Hi Everyone. I know it's been awhile since I last updated; but hope you enjoy. My updates on this story should be more timely and consistent from here until the story's end.

Disclaimer:

I do not own or profit from any Dragonball Z content or characters. The same applies to any popular songs referenced in the story, any publications, movies, or other cultural references. Any original characters not in the Dragonball Z universe are named at random, and not intended to mirror any living or dead individual.

The idea for this story belongs to Charismatic Beauty.

Chapter 9: The Queen Returns

A/N: This chapter approaches lime; but I'm not sure if it actually gets to that point.

Bulma arrived back in West City late the previous night. Aside from her happiness about finally returning home, she was absolutely manic about how great she felt. Her body and mind were both back to full strength, and she felt no need to rely on any kind of crutch. Her body weight was back to normal after being somewhat emaciated for several months, her skin had nice color, and she was actually considering coloring her hair again to hide her gray.

She looked out at the city skyline from her executive office in her blazer and skirt suit. Bulma was back. A wealthy billionaire looking out over the city she ran as it was decked out for the holidays.

This had her thinking, "What exactly are our plans? It's a week away, and I doubt Vegeta made any plans. Moreover, what are the company's plans for a party?"

Regardless, she had plenty of work to catch up on. As she knocked back half a mug of coffee she rapidly started muddling through emails, memos, and reports that her father never got to while she was gone. By the end of the regular business day, her world class intellect allowed her to be almost caught up with the happenings of her company-and that was with three meetings with other C-level executives interrupting her. Shifting her attention now to a more trivial matter regarding the company's holiday plans, she phoned the company's HR director.

"Hello?" the director answered with confusion, as it had not been formally announced that Bulma returned from her 'extended business trip;' so she hadn't received a call from the executive office in a while.

"Hey Laura, it's Bulma," Bulma greeted with some noticeable fatigue in her voice.

"Bulma! I didn't know you were back!'

"Yea, we're going to inform everyone tomorrow. We kept it quiet today for the most part so I could catch up on things that have happened while I was gone."

"Oh okay. What exactly were you doing while you were away? All anyone was told was that it was extended business."

"Right, well there are some confidential parts; but I'll give the gist of things later when I can communicate them to a large audience," Bulma replied vaguely, not knowing what kinds of excuses her father and Vegeta may have made to members of the company or their friends.

"I see. Well thanks for the notice that you're back!"

"Ah sure, of course. Listen, I wanted to ask you if there was anything on the calendar for a company holiday party."

"Umm, no actually. I'm surprised. We have one every year."

"Hmm, figures enough. Well, I'm going to try and get one ready on short notice. Maybe for Thursday or Friday. Friday might not work since people probably have other personal parties to attend. Either way, can you send out a survey poll to everyone asking whether they prefer Thursday or Friday? Request that they respond within 24 hours. Reponses after that time will not be counted."

"Will do Bulma. I'll do that now. Anything else you need help with on this?"

"No, I'll take care of the rest. Thanks."

Bulma placed the phone back on its cradle. She forgot how efficient she could be. With that, she had to get her main man on the circuit-Enzo. His personal number was on her cell, so she just called on that.

She lit a cigarette and opened a window with the frigid air entering her office and the dial tone continued.

"Hey Bulma," Enzo answered.

"Yo yo. What's up? Is this a good time?"

"Yea yea, I'm just shopping right now. What's goin?"

"Well apparently we have no company holiday party planned and I'd like to plan one, albeit on rather short notice."

"Okay. When are you having it?"

"Either Thursday or Friday."

"Whoa! That is short notice. Mmm, I guess we can pull it off. This is just for members of the company, right? As in you're not inviting every socialite in West City?"

"Yep, that's right."

"Okay, yea we can do that. I'll give the word for everyone to start prepping now. Please let me know the actual day as soon as you know."

"Yep, I'll know by about this time tomorrow."

"Good…How have you been otherwise?"

"You know, around." Bulma provided a non-answer realizing that he probably would not be aware of her absence. Fortunately, he bit on her response.

"Gotcha. Say, you have time for a quick question?"

"I guess so. What is it?"

"What's the deal with your friend Chi Chi? I met her at your masquerade ball."

Bulma knew what he was asking; but liked the prospect of teasing him to be explicit, "What do you mean 'what's the deal?'" she asked while taking a drag of her cigarette.

"…What type of person is she?" Enzo's discomfort was clear in his voice.

That was enough for Bulma to blab, "Oh, well she's a little younger than me…pretty old-fashioned in most respects. Strict with her kids-even her oldest son who is married himself with his own kid, making her a pretty young grandmother. Has never really paid a great deal of attention to her appearance compared to most women; but that doesn't really matter since her natural beauty is quite notable…but you didn't hear that last part from me. I'd never hear the end of it. Outside of that, pretty worldly about things and could kick your and most other men's asses in a fight. She's a former martial artist and is still strong as an ox."

