I'm too dumbstruck even to move. Simply staring at the laptop screen, trembling, all I can do is listen.
Aricota, the girl, has a dangerously sweet look about her. She blinks up at Vegeta with a slight frown, saying nothing. She doesn't look much like Vegeta, but she shares the widow's peak at the front of her hair, the rest of which falls in gentle waves down her back. Can he really...can he really be her father?
"What are you staring at?" Vegeta demands of her.
"Your face," she replies. "You don't look much like royalty, though Mother said you're our Prince."
I almost fall out of my seat this time. Mother?! Vegeta slept with that woman?!
"Mother was right," he smirks. "I am the Prince of all Saiyans, and you'd do well to speak to me with more respect!"
"Hmph. And how many of us are left, pray tell?"
She's Saiyan! Pure Saiyan! Which means Sutopri must be as well? Dammit, how many of them freaking escaped Frieza?
"Not enough." Vegeta looks away from Aricota. "Sutopri, you have no idea of the damage you have already caused by coming here! What possessed you to come to Earth? There is nothing for you here!"
She shrugs. "I'd hoped to have come here to find you had taken over the planet. But here you are, in native clothing, living the life of a human! I suppose the boy I spoke to is your son?"
"His name is Trunks," Vegeta scowls, and I feel a surge of affection towards him.
"Hmph, a halfbreed."
"Only I may call my own son a half-breed! Whatever he is, he is a fine warrior, and I will not hear you belittle him so!"
"Belittling was all you did when you came to me twelve years ago," she smirks. "You know, I do remember you ranting and raving about a human you impregnated...tell me, where is she now? I'd very much like to meet her."
Oh, would you now? What a total bitch!
"Bulma has no business with you, you witch of a woman."
She wants to meet me? Oh, well she can then. I'm just about ready to boil over as I slam the laptop screen down- might need that repaired...- and flounce out of the room and downstairs. I hear Vegeta growl in displeasure when he hears my footsteps, but before I know it I'm stood beside him, sizing up Sutopri. She's very tall and muscled for a woman, with short black hair swept behind her ears. A scar stretches diagonally across her face, damaging her right eye. At seeing my pregnant belly, her mouth twists into a sardonic smile. "Bulma, I presume," she murmurs.
"That's me," I reply, expressionless.
"Vegeta, you never told me you were expecting another half-breed! And a girl at that! How pitiful, she won't even be strong enough to defend herself."
My face tightens in response to the fact she can sense my baby's gender, and I grip Vegeta's arm tightly. He sighs and brushes me off. "Bulma, take Aricota into the kitchen."
How dare he order me around without telling me what the hell is going on?! Scowling at him, I gesture to Aricota, who blinks at me like she did at Vegeta, but follows me nevertheless. She really is very pretty, with thick lashes framing her dark eyes, but her holds her mouth in a permanent pursed shape, as if thinking hard. Upon reaching the kitchen, I dig into the cupboard and pull out my ginger biscuits, offering one to her. Taking it, she frowns, turning it over in her hands. "Look, I'm not going to poison you," I sigh, and she takes a nibble. Raising her eyebrows in surprise, she takes another, bigger bite and swallows. "What do you call this?" she asks me.
"It's a ginger biscuit. I've become a bit addicted to them since I started carrying the "half-breed.""
"Please don't mind Mother," Aricota says, sitting down delicately. "She insisted I meet my father. Had he been anyone else she would not have cared, but as she says he is royalty..." She pulls a face. "This is all her doing. I was content where I was."
"How old are you, Aricota?"
"Twelve."
So she's a little younger than Trunks. She must have been conceived during the time Vegeta fled Earth, upon discovering I was pregnant. What sweet irony, to find he conceived another. His face was still white when I walked in and I bet he still doesn't feel too good now. I feel pretty sick myself. He was mine! How dare this woman just turn up in our lives? I give Aricota another ginger biscuit to distract myself, trying hard to listen to the conversation Vegeta is having with Sutopri.
"...Cannot just barge in like this!"
"Why ever not?"
"Because..." Vegeta must be gritting his teeth at swallowing his pride. "Because I have a family of my own, and you cannot just waltz in and attempt to ruin everything."
"But that's not what I'm doing. I'm simply bringing our daughter to you."
"How do I even know she is mine?"
"The dates add up, Vegeta. You were the only man I had."
