If you are still out there following this story, thank you. This is for you. It has been a very long time coming, I know.
Recap From Previous Chapter:
An incredibly serious look crossed his handsome face, taking a moment to compose himself as he looked directly into those gorgeous blue eyes of hers. He gave her his own ultimatum. "I will not go through this again." he stated, firm in his own resolve. The puzzled look on Bulma's face remained as she stood in silence, not quite sure on what he meant. "Woman, if you're mine, you're mine. No doubts. No regrets. No second-guessing. If you want to be with me, then you are with me." he emphasized with finality. "You will be with me and no one else. Ever. Same goes for myself…I will be yours, and only yours. I will be with you, and with no one else. Ever." And as customary on his planet, Vegeta held out his gloved hand, offering the blue gem to her.
Bulma stood shell-shocked for a moment as she listened to Vegeta's words. It took her a moment to register exactly what he was saying as she glanced down at the gem in his hand before looking back up at him. She didn't know how but she managed to find her voice again. "Are you…asking me to marry you?"
"I am asking you to be my mate, and I am offering to become yours."
Chapter 22- The Pieces Fit, It's All or Nothing...
The air.
It escapes her lungs faster than she's realized.
Bulma inhales her stolen breath in a gasp, the one crucial word Vegeta said shakes her to the core: Mate.
Disbelieving, she regards the blue gem in Vegeta's hand. He—he wasn't serious, was he? In looking back up at him she finds her answer to that question and, well...there's no mistaking that expression of his.
Mate?
Vegeta patiently stands, awaiting her answer. He has to. He's forced his hand, placing their lengthy past, their uncertain present and their possible future—having thrown down the hammer and laying it all on the line to be decided over, once and for all. This was not a romantic marriage proposal. Hell, this wasn't even a simple marriage proposal, but with him nothing could ever be easy. On the woman's planet there was a common saying: 'It's all or nothing.'
And this was all. Or absolutely nothing.
Mate.
Only now is when she comprehends what he's asking. There would be no undoing this. She could not have doubts. She could not have regrets. She could not suffer from any 'second-guessing' - as the prince had so boldly put it. To be with Vegeta—to be his mate—this would be permanent. This would be everlasting. Eternal. Expanding beyond this life, beyond death, into the next infinity of lives and forevermore.
A once distressing notion for Bulma Briefs, whose previous history often questioned such devotion and commitment. Daunting the chains of suffocation had been at the prospect of losing her freedom, her individuality, and her sense of self. For the longest of times the mere concept of being tied to one person for the rest of her natural life had hovered over her; much as a dark, menacing storm threatens to drown the land below in its torrential rain. Yet misgivings over commitment did not cross her trains of thought, not for the slightest moment. Nor did she feel that sickening vortex once familiar before—that ominous void which once threatened to swallow her whole. Instead, she is only able to ask herself: How the hell did this happen?
She can't help the tears from welling up.
And as those tears stream down her lovely eyes once more, she quickly glances away from Vegeta, knowing damn well he'll disapprove of her tears despite the seriousness of the matter. "Are you crying?" he questions uneasily, bearing witness to a reaction he had not anticipated from her.
"How can you ask me something like this?"
"What?…To be my mate?" he phrases as though hers is the question that is absolutely absurd.
She confirms with a nod, wiping teardrops away. "After everything I put you through. After everything we went through! How?"
"What do you mean, how?" the prince questions moodily, tail twitching in great distaste for her question. "What the hell kind of question is that?"
"A legitimate one." she states with hands on hips, having a difficult time getting her mind to wrap around this, "Did I miss something here? Isn't there a burnt bridge between us right now?"
"You mean the bridge that is mere ashes and still smoldering from its destruction?" Vegeta pointedly answered before shrugging with indifference. "I will admit we have been traveling down through more than just a few circles of hell lately."
"That's putting it lightly. So given the absolute shit storm we've been through—that we're still going through...why now?" Bulma awaits his answer, but after seemingly endless moments of silence between them, she gathers he is hesitant to respond. "Vegeta?"
"I don't know how, Bulma. It doesn't fucking matter how or why. What matters is that I have." he sighs heavily, a tell-tale sign of his limited patience. "I don't understand you. Here I am, offering you the goddamn galaxy, asking you to be at my side forever...and all you can do is fucking question me on it?"
She gives him a pointed look. "I know you're not the mushy type, but that did not come out nearly as romantic-sounding as I could have hoped for."
"Tough shit." Vegeta replied, opening his arms into a wide arc. "It's ridiculous that I even have to tell you you're the only one for me, when it's been fucking obvious that you are."
