A long, confessional, and sappy Author's Note is at the end of this chapter. I'm kind of nervous about including it, and some of you might find it annoying or TMI, but I also feel like it's a message that's important to share. It is the same exact Author's Note that I included in the most recent update to my other story, The 7 Year Gap, so you may have already seen it. If that's the case, then feel free to scroll past!

IN THE PREVIOUS CHAPTERS...

After learning that the Namekian dragon balls will grant three wishes, Vegeta is struck with the sudden desire to use all of the wishes on himself. He tells Bulma that he wants to wish for Namek to be revived, as well as his people, and he wants her to go live on his planet with them.

Bulma, feeling betrayed by how easy it was for him to forget about Earth, refuses to go along with his plans. She also doesn't want to tell him that too much time has passed for those wishes to be possible, since she doesn't want any of that to influence his decision. She doesn't want Earth to be a second choice for Vegeta, and she doesn't want him to stay with her while secretly feeling that the grass would be greener somewhere else. Bulma urges Vegeta to make the right choice, and says that if he picks his planet, he is choosing to be alone. When Vegeta gets angry and storms off, shouting that there's no way he isn't going to wish for his planet back, Bulma feels even more betrayed. She recruits Gohan to steal the pile of dragon balls that Vegeta has around found.

While Vegeta is retrieving the balls, he senses power levels that makes him realize that the Ginyu Force are on their way. In a panic, he finds the seventh ball, but he realizes that the other ones have been taken. He knows exactly where to look, and he storms into the capsule house while screaming and cursing them for what they've done. He knows that the Ginyu Force are on their way. After threatening Gohan and finally getting the balls back, Vegeta realizes that it's too late to try and make his wish. They don't have time to go to Dende, because the Ginyu Force has already landed.

Admitting his own defeat, Vegeta orders Bulma to capsulate everything and then flies her to a cave. He tells her to stay put, since she has no distinguishable ki. She grows emotional at how distant he is, the pain of everything that has transpired finally getting to her. The saiyan does not even say goodbye before leaving, and Bulma is then all alone in the cave...

The wind whipping around them as they flew, Vegeta and Gohan were on a straight trail to the power levels they were sensing. With the dragon balls capsulated and safe in Bulma's possession, the only thing left to do was confront the Ginyu Force head on.

At first Gohan hadn't understand this. "Why don't we try to make it to Guru's place?" He'd asked. "We could at least try to make the wishes before they find us!"

But Vegeta knew that this would be a futile effort. He knew, at that precise moment, that the Ginyu Force would be sweeping the planet in a hunt for him. He also was aware of their speed, and how fast they could perform such an errand. The fact was that the dragon balls were safer with Bulma. At least if she had them, and the battle didn't pan out well for Vegeta and Gohan, she'd still be able to make her wishes. And she'd be able to wish them back... Though, to be fair, he wouldn't blame her if she only chose to wish Gohan back. After today, he wouldn't be surprised if she never wanted to see him again.

It really took no coaxing at all to get Gohan to agree to this upcoming battle. The saiyan prince was surprised by that, but his shock quickly transitioned to pride. He'd assumed the boy would be reluctant to do anything with him, especially after how hostile Vegeta was just acting towards him in the capsule house. But Gohan could sense the Ginyu Force, too, and he felt a very dark presence about them. If their only choice was to fight, then he wanted to stand up against them with dignity. Vegeta thought this was nothing but a true display of his saiyan genes...

"Let's do it!" Gohan had said. "I think I'm ready. I'll make Mister Piccolo proud!"

"You understand the severity of this situation?" Vegeta had replied, fighting back the urge to smirk at the boy's boldness. Something about this kid seemed so different than it had been just a day prior. What exactly was it? "There may be no return from this battle. I cannot guarantee that."

"I'm ready." Gohan replied, furrowing his eyebrows. He hadn't told Vegeta yet of his power being awakened by Papa Guru, but it was making him feel more confident than ever. "If these people are anything like the ones who tried to kill Dende, they need to pay."