My stomach tightens painfully. I can barely stand to listen to them. "That is irrelevant!" Vegeta barks. "You should not have brought her here!"
"She had every right to meet her father!"
"And did she look like she cared? No! I will not be looked up at and sneered at like I am some disgusting creature! And I will not stand here and be dictated to by a pathetic, low-class whore such as yourself!"
I hear Sutopri gasp. A split-second later I hear a loud crash and Vegeta cry out in shock. Aricota jumps up quickly and runs to the doorway, me close behind, to see Vegeta on his back and Sutopri stood over him with a menacing expression, fist raised. "Mother!" Aricota cries, leaping to her side. "What have you done to him?"
I kneel beside Vegeta and lift an eyelid tentatively. "You just...knocked him out with one punch!" I gasp. "H-How? Vegeta would never have been floored by that!"
Sutopri rubs her knuckles with a scowl. "We're done here for now. I'll be back to discuss things further. Aricota, we're leaving."
"Mother-!"
"Now!"
After they've left, I yell for Trunks, who comes rushing downstairs and gapes at his father unconscious on the floor. "What the hell happened?!" he gasps.
"You didn't even hear anything?" I demand.
"I had my headphones on..." he says sheepishly. "Come on, I'll carry him upstairs." Turning Vegeta onto his front, he drapes his limp arms over his shoulders and stands upright, staggering a little. "Damn, he's heavy."
I follow Trunks upstairs, rubbing my belly as the baby kicks violently. I wonder if she can sense what's going on around her? Did she feel her father's power level flail and drop when he was knocked out? Trunks must have been so preoccupied with whatever he was doing that he didn't notice. Reaching our bedroom, Trunks deposits Vegeta on our bed and rolls his shoulders. "Ouch." As I set about pulling the sheets over him and checking him over for injuries, Trunks sits on the end of the bed, looking thoroughly confused. "Mum...what's going on? Who were those two? Were they Saiyans?"
"Yes," I sigh, stroking Vegeta's hair. I'm angry, so angry...I want to wake him up just so I can knock him out again like Sutopri did. But he looks so vulnerable right now, I can't help running my hand through the soft black peaks. "Trunks...you have a sister."
"Yeah, I know."
"No, no. I mean..."
Comprehension slowly dawns on his face. "No!" he gasps. "That girl-!"
"Yep."
"This is impossible! How could this have happened?"
"Pretty simple," I shrug. "Daddy got a little carried away when he ran away from Earth. I was pregnant with you at the same, and Aricota is a little younger than you, so..."
"I thought you were a man of honour, dad..." sighs Trunks.
"Yes, so did I."
"Aricota, huh..." Trunks rubs a hand over his face.
"I know it must be hard for you to take in. Ah, she must have hit him here." I point to Vegeta's neck, which looks bruised and swollen. "I imagine she meant to punch him straight in the face, but she hit him in the neck instead."
"A classic knockout spot," nods Trunks. "Even Super Saiyans have human weaknesses, I suppose."
Vegeta groans and shifts, and I lean towards him quickly, grasping his hand. Slowly, his eyes open. "Vegeta?" I ask quietly. "Are you okay?"
He sits up quickly, scowling. "Of course I'm okay! Where is that infernal woman?"
"She's gone."
"And the girl?"
"Gone with her."
"Thank heavens for that." He slumps back and sighs. "I cannot believe the audacity of her!"
Trunks looks a little awkward. "I'll, uh, leave you to it, I guess. Dad, are we still training?"
"I'll let you know when," Vegeta murmurs, flicking a hand at him. Trunks hurries away. The minute he's gone, Vegeta lets rip at me. "I told you to stay up here, woman! I had it all under control!"
"Had it all under control? She was insulting Trunks and pushing another kid on you!" When Vegeta opens his mouth to ask how I knew, I just point at my laptop.
"You were watching?" he whispers. I nod. "Your disobedience knows no bounds."
"How could you have done this to me, Vegeta?" I whisper, tears forming in my eyes. "You left me when I was pregnant, only to knock up someone else..."
"You think I had any damn idea?" he shouts. "I didn't want this! And now she's dumped another responsibility on me when I already have Trunks to deal with, and you, and the baby in a matter of months!"
"You still slept with another woman!" I cry.
"And she wasn't the first, Bulma! I had no attachment to you back then, so what are you crying about?"
"We were together then! For Kami's sake, I slept in your bed, we kissed, you held me, everything! Did you not love me back then?"
