Chapter the twenty-ninth

Disclaimer: I do not own Dragonball Z or any other trademarked materials in this fanfiction.

"YUCCCCCCCCKKKK!"

Vegeta's statement of disgust ran throughout the Breifs' household. "Ew! He threw up on my shoes!" Vegeta exclaimed in disgust, stomping his feet. "Do something Bulma!"

But, instead of helping her hubby, Bulma picked her son up and ran with him to the bathroom.

"Bulma, you idiot! Come back here and help me!" Vegeta exclaimed.

"OH, VEGETA, SHUT UP! IF YOU'RE SO HELPLESS, I'LL BE BACK THERE IN A MINUTE! JUST LET ME TAKE CARE OF OUR SON!"

Vegeta heard a little bit of gagging coming from Trunks. "Disgusting little worm." He growled, sitting on the couch and staring at his puke-drenched shoes. He was about to take them off but could not bring himself to do it. He just sat there until Bulma wondered in and saw him sitting there, after putting Trunks to bed with a puke bucket.

"Well, get up and come here." She ordered, gesturing with her finger.

Vegeta got up, hearing and feeling the disgusting squelch of his shoes when he stood on them. "Yuck." He groaned again, and followed her into the bathroom.

Bulma made him sit on the toilet seat, and took his shoes off. When she saw the look of sadness and anger on his face she immediately felt sorry for her husband. "Oh, Vegeta . . . Don't feel bad! It wasn't his fault he got sick and therefore can't train with you . . ."

Vegeta crossed his arms. "I think he ate that much cake on purpose, so that he wouldn't have to train with me." He griped. "I think that—"

"Shh, shh, shh!" Bulma ordered. "I'm not going to let you start blaming Trunks. Just accept the fact, get over it, please, and wait until Trunks is better. You don't have to start training him TODAY."

Vegeta just got up and walked off.

* * * * *

That night, Vegeta was laying in bed all covered up next to Bulma, who was reading with her book light. Vegeta crossed his arms.

Bulma looked over at him. "I'm sorry. Do you want to go to bed, honey?" She asked, getting ready to give him his kiss.

Vegeta pushed her face away. "No, I'm not ready to go to bed yet. I just got a little uncomfortable thinking about Trunks, and how he got sick . . . Thinking about what a coincidence it was." He exclaimed. "How come he had to get sick the day I was going to train him? I think he did it on purpose!"

Bulma put her finger on his lips. "Shh, shh, shh! What did I tell you about that! It's not Trunks's fault. If you go around putting the blame on people, what kind of a miserable person would you be, hm, Punkin?"

"I already am a miserable person."

Bulma shrugged. "Well . . . even If you are, this is probably why." She ran a hand through his hair, then turned off her book light, and put up her book. She lay down and wrapped one of her arms around Vegeta, noticing Vegeta wrap one of his arms around her, too. She was glad that things were happy again, even after the Cell saga and the episode where Vegeta had left her. But they didn't seem so happy together while they were around everyone else.

"I hope that Trunks is all right tomorrow, so that I can start to train him." Vegeta said, slowly stroking Bulma's back.

"He probably won't be, but, who's saying? If he IS, than you can begin training him!" Bulma exclaimed.

"You're not helping much woman. Everything you say seems to be negative. You think that he won't be better, don't you?"

Bulma shrugged. "Well, uh . . . If you feel so bad about it, why don't you go and check on him? If he's awake, you can ask him how he is. How does that sound, hm? Maybe he just needs you to be around him more, and he'll be happier than ever to train with you whenever he's well again." She said, pinching Vegeta's cheek affectionately. "And besides, I'm tired of getting up to check on him."

Vegeta didn't move. He didn't say anything; the only thing that he did was move in closer to Bulma.

Bulma snuggled her head underneath Vegeta's chin like she used to do and kissed his chest. "Our son is growing up." She breathed, then fell asleep.

* * * * * * *

The next day Vegeta ventured to Trunks's bedside. "Hey, son, are you doing any better yet?" He asked his child, sitting by him rudely, not noticing that Trunks had been trying to sleep. He didn't ask quite all with concern, he just wanted to start training the little brat.

