Betcha you thought I forgot about this fic, ne? *smirks* Well, it really hasn’t been THAT long. Getting a better feel for the over-all content of this fic. Ought to be an interesting ride...Videl fans might want to skip this chapter...heh…

Disclaimers: Contrary to SOMEONE’S belief, I did in all actuality create, nay, give birth to Sage in MOST of his incarnations. I can place three of them squarely in the lap of my most beloved twin however. Since Gohan belongs to Sage, by proxy he therefore belongs to me!!! *smirk* The rest of them however...well...I don’t officially own them…

Archive? Please ask first. Permission not required for, For-chan, bakayaro onna, Ginia of Saiyan HideAway and Cleodasia Rihs, And don’t steal my stuff and claim it’s yours. That just makes them mad.

Warnings: Overall NC17 for Vegeta/Goku goodness!!! Don’t look for it in every chapter however, when you get it, it is a treat to be savored!!!

Glomping, lemony, smushy kisses and thanks to my devoted danglemate/beta reader bakayaro onna!!!!

Dedications: As ALWAYS to my most lovelyful tsuin ever!!! *glompravish* Without her, well, believe me...you ought ALL every last one of you fall down on your knees and worship for it is through her goodness that this chapter turned out so well!!! *smirks*

And to my cookie…*nibble*

And thank you all for the reviews, threats and otherwise encouragement…enjoy!!!

Princeling

By Talon

Part 2

Gross

Gohan winced at the scuffling, muted yells and splashes coming from the boys’ bathroom. Sage chortled and clapped his hands from his spot on the floor in the midst of overturned pots, pans and bowls. Gohan spared the chibi a mock glare.

“Think that’s funny, do you, chukra?”

Sage smirked and shouted, “FUNNY FUNNY FUNNY!!!!!!!” A thick tail thudded on an inverted plastic bowl, filling the kitchen with a hollow thumping.

Gohan couldn’t help it. He laughed. Picking up the still smirking chibi, he answered the door as the last delivery person made to knock. And by the time the rest of the dinner had been set out, Videl appeared, accompanied by two damp, sullen and clean chibis. Gohan wisely decided not to call attention to Videl’s own soaked person, instead directing Goten and Trunks to their accustomed seats and telling Videl to serve herself first, please. “Or else there won’t be anything left…at least nothing appetizing...”

Apparently Videl had figured out by now to just do what Gohan suggested in regards to his family. In any case, she complied without hesitation, filling her plate and sitting down to eat as Gohan released the two younger brats from his “stay-in-your-seats-or-else” glare.

Sage was delighted, as always, by the riotous confusion, growling, poking, punching, hair-pulling, howling show his older brothers put on when there was little-to-no adult supervision around a meal. The mingling scents from the dinner, the sharp tang of tomato sauce and garlic, the hot rice and meat smell of the Chinese order, and the savory/sweet scent of the sukiyaki he had right in front of him was enough to make him drool. He reached out a small hand to the bowl in front of him, but just as he grabbed a handful he got a sharp tap from Gohan’s chopsticks. He scowled, wondering whether or not to protest…loudly.

“No, Sage,” said Gohan firmly. Sage looked up at him, his bottom lip poking out dangerously. “You may have some in a bit, chibi; first you need some of your own food.”

Sage looked at the bowl beside Gohan’s. Well, he DID like his mushy stuff...it wasn’t much to chew, but it was nice and rich and had a lovely familiar under-flavor...he wriggled in Gohan’s lap. “More Gohan.” It was an order, and everyone at the table knew it. Trunks and Goten looked at each other, snickering and snorting into their plates, Videl looked slightly confused, though she kept a sharp eye on the terrible twosome.

“Yeah, yeah,” chuckled Gohan good-naturedly, spooning up a bit of brownish mush and poking the spoon into Sage’s open mouth.

“Yummy!!!” said Sage, his mouth full, little brown flecks shooting out as he bounced in Gohan’s lap.

“Swallow, Sage…” chided Gohan as he prepared another spoonful of the mush for him.

“Why don’t you put him in a high chair,” asked Videl. “That way you could eat with one hand and feed him too.”

