Warning: Getting sappier yet...
Trunks hardly moved all night, which was a surprise to Vegeta. Perhaps it had something to do with his arm being there to anchor him. Still, he had expected SOME movement. The only change was that he'd turned more on his stomach and now had his head on Vegeta's chest and his small fist up near his head, resting on the side of Vegeta's neck.
Vegeta had been laying there awake for nearly two hours, not wanting to wake Trunks. It had been such a long time since he'd gotten any worthwhile rest. But really, how long could this kid sleep? If he got up, Trunks would get cold again, but he had to find a way of fixing the heater today. He could see his breath in the air. It couldn't have been much over 40 degrees now.
Sighing, Vegeta slowly moved Trunks' hand and eased his way out from under him. Trunks stirred, but didn't wake. Vegeta tucked the covers back around him and left the room, again staring at the thermostat. Sure enough, it was 42 degrees in the ship. He fumbled for quite some time before finally figuring out what the problem was. It wouldn't be TOO difficult to fix.
For about an hour Vegeta fumbled with it. Then he tested. Sure enough, he could hear the heaters turning themselves on. It would take awhile for the place to heat back up, but it was on its way now. He retreated back to his room to find some fresh clothing. Trunks was still asleep, but his features were troubled. Vegeta paused, watching him for a few seconds before putting a hand on his head to read his thoughts. This time he was dreaming about Majin Buu at the lookout coming after Bulma.
The others had been trapped behind some sort of bubbles and Trunks was the only one that could do anything, except he was somehow paralysed. He was screaming for his mother, but it wasn't to any avail. Vegeta's heart began pounding. Quickly he stepped away. He was getting too involved in the emotions.
He blinked a few times before roughly grabbing Trunks' shoulder and giving him a firm shake. "Wake up, you're having a nightmare."
Trunks' eyes flew wide open and he gasped, letting out a few breaths before focusing on his father. Vegeta was puzzled. Since he'd brought the boy in his room the previous night he'd not shown any signs of bad dreams, but now that it was morning and Vegeta had left he'd had one again. Why was that?
"The heat's back on, but it'll take awhile for the place to warm up," Vegeta quickly turned back to his clothes, gathering them and a towel and leaving.
Trunks watched him go, then sat up, pushing his hair out of his face and sighing. 'Darn,' Trunks thought. 'Why is it all the great things only happen once?' He shook his head. Last night had ranked right up there with what his father said to him before he died fighting Buu. In fact, it ranked even higher. But now that the heat was working again Trunks knew it would never happen again.
* * * * *
Chichi was very thankful Bulma was asleep when Goku got home. He and the boys were back quite late. Goten was already asleep and Gohan was obviously ready for it. He yawned as he carried his little brother into their room, saying a brief goodnight to his mother as he passed. Bulma had been awake for nearly three days, but now she'd finally crashed.
"Goku, I've got to speak with you," Chichi took his arm, leading him to the kitchen where they could talk.
"Ok, but can I eat something while you talk? I'm pretty hungry," Goku was relatively cheerful, as usual.
"This is important," Chichi pushed him into a chair by the shoulders. "Bulma has been over here the past four days and she needs your help."
Goku's eyes widened with worry. "Is she sick? What's wrong with her?"
"That's what I want to talk to you about. I don't think her head is clear enough to tell you herself. Her and Vegeta had a fight."
"Oh," Goku nodded innocently. "Is she pretty upset by it?"
"I'll say! She told Vegeta not to come back and well...he HASN'T..."
"Oh, that's bad!" Goku interupted before she could finish. "But hey, I'm sure it'll all resolve itself. When did it happen?"
"Would you hush and let me finish?" Chichi scolded. "It happened three weeks ago and the problem isn't that Vegeta left. The problem is he took Trunks WITH him."
Goku's eyes widened a little bit, then his face distorted a little with empathy. "Poor Bulma, she must be going crazy..."
"Let me assure you, she IS!"
"Why did she tell Vegeta not to come back?"
"Probably because he's a jerk! Believe me, I never would have put up with him for so long!"
"Aw, that's not fair, Chichi. Vegeta's not THAT bad..."
