AN: This chapter references some events that transpired throughout Chapters 15-21 in the precursor to this story, The 3 Year Gap. It isn't mandatory that you go back and read those before continuing with this, but you're certainly welcome to!

Stars were blurring past the spaceship as it sped through its journey. Inside Bulma was reclined against the headboard of the bed, lazily flipping through yet another fashion magazine to pass the time. It had been hours since she and Vegeta had taken off again, after spending five days together on that tropical planet.

During their stay, the saiyan had shown Bulma numerous places and events that revolved around more than just the grimey people that inhabited that planet. With Vegeta as her guide, the Bluehead had seen it all - a hot spring with water that glistened the color of emerald, a forest that was decorated with purple and silver structures that looked like coral reefs on the bottom of the sea. He'd taken her to the depths of a cave that has walls of blue marble, explaining that he'd accidentally uncovered it at the age of 17, when he'd run off and had been angrily brooding after a rather eventful dispute with Dodoria.

By Vegeta's side, Bulma had seen exactly why the saiyan seemed to hold this planet in such high regard, and it was the small serene details that really set it apart. Through these unspoken moments she felt as if she knew more about him than ever before, with small questions about his past being answered through visuals and physical gestures rather than words.

When they finished packing and loaded into the ship, the Bluehead had thought they would be heading back to Earth. She'd been so eager at the prospect of reuniting with her son, and was a little disappointed when Vegeta told her they had another stop before going home. He hadn't told her where they were going, yet again, and Bulma had no way of knowing how long the trip would be. She was pleasantly surprised then, when the saiyan walked into the bedroom and unexpectedly announced they'd be landing soon.

"Already?" She set her magazine aside. "But we just took off?"

"We've been in flight for seven hours." His shoulders were tense as he replied, and Vegeta seemed even more on edge than he'd been the last time they landed.

"Where are we landing?" She tried as she stood, knowing fully well that her saiyan wouldn't answer.

"You'll see soon enough. There something I want to show you. Now come on, get secured for landing."

... The fact that Vegeta seemed so uncomfortable with what was about to happen raised her defenses. If she were a cat, her hair would have been on end with the fear of the unknown. And yet, even though he was nearly shaking with uncertainly, she still trusted that he wouldn't allow any harm to come to her. So she didn't ask anything else as she walked into the main room and strapped herself down into her seat. She watched the saiyan as he followed, readying himself in front of the controls.

She noticed that his hand was shaking as he dialed into the control panel. And his knuckles were white as he grabbed the elevation lever and began to slowly pull it down. Bulma's stomach twisted when she felt the pressure adjust, and she knew they were in the act of descending into the atmosphere. The uneasy feeling only grew when the ship touched surface, and it felt as if a dark shadow was cascading over them as the vehicle settled.

She looked to one of the windows and saw only darkness outside. It was a large possibility was that it could be night on this planet, but for some reason the Bluehead didn't accept that. She had the suspicion that this world never saw the light of day, regardless of time. ... This planet didn't have a sun… And though there was no reason for her to think such a thing, she was absolutely sure of that.

"I don't feel good about this." Bulma said, even as she unbuckled herself.

"I just want to show you something." The saiyan replied, as if that would actually be reassuring. "We won't be here for long. Put on something warm."

Her lips were pursed, but Bulma didn't say anything else. After a quick change of clothes, she sprinted across the ship to the prince, who was already standing at the door. And she was clutching his shoulders as he opened it, the sensation of dread growing deeper with every second that passed. It didn't help matters that Vegeta seemed just as stressed out as she was! The next thing she knew, they were standing outside the ship, and she was feeling even more on edge as she took in her surroundings. They truly were standing in empty darkness, with only the light of the ship illuminating what she could see. Their feet were planted on dusty soil, and the air was so thin that her lungs were strained immediately.

She would have thought they were on a moon, but something about the aura of this place wasn't suiting for that. This world felt strangely void - as if it had been filled with energy and joy an eternity ago, but since then all life had completely faded away...

"It's dead." Vegeta commented, confirming her thoughts as soon as they came.

What was the point in coming here? Bulma turned to look at the saiyan. Half of his features were invisible in the dark, the other half outlined and stern from the light of the ship. He was staring straight ahead - not at her - and he reached out to take her hand. "I have something I'd like you to see."

And that was all of the warning Bulma got before she was tossed on his back, the way a child might ride on their parent. He took off flying through the air, her short hair whipping out behind as they went. She closed her eyes, for there was nothing to see as they flew, instead choosing to rest her head on the crook of his shoulder as her mind raced. What was the significance of this place? Vegeta had told her the planet was dead - so what reason could they have to be here? Could it be that this had been a planet he had also enjoyed visiting at one point – back when it had still been flourishing and full of life?

