Couples Retreat

Chapter 9

Bulma handed Vegeta a backpack of supplies and strapped on a backpack of her own as she headed back outside. He followed closely behind. Bulma took in the fresh air once again and admired the colors of the planet really shining under the afternoon sun. looked over to the large hills in the distance.

"Do you think you could fly us over there?" she asked, pointing to the hills. "I'd love to set up our camp on higher ground. Different view and everything.

"I suppose, seeing as I am now your cargo ship." Vegeta grumbled as he threw her backpack over his shoulder in addition to the one on his back then picked Bulma up next.

"Hey! I can't help that I don't know how to fly and you're a million times stronger than me!" Bulma protested as the two headed over to the mountains overlooking them. Vegeta landed on an empty spot with enough room to set up a tent.

"Ugh, I wish we had the chairs..." Bulma bemoaned as she opened up her backpack and started unpacking. "Can you set up the tent please?"

Vegeta nodded and started to put the tent together. He hadn't set up a tent in sometime but there wasn't much to remember. He set up the inner joints and rods of the dark purple tent with the Capsule Corp. emblem on the sides and set the stakes in all four corners. He tossed in their sleeping bag, blankets and pillows as he zipped it back up. They weren't going to sleep for some time, there was still daylight left. It was much cooler up in the mountains than down by the lake.

Vegeta walked over to Bulma who laid out some more supplies set up a blanket of her own next to the edge of the cliff overlooking the woods in the distance. She smiled and gestured for him to sit down with her on the light blue blanket she had just laid out.

"Are you thirsty?" she asked, looking over to a cylindrical machine making whirring sounds next to the blanket. I'm just waiting on this dang cider machine to finish."

"A bit." Vegeta answered. Bulma interlocked her fingers with his as the two set and enjoyed the clear skies and views of the seemingly infinite forest beneath them. Eventually, Bulma broke the silence.

"I'm not sure about you, but I am still feeling good about everything." She started. "You have given me answers to questions and anxieties that were really hurting me. I am starting to feel free from all that pain now and you helped me."

Blackened thoughts began to seep back into his mind at that moment. Still, Vegeta smiled back at her as he gripped her hand slightly tighter.

Yeah, and how much of that pain and hurt am I responsible for?

"We have never gone on a trip like this, just you and me." Bulma remarked. "We've always been so busy. With all the usual craziness in life, with taking care of Trunks. I'm happy we're finally making time for us."

The two continued to stare off until a thought entered Bulma's mind.

"I don't want to make everything about me while we're here." she began as she looked over at Vegeta. "Is there anything weighing on your mind that you want to ask me or talk about?"

"Yes..." Vegeta started. The adrenaline of protecting Bulma and being in action mode after being in the cave had worn off for a while now. The Saiyan Prince now had to face the knife that was inside him and starting to twist again, all the self-loathing he felt for how he treated his wife. Seeing firsthand how much pain he put on her for his actions. He felt the black stains coming back on his mind. The thoughts he buried before the time in the cave were starting to return and he couldn't ignore them now.

"Why do you put up with me?" Why have you for so long?"

Bulma's heart dropped. She had not expected him to ask such a thing. Never in a million years. He really did feel guilty deep down, about everything. Not just being possessed, he felt remorse and shame beyond that. Who knows what else he was ashamed of with his newfound clarity on what was important in his life?

"I..." Bulma stammered. "It's a lot to-" She never thought he would show this level of vulnerability.

"Face it Bulma, as long as I've known you, I have treated you like shit. "Vegeta interrupted, his voice breaking as he stared off into the mountains in the distance. "I haven't done nearly enough to make up for all of the selfish shit I do... I am not capable of making up for how I treated you all these years. I hate myself for what I've done to you. You are the only one in this entire fucking universe who makes me feel at peace, you make me feel as I'm at home when I'm around you. Your mere presence heals me, and I treat you horribly constantly. I don't understand why you put up with me or why you want me around. You don't deserve any of the pain or chaos that I've brought into your life. Not just for what I did when I was Majin, for EVERYTHING I have done. For being so cold to you... You're a genius, a beautiful woman, an adventurous spirit, a wonderful mother. You don't need me bringing your life down and making it more complicated. You deserve better than anything I could give ever you. All I've done is make your life more difficult."

Bulma was shocked to hear this and see this proud man choking up and seeing tears start to form in his eyes. She had never seen him like this before and Bulma's natural reaction was to get closer to Vegeta and embraced him tightly as he was still staring off.

