Touched
4: Never Find Someone Quite Like You
Marron had set her alarm so that she would wake before Bra was supposed to. She thought that she would try to make another attempt to get on Vegeta's good side by preparing breakfast and a packed lunch for his princess. Plus, it seemed rather stupid for the nanny to sleep in while the child she was caring for was up and ready.
Looking through the clothes which she had carefully put away the previous afternoon, Marron chose a slightly less professional outfit. She had showered the night before. Hopefully Vegeta would not find it necessary to comment on this outfit; pin stripe black pants and a mauve blouse. Marron left her hair out again and made a quick check of her appearance before walking towards the door.
While she had realised earlier that the door to her room had been closed, she didn't think until that moment that she had left it open when she had gone to bed. Someone had shut it for her. As she opened the door, she saw a small smear of blood on the door handle. Marron checked her own hands and there were no signs of any injury. She inspected the smear, knowing that there was some significance, which she could not remember.
She gave up and started to walk down the corridor, but stopped when she finally remembered something from several days before. When Vegeta had been asked how he was coping, he had caused his hands to bleed by gripping them too tightly. Marron realised it had been Vegeta who had closed her door. Vegeta had stood in her doorway.
Was he watching me sleep? Marron thought, suddenly very paranoid. Her mother's words echoed in her ears. "Vegeta. He's probably not all that stable at the moment. It hasn't been that long since Bulma died, and I can imagine it'll be weird for him to have another woman in the house. Just watch your back." Marron shuddered, but tried to push the thought to the back of her mind. I'm just being paranoid. He probably hurt himself while training and left the mark while he quickly closed my door.
Of course, Marron decided that she would always remember to close the door to her room from now on.
* * * * * *
Vegeta heard Marron leave her room and walk downstairs. He assumed she was going to start preparing breakfast for his family, and against his better judgment, he was impressed. She certainly was trying hard to please someone.
I hope it's not the boy, Vegeta thought. He knew that Trunks was reaching the human age when men often chose a woman and settled down. Vegeta frowned. Had he seen Trunks looking at Marron yesterday? He couldn't deny that the daughter of Krillin was very attractive, but she wasn't the woman he wanted his son to mate with.
Vegeta rose, and realised that he was being stupid. He hadn't seen Trunks look at Marron at all. And Marron was just doing her job.
He walked slow downstairs, passing his groggy son, who was on his way up the stairs. Vegeta thought that Trunks had probably fallen asleep at the table while trying to finish off some work. It happened fairly often.
A rather delicious sent was coming from the kitchen. Vegeta followed his nose towards it.
"Good morning, Vegeta," Marron greeted, in rather obvious forced cheer.
Vegeta grunted in reply. It did not pass his notice that Marron was purposely avoiding eye contact with him. She busied herself cooking something in a large frypan. "What are you making?"
"An omelette," she answered. "I hope that's okay. I put some bacon in it."
"That's fine." Vegeta regarded her outfit. It was less business-like than the previous day, but still a little over the top for a woman who was simply caring for his daughter. "You don't have to keep wearing clothes like that. They'll get dirty. I wouldn't care if you wore jeans or something casual like that. Neither would Trunks or Bra."
He saw her flush red again. She always seemed to do that, or maybe he just noticed it more on her porcelain skin. She replied in a scarce whisper, "I'll try to remember that tomorrow."
"Morning all," Trunks greeted, appearing considerably more awake than he had been when Vegeta had first seen him. "Marron, that smells fantastic. We should have hired you a long time ago!"
"Thanks, Trunks." Marron smiled, and Vegeta felt his earlier fear rekindle. "Would you do me a favour and wake Bra."
"Sure thing, though you could have asked me before I came all the way down here."
"Well, I would ask you to watch the omelette…"
"I'm going, I'm going." Trunks left the room.
Vegeta sat at the kitchen bench, noticing two brown paper bags. "What's this?"
"Lunch for Trunks and Bra," said Marron, without looking at him. She was too busy serving the omelette onto plates.
