Goku stopped about a few miles short of Vegeta's location near a grass-lined butte. They were far enough away from West City to fight, which he surely hoped they wouldn't. He wanted to act decisively and deliberately and regulate his emotions, but this was uncharted territory, even for him. He couldn't fathom his wife making a decision like Bulma did without consulting him. Yet, throughout their marriage, Chi-Chi was sometimes the last one to know about choices he made that would ultimately affect their family's well-being. Goku loved them deeply, but Vegeta's investment in his family was far more intimate. Goku had been surrounded by love and friends from a young age, perhaps taking his good fortune for granted occasionally. For Vegeta, who had once lost everything, family was his foundation.

Vegeta isn't even trying to hide his energy from me. It doesn't feel like he's near his breaking point, which is good. I just need figure out what he's planning next.

Both Goku and Tights knew their time was limited. Although they hoped otherwise, they couldn't rule out Vegeta severely harming whoever helped Bulma if her condition couldn't be reversed. Even if she recovered, he might mutilate the person anyway. Her wishes weren't a consideration for her husband right then. She was close to death, and according to Vegeta's thinking, had temporarily forfeited the right to govern his response to it.

Goku, who had been walking, didn't turn around at first when Vegeta landed behind him.

"I never thought the mighty Kakarot would fear my reaction enough to hang back several miles before confronting me. I suppose I should take that as a compliment."

Goku nervously tugged on his orange karategi, fearing that he would say the wrong thing. "Call me an idiot all you want, but yeah, I think I have a right to wonder if you're going to lose your cool. I'm not excited about being a punching stand for you tonight, but I'm here. Neither of us have eaten either."

"You are right," Vegeta replied wearily, "and that is what you should do. Go eat or get some sleep. You have done a lot. I will be fine."

Goku ran his fingers through his hair. "You know I can't leave. Bulma… looked after me when I was a kid. I should be here for you both."

Vegeta shook his head. He didn't hide himself from Goku because he knew the man would go crazy wondering if the planet was in danger. He didn't want him to feel obligated to fix the situation, either.

"Can you try not being the hero for once in your life? I am out here thinking because my kids do not need to see me this way. Is that what you need to hear from me?"

Everything about the prince seemed to be stripped raw: no battle clothing, no raised chest, and no defiant gleam in his eyes. He wanted nothing more than to be "just papa" and "just Bulma's husband." He couldn't break down expressing what he was willing to give up for his wife: his power, his life, his mind. Goku should know that already.

"When are you going back to the hospital, Vegeta?"

"I want to see Bulla." He closed his eyes and exhaled. "Then I will return there. I just need to see my little girl… our baby."

"I understand. I'm sorry." Goku instinctively approached to comfort him - to do something simple, like patting him on the back - but Vegeta always retreated from these gestures. The rejections never offended him. One day the prince would accept them, he believed.

Vegeta walked past him with his arms crossed. "No, you don't understand, Kakarot, but I will give you a pass for saying it."

Goku was now convinced that he couldn't leave his friend all alone. He hadn't sensed this kind of devastation in the prince since their younger days, before and after the man's life changed. All he could do was sit quietly while Vegeta gazed at the horizon. The warm breeze encircling them muffled all other sounds of the night. Even the sky seemed to have fewer stars.

Vegeta clasped his hands, walking farther away. "Maybe I could have stopped her had I paid closer attention to the signs. All of this is my fault - my fault!"

Bewildered, Goku looked up. "What are you talking about?"

Vegeta conjured tiny spheres of energy in his hands. They were a refined, terrible beauty of power that could inspire nobility or wickedness from those wielding it: yin and yang. He felt no pleasure from looking at them.

"My wife is more like us than you think, Kakarot - especially me."

"I don't understand."

"The woman you grew up with had a caring nature, and still does, but there is... another side to her character, one that I recognized early. You and your friends are blind to it. You love her, but I fell in love with the whole person."

Goku suddenly felt offended and angry. He had shared adventures and his innermost feelings with Bulma too. Hearing Vegeta dismiss those experiences hurt. He felt bad for thinking it, but Goku really wanted to say Vegeta wouldn't be alive and together with Bulma had it not been for him - although he consciously knew that the circumstances were more complicated.

