Just One Week

XII.

Days past, but I still couldn't find the strength to accept the fact that Goku was gone. Maybe I couldn't find the courage to get over it. I knew I should…somewhere in the back of my mind, I was screaming at myself to move on with my life again as though the whole week Goku was here was nothing more than a dream. However, somewhere deep in my heart, something was telling me not to give up, that this whole thing wasn't over quite yet. I hate it when my mind and heart battle…my heart always seems to win. Guess it likes to break.

My mind wasn't the only thing screaming at me…Gohan was getting pretty fed up with my pitiful act, too. He tried to be as nice and as sympathetic as he could, I could tell, but I know he saw me going through what Chi-Chi went through. One day he did snap at me in a gentle way. Sounds like a paradox, yes, but that's how those Son's are. It was a good thing he did though…it made me open my eyes a little more so I could truly see what was happening before me.

I saw that I wasn't the only one that was hurt when Goku left. Gohan, Goten, and Trunks were all brokenhearted over the ordeal, also. Of course, I apologized to them in the best way I could. Even then, they could still tell I was down, which made them feel low. I figured I had to try harder. Only a week had past since Goku left though…did they really expect me to forget about it in the snap of a finger?

Well…I tried my best for them. I busied myself with the boys and working on latest inventions, if any ideas happened to come to mind. And it actually worked. …Really it did.

Then came a week and a half. And everything seemed to fall apart all over again.

It happened Wednesday night around eleven o'clock. I was sitting in my front lab, working on Kami knows what…

* * * * * * * *

Grabbing a small screwdriver off of the wooden desk that she sat beside, Bulma turned the object she held in her hand over. She put the point to the indent in the screw, twisting to the right to tighten it. She wasn't quite sure what she was working on; it looked almost similar to the Dragon Radar. The kids were in bed, however, and she wasn't tired, so she had to do something to keep her mind occupied.

It had been a rough week for all of them. Even though Goku was only there for a week and they spent all those years coping without him, it seemed as though he were there for much longer than seven days. And yet at the same time, it seemed like those seven days were equivalent to two days. Where did the time go?

Bulma remembered the one night…about four days after Goku left…she heard Goten screaming in the middle of the night. She was sure that took about ten years off of her life and what she saw when she entered Trunks and Goten's room took another ten off. Goten was cuddled up in the far corner of the room, his head buried in his lap with his knees up to his chest and his arms around his legs. Trunks was sitting Indian style in front of him, his eyes holding much commiseration.

As she stepped further into the room and turned the light on, she could distinctly see Goten's small body shaking from his sobs, though only a few sniffles were heard from him.

"Goten? Baby, what's wrong?" She asked him with much concern in her voice. Pulling her robe that she happened to grab before she went out the door tighter around her, she kneeled down in front of him and reached out to gently touch his shoulder, "Goten?"

It was then that the young boy decided to look up at his mother, his eyes red and puffy from crying, his bottom lip trembling as an indication that he wasn't done.

"I want Daddy."

She never knew three simple words could break her heart into a million more pieces than what it already was. And even though she tried to be strong for him, she couldn't help but have to bite her bottom lip as her vision blurred. Bulma simply pulled his frail body towards her in a strong embrace. She rocked him back and forth, her eyes closed and shushing him through her teeth.

Hearing a small sound behind her, she slightly turned her head to look to the doorway, seeing Gohan standing there, looking just as helpless as she felt. She tried to give him a small smile of reassurance, but he walked out of sight before she could do any such thing.

Bulma was jolted from her tragic flashback when one of her tools that was sitting in the middle of the table got rocked and rattled to roll off the desk. She looked down at the bigger screwdriver and wondered what made it suddenly fall off.

Her question was soon answered when a loud bang rang throughout Capsule Corp., followed by a blaring, insistent beeping that also made the bottom half of the building shake with warning.

She stood up quickly from her wheeling chair, setting her invention down on the table. She ran out of her front lab quickly and began heading for her back lab, since that was where the sounds seemed to be originated from. It sounded so much like a space ship…but she couldn't believe it. She didn't have any space ships in her home now, so one couldn't have accidentally gone off. Unless a ship was coming in…but only Capsule Corp. ships landed in her back lab and no one had used a space ship since…

Since Vegeta left almost five years ago.

The thought alone made her heart beat even quicker than it already was, which made her wonder if she was about to have a heart attack. She didn't want to waste any time, however, and got to her lab in record time. From her running speed, she smacked into the automatic doors that led into her lab, her hands just barely stopping her from hitting her face. She watched her shaky hands press in the familiar seven-digit number to get inside, surprised her mind was still on the right track to remember such a thing.

