Part III

Chapter 37: The Field Trip – Part I

Jenny stared at the slip of paper with disbelief shining in her eyes. What the hell is this? she wondered, reading and rereading the first few lines again and again and still not trusting her eyes. She barely noticed the excited chatter that had broken out around her, as she once again looked at the with snowmen, Christmas trees and Santa Clauses too cheerfully decorated note. This really gotta be a joke.

A field trip?

To a ski resort of all places, when more than half of the class didn't even know how to ski. She included.

Looking at the date the teachers had set for the field trip, she frowned. That's in one week. Couldn't they have told them sooner? The note also said that no one should worry about the costs, as the trip was sponsored by the Western Capital's mayor. Apparently, he wanted to give the young children something to look forward to in times like these.

Even though Buu had been gone for almost three years already (Three years, Jenny thought startled. Has it really already been almost three years?) people still had a lot of problems. Poverty was one of those, among many others. Jenny was lucky. The former vice CEO of Capsule Corporation had taken over after Bulma's and her father's death and a sum large enough to easily provide her grandmother, Vegeta and her with everything they needed, was put into Bulma's, or now Vegeta's, account each month. So she didn't need to worry about money, unlike some of her classmates – another reason for them not to like her, after they had found out, who her stepmother really had been.

"Class!" their teacher, Miss Katayama, shouted over the noise, though there was a bright smile on her face. "I know this is a huge surprise and a bit unexpected. The mayor also apologizes for the short notice of this, but he hopes that you'll be happy about his little present."

"Little?" one of the boys yelled excitedly. "This present is brilliant!" Almost all of the other students immediately agreed with him.

Only Jenny was still staring at the note. She would be gone for a whole week! This meant a whole week spending with the rest of her class, with children who didn't like her and teachers who would watch her every move. A whole week without proper training! Vegeta wouldn't like that.

But the worst thing still was the date of the field trip. December 10th to16th. They couldn't have chosen a more inconvenient date, could they? Not only that it was shortly before Christmas, but she would also be gone on Trunks' birthday, a day that she'd rather spend at Capsule Corporation along with her grandmother and Vegeta. She knew it sounded stupid, but she didn't want them to be alone at that day – even though Vegeta would most likely disappear again, just like he had done for the past two birthdays of his son.

"Alright!" Miss Katayama's voice tore her out of her thoughts once again. "Please give this note to your parents or guardians and then bring the bottom part back with a signature of your guardian. I really wish that all of you would come to this field trip. This is a great chance for you to get out for a week and have some fun."

Get out and have some fun. Jenny was sure that those would be the words her grandmother would use to convince her to go to this field trip. And the girl couldn't even refuse. The teachers and the guidance counselor were still keeping an eye on her, so she would have to be on her best behavior for the whole week.

The bell rang shortly after and Jenny heaved a quiet sigh of relief that she could now finally go home. She gently folded the note and put it in the front pocket of her bag, while the other pupils were already leaving the room. As usual, Jenny took her time, as she put everything into her bag and got up. Just as she had wanted to leave the classroom, a voice held her back.

"Jenny?" her teacher asked softly. "May I speak to you for a moment?"

A large lump appeared in Jenny's throat, as she just nodded silently and walked up to the teacher's desk in front of the classroom. Her thoughts were running wild. What could she have done this time? She hadn't spoken out of line for once, hadn't started any fights, hadn't even broken her pretense to pray every day… She couldn't think of anything that she could have done.

"Yes, Miss Katayama?" she finally mumbled, not really daring to look into her teacher's eyes.

The young woman in front of her sighed. "Don't worry, Jenny. You're not in trouble."

"I'm not?" The girl looked up startled. There was an amused twinkle in Miss Katayama's eyes, though Jenny believed that she could see something else in them as well. Pity? Her eyes narrowed. Jenny didn't like to be pitied. Was she really appearing to be that pathetic that she needed to be pitied by her teachers?

Miss Katayama shook her head, as she explained, "No. Actually, I wanted to talk to you about the field trip. I know, and to be honest, I can even understand to certain degree that you're not looking forward to it. It has been impossible not to notice that the other children avoid you and that you avoid them. I'm not going to coddle you and say that this isn't your fault, because it is, even if not entirely. However, I wanted to ask you to talk to your stepfather about the field trip. We still need a couple of chaperones and since I haven't met your stepfather at all, since you've come to this school, I really would like to use this chance to get to know him. As you maybe know, your grandmother has always been the one, who's come to the teacher-parent-interviews."

