Chapter 56. Visit
"Grandma! I brought dad and Aina for a visit!" Trunks hollered as he, Vegeta and Aina popped into the kitchen of the CC.
Mrs. Briefs was hovering over the stove, almost completely shrouded by steam coming from three huge pans. Little Bra sat playing with a doll on a bright pink blanket on the floor a few paces behind the middle aged blonde woman. Mrs. Briefs turned and gave a happy cry upon finding them standing behind her. The woman's mother had never been fazed by Vegeta, she never seemed fazed by anything. Life was just an ongoing delight to her. Her cheery disposition was even worse than Kakarot's and just as maddening.
"How nice to see you, Vegeta." Mrs. Briefs chirruped in her sing song voice. "You're looking good. Are you hungry?"
She wasn't even waiting for a reply and already heaping a shit load of food on a plate which she placed onto the kitchen table for him.
"Give grandma a kiss, Trunksie!" Mrs. Briefs then cheered.
Trunks obliged readily. He was very fond of his grandmother.
"I'm here to see Bra." Vegeta declined the food, his eyes falling on the pretty little girl playing on the floor.
"I'll eat it, grandma." Trunks scooted onto the chair to eat the food in his father's stead. Apparently the boy hadn't eaten his fill on Vegetasei.
"Daddy!" Bra cheered when she found Vegeta standing there. "Daddy, daddy, daddy!"
She bounded over clumsily with her ungainly big toddler's head and Vegeta crouched to catch her in his free arm, nosing his blue-haired daughter's downy face thoroughly to rub off his scent on her.
"Alright, Princess." he greeted quietly.
Bra threw her short, chubby arms around his neck and nosed him back enthusiastically, chanting daddy's until she was quite out of breath. It comforted Vegeta to see she hadn't forgotten who he was yet. Bra's huge blue eyes fell on Aina sleeping on his arm and she pointed a fat little finger at the kitten, giving Vegeta a questioning look.
"This is your sister, Aina." Vegeta told his elder daughter.
"Ai-a." Bra tested.
Her curious gaze returned to Aina and she poked her fingers in the kitten's face, now chanting her name and becoming breathless all over again.
"So cute!" Mrs. Briefs chirruped, popping up at Vegeta's shoulder. "My, but you can make babies, Vegeta. What a pretty little girl you have there!"
Vegeta felt a proud half grin tug at the corner of his mouth. It was true, he could make babies. He sensed Bra's base power had grown again since the last time he visited. If it turned out his elder daughter had the same warrior aspirations as his son, she could become quite a force with proper training. He suspected the woman was never going to allow that, not while she was young in any case. It was a waste, but Vegeta had decided to choose his battles wisely. Things between him and the woman were strained enough as they were.
Aina's eyes opened and she glared dangerously at the faces hovering over her, her dark eyes glittering like gems.
"She has your eyes!" Mrs. Briefs cheered and then something boiling over at the stove drove her away. It didn't stop her incessant chattering and she resumed in that sing song voice: "It is good to see you have moved on. I told Bulma a million times that you two weren't right for each other. I knew it from the get go. How you two made each other miserable!" Without any preamble she changed topics and started questioning Trunks about his day.
His son boasted on his title and his new home. Vegeta only half listened while observing his daughters familiarizing themselves with one another. Aina was holding Bra with a dead pan stare that made him snicker, her face completely void of emotion and Bra was giggling and petting her little sister's rosy cheeks, still throwing out the odd "Ai-a." here and there. Vegeta pulled Bra in snuggly and nosed her soft cheek again, happy to be reunited with her after so long.
Vegeta was just counting himself lucky that the woman wasn't around to start another fight when he sensed her approaching. Bulma startled and shrieked when she came into the kitchen and nearly bumped into Vegeta who was still crouching just inside the doorway.
"Look who's here, honey!" Mrs. Briefs chirruped.
"Hello, Vegeta." Bulma said as she straightened her white lab coat in a dignified manner.
"Woman." Vegeta returned with a look up at her.
Bulma drew a quick hand through her blue hair and pulled the glasses from her nose, tucking them away in a pocket of her lab coat. She looked as pretty as ever, even if she was starting to age. The hints of wrinkles at the corners of her big blue eyes were more flattering than anything else. Her gaze passed over Aina in his arm. She made no comment, gave no acknowledgement to his daughter's excistence at all.