"Good. Then let's go. And remember, boy. If you see any chance - any opening at all - take out their scouters." Vegeta said, before taking off. "Whether engaged in battle or not, just disarm those fucking scouters..."

.

This cave was not tall enough for Bulma to hitch her capsule house in, so the Bluehead had to make do with her surroundings. As much as she found it creepy, especially in not knowing how deep the cave stretched for, she slowly got used to it. Her back propped up against a thick stalagmite, she had her feet kicked up against the cave's sweaty wall as she stroked her thin fingers over her swollen belly.

Images of Vegeta's facial expression before he'd flown off kept circling in her head, and all it did was confuse her aching mind. He'd become so angry and hostile since landing on Namek, and it only seemed to get worse each time they reunited. Once again, she couldn't help but think that he was acting just like he did when they'd first met. After spending so much time with him, Bulma had come to assume that it had been a mask. She'd truly thought that the soft manner he'd started exhibiting towards her with was him letting down his walls. She couldn't help but think, now, that this greedy version of Vegeta was the real Vegeta, after all…

That only presented more questions. If Vegeta was truly as savage and guiltless as he was currently acting, then why had he been so different towards her before? He'd been so sweet, especially during their time in space. What had made him treat her so kind in the first place?

She couldn't help but remember one night when Vegeta had, yet again, been scolding Bulma for being so naive about his persona. He'd said something along the lines of "I am a callous monster to everyone around me, but you're the exception..." Bulma's memory was foggy, but he really had said something like that, hadn't he? She just knew he did! And now she felt so dumb for ignoring his own warnings, and believing he was capable of far more than he wanted to admit.

It was clear from their recent interactions that they were broken up, and Bulma couldn't help but feel a pang of sadness when she considered this. They had completely different plans for their future, and he was even willing to leave her and their unborn child behind in effort to chase after some unattainable goal. She'd reacted by fucking with him and stealing the dragon balls, yeah, but still... Vegeta had been so harsh... And distant. He'd taken her to this cave as some form of protection, sure, but his body language made it clear that they were over... As far as he was concerned, they were done.

Wait a moment - they? They? What did they have in the first place?! Why was Bulma thinking of this as if they'd had something at all?! There had never been a conversation about their status ~ they were never officially a couple!

... The Bluehead glared at her fingernails as she thought this. No, they really weren't ever official, but their actions together sure did feel like it... Of course, she'd come to assume that it was an unspoken pact between them... They didn't need to have a conversation to establish what they meant to each other. Actions spoke louder than words, right? So how could he do something like this now?! He'd proven to her time and time again that she meant something to him!

So, what?

What did any of this mean?

.

They had only been flying for about twenty minutes when they encountered the first member of the notorious Ginyu Force. It was Vegeta, of course, that recognized the long white hair willowing from Jeice's scalp. Up ahead, the creep was slowly pacing back and forth in the pasture he stood in. In the distance he was a small red dot, but Gohan could still hear his voice as he mumbled to himself.

Vegeta, who was adamant that they approach the situation with the benefit of surprise attacks, grabbed Gohan by the forearm. "Down, boy!" He growled, pulling them both towards the planet's soil. They landed on their knees, crouching low to hide in the tall grass that was billowing all around them.

"Is that him, Mr. Vegeta?" Gohan breathed. They slowly crawled a few meters closer.

"Ssh." Vegeta hissed. And then he added, likely to himself, "So, we have Jeice all alone... I'm surprised he's not making rounds with his love buddy, Burter."

Awestruck by this evil man, Gohan looked on. Up ahead Jeice was strolling back and forth, clicking a button on his scouter as he observed his surroundings. As the boy watched, he couldn't help but stare at this strange man's long mane. It was far more hair than he'd ever seen on someone before. That hair even appeared to have a mind of its own, as Jeice ran a hand through it and muttered to it about whatever he was seeing on his scouter. Was this guy really having a conversation with his hair? Was he getting some type of inspiration from it? This seemed… well, strange.