There was a sudden ear-splitting shriek. “NO NO HIGHCHAIW!!!!”

“Sage, calm down, I’m not putting you in the chair. Behave.” To close his mouth, Gohan stuck another spoonful of Sage’s food in the screaming mouth and quickly fed himself a few bites of his own meal.

“That’s why,” said Trunks scornfully.

“Yeah,” said Goten. “Sage HATES the chair...so Kassan uses it for punishment.”

“Keeps him in one place,” said Trunks, slurping a particularly long noodle and getting sauce all over his face.

“Oh...er…” stammered Videl, searching for a change of subject. Her eyes lit on the small bowl of food Sage was eating happily and asked curiously, “What is that you’re feeding him?”

Gohan hesitated. “I don’t think you really want to know,” he began when he was interrupted.

“It’s Saiyjin baby food,” said Trunks smugly.

“Yeah,” chimed Goten.

“It’s got stuff to make little shrimps like him grow to be big as Goku-san and strong like Papa!!”

“Yeah!!” said Goten happily.

Videl smiled at the boys, happy they decided to include her in the conversation. “Oh? And what would that be? What kind of stuff makes a baby Saiyjin grow big and strong?”

“Demi-Saiyjin,” corrected Trunks.

“Yeah, demi-Saiyjin,” repeated Goten.

“Sorry,” smiled Videl. “Demi-Saiyjin.”

“Trunks, I don’t think Videl...” began Gohan.

“LIVER!!!!” shouted Trunks. “Lots of ground up liver!!!”

“And hearts,” added Goten. “Organ meat has lots of concentrated nutrition!!”

“Don’t forget the kidneys,” said Trunks.

“Yeah, kidneys,” smiled Goten. “Don’t you forget the secret ingredient!!!”

Videl looked greenish. “You must be kidding me, right, boys?”

They looked at her, eyes wide. “Nope,” they said, their voices mingling.

She turned to Gohan. “They’re kidding, right?”

Slowly, he shook his head and stuck another spoonful into Sage’s mouth.

She swallowed. Hard.

Trunks and Goten exchanged a look. An EVIL look. “But Videl-chan, we didn’t get to tell you the secret ingredient!!!”

She tried to look interested. “Oh? Well, I guess you’d better tell me.”

They smirked as one. “BLOOD!!!” they chorused.

“Whose blood is it tonight, Trunks?” asked Goten.

Trunks, who was sitting nearest Gohan and Sage, stuck his nose into the bowl. “Smells like…Goku-san’s!!!”

That tore it for Videl. She was out of the room before her chair had hit the floor. Four sets of sensitive demi-Saiyjin hearing picked up with ease the horrible retching sounds coming from the nearest bathroom.

Trunks and Goten exchanged a triumphant look, Sage laughed and clapped his hands. Gohan struggled to look stern and admonish his brothers…but it was a near thing.

“That was NOT a nice thing to do to Videl-chan, brats,” he said, trying to sound angry.

“But she ASKED, Go-chan,” said Goten innocently.

“And Goku-san...I mean Daddy, says to ALWAYS tell the truth,” said Trunks, making his eyes as big as they would go.

“FUNNY PUKE!!!” yelled Sage, his tail lashing. Gohan sighed and poked a thin strip of beef from his sukiyaki into Sage’s mouth. Sage looked startled, then chewed happily, exercising his newest molars.

“Boys,” he began, then stopped as Videl walked back into the room, flipped her chair back into position, sat down and started eating again.

Gohan suppressed a chuckle. The looks on Truten’s faces were priceless.

“This really is good shrimp lo mien,” said Videl casually to Gohan. “Maybe before I leave tonight you could give me the name of the restaurant you ordered from?”

“Sure thing, Videl-chan…sure thing,” grinned Gohan as he fed Sage more baby mush.

The meal was quiet for a little while, Sage being fairly compliant until Gohan refused to give him any more of his meal, saying Sage had had enough, and if he wanted more he’d have to have a bottle. In short order everyone was wearing a combination of sukiyaki and baby-mush and Sage was screaming his head off.

