Disclaimer: I (unfortunately) still don't own it.
Bulma opened her eyes as rays of sunshine hit her face through the blinds of her master bedroom window. As she stretched and yawned, she immediately regretted not purchasing the blackout window curtains Vegeta preferred for their room. The light from the sun was really 'yucking her yum' as Trunks would say. She preferred to go back to sleep but the sun light was an indication that an entire day had passed. She estimated that had been in and out of sleep in her bed for one day which meant she had missed an entire day of work. Yesterday, Vegeta checked on her religiously every hour bringing bottles of water, small fruit, nuts and such, whatever she could manage to swallow without throwing up. She smiled to herself as she realized that he sacrificed precious training time to do that, he was putting her first.
An entire day of work.
Gone.
She signed.
She was the boss after all, the current CEO of Capsule Corp, so there was no reprimand awaiting her but she really did not like to miss work, especially as Capsule Corp. raced against time to develop a vaccine for the deadly global COVID-19 virus.
She finally gave in, the light of the sun claimed victory over the warmth of her comforter. She sat up in the bed and looked to her left, said husband was no doubt out in the middle of his training session in the gravity room. She slowly kicked off the comforter and walked toward the master bathroom. She felt a bit traumatized as she reflected on the previous morning and the amount of vomit that came out of her mouth.
She was pregnant.
She still couldn't believe it; she still wasn't quite sure how to feel about it. But her husband seemed 100% certain of his feelings.
"Years ago you basically made a promise to me about our family and about not giving birth to another Half Sayain, I intend to hold you to your words."
He did not want another child. He was holding her to a promise she made years ago before they learned to love each other and before they stared to truly grow together as a family.
She picked up her toothbrush and began to brush her teeth. She would have a conversation with her husband later but first she needed to get the taste of vomit out of her mouth before she started her work day.
News of COVID-19 spreading all over the globe continued to ravage the news.
Vegeta shook his head while listening to the latest new coverage, 'weak humans' he thought to himself while walking up the stairs to the master bedroom he shared with his wife. Thanks to Kakarot, he had recently mastered instant transmission but still preferred to walk. To his surprise his wife was out of the bed and in the bathroom. It seemed like the events of yesterday were far behind her. She was back to her usual self.
"Hey Hun." Bulma said to Vegeta as she kissed him on the cheek.
"How are you feeling?" Vegeta asked.
Bulma thought about it for a minute, "I'm actually doing okay." She responded. "Thanks for the food, it helped with my stomach. My morning of vomiting seems like a distant memory, a traumatizing one, but distant nonetheless. I had to get that yucky vomit taste out of my mouth." She placed the toothbrush back in the holder and started to walk out of the bathroom.
Vegeta smirked as Bulma passed him and re-entered their room. She went into the master closet to pick out an outfit for work.
"What are you getting dressed for?" Vegeta asked, eyebrows raised in genuine curiousity.
"Well, I am feeling better so I am heading to work, I already took a day off yesterday, we are busy working on the COVID-19 vaccine like the rest of the word, not everyone is a Saiyan and immune against these things. This infection has killed millions of people. I feel like we are close to a cure."
"Yea. You're distracting yourself from this pregnancy and the promise you made. There are other people at Capsule Corp that can work on the vaccine while you take a couple of sick days."
Bulma stopped looking for clothes and turned around to face her husband. "First of all, I am not distracting anyone from anything. I am aware that I am pregnant and I have been thinking about it practically all morning, including while I was brushing my teeth."
Bulma turned and continued to swift through the many hangers in her closet before settling on a little black dress. She placed the dress on the bed and started to remove her clothes in preparation to take a shower before continuing her verbal assault on her husband.
"Second of all, of course we have capable people at Capsule Corp but as the CEO, I have to be there as a leader as we take on this new challenge, there are so many lives at stake."
Bulma walked back into the bathroom, turned on the shower and stepped in. Vegeta was right behind her. He was not one to give into an argument, as a matter of fact, neither of them would throw in the towel. They were alike like that.
"I'm only concerned with one life at the moment, that's yours, don't you have a procedure to schedule, a medical appointment, something to get rid of the pregnancy, you can't do that while you work."
