Although I am using canonical events and time periods to frame my story, this is, in fact, an AU. Just try to remember that as we move forward from now. Hint. Enjoy!

"You'll never be able to find yourself if you're lost in someone else." - Colleen Hoover

"Hey Bulma," Yamcha replied over the phone.

"What is it, Yamcha?" I said, relieved that the sudden interruption stopped the Vegeta's questioning, but also frustrated at the gap that Yamcha's presence was helping to widen between me and my son's father.

"Well, you never got back to me, so I just wanted to make sure that everything was alright. If you were alright," I could hear a hint of worry in his tone.

I raised an eyebrow. "Why wouldn't I be alright?"

"When you left in such a hurry earlier, I asked your mom if there was something wrong. She told me that you were in an acci-"

I yanked the phone away from my ear in anger. "For fucks sake, Mom!" I growled, lowly, through my teeth. Apparently the woman felt it somehow necessary to let every single person that came by in on the fact that I was in an accident, as if that were the sole answer to all of my current problems.

"Bulma? You still there?"

I covered my left eye with my left palm as my elbow sat atop my desk. I placed the phone back to my ear. "Yeah, I'm still here," though I was definitely contemplating hanging up.

"I'm sorry, B. Had I known what happened to you I would have never just shown up like this," he apologized.

I dropped my hand and my face softened at his words. "Don't say that,"

"It's true. You already told me that you had things to take care of today. You don't need me adding more to your plate,"

"No, I'm glad you showed up," I said, softly and sincerely.

"Are you sure?" he timidly asked.

"Absolutely. You know that,"

"And you're okay?"

"This is why I didn't wanna say anything about it, because I didn't want you to worry. But I'm fine, really. It is not that big of a deal, I...I assure you," I hesitated with that last part, not entirely sure of that.

I heard him sigh.

"Look, there are still some things that I need to put my focus towards today, but we'll try to get together tomorrow, like I promised you. That is, if you still want to," I profferd. Even though he was intruding at a very sensitive point, I didn't want him to feel bad about it.

"Of course I do!"

My lips formed a small smile at his eagerness. "Alright then, I'll call you tomorrow,"

"Wait! It's like two in the afternoon. What am I supposed to do until tomorrow?" he asked me.

"What?" I laughed in confusion. "You're in West City! Go to a party. Go dancing. Go see a show. Anything! Just take your country ass somewhere and have fun, Bandit!" I said, speaking very obviously, before hanging up on him. I humorously shook my head before going back to looking at the image on the screen.

As I stared at my missing property, there was a feeling in my gut that was saying that I was no closer to solving this mystery than I was an hour ago. And without the assistance of my memories, I was just finding myself running full speed towards a dead-end.

I went back to the image of the burned door and just stared closely at it.

What is going on around here that I'm not able to see?

I stood atop a tall brick wall, near the edge of the city, that was shielding four warehouses that were lined up on the other side. "This appears to be the right location," I said, reading the four digit numbers that were on each of the large buildings. I looked down at the list on the tablet. "Warehouse 3 should do nicely for what I need,"

I waited for the guardsmen who were watching the area, and whom of which wrre armed, to do their routine parameter sweep before making my move. As one guard left his post, I pulled up the black mask around my neck and quickly stuffed the tablet into the sling bag on my back.

I dropped ten feet down to the ground, landing effortlessly on my feet. Upon hitting the ground, I immediately took off in a sprint. I reached the wall of the fourth building and quickly made the climb to the roof, right before another guard came to replace the other. I wasted absolutely no time in running off the side, making the jump to the third building.

I found a skylight in the center of the roof. "I guess I found my entrance," I said evenly, the hurried movements not affecting me in the slightest. This planet was changing me. I opened the skylight. "Time to do a little browsing," and I jumped inside.

A little while later, as I was leaving my lab and was headed back upstairs, I found myself taking a slow stroll throughout the compound, taking in the beauty of my home.

My feet carried me all the way to the doors of my mother's garden. I stopped and stared inside through the glass. Inside I could see Mom tending to her flowers, as per usual.

