Videl stared at the small wrinkled calendar posted in the kitchen area of the ship with new intensity—it was coming, soon. She was nearing the end of her first year with Vegeta, three hundred-and-sixty-five days with her new father, away from her old home.

She was surprised, she would readily admit, how quickly she'd become accustomed to her new life aboard their ship. How quickly she'd abandoned all ties with that little blue planet she'd left behind, how quickly she'd started calling her "savior" by the endearment "Father," how quickly she'd absorbed all the training and punishing and everything Vegeta threw at her.

She traced a single finger over the yellowing paper, water and blood spots spattered over it, and found her birthday circled in a scrawling hand—her own hand. There were few marks on the calendar save the ones she made, which left her wondering just why her father kept it on board anyway; as far as she knew, he tried his very best to forget he'd spent any time on Earth. Why would he want a calendar reminding him of the passage of time on that far away planet?

She shrugged it off, returning her thoughts to this date and her birthday—and the week or so separating them. Well, a week in Earth time, if she had kept her watch set correctly; time passed differently in the deeps of space than on any planet, yet still she liked knowing what was going on.

She hesitated to approach her father with the news that she was nearly one year older than when he'd taken her under his wing—he wasn't one to observe such niceties as a birthday party (and she actually might lose respect for him should he have done so), so she decided to forego an announcement. If he noticed, then he noticed; if not—well, she certainly wasn't going to remind him. Knowing him, he'd probably take it as an excuse that it was time to up her gravity training level…

And so, the "days" passed after she'd realized how close she was to her birthday in Earth time much as they'd passed before—eat, fight, eat, fight, and occasionally sleep. Within a few days' time she'd completely forgotten the calendar and had reverted her focus back to training.

Nothing terribly eventful happened, though, until Vegeta stopped the ship at a remote outpost near the remains of Old Namek—now a great meteor bed. Located between quadrants, the fueling station attracted all sorts of aliens, good, bad, and some just looking to quietly pass through with their cargo. It was actually more of an intergalactic diner than a decent fueling station, and Vegeta made it clear that they wouldn't be staying very long, so if she wanted any food she'd better hurry—he wouldn't hesitate to leave her stranded.

They stepped into the dingy room, attracting practically no attention—after all, they were just some left over vigilante troops from the fallen Cold Empire, nothing to get excited about—and made their way to the bar. While her father lounged in a chair, obviously bored out of his wits, Videl ordered something she hoped was edible, and the two waited while the aliens working the pumps refueled the ship.

"…Vegeta?" a scruffy voice called from the opposite end of the bar, and Videl's attentions were the first directed towards the source, followed by the slow turning of her father's head. "…That you, Vegeta?"

She recoiled slightly when her eyes came to rest on the blue-skinned multi-limbed alien who'd called out to her father as if he knew him. He was clad in armor that very much resembled the Saiyan's, though it was obviously older and considerably more worn in many places—his had seen more battle (either that, or he hadn't fared as well as Vegeta had; she suspected the latter). His squinty eyes widened as best they could, so far set back in his head were they, and he let out a great guffaw and waddled on his four legs over to the duo. "Vegeta, it is you! I haven't seen you in…well, it's been years since you were last treated at the Omega Station!" He slapped one of his six hands on her father's back—not a wise move, from the look of shock plastered on his face at the alien's bold move. "Still causing trouble for the Empire, eh?"

Vegeta merely narrowed his eyes, disdainful, refusing to give the creature a reply, and turned back to Videl. "We're leaving, girl." She nodded and dropped her fork onto the plate she'd just been handed, tossing a few coins onto the tiled bar as payment.

They were already out the door and halfway back to the ship before the same voice called them back, "Vegeta! Vegeta—hold it right there!"

To her surprise, he did stop, turning to cast a sideways glance at the one who'd called him back—that alien again. Except now, standing at the flanks of the alien were several other beings of varying shapes and sizes, all clothed in the same armor as the one they'd met in the diner. A sly grin worked its way onto the blue face of the leader of the group.

"You've been gone a long while, Vegeta… so long that a bounty's been placed on your head, your highness. And I intend to collect that bounty—hard times lately, you know, no ill feelings." He turned to the guards at his side, motioning them to move in.

"Arkos…well, I wouldn't have pegged you as the bounty hunting type. More of the sniveling lab technician type," the Saiyan prince sneered at the alien.

"Times change, Vegeta—and as you can see, I've got plenty of men here to take care of you for me."

Vegeta merely shook his head in mirth and turned to his daughter. "Up for a little fun before we get back on the ship? I can't promise you any suitable sport, but it should be interesting." Her eyes beamed, betraying her excitement, and she gave a curt nod, sliding into an attack position.

