Disclaimer: I do not own DBZ or did I create any of the actual show events that took place in that time period.

Chapter 18: Like Father, like Son

Vegeta was standing in the corner of the new living corners made for Bulma, Vegeta, and Trunks, so they could live more peacefully, away from the distractions of Bulma's mother among other things. He was thinking back on the past few days, and gripped his fist tighter and tighter as he went through his memories.

It all started out well. He was immensely superior to the Androids, and even more powerful than Goku as it seemed, though he had been suffering from his heart virus. He Chased the Androids down and put fear into their metallic bodies. Then he learned that the youth from the future, was actually his son, Trunks, and it made him proud, to see his boy so powerful. He began fighting the new female android, and for a time, it seemed that he had the advantage; then it all went down hill. The Android put a beating on him, breaking his arm badly, and putting him down for good. All his training for nothing, but he was thankful for leaving with his life, though he would of rather died, than live with the shame. Then he trained in the time chamber, and grew to a far more powerful level, more powerful than Cell, the creature that made the androids look weak. Then he made one of the worst mistakes in his life, by letting the creature live, and consume Android 18. Then he got beat badly again, and even though his new attack, the final flash, disintegrated half of Cell, it still wasn't enough, everything for nothing.

The fighters began assembling at their house, Trunks was there, and so were Krillin, Yamcha, Tien, and Chowtzu. It was twilight, and the group had assembled at the large table to eat, all except Vegeta and Trunks. Vegeta was sitting on the railing on the outside balcony, and Trunks had walked out there to go see him, to talk to him. Vegeta was staring off at the horizon, as the sun was setting, and when trunks came out, he only moved his eyes for a split second. Trunks put his palms on the railing, just ahead of Vegeta's, and began looking out to see what Vegeta was staring at. Trunks turned to Vegeta and began looking at him, which prompted him to speak up, "What are you looking at, you always stare at me. What's wrong with you?"

"I never met you in the future. It's just amazing to finally meet my father, I never knew him…I mean, I never knew you."

Vegeta looked down and just laughed a little, "am I that important?"

"Have you ever had to live without knowing your Father, you wouldn't understand."

Vegeta's smile fell to a frown and then put his head down. After a long pause, he spoke up, "yes I do."

"You what?" he said, not thinking of his previous rhetorical question.

"I know what it's like growing up without a father. But mine was worse."

"What do you mean yours was worse?"

"Well, I knew my father, he was my mentor, and taught me everything from the age of 2 and a half. Then my father was murdered, and there was nothing I could do about it, and to make things worse, I was a slave to my father's killer, for 20 years. I had to kiss his ass every day, because I knew that he could kill me at will. To me, it was only a matter of time until I could get enough power to kill him, to kill Frieza. But then, I was beaten to the punch, and someone else killed him, or at least I thought. Finally, you did the job, but I always said that if I got a hold of the Dragon Balls, I would wish for immortality, but not any more; now I would wish Frieza back to life, so I could kill him, and not just kill him, I would taunt him." Vegeta was clenching his fist hard, and gritting his teeth, reminiscing back on his life. "If you wonder what I was thinking about when I was looking out there, it was how much you and I are really alike," Vegeta for the first time, turned to him and began talking to him. "You are fighting for revenge, as I have been, fighting to destroy those who killed your father, your friends, family. But the most painful thing, even more painful then the lost battles, the beatings you endure, is that there is nothing you can do about it. Am I close?"

Trunks didn't speak, he now was squeezing his fists shut, which was bending the metal of the railing. Trunks answered Vegeta with just a nod, and then began speaking up, "I had no idea you have had to go through the same, maybe that's why my mother always told me that I have handled the whole deal well, cause I get my strength from you."

"Don't get me wrong, but you get a lot of your strength from your mother. Maybe not a physical sense of strength, but a lot of your mental strength. As for me, I don't handle mental problems well. I hold too much in and eventually I blow up, or let it fester until I bow to it's will. That's when I make my mistakes, like with Cell." Trunks didn't answer, he was about to speak up, but Vegeta beat him to it, "Don't tell me that it wasn't a mistake. It was, and now, we all may pay dearly for it."

"Can I give you some advice?" Vegeta looked at him and then nodded, "Don't be so hard on your self, you can only do so much."

Vegeta laughed at this, "maybe, maybe." Vegeta gave one small laugh again, and then spoke again, "Do you want some advice?" Trunks answered almost immediately.

"Yes, please," he said frantically.

"The best I can give you now is to not end up like me."

"What do you mean?"

