Cosmic Crisis 3 - A New Enemy

Chapter 45 - A Star is Born

Three months passed quickly. Natalie and Sirius continued to train, and they managed to spar about once a day. Nat had regained the ability to go super Saiya-jin one afternoon, two months into training, when Sirius' continuous taunts had pushed her over the edge, at which point she transformed and proceeded to beat him unconscious. If it hadn't been for Trunks intervening, she could have easily killed him. Afterward she hid in her room for days, refusing to come out. The only person she would talk to was Trunks. But, it was Sirius himself who managed to bring her out of the hole.

He and Ceres had a few moments of peace together, but for the most part, their status remained stationary at "just friends".

Goten and Reena were growing closer by the day. In fact, Goten spent more time at Capsule Corp. than he did at his own home. Not that this was particularly unusual for him, but this time it wasn't because he wanted to spar with Trunks.

Natalie hadn't been allowed anywhere near the gravity room during the past month. Trunks and Sirius both insisted that she was in no condition to overexert and strain herself because she was carrying a baby. Naturally, Natalie protested and the mood swings kicked in because she would eventually be reduced to tears. She complained that she was going to loser her strength and become weak if she didn't train, and she had threatened Trunks physically at one point. Even Vegeta stepped in from time to time. In the end, Natalie grudgingly gave up.

Bulma had admitted early on that she made a mistake when predicting how far along Natalie was in her pregnancy. It turns out that when she had first tested the sample, she had misread the results, and Natalie had actually only been about a month, instead of the two that she had formerly estimated, making he at a grand total of a little over four months along. Natalie, though, looked as if she were in her final days. Ceres didn't hesitate to tell everyone that she would most likely be due very soon, because Sidra-jin pregnancies rarely lasted longer than five months.

Then, one day, the inevitable happened.

Natalie was awakened early on a Friday morning to a terrible pain shooting up her spine and tearing through her midsection. Her eyes shot open and she turned her head to see Trunks sleeping soundly next to her. He was sleeping on his stomach, something Natalie was extremely jealous of because she hadn't been able to do it since she was two and a half months along.

Because of his fine tuned senses, as well as the fact that he was a mere six inches away from her, Trunks sensed her ki rise slightly and opened his eyes.

"Nat-chan? What's the matter?" he asked. "Are you hungry? Is the baby kicking? Do you need to go to the bathroom?"

Natalie's eyes narrowed considerably.

"NO, you baka!" she hissed. "I-"

"Don't worry." He interrupted, sitting up. "If you need something downstairs I can go get it."

"Trunks! I have-" her words were interrupted by a gasp for air when another wave of pain exploded in her stomach. "...a terrible stomach ache." She finished, panting slightly. "Shit...Trunks...go wake up your Kaasan."

"W-why?" he asked quizzically.

"JUST DO IT, DAMNIT!" she snapped, sending Trunks flying out the door and down the hall before she could take another breath.

Bulma was sleeping heavily, along with Vegeta, in their bedroom at the end of the hallway. Suddenly, a frantic knock ripped her out of her sleep and shoved her back into the harsh reality of the night. Irritated, she shuffled to the door and swung it open, rage prevalent in her eyes, and glared at her son.

"What is it!" she cried.

"K-k-kaasan! Natalie...she's..." he stammered, pointing his index finger down the hall in the direction of Nat's room.

"She's what!?" Bulma asked, quite annoyed. Then, she emitted a small cry and her eyes widened. "Trunks...is she...having...her baby?"

"I...I think so!" Trunks said in a panic. "I fell asleep next to her...then the next thing I know, I wake up and she's screaming stuff at me."

Bulma's jaw dropped slightly. "She's definitely having the baby. Trunks...you have to go get her, because we have to take her to the hospital!"

"But...can't we just use the medical wing...here at Capsule Corp?" he asked, obviously not wanting to take a trip to the hospital downtown...the same hospital where Natalie's adoptive mother had died.

"First, Trunks, NO! We don't have the facilities here for giving birth. Second, NO! I don't know how to deliver a baby! Now go get her!" Bulma barked. Trunks, dazed and confused, zipped back into Natalie's room where she was lying in a fetal position on the bed, wincing in pain and occasionally crying out softly.

Vegeta, by now, had been awakened, and was sitting up groggily in the bed.

"Woman!" he yelled, beckoning Bulma from the doorway. "What's going on?"

"Nat-chan is having her baby!" Bulma cried ecstatically. "We're going to go to the hospital."

"That brat is having a brat? Already??" he cried in disbelief.

