Unfaithful

Part 14

"She's very pregnant, you see, and very distraught that the father has left. She's not remembering things in a linear fashion. She's not crazy or anything, she's just reacting to this bizarre pregnancy and severe emotional stress, social alienation of a sort. She's stressed out. She may seem disoriented. Be gentle with her. She cries sometimes, randomly. She gets very angry and throws things. She acts erratically. Try not to remind her of him or of what's happened."

A cough. Paper moves. They're writing things down. "I'm very glad that you're still here, to support her, you know."

"Well, Bulma's been through a lot." I could hear them shuffling about in the nursery. As if they owned the place. As if they had any place, or any right. My blood boiled, but maternal instinct gave me tact.

Somebody sighed, or scoffed. "Bulma's created a lot of negative situations for herself, with her own two pretty little hands."

I swallowed and touched my abdomen. Their judgment sank deep and heavily into me. Condescending and overbearing, as per usual. I'd destroyed my life.

"I'm just saying that you're turning into the reliable sort of guy that a girl like her needs, anyway. You could really do something with this whole situation, if you want. That baby could really build a bridge between you two, Vegeta's gone now. So what? We have that baby and Bulma to protect now."

"Has anyone been able to get a hold of Gokou?" Someone suddenly asks.

Silence. A sigh. So it's one of those situations. I turn my nose up in anger. Get on my tip toes, look through a crack in the door and try to see the three of them, mulling around there with my baby's life in his nursery.

I felt heavy, but stable.

There were three of them. One was my father. Yamucha. Kuririn. My hand was pressed against the door directly. I could feel him, my little baby. It was a weird sort of feeling, like someone finally understood me, and the messes that I got myself into.

I sighed inwardly a little bit. Well, little guy, I guess that's what I get.

I felt a little swirl of energy, as though my body was trying to cheer me. I shook my head, Daddy's going to try to get us back together. I will never try to dictate who you date or sleep with, kid. Even if it's an alien, or whatever.

But not if she's poison for you, okay? Then I'll say something. When the line is crossed, I'll say something.

When people start getting hurt, I'll say something. You'll do it better than I did. Because when lies start being told, you'll know better than I did.

It won't consume you the way it did me, because you'll be stronger. You won't fall for it like I did.

To think that I was so naïve.

The way that he moved in my eyes could only be described as poetic. There was something insanely passionate and fierce about Vegeta, but all the same it was dangerous. And callous. However menacing, there was that intelligence and almost cold, clear cut dedication to perfection that drove him, ever apparent in his every movement.

Fucking Vegeta, man.

Watching him train drove me insane. I guess it can be said that this is the way that everything truly started. If you want to hear the romantic side of the story, I cannot offer you date nights and flowers or other futile cliché attempts at courtship. I cannot do anything but say it felt like having a rockstar living in my backyard.

I watched him a lot. Sometimes I would just sit around watching him, crushing on him. It was weird. I was always more fascinated with him when I was angry with him. The way I felt the day that I noticed the difference in the way he acted when he was angry with me. Watching someone when they're alone and they don't know, or don't care, that you're watching them gave me this little peep hole into his life.

At some point, I always watch his blood pump. I watch the sweat roll down his body. I said it was maddening to watch him train. Why? Because I would fall in lust with him every night and fight with him all day. And I think the bastard knew it.

It wasn't long after the bath incident that he seduced me. Or he didn't care. He did it in much the same way that he trained, though. Calculated, cold, systematic. It started with a confusing touch that lasted too long. One that signified his possession over me. He was on to me, he knew that I wanted it and I was the only one there still stupid enough to fight the attraction.

Infatuation, even.

It was our dance.

"I don't understand why that loser is still hanging around with you." Vegeta sneered.

I bent over. He stared at my breasts. "It's cute that you're jealous like that, Vegeta."

These are the only times that I recall to be something like our couple time. These were the times where thins seemed to be easier. Deducible. Simple. He wanted me and I wanted him but I was only pretending to be unavailable and he really was.