"Wow…that's…a lot."

"Sure, I guess," Bulma knew what he was getting at; but she had to go. There was still work to be done before the day was out.

"Anyway, okay. Thanks B. Let me know the day as soon as you do and I'll have the place preparing."

"Thanks, Enzo. We'll pay you a premium for the short notice. We can talk details later, okay?"

"Sure. Talk to you soon."

Bulma ended the call and thought about how Enzo needed to get out more. Certainly a solid guy most women would want if they knew about him. But the only time he found a woman he was attracted to was at her events, which were by and large the only social things he ever did. And every woman he liked was either completely incompatible with him, or in this case, not single.

***Enzo***

On the other end of the line, Enzo was struck by a thunder bolt. Based on Bulma's description, Chi Chi sounded exactly like the type of woman with whom he would be able to have a relationship. If she's old-fashioned, then she would understand his long working hours. And based on her strength, she seems independent in her own right. Moreover, certainly unlike Bulma, it did not sound like she was vein in any real way. She seemed like a more modern version of the older generation women in his family.

He couldn't contain himself. Since Bulma's party would be later that week, he couldn't do anything then; but he figured there'd be no harm in asking her if she were available on Saturday, which is what he did.

Enzo typed her a text, "Are you available to meet on Saturday? Either afternoon or evening?"

'SEND'

***Nighttime at the Capsule Corp Living Quarters***

Bulma was at least somewhat caught up with her work life. Because of how late she arrived the previous evening, she still had to catch up with her family. Naturally, her first concern was what was happening with Trunks.

The gravity room was empty so it seemed like Vegeta was getting ready for bed. Bulma made her way to their bedroom as Bulla wandered into the hallway. Given the time, she really should've been sleeping.

"Hi Mommy!" her young daughter screeched with her still squealing voice.

Bulma had seen her briefly earlier this morning, but that was all since she was sleeping when Bulma arrived the night before.

"Hi baby. What are you doing awake? It's past your bedtime," Bulma spoke to her daughter with a soft, motherly voice.

"I know, but I didn't get to see you for long enough today."

Bulma felt sympathy for her youngest, and offered to take her into her room.

"I'm going to see daddy right now. Do you want to come with me?"

Bulla responded with wide and bright eyes.

Bulma carried her daughter to her room. Since she assumed Vegeta was in the room, and didn't want Bulla seeing her father nude, she had to make sure the coast was clear. Bulma cracked the door slightly and peaked her head in. She could see Vegeta's clothes; but not him.

"Vegeta?!"

"What?!"

"Are you decent?"

"What the hell does that mean?"

"Do you have clothes on?"

"What difference does it make?!"

"I have Bulla with me."

Thankfully Bulla's youth made her oblivious to the situation and potential innuendos.

"Yes, I'm wearing clothes," Vegeta finally responded.

Bulma walked in and sat down on the bed while placing Bulla down. She removed her heels and let out a sigh of relief from foot pain. She hadn't been subjected to wearing heels in over a week. She removed her blazer and her black suit skirt, put shorts on and rested with her head up and Bulla on her lap.

Vegeta finally walked into the room and sat on the other side of the bed.

"Daddy!" Bulla jumped from Bulma's lap to Vegeta's chest.

Vegeta noted how much force she had when jumping toward him. He internally pondered (again) why she should not undergo training the way Trunks did as a boy. At least she'd learn to control her power when dealing with humans.

"Vegeta, I want to go over somethings with you…a bit later," Bulma motioned with her head to their daughter, successfully sending Vegeta the message that 'later' meant when she fell asleep.

It didn't take long for Bulla to fall asleep on top of Vegeta's chest, at which point he brought her back to her room. When he returned, he found Bulma asleep. He proceeded to wake her.

"Did you not want to discuss something?"

As Bulma regained coherence she replied, "Oh, yes. I wanted to ask you what's going on with Trunks. I know his terms of punishment; but how is he reacting?"

"Fine. He's done as he's been told. He complains sometimes about having to train every day; but that's a trait he gets from you."

Bulma looked at him with a deadpan face.

"Alternatively, your father explained that his performance in school has improved from where it was. While he was doing fine before, he's performing to his potential now. He's currently awake, likely doing work based on his energy."

"Okay. Well that's good to know. And the timetable for this amount of structure is…what again?"

"Until the end of this upcoming summer."

"Fine. Seems reasonable enough. But it has to end there. He can't go through his whole adolescence without some ability to make choices for himself. He won't learn any life skills," Bulma stated as she yawned.