"It hasn't been that obvious." she retorted as he had honestly thrown her for a real loop. In her defense, never did she have an inkling that he would offer such a profound and heartfelt resolution. After all, she did not believe her confrontation against him was going to end well tonight, particularly after that ballsy ultimatum she had given him only moments ago. "You haven't met every woman in the universe to possibly know something like that. Out of the mega-quadrillions of women, I'm somehow the one? That's a statistical improbability."
"What makes you think I give a shit about statistics?" Vegeta interjects, slinging an arm up in frustration. "I don't care about other females out there, quintillions of them or not, Bulma. None of them fucking matter. The only female I am concerned with, at all, happens to be you."
"Well…I don't know why." she replies, taken back by his admission. Already having convinced herself she was undeserving of his heart, the heartache she had wrought upon him was—in her eyes—unforgivable. She had hurt him deeply, in the way no one else ever could have. "How can you manage to look past everything that happened? I know I'll probably never forgive myself for it, so how can I expect you to ever be able to? There's no way to." she asserts, "You and I both know this. You don't know what you're doing-" his sharp, agitated growl stops her cold mid-sentence. The formidable look upon Vegeta's face would have been reason enough, as his warning rings crystal clear to her: DON'T.
"Don't you start your shit right now, Bulma." he deliberately warns, the pained look upon his face proving his struggle to keep an even temperament as he tries to communicate the gravity of their situation to her. "You know taking a mate is an extremely serious matter, even more so because of who I am. You know this," he emphasizes again, "so you better believe I would not be making this offer to you if any part of this did not sit well with me." his voice lowers. "And don't you dare doubt me."
Her bottom lip trembles as she looks away from his intense scowl. She has quite an amazing knack for pissing him off, doesn't she? Her somber gaze pierces through the single wall of his incomplete gravity room, trying to understand how a man notoriously known for his ferocious temper and cold-heartedness still considered her deserving of his love and deemed her worthy to be his mate. "All bickering aside, I am being serious here. Even after all the hurt I put you through..." she almost chokes as she breathes, "...and all the anger?! Vegeta," she genuinely implores, turning to look at him through watery eyes, "I don't understand."
His exasperation is unmistakable as the prince outstretches his gloved hand, running it down his face in exhaustion. "Bulma, enough of this." he commands, "Pause your damn emotional pity-party long enough to listen to what I have to say. We cannot keep going back and forth over what happened between us. I will not do it! It will only take us down another forsaken road that I refuse to go through with you ever again." Bulma's striking blue eyes—they glisten with tears threatening to fall—and how she manages to not burst into tears, Vegeta will never know. A sense of compassion tugs hard at him.
He has to remember that she is human. That he loves a being who is every bit as much, and yet nothing like himself.
He takes a calming breath, compelled to soften his attitude toward her. "That being said, I will not waste all night debating with you over whether or not I know what the hell I am doing. I am Saiyan. And because I am Saiyan, I always know what I want. Now," he continues, steadfast in his vows, "I have made my decision and you won't be changing my mind," giving her a knowing look, "no matter how much you're trying to get out of this."
She rolls her eyes at his little snark. "I'm not trying to get out of anything, Vegeta."
"Mm hmm, sure." he says, skepticism thick in his voice as he continues to hold the blue gem out to her, his proposal still very much standing.
Bulma casts her glance at the familiar gem once more, absorbing the concept of his unconditional love. She thoroughly believed she had lost him, in every sense of the word. Even now, she studies the man that stands before her—a man not of her world—who at some unknown point in his life had decided that she, out of the uncountable quintillions of females in the universe, was the only one for him. She goes to say something but pauses in hesitation, Vegeta's anticipatory look causing her to shift her eyes away as she resigns in regret. "I'm not worthy."
"Not worthy?! What are you…!" the prince exclaims, not understanding her nonsense. His dark eyes lock onto hers, narrowing with suspicion. This is not going at all as he had imagined. He believed by now he would be an engaged man on his way to continue his training. "Where the hell is this shit coming from?!"
"-What?"
"You know damn well what I mean! Why the hell are you acting this way?!" he challenges her, clearly upset with what was currently transpiring between them.
"Acting like what way?" Bulma tensed under his microscope.
"THIS way! You're being ridiculous! Where the hell is the firecracker I grew up with?! Where's that fighting spirit of yours that had me hooked from the very beginning?! What happened to the woman who is my other half?!" his fierce look called for her to emerge. "Surely the woman who is my equal is in there somewhere!" Bulma tries to stammer a reply, caught off-guard at his brazen proclamations of adoration over her as the prince takes two steps closer. "Why the hell are you letting your human emotions cloud your mind?!"
