Disclaimer; Yeah, I own DBZ ok….hahahaha…yeah right
A/N; Here you go people…the long awaited next installment of And Then You'll Know. I really do have to apologize in the lack of updates, but my life has been out of control lately…I hope you all enjoy this, and I'm sorry it took such a long time.
~D.B
And Then You'll Know Chapter 39The day of Chi-chi's birthday came and went without much fuss. There was no grand party like she had had the previous year. No line of well-wishers cueing out the door as there had been when Vegeta had celebrated his coming of age, and as far as Bulma had been aware, there hadn't even been a cake.
The day had merely passed by quietly, the King presented his daughter with her certificate of age – usually they were sent out through the post, but the King personally presented them to his children.
Bulma was still puzzled by Chi-chi's reaction to the car. She had been sure she would love it, and that it may have even been just the thing that was needed to re-ignite the flames of friendship and to help Chi-chi begin her trip down the long road that would eventually lead her back to sanity.
She was sure – so very sure, that Chi-chi was utterly crazy now, she had been pouring through psychology books and websites for weeks now, neglecting all of her other duties and she had learnt a great deal. It was really quite fascinating and she wondered to herself why she hadn't taken an interest in this particular area of science much sooner.
But unfortunately, one of the discoveries she had made was that she, along with everyone else was almost powerless to help Chi-chi. No one had the special training and skills that were needed, and the palace didn't employ a psychiatrist. Going outside the palace was almost out of the question, the media would have a field trip if the discovered what was wrong with Chi-chi, and to top it off, Bulma was quite sure she was the only one who had really clued on to exactly what was wrong. Well except for 18 maybe.
That poor girl. Bulma felt pity consume her entire being when she thought of 18, she was a great person, and Bulma considered her one of her dearest, if not her best friend. It pained her so much to she what she went through in her daily struggle just to stay alive. She bent over backwards for Chi-chi, and never said a word against her – well, not to her face – and yet every single day, Chi-chi would beat her senseless, it had gone far past the point of being a punishment, it had more become something Chi-chi did because she enjoyed it. She enjoyed seeing 18 bleed, cry and scream out in pain. She enjoyed knowing that it was her who put her in so much pain. It was sick and twisted, but their was little Bulma could do, for if she spoke up, the King probably wouldn't believe her anyway, then he could very well fire her for speaking out against his only daughter.
Bulma clenched her fists to restrain herself from destroying her keyboard. It just made her so mad to see Chi-chi like this. They had been best friends for almost their entire life, and now, in the space of 6 months. This happened. So much had changed in her life, in all of their lives, and sometimes Bulma felt like it was spinning out of control, like she was growing up much to fast, but she always managed to get her grip and see that everything that was happening, was happening for a reason.
Obviously, Chi-chi hadn't been able to get the same grip Bulma had, and now she had crash-landed. Hit rock bottom. What was the next step after this? Suicide? Bulma hoped and prayed that it would not come to that. Even though right now, she was less than impressed with Chi-chi, she would still be devastated if she took her own life.
Blinking, Bulma realized someone was knocking on the door to her lab. Shaking herself out of her trance like state, she closed the web page she had open and called, "it's open, come on in"
The door was pushed open, and the receptionist for the science and technologies wing walked in. "Ms. Briefs, are you alright?" she asked, sounding very concerned.
"Yes, of course I am, why would I not be?" she asked in reply.
"Well, it's just that we have been calling you over the intercom for 15 minutes now, we thought you may be in trouble or something"
"Oh, no no. I'm fine, thank-you" she said, smiling brightly at the young girl in front of her.
"Great. Well, there is a package for you at reception, you need to sign for it"
"Ok then, I'll be down in a minute" said Bulma, already being able to guess what her package was.
She shut down her computer and headed down the hall. She quickly arrived in reception and was greeted by a man in a delivery suit, standing by a very large pile of boxes, and sitting on the couch on the opposite side of the small room, was Krillen.