After the green button sounded, she stood directly in front of the doors that seemed to suddenly open in slow motion. Her large, aqua eyes were unblinking as she saw more and more of her lab with each passing second, her eyes widening that much more when she spotted the tremendous space ship that took up the whole lab. Above the ship, the translucent roof just closed, having been open to let the ship inside.

Bulma felt her mouth open slightly when she recognized the ship as it began to come more and more into view as all the smoke and fog was clearing out from the hot engine. Her eyes fell to the four-digit number that was located on the door of the ship: 1695

That was the number of the ship Vegeta took.

"It can't be…" Bulma whispered to herself, taking a slow and cautious step into the lab. She subconsciously heard the doors close behind her, but was more focused on the door of the ship that was slowly opening more to become a ramp.

She had to wonder what kept her courage up enough to simply stand there and wait for who she knew was inside the ship. Did she really want to see him that bad to just stand there and wait for him to make his all mighty appearance? Shouldn't she sound some sort of alarm or get Gohan? No…she wanted to see him.

And see him she did, for it took him no more than ten seconds to walk up to the platform, his arms crossed and his stance full of as much arrogance as ever. His spiky hair still defied gravity, his dark orbs as blank and as venomous as always.

Bulma clenched her shirt over her chest tightly in her right hand, her knees feeling a bit shaky, "Vegeta…"

Though she no more than whispered his name, he seemed to hear her clearly as his eyes averted from down the ramp over to her. Seeing her there put a cocky smirk to his lips, his feet taking one step in front of the other to walk down the ramp, not even pausing when he reached the bottom. He walked towards her and Bulma happened to notice that he looked the same as ever…his body still clad in his tight, blue Saiyan uniform, his hands covered with those white gloves and his feet clad in white boots. The same…everything exactly the same.

Vegeta stopped about five feet in front of her, his smirk never failing him as he looked on at her unmoving form. However, it didn't take long for his smirk to fall into a hard frown, his eyes glaring into hers, "You look as pathetic as ever."

Hearing his rough voice speak to her snapped her out of whatever she had been lost in. She swallowed coarsely and opened her mouth to speak, wincing as she heard her voice come out sounding tiny, like a five-year-olds, "What…what are you doing here?"

That was the question he seemed to be hoping for, for his smirk came back and he stood up straighter. He uncrossed his arms, however, and clenched his fists in front of him. He definitely gave the impression that he was ready for a good fight, "Kakarot is here."

Simple enough. Bulma's mind forced itself to go into overdrive and she realized that Vegeta must have felt Goku's ki level when he was wherever in space and came to check it out.

Boy, was he going to be disappointed when he found out he came back a little too late…

Closing her eyes for a moment, she tried to regain control of herself before she broke down from too many sudden emotions. Slowly, she opened her eyes again and locked them onto his; "He's not here."

Vegeta's smirk faded again. His eyebrows narrowed down further as he took a step towards her, "What do you mean he's not here? Where is he?"

"He's dead." Bulma stated bluntly, figuring she might as well not even go into details unless it was absolutely necessary. After all, even when he did come back to them for a week, he still was technically dead.

He growled and took another menacing step towards her, only half wondering why she wasn't backing away from him, "I felt him, though! Kakarot was on planet Earth! There was no way I could have felt him if he was still dead!"

"Do you feel him now?" Bulma asked quickly, her eyes narrowing down, also. Quite frankly, she was already getting fed up with him and felt her urge to fight with him come back just as strongly as it was before, "Don't blame me because you made a stupid mistake."

Before she could have a second thought about what she said, her back was pounded against the doors behind her, a short grunt leaving her mouth from the pressure. She felt dizzy for a moment before she noticed that Vegeta was pinning her shoulders to the wall, his face directly in front of her.

She could feel his hot breath on her skin, making the hair on the back of her neck stand on end. She was sure her eyes flashed with fear for a moment, but she quickly reclaimed herself and looked back into his eyes that held equal anger.

"You still have some nerve, don't you?" His voice seemed more gruff when it was up close to her, and it made her shiver when she remembered how she used to feel about that. And just for a moment, she had to wonder why she was reacting the way she was towards Vegeta. Sure, she knew she would never be able to throw him off of her, but why wasn't she even trying to struggle? Did she somehow know that he wouldn't harm her and let her go eventually?

Bulma moved her face closer to his, allowing herself a smirk now while her right hand slid down to the side of the door, "Looks like nothing has changed." Her index and middle finger came in contact with a button that was on the wall. She pressed in and the doors behind her opened quickly this time.