This couldn't be Vegeta's home planet - from everything she knew, it had exploded. So, what...?

"See?" The saiyan said then. They hadn't been flying for long. He had been holding both of her legs, and he let go of one of her thighs so he could illuminate their view with a ball of ki. The Bluehead hugged him tightly as she looked over his shoulder and down at the land, but all she saw were holes and indents in the soil.

Scattered about were also rocks and boulders, and she blankly stared in confusion. Her heart was heavy, and there was a welling in her stomach even though she didn't understand why. She could still feel the residual sadness that had been lingering in the air from some event that occurred long ago... Something important had happened here. She just didn't know what.

"I wanted to show you this place." Vegeta said, and his voice was so stiff.

"It's..." She started, but her words quickly faded. What was there to say? She was confused, cold, sad, frightened, and speechless. How could he honestly expect her to react?

"Remember a long time ago, when we were in a different state of mind?"

His question was only met with silence, because she still had no idea what he was getting at. She only continued gazing down at the holes in the ground, trying to piece everything together as best as she could.

"I left you alone… So I could venture to space. Back when you were still impregnated with our son." He continued. "I know you remember."

"Yes..." Her eyes narrowed. Why was he bringing this up? When Bulma thought back on her pregnancy, all she could associate with it was loneliness and pain. It made her feel stupid to remember how naive she'd been, even in her mid-twenties, to think of how much trust she'd had in the saiyan to be an earnest man. Their early relationship had been a series of build ups and let downs, with both of their tempers and emotions getting the best of them.

It was nothing but a burden to remember that Vegeta had left her, shortly after she learned she was pregnant, and with hardly any notice at all. He'd ignored her for days, locked himself away in his ship. And one night, in a completely random turn of events, he'd stumbled into her room and woke her up to make love with her. It had been quick and passionate, and it had felt like a dream. But hardly a full minute has passed after they'd finished before he told her he was leaving. He'd said it so carelessly, acted as if he couldn't understand why she'd be upset about it, and then she hadn't seen him again for months...

... To say it hurt would have been an understatement.

It was something she should have expected from his character, and yet her emotions hadn't been quite that rational. There had been too many instances of tenderness between them by then. Too many occasions where he had shown he cared, even in the smallest of ways. It had been so unbelievably awful to watch him go, to know she was going to have to handle the (literal) pains of pregnancy alone. To wonder how she was going to manage when the baby would finally be born, to wonder what she could realistically expect from Vegeta when he finally returned. He had implied so much to her, but in the end, that's all it had been. Implications.

Where did they truly stand?

It had gotten to be too much one night. And Bulma, tormented by the uncertainty of everything and desperate for some kind of set answer, had finally reached out. She had transmitted a call to the spaceship, needing to know exactly what was going on in his head. She was sure she knew, but she had needed to hear it from Vegeta himself. And what had he done? Well, he had yelled at her and insulted her for interrupting his training. It was a short conversation, and if she remembered correctly, she yelled something about how he shouldn't bother even trying to come back to her before abruptly hanging up.

He hadn't called her back.

She'd been dumb enough to hold on to something that had never been hers in the first place, and his lack of reaching out only made this even more clear. He really didn't care, and she was alone... Alone, pregnant, and stupid.

Bulma hadn't heard from him again until weeks later, and that had only been because he wanted to tell her he was coming back to Earth. It was another short conversation, and that had been that.

… Kami, their relationship had been so torn during the early stages. With a foundation like that, it had taken a lot of repairing just to move on…

...Why had he brought this up? The Bluehead had been feeling emotional enough as it was to be on this horridly sad planet, and now Vegeta had to make her remember all of that? She was squeezing him harder, now both from sadness and the reawakened anger that she was reliving in the midst of her memories. And he seemed to have been expecting her reaction, for he didn't even twitch as she growled.

"You remember, then." He said, his voice still on edge. He sounded so uncertain, so nervous as he spoke. It only frustrated her more. What did he have to be worried about?! How dare he? He was the one bringing all this up, and now he had the nerve to be uneasy about it?! Him?!

"I'm sure you also remember that phone call. The one you gave me while I was still away."

Of course, she did! Aside from the general pain and anxiety she was experiencing during that era, that fateful call was all she could think about when she looked back on that point in time!