Trunks stretched his arms above his head. "I'm not throwin' up anymore but I'm all sore and I feel bad." He stated; yawning and closing his burning eyes. But Vegeta was still very persistent on getting to train today, so he didn't leave. "I'm goin' to sleep now." Trunks said.

Vegeta just sat there. "That's nice. Do you think you can train right now?" He asked. *You'd better be able to train now, because if you're not . . . *

Bulma walked in about that time, seeing Trunks trying to sleep and Vegeta keeping on poking into his business. "Vegeta! Get up and leave him alone! He's still sick!" She ordered, in a firm voice.

"No, he said he's not puking anymore!"

"But he's still running a fever. Get your ass up and do something else, maybe wash the dishes for me or something, just stop bothering our son." Bulma ordered. She gave Trunks a Squeeze-it and then beckoned Vegeta to come with her out of the room. "Come on Vegeta. Now."

Vegeta cussed at her a few times but got up just as well, dragging his feet after her. He sat at the kitchen table and watched Bulma wash the dishes.

"#18 invited us to her baby shower, Punkin." Bulma said as she washed the dishes. "She said it's a little bit late, but she wanted us to come."

Vegeta shrugged. "That's nice." He scowled, taking a drink of his coffee.

"Its tomorrow, and I can't come if Trunks is still sick."

"What are you implying?"

Bulma smiled at him. "Please?" She asked, walking over to him with soapy hands. "She enjoys talking to you, and—"

"Bulma, I'm going to be busy training Trunks tomorrow. I'll have no time to go to that slut woman's house. Besides, even if I do go and you're not there to monitor her and I, she'll hit on me like she used to. You know these things." Vegeta said, pushing her away because he didn't want her to touch him with her soapy hands.

Bulma sighed. "Come on Vegeta, stop being such a grumpy guss! She's married now, and married women don't hit on men. Now that she has commitment and actually has feelings, she'll feel guilty for Krillin if she does. Now come on, please go!"

Vegeta just growled, and threw his coffee mug into the sink full of soapy water. "I'll think about it, woman. But I'm not promising anything. If Trunks is better tomorrow, I'm staying home. I don't need to waist my time over at her and Krillin's shack."

Bulma scowled. "That's not nice, Vegeta. Anyway, if you DO go, be sure to behave yourself. I'm going to call Chi-Chi before you go and tell her to watch your behavior, and if she tells me you were mean, then I'll punish you when you get home."

Vegeta just rolled his eyes at her and walked outside on the balcony to think about what a bitch he thought that she was.

* * * * * * * *

That night as Vegeta lay in bed and waited for Bulma to come up to give him his kiss, he heard wrenching noises from the bathroom downstairs with his sensitive ears. He groaned. "Well son of a bitch! He's throwing up again!" He cursed, kicking his feet. "I'll never have a break! And now, not only can I not train him tomorrow, I have to go to that slut woman's baby shower!"

He got up and ran downstairs, but when he looked at Trunks, Trunks looked perfectly fine. He was sitting up in bed and playing with his trucks. He was all sweaty and it looked like his fever had broken, for he no longer had the red rims under his eyes or the blotchy and colorless skin. Vegeta stood at Trunks's doorway, utterly puzzled.

Trunks looked up. "Oh, Hey Dad. I feel much better now." He said, continuing to play with his trucks. When Vegeta didn't leave, he said, "Would you like to play highway with me? It's really fun, and it gets sort of boring when Mom's not playing it with me."

Vegeta shook his head. "Uh, I think I'll pass. Did you just throw up?" He asked.

Trunks shook his head. "Nope. I haven't thrown up since last night." He made two of the trucks crash into each other.

"But I just heard someone throw up, I swear it!" Vegeta argued, stomping a foot.

Trunks shrugged. "Wasn't me. Maybe it was Mom, Grandma or Grandpa."

With this thought, Vegeta dashed from Trunks's room and down to the bathroom. "Oh Jesus, no!" He cursed. He didn't want Bulma to get sick, because then instead of training Trunks he'd have to take care of HER. But at least he wouldn't have to go to the slut woman's baby shower.