"Hi Krillen, thanks for doing this for me" she greeted him happily as she took the clipboard off the young man and signed the piece of paper. "Sorry to keep you waiting like that" she apologized.
"That's quite ok Ms. Briefs" he said, then with a smile, turned and left the building.
"Alright" said Bulma as she patted the boxes, "let's deliver this stuff"
***
17 lay sleeping on the couch, snoring loudly. In the bedroom, Tarie was also asleep. 17 had been working all night in an attempt to get all of his and Tarie's work for today done. So he could spend some time with her. Since he was gone all day, and sleeping at night he had decided he needed some quality time with her, but their quality time, had turned into nap time.
A knocking at the door roused 17, and he sleepily stumbled over to the door. "Shhh" he said as soon as he opened the door, not even greeting whoever was on the other side, "Tar is sleeping"
Bulma and Krillen nodded and took a few steps into the room, each placing a number of boxes down, then walking out into the hall and bringing in more.
"What the hell is all this?" 17 asked, his voice a whisper. He walked over to the bedroom door and pulled it shut, so everyone could speak in a normal voice.
"This is a present" announced Bulma.
17 raised an eyebrow, "a present?" he asked, "for who?"
"Take a look at the boxes, that should tell you"
17 walked over to the rather large pile of cardboard boxes and looked at the pictures on the side. A wide smile formed on his face as he realized what Krillen and Bulma had just done for them. A crib, a change table, a stroller – not that they would really need that. Bundles and bundles of nappies, bottles, baby food and about 4 boxes of brand new tiny little baby clothing, it was all here.
"You guys…I…I don't know what to say," 17 was truly taken aback
"What's going on out here?" Tarie asked through a yawn as she walked out the bedroom.
"Tar, come over here and have a look at this"
Krillen and Bulma stood back and watched as Tarie and 17 went through everything. The smiles on their faces well worth the money that had been spent. After a few minutes, Tarie approached the pair, tears of happiness trickling down her cheeks.
"I…I honestly don't know how to thank you for this. If there is anyway we can replay you, any way at all, please just tell us now"
Both Krillen and Bulma shook their heads. "Don't be silly," said Krillen "We wanted to do this. We'll be happy just knowing that you like it all". Bulma nodded in agreement.
"Krillen, Bulma. Thank-you" said 17 as he walked up to the group "We hadn't even thought of any of this. We'll pay you back for this some how"
"No you won't. We won't allow it. Now Krillen, why don't you help 17 assemble the crib and what not, and Tarie, how about I give you your final check up in the bedroom"
Once Bulma and Tarie had disappeared into the bedroom, Krillen looked up, "Final checkup?" he asked 17
"Yeah," he replied, "Tar is due any day now. We're all on edge waiting for it"
"It must be amazing huh? Knowing that any day now you're going to be able to hold the life you created in your own hands," mused Krillen as he screwed one side of the crib into the other.
"Yeah," 17 replied whimsically "it's an amazing feeling. It's really hard to explain, the feelings that I have inside of me right now"
***
He was the only one in the entire store. As soon as he had walked through the door, everyone else had been kicked out. Now he was being guided through the shop, getting informed on everything they had to offer.
"Now, this one, as you can plainly see, is absolutely stunning"
"Yes yes, I see" replied Vegeta, his eyes roaming else where.
"Oh I'm sorry Prince Vegeta, is there another you are interested in?"
"Well no, I'm, just not interested in the cuts and sets."
"Ok then, well please by all means please feel free to browse"
Walking away from the annoying middle-aged sales woman, Vegeta roamed the store, stopping to look in every single counter he walked past. He really was quite nervous – he had never done this kind of shopping before, and he sincerely hoped he would never have to do it again.
Then, all of a sudden – he laid his eyes on the one. He had just found the ring he was going to propose to Bulma with. The diamond on it was a quite large and perfectly round and it sparkled a million different colours in the light. On each side of it sat a smaller, yet not less perfect diamond. And they were all sitting on a beautiful gold band.
