A/N: I've had so many recent PM's and followers, thank you so much. Life gets in the way, but I missed writing so much, and I missed this story. Hope everybody had a great Thanksgiving.
:*: Despondency :*:
It was nearly 1:30 in the morning when the second round of visitors entered through the Son home. Bra listened as Chichi greeted them, acting confused as to what they were called in for. It wasn't long before they were in the doorway, clad in their blue uniforms and golden badges.
Coming here was a mistake.
No... It was what I needed. I needed to tell him how I felt, I needed to know how he felt about me. It wasn't a mistake.
Because of me he's been caught, I shouldn't have come. I'm so selfish.
Her thoughts scrambled back and forth, her heart being tugged and slowly breaking piece by piece the more she thought about how her name was mixed into this mess he was in.
"Ms. Briefs, my name is officer Nayo, are you alright?"
She sneered at the question. No. "I'm fine. Why are you here?"
The officer adjusted his belt. "We received a tip that a restraining order had been broken. Do you know where Goten Son is?"
She sat herself up to the edge of the bed, the pillow she was moaning into just an hour earlier resting under her arms. "I heard he was released today. I can't see him though."
"We received notice that he is residing here-"
"Nayo, house is clear." An officer interrupted from behind after doing a brief search of the small house.
Officer Nayo swallowed a hard lump. "Ms. Briefs, why are you here at the Son residence?"
She shrugged. "I'm being harrassed at school. Didn't feel safe. My mom banned me from her house, so I came here. Chichi is like a second mother to me, it's the only place I had left."
The officer tipped his hat. "Alright, ladies. Excuse the intrusion. Have a good night."
After leading the officers out, Chichi remained at the kitchen table, warming her hands with her tea cup, tears silently falling down her cheeks. Droplets of silent prayers begging for all of this to end.
xXxXxXx
After leaving an apologetic note to Mr. and Mrs. Son underneath the sugar cup Chichi often used for her morning beverages, Bra made her way towards the home entrance to quietly sneak out. It must have been nearly nine in the morning. She would have left sooner, but the scent of him immersed in his bedsheets lulled her back to sleep.
"Leaving so soon?"
Her shoulders jumped, shaken by the figure leaning against the door frame. "Goku, you startled me. I'm really sorry... about everything. I'll be leaving now, I slept through my first class already. When did you get in?" She remembered that the three men had left together, she must have fallen asleep before he came back home.
"A little after three this morning. We took Goten to his brother's house. Talked for a while. Just do me one favor..."
Bra gulped, waiting for him to ban her from the Son home, angered by her carelessness.
"Be careful with your mother."
She was taken aback. "My mother? We... we don't really talk as is. Not one word since this whole mess started. Then all of a sudden I was her little girl again. Hiring the best attorneys money can buy to..." It was hard to complete her sentence. "..to lock him away..."
Her eyes briefly raised to meet Goku's solemn expression, he too having a hard time handling this mess. But there was something more in his face, as if he were piecing things together.
"You better get going, don't want to miss your next class. And, please, for my son's sake, keep your space. I won't let anything happen to him. We're going to get to the bottom of this."
He engulfed her in a warm, fatherly hug. His reassuring voice, his warmth, it made her believe in his words without the slightest doubt. He released her to exit the Son home, and she made the cold walk to her car parked blocks away from the house. Just enough time for reality to settle back in.
xXxXxXx
The aroma of warm dishes being stirred and fried swept throughout the home of Gohan and Videl. He brewed a fresh cup of coffee while his wife cooked a meal for three. Gohan was still dumbfounded as to how Vegeta somehow knew that Bra would run off to see Goten just hours after he had made bail. It definitely came as a surprise when Vegeta, Goku, and Goten came banging on the door at nearly two am. Well, Vegeta did the banging.
The four men had gathered in the living room. Goten was frozen, cradling his head in his hands with his father resting a supportive hand on his back. Vegeta barked orders for Gohan not to let Goten out of his sight, and no visitors.
"Vegeta, how did you know that Bra was with Goten?" Gohan inquired. He was very thankful for Vegeta's timing but extremely curious to his sources.