He swung open the bathroom door and saw Bulma crouched over the toilet.

"CRAAAAAPPPPP!"

Bulma looked up from puking. She wiped her mouth off with the back of a hand. "Oh, hey Vegeta! Guess what! I guess this means you don't have to go to the baby shower!"

Vegeta just kept staring at her. "T-Trunks is not sick anymore. So tomorrow, I can—"

"Oh, no you can't Mr.! You have to take care of me AND Trunks, because my parents will be gone tomorrow." She slowly stood up and brushed her hair back. "I guess it wasn't the cake, huh?" She then collapsed on Vegeta and hugged him, almost causing him to fall on his ass because of her throwing her weight on him. "Vegeta, could you carry me up to bed, and then fix me a puke bucket?"

Vegeta slowly nodded. "Uh . . . sure." He said, picking her up baby-style and starting to carry him to her room. He flashed a look of hatred at Trunks as he passed the room, but Trunks was paying no attention. He was still playing with his trucks.

Vegeta threw Bulma on the bed and covered her up, then wet a rag and put it on her head. "There." He grumped, and threw his own self on the bed next to her.

"~ Vegeta, you're forgetting something! ~" Bulma taunted.

"WHAT!?"

"You have to fix me a puke bucket, remember?" She asked.

Vegeta growled and kicked his feet. "Fine, how do I do it, woman?" He asked.

Bulma smiled a little bit. "Just go and get a bucket from under the kitchen, then fill it half-full with cool water, then bring it here and set it next to my bed, all right, honey?"

Vegeta scowled. "Fine." He got up and went down to the kitchen.

* * * * * * * *

All that night, Vegeta had to listen to Bulma puking next to him, and had to get up and go to Trunks whenever he called Bulma because he was thirsty or too scared to go to the bathroom by himself. In the morning, Vegeta was still asleep at 12:00 noon when he felt Bulma shaking him awake from next to him. His eyes popped open, and he saw his normally beautiful wife looking haggard and worn.

"Vegeta . . . can you bring me the thermometer and something to eat?" She asked.

Vegeta scrubbed at his eyes with his hands, then sat up in just his underwear. "Okay, woman. What do you want to eat?" He tried to hide the irritance in his voice.

Bulma thought. "Can you bring me some crackers and some soup? There is a can of tomato soup in the cabinet, and it tells you on the can how to make it. You know where the crackers are, and the thermometer is in the cabinet."

Vegeta started to get up and head to the kitchen. He heard Bulma yell, 'THANK YOU, VEGGIE!' as he went down the hall.

* * * * * *

When Vegeta got down to the kitchen, Trunks was sitting at the table and waiting for him. He was clutching his stomach like it was hurting or something.

"Are you about to do the Technicolor yawn again?" Vegeta asked. "Because if you are—"

"No, I'm hungry. Mom always gets my food for me. Can you get me some cereal?" Trunks asked. "Please?"

Vegeta shrugged. "Okay." He said, still wondering why Bulma wanted something to eat when she was puking her guts up. He got some cereal, a bowl, and the milk out for Trunks and handed it to him. "You know how to do this, don't you?" He asked.

Trunks shrugged. "I guess so, but Mom always does it for me . . ."

"Well, it's time you became a man." Vegeta grumped, grabbing the can of soup out of the cabinet and looking at the instructions. It looked like it took a while. He groaned. "Shit." He mumbled under his breath. Just as he mumbled this he heard the can of milk spill a little bit. He whipped his head around, and there was a little bit of milk on the table.

"It's too heavy, Dad." Trunks complained. "Can you pour it in the cereal?"

"I'm not a goddamned octopus, I can only do one thing at a time." Vegeta growled. "Wait for a second." He started to make the soup, being very careful not to spill it. He didn't even know how, so he didn't know how it would taste. The woman should be grateful he was doing it at all. When he put it in the microwave he came over to Trunks and poured the milk for him. "There. Happy now?" He asked.

Trunks nodded. "Thank you."

Vegeta just grunted and grabbed the crackers out of the cabinet for Bulma. "Where's the medicine cabinet, boy?" He asked.

