I'M ALIVE! Sorry readers my computer was having issues and I couldn't figure out what was going on with it. Prepare for several back to back chapters to make up for it. Merry belated Christmas everyone. Thank you so much for the feedback. I'm going to start working on those challenges ASAP.
Daddy Armor
The day Trunks was born his mother was working in the lab. She had just enough time after her water broke to call for her father before she collapsed to the ground in pain. Mrs. Briefs heard her daughter was in labor and quickly got to work. She grabbed the first thing on top of the laundry she was folding before running after her husband to get to her child.
It was a quick delivery to bring baby Trunks into the world but it felt like several agonizing minutes before he took his first breath. Bulma was terrified when she saw her baby but heard no cry. It wasn't until he was wrapped in a warm blanket that he finally began to wail at the top of his lungs.
It was love at first sight when Dr. Briefs placed the baby into his daughter's arms. Bulma couldn't help smiling as Trunks wrapped his tiny tail, around her arm. As Bulma kissed her son's cheeks over and over, a familiar scent hit her so strong that her breathing hitched. She pulled her head away from the infant looking surprised to look around.
"Bulma are you alright dear?" Mrs. Brief's asked concerned.
The bluenette looked confused before she replied, "I...I don't know why but I thought Vegeta was here."
Dr. Brief's chuckled before he said, "Well in a way he is. After all Trunks is wearing his shirt."
Bulma looked down and chuckled as she realized her son was wrapped in the training shirt that Vegeta had been looking for a month ago. She noticed the baby looked like he was sniffing his makeshift blanket.
"Wow...we made one good looking kid," Bulma mumbled.
...
It was a normal Saturday afternoon when Vegeta walked into the kitchen after training. He stopped when he saw his wife and infant son in there as well. It had been months since he had returned to his family yet he never felt so far away from them. His son was almost a year old but he had still not held him. The boy could barely stand having him in the same room let alone near him. Bulma had been furious with him when he left. When he came home she was distant with him and even moved into her old bedroom.
At the moment she was making Trunks his afternoon bottle while the boy sat in his highchair finishing his lunch. She turned to face Vegeta when she heard him come and gave him a slight smile.
"Done already," she commented.
Vegeta sat at the table before he said, "That damn machine broke again."
The bluenette sighed in annoyance before she replied, "Well neither dad or I will be able to get to it today. Guess you're going to have to wait for a few days."
"You must be joking?" The saiyan prince growled.
Bulma glared at the man before she replied, "Afraid not because you see my dad is a little busy running a multi billion dollar company and I am a little busy raising our son. So unless you want to baby sit for a couple hours, kindly go screw yourself."
Vegeta was surprised by Bulma's sudden outburst. It always caught him off guard when she put him in his place since she was the only person he'd ever met who had dared to do so. However as he stared at her in disbelief he noticed that woman looked different, her tone sounded less sharp and more defeated. Bulma looked exhausted with dark circles under her eyes. Her posture looked like she was carrying the weight of the world and her curvy body had grown thin as if she hadn't eaten in days.
It dawned on the saiyan that if he wanted to get his family back then he needed to be the one to step up and earn it. It was clear that being a single parent to Trunks was taking its toll on the woman.
'Grow the fuck up and help your mate!' a voice in Vegeta's head scolded him that distinctly sounded like his mother.
This was his opportunity to start getting his family back and he would not let it slip through his fingers. The saiyan growled before he stomped over towards the smaller woman. Bulma tried not to look terrified as Vegeta stood over her with an unreadable expression.
"Vegeta..." Bulma said in a scared tone.
"If I sit on the boy will you fix the damn machine?" Vegeta asked reluctantly. Bulma looked confused at first but that quickly turned into an amused smirk.
"Vegeta babysitting doesn't mean you go around sitting on babies," the woman chuckled.
The saiyan looked confused before he asked, "Then what the hell is babysitting?"
"It means to take care of another person's child while they are busy," Bulma replied without thinking.
Bulma instantly regretted her words the moment she saw the wounded look on Vegeta's face. It would have been kinder to slap the man across the face in that moment.
"I'm sorry-"
"You have nothing to apologize for woman...I lost the right to call myself his father the day I left this family," Vegeta said. Bulma sighed before she reached over and placed her small hands on the saiyan's massive arms.
"You may have left us but you came back...most of the time when a person leaves they don't even look over their shoulder before they disappear," Bulma explained. The bluenette then moved her hands to the sides of Vegeta's face before looking him dead in the eye.
"I forgave you the moment you came back and I still love you...but I can't forget that you hurt us. I know I haven't given the warmest welcome but I want us to work. For that to happen though we need to take things slow this time. Okay?" Bulma explained.
"I could deal with that," Vegeta replied after a few silent minutes.
Bulma chuckled at the man before she teased, "Seriously? Mr. I can't wait for the microwave to cook my food is gonna wait for little old me."
That seemed to get a smirk out of the man before he replied, "Food doesn't fix my gravity room."
"WOW. You better have gotten super saiyan balls to go with that smack talk," Bulma replied laughing.
He missed hearing her laugh.
