Through The Eyes of A Saiyan
Written by Jennifer and Mandy
Chapter 4 - Tragedy
Part B
He flew faster than usual and arrived in a matter of minutes. Once he landed on the ground, he rushed in the front door and raced inside to look for the ER waiting room.
"Come on Tousan...give me a sign or something of where you are.", Trunks thought to himself in frustration. "This place is huge! I'll never find him!" he continued in a total panic.
A receptionist, who had overheard Trunks, asked politely, "May I help you, sir?"
Startled at first, Trunks jerked his head in her direction and ran over to the desk, "Hai! Dozo, can you tell me where I can find the ER waiting room? I'm trying to find my tousan and my kaasan's in the emergency room!" He ran his hands through his hair in frustration as his ki level rose spontaneously. "I just found out about this and came as soon as I could." Trunks let out a sigh as he was becoming increasingly hot from the sheer heat and anxiety.
The receptionist was a bit surprised at the boy's state. "Calm down, sir. We'll find where your family is located. Can you tell me what the name is?"
Vegeta, who was now sitting in a chair with his arms crossed, perked up at sensing Trunks' ki. He stood up immediately and after looking around to make sure no one was watching, quietly transforming just for a moment to signal Trunks.
As Trunks opened his mouth to answer, he suddenly felt a power increase and jerked his head to the right, "That must be Tousan." he thought to himself. Without responding to the receptionist, he sped down the hall to where he sensed his father.
Meanwhile...
"Ok Goten, I'm leaving to go get Bra now. I'll be back shortly ok? Tell your kaasan where I went if she asks." Goku said while heading for the door.
"Ok dad." Goten replied as he walked into the living room.
Goku nodded and went outside and took off from the ground. After he was a small distance from the house, he stopped in mid-air and laughed a little, "Why do I always forget that?" He put his two forefingers on his forehead and disappeared, reappearing in front of Capsule Corporation. "That's better." He went inside, "Bra?" he called while looking around. Goku walked through the kitchen, looking for any sign of Bra. He turned his head and his eyes widened in surprise. "FOOD!!!", he exclaimed with the child-like personality showing. In an instant, he was sidetracked by the untouched dinner that remained on the kitchen table, "Oh man! I'm starving!" he said while holding his stomach and looking at all the food. He began grabbing huge amounts of the relatively warm meal and shoving it in his mouth, producing the well-known kawaii expression. Once there was no food left, he let out a huge sigh of satisfaction, "Man! That was great! I hope Vegeta won't mind that I ate his dinner." he said quietly with a nervous laugh. Then he remembered what he came there to do and headed upstairs in search for Bra. "Bra? Where are you? It's only me, Goku!" he yelled through the massive house. Goku approached Bra's closed door and knocked lightly, "Bra? Are you in there?"
There were light sobs heard from inside the room. Goku pushed opened the door and peered inside to see Bra sitting on her bed with a tear-streaked face and cuddled up with her teddy bear. He stepped into the room and looked at Bra sympathetically.
Bra looked up at Goku with her blue eyes glistening with tears, "Where's Tousan?"
"Vegeta had to go somewhere very important." Goku said while walking over by her bed.
Bra sighed and glanced back down at her teddy bear, which her mother had given her and whispered to herself, "Okaasan," she looked back up at Goku, "Where's Kaasan?"
Goku rubbed the back of his neck nervously, "Well, she's...umm...she had to go with him. And I came to take you back to my house."
"Why?" she asked.
"Uh....Be....cause...," he smiled suddenly, "Well, Trunks had to go take care of some important business and Goten is lonely. He wants someone to play with."
Bra smiled, "Ok! Can I bring my dolls?"
"Sure you can! Now come on. Goten is just dying for you to get there and keep him company."
She jumped off the bed and ran across the room to gather her dolls. She turned to face Goku, her little arms loaded with dolls as her little blue pigtails bounced by her head.
Goku bent down to pick her up, then put his two forefingers on his forehead after standing upright. "Got everything?"
Bra looked down at the dolls in her arms, then back up at Goku, "Hai!" she said with a smile.
Goku focused in front of him and in no time they were both back at Goku's house.
"Dad!" Goten said, a little startled, "You're back!"
"Hai. Any word about you-know-what?" he asked while shielding one side of his mouth so Bra wouldn't hear him."
Goten just shook his head solemnly.
Goku set Bra down on the floor; she immediately ran over to Goten, "Hi Goten!!"
