Unfaithful

Bulma seemed particularly mopey the next few days. She refused her meals and kept to herself in her lab; she walked carefully and quietly about the house like she was waiting for a bomb to fall. So she hadn't spoken to Vegeta yet, I figured. She seemed pale and dazed, she wore unflattering clothes and left her hair in a dirty, greasy pile on top of her head.

I must admit, though aggravated and this sudden change of mood was quite predictable (though a tad over-dramatic, might I add) she was still, and always will be, my daughter and of course I was to take it upon myself to be the stable man in her life. Recall that at that time I had blamed myself and the lack of role in my daughter's life for this entire mishap. I figured I could sort of prance in her lab and suddenly it would come to me; and quite naturally, with no practice or experience at giving pep talks and lectures and inspirational speeches before, I would become the model father-figure and make all of those nasty little problems go away.

What father wants to see his daughter pregnant? It is the sign that she is sexually active, that she's given herself to another man. Men are very, very primitive creatures (though not to the level of the Saiya-Jin monkey prince) and there are two ways we claim our women: as our wives, and as our children to guide and care for. Naturally, the thought of a father knowing his child, even if he had not really taken a great part in the "guiding" and "caring" processes, had been taken by another man was disturbing. Bulma hadn't been a virgin for many, many years but until now it was a fact I could quite easily dodge and avoid, it was something that would not come to haunt the very back of my skull every time I saw her.

My wife was angry that we had come to the conclusion that the child must go. Yes, I resented her as well, for while my parenting was absent, hers was practically devoted to turning Bulma into the little temptress she apparently came to be. Bunny always wanted grandchildren, and as soon as Bulma was old enough to have them, she enthusiastically taught my daughter the secrets of the woman: charms and beauty, flirtation and the way to walk.

Of course it was foolish to even bother think this was more my wife's fault than my daughter's. My daughter developed her own, independent personality and with or without assistance from her mother, I maintain that the result would've been the same.

Somehow I've come to figure that Bulma set her eyes on Vegeta just the same as he did on her.

So Bunny pouted in her room while Bulma thought deep in her lab, what to do? What to do? She'd agreed to the abortion, but she still seemed troubled. I approached her, "What's wrong, Bulma?"

She was staring out the window, her little pale hands limp; her face hollow with sinking shadows under her eyes indicating her restlessness. She sighed and looked at her chest, "He hasn't talked to me in days."

Suddenly, I considered this to be way too much information. She so willingly opened up that I almost wanted her to put a halt to the conversation and perhaps yell at me for even trying to become the white knight in her life so abruptly. Still, I sat in a free seat. It was fairly far from her desk, but she wasn't really paying much attention. I tried again, "Does it matter? Bulma, he's a monster." I found that it was quite easy to insult Vegeta, so I continued, "He's no good. You know the only reason he's bothering with this androids nonsense is to abuse your friends' trust. He's planning on killing them all, don't you even care?"

Bulma looked hurt and it was then that I realized I'd broken some sort of rule: I accused her of something while she was feeling down. Indignant, she ordered that I leave her lab. Her voice was mature, but her tone icy.

I shook my head, "Now, Bulma, you know this is true." I found I'd said her name far more times in that hour than I had in the past two years, "He's a menace. It's not your fault," I soothed, "But he is ridiculously dedicated to this insane training, and if he doesn't destroy his body first, he will annihilate your friends, and what'll be left of us then?"

"Don't you even care? I think he's going to kill me." Her eyes were watery as she stared fixedly out her window. It wasn't until I approached that I really ever noticed the window was facing Vegeta's training chamber. Its angry red glow from the gravitation simulator's energy reached my sight, and as though suddenly stirred by this new idea, I felt glad that she was not trying to defend the man.

I could handle my daughter being a victim, but an accomplice? No, no I would not have such a thing, not in my house, not with a man like him. I sat down and rubbed my head. To be honest, the idea that Bulma could be in danger because of Vegeta's irrationality had occurred to me, but though I knew and quite often referred to him as a killer, I hadn't really assumed that he was going to try to kill my daughter, "We could send you to your friend's. You'd be safe there..."

"I'm a grown woman, Dad. I'm not going to flee my own house."

