"Dada?"

Bulla held a cereal puff in her tiny, unwashed hand, waiting for her father to accept her gift. Vegeta cringed at his daughter's offer, but allowed her to drop it into the palm of his hand and, much to her amusement, proceeded to eat it. The toddler was sitting in her highchair having a snack consisting of fruit and cereal while her family gathered at the table next to her. They were currently in the dining room of the senior Briefs' home, which was situated at the other end of the Capsule Corporation compound.

"You know, you don't have to eat what she hands you," Bulma teased from her spot on the table. She was currently lying on her stomach on top of a blueprint, watching the interaction between her daughter and husband with amusement. The glare Vegeta gave her made her snap her attention back to the draft she was resting on. "So what's the verdict, Dad? I think we could use the printer in the main lab to make some of the parts that aren't manufactured anymore. We have to scale everything down anyway."

Dr. Briefs sat hunched over at the end of the table, staring into a magnifying glass and prodding at the scaled-down Micro Band with a pair of tweezers. "Well it seems that the most important components are still all in one piece. You're lucky we don't have to start from scratch- or worse- get you a new arm. It might take a day or two but I should be able to design and print the supplies."

A wave of guilt hit Bulma at the realization that her poor, old father would have to spend his entire day fixing her silly mistake. Dr. Briefs chuckled as he noticed her pitiful expression, "Don't feel bad, dear. I can't say I wouldn't have done the same thing. I'm afraid you get your inquisitiveness from your old man."

"Well she certainly doesn't get it from me!" Panchy huffed as she entered the room carrying a tray of refreshments, "These two just don't know how to keep themselves out of trouble with their silly little science experiments," she placed a mug of coffee next to her husband and a thimble of the same beverage in front of Bulma, "I swear, Vegeta, sometimes I think we are the only two sane people in this household!" The blonde laid a Shirley Temple garnished with cherries and a colorful straw in front of the Saiyan prince.

"Arguably…" he muttered, staring at the vibrant concoction the deranged woman insisted on making him ever since he began living at Capsule Corp.

"And of course my beautiful granddaughter!" Panchy kissed the top of Bulla's head, squishing the girl's blue spout of hair and making her laugh, "I know! Why don't we have a sleepover at Grandma and Grandpa's until your mommy gets better? Your poor daddy is already going to have a handful taking care of her."

"I am not a handful! He's the one who's always so difficult!" Bulma seethed from the tabletop as Panchy pulled the delighted toddler from her highchair. She turned to her miniscule daughter, her permanently closed eyes looking unusually annoyed.

"I thought this was just a phase in your teenage years, but I guess some things just never change! You know, you're lucky Vegeta is so sweet and patient and understanding. It takes someone really special to deal with a spouse who goes around shrinking themselves and wreaking havoc with their crazy science projects. Isn't that right, Honey?"

Dr. Briefs' attention was completely on the Micro Band, "Yes Dear, that's very interesting indeed."

Vegeta stared into his cocktail, sipping at it as the two women squabbled.

Eventually Panchy carried a sleepy Bulla away to take a nap. The baby squeezed her fingers open and closed in an effort to imitate a wave, earning a gentle nod from her father. Dr. Briefs soon followed, excusing himself to work on the models of the much-needed components.

Bulma stood up, stretching her arms above her head to an impressive four inches tall while letting out an exaggerated yawn, "Is it time to go to bed now?"

"It isn't even noon yet."

"Huh. Well then what are we going to do today, big guy? I can't exactly do much cause…" she gestured to herself, "…you know… And I heard what you did to the gravity chamber! You'll have to wait until I'm back to normal to use it again! In fact, I think I'll clean the lab you wrecked before I even consider repairing your glorified gym."

Vegeta growled threateningly at her, "Maybe I'll throw you in my armor and go spar with Kakarot then."

"You were too scared to pick me up earlier and now you're acting like you're going to take me into a fight? You don't intimidate me, Vegeta; you're just a big old softy now."

"I am no such thing."

"The other day Trunks forgot to show up to train with you and you were still talking about it this morning. Face it, Honey, at this point in life you're a declawed kitten with superpowers."

A very flustered Vegeta stood up from his seat and walked over to retrieve their box-turned-carriage from the floor. "I keep asking about it because I don't understand why the boy would rather simulate a fight on a screen with Kakarot's brat, when our training is far more interesting and impressive," he insisted.

"It's called a videogame, and the reason is that he's a teenage boy," Vegeta held out the bin for her to jump into, "I don't want to ride in the box anymore, carry me!" she whined.