"Hm, right." Jeice was saying now, carefully stroking a hand through his white strands. What kind of accent was that? It nearly sounded Australian. Gohan couldn't help but wonder which planet was this guy from. What a surprise it was that they had such familiar accents! Bulma would have found that so interesting!

"I know, I know, you pretty thing..." Jeice mumbled allowing one last pet across his white strands. "Don't you worry, we'll get ya all brushed up and smoothed out when we're back on the ship." And then he suddenly turned towards them. Gohan and Vegeta ducked lower in the grass, but it was an unnecessary movement. Jeice wasn't even looking at them. He was actually staring at something beyond their heads, glaring into the dark depths of the forest that was off in the distance.

He was facing them, though, and was seemingly distracted! This was an opening that had presented itself so perfectly, and Gohan looked to Vegeta to see if he noticed. The saiyan prince wasn't returning the boy's gaze, instead glaring at Jeice with a hatred unlike anything the boy had seen before. Was Vegeta thinking the same thing? What was going through his mentor's head?

What Gohan was wondering was whether or not this was a good time to strike. At that moment, Vegeta's earlier instructions echoed in Gohan's head... He needed to disarm the ginyu force of their scouters. Whether in an active fight or not. For now, they were safe, but as soon as he did that, they'd be giving themselves away. A battle would surely ensue.

Now was the chance!

One quick shot, and Jeice would no longer have a working scouter. It was now or never! The boy, still hidden in the long gross, opened his hand and aimed his palm at that red man's face. He didn't even charge his attack, for then his ki might rise high enough to raise suspicion. He just did it, hoping that the blast would still be strong enough the take the scouter out.

"What the?!" Jeice shouted. It'd happened so fast – and now his face felt as it was on fire where the scouter had been. The device flew from around his ear and went flying to the soil, a thin line of smoke seductively coiling into the air from where it lay.

Now was their chance! Vegeta didn't regard Gohan's actions at all - now it was his chance! He launched from his place on the ground, moving so fast that he couldn't be seen. He landed a kick across Jeice's face, before jumping back in the air and firing a series of innumerable blasts where the man had fallen. Jeice's body quickly became blanketed with the resulting cloud of dust and smoke being kicked up into the air. Soon Vegeta was glaring down at a large mushroom cloud, but he didn't stop firing yet. He was determined to make sure that the man was completely and utterly dead. It wasn't until he was out of breath that he finally stopped to stare down as he panted and gulped, watching the cloud slowly dissipate from view...

Gohan's lips were parted. He was watching from where he still lay. How could it be that the guy was still alive?! His ki was dented, but it was still adamantly there! What Vegeta had just done would have killed anyone!

"Wah! Vegeta! You old galah!" Jeice's voice was calling out, even before he was able to be seen. Sure enough, as the cloud parted even more, Vegeta could make out Jeice's figure. He was bruised, and part of his garb had been burned from his skin, but sure enough he was still breathing. "Vegeta! Damn you! Look at me! You've wrecked my hair!"

"Damn you, Jeice!" Vegeta snarled. That bastard was making a mockery of him. All of that brutality, and the oaf was worried about his hair?! The saiyan was still out of breath; but he began to charge again. Jeice was wounded. He was weakened. He needed to be finished off before he could recover.

.

"Well, Little Bulb, I wonder if you're a girl or a boy..." Bulma thought out loud. She stared down at her stomach as she twisted her mouth in thought, wishing that the child inside could offer a reply.

Talking out loud to her stomach was quickly becoming one of the Bluehead's daily habits, an involuntarily tick that she always found herself doing when she was alone. Originally it had started during her baths back on the spaceship. Even though she'd made this journey with Vegeta and Gohan, she'd be lying if she ever claimed that the trip hadn't rendered her homesick. One of the only things that did help her feel at peace during her emotional moments was speaking directly to the baby. And that was exactly what she did.