"Uh...hi Bra." he replied with a nervous smile, knowing what was about to come.
Bra started to tug on his pants, "Come on! Let's go play with my dolls!" she suggested excitedly.
Goten looked up at his father with a look that said, "I don't want to do that!"
"Come on Goten. Play with her." Goku assured, "It's not that bad."
"Fine." Goten replied simply as he gave up and followed Bra upstairs.
Meanwhile in the hospital, Vegeta continued to pace the waiting room with his arms crossed.
Trunks finally arrived at the waiting room and rushed through the door, "Tousan!"
Vegeta looked up, "There you are Trunks!"
"What's going on?!", Trunks asked while trying to catch his breath.
"I already explained over the phone! I don't know what's going on!"
Trunks took a step back in surprise at Vegeta's sudden burst of anger. "Well what's going on now?" he asked meekly.
Vegeta gestured to the door, "They're still in there doing who knows what to try and save her."
Trunks' face expressed a look of concern as he glanced towards the door then back at Vegeta. "Is there anything we can do?"
"Well I do not suppose we can do anything. They won't even allow us in there right now." Vegeta went over and sat down, putting his head in his hands, trying not to show any emotion.
Trunks followed, sitting in a chair across from him, with his arms crossed and staring at the door.
Meanwhile in the ER, the nurse glanced at the doctor, "I think she's going to be all right, sir."
The heart monitor had a steady, rhythmic beep to it, which gave a reassuring feeling in the room. Doctor Masuda checked all of Bulma's vital signs and announced, "Good work people. I think it's safe to take her to ICU now." Another doctor left the room to go inform the family.
Vegeta was back up pacing the room mumbling impatiently, "What's taking so long! Why has no one come in here yet? If no one comes and tells me what's going on, I'll go in there and find out myself!"
Trunks was just sitting in his chair with his chin resting in his palm, following Vegeta with his eyes.
Suddenly the door to the waiting room swung open and a doctor stepped in. Trunks and Vegeta immediately snapped their heads up. Vegeta blurred out of sight and reappeared in front for the doctor, "Well?? What happened???"
Trunks still sat in his chair listening to the conversation.
The doctor, who was a bit shocked, just smiled, "She's all right, sir. We managed to get her stabilized and we're taking her to ICU now."
Vegeta let out a relieved sigh.
Trunks did the same, "That's great!" he thought to himself as he stood up, walking over to the doctor, "When can we see her?" he asked.
"You will be able to visit her when she gets into ICU." The doctor informed.
Vegeta rose his fist, "You be sure and tell us the INSTANT we can go in there. Understand?!"
Trunks glanced at Vegeta in slight shock, then looked back at the doctor.
Starting to get a tad on the nervous side, the doctor replied, "H...Hai. I'll do that, sir. As soon as you can go in, I'll tell you."
"Thank you, sir." Trunks said with a reassuring smile.
The doctor looked at Trunks and smiled a little in slight relief, nodded, then turned back around and left.
Back in the ER, "All right. Let's get her down to the ICU now." Doctor Masuda directed.
The ER staff got Bulma on a bed and made sure she was ready to go. She was lying on her back with her eyes closed, breathing through oxygen tubes.
Vegeta and Trunks sat rather impatiently in the waiting room while the doctors took Bulma down to ICU.
"How much longer will it be before we can see her?" Vegeta muttered in an irritated voice.
Trunks just sighed and looked at the door.
Meanwhile the doctors got Bulma into ICU and had her hooked up to the monitors. "All right. I'll go tell the family they can see her now." a doctor said as he walked through the door and headed to the waiting room.
Trunks was looking down at his feet and fiddling with his thumbs trying to pass the time.
The doctor came into the waiting room and looked at the two Saiyans.
Trunks looked up at the doctor expectantly.
Vegeta faced him also, "Well?" he asked in a frustrated voice.
The doctor smiled, "We have taken her to ICU now. You can go see her as soon as you want to."
Trunks smiled and looked towards Vegeta.
Vegeta stood up, "Finally!"
"Just follow me, gentlemen." the doctor said as he walked out.
Trunks followed him with Vegeta close behind. The three walked down the hall to the elevator and proceeded inside. Another man was already in there, talking on his cell phone. "Uh-huh....yeah....well, of course," he paused for a moment before bursting out in a most annoying laugh, slightly startling the other three passengers, ".....ok.....love you too.....buh- bye." He closed his cell phone and put it in his pocket.
