Daddy's Girl Chapter 12
I'm really really sorry for my very long absence...
My husband accidentally deleted my files and with a baby on the way its really difficult for me to arrange the new ones, but now I'm back... I hope you're still here...
Disclaimer: I don't own DBZ or any of its characters, I just loveee them...
Chapter 12
For a couple weeks Bulla felt much better than her early semester of her pregnancy. Well not physically, because she was still as weak as before, but psychologically. She didn't feel like if she was prisoned in her own room again for all of those bed rest things. Goku-san stayed around to help her. He took her shoppings, sightseeing in the most beautiful places on earth, eating ice cream and the thing she started to enjoy very much; fishing. And above all, he always took a very good care of her, not ever let her drip even one sweat of exhaustion when doing all the fun, there was always his instant transmission technique to count.
His staying around made her feel awkward at first. She was questioning his motives, of course, even till now. But he never did something wrong, he acted like what he had to, as a father. She knew her own father always watched them with unfathomable expression on his face. But that how he always acted everyday. She relieved that at least Vegeta had not tried to confront Goku for staying around her. It made her happy now, very happy.
Just like the other days, that afternoon Goku-san took her fishing at West City lake. He always knew the good places to do.
She didn't feel surprised again as her fishing rod jolted by the movement of a fish, another big fish again. She had not known that fishing could be so fun before and now she wasn't sorry for coming to that lake. Goku-san had taught her instantly how to do it and found a nice spot under a tree for her to sit. They had caught a lot of fishes since the morning and had grilled some for lunch, but she insisted that she still wanted to catch some more for dinner. Her little nice, Trunks' oldest daughter whom came with them started to have bleary eyes. It was almost her nap time.
"Are you sleepy Cathy darling? Look, auntie caught a huge fish again. We'll take it home for dinner." She reeled in the string and put her catch aside.
Cathy wasn't interested, instead she put her head on her aunt's lap, her sleepiness was unbearable. Goku watched them somewhere close as he cleared away the mess they'd created after grilling the fishes. He smiled, couldn't help to feel satisfied as he saw Bulla's happy face, tough she started to look pale of exhaustion. Her happy face was what he always wanted to see every time.
"Well, well...it seems both of you have had quite a day, girls. Come on, I'll take you home." Goku appeared before them. His hands on his hips and his eyes watched them eye fully.
"Oh, no...not now, I'm not finished yet..." Bulla whined like a five years old, she was too anxious about that fishing time.
But Goku noticed her started to look pale face, "Oh, no. I think you're starting to get pale. You need some rest now. Come on, Bulla, I've promised your mom not to make you too tired. We can come back here again tomorrow if you really like it." Goku bended to lift Catherine who'd already been in slumber from Bulla's lap, "And look at this little Cathy. Don't you think she deserves her comfy nap?"
"Okay," She surrendered.
He used his instant transmission then, directly to each girls' room in Capsule Corp. Bulla soon fell asleep like her niece as she hit her pillow. Goku then came back to their fishing spot to gather their things. Soon, he'd been in The Briefs kitchen with their fishes catch.
"Hi, Bulma." He grinned his famous Son's grin as he saw his best friend sipping her afternoon coffee there.
"Oh, wow." She rolled her eyes at the huge fishes Goku brought there, "You sure really have fun, eh?"
"Yeah, I wish you saw how happy they are, especially she is. They're both worn out now." He kept himself busy with his fishes, adding some spices and preparing to cook them.
"Really?"
"You know, Bulma, I really thank to you for letting me get around her a lot. It really means a lot to me."
Bulma couldn't see the expression he wore on his face, but from his choked voice, she knew that he really meant what he said. She stood up and patted him on his back, "I'm the one who really should thank to you, you know. You've brought her back her cheerfulness again these days."
He turned his face to hers and they smiled at each other, "Now tell me, what kind of food you're going to cook?"
"Oh, this is my special recipe, eh actually Chichi's. You'll like it, trust me."
"Oh I can't wait. I wish my husband ever cooked for me." They both laughed. Bulma didn't come back to her lab that afternoon, instead helping her childhood best friend cook for dinner.
The dinner was cheerful, with Bulla, Chaterine and Goku kept telling their fishing stories to the others. Bulma, Trunks and Marron smiled and laughed with them, but Vegeta remained scowling on his chair without any words spoken. Sure, after the whole Majin Buu things, his and Goku's relationship grew better than in the past, but it still bothered him that his former rival started to act like if he were a part of his own family these days...
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He had learned through experience to be patient, at least as patient as he could be, so he asked his wife about what had bothered him instead of confronting his former rival directly.
"What's the hell exactly that clown doing in our house everyday? He's hanging around Bulla too much, he stays here everyday, takes over my TV in the living room, digs the fridge much faster than anyone can do. Thank's God that he doesn't try to invade my GR. But it seems like he's moving into this house."
Bulma turned her sight from her computer screen and then smiled to her very annoyed husband who stood behind her with his arms crossed before his chest and his back leaned against the wall.
"What's wrong with that? I think Bulla seems more cheerful with him around. I have to admit that I have a very little time for our daughter. She must be very bored if she only has those boots around her." She sighed.
"What do you mean?" His tone rose a bit, "Do you mean he and Bulla..."
She raised an eyebrow, "Oh...you misunderstood hon, there's nothing wrong with them. It's not like what you think. Goku stays around to help her, however he felt guilty for what Goten had done to Bulla. That's what he said to me."
"Huh, ridiculous!" He grunted.
Bulma stood up from her chair and now face to face with her husband, "Why don't you try to find out yourself?" She said softly, "Talk to him and find out his reason. It's not too bad, is it?"
"Talk to him? Feh! You wish!" He spun and left his wife alone again in her lab.