Bulma heard Vegeta lick his lips, a sound she might not have been so partial to if they hadn't been surrounded by absolute silence. "Would you like to know my side of things when you called... Would you like to know why... Why I didn't call back." It wasn't interrogative. He knew she was going to listen, so why bother asking? He was only announcing what he was about to say.

And for that reason Bulma didn't make the effort to respond. She was sure that if she opened her mouth, the words that would come out would only be vile and dripping with venom. And... She didn't want that. She didn't want to be mad, to relive arguments and fights that had become a part of their past. The last few days spent with him had been so wonderful! She didn't want any of this hostility. Yet the Bluehead was helplessly here, stewing in it against her will, and bitterly awaiting whatever it was Vegeta was about to say.

"I left because I was in denial." He finally said. He blurted it - not loudly - but quite fast, as if to get it over with. It actually made Bulma gasp - what was that? Had she heard him correctly?

"You were too much for me. I couldn't handle it. I wasn't ready. I... You infected my brain, Bulma." He shifted his weight, even as he hovered, bringing Bulma to one side of his back at she held on. "I couldn't even sleep without you being there, infiltrating my dreams. I had to tell myself I hated you, because I didn't want to consider what the other option meant."

Kami - there were tears streaming down her cheeks now, and he began to ease them down towards the ground. Her feet touched the soil carefully, and Vegeta stepped a few paces away so he could point out several markings. "I convinced myself that my infatuation with you was the reason why I was struggling to achieve Super. I had to come all the way out here, and I still couldn't get away. With all of that distance, you were still in my head. Look." He gestured to certain indents in the dirt. "This is where the ship landed. Right here."

"Why?" She finally managed. "Of all places, why did you come here? Why this dead planet? And why... why are you bringing us back..."

He groaned, and Bulma was quick to realize that this was a question he actually hadn't planned to answer. He either wasn't anticipating it, or the answer was unknown. "We're here because I owe it to you. And I came here in the first place because... It... It's what felt appropriate at the time." He stepped away, gurgling under his breath. "No light, no distractions. No wind to shift my headspace. On this planet I was completely ALONE. Just as it suited me. That's all I'd ever been."

"But you WEREN'T, though!" Bulma hissed, moving after. "I tried so hard to make you see that. I didn't want you to feel that way!"

"In my life, I was always alone." Vegeta was so stern. "Before you. That was my identity. It was all I knew. It was my comfort, and I liked it that way. It's not an easy thing to shake off, simply because circumstances change." He spun around, walking back towards her, but his eyes were to the ground. "You called in the middle of a meteor shower, you know. I had to protect ship from getting irreparably damaged. That's why I didn't call you back. I always did intend to return."

"Yeah, and on your own terms." She spat back. "You were so comfortable to come and go as it served you. You yelled at me just for calling!"

"Perhaps. And you also yelled back. And do you know what came from that conversation?"

'Heart break?' Bulma thought as she crossed her arms over her chest, and she took a step back to emphasize the fact that she was getting pissed off.

"After you hung up, I learned what it meant to lose something, even more than I already had. I knew I ruined things with you. And I will not lie, Woman, that had been a goal. But achieving that only made me sick. It was... not a feeling I'd been expecting. I thought it would make me happy when you finally gave up on me, but it only made me go mad."

Her glare softened - if only slightly. Another pronouncement she hadn't anticipated…

"Perhaps some of my behavior that day came from the hate I was trying to convince myself I had for you. But I did want you to give up on me, Woman, believe that... And as soon as you did, there was no satisfaction. I only felt desolation. It was a loss like no other."

This was too much to take in. Bulma was glad that Vegeta most likely didn't want her to respond, because all she could bring herself to do was stare. To think that the deeply depressing environment of this planet was what he felt suited him the best... To think that he actually needed this at one point? He'd thought he was more deserving of this than what she'd tried to give him…

"It was as if I saw reality for the very first time when you hung up that phone. And I didn't want to face reality without you, Bulma. No, perhaps I still wasn't ready when I got back to Earth, and I know even more things happened between us. I'd rather not focus on those. My point in mentioning this is because, where we are now... This exact location… This is where I was when I knew just how deep I had gotten with you. I knew what I really wanted. I knew there was no denying it was you."

"Okay, okay..." Bulma wiped some of the tears from her cheeks. She wouldn't have thought it possible a few moments earlier, but what he said was actually making her feel better. "I understand now why you brought us here."

"No. Not yet. There is more to the story that I want you to-."

"I'm getting really cold." She interrupted.

He paused and turned to her, his lips parted as if he was in pain. His expression was sharp. Though he wasn't speaking, Bulma could tell by the look in his eyes he was thinking "I was finally getting to the good part!"