She shakes her head, digging her heels into this conflict. "They are not clouding my mind!" she adamantly denies, turning herself away from him, unable to keep her emotions in check despite claiming otherwise. Staring at a distant object, she takes a much needed moment to gather herself before breaking the pause between them. "You're the one here not seeing things clearly. We both know you deserve better than me."
The prince scoffed. Did she really believe she was not the one for him? He could scour the galaxies for eons and still would not find another that could hold up a candle to everything she was! "Better? Who is better than you, woman? If not you, then tell me who?"
Underlying doubt flickers within her blue eyes. "I don't know, Vegeta! But not me…" she turns to him, emotions surging and rising to meet her voice. "I've already blown my chance with you, I don't deserve another one. What makes you think I do? You shouldn't be choosing me—it's not a good decision, you know that! Not when I've already broken your heart before!"
Rendered speechless, they stand together in silence as Vegeta dwells upon her sentiments. He had been aware that their discord had taken as much of a toll on Bulma as it had on him...and perhaps even more so. At a loss on what else to do, he sighs heavily, trying to rub exhaustion from his eyes before running his hand through his jet black hair. He pauses as an idea strikes him. "My heart still beats, woman." he snickers with dark amusement, "You did not break it completely, so don't flatter yourself."
It was a lie, of course—but she did not need to know that he had been destroyed by her. The heart-wrenching affliction had almost killed him, or so it had felt.
A stunned look crosses Bulma's face before it darkens. Her auto-attack—primed and ready after decades of verbal sparring with him—rests at the very tip of her tongue, but hesitating and thinking better of it, she clenches her jaw in an enormous effort to not lash out a bitchy reply back at him. He catches the heated reaction flickering within her. The prince makes no attempt to end his provocation as he displays his infuriating smugness, awaiting her comeback. Seeing right through Vegeta's arrogant facade, her restraint lasts but only a few more moments before she does what only feels natural when it comes to him. "Fucking asshole." she mutters with conviction.
And there's the Bulma he knew! An amused smirk of victory graces his lips. "What was that? I couldn't quite hear you over the sound of how right I am."
"You damn well heard what I said," she snaps, her accusatory glare pierces through him, "and this isn't the time for your fucking pride, Vegeta! I'm trying to be serious with you here and I don't appreciate your bullshit!"
"Tch. That's what you get for giving me your bullshit." the prince fires back. "It's just as aggravating having to listen to your 'woe is me' attitude. Do you think I enjoy hearing your pathetic pity-party about how everything is your fault?" He places his fist on his hip. "Although…" he begins as an afterthought, "…it really is all your fault."
Bulma's mouth opens slightly in disbelief, glaring at him boldly as she unfolds her arms. "Not everything was my fucking fault, Vegeta."
He shrugs dismissively. "Fair enough, woman. I cannot say this was entirely all your fault. I suppose I am a guilty party as well."
At hearing this, Bulma's agitation gives way to some suspicion. "Hmph! It's nice to see you actually take some responsibility for what happened between us too, you know."
"That might be, but don't start getting me wrong, because most of this was your fault." At hearing this, Bulma's glare towards him changes, icy with warning. "Don't you start giving me that look, Bulma! You know damn well it fucking was. I am still pissed off about the shit you've put me through, and believe me I will be for many years to come. And don't be surprised when I bring it up either, because I will. At any time and for any reason."
Vegeta was never one to sugarcoat the truth, not even with her. As harsh as his declaration is, Bulma fluffs her proverbial feathers for a moment. "Seriously? You're going to hold this against me for the rest of our lives? What ever happened to the old saying of love never keeping a record of wrongs?!"
"What about it? That is a human adage. And in case you somehow have not noticed…" he unwinds his tail to show it to her, "…I am Saiyan, therefore your bullshit human philosophical ideals do not pertain to me."
She huffs indignantly, holding out her arms. "That's rich! So you're saying I deserve having all this thrown back in my face from time to time," as she gestures to herself, "and I don't have a fucking right to complain about it?!"
His smile is insolent. "That's exactly what I'm saying. Can you blame me? You can't expect to drag my heart through razorblade wire the way you did and believe we would be all sunshine and rainbows afterward."
"Right, because before all this fucking happened, you are I were nothing but!"