At first it had started out with short comments. She would rub her stomach and apologize to it. She'd express her sorrow, lamenting that she couldn't guarantee the type of life the infant would be born into. She'd mumble her random thoughts to it, such as when she wished she dig into an inviting slice of shortcake. It didn't take long before her talks began growing more thorough. Soon she was having full one-sided conversations with her unborn child, and this moment was proving to be no exception.

"Boy... or girl?"

No answer. Not that she was expecting one.

"I can't pick a good name for you until I know." Bulma continued. "Hmm... I always thought Bloomers would be pretty for a girl... But, if you're a boy... Hm..."

She dropped her head to look up at the moist ceiling of the cave. "Well, Vegeta's family seemed to always pass that name down to each son, but I'm not a fan of that kind of thing. You might be Vegeta's, but you're still unique... You deserve your own name."

Silence.

Bulma liked to imagine that the baby was thinking hard on the subject, along with her. "...If you're a boy, maybe we could follow Vegeta's theme, and give you something like Cabbage… Or Turnip? But... Maybe it'd suit you better to have a masculine version of Bloomers though? Hm, what would that be? Boxers? ...Trunks?"

Even more silence.

"Okay, okay..." Bulma smiled. "I get it. You want a surprise, right? Maybe we should all be surprised. I'll wait until I see your face, and then I'll give you the first name that comes to mind. THAT'LL be the method!"

.

Before Vegeta was able to land another hit on Jeice, the red man got him instead. It was a blast to the stomach, and he did it as easily as if he were swatting away a fly. The saiyan let out a breathless choke as he fell from midair, landing on his strained knees. Clutching at where his solar plexus was, the saiyan attempted to rise back to his feet, but Jeice was already standing over him.

"The others should be here before too long!" Jeice grinned, landing a kick to the saiyan's chest. "We all split up so we could find you faster. Didn't realize you'd be makin' your own appearance so soon!"

"Fuck off, Jeice!" Vegeta began. How could Jeice be strong enough to get him like this?

"Come on, you old bugga." A firm grip on the shoulders, and Jeice was pulling the saiyan to his feet. "Why don't you go on an' introduce me to your mate over there? The one who cactused my scouter."

"Nobody ever knows what the hell you're talking about!" Vegeta spat. "Cactus this, you moron!" In one motion, the saiyan swung sideways to land a sharp elbow in Jeice's rib. Jeice groaned, and while he was in recoil, the saiyan landed a punch in his face.

Jeice made to retaliate, but before he was able to do anything, he was struck from behind. He fell, and standing over him was Gohan, who looked up to Vegeta hesitantly. The saiyan took this as an opportunity to fire a shot directly in Jeice's head, effectively finishing the red man off.

This time, both of them knew he was dead. There was no discernible ki.

"Good." Vegeta growled, the smirk painfully wide on his lips. "One down, three more to go."

"Are you okay, Mister Vegeta?"

"What?" The saiyan looked to the boy, and he saw that Gohan's eyes were fixed on his torso. He looked down to see a small puddle of blood seeping from his rip, oozing out from under his shirt. He sighed, turning away. "Minor injury. He got a lucky hit."

"He was fast." The child replied. He had that distant, shocked tone that he always obtained after beating an opponent in battle. "Really fast."

"Yes, and we still were able to defeat him." The saiyan slammed his boot down on Jeice one last time before walking away. "You feel the others, boy? They're heading this way. No doubt they were reading his power levels and saw he was in distress. They know he's dead. And I'm sure they picked up on our ki during our fight, regardless of how we masked it."

"We should hide." Gohan said. "Then we can disarm them, just like we did with Jeice."

