A week had passed after the evening Vegeta came over, demanding Val return with him. Val woke up in the morning afterwards, rolling over find Piccolo still asleep in her bed. She had invited him into it last night once the awkwardness had simmered down, enticing him to join her so she could start training him for a change. She looked over him, rolling over and setting up on his chest, noticing he was a bit stockier than she had realized. He seemed to wake up at the movement and grunt, but did not open his eyes. She hummed softly, thinking about what the passed week had been like, introducing a new element between the two of them. He only joined her in her bed when she initiated and led in it. Other than that, nothing had changed, beyond Goku's odd comment that they should keep the curtains closed. Piccolo seemed more put off by it to her than he should have been. She had not understood the comment, thinking it had something to do with the changing weather. She hummed a little louder, thinking they were still focused on training for the androids and she was dividedly focused about the heart virus coming. How he told her to focus on those two things and worry about other decisions on the future in the future, i.e., not do anything she would regret or resent.
She hummed down at him, mischievous thought coming to her mind. She reached her hand down between his legs, noticing he was already somewhat hard. He growled breathily and stayed her hand, pulling it back up to his chest. She sighed, leaning her head down on his shoulder. "Don't you have work to do?" he asked her.
She bit his shoulder playfully. "Don't you have training to do?" she asked back. She hummed, asking, "what happens after? After the androids and virus are defeated?" She asked more for herself to say it out loud than anything else. He shook his head. "What, you don't know that future?" she prodded.
"Val," he said, warning her before she could even start to hint about asking him about the future.
She dropped the try, debating what to ask after. "I mean, if we are all to survive them all, what then?" she asked genuinely. She thought about what she could do herself.
"Focus on what's coming and make decisions afterwards," he advised yet again. "Nothing you will resent or regret."
She danced her fingertips over his chest and torso, thinking to herself and finding him guarded. "What do you want to do afterwards?" He shook his head, not giving much of any answer. She thought aloud, "I'm of two minds about it." She paused, seeing he was listening. "At Capsule Corps, working there, trying to see if I can figure out something on my own rather than taking and running with something stolen from the Imperial Army. To try my hand at something else to help the planet." She shifted, admitting, "but also, I still swore to Moori to protect this planet. And was offered guardianship more than once..." He seemed to stiffen at that, opening his eyes to look over at her, drawn into the comment. "I'm divided in it. I don't know if I would be good at either one. More to balance," she huffed, not sure which path to consider. "Or who I want in it," she added a bit softer. She pulled herself up high enough to kiss him.
He sat up, making her sit up with him. She pulled the blanket up, covering herself half in modesty. "Make decisions if you survive," he advised, seeming more guarded with her. "And nothing you'll resent or regret beforehand."
"I will survive them," she insisted, watching him rise up and out of the bed. He left, getting he pants from the night before off the floor and shrugging them on. "And you will as well," she added determinedly.
He stepped closer to her, hand reaching down towards her, but then pulling away. He left the room at that with her watching him go. She stretched and rose up herself tiredly. She got herself dressed and ready for the day, seeing him go off for training while she set herself to focus on her research.
She turned her computer on, tapping her fingers impatiently as the machine whirled up. Once it was finally ready, she went to log into the Capsule Corps website, only to find her password was announced as incorrect. She looked at the screen, frowning. She re-entered her password very slowly, and carefully, absolutely certain she entered it right. A warning flashed up that it was wrong again. She stood up in a rush, walking behind the chair, and putting her hands on the back of it, willing herself to stay calm. She entered the password again a third time, knowing it was right. She refreshed the page and tried again. It was flagged as wrong again, but this time came with a warning that she would be locked out of the account if she tried again. She gave up, reaching down for her phone, hands slightly shaking. She sent a quick, panicked text to Daiki, hoping he was back from his honeymoon now and could help her. She stared at her phone, waiting for him to see the message. Once she saw he did, she waited for him to respond to it.
