Hi there!
So this is my first attempt at writing a fanfic period! So excuse my inexperience, I'm not at all used to post things on this website ^^' also I apologize beforehand on any potential misspells and grammatical errors, it is a working progress!

Comments and rates are always appreciated and ofc constructive criticism, if you have some time to spare :)

Anyway, I don't own any of these characters!
(Not sure how clear you've gotta be on this one but since it is a fanfic page I assume it would be implied? No? :o )

Strange, yes strange was the appropriate word for the recent events that had taken place. So many thoughts, feelings and just so much….tragedy. Especially for poor Gohan. Losing his father, blaming himself and then having to bare the news to his, now, pregnant mother. The Son family must've been truly shattered by the loss of their loving husband and father.

"Oh, Goku… Why did you have to stay dead?"

Not only did Bulma Briefs feel for the Son family, but also for herself. For her, it was the loss of a friend. Sure, she wouldn't be reminded of it everyday like Chichi and Gohan would. She definitely didn't see him often (not her fault that Goku never repsonded to any invites nor came to visit) so even though she felt sad and lonesome now she was sure that, eventually those feelings would fade to the background. Perhaps remind her with a sting of nostalgia every now and then. Especially when she would remember the days when her and Goku would search for the Dragon Balls together. Those were the days…
She was brought back to reality when she felt the wet and somewhat warm feeling of drool on her chest. She looked down to see Trunks, now finally asleep, resting his round little head against her shoulder. Reluctant to put him down in the crib for the night she decided to hold him for a while longer. His weight, the mild baby scent and the warmth of his tiny body brought her comfort. She surely had been on edge lately and with all the suspense going on who could blame her? The fact that her son from the future had fought, died, been brought back to life and now gone back to his timeline. It had made her mother instincts go haywire. Not to mention the confusion of seeing her son from the future.
...On second thought, strange didn't even begin to cover the events that had taken place. In fact, it was not enough to cover any of the events that had taken place over the years.

She had gone out on the balcony to get her cranky son to sleep. It was getting harder and harder as he grew but she was thrilled when she found this tactic to be working… For now at least. The still and warm nightair worked to calm him down. She admired the view of the city, the lights illuminating the night, comforting in a way to see the evidence of life. She was not alone in this world.

Loneliness was not something Bulma liked dealing with and it always made her do stupid things. Hell, last time she ended up in the arms of the most egocentric and arrogant man in the entire universe!... Not that she regretted it, especially considering it ended up with the bundle of joy she held in her arms. But still it wasn't exactly something she had planned. She was almost a single mom (considering the fact that father was being less than thrilled to be in the picture) and even though she liked the challenge, today was just… Making her doubt certain things.

"That's enough" She thought. Perhaps this night should be spent in bed and not out on the balcony reminiscing on the current.

*Next day*

He had finally done it! He had learned to walk, with a stoic face (reminding her of a certain someone) he had bravely marched forward. Bulma was beyond pleased and so proud. But it also made her realize that her little boy was growing up. Sure, he was still her little but one day he would be the same version as Future Trunks. A fearless young man, a warrior.

Bulma felt her heart swell with pride "my little boy, a hero!" She thought happily. His first steps would be imprinted in her mind for as long as she'd live.

The moment he fell and refused help (again, reminding her of a certain someone) just to get up on his own and competing his goal. Her determined boy! It made her remember… The days before Trunk, she had felt her heart swell in a similair way for the father of her son. It was his determination, his discipline and his intense ways that had drawn her. It had made him mysterious in her eyes. Nowadays though, she would usually just see his bad sides. But Trunks had only inherited his good sides (as far as she could see)

Bulma frowned shen she thought about his father. Surely he'd soon show his angry face and demand an upgrade on his training equipment. Either from her or her father. Especially since the whole andriod situation didn't go down as he had wanted it. And lord knows that when things doesn't go as Vegeta wants, he gets…cranky, to say the least. He is probably furious about Gohan currenty being the strongest and she wouldn't be surprised if that poor boy would take his father's place as number one in Vegetas list of the most hated people in the universe.
She sighed and lokked at her watch. It had only been five minutes since her mother had taken Trunks to go eat cakes. It was to celebrate his latest achievement. Bulma snorted to that "Like my mom needs a reason to go and buy cakes".