Trunks pointed. "Right there." He said. He dug into his cereal and started to eat it.

* * * * *

Vegeta finally finished making the soup, and he brought it and the thermometer up to his wife. She had been lying in bed and looking at the doorway, waiting for Vegeta to come back up.

"Hi Vegeta! It took you long enough." She said.

Vegeta put the tray of food on the nightstand, and then turned to go back out and go downstairs with Trunks.

"Wait, Vegeta, don't you want to stay up here and sleep some more? I probably won't need anything else for a while, so—" Bulma asked.

Vegeta whirled around. "What's the point? You already woke me up, and I don't think I could possibly go back to sleep now."

Bulma smiled at him. "Oh, come on Vegeta! I just want you to stay in here with me, because I'm lonely! Trunks will be O.K by himself, so there's no need to worry about him. Just come here. I need some cuddling."

Vegeta scoffed.

"Please?" Bulma asked him, outstretching her arms.

Vegeta sighed and walked over to the bed, where he lay down next to Bulma and snuggled up into her side. "There, that better, woman?" He asked.

Bulma stroked his hair. "Much." She said, wrapping her arm around his body and hugging him up closer. "But you do know that you're probably going to start throwing up from being this near to me, don't you?" She asked him.

Vegeta's breathing stopped all of the sudden. "Whuh-WHAT?!" He asked.

Bulma giggled. "Oh, Vegeta, I was just kidding. You're a full-blooded saiyan so you probably won't get this. After all, you always told me that Saiyan's couldn't get sick, and I think I believe you."

Vegeta smirked. "Shut up." He growled, closing his eyes to go back to sleep, or to at least try it.

Bulma looked down at her husband. *Pathetic son of a bitch. * She thought with a smile. It was hard to believe that she loved this man after all he'd put her through over the years. He'd left her, tried to kill her, got her almost killed about a thousand times by his stupidity . . . falling in love with him in the first place had been a mistake. But, it had happened, and now she couldn't live without loving the man.

As Vegeta was on the brink of sleep he heard a bunch of things breaking downstairs. His head snapped up.

"Oh, Vegeta, will you go and see what that was?" Bulma asked her husband.

Without answering Vegeta got out of bed and slumped downstairs, not knowing what to expect but not caring on the other hand. When he got downstairs he saw that Trunks had knocked a bunch of stuff off the cabinet.

"Trunks, you little tart!" Vegeta yelled at his son. "Now Bulma's gonna make me clean that up! Get your ass up there with your mother!" He pointed a finger up the stairs.

"But Dad . . . I don't want to go up there with Mom. She's boring!" Trunks exclaimed.

"And why am I any better?"

"Because . . . You're a boy, like me." Trunks said. "And you're going to train with me tomorrow, right? So I want to spend time with you."

Vegeta couldn't help but smirk. "Well . . . I'll be back up there with Bulma in a minute and you can watch us kiss." He said. "Now get up there like I ordered you to before I blow your sorry little head off."

Trunks took off up the stairs like Vegeta had told him to.

Sighing, Vegeta bent down on his hands and knees in the puddle of milk that Trunks had knocked off. "Little asshole." Vegeta muttered. He grabbed a big old rag and started to wipe up the puddle of milk. Just as he was doing this, one of the family dogs came up and decided to give him a big, sloppy kiss on the side of the face.

"Yuck! Foolish animal!" Vegeta growled, shooting the animal with a ki blast. He wasn't in the mood to put up with anyone or anything right now. He just wanted to get back upstairs and go to sleep!

When he was finally done, Vegeta went back upstairs to the scene of Bulma and Trunks playing a little game. He didn't know what it was, nor did he care. "Out of my spot, Trunks." He ordered. He saw his son climb on top of Bulma and hug her.

"You're mean to Trunks, Veggie. What makes you think I should be nice to you if you're going to act at Trunks this way?" Bulma asked playfully.

Vegeta crossed his arms and smirked. "Woman, I treat Trunks this way because he needs to learn discipline if he'll ever be any good training with me." Vegeta responded. He climbed into bed next to Bulma and his son. "Tomorrow is when we'll most likely start training, right? You're not going to be sick anymore?"