Vegeta stared at him out of the corner of his eye, with his arms folded, "How could anyone have such a moronic laugh?!", he thought to himself with a scowl. His thoughts were suddenly interrupted by the 'ding' of the elevator as they arrived at their floor. They continued to follow the doctor to ICU.
Meanwhile at Goku's house, "No Goten! You're these people!" Bra held up two of her dolls, "I'm these people." she put her hand on two other dolls.
Goten sighed and looked up on his bed at the cards Trunks and he were playing with only a couple of hours ago and wished he were back.
Downstairs, Goku talked with Chi-Chi, "I just can't think of what could be wrong with her, Chi-Chi. It just doesn't make sense!"
"I don't understand it either. Bulma isn't prone to getting so sick like this.", replied Chi-Chi." You don't think she has some kind of virus that could be causing this, do you?"
Goku drummed his fingers in thought, "It's a possibility. I don't know what it could be though."
Chi-Chi folded her hands together, "Poor Trunks, this came so unexpected for him...and Bra too and I wonder how Vegeta is taking this."
"He sounded pretty frantic when he was on the phone." Goku pointed out.
Chi-Chi sighed, "If anything happens to Bulma, Vegeta would," her eyes widened, "well, I don't exactly know what he would do."
Goku folded his hands behind his head, "I bet he'd go ballistic! I can tell he really loves her, but he just never wants to show it. He doesn't want to hurt his 'tough reputation' I guess."
"Yeah, that's Vegeta for you." Chi-Chi said as she stood up from the table.
Meanwhile, back at the hospital, Trunks reached the door to the ICU and walked in slowly, "Kaasan?"
The room was dark except for the light emitted from the lamp by her bed that gave just enough visibility to see Bulma lying in her bed breathing though oxygen tubes.
Trunks walked closer to the bed, "Kaasan? Can you hear me?" he asked softly.
Vegeta followed Trunks into the room and walked to the foot of her bed. He looked at her with his arms folded and the usual scowl, yet he was really concerned about his wife.
Trunks went over and took her hand, he watched, hoping for a response.
Bulma opened her eyes slightly, her vision blurred at first, then focused on her son and husband standing beside her bed.
"Kaasan, are you ok? You had us really worried." Trunks said while rubbing her hand gently.
Vegeta walked over to the other side of her bed, "Bulma? What happened to you?" he asked with a hint of sternness in his voice.
A nurse came quietly into the room and asked, "Do you need anything?"
"Iie." Vegeta replied, "We're fine."
The nurse pointed to a button by the bed, "If you do need anything, just press that button. That will alert the staff that they are needed." she informed with a smile, then turned around and left.
Bulma turned to face Vegeta, "What happened? I don't remember anything." she asked weakly.
Trunks looked up at Vegeta.
Vegeta was a little got-off with at first, "You don't? I found you unconscious on the floor! Was there any reason why that might have happened?"
Nervously, Bulma looked down a little, "Oh yeah." she thought to herself.
Trunks broke in, "But there's no need to worry about that now; you're going to be all right, aren't you?"
Bulma nodded while trying to fight back tears. She didn't want them to worry right now, it was too soon...all of this was happening too soon.
"Of course she will be Trunks," Vegeta looked up at him, "she's always pulled though tough situations. You know that."
Trunks looked back down at Bulma with worry in his eyes, knowing that something still wasn't right, but he just couldn't put his finger on it.
"Where's Bra?" asked Bulma.
Vegeta looked back up at Trunks, wondering the same thing.
Trunks switched his gaze from his mom to his dad, "Umm, well, Goku went to go get her and take her back to his house. I didn't want her to have to come to the hospital. I didn't know how she would take it."
Vegeta furrowed his eyebrows, "Good idea, boy." he said then looked back down at Bulma, "We'll have you out of here soon enough. You'll be all right."
Bulma's eyes started to fill with tears as she nodded slightly. She turned to face Trunks, "Trunks, honey, could you please give your father and me some time alone?" she asked while patting his hand affectionately.
Trunks looked at his mother with question, then glanced at his father. "Yeah, sure." he answered obediently, then turned to walk out the door.
Bulma watched her beautiful son walk away and forced back tears as she turned her head quickly. She raised her head to look up at her husband, "Vegeta, dear, sit down."