"Vegeta!" Bulma continued to shower and wash her hair.
"What? I am just saying, there is no need to take our time waiting, the sooner you get this over with, the better."
"Woa, look I know what I said in the past but time has passed, at least let us have a conversation about it."
"I'm not interested in conversations; do I need to remind you of your promise. You know promises, words, are sacred in our culture."
"Yes, hun I know, it's like the saying 'word is bond' in some cultures but we're talking about a promise I made years ago. We've changed so much since then; I think it's a promise worth revisiting."
Bulma stepped out of the shower as Vegata handed her a towel.
"I don't agree Bulma, a promise is a promise. After we all witnessed Kakarot choose to remain dead at the cell games, I promised to never leave you and Trunks and to stand here on this mudball planet as a husband and a father. Time has passed, some shit has gone down that has made me want to revisit that conversation as well but you don't hear me asking for that, I'm keeping my word, my word is my bond as you say." Vegeta smirked as Bulma playfully hit him on the shoulder.
"Very funny." Bulma said as she left the bathroom and prepared to get dressed for work.
"I'd love to leave sometimes but a promise is a promise."
"And you love us."
"yea, that too, I guess."
"Whatever, I hear you, but we need to have a conversation about this, make a pros and cons list or something, this is a permanent decision based on temporary emotions we had in the past. "
"My emotions are not temporary, I don't know about you, I saw how much you struggled while giving birth to Trunks, had I not intervened, you would have …"
"I know." Bulma said to Vegeta, now fully dressed for work "But I'm older and a little stronger now" Bulma playfully made a muscle with her left arm, don't think I didn't see you wince when I punched you in the arm in the bathroom.
"Right." Vegeta rolled his eyes.
"But seriously, I hear you, promises are important in marriages, and in your culture, but our marriage is so nontraditional, our love has been so extraordinary, let's table this conversation, at least until the end of the week or something, we can both think of pros and cons of us having this baby and then discuss over dinner."
"That's easy, con-you may die, and 0 pros."
"Let's discuss it over dinner." Bulma said as she grabbed her heels for work and put on her jewelry. 'Days like this I do not miss my long hair, short hair is so easily styled.' Bulma thought to herself.
Bulma kissed Vegeta and left for work before he could complain any further.
She passed by Trunks' room on the way out to remind him to get ready for school but he was always dressed with his mask in his hand. Vegeta's doing, no doubt, that boy really struggled with waking up on time even with a blended learning school schedule.
"Have a good day at school Trunks and don't forget to put your mask on your face!" she shouted as she walked out of the door.
Bulma arrived at work quickly. The Capsule Corp. campus was located on the grounds of her home. She had grabbed a fruit, muffin, and juice from the corporate kitchen before setting up in her office.
She quickly checked her email as she ate her breakfast before meeting with her executive team. There were no major updates. She double checked that she had her face mask on because she literally sometimes forgot about it. She wanted to avoid herself being outed on the front-page news as not following her own advice during this pandemic. The world didn't know that her family of 2 was immune from the disease and she preferred to keep it that way.
Bulma quickly finished her breakfast before leaving her office and joining her executive team in the conference room. Her five executive level team members-Pencil, Book, Calcula, Stapely, and Char sat around a wide table for their daily COVID 19 situation room debrief. All were highly regarded research scientists and held executive level administrative positions. She trusted them with her company, she trusted them with her life. She had personally hired all of them, except one.
'We missed you yesterday." That was her second in command, Pensil. The one member on her team she did not hire. He was a tall, handsome, dark haired man who was her father's long-term mentee. He and Bulma were around the same age. Her father practically begged her to keep him at the company when she started in the role of CEO. Pensil always wanted the CEO position of Capsule Corp. but knew it would be a cold day in hell before Mr. Briefs choose him over his own daughter to lead the family business. Bulma could never understand why he didn't leave. There were plenty of other companies that would gladly hire him. She knew he did not miss her yesterday; she gave him a fake smile but ignored his comment. She didn't owe him any explanation.
Book, a short, petite, blonde haired young woman spoke up to get the meeting started and to ease some of the tension in the room. Book was the youngest member on the team but kind and willing to work. Those were two traits that Bulma admired, it also didn't hurt that she was a woman. Bulma was all about sticking it to the patriarchy and made sure woman held roles on her executive team. "1.81 million lives lost as of this morning and 83 million total new cases."
