So here we go again. This is the second installment – it might be a bit dramatic but that's why I put it under the drama tab so it works out! Ha – I feel silly. I listened to this with overly dramatic music so I am sorry if it comes out bad. I still hope you will want me to continue though – I like writing this! It's really fun! Anyways, enjoy!
Disclaimer: I do not own DBZ or DBM. This is fan-fic just meant to be harmless fun.
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Chapter 2: The Deal Breaker
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The ride home had been going surprisingly smooth despite Vegeta's absence or so Bulma originally thought. "Mom," She heard Trunks call once their laughter slowed. Bulma hummed in response as she lay back into her chair with her hands behind her head taking what little comfort it had to offer.
Auto-pilot was secretly a blessing in disguise. "I'm sorry."
"Don't worry about it honey." Bulma replied waving it off knowing her son would feel guilty about her crying eventually. Trunk's face however twisted into a deeper scowl.
"No not about that, about something else…" She felt her body rise from the chair as she stared at her son with a mixture of confusion and surprise. What other problem could he have possibly let trouble his little mind that she was unaware of?
Bulma watched as Trunks closed his eyes and slowly his head lowered to face the ground. "I kind of…"He trailed off, his lavender hair falling just over his eyes, making her hands drop to her sides as she awaited his answer. "Let down dad."
"W-what?" Bulma gapped out. Trunks evaded her looks as he balled his shaking fists. Bulma tilted her head, she didn't understand it. None of it. If he wasn't talking about Vegetto than what could he have possibly done to cause this sudden stress? It was then so suddenly that Trunks faced her, eyes blazing with—Tears?—Yelling so bitterly that he had failed Vegeta's last wishes. Bulma's mouth hung open at loss for words.
"L-last wishes?" She began slowly as if trying to pair up the meaning between her bewildered mind. The whole thing became little grains of sand falling in the back of her mind and it disappointed her for she was supposed to be a genius.
"Dad told me to take care of you." He added as if to clue her in and sure enough a light bulb went off in her head. Vegeta… "But then you died mom! You died because I wasn't strong enough but I won't let that happen again! I'll train every day and become the strongest warrior ever known!"
"T-Trunks," Bulma etched out as she took in his expression. It was twice now that he had shown her that face of another son she had come across in the past. She would never forget what Mirai Trunks told her behind closed doors before he blasted off to fight cell alongside Vegeta. Mirai Trunks mentioned something along the lines that he blamed everyone's death on himself. The thing that bothered Bulma the most was that Mirai revealed that he never told his own mother and that alone made Bulma cry. Her son was in so much pain and her future self was oblivious to it. If anything this was her one chance to repent. "Trunks now you listen to me young man. Calm down this instant." Bulma ordered quickly.
In fact Bulma did what any loving mother would do in her position. She reached out and pulled her son into a loving hold. He squirmed around a bit but she managed to keep him still while ruffling his hair between her fingers. "Trunks what happened to me- was not your fault. Nobody knew how much power Buu really had. What counts is that you tried your best so please try not to get so worked up about it okay?" Trunks continued to fidget in her hold and soon raised his head to meet her gaze.
"But m-mom—"She hushed him in an instant by pressing her index finger on his lips as she smiled widely at him.
"I'm proud of you Trunks," She told him while wiping the tears from his eyes. "Perhaps more proud than you could possibly ever imagine and I'm positive that your father feels the same way." It was then that finally that his little arms returned the embrace that she gave.
"Mom you're the best." Bulma smiled, but shook her head before lowering it to press it against his forehead.
"No you." He laughed, shaking his own head in disagreement.
"No way mom. You're way cooler."
"Nah ah ah." She said and before he could argue the tickle war began. This was probably the only time she could ever win against him as he was swift to turn into fit of laughter while her attacks keep on him. However during all of it Bulma silently prayed for Mirai's happiness because she loved of them both so dearly. Her boys, they meant everything to her. That and of course Vegeta.
