Stay or Leave?

Bulma and Vegeta didn't see each other again until lunch. Vegeta brought Raditz and Nappa along with him to the kitchen to get food. He sat down at the table and started eating what Mrs. Brief had already set out for them. They were still eating nearly half an hour later when Bulma came into the kitchen. Her formerly white lab coat was now spotted with smears of black grease, as were her face and hands. She went to the sink to wash her hands before sitting at the table next to Vegeta. She stole two pieces of bread from his plate and made a sandwich with the lunchmeat on the table. She didn't bat an eye when he growled at her for taking his food. Nappa and Raditz were astonished that she would do something so bold.

Vegeta scooted his plate farther away from Bulma without missing a beat in his eating. He would let her keep those slices of bread, but that was all she was getting from him. He spooned the last of the fruit jell-o onto his plate for the sole purpose of keeping her from having any. Bulma rolled her eyes when she saw what he did. She ate her sandwich in silence, but she grabbed the last of the celery and carrots when she noticed Vegeta considering them. She stuck her tongue out at him, still coated in chewed-up food. His nose wrinkled in disgust before he turned his attention back to his plate of food.

Mrs. Brief sat down at the table and poured herself and Vegeta some iced tea. She handed his glass to him and sipped her own tea. "How is your work coming along, dear?"

"Not the greatest," Bulma admitted. "I think something's wrong with the carburetor."

"Well, I'm sure you'll figure it out, sweetie."

"Yeah, after I've taken the whole engine apart again." Bulma sighed and finished her sandwich. She stole a glance at Vegeta. He was finally finishing his meal. The other two saiyans were still pigging out. She figured now would be as good a time as any. She took a deep breath. "Vegeta, I wanted to tell you I'm sorry about what I said earlier."

"Hn." Vegeta drank his tea in three gulps and set the glass down. He wasn't interested in her apology. What he wanted was for her to forfeit her wish so he could make his own.

As if reading his thoughts, she continued, "But I can't let you make a wish with the dragon balls when they're charged. You see, when someone dies you have to wish them back within a year of their death or they're gone for good. I can't let Yamcha stay dead, Vegeta. I love him. We—we were going to be married. Actually, we were getting married when Raditz first came. He interrupted our wedding and we never finished the ceremony. We can finally get married when he comes back to life."

At first, Vegeta was unmoved by her reasoning. There was no reason for him to care about their destroyed relationship. He didn't like Yamcha. He was an arrogant, cocky weakling with a laughable power level who looked like a pretty boy more concerned with attracting the female kind than training. Vegeta liked him even less now that he knew Bulma intended to mate with him. He wasn't worthy of her. Bulma was the only woman on the planet with any brains. Why would she want an idiot like that scar-faced fool? Still, he didn't want her to be unhappy. He sighed heavily when he smelled her tears, though they remained unshed. If the idiot made her happy, he would have to be revived. Vegeta wouldn't do anything to cause her pain. Even if it meant giving up his only chance to gain immortality so he could defeat Frieza. His hands clenched into fists. He hated how he always gave in to her in the end. He could argue and fight and try his damnedest not to care, but he did care. He cared more than he could fully understand.

"Stop your crying, girl," he said. He rapped his fingers on the table and wondered how he should tell her he would let her have her wish without competition. He didn't want to appear weak, to her or his comrades. "You can make your stupid wish, but that means that we have no further reason to stay on this planet."

"What do you mean you don't have any reason to stay?" she yelled. "What about us?"

"What about you?" He shook his head and stood up, then leaned over her so his mouth was close to her ear. "You want me to stay here and lead Frieza to your front door? He'll hunt me down, girl. He'll kill me and anyone I give a shit about."

A shiver ran down Bulma's spine. She still didn't know who Frieza was, but if Vegeta said he would kill him, she had no doubt that he would. Vegeta wouldn't admit someone could kill him unless he really could. Something told her there was more to the story, something he wasn't telling her. Was he actually afraid of this Frieza guy? He had to be the one he wanted to kill, but was he still not strong enough? She swallowed hard. "I don't care if he comes here, Veggie, I won't let you leave again."