"I want that one" he said, pointing at it.
"Ah, but of course sir, and may I say, what a fine choice you have made" said the male shop assistant as he took the ring Vegeta wanted out from under the case and handed it to him for closer inspection.
After some minutes, the shop assistant spoke up again. "Is that your final decision?" he asked
"Yes, this is the one"
"Alright then. Now, we do have a 14-day return period – hopefully you wont be needing it though – in which you can obtain a full refund or exchange. After the 2 weeks though, we are only able to offer a 70 percent refund or an exchange." He rambled on as he carefully placed the ring in a white velvet box and then placed the box in a small bag.
As Vegeta signed the check for the amount of the ring, he could feel his heart rate increase. Here he was, signing for his engagement ring. He was going to propose to Bulma, he had never felt more nervous about anything in his entire life – nothing had ever meant as much to him as this.
God he hoped he wouldn't be needing to take advantage of that return period.
***
18's eyes bulged as she watched the sight before her in absolute shock. She could feel her body temperature rise and her pulse quicken. Her brow furrowed in an unhappy scowl and she balled her hands into fist to stop from herself from swinging them into something.
In front of her stood Chi-chi, that wasn't what was making her so irate though, it was what Chi-chi was doing. From somewhere, she had obtained a large bottle of oil – disgusting black oil, and she was tipping it all over the floor. Staining it forever.
The was a strange glimmer in her eyes, and along with the evil smirk on her lips she was giving off the appearance of one very disturbed woman – which 18 knew perfectly well, she was.
Once she had emptied the entire contents of the bottle onto the once clean carpet, her eyes snapped up from the floor and she hurled the bottle at 18, but at the last second she moved, the bottle only just missing her head.
"Now," Chi-chi snarled. "Clean it" she rubbed her foot in the mess, smudging it deeper into the carpet.
Trying to be inconspicuous 18 took a rather large step towards the door. With what she was about to do, she was going to need to be as close to it as possible.
"No" she said, her voice sounding much more confidant than she actually was.
"What?!" Chi-chi demanded to know, sounding irate.
Taking a deep breath, 18 stood her ground; she was absolutely fed up with Chi-chi and everything that she put her through. "I said no"
"I heard you. But I don't understand" Chi-chi spat at her.
"That was totally unfair. I'm not going to clean up after you, when you are only doing things like that to spite me"
"You'll do whatever I tell you to!"
"No! I don't care how much you beat me. I'm not cleaning that. I'm sick of the way to treat me!" 18 raised her own voice to reach the same level as Chi-chi.
"I'll kill you!" threatened Chi-chi
18 narrowed her eyes at the impossible Princess and muttered a very few obscene words to her under her breath. She was way past mad now, all she could think of was how badly she wanted to kick Chi-chi's head off. But she knew that wasn't possible. "You won't do it" she replied, her voice surprisingly calm for the current situation.
The look on Chi-chi's face said it all, she was shocked at the scene folding out in front of her. "Give me one good reason why not?"
18 response was simple "You'd miss me too much." the theory had dawned on her while she has been lying in her bed the night before, as bad as Chi-chi beat her, she would never kill her.
Chi-chi erupted into a fit of hysteric laughter. 18 raised an eyebrow, this was just stupid.
"18," she said, wiping tears of laugher from her face. Then her voice took on a very deadly tone that sent shivers down 18's spine "I detest you. Despise every part of your miserable being," she approached 18 and walked a close circle around her, "there would be nothing I would enjoy more than finishing you off this very second"
18 swallowed audibly, Chi-chi's face was now mere inches away from hers. Staring intently into her dark eyes she replied. "Go on then. Do it. Kill me, right now."
She waited, but nothing happened, there was no blast, no blinding pain, no retreat from her living hell. "Well?" she asked.