Instead, she saw she got a message from Bulma. She opened it, but kept her eye out for a message from Daiki. When she read it, she felt her heart drop. Bulma had hacked her account and changed her password. If she wanted to get back in, she would have to meet her, the two of them alone, at a café in the city nearest the village, at 10 A.M.. Val looked at the message, in shock, feeling her hands tremble. She looked at the time on the computer, finding she would have to leave almost immediately if she were to make it on time. She sent a quick text to say she was coming. She left the room, getting herself ready in a rush. She scribbled Piccolo a note, explaining what happened, and leaving it on the counter before she ran out the door.
Val reached the café, impressed by the looks of its grandiose, two story nature. It was one probably the fanciest place in town. Val went inside with the server at the door giving her curious look. She frowned, looking down at her casual clothing, thinking that could be the source of her look. She surged forwarded away from the woman and went into café's entrance, looking around for Bulma. She brought her hand to her hair, smoothing it out. She saw the time on the ornate clock said a little after 10 A.M.. She felt her nerves subside a little, thinking how Bulma would never bring Vegeta her. He would be a bull in a china shop at this place.
"Excuse me, miss?" the server asked her in a soft voice. Val looked, seeing she had come up next to her. "Are you the one whose meeting Ms. Briefs at 10?" She held a menu in her hand, throwing a quick nod to one of her coworkers to step up to the podium by the door, who stepped up to take her place.
Val looked at the server and nodded. "Yes, I am, miss," she responded politely.
"This way then, please," she said, leading the way up the stairs. Val followed after, finding the carpeted staircase looked almost too nice to step on in the old pair of shoes she had just thrown on. She smoothed her hair down once more, feeling her hands were a bit too warm for her liking. Val waited for the worker to open the door to a private room, where she saw only Bulma already pulled up to the high table, reading from a magazine with an old man on the front cover. She was dressed a lot more suitably for the café than Val was. "Your guest has arrived, ma'am," the server said, gesturing for Val to come in and sit at the opposite end of the table. She did.
Bulma put her magazine down face down and sat it aside. "For a second there, I thought you weren't going to make it," Bulma said in greeting. Val nodded, eyes on Bulma's phone facing downwards on the table by the magazine and then up at her. The server offered her the menu she had, but Bulma did not take it. Instead, she asked, "how big are your black coffees?"
"8 ounces, ma'am," the server said, pointing at menu where it was.
Bulma gave a short sigh, requesting politely, "decaf then. And a ginger cookie to go with it then, please." She gestured towards Val, saying, "and whatever my friend here would like."
The server offered Val the menu and she took it, not sure what to order, but wanted to hurry since Bulma had already ordered so quickly. She found the prices of the drinks higher than she expected as well. She felt herself falter and say, "same."
"You're sure?" Bulma asked, looking her over. "Not a regular coffee? Or they do have the hydrangea tea you like," she pointed. Val nodded unsure. Bulma pulled the menu out of her hands gently, showing the server the menu. "She just thinks you're in a hurry."
"What drink, miss?" the server asked her.
"The tea," she answered.
"Would you still like a ginger cookie as well, miss?" the greeter asked, taking the menu from Bulma. Val nodded, feeling her foot start to tap under the table. "I'll be right back with your orders, ladies," the server said, stepping out of the room, closing the door carefully behind her.
Val watched the door shut and then turned to look at Bulma, giving her a nervous look before looking down at her phone. She clasped her hands in her lap under the table in an attempt to stop them from shaking. Bulma leaned forward, resting her elbows on the table and hand on her chin. "So how have you been?" she asked, sounding half pleasant and interested. Val flick her eyes up to her, sitting in silence and not sure what to do or say. She sat there, thinking Vegeta was indeed right. This woman's strength was her unrivalable intelligence. No wonder he was about to fall for her. Bulma sighed, picking her phone off of the table, swiping at it for a minute in their tense silence. She turned the phone, offering it Val to look at it. "I changed your login password back to what it originally was. You know, you should really have a password that is harder to hack. Only took me three tries to get it."