Vegeta straightened. "That is not your decision to make." He walked out of the kitchen unaccompanied. He wanted to be alone and made sure Nappa and Raditz knew it when he closed the mental links he had with them. He knew they would feel the disconnection and get the message. He went to the indoor garden and leaped into the tree branches, finding a large, solid bough and sat down to try and meditate, but his thoughts and feelings were too distracting.

He almost laughed at the irony when he realized he was having the same argument with himself that he had 18 years earlier. His feelings were at war with his rationalizations. He had to leave the planet to protect the Briefs, but he wanted to stay with them. They were his pack, and knowing he had already left them once before made him feel unbearable guilt even though he knew he did it to keep them safe. Leaving them again would be overwhelmingly painful. But what did his pain matter if it meant they lived? Then again, how could he be sure they would stay alive if he left? Frieza would no doubt kill them when he found out the planet was not purged and destroyed as he commanded. There was no way to win.

Eventually Vegeta found himself trying to come up with a way to break free of his attachment to the Briefs. Then he could kill them without remorse, destroy the mudball planet, and return to Frieza at base 108 as he was ordered to. He would go on surviving his beatings and humiliation, growing stronger with each battle and near-death experience, and sometime in the distant future perhaps, he would be strong enough to defeat Frieza and avenge his fallen race.

Such thoughts didn't last long. Vegeta honestly didn't want to stop caring about the Briefs. They were the only people in the whole universe aside from Raditz and Nappa that gave a damn about him. Maybe it was a lingering fear of being alone that was bothering him, but he wanted very much to have as many people around him as he could get who didn't want to see him killed. If the Briefs were willingly accepting him into their family despite his leaving them for nearly two decades, why should he reject them? They were his pack. They had been when he was a boy and they still were. Time changed nothing between them. He knew it would be safer to forget about them and move on with life, but it wasn't that simple.

He groaned and held his face in his hands. What was he supposed to do?

Several days went by with Vegeta mostly keeping to himself. The Briefs only saw him at meals or the indoor garden if they happened to be in there. Nappa and Raditz didn't see him much more than that. They occasionally sparred with him outdoors, but most of the time he was inside training in the garden while they trained on their own in the yard. The garden wasn't large enough for three full-grown saiyans to train together without constantly getting in each other's way.

Vegeta didn't mind the solitude. At first he was uneasy when he was away from everyone else for an extended time – that is, longer than half an hour – but eventually he got used to it. He could still feel Nappa and Raditz in the back of his mind and the Briefs were always roaming around the compound. He ran into them often enough to know they were there even when he couldn't see them. Being alone gave him time to think things over more thoroughly. Without the conflicting input from his comrades and his pack, he was able to more objectively analyze his situation.

He had two basic options: Leave Earth or stay on Earth. Either way, the destruction of the planet was ensured. If he left, he would either have to destroy the planet or Frieza would come do it himself (or send someone else to do it for him). If he stayed on Earth for too long, Frieza would come after him and destroy the planet. There was no way to win. By returning to Earth, he had guaranteed its demise, as well as the death of his pack.

The guilt was gnawing at his mind. Every time he saw one of the Briefs he would feel a sense of comfort in their presence, but it was soon banished by darker thoughts of their deaths. In his mind's eye he would see Bulma sitting at the table eating an apple, and the next he thought he saw her as a decomposing corpse. He would look at her again, and she would be back to normal. It was maddening to be slipping between the present and the probable future. It wasn't only Bulma who he imagined dead. He would be watching Mrs. Brief preparing lunch when all of a sudden he thought he saw her drop to the floor as a beam of ki shot through her heart. He would turn to see what happened, and she would be bending over to pull a pan out of the cupboard. When he wasn't looking directly at Dr. Brief, he thought the cigarette constantly hanging out of his mouth had turned into a slimy worm crawling out of his mouth as maggots ate his dead body from the inside out.

They were as good as dead. Thanks to him, their days were numbered. It was up to him to decide who killed them. Him, Frieza, or one of Frieza's minions. Maybe it would be the Ginyu Force, or maybe some lowly squadron of soldiers from a nearby base planet. Did it really matter who killed them? They were still going to end up dead prematurely. And it was his fault.

He even considered killing himself to save them. If he died, Frieza would have no reason to want them dead, right? He soon dismissed that thought. Frieza would either want to collect his dead body to be sure he really was dead, then blow up the planet, or he would come to kill the one responsible for killing him, not believing he committed suicide, and then blow up the planet. So what could he do?