"With all due respect, I believe I know Bulma well. I know you're upset, but…"

Vegeta fired blasts past both sides of Goku's body, disintegrating rock pillars miles behind him. "Do you really, Son Goku?! Perhaps I might know a little more than you about the woman who bore my children! I know that might be hard for you to accept."

Goku frowned. "Damn it, you know I didn't mean it that way. I am not the enemy. I shouldn't even have to say that."

Vegeta continued walking, this time in a circle. "My… mistake is I did not help Bulma wrestle with the naked ambition she has always possessed, just like I was forced to after settling on Earth. We Saiyans are strengthened by the thrill of the fight and push ourselves to our limits. As we both know, if unchecked, our power can drive us to extreme arrogance."

"I'm still confused, Vegeta."

"Think about when Bulma and I first met, Kakarot. After we returned from Namek, she channeled much of her ambition into providing and enhancing all of my training tools. She did not actively realize it, but I sensed her efforts weren't solely about protecting everyone on Earth from the androids. That's what drew us to each other. She wanted to see how much I could achieve as much as I wanted it. I was desperate, which fueled her resolve. My successes fed her ego in spite of our bitter arguments and separations, especially after I ascended to Super Saiyan."

Goku closed his eyes, realizing how naïve he'd been. "So you're saying this is about power."

Seeing the man's response, Vegeta restrained his impulse to criticize him. "Once you taste that kind of power over others it is difficult not to crave more, especially if you are intelligent. Bulma's scientific knowledge is largely unmatched on Earth. Why would she not continue testing the boundaries?"

"I hear what you're saying, but why would she wait so long to do something this dramatic? It doesn't make sense."

Vegeta was both surprised and annoyed by the extent of Goku's denial - and, earlier, his own denial.

"Hn. It does not make sense to you because your ambition has constantly been perceived as being selfless and for the good of others. We both know damn well that hasn't always been true. When we first battled and I was badly injured, you told Krillin to let me leave Earth when he could have easily killed me - all because you wanted to fight me again."

Goku said nothing. The truth in that statement touched a deeper nerve than their prior argument about Bulma.

Vegeta waved a hand in front of his face. "What is the matter, Kakarot? I was a lethal threat to everyone on this planet, yet you could not help yourself because of your arrogance. Surprisingly, our Namekian friend Piccolo and your wife seemed to be the only ones who recognized the truth about you then."

"You've made your point," Goku said quietly.

"If you want to support me, then you must first accept what you don't want to acknowledge about Bulma's motivations. And the truth is I chose to look away too. I believed we were finally content within our partnership and could keep our egos in check. I need to get through this without losing my mind, because I do not know what will happen to our family when she wakes up - if she wakes up. I love her. If we did not have our children, I just don't know…."

"No one doubts your love for Bulma - or her love for you, Vegeta." He tried to sound reassuring. "We won't turn our backs on her either."

Vegeta dropped to the ground, covering his face. "Whether she loves me is beside the point, Kakarot! I loved Bulma and Trunks when I allowed that wizard Babadi to control my mind, just so my power would match yours. Everyone wanted to believe that my personality had changed completely until that happened. My one foolish, egotistic act endangered countless lives because I craved power that I believed I needed. Why would my wife do this, you ask? I say why not? I feel like I am seeing the man I once was through her."

"You must stop this, Vegeta. Don't do this to yourself. Please."

Vegeta was diving into the recesses of his mind, searching for the remedy to his living hell. If Bulma lived, what would her powers yield? He had spent countless hours training their children to understand their gifts, minds, and impulses. Was becoming Saiyan just a means to an end for her?

He looked up at Goku.

"Her mental state is my greatest concern. Bulma says she did this for our relationship. I do not know how to explain this to our children."

"We'll cross that bridge when we get there."

"No, I will - not you, not their aunt or anyone else." Vegeta covered his face again and sighed. "I just need to get my mind straight."