Val leaned forward, looking at the phone and feeling a wave of relief. She pulled out her own phone, testing it to see that she could in fact log into her account now. She changed the password in a rush, committing the new one to memory.
Bulma sat up straighter. "You going to leave now that you have access back or are you going to stay long enough to chat?" she asked, seeming confident as she spoke.
"Why did you change my password?" she asked, half tempted to just get up and leave, but found herself locked there out of sheer curiosity.
"It was an expedient way to shake you out of your nest long enough to meet with me in person," Bulma answered with certainty. "It worked."
Val just looked at her for a few seconds, not sure what to say or do back. The server came in with a tray with their drinks and food, setting them down in front of both of them before leaving them back to their privacy. Bulma picked up her drink, sipped from it, and then sat it back down with a tired sigh. "What is decaf?" Val asked, question coming to her mind, not sure if she had ever heard of it before.
"Not as fun," was all she answered. Val watch as she picked up the cookie and took a small, hesitant bite from it. Val mimic, trying her cookie, finding the mix of spicy and sweet flavor interesting. She took a sip of her tea, enjoying its more earthy flavor. "So how has your training been going?" she asked, one eye brow raised.
"Better, but distracting," she answered honestly. "I feel like I there still aren't enough hours in the day. Daiki and I are close though. With the antiviral medicine. I can feel it."
"Closer than you think," Bulma commented. "That's the only distraction?"
Val felt herself shrink back a little by the comment, wondering how much and what exactly Vegeta might have told her. She figured he would one day, considering the two of them were going to be close enough to have a child together. "Of course," she answered hesitantly. She took a sip from her tea, willing her hand not to tremble as she did so.
Bulma gave her a patient look. "But of course you're still not over Tien, and still so mad at Vegeta over his goading during and after your relationship that you still can't stand to work at Capsule Corps because you still can't stand to be around him. Am I right?"
Val tried to steady her breathing, annoyed that this woman, who would never be as physically strong as she was, had her verbally on the run. "Yes," she lied, mind reeling, wondering if and how much Vegeta had already told her. She rubbed her bracelets against each other under the table.
That earned her a raised eyebrow. "And that's why Piccolo was there, shirtless, that night Vegeta paid you a visit?"
Val's eyes widen, feeling caught. "That... was..." she faltered, not sure what to say, how to say it, or even if she wanted to say anything.
Bulma leaned forward, seeming more curious now. She took a drink of her odd coffee and grimaced a second. "You have to tell me, did he actually offer for Vegeta to join the two of you?" Val gaped at her, knowing she knew everything. Her face felt hot. "You're blushing. So he did. I knew it. Here I was pretty sure he just misunderstood something." Val brought her hand up to her necklace, fidgeting with it. "So how long has that been going on? How is he?"
Val felt herself want to falter under the weight of all those questions. She shook her head, trying to reason around what to say. "That was the first time..." she answered honestly. She rubbed her bracelets against each other under the table.
"Hmm, took you longer than I thought, especially considering Vegeta was certain he had been staying there awhile based on how the house looked. Maybe you weren't lying about not being over Tien. At least not right away," Bulma said, looking and sounding satisfied. "Or maybe Vegeta coming to get you, even after I told him not to, was what finally made him give in?" she reasoned. Val hummed at her words, saying nothing. She seemed to enjoy questioning her, trying to make her falter. "A start of something new perhaps?" she teased.
Val shrugged, shoulders drawing up high to her chin. "I... don't know..." she answered honestly.
Bulma raised her eyes at that. "Hmm, how so?" she asked, sound intrigued.
Val shook her head. "He says don't plan for the future. Don't make any decisions that I'll resent or regret," she repeated, swallowing thickly.
