Author's Note: This is the last part to this story, then I'll add a follow up chapter to I'm Not Him. This story is done in moments, every line break is another moment between Gohan and Bulma over the course of the next year.

I listened to Atlas: Heart by Sleeping At Last on repeat while I wrote this chapter and I just can't imagine reading it without listening to the song at the same time. The lyrics and the melody are just perfect for everything I was trying to convey in this. It's worth it, I promise.

Disclaimer: I don't own any of it

Gohan walked into the lab where Bulma was working on the time machine, smiling as he watched her tinker with the same thing she'd been working on when he and Trunks had gone into the gravity machine to train that morning.

"Do you need some help?" He asked, leaning against the doorway.

She let out a startled yelp and turned to look at him, "don't scare me like that! I'm old, you're gonna give me a heart attack."

Gohan rolled his eyes at her. It had been two weeks since their late night conversation in the kitchen. She'd done her best to avoid him but well, he lived there. She'd also done her best to remind him at every turn that she was an old lady, which he had of course ignored.

She went back to what she was working on and he stayed against the doorway, watching her for a few minutes before she finally broke the silence. "How was training today?"

Gohan smiled, "he's doing really well. I think he's already close to breaking through to becoming a Super Saiyan."

She smiled as she finished tightening a bolt, "that's my boy. Takes after his father."

Gohan smirked, "takes after me. After all, I was only a few years younger than him when I transformed."

Bulma laughed and turned to look at him, "someone is cocky."

"I prefer to think of it as confident," his voice was firm and teasing.

Her laughter died down into a long silence that settled between them. They sat there, staring at each other for what seemed like forever, until Bulma finally broke the silence again. "Gohan-"

"Save it," he cut her off. "I told you I wasn't giving up."

She frowned and put her hands on her hips, which was slightly awkward for her since she was still sitting on the floor. "Young man you stop this nonsense this instant!"

"Woah, Gohan, moms really mad at you. What did you do?" Trunks' voice came from behind Gohan.

Bulma blanched and blushed while Gohan just smirked. "I didn't do anything, she's just mad that she isn't getting her way," he said as he turned to walk away.

Trunks just looked from Gohan's retreating back to his mothers red face with a shocked expression. He shook his head while walking away, "grown ups are weird."

Bulma jumped as the thunder boomed again. It had been storming all night and she couldn't sleep, she had always hated thunderstorms. She got out of bed and wrapped her robe around her, heading downstairs to make herself a cup of tea.

She jumped again when a clap of thunder sounded loudly over the house as she walked down the stairs. She covered her mouth to keep her whimpers silent as she passed Trunks' room and checked in on him. He, of course, was sleeping hard as a rock and hadn't been bothered at all.

When she made it to the kitchen she noticed that the light was already on, she tried to remember if perhaps she had left it on but then she heard noises, so it was safe to assume that Gohan was awake as well. She hesitated a moment, wondering if perhaps she should just go back to her room, but her feet seemed to have a mind of their own as she kept walking.

He looked up as she entered, smiling when he saw her. She froze when she realized he was only wearing a pair of pajama pants and nothing else. She had to tell herself to calm down as she sat at the table across from him.

"Trouble sleeping?" He asked her, pouring her a cup of tea from the pot he had made.

"I hate thunderstorms," she said in a small voice, taking a large gulp of her tea.

"I know, it's why I made moms special tea. It'll help you sleep," he said, watching as she finished her cup.

"You should go see her soon. It's been forever since you visited her, I'm sure she would really appreciate it," she folded her arms on the table and rested her chin on them. She already felt the effect of the tea warming through her body, thunderstorm forgotten as she gazed tiredly across the table at Gohan. She vaguely realized that there had only been one cup at the table and he had poured it for her.

"Yea, you're probably right," he mused as he shut the book he had been reading. By the time he looked back at her she was already falling asleep. He smiled softly and got out of his chair, scooping her up in his arms and walking her back up to her room.

He laid her gently down in her bed and pulled up the covers. A piece of her hair fell into her eyes and he brushed it away, leaning forward to place a chaste kiss on her forehead.

"Goku," she sighed.

Gohan closed his eyes tightly and stood from his kneeling position, turning to walk away, but her next words made him pause before he left her room with a smile on his face.

"Go…han."

"Can you hand me that soldering gun?" Bulma asked, reaching a hand out from underneath the time machine, where she was currently laying.