Vegeta crossed his arms over his chest, "I'm just saying that you're so completely useless as his wench because you spend so much time tending to me that I don't understand why you don't just let him out of his misery."

I sighed deeply, biting off the cap of my pen as I prepared to write notes down for updates for his machine, "You know, Vegeta, I never can tell if you want to get rid of the competition or just drive me crazy."

"Both." He rasped quickly, and in annoyance and frustration I stood up. Before I could knew it, I fell straight into his trap. He was standing in front of me, ridiculously close, glaring down at me. "You're a silly little woman and someone needs to put you in your place and teach you how to play nice."

I glared at him. He leaned in. His teeth were sharp, scintillating in the darkness. I could almost see my blood on them.

"I'm really sorry to disappoint you, Vegeta, but I wouldn't be surprised if Yamucha comes knocking on my door any day now, ready to marry me. And love me forever. And we'll have a family together, and I will be too busy fucking Yamcha and bearing his children to be bothered with you or your little toys."

It seemed like the days when I used to boast about the prospect of our engagement were so long ago. Entirely before he proposed, anyway. Those were the days I lamented it.

He seemed so disgusted at the thought that his grip on my wrist tightened dangerously. At first it was slow, but with every word his grasp constricted around my wrist more harshly.

"You're hurting me." I hissed quietly.

"You are mine and mine alone." His grip loosened, but I could not pull my arm away.

"I have a boyfriend, just because I fuck you sometimes on the side does not mean I have to give up the one good thing I have going for me here!"

In a fluid motion, he sank his teeth into my neck. I almost howled in pain but he clasped his hand over my mouth. I moved to rub my wrist. His hands were on my shoulders. In my fury I lunged at him and scratched his face. I slapped him and kicked against him as violently as I could, and still he mostly laughed at me. I could tell when I'd hurt him, he would always hurt me back much harder. "I'm much, much better than that human trash…"

"I'm a human, too, Vegeta! How does it feel to be the last member of a dead species? You can do nothing. But Yamcha and I will have a huge family and we will love each other always!"

"You have no idea what it is to procreate! You have no idea what it is to take pride in what you produce, your selection process is so obviously flawed…"

"I think that Vegeta did it on purpose. I think that he wanted to get her pregnant. And I know that he wanted Yamcha out of the picture."

"Why?"

"I don't know. I'm so sorry. I'm so sorry."

"Don't be sorry, you didn't know. You can't control Vegeta's madness."

"But Bulma and Yamcha belong together and now she's pregnant with Vegeta's baby…"

A female voice, "Vegeta and Bulma could have had something too…"

"No, no Dear. It's for the best that Vegeta won't be here when Bulma gives birth to this baby. Yamucha is going to be here to support Bulma. How does that sound now, Dear?"

"I don't know… I think that Bulma loves Vegeta and-"

"Does that really register as acceptable to you? Vegeta is a monster, Bulma is very fragile now. She doesn't know which way is up right now."

"I'm pretty sure that she knows which way is up."

"Now Dear, I mean that Bulma's having a hard time differentiating between good and bad. Kuririn, take Bunny out for something nice to eat tonight, yes? I need to make sure Yamcha's all settled in."

There was shuffling. I moved. As they came through the hall I plopped down on the couch and grabbed a book. I smiled weakly at my father. "How's it going, Bulma?" Kuririn asked.

"Now that I have two full time body guards? I feel fantastic."

"We're just glad we get to use all that cool equipment."

"Just be careful you don't hurt yourself."

I must have said the wrong thing. My father's face darkened.

Krillen tried to scoff a little bit, "Bulma, we're pros. I think we can handle whatever scary training stuff you managed to make up. Yamcha did it in the past."

"That's highly sophisticated technology, it5 is not a toy! Don't go messing around with that material without knowing what you're getting into first. You're of absolutely no use if you die before you can come back. And with things as they are… Gokou's going to need all of the help that he can get."

Bunny and Kuririn moved out of the room without further comment, although Bunny gave Bulma one last, sympathetic glance. Bulma looked down and touched her abdomen, feeling a connection with her mother for a moment before she searched herself for her son's presence within her. Her father'd already managed to sit down by that point. He was smoking out of his pipe. "Dad, that's not good for the baby."