"Exactly. All things considered, we were." Vegeta answers back without missing a beat. "But what's done is done and cannot be changed. We can move on from this..." he assures, placing aside his provocation toward her as he turns a very serious corner, "...so I will forgive you, but I will not forget."
She hesitates to say anything. After all, he's right and her pride stings tremendously because of it. It is a difficult thing to admit to being wrong and apologizing, especially to him of all people, but she will have to if they will ever heal and move on. The damage she wrought upon them had been done, and as of yet she has not invented a machine to reverse time and take them back to they way they were. It was a terrible feeling to know there would always be a part of Vegeta that held resentment against her for the heartache they went through, but she only had herself to blame. She would just have to work extremely hard in the years to come to get him to truly forgive her. "Fine." is all she can muster, sighing with indignation and agreeing to his terms without putting up much more of a fight.
He frowns. "Really…that's it?"
Bulma's weary voice speaks volumes. "Well, what the hell else do you want me to say?"
"Something else other than you fucking throwing in the towel! Honestly woman, I expected more of a fight from you."
"You can go straight to hell if you think I'm going to grovel at your feet and beg for forgiveness, your Highness."
"I'm not going to lie—that would be a good start."
Bulma crudely flips him off and crosses her arms in defiance and he can't help but flash her a wicked smile. "I don't hear any groveling." Her eyes flicker with fiery warning and he grins. "Come now, lighten up! I thought you of all people could handle a little salt in your wounds."
"Ugh. You fucking goddamn asshole." she resents, now realizing he was giving her a hard time on purpose. If looks could kill, Vegeta would have been dead three times over already.
He smirks, entertained that she was talking shit back to him as they were in the midst of negotiating a life together. It reassured him to know that she was untamable and would continue to clash against him, no matter the subject. And he, for one, gladly welcomed a never-ending challenge. Who else knows him better than he knows himself? Who else knows his incredible strengths and weaknesses? Who else knows his deepest fears and his greatest hopes? Who else but her can bring him to the very heights of his temper and still stand strong against him? Who else but her can calm and soothe the raging inferno within? Who else can match his intelligence and wit?
Who else was ever meant for him?
Satisfied that he finally knocked some sense back into her, he uncurls his tail and gently pulls on one of her arms. "Stop." Bulma warns, placing resistance against him as he attempts to uncross her arms and coax her closer to him.
"So much pouting. Just come here." Vegeta encourages again before feeling the abrupt flex of her arm muscles. She makes a strong fist at him as she resists, causing him to perk an inquisitive eyebrow at her. "Are you trying to fight me?"
"Shut up, Vegeta. You're fucking lucky I'm not Saiyan."
He has to agree with her, although he would never admit that to her out loud. He could only imagine how incredibly strong and powerful Bulma would be if she were Saiyan. Her temper, her ferocity, her stubbornness, her work ethic—mix it with the ability to generate and manipulate ki energy, and she would undoubtedly give him a run for his money. "Maybe." is all he will admit to her before giving her arm a short, strong tug, causing her to lose her balance and bump right up against him.
"Ugh! You jerk! Stop it!" she declares as she tries to shove him away but he wasn't going to budge. "I don't know what you think you're doing but I am not going to let you manhandle me, or let you give me shit for the rest of our lives over thi-"
Warm lips on hers. Her rant abruptly cut off by a kiss so eerily reminiscent of their first. Fleeting as this moment was, Vegeta breaks their kiss, his expression somewhat tender. "As I said, I will forgive you but I will not forget. However, I do want you to understand it does not mean that I care for you any less." he assures, his adoration evident with each word he speaks to her. "Despite what you may think or believe, I am not fond of the idea of living my life apart from you. Twice before I have lived without you—I have no desire for it to happen again."
Vegeta's words zip through her mind, and joy wonderfully begins to tangle her heart up in a startlingly real way. He observes her, aware that his sentiments may have indeed finally broken through to her. His black eyes find themselves entrapped within her beautiful blues. "Why the surprised look on your face?"
Bulma comes out of whatever reverie she was in and shakes her head, giving him a thoughtful look. "It just—wasn't what I expected to hear from you. Not when all was said and done." she then smiles fondly at him, "But then again, you are a heartless bastard and have no soul. That's the word across the galaxy…or so it's been said."
"All evidence to the contrary, right?" he affectionately murmurs. There is an incredibly endearing way he tilts his head and smiles back at her, and she swears it made her heart skip.
"Right." Bulma agrees. Such a rough, intimidating, temperamental, ruthless side to Vegeta—and his reputation preceded him, of this there was no doubt—but a few such as herself knew the multi-faceted enigma that was the Saiyan prince. With a loving look she places her hands on his shoulders. "I sure hope you know what you're doing."