"Yes, already! Do you think I'm making this up?" Bulma asked accusingly.

"I didn't say that" Vegeta spat.

"Then what DID you say?"

"STOP!"

Bulma and Vegeta both turned to see Trunks standing in their doorway with Natalie in his arms.

"We have to GO! Stop arguing and get moving!" he ordered. His parents stood, frozen and transfixed by their son's sudden change in demeanor. Trunks left their doorway quickly, and immediately Bulma started to throw on some clothes.

"Why that little..." Vegeta trailed off. "When we get home I'll rip his-"

"Vegeta no baka! Get dressed or go back to bed!" Bulma hissed, slapping him across the face. For a fleeting moment, his eyes narrowed and he growled, but Bulma's glare remained steady and grew in intensity with each passing second. Vegeta's face relaxed and his mouth turned upward into a crooked grin.

"You could pass for a Saiya-jin sometimes." He commented. Bulma smiled and they enjoyed a moment of peace together, until it was shattered with one of Natalie's shrieks from down the hall. Bulma and Vegeta tore away from each other and quickly got themselves ready.

Sirius had also woken to the sound of his sister and the increase in ki's from upstairs. He picked was not in range to pick up on any brainwaves, so he would have to get out of bed and walk upstairs to find out what all the commotion was. No doubt Reena and Ceres were sleeping. They could have slept through the destruction of Vela-sei, but luckily, they had been awake at that time.

"Quickly, get her some shoes, socks, anything!!" Bulma cried, running around like a chicken with its head cut off. Trunks was digging through the closet to find shoes for Natalie, while she lay on the bed once more, trembling with every surge of pain that racked her frame.

Sirius stumbled up the stairs and stopped in the doorway to Natalie's room, his eyes widened slightly.

"Carina..." he spoke softly, coming to grips with the situation. Trunks, having finally found what he was looking for, spun around with a pair of slippers in his right hand.

"Sirius?" he asked, focusing on the Sidra-jin hybrid that stood in the doorway.

"She's having that baby, isn't she?" Sirius asked, his eyes focused on his younger sister, even as he spoke to Trunks, who just nodded.

"Yes. Are you going to help or just get in the way because if you are, then I think you should go downstairs." Trunks said, somewhat offensively.

Sirius just saw through it and credited his hastiness to the panic surrounding them.

"Well, what do you want me to do?" Sirius asked, raising one eyebrow challengingly.

"For starters, here." Trunks said, throwing the slippers to Sirius. "Those are for Nat."

"You really should have prepared for this in advance." Sirius commented. Trunks was about to reply with a spiced comeback, when Natalie screamed.

"Would you two morons DO SOMETHING!?"

They both stopped what they were doing and stared at her in awe. Trunks groaned, knowing that things were probably going to get progressively worse until the baby was finally born.

Trunks crashed through the automatic doors of the hospital, reducing them to shards of glass and twisted metal as he entered, followed by Sirius. They had flown. Bulma and Vegeta had stayed behind to keep out of the way, as well as to make sure Reena and Ceres did not wake in a panic. With Natalie in his arms, Trunks approached the clerk's desk.

"Sir, you will have to pay for that door and I assure you, it is not cheap." The woman behind the desk declared saucily.

"I...don't...care." Trunks seethed through clenched teeth. "My mate...is having...a baby..."

"Your what?" she repeated, glancing at Natalie and then back at Trunks, who looked like he would explode at any moment. Sirius stepped in front of him and glared at the woman.

"Listen here." He stated, placing his index finger on her shoulder and pressing slightly. "My sister is in the process of giving birth to a child. I don't know much about the medical facilities on this planet, but if you do not see to it that she is taken care of, I will personally reduce your building to ash."

The woman had now paled and her eyes were so wide that even the tiny veins in the corners popped out as one of her shaky hands reached for a telephone. One of her fingers pushed a bluish gray button on the base unit as she held the receiver to her mouth.

"W-we need a medical staff in the maternity ward...ASAP." She stammered nervously, her voice reverberating around the enormous room and down the halls, where it would be heard by the hospital employees. "I repeat...medical staff to maternity ward." She said once more, and then placed the phone into the cradle.

"Good." Sirius said in a lethal tone.

"S-sir..." the woman said, gesturing to Trunks, who was talking softly to Natalie. "Sir."

"His name is Trunks." Sirius informed her, less intimidating than before.

"Mister Trunks." The woman called. Trunks immediately looked up questionably. "You and your wife need to follow this woman over here."