"I'm going to go check on him quickly before I fall asleep," Bulma noted as she got up and left the room.

"Trunks?" Bulma inquired quietly while opening his bedroom door.

"How are you feeling?" Trunks asked.

"Really tired. It'll take me a bit to get back into things; but I feel great otherwise. I haven't felt this vital for a few years."

"Wow, well that's really good to hear."

"Your father told me you're doing really well in school recently," Bulma stated while viewing Trunks with his face buried in a textbook.

"Yea, well the only options I have for activity are school work and training; so naturally I'm putting more time in."

"I know your father's punishment is harsh but he did this because he was scared about what could happen with you in the future. But I still feel horrible because I can't help but think I'm the reason you're receiving punishment in the first place."

Trunks looked at his mother, and while he did partially blame her internally, he felt compelled to say something to ease her guilt.

"Mom, look, at that point Goten and I probably would have found a way to get our hands on something, whether it was readily available or not. We were trying to have fun with chicks. That's pretty much it."

Bulma felt the allure of sleep begin to overtake her.

"Well, alright. But if you feel the need to talk about this some more, you can always approach me. For now though, I need to go to sleep."

She kissed her son goodnight on his forehead and finally made her way off to bed.

As she laid back down, she remembered their own holiday plans.

"Vegeta, we didn't make any holiday plans did we?"

"No. Who cares?"

"Ugh. I guess I have some phone calls to make," Bulma replied as she dosed off.

***Same Time, at Mount Paotz***

"I told you there was something weird going on." Gohan noted to Videl as they finally managed to put Pan to bed and started to lay down themselves.

"I mean, how weird was that whole thing last night with my mother kind of disappearing, and then getting in late, claiming to lose track of time. She DOESN'T do those things or make such mistakes."

"Not to mention she definitely was drinking. She had enough of a slur that made it obvious," Videl added.

"Also something she doesn't do-even at home in private."

"Yea, the weird thing that pieced it together was your dad coming to talk to me about his relationship issues with your mom. That, plus what you said after the gala, plus her being late getting home last night…it seems like too much to be a coincidence," Videl remarked.

Gohan rubbed his eyes, and started to think, "Look, the probability of all these things being interdependent would be…umm"

"Gohan, stop. One, you should stop thinking right now. You do enough of that. Two, you can't assign probabilities to individual events like this without context. In this case, there is none. No sense in trying to slap a number to this that would effectively be bullshit anyway. I'm getting you a drink."

"Videl, I'm tired enough. I don't need a drink."

"You're tired, but you're restless and your mind is racing. You might need to consider seeing a doctor for anxiety. But for now, drink this," Videl handed him two shots of bourbon with ice.

***Same Time, at the (original) Son Residence***

Goku had thought since yesterday about what Videl told him. About what kind of things she and Gohan did to keep their relationship strong.

While Goku understood all of this, he was never good at implementing them-ever. But he did not train at all today. He had to do something that would help their relationship turn a corner. At the very least he could be around the house and would spend some kind of time with Chi Chi. Granted, since he was around, she mainly asked him for help with housework, which at this point he was okay with given the circumstances.

But Goku didn't have money for flowers or jewelry, or even to take Chi Chi out. All they could do is go somewhere and walk around. But that could be weird since they may not have a lot to talk about these days.

Goku continued to think about it and finally thought of something. He recalled Videl mentioning something about baths. And along with them candles and…'bath' salts. The problem was that Goku didn't know what bath salts were, or if they even had them in the house. He could ask Chi Chi, but then that would ruin any surprise element. And he was pretty sure Goten wouldn't know either.

Then he thought of it. He could ask Chi Chi while telling her he's preparing a bath because he's really sore from his training the other day on King Kai's planet, which actually was true.

Goku proceeded to find his wife and asked her if they had any bath salts.

"Yes, we have bath salts. Why?"

"Well I pushed myself too hard the other day on King Kai's planet and my body is really sore."

"Okay, but since when do you know about bath salts helping soreness?"

Goku had to think quickly. "Uhhh, Vegeta told me about them."

"Vegeta uses bath salts?" Chi Chi asked incredulously.

"Guess so," Goku replied with his usual coy grin.

"Yea, okay," Chi Chi responded in a beleaguered voice.

"Be nice if he asked me to join him," she thought.

Goku started running the water and adding bath salts. As Chi Chi sat back down reading Goku quickly grabbed all kinds of candles from all over the house without her noticing. He placed them around the tub area and used very small amounts of his energy to light them.

Chi Chi was growing fatigued from reading and went to check her phone. She noticed that she had a couple texts waiting. One was from Bulma and read "I'm back! Let me know when you're around so we can have some girl talk!"