"Of course I do," he flashes her a mischievous smile, "and I do not see what is so difficult to understand, woman. After all the years of constantly having your annoying presence and incessant screeching around me, I would not know how to live without it."
The eye-roll she gives him is classic. "Way to ruin the sweet moment, Vegeta. You're such a jerk sometimes, you know that?"
He smirks as he places his left hand on her waist. "I do believe that is your favorite name for me, isn't it?"
"Yep, amongst many." she confirms, not amused. "Right now, more like 'fucking jackass' comes to mind."
His smile is flirtatious, a glint of desire burning in his eyes. How he loves this woman! This fiery, brilliant, beautiful being from another world who ignited the very spark of life within him! She never needed to know the true power she held over him; how she held him in the very palm of her hand, dangling tears over him that would not make him hesitate to destroy her enemies if she asked, or how deeply he bathed in the fire of her spirit that he would raze the cosmos to ashes if she so wished for it.
No. She did not need to know what great lengths he would go to for her.
No one should ever know something so sacred for them exists.
"Besides, who else is there but you?" Vegeta nonchalantly remarks, bringing Bulma closer against him. "I highly doubt anyone else in this universe can put up with the likes of me. I can be rather difficult to deal with."
"I can honestly say the same about myself." she replies, this time not shying away from his touch. "I am not without faults either, obviously." she acknowledges, placing her palms over his chest, toying with his armor for a moment as she runs her hands over it. "I know everything was my fault," she states remorsefully, searching his face as she mulls over her guilt. "I am so sorry for what happened between us."
Vegeta sighs exhaustively, wrapping his arm around her. "I thought we were finally done with our heart-to-heart?" He looks down at Bulma and sees the look on her face. Apparently not. "I will admit it was easy for me to fault you—but in all fairness I did play a major part in all this as well. I could have told you of my interest, instead of simply assuming that you would pick up on it."
Bulma couldn't help her curious look. "Surprising, considering how outspoken you usually are."
"Yes, well you were too busy being distracted by scar-face most of the time to notice." The grit in Vegeta's voice causes an uneasy pause between them making Bulma downcast her eyes away in shame. He leans forward, pressing his forehead against hers, closing his eyes and sighs as he resigns to deal with their unfinished business. "I was not around when I should have been." he speaks, his voice softer this time around. "I was busy learning to rule my people. Busy helping to build my empire. Busy with training. Many times too busy for you." He pauses for a moment, reflecting. "I should not have given you a reason to look elsewhere to begin with."
Vegeta's words resonated deeply. "Too bad that hindsight is 20/20. He was never you." Bulma admits about Yamcha in an unexpected afterthought. She hesitates on elaborating further but the expectant look on Vegeta's face compels her to continue and explain. "I missed you too much during the two years you were gone with your father." she runs her hands behind his neck, gently grazing her fingertips along his hairline, "I missed you so much to the point that it was driving me crazy. It really was. I felt I was going insane over missing you. I couldn't stand it. There was a horrible gap that I couldn't fill." Her eyes held a questioning look, asking if he also had felt anything similar about her during that time.
The serious look remains on Vegeta as he recalls those two years he had been separated from her. It might as well have been 20 years for all he had known at the time. It had been a shock to his system to no longer see Bulma's beautiful shade of blue everyday. He had struggled with the fact that he could not speak with her anymore, either to playfully banter with or to argue against. He had been resentful that he no longer could hear her dulcet voice, her joyful laughter or her growls of frustration. Her familiar presence had been taken away from him and he had strongly felt her absence each day he had been cut off completely from her. Thoughts of her were ever-present in his mind, and his incompleteness was so fierce that he could hardly withstand it. He was unable to rationalize his sentiments at the time—but all he had known was that he hated being without her. "I understand what you mean."
Bulma studies his face closely, catching his implication that he experienced similar separation anxiety from her. Her heart drops at this realization and she moves her hands down to squeeze the sides of his arms. "I assumed it wasn't possible that you were missing me as much as I was missing you...how could I believe otherwise?" she trails off, pursing her lips together in disappointment with herself.
"And then he came along…." Vegeta remains stone-faced as he inhales deeply and releases a heavy breath, picking up from where she left off, unwilling to speak Yamcha's name save for the distaste it will leave in his mouth.
