I don't own Dragon Ball Z. Toriyama created them, Funimation distributes the show, and Toei animation co. brought them to life. I only own the plot here, and it's a work of fan fiction, which I don't get paid for. My only pay is your wonderful reviews! So keep them coming! Many thanks! This story means no harm to Dragon Ball Z.

A Taste of Heat

By Trynia Merin a.k.a. Polymer a.k.a. StarbearerTM

Goku's Challenge to the Prince

My Thanks to all of you who continue to review! Here's where Vegeta gets a taste of Daddy Daycare from Goku!

For the past hour Vegeta soared over West City. His course waved through the spires before taking him out into the wilds beyond. Where green trees comprised a sizeable forest reserved for suburbs, businesses and recreation. After his mini confrontation with Piccolo, Goku and Gohan his mood soured indeed. Somehow the reality of Kakkarot's supremacy came crashing in all around him. So much for a moment that he forgot the squirming of the new life in his gloved hands.

Against his armored breastplate Vegeta had lay a small receiving blanket because Bulma said the baby needed softness against its delicate skin. A loud gurgling cry sounded from the baby, alerting Vegeta to the reality of his present situation. Glancing down he saw sapphire eyes glancing expectantly into his along with tiny fists beating on his breastplate. Face reddening, Baby Trunks hollered at the top of his lungs.

"Now what?" Vegeta growled impatiently. Snorting he was half tempted to turn around and take him back. Yet a strange sense of possessiveness closed over him. Just what sort of creature was a baby? Curiosity got the better of him, and he landed in a remote clearing.

"Damn it, will you stop crying?" Vegeta lamented, clutching the baby.

"Are you okay?" someone said.

"Kakkarot!" Vegeta exploded, whirling around. "What are YOU doing here! Isn't there a place on this damn planet I can be ALONE?"

"I guess not. Looks like you're having a crisis, and I thought I'd check and see if you were okay," Goku said, glancing down at the baby as he approached.

"I'm FINE! I don't NEED your help, you clown!" Vegeta snorted.

"Hey there little guy. When's the last time you changed or fed him? He might just be wet or hungry," Goku said.

"He's doing it to piss me off!" Vegeta snarled, rocking his body to get the boy to shut up. "I can't keep the baby from howling! I thought perhaps flying around would shut him up."

"Vegeta, it's okay. I can help..."

"Whatever! I swear if you tell..."

"I promise this stays between you and me," Goku said, carrying something in his hand. To Vegeta's shock he saw it was a diaper bag, slightly battered.

"What the HELL is that?"

"Chichi heard about Bulma having a baby. And then when I saw you with that little guy I figured you were going nuts cause Bulma was driving you crazy," said Goku.

"How do you know that..." Vegeta stammered.

"Well considering you two have been staying together at Capsule, and Yamucha..."

"That idiot talks too damn much!" Vegeta snapped.

"Well, I know he's yours. He's got your eyes, and that frown's all Vegeta," Goku joked.

"If you're so damn smart, YOU try shutting him up, you clown!" Vegeta snorted, shoving Trunks at Goku.

"Easy, you gotta take it easy. Here, let me show you some ways to 'shut up' a baby. Gohan was just as fussy as this. Anybody can learn how," Goku said.

"So you're saying that any IDIOT can care for a brat?" Vegeta snickered.

"Is the Prince too scared to learn how to change a diaper?" Goku joked.

"Shut up! I can do anything you can, and 100 times better you third class clown!" Vegeta snarled.

"Here, spread this blanket out and I'll show you. If you stick your finger in his diaper you can tell if he's wet and it's gotta be changed. Then the next thing you check is if he's hungry. Does he have a bottle?"

"Do I look like F.AO Schwartz?" Vegeta glared, standing over the blanket he hurled down before them. Goku dropped to his knees and clutched Trunks, then handed the bag to Vegeta.

"Chichi won't tell either. There are some diapers and a change of clothes. From Gohan when he was a baby. I guess you won't mind if I show you a thing or two. It will make Bulma happy if you can change a diaper," Goku teased. He made funny faces as he swung Trunks around. To his shock, Vegeta noticed his son had gurgled and ceased his crying. Perhaps there was something to being a clown after all. But it wasn't the Prince's style.

"Stupid," he mumbled, but crouched on one knee as Goku unwrapped the blanket and unsnapped the onesie that the boy wore. Arms kicked and flailed as Trunks scrunched his face and let out another series of wails.

"There's a fresh diaper in there, and some powder and wipes. First thing you gotta do is hold your nose cause it STINKS," Goku grimaced. "Isn't it? You made a stink didn't you little guy huh?"