His eyes widened as he realized what he was doing. He disregarded his pipe and matchbox. "So," He coughed, embarrassed, "Yamucha is moving in. And Kuririn's not too far off."

"Dad, I really resent that you're paying my ex boyfriend to move in with us here to 'watch' me."

"Nonsense, Bulma, he's your fiancé."

"I'm not going to marry Yamucha, Dad."

I said that with way too much finality. Yamucha'd approached us from behind. I had no way of knowing he was standing behind me, except for my own good common sense telling me that I should have expected as much.

When he looked at me, his expression was not unlike it was that night. His face was sort of twisted in disgust and confusion and hurt.

My father shook his head and looked on at Yamcha. Then, he left the room, heading for the lab that I fucked Vegeta all night in for weeks.

We were left alone in uncomfortable silence. At this point I'd been getting used to it. He coughed and stumbled into a chair.

"You know-"

"Bulma, I really don't feel that down for a chat right now. But thanks for letting your dad know that we're not getting married."

I sighed.

"You know, I know that it may seem like I'm here trying to get you back. I won't lie and say that I don't want us to find our way back to each other. But that won't happen, and it can't until you get Vegeta out of your head forever."

"Yamcha, I don't love Vegeta."

"And I know that. I'd treat him like he was my own, Bulma."

The baby did not appreciate being used as leverage. I glared at Yamcha, "You didn't let me finish. You don't understand. I don't love Vegeta, but I also don't love you. Anymore. I did. Please believe me, I did, and I had every intention of marrying you-"

"Then why are you doing this, I just don't understand-"

"What happened with Vegeta was going to happen sooner or later to us. We're not meant for each other. The problem was us, not Vegeta. The problem was with you." I couldn't look at him. My eyes refused to meet his. They were so heavy with tears.

He solemnly stood up. "Bulma," his voice was harsh, "If you let me leave you, if you really, really think that… You will be," he was choking up now, "you will be making the biggest mistake you ever have in your life. We do belong to each other, Bulma. I guess we deserve each other in our own sick way. But you're being stupid right now. And you're trying to pretend like we don't. Like you can go run off with some Saiya-Jin just like Gokou! Yeah! Spiky black hair and muscles, that's all it really is to you, isn't it, Bulma?"

I was crying now. I was sitting now. And then he was hovering over me, almost menacingly.

"That's all this has ever really been about. That's why you insist on keeping this wretched abomination of a creature!"

My stomach was torn apart. The pain seethed through.

"It's not going to even be human, Bulma. It's going to be like Gohan, freakish in strength, but it's going to be mean like Vegeta. It's not going to have any morals. It's going to kill us all as soon as it's aware of us."

I stared at Yamcha, sniffling and horrified, "No, you're wrong. This baby is going to be my son, my child Yamcha! He doesn't have to be like Vegeta. Gokou proved that you can be better!"

Yamcha's eyes blazed at me, "This has always been about him, hasn't it?"

"What?"

"Goku. You've always loved him. The one you couldn't have, you're just a little too late for that one, aren't you? Just a little too old. Got to find the other version, don't you? Your silver medal, the second best. Yeah. Spiky black hair and muscles, and that's all it is to you, and when you found someone that could lift the heavier boulder you just couldn't resist, could you?"

"Goku has always been my friend." I shook my head, "You don't understand at all. I haven't even seen him since all of this happened!"

"You've loved him all of your life and now you found a cheap, mean replacement. And with your attachment to emotionally unavailable men, it's a convenient fit for you, isn't it?"

I shook my head. "That's not how this is, it was all a mistake Yamcha."

"Save it! You fed me that line long ago! I know you! I get how you think. You don't think I do, but I do. You just want someone to go slut around with. And who better, really? How better to get his attention, to stay in the spotlight? You can't let go of Goku, Bulma. Like you can't let go of Vegeta. But there's something you should know about both of them. Saiya-Jins are emotional cripples. And as much as you want to believe that they're good for you, and no matter how good it's going to feel when you finally get Goku to fuck you and Vegeta has to catch you doing the nasty out in front of God and everyone else, and all of that attention that you get, it's going to die out some time. Somewhere. Or their dangerous lifestyle will ultimately lead to your ruin, and the ruin of that baby you swear that you care so much about."

