Dragon Ball/Z/GT Fan Fiction ❯ Falling Away With You ❯ Chapter 3 ( Chapter 3 )
[ Y - Young Adult: Not suitable for readers under 16 ]
By: Froglady15 
Anime/Manga: Dragon Ball/Z/GT Fan Fiction | Genre(s): Romance | Type: Continuation | Uploaded On: 07.17.2016 | Pages: 9 | Words: 5.8K | Visits: 324 | Status: Work In Progress
Anime/Manga: Dragon Ball/Z/GT Fan Fiction | Genre(s): Romance | Type: Continuation | Uploaded On: 07.17.2016 | Pages: 9 | Words: 5.8K | Visits: 324 | Status: Work In Progress
Disclaimer: I don't own anything. Just my Husband,
laptop, my 3 dogs and a very overactive imagination… Dragon
Ball Z and any songs mentioned in this fic DO NOT belong to me. I'm
just borrowing them for my own twisted amusement.
Chapter 3
The weeks following Bulma’s discovery that Vegeta was showing a slight interest in Trunks flew by quickly for her. She tried to remain as hands off as possible, not wanting to do anything to possibly discourage or derail these new, almost miraculous advancements.
No, she and Vegeta still weren’t interacting much except for when in passing so their conversations were very brief and usually only pertained to Trunks but they weren’t negative or cutting in anyway, which was a relief to both of them.
In the end, it was beginning to work out in Bulma’s favour because her father had transferred her to the sales department of Capsule Corporation around the same time. It was the only department she had yet to get her feet wet in and she had been avoiding it as long as possible.
Bulma hated sales.
She recognized that sales were essential to the survival of the company, after all they sold their inventions to the public; but she had no desire to set foot on that side of the business. Bulma’s strengths were in the lab designing, creating, building and improving their inventions. Not selling them.
Her father, however insisted that if she was to be taking over Capsule Corporation one day, she needed to have experience with every department and job that the company had to offer should there ever be a shortage somewhere so that she could jump right in and fill any and every position. She agreed with the rationale behind that, he was right; but she had absolutely zero interest to do with anything in sales.
Not only did this force her into a niche that she was not uncomfortable with, but it also meant double the hours she was used to working. Since she’d started as an assistant sales manager on the floor a few weeks back, she had just barely had time to see and spend time with Trunks.
The only positive in all of this was it came at the same time that Vegeta was beginning to show an interest in Trunks, which was nice because it took some of the pressure off of her poor mother.
Just yesterday morning, she happened to mention to him in passing on her way out the door that her mother had appointment in the afternoon and would most likely not be back until late so not to expect dinner at the regular time. As per her new work schedule, Bulma didn’t return home until the evening time after Trunks had been put to sleep. Her mother informed her that Vegeta not only took Trunks for a little while in the morning for their now usual meditation sessions but he had shown up around the time Bulma had told him that her mother was getting ready to leave and watched Trunks until she had come home.
Bulma knew it wasn’t that big a deal, but it was. For Vegeta to have done that meant a lot to her and it gave her some hope that maybe they could agree on some sort of co-parenting schedule. Sure she wasn’t expecting him to become a full-time babysitter while she was at work but it made her feel good that she possibly had someone else to rely on in terms of caring for Trunks than just her mother.
It made her feel good in any case that Vegeta was at least attempting to spend time with Trunks and that was all she really cared about she thought as she got off the elevator and darted into her office.
Late again, she sighed to herself as she tossed her purse on the floor. She needed to get going and get her things together for their morning sales meeting. So stupid, she groaned inwardly to herself as she began looking for the notes she’d prepared.
There were several call lists from the database that they’d not tapped into in several years. Capsule Corporation had grown so much since then that it was virtually an untouched demographic.
“Shit,” she cursed under her breath as she went through the scattered mess on her desk.
“Need any help?” asked Derek, who was the second assistant sales manager. He had worked in their sales department for years and had gotten the promotion of assistant sales manager the same time she had; not only because he was one of their top sales people but because he had been there for so long.
Bulma wasn’t sure how old he was but she assumed around the same age as herself. He was smart, tall, handsome, well dressed and very confident. She had of course met him many times over the years at company functions and he was always very polite to her. Despite not knowing him very well, she was relieved that he had been promoted the same time she had so they were both experiencing the same learning curve and it was becoming quite evident that they worked extremely well together.
“No, I’m just looking for those new phone lists I found last night,” she sighed, flipping through a mass of paperwork. “I stayed an extra hour later than I needed to just to have this shit ready this morning. I thought I’d left it on top,”
“On top of what?” he asked in amusement.
“The pile,”
“I realize that, but which pile?” he clarified with a chuckle.