Well, she might as well enjoy her free time while she could. Soon they'd be back and she would have to be the one to convince the little half Saiyan that he needed a nap.

Furious, yes he had been absolutely rigid! He had spent three years preparing for this, with his disciplined mind he knew that his training had payed off. But that had not been enough. And here he was, robbed of the oppurtunity to finally face his rival. Because said rival was not alive. Because he had to go and sacrifice himself like some low class… Vegeta could not pretend anymore, it had been honourable and it was infuriating! How dare he be honourable? How dare he produce an offspring that is stronger than Vegeta himself? No matter how hard he would train, he would never surpass the child. He would never be the strongest in the universe… So he had simply stopped. There was no point in anything any longer. The oss was his and it was heavy, wearing his pride down.

Kakarott's sacrifice was… He shrugged, his mind was betraying him with thoughts that should not be there. Yet, he could not push them away. "His sacrifice… My lack of strength… I am usually the strategist, though in this fight… I was reduced to nothing but a mere bystander!" He gritted his teeth "I might as well be a weak earthling!" hell, even the earthlings had stepped in before him… What did this make of him? He was a prince, he was royalty! He was Saiyan! ...and still… he had failed!
This was unforgivable. He was supposed to be the one defeating the androids and then he would claim his price, which would be defeating Kakarott in battle and regain his rank as the strongest warrior. But then, this happens?
It woudl not have hurt so much if he hadn't worked so hard… At least if he hadn't, he could have blamed it onlack of discipline. But now all he could do was realize the truth. He would never be the strongest and he would never regain his pride.

Fuck this universe, fuck his pride, fuck his life...

.

"Hm, that is strange" Bulma thought when she realized the gravity room was empty. "I was sure Vegeta would be in here".

Now when she thought about it, she hadn't seen him for days. Not even at his usual food times. Where could he be?

She went to the laboratory to find her father, he'd probably built something new that Vegeta was trying out... That had to be it! "Hey dad?" She said with a slight raised voice. "You in there?"

"Why, yes sweetie" Came the reply. Bulma walked in to see her father turn around and greet her. "Is it lunch already?".
"Daad!" She said with a voice of disapproval. "We ate lunch just recently!" Her father could seriously be so distant sometimes. He just chuckled and scratched his black cat, who funny enough was named Scratch.
"Oh I forgot about that... Stew, was it?" he said amused. Bulma huffed and crossed her arms. "Well, I hope my memory wont be as bad as yours when I reach your age" Dr. Briefs just smiled at that. "So what can I do for you, my dear?"
"Oh!" Bulma said as she was reminded of the reason she had gone to the lab. "Have you seen Vegeta anywhere? I can't find him so I thought that maybe he's trying out some new training equipment?"
Her father looked at her rather confused. "I'm sorry sweetie, but I haven't seen Vegeta for a while now. He hasn't used the gravity room nor have I built him anything new... So I simply thought he was enjoying these peaceful days with you and Trunks". Bulma couldn't believe it. "He hasn't been training, at all?"
Dr. Briefs cleared his throat "Not to my knowledge, no... But perhaps he's not using the gravity room anymore?"
Then... where could he be training?"

Had Bulma been aware of Vegetas current mood, she would have easily found him considering he was in his room. Lying in bed, not even bother getting up for the day. What was the point in that? Go up to do nothing? Or worse, go up to spend it like some regular peasant... No, he'd rather die than to live his life like that.
There was no purpose to his existence and his life had been nothing but a cruel joke. Born as a prince, to have his people and planet removed from him by a sadistic alien overlord, then to get humiliated by a third class survivor and get his fucking tail cut off by a fat guy who aparently lived together with a cat... There was no end to his humiliation. Life was a cruel joke and everybody was laughing on his behalf. He wanted to kill them all! ...But he couldn't even do that.
"Curse you Kakarott! I hope you're rotting in hell... Though I'm fairly certain that you are not" Vegeta mumbled to himself.