Gohan grimaced as Sage’s temper tantrum erupted to gargantuan proportions. Trunks and Goten were holding their ears, expressions of awe on their faces as the occasional profane word, in both Japanese and Saiyjin-o interspersed Sage’s screams and howls. Videl couldn’t handle the baby mush covering her hair and skin and bolted again for the bathroom.

Gohan thought fast, then acted just as quickly. “TRUNKS,” he bellowed.

“HUH?”

“Go to Bulma-san’s room and get Videl some spare clothes...just sweatpants and a shirt…they’re about the same size. Take them to Videl, KNOCK and let her know…NOW!!!”

Trunks had looked as though he were about to object, but Gohan’s tone of voice and his “Kakkarotto” face were enough to convince him to obey...for now.

“GOTEN, CLEAN UP THE DAMNED BABY MUSH!”

Goten nodded and dashed for the sink, coming back with a dishcloth and industriously started wiping up the streaks of brownish slime covering most of the surfaces of the kitchen. Ewww...that had been SOME explosion.

Gohan took Sage into the gravity room and shut the door. On the outside, silence reigned. On the inside Sage howled for a few seconds more, then stopped abruptly as the strong scents of his father and bond-father washed over him.

“Tou’tan?” His little snubbed nose wrinkled inquisitively. “Baka?”

“They’re not here, chibi.” Gohan’s voice was calm.

Sage’s face screwed up in preparation for another howl.

“Howl all you want, Sage-brat...in here, no one can hear you scream.”

Sage scowled at his former favorite brother. “MEAN Gohan,” he said decisively.

A single ebony eyebrow arched nearly to his hairline. “I’M mean?” he said mildly. “I’m not the one who blew up MY dinner and yours too.”

“MEAN GOHAN!”

“Yeah…all right…mean Gohan. Fine. Should “mean Gohan” leave you to your screaming?”

“YES!!!!!”

“All right then.” With that Gohan exited the gravity room, closing the door behind him. He knew it would only take a few moments of solitude to get the baby to calm down a bit, but he hated to do it. It hurt him, but Sage was so angry and so frustrated he wasn’t going to listen to anything Gohan said.

Gohan sighed. He couldn’t actually HEAR Sage screaming, but he could feel the slight vibrations through the door, and he could clearly sense the brat’s anger, slowly bleeding to distress.

After a few minutes the screaming eased into sobbing, and when Gohan opened the door, Sage all but flung himself at the older boy, crying as though his heart were broken.

“GOHAN GOHAN GOHAN!!!” he wailed into Gohan’s neck, his tail winding tightly around Gohan’s upper arm as he gently patted the small chibi back to calm him.

“Shhh…it’s all right now, Sage…you can calm down.”

Slowly his sobbing eased, though he kept hiccupping in-between hitching breaths as Gohan cuddled him.

“Feel better now, chukra?” asked Gohan quietly.

Sniffle.

“Ah…you don’t have to answer...let’s go back in the kitchen and you can have a bottle, ne?”

Sage nodded and Gohan walked them both back into the still messy room.

Goten, who had slacked off cleaning as he had been asked to do, was industriously rubbing away by the time Gohan actually walked through the doorway. Videl had reappeared in a pair of Bulma’s sweats and a t-shirt and Trunks was talking animatedly to Goten as the younger boy wiped baby mush from the fronts of the lower cabinets.

“You could help him, Trunks, instead of standing there distracting him,” said Gohan dryly as he retrieved a bottle from the refrigerator and began feeding it to Sage. He was surprised as Sage pushed it away.

“Nani?” he asked looking down at the brat in his arms.

“Cold, Gohan!!” said Sage plaintively.

“Whoops…sorry, Sage,” said Gohan, warming it up quickly and poking the nipple back into Sage’s mouth.

“But Go-chan,” protested Trunks. “You didn’t tell ME to help clean up...”

“Well, it is now in your best interest to volunteer,” replied Gohan evenly.

“And why is that?” asked Trunks, obviously preparing to verbally spar with the older boy.

“Because neither one of you is welcome back at the table until the mush is cleaned up,” Gohan said calmly.