Vegeta…
It was amazing how much he had changed in such a short span of time. Hell she had been pondering about him for so long that she didn't even remember getting out of the plane. Yet somehow she did and Bulma was finally home, safe and sound.
Bulma thought everything would be okay by now but Vegeta's absence carried on in the back of her mind thanks to Trunks. Trunks just had to spring the rest of transactions that went on between both him and Vegeta. In truth, she was overwhelmed by all of it just by hearing what exactly Vegeta did.
He held Trunks. He had finally—after all these years embraced her—no— their son. Bulma's widening grin could not be stopped. Not after that. However she did wish that she could at least witness the moment once. Bulma had been waiting for that chance ever since Mirai Trunks told her that Vegeta went nuts when he was shot by cell's beam.
Vegeta...
Oh how she wanted to feel him against her. Bulma ached for his body heat more than ever before. She was just so proud of him for finally stepping up and being the father she always wanted him to be. Yet realization dawned on her that she could not get what she wanted. Vegeta was gone and although Bulma wanted to cry—the tears would not fall. Perhaps it was because they were all worn out from her conversation with Trunks? Bulma didn't know but what she did decipher was that she was in pain. Fortunately no one would ever know the truth behind her broadening grin.
Not even a day had passed and she was already drowning herself in sorrow over Vegeta. Bulma inwardly scowled. Vegeta was supposed to be behind her now - at least for another two years.
Two very long years.
Bulma shook her head. Right now she needed to be focusing on finishing up preparing dinner for her favorite growing Saiyan. This was theoretically going to be making her feel better considering for once she didn't have to call in a chef. Bulma snickered. Yes that's right— there would be no more constant grunts of disapproval from a certain pompous prince whenever she attempted to cook something edible. Her son at least had the decency to pretend to like it when she was around. He was a true prince.
"Mom!" Trunks voice called throughout the halls. She could hear him scampering across the house looking all over the place for her. Bulma rolled her eyes as she stirred in the sauce for the pasta. If Vegeta was here – Trunks would surely be in for it. She could already imagine Vegeta yelling at Trunks for not using his ki detection technique. Nevertheless she couldn't really blame Trunks. Wasn't her ki equivalent to that of a mere fly? Vegeta always made it a routine in his day to remind her about how pathetically weak she was.
Bulma frowned. She was doing it again wasn't she? She could hear herself groaning as she cursed about how idiotic she was being.
What happened to being the proud single mother she claimed she could be?
It made her so furious that she had to completely set the ladle aside from the pan because she was that close to severing the damn thing in half. If it hadn't been for her son breaking her out of concentration than Bulma would have surely reached the human level of that of a Super Saiyan. Bulma sighed while picking the ladle back up. Trunks constant action of jabbing of his plate into her arm made it clear what he wanted. His Saiyan appetite meant business.
"Alright I get it." Bulma grumbled and lifted the pan over to the empty plate before scooping out a medium sized portion of pasta. "Honestly you're just as impatient as your father when it comes to food." She said while she tapped the side of the plate to remove the sauce that wouldn't come off. "That's Saiyans for you." She said as she laid the ladle back on the counter before turning her attention back to the oven and turned it off.
Her son's presence although did not cease and it bothered Bulma slightly for by now she anticipated he would have at least dashed over to the table by now. Bulma sighed trying to ignore him as she began setting up her own plate with the remaining smaller portion. Another jab followed and Bulma got the picture. "Alright young man what do you want?"
"More." He demanded in a gruff causing her to jump. She found herself snickering at the situation. He sounded more like his father each day! "More now." Bulma's laughter quickly died. Now he was getting on her nerves. She let her left hand fall away from her plate as she placed it on her hip. Bulma turned to greet her son with a scowl demanding what his problem was but as she did she screamed. The sounds of a plate shattering soon followed as she found herself sitting on her behind staring up in alarm at the person who was defiantly not her son.
Soon enough as expected her real son appeared at the door powered up already into that of a Super Saiyan. His eyes ever so fierce as he stood ready to battle whatever dared to attack her. Yet thankfully that moment would not arrive as his temperament slowly vanished and melded more of into annoyance as his gaze settled on the intruder.
