Disclaimer: Nope, not mine.
The vaccine rollout had been tremendously effective. Bulma knocked each virtual presentation out of the ball park. As CEO, scientist, and daughter of the founder of Capsule Corp. she took immense pride in the organization. Ever since she was a young girl helping her father with his experiments, she knew her heart, blood, and tears would be given to science. Capsule Corp. was known for its mini capsules but now the organization would be known for being the first of its kind to develop a vaccine during the modern-day global pandemic. The other organizations would slowly have their versions of the vaccine, but Capsule Corp developed and delivered a vaccine first. Bulma couldn't help but smile.
"My girl! I am so proud of you!" Mr. Briefs said as he walked into Bulma's office.
Bulma stood up to give her dad a hug. Though currently retired from the role of CEO, Mr. Briefs still served on the board of the organization. He was also Bulma's #1 cheerleader. It had been that way her entire life.
"This is such an accomplishment; I have no words." Mr. Briefs continued as he took a seat.
"I know dad, think of all of the lives that will be saved with this vaccine. This is definitely going to be one for the ages, it's going down in history." Bulma replied with a smirk that reminded her dad of his son in law.
Mrs. Briefs walked into Bulma's office and joined the conversation. "Congratulations sweetheart! Aww, now both you and Vegeta are heroes, saving the world in your own respects, him with his strength and handsomeness, you with your beauty and smarts." Bulma kissed her mom on the cheek as she joined her husband and took a seat in her daughter's office.
Bulma laughed, "Oh mom, that's a good one, I have to be sure to use that." Bulma didn't want to give her parents any inkling about the marital challenges she was currently experiencing with her husband. She would keep them out of it for now. Since they all lived together for many years, her parents had been privy to almost every aspect of her marriage, they only recently moved out and Bulma was finally enjoying the privacy of her family.
"I feel so special seeing you both today on arguably one of the most important days of my career, did you both plan to come in just to see me, it's pretty late?" Bulma asked as she started to yawn. Pregnancy fatigue was starting to creep in.
Mr. and Mrs. Brief quickly glanced at each other before responding.
"Of course, dear, we figured you were working late, so we came to personally congratulate you." Said Mr. Briefs.
"and to take you out to dinner!" Mrs. Briefs exclaimed.
Bulma started to gather her purse, cell, and work planner from the office.
"I would love to have dinner with you Mom and Dad but I have a hungry household of 2 sayains waiting for me."
"Don't worry, we got that covered." Said Mr. Briefs
Bulma stopped gathering her items and looked at her father. "What in the world do you mean?"
"Shh, just take a walk with us." Mrs. Briefs said as Bulma returned to packing her things and prepared to leave the office for the night.
Bulma walked outside with her parents towards her home. She immediately noticed a large dinner table with the prepared food in the yard area separating her home and the headquarters of Capsule Corp. Waiters wore face masks and were prepared to serve the family. Trunks and Vegeta were seated at the table. There were three empty chairs spread 6 feet apart. Bulma took the seat closest to her husband with Mr. and Mrs. Briefs sitting in the remaining two chairs.
It was a beautiful night for a socially distanced outside dinner. Bulma looked up and could see the stars clearly. The sky was beautiful, she didn't notice how much time she spent looking at her books and such as a scientist, she made a gentle reminder to look up at the sky more often, before removing her mask, like everyone else at the table, and enjoying her dinner with her family.
"Congratulations mom!" Trunks yelled with joy from across the table.
"Thanks sweetie, I am so happy to have all of my favorite people here with me to celebrate this major accomplishment, I love you all, our family is no stranger to hard work when it comes to global crises." Bulma looked at her husband before continuing. "We've been through some challenging times but we always overcome it, we've helped save the world before and now we are doing it again, I may not have the physical strength but I have the smarts to be a hero just like everyone else in this family and it brings me immense pride."
"Yes, but in certain situations smarts are no match for physical strength. You need physical strength more than intelligence in certain situations. In certain situations, you really need that physical strength." Vegeta replied while looking directly at Bulma with a smirk.
Bulma pinched her nose, pregnancy fatigue and annoyance was kicking in. She knew precisely the type of certain situations he was referring to. She took a deep breathe before responding.
"I just single handedly led my team to develop a lifesaving vaccine for a global pandemic and that's the first thing that comes out of your mouth?"
The dinner that was initially filled with the sound of forks being used to eat food quickly quieted. You could not hear a pen drop. The waiters even stopped moving around.
If she wanted to continue to play this game. He would play with her.
"My family is good; this ridiculous pandemic is the furthest thing from my mind. I'm merely commenting on the importance of physical strength in certain situations like if you're going to die in a certain situation because you literally don't have the strength needed for that certain situation then I don't see how smarts or intelligence will help. I don't think it'll help at all. Vegeta picked up his beer and continued to drink it.
"Are we still talking about the vaccine…" That was Trunks, he could read his parents and he felt like something was up with this certain situations conversation. What certain situations were they referring to anyway?
"Of course, they are dear." Mrs. Briefs chimed in, being married herself for 40 plus years she could tell when a couple was going through discord. It also helped that she witnessed her daughter and son in law's relationship blossom from the beginning. She knew something was definitely up but she felt they needed privacy and their son didn't need to be aware of what was going on between them.
Bulma smiled at her family and silently mouthed the words 'Thank You' to her mother.
Vegeta was definitely not letting this discussion go and was willing to put it before her congratulatory family dinner.
Bulma turned to Trunks and said, "Yes. Of course. Your dad has a point Trunks, but I am sticking to my point. We can agree to disagree. Physical strength is not the only thing that can get you through difficult situations, my intelligence definitely helped me get through the difficult situation of COVID and it led to the development of the vaccine."