He looks me dead in the eye...and shakes his head. My heart just about cracks into a million pieces. "I did not love you for a long time," he murmurs. "I did not love you when you were pregnant with Trunks, and I did not love you when I returned. It was only when you began to avoid me, and wouldn't let me near you or Trunks, that my feelings began to intensify. After a time, I knew then that I loved you, and I could not bear to be parted from you again."
"And when was that?"
"About six months before we married."
I think back to when that was. The first time he said he loved me was after we'd slept together the second time, when I had forgiven him for abandoning me and Trunks. I was so happy then, because he genuinely looked like he meant it. He'd proposed a month later, saying he needed a stable family for his child to grow up in. But right now, it's not enough. I shake my head, more tears flowing down my cheeks. "Right now, I don't care whether or not you love me," I whisper, "you had other women, after you had created an unbreakable bond with me by impregnating me. You...you are supposed to be a man of honour, Vegeta!"
"What else was I supposed to do?" he shouts. "I was frightened by the fact I'd given you a brat in your belly!"
"One time, you told me you were an honourable man! Where was your honour then?"
He can't answer me. He just stares at the hands in his lap, defeated. I stand from the bed, wiping the tears from my face. "Do what you like," I tell him, "but right now, I can't bear to be around you. You've shamed your royal family's name, and shamed us. Spend time with that daughter of yours if you wish, but I'll have nothing to do with it."
Vegeta growls at me. It looks like he's finally snapped. "You are a two-faced, uncontrollable, hormonal bitch!"
"And you are a two-timing, bullying, heartless bastard!" Anger raging out of control, I attempt to slap him, but he grabs my wrist before I even come close. He tightens his grip, making me cry out. "V-Vegeta," I gasp. "You're going to-"
"Do not make me hurt you," he whispers, pushing his face up close to mine. "You are trying my patience, and wife of mine you may be, if you were a Saiyan woman I would have beaten you senseless for your disobedience! Do not tempt me, woman!" I try to hit him with my free hand, but he blocks me easily and before I know it, I've been knocked off my feet as he retaliates with a much harder slap. "What the hell, Vegeta?!" I scream at him, clutching the side of my face. I know I'm bleeding, I can feel the liquid dripping through my fingers. In an instant he's out of bed and beside me, pulling my hand away to inspect the damage, but then Trunks has burst through the door, evidently having heard the bang, and he shoves Vegeta out of the way to look me over. "Dad, did you do this to her?" he demands.
"I-I-"
Trunks swings back and punches his father straight in the gut, brutally winding him and making him drop to his knees with a gasp. "How dare you?!" he shouts. "She's pregnant, and you hit her! You're a monster!" He turns back to me and helps me up. "Come on, mum. Let's get you out of here." Weakly, I nod, and he puts his arm around my shoulders, helping me out of the room. "You can't be around all this right now," he tells me firmly. "Is it just your face?"
"My wrist too," I whisper, holding it out. Trunks swears loudly at the bruising. "Is it really bad?"
"Bad? I'm going to absolutely kill him! Listen, I'm going to call Goku. I want you to stay with him for a while."
"Trunks, really, it's fine, I can handle-"
"No, mum. I don't want you to stay here after dad's just hit you. Not while you're carrying a baby! It's not right, and what with those Saiyans appearing, you'll be too stressed out. Stay there a minute..." We're at the bottom of the stairs now, and he picks up the phone on the table, dialling the number for Goku's house. I can't help but be extremely proud of my son; he's so brave and mature for his age. Nobody else would stand up to Vegeta like he just did.
"...Hello? Goten, hey. Listen, is your dad around? It's important. Thanks, yeah, I'll hold on a sec." He looks back towards me and smiles. "Hi, Goku! Something really strange is going on here and...oh, you felt it? Yeah, yeah. I'll explain later, but can mum stay with you for a while? It's really hectic and she's so stressed, it's not good for the baby. Thank you! Yeah, we'll be there soon. Dad? Uh, let's not talk about him right now...like I said, I'll explain when we get there. Thanks, Goku! See you soon!" He puts the phone down and grins at me. "Okay, we can go now. I'll pack you some stuff later."
Okay, to clear some stuff up. Bulma fell pregnant with Trunks, and it was around this time that Vegeta went off into space, met Sutopri and got her pregnant too. So Trunks is only a few months older than Aricota.