"Vegeta, stop. Please." Bulma began as she felt his tears drip onto her pink t shirt as she held onto him. " I know you well enough to know that right now, you want to disappear and run off because you think it will make things better for me, but the truth is, that won't help me at all. I'm not going to pretend that you haven't hurt me or treated me badly, because you have. But despite all the things you've done wrong and despite how badly you have treated me, I still want you around because I love you, I really fucking love you... and I know why you are the way you are. I want you in my life, no, I need you. Trunks needs his Dad. You can't just run away from us because you have made mistakes, and you hate yourself for making them. If we are going to move forward, we need to do it together."

Vegeta went silent as Bulma held onto him and he rested his head on her shoulder.

"And you're wrong about a lot of what you just said about yourself. You have never brought my life down. And as for the chaos? There was chaos in my life before you even came to Earth. If I didn't want you around, you wouldn't be around, I promise. If I didn't want to try and figure you out or thought you were a lost cause, I would've made you pack your bags and find somewhere else to live and train after we all came back from Namek. But you're not a lost cause, far from it. I recognized there was something there, something I wanted to get closer to and figure out. I guess it's my inquisitive nature to learn about what I don't understand... That's why I invited you to stay with us in the first place. And I'm glad that I did."

Bulma brushed a tear streaming down Vegeta's cheek as she continued.

"The only thing you said about yourself that's true is that yes, you are a complicated man. I knew what you were the moment I started to get to know you better. Underneath all the pride and anger I could see a man who feels alone and is in more pain than I could possibly fathom. You had all these burdens placed on you when you were born, you had all these expectations to be the greatest and strongest. At five years old you had your life taken away from you, you were made to be a killer for Frieza against your will. And the whole time you were still being constantly pushed to be the greatest. These were not your choices. You didn't choose to be a killer; you didn't choose to constantly be trying to meet these extremely high expectations and standards of being the strongest in the universe that you set for yourself. I realized all the trauma of your life and burdens placed on you made you to be how you are."

Vegeta flashed back to a distant memory as she said that. He said something very similar to Goku on Namek during the battle with Frieza as he was dying.

"Kakarot, please destroy Freiza, he made me what I am..."

Vegeta's own words echoed in his mind shortly after what his wife said. Perhaps she did understand him better than he thought. She placed her forehead against his and pulled him closer, stroking his dark, spikey hair.

"The more I got to know you, the more I could see the real you, the man who got buried underneath the unfair life and all the trauma, and that man would slowly come out over time once you became free from your old life. I knew that every time you made a good choice, which is more than you think by the way, that's the real you, your true self, coming out... I just knew that as soon as I got closer to you. I felt something the moment I met you and it just grew over time. I knew I'd have to be patient with you and for the most part, it's paid off. You may be prideful and a dick but you're also strong, one of the hardest working, most disciplined people I've ever met. You are honest, brutally at times, which is actually refreshing. You're intelligent, not as smart as me but still pretty smart. You do show me respect. You're loyal to me. I know I'll never have to worry about you looking at other women because you're obsessed with me. You are a great father. Trunks is so lucky to have you, and so am I. Despite everything that has happened, I wouldn't trade you for anyone else in the entire universe."

Bulma inched closer to Vegeta and made sure she was making eye contact with him for what she was about to say next.

"And you are the strongest man that I know." she said as she looked directly into his watery eyes.

"...I love you, Bulma." Vegeta whimpered as he held Bulma tighter, placing his head behind her shoulder. Very rarely did Vegeta say those words first, Bulma realized this was a true emotional breakthrough for the hardened warrior.

"I love you too. I loved you then and I love you now. And I will never give up on you." she replied. "I don't think there is anything you could do to make me give up on you."

"Please, don't give me reasons to give up on you. I don't want to... "Bulma said as her voice finally broke and tears began to form in her eyes as she pulled back and made eye contact with Vegeta. She tried to remain strong for this conversation, especially with Vegeta being so vulnerable but the thought of having to give up on the man she loved was too painful to even consider, to lose the life they had created together.

"You made mistakes, and your past does not excuse the things you have done, but look, I'm still here. So please, don't hate yourself. I don't hate you for anything you've done. There is no reason for you to hate yourself. All of this self loathing, it won't help you or us move forward. I know you really hurt yourself when you hate yourself, and it hurts me too. I WANT to see you get better. Not just for me, so I can see you be happy too. "

"...Thank you." he said somberly.