"That is so true Mom! You're helping the world get through this difficult situation on your intelligence alone with the vaccine!" said Trunks.
"Exactly, my love." Bulma responded before continuing to eat.
Vegeta remained quiet for the remainder of the dinner, she won this battle but he was focused on the war.
The next day Pensil met for coffee with Mr. Briefs. They had a weekly standing date for coffee which Pensil enjoyed. Mr. Briefs mentored Pensil since he was a college student and no matter what came up, Mr. Briefs always maintained this coffee meeting with Pensil. This further solidified the father figure role that Pensil had given to Mr. Briefs.
Said mentor and mentee sat at their usual table. The coffee had been served minutes ago. The two got lost in conversation and catching up.
"I never get why you prefer to meet here instead at headquarters." Said Pensil
"This was the coffee shop I often visited while studying as a college student, it's the coffee shop I saw you studying in as a college student at all the time before I decided to approach you about the internship at Capsule Corp." Mr. Briefs recalled.
"It's something about this coffee and studying, I'm just grateful it brought us together, honestly. You know my dad left me family when I was a child and I worked hard to help support my mother and siblings. Mr. Briefs you've been more than a mentor to me, you've been like a father."
Mr. Briefs smiled, "Pensil my boy, it brings me joy to hear you say that and congratulations is in order, that's why we are here right, we celebrated Bulma as a family yesterday but I am here to also celebrate you and recognize your contributions to the vaccine development, we all know that as Executive Vice Preside and renowned scientist, you played a major role in this development, in saving the world. "
"Thank you, Mr. Briefs, I'm actually here to talk about that" …started Pensil.
"I don't mean to pry, but I am wondering if Bulma is pregnant, and if she was and decided to step down as CEO, I know she would talk to you about it, given our history, I wanted to just let you know that I would love to be considered in her place given our history and all of the time I have spent at Capsule Corp I think I would be the perfect choice."
Mr. Briefs kept a poker face. Did Pensil just say he think Bulma is pregnant? Mr. Briefs reflected on the "certain conversations" interaction between Bulma and Vegeta last night. Even if it eas true, DidPensil just suggest that Mr. Briefs stab his daughter in the back by making him CEO, if Bulma was pregnant and that's a big If, then she would definitely continue working in her role of CEO. He did not know what gotten into Pensil, as majority stakeholder and father, Mr. Briefs strongly encouraged Bulma to hire Pensil thought she didn't want to and here he was coming to him, of all people, for her job. He felt disgusted but did not want to lose the relationship he had with Pensil. Mr. Briefs quickly rationalized Pencil's behavior. Pensil just grossly miscalculated Mr. Brief's character.
After what sceemed like an eternity, Mr. Briefs finally responded to Pensil, "Well, Bulma is the current CEO and I know no plans of her stepping down but if there were the organization would consider every and all applicants for the role."
Pensil's body went tense. His face was no longer smiling. He felt betrayed. After all he had given to the company Mr. Briefs was sitting across from him telling him that "the organization would consider every and all applications" for a role that he earned. Pensil noted that Mr. Briefs also ignored Pensil's assumption that Bulma was pregnant. He might be on to something. Pensil once looked at Mr. Brief's as a father figure and saw Bulma as an enemy in a sibling rivalry but now the entire Briefs were enemies and they would win this battle for the CEO position but he would win the war.
"I understand." Pensil said as he started to rise out of his seat. The friendly atmosphere that was once in the air was gone. "Well Mr. Briefs, it was great catching up, I have to catch a flight with my girlfriend. We're celebrating this achievement at Lake Toya."
Mr. Briefs looked down at his coffee before responding to Pensil. "I'm not going to pretend to be comfortable with you traveling during this pandemic but just a reminder that there is a mandatory quarantine in place upon your return."
"Of course!" was Pensil's response. If Pensil was disappointed by the outcome of this coffee date with Mr. Briefs, one would not know, he left and gave a bright smile before heading home to pack and enjoy a mini vacation with his girlfriend.
Later that evening a blue haired woman lay in bed with her flame haired husband. Silence filled the space between their two bodies.
"So, really what was that about?" Bulma said to no one in particular. She was naked, staring at the ceiling. She didn't have to look at him for him to know what she was referring to.
It had been about one day since the dinner and and they hadn't talked about all that transpired between them that evening.
"I think you know."
Bulma sighed before pinching her noise for the second time in two days. She took a deep breathe before turning to face her husband. To her chagrin, her husband welcomed her with his back. He could feel her moving in the bed and could have choose to turn around but he didn't.
"Look, hun, yes we needed to talk about this pregnancy but that wasn't appropriate, not in front of the family and not when we are celebrating a legit accomplishment of mine, I know you don't take this disease seriously because you're not affected by it, but I'm Human, and I am affected by it, this vaccine is a major deal."
"Look, you're the one who said we would discuss it at dinner…" was Vegeta's initial response. He could hear Bulma's breathe intensifying from a space of calm to a space of anger. He turned around to face her before she could speak. He tenderly picked up her face with his hands and felt her warm soft skin against his fingertips.
"I don't need to congratulate you; I know how smart you are. Unlike the rest of the world, I don't need a vaccine development to prove that to me. I know that you're human and that is one of the reasons that I need us to have a conversation about this pregnancy, time is going by and we need to make a decision."
Deep inside Bulma had already made a decision. She hadn't voiced it aloud yet. This baby was a part of her and she wanted to keep it. Vegeta would not agree and she did not know where that would leave them. There would definitely be war. Instead of using her words, she responded to Vegeta in one of their favorite communication styles and leaned in for a kiss.
Another battle lost, was Vegeta's thought as he grabbed her slender frame and pulled her on top of him
This pregnancy might tear her marriage apart in the future but she was going to enjoy the pleasures of this present moment.
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