Every word hit me like a bullet.

Vegeta fucked me hard and good into the mornings, usually. At that point. When Yamucha found out, that is. He'd long since stopped allowing me to go and exercise with him in the gravity chamber when it was on. At the very start of it on he would love to taunt me. He would add almost no weight to my body relative to his strength, but his focus was on my struggle. How typical. For a month now he'd been fucking me out in the open, in my room and on the balcony.

I should have known. It was getting risky. We'd almost gotten caught twice before. I was also starting to feel more desperate for his touch. Something about him was invigorating, exciting even. An addiction I didn't want to stop. Just the way that he tasted… That was all I needed, my little fix before the day started. A few hours sleep, and then sex with him again.

Sometimes he would come in when I was working. I had a little control over it. If I wore something low cut he'd usually fuck me. Or if he liked the way that my ass looked in something. Heels, my hair was done. Sometimes he would come when I wasn't dressed up, sometimes he would purposefully leave me hanging when I was. It was all a game. Sometimes I would refuse him. It was hard to do. I was falling in love with him, and he just wanted to screw me all the time. "And then kill your best friends."

I could repeat the lines he would feed me.

It was cold in the a.m. when my then-fiancé found us going at each other in full force. The beads of sweat rolling off of my hair, the way that his hard body crushed against mine, naked and cold in the purpling night. There was something about the way that that cold beauty, the frosty plum color and all, seemed to make me feel so safe and secure. Or maybe that was all entirely Vegeta after all.

It was something of a cozy night. I took a shower and was hanging out in a towel. I sighed a little bit, snuggling into the warm terrycloth. Its bleached whiteness made me feel much cleaner. Purity you can only buy.

Vegeta approached me from behind. He was massaging my neck very slowly. He always started off like that. His touch was almost tender, but it was only because his hands were warm. He always liked to close in on you. Suddenly he would get rough. He yanked me back into his body. I could feel his erection pushing into me. "He proposed to me."

I felt Vegeta almost flinch. He stiffened. Then, very, very slowly, his fingers still circling my neck, he bent such that his lips touched my ear. I shivered at how his breath tickled. I paid so much attention to those words he said. "I wonder if by saying that you're trying to tell me that I can't enjoy you anymore."

His hands moved down to cup my breasts and I broke away from him for a moment before he caught me by the waist. I felt his smile in the back of my head. "Stop acting like you haven't been something of a piece of community property for a while now."

I sucked in breath. Serious now, I slapped his hands away and lazily allowed my robe to stay open as I rested my hands on my waist. "You don't understand anything! I'm trying to get married here, you idiot!"

Suddenly, Vegeta grabbed me by the neck and pushed me against the wall. My heart was beating so loud I couldn't understand what he was saying. I could only stare at his lips. And watch him breathe. He seemed to just be trying to get it out, a point I figured I already knew. I leaned into the wall, smirking a little bit at him.

I must have gotten under his skin, at least a little bit, because his eyes got very dark and he leaned in and bit me on the collarbone.

It was insanely painful, his teeth cutting through my skin into my bone. The way that I could see little bits of blood seep out of my flesh down my shoulder. He smiled at me a little bit, and the horrified look on my face. He licked a narrow line up my shoulder to the cut, and I almost thought he was flirting.

His voice growling through my lips, my eyes flashing blood red in Yamucha's direction, blood taste in my mouth, "Treat me like a son, will you?"

He wants to hurt me. He hates me. Where is he? Protect me, I am so new. Unaware of the logic behind his cruel words. They hate us, mother. Why do they hate us? Where is the other one? Where is my father?

In those moments I could feel my son's thoughts so intensely. They covered the pain like a warm blanket.