“Very funny!” she snipped at him however she knew in all fairness her office did look like a bomb had gone off and her desk was ground zero. “I know it looks like a mess, but it really isn’t. It’s organized,”
“An organized mess,”
“Yea,” she paused, shooting him another look that told him to drop the subject of the state of her office.
Derek was quiet a moment as he watched her look for her papers in a flustered manner. He’d always liked her from the first time they’d met at his first Christmas gala with Capsule Corporation. Sure he’d seen her before here and there and he’d seen her in the tabloids every once in a while and like everybody else thought she was stunningly gorgeous, but he hadn’t actually met her until that party and that was when he’d decided that he really liked her.
She was polite and funny and she didn’t think she was better than anyone else because her dad owned the company. There were many who spoke negatively about her, presumably out of jealousy, but from what he’d seen and now experienced while working with her these past several weeks, she was just as intelligent as rumoured. She carried herself well, was confident and not just another ditzy heiress socialite who liked to party and spend daddy’s money. She worked just as hard, if not harder than any other employee he’d met and she knew just about everything about every single product in their inventory. She was professional and didn’t have time for stupid people or corporate politics. If she didn’t like you, you knew it and she was quick to commend others on a job well done.
He liked her very much but only admired her from a far all this time. Working with her had been a complete joy for him and he had been thinking about a way of asking her out these past few weeks they had been working together.
“We should go out one of these days,” he suggested casually as she was frantically trying to find her notes for the sales meeting
“Us? No,” she exclaimed in surprise and paused from her rummaging a moment before shaking her head and resuming her search. “My personal life is really complicated.”
“Well, you’re the brilliant Bulma Briefs. If your personal life wasn’t complicated, I think I’d find myself somewhat disappointed.”
“Oh, you have no idea,” she chuckled, choosing to be amused by his comment rather than offended. “It’s beyond complicated.”
“So you have a son,” he shrugged. “Big deal. That’s not a deal breaker for me, I like kids.”
“Alright, well what if I told you that my son’s father lives with us,” she countered. If being a single mother wasn’t a deal breaker she was sure that this would be. “We aren’t together, but he is a permanent resident at my home.”
He paused a moment as he mulled that new piece of information over. He had never heard her talk about Trunks’ father and had assumed that he was simply out of the picture altogether, never mind living with them. “A permanent resident, huh? Meaning...”
“Meaning that he will always be around in some capacity. And even if I did decide to find myself someone, that someone would have to be alright with and accept that. They would have to understand that Vegeta's home is Capsule Corporation and that even though we aren’t together as a couple, he isn’t going anywhere. That someone would have to accept that.”
“Well, I’m sure if there’s no chance of anything going on between you and him anymore then that someone may be alright with it. Maybe they’d even become friends with him,”
Bulma snorted. “Vegeta isn’t like anyone you have ever met,”
“You aren’t like anyone I’ve ever met,”
“Alright, Vegeta doesn’t have friends and no one is friends with Vegeta. It isn't done,” she sighed.
“Well everyone needs at least one friend,”
“Vegeta isn’t like everyone,” she insisted. “He’s antisocial, he doesn’t like anyone and he doesn’t like to be bothered. He’s not some guy you can just call up to go to the gym or to hang out with and have a few beers while watching the game. He... He’s impossible and doesn’t get the concept of interacting with people on a social level,” she tried to explain, feeling bad that she was making him out to sound like he was nothing more than a social reject with severe mental issues.
Derek chuckled. “He’s so impossible but you managed to make a child with him?”
“Yea,” she sighed. “That’s a whole ‘nother story on a day where I can drink a whole lot of wine.”
“Then come out with me and we’ll have wine and discuss failed relationships,” he joked.
“Do you have a girlfriend?” she asked pointedly, not recalling ever seeing him at any functions with another girl before. On the other hand, she had never made a point of noticing either.
“Not for a few years,” he admitted, crossing his arms and leaning against one of her office chairs. “Which another reason why we should go out.”
“I can’t,” she said again and shook her head beginning to become very frustrated with not being able to find her stuff. “It’s not personal, I’d love to but I work way too many hours and barely see my son as it is. I wouldn’t feel right taking a night off and going out on a date.”
A date, she chuckled inwardly to herself. Now there was a word and activity that had become nearly foreign to her since she and Yamcha had broken up. Come to think of it, the last date she’d gone on was with Yamcha. “Not to mention that I don’t think my father would approve of me dating a fellow employee of the company. Not sure what the policy is on that, but I don’t think he’d be too pleased.”
“Yet he lets the father of your son live under the same roof,” he said jokingly before thinking better of it. “Sorry, that was maybe crossing the line a bit there.”
“It was, but that’s ok. You have a point,” she agreed. “But again, it’s not your typical situation.”
“Another story for another day?”
“Yea,” she nodded, placing her hands on her hips and looking around her office.