Bulma sighed again and shook her head, "I wish he's not too stubborn to find out the truth..." She spoke to herself.
"I'm sorry, Vegeta. Bulla wants this cake. I come to take it for her."
As fast as his sudden appearance before the Saiyan Prince, Goku was gone again in a blink of eye with his instant transmission after he pinched off a banana cake from Vegeta's hand. He left his longtime rival alone in the Briefs' family kitchen with his mouth gapped opened before Vegeta could spend few seconds to adjust his brain to understand what had just happened to him.
"Shit!" he shouted. It had been the so so many times such a thing happened inside the Briefs' household. Enough! Vegeta thought he was going to explode. But he managed to calm himself down. Maybe Bulma's right, he has to find out the reason of Kakarot's presence in his house. But talking wasn't so Vegeta. He would find out another way...
He could feel the clown's ki very close to his daughter's now. He walked slowly to follow it and he found him, sitting on the sofa in his daughter's room. He felt his ki started to rise as he tried to control it as low as possible. "Be patient, Vegeta, be patient. What's Bulma gonna say if I made the same mistake like I did with Goten?" He stopped and stood behind the slightly opened door with his ki suppressed, watched Goku and Bulla talking about something without realizing his presence there.
"Thank you for taking me the cake, Mr. Goku."
"You're welcome." the cheerful warrior smiled and took a seat across hers. There was a happiness drawn on his face as he watched her enjoying her cake. She noticed where his sight feel, to her belly, and it created an awkward silence between them.
"Do you want anything else?" He asked suddenly.
"No...umm...Mr. Goku, can I ask you something?"
He raised an eyebrow, "Sure! What is it?"
"Umm...why are you so nice to me?"
His smile faded and serious expression covered his face now.
"Oh, I'm sorry," the young girl said, "I don't mean something bad. And please don't think that I think something bad about you. I just...I just...want to know..."
"Oh, that's fine. I know what I'm doing probably seems weird, not just to you, but also for other people. I just hope that you won't think that I'm a sick pervert...getting around a young girl of my granddaughter's age."
"No! No! Of course not."
Goku's sight feel to his feet now. He released a deep sigh before he tried to speak a word, but no words came out from his mouth until few minutes.
Bulla tried to break the silence, "Is it because of...him?"
"Ah...I hope you're not mad at me..."
"Of course not...you've been so nice to me. How can I get mad at you?"
"You know...Bulla...I was dead when we fought Cell and I refused to be wished back. I think maybe you ever heard that story..."
"Hmm?"
"My reason to refuse was that I used to think that the world would be safer without me, that all villains who had come before came after me. But then I know that not all people thought the way I did and even I understand it now that it wasn't completely true, that I'd made mistake..." He stopped to watch the young girl's reaction, she was listening, "Goten was born when I was dead, so I never stayed beside him nor his mother. I just realize it now that my absence in his early life had created a hole in his heart, a wound that is irreparable. He thinks I didn't stay beside him because I didn't love him. And the worse think is I had not learned about it soon, I made my second mistake by leaving him again to train with Uub. Now can you tell me what kind of father I am?"
Bulla was trying to absorb his story, so what it has to do with him staying around her a lot?
"I don't know why he made the same mistake as I did by abandoning his born to be child now. Didn't he realize that it means his child will have the same experience like himself? I can't imagine if it happens again Bulla. That's why I stay around you a lot. I want your baby get the love he needs as much as possible. I don't want he thinks that he's ever abandoned. I know I 'll never be able to exactly replace a father's place for your baby. But its all I can do. I just think that your pregnancy is a bless, a kind of another chance given to me to repay all mistakes I'd ever done to my son and family. Will you still let me stay around, now?"
The girl smiled, she completely understood now, "Sure, after all you're his grandfather and I'll make sure that my baby get the love he needs as much as possible, include from you..."
Vegeta froze, a kind of another chance given to me to repay all mistakes I'd ever done... Why should those words, the wise words came from an idiot third class? But now he knew...
All flashback he had recently replayed again and again in his mind. It sure had reason, he'd been told before. Karmaphala isn't written to make people suffer, but to create justice among mankind, that life needs balance. People will face consequences for every actions they do. No crime without punishment and no goodness without reward. It's the law of nature, Vegeta, but past is past, today is today. What we think is a punishment, sometime can be a reward for us, and vice versa. Everything depends on how we interpret our lives.
Sitting with his legs crossed in his gravity room, he adjusted his breath and started to concentrate. Now, training was meant as meditation more to him. Didn't one of the earth folk say that human must grow like a paddy plant; the older it was the bower it became; that the older a man the wiser he had to be? He wasn't a human, he was a Saiyan, but there was nothing wrong in following such a philosophy, wasn't it? So there he was, inside his gravity room, trying to find a better himself through meditation, a wiser Vegeta.
He threw all his arrogance there, even if he had to be punished for all mistakes he'd done in his past, he would receive it fatefully, with opened hands. He had learned that power wasn't everything; but wisdom, that's the true strength, the real power. That's something the third class Kakarot had achieved much further than him, what made him win against all his opponents.
Didn't Kakarot had shown him so many times about it, ever since the first time they met? That soft hearted warrior had shown him mercy on their first battle where he was supposed to be killed. It was a wisdom, the one Vegeta was trying to search through his meditation now.
And it wasn't even a punishment, it was a reward for his change to be a better man. He hadn't been in Bulma's side when she was carrying his son, and now he was given a chance to be in her daughter's side to pass her worst time, to help her get through her difficult moment. He must know not to throw away this good chance again.
And after so many hours locked inside his GR, Vegeta finally emerged with a new thought; his mind was clearer now.
Finally, he knew what to do, something he was supposed to do so long time ago...
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