"Dada?"

Vegeta frowned. Had he gone mad already? Hearing voices was something he only did in his nightmares. Had he finally reached his limit?

"Dada! Dada!" The voice came closer and he could no longer pretend like it wasn't there.

He pulled off the covers and turned to face the intruder. The sudden light made him squint as he looked. No one there... He lowered his gaze so he could se the wobbling figure that approached him. His son... wearing that ridiculous hat the woman always made sure he had.
"Trunks" He answered while rubbing his eyes. He felt the small babyhands grip his legs. "Up! Up!" He demanded with his highpitch voice.
"God, I hope he does not turn out to be a pansy" Vegeta thought. "If you want up, boy, you had better get up yourself!" He said with a stern voice. As answer to that, Trunks fell on his behind and started bawling.
"...I'd better blast that hat of his to oblivion"

Alerted by a crying Trunks, Bulma finally finds both of them in Vegetas room. Honestly, why didn't she think of going there in the first place? Though she had an answer to that, He was never in his room during the day. He only went there to sleep and shower.
"What's going on?" She asked as she entered the room, picking up their agitated son. She gave Vegeta a grim look and added "What have I said about scaring him?... And what happened to his hat?"
The Saiyan prince looked at her, annoyed and answered "First of all, I did not scare him! I merely told him that I would not pick him up like some weak human baby! He is half Saiyan and should be strong enough to get up on his own!"
Bulma sighed. Always the Saiyan talk. That he never grew tired of it was amazing! "Geez, he's just a baby! And for your information he just learned to walk" She argued back. While caressing the soft head of their son she added "And the hat?"
"Blew it up"

Bulma couldn't belive her ears "WHAT?"
Vegeta gave her a spiteful look "You heard me! I blast it to another dimension!"
She stared at him "Why would you do that?" Why would anyone do that to a defenceless and not to mention adorable hat?
"Because, that damn hat is an insult to anyone who wears it and I will not have my son growing up to be some pansy jus because his mother is ridiculous!"
She looked at him in disbelief. And then she bursted out laughing "You silly goof!"
Vegeta raised one of his eyebrows. He was anything but silly... "WHAT!" He yelled when she waited too long to elaborate.
"Oh come one! You've met our son as a grown up. You know he turns out to be a brave warrior, so why worry?"
He had no answer to that. Indeed she was right... However he did not trust life since life was a bitch and tended to play cruel jokes on him. His son being a pansy would surely be a particularly nasty one.
"Besides" Bulma said and awoke Vegeta from his thoughts. "Future Trunks was brought up by me, remember? So if I'm soo ridiculous then I'm sure he would not have been that brave man we got to know"
To that Vegeta mumbled "Surely the Androids doing and not yours..."
"Well, my point is that you shouldn't worry so much! He takes after you a lot so I really doubt he'd end up being a softy... Not that there is anything wrong with that" She added after she realized it was necessary to address.
Vegeta snorted "Emotional female!"
"Insensetive jerk!"

Speaking of emotions "By the way, why are you still in bed?"
Vegeta pinched his nose and answered "Why can't I be?"
"Well, you can... Just, you usually aren't during the day. How come you're not training? Are you sick?" Maybe he had caught Gokus heart virus?
"I am not sick! Insolent woman, I just..." hate my life?
Bulma looked at him, confused by his sudden loss of words. "You just?"
"...I don't need to explain myself to you!" He answered harshly and laid down on his back with his arms behind his head, legs crossed.
"No need to be mean about it Vegeta... I was just asking" I was just worried.
"Just leave me alone!" He said and stared at the opposit wall. Refusing to meet Bulmas clear gaze.
"Fine! You jerk!" She yelled and stormed out the bedroom with their, now sleepy, son.