"She's going into labor." I'm in so much pain right now. My mother is hovering around me. I want to tell her to go away, that I look awful. I'm in Yamucha's arms. I could swear that I saw the Gravity Chamber shutter that night. It would be a long time before anyone would confirm the suspicion, that Vegeta had made his way back the night of Trunks' birth and purposefully stayed hidden until it suited his fancy.

"Oh my!"

"Kuririn!"

"Mrs. Briefs, let me take you away-"

"I'll be here with Bulma, I'll stay with her, don't worry about it-"

"See, see? He's a good boy, Bunny. He's going to take care of Bulma."

Our very private doctor came. She was as old as my mother and looked as good. The drugs took effect very slowly. She later remarked that she thought I was going to die. When she presented my lavender haired boy to me, I felt flushed with great feelings. I smiled down at him. All of the pain that I felt was washed away by the relief that it was finally over. Yamucha smiled at both of us, proud as if he'd done something. If he could hear this he would retort that he helped, or something like that.

He put his hand on my shoulder and timidly looked for my permission to look at my baby. I nodded to him. I think this was my first very big mistake. I should have known that Yamucha would cause prolonged suffering, and I should have kicked him out. I should have guessed that Vegeta came back early, and known that like in all other situations, Vegeta thrives off of conflict.

So he just watched us. And with the random, frantic action that we would take, he would condemn each and every one of us, and his revenge would bring everyone's life to a shattering halt. If not for the arrival of the androids, I don't think that we ever really would have figured out what to do about the baby boy that we now shared together. He didn't want me, but he was fascinated by the thing that we created despite himself. I know that's how he felt.

And I made him jealous. Inadvertently, at first, but after I felt his wrath for my apparent "whorishness," that I would even entertain the idea of raising his royal son as Yamucha's. I pushed his buttons, and then sometimes I would try to use our son against him. I will always be sorry for that, because Trunks and Vegeta may never have a meaningful relationship. Because I could, because I wanted to hurt him back. For abandoning me. For not caring. I'd punish Vegeta any way I could. For this whole pregnancy, which I am increasingly believing that he knew more about before even I knew anything about it.

Why should he not suffer? I guess we deserve each other, when it's all over with.

When Vegeta shows up to confront me about getting back together with Yamcha that night, after the "stress" of Yamucha's confrontation induced labor (apparently), all I could think of was the night long before that Yamucha had caught us.

And still, if Vegeta were to know at root of it all, that Yamucha mostly blamed Gokou for the failure of our relationship I wonder what he would do. Even when I fuck Vegeta, Yamcha's jealous of Goku. Makes a lot of fucking sense if you ask me. He's always been jealous of him. Some friend he is. He could never handle our friendship, he was never comfortable enough with himself that he could just let it go that Gokou had surpassed him in power and stature. No one could feel comfortable with how safe and good I felt in Gokou's arms. Gokou was the only innocent one in the lot of us. Instead of running around screwing everything that moves, he stayed loyal to his wife and trained to protect his family and home from a threat that is guaranteed to come.

I remember thinking about Goku that night. I remember thinking that maybe there was nothing wrong with being jealous of Goku, what he had. He'd managed to obtain something much greater than anything any of us ever could. The lot of us. Untamed. Unfaithful. Fickle. Selfish. Cruel.

We're all selfish children. Just showing off for each other. Just striving to get ahead. Just a little bit. Goku's the only one that stands anything to gain. He's only fought for things, not against like all of us. We're a mess, all of us.

But that night, much like this one, I was occupied with the dark look in Vegeta's eyes. I was watching his lips when he promised me over and over again that I belonged to him.

(and that I could not hide his son from him. He would be damned if I would bring my son up as a human.)

His mouth ran over mine. I had no idea that Yamucha was coming.

He whispered things to me.

I responded.

I always did.

It was our dance, and we were interrupted.

He's so close now.

So close.

I was crying out in pleasure.

I could barely hear Yamucha slam his fist into the tree to grab our attention. Vegeta probably knew about his presence and didn't care. He wanted to crush Yamcha. The inner sadist.

Look at what we've all done now.

There you go.