Daybreak finally hit and it had been hours since she last had slept. Hours since her last beating. Hours since the last shred of her sanity was destroyed. And she waited. Waited for the drugs to take affect, waited for her life to end. Not long now...

Just almost two minutes ago she had downed four 50Mg's worth of Vioxx. What was taking it so long to work? Suddenly a wave of nausea washed over her and the pain was crippling. She fell to the floor as the first seizure took over. The second seizure was so powerful, that her spastic body flew several inches off the ground. Then as quickly as it began, it ended leaving her body lifeless and unwanted...

"Why, why would my mom do this to herself?" Trunks wailed, clutching to his grandmother's body. "She loved me; she would never try to kill herself, NEVER!" The old couple tried to calm him down, but only served to further fuel his grief. "Trunks-kun, your mother just had a few problems is all, she probably---" "No!" The boy tore himself out of his grandmother's arms and ran to his mother's side. "You're lying, she would never, she loved life and she never had problems, my mom was perfect and strong"

Bunny Briefs tried to reach out to the young child.

"Honey there's something you have to understand. Nobody is perfect, we weren't meant to be that way. Strong, yes, but not perfect. That includes your grandpa and I, the rest of the gang, even Son-kun isn't perfect. Neither Kami nor your mother" Trunks stood there looking at his mother's badly malnourished body that was clinging to life. How could she not be perfect? She had it all. Wealth, beauty, a loving family and equally loving friends, how could that not be perfect. "Trunks honey, I know what you're thinking and things are not always what they seem. Your mother seemed to be happy but I know as well as you that she would never do what she did but we'll never know until she wakes up...if she wakes up"

Trunks nodded accepting the explanation, but didn't move from the bed. "Um maybe we should go and let her rest some more. Don't worry she'll be okay just don't give up" He took one last glance of his mothers body and followed his grandparents out of the room.

When had the times when barbecues, lunches and parties, made up most of their days, gone? When, after fighting a powerful foe, ones chest would swell with pride knowing that the world was safe for the moment, because of them? What happened to the times when you never had to escape reality because it felt so good to be alive?

Those times were gone and they were never coming back. Now times of sorrow, punishment, and anguish were recipe of the day. Nobody knew when it happened, it just did. No one knew whose fault it was. It was almost as if the foe were invisible, yet at the same time, if one looked close enough, it could be seen. All the same to Goku as he sat in his kitchen, alone waiting for his wife to return.

Bulma was found hanging on to a thread of life, on the floor with saliva pouring from her mouth like a waterfall, by her father. What went so horrible wrong for his best friend to want to end her life? The fact that she had overdosed on painkillers was the least of the problem, she was beaten again and had several bruises on her skin along with some broken ribs. Whoever was doing this must have been close to her and may still be. And every time he thought about one answer came to mind: Vegeta.

But Why?

Come to think of it, why not?

He had all the makings of carrying out an assault. But on his own wife. He hadn't been around in a long time. When had things between them gotten sour? Vegeta may not have been the most loving person in the world, but when it came to her he would never harm he. Or wouldn't he. If this was so then what would be bad enough to come between them that would make him hurt her?

Goku was never one to get into anyone's private business, but all he knew about Vegeta is that he went out and got drunk on a daily basis. He, on the other hand had a few mental problems to fix, but he had known the man for years and her would never think Vegeta capable to do some thing like this again.

And he wasn't anyone to be getting in anyone's business, but Bulma was his best friend and by all means he was going to help her.

Vegeta wasn't by any means a friendly guy. He had killed over a dozen times and destroyed even more planets. He was not normal by any standards he was... special. (Not that kind of special smart ass!) So why was he in another human bar about to pick a fight with an "average" guy?

Because he wanted to.

"I think you'd better walk dude, this guy is trouble" Vegeta ignored the pleas of the older man behind him, and took another step forward. "I hear your some sort of mogul over here. And I just want you to do one thing for me." "What's that?" the man snarled. Vegeta smirked. "Prove it." The man stalked over to him and tried to grab him by the neck but Vegeta agilely dodged his large hands and delivered a punishing knee to his groin followed by an uppercut that sent him flying. The entire bar was agape and in awe.

"Dude, how'd you do that?"

"I want some of what you're having"

"What kind of steroids do you take?"

Vegeta ignored them all and continued on his unmerry way. The place was abuzz and people went back to their boring, drunken lives as usual. This bar was new to him. He had been to few as exciting as this one. He had been itching for a fight all day. He would have just searched for Kakkarot, but that wasn't the best idea he came up with all night. And he wasn't exactly rich with options at the moment. "Anyone else?" Everybody shook their head and backed away from him. He gulped his last drink for the night and got up.

