Chapter Twenty: This Selfish Blood Runs Through My Veins

'I won't soothe your pain,

I won't ease your strain,

You'll be waiting in vain,

I've got nothing for you to gain.'

Blue Foundation: Eyes on Fire

Vegeta emerged from the space shuttle steadily, sucking in a long breath and distantly sensing everything around him. He frowned slightly as he detected a change, an addition, to the ki surrounding the Briefs' house. He jumped lithely down to the ground, before catching sight of some figures intertwined to his left.

He heard her voice before he fully recognised her. She looked different and, his stomach clenched, she was wrapped in the arms of the weakling. She caught his gaze and shifted slowly away from Yamcha, her face taking on a strange mixture of nerves and defiance; she was apprehensive about something, but obviously ready to fight for it. Vegeta sneered briefly at the thought; he could kill her with a flick of his smallest finger. He continued to stare at her, eyes scanning her over, noticing small changes in her: she looked softer, her curves were not as lean as before, her hair was longer again, her eyes were darker, and her face, her beautiful face, was a little bit fiercer. He realised why a second later. She stepped fully away from Yamcha, and Vegeta finally saw what it was she was protecting. A child.

Millions of thoughts, feelings, desires and questions seemed to race through his mind at once, before he came to a conclusion. "Get that little human shit away from me! I don't want to touch anything that's a result of a union of both of your pathetic genes!"

He snapped harshly, tensing up as Bulma stepped forward, and held the baby out slightly.

She withdrew the child straight back to her arms and glared at him, "This is not a human shit!" she huffed and her back straightened considerably, and Vegeta knew that if she wasn't holding the child she would have placed her hands on her hips- she was getting into her fighting stance. He sneered back at her, before Bulma added sharply, "He's your son."

Vegeta froze. WHAT? WHAT? His mind went completely blank; he could not comprehend what she had said. He stared at her for what felt like years, trying to discern any hint of lies, treachery or trickery, before his eyes dropped to the child and he started. Despite the mop of purple hair and the bright blue eyes- it looked just like him.

"How the fuck did this happen?!" he bellowed immediately, striding over to Bulma and looming over her furiously. He saw the weakling tense up, but he ignored him. He could kill him without lifting a hand, and he would not hesitate in doing so.

"How do you think?" Bulma hissed, "We had sex, your freakish Saiyan sperm decides to kill my contraception, I get pregnant and oh, here's the child!" she clutched the child tighter to her again and Vegeta snarled.

"That thing is not mine. I've got nothing to do with it. I want nothing to do with it, or you. I'm back only for supplies and I will be gone as soon as I get them. And then I will never see you or the brat again." he glared at Bulma with black eyes before stalking off, his shoulders and back ramrod straight and tense.

A child? A son? I have a son? Vegeta's mind was whirling as he crouched on the floor of the gravity chamber. He shut his eyes and envisioned the tiny child's face. It was the perfect mixture of him and Bulma- there was no denying the child was his. A small part of him swelled at the fact: the baby was not the weaklings. It was his. And Bulma was the mother of his child.

He scowled again moments later. Why should I care if its mine? Its fucking worse that it is. I'm not having anything to do with it. I don't want a fucking brat! He growled aloud, and then paused again, as a sudden thought hit him. If its mine- how had she managed to have it? And where was its tail? How had it developed? He stood up just as there was a knock at the door, and he knew, without checking, that it would be Bulma. He swung the door open and stared down at her.

She bit her bottom lip, and he noticed she was still holding the baby to her, "His name is Trunks. He was born at six months. Saiyan babies grow phenomenally fast. I carried him and I gave birth to him. He's 2months old now, but he's got the abilities of three times that age. He's learning to speak already." Her nervousness slipped away as she beamed proudly and held him up again, "He looks just like you, as you can tell. But," she paused again, "we had to have his tail removed so he wouldn't transform." She rolled the baby gently in her arms, pulling up its white shirt, "Look, here's his scar." She pointed to a scar, a scar that looked identical to Vegeta's own, if slightly lighter.

Vegeta stared, dumbstruck. It was his son. He had a Saiyan son- another heir to the Saiyan throne. Without thinking, he reached out to Bulma, his hand trailing across her cheek, before dropping to the child's head.

Bulma watched, her skin tingling from the contact, and her heart swelled, as he stood impassive, but his hand trembled slightly as he cupped Trunks head. Then with a sudden jerk away he moved back and glared at her.

"Trunks?"

Explaining the Briefs' family history of names to Vegeta hadn't gone at all well. He had outright bellowed that it was not appropriate for a Saiyan, or for Royal Blood. At this point Bulma completely blew up and screamed back at him his earlier words and how Trunks was hers, not his, and she would name him and bring him up as she pleased. Vegeta had simply sneered back at her coldly and said, "That's right. The brat isn't anything to do with me. I do not care about it, or you." and stormed off again.