"Can we talk more when we get back to the ship?" She continued, more softly now. "I'm freezing. I'm not as immune to... well, everything, as you…"

"That's true." Vegeta smirked as he lifted her onto his back again. And the return trip to the ship felt much shorter than it had when they'd left. It seemed like only a few seconds before Bulma was crawling under the blankets of the bed, the saiyan taking a seat at her side. "Now, what were you saying?" She smiled in her comfort. "What else happened that I need to know?"

"Uhh-aughuuhh." Vegeta cleared his throat with a cough - the awkwardness he was feeling was painfully obvious. "Well... I was saying... Hold on." He scratched the back of his head before reaching to the wall and shutting off the light. Bulma didn't object to the return to darkness. Perhaps being fairly invisible during an emotional discussion like this was a reason why he had wanted to stay outside in the first place.

"I was saying that I understood what it meant to experience loss. I thought I already knew grief, for obvious reasons from my past. But losing you was different. It blindsided me." As soon as his voice returned, it was filled with so much pain. The Bluehead didn't know what he was getting at, but she felt for him. He'd already confessed enough, and this next bit was clearly going to be the hardest part. What else could there be? She understood how hard this must be for him, and she reached out and found his hand in the dark. He gave it a tight squeeze as he continued.

"I have not told this to anyone in such honest detail… But it was out here that I understood how much I needed you. It was also out here that I became a super saiyan for the first time."

"So..." Bulma smiled slowly. She'd always known that Vegeta achieved his super transformation during his trip to space. But was he really implying that...?

"What have you heard Kakarot and Gohan both say when describing the Super transformation?"

"That... That it's stemmed from grief… Grief over a lost love."

"Exactly. Imagine how ironic it was that I felt like I needed to get away from you just to unlock the key, and YOU were my key the entire time."

There was a creaking in the mattress as Vegeta let go of Bulma's hand and crawled on top of her. "I know you are smart, and you understand what I am saying. Please don't ask me to repeat myself. You were my key."

The Bluehead opened her mouth to promise that she wouldn't, but she was met with his lips instead. Warm, so warm, he pressed himself against her as he ran a hand across her forehead. And then he pulled away, and once again Bulma found herself wondering how sharp his sight was in the dark. She knew he was studying her expression, a thumb stroking her cheek.

"We'll go head back home right away." He said, after several moments of silence. "I brought you on this trip because I wanted to share more of my past with you. I thought you'd want more than I can offer with just words."

"And I've enjoyed our trip." She reached out and found contact with his face, palming his cheek as she smiled.

"I just want you to have no doubt of my certainty when it comes to what I told you a few months ago."

He didn't have to go into deeper detail. Bulma immediately knew exactly which conversation Vegeta was referring to, and her smile broke into a startle. She knew the saiyan could see this, and he only started to rub her with more determination.

"We live on Earth, and I'm not planning to leave again. I understand just how strong the meaning of the term 'husband and wife' is to the people on your planet. It is the only word I want to use when I describe you to anyone else. I want to make it clear how I feel, to anyone who might doubt it. I've lost you before, Woman, more than once. I don't want to lose you again."

She opened her mouth to respond, but only air could escape her lips. She was absolutely speechless, and the saiyan saved her from the struggle to find words when he continued.

"I know you said you wanted some special type of proposal, but damnit I'm just not capable of that. I don't know what the hell I'm doing with any of this! I just need you to know that I-"

"Stop it." Bulma hissed. She wrapped her arms around his neck, wishing she could see the expression on his face. "This IS special!"

She imagined his eyes going wide. His cheeks were likely flushed, and she just knew that his upper lip would be twitching. No wonder Vegeta wanted to do this in the dark - his ego was being challenged enough as it was just by what he was saying. The saiyan cleared his throat as he looked down at the smiling woman in his arms, and now he was the one who couldn't find any words.

"I've been telling you this for years… Don't you remember what I said before you left for space all that time ago?" She hugged him before pulling away. She felt around for his face. And then she playfully prodded his nose with her index finger, while she imagined him watching her gesture in amazement. "Vegeta, I love you."

"Then-"

The Bluehead cut him off with a kiss of her own. She wrapped her arms around him once again, and his body relaxed against her own. Their tongues exploring one another, she couldn't keep from smiling against his lips. There was nothing more that either of them needed to say, as she his fingers slowly traveled down to her breasts…

… They had done enough talking for the night.

AN: I can't believe I'm finally posting this... ^^ I'm freaking out, haha! Time to go hide for a while! I'm really curious about what you all think, but I have the admit that I'm also preeetttty terrified. :)