“So that’s two dates I get to take you on then,”
“Ha haa don’t hold your breath,” she snorted. “Hey! Are those my lists on that chair you’re leaning on?”
Derek looked down at the chair and looked at them and nodded. “Looks like it,”
“Fuck my life!” she groaned, stomping over to the chair and picking them up. “Alright, now that we’re late, let’s go!”
Derek smirked at her and followed her into the board room. He wasn’t discouraged by her declining his invitation to go out with him. It obviously wasn’t personal and it seemed like it wasn’t something she’d considered. He’d leave her alone for a few weeks and let the idea simmer with her before asking her again.
The rest of the day flew by for Bulma. Fortunately nothing else went wrong, but she was still late leaving the office and was beyond exhausted by the time she’d made it home.
“Thank god it’s Saturday,” she groaned out loud as she dropped her keys and purse on the floor. Sunday was the only day she had off because that was the only day the sales department was closed. I need a bath and a very large glass of wine, she thought to herself as she made her way into the kitchen.
She opened a bottle of her favorite red wine, grabbed a glass and headed up the stairs to her room. Once up there, she started running her bath and walked out of her room to check on Trunks. They had moved his room from her bonus room into his own room across the hall from her room and Vegeta’s room, who was directly next to hers.
It had been several months now since they had moved him and Bulma was glad to have the privacy and space of her own again but a part of her really missed not having Trunks so nearby. He’d been a really good baby and not much of a fuss at all.
Of course, he was fast asleep, she thought sadly as guilt began to weigh on her again at how demanding this new position was becoming. It’s only for a few months, she told herself again as she always did when she began to feel bad again for all the time she was spending away from Trunks.
She kissed him lightly on the forehead so as not to wake him and exited his room to check on her bath to make sure it wasn’t over running.
Bulma checked it to make sure it wasn’t becoming too hot and when she was satisfied, went to pour herself a glass of her wine and went to find her pajamas when she noticed Vegeta walk down the hall.
“Hey!” she called out to him, skipping towards her door.
Vegeta stopped, crossed his arms and turned to look at her in reply.
“I heard you watched Trunks yesterday afternoon for my mom,” she said.
Vegeta snorted in reply. Of course the old woman would have made a big deal of that, he thought to himself. “You strategically mentioned her time of departure for a reason,”
Bulma felt her face turn slightly red at his accusation. “Well, I mentioned it so that you wouldn’t bitch over why there was no dinner if you decided to join my parents for dinner, as I heard you have been recently.”
“Someone needs to teach the brat some table manners,” he replied sourly. “I will not have him making the same disgusting display at the table that clown Kakarott had and his spawn seem to have inherited from him.”
Bulma held back a chuckle. “Good idea, thanks.”
“Hmmn,”
“How has he been?” she asked. “Hang on, I need to shut my water off before it overflows. Come in!” she said, racing back into her room and turning off the tap water.
Vegeta cautiously walked into her room. He didn’t like being in here and only had come in when Trunks had been occupying her attached bonus room and only when Bulma was sleeping or at work. Even then, it bothered him. He could remember quite vividly the things they had done together in this room and he never dwelled on that except when he came into this room for whatever reason.
“So?” she asked, coming back into her room to find him standing in the middle of the floor looking awkward. “Do you want some wine?” she asked him, offering him her glass.
He shook his head at her.
“Alright,” she nodded, not surprised that he declined her offer but still feeling slightly disappointed. “How was your day?”
“Fine,” he answered.
“Good,” she nodded again. “How was Trunks? I feel so bad I haven’t had a chance to spend any time with him,”
“He’s fine,” he shrugged. “Becoming less of a whiney brat you turned him into,”
“I didn’t turn him into a brat!” she objected in offence.
“You’re right,” he snorted. “Your mother and father played a hand in turning him that way as well,”
“Like you’re the authority on raising children,” she said sourly. “It’s not like they come with an operators manual.”
“No, they do not but it is not rocket science either.”
“Look, I don’t want to argue with you on parenting ideologies, alright? I just wanted to thank you for helping out with him like you have been. I know I haven’t been around a lot and I feel terrible about that but I want you to know that you taking time out of your day to help my mom out with him means the world to me,” she said nervously. “Mom says she’s noticed a very positive change in Trunks and while I haven’t seen that, I know it’s because of your doing.”
“Like I said, someone has to teach the boy manners as you and your parents seem to be inept,”
“Right,” she nodded, not wanting to argue with him. “Whatever your reasons, I wanted to let you know how much I appreciate it and was wanting to talk to you about it a little just so we are on the same page with him.”
“What is there to talk about?” he asked, crossing his arms.
“Nothing huge, just I’d like to know what rules and boundaries you’ve set in place so I don’t do anything to mess that up and confuse him or undermine you is all,” she shrugged, trying to explain what she meant to tell him so he would understand. “If you’re helping me with raising him then I think it’s important that we both be in agreement on how we raise him and make sure we’re both consistent.”