My heart fluttered with joy at the sight of Trunks helping his grandmother. His face was adorably serious as he dug a hole into the soil, dirt covering his overalls and tiny hands. Once the hole was deep enough, he stood up and dusted off his hands before grabbing a small plant. He removed the plant from its plastic pot and placed it into the hole, giving it a new home amongst the others.

The entire scene was truly precious.

Just the sight of my child made me happy, but I couldn't help sabotaging my mood by thinking about how I had been so caught up with work and the mystery behind the accident that I hadn't really seen much of him the last twenty four hours. Even the tiny bit of time I saw him yesterday got cut short because of the interview with Shion Adair and, afterwards, I passed out before I had the chance to spend any time with him or Gohan.

But that was yesterday. Today didn't have to be the same way.

I walked toward the doors and they slid open. As I got nearer to where my mother and son were, a third person slowly came into view. Vegeta was sitting indian-style on the grass with his arms crossed over his chest, calmly watching the duo at work.

He turned his dark eyes turn on me as I approached. I made eye contact, but did not slow my pace toward my son. When I turned away I could still feel his gaze upon me.

"Well, well. Who is this handsome young man you have helping you out, Mom?" I playfully said as I stood behind them. They turned around to face me. "And have you seen my Trunks anywhere?" I pretended to look around for my son who was kneeling five feet away in front of me.

He looked up at me with eyes similar to my own, maybe a shade of blue lighter. "I'm right here, Momma!" the tiny boy announced, getting up from the ground.

I walked closer to him. "Trunks, is that really you under all that dirt?" I used my hands to wipe at his cheeks. "It really is you!" I happily scooped him into my arms, causing him to squeal in surprise, ignoring the dirt getting on my shirt.

I positioned him on my hip as he hugged me tightly around the neck, snuggling into my shoulder, before pulling away to look at me with confused blue eyes. "Momma, why're you not at work?"

"Because Momma wanted to see her little man before she has to go again, that's why," I said, poking him in the stomach.

"What about Daddy?"

"What do you mean? What about him?"

"Are you here to see him, too?"

I shook my head. "No. I saw your Daddy earlier, so I wanted to come see you." I could see how his little face was scrunching up in thought. "Why?"

He leaned in to whisper in my ear. "I think Daddy's grumpy about something,"

Dammit. He definitely had his father's perception, I'll give him that. I chanced a look over at the man in question, who was still watching us. "I'll let you in on a little secret, kid. Your daddy is always grumpy about something," I told him. "But I get what you're trying to say,"

"Maybe if you talked to him it would make him feel better," he adorably suggested.

I groaned at the fact that whenever he did something like that I almost always bent to his will. But I was also groaning over the fact that he might actually be right about that.

"Momma, I need to finish putting these plants into the ground," he told me.

"Alright, alright, I get it. I know when I'm getting the brush-off," I placed him back on his feet. "I love you, baby,"

"I love you, too, Momma," he said back as he returned to gardening.

I finally looked down at my blouse and could see all of the smudges of dirt around it. I smiled regardless. "Worth it," I murmured to myself, glad to have actually had a conversation with my son, despite the mess. I turned around to head to my bedroom for a quick change of clothes, when I remembered the Saiyan sitting a few feet away, who was no longer watching me.

I sighed. I guess now was a better time than any, I told myself. I walked over to him. "Vegeta,"

He was staring at our son across the way. "What?" he gruffly responded.

"Can we talk?"

He scoffed. "Is the weakling busy or something?" he bit.

I rolled my eyes and looked away. The things I did to see my son happy.

I bit my cheek to keep my tone in check. "Look, I feel like there are some things we need to talk about. If you wish to do so, I'll be upstairs changing before I have to go again. If not, that's more than fine by me," I leaned in close to him. "But don't say that I'm the one who's not trying,"

I walked away without looking back once.

I entered my room and immediately shed my blouse, leaving me in a lacey, black bra. I kicked off my heels, seeing as they probably won't match anymore, and went into the closet.