"Hey man, these drinks aren't free" Vegeta looked back at the bartender who was holding his hand out for the money. He was going to give this guy a chance to live. "I don't have it" "Pay up wise ass don't fuck with me, you think your hot shit 'cuz you beat up Blocker, but I'll whup your ass!" Oh, another fight. "Bring it you old piss rag" The man charged at him but Vegeta didn't give him the chance to connect. He held out his hand and blasted the place to cosmic dust.

Pain.

That's the first thing Bulma felt as she once again joined the land of the living. Groaning, she opened here eyes and tried to focus through the dark blue fog. It was dark. 'I need to get out of here and get some rest' she twisted in her seat until the wire slipped off and knock on the heavy glass. Instantly her father came rushing in a pressed a button on the panel. Within seconds the regeneration water had poured into the tank and she was free.

One step later and she was stumbling into the arms of her father. He carried her over to a gurney and laid her down. "Honey are you feeling ok?" Bulma opened her mouth to answer but suddenly felt as if a gallon of sand were poured down her throat. Coughing, she tried again. "Dad where's Trunks?"

He snorted mockingly.

"Funny how that's the first thing you worry about when you finally come to. I know you weren't worrying about him when you decided to try to kill yourself" All that time she wasn't thinking about what she would have left behind. She didn't look at him because she knew he was right. The thought that she forgot about her son was enough to bear.

"But why Bulma, why would you do this to yourself, to us, to Trunks?" She looked away once more and rolled over on her side.

"I don't know"

"Yes you do. If you don't want to tell me then fine, but I think you owe it to your son" And with that he left the room.

Tears began to cloud up in her eyes and she fought off the urge to throw up. The dry feeling in her mouth was getting annoying so she leaned over and rolled out of the bed. She couldn't stand so she opted to crawl. She didn't even get three feet before a blur of blue intercepted her, lifted her up and in no time she was back on the bed.

"Wha--?"

Her 8-year old son looked down at her with a delighted smile on his face. "Mom, you're alright. Did you need something? I'll get it for you." "Yes Trunks, just some water thank you" He ran out of the room and came back seconds later with a large glass of water. She gulped it all down thirstily. When she looked up, she was met with big blue confused eyes. "Mom?" She put the glass down. "Yes sweetie?"

"Why did you try to kill your self?"

She was prepared for exactly this kind of question. She just wasn't prepared to give the answer.

"Uhh, well, it... it's complicated and your too young to understand" "When will I be old enough to understand mom? When will you tell me why?" He begged her to tell him, even thought he really didn't want to know. After all he was just a child and every thing made him curious. Death, most of all. "When you get older and your more sympathetic, I'll tell you" "But mom, I'm sympathetic now!" She shook her head sadly. "No you think you are because you want to know but if you knew you wouldn't be" Trunks weighed his options and decided not to press the issue until a more opportune moment.

"Mom, can I ask you another question?" "Go ahead, shoot" "Why is dad never around?" Bulma's breathe hitched in her throat. She wasn't prepared for this type of question. She didn't think he cared.

"We'll, he's... around. He... Listen ", She sat up and grabbed Trunks. "He doesn't give a shit about you or I so don't go looking for him He's not the kind of father you want. We don't need him. He doesn't need us. I wanted to tell you this when you were older but... I hope you understand now" He understood. It wasn't like his dad was the nicest thing in the world; far from it. But he was only 8-years old, what was he going to do with out a father?

"This is unrelated, but if you say so. Is he the reason you tried to kill yourself?" The question was sudden, but that was how he intended it to be.

"Trunks me trying to kill myself wasn't a mistake, of an accident I missed my chance I forgot what I had to live for. God isn't forgiving enough to let me live happily with my mistakes my sin. Every though I have these days is a sin. My trying to kill myself was sin. Now I have to live with it. I love you but you have someone to take care of you. You'll want for nothing. Me... Nobody is going to take care of me. And to answer your question, no not really, it's more my fault then his. I missed him, but now I can live or die without him"

"You do love him in a way, right?" "No" She answers simply.

It wasn't hard anymore to say it. In fact she hated him, but inside she hated herself more. Hated herself, for wanting something she couldn't have. . And for letting her husband find out. "We have distance, I need closure. I couldn't get it so I choose to die instead of living without it. Because that meant suffering from not getting what I wanted and getting some thing I didn't want" "What do you want, mom?" "I can't say. It doesn't matter now, I'll never get it. It's so close yet so far" "Mom I'll can get it tell me!" She smiled wryly at him. "No, its ok I don't need it" To say the least Trunks was confused at his mother's words. Why couldn't she have what she wanted? She had everything (almost). Maybe it was priceless! "Is it priceless?" He asked hoping for a straight answer. "Yes" She replied. "Yes it is"

Sorry this chapter is shorter than all the others but I really have a lot of things to do so I shortened it. Please review. Constructive criticism will be accepted, flames will be laughed with a friend.