Trunks ignored her assumption that Natalie was his wife and looked in the direction she pointed. He saw a middle-aged woman with short, sandy blonde hair and gray eyes, standing at the corner of one of the hospital's many wings. She smiled and gestured for them to come with her. Without another word, or another regard to the shaken clerk, Trunks, Natalie, and Sirius headed in her direction.

Ten minutes later, Natalie was lying on a hospital bed, surrounded by hospital staff, with Trunks and Sirius shoved in the corner of the room.

"So...how long does this take again?" Trunks asked.

"Well, I guess it depends." Sirius replied. "But on average, it takes about two hours."

"Sirius...how do you know this?' Trunks asked in amazement, seeing as anytime he needed trivial information on Vela-sei or it's inhabitants, Sirius kindly offered it.

"Well, you know how long it takes for human females, don't you?" he asked. "It's the same principal."

"Well next you're gonna be in here with your mate, and we'll see how long it takes." Trunks poked.

"I don't have a mate." Sirius replied coldly.

"I thought you and Ceres were-"

"TRUNKS!" Natalie screamed. "Would you just SHUT UP!?"

Trunks cowered slightly and lowered his head. "Yes, Nat-chan." He said softly.

"When the baby is born, what are you going to do?" Sirius asked, more of a test question then out of curiosity.

"Well I guess we'll bring it back to Capsule Corp. with us. Why?"

"Just wondering..."

"You don't think I'm going to abandon it just because its Orion's, do you?" Trunks asked accusingly. Sirius shrugged his shoulders.

"You know what they say...a person's true character shines through in the time of a crisis." he commented. "I guess we'll just have to wait and see."

"What is that supposed to-"

"TRUNKS!"

"Yes, Nat-chan."

An hour and a half later, Trunks was standing next to Natalie and receiving repeated blows to any vulnerable area on his body. So far, there were bruises on his chest, arms, and back, but fortunately for him, he was smarter than to stand too close and risk being hit in more important areas.

"Damnit!" Natalie hissed. "Trunks there's NO way I'm having another baby."

"N-Nat-chan, don't you think you're being a little harsh?" Trunks stammered nervously.

"NO I'm not being harsh! I'd like to see YOU do this!" she berated, grabbing a fistful of his hair and clenching it in her fist. Trunks' eyes watered but he didn't protest. He imagined that she was going through much worse.

The nurses were talking softly to Natalie, trying to comfort her, yet discourage her from giving up. They ensured that she was almost through with it.

Sirius, meanwhile, was still standing in the corner, watching the scene with amusement. Here was Trunks being abused my his mate, who was practically immobile, while people swarmed all over the place, barking orders or speaking soothingly to his sister. He had to admit, however, that he was growing irritated with all of the humans in the room, seeing as picking up on their thoughts came so easy, it was almost hard not to.

"I can't wait to get off work, this is the third baby I've delivered already today!"

"I wonder if it's going to be a boy or a girl."

"She looks a little young to be having a baby. Oh well, just another pregnant teenager."

"Does this surgical coat make me look fat?"

Sirius finally put up a mental block, as to block out all of the brainwaves and thoughts that came his way. The only downside to this was the fact that his senses were dulled slightly, a feeling that he was not comfortable with. Oh well, he thought, Saiya-jin instinct.

"Wahhhhhhh!!!"

Sirius was snapped back to reality when a shrill cry pierced the silence that he had been indulging in. Immediately, he looked toward his sister. She was lying back, looking exhausted, while a nurse blotted her damp forehead with a cloth. Trunks was staring in awe, while the other nurses crowded around the center. The tiny voice continued to cry out among the commotion, his tiny hands reaching out for his mother. After all the stats were taken, the nurse walked over to Natalie.

"Congratulations, you have a healthy baby boy." She smiled, handing a tiny bundle to the fatigued girl. "However...he seems to have a...tail?"

Natalie smiled and held him close. Two large blue eyes gazed at her and almost immediately, the crying ceased, as the baby continued to stare at his mother curiously. Trunks, who was still awe-stricken, finally managed to speak.

"I-it's a boy." He spoke.

"Do you want to hold him?" Natalie asked, looking up at him expectantly.

Trunks hesitated for a split second, but deep down he knew that he loved this child, because he was part of Natalie also. Taking the baby into his arms, he studied it. Blonde hair, and the biggest, bluest eyes he had ever seen on a baby before. His tiny pink hands were curled into fists and his feet dangled beneath him as the blanket enveloped his little body.

Sirius walked over and took his own turn holding the baby.

"What are you going to name him?" Trunks asked, watching as Sirius held his nephew above his head.

"I don't know." Natalie spoke. "I was thinking about...Gideon."