Trunks looked flabbergasted. “But…but that’s not FAIR!!!”

Gohan shrugged. “Deal with it,” he said shortly. “I have to deal with Sage, is that fair? Sage has to deal with his Tou’tan and Baka being gone, is that fair? Help Goten clean up and you can both finish your dinner quicker.”

Ignoring Trunks’ look of pouty chibi sullenness, Gohan sat back down at the table, wrapping Sage in his tail and letting him float beside him. He served himself another bowl of sukiyaki and calmly began to eat. Videl, looking a bit pale, joined him, though she made no move to finish her meal.

Gohan paid her little to no attention; his focus was on the chibis…all three of them. He was slightly irritated at her for not doing her job. So what she had gotten splattered by some baby mush...it wasn’t THAT disgusting, it was actually pretty tasty. She just sat there, staring at the messy table, not offering to help, not eating, not doing ANYTHING. And here he’d thought he was going to get some help tonight. He snorted, and watched as Trunks got a sponge and started helping Goten clean up. Within ten minutes, Gohan called a halt, saying it looked much better and they could eat now.

Eagerly they dropped their cleaning implements and scrambled into their chairs, ignoring the baby mush decorating their food and started back in eating. Videl looked slightly green as they consumed their tainted food with abandon. Goten, pausing as he reached for more fried rice looked at her interestedly. “Is she gonna hurl again, Go-chan?” he asked, emptying the carton onto his plate.

Gohan’s voice was carefully neutral as he continued to eat his own dinner. “I don’t know, Goten, I wouldn’t worry about it, just eat your food.” A clattering behind him told him Sage had finished his bottle and flung it to the floor. Expecting a tantrum, Gohan brought him around to take into his arms, but stopped, noting his half-closed eyes and tail and thumb firmly locked into position. Hn...looked like the brat was going to take a mini-nap. Encouraging it, he waved Sage gently back and forth, purring as he shoveled food into his mouth in true Son style. True to form, Sage dropped off to sleep within a few minutes and Gohan asked Trunks to get up and grab the carry pouch for him, please.

Obediently, the lavender-haired demi got up and snagged the pouch from where it hung on its hook in the kitchen. Gohan stood up, stripped his shirt off and tied the pouch on in deft, sure movements. In short order, the chibi was sleeping peacefully, snuggled up to Gohan’s warm skin, sleep-purring in near time with the heartbeat throbbing beneath a satin chibi cheek.

That exchange seemed to jolt Videl out of her self-induced stupor. She stared openly as Gohan sat back down at the table without bothering to put his shirt back on. Reflecting slightly, besides the lovely view this presented her with, she realized it wouldn’t really be possible to put a t-shirt back on over that odd...pouch...yes that was what Gohan had called it. She had just opened her mouth to ask when Gohan’s voice interrupted her unvoiced question.

“It is a Saiyjin carry-pouch,” he said. “Vegeta-san made it for Sage when he was born.” The sukiyaki gone, he leaned back in his chair and considered her for a moment. “You finished eating?” he asked casually.

She tried not to shudder and was moderately successful. “Yes, thanks.” He nodded slightly.

Gohan nodded. “Good, then come with me, please…boys, finish eating.” He stood up and exited the room. After a brief hesitation, Videl followed.

She was surprised when he opened the door to that strange, round room again, but she shrugged and followed him into it, watching him as he closed, but did not lock the door behind him. When he turned to face her, she was surprised to see his usually cheerful face was….well…slightly stormy.

“If you can’t handle this, please tell me now and I’ll have someone take you home.” Gohan got right to the point; there was no fooling around when it came to his brothers.

Videl blinked at him for a moment. “What are you talking about?”

“I’m talking about you not being able to handle being splashed with baby food, for starters,” said Gohan calmly, though his face was still angry. “Baby food, Videl, the food that babies, like this one,” he gestured at Sage, snoozing in the pouch, “eat every day. If you can’t handle baby food, then how do you expect to handle the two brats?”