"Ha! That selfish, arrogant, tyrant? I don't know what happened, but I'm SURE he deserved it!" Chichi put one hand on her hip. "Now that they aren't together, I don't have to keep pretending I like him! I'll admit, he's really changed a lot in that he doesn't go around killing everything in his path any more, but still...," Chichi shook her head.
"Why are you being so hard on him, Chichi? He's really a pretty good guy..."
"Good, huh?! That's why he took Trunks away from Bulma? Look, she needs your help to get him back. She wants you to use instant transmission to take her to them."
Goku stared at his wife, a little nervous. "Well...I don't think...that's the best idea..."
"Excuse me?!" Chichi took on her stance for word warring.
"Listen, it's not that I wont help her. I'll do everything I can, but I'm not going to take her to him. That just wouldn't be a good idea."
"And just WHY wouldn't it?! The man has HER child, wherever he is!"
"Trunks is Vegeta's child too. I'd like to hear his side of this first and get a better idea of what's going on," Goku sighed.
"You listen to me, buster..."
"Now Chichi...," Goku put his hands up defensively, trying to prevent an argument.
It wasn't going to be of any use. His wife was going to try and talk him into taking Bulma straight to Vegeta and bringing Trunks back and he simply wasn't going to do that. He had too much respect for Vegeta. Besides, he knew better than to mess with Trunks. Whether he was stronger than Vegeta or not, messing with Trunks was the best way to find out everything Vegeta was made of and he knew that, even if nobody else did.
* * * * *
Trunks sat at his desk in the control room, bundled up in layers of clothing. He'd developed a cough and was sneezing periodically as well. The place was still working on warming up, but it was appearing that Trunks had caught something from the cold. it wasn't something Vegeta knew anything about though. The illnesses Sayains got weren't like this and he didn't know how to handle it. For the time being he was ignoring its existence.
Again Trunks sneezed, rubbing his eyes. He didn't know why they were hurting, but something was certainly irritating them. Once again he yawning, feeling incredibly drowsy as he looked through his health book at the chart of body inards. It was really pretty disgusting.
"Perhaps you should take a nap, Trunks," Vegeta suggested.
They only had lunch a few minutes ago and he wasn't supposed to take a nap for another two and a half hours, but that was obviously going to be too long for him to wait. Trunks looked up from his book. His initial instinct was to argue, but his eyelids were so heavy he instead agreed.
He hadn't been asleep but a few minutes before he was having nightmares again. Within half an hour he'd waken from two nightmares and decided sleeping wasn't worth the effects, no matter how tired he was. Groggy, and with a newly developed stomach ache, he made his way back to the control room.
Vegeta could tell he was feeling awful. Images of cleaning throw up entered his head. He shuddered, apalled by the disgusting thought! It wasn't common knowledge, but he was a rather squeamish man and anything slimy, goopy, or gross, disgusted him.
"You're not going to puke are you?" Vegeta eyed his son.
Trunks shook his head. His stomach hurt, but he wasn't nauseous. His head was beginning to throb now too. He felt the urge to crawl into his mother's lap like he'd done every other time he felt this awful, but she wasn't here and that wasn't something to be done with his father.
'Hmm...,' Trunks thought to himself, eyeing his father briefly. Again he left his seat and went into the kitchen, where he opened the freezer and stuck his head and hands inside for a few minutes until he couldn't stand it anymore. Then he went back to the control room.
It wasn't hard to sound miserable because, frozen or not, he WAS miserable. "Dad, I'm really cold!"
Vegeta eyes him. The boy's face looked a little rosy to him. "Come here," he felt his son's head. Sure enough, he felt very cold, but also rather clammy. Something wasn't quite right about it, but he just shook it off. "Get yourself a blanket."
'Darn!' Trunks thought to himself. "Ok," he muttered, going to his room and bringing a blanket back out with him.
He wrapped himself up in it and sat down, yawning. Then a flood of coughs wracked his body. There was something flemmy stuck in his throat and he was having a hard time dislodging it. More and more coughs were erupting and his face was turning red.
Vegeta watched him until he couldn't stand it anymore. Then he gave him a hard thump on the back. Trunks coughed a few more times and then it subsided. "You're sick, aren't you?" he stated plainly, not liking the thought of it one bit.
Trunks glanced at him but didn't answer. He knew he didn't need to.
"What does your mother do when you're sick?"