There was no reply, Chi-chi merely reached up and slapped 18, her heart wasn't in it though, as 18 was able to remain in her position, she wasn't sent rocketing across the room, as 18 was well aware she could have been.
"See, I told you I was right ma'am" she spoke the last word knowing she had claimed at least some small kind of a victory of the villainess that dictated her life. "You won't kill me. You've gotten used to me. You like me." She was aware that her last statement was going way to far, and that Chi-chi would most likely explode and put her through the window, but she had said it now, there was no taking it back.
The next thing 18 knew, a blinding pain was tearing through her midsection. She bit down on her tongue to stop herself from screaming out in pain – a trick she had learnt a while back. She wasn't going to give Chi-chi the satisfaction of seeing her in pain.
It was a stupid thing to do, but in her pained state, she didn't even realize. Chi-chi wasn't going to stop until she was satisfied.
Ramming her leg up again, she felt 18's ribs against her knee. How dare 18 speak that way to her? Who did she think she was? What kind of rights did she think she had? Because she had none, the slaves were regarded as the lowest form of life on the planet, even criminals had more respect and dignity than the slaves did. Yet here 18 was, thinking she actually possessed the right to speak back to Chi-chi and to expect to get away with it.
Feeling her legs give out on her, 18 fell to her knees, blood tricking from the corner of her mouth. Had she deserved that? Had speaking back to Chi-chi been the wrong thing to do? After all, Chi-chi was her mistress wasn't it 18's job to make sure she was always happy?
No, it was not. 18 had done nothing wrong, but now if she wanted to live, she had to options. Grovel for forgiveness, or the more daring option that could very well get her killed.
She wasn't sure what it was, perhaps the adrenalin rushing through her body; perhaps a few brain cells had been knocked loose – but something inside her was compelling her to take option two.
Hauling herself to her feet, she took a few slow steps towards Chi-chi, looking her directly in the eyes she opened her mouth. Chi-chi must have been expecting an apology, but that was not what she got.
Reaching up, totally without warning 18 wiped her hand across Chi-chi's cheek in a very hard slap. The impact and shock of what had just happened sent Chi-chi stumbling backwards, where she lost her balance and fell flat on then floor. Not wasting any time, 18 ran.
She ran as fast as her thin legs would carry her, she knew where she was going, and had the great advantage of Chi-chi not being able to sense her. She totally ignored the many looks she received as she ran the only thought on her mind was getting to the safety of her brothers apartment, Chi-chi would never ever in a million years look for her there.
Panting from lack of breath, she pounded furiously at the door, praying that someone would open it soon. "17 let me in god dammit" she muttered to herself.
Seconds later the door swung open, and 18 practically fell into her brother's arms. "18!" his voice filled with panic "18 are you ok?!"
Upon hearing her name, Krillen rushed across the room to the twins. "What's wrong?" he asked.
"I'm alright. Your sister just wants to kill me" replied 18, pushing herself off her brother and walking across to the kitchen where she poured herself a glass of water. Swishing it around in her mouth to get rid of the blood, she eyed the big pile of boxes and half assembled things in the middle of the room.
Spitting the water down the sink she asked; "what's all this?" for an second an intense feeling of dizziness washed over her, but she shook it off and tried to concentrate on the reply to her question rather than the burning pain in her midsection.
"Krillen and Bulma brought it for us. It's everything we are ever going to need for the baby" 17 said joyously
18 smiled and turned her gaze to her lover, "you did this?" she asked
"Well, it was Bulma's idea, I only paid for it," he said, "are you sure you're ok? You really don't look so good babe"
Sitting herself down on the couch she sighed, "Will you two please stop worrying about me?" she asked 17 and Krillen.
"No we won't" replied Krillen as he sat beside her. "What did you do to make my sister want to kill you?"
"It's a long story"
***
Vegeta,
I must say, things are very dull without you. Confessing your love then rushing back home to tend to a national crisis isn't something I strongly recommend.