"There was such a deep void without you. I needed to fill it. I know that doesn't excuse anything, I know it..." Bulma's eyes begin to water again, coming to terms with how much of a betrayal she had unknowingly committed against Vegeta. "I don't know what I was thinking—well, now I know that I wasn't thinking. I just wanted him to be you." her voice began to waver, "I tried to make him be like you. I knew I was never going to be happy with him but I had convinced myself it was worth a try. He tried hard at first to make things work, too, he really did. Majority of the time I was the one who didn't try. I was unfair to him. It was pretty fucked up of me, I see that now."
Finally hearing the reasoning behind her and the scar-faced weakling after all these years brought the prince some much needed closure. She had attempted a replacement for him. Granted, he did not believe Yamcha was anywhere near his caliber, not by a long shot, but there had obviously been something within that human to have piqued Bulma's interest enough to make her try. That agitated him greatly. He would have to find out what that quality was. "The fucking moment I met him, I knew we would never get along. Hell, he and I both knew right from the start that we would never get along. I knew he was threatened by me."
"He already knew a lot about you before you came back. I talked about you a lot. Over and over again, it was always about you. I think that's when things started to click for him—that there was already someone else. Then you came back, and you two didn't get along at all, and…" Bulma trails off, not needing to vocalize the rest because they both already knew what happened between the three of them from there on out. She sighs. "The point is, he knew he never could be you, no matter how hard he tried."
The prince intertwines his tail with her hand and she caresses his fur between her fingers. "That's why I got the best of that ridiculous fool whenever I could." She pulls back slightly from him, giving him a knowing glance.
"Ah, so he was right all along, you were trying to get in between us."
"There was no trying, I always did. I took any opportunity I could to show that pathetic weakling up. He was always putting up a brave front until I stepped in and put him in his place. Always mouthing off to me, disrespecting me, and acting as though I was the inferior one. Fuck him for thinking he is better than me! He took whatever chance he had to put me down in front of you and I always returned the favor tenfold. And that earned him broken bones and close brushes with death—because I don't know if you happen to know this or not, but I have a temper and zero tolerance for bullshit."
"You? A temper? You don't say?" Bulma feigns surprise, a small smile emerging from her, despite the serious tone of their conversation. She toys with the shoulder straps of his chest plate, knowing he was starting to get himself worked up over his strife with Yamcha the more he spoke about it. "I didn't realize how jealous you were."
"Of course I was! How could I not be? You were mine. He was constantly trying to take you away from me. I wouldn't let that happen."
"Hn, the irony." she murmurs, thinking over the numerous times of Yamcha accusing that Vegeta of always trying to take her away from him, and apparently had been right. So, their long-standing feud did stem from underlying resentment over having her. Her mother had hit the nail right on the head, as per usual. Bulma moves her hands to his face, holding him tenderly. "That being said…were you going to let me marry him?"
Vegeta sneers. "You're a grown woman. You know damn well I don't "let" you do anything because you are free to do as you please. If that's what you wanted to do, I was not going to stand in your way. You made that choice. It was a fucking stupid choice, but I had no right to interfere with it. I sure as fuck didn't like it or agree with it."
"I should say that I'm disappointed that you wouldn't have stopped me," Bulma notes the agitated look on his face, "but I'm not. You're not exactly the type to barge in at the last second and demand that I call off the wedding." she muses, before giving him an endearing look. "But on the flip side, that means you loved me enough to have let me go."
"Don't you dare try to romanticize my view on the matter." Vegeta grumbles with forewarning. "This isn't a damn fairy tale. Or are you forgetting that I nearly killed him to get him out of the way so that you wouldn't marry him and he'd be out of our lives forever?"
Bulma crinkles her nose in distaste for the gruesome memory of Yamcha's bloody, broken body from what seemed like ages ago. "Ah, there's no way I can ever forget that. Hey…" she coaxes, trying to get Vegeta to relax some, "…I came to my senses, that's what matters, right?" She searches his face, but he remains guarded. "I want you to know that marrying him never felt right. I panicked about it a lot. I had bad dreams about it—nightmares, really. I doubted it almost every step of the way."
"Then why the hell did you say yes to him?! Why were you still going to go through with it?!"
"I didn't think you would ever put in an offer." but before Bulma could elaborate, the darkening look crossing over his face told her she was too late.
"You're fucking blaming me for this?!" he notes in restrained anger.
Bulma straightens her shoulders. "Don't take it the wrong way, Vegeta."
"How the hell else am I supposed to take it? You're inherently blaming me for settling for that weakling when you were the one too fucking blind and stupid to see how I felt for you!"