Even Vegeta wasn't expecting this movement, for he hardly caught himself, let alone Bulma. She let out a small squeal as she began to fall backwards, but was surprised when she fell into someone else's arms. Blinking twice, she looked up at her hero and widened her eyes when she saw who it was.

"Gohan!?" She quickly scrambled out of his arms and stood in the middle of the two guys.

Gohan glared diggers into Vegeta and talked to Bulma at the same time, "I heard all the noises and felt the house shaking and decided to see what was going on. I told Goten and Trunks to go back to bed, but…" the boy slowly lowered himself into a fighting position, just waiting for Vegeta to attack, "I figured I could handle this."

Vegeta no more than crossed his arms over his chest again and snickered, closing his eyes with arrogance.

Bulma looked back and forth between them before saying the first thing that came to mind, "Gohan, go back to bed."

Gohan's eyes widened to their normal stature in a second, his orbs full of complete confusion as she stood up to his full height again, "What?"

"You heard me," she said firmly, "go back to bed."

"B-but…" his eyes roamed back over to Vegeta, who simply stood there as though he expected Bulma to say that. He averted his gaze back to Bulma who looked back at him with knowing in her eyes. He wanted nothing more than to argue with her right then, but he knew that when Bulma had her mind made up, there was no going against her.

He let out a heavy sigh, glared at Vegeta once more, and turned around, "Yes, Bulma…"

She watched him go around the bend and listened to him going slowly back up the stairs before turning back to Vegeta. She gasped, however, when she saw that he was once again at a close enough distance to pin her to the wall. And he did just that. This time he had her by the wrists, though, so she had no way of getting free.

"It was a wise idea to send him away," Vegeta commented, his eyes setting her on fire before he continued, "for him. You saved him from getting his ass kicked. Now…as for you…" his smirk grew, his face leaning in more towards her, only stopping when his body was directly pressed against hers and his lips were near her left ear, "I can't say that was very smart."

Feeling his fiery breath in her ear made her eyes clench shut and her back arch towards him a bit, her lips parting slightly. She chuckled hoarsely from somewhere deep in her throat, "Oh? And what makes you say that?"

He mimicked her chortle and squeezed her wrists tighter, "Who knows what I'll do to you. Or…" Vegeta pulled away from her ear so he could look at her face, noting how her eyes were closed tightly, "do you want it to be a surprise?"

Bulma's eyes snapped open to reveal a bright fire burning in the depths of ocean blue. That seemed to be answer enough for Vegeta, because before she knew it, she was no longer pressed against the wall outside of her lab, but rather standing in front of her bed in her bedroom.

"You asked for it."

~*~

I don't know why I did it…I don't know why it happened…and I really can't say how it happened. Wasn't I just working in my lab on something? Wasn't I just sitting there and having a flashback on something that happened earlier that week? How did I end up in my bedroom with Vegeta? Quite truthfully, I hardly remember that either. I…I can't explain it. I just don't understand how I could let something like this happen. I was scared of him. I could feel my heart beating in that certain way that let me know how terrified I was. The weird part was, it was also beating with excitement. Was I that stimulated from being frightened? It was a very strange feeling I'm sure I'll never be able to comprehend.

But as I went through all the events…as I opened the doors and saw Vegeta, as Vegeta spoke and I insulted him, as he pushed me against the doors, as I fell back when I pushed the button, as I fell into Gohan's arms, as I told him to leave us, as Vegeta pushed me against the wall again and began seducing me…I was very aware of everything that was happening. Sort of. Okay, so it felt more like a dream than anything. Who knows, maybe I was so tired, I actually believed it was a dream.

I don't remember sleeping with Vegeta, though. I know it happened, however, because as always, there was the morning after. It was the morning after that left me feeling more guilty than I ever felt before. I felt like I betrayed Goku…even though I shouldn't have, since he was, after all, dead again. He wasn't with me…so didn't that leave me as a free woman? One would think so, but I sure didn't feel like that. Truth be told, I felt more like a whore. And I never thought I would feel like that.

I can truthfully say, however, that I was quite glad that Vegeta was not there when I woke up the next day. That's right, he left sometime during the night, taking the ship once again and going back into space. Guess all he was looking for was a good fight with Goku, and since he couldn't get that, he was aiming for a good fuck with me…excuse my language.

I never felt more used in my life. But I couldn't fully blame Vegeta, after all, I did melt in the palm of his hands pretty quickly.

Oh Kami…what have I done…