"Of course..." she said back softly." I guess that's why the possession and all the destruction you caused at the World Tournament hurt me so much, because I thought you were past the old resentments you had towards Goku. I thought I helped you escape the darkness of your old life enough that you truly changed, and we'd never see the old Vegeta again. But I just underestimated how strongly Goku's return would affect you, I didn't think it'd make you to relapse. Besides that momentary relapse, you truly HAVE changed for the better overall. I can't see the guy I met on Namek who was beating up Gohan and Krillin while I was hiding around being the husband and father you are now."

Bulma held Vegeta in a soft embrace as he pulled her closer. The two sat in silence as they both came down from their heightened emotions and held onto each other on their camping blanket on the ground. This had been the first time that both of them had let their emotions get the best of each other at the same time. Never before had both of them cried at the same time in each other's presence. The two lovers held on to each other in silence, trying to steal each other's pain away in their embrace. Their serious moment was broken by a chime as the cider machine's bell rang signaling it was done. Bulma was the first to let out a laugh at the awkwardness.

"Wow, way to ruin the mood!" she exclaimed. "I guess the cider's ready. Want some?" Vegeta nodded as she moved away and began to pour some cider into two red mugs. She laughed as she wiped her tears, at ridiculousness of what just happened before she handed him his mug and sat back down with him.

"Right now, I just need you to prove that you will never go back to your evil ways. I need to know what happened to you was a one-time relapse and will never happen again. If you think you're not treating me right and want me in your life, then change, not just for me but for yourself. You already are changing you know..." She said after a sip.

"How you're acting now, or on this whole trip actually, by opening up like this, being so vulnerable and really talking to me, that's huge, that's really helping me get closer to forgiving you. It's helping me feel like I can fully trust you. Honesty is the best way to fix this problem, so you need to keep it up. You can't leave me in the dark again... I need to know how you're feeling like this and what's going through your mind. I need to know everything that's happened to you, good or bad, if there are things you haven't told me yet. You're always brutally honest with me, let's be brutally honest with each other all of the time. I wanna know everything about you. I will do the same for you, I promise I won't ever hide anything from you. Just please, don't hide any more secrets from me."

"I won't hold anything back any longer, I promise." Vegeta replied as Bulma rested her head on his arm and ran her fingertips over his wrist.

"Thank you. I have faith that you will, but I need you to show me...to keep showing me." She said as Vegeta looked down. Training never seemed daunting to the Prince, nothing really did with his confidence. Why did this challenge seem so intimidating?

"So... what do you want to do for the rest of our time up here?" He asked as he finally decided to start taking swigs of his cider. Bulma looked as the sun was starting to set outside once again on their second night on Cascadia Terra.

"Well since we missed looking at the stars last night, I'd like to make some camping meals for us and stargaze. You must be starving anyway; I don't think you even had breakfast." She answered with a smile. "How does that sound?"

"That sounds fine." he replied.

"Great! I'll take care of the cooking. I hope steak and cooked veggies sounds good to you. I just need you to put those ki blasts to use again and start me a fire." Bulma instructed. Vegeta got up and began gathering logs as Bulma got a skillet out and other cooking supplies out. She opened up her book of capsules and activated it on the ground, manifesting a small portable refrigerator. She grabbed another capsule and got her portable grill to put over the fire once it was ready.

Vegeta dumped a dozen or so branches he had collected and ignited them with a ki blast. He would complain about doing all the dirty work, but he didn't feel the need. He truly starting to feel somewhat at ease after the last conversation with Bulma. He dragged the grill top over the fire so she could get started on their food.

"This is going to take a while, Vegeta." Bulma started as she started preparing the skillet, laying out the steak and various sides. "Come talk to me while I cook. I just rattled off a lot, it's my turn to listen to you. Tell me about the Saiyan history or something I don't know about you. As a matter of fact, I really don't know much about Saiyans in general."

"A Saiyan history lesson, eh?" Vegeta smirked, lighting up. "I can't tell you the thousands of years of the history of our race over the span of one meal being cooked but I can tell you about the beginning of our race if it so interests you."

Vegeta told Bulma about the earliest Saiyan history, the original Saiyan home of Planet Sadala and everything he knew about early history there. Maybe it was the passion he had talking about his people, but Bulma found herself surprisingly captivated by the new information as she prepared their dinner. This subject normally wouldn't have interested her but Vegeta explained all of the history with such passion. It was nice to see Vegeta happy talking about something after the previous conversation. She actually wanted to hear him talk about something he was proud after hearing him give into his self loathing. Getting a chance to talk about the Saiyan race for a while seemed to put Vegeta in better spirits as well. Bulma began to understand the pride for his race a little more hearing him go on about even early, obscure Saiyan history.