Gohan grabbed the tool and handed it carefully to her, "do you need me to hold that while you fix it?"

"Yea actually that would be great, thank you," she answered, sliding over so that there was space underneath for both of them to fit.

Gohan put on a mask and climbed underneath the machine next to her, trying to give her enough room to keep working. They stayed like that for the few minutes it took to finish the job and then she laid the gun down and took off her mask, falling back to the floor.

"I feel like this is never going to be finished," she sighed softly.

Gohan, who had also removed his mask, turned his head to look at her. "Don't give up hope, Bulma. You'll figure it out."

His soft encouraging voice calmed her nerves and she sighed then turned her head to look at him. There wasn't much room under the machine so they were shoulder to shoulder, backs against the floor, noses almost touching. Her breath caught in her throat when he smiled at her.

"Gohan," she whispered.

"Yes, Bulma."

"I…I-"

"MOM! Where are you?!" Trunks' voice echoed through the halls.

It made her jump, startled, and scoot out from under the machine to go find him. Gohan sighed, and got out from under the machine as well.

It had been months since he had first told her how he felt about her, close to almost a full year, and as hard as she had tried not to she was actually beginning to develop feelings for him. She wondered if she would have still felt this way if he hadn't told her, but deep down she knew it would have happened eventually.

It was fate's cruel way of laughing in her face, making her feel something for the son of the only man she had ever loved. The one who looked exactly like him, but was in so many ways not like him at all. Gohan had a hardened mentality that had come from growing up in the middle of the war with the androids and seeing all their friends killed. The look in his eyes any time he went out to fight them, it was dangerous. It reminded her of the look she had seen in Vegeta's eyes far too often.

She laughed to herself at that thought, that Gohan was a mix of Goku and Vegeta. He was warm and kind, but he was oh so dangerous when he had to be. It was exhilarating, the way he'd been looking at her lately, she was loathe to admit. He was like a big cat stalking his prey, one that was tired of hiding in the shadows and was ready to pounce.

She jumped, startled out of her thoughts, when his hand landed softly on her shoulder. She closed the book she had been trying to read for the better part of the last hour and curled her legs up onto the couch, looking over her shoulder to see him smiling down at her.

"Hey," he greeted softly.

"Hi."

"Whatcha reading?" He moved around and walked to the window across from the couch and looked up at the sky before turning around to face her.

"Oh, nothing important. Honestly I was just sitting here thinking," she responded, setting the book on the coffee table in front of her.

"About?" His voice was soft and quiet, as if to not disturb the sleeping Trunks whose room was just down the hall.

"Things, life….the future," she looked down at her hands and started fidgeting with her nails.

She missed the way he smiled at her before turning around to look out the window again, "do you wanna go do something?"

She looked up to see him staring up at the sky. "Do something? What do you mean?"

He turned back around and gave her a breath taking smile, "I have somewhere I wanna show you."

"Show me? We can't just leave Trunks here, what if the androids attacked?" She looked at him incredulously.

"I can't sense them, and they aren't shy about hiding their presence. Trunks is out like a light, it's almost midnight, he won't be waking up anytime soon. We'll be back before you know it," he walked over to her and held out a hand.

She looked at it, then back up at him before reaching out and allowing him to help her up. "Where are we going?"

He opened the sliding glass door that led out to the lawn, moving aside so that she could walk past him. It had rained earlier that day and the grass smelt fresh and sweet, and he smiled gently as he watched her breathe it in with her eyes closed.

"It's a place that I found right after my dad died."

"Oh, well let me grab the keys," she turned back towards the house.

As soon as she had turned her back Gohan had swept her up off her feet and into his arms, "we won't need the car."

"We're flying?!" She wrapped her arms around his neck and pressed her body closer to him.

He pulled her closer into him and before she knew it they were high above the ground and soaring through the sky.

"Just relax," he whispered into her ear, noticing that she was obviously terrified. He'd assumed that his dad had taken her flying at least once in all their adventures, but judging by the way she was acting he began to think that maybe he'd been wrong.

After a few minutes however, her hold on him loosened up, and she brought her head out from under his chin to look down at the world passing by below them. She realized that she felt comfortable, out in the open so high up, she felt safe and untouchable.