"No point." Vegeta replied. He pointed up at the sky, where three figures could be seen closing in on them. They were still far, but there was no doubt that they'd seen Gohan and Vegeta in the distance. "Defeating Jeice was easy. We outnumbered him and had the element of surprise. If those three team up against us, we'll be the ones that are outnumbered."

"So-"

"SO, we're screwed." Vegeta spat. "Watch your back. And just like before, take out those damned scouters if you notice any opening. If we're lucky they'll decide to fight us, one on one. They enjoy a good show and get off on that sort of thing. I have the feeling they'll panic once they see what we've done to Jeice, though. They might just jump us. It could go either way."

Above their heads flew the new enemies, sweeping in from different directions. They all met in the air, where the landed together, touching ground thirty meters away from Gohan and Vegeta. The saiyan prince watched, sizing up each of them. He scowled as the giant one, muscular and dumb as a cherry tomato, shot a goofy grin to the short toad standing beside him. 'Just three more.' The saiyan thought, as he narrowed his eyes. There were three more, but where was the fourth member of the Ginyu Force? Captain Ginyu, the founder, was nowhere to be seen. The saiyan couldn't sense his ki, either. The fact that he was intractable wasn't surprising – the man did know how to mask his ki, after all. However, it was interesting that he didn't show himself… Where was he? What was he up to?

The saiyan pushed the questions from his mind – now wasn't the time to ponder. At that very moment there were three bastards standing in front of him that needed to be defeated. If he and Gohan could just do that, then he could go get those dragon balls. There were just three more to defeat, and he'd be going back to see Bulma...

Bulma… The memory of her name made his breath catch.

"Hey, look over der!" The giant suddenly shouted, his voice dripping with just as much idiocy as the saiyan remembered. Gohan stifled a laugh when he heard it - that was definitely not the voice he'd been expecting to hear. The giant waved a fleshy hand as he pointed at Jeice's body. "They got him, alright! Looks like the boss was right."

"You killed Jeice!" The tall blue one barked, cutting off his friend.

"That one is Burter." Vegeta mumbled in Gohan's direction. "Strategically, he's the one with the most brains. He and Jeice had a codependent relationship. He'll be eager to avenge his friend."

"Vegeta is mine!" Burter spat. "I call dibs!"

"Hey, no fair!" The dumb giant whined. "You said I'd get to fight him!"

"That was before he got Jeice!"

"The stupid one is Recoome". Vegeta whispered. "Intelligence is the way to beat him. Confuse the bastard, then take him out. Just don't let him get too mad. He gets stupid strength when he's mad."

"I wanted to pound him!" Recoome was wailing, his halfwitted tone strengthening with his emotions.

"I think I should have my turn." The one resembling a toad finally spoke up.

"Oh, shut up, Guldo, you little bitch!" Vegeta shouted from afar.

"Hey!" The toad, Guldo, croaked. "See? He's never respected me! I've been waiting years! Let me at him!"

"Who's the scrawny kid?" Recoome asked, seeming to notice Gohan for the first time. "Uh, hey guys. Looks like we have an audience."

"Well!" Guldo exclaimed.

"In that case!" Burter continued.

"We should introduce ourselves!" All three sang at the same time. And then they jumped, flying to get closer to Gohan and Vegeta. Gohan gulped down his anxiety. He'd grown used to watching those guys argue amongst one another. He hadn't been expecting them to suddenly go on the offense. But the Ginyu Force weren't charging for an attack, it turned out, when they stopped only meters away from the two saiyans.

"Great," Vegeta muttered, as if he knew exactly what to expect. "Here we go…"

"Recoome!" The giant redhead hollered, throwing his arms out to the side and above his head.

"Burter!" The blue one yelled, falling into a side lunge while also throwing his arms above his head.

"Guldo!" The toad announced. He raised his hands and waved them, like a cat begging for a string.

"We are…" They all sang in unison. And then they jumped to land closer to one another, maintaining their strained poses while they batted their nonexistent eyelashes. "THE GINYU FORCE!"