"Hey guys!" Vegetto called out chuckling as he set his plate down at the table casually. Trunks felt his jaw tighten at Vegetto's never ceasing idiocy. Trunks gradually descended from being airborne and powered down refusing to enter a room that held Vegetto's unwelcoming presence.
"What is he doing here? I thought he was supposed to be with his family?" Trunks questioned sarcastically and Bulma although still in a brief state of shock somehow managed to give him a fair warning to drop it. At the moment her right hand was now settled over her heart. It pounded away from the scare and Bulma could already sense her own irritation forming.
"Don't do that ever again." Bulma stated loudly as she aimed her hardened glare on the grinning Saiyan. "Or else." Vegetto quickly raised his hand back behind his head and chuckled a bit more.
"Sorry Bulma," Vegetto replied causing Bulma to mentally cringe. She was so used to Vegeta calling her woman all the time that she figured that he wouldn't know her name by now either. "I just thought I'd pop in and see how you all were doing."
"Well isn't that nice?" Bulma added loud enough to reach Trunk's ears as she began to pick up the broken glass from the floor. Trunks simply scoffed at Vegetto's words.
"We were doing just fine until you showed up." Trunks said coldly and that alone caused Vegetto's cheerful laughter to quickly die down. Bulma inwardly groaned at the tension forming between her son and her—er—well—Vegetto.
"Trunks." Bulma pressed again this time in a more firm tone but the assault continued.
"I mean thanks to you – mom got hurt." Bulma blinked at her son's words and stared down at her hands. Yes, Trunks was correct; her right index finger was indeed bleeding. However it was probably her fault. She should at least make the effort of getting the dust pan. It was just under such conditions Bulma currently wasn't thinking properly and that again caused her to inwardly curse for not being the genius she had claimed to be. However guilty feelings aside she had to stop her son from stirring a couple of sparring matches in the middle of her kitchen!
"Trunks go to your room this instant young man." Bulma demanded as she stood back on her feet and faced her son. His gaze kept still on Vegetto so she growled. "I mean it mister! Don't you dare test me!" She said shocking herself with how cold that sounded. Thankfully Trunks reluctantly pulled his gaze away and Bulma exhaled once her son vanished from sight.
This was not how dinner originally planned out to be!
Bulma's gaze shot toward Vegetto with a hardened glare. Oh she was so angry she could kill him with her mind but her anger quickly bubbled down after a couple of astonished blinks. Vegetto— he—he was—he was— cleaning? She watched him wordlessly use the dust band and broom to remove the remaining pieces of glass from the floor. What the hell was going on? Vegeta would have never done such a thing for her. Not even if she yelled at him. This—well—this was certainly awkward.
"Um, thanks, Vegetto. I mean you didn't have to do that but, thanks." Bulma said as she rubbed the side of her neck. Was this really happening? Vegetto simply shook his head as if telling her it was no biggie and was done before the next blink. Her mouth hung as she noted a small white box on the table that she didn't remember being there before. Vegeta never usually showed off such speed in front of her—maybe because he already thought of himself as a higher being to her.
Ass.
"Come here Bulma." She practically jumped out of her thoughts and turned her attention back onto Vegetto. Now there was a chair pulled out and he was gesturing for her to sit down on it. Slowly she sat down and before she could utter a syllable her hand was already in his and he was tending to it.
"See good as new." He said and she felt her eyes widen all together. It seemed as if now around him she would have to stop blinking! He just kept vanishing and making everything double times the speed that she was used too. Bulma retracted her hand staring at the Band-Aid with mixed feelings.
"Again, thanks." She lamely said but he flashed her one of those famous Son grins.
"No problem Bulma. It's the least I could do after, um, scaring you. Sorry about that." His laughed shortly followed but she could see behind it he was feeling guilty about it and she wasn't exactly sure how to handle it. Vegeta never apologized well-not as openly before. Vegeta did small gestures to make up for when he really screwed up. This though, this was just all so new. She didn't think she could get used to this.