Bulma clicked her teeth at that. "Well, he did overhear a great deal more than he told all of us..." she mused. "Perhaps he's worried both of you will die. Or worse; one of you will die, but the other will on. That would be a potentially heartbreaking undertaking..." she added, sounding somber at the idea.
Val bit her lip to keep from saying anything in warning that that could be what Bulma would go through, if Vegeta still died when the androids arrived. Piccolo had been guarded with her and that could be the cause. Both of them were stronger than before, but she still was weaker than he was. Being weaker meant being the one more likely to die. She nodded, mumbling out, "possibly."
Bulma blinked and shook her head. "So now what exactly is keeping you away from coming back to Capsule Corps, at least three days a week again like you did before when you trained in the mountain village? Because Vegeta said it seemed like you were just playing at being angry, and were just really nervous about something. Maybe about being interrupted in pursuits of someone you've had the hots for for a while now?"
Val sighed, admitting, "I haven't been mad at him for a while... but..." she searched her mind for an excuse not to go back yet. She felt fear coil in her stomach that if she went back too soon, she might accidentally interfere with the romance that was to happen between Bulma and Vegeta soon. She could not interfere, would not interfere. She realized now just what a burden knowing even a little bit of the future was that could not be revealed. The weight of knowing everything would really be quite a burden to bare. She squirmed in her seat, saying, "I haven't perfected the formula yet for the anti-viral meds to run them yet-"
"Yes, you have," Bulma interrupted. Val frowned at her. "I've looked over your work. You don't have to perfect it from the get go to run with it. It's fine where you've gotten it. You'll have to tweak it anyway after people use it to make it more efficient and have less side effects, and what not. You can make it now and test it. It's time for that, but you need to be working at Capsule Corps to do it. Daiki's brilliant, but he's too apprehensive to make this step without you there with him. And he's been back to work, waiting for you by the way."
Val looked at her, shocked by how casually she said it all. "I can- it can- but- I..." she tried to think of another excuse not to go back, not risk interfering. She frowned, annoyed that she had to go back, was stuck going back now. She could not think of another excuse to delay herself any further to go one step closer to defeating the heart virus before it took off.
"What possible other excuse could you have not to come back now?" Bulma asked, sounding a bit more annoyed now. She took another hesitant bite of her cookie and then rubbed her stomach soothingly.
"Are you alright?" Val asked, noticing she looked a bit green.
"You weren't around many women on that space ship, were you?" Bulma inquired off topic. She swallowed a bit, taking a sip of the coffee.
Val shook her head. "Mainly just Asa and that nurse," she answered. "The Imperial Army was mostly men, but I wasn't around other women a lot since Frieza kept me close. Probably waiting just as impatiently for the day I grew, just like Raditz had been."
Bulma nodded. "That makes a bit more sense." She hummed, drinking a bit more of the 'not fun' coffee, whatever that meant. "Well, so if you had grown, Raditz would have married you, yes?"
Val nodded, explaining, "yes, he insisted on it. We were considered engaged." She wrinkled her nose at the thought. "He wanted children who would be as close to pure bred Saiyans as possible. Having a child with me, the last Anthromorph was his best shot." She bit her lip adding, "not that there's anything wrong with a Saiyan having a child with someone else." She hummed to herself, worried that was not vague enough to say.
"So he didn't want bastards, I take it?" Bulma asked, steering the conversation.
"I don't understand," Val answered.
Bulma gave her a patient look. "Sounds like he didn't want bastards, otherwise he wouldn't have insisted marrying you instead of making you whore or something like that. You know, Vegeta says bastard Saiyans tended to not be as strong Saiyans born within the bonds of marriage," she spooled out. Val gave her a confused look but then nodded. "Even the rumored to be royal bastards that might have come from his father's rumored dalliances, to women who were sometimes paid off to keep quiet, we're never as strong as he was growing up. Even the one who looked so much like him that he could not be denied as a royal bastard was sent off planet because he was too weak to keep up."