Bulma's heart dropped. This infection was quickly killing so many people, she wanted so badly to just use the Dragonballs to create a cure or wish people back or something but she knew it wasn't logical, too many questions would be asked.
Book continued, "As you know Ms. Briefs, the vaccine was officially developed as of yesterday, we're waiting for approval for emergency usage from the global community."
"Wait, the vaccine was developed yesterday, while I was out, I wasn't informed and I checked all of my emails." Bulma said. She was clearly confused about this development. It was not a good look for the CEO to not be aware of this.
Everyone including Book looked to Pensil, as executive vice president and Bulma's second in command it was his responsibility to inform her of this incident.
"I assumed that since you were out you didn't want to be bothered about work so I figured we could wait to discuss it at today's meeting." Pencil stated.
Bulma signed heavily and ran her fingers through her short hair before responding. "Look Pensil don't assume shit like that, especially during this tremulous time, even if I am out, I want to be notified of all updates regarding the vaccine. I should have immediately been informed of this update, don't let it happen again."
If Pensil was embarrassed at being corrected in front of his colleagues by Bulma he did not show it. "You got it, you're the boss" He said with a smile before sharing his report.
"So now that we are all up to date, the vaccine was developed and is ready for shipment pending approval from the global community. Our vaccine trial results came back with minor concerns of side effects regarding allergies but overall, our vaccine is showing a 98% rate of vaccine efficacy. I also wanted to note that, Pfizer and Moderna are still working on their vaccines. We're the first global corporation to develop the vaccine and that deserves some acknowledgement."
At that moment, black tied waiters entered the conference room with the finest champagne bottle and glasses. Bulma was slightly annoyed but hid it was a smile to celebrate her team's achievement. She politely declined a glass of champagne while Pensil eyed her suspiciously taking note of her declination.
Bulma stood up to leave, "Let's keep running our trials just to be safe, we have the entire world waiting for us. "
"Yes, Ms. Briefs." was Pensils's professional response. He was rolling his eyes in his head. He was really tired of Bulma and if she was declining champagne because of what he thought it was, he hoped that she would retire soon to be a full-time mom or house wife to her mysterious husband so he could finally get the position that he deserved. He felt Mr. Briefs personally groomed him for this position, he didn't think Bulma would be interested, she was brilliant but seemed aloof, always out for months at a time doing kami knows what while he spent years giving his blood, sweat, and tears to this company. The CEO position at Capsule Corp. would be his, he could taste it.
Bulma returned to her office and checked her calendar. It was suddenly filled with virtual zoom presentation meetings with various governments to discuss the new vaccine. She had little time to prepare. The United States, The United Kingdom, Canada, Japan were all of some of the countries scheduled to virtually meet with her today. She could not keep up. She was tired just looking at the calendar but she would get it done. She welcomed the distraction. She honestly was not looking forward to returning home and continuing her conversation with Vegeta. She planned to avoid him as much as she could. She didn't feel a bit guilty about it either, the world was waiting on this vaccine. She would get lost in these presentations, lost in the process, she would do anything to just be lost in the work. It was better than feeling lost at home and in her marriage. She didn't express it but it hurt just a little bit that Vegeta was not even open to a conversation about keeping their unborn baby, and that joke he made about wanting to leave, not as funny but she tried to keep her cool. She would stay at work because she knew work best and work would not disappoint her.
She quickly read her notes regarding the vaccine before starting her scheduled zoom presentations. The first government that was scheduled was the United States. She joined the zoom meeting call and was greeted by President Donald Trump and his team.
"Good Morning, President Trump…"Bulma started before getting lost in the zone of work and discussing Capsule Corp's vaccine.
Sure, her husband was waiting her a conversation with her but she would not keep the world waiting on this vaccine. She'd get lost in these presentations and who knows, maybe she'd save the world in the process.
Leave your reviews, comments, questions! The concept of promises in Bulma & Vegeta's marriage in this fic is similar to an older fic of mine called "Unknown" so be sure to check that out! Happy New Year!