I heard the door open and close. "Here we go," I murmured as I grabbed a forest green blouse and walked back out of the closet.

"What could we possibly have to talk about?" I asked, somewhat belligerently, upon entering the room.

She walked out of the closet with a green shirt and gave me an incredulous look. "Are you serious? We both know that you've been moping around since yesterday morning, so cut the crap," she said, laying her clothing on the bed.

"I've done no such thing," I denied, not missing the fact that she was standing before me half dressed.

She scoffed while placing a hand on her bare waist. "Oh, please. You've been moping so much that Trunks even noticed it,"

"What does he know," I murmured, looking away for a moment then looked back to her. "Woman, what do you want?"

She sighed deeply and her face softened a bit before she spoke. "I wanted to apologize,"

An eyebrow rose in confusion. "For what reason?" I asked, as if I didn't already know.

"I think you know what the reason is,"

"I know of the many other reasons you would probably need to apologize for, but you have blatantly shown me that I shall receive no such thing. Please, do enlighten me on this recent attack on my person," I said, still feigning ignorance.

One of the few things I refused to do around her back then was allow a moment to pass for her to admit her own wrongdoings, for her to show some humility for once. I was not so different from her, but at the very least I could admit when I was wrong. Sometimes. And, around this time, I hadn't done half as much wrong toward her as she had done towards me. In my own personal opinion.

She scratched at the back of her head. "I'm sorry that I snapped at you yesterday," she began. "I kind of went through something traumatic, but that does not give me permission to do what I did." I could tell that she was being sincere. "You were there when I woke up, so you got to see what fear and anger looked like coming from me, and I didn't even like what I saw,"

I just stared at her, my hardened expression cracking beneath the weight of her confession. I was expecting her to not acknowledge her own outburst, not fully at least. I sure wouldn't have. But, between the two of us, she was always the most likely to set her pride aside, especially in recent times. It was things like this that made her better than myself. I was proud to have witnessed that slow development, though it would be years later that I would see a situation relevant to tell her so.

But that didn't mean I didn't still have a question for her.

I took a few steps closer and stopped. "So, do you still mean what you said?" I asked her, my voice blank as I sternly stared her down.

Her blue eyes were incredibly apologetic and defensive at the same time, as if she wasn't sure how to feel in my presence. At war with herself. She solemnly shook her head. "No. No, I don't," she quietly confessed. "But you haven't given me much reason to think otherwise,"

She wasn't wrong. Whenever the opportunity arrived for us to have this discussion, it was I who floundered at the topic, I who pulled away. I did the exact same thing the day before. I alone could have prevented this turbulence we were going through, if only I had told the truth; no, she meant more than her usefullness. I wasn't entirely sure of what at that moment, but it was a lot. I could have just told her that. Anything besides what I allowed to slip from my lips. I only managed to make an already fragile situation worse, but here she was apologizing to me.

I looked down at her bandaged left arm. She had been suffering both physically and mentally, but she was so much like myself that she would rather suffer in silence than make herself look weak in front those who relied on her to be strong. That was one of those things that never changed about her.

I stepped closer until I was less than a foot away. "You're right, I haven't. But that does not make it so,"

"That may be true, but try to imagine the situation reversed. How would you feel?" she asked, seriously wondering.

The answer to her question could only be purely visceral, so I gave an answer that reflected my feelings. "I honestly don't know," this was the only way I could describe what was going on with me. "How do you feel about...all of this?"

"Vegeta, I care about you, and I don't want this to be one-sided. But there is a fear that comes from me not knowing where you stand in all of this," she openly explained.

My brow furrowed in concentration. "Who's to say that I don't care?"

She sighed. "I know that you care, to an extent I do. But you have to understand why this isn't enough for me right now. I have some serious issues, most of which are involving you, that I am desperately trying to sort out at the moment, and this..." she gestured between us. "...is not helping me do that. My head is so messed up that I think I might be going insane,"

"So what do you want me to do?"

"I want you tell me that you are okay with us...taking a break,"

My eyebrow rose in confusion. "Taking a break from what?"