"Must you speak in that ANNOYING high pitched voice?" Vegeta groaned, throwing a diaper and a blue container at Goku. He continued to babble in that tone not too far from his usual childlike voice, but at least it drowned out his son's crying.

"Now you unfold it like this, and then you pull the old one off... oops, these are disposable," Goku groaned. "Give me a pin will you?"

"These are cloth? You mean you hold it together with that flimsy thing?" Vegeta shook his head. Goku lifted Trunks by his heels, and slid the cloth diaper under him. Quickly he wiped down whatever mess was made while shoving the pin in his mouth to hold it. Then he tossed the wipe and crunched it into the soiled diaper while Vegeta winced from the continued stink. He'd smelled some foul things on the battlefield, but this was quite an odor all its own. Next he almost sneezed when Goku doused the kid's lower parts with powder, then contoured the diaper into some origami shape so he could fold the bottom, left then right sides and pin it just so.

"There we are! Nice and dry!" Goku laughed, whisking off the onsie that was soaked with formula and spit up. "Get me that other set of clothes. I'm sure Bulma won't mind if he wears the loaner."

"It looks like adult clothes," Vegeta shook his head, throwing the small silk pants and top towards Goku. Momentarily he tugged them on, and Vegeta saw they were at least elasticized, then lifted Trunks' torso to slide the jacket on and hook it up with the silk frogs. All the while Goku seemed in complete control while the baby wailed on. He cautiously slid the small furry tail through the hole in the pants as well, astonishing the Prince that he knew well enough to minimize contact.

"There we are! All clean and dry, right?" he teased, then lowered his face to make a raspberry noise on the boy's stomach.

"I'm going to be ill," Vegeta groaned, picking up the soiled diaper and throwing it up. With two fingers he sent a beam incinerating it to nothingness. Blue sparks harmlessly flared up, causing the boy to shriek in delight.

"Well that's ONE way of getting rid of a dirty diaper. Chichi always yelled at me when I wanted to do that with the cloth ones," Goku said not missing a beat.

"Huh, I can't see how anyone can STAND to do this several times a day! And clean those damn things," Vegeta snorted.

"Does Bulma breast feed or use formula?" Goku asked.

"How the hell should I know... wait she wanted to breast feed the brat. And there's no friggin way I brought any of that..." he trailed off.

"Easy, I have some formula here. Lucky enough Chichi stocked up way more then we ever thought we'd need," Goku reassured him. "Maybe you'd better hold onto this while I get one ready."

"What?" asked Vegeta, eyes widening in horror. "Haven't I suffered enough?"

"Are you scared of your own son? C'mon Vegeta it's not THAT bad," Goku teased him.

"Shut up Kakkarot and hand me the baby," Vegeta snarled, snatching Trunks back. To his surprise the boy didn't object. His hand slid up and down Vegeta's hard white armored breastplate, breath misting against it. Luckily there wasn't anything for him to grab onto. But when his little fists happened to pelt against Vegeta's chest, he could feel something of the force inadvertently in the baby's hands. Ki flared for a second as Vegeta fumbled with the right way to hold the squirming boy. He opted for simply supporting the back of the neck and holding the boy's bottom in his other gloved hand.

Meanwhile he watched Goku fussing with pouring a package of powered formula into a bottle and adding water. Simply by holding it in his hand he gently concentrated enough ki to warm it to body temperature. So apparently the child didn't have to fully rely on the archaic practice of nursing, Vegeta thought. It shocked him to see that a male could so readily care for a baby; something Vegeta swore was for women.

"Why even Bother Kakkarot? Doesn't your wife do this?" asked Vegeta, as he passed Trunks back to his worst enemy, to see if the third class would make a bigger fool of himself then before.

"It doesn't make you any less of a man to be a good father, Vegeta," Goku glared at him.

"We're SAYANS, not nursemaids!"

"Hey, any SAIYAN can make a baby with his wife, but a real man is a father," Goku glared at Vegeta, suddenly lowering his brows. "I don't care WHAT nonsense you heard from whoever, but you're no less a fighter if you can change a diaper."

"What... how dare you..." Vegeta stammered.

"I raised my son for four years and trained," Goku glared at him. "I won't have you making Bulma feel like what she does is any less important then what we do!"

"Why you insolent clown, you dare judge ME, the great Vegeta! I should kill you NOW for your audacity!" Vegeta snarled. Trunks started to shove the bottle away, whimpering.

"Who's acting like a baby now?" Goku cooed to Trunks. "Looks like your daddy has a lot to learn about you little guy. Honestly you're a baby. What could be more wonderful then that? But I guess it's too much for him to handle taking care of you once in a while, huh?"