"Mom?" Trunks was surprised. He stared at his father for a few seconds. He couldn't just tell him everything she did. Only part of it. "Well...usually I have to drink a lot of juice and water and she makes chicken soup sometimes. And I'm not allowed to play or go to school."
Vegeta frowned. "What about rest?"
"Yeah, that too," Trunks muttered. He didn't want to go back in his room. If he was sent there to sleep he just plain wouldn't.
Vegeta sighed. "Go make up your bed then and I'll bring you something to drink in a few minutes."
Trunks frowned as he left. Just standing in the doorway, looking across his room made him uncomfortable. A determined look came oer his face and he grabbed the matress, dragging it into the control room and laying back behind the passenger seat. Then he brought a bunch of blankets and a pillow in and threw them on top.
"What are you doing?" Vegeta entered the room, a little surprised.
"I can't sleep in my room."
"Why not?"
"I just...CAN'T," Trunks shrugged, not wanting to reveal more.
Vegeta eyed him as he walked in, handing him a large glass of juice. "There, drink that and go to sleep."
Trunks clutched the glass with both hands and drunk it down in one gulp. After setting it off to one side of the matress, he climbed under the covers and went right to sleep. Vegeta kept a vigil on him the entire time. After a few hours he started shaking. His ki was fine, but his skin felt cold to the touch. Vegeta's chest felt heavy as he lifted Trunks, blanket included, into his arms and craddled him on his lap while he steered.
The boy wasn't having any nightmares, but he could use some extra warmth, not to mention just a touch of affection. He was asleep anyway, and somehow that made it easier to take action. It was hard to imagine bringing himself to do such a thing in any other circumstance, though he'd wanted to MANY times. This time he had a good excuse to hide behind.
After a little while Trunks stirred and woke up. He looked to be feeling even worse than he had before. His body was limp and his ki was rather weak. Trunks looked up, groggily, and was surprised to see his father's face looking down at him.
"Warm yet?" Vegeta asked.
Trunks was about to nod, but re-thought it before he did and instead he lied. "No." His voice was hoarse.
Vegeta smirked a little. He knew the boy was lying, but it was just as well. He wasn't being entirely honest himself. "We'll have to change that then. Can't have you getting any sicker," he wrapped one arm a little tighter around his son, still steering the ship with his other hand.
Trunks smiled just a little and closed his eyes again. It was almost as if he knew what was going on but was keeping it silent, just as Vegeta was.
* * * * *
"This is MY son, Goku, and I want him BACK!" Bulma spat. "I HAVE to come with you!"
"I'm sorry, Bulma, but I'm just not going to take you," Goku was trying to be nice. He almost wished he could treat these women the way he would have treated one of his sons if they were arguing with him. "I need to talk to Vegeta on my own first..."
"This isn't some negotiation! I'm COMING! PERIOD!" Bulma screamed, clenching her fists.
Goku grabbed Gohan's arm as he tried to walk past and spoke in a low voice. "Gohan, I'm going to use instant transmission....hold Bulma back."
Gohan looked at him, wide-eyed for a second and hesitant. "...ok, Dad..."
"Hey, Dad, can I go with you?" Goten asked with excitement.
"No."
"Oh, but, Dad, I haven't seen Trunks in a really long time and I wanna show him what I got at the mountain," Goten begged.
"This isn't a good time for that," Goku answered.
"Aw, pleeeeeeaaaase?" Goten begged.
Goku was being melted by the sorrowful look in his son's eyes. He thought about it for a moment. Trunks probably would like the company and perhaps having Goten along would give him a distraction so that he could talk to Vegeta without Trunks being involved.
"All right, you can come, but you I don't want you causing any trouble, all right?" Goku gave him a somewhat stern look.
"I won't, I promise!" Goten happily assured his father.
"Fine, it's settled. All three of us will go, then," Bulma took a step forward, but was stopped by Gohan.
"Uh, Bulma, maybe that's not a good idea..."
"Move!" Bulma tried to push her way around him. Gohan stepped in front of her.
Quickly Goku put his fingers to his head, Goten latched onto his arm. "Don't worry, Bulma, I would never let anything bad happen to Trunks, I promise. And you WILL see him again, I promise that too."
