'Face to Face'
Chapter Eighteen: Do You See What We've Done?
'There is something I see in you,
It might kill me,
But I want it to be true.'
Paramore: Decode
It had been just over 2 months since Vegeta had left, but Bulma still woke up in the same manner every morning: stretching out her arms across the bed, expecting- and hoping- to find him there next to her. She was disappointed each time. Disappointed and fed-up, and apparently, nauseous.
She barely had time to fling herself into her bathroom before the vomit boiled up into her mouth. She managed to slump over the sink in time though, letting out a low groan as her stomach heaved again. Once she was sure she was able to get up and her stomach had settled, she brushed her mouth fervently and climbed in the shower.
Jeez, what have I eaten that's making me this ill? That's about a week now! Hmm, maybe it was that chicken I ate at Yamcha's? Bulma thought to herself, before her stomach upset itself again and she threw up, with an alarmed and horrified squeal, all over her own feet.
She didn't know why, but she had a feeling it was something to do with Vegeta.
Another week had passed and Bulma had carried on struggling with nausea. She slumped over her sink, sweating and sucking in long nervous breaths, pressing her head on the cool sink marble and waiting.
The little white stick lying next to her would dictate her future.
Two minutes, then another, and Bulma snatched up the stick and squeezed her eyes shut.
Deep breath, it's ok, you can do this, no matter what happens, you can do this. She thought of Vegeta, training in space, and of her mother and father, and of Yamcha, and Goku and the rest of the gang, and then her mind went to Vegeta again and she knew the answer before she opened her eyes.
Two blue lines: she was pregnant.
With a Saiyan baby.
"Wow, only a month left now Bulma." Yamcha grinned over his burger at her, the merriment in his eyes only making the blue-haired woman across from him angrier.
"What? What are you grinning at?" she snapped back, shoving another handful of carrot sticks into her mouth, before following it with a massive bite of a hot dog. She glared balefully at Yamcha over the top of it.
Yamcha paused, and his eyes flicked over Bulma in concern for what felt like the ten millionth time since she had announced her pregnancy.
He remembered that vividly:
He'd been practising his swing when Bulma burst out into the garden and announced loudly, "I'm pregnant."
Yamcha's jaw, and stomach, dropped to what felt like the centre of the universe. "Whnfg..?" was all he could manage.
"I'm pregnant Yamcha. I have been for about 3months. Stop gawking like that, it's Vegeta's, which means- obviously- its half Saiyan so I've checked up some stats and the doctors think I'll be due in about three months, since Saiyan babies develop much quicker, and well, Chi-Chi was only six months in when Gohan was born, and he was perfectly healthy." She said all of this in such a matter-of-fact tone that Yamcha briefly wondered if she had planned the pregnancy. Then the reality of it hit him.
"YOU'RE HAVING VEGETA'S CHILD?!" he shouted so suddenly and so disarmingly loudly and angrily, that Bulma stepped back, eyes suddenly wide and anxious.
She nodded as Yamcha stared at her with demanding eyes.
He couldn't believe it; he wouldn't. Bulma, his Bulma, was having Vegeta's child.
"And the bastard isn't even here to look after her or it!"
He hadn't meant to say that out-loud. Shit.
He grimaced again now, remembering Bulma's fury and then took another bite of his burger. He swallowed his laugh as Bulma quickly polished off her third hot dog and bag of carrot sticks. Kami, she's huge. And always hungry. He hadn't admitted it out-loud yet, for fear of Bulma's wrath, but he was scared stiff for her safety. The baby was growing at an alarming rate, and she looked worse and worse every day. The thought that she might not survive the birth popped into his head often and filled him with horror, before he remembered Chi-Chi and Gohan. And Bulma would have much better doctors and services than she'd had, he knew that, but still…he hated Vegeta more now than he had ever hated anyone or anything, including Frieza and including the upcoming Androids. He hadn't only stolen the one thing Yamcha really loved, but he had also stolen the life he could have had, and could be destroying it in the process.
"Ok Miss Briefs, one more push, that's it, and again, that's it and…" the earnest doctor's voice was drowned out by Bulma's loud scream as her baby was born.
"He's okay? He's okay? He has a tail, does he have a tail?" she was upright as soon as the cord was cut and looking around, tiredness and pain coiling into panic and urgency, as her eyes scanned the room for her son.
"He's fine, Bulma, he's perfect! Ooh, there's the tail darling!" Mrs Briefs was cooing already, taking the baby from the nurse's arms and passing him gently to Bulma.
The blue-haired beauty burst into tears. "Trunks! Oh, I love you," she bent her head down and kissed his head, her tears trickling onto his face and mingling with his own as he wailed loudly. His tail flicked up and hit Bulma's nose and she let out a delighted laugh.
"We have to remove it Bulma, darling," her father said sagely, his face a mixture of concern, delight and pride.
"I know, I know. But not yet," she peered down at her son: a thick, messy head of lilac hair- her father's gene- and her blue eyes…but Kami, he looks just like his father. Bulma's heart ached suddenly and she burst into tears again. Oh Vegeta, I wish you were here.
Trunks learnt faster than any other baby any Doctor had ever seen and Bulma noted with glee, that that included Gohan. He grew, post-birth, at a normal human rate, which Bulma suspected was because of the loss of his tail, but at 3 months, mentally and emotionally, his intelligence was phenomenal.
Not that it particularly mattered, for everyone in the Brief's household completely adored him. Including Yamcha.
He had moved back in to support Bulma through her pregnancy and he had grown so attached to Trunks that Bulma could not have thought of wanting him out again. She would never quite feel for Yamcha what she had felt for Vegeta, her feelings for the Saiyan seemed to be in a strange, uncontrollable league of their own, but she was so fond of him, and he loved her, and Trunks, and he wanted them. He was there.
She watched from the kitchen window as Yamcha swung Trunks around in his arms, laughing as the purple-haired boy grabbed at his hair and shouted delightedly. She saw the joy in her son's eyes, saw the love that practically radiated off Yamcha, and she strolled out to join them, her heart both aching and warming as Yamcha turned to her, his face splitting into a massive grin, and swept her up in his arms, hugging her and Trunks to him as if they were the most important thing in the world- as if they were his.
Bulma had mere seconds to contemplate the thought when the ground thrummed beneath her, and the wind swept rapidly, and there was a great blot covering the sunlight above them. Yamcha held them tighter, and for some horrified moments, Bulma thought the worse.
Then she heard the familiar clicks and thuds of Capsule Corp technology and she spun in Yamcha's arms in time to see the battered shuttle land, the doors sliding open and…
"Vegeta." She breathed.
Hello all! Oh my, I've finally updated. I hope none of you have just passed out in shock! Admittedly it has taken me a VERY long time to do so, and this is still a very short update, but heck! its something. I apologise to those who have been waiting for this for such a long time, and I'm so sorry I made you do so. I hope you can forgive me and still keep reviewing. I make no promises about my update times, since I have been under a lot of pressure and workload thanks to committees and college, but I'm getting back into this now and I hope I'll manage to keep going. Please be patient with me though, and keep reviewing! THANKS SO MUCH! X