"From us. From this...relationship that we have called ourselves having." I was taken aback by her sudden request. "We need to officially put the intimate part of our relationship on hold, just for the time being. At least until we can come back to it with a clear head, and try to talk about putting some kind of a label on it. Whether it be lovers, co-parents, or simply friends," she delicately put.

She said it. I never truly thought that moment would come, even though I had been dreading it for a while. She didn't want to be with me, but only at the moment she said. My chest was tightening with emotion, though, still, I did understand her reason behind feeling the need to make the decision. I had, somewhat, feared that with all of the time I spent away and the way I kept her firmly at arms length, emotionally, that she would eventually reach her limit of patience for my actions, but it hadn't made me stop. I was purposely sabotaging my own journey toward happiness.

I cleared my throat. "If that's what you want, then it's fine by me," I reluctantly agreed, keeping my voice steady to hide the pain in my chest.

"It is," she stated, leaning in toward me. "Thank you," and she placed a chaste kiss to my lips. Before she could pull away, I placed a firm hand to her nape and returned the kiss with fervor.

I released her a minute later, leaving her breathless. "You're welcome," I said with the faintest hint of sorrow in my tone. I reached down behind her and picked up the forgotten blouse, proceeding to help her slide it onto her arms. Her being half dressed was not helping anything. She was still staring up at me as I pulled the garment closed and began buttoning it from the bottom to the top. "So, what should we do in the meantime?"

"Do what we have failed at doing for the last five years; try to coexist without ruining it with sex," she said, ironically staring at me with such vulgarity that my fingers halted a few buttons from the top.

I finished my task, going all the way to the very last button at her throat, knowing how she preferred to wear certain things. "I can do that,"

She smiled at me before wrapping her arms around my waist and resting her head on my shoulder. I timidly placed a hand to the back of her head and wrapped my arm around her shoulders, returning the embrace the best I could.

Silence enveloped the room as we held each other.

But, much to my annoyance, her damned phone rang, disrupting our newfound peace. I looked up and shook my head with a sigh as she pulled away from the embrace to grab the device from her pocket.

"It's Van," she groaned, answering the call. "Hello?" she greeted. "No, I went by the auto shop but it wasn't there," she explained. "What do you mean?" I looked at her as she listened to her relative. "What?! When?" I raised an eyebrow at her sudden exclamation. "Around eleven a.m.? This happened in broad daylight?" I could hear the muffled sounds coming from the phone. "I don't know, but I'll be there in a few. See you then," and she hung up.

"What was that about?" I asked, curious to know the other side of the conversation that just took place.

She looked up at me with a look of anger and disbelief. "One our warehouses was robbed earlier today,"

"Do they have any idea who could have done it?"

"That's what I'm about to find out," she put on her heels and headed towards the door. She stopped and looked back at me. "Do you mind tagging along? I might need your help with this one,"

I gave a shrug. "Sure," I answered, feigning nonchalance at her offer.

A little later and we walked into my downtown office, where my cousin was situated in front of my computer and had been waiting for me.

"So what do we know about this?" I inquired, immediately switching on my business persona, walking over to stand behind the woman at my computer and looking down over her shoulder at the screen. Vegeta chose to lean against the wall near the door, keeping his distance from the irritable woman.

"That it is worse than we originally thought," Van said, turning the chair to look up at me.

"What do you mean?"

"I've just learned that the warehouse in Parsley City wasn't the only one,"

"How many others?"

Van began raising a finger for each one she named. "One in Parsley City. One in Bridgetown. Two in Gingertown. One in Orange Star City, and two in my district. Seven in all. But get this, they were all broken in to between two a.m. and twelve p.m. today,"

"Seven heavily guarded warehouses were all burglarized in a span of ten hours?" I said in bewilderment. "Are you sure?"

"The security footage confirms it," Van leaned back in the seat. "And if what I saw was correct, it looked like it was one person, and it may have been the same one person at each location,"

I was now completely dumbfounded. "You're telling me that the same person managed to break into each warehouse, rob them, go all the way to another one, which has at least fifty to a hundred miles between them all, and do the same thing?"