Goku nodded. "Understood, but maybe you should see about Trunks again before doing anything else. He was very upset after you left."

"Yes, and I cannot sense him. We should go."

Goku touched Vegeta's shoulder to teleport back to the hospital. They found Tights crying, with her head and arms on the table, when they re-entered the family's sitting room. Neither man could feel a sign of Trunks anywhere. There was no reason why the elder Saiyans shouldn't have unless Trunks was deliberately suppressing his ki.

Vegeta grasped Tights' shoulder firmly until she took his hand. He looked up briefly to toughen himself until her sobbing stopped.

"Tights, I know this is hard, but remember why we are here. Where is my son?"

She wiped her face. "I don't know where Trunks is. He didn't take the news well, and then he stopped responding to me altogether. Bulma is stable for now. Are you going to see her?"

Vegeta felt dazed recalling his terror from witnessing Bulma's seizure and physical transformation. "I...will see her when I return," he stammered. "I need to find Trunks first."

He had to follow his own advice. It would've been unfair to chastise Tights for not fighting harder to keep his son there. Trunks was close enough to adulthood to be even more stubborn, just like his parents.

"Tights, you should get some sleep," Goku said. "It looks like you've done all you can for now."

Vegeta walked to the other side of the room while she and Goku hugged each other. This time she wiped tears from Goku's eyes.

"Bulma knows you love her, Son Goku. She knows it. Like Vegeta said, remember why we're here. I'll be sleeping in the room connected hers if you need me. Good night, guys."

Vegeta sat down and rubbed his temples. The wallpaper colors seemed to be swirling in front of him. "I am so tired."

"Trunks is at home now, Vegeta."

"I am aware. Knowing my son, I would have expected him to brood longer - and definitely not at home. He usually signals just enough know to let me know he's okay. Something is not right. First he hides his whereabouts from us, and now?"

"As your sister-in-law said, he's in shock," Goku replied. "Maybe he's pulled himself together enough to see you."

"With his mother being in such bad shape, maybe he also feels compelled to do something - to take matters into his own hands." A grim look crossed Vegeta's face. "Get me home now. You and I will only talk through telepathy when we arrive, understand?"

Goku motioned for him to approach. "Whatever you need."

The exterior of the main house looked normal when they arrived. Vegeta and Goku knew Trunks had left, but they looked around anyway for any clues or hints of danger.

Nothing.

"He must be down in the lab, Kakarot."

"Do you want me go there with you?"

At first Vegeta considered saying yes - strongly. He blamed the reaction on frayed nerves. He just needed time alone with Trunks so they could both regain stability.

"You are welcome to stay in the house, but I should do this by myself. We are under no threat. He will be OK. I trust my son."

After Goku left the room, Vegeta pulled out his gloves and suited up. Once he reached the section where the main lab was located, he activated the flood lights along the perimeter and entered as he normally would. He didn't want to bother with any other details, but beforehand he also scanned the remaining sections of underground compound by video. He knew where Trunks would be, regardless, even though he couldn't see him. He empathized with his son - he really did - but his fatherly patience was wearing thin. He preferred having Trunks work out his emotions up front, rather than undertake responsibilities that weren't his to shoulder. Now that their family's world had been turned upside down, the last thing Vegeta wanted was to rein in anyone else's misguided efforts to help Bulma. His children were bound to be resentful after the shock wore off. He especially dreaded his daughter asking him "Does mommy hate the human part of me too?"

"Son, why are you here, and why are you cloaked invisibly? I can sense exactly where you are standing."

"And why are you speaking to me telepathically, papa?"

Vegeta took a deep breath to calm himself. "Look, we are both upset and exhausted. I know you are down here for a reason. Whatever stupid thing you are thinking about doing, forget about it now. I am only going to say this once."

Notes: I know this took a long, long time to work my way back to, so here's my sincerest thanks to all followers for being patient. I was in a rut with this story, but know that your enthusiasm is greatly appreciated. Separately, to clear up this issue, Trunks is portrayed slightly younger than he would be in canon - but not too much. Hit me up with your thoughts and questions!