Vegeta looked at Bulma curiously for a moment, then went across the room, grabbed a chair, and carried it over to sit down beside her bed.
"Vegeta, I just wanted you to know how proud I am of you...."
"Proud?", Vegeta questioned.
Bulma continued, "You and the kids are all I've ever really wanted in life, I wouldn't trade anything for it...", she started to loose herself for a moment, and became silent as tears began to stream down her face.
Vegeta, who was taken by surprise at the sudden change in mood, kept his eyes on Bulma with true concern written all over his face. "What's wrong, Bulma?"
"Vegeta, there's something I should have told you before." She looked back up at Vegeta with her eyes glistening from the tears. "There is no cure for this virus I've got. I've known about this for a while, but I was too afraid to tell you. I didn't know how you would react." She turned her head away. "Once the symptoms begin to occur, I don't..." her voice started to quiver. ", have much time left."
Vegeta looked as if he had just awoken from a bad dream, "Does...but...there has to be something we can do!!"
Bulma shook her head sadly, "There is nothing the doctors can do for me. Once I had it from the start, there was still no cure for it. I had already done all the research on this virus in my lab to see if anything could be done, but there's no hope." Her breath started to sharply decrease suddenly as she clenched her teeth at the shock of pain that pierced her heart.
Vegeta stood up, knocking the chair over in the process, and was trying to keep himself together, "Woman, why didn't you tell me?? We could have figured something out!
Bulma tried to explain while gasping for breath, "I.... didn't.... want to...upset you. You have so much going for you, I didn't want this virus to cause any trouble for you or the kids."
Vegeta could see that Bulma was getting worse, "It's ok, Woman. I'm not upset, and I wouldn't have been. It's ok." He took her hand and began to rub it gently in his.
Another sharp pain cut though her heart and sent a shock of burning agony though her veins. She clenched her teeth and grabbed onto Vegeta's shirt, trying to deal with the excruciating symptoms. Her chest went back down from the trauma and her body fell limp. Bulma looked at Vegeta one more time, then let go of his shirt. With all the energy she had left, she brought her hand up to Vegeta's face and ran her slender fingers down his cheek. She looked back into his saddened eyes and whispered, "Vegeta...I love you...." as one last tear rolled down her cheek. Those were her last words to her prince.
Written by Jennifer and Mandy
Chapter 4 - Tragedy
Part B
He flew faster than usual and arrived in a matter of minutes. Once he landed on the ground, he rushed in the front door and raced inside to look for the ER waiting room.
"Come on Tousan...give me a sign or something of where you are.", Trunks thought to himself in frustration. "This place is huge! I'll never find him!" he continued in a total panic.
A receptionist, who had overheard Trunks, asked politely, "May I help you, sir?"
Startled at first, Trunks jerked his head in her direction and ran over to the desk, "Hai! Dozo, can you tell me where I can find the ER waiting room? I'm trying to find my tousan and my kaasan's in the emergency room!" He ran his hands through his hair in frustration as his ki level rose spontaneously. "I just found out about this and came as soon as I could." Trunks let out a sigh as he was becoming increasingly hot from the sheer heat and anxiety.
The receptionist was a bit surprised at the boy's state. "Calm down, sir. We'll find where your family is located. Can you tell me what the name is?"
Vegeta, who was now sitting in a chair with his arms crossed, perked up at sensing Trunks' ki. He stood up immediately and after looking around to make sure no one was watching, quietly transforming just for a moment to signal Trunks.
As Trunks opened his mouth to answer, he suddenly felt a power increase and jerked his head to the right, "That must be Tousan." he thought to himself. Without responding to the receptionist, he sped down the hall to where he sensed his father.
Meanwhile...
"Ok Goten, I'm leaving to go get Bra now. I'll be back shortly ok? Tell your kaasan where I went if she asks." Goku said while heading for the door.
"Ok dad." Goten replied as he walked into the living room.