"Why are you even here?" She blurted out, and squeaked as she covered her hands over her lips. She sounded so irritated with him and it shocked her slightly. Maybe it was because Bulma felt like he was actually treading somewhere he didn't belong. She concluded deep inside her head that while it was nice to have him around, she was annoyed with his carefree expressions. Didn't he understand how Trunks felt about the situation? It made her so upset because this would only cause more bumps along the road. A feature of insensitivity she knew well from Vegeta back before the cell games started out.
Surprisingly though Bulma resisted the urge to yell at him. After all this wasn't her Vegeta. She couldn't very well slam her family's problems onto him because frankly he wasn't a part of her family anymore. He should be worrying about Gohan and Goten, not them and that most likely was the case. He was selfish and it made her realize that his being here was not all what he said before. He must have wanted something, and she knew just what.
"Never mind, I get it. I know what you want." She began silencing Vegetto before he could even respond. She got up out of her chair avoiding Vegetto's attempts to help her up. "Follow me."
She expected to be yelled at for ordering him around by now but nothing, no verbal insults, just silence. Yeah defiantly not Vegeta. "Sorry, I haven't gotten to work on it yet." She breathed out tiredly waiting for one of those sly remarks Vegeta would add to every sentence. However it never came and she frowned, forcing herself to continue, "I was planning to feed Trunks first and then work out the rest but then this happened…"
"Yeah sorry about that Bulma." Bulma wavered. At least she knew he was there but it still irked the hell out of her every time he apologized or called her Bulma. Defiantly not Vegeta.
"Don't worry about it Go-Vegetto." She quickly corrected feeling absurd. She couldn't bring herself to look at him now. She almost called him Goku. A custom he probably endured every second over at Chichi's house.
Poor guy.
Bulma felt herself halt. She turned to Vegetto and he simply stared blankly at her causing her to sigh. "It's just been so hard to accept that Vegeta isn't necessarily coming home." She told him and quickly regretted her words. "I mean I know you are him too but it's hard for m-m— Trunks to see that."
"Do you want me to talk to him?" He asked catching her off guard.
"What?"
"Trunks. Do you want me to talk to him?" Bulma didn't know what to say then. She was caught in a moment she thought she would never see. A father wanting to be a father. Yet this wasn't Vegeta. Well it was but it wasn't. Did that even make sense? Bulma felt her emotions becoming aggravated by the second. What kind of stunt was this guy trying to pull? He was not supposed to be here. Why wouldn't he just leave them alone?
"Bulma—"
"No! I mean he's really upset with you Vegetto and I do not want half of my house being consumed by my child's temperamental ki blast! How am I supposed to explain that to the press?" His chuckles followed and she growled placing her hands on her hips. "I'm serious Vegetto!"
"Right, right." He replied fanning her down but she turned her gaze away crossing her hands over her chest. "I'll let you handle Trunks after all Chichi always says a mother knows best." Bulma made a satisfied 'humph,' noise as she finally steered him to their previous destination – her lab.
When they arrived she was quick to run to her desk and retrieve the small capsule she had been putting off for some time. The faster she got it, the faster he'd go away. Bulma fumbled the capsule in her hand and presented it to him but he would not take it. Bulma fumed.
"I know you realize that it's just a prototype of the GR but I'll have the real thing ready for you soon enough."
"But I don't want this." Vegetto replied swiftly, "Besides what good is having a GR at Chichi's if it breaks and you can't be there to fix it?" Bulma rolled her eyes.
"I CAN be if you just CALLED Vegetto! It's not hard! All you have to do is pick up a phone and I'll fly over there in my jet! I mean it's the least I can do for the savior of the universe, right?"
"But Bulma I want to train here." Bulma huffed running a hand through her hair.
"Why are you pushing this issue so much Vegetto? You know you're not supposed to be here. You're supposed to be with your family—enjoying dinner, like I should be, with my son." Vegetto scratched the side of his face.