Bulma smiled a little bit at her handsome husband. "I'll try, sweetheart. A night of good rest should see me better. I'm already feeling just a little bit improved." She tangled her hand in his mess of black hair, the way she usually did. She then bent down and kissed him. "I love you." She said.

Vegeta's face grew bright red at Trunks's response to this.

"EWW!" He shouted, making a god-awful face. "You kissed Dad, Mommy! That's gross!" He said in true child-like fashion.

Bulma smiled. "Daddy didn't seem to mind it, now did he?" She asked.

Vegeta stayed real quiet on this subject. "Uh . . . Trunks, tomorrow morning I expect you to be up bright and early, because if I check on your mother and she's better, we're heading straight out to the Gravity Room. Okay?" He said, in not exactly a fatherly tone. More of an ordering tone, that said, 'Or else.'

Trunks nodded. "Okay Dad." He said, wrapping his short arms around his mother's body. "I'm gonna be just as strong as you are, right?"

Vegeta smirked as he remembered Trunks's future self; the person who had almost came out on top.

"I guess so." He responded, crossing his arms behind his head and laying on them. *Tomorrow. Tomorrow I have to start putting up with a little brat. * He thought.

Bulma scowled at him as if she had read his very thoughts. "Vegeta, it won't be that hard I'm sure. Trunks is a good child, aren't you Trunks?"

Trunks didn't answer. He had fallen asleep on top of his mother.

Bulma slowly put the sleeping child next to her, making sure he was snug and would not fall off of the bed. She then turned to Vegeta and kissed his forehead. "You may not want to admit it, but I can tell that you cannot wait until training time tomorrow!" She exclaimed, tousling his hair. "You'd just better hope that you don't end up sick, huh?"

Vegeta grumbled something horrible. "I won't. Saiyans don't get sick with common human viruses." He explained. "Saiyans are mighty."

"Oh, then how come you were sick that one time when you accepted my proposal? Remember that, Vegeta?"

Vegeta knew exactly what Bulma wanted him to remember from that experience. He snorted with laughter a little bit. "Yes. How could I forget, you sicko?" He asked, rolling over and facing his wife. Over the last five years, the bond between Bulma and he had gotten stronger. Now Vegeta was finally able to admit in his mind that he did love Bulma, and that nothing would ever change that. I'm not saying he WANTED to love her, though. Every day he thought himself even more of a weaker person for even falling for a human in the first place. But, it had happened, and now there was no turning back. No turning back when you'd already had a son whom you'd grown very attached to.

Yes, he'd hated Trunks when he was a baby. But now, he'd have to say that he felt some affection for the little parasite.

"What would you do if you were to end up sick now, Vegeta?" Bulma asked with an evil grin. "Trunks IS half saiyan, and he got sick . . ."

"It was the weaker half that made him get sick." Vegeta grumbled. "And because I don't even have a stomach ache, I can bet it to you that I'm not going to start throwing up." He then sat up and shook his head, untousling his hair. "And I don't care. You know how important my daily training is to me; that I train when sick or in health."

He then stood up to walk out and leave his wife and son in the room all alone, so that he could go downstairs and do some of the things that men didn't do when there wives or sons weren't around. (And NO, I do not mean taking a walk with himself! Don't YOU wonder what men do when their families aren't around if you're female like I? )

"Vegeta, be sure to come back up here to bed at 12:00 tonight. I don't like having a grumpy Veggie, especially one who is going to train my son. I know how you lose your temper sometimes."

Vegeta just scoffed and walked out of the room. He wasn't going to beat his own son . . . Unless the situation properly called for it. Unless Trunks just would not train good no matter what he did.

Couldn't think of a way to end this chapter . . . so I just ended it there! Next chapter, Vegeta and Trunks begin training and it's a little bit too hard for Trunks to handle . . . too hard from the Gravity level and the way Vegeta likes to teach! And, Trunks has several misadventures with his father while trying to learn how to fly! Please Review, please?!

Luv, Luvssaintbernards