Videl stiffened. When she spoke a moment later, her voice was low and annoyed. “Baby food? Ground up liver, kidneys, hearts and…BLOOD? That’s baby food? For starters Gohan, I can’t STAND liver. I never could. Sorry if that doesn’t meet up with your expectations...I can handle lots of disgusting stuff, but liver isn’t one of them. I hate the sight, smell, taste and texture of the stuff. Understand that. That doesn’t mean I can’t handle Goten and Trunks, however.”

“If you can’t handle being splashed with something you hate, then you can’t handle them.” Gohan’s voice was flat. “You ran out, not once, but twice. If I hadn’t of been there, something could have happened to them, or to the house. So you got splattered with something you hate...when you’re responsible for someone else, THEY come first. You deal with YOU later, when you have control of the situation. You didn’t have control, Videl, and you CANNOT give it up if you’re responsible for them!!”

“What about now?” she challenged him. “Who’s watching them now?” Silently, he pointed to a monitor above her head, situated in the ceiling. “I am,” he said quietly. “I brought you in here so they wouldn’t overhear our discussion and undermine your authority over them. Understand you’re going to have to really work hard to get ANY respect out of them after that little show. They KNOW I’m in control just now, but they also know once Sage wakes up, my control over them is compromised. You’re going to have to make a decision. Do I call my fathers or do you suck it up and do the job for which you were hired this evening?”

She stared at him. Finding her voice, “You’re not like any boy our age I’ve met,” she said slowly.

“If you mean I take my responsibilities and my family seriously,” replied Gohan testily, “then you’d be correct.”

She nodded slowly. “You’re right,” she said finally.

He snorted. “Of COURSE I’m right.” He glanced up at the monitor. “I’ll give you a few minutes; I’ve got to go stop a fight. Let me know of your decision when you come out.”

And he left.

She watched the monitor as he skillfully defused a conflict between the two boys. What did he need her for, she wondered. He seemed to have everything under control...the baby was asleep though, she reminded herself. He was a handful at best, an outright tyrant in all actuality. She shook her head. Maybe she should cut her losses…she was out of her league...she looked up again, watching Gohan clear off parts of the table, keeping an eye on the two younger boys. He was really…well, cute! She wouldn’t mind getting to know him better...but she had a feeling if she didn’t cut it here, he wouldn’t be likely to give her the time of day later. And anyway, was she a fighter or wasn’t she? Was she really willing to concede victory to a couple of preschoolers? Videl ground her teeth together. No. She wasn’t going to give in. She’d never lost a babysitting job, and she’d never yet been brought to her knees by one of her charges. She could do this. She’d show Gohan she could do this...flipping one of her pony tails over her shoulder, she stalked out of the round room with a determined step and an obstinate look in her clear, blue eyes.

Gohan was wondering if he’d been too hard on Videl. He realized she really didn’t know what she was getting into, and he could, sorta sympathize with her aversion to liver...still, what he had said was true. If she was going to baby sit here, she needed to have the right frame of mind to deal with the brats, and running away in the face of something disgusting was just asking for it. He wondered for the hundredth time if he shouldn’t just call his Dad.

He paused as Videl walked into the kitchen. He nearly smirked as he caught her determined scent, noted the way she walked and continued stacking dishes in the industrial sized dishwasher.

Coming up beside him, she handed him a handful of silverware. Quietly, hoping only he could hear, “You’re not getting rid of me that easily, Son Gohan.”

Gohan smirked outright. “Glad to hear it, Videl-chan...You can start by getting them,” he nodded at Trunks and Goten who were shoveling the last of the meals into their voracious mouths,” cleaned up. They’ve got a couple of hours yet before they’ll be allowed dessert, and then a couple more still before clean up and bed. They’ll want to see what you’re made of.”

Videl’s small chin was set. “Good. I’m ready.”

What neither of them were ready for was the sudden, high-pitched wail that came from inside the pouch.

*~*~*~*~*

to be continued…so…um…anyone want to find out what happens next?

*smug looks from Sage-muse and Mijuku-muse*

Talon: They CANNOT be bribed with reviews.

Sage-muse: Yes we can!!!

Talon: *smacks hands over their mouths* NO THEY CANNOT!!! *drags them off*