"Don't you DARE try and leave me here!" Bulma yelled. But it was too late.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~
Trunks hardly moved all night, which was a surprise to Vegeta. Perhaps it had something to do with his arm being there to anchor him. Still, he had expected SOME movement. The only change was that he'd turned more on his stomach and now had his head on Vegeta's chest and his small fist up near his head, resting on the side of Vegeta's neck.
Vegeta had been laying there awake for nearly two hours, not wanting to wake Trunks. It had been such a long time since he'd gotten any worthwhile rest. But really, how long could this kid sleep? If he got up, Trunks would get cold again, but he had to find a way of fixing the heater today. He could see his breath in the air. It couldn't have been much over 40 degrees now.
Sighing, Vegeta slowly moved Trunks' hand and eased his way out from under him. Trunks stirred, but didn't wake. Vegeta tucked the covers back around him and left the room, again staring at the thermostat. Sure enough, it was 42 degrees in the ship. He fumbled for quite some time before finally figuring out what the problem was. It wouldn't be TOO difficult to fix.
For about an hour Vegeta fumbled with it. Then he tested. Sure enough, he could hear the heaters turning themselves on. It would take awhile for the place to heat back up, but it was on its way now. He retreated back to his room to find some fresh clothing. Trunks was still asleep, but his features were troubled. Vegeta paused, watching him for a few seconds before putting a hand on his head to read his thoughts. This time he was dreaming about Majin Buu at the lookout coming after Bulma.
The others had been trapped behind some sort of bubbles and Trunks was the only one that could do anything, except he was somehow paralysed. He was screaming for his mother, but it wasn't to any avail. Vegeta's heart began pounding. Quickly he stepped away. He was getting too involved in the emotions.
He blinked a few times before roughly grabbing Trunks' shoulder and giving him a firm shake. "Wake up, you're having a nightmare."
Trunks' eyes flew wide open and he gasped, letting out a few breaths before focusing on his father. Vegeta was puzzled. Since he'd brought the boy in his room the previous night he'd not shown any signs of bad dreams, but now that it was morning and Vegeta had left he'd had one again. Why was that?
"The heat's back on, but it'll take awhile for the place to warm up," Vegeta quickly turned back to his clothes, gathering them and a towel and leaving.
Trunks watched him go, then sat up, pushing his hair out of his face and sighing. 'Darn,' Trunks thought. 'Why is it all the great things only happen once?' He shook his head. Last night had ranked right up there with what his father said to him before he died fighting Buu. In fact, it ranked even higher. But now that the heat was working again Trunks knew it would never happen again.
* * * * *
Chichi was very thankful Bulma was asleep when Goku got home. He and the boys were back quite late. Goten was already asleep and Gohan was obviously ready for it. He yawned as he carried his little brother into their room, saying a brief goodnight to his mother as he passed. Bulma had been awake for nearly three days, but now she'd finally crashed.
"Goku, I've got to speak with you," Chichi took his arm, leading him to the kitchen where they could talk.
"Ok, but can I eat something while you talk? I'm pretty hungry," Goku was relatively cheerful, as usual.
"This is important," Chichi pushed him into a chair by the shoulders. "Bulma has been over here the past four days and she needs your help."
Goku's eyes widened with worry. "Is she sick? What's wrong with her?"
"That's what I want to talk to you about. I don't think her head is clear enough to tell you herself. Her and Vegeta had a fight."
"Oh," Goku nodded innocently. "Is she pretty upset by it?"
"I'll say! She told Vegeta not to come back and well...he HASN'T..."
"Oh, that's bad!" Goku interupted before she could finish. "But hey, I'm sure it'll all resolve itself. When did it happen?"
"Would you hush and let me finish?" Chichi scolded. "It happened three weeks ago and the problem isn't that Vegeta left. The problem is he took Trunks WITH him."
Goku's eyes widened a little bit, then his face distorted a little with empathy. "Poor Bulma, she must be going crazy..."
"Let me assure you, she IS!"
"Why did she tell Vegeta not to come back?"
"Probably because he's a jerk! Believe me, I never would have put up with him for so long!"
"Aw, that's not fair, Chichi. Vegeta's not THAT bad..."