Bulma sat on her bed, staring at Trunks sleeping in his cot and shuddered as the quiet sobs racked through her. This was not how she had imagined Vegeta's return. She knew he would not be happy, she knew he would act distant and angry. But she thought that this would all be his typical pretence, and that secretly he would be delighted. The brief moment in the shuttle had lifted her spirits so highly, but the look on his face as he had stormed away from her the second time that day…it shook her to the core. There was something about him that had changed. It was like he had got all the hardness and hate about him and buried it back in. He reminded her more of when she had first met him, when he had been so evil and so frightening…Bulma shook again and tried to stifle her loud cries into her arms.

What's happened to you Vegeta? Why didn't you come back to me?

Bulma couldn't sleep that night. She could stop her mind from whirring uncontrollably. Her heart felt like it was trying to climb out of her throat and go and find Vegeta. She tossed and turned in her bed, continuously getting up to check on Trunks, to look out her window, to change her slip… she could not stay still, and she knew why.

Vegeta was staying in a room only two doors away. She felt it was ridiculously symbolic that it was Yamcha's room that was stopping them being next to one another. She stood up again, and bent over the cot, staring down at her son. Her heart lurched every time she looked at him. He was so perfect, so beautiful, he was her son. And Vegeta's, she added mentally, though with a tinge of bitterness. Eugh, how dare he come back here and not even care that I had his child? How can this of happened? What happened to make him so cold again? Where has he been? What has he been doing? She sighed and her arm fell limply over the side of the cot, just lingering above Trunks' shifting, but sleeping, form. She was just about to lean in and kiss him, when there was a sudden breeze behind her, and the bottom of her slip lifted slightly. She spun around, crouching protectively – like a lioness - over Trunks. She both loosened her stance and tensed when Vegeta stepped into her room and shut the door behind him.

She wanted to tell him to get out, to go away and to never come back, to stay away if that's what he wanted so much, but she couldn't. She could do nothing but stare at him, her heart pounding, as he stepped towards her, his face impassive but his eyes glittering.

He reached her quickly, and he simply stood in front of her, his body inches from hers, silent, for a moment, before he wrapped one arm around her waist and bent her down slightly, so her head dropped back, but her hips arched into his. He snaked a hand to her nape and wrapped his fingers in her hair, tugging her head to his as he leant over her. Bulma let out a little gasp, feeling the familiar, but exciting, tingles skim over her body.

Vegeta bent over her, and he locked his eyes on hers. She stared back at him breathlessly, and her mouth, of its own accord, sought out his. She kissed him tentatively at first, but within seconds he had pulled her upright again and right up against him, kissing her fiercely and gripping at her desperately. He stepped forward, forcing Bulma to step back too, until her bottom hit the bed, and Vegeta lifted her up, pushing her down on to her back and kneeling over her.

He stared down at her, and his lips quirked into a smirk, before he looped an arm under her waist and pulled her to him, crushing his lips against hers and kissing her fiercely. She pushed herself as close to him as was possible, her hands travelling over the familiar, yet different - harder, coarser- body. She reached his tail scar and ran her nail over it, eliciting a low growl from Vegeta that never failed to arouse her enormously.

He pulled away from her then, and was just sliding his hand under her slip, pulling it slowly over her when Trunks stirred in his cot and let out a little cry. The sound had obviously caught Vegeta off guard, as Bulma managed to push him off her and dart off the bed to the cot within seconds.

"What's the matter darling?" she whispered down at her son, as he gazed up at her and let out a gurgling burp.

Bulma withdrew her head and grimaced, "Ew. Trunks, pardon you." She realised, suddenly, that Vegeta was still in the room and she spun around to look at him. He was sat on the edge of the bed, staring at her with an unreadable look on his face.

She didn't know what to say to him, so she stayed silent and stared back at him, glancing him over and taking him in. He was gorgeous. There was no denying that, but something had definitely changed about him. He looked harsher, harder, his entire body looked coiled as if to fight or die at any moment. She shuddered suddenly, he was beginning to remind her too much of what he had been like before he had come to Capsule Corp, before she had dreamt of him and obsessed over him. She turned back to Trunks and stared down at her son.

Your Daddy is here Trunks, but I don't know if it's him anymore either. She smiled sadly, and turned again, but Vegeta had disappeared again.

wow. erm i really haven't posted in so long. i am honestly extremely sorry to all the loyal reviewers who have been waiting on this.

it's been on-hiatus, and it's not exactly rolling smoothly now, updates will be few and far between, but im determined not to let this go!

this was a short chapter, i admit, and im sorry it's all i've got for now. but please, PLEASE, review! im going to need the encouragement.

thanks a lot guys X