Even if he had the time to wait for the dragon balls to recharge, he had already decided he wasn't going to use them to wish for immortality. Let Bulma have her wish to bring back all the humans he and Nappa killed, including her idiot fiancé. He wouldn't go back on that decision unless there really were no other way to keep them alive. Maybe Bulma would be unhappy with him for making it impossible to ever revive the scar-faced weakling, maybe she would never forgive him, but at least she would be alive. Perhaps, in time, she would see that he did it for her sake and she would forgive him. He hoped it didn't come to that. He didn't want to betray her.

It irritated him how the weakling warriors, led by their brave hero Kakarrot, would come by every day to check up on Bulma. What a joke. They were there to make sure he and his comrades weren't killing people. He resented their concern. He would never do anything to purposely harm any of the Briefs and he wasn't about to let Nappa or Raditz harm them either. There was no reason to be worried about his presence at Capsule Corporation. Another feeling accompanying his resentment, one he was loath to admit, was jealousy. Who were they to protect the Briefs? They weren't family. Technically, he wasn't either, not by blood relation, but he was their pack mate and it was his duty to protect them. It wasn't anyone's job to protect them from him. It upset him that the Briefs would have ever relied on that hodgepodge group of fighters to defend them from anyone. He should have been there to do it. He should have been with them!

This, more than anything, was the reason he was leaning more toward the option of staying on Earth despite the risks. He could stay and defend them to his dying breath. It might do no good, but at least he would die trying. This was where he refused to bend. He would not obey Frieza's orders to destroy the planet. He could not do it. He was not about to abandon them again, leaving them to their own devices to save themselves from whatever foes may come their way. As their pack mate, it was his duty to stay with them and do everything in his power to keep them safe. If it meant dying, so be it. At least he would die knowing he tried. What more could he do?

Well, he could become immortal and defeat Frieza without him or any of his men ever coming to Earth. It would be risky, and it would require leaving the planet, but there was a way. He could go to Namek, find the dragon balls there, summon the dragon, and wish for immortality. Then he would come back to Earth and wait for Frieza to come. Eventually the lizard would arrive, and when he did, Vegeta would tear him apart, breaking him down inch by inch as he had been broken down through the years.

Vegeta sighed and shook his head. "It's no use. I don't know where Frieza is. He could intercept me, follow me, or come here while I'm on Namek."

The same ideas had been running through his mind for days. He was getting tired of them. He felt like a hamster in a wheel. He needed some fresh, new ideas that might prove more helpful in his decision. He still didn't want to talk to anyone about it. They would each try swaying him to their own opinion regardless of cost.

From his seat on a branch in the indoor garden, he saw the doors open and Bulma come in holding something at her side. He closed his eyes, trying to ignore his other senses that were alerting him to her presence. Thinking about her would do nothing to help him stay objective. Everything about her made him want to stay on Earth. She wasn't the helpless little girl he remembered, but she was still pitifully weak. If even the lowest-ranking soldier in Frieza's army came to Earth, she would have no chance against him.

"Vegeta? Are you in here somewhere?"

He groaned. What could she possibly want to bother him with now? He considered not answering, but he was tired of avoiding her. He slid off the branch and silently landed on his feet. He saw her jump when she caught the movement out of the corner of her eye. "What do you want, Girl?"

She put her hands on her hips. "First, I want you to stop calling me 'girl.' I'm not a girl."

"Fine, Woman." Vegeta smirked when she became even more flustered.

She held up her hand to calm herself. "Whatever. I wanted to give you these." She held out a small bag filled with capsules. "They're clothes for you, Nappa, and Raditz. Me and Mom went shopping for you today."

His eyebrow raised as he looked in the bag. That was a lot of capsules, which meant a lot of clothes. Even for three people that was way too much. He dropped the bag on the ground and climbed up the tree to his branch.

"Aren't you going to thank me?" she spat.

"For what?"

"For buying you some clothes so you don't have to wear that armor all the time!"

He snorted and shook his head. "It was a waste of time, Woman. We might not even be around long enough to wear it all, even if we wanted to."

