Author's Notes: written to the song of Hide and Seek by Imogen Heap playing on repeat in the background. Not exactly a mood lifting chapter.

Her lips are caressing his lips like a long-lost phantoms. Vegeta moans in pleasure on the bed. She's dead but the sensations are so real. His dreams were always vivid like this.

Rolling over, she lets him enter her body. It's marvelous. It's absolutely unbelievable. It's not real.

"Daddy."

Her bright blue eyes stare down at him enticingly, her hands run over his chest but now the touch isn't as real. Vegeta shut his eyes and lets his lips close. Despite his eyelids being shut, he still sees her curving body and it's then that he knows that this is a dream. His hands lift and start shaking weakly so he lets them fall back onto the covers of the bed.

"Daddy."

His chest feels empty, and she starts fading from his sight.

"Bulma…" he opened his eyes and found himself in reality. It's dark in the bedroom but he wasn't imagining one thing. Rolling his head to the side, he sees his daughter- a practical clone of his lost lover- and she's staring back at him.

Those big blue eyes are wide. They're scared and coated by tears.

"Daddy, I can't sleep without Mommy singing to me," she voices in a soft, shaking tone.

The prince closes his eyes for a long time. He hopes when he reopens them, Bra will be long gone and he'll be back with Bulma.

They open. Bra is still there; Bulma still isn't.

"Daddy-y," Bra is on the verge of sobs now.

"She can't sing to you right now," Vegeta finds himself saying harshly.

Bra starts hiccupping now and the tears flood over and fill the room.

Vegeta's eyebrows pull together as he gazed over at his daughter. Finally he grunts and sits up to take her off the floor and set her on the bed.

"Stop that," he orders.

"I m-miss M-Mommy-y-y," Bra sobs.

"Stop that."

"I MISS MOMMY!" Bra wails.

Vegeta puts his hand over her mouth and stares into her wide and sorrow-filled blue eyes. "Stop crying," he growls.

Bra takes his large hand and buries her face into the palm as she cries little soft shuddering sobs into his skin. He sighs and runs his other hand over her hair.

"I miss Momm-m-m-my," she whimpers.

"I know," he breaths out.

The small girl lifts her body up and she scoots closer to the curvatures of her father's body. Slowly she presses her head into his chest and coils up into the fetal position. "Do you miss her?"

"Of course."

There's no question in his voice. He knew life was empty without Bulma and denying it to Bra would be cruel.

Bra tightly grasps the cloth of his white shirt and turns her face into the cotton as she cries.

"You should have gone to your brother," Vegeta murmurs.

"Trunks is too sad. He cries too much. I don't want him to cry with me. He doesn't make me feel better," Bra's voice is small but the words speak volume about the situation they're currently in.

"I make you feel better?" he looks down as the small girl lifts up her eyes to gaze at him.

"Uhuh," she nods as well to accompany her answer.

There's a question in his eyes so obvious that even the toddler can see it. She frowns, "You make me feel safe, Daddy. You don't cry so it must not be that bad," she decides.

Vegeta doesn't even know if he can cry anymore. The first night, he had locked himself in the training room and worked himself so hard that his body stopped working. He had fallen onto his knees and then collapsed completely into a heap on the ground that was wet from his sweat. Gaping for air, he realized that what racked his body was, not only exhaustion, but hard wrathful sobs. He laid there, writhing on the ground with no strength in his body, just crying.

Kakarot had instant-transmissioned to the gravity room. He had seen him there, in the fetal position, his eyes shut tightly as the tears rolled down his face.

He remembers vaguely his death. His first death, at the hands of Frieza. He remembers the tears he had cried then. He remembers grasping out helplessly at the warrior, pleading for him to give their race vengeance. Suddenly, he feels a burning embarrassment deep in his chest. How many times had Kakarot seen him cry? One too many, that was sure.

"Vegeta, I heard what happened…" he takes slow steps toward him. As though Vegeta could do anything in the state he was in.

"Get out."

"I'll help you with your kids-"

There was strength deep inside him after all. Rage bubbled over suddenly and he made it to his feet. "You can't even raise your own family!" Vegeta barked. "You expect me let you near mine! You run off at the slightest sign of commitment. I don't want you building relationships with my children out of pity for us and then running away! Crashing everything down around you, you buffoon! Get out!"

Kakarot stares at him with those stupid, innocent, brown eyes. They're naïve. They're ignorant. Vegeta despised them and who they belonged to.

"You have no excuse to take so long, use your instant-transmission and leave me alone."

His voice cracked and Vegeta took a step back from the taller man, still glaring up in his general direction. He felt his face was hot and he could only imagine just how puffy and red his eyes were. How despicable. What kind of prince was he? Honestly, he was pathetic.

Those damned eyes were still locked on his face, taking him in and sending waves of unbearable pity in his direction.

"I'm here for you, Vegeta. You just have to let me help."

"This is not your battle," Vegeta snarled. He stormed over to the larger man and slammed his hands into his chest, trying to force him back.

Kakarot didn't move though. Was the prince's energy that depleted?

The brown eyes soften even more. "Vegeta, you should rest…"

He slammed his fists repeatedly into Kakarot's chest, and, damn, it felt really good. So he just kept on punching him. Over and over he wailed on the younger man.

Finally he realized he was talking.

"It's not fair! It's not fucking fair!"

Just over and over he kept screaming it into Kakarot's strong chest while he punched.

However much time that passed between Kakarot's entrance and the pausing of his attack was unknown. Vegeta just sank down onto his knees and stared down at the ground.

"Vegeta-"

"Get out."

Kakarot stood there for about four minutes before sighing, patting Vegeta gently on the shoulder, and leaving him there.

Vegeta passed out in the gravity room. He had no idea who took him back to his bedroom, but that's where he woke up the next day.