I have been extremely busy as of late, in fact I am writing to you from right here in my very own bed. I am missing you greatly and am eternally sorry that I had to leave Vegeta-sei in such a rush. I hope you don't think that my lack of correspondence has anything to do with my feelings for you; I have merely been distracted by regal duties.
Perhaps you would like to make the trip to Bindoon, I don't believe you have ever paid my humble little planet a visit before. My people would be honored to meet a man of such great power and stature as you, but none would be as glad as I.
Eagerly waiting a reply from you either by mail or phone,
Your love,
KahliaScanning his eyes over the letter a smile spread across the Kings lips. Only 3 days after they had confess their love, Kahlia had had to rush back home, as her planet had been struck by natural disaster – an earthquake, which had then trigged off mudslides. It had occurred in a highly populated village; one of the planets biggest cities and the death toll was in the hundreds, possibly even thousands.
But they had had those days, those 3 beautiful in which everything had been perfect. He had woken up with her in his arms, and nothing he had experienced in a very long time had ever felt more right. The love they shared was something that distance couldn't break.
But still, his dear Kahlia was quite right, he had never paid a visit to her home planet, and she had come to them at least a dozen times since she had joined the Sayian Allegiance almost 5 years ago. Perhaps a visit to the home of his dear one was in order – yes he decided, it was something he wanted to do. Something else he wanted to do was call her.
But he would have to wait; there was a time difference between Bindoon and Vegeta-sei, looking at his watch, he came to the conclusion that it be close to 3am where she was. He would wait until it a respectable hour to call her. Besides, he would have to wait until he was alone to make the call no one in the palace knew about them – and he meant no one. Not his personal assistant, not Nappa not even his own children knew that he was in a relationship, and for the time being he would like to keep it that way.
He could only imagine the chaos that would break out if he were to let it slip. The last thing he wanted was another media crisis – after the fiasco concerning his son and Bulma a few weeks back they had all learnt their lesson and we're being much more careful with interviews and the media.
Then there were his children. Vegeta, Chi-chi and Krillen – the three most important people in his life. How would they take the news that their father had moved on, had found another love besides their mother? There would no doubt be resentment and anger, but hopefully they would come around. After all, they were all grown up, they should be able to understand that he couldn't mourn forever – he was allowed to move on without feeling guilty.
***
"What is happening to me?" Vegeta muttered to himself. Holding out his hand in front of him, he watched it shake. Was he really that nervous? It didn't take him long to answer that question. Yes he was. He was about to take the biggest step of his young life, and as un-romantic as he often was, he wanted this night to be absolutely perfect. Tonight was a night he was willing to break his own rules and let down his emotional barricades, tonight he was prepared to be the romantic mushy Prince he always feared becoming.
It took him 20 minutes to decide on an outfit – Bulma must have been rubbing off on him, usually he would just throw on the first thing he picked up, but lately he had become much more fashion conscious.
'Stupid woman' he thought to himself as he slipped into a casual black pair of pants, and a white shirt. It was a casual look, but not to casual.
Soon there was a knock on the door, pulling it open, a trolley greeted him, and on it a picnic basket full of everything he had requested. Food, a rug, candles everything one needed for the perfect night. Pulling open the draw on his bedside table, he lifted out the small white velvet box and popped it open. The ring was still tucked snuggly away inside – safe and sound. Hopefully though, it would soon have a new home. On display on Bulma's finger.
"Vegeta?" came a voice from the other side of the door, "you in there?"
Hastily shoving the box into his pocket, Vegeta rushed over to the door and yanked it open.
"Hi" Bulma greeted him as she walked into the room.
Vegeta didn't reply, he was to taken away, she was only dressed casually in a silky red singlet top that had an intricate pattern of black flowers on it and black leather pants, but it took his breath away.