As he finished his impromptu history lesson the food was soon ready and a clear star filled night sky was draped over the planet. Bulma got out paper plates and utensils, setting the steak and grilled veggies on both their plates as the campfire flickered and crackled.

"It's super hot so let it cool down a bit." Bulma instructed as she got settled and looked at the starry skies above them. "Oh, Vegeta...this view makes all the bullshit we went through last night worth it. I'm so glad you wanted to stay."

Vegeta looked up as well as he started to finally eat. He never really taken time to look at the stars. He had traveled around the cosmos so many times the stars really just became a backdrop to his travels from one battleground to the next. Cascadia Terra had no lifeforms so no cities and thus, no light pollution. It seemed like the entire galaxy was on display for Bulma and Vegeta.

Eventually, the two finished their dinner. Bulma took their biodegradable plates and threw them in the fire. She went by the tent and brought back a bag full of what looked to Vegeta like white, cylindrical shapes.

"Alright Vegeta, it's time to show you one of the best traditions of camping, toasted marshmallows!" Bulma said excitedly as she opened the bag. "Grab a stick!"

Bulma grabbed a stick lying on the ground and pierced through one of her treats and put it over the fire.

"That's all?" Vegeta replied. "You just burn them?"

"Well yes, but you eat them once they get softer." Bulma explained as she handed Vegeta one. Was she really teaching this man how to eat marshmallows?

Vegeta held the white confection and examined it. It felt like a piece of a pillow had been chopped off and turned into a candy. These humans eat the strangest things. He picked up a nearby stick of his own and placed the marshmallow on it. He looked over and saw how Bulma was warming hers up.

Hmm, the point of this is to burn these things? Well, it's going to take forever to burn if I hold it on the outer edge like she's doing.

Vegeta put his stick and marshmallow into the center of the fire. Bulma turned and saw what he was doing and started laughing as his marshmallow turned black and started to melt.

"Vegeta! You're supposed to just toast them, not burn them to a crisp! Now you can't eat that nasty, burnt thing!" she snickered as she pulled her stick back, letting her marshmallow cool down. "See, you want it like this. You want to turn it little brown but not charred like yours!"

She showed him how hers had turned out as he tossed his stick and charred candy in the fire. She chuckled at his frustration before reaching into the bag and picking another marshmallow for him.

"Here, try again." she said, handing him another one and grabbing one more for herself. "Keep it on the outer part of the flame like this."

Vegeta nodded and followed her instructions as he held his stick on the edge of the fire. Bulma did the same until hers was toasted enough.

"Ok now it should be good, but let it cool down for a bit. I don't want you burning your tongue!" Bulma said as she ate her second marshmallow. Vegeta once again pulled his back and looked it over, rotating it to make sure he did it right this time. His marshmallow was a golden brown. He bit into the soft, gooey candy.

"What do you think?" she asked.

"It's not bad for being simply a puff of sugar." he replied. "However, there's no nutritional value in something like this, why are they so special?"

"Because sometimes it's good to indulge in treats like these. When I went camping when I was younger with my parents, we toasted marshmallows every night. " Bulma explained as she beamed from reminiscing. "Having them now makes me feel like a kid again, they bring me back to those carefree times."

By now it was getting late. Vegeta soon put out the fire and he and Bulma retreated to the tent for the night. This tent was one of the larger models, with enough space for four campers so Bulma and Vegeta had plenty of room inside. Vegeta rolled out a dark blue sleeping bag and set pillows aside for himself and his wife. Bulma disrobed down to a more comfortable sleeping attire; after removing her grey bra, she threw on an oversized orange t shirt with a turquoise pair of panties. She yawned as she curled up in the sleeping bag as Vegeta removed his shirt and joined her.

"Oh! One more thing, can you zip down the opening?" she asked. " There are no bugs here to annoy us, so we can get some fresh, night air!"

"Of course, even though I just laid down..." Vegeta sleepily grumbled.

"Oh hush, you'll love sleeping in this air too!" Bulma chided as he zipped down the tent entrance and laid back down with Bulma as she rested her head on his chest and draped her arm over his stomach area. She looked out at the glowing stars and other celestial objects for a moment as she began to drift into sleep.

"Thank you honey..." Bulma whispered faintly. "I love you."

Vegeta smiled as Bulma looked up at him with a loving smile of her own as her eyelids began to feel heavier. She inched her way up his body to plant one last kiss for the night on his lips.

"I love you too. " Vegeta whispered back, making sure she heard him this time. "Good night."