"You sound just like Bulla- what the hell!" Vegeta's hand shot out to catch his wife, who had darted to the edge of the table and leapt off. She landed face down in his palm, "Woman, have you lost your damn mind?!"

Bulma sat up on her knees grinning, which quickly contorted into a frown, "Gross, Vegeta! You smell like a locker room that blew up. I think the first thing I'll have you do is take a shower since you didn't get to earlier."

Vegeta cradled the hand containing his wife to his chest, "Dammit woman, I am a prince, not your slave." The Saiyan used his other hand to shield his wife from the outside, earning a small series of protests from the scientist, "Stop your complaining. I wouldn't have to do this if you didn't insist on jumping to the ground like a madwoman."

The pair walked out of the house and along a path to their home located in the largest structure on the estate. Bulma poked her head out from behind his hand, "Faster, slowpoke! I used to ride in Goku's shirt while he flew on Nimbus, I think I can handle you moving faster than a turtle."

"You used to do what?!"

Scratch Briefs had a busy daily routine, especially for a cat. While he used to simply attach himself to his owner's shoulder, the animal had developed a fascination for a particular alien houseguest during his stay in their home.

So at 4:45 A.M. everyday, Scratch would jump down from his spot at the end of his owners' bed, leave the house, and stroll across the Capsule Corp. yard and into the main building (using the pet doors his owners installed many years prior, of course). He would stalk the dark, silent hallways until he arrived in front of the gravity room. At 5:00 A.M. his alien friend would arrive and greet Scratch with a few minutes of petting- something he never did in the presence of other humans.

Eventually his friend would lock himself in his room and the feline would have to find something else to do. Returning to his owner had become less appealing ever since he had begun caring for the smaller, blue-haired person during the day. The bipedal kitten named Bulla was always screaming or pulling on his tail, so Scratch tended to find some peace and quiet elsewhere.

On that particular day he found himself in a closet curled up on top of a pair of armored white boots. He made a point to chew on the top edges of the footwear before crushing them under his weight, feeling obligated to mark his presence there. The cat snoozed through the day, not even waking to the sound of explosions. That is, until he heard voices enter the room, one of which belonged to his sharp-haired acquaintance. Scratch decided to stay hidden as the alien man typically disapproved of the cat being in his room.

"See? Carrying me wasn't so bad, now was it?" Bulma chirped as she leaped from the hand to the bed Vegeta had been holding her over. "I don't know what you're freaking out about. Didn't you used to become a giant monkey like, all the time? You should be used to being huge!"

"Oozaru. And even if I had used that transformation all the time, I wasn't using it to carry people around like dolls." A sadistic smirk spread across his face, "I was crushing them, destroying their world, and eating the unlucky ones."

To his amusement she looked absolutely horrified, "You ate people when you turned into King Kong?! That's disgusting, Vegeta! Who knows where they had been!" The Saiyan rolled his eyes at how she had completely missed the point and began to take off his armor as Bulma watched from the bed. "Whoa. Are you stripping for me? Look, your junk has to be like way bigger than me right now, but if you insist on being dirty I'm sure I can figure something out."

Vegeta stared back at his wife- who was now removing her tiny lab coat- stunned and completely speechless until he finally remembered how to speak again, "Woman, I am preparing to take the shower that you demanded me to take. I'm not- I don't even-" his face was burning as he stormed into the bathroom, "you are disgusting and vulgar!"

Bulma scoffed, "You were just talking about eating people and I'm the disgusting one?!" She continued to shout at the closing bathroom door, "We have two kids together, Vegeta, you can stop being shy about sleeping together!"

The water in the other room started running and she sank into the bedding that covered her football field-sized bed. What was she supposed to do all day at this size? She probably couldn't even push a key down on her computer. The scientist was incredibly restless, and merely sitting and waiting on her husband was making her antsy.

Bulma felt the bed shift behind her and turned around, coming face-to-face with an enormous black cat. The heiress felt her blood turn to ice.

"Uh, hi Scratch. What are you doing in here?" She slowly stood up as the cat studied her small form, "Go. Go find my dad so he can give you treats, okay? Go on, shoo!"

Scratch did the exact opposite, wiggling his butt in the air before pouncing at his target. Bulma squealed and ran to the edge of the bed where she looked down at the floor far below her. When she was a teenager she used to jump from Goku's shirt all the way to the ground, but for once she could admit that she was way too old to be doing such things. Still, it was either that or be turned into Meow Mix, so she leapt off of the edge of the bed with her eyes squeezed shut.

Instead of falling, she stayed suspended in the air by her shirt, which was currently being held between the feline's sharp teeth. She squirmed and cried as the family pet nudged open the bedroom door and carried her out of the room.