"But aren't you guys are my family too?" He asked then tilted his head, "Or do you guys not want me around anymore? I kind of get that feeling with Trunks for some reason." Bulma felt like slapping herself just then as she let out a groan of frustration. How can someone be so honestly dense?
"Of course we want you around—"
"Then what's the problem?"
"Well for one you're not— well—err—how do I say this without making it sound horrible?" Vegetto shrugged. Bulma shook her head. "You're not Vegeta anymore. He died long before you showed up. "
"Your right Bulma. I am not Vegeta." He confirmed making her frown, "But that doesn't mean I don't have his memories, thoughts, and desires Bulma. I can tell you just about anything that you wanted to hear from his lips." Bulma froze upon hearing this. Did that mean she could finally get her answers? Bulma once again shook her head.
"Wait we shouldn't even be having this conversation. I made a deal with Chichi to no longer be involved with you. I can't break—"
"My choice not yours to make." He stated firmly and she blinked. "You and Trunks are just as much as my family as to Chichi, Gohan, and Goten. I want to make this work just as much as you do Bulma. So please give me a chance." Bulma sat back against her desk and placed her hands over her chest while allowing herself to ponder on the situation.
A chance to redeem.
A chance to find the answers that have bothered her so.
A chance she could offer.
"Vegetto," Bulma began slowly. "If you really mean what you say and you really do have Vegeta somewhere within you than I beg of you to tell me why—why did Vegeta kill all those innocent people? Why did he give into Babidi's demands? Were Trunks and I—not good enough?"
Vegetto's expression than softened considerably and she watched him hold his chin as if in deep thought. Bulma eagerly waited for his answer while tapping her fingers against the side of the desk. She had been waiting for this opportunity to learn about this for so long. Vegeta's betrayal. The situation was practically tearing her apart inside. After all those years of gaining his trust, in a split second he managed to turn into a man she could not recognize. Bulma broke down into tears back then and it took all of Yamcha's strength to pry her away from the stands where she stared brokenly at the empty position where Vegeta used to be standing. What had she done wrong?
"He," Bulma's ears perked up as she finally heard Vegetto's voice pick up. "He was confused." Vegetto stated plainly and she felt her mouth twitch into a snarl. Before she knew it, she was over to his side, and her left index finger was quick to jab him into the chest with a dark expression.
"Not good enough bud. Not. Good. Enough." She still needed to hear something more. Something to confirm to her that she wasn't just a stupid woman that held Vegeta back. She wanted to be acknowledged as his mate again. Trunks had helped but she desperately wanted to hear it from him. It meant so much to her and she didn't know why. She used to be so strong when he was around. "Just forget it." Bulma snapped shoving the GR capsule back into the desk and turning to leave the lab. After all she still had a son to worry about. There was nothing that could stop her now but then Vegetto managed to do the impossible. He gave her the answer she finally wanted to hear and it echoed in the back of her mind like a broken record.
"Vegeta didn't realize what he had until he finally let go of his pride. I know Trunks and you probably won't ever see me as the same man but in his place I'd like to say you two mean the world to me. Especially you Bulma. You've always been at my side since the very beginning."
Bulma bit her lip. No matter how she looked at it she just couldn't place that comment solely on Goku or Vegeta. It was a valid statement for both of them and it really hit her out of the park. Bulma than pressed her lips together as she slowly cast a glance back over her shoulder to the man who had touched her heart.
"I'm going to go get Trunks to see if I can get him down to eat dinner. You're welcomed to join us, "Bulma paused holding the door open with a smile, "if you'd like that is?"
"Sure," Vegetto said whilst chuckling humbly. "Sounds like fun!" Bulma shook her head and took her leave feeling somewhat relieved. It was then and only then as Bulma power walked through the corridors that she finally allowed the tears to flow freely down her face. A hand flew to her mouth to silence the cries.
Vegeta.
Her prince had finally come home.
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TBC—
Thanks so much for the reviews – I'm glad someone likes it!
Hopefully –
See you again?