Van nodded. "That's exactly what I'm saying,"

"That's seven warehouses in ten hours," I looked over at Vegeta. "How is that even possible?"

"Are you sure that it was the same person?" he asked, directing his question towards Van.

"Very sure," she answered.

"What was taken?" I asked.

"We don't know yet. Inventory is still being taken at all locations. Hopefully it wasn't anything important,"

I stared at the report on the screen, trying to wrap my scattered mind around this, when I noticed something. "Van, is this right?" I asked, pointing at the words on the screen.

"What do you mean?"

"I mean, our warehouses are all clustered together in different regions. There are four to five at each location. How do we know that only seven were burglarized?"

"We know because the security systems had been tampered with at only those buildings," she explained, very plainly.

"This is strange," I murmured.

"What're you getting at?"

"Van, the regions that you named have a combined total of twenty-four buildings in all. But only seven of them got hit? Out of a possible twenty-four? Are you two really not seeing something wrong with that?" I stated my curiosity.

"Maybe it's a coincidence. Maybe they got lucky. Let's count our blessings that it wasn't anymore than seven," she suggested.

"This report says that building one was hit in Parsley City, but building three was the only one hit in Bridgetown. The pattern continues out of order like this throughout each. To randomly choose which warehouse to break into and successfully find what you're looking for is a thousand to one. No one's that lucky," I skillfully deduced, feeling the gears spinning in my head again. "Seven out of twenty-four, and the number order is off? Sorry, but I don't see a coincidence in that,"

"Bulma, that sounds like a really good theory, but-"

"No, she's right. It's too precise, too clean to be anything less than calculated," Vegeta interjected.

"This person had to have known exactly what they were looking for and know exactly where to find it. But how?" My mind began to race with a possibility of how that may be. I had several theories, but only one stood out. "Oh no," I groaned, covering my eyes with my hand.

Vegeta pushed off the wall and came to stand in front of the desk that the two of us were on the opposite side of. "What is it?"

"I think I know how this may have happened," I dropped my hand and looked down at my cousin. "Did you bring your flashdrive with you?"

Van picked up her briefcase that was sitting on the floor beside the chair. She dug inside and pulled out the device and handed it to me. I plugged it into my computer and found a file that said Warehouse ML. I opened the file and turned the screen enough for Vegeta to see it as well.

"What is this?" he asked.

I straightened back up and crossed an arm over my stomach and leaned my head onto the other hand. "There are very few people who know what is being held in which warehouse; myself, Van, my father, the distributors that send it and the employees that sort it once it's there. Every year, an annual list is comprised of our work throughout it, this includes the warehouses," I explained. "The Warehouse Master List is comprised of very detailed profiles of each building and its contents. Only Van and myself have access to this list, in order to edit it if need be. Van has hers right here, and I have mine on my flashdrive at home. But I also have a copy of it on my tablet, which was in my briefcase..."

"Which is missing," Vegeta finished my thought. "Still think it was a coincidence, Van?" he mockingly asked.

She narrowed her eyes at him. "Oh, who asked you anyway?"

He gestured his head towards me. "She did,"

"Why don't just shut up for once!" she exclaimed, standing up.

"Why don't you try not being such a belligerent brat for once," he calmly countered.

"Fuck you, you freeloading prick!"

"You wish, you audacious wench,"

I sighed, quickly becoming frustrated with their exchange of barbs.

"No, I think I'll pass. My men have to be at least above average height,"

"What men?" he smirked, clearly on the verge of laughter.

"You spiky-haired midget!" Van growled, clearly allowing him to get to her.

"Alright you two, that's enough! Save it for the honeymoon," I finally interjected. They did this almost every single time they were in the same room together. In the beginning, Van usually came out the victor of the verbal battles, but once she pushed him a bit too far, he began giving her back what she was dishing and more. It annoyed me to no end, so I just settled on keeping them away from each other.

"Eww, no," Van spat.

His face scrunched up in disgust. "Don't even joke like that,"

"Well then, shut up,"