He had the feeling he'd forgotten something. Something that may or may not be of importance. Whatever it was, it must not have been that important.
It was probably something stupid like a party or the boy turning a month older. That woman was always pestering him about trivial things that had nothing to do with him.
Avoiding her was easy though. As soon as Bulma got the hint that he didn't want to be around her, she made herself scarce the rest of the day.
The boy was a different story. Vegeta relished the time he spent with Trunks. He would never admit it but spending time with the boy was his favorite part of the day. Sometimes he took Trunks with him while he trained. Under low gravity of course.
Bulma had asked to join them on occasion, but he would always tell her no. She thought it was he thought she was too weak when in reality it was because she talked too much. All she did was run that big mouth of hers all day. It was annoying.
Vegeta exited the gravity room. He spent his entire day in there trying to get away from Bulma. The boy was with his grandmother for the day, and she suggested they spend some time together. He couldn't leave the house any faster after that.
He didn't know why but even her presence vexed him lately. Luckily she was upstairs when he entered the house. Vegeta headed straight to the kitchen and got some leftover lasagna from the night before to eat,
Halfway through his meal, he heard the familiar click of heels coming down the stairs. She walked into the kitchen and sat in the chair across from him. It was unusual that she hadn't said a word in the five seconds she had been in the kitchen. He gave her a split-second once over, then continued to eat.
Her attire told him she was going somewhere. It didn't explain why she was just sitting there. Or why she was quiet.
Why was she that quiet?'
Vegeta sat his fork down on the plate and looked up at her. The unnerving silence between them had caused him to lose his appetite. "What?" He snapped.
Bulma opened her mouth to speak but closed it just as quickly. Her face was unreadable a trait that he must have rubbed off on her. Angry didn't even begin to cover what Bulma was feeling at the moment. She didn't think Vegeta would promise her something and then do something entirely different.
She was pretty sure he had no idea what he did wrong. The annoyed expression on his face told her that.
One-sided relationships never worked for Bulma. With Vegeta, she knew it was going to be her mostly keeping them together, but she did not for one second think it was going to be this hard.
She finally spoke, "How do I look?" She asked softly. He expected her to start screaming, but this was the exact opposite.
It was then Vegeta finally took in her appearance. Her frizzy hair that usually appeared untamable was now bone-straight, one side tucked behind her ear showing off a diamond-studded earing. Widened hips from childbearing in a skin-tight red dress. He subtly scooted down in his chair to see what heels she was wearing. The silver ones that wrapped around her calves, those were his favorite ones. Spec-fucking-tacular.
Only in the midst of doing a double take did he realize what it was he'd forgotten.
Last week, during one of his intense training sessions the woman had come to bring him lunch, but when he tried to close the door she put her foot in the way, then she began to complain about the lack of time they spent together. The next thing he knew he had agreed on a date if she left him alone for the rest of the week. He had said it to get her to shut up which surprisingly worked. Only now he would never hear the end of not remembering the empty promise.
"You wanted me to shut up," She stated.
He had to choose his words wisely. One wrong sentence and he would have to participate in a screaming match for the next couple of hours. "You are displeased."
"An apology will suffice Vegeta," Bulma said. Her voice was a little above a whisper.
Vegeta gave her a disgusted look. "Why would I apologize? I did nothing wrong."
"How could you say that?" Her tone was stern and showed no emotion.
She searched his face for any sign of remorse but found none. Bulma took a deep breath she refused to cry in front of him. "Okay, you're not sorry. That's okay Vegeta it just makes this easier for me to do."
"No," He said.
It was as clear as day what she had meant by that.
"I can't," She cried softly.
Bulma ran her fingers through her hair then spoke, "I know that you don't want to be-"
"Don't pretend to know what I want," Vegeta cut her off. "I've never voiced anything like that."
"You don't have to. I can see it. I can feel it. It's not like you try to hide it. I mean... whenever I try to spend time with you, you always find a way to get rid of me. I try so hard to make it seem like this doesn't hurt. I-... I am just sick and tired of it. You'll never love me as much as I love you and at first, that was okay but now? Now I am just done. "
Vegeta crossed his arms and scoffed. "Stop assuming you know what goes on in my mind."
"Then tell me."
Apparently, Vegeta thought that another one of his non-verbal answers would be good enough this time. He grabbed her, is own lips crashing into her in an attempt to sway her decision. He hadn't counted on her pushing him away. All Bulma wanted were three simple words. He didn't even have to be in love with her at this point. Just loving her would be enough.
"You'll get over it. You always do."