Bulma sighs breathily, seeing he was getting himself worked up again. "Whoa, calm down, I'm not blaming you." An icy-cold glare is the only response back from him. "I'm not. I'm not. C'mon Vegeta, don't take it that way. You know as well as I do that you got back from your travels and things between us continued on like they had before you left. Nothing changed between us. And you're right, I didn't see any signs from you, because yes I was stupid, or blind. Obviously both. So when he asked me to marry him, I figured since you still hadn't made a move—and once again, this goes back to my lack of observation—I accepted it." Silence. And more silence. "Vegeta?" she urges, gently tugging at his arms, feeling his tense muscles underneath her palms. "Please calm down, I didn't mean to make you angry."
It takes strength for him to calm down enough to listen to her and attempt to see her view. After a few moments he growls at her pestering. "Alright, alright, I'm calmed down!" he relaxes his body enough to prove his point. "Once again, I am partly at fault for not making my interest in you more painfully obvious, since apparently your skull is denser than Kakarot's."
"Yes, we've established that. Multiple times." she says flatly, frowning at him. She softens her attitude as she places her hands on the sides of his face again, making him look at her. "The point is, I didn't go through with it. Throughout everything, my loyalty was with you." her words are sincere, but he frowns a bit. "Vegeta, you know that now…right?"
"I suppose I'll have to accept that." he honestly replies. Despite how adamant he had been about her choosing Yamcha over him, he could see now that Kakarot had been correct about many things. Bulma had always put him first, yet he refused to see it that way until recently. He knew someday this was going to have to be water under the bridge; eventually he will have to bury the past, along with the hurt. Empathy and forgiveness were not his strongest traits, but it was something he would to continue to work on.
Bulma doesn't like the sense of lingering uncertainty from him. He needs reassurance and she doesn't hesitate. "All arguments and heartache aside, I, for some damned reason, love you, Vegeta." she leans in to kiss him, catching him off guard, "At the end of the day, you are the one."
Lost in meaningful thought, he accepts her declaration. After all, there will be many more days and nights for them to talk and heal. A lifetime's worth. He regards her adoringly. "So tell me, woman," he begins, purposely drawing out his words, "…are you going to accept this, or are you going to have me keep holding this gem out to you all night? Despite my extraordinary training, my arm will eventually tire."
"Oh!" Bulma exclaims, heat rising to her face, realizing she indeed has been leaving Vegeta still hanging with his proposal. They part from each other just enough for his other arm to come back into view, the gem still in his hand for her. She reaches for it, and as her hand hovers over, she pauses. "You're sure about this?" she perks a teasing eyebrow up at him. She's half sincere and half joking, expecting him to come back at her with some smartass, witty remark about how spending the rest of his life and beyond with her is going to be absolute torture.
"I am sure I cannot be without you." Vegeta instead answers sincerely. He notes her eyes sparkle with happiness. Swirls of emotion, trying her best to not become an emotional mess as she takes the gem from his hand. "Good. I was afraid I was going to have to kill you if you didn't accept."
Bulma considers him for a moment before softly chuckling at his threat. "Hah, that's a good one." and places the gem in her pocket for safekeeping, "Like you would have really killed me if I had said no." She glances up—the dark, smoldering look within Vegeta's eyes makes her heart skip much more than just a beat.
"You doubt that I would?" he murmurs, his voice dangerously inviting. His hands are quickly upon her, bringing her against him. "The last man you said 'no' to marrying turned your world against you and tried to destroy you. You think I would fare much better at your rejection?"
"I would hope so—but no, probably not." Bulma muses arrogantly, placing her arms around his neck, "only because there is no getting over me." She kisses him. "I'm rich, powerful, beautiful, AND I'm a genius to boot. Who could blame you? I am one hell of a woman." She begins to turn away from Vegeta, intending to continue on with the immense work she still has yet to do on his gravity room, but the Saiyan prince wraps his tail around her waist and prevents her from leaving him.
"Ah, then you do understand why I would have had to kill you if you said no."
Bulma takes the veiled compliment in stride and shoots him a flirtatious smile, even as his dark, serious countenance would have put anyone else on edge. She realizes he wasn't going to let her leave to get back to work just yet, and that was just fine with her. "Please, Vegeta. I don't believe you for a second. You're all bark and no bite."
The prince raises an eyebrow, giving her a mischievous smile. "Oh, I'm quite the opposite, actually." he says smugly, intimately close with her as he hovers his lips over hers, teasing her with the promise of a kiss.
"Bite me, then." her challenge evident as she leans her hips against him, pressing her ample chest up against his. Vegeta's arrogance, mixed with his closeness, draws her in like a doomed moth to the alluring flame. Desire burns within her eyes—or perhaps her eyes were simply reflecting the look back in his.