"Might?" she whispered, more to herself. If he said they might not be around, that meant they might be around. It was still up in the air. He hadn't decided yet. She felt hope swelling in her chest, making her want to scream with joy. Before, he sounded pretty decided on leaving, but now he wasn't so sure. That was a good sign. She giggled and ran out of the indoor garden, forgetting the fact that he never thanked her and in a way even insulted her efforts.

Bulma ran to the kitchen where her mother was preparing dinner. "Mom! Mom, we still have a chance to convince Vegeta to stay. We have to think of something fast." She leaned forward with her hands on her knees and panted after spitting out the good news.

Mrs. Brief never paused in her cooking, but when she stopped humming, Bulma knew she was thinking of ways to keep Vegeta on Earth. She grinned and sat down at the kitchen table to brainstorm. Probably the best way to get him to stay would be to show him how much they needed him. But how was she supposed to do that? Wasn't it already obvious? She shrugged. She would have to make it even more obvious, somehow.

"We could sabotage his spaceship thingy," Bulma thought aloud.

"Oh, don't do that, dear," Mrs. Brief said. "If he doesn't notice he could get hurt."

Bulma frowned and propped her elbow on the table with her chin in her hand. "Yeah, I guess you're right. Then again, if he's hurt he can't go, right?"

"Now, dear, don't even think of hurting him!"

"As if anything could hurt him." Bulma rolled her eyes and leaned back in her chair. She ran her hands through her hair as she imagined different ways to force Vegeta to stay longer. All of them, unfortunately, involved hurting him. What other way was there? Vegeta was hard-headed enough to do anything once he set his mind to it. If he decided to leave, what could stop him? Only some serious injury that laid him up in bed. It was tougher than she thought to get him to stay on Earth.

Raditz was walking past the kitchen from outside to go wash up before dinner when he heard the women talking. He paused to listen when he heard them mention Vegeta. He frowned when he heard the smart one considering hurting Vegeta in order to get him to stay. Was she really that desperate? He didn't doubt she would resort to such a method. After all, she kept him in a coma for a year. She probably had some means to keep Vegeta against his will. He hurried upstairs to shower. He needed to talk to Nappa as soon as possible, preferably before dinner. The women might try to spring something on the prince while they were eating.

When Raditz left his guestroom after showering, he bumped into Nappa in the hall. "Nappa! I need to talk to you." He grabbed his elbow and pulled him into his room and closed the door behind them.

Nappa yanked his arm free. "What do you want? This better be important."

"It is." Raditz crossed the room and closed the balcony doors he'd left open to let cool air into his room. He was afraid people might be all around eavesdropping. "It's about Vegeta."

"It's always about Vegeta," Nappa muttered as he walked over to the desk to sit on it.

"Yeah, well, I overheard the females talking a few minutes ago. They said Vegeta is possibly considering staying here instead of leaving. They're going to try to convince him to stay, and it seems they might have a chance at getting what they want." Raditz sighed and ran his hands through his hair until they got tangled in it. He winced and pulled them free.

Nappa huffed. "What could they possibly do to convince him to stay here?"

Raditz shrugged. "I don't know. The one with blue hair was considering hurting him somehow so he couldn't leave."

"As if she could."

"Don't underestimate her. I might be a lot weaker than Vegeta, but she managed to keep me in a coma for a year. She might have something potent enough to keep Vegeta from being able to leave if he decides to." Raditz sat down on the edge of the bed, earning a protesting creak as the springs absorbed his weight.

Nappa stroked his mustache with his thumb. "I suppose it's better to be cautious with these people. They do have pretty good brains."

Raditz grunted. He didn't think there was a way to stop the women from trying to push Vegeta to stay, but there had to be something they could do to push him to leave. He didn't want to stay on Earth like a sitting duck, waiting for Frieza to come and kill them all for disobeying his orders. "There's got to be a way to make him see that staying is a bad idea."

"It's simple," Nappa said, standing up. "Whatever they say or do, we'll counter. He'll come around."

"You sure?"

"Of course I'm sure. I know Vegeta better than anyone. He'll see reason." Nappa walked to the door and let himself out, leaving Raditz to ponder what he said.

"But we'll be eating," he grumbled to his empty room.

At dinner, Vegeta was the last one to come to the table. Mrs. Brief already had the food set out, Dr. Brief had finished his evening paper, and Bulma and the saiyans were waiting anxiously for his arrival. He sat in his chair and started eating without so much as a greeting to anyone, which had not been unusual for him over the past few days. When he shoveled his first bite of food in his mouth, Bulma knew it was time to get started. He didn't ever bother talking when eating, so she figured he would have to sit and listen as long as he was eating.

