Not Taking It Well
Chapter 2: Vegeta

"Bura, we need to talk about this."

"No we don't."

"You can't just ignore this-"

"Fuck you."

Goten sighed. Talking to Bura – or Bulma or Trunks or Vegeta – when she was this worked up was like talking to a brick wall. Which was unfortunate, because they really needed to talk about this. As soon as possible.

"Bura," he did his best to use a calm voice, did his best to break through the crazy, "I think we should tell people about us." He took a deep breath and held it. He'd thought this conversation over a million times, weighed out each word he wanted to say, imaged all the ways she could possibly react. Best case scenario, she'd agree and they could figure out how they wanted to tell people. Worst case scenario… Well, he probably wouldn't survive the worst case scenario.

"No." With her arms crossed over her chest like that and the scowl furrowing her brow, Goten really wished she didn't take after her father. "End of discussion."

It took a lot to get a Son's blood boiling. Goten was by all accounts a reasonable guy. Nice. Understanding. But damnit, it was really aggravating to have his own mate disregard his opinion so blatantly.

"Dende, Bura, you need to fucking listen to me. You can't just ignore me because you don't like what I have to say."

Bulma could've told him. The last way to talk a Vegeta down was to let yourself get pissed off.

The blue-eyed heiress' eyes narrowed dangerously. The venom coming from her glare would have made her royal ancestors proud. "Excuse me?"

But he was still too pissed off to care that her ki was slowly rising. "This relationship isn't just between Bura and Bura. Since I'm at least half-involved, I feel like I should have a fucking say in whether or not we fucking tell our family and friends."

"You better watch it before this 'relationship' no longer exists."

"It's been seven years. Are you that afraid of telling people? Or do you enjoy sneaking around for a quick fuck every couple nights? Because that doesn't seem like an actual 'relationship' so much as a series of one night stands."

"Get out of my house."

He looked at her incredulously. "What?"

"I told you. Discussion over. Get out."

"Dende, what the hell is wrong with you!" He threw up his hands in exasperation. He could not be hearing this.

"GET OUT!"

"NO!"

She was taken aback for just a moment. Bura was a screamer, but Goten was supposed to be the level-headed one. She got upset and it was his job to calm her down and fix things. That was the balance they'd struck, and it had worked for them so far. Normally she might find his desire to exert his dominance attractive (i.e. hot) if this weren't so serious.

He took advantage of her hesitation. He lowered his voice, but it still had an angry edge to it. "I'm not leaving until we actually have a DISCUSSION about this."

Bura had had enough. She could not deal with discussing this right now. So she decided it was time to play her ace in the hole.

So she lowered her voice too, but the evil look in her eyes never faded. In fact they seemed to twinkle. The smirk she gave made him shiver. Goten knew enough to be wary. "This is your last chance to leave. Right now."

While he was concerned, he knew backing down now would be admitting defeat. "I can't do that, Bura."

"Fine." For a full five seconds she drew in a deep breath. As soon as she started letting it out, Goten wished he'd realized where this was going.

"DADDY!"

Goten's face paled and he was utterly speechless. She wasn't that cruel. He should've done something then. But instead he stood there frozen as he felt her ki skyrocket and saw her take in another deep breath.

"DADDY!"

His heart sank. Oh Dende, he could feel Vegeta's ki in the Gravity Room flare slightly. Could feel it moving slowly their way. Five minutes. Max.

"DADD-" He managed to get behind her and clamp his hand over her mouth to stifle her scream. But he knew it was useless. Vegeta was on his way.

"Bura," he hissed in her ear, pulling her close. "This is really fucking dangerous." But her ki level stayed the same. It was still a bright signal fire to any ki-sensing person within the city limits. "Please please please call off your father."

She didn't react, didn't move. That was answer enough.

Two minutes.

Goten debated with himself. He could leave now, save his ass the beating that would inevitably ensue if he was caught like this with Vegeta's daughter. Or he could stay, let Vegeta figure things out. He'd force Bura to admit they were dating. And then feel like a dick about it.

How the fuck did this end up with him seeming like the asshole?

One minute.

So in the end, he decided he wouldn't force her hand like that. He pushed away from her a little more roughly than he needed to. Didn't wait to see if she'd turn around to look at him as he used Instant Transmission. Mostly because he knew she wouldn't.

Bura had barely composed herself by the time her father burst into the room.

Vegeta looked his daughter up and down. She looked like she was about to cry on top of being obviously pissed off and agitated. And Goten – who he had sensed in her seconds ago – was no where to be seen and his ki wasn't anywhere near the vicinity of Capsule Corps.

Suspicious? Yeah. Just a bit.

But he just raised an eyebrow at his youngest child. "Well, girl?"

And there was his little girl again. Composed. Poised. In control. "False alarm."

"You're going to call me from my training and then not even tell me what the fuck all that was about?" It came out a little harsher than he meant it to, but it was annoying to have to come all the way over here. If she was going to use him to achieve her ends, he could at least make her feel bad about it.

