewhat relieved I didn't actually have to take care of a baby because the thought of it frightened me. Goku was right when he called her smart. She spoke in staunch detail of her experiences with life so far: how it was kind of scary but really exciting. It was still hard to believe Celeria had come from me and Goku. I had created life with him.

The rest of the group came in after Celeria was taking a nap on me with her thumb stuck in her mouth. Bulma showed me a sheet detailing all the tests she ran on my daughter that guaranteed she was okay while Dende and the guy I assumed was Piccolo stood off to the side watching all of us. Two new people, Krillin and Android 18, came over to say hi with their daughter, Marron. She giggled when she saw Celeria and hid behind her father's leg. Bulma rubbed her abdomen, smiling to herself and Vegeta flushed pink and muttered something in her ear.

"Oh my gosh," Videl said when she could finally approach the bed. "Naomi, she looks… well, she looks a lot like Goku. This is my first time seeing her and… wow."

"It's in the genes," Gohan said sourly, motioning to his excited little brother.

"Is she gonna fight bad guys, too?!" Goten asked. "Trunks and I were gonna ask her to race tomorrow! Is that okay, Miss Naomi?"

"Well she's kind of tiny." I pulled Celeria closer and she snuggled into me. My heart melted. "You don't think she's kind of fragile for that sort of thing?"

Krillin started laughing. "Highly unlikely. Saiyans are built to take a beating. You should've seen how badly Gohan was pummeled when Raditz came to Earth and almost wiped us all out. She'll be fine! We have senzu beans and Dende is always around to help out—"

"No," Goku said firmly, "if Naomi doesn't want her fighting… I won't push it. I made that mistake with Chi-Chi and I don't want to repeat it again. We both made her so… so we both make decisions about what she's gonna do. Right, Nome?"

Everyone in the room fell silent in shock, including me. Since when was Goku so thoughtful? He tapped his fingertips together and awkwardly rubbed the back of his head, grinning. Celeria's eyes opened and she hopped out of my lap the second she laid eyes on Goten, assuming a fighting stance. Goten did the same and they flew out of the room along with Trunks until all we could hear was their laughter.

Videl grinned. "I guess she answered that question for you."

It was dark out but we all went downstairs to socialize for a while. I was exhausted—as soon as everyone left I was going to have Goku take us straight home for bed. The thought of it made my heart skip a beat. Goku and I were actually together now, not just floating between friendship and a long-term commitment. I didn't want to get married or anything quite yet but it was comforting to know our relationship was finally defined.

Goku talked eagerly with his Krillin about his battle with Scoria and Vegeta occasionally corrected his facts. I had a host of questions for Bulma about raising Celeria which she was more than willing to answer. She already printed off some pointers for me to read over and mentioned that I should be happy I skipped over breast feeding. Celeria was apparently as easy-going and likeable as her father; yet another welcome relief I had been praying for. The last thing I needed on top of everything else was a difficult child that wouldn't listen to me.

As we all settled into our conversations, Goku's head suddenly snapped around and he was outside in the blink of an eye. As we all looked at each other in confusion, the sound of a child crying drifted inside the house and we all hurried outside to see what was going on. I prayed neither of the boys had hurt Celeria. She was so tiny and I would never forgive myself—

Why did I even bother worrying?

Celeria was safe in Goku's arms with an unmistakably tired pout on her face. She clenched his shirt in her fists and burst into tears again until he gently shushed her and rubbed her back with three of his fingertips. She sniffled pitifully and Trunks rolled his eyes, elbowing Goten in the ribs.

"Girls are annoying," Trunks said. "They're all whiny and stuff."

"Hey mister, you were the same way at that age!" Bulma said. "Poor Celeria just needs to go to bed. I'm sure she'll go back to beating you two up tomorrow morning."

"Hah! No child of Kakarot's will overpower my boy," Vegeta said.

"I'll take her on right now!" Trunks suddenly exploded into light, making his hair turn gold and stand up on end. He took a step forward and reassumed his fighting stance.

Goku held Celeria closer and I could have sworn I saw his upper lip curl in a snarl. I knew when to keep my mouth shut and when it was a good time to intervene.

"Alright, let's get her home for some rest. She did a heck of a lot of growing today." I was trying to be urbane and stop them from pummeling each other. "We'll come by in the morning and you can play all day if you want, but for tonight, she needs to relax with her father and me."

"Okay!" Goten said brightly. "Don't worry, Miss Naomi, I'll never let anyone hurt my little sister." He turned to Trunks and glowered at him. "Even if they're right about girls being whiny."

Goku ruffled his youngest son's hair. "That's my boy."

We bade farewell to everyone and promised to come back in the morning to talk some more. Videl hugged me fiercely around the waist and told us Gohan would be staying at her house for a while. Goku unwillingly passed Celeria to me and I supported her in one hand so I could hold Goku's with my other one. He placed two fingertips to his forehead and we were gone in a flash.

Back at home, Goku practically tore Celeria away from me and brought her to Gohan's bedroom. He hummed quietly to her as he laid her down in bed and pulled the sheets up and all I could do was stand and watch in awe. He wasn't joking when he said he loved kids. It was kind of cute to see it in action. When he bent down to kiss her forehead our daughter suddenly lunged out of bed to embrace him around the neck. I could see Goku's shoulders fall in defeat and he hugged her back.

"Daddy, will you show me how to beat them up?" Celeria asked.

"What, you don't want me to do it for you?"

"No!" Her chest puffed out proudly. "I can beat boys up all by myself!"

It wasn't tough to tell who her father was.

Goku laughed and helped her back in bed. "How about you go to sleep and we talk in the morning?"

Celeria didn't have much of a choice: her little eyes could barely stay open. She blew me a kiss and waved heartily before snuggling into Gohan's pillow for bed. Goku stood there for a few moments to stare at her and finally left the room when I cleared my throat. He carefully shut the door behind him and I was suddenly wrapped up in his arms.

"I love you," he whispered.

As we stood together in the quiet house with our daughter sleeping peacefully in the next room, I realized my attraction to Goku had taken on a life of its own. Our bond didn't matter. I was grateful that we had been pushed together and at times, violently clashed. I smiled.

"I love you, too."