"I... you... son of a..." Vegeta stammered, face flushing so red Goku could see steam coming out his ears. Trunks squirmed as Goku turned him over to gently burp him, holding the bottle in his hand. Vegeta turned around, resisting the urge to destroy something as he saw Goku making a complete mockery of him. Something inside him snapped, and his fists crackled with ki.

"Ah ah, language," Goku teased him.

"I can't believe... you..." Vegeta snarled.

"Then prove me wrong, Vegeta," Goku said sternly. "Is it THAT hard for even a PRINCE to feed and burp his own son? Maybe where you came from you shot little guys like him into space, but he's lucky. He knows who his father and mother are. I didn't. Lucky for everyone I had my Grandpa. In three years, this guy might not have ANYONE to look after him. Do you want that, Vegeta?"

"Shut up!" Vegeta snarled, snatching Trunks away. The baby momentarily howled beating against his father's chest as Vegeta hissed with bared fangs at Goku. Angrily he repositioned the baby as he had seen Bulma do, and thrust the bottle towards his lips.

Gnashing his teeth, Vegeta whirled to put his back to Goku. Saying nothing he watched his son reach out to grab the bottle and drag it to his lips again. Blue eyes again focussed up at Vegeta's dark ones expectantly. Under his breath Vegeta mumbled unflattering curses and oaths in Saiyanese, a language he hoped the child would someday learn. Was he this helpless? How dare Kakkarot say such slanderous things?

"I guess maybe the Prince of Saiyans is a man after all," Goku said with a smile of triumph, watching father and son in a quiet moment.

"I should kill you Kakkarot," said Vegeta after a time.

"Don't forget to burp him every 2 or was it three ounces," Goku called.

"Don't tell me what to do, jerk," Vegeta mumbled. Out of Goku's sight he turned Trunks to lean his chin on his hard armored shoulder. Trunks seized a handful of Vegeta's featherlike hair, tugging it tightly as he felt firm pats on his lower back. Vegeta sensed the strength in Trunks pull, while the flat of his hand met greater resistance against Trunks bone and muscle structure. Discernibly the Prince's eyes widened at the realization that his son was not a frail creature of flesh and bone, but a dense compact demi Saiyan. Gohan had been far tougher then a frail human baby, the same held true with his son.

Not to mention how painfully tightly Trunks little fist closed around and pulled hard on Vegeta's hair. The Prince's intense frown turned to a smirk when he gently pried Trunks fist from his hair so he could settle him down again and coax him to drink the rest of the formula. Goku winked, waving at the baby before touching two fingers to his forehead.

"Bye bye Vegeta, later!" Goku said.

"About time you got lost Kakkarot," Vegeta snorted. Still he turned away to face Kakkarot with his royal posterior. When he no longer sensed Goku's ki he at last turned around. Right in front of Vegeta's booted toe sat the blanket and baby bag full of various baby things.

Back and forth Vegeta glanced to reassure himself nobody was watching. He lowered himself and sat down lotus style on the center of the Chinese wool blanket. Silky material gleamed blue like Trunks eyes, while the red silk pants contrasted. Chichi had probably dressed Gohan in these odd baby clothes so different from what Bulma dressed Trunks in. They had an elegance to them much like the silk garments Napa described him having been placed in when Freiza first saw him.

"Stupid clown," Vegeta grunted. Trunks at last finished the bottle. Vegeta sniffed at the formula realizing it must be a thick protein enhanced recipe especially designed for a Saiyan. It burned him up inside how Goku had challenged him in such a manner. To think he couldn't take care of his own son? What did he care what Kakkarot thought?

"I am a Prince and a warrior. And nobody will accuse ME of not being man enough for this," he thought. Then it dawned on him that Goku had outsmarted him into this. By challenging Vegeta's honor and pride he'd tricked him into playing nursemaid. Suddenly Vegeta's respect for Goku's guilt rose exponentially.

"That sneaky bastard! I didn't think he was capable of such... trickery. Perhaps he isn't the brainless oaf I originally thought him to be. Stupid Kakkarot, I'll prove him wrong!" Vegeta smirked.

"I will NOT speak in that ridiculous inane gibberish though, boy," Vegeta said gruffly to Trunks.

The boy's small brow furrowed in a parody of Vegeta's face. To his surprise Vegeta realized when he changed his facial expressions, Trunks would mirror them. This caused him to widen his eyes resulting in a mirror image of the expression in his son's tiny face. Wisps of pale hair curled out from under the black pointy-eared cap Goku had left on, along with that silly silk bib.

"Huh, I'll be damned," Vegeta mumbled. At least Trunks responded to the sound of his harsh gruff voice. Almost as much as he did to the high pitched nonsense Goku had thrown in his son's face.