Round eyes bulging from his pale head, Gohan didn't know what to say or do. Horrified, he looked up to get a cue from Vegeta, and the saiyan prince was pinching the bridge of his nose. "Idiots…" He was growling. "Absolute idiots…"

.

"I wonder when they're going to be done!" Bulma groaned. She was sitting at a small table that she'd released from a capsule, and now she was scribbling away at a piece of paper. Realizing just how long an indefinite amount of time was, the Bluehead had decided to try and crack some formulas while she was stuck in that cave. "Let's see… if the gravity machine required…"

…A shadow formed at the entry of the cave. She didn't notice, since he back was turned towards it.

"Ugh, none of this will work!" She hissed, snatching the paper up and rolling it into a ball. "You'd think designing a machine that reduces gravity into a negative level would be just as easy as designing one that increases it!" She slammed the wadded paper to her foot, stomping on it. She noticed something out of the corner of her eye then, and she startled. "Vegeta?!"

The Bluehead jumped from her chair, and she screamed when she realized she'd been wrong in her prediction. "GAH! You scared me!" She paused, taking in the figure that was standing in the entryway. Because this person was standing in the light, all she could make out was their shadow. She couldn't see any identifying features. This outline was not one that she recognized, though, and it didn't resemble any of the Namekians she had seen yet.

"Who are you?" She asked, and she sounded a lot more confident than she felt. There was a strange air that had taken over the cave, and she backed slowly into the desk. The figure was stepping towards her now, out of the entry way, and it was growing larger as it advanced on her.

That was when Bulma heard it laugh. HE was laughing, and the sound was getting louder and more prominent, like a snowball that was building in size now that it had left the top of a hill. "Vegeta?" It asked, as if what she'd said had been hilarious. The voice was gruff, but not exactly deep. It didn't seem suiting of the size of the body it came from, and yet it wasn't anything to blink at. The Bluehead felt a chill run down her spine. This was the voice of someone who felt they were owed by the world… This was the manic voice of a narcissist, hellbent on destruction, and ready for amusement…

He was close enough now that she could make out his features, the light revealing his amused face. Large teeth were protruding from his wide grin, his bald head shimmering as it reflected the sunlight that hit it. His mustache was so whisky that it almost made up for the hair that was his scalp lacked. The thing that Bulma focused on, though, was the large device that was hanging over his left eye. She could distinctly remember seeing Vegeta wearing one of those when they'd first met… It was definitely one of Frieza's scouters.

Was this a member of the Ginyu Force?

It had to be!

What was he doing here!? This man wasn't acting surprised at all upon stumbling across her. He acted as if he'd purposely scoped her out. How had he known she was there?!

"Wh…" Bulma stuttered, her mind yelling at herself to remain brave. She didn't know what to do. She didn't know what to say! What was he going to do with her? "Wh… Who are you?"

"So!" The man proclaimed, ignoring her attempt at interrogation. "You're the tramp that Vegeta betrayed us for!"

AN -

(Trigger warning to anyone who might be suffering from grief, depression, or has been subjected to assault. I try to keep it brief, but everyone has different triggers, so I am warning you now).

2020 is right around the corner. We are about to enter a new decade!

The 2010s were crazy, weren't they? Even if you aren't a usual commenter, I would love if you left one and shared something that made you happy this last decade.

Me?

Well, this decade started off horribly. One of my parents, the person I was closest to in my family, succumbed to depression and passed away. That was horrible enough, but then I essentially got disowned by the remaining parent because they lost themselves to apathy. So, all in a span of months, I was suffering from tremendous feelings of abandonment and all of the mixed up feelings that come from surviving someone who has lost their life to mental illness. In school I was othered for having lost a parent in that way, became known as "that girl", and a lot of my friends stopped talking to me. The others that didn't completely disappear? Well, I was drugged and sexually assaulted in front of a large group of people at a small party that was supposed to have been safe. Yup, on a living room floor, with music playing, and lots of bright lights hitting me in the face. The sporadic and blurry memories I have from that night are of me trying to manage the will power to move, but my body was completely limp. I was trying so hard to find a way to out, kind of forced to lay there while all these horrible things were going on, and I was thinking "How did this happen? How can this be happening?" All while being laughed at by the people I thought were my friends. High school, am I right? Fuck. (Just in case you missed the memo, friends don't watch and laugh at friends that are getting sexually assaulted. Also, friends don't assault their friends.).