That was certainly news. She received no other indication about Bulma's return to West City. At the moment at least, she really wasn't in the mood for Bulma's 'girl talk.' Sometimes it covered important things like marriage and child-rearing, though it more often ventured into how much smarter she was than men, and really everyone else, sex stories with Vegeta (which usually took Chi Chi a couple days to get out of her head), and how gorgeous she was. Not to mention she still felt compelled to lay into Bulma for serving as a negative influence on her son.

The other text was from Enzo, asking her about Saturday plans. She quickly thought about it but really didn't see the harm. Even last time it wasn't as if anything happened. She hugged him, they drank, they ate, and that was it. Chi Chi wrote in reply to his text, "Sure, Saturday afternoon?"

She figured afternoon was safer considering she got home fairly late last time. And the afternoon would give her the excuse of running errands.

'SEND'

No sooner had Chi Chi sent the message did she hear Goku asking her to come upstairs 'for a second.'

"Since I'm doing this anyway, why don't you join me?" Goku asked, trying to maintain his typical innocent look.

Chi Chi blushed. She hadn't been nude with Goku for such a period that she was actually almost uncomfortable. It took her better reasoning to realize this was with her husband of over twenty years (give or take years when he was 'dead').

"Sure, okay. Just give me a minute," Chi Chi stated with a hint of shyness.

Goku removed his garments and slipped in. All things aside, it did feel good on his aching muscles.

Chi Chi couldn't believe it. This was the first thing of really anything beyond the mundane they would do together in a very long time. She noticed how conspicuous it was that Goku didn't train that day. That he wanted to take a bath like this to relax his body made enough sense if what he said was true about taking his training too far.

But the fact that he actually asked that she join him was a radical departure from what had been occurring for a long time.

Chi Chi continued pondering this as she decided to spice things up a bit with lingerie and a black satin robe.

She walked into the tub area, shut the door, and removed her garments for Goku's viewing pleasure. She then shut the lights and let the candles illuminate the room. She thought about whether Goten was still awake or not; but ultimately that seemed inconsequential since it was out in the open that Goten had experience with sexuality.

She stepped in and rested back so she was leaning on Goku's chest. She could feel Goku's arousal on her lower back. Goku wrapped her shoulders in his arms and gently kissed her temple. He then started washing her upper body, including her breasts. Now Chi Chi could feel herself aroused.

It was then that she remembered she agreed to meet Enzo again. Now she truly felt bad as it seemed like Goku was making some kind of effort to modify his behavior. Whether this was deliberate or just a fluke of Goku's training and him being friendly was hard for her to say, and rather immaterial at that. Granted, as she thought earlier, she's never done anything with Enzo that she wouldn't do with a friend. But she did feel some attraction to him. Of course, tonight was a reminder of what she had right at home.

Goku could let his instincts go to work for the physical part, but he was also hoping that he and Chi Chi would have some sort of meaningful conversation. That was the hard part. As he continued washing Chi Chi he tried to think of anything out of the ordinary she had been doing recently. He could talk to her about Goten, but they did that already.

"Hmm…she's been into the city a couple times for gift shopping," he finally thought.

"How have your trips into the city for holiday shopping been?" Goku asked.

His question snapped Chi Chi out of her state of confusion about everything. But, of course, bringing up the city also brings up Enzo. Even still there were a lot of other elements to her trips that she could discuss.

"They've been tiring. It's kind of a long drive. And naturally the city can be really hectic with so many people and cars all over the place. Parking is a pain in the ass."

"I can imagine," Goku agreed

"But Goku, there's something magical about it this time of year. All of the decorations are out and people are racing around. It can be overwhelming but you kind of feed off the energy. Oh, and I was there when they did the tree lighting…it was amazing. I felt like a little girl again."

Goku mildly chuckled, "It's good you've had a chance to experience that and enjoy it."

Goku was sincere in his statement. He was starting to believe that part of Chi Chi's current unhappiness was a result of being trapped in a boring daily routine.

"Absolutely. It makes the other difficulties very worth it," Chi Chi replied.

"So what happened in your training that has you so down and out?" Chi Chi finally asked.

"Oh, I was trying to do something to amplify my power to a really high level. I could maintain it for a few seconds, but it took a huge toll on me. Like I was saying, I'm still pretty sore from it. Earlier yesterday I had a bit of a tough time moving. But it ultimately gave me an excuse to ask you to join me," Goku ended with a grin.

This answered her question about whether this was a deliberate action. That it was made her feel elated. Chi Chi stretched her somewhat stiff body and whispered, "You can ask me whenever you want. Excuse or no excuse."

She turned around and began to message Goku's muscles as their lips met for the most passionate kiss they shared in years.