"Ha! That selfish, arrogant, tyrant? I don't know what happened, but I'm SURE he deserved it!" Chichi put one hand on her hip. "Now that they aren't together, I don't have to keep pretending I like him! I'll admit, he's really changed a lot in that he doesn't go around killing everything in his path any more, but still...," Chichi shook her head.
"Why are you being so hard on him, Chichi? He's really a pretty good guy..."
"Good, huh?! That's why he took Trunks away from Bulma? Look, she needs your help to get him back. She wants you to use instant transmission to take her to them."
Goku stared at his wife, a little nervous. "Well...I don't think...that's the best idea..."
"Excuse me?!" Chichi took on her stance for word warring.
"Listen, it's not that I wont help her. I'll do everything I can, but I'm not going to take her to him. That just wouldn't be a good idea."
"And just WHY wouldn't it?! The man has HER child, wherever he is!"
"Trunks is Vegeta's child too. I'd like to hear his side of this first and get a better idea of what's going on," Goku sighed.
"You listen to me, buster..."
"Now Chichi...," Goku put his hands up defensively, trying to prevent an argument.
It wasn't going to be of any use. His wife was going to try and talk him into taking Bulma straight to Vegeta and bringing Trunks back and he simply wasn't going to do that. He had too much respect for Vegeta. Besides, he knew better than to mess with Trunks. Whether he was stronger than Vegeta or not, messing with Trunks was the best way to find out everything Vegeta was made of and he knew that, even if nobody else did.
* * * * *
Trunks sat at his desk in the control room, bundled up in layers of clothing. He'd developed a cough and was sneezing periodically as well. The place was still working on warming up, but it was appearing that Trunks had caught something from the cold. it wasn't something Vegeta knew anything about though. The illnesses Sayains got weren't like this and he didn't know how to handle it. For the time being he was ignoring its existence.
Again Trunks sneezed, rubbing his eyes. He didn't know why they were hurting, but something was certainly irritating them. Once again he yawning, feeling incredibly drowsy as he looked through his health book at the chart of body inards. It was really pretty disgusting.
"Perhaps you should take a nap, Trunks," Vegeta suggested.
They only had lunch a few minutes ago and he wasn't supposed to take a nap for another two and a half hours, but that was obviously going to be too long for him to wait. Trunks looked up from his book. His initial instinct was to argue, but his eyelids were so heavy he instead agreed.
He hadn't been asleep but a few minutes before he was having nightmares again. Within half an hour he'd waken from two nightmares and decided sleeping wasn't worth the effects, no matter how tired he was. Groggy, and with a newly developed stomach ache, he made his way back to the control room.
Vegeta could tell he was feeling awful. Images of cleaning throw up entered his head. He shuddered, apalled by the disgusting thought! It wasn't common knowledge, but he was a rather squeamish man and anything slimy, goopy, or gross, disgusted him.
"You're not going to puke are you?" Vegeta eyed his son.
Trunks shook his head. His stomach hurt, but he wasn't nauseous. His head was beginning to throb now too. He felt the urge to crawl into his mother's lap like he'd done every other time he felt this awful, but she wasn't here and that wasn't something to be done with his father.
'Hmm...,' Trunks thought to himself, eyeing his father briefly. Again he left his seat and went into the kitchen, where he opened the freezer and stuck his head and hands inside for a few minutes until he couldn't stand it anymore. Then he went back to the control room.
It wasn't hard to sound miserable because, frozen or not, he WAS miserable. "Dad, I'm really cold!"
Vegeta eyes him. The boy's face looked a little rosy to him. "Come here," he felt his son's head. Sure enough, he felt very cold, but also rather clammy. Something wasn't quite right about it, but he just shook it off. "Get yourself a blanket."
'Darn!' Trunks thought to himself. "Ok," he muttered, going to his room and bringing a blanket back out with him.
He wrapped himself up in it and sat down, yawning. Then a flood of coughs wracked his body. There was something flemmy stuck in his throat and he was having a hard time dislodging it. More and more coughs were erupting and his face was turning red.
Vegeta watched him until he couldn't stand it anymore. Then he gave him a hard thump on the back. Trunks coughed a few more times and then it subsided. "You're sick, aren't you?" he stated plainly, not liking the thought of it one bit.
Trunks glanced at him but didn't answer. He knew he didn't need to.
"What does your mother do when you're sick?"