"They usually buy their own."
"Well, I thought I'd give them a homemade lunch for once." She placed a plate piled with omelette and four slices of toast in front of the Prince. "Bon appetite!"
Vegeta mumbled his thanks, and sniffed the food carefully. It smelled fantastic, and it only took him a moment or two to scoff it all down. By the time he had finished, Trunks had returned with Bra.
"You made breakfast, too?" Bra cried. She sat next to her father and tried some of the meal Marron had prepared. "Wow, this is great!"
"Definitely," Trunks agreed with his mouthful. He saw the paper bags. "And you made us lunch! What is it?"
Marron beamed at the compliments. "Well, I gave you some of the leftover lasagne – I hope you can heat it up at work. Plus there's some yoghurt, a couple of pieces of fruit and a sandwich. Bra's is basically the same, except I gave her two sandwiches and no lasagne. As far as I know, schools don't have microwaves."
"Oh, mine does," Bra giggled. " It's a rich school."
"Oh, of course. I forgot."
It almost disturbed Vegeta how quickly Marron had become a part of his family. She had only been there a day, and already Bra adored her. But then, she had been a close friend beforehand. He was sure that Bra would not have warmed so quickly to a complete stranger.
Trunks glanced at his watch. "Alright Bra, you'd better have a shower and get ready if you want me to drop you at school."
"Yes, nii-chan," Bra sighed in a bored tone. She left her seat and stomped back to her room.
Trunks also left, once again leaving Marron and Vegeta alone. Vegeta noticed that Marron seemed uncomfortable, but he didn't really care.
"Would you like some more?" she offered.
"Sure." He handed her his plate and watched as she piled it up again. He had surprised himself. In recent times, he would never have eaten this much for breakfast. It seemed having Marron around was having an effect on him too.
While Vegeta ate his second large helping of breakfast, Trunks and Bra returned for a second time. They both picked up their lunches.
Bra hugged Marron. "I'll see you when I get home, Marron!"
"Have fun at school, Bra-chan," Marron replied. "Don't work too hard, Trunks."
Trunks laughed. "I never do." He leant over and placed a soft kiss on Marron's cheek. "Look after tousan for me."
"Yeah, sure."
Vegeta had seen the kiss. His eyes narrowed as he thought at what it could mean. He knew that Marron had been friends with his son and Kakarrot's youngest son for a long time. The kiss could have just been a friendly gesture. But it could have been something else.
He stood and left the kitchen, without even telling Marron he where he was going. But she'd probably guess. He needed to train to get his mind off everything.
* * * * * *
"Yes, otousan, I'm doing fine!" Marron assured. Her parents hadn't gotten around to calling her the night before, so she had called them.
"Bra's not too much of a handful for you?" Krillin asked. "I mean, she could think she's too old for a nanny."
"Oh, no. She seems to love having me around. Last night, I helped her with her homework, and I told her she could invite Pan over on Friday night."
"What about Trunks?"
"I'm not his nanny!" Marron laughed. "I don't seem him all that often, because he's at work. I don't see Vegeta much either, but that's because he spends so much time training."
"You've only been there for a day, and listen to you! You're a regular part of the family." Krillin laughed. "Anyway, your mother wants to talk to you. I love you, chestnut!"
"You too, daddy!" Marron called.
"So, how is it?" Juuhachigou asked in her no-nonsense tone.
"Great. I don't even need to do that much! I've just been cooking and helping…"
"That's not what I meant. I meant how is Vegeta. He hasn't done anything weird has he?"
"No! Why are you so certain he will?" Marron couldn't believe her mother sometimes. And because of the way her mother was thinking, she decided that it would probably be better not to tell her some of the events of the previous day. "I don't even see him all that often."
"Yeah, alright, whatever," Juuhachigou sighed. "Just remember what I said to you."
"How could I forget it?" Marron scoffed. "I'll talk to you later." Juuhachigou had already hung up. Marron sighed, and said aloud. "Geez, what is her problem!?"
She flicked on the television to get her mind off everything.