Jenny stared at her, her mouth hanging open. Her teacher really wanted Vegeta to be a chaperone on this field trip? Was she suicidal? No student, or teacher for that matter, would survive this week! "I'm… I'm not sure if this is a good idea," Jenny said, stumbling over her own words, as she was trying to explain to her teacher what she thought about this, hoping against hope that she might convince her to let go of that crazy idea. "Vegeta isn't really the most… social man. He... doesn't get along with strangers. Also… the timing of the field trip isn't the best. You see, it's his son's birthday that week and ever since Trunks has died, he usually tries to avoid people on that day."

The look on her teacher's face was now a compassionate one, as she nodded. "I understand. Those days are a hard time for all of us. But please ask him anyway, will you? You could tell him that other parents will be there as well. Maybe that will help you to convince him."

With a defeated sigh, Jenny nodded. What else was she supposed to do? She would ask Vegeta, he would say no and then she would tell her teacher what he had said. Mumbling a quiet goodbye, Jenny slung her back over her shoulder and left the classroom to go home, do her homework and then, during training, confront Vegeta.

There was no way that he was going to say yes.

It was as easy as that.

Jenny should have known that her life would never be that easy. She couldn't believe what she had just heard. With wide blue eyes, opening and closing her mouth like a fish, she stared at the Saiyajin in front of her. No, no, no… This had to be a dream. That's it! She must be dreaming!

She pinched her upper arm and winced, when it actually hurt. Damn it! No dream! Vegeta was still casually leaning at the wall of the gravity room with a bottle of water in his hand and a towel around his shoulders, looking at her with his typical smirk on his face. He was enjoying this! He was enjoying dropping bombshells like this one on her. Oh, how she wanted to wipe that smirk off his face. A few well placed curses and a right hook wouldn't be too bad, but instead she only managed a weak, "C-come again?"

"I said," he repeated, slower, as if she had trouble understanding normal spoken sentences, still smirking at her, "that you can tell your teacher that she can count me in."

Finally, Jenny broke out of her stupor and stemmed her hands into her hips. "Who are you and what have you done to Vegeta?"

Vegeta only chuckled and put the bottle at his lips, taking a few mouthfuls, before putting the bottle on the floor and wiping his mouth with his gloved hand. He had expected this reaction. Had it been only a few weeks ago that she had asked him, he would have certainly begged off, but now, after the last teacher-parent-interview that the old woman had attended, things were different. The brat's teachers wanted to get to know the man who had so much influence on her and maybe this would be the perfect chance to get this done.

However, this didn't mean that he liked it, especially when he considered the date of this field trip, but the sooner he got it over with, the better. At least they would stop pestering him, when this was over, he hoped. It should be possible to survive a couple of nosy Humans for a few days. He had, after all, lived on this planet for more than ten years already.

With a smug look on his face, Vegeta eventually answered, "I tortured him, killed him and then ate his intestines."

"Eww…" Jenny wrinkled her nose. "That's gross."

"You've got to live with it," Vegeta deadpanned. He took the towel from his shoulders and let it drop to the ground. "So, the break's been long enough. Get ready. I want you to master that energy attack I showed you yesterday."

Grumbling, the girl also took off her towel and, after having taken one last sip from the water bottle, put it aside. Following him to the middle of the room, she immediately felt the rise of the gravity and unconsciously transformed into her Saiyajinform, when she came to a halt in front of Vegeta with about twenty feet separating them. "You're really serious, aren't you?" she asked, as she got into a fighting stance. "About you playing chaperone, I mean…"

"Dead serious," he replied. When he noticed that the girl was still eyeing him warily, Vegeta let out a silent sigh. He couldn't believe that he had really gotten this soft that he was trying to appease her qualms. "Don't worry. Your teachers only want to get to know me."

That's exactly what I'm worried about, Jenny thought, as she already had to block one of Vegeta's attacks. Now, more than ever, she just wanted to stay home. This just couldn't end well. It simply wasn't possible. One whole week in the company of people who would want to know everything about him. Vegeta didn't know what he was getting himself into. But he wouldn't listen to her anyway, so the only thing she could do was worry and pray to whatever high god had taken watch over Earth after Dende's demise that nothing too bad would happen. Maybe Vegeta would really try to be nice for once, so that it couldn't get worse than having a few offended teachers or chaperones, when he lost his temper just a bit.

"Besides, did you really think that I would let you go one week without training?"

Jenny muttered a few well-chosen swear words under her breath.

She was wrong! It could get worse!

