Things Change
By Hannio
Change of heart
No I don't own the characters but man if I did....
Dedicated to Jenihenpen. Thanks for the help and the idea prompting I really appreciate it. Hope it's what you imagined.
Her feet hurt. Yamcha had told her that they were going for a meal in a fancy restaurant in the good part of town and again she got her hopes up thinking that perhaps tonight was the night when he would finally pop the question. They had been together so long that it would be stupid not to get married. However, when he came to pick her up he announced that he wanted to go dancing at a club where his friend Amy was a waitress behind the bar. Bulma couldn't believe it. She looked down at the sparkling short black dress she was wearing that was teamed with the ridiculous high heels that she simply couldn't resist. Seeing her look downwards, he shrugged and announced she looked great then dragged her away. For the rest of the night she was bored stiff. Yamcha kept close to Amy and after turning away all the blokes who came up to her, she settled into a daydream which to her horror contained Vegeta. She was thankful when he finally took her home.
"At least it's over now" she said to herself slipping the painful shoes off, she was tempted to throw the fucking things into the wall but her parents was asleep and she knew her Dad had been especially tired over the week so she left it dropping them to the ground instead. She crept into the darkened living room and sat down resting her head in her hands. It had been one of those weeks. After the big fight with Vegeta, he had ignored her except to demand food. She looked up, a troubled expression on her face. She didn't know why that small fact would bother her, but it did. She was missing the conversations she had with him. Admittedly he was rude and arrogant to her and either a frown or that smirk would always be present on his face but he did occasionally amaze her with how intelligent he really was. He had once even helped her with something she was stuck with. He had, of course, never let it drop but the fact that he had helped her had to be a good thing. He tolerated her more than anyone. In fact if it anyone else said what she did they would of been dead by now and yet she was still living. He had every opportunity to kill her and yet he never did. Never even raised a fist to her. She felt dizzy from her thoughts " I need a drink" she muttered and stood again regardless of her screaming muscles. All she wanted to do was sleep but she knew that tonight was one night when sleep would escape her. She walked out of the room keeping silent, something she had learnt when she was going through her rebellious teen stage and had to sneak out the house all the time. She passed her Dad's secondary lab, he had. The door was wide open; she walked by intent on the kitchen but stopped as she heard her father's words
"Oh Vegeta I thought you may come and visit me tonight" he remarked. Bulma stopped in the hallway. She knew she should simply walk onto the kitchen. No one knew she was in and no harm would happen. Then there was what Vegeta had said to him earlier. She decided to listen in case anything would happen. If Vegeta had decided to carry out his threat then she wanted to be ready to stop it, she didn't know how but she knew she had to try.
"Well you did tell me to come back" Vegeta's cold voice answered, Bulma moved against the wall where she had a perfect view of them, but where it was impossible for them to see her. Her heart was pounding partly from fear of being caught and partly from the effect that Vegeta's voice was having on her.
"So I did" came the reply. Doctor Briefs turned to the figure. If any person was close to be made out of stone then it was certainly Vegeta. He stood there, his arms crossed, his back straight and his head slightly tilted up. Her father scratched his head "What was it you wanted again. I can't remember" Vegeta uncrossed his arms and glared at the old man but spoke anyway
"I asked you if you could improve the Gravity system. I need to train more. I have to be stronger than Kakkorott" he looked up and for the first time since Bulma had met him he dropped his guard a little showing the man underneath the façade. "I know you're busy but if I don't get stronger than the Androids will destroy us all and I won't let that happen. I can't let that happen" passion entered his voice, and Bulma stared forgetting what she was doing, her eyes were transfixed on Vegeta. He spoke with such feeling that she was shocked that such a cold person as Vegeta could have contained it, his frame trembled slightly with the emotional strain. His cheeks were pink and his eyes sparkled not only with the need for power as they usually did but they were mingled with a new expression. Bulma leaned slightly forward and squinted her eyes. There was desperation in them. Her breath caught and she looked down her eyes rapidly moving around as her mind was thrown into turmoil. She looked back up at the two figures
"I remember. Well my boy I'll see what I can do. I'll put it at the top of my things to do list. My other inventions can wait. As you say, those Androids could kill us all. What was the setting you wanted?" Vegeta glanced round the room before his black eyes settled once more on the Doctor
"I wanted 600+" the Doctors arms crossed as he stared at the younger man thoughtfully
"That could kill you, or at least harm you" he stated, Vegeta nodded
"I'm aware of the risks" Doctor Briefs sighed and nodded
"Ok Bulma or me will get onto it tomorrow" Vegeta shook his head, a frown entering his face
"I don't want that... Bulma" he adjusted seeing the look on her father's face "To know. She'll just get on my nerves even more than she does now" Bulma went red with anger and was tempted to go and hit him but all her father did was chuckle
"I know how you feel Boy. Her mother was exactly the same. No matter what I did she would come and pester me. Everytime I tried to push her away she would come closer. When she finally gave up I found out the strangest thing" Vegeta glanced at him, his posture and facial features still as cold as ice
"What's that then" he asked slight interest in his voice
"I missed her, with all her continual pestering she had somewhere along the way managed to get under my skin without me being aware. It was only when she was gone that I realised that I was in love with her" Vegeta nodded
"I see" was all he said "But what that got to do with me and your daughter" again he hesitated over the word he used to describe her. She knew that he was longing to call her something else. Doctor Briefs stared at him then a small smile curved his lips
"Nothing just an old man's rambling about the past" he turned round the conversation now finished "I'll set to work on it immediately first thing tomorrow" he stated. Vegeta smiled at him, it was small but it was a real smile something Bulma never saw. It transformed him, gave his face an almost caring expression then it was gone, going just as quickly as it had come.
"Thank you" he said lowly so Bulma had to strain forward nearly falling to hear the words. Doctor Briefs waved his hand at him.
"Don't mention it" Vegeta went to fly out but stopped and hesitated
"I... I.... Really appreciate this" then he flew through the window he had arrived through. Bulma sank to the ground her legs unable to support herself. She sat there for 10 minutes in a daze. Had Vegeta really done that or was it just her imagination playing tricks on her. She got up and headed to the kitchen her expression still shocked. She opened the door and poured herself some water barely aware of what she was doing, than sat down casting her mind over the conversation again.
"Did I miss something?" she asked herself. Did Vegeta really have a caring side?. He had never showed anything like it before, but when he first met her he had been in the middle of a personally fought war with Freeza. She heard from Krillen that Vegeta had died. At the time she felt slightly concerned, now at the thought of Vegeta being dead, her heart clenched and her vision blurred. The thought was horrible for her to imagine. He also mentioned that before he died he cried. Actually, shed real tears for what had been done to him. She could understand after all he was raised by Freeza who was psycho. It couldn't have been a good life for him. "Why has he never been so kind to me before?" she asked herself "Because you've never given him the chance" her mind answered back "You've been so caught up in trying to beat him and prove to yourself that you aren't as weak and feeble as you felt on Namek that you've missed what has been under your nose the whole time" she shifted in her seat. Could she really of been so blind. She sighed her mind made up. She knew what she had to do it was just a case of whether she could.