Vegeta wouldn't have taken Aina if he had a choice. With his mate entertaining guests tonight there had been no other option. Aina couldn't be left in anyone else's care with her wobblers. The woman already knew of his younger daughter though. Trunks had told her about his half sister long before now. Vegeta didn't want to give the woman more reasons to hate him, their scant encounters were awkward and hostile enough already, yet she had to be confronted with the fact that he had truly moved on some time. It could just as well be now. It was good to have Bra meet Aina too. He wanted his daughters to bond.
Trunks was now boasting to his mother about his day. Bulma was taking the story in with knitted brows, fighting off a variety of expressions that wanted to come to her attractive face as Trunks elaborated on Vegeta's kingship, his own title, his father's homeplanet and meeting his grandfather. Vegeta was relieved to see the woman trying so hard to remain civil. He should put some effort into that as well. The children they shared meant they would have to continue dealing with each other for the rest of their lives, or at least until Trunks and Bra had come of age.
"And I have to return tomorrow to be introduced to the council." Trunks concluded to his mother, now as breathless as his little sister had been.
"Well sweety, that all sounds great, but I want to discuss these things with your father before I decide on anything." Bulma said sternly.
She looked down on Vegeta and he rose to face her. Bra protested, jumping up and down and tugging at his spandex to get his attention back.
"Ai-a!" Bra declared pointing at the kitten in the crook of his arm again.
"Mom, can you take Bra." Bulma asked impatiently. "I want to talk to Vegeta outside."
"Sure honey!" Mrs. Briefs sang. She dashed over and grabbed Bra under the arms, lifting her onto the counter and giving her a ladle to play with.
Vegeta followed after Bulma as she left the kitchen.
"Babe." a voice called from the living room across the hallway. "Is dinner ready yet?"
"Not now, Yamcha!" Bulma snapped.
She threw Vegeta a look as if challenging him to have an opinion on the weakling being there. Vegeta remained unmoved and didn't even look at Yamcha lounging on the couch in the living room. The weakling was so caught up in watching tv that he didn't even notice Vegeta was there. He had finally taken up residence at the CC. Perhaps that was why the woman was so much less hostile towards him. Perhaps she too was moving on. Vegeta rather hoped she was. It might make dealing with her more easy. It had also never been his intention to make her feel rotten, not after all she had done for him and despite how she had treated him. The woman deserved her happiness.
Bulma resumed her way outside the house and Vegeta joined her wordlessly.
"You wasted no time." she said disapprovingly, at last responding to the daughter on his arm as she made to sit on the top step of the stairs leading up to the front door.
Vegeta passed her, clipping down the steps and turning around as he reached the walkway to put some distance between them while also getting to eye-level with her.
"Let's just stick to what you wanted to discuss." he suggested aloofly.
Bulma wasn't so easily deterred however. "We spent more than twelve years together. We have two children. You owe me an explanation for leaving." she said pointedly. "She stole you from me."
This wasn't the first time they had this conversation. The woman was determined to remain stuck in this groove. Vegeta was of no mind to go along with it. His patience was already waning.
"No, woman, she didn't. You and I were never exclusive. I never promised you my loyalty and we know you didn't give me yours. I took Akane because I wanted her."
Bulma continued hurling accusations at him. "And now you have a child with her as well. What happens when you grow bored of her? You'll take another woman and have another child with her? Is that the way it works for you Saiyajins?"
"Akane is my mate." Vegeta clarified. "We are exclusive."
"So it does work that way!" Bulma exlaimed almost triumphantly.
Vegeta sighed and said bluntly: "It was never going to be you."
Bulma hugged herself around the waist and looked away from him teary eyed. "Yeah, you made that pretty clear."
Vegeta walked back up the steps and sat down next to her. "I'm sorry about how this all went down. I didn't mean to make you hurt. You did a lot for me. I am thankful for that."
Bulma looked at him and attempted to smile through her tears. "I knew... about Bra..." she confessed. "My mother used to give me a hard time about keeping her away from you. She told me that you spent time with her while I was at work. That she allowed you... I just couldn't forget what I saw you do on Namek... How you killed your own friend when you first came here. I judged you by that." she sniffed and wiped her cheeks. "I should have judged you by all the good things you have done since. I'm sorry too. You were right, we never had a chance."
Vegeta felt the need to defend himself and his actions, but he didn't. It was far too late for this conversation. They should have had it twelve years ago. They would have, had they really wanted to take their involvement to a deeper level.
"Do you think we could have made it work?" Bulma asked uncertainly. "If we tried harder?"
"I don't think it would have changed anything in the end." Vegeta admitted. "I was meant to be with Akane."