Goku nodded and went outside and took off from the ground. After he was a small distance from the house, he stopped in mid-air and laughed a little, "Why do I always forget that?" He put his two forefingers on his forehead and disappeared, reappearing in front of Capsule Corporation. "That's better." He went inside, "Bra?" he called while looking around. Goku walked through the kitchen, looking for any sign of Bra. He turned his head and his eyes widened in surprise. "FOOD!!!", he exclaimed with the child-like personality showing. In an instant, he was sidetracked by the untouched dinner that remained on the kitchen table, "Oh man! I'm starving!" he said while holding his stomach and looking at all the food. He began grabbing huge amounts of the relatively warm meal and shoving it in his mouth, producing the well-known kawaii expression. Once there was no food left, he let out a huge sigh of satisfaction, "Man! That was great! I hope Vegeta won't mind that I ate his dinner." he said quietly with a nervous laugh. Then he remembered what he came there to do and headed upstairs in search for Bra. "Bra? Where are you? It's only me, Goku!" he yelled through the massive house. Goku approached Bra's closed door and knocked lightly, "Bra? Are you in there?"
There were light sobs heard from inside the room. Goku pushed opened the door and peered inside to see Bra sitting on her bed with a tear-streaked face and cuddled up with her teddy bear. He stepped into the room and looked at Bra sympathetically.
Bra looked up at Goku with her blue eyes glistening with tears, "Where's Tousan?"
"Vegeta had to go somewhere very important." Goku said while walking over by her bed.
Bra sighed and glanced back down at her teddy bear, which her mother had given her and whispered to herself, "Okaasan," she looked back up at Goku, "Where's Kaasan?"
Goku rubbed the back of his neck nervously, "Well, she's...umm...she had to go with him. And I came to take you back to my house."
"Why?" she asked.
"Uh....Be....cause...," he smiled suddenly, "Well, Trunks had to go take care of some important business and Goten is lonely. He wants someone to play with."
Bra smiled, "Ok! Can I bring my dolls?"
"Sure you can! Now come on. Goten is just dying for you to get there and keep him company."
She jumped off the bed and ran across the room to gather her dolls. She turned to face Goku, her little arms loaded with dolls as her little blue pigtails bounced by her head.
Goku bent down to pick her up, then put his two forefingers on his forehead after standing upright. "Got everything?"
Bra looked down at the dolls in her arms, then back up at Goku, "Hai!" she said with a smile.
Goku focused in front of him and in no time they were both back at Goku's house.
"Dad!" Goten said, a little startled, "You're back!"
"Hai. Any word about you-know-what?" he asked while shielding one side of his mouth so Bra wouldn't hear him."
Goten just shook his head solemnly.
Goku set Bra down on the floor; she immediately ran over to Goten, "Hi Goten!!"
"Uh...hi Bra." he replied with a nervous smile, knowing what was about to come.
Bra started to tug on his pants, "Come on! Let's go play with my dolls!" she suggested excitedly.
Goten looked up at his father with a look that said, "I don't want to do that!"
"Come on Goten. Play with her." Goku assured, "It's not that bad."
"Fine." Goten replied simply as he gave up and followed Bra upstairs.
Meanwhile in the hospital, Vegeta continued to pace the waiting room with his arms crossed.
Trunks finally arrived at the waiting room and rushed through the door, "Tousan!"
Vegeta looked up, "There you are Trunks!"
"What's going on?!", Trunks asked while trying to catch his breath.
"I already explained over the phone! I don't know what's going on!"
Trunks took a step back in surprise at Vegeta's sudden burst of anger. "Well what's going on now?" he asked meekly.
Vegeta gestured to the door, "They're still in there doing who knows what to try and save her."
Trunks' face expressed a look of concern as he glanced towards the door then back at Vegeta. "Is there anything we can do?"
"Well I do not suppose we can do anything. They won't even allow us in there right now." Vegeta went over and sat down, putting his head in his hands, trying not to show any emotion.
Trunks followed, sitting in a chair across from him, with his arms crossed and staring at the door.
Meanwhile in the ER, the nurse glanced at the doctor, "I think she's going to be all right, sir."
The heart monitor had a steady, rhythmic beep to it, which gave a reassuring feeling in the room. Doctor Masuda checked all of Bulma's vital signs and announced, "Good work people. I think it's safe to take her to ICU now." Another doctor left the room to go inform the family.
Vegeta was back up pacing the room mumbling impatiently, "What's taking so long! Why has no one come in here yet? If no one comes and tells me what's going on, I'll go in there and find out myself!"
Trunks was just sitting in his chair with his chin resting in his palm, following Vegeta with his eyes.
Suddenly the door to the waiting room swung open and a doctor stepped in. Trunks and Vegeta immediately snapped their heads up. Vegeta blurred out of sight and reappeared in front for the doctor, "Well?? What happened???"
Trunks still sat in his chair listening to the conversation.