Bulma smiled. "Yeah I do," She agreed walking past him and up the stairs. He had half a mind to follow her but stayed where he was.
She came back down a minute later with Trunks diaper bag and her suitcase. Bulma had planned to leave no matter what the conversation went. She always had the choice to decide when enough was enough and this was it. "But not this time," She said handing Vegeta the diaper bag. "Take care of Trunks."
Was she crazy? Take care of Trunks? "No way." He tried to hand the bag back to her.
"You are his father, Vegeta. I need you to do this one thing for me. Please, just do this one thing for me. I don't ask for much so just do this."
"I-"
"Don't. Just don't. Just take care of him.
Vegeta had no idea how hard it was taking care of an infant. Trunks just wouldn't stop crying, and he didn't know how to make him stop. The woman's mother would help if he asked, however admitting he couldn't meet the needs of his would wound his pride. Well wound it even further. He wanted to act as though Bulma leaving did not affect him, but it did. It was different without her around to console their son.
The fucking sun didn't even shine as bright. How could he let his feelings for her progress into something that resonated with him to the point where he noticed a difference in the sun. The sun.
He could have fought harder for her to stay, except he thought she was bluffing. In his mind, she had some sort of plan to get him to confess his love verbally and he was not going to fall for it. He had been sitting in the living room eating out of a pot when Bunny had brought Trunks to him. For the better part of the morning, Vegeta held Trunks telling him that Bulma would be back any second. The boy started wailing two hours later, and this led Vegeta to conclude that he was either hungry or wet.
Never changing a diaper meant that this would be a challenge. From what he'd seen numerous of times gave him a good idea of the concept of it though. It only took him four diapers to get it right. He scooped up the still wailing child in his arms and made his way downstairs to warm the bottles he made before changing Trunks. The infant quieted down as soon as the bottle hit his lips. Vegeta went back into the living room and plopped onto the couch Trunks still in tow.
That was two days ago. Bulma was still gone, with no sign of ever returning anytime soon. Now stood in the middle of the bedroom rocking Trunks in his arms, repeating things Bulma said that had gotten the boy to calm down in the past. He also cursed himself for forgetting to take Bulma out. It was only a matter of time before she had enough, nevertheless if he'd known that was all it was going to take to set her off he wouldn't have forgotten.
Vegeta decided if anyone knew how to console a saiyan baby it would be Kakarotts woman. The only thing was coming up with an excuse for being there seeing as he disliked both Kakarott and his wife.
He grabbed Trunks diaper bag and flew to Kakarott's house at full speed.
"Hey Vegeta," Gohan greeted. "My dad's with Piccolo right now if that's who you're looking for."
How was he going to say 'I'm here for your mother' without saying it?
"Wow he sure has a pair of lungs on him," A feminine voice said. Vegeta turned around to see Chi-Chi standing in the doorway. "Dinner's ready Gohan go wash your hands. What's wrong with Trunks."
"Nothing I can't handle," Vegeta spoke halfheartedly.
Chi-Chi just gave him a knowingly look, walked over to him, and took the crying infant out of his arms. "Come in," She said to him. "You can have dinner with us. Goku won't be back for another couple of hours I hardly see him anymore."
Vegeta followed behind her into the house and sat at the table while she served both he and Gohan while holding a still crying Trunks. "Okay let's see what's wrong with you." She studied the child's face for a moment. "Is he breastfed?"
"No," Vegeta answered wondering where this was going.
Chi-Chi said nothing else and laid Trunks head on her left shoulder. She then began to pat his back very softy until a very large burp came out of his mouth. "See there we go," She said in a soft voice. "You're all better little baby."
Vegeta just sat there wide-eyed. That was the problem? It was the simplest thing in the word yet he didn't figure it out. He was really failing at the single parenting thing and it kind of pissed him off. "Mom I thought you said it was rude to burp at the dinner table," Gohan commented between mouthfuls.
She just ignored him and spoke to Vegeta, "Why didn't you just take him to Bulma?"
"She's indisposed at the moment," Vegeta said.
"All you had to say was she left you."
"You. What? How did you know?"
"It's written all over your face. Plus you haven't touched your food."
"Whatever."
"Why'd she leave? More importantly, why did she leave Trunks with you?"
"I don't know," Vegeta snapped. "That stupid woman does so many things that I don't understand but this? Leaving without that kid. No. Leaving that kid with me? Me of all people? I will never understand." Vegeta stood up abruptly.
Chi-Chi jumped a little at the sudden movement but recovered quickly. She stood up and handed the now sleeping Trunks to his father. "I can keep him if you want," she said.
That was not going to happen. "No, I have to take care of him."