He moved Aina so that she was lying on his thighs. The kitten smiled up at him something she very rarely did, her dark eyes turning to slits. He smiled back and knew just how true his words were, even if they ended up hurting the woman more.
Bulma pushed her hair out of her face and turned to staring out over the lawn, wiping fresh tears with her slender hands. "So, it was a mistake? You and me?"
"No, it wasn't." Vegeta assured her. "Not to me. We were meant to have our children as well. I have no regrets."
Bulma let out a sobby chortle, her watery eyes falling on the kitten's face as Aina started to pur drowsily. His daughter had evidently won her over in the end. Bulma held out her finger automatically as Aina made a lazy grab in the air. Vegeta slipped a finger into the tiny fist in stead and eased it back down at Aina's side, out of the woman's reach.
"You better not. My mate will flip her lid if she smells you on her daughter." he explained.
Bulma grimaced at that and wrapped her arms about herself again. "Scary."
There were a lot of unkind things Vegeta could say to that, like that his little mate wasn't half so scary as to stand between him and his own daughter getting the chance to bond, but he let it slide. The woman was working very hard to keep things civil between them despite it being evident she still hadn't come around to forgiving him for leaving her. She might never come around to that.
"I want Trunks to spend more time with me on Vegetasei." Vegeta said decidedly. "I need him to come back tomorrow so I can introduce him as my heir."
"And that entails?" Bulma inquired, astute blue eyes becoming curious now. His son really did take after her.
"If he chooses it, my title will be his when I step down." Vegeta hesitated and added: "It means he will have to leave Earth behind when he gains his throne."
Bulma shook her head resolutely. "He's too young to decide that now."
"He is." Vegeta agreed. "But it's his right and he has shown to be cognizant of his duty. If he wants to be my successor, you should not get in the way of that."
"But..."
Vegeta broke her off, far from done speaking: "If the Mother wills it, my reign will be a long one and Trunks won't come into his title for many years. I know that you want him to take over your corporation. He will get to do that. By the time I am willing to step aside, he is going to be getting on in years himself. It might even be that I outlive him if I haven't passed on the right genes. Saiyajins have long lives, more than half as long again as the average lifespan of an Earthling. And we stay in our prime longer as well. I am..."
"How long?" Bulma broke in, her big blue eyes flitting across his face. Her cheeks were becoming flushed which once served as a signal that she was becoming receptive to him.
Vegeta wasn't going to acknowledge it and looked at Aina lying on his thighs in stead. The kitten had gone to sleep again with the drool dripping down her cheek. He wiped it away with his thumb and clarified without raising his eyes: "I plan to be King for a long time, is what I am saying. And I will name Akane regent until Trunks is ready and willing to take the throne if some ill fate should befall me."
"He can go back tomorrow." Bulma agreed, the lust having left her again. Earthlings were very contained that way. "But I will have to see your home before I let him stay over there for longer periods. I want to know where my son is spending his time."
"I should warn you, the place is overrun by monkeys." Vegeta said. "And none of them will take kindly to being insulted." and he added: "Myself included."
Bulma gave him a testy look. "Well, I don't like being insulted either. If you stop calling me woman, I will stop calling you monkey."
"Very well." Vegeta conceded.
Calling her woman was never meant as an insult, even if he had forgone on the familiarity of addressing her with her name in all their years together. He didn't tell her that either. He gathered it more prudent to keep things light. He didn't want to stir up the feelings she obviously still had for him.
"Is she going to be there as well?" Bulma asked with poorly hidden apprehension.
"You might run into Akane. It is her home." Vegeta simply said. "I am not going to force you to be in each other's company. I don't reckon I will be doing any one of us a favor with that."
"Can I bring Goku, along?"
"If it makes you feel better." Vegeta faced her for real now to let her know how much it meant to him when he asked: "After you have seen my home, will you consider letting Bra visit me there? I want her to have a home with me as well."
Bulma took in his face with those big blue eyes she had passed on to both their children. "I will." she promised. "But not until she's a bit older and able to take care of herself."
Vegeta took the bargain with a wordless nod. She was being more forthcoming than he could have hoped.
Bulma continued to look at him silently for a while and then she said: "Goku is right. You have changed. You look... at peace."
Vegeta broke eye contact, becoming aware once more of the feelings the woman had for him by the way she held his gaze. He replaced the sleeping Aina in the crook of his arm and rose. "What you saw on Namek, that was me changed. This is just me."
He left her on the steps and went back inside to spend more time with his elder daughter.