A lot happened in that first year of the 10s. I could list more, but that isn't the point of this. This isn't supposed to be a sob story. I mention these few things because I just want to express how bad things were, and how bad I felt. Trust me when I say that I understand how horrible it is to feel so low. I get how annoying it can be when people ask you to list things that make you happy, or to just look on the bright side of life. I get that, and my question is coming from someone who has felt as if life couldn't get any worse if it tried. Needless to say, I was very depressed for a long time after all of that stuff happened. I had PTSD, and the majority of my free time consisted of countless baths where I would just scrub myself mercilessly, feeling as if I would never be clean again. I used to even chant that to myself ("I'll never be clean, I'll never be clean"), as if somehow, in acknowledging how dirty I felt, my mind would finally give me permission to just feel okay again. The rest of my time was spent laying in bed and trying to ward off anxiety attacks, all while I wished I could see my deceased parent again. I just wanted a hug, because the living one had no care about what I was going through (even when I finally summoned the courage to confess to them).

I quite literally felt like I had nobody to lean on or turn to. It is beyond stunning when I look back on how heartbroken, anxious, and ashamed I felt back then. I didn't just wish the pain would go away - I wished I hadn't even been born. I didn't even want a memory of myself or who I was to exist. It was a horrible way to feel, and I lived like that for years. I cannot believe that I went from THAT, at the beginning of the decade, to where I am now. And that is my point for bringing any of this up. Right now I am a very happy person. I can say that without lying, and I can say that without feeling like it's something I am forcing. It's just the truth: I'm happy. That doesn't mean that all of my days are filled with me being ecstatic and screaming to the rooftops. A lot of people I know seem to feel pressure that they must feel that way at all times in order to be happy. To me, being happy means that I'm not in pain. It means that, even when I'm having bad days, I have the strength and trust in myself to get through them. And the things I appreciate help to get me through.

I have so many things I cherish about my life. My lover, the roof over my head, my job, my writing, my Nintendo, even food. I look forward to so much, and a lot of them are these little things that I can count up and feel so warm about. I never would have believed it would be possible to feel happy, or even at ease, from where I was when the decade started. I share this because I want ANYONE who might be reading this and going through a hard time to feel as if there is a light waiting for them. I don't care who you are, or what has happened to you, or where you think you're going. I don't care how daunting the new year may feel, or how scary it may be to enter a new decade. It WILL be okay! It might not be tomorrow, it might not even be next month. But that's alright... It's okay to not be okay. And someday, when you least expect it, you're going to look back and think "Wow, I can't believe it. I'm happy."

So, I asked you guys to think of something that's made you happy this decade. Why? Because, this is not a happy time of year for everyone. And what's something that made ME happy this decade, despite all of the hardships than can occur in 10 years? Well, I got to leave the country for the first time this decade. I got married. I found small ways to regain the feeling of having control of my life, and somehow (little by little) I built a home I love. I've come to terms with the hurt and the betrayal, and I've learned so much about myself from it. I have a job that I love. I get to look forward to self-care days that are spent under a blanket and in front of a TV! Hell, I am thankful for cake! I have the best pets in the world, and the best husband ever (that might be slightly biased, to be fair). Best of all? I've gotten to write some stories that ended up being rather therapeutic for me, I've read some amazing stories, and I've met some pretty amazing people from all of it!

So, what made you happy this last decade?

Here's to the closure of the 2010s, and the commencement of the 2020s. Bring it on.