"Have fun and be good," Mrs. Briefs told Jenny, as they were standing at the train station and waited for their train to arrive. The older woman was hugging her granddaughter tightly, undisturbed by the hustle and bustle around them, as the other children also said goodbye to their parents or guardians.

As Jenny had found out the day after the announcement of the field trip, the mayor had apparently invited the whole school, which would be all kids of the Western Capital ranging from the age of six years to eleven years. About one hundred children all at one place. It certainly was no wonder that the teachers needed as many chaperones as they did, because they were clearly too few to restrain so many children at once. Jenny didn't think she would ever forget the grateful and happy look on Miss Katayama's face, when she had returned the slip of paper with Vegeta's signature and told her teacher that he would accompany them.

And there he was, standing next to her dressed in black jeans, boots and a flight jacket made of leather with a duffel back slung over his shoulders. He had his hands buried deep in the pockets of the jacket and already had a disgusted sneer on his face, as he was watching the hugging families around them. This was going to be fun, Jenny thought, as she slowly withdrew from her grandmother's embrace. "It's not me, you need to worry about," she said with a side-glance at Vegeta. A low growl escaped his throat, as he heard this, but Jenny only grinned at him innocently.

"Whatever," Vegeta said gruffly. Noise filled the station as their train finally ran in. "Let's get on the train, before all the good seats are gone. I don't want to sit next to some noisy, or worse, whiny child."

Jenny rolled her eyes and quickly waved to her grandmother, because Vegeta was already dragging her towards one of the open doors of the train. Honestly, what had he expected? Only because she was quieter and more mature than most of the other children, he shouldn't have assumed that all of them were like her. None of them had the weight of two worlds on their shoulders and certainly none of them had Saiyajinblood flowing through their veins.

When the train lurched and began its journey towards the snowy mountains, they finally found an empty compartment and, after having taken off her jacket and having put her backpack and jacket on the luggage rack, Jenny slumped down on one of the seats next to the window and curiously watched Vegeta doing the same. She frowned. "Aren't you supposed to sit with the teachers and other chaperones or something?"

Vegeta simply shrugged indifferently. "No one told me where I had to sit. It's quiet here, so I'm going to stay."

"I could start being noisy and whiny." Jenny flashed him a challenging smirk.

There was a dangerous glint in his eyes, as he returned it. Vegeta had risen to her challenge and leaned back in his seat with his arms crossed over his chest. "Do you want to get rid of me?"

With a shrug, Jenny cocked her head to one side and replied, smirk still in place, "Maybe… However, Miss Katayama still hasn't met you and I just wondered when you'd go to introduce yourself."

"Brat," he snorted. "I'm the Prince of all Saiyajins. I don't need to go to introduce myself to a mere human. Your teacher has to come to me if she wants something."

At exactly that moment, the door to their compartment slid open and none other than Jenny's teacher Miss Katayama stuck her head inside. A smile lit up her face, when she spotted Jenny and Vegeta and opened the door further to take a step into the compartment.

Jenny couldn't help the grin that flickered over her face, as she saw how her teacher was wistfully eyeing Vegeta's very obvious muscles underneath his tight black sweater. "Hello, Miss Katayama," the girl tore her out of her thoughts, sparing Vegeta any further embarrassment. For now. Maybe, she thought, her eyes twinkling mischievously, this is going to be more fun than I thought.

"Hello Jenny," the young woman said dazedly, not once removing her eyes from the man, who was apparently the girl's stepfather. Had she known that this man was this attractive, she would have invited him much sooner.

Jenny had to stifle a snicker, as she noticed that Vegeta's face got darker with each passing second that her teacher was spending to openly stare at him. "Miss Katayama, this is Vegeta. Vegeta, this is Miss Katayama, my teacher."

"It's a pleasure, Mr. Briefs," the woman breathed, extending her hand. The hand was floating in the air for about thirty seconds – Jenny really should have stopped the time with her watch – until her teacher noticed that the man in front of her obviously wasn't going to return her gesture. A deep blush crept on the woman's cheek, as she lowered her hand and cleared her throat. "Well… uhm… the other teachers and chaperones are in the saloon coach down the train to get to know each other and… uh… discuss further things about this field trip." Vegeta didn't move, raising a brow, as if asking her, how this concerned him. Miss Katayama became even more flustered, as she explained, "The-the others are waiting for you, so that we can start. You-you are of course allowed to return here, when we're finished."

"Why didn't you say so?"