Vegeta sat silent for a moment, his eyes elsewhere while the others waited for a response. "I need to do some more digging myself, just follow what I've told you." He rose from the couch to leave, then turned to face them once more. "When I said 'no visitors', that includes my wife."
Gohan, Goku and Videl exchanged glances with one another while the front door opened and closed.
xXxXx
Goten awoke to familiar green bedroom walls with arrangements of photos and posters about them. Vegeta's departing words echoed in his head as he stirred awake in Pan's room.
'No visitors', that includes my wife.
Bulma. As of late, the women absolutely hated him, and besides him 'not being good enough' for her daughter, he had no idea why. Did she have anything to do with all of this? Because that's what Vegeta's words insinuated.
He considered getting up, showering, joining the family for breakfast downstairs, then what? All he wanted was her. The smell of her skin, the taste of her mouth, her hot moist opening, her touch, her voice. Everything about her drove him crazy, especially after experiencing all of her just hours ago.
He couldn't lay in bed anymore, his urges were getting too severe thinking about her. After a long, hot shower, he smirked at the discoloration on his neck as well as some scratches on his shoulder blades as he gazed in the mirror. Then frowned. If everything turned for the worse, that would be his last intimate moment with her, for at least fifteen years.
Career, the white house on the green hill, the woman of your dreams, you really can't have it all.
He watched his career, his perfect home, and Bra slip away from him as each accusation piled against him.
If this course continued, he would be left with nothing.
xXxXxXx
I want one of you watching her car in the lot, and one of you watching the Son house. 24/7 surveillance, she's bound to crack soon. Make sure you get their faces, otherwise we have nothing.
Vegeta sat on the sofa of his grand livingroom, still drowsy from playing surveillance himself last night to catch his daughter before whomever those bastards were on the other end of that phone call.
He watched a small bouquet of flowers setting on the center of the coffee table, well, what used to be flowers. Now, there were only stems left, except for one. One white petal remained, and Vegeta wondered how it had managed to survive when the others had crisped and fallen to the glass surface below them.
He had to try to salvage whatever was left of his wife. His chest tightened as he tried so hard to figure out where everything went wrong. Where did the hatred towards the Son family start and why didn't he see it? Maybe he would have been able to put out the fire had he paid more attention to her.
Was she the cause to all of this? Or was Goten actually guilty and this was just a mother going to extreme measures to protect her daughter? He knew Goten wasn't capable of it, the man is in love with kittens for crying out loud. But he was afraid to think that his wife of twenty-two years played a role in something so severe.
"I'm ready. Will we be long? I have an early day tomorrow." Bulma strode down the stairway in an alluring black dress with deep red heels, looking as stunning as ever.
Vegeta rose from the couch and took a firm stance in front of his wife, planting his hands on her hips and brushing his lips against hers. He didn't realize how long it had been since they had been intimate, even she seemed to be taken aback.
She slowly took his lips with hers, then placed her hands on his forearms to gently push his hands away, ending the brief contact between them. "If you want to keep this dinner reservation we had better get going." She took a step back and started towards the door.
"Why don't we skip dinner? I've already found something to please my appetite." He eyed her playfully as he rested himself against the banister.
She hesitated, then replaced the uncertainty in her face to her usual dauntless expression. "Like I said, I have an early day tomorrow, and I haven't eaten since breakfast." She continued to the car as he exhaled in disappointment, a part of him sadly expecting for this to happen.
They had been subconsciously avoiding each other for some time now. He felt she was distancing herself due to her embarrassment of her business status, and he didn't stay around to support her. Instead he picked up shifts at work, did anything he could to be out of the house to avoid seeing her the way she was.
He even wondered if she had found someone else's shoulder to lean on, and the thought of it infuriated him. Not towards her, but at himself, and whomever the bastard was.
His eyes returned to the flower pot in the center of the coffee table as he sulked at the idea.
Their romance was dying, perhaps it was already dead.
He took in a deep breath and picked up his shoulders as he prepared himself to follow her steps out the door, just after watching the last white petal fall to the glass surface.