"So, Vegeta," she said sweetly, "I saw on the news today that your space pods were taken by the government. No one knows where they're being held."

Vegeta grunted, but he didn't stop eating. Taking that as her cue to continue, Bulma said, "I remember you were a fast learner when it came to mechanical things. I was wondering if maybe you could help me a little in the lab? There's this stupid engine I can't get to run right no matter what I do."

This time there was no response. Probably he wasn't too interested in helping her with that, but at least she was able to get a little flattery in. Stroking his ego was usually a sure-fire way to get him to comply with her requests. She decided not to push it too hard or he would realize what she was up to. She started eating slowly, keeping an eye on him to see if he was showing any signs of considering what she said. She was only rewarded with the same stoic mask he always wore. It was amazing how he could look even blanker than he did as a child. She had thought that was an emotionless expression.

Mrs. Brief spooned more scalloped potatoes onto Vegeta's plate. "I hope you like these, dear, it's a new recipe. I actually have a lot of new recipes I'd like to try. I think you'd enjoy them."

The saiyan prince answered by finishing off the potatoes and silently asking for more with his eyes. She obliged him and he quickly ate the potatoes she gave him. She kept a steady supply of them on his plate throughout the meal. He didn't say anything about it or even look over at her again, but that could only be expected.

Bulma sipped her water when she felt too full to eat more. "Oh, I wanted to ask you something else, Vegeta. I just remembered. I have to go into the bad part of the city to pick something up tomorrow. Would you mind coming with me?"

Dr. Brief finished his meal, stood up and stretched, and walked past Vegeta on his way out of the kitchen. "I suppose I'll see you in the morning, son." He patted his back as he went by.

Vegeta ate the rest of the food on his plate and shoved it away, indicating he was done eating. He sat still for a moment before saying, "We have remotes to get our pods back. I do not lower myself to the job of a mechanic. You do not need me to accompany you anywhere. You're strong enough to defend yourself against any weakling humans." He stood up and left the kitchen to return to the indoor garden where he spent the majority of his time.

Nappa and Raditz looked at each other and smirked. They weren't even needed to shoot down everything the woman threw at Vegeta. He did it himself. At least, everything the blue-haired one said. They would still need to be cautious with the blonde ditz. Her cooking was a powerful weapon against their cause. Neither of them knew what to make of the relationship between Dr. Brief and Vegeta. It was quiet, not really shown outwardly, so they didn't know how much influence he might have over their prince. They would have to watch him, too.

Vegeta leaped to his tree branch and sat down. He wasn't stupid. He knew what Bulma was trying to do. Being subtle had never been her strong point. He smirked and shook his head. If he gave in to her now, she would just keep coming up with various things for him to do to help her, and then before he knew it, he would have spent a year on the mudball. No, he definitely couldn't let that happen, not by accident anyway. It had to be his choice. It was nice to know that she wanted him to stay so badly, but he had to do what was best for her, not what she wanted.

He looked up at the braches above. The leaves, like on the trees outside, were dying, turning various shades of orange, yellow, and red. Like the last time he left Earth. He remembered the sound they made as they scratched across the ground in the cool autumn wind. The sound of life, and of death. 'Look how well it turned out the last time I left. Nothing changed for the better. Damn it all! I've got to choose soon. There's no time to stall.'

He knew his feelings were getting in the way of reason, and the problem only worsened with time. How easy it had been to sink into his old life at Capsule Corporation! It was making him soft. He was trying to resist it, but he couldn't. Not when he had hot water for baths, plenty of mouth-watering food, and an aesthetically pleasing training area.

'Get a fucking grip! You're a master tactician. Surely you can come up with some sort of plan that will allow you to stay here and get strong enough to defeat Frieza if he dares come here. There has got to be a way! The issue here is time. The dragon balls take a year to recharge. Then the woman will make her wish and they'll be inert for another whole year. So it'll be two years before I can make my wish for immortality. That gives Frieza more than enough time to get here.' Vegeta rubbed his temples. He could feel a massive migraine coming on. He had done nothing but think and strategize through possible scenarios for the past two weeks. He was tired of it. He needed a break. But the urgency of his dilemma wouldn't allow him to stop thinking about it for more than a few minutes at a time. Maybe it was time to seek input from someone else. They could bounce his ideas around, find the flaws, maybe even build on them. There was one important detail he needed to determine before he could further formulate any plans of action.