Something prompted Vegeta to reach down for the soft blanket sticking out of the baby diaper bag. Worn and threadbare, the receiving blanket smelled of Gohan and Goku's scent, remotely Saiyan. Despite this Vegeta held trunks steady so he could drape the blanket over his hard armored shoulder. He settled Trunks into the curve of his muscular arm in order to watch the boy mimic his regal scowl, or a devilish smirk.

"Do I look that ridiculous?" he wondered.

Something in the exotic slant of Trunks eyes to his wide forehead buried under the fringe of hair exuded the Vegeta royal line. If the boy had dark hair he'd look identical to him as a baby. Too bad the hair was such a fool color, along with those sapphire eyes with such intensity. Vegeta peered down to see if he could glimpse his own reflection in the boy's eyes. To his shock he saw only the glimmer of refracted light, and a bottomless piercing quality that resembled the look in Saiyan eyes. Due to the density of Saiyan tissues and the composition of their bodily fluids, there was no reflection of an image in their eyes like in human ones.

"He has the gaze of a Saiyan, and the strength in body. And his ki is surprisingly strong," Vegeta nodded. "You're an enigma. I should think myself weak holding you, but this is merely a position so you can feed yourself. It's not the same as that mushy clinging your mother insists upon."

That was it. He wasn't hugging the boy; he was only holding him because that was a function of sharing body heat. Warm ki flared up to keep the baby warm enough in the quickening wind. Vegeta stood up, holding Trunks with one hand as he folded the blanket and replaced the other stuff in the battered diaper bag. He slung it over one arm, then locked both gloved hands around his son.

"Enough, let's see this fool planet you've been relegated to. Perhaps someday you might rule it in some manner," Vegeta said quietly to Trunks.

White booted feet rose off the ground. Trunks cooed at the sudden burst of speed his father exhibited. Royal blue ki surrounded father and infant son. Soon they burst at the speed of sound through the skies. All Vegeta heard was the laughter of Trunks and the cooing of a happy infant along with the rushing of the wind around his ki envelope. A small smirk twisted the corner of his mouth up to see his boy enjoying the acceleration.

Napa had said the gravity of this world made him feel invincible, like a kid again. Now these words rushed back to Vegeta as he flew along with his infant son. Blue eyes flickered in wonder at the ground vanishing into open ocean. Vegeta laughed richly with the enjoyment of such solitude. It seemed so simple to just carry this child along for a flight that would drive his mother insane. By now Bulma would be screaming at him to stop. Instead of crying Trunks laughed along with him, making loud squealing noises and flailing his little hands so the royal ki crackled over them. Small sparks flew from Trunks fists, alerting Vegeta of the rise in ki.

"Settle down, brat," Vegeta murmured. "You're going to have to control that power of yours. Let me show you how it's done."

Vegeta focussed carefully, suddenly stopping in mid flight. He held Trunks out at arm length, probing the small mind that had shot out at him those two times during pregnancy. Tendrils of Saiyan power brushed out, matched by the search of a strong young mind. Mere thoughts and images surged at the sensory overload. "Do you understand boy? You can feel the power flowing through you. Let it sleep till you know better."

"I know," came the form of thoughts. Not so much words, but the clear intent of understanding his Saiyan mind interpreted as speech.

Vegeta's white-gloved hands clutched Trunks on either side of his body, while the baby showed enough strength to hold his own head up, surpassingly. Far different from normal newly born Earth infants.

"You must control it. That's why I don't waste emotional energy in foolish displays. Anger and hatred can be powerful weapons. If used properly," Vegeta said aloud.

"Love?" came another thought from the infant's young mind.

"You'll have to look to your mother for that one, brat," Vegeta thought back. "I don't comprehend that."

"Father, daddy...not mother. Protector," came the infant Trunks thoughts, seemingly beaming between the blue eyes focussed into his. While speech would not yet come to the small infant's mouth the thoughts were already forming sentences in a manner suggesting high Saiyan intelligence."

"Protector and Prince of all Saiyans. You are a Prince's son. Never forget that. And as such certain behaviors are expected. A Prince must be hard as steel and brilliant as a diamond. Cold and ruthless so that emotions cannot destroy his invincibility. There are times and places the emotions and things like tenderness can be locked away. Perhaps as you grow to be a man you'll know what I mean," Vegeta caught himself saying.

"Why?" came the boy's thoughts, his blue eyes wide, a low grunt from the small lips parted. Lavender brows furrowed in an identical manner to those of his father staring into his face.

"You're too young to understand, Trunks," Vegeta mumbled to the boy. "Let's take you home to your Mother."