"Mom?" Trunks was surprised. He stared at his father for a few seconds. He couldn't just tell him everything she did. Only part of it. "Well...usually I have to drink a lot of juice and water and she makes chicken soup sometimes. And I'm not allowed to play or go to school."
Vegeta frowned. "What about rest?"
"Yeah, that too," Trunks muttered. He didn't want to go back in his room. If he was sent there to sleep he just plain wouldn't.
Vegeta sighed. "Go make up your bed then and I'll bring you something to drink in a few minutes."
Trunks frowned as he left. Just standing in the doorway, looking across his room made him uncomfortable. A determined look came oer his face and he grabbed the matress, dragging it into the control room and laying back behind the passenger seat. Then he brought a bunch of blankets and a pillow in and threw them on top.
"What are you doing?" Vegeta entered the room, a little surprised.
"I can't sleep in my room."
"Why not?"
"I just...CAN'T," Trunks shrugged, not wanting to reveal more.
Vegeta eyed him as he walked in, handing him a large glass of juice. "There, drink that and go to sleep."
Trunks clutched the glass with both hands and drunk it down in one gulp. After setting it off to one side of the matress, he climbed under the covers and went right to sleep. Vegeta kept a vigil on him the entire time. After a few hours he started shaking. His ki was fine, but his skin felt cold to the touch. Vegeta's chest felt heavy as he lifted Trunks, blanket included, into his arms and craddled him on his lap while he steered.
The boy wasn't having any nightmares, but he could use some extra warmth, not to mention just a touch of affection. He was asleep anyway, and somehow that made it easier to take action. It was hard to imagine bringing himself to do such a thing in any other circumstance, though he'd wanted to MANY times. This time he had a good excuse to hide behind.
After a little while Trunks stirred and woke up. He looked to be feeling even worse than he had before. His body was limp and his ki was rather weak. Trunks looked up, groggily, and was surprised to see his father's face looking down at him.
"Warm yet?" Vegeta asked.
Trunks was about to nod, but re-thought it before he did and instead he lied. "No." His voice was hoarse.
Vegeta smirked a little. He knew the boy was lying, but it was just as well. He wasn't being entirely honest himself. "We'll have to change that then. Can't have you getting any sicker," he wrapped one arm a little tighter around his son, still steering the ship with his other hand.
Trunks smiled just a little and closed his eyes again. It was almost as if he knew what was going on but was keeping it silent, just as Vegeta was.
* * * * *
"This is MY son, Goku, and I want him BACK!" Bulma spat. "I HAVE to come with you!"
"I'm sorry, Bulma, but I'm just not going to take you," Goku was trying to be nice. He almost wished he could treat these women the way he would have treated one of his sons if they were arguing with him. "I need to talk to Vegeta on my own first..."
"This isn't some negotiation! I'm COMING! PERIOD!" Bulma screamed, clenching her fists.
Goku grabbed Gohan's arm as he tried to walk past and spoke in a low voice. "Gohan, I'm going to use instant transmission....hold Bulma back."
Gohan looked at him, wide-eyed for a second and hesitant. "...ok, Dad..."
"Hey, Dad, can I go with you?" Goten asked with excitement.
"No."
"Oh, but, Dad, I haven't seen Trunks in a really long time and I wanna show him what I got at the mountain," Goten begged.
"This isn't a good time for that," Goku answered.
"Aw, pleeeeeeaaaase?" Goten begged.
Goku was being melted by the sorrowful look in his son's eyes. He thought about it for a moment. Trunks probably would like the company and perhaps having Goten along would give him a distraction so that he could talk to Vegeta without Trunks being involved.
"All right, you can come, but you I don't want you causing any trouble, all right?" Goku gave him a somewhat stern look.
"I won't, I promise!" Goten happily assured his father.
"Fine, it's settled. All three of us will go, then," Bulma took a step forward, but was stopped by Gohan.
"Uh, Bulma, maybe that's not a good idea..."
"Move!" Bulma tried to push her way around him. Gohan stepped in front of her.
Quickly Goku put his fingers to his head, Goten latched onto his arm. "Don't worry, Bulma, I would never let anything bad happen to Trunks, I promise. And you WILL see him again, I promise that too."
"Don't you DARE try and leave me here!" Bulma yelled. But it was too late.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~