Their attackers hesitated for only a moment, a bit surprised that their prey wasn't fleeing, but quickly regained their senses and blasted forward, with Arkos staying well out of the fight, cheering his men from the sides.

Dust swirled around the battling aliens, blinding their progress from the sideliner's view for some five minutes, and every now and then he thought he saw a wild punch being thrown, or heard a yell of defeat, but nothing else until the mêlée was over.

The thick dust settled back to the ground, and Arkos's three eyes grew wide at the carnage before him. His troops were in pieces—literally—strewn about in a smoking radius of fifteen feet from the battle zone. Vegeta smirked at his "friend," and Videl dusted imaginary dirt from her dainty hands, satisfied with her work. The Saiyan stepped over a few bodies, backing Arkos into a wall, trembling in terror.

He wrapped one hand around the flabby blue neck and hissed, "Freeza has been dead for nearly five years, scum…just who did you think was going to pay your bounty?" Before the alien could stammer a reply—or scream one, for that matter—Vegeta had deftly snapped his windpipe in his grip, thick green blood oozing through his gloved fingers. He ripped a slab of flesh from the neck before letting the body slide to the ground and proceeded to devour it raw, turning to his daughter.

"You should get some, too, girl. His race is known for its rapid healing ability," he spat out through mouthfuls, jerking a thumb back at the corpse. She nodded and breezed past him to the wall. While she ate her fill, Vegeta rifled through the smoking pile of Arkos's troops, searching for anything useful. Light reflecting from a glass surface caught his gaze soon enough, and he snatched a band from around the head of one of the troops, eyeing it intently, then smirked and grabbed another one.

He wandered back over to his daughter, who was cleansing her hands of the gore, and held one out for her. She looked at it strangely, then cast a questioning glance up at her father.

"A scouter—wear it whenever we dock from now on." He turned on his heel and headed back to the ship, and she turned the device over in her small hands, examining it intently. The crunch of gravel under his feet stopped after a moment, and she looked up again. He'd halted his return to the ship, but wasn't looking at her.

"Happy Birthday, brat."

More notes: Short, sweet, very "stand alone"-ish, we thought. What better place to stick it than as a review special? A little fun knowledge: This thing was actually typed up a LONG time ago, as a way for me to play around with their relationship and such—it mostly came about as a result of Ann's outline stating that, "Nearing the end of the 1st year would be Videl's birthday, she gets the scouter from Vegeta. Vegeta and Videl met up with some left over Cold Empire elite troops and easily dispose of them. Vegeta then decides to take the scouters anyway to make it easier for them to communicate" (Yes, there is an outline for this story. You can all pick your jaws up off the floor now). I saw that scene and knew it had to be typed out, and here it is! So, no evilness here, no angst, no tears, just fun fluff. See? I can do that kind of thing too…—sage

Even more notes: I was gaping, simply stunned, when sage sent me this ficlet. The "awwww" factor was just—just—so REVIEW SPECIAL-ISH! And since I forgot to point out a couple of things in the last chapter, I'll do it here instead! Well, what's with all the flesh eating? I don't know about the anime, but in the manga, as some of you might recall, the first appearance of Vegeta (and Nappa) had them on a planet they yet finished purging. Well, Vegeta was munching on the arm of a downed defender of the planet—and it was obviously an intelligent being, armed and all. The simply casual way he munched on it came to me as something he must have done frequently on other purging missions. Considering the Saiyans' rather predatory and primal character, eating other weaker beings (or just 'tasting' them when nothing else is around) seems quite plausible. We took artistic license and dramatized it to fit the "Minimal Gqoa Level", and of course we needed plausible way for Videl to become so strong. Don't worry about all your questions and the seemingly many plot-holes; we actually have an extensive plotline AND timeline, not to mention we're writing backwards. Yes, we've done something like Star Wars, only we post it in a linear timeline. We've already written a lot of stuff when they returned to Earth before deciding that a linear plot would be more gqoa and smoc-y then just making multiple flashbacks. Hehehe… –Ann

(About the question regarding why Vegeta chose to leave Trunks behind and take along Videl, I thought we tackled that matter quite extensively in the first two chapters or so. Trunks is a solid reminder of his 'weakness' (with Bulma) and a tie to humanity—a first son that is half-human. Naturally, Vegeta freaked out. Unlike the original story, Vegeta actually acted on that fear even after all he went through with Mirai Trunks. Videl reminded Vegeta of himself when he was a child, not to mention he needed someone to—oops, spoiler there.)