"It was nothing." A slight pause. "I'm sorry for calling you down here."

"If there's a problem between you and Kakkarott's brat…" he began slowly. He wasn't sure whether he was offering to listen to her or to beat up the kid.

"It's fine, Daddy. I can handle this."

He didn't look convinced. For a moment he watched her. Probably waiting to see if she would change her mind and offer more information. When he saw that this was unlikely to be the case, he shrugged. If it were important (by which he meant, directly relevant to him), she'd tell him when she felt it was appropriate.

After her father left and had been gone a reasonable amount of time, Bura let herself break down. She hated being such a bitch to Goten. Hated manipulating her father like that. But didn't Goten realize she was just trying to protect him? There was 100% chance of bodily harm being done to him once it got out that had been seeing each other since she was a teenager.

And it would not help matters when they all found out she was pregnant.

After their argument, they'd been so pissed off that they'd avoided each other for a couple days. They were giving themselves and their partner enough time to cool off before getting back to the "talk." But they were never very good at staying away. Or keeping their hands off each other. So as always, they kissed and made up.

In the end, Bura had relented. There was really no way to avoid people finding out now, anyway. The sooner they told people, the more damage control they could do.

Bura's stomach did flips as she thought about it. She'd been a nervous wreck when she told Goten about the baby. The prospect of telling other people was… terrifying.

"Hey guys, Goten and I have been sleeping together for years and we're actually about to get married. By the way, I'm pregnant and due about two months after the date we picked for the wedding."

She wondered how big a crater the combined blast of her brother and father would be.

Telling her father was not going to be pleasant. So she enlisted back-up. Her mother. Gohan. And of course, Goten. Four rational people – four of the few people Vegeta actually listened to – should help minimize collateral damage / the death toll.

It surprised her how unconcerned her mother and Gohan were. While she had faith in her father, he was still somewhat of a loose cannon at times. She wondered what they knew that she didn't, but the more she thought about it, the less she actually wanted to know.

Now Bura found herself in the Gravity Room with said group, her father standing a few feet away.

Vegeta nodded to them. Apparently that was all the greeting they were to expect. He just stood there waiting. A dark look clouded his features as he made eye contact with Gohan.

"Daddy…" Damn, she hated how much her voice was trembling. Goten grabbed her hand and squeezed it reassuringly. Vegeta did not miss the movement. His eyes narrowed and he appraised Bulma and the Saiyan escort suspiciously. Almost knowingly.

"Vegeta." Everyone's eyes turned to Goten.

What the fuck is he doing! I thought he agreed I should do the talking… Obviously Vegeta would be less inclined to "kill the messenger" if it was his own child.

"What, brat?" Strangely, Bura noted, his sneer wasn't as pronounced as she would have expected.

Goten stepped forward, his hand not leaving hers. "I would like to ask for your permission to marry your daughter."

No one ever gave Goten enough credit. His mother had never hounded him to be a "scholar." He didn't have Gohan's fancy law degree. He wasn't a genius like Bura or Trunks. But he wasn't an idiot. If they had come in here and told Vegeta what was going to happen, that could not have gone over well. But if he appealed to the prince's pride and asked him politely, showed him some respect, he stood a chance of having a couple less bones broken.

There was dead silence. It was quite possible none of them were breathing. Bura was sure her heart had completely stopped.

Eventually, Vegeta just hmphed. He crossed his arms over his chest and straightened to his full height. Even if he was several inches shorter than Goten, he still looked intimidating as hell. "I was wondering when you were going to get the balls to actually ask," he nearly spit at the younger Saiyan. But Bura was surprised to see that there was almost amusement in his eyes. Anger, yes. But it was subdued.

Goten didn't reply. He just waited for an answer.

Vegeta seemed to be appraising the boy. Admittedly, not a boy anymore. He hmphed again. "Let's spar." There was a momentary pause as the group digested what he was saying. "Prove to me you deserve her."

He couldn't help grinning. "Yes, sir."

As the two flew off – with Gohan, of course, to act as referee – to find a secluded location to spar and really do some damage, Bura felt tears rolling down her cheeks. This had gone way better than she thought it would and the relief she felt was overwhelming.

Bulma rubbed her daughter's back reassuringly. "See sweetie, I told you it'd be fine. Your father can, on occasion, be reasonable."

Bura smiled at her mother. She wasn't sure what the details were, but she had the feeling that both her mother and future brother-in-law had a hand in her father's easy acceptance.

And for that, she would be eternally grateful.

AN: I know I didn't spend a whole time on Vegeta's actual reaction. While it would be amazing and epic to have a Vegeta freak out / tantrum, the last chapter and my one-shot "Meditation" sort of explain my thought process as to why he takes it so well. By the way, the first part of this chapter where Vegeta walks in after the argument is when Vegeta's suspicions are first raised (as mentioned in said one-shot).

Next chapter: Pan.