"Alright if your serious about taking care of Trunks then we need a quick game plan. I'm gonna put this kid down for a nap and go fix the machine. He'll be out cold for a few hours. All you need to do when he wakes up is just change him, give him his gold fish and let him play with his toys in the living room. Okay?" Bulma explained.
Vegeta only nodded his head before he looked over at his son who was staring at him like he was a stranger. The saiyan couldn't help thinking of his rival and how his sons would practically bounce with excitement every time the fool walked into the room. Bulma noticed someone else had Vegeta's attention and smiled as she squeezed his hand.
"He loves you Vegeta," Bulma assured the saiyan.
"Clearly," the saiyan mumbled.
Bulma sighed in annoyance before she replied, "He does love you Vegeta. He just doesn't know you."
"He'll hate me once he knows me," the saiyan argued.
Bulma rolled her eyes at the pouting warrior before she said, "Just trust me on this okay."
Vegeta watched silently as Bulma cleaned the baby before taking him out of his chair. The baby's eyes never left Vegeta for a moment, even when Bulma held a warm bottle in front of his face. The saiyan was distracted from his staring contest with Trunks when Bulma called his name. He spared her a glance but remained silent with his arms crossed.
"Thank you for trying," Bulma said with a sincere smile on her face before she left the room.
...
Vegeta had decided to kill time by watching TV in his room. He kept the door open so that he could listen for his son down the hall. It was an hour and a half into Trunks' nap when the baby suddenly woke up screaming. The startled saiyan instantly made his way to the nursery to find his son screaming while still fast asleep. Vegeta picked up the baby and called Trunks' name while bouncing him in hopes of waking him up.
He tried this for a few minutes but when it didn't work Vegeta quickly became frustrated. All he wanted was for this kid to stop crying and prove to Bulma that he could take care of their son but he was failing miserably. Vegeta shifted the baby so that he laid on his father's chest. The infant's head was tucked under the saiyan's chin.
"Come on brat...you are a saiyan act like it!" Vegeta shouted over his screaming son.
Suddenly Trunks' wails became silent and Vegeta felt a sting of panic course through his body. He was truly terrified of how still and quiet his son was until something odd happened. Tiny fists clenched onto Vegeta's shirt as the baby began sniffing at the saiyan's neck. The saiyan looked down when he felt Trunks' tail curling around his father's back. Vegeta knew the baby was looking for his tail. He indulged his son's request and curled his large tail around Trunks' tiny one.
"You know my scent...you know who I am to you. How is this possible?" Vegeta said in absolute fascination.
The baby only snuggled closer into his father's shirt sinking deeper into a peaceful slumber. The saiyan sighed as he saw how tightly the boy held onto his shirt. He decided he had no choice but to occupy the rocking chair. As Vegeta reached into the crib to grab a blanket for Trunks he was met with a surprise. Inside was one of his training shirts shoved into side of the crib...his favorite one to be exact.
It suddenly occurred to him why the baby had been crying. With a smirk he grabbed the shirt and wrapped it around the baby. It looked like a massive blanket on the tiny child. He felt Trunks completely relax in his grasp as he was encompassed by Vegeta's scent.
'I make him feel safe. This piece of cloth was all he had of me but it was enough to make him feel safe when I couldn't simply because it had my scent' Vegeta thought in amazement.
As the saiyan laid back in the chair he couldn't help feeling content as he held his son protectively to his chest. For the first time in a long while he finally felt like he was home.
...
After that night Trunks became increasingly more comfortable around Vegeta. He would even look forward to seeing his father enter the room although the baby would still save his laughter and smiles for his mother. The saiyan wasn't bothered however because he would smirk at the sight of his son carrying that shirt wherever he went.
As Trunks got older, the little boy wore Vegeta's shirt like it was a second skin. The lavender haired boy looked positively adorable wearing the over sized shirt that reached his ankles and the short sleeves covered his tiny hands. The boy wore the shirt so much that Bulma had to fight with him to take it off to wash it.
"What is it that's so amazing about that shirt?" Vegeta heard Bulma demand one day from their five year old's room.
Vegeta leaned against the wall besides Trunks' bedroom door before he heard the boy answer.
"It's my daddy armor mommy. I never have to be scared of monsters or bad guys when I wear it cause it smells like daddy," Trunks replied.
"Oh really," Bulma said acting impressed and trying not to laugh.
"Its true! The monsters know daddy will beat them up if they try to hurt me, especially if he's close by. So as long as I wear my daddy armor I have nothing to be scared of," the boy explained proudly.
Vegeta couldn't think of a time that he had ever felt more proud and strong as he did in that moment.
'Damn right brat.'
...
Bulma was taken back by her son's words. She had never heard anyone so sure of something in her whole life. However it made her feel so happy to know that Vegeta made Trunks feel so safe.
"That daddy armor sounds pretty amazing. Maybe I should get some," Bulma joked.
Trunks thought his mom was serious though and quickly shook his head before he replied, " Oh no mommy, daddy armor won't work for you."
"Why not?" Bulma asked curiously.
The little saiyan looked his mother dead in the eye before he replied in a serious tone, " Mommy...I've seen you mad. No monster would ever mess with you. There is nothin' scarier or meaner in the universe then you when you're mad."
Bulma stared at her child in shock before she heard her husband in the hallway yell, "BAHA!"
All done for now. Be back soon with more story.