The saiyan prince slid off the branch, ignoring the bark digging into his legs, and dropped to the ground. The fallen leaves crunched under his boots as he ran out of the garden. He needed to get his scouter to do a little research. He almost knocked Mrs. Brief over when he rushed past her in the hall, and he had to dig his heels into the thick carpet to keep from colliding with Bulma when she emerged from her laboratory unexpectedly.

"Whoa! Vegeta, look out!" she shouted as he again started running down the hall.

He ignored her and turned to go upstairs. He opened the door to his guestroom and went inside, slamming the door shut behind him with his tail. Putting on his scouter, he pushed the button several times to access the catalogue of planet coordinates stored in its memory. He scrolled through the base planets until he reached 108. He smirked when he saw that it was in a different galaxy, though one not too far from XR. Base 108 was planet 906MI.

'Excellent. This means that one or more of my plans might work after all.' His smirk widened. He had more research to do. With his scouter still on, he hurried out of his room and caught Bulma at the top of the stairs. He threw her over her shoulder without an explanation and went downstairs to her laboratory, ignoring her shrieks of protest.

…

Frieza read through the report displayed on the large computer screen above the control panel where his best technicians were working tirelessly to get him the transmission the saiyans shared before Raditz was killed on 1076XR. He sat patiently, sipping his wine and rapping his fingers on his armrest. He was in no real hurry. He was sure that whatever he learned from the transmission would be well worth the wait.

Most of it had already been decrypted and was displayed on the screen for him. It was largely uninteresting, the majority of it comprised of taunts in battle, the sounds of blows hitting, and static, but there was more to it. Frieza was sure of it. Vegeta may have wanted revenge for Raditz, but he doubted that alone would be enough to drive him to disobey Frieza's command and leave for a distant planet without even bothering to send a report that he was doing so. He wasn't deserting the army, perhaps, but there was something he considered to be worth the risk waiting for him on the little mudball. Frieza intended to find out what it might be.

It was two more hours before the technicians finally managed to get the whole transmission on display for their master. Frieza smirked when he read the last part, said by one of the inhabitants of the planet and probably the one who struck the final blow that killed Raditz. The other warrior the saiyan had been fighting, who had also died in the battle, was going to be wished back to life with the seven dragon balls they had on the planet. Apparently they had the power to grant any wish. He could see why Vegeta rushed to 1076XR. For revenge, yes, but more importantly for a wish. It wasn't hard to imagine what the monkey prince would want, either. He was likely going to wish for enough power to defeat him, or to become a super saiyan if he still believed that silly legend.

Frieza chuckled and finished his wine. "Very good. As usual he is most useful when he doesn't mean to be. Cui, you will do some research on these 'dragon balls.' See if 1076XR is the only planet with them and figure out how to use them. I think I may have just found a way to rule over the universe for eternity."

Cui turned from his station and bowed. "As you command, Lord Frieza."

Frieza grinned as he left the room to retire for the night. It had been a busy day. In the morning, he would hopefully have more information on the dragon balls. Incredible! Balls with the power to grant any wish he so desired! Immortality would be nice. Then no one could ever usurp him. It was too late to stop Vegeta from making his wish for power. If the wish really could grant anything, then he would have to be cautious rather than underestimating Vegeta's strength when they next met. Maybe Vegeta would have the strength to defeat him, but he wouldn't be able to finish the job if he was immortal. It was brilliant. Then, after the little monkey had his rebellion, he would put him in his proper place, restoring his memories of the planet he was ordered to destroy after forcing him to realize he would never be able to break free of his chains. The tyrant cackled as he closed the door to his chambers.

A/N: Here it is! Possibly to be revised and expanded at a later time... I've just been too busy and distracted the past few days to do much with it even though I wanted to. I've also been stuck on chapter 57 for several days and I'm getting frustrated with it. It just doesn't seem to want to be written. Send me reviews with encouragement and ideas, por favor.

Beta'd by lilpumpkingirl.