Bulma opened the door to the bathroom, saw 18 sitting on the side of the tub, and tried to hide the box in her hand behind her back. 18 started, then smiled weakly, and gestured to the similar box sitting next to the sink, and the white stick lying next to it. Bulma let out a shaky breath, stepped into the room, closing the door behind her, and ripped open the pregnancy test.
"You, too?" 18 asked, as Bulma scanned the directions.
"Yeah. I'm three weeks late." Bulma pulled her pajama bottoms down, white stick in her hand, and sat on the toilet.
"Its only been a couple months, though," 18 buried her head in her hands. "I mean, I know its what he wants and everything, its just that after this, what happens?"
Bulma snapped the cap on the white stick and laid it next to the one 18 had already set down.
"At least your Vegeta loves you." 18 muttered darkly.
"You'll still stay here, 18," Bulma washed her hands and sat down next to the blonde android. "Every kid needs their mother, and he knows that. But you know he cares for you, right? I see the way he looks at you, the way he touches you when he thinks no one's looking." Bulma wrapped an arm around the other woman, who leaned into her.
"Its not the same way the royal asshole looks at you, or the way Trunks looks at Cabbage."18 pulled her hands away from her face. "I know its all complicated, because you don't have your memories, and Cabbage is…well, Cabbage, but still…"
"You gotta keep in mind, Trunks and Cabbage are pretty young, and Vegeta was pretty young when he and I got together, but the king is like, eighty years old, mentally. Men that old are cautious with everything, especially their hearts."
"You know what really sucks?" 18 smiled bitterly, "A year ago I could have cared less if anyone ever loved me. Now I cant stop whining about it." She turned to the other woman suddenly, blue eyes wide and desperate. "You think it has anything to do with him owning my soul?"
"I don't know." Bulma answered honestly, "You gotta take love where you can find it, you know? I went on this huge quest, looking for the Dragon Balls so that I could wish for a boyfriend, and I ended up finding one on my own instead of having to wish for him. I guess looking for the Dragon Balls has brought me every good thing in my life, you know? Even if I cant remember it." Bulma smiled. "You just gotta wait it out, 18, and it'll come. I mean, I was terrified about what was going to happen between me and Vegeta once we were alone, but he just kept picking fights about stupid things, getting me all worked up over nothing, and then somehow it was okay."
"I wondered why you fought so much," 18 smiled, finally relaxing.
Cabbage suddenly threw the door open, diving for the toilet; she hit her knees and hurled the contents of her stomach into the bowl. After nearly a minute of retching and spitting, she flushed the toilet and rinsed her mouth out at the sink, where she caught sight of the little white sticks.
"What are these?" She asked, turning to the two women sitting on the edge of the tub.
"Pregnancy tests," Bulma smiled weakly.
"What, for both of you?" Cabbage looked between them, raising her eyebrows at their nods. "Shit. No wonder you smell different. I couldn't figure out what it was."
"Hey, are you okay?" Adara stuck her head into the bathroom, her brown hair falling over her eye patch. "I saw you come running down the hall, and I just wondered…Oh, hello. Am I interrupting?"
"Of course not," Bulma smiled, "Just the morning round of pregnancy tests."
Adara blinked her single green eye, her face blank.
"King Vegeta expects Nappa to get me pregnant, doesn't he?" the question was blunt, delivered without emotion.
"He wants it to happen," Cabbage leaned against the sink, "But just about everyone else here is pretty bound and determined to make it your choice. If you don't like Dad, don't sleep with him. And if you do, welcome to the family. Its that simple."
"Nothing about this family is simple," Adara smirked suddenly, tossing her hair out of her face, revealing the eye patch.
They laughed, because it was true.
"What's going on here?" the voice was gruff with sleep, and Adara stepped into the bathroom so that King Vegeta could hover grumpily at the doorway.
"I'm pregnant," 18 said, biting her lip.
"You crawl out of bed at the crack of dawn, and cause a huge ruckus, just to tell me something I already know?" the king sighed. "C'mon." He held his hand out to her, and 18 took it uncertainly, glancing over her shoulder at Bulma as the king led her back down the hall.
"Woman!" the younger Vegeta stuck his head into the bathroom almost immediately, "We're out of rice again. Get that stupid car ready so we can go into town. You need to see a doctor anyway." He was gone the next instant, and Bulma turned surprised eyes to Cabbage.
"Told you," the Sayajin woman said, smirking. Bulma just laughed and scuttled down the hall after her prince.
As she pulled on her clothes, she watched him out of the corner of her eye, as he pulled on a t-shirt and jeans.
"Hey, Vegeta," she turned as he started putting on socks, "What did you think, the first time you met me?"
"I don't remember the first time we met; it was somewhere on Namek. I remember thinking you were the stupidest woman alive, when you offered to let me stay here, after we thought Freeza was dead." Bulma pouted as Vegeta pulled on his shoes.
"If you thought I was so stupid, then how did we…" Vegeta cut her off, blurring across the room and kissing her so hard she felt like she was going to bruise.
"Kind of like that," Vegeta smirked at her, as he let her go.
"What kind of answer is that?!" Bulma shrieked after him, as he left the room. She darted after him again, striding angrily.
"Only time I ever saw anyone shut you up, was when Yaumcha kissed you in the middle of one of your tirades. Worked better for me than it ever did with him." Vegeta flashed her a particularly evil smirk, as he scooped her keys off the kitchen counter and tossed them to her. "Drive, woman, and try not to get yourself killed."
Bulma drove like a maniac, just to get even for that smirk.
B/V love, just for you, omnipotent P! Sorry there's so little of it, but there'll be more in later chapters...promise!