"Well then, what do you expect me to do? Let him stay here? Let him kill you? You just said that you think you're in danger and yet you want to make no action? There is nothing we can do right now but ship you off to that friend of yours, that Son Gokou's house. It's just a little bit shabby, but I suppose we could send money to fix it up a bit. Or maybe it would be best for you to lay low for a little while..." I rattled off.

She sighed, shaking her head, "No, Dad. I'm not going to bother Gokou with this one. I'm just... not. I need to talk to Vegeta, that's all."

"The man that you think wants you dead." I flatly added. Of course she should make no sense, she was shaken up, she was paranoid, perhaps (though the accusation did inspire great fear for her life on my part) but she was still just babbling. I figured that over the course of the next few days I could gently nudge her to go stay with her friends.

Asking Vegeta to leave was of course, out of the question. Easiest way to anger him and have him kill us all, and now after that whole incident Yamucha and Kuririn wouldn't be present to go find the stronger members of the team to protect us. Reaching the Son household without one of the two was generally impossible. One had to actually physically travel to the cottage in the middle of nowhere to speak two words with the Son family. It was quite ridiculous.

I considered going to them myself with our problem, and maybe they could find somewhere else for the Monkey prince to go. But still, she sat there, staring out the window and I figured that she was trying to clear her thoughts, to cast her mind back to happier times when she was with Yamucha and Vegeta was far, far away and the world was content. And I was still skeptical, thinking she truly was still vying for Vegeta's attention instead of fearing for her life.

She nodded, "Okay, you're right." She's a sensible, good, logical girl when she wants to be. I felt manly with her giving in so fairly easily, and I straightened my back, "I just need to talk to him first, and if I think that there's any danger either he leaves or I'll contact Son Gokou. Alright?"

I shook my head, "It's out of the question, Bulma, it really is. I don't want you talking to that man any more. I don't want to see you looking out that window or in his general direction, stop feeding him, stop worrying about him. Let him kill himself in his little Gravity Chamber, it'll do us all more good with him gone."

And the fight dragged on, and I fell. Even though it had never been established, I knew that there was not much I could do from keeping crafty Bulma and clever, maniac Vegeta from having this talk that apparently she felt was necessary.

I found that I couldn't rest easily that night. I decided that I needed the walk, although a bit lengthy, from my bedroom to the far kitchen to clear my thoughts. I could've easily ordered something from one of the bots, or maybe it was deep inside my mind that I needed to sort of inspect the house.

Of course I found as I walked past one of the halls just above her lab, as I gazed out the great window into the starry night, what else would I find? She was standing there, hugging herself because it was a cold, windy night and he was standing opposite looking aggravated. I couldn't see their facial expressions, just gestures that implied that at least she was talking in a soft, hushed voice.

They were bickering about something, and she seemed to be trying to get him inside. I sighed as the two bodies finally started to move towards the door. A little panic washed over me, after having watched what was, I supposed, an intimate discussion between the monster and my daughter.

But still, I followed.

Vegeta, for one that seemed to like attention and viewers up until now, looked towards my general direction. Bulma's gaze followed, and awkwardly I managed to get myself a drink. I debated a sleeping pill, but the last thing I needed was to be so asleep that I couldn't protect my daughter if I had to. It was silly and futile to bother think that my being asleep or not should play much of a role in the entire issue, if he wanted her dead she would be dead and there was really no getting around that fact even though I tried.

I exited. I walked slowly. He seemed to know that I could hear them, clever devil that he is, and I was left to uneasily sit in my room, watching the wall while she forced him to eat and they had their oh-so crucial discussion.

I didn't see Bulma the next day. I was called for an emergency meeting practically across the globe. Naturally, I was told to expect a social event. What else was I to do? Take my wife and go, tend to the company I had spent my entire life building and strengthening? How convenient for Vegeta.

A moment of bad judgment swayed my opinion. She was still alive, I knew that much, so I figured she would be safe. I called Krillin, feeling it was fairly inappropriate to all Yamucha, and told him that I wanted them both to stay at my house until I returned. They had full access to my training equipment if Vegeta would share, as long as they made sure that they could get to Gokou if they needed to.

I didn't tell them that Bulma was pregnant. I didn't feel it was really quite important. And for that, I exposed Yamucha to his second great, intense hurt and I will forever feel guilty for it.

-CL