Val blinked, furrowing her brow at that new information, not sure why it was being shared. She shook her head, saying in a slightly frustrated tone, "I don't understand."
Bulma looked at her, running a hand through her hair. "Why did you pick those two things from the menu?" she asked.
Val shrugged, looking down at her partially consumed cookie and tea. "You got one and suggested the other," she stated point blank.
"Well, you're not," she thought she heard Bulma mutter. "Why do you think I pick these two things from the menu," she pressed more loudly and clearly, gesturing at the decaf coffee and ginger cookie in front of her.
"Because..." Val started. Bulma leaned in closer, waiting on bated breath for what she would say next. "Um... you're trying to be healthier?" she finished grasping at straws.
Bulma raised her head up, mumbling, "close, but not quite." She sat back, resting her hand on her almost flat stomach. Val shook her head. "You really need to be around more women. Or at least read a bit more into pregnancy if you want to have your own child one day."
It suddenly clicked for her. "Already?" she blurted out, panicking that that could be a hint at the future. "You know already? But you're so slim," she rushed. "But how...?" she wondered out loud. It so fast if the child, the future fighter had been conceived the night Vegeta came after her, it had too be almost too soon for Bulma to tell. Val felt her mind reel, shocked but the revelation.
Bulma looked amused. "That took you a little too long," she teased, sounding a bit more jovial now. "He's been kind of lonely since the two of you moved into Capsule Corps. He had you around of course, his space bestie, but then you were away half a week with Tien, whom he did not approve of, and then completely, apparently to go pursue Piccolo, whom I'm pretty sure he does, at least a little bit, and were gone completely. Now, I can't banter back and forth with him like you can, but we other ways to entertain one another." She started blushing at her last comment. Then she seemed to get a bit nervous. "You approve, right? I know you clearly weren't interested in him, and he never was in you, but one thing led to another..." Val kind of gaped at her, and then nodded after a second. "Oh good, because, you're both friends, and I didn't want to impose, you know." She took a steadying breath. "Anyway, so back to this surprise," she placed her hand on her stomach. "He sensed it right away and he told me right away. He panicked, still kind of panicking, not wanting a bastard, not wanting to have a weaker child just because he made the 'mistake' of not marrying me first." She took a sip at her coffee before continuing. "So we were going to get married, at Capsule Corps, right away. My parents as witnesses, done. But..." she strung out the last sentence and left it hanging.
"But what?" Val asked, leaning forward, mind reeling.
"He wants it kept quiet, so keep your mouth shut, but he wanted you there, too," she finished. "But you never showed up that evening." Val cringed at that, starting to feel guilty. "And then he went after you, only to be chased away by Piccolo, who must have gotten a bit jealous or territorial or something because now you two have entertained each other."
Val cringed more, feeling ever guiltier. "You two still got married that night, though. Didn't you?" she asked, voice tight.
Bulma shook her head. "He won't. Not unless you're there. Very stubborn. Adamant that he has to have someone there as well and that that someone has to be you."
Val felt her stomach clench, guilt increasing. "We- I didn't know that was what he wanted," she excused, biting her tongue to keep her from revealing what they truly feared. She felt like an idiot fearing it now and only basing it off of hearsay of what Chiaotzu supposedly said about the fighter reminding him of her. She shook her head, mad at herself for being so foolish. "He wouldn't tell me anything. Just kept insisting I go with him." She shook her head, mumbling out a half intelligible apology, "I'm sorry."
"It's fine," she dismissed. "He didn't want Piccolo to overhear," she explained. "I was going to tell you when you showed up that day, but you never showed up, never answered your phone, and were logged out of the Capsule Corps program as well."
Val stood up without thinking, hand clenched on the edge of the table. "What, but - can we go now? To Capsule Corps. He'd do it today, surely if you asked him to. Right?"
Bulma looked quite please. "Finish your drink first," she said, nodding down at the cup in front of Val before bringing the cup in front of her to her own lips.