The doctor, who was a bit shocked, just smiled, "She's all right, sir. We managed to get her stabilized and we're taking her to ICU now."
Vegeta let out a relieved sigh.
Trunks did the same, "That's great!" he thought to himself as he stood up, walking over to the doctor, "When can we see her?" he asked.
"You will be able to visit her when she gets into ICU." The doctor informed.
Vegeta rose his fist, "You be sure and tell us the INSTANT we can go in there. Understand?!"
Trunks glanced at Vegeta in slight shock, then looked back at the doctor.
Starting to get a tad on the nervous side, the doctor replied, "H...Hai. I'll do that, sir. As soon as you can go in, I'll tell you."
"Thank you, sir." Trunks said with a reassuring smile.
The doctor looked at Trunks and smiled a little in slight relief, nodded, then turned back around and left.
Back in the ER, "All right. Let's get her down to the ICU now." Doctor Masuda directed.
The ER staff got Bulma on a bed and made sure she was ready to go. She was lying on her back with her eyes closed, breathing through oxygen tubes.
Vegeta and Trunks sat rather impatiently in the waiting room while the doctors took Bulma down to ICU.
"How much longer will it be before we can see her?" Vegeta muttered in an irritated voice.
Trunks just sighed and looked at the door.
Meanwhile the doctors got Bulma into ICU and had her hooked up to the monitors. "All right. I'll go tell the family they can see her now." a doctor said as he walked through the door and headed to the waiting room.
Trunks was looking down at his feet and fiddling with his thumbs trying to pass the time.
The doctor came into the waiting room and looked at the two Saiyans.
Trunks looked up at the doctor expectantly.
Vegeta faced him also, "Well?" he asked in a frustrated voice.
The doctor smiled, "We have taken her to ICU now. You can go see her as soon as you want to."
Trunks smiled and looked towards Vegeta.
Vegeta stood up, "Finally!"
"Just follow me, gentlemen." the doctor said as he walked out.
Trunks followed him with Vegeta close behind. The three walked down the hall to the elevator and proceeded inside. Another man was already in there, talking on his cell phone. "Uh-huh....yeah....well, of course," he paused for a moment before bursting out in a most annoying laugh, slightly startling the other three passengers, ".....ok.....love you too.....buh- bye." He closed his cell phone and put it in his pocket.
Vegeta stared at him out of the corner of his eye, with his arms folded, "How could anyone have such a moronic laugh?!", he thought to himself with a scowl. His thoughts were suddenly interrupted by the 'ding' of the elevator as they arrived at their floor. They continued to follow the doctor to ICU.
Meanwhile at Goku's house, "No Goten! You're these people!" Bra held up two of her dolls, "I'm these people." she put her hand on two other dolls.
Goten sighed and looked up on his bed at the cards Trunks and he were playing with only a couple of hours ago and wished he were back.
Downstairs, Goku talked with Chi-Chi, "I just can't think of what could be wrong with her, Chi-Chi. It just doesn't make sense!"
"I don't understand it either. Bulma isn't prone to getting so sick like this.", replied Chi-Chi." You don't think she has some kind of virus that could be causing this, do you?"
Goku drummed his fingers in thought, "It's a possibility. I don't know what it could be though."
Chi-Chi folded her hands together, "Poor Trunks, this came so unexpected for him...and Bra too and I wonder how Vegeta is taking this."
"He sounded pretty frantic when he was on the phone." Goku pointed out.
Chi-Chi sighed, "If anything happens to Bulma, Vegeta would," her eyes widened, "well, I don't exactly know what he would do."
Goku folded his hands behind his head, "I bet he'd go ballistic! I can tell he really loves her, but he just never wants to show it. He doesn't want to hurt his 'tough reputation' I guess."
"Yeah, that's Vegeta for you." Chi-Chi said as she stood up from the table.
Meanwhile, back at the hospital, Trunks reached the door to the ICU and walked in slowly, "Kaasan?"
The room was dark except for the light emitted from the lamp by her bed that gave just enough visibility to see Bulma lying in her bed breathing though oxygen tubes.
Trunks walked closer to the bed, "Kaasan? Can you hear me?" he asked softly.
Vegeta followed Trunks into the room and walked to the foot of her bed. He looked at her with his arms folded and the usual scowl, yet he was really concerned about his wife.
Trunks went over and took her hand, he watched, hoping for a response.
Bulma opened her eyes slightly, her vision blurred at first, then focused on her son and husband standing beside her bed.