"Don't grow up with hate, with rage building up in side. If I have learned one thing, it's that the one thing that does hold you back, the thing that keeps you from becoming super powerful, is that rage inside. I have wondered for years, why Kakarotte has bested me in power, why he is stronger than me. I finally figured that he has no rage inside holding him back, he finds other things to keep him motivated, I can't find that motivation, but you can. Whenever you return to the future, keep that in mind when you face the Androids, keep a clear head, and don't fight for revenge, fight for survival, fight for your mother, your people, whatever, just anything but revenge."

"Thanks, I'll keep that in mind, father," When Trunks said Father, Vegeta froze. He was this boy's father, and for the first time, he had really understood what that meant.

Bulma opened the glass door to the outside, and walked out with Baby Trunks sleeping in her arms. "Hey, what are you guys talking about?"

The Teenaged Trunks was about to speak up when Vegeta cut him off, "Dinner, we were wondering when dinner was."

Bulma knew that this was a lie, but she didn't care, and ushered them in to eat. The two sat next to each other, which were the only two seats left open on the table. When dinner came in, the two ate almost half the food, their, neither had eaten a good meal in a long time if you count the year in the Time chamber. Krillin was just starring at them and was amazed about how much they both ate, noticing that being something in common. Finally Krillin couldn't help himself and engaged Bulma in a conversation that caused Vegeta to turn three shades of red, "So Bulma, how did you and Vegeta get together?" Vegeta dropped his fork and knife, and almost choked on the piece of steak his was eating.

"Well, believe it or not, he came on to me," Trunks turned red in the face and Vegeta quickly protested.

"First of all, that is a lie, she was coming onto me, and second, what says that we're 'together,'" He said angrily at the short bald man.

"Well, maybe that you two have a baby?" Vegeta froze up, and couldn't find anything to say.

Bulma then spoke up, "Vegeta, don't kid yourself, you fell apart for my beauty."

"Beauty, and you say that I am arrogant."

"What, your saying that I am not?"

"Oh give me a break, I don't see why you humans think you have 'beauty.'"

Yamcha spoke up between the two, "I think your pretty Bulma."

Bulma and Vegeta raised their voices and swung their heads at Yamcha and simultaneously yelled, "SHUT UP!"

Krillin stood up, which didn't make him too much taller but spoke up at the furious Bulma and Vegeta, "Forget I asked, it's not important, we have bigger things to worry about." The two calmed down and relaxed their voices.

Out of nowhere Tien spoke up, "I think Bulma came onto Vegeta."

Krillin added to him, "I agree." The others at the table, except Trunks, nodded with agreement.

Bulma looked offended, "What? Why?" she said confused.

Krillin spoke up, while Vegeta sat back in his seat with a smile on his face, "Well Bulma, it's not that we don't believe that you believe Vegeta came on to you, but I mean c'mon, it's Vegeta, I don't think it's in his nature to come onto a woman."

Trunks began to speak up to add to the discussion, but Vegeta interrupted him quickly, "Shut up, you grew up with her, your impartial, you don't count." Trunks didn't move an inch, even his mouth stayed open.

Trunks continued anyways, "my mother said that you both of you came on to each other at the same time, but said that neither of you would admit it."

Again, both of them yelled at the same time, "Your wrong!"

Trunks just sat their at last. With Trunks addition to the argument, Krillin spoke up, "I don't know anymore, I mean, they are both so stubborn, it could have been any of them." The entire table nodded their head again, and Vegeta was pissed off.

"Oh give me a break, she watches those television programs with the kissing and stuff, I train to kill people!" Vegeta yelled at the table.

"Why so defensive Vegeta?" Bulma said with a smile. Trunks then spoke up again.

"Well, My mother said that though both came onto each other, but one initiated it, but they didn't know about the Androids, so I don't know if it would be the same."

Krillin spoke up quickly, "Who was it?"

"I can't tell you that, because one of them will either kick me out of the house, or kick my ass, so I'll just keep it to that."

After an other tour in the time chamber, Vegeta and Trunks, with Goku, Gohan, and the rest of the crew faced off against Cell. When Cell surprised Trunks and killed him, Vegeta snapped. But it didn't matter, and he used the last of his energy hurt Cell enough for Gohan to overpower him. When Trunks was wished back, he couldn't look him in the eyes, ashamed that he couldn't defend him, and it tore at him, worse than possibly anything before, because now, Goku was gone, Gohan was more powerful, and his son got killed because of his weakness. He could feel it boiling over to the top, but used all of the sanity he had left and kept it down, taking Trunks' advice to heart. But it was only a matter of time, until he broke down, and the rage took over.