Bulma's challenge drives a primal need throughout his body. It leaves him feeling dizzy as he gathers his willpower and reigns himself in from the overwhelming desire to throw her down onto the gravity room floor, tear away at her clothing and ravish her until the end of eternity. Vegeta manages to control himself, his voice throaty with desire. "You tempt danger, woman. Weren't you taught not to play with fire?"
"Oh, my prince," she scolds, running her hands onto his scalp, gripping his hair in her fists and giving it a harsh tug, earning a growl of pleasure from him, "…you forget that I am fire." Satisfied with his reaction, she pulls his mouth to hers again, the exciting and startling energy between them beginning to drive them wild.
An unquenchable thirst washes over him in a crashing wave as the prince powerfully kisses her back, wanting nothing more at that very moment in the universe than to consume her in her entirety and somehow become one with this woman he had become forever lost to, elated that she was truly his this time. His mate. Finding strength within him, he breaks their heated kissing and whips her around 180-degrees and pushes her off a bit, but not before slapping her ass with his tail.
"What the—? Vegeta?! Hey!"
"The night is still young. You have work to do, woman. This gravity room needs to be finished and I also have training to do tonight."
"You're a goddamn tease." Bulma grumbled in a lust-filled haze as she turned to look at him, trying to gather her bearings.
"I told you not to play with fire." his deep, gruff voice sounding unbelievably sexy as he straightened his white gloves and cracked his neck, beginning to mentally prepare himself for the onslaught he was going to put himself though that night. "My plan was to propose, leave here a betrothed man, then spend the night training. I have accomplished my first two goals, now remains the latter."
"Jackass." Bulma mused as she took a deep breath and let it out, content that they were okay again. More than okay, if being engaged to him wasn't a surefire sign of it. Filled with indescribable joy, she walked over to her workbench and grabbed some tools to continue what work she could do, considering she had dismissed her workforce for the night. "You are such a Saiyan, I swear. Alright, get going. And…" she turned to him, trying to hold as much of a straight face as possible, "...don't forget sweetheart, we have wedding plans now." but calling Vegeta 'sweetheart' made her chuckle.
"Really?" he huffed, rolling his eyes and shaking his head at her antics. "You've called me every bad name in the book before, but this—I'm not sure I can get used to this." he said as he placed two fingers on his forehead, getting ready to use his Instant Transmission. "I'm leaving, before I hear more of this nonsense," he paused long enough to shoot her a smirk, "but I'll see you later, Princess." and with that, he disappears, off to train with Kakarot, Nappa, Raditz and Tarble for the night.
Bulma laughed at his playfulness, before sitting down heavily onto her chair and spinning around in it a few times, absolutely elated and so wonderfully in love with him. She took her blue gem from out of her pocket and kissed it before placing it down on her desk. Thoughtfully, she whipped out some drawing paper and got to work.
Look into my eyes,
you will see
what you mean to me.
Search your heart.
Search your soul.
And when you find me there,
you'll search no more.
To Any Of My Readers That Might Still Be Here:
I never intended to be absent for over 6 years. This story was written during a very dark, deep time in my life when I was suffering from severe depression. Writing had been my only desire in my life at the time and I had ignored almost all else, almost costing me my marriage. As I slowly came out of my depression, my desire, motivation and inspiration to write gave way to my improving mood, my improving quality of life, my young children, my numerous jobs, and just life in general. The happier I became again, the less I desired to write. Half this chapter was written back in 2014 and I could never finish it because the fuel for my writing had disappeared. No longer severely depressed, I could not find anything to help me finish this chapter until lately. Over the years I had constantly re-read my story, trying to find that spark to ignite my desire and inspiration to write, but it never came. I would re-read all your reviews also, hoping to find that drive to continue writing, but my motivation was dead for many, many years.
I have never stopped thinking about my story and you, my readers and followers. I won't ask for your forgiveness because I don't deserve it for leaving you hanging for all these years. My humble hope is that I can continue writing and finish this story up, and maybe write a new one from scratch now that I have time in my life to do so. I am hoping to continue to have this desire to write without sinking back into depression to help me do it. I don't intend on this being the last chapter of my story, but I wanted to leave it with a final resolution in case I don't continue it.
Thank you for taking time out of your day to read this. Please continue to take care of yourself out there; the world is a very scary place right now. Be safe, keep your family and loved ones safe. I hope to be back again soon.
~*~*~* Bella *~*~*~