"Kaasan, are you ok? You had us really worried." Trunks said while rubbing her hand gently.
Vegeta walked over to the other side of her bed, "Bulma? What happened to you?" he asked with a hint of sternness in his voice.
A nurse came quietly into the room and asked, "Do you need anything?"
"Iie." Vegeta replied, "We're fine."
The nurse pointed to a button by the bed, "If you do need anything, just press that button. That will alert the staff that they are needed." she informed with a smile, then turned around and left.
Bulma turned to face Vegeta, "What happened? I don't remember anything." she asked weakly.
Trunks looked up at Vegeta.
Vegeta was a little got-off with at first, "You don't? I found you unconscious on the floor! Was there any reason why that might have happened?"
Nervously, Bulma looked down a little, "Oh yeah." she thought to herself.
Trunks broke in, "But there's no need to worry about that now; you're going to be all right, aren't you?"
Bulma nodded while trying to fight back tears. She didn't want them to worry right now, it was too soon...all of this was happening too soon.
"Of course she will be Trunks," Vegeta looked up at him, "she's always pulled though tough situations. You know that."
Trunks looked back down at Bulma with worry in his eyes, knowing that something still wasn't right, but he just couldn't put his finger on it.
"Where's Bra?" asked Bulma.
Vegeta looked back up at Trunks, wondering the same thing.
Trunks switched his gaze from his mom to his dad, "Umm, well, Goku went to go get her and take her back to his house. I didn't want her to have to come to the hospital. I didn't know how she would take it."
Vegeta furrowed his eyebrows, "Good idea, boy." he said then looked back down at Bulma, "We'll have you out of here soon enough. You'll be all right."
Bulma's eyes started to fill with tears as she nodded slightly. She turned to face Trunks, "Trunks, honey, could you please give your father and me some time alone?" she asked while patting his hand affectionately.
Trunks looked at his mother with question, then glanced at his father. "Yeah, sure." he answered obediently, then turned to walk out the door.
Bulma watched her beautiful son walk away and forced back tears as she turned her head quickly. She raised her head to look up at her husband, "Vegeta, dear, sit down."
Vegeta looked at Bulma curiously for a moment, then went across the room, grabbed a chair, and carried it over to sit down beside her bed.
"Vegeta, I just wanted you to know how proud I am of you...."
"Proud?", Vegeta questioned.
Bulma continued, "You and the kids are all I've ever really wanted in life, I wouldn't trade anything for it...", she started to loose herself for a moment, and became silent as tears began to stream down her face.
Vegeta, who was taken by surprise at the sudden change in mood, kept his eyes on Bulma with true concern written all over his face. "What's wrong, Bulma?"
"Vegeta, there's something I should have told you before." She looked back up at Vegeta with her eyes glistening from the tears. "There is no cure for this virus I've got. I've known about this for a while, but I was too afraid to tell you. I didn't know how you would react." She turned her head away. "Once the symptoms begin to occur, I don't..." her voice started to quiver. ", have much time left."
Vegeta looked as if he had just awoken from a bad dream, "Does...but...there has to be something we can do!!"
Bulma shook her head sadly, "There is nothing the doctors can do for me. Once I had it from the start, there was still no cure for it. I had already done all the research on this virus in my lab to see if anything could be done, but there's no hope." Her breath started to sharply decrease suddenly as she clenched her teeth at the shock of pain that pierced her heart.
Vegeta stood up, knocking the chair over in the process, and was trying to keep himself together, "Woman, why didn't you tell me?? We could have figured something out!
Bulma tried to explain while gasping for breath, "I.... didn't.... want to...upset you. You have so much going for you, I didn't want this virus to cause any trouble for you or the kids."
Vegeta could see that Bulma was getting worse, "It's ok, Woman. I'm not upset, and I wouldn't have been. It's ok." He took her hand and began to rub it gently in his.
Another sharp pain cut though her heart and sent a shock of burning agony though her veins. She clenched her teeth and grabbed onto Vegeta's shirt, trying to deal with the excruciating symptoms. Her chest went back down from the trauma and her body fell limp. Bulma looked at Vegeta one more time, then let go of his shirt. With all the energy she had left, she brought her hand up to Vegeta's face and ran her slender fingers down his cheek. She looked back into his saddened eyes and whispered, "Vegeta...I love you...." as one last tear rolled down her cheek. Those were her last words to her prince.