"Something smells really good Veg. Have you been cooking?" she asked, raising an eyebrow at him
Vegeta almost snorted. "Me, cook? Woman, you've got to be kidding"
"Hmm, yeah you're right. You cook, what was I thinking?"
"I could cook if I wanted" Vegeta retorted, now insulted that Bulma thought he couldn't cook
"No you couldn't"
Vegeta decided to drop it before he ruined the occasion by getting into an argument. "Shall we leave?" he asked, picking up the picnic basket Bulma had failed to notice before.
"Where are we going?"
"On a picnic"
Bulma smacked him, but let him put his arm around her and lead her away. After almost 15 minutes of walking, they arrived at their final destination. The lake that was situated just past the flower gardens of the palace ground. The sun was almost completely set and the sky was a very beautiful shade of orange, which reflected off the water in a very pretty display of light.
"Vegeta, this is beautiful" she said as he spread out the picnic rug and sat on it, she sat beside him and watched as he busied himself for a few minutes lighting candles and spreading out an array of beautiful looking foods.
"Eat" he commanded her, then flashed her a smile that he saved for her and her alone.
"But I'm not really hungry" she replied, resting her head on his shoulder.
"I don't care, woman. I said eat. Look at all this food. You have to eat" he said as he laden his own plate with a helping of just about everything on offer.
"Fine" she replied. Once she started eating though, she realized she was hungrier than she thought she was and she ate a considerable amount.
Once he had finished eating, Vegeta wrapped his arms around Bulma and pulled her close, no one could see them here, it was just them and as he said, tonight he was willing to be romantic. All he could hear was his hear thudding in his ears and feel it pounding in his chest. What if Bulma rejected him, made a complete fool out of him? What if he laid his heart on the line and she just stomped it to the ground, squashing it to a million pieces? He didn't think he would be able to survive.
Well there was only one way to find out.
"Vegeta" he jumped when he heard Bulma call his name.
"Yeah?"
"I've really enjoyed tonight. Thank-you for everything. I'm very lucky to have you"
That made up Vegeta's mind. Reaching into his pocket, he pulled out the box. As soon as Bulma spotted it, she sat up straight as gasped quietly. Vegeta heard her though, and a victorious smirk appeared on his face.
"Woman, I mean Bulma," he stopped to watch the procession of emotions that danced across her face as he flipped open the lid of the box. "I think you know what I want to ask you. These last few moths have been the happiest of my life, and I want to make them last forever. So will you?" he asked
"Will I what?" Bulma asked, already knowing, but wanting to hear him say it.
"Will you marry me?"
Bulma felt her heart skip about 6 beats. Was this really happening? Could this really be happening? Had the man of her dreams, the man she had loved since she was 12, just proposed to her? This was the happiest moment of her life. And that ring! Look at it, it was stunning! She realized that Vegeta was probably about to die with from nerves, she looked up into his dark eyes and realized she was right.
"Of course I'll marry you, Vegeta!" she said, trying very hard not to squeal with excitement like a childish schoolgirl. She watched as he slid the ring onto her finger, it was a perfect fit and looked like it was made just for her.
"Do you like it?" he asked as the fact sunk in that he was engaged. He was going to be married.
"Do I like it?" she repeated as she wrapped her arms around his neck and kissed him, "I love it. It's the most gorgeous thing I've ever seen." She kissed him again then; "Oh my god!"
"What?" asked Vegeta.
"I can't believe I just got engaged!"
"Well you'd better believe it, because there's no going back. You're stuck with me for good now"
"Well that's just to bad, isn't it?" she said as she kissed him again "Who'd wanna marry you?" she asked him as she rested her head on his shoulder
"You?" he asked in return.
"Damn, you're right"
"I'm always right"
***
A/N; Well, what did you think? Good, bad? I'd like to know. Also, I have a website now, xXEvil OneXx and I have spent countless hours getting it up and running…hope you want to take a look, the URL is see you all in the next chapter and don't forget to leave me a review
~D.B