After they flew for about twenty minutes, they touched down on the side of a mountain and he gently set her down. She walked out to the ledge and looked down over the valley that was below. It was a beautiful, untouched and pure, oasis.

"Gohan, it's breathtaking."

He stayed a few steps behind her, watching as she took in the scenery. "It's where I come when I need to think, I spent a lot of time here right after he passed. It's calming, and no one has discovered it yet, I think that's what I like the most about it."

She turned around to look at him and smiled, "some things are meant to stay pure and untouched by mankind. I hope that no one ever finds this place, so something good can come out of all the bad."

He walked towards her slowly, pleased that she didn't step back or look nervous. "Good can still come out of the bad, Bulma."

He stopped in front of her and reached a hand up to brush her hair away from her face, pausing for just a moment when she sucked in a breath and her eyes fluttered closed. He wanted to kiss her but he knew she still wasn't ready. He moved his hand down to take a hold of hers, and spun her back around towards the view, pulling her back to his chest. He wrapped his arms around her and held her there, taking in the view with her.

She didn't protest once.

Bulma bit her nails as she tried to concentrate on her work in front of her. He'd been gone for two weeks. He'd left to go visit Chi Chi and had never returned. The first few days weren't surprising, after all he hadn't seen his mother in ages. But the days turned into a week, then two, and then she was worried and stressed and upset.

All communication lines had long ago been destroyed, so it wasn't as if they could pick up a phone and call Chi Chi. Trunks had wanted to go out and try and find him, to see if he was still up in the mountains or if something worse had happened, but Bulma wouldn't let him leave. He was starting to get antsy and she couldn't blame him, she was worried she'd go check on him and find that he had snuck out.

She had barely slept at all, hiding out in her lab while Trunks was sleeping. Making sure she was always close to the gravity machine to make sure he didn't try to sneak out. She was exhausted and she felt like she was going to break down at any given moment, but she had to keep going.

She spun around suddenly at the sound of her lab door opening, it was late at night and Trunks was sleeping, and her heart pounded against her chest at the possible thought that the androids had finally come to attack. Her chest tightened and it seemed like her heart stopped when she saw Gohan there, leaning against the doorway, half healed scrapes and bruises littering his arms and face.

They stood silent, staring at each other until Bulma took a step forward, tears gathering in her eyes. She opened her mouth to ask him what had happened and ask where he had been all this time, but she realized very suddenly that it didn't matter. He was home.

"Bulma," he said her name softly, but that was all it took.

She cried out his name as she ran towards him, jumping into his waiting arms and smashing her lips to his. He kissed her hungrily and picked her up, wrapping her legs around his waist.

"What happened to you?" She asked between kisses.

"It doesn't matter, I'm here now," he carried her out of the lab and up to her bedroom, careful not to wake Trunks.

For the rest of the night he relished in the sound of his name coming from her lips over and over again. She was finally his.

"Don't worry, mom. We're gonna be just fine!" Trunks assured her as he tightened the belt of his gi.

Bulma crushed him to her in a hug and frowned, "I'm not ready for you to go out there and face the androids. Just be careful and promise me you'll come back from training early if they make an appearance."

"Yea, yea, we can take them! Right, Gohan?" Trunks pumped a fist in the air as Gohan came into the room.

Gohan laughed and ruffled the boys hair, "today is just about training, Trunks. We're gonna try and stay out of trouble."

Bulma hugged her son again, "I love you. Be careful."

"Alright, alright! Love you too! Bye!" He yelled as he raced out the door.

Bulma turned to Gohan gave him a stern look, "take care of him, Gohan."

"I will, I promise," Gohan said.

She leaned up and wrapped her arms around his neck, "take care of yourself too. I don't want my boys coming home hurt."

He hugged her tight and gave her a soft kiss on the lips before turning to leave.

"Gohan?"

He paused and turned to look back at her, "yeah?"

"I love you," she said quickly, before spinning around and exiting the room.

He stood there in shock for a moment before a smile spread over his face. In the three weeks they'd been sharing the same bed, she'd never told him she loved him. He had half a mind to run after her, but he could hear Trunks yelling for him.

"I love you too, Bulma. And as soon as we get back I plan on telling you every chance I get," were his last thoughts as he took the sky.

Author's Note: And fin! I was thinking of possibly doing one more part with two scenes, one where she dies and one where Gohan finds her. It would be super short. But I need reviews to tell me what you think, otherwise it's not happening.