Jenny could almost see how her teacher's legs turned into Jell-O upon hearing Vegeta's deep voice, no matter how mocking it sounded. With his behavior, he was getting back at her for staring at him. The Saiyajin got up from the seat, his muscles playing underneath the sweater while doing so and brushed past her into the student packed corridor. The girl almost expected Miss Katayama to faint, but the woman only mumbled, "Hello, salty goodness!"

Jenny clamped her hands over her mouth to stop herself from bursting out laughing, especially when the tips of Vegeta's ears turned slightly red. First, when the door slid shut again and she believed that the two adults were out of earshot, she gave in to the fit of laughter.

Vegeta gritted his teeth, as he determinedly strode along the corridor in the train back to his and the brat's compartment. What in hell had possessed him to agree to this? He should have stayed home. He didn't know, how to survive a whole week with those people! Not just were they overly cheerful, no, they were also all extremely curious, especially the women, who had of course known that he was a widower and obviously thought that he should be ready to move on after two years, seven months and three days.

He shook his head. This was truly pathetic. He really should stop counting the days without his mate. It would drive him insane in the end. There were now more important things to take of, like enduring this week without losing his temper and seriously hurting or, worse even, accidentally killing someone. Those females of course didn't know that he wasn't just a simple widower, they didn't know that by losing his woman, he had truly lost a part of himself. He just had to tell himself that they couldn't know and ignore them until it was all over.

Only a few minutes later Vegeta was standing in front of his and the girl's compartment. However, before he opened the door, he concentrated briefly on the brat's ki, noticing immediately that she had to be asleep. Silently, Vegeta slid the door open and slipped into the compartment, closing the door again without a sound, shutting out all the noise of the students in the corridor.

She was still alone. None of the other children had joined her. The brat had hinted that something like this would most likely happen, but he honestly hadn't expected that truly no one seemed to like her enough to at least spend some time with her.

Sprawled out on the whole length of the cushioned bench, the brat was snoring slightly with her face towards the wall. A book had dropped to the ground and Vegeta quietly bent down to pick it up. The page that was lying open displayed a bunch of math problems and he shook his head, as he turned the book around and read on the front cover that it was indeed a schoolbook – for sixth grade. She was already two years ahead of the others in her grade. This girl was truly too much like her big brother.

Closing the book and putting it on one of the empty seats next to him, Vegeta once again sat down at the window and gazed out of it. The sun was already setting again and it would soon be dark. In about two hours they would arrive at their destination, where vans would be waiting for them to bring them to the ski resort. Another half an hour later and they would be there, just in time for dinner.

Vegeta frowned. He hoped the food there would be enough to satisfy his and the brat's stomachs. Well, even if it didn't, Mrs. Briefs had packed them enough provisions to last the week.

His eyes once again wandered to the sleeping girl across from him, as she turned around, now facing him. Her arms were used as makeshift pillows and about half of her face was buried in the crook of her arm. A sigh escaped her parted lips, slightly muffled by the fabric of her sweatshirt. Vegeta noticed that she looked peaceful; there was even a small smile tugging at her lips.

The laughter of this afternoon was still in his ears. The brat had probably thought he hadn't heard her, but he had and, most surprisingly, he wasn't angry. This had been the most carefree sound he had heard from her in a long time.

What's happened that made her so sad?

He couldn't forget the boy's question. He also couldn't forget his plea, a plea that Vegeta tried to grant. Only that he didn't know what exactly would make the girl happy. Her grandmother had tried the same by offering the girl to go out, be it to the park, shopping or other things that could be defined as fun.

But how could they help the brat, when she always turned down their offers? The only things she ever did was going to school, doing homework and training. Only during training did she seem to perk up, so he did what he could do best – he trained with her and taught her everything he knew to prepare her for her battle and yet it wasn't enough to ensure her happiness.

There was something missing and slowly, Vegeta began to see what it was.

When he looked closely, he could more often than not see something in her eyes, something that he had gotten used to seeing, whenever he had looked into a mirror before the woman had somehow wormed her way into his life, and now again that she was gone.

It was so obvious. The only people Jenny was close to were the old woman and he himself. Her brothers were both dead, just as her parents, though she had never really gotten to know them, and she didn't have any friends or even acquaintances at school.

It was simple, really.

It wasn't just the guilt, or the prophecy. No, the brat was lonely.

Vegeta closed his eyes and leaned his head back against the soft headrest. He wouldn't wake her yet. The brat deserved a bit more of this peace that she was experiencing in her sleep, before she was once again tossed into reality.

Meanwhile, he was going to think of a way to get her out of this situation. A small idea was already taking form in his mind, but he needed a few more days until he could be sure that this idea might help them – her.