Vegeta thought about it. “Be more specific,”
“Well for example say you don’t let him run around the house at mach one whenever he wants and then when I see him on evenings or on Sundays he runs around the house and I allow it,” she explained. “The rules should be the same no matter which one of us has him. Does that make sense?”
“Hmmn,” Vegeta nodded in agreement. “It does,”
“Alright!” she smiled. “Well, I’m exhausted. I had stupidly long week and I really need to unwind. Want to talk about it tomorrow some time? I’m off. Maybe the three of us could spend some time together?”
Vegeta looked at her a moment, unsure if he was comfortable with that. He was suddenly feeling like she was cornering him into something and he didn’t like it. Sure he had been spending some time with the boy recently but that was all he had signed on for. He wasn’t putting himself out for her benefit. He wasn’t even sure why he had even bothered in the first place. It was becoming a regular part of his day to day routine and he still wasn’t sure how he felt about it.
“We will discuss it at a later time,” he said. “You are not working tomorrow therefore you are to look after him tomorrow.”
“Well, that was my plan, Vegeta,” she sighed in aggravation. “I just thought it would be nice if I included you in that time too is all,”
“Just because I spend time with him during the week in your absence does not mean I want to start playing house with you,” he reminded her before abruptly turning and exiting her room.
“I wasn’t asking you to play house, you jerk!” she shouted after him, not thinking about possibly waking Trunks. She stood there a moment, waiting to hear if she had woken him up but it was silent. “Ugh!” she groaned out load and headed into her bathroom to take her bath.
Oh, yea, I really needed this, she thought to herself as she sunk into the warm water and took in the warmth and calm and peace and quiet. She had been so busy she hadn’t really taken any time for herself in the last few months.
As she lay back with her eyes closed and sipped her wine, she tried to not think about work and the stresses of this new position and the targets they were all expected to hit. How does anyone live like that, she wondered. How does Derek live like that? He’s been in sales forever and he just thrives on it.
Derek, she sighed. He’d asked her out today and while it had taken her completely by surprise and she had been flattered, she wasn’t sure what to do about it. Sure she liked him. She liked him a lot actually. If her life weren’t so complicated and she didn’t have Trunks she would have probably jumped at the opportunity to go out with him. Ugh, what are you even thinking? She chastised herself. You can’t go out with him! He’s your co-worker, not to mention how is that going to work since Vegeta lives here?
She groaned out loud again. She couldn’t let him pursue her no matter how attracted to him she was. It just wouldn’t work. She sat in her hot water thinking about that a moment. It was tempting. Bulma hadn’t had a boyfriend since Yamcha as she didn’t categorize Vegeta as an ex-boyfriend. She hadn’t been on a real date since she and Yamcha had broken up. Hell she hadn’t had sex since she and Vegeta had hooked up and that was nearly five years ago now, she estimated. Right. Trunks is almost four so yea, it’s been that long, alright. God that’s depressing!
Bulma wasn’t even sure what to do about this. Things between her and Vegeta were finally on somewhat good terms; did she really want to throw a new relationship into the equation and potentially put stress on that? More importantly, how would Vegeta react if she brought home a potential boyfriend?
She let that thought hang on for a moment. How would he react if I found someone, she asked herself seriously. She honestly didn’t have a clue. Part of her figured he wouldn’t care less. As he so rudely reminded her just now that he had no desire to “play house” with her. Well if I find someone that does want to play house with me then he’s just going to have to go fuck himself, she told herself. I don’t want to play house with him either!
However as soon as she thought that, she knew that she was lying to herself. If she found herself another guy, she knew that no matter how serious it got with that person, if Vegeta ever expressed an interest in her, she would drop everything, anything and anyone to be with him. Like a pathetic high school girl, she sighed to herself.
Bulma thought long and hard about it. Things were only just now beginning to turn around with her and Vegeta. He wasn’t keeping himself completely secluded anymore and he was actually spending time with Trunks, which made her so happy the last thing she wanted to do was rock the boat and create unnecessary tension between them again.
Besides, maybe if she just let things evolve naturally like she had been, maybe there was a chance Vegeta may have a change of heart where she was concerned. She knew it was dangerous for her to even hope for that but maybe if she was patient and waited for him to come to her maybe there was a future there for them.
Bulma nodded to herself, she would wait for him.
0-0-0
Vegeta decided to leave Capsule Corporation and spend the night out on one of his favourite secluded areas. He liked to go out there to think and clear his head without the influence of anyone else.
No sent of Bulma creeping up to tempt him. No chance of Trunks crying and disturbing him from his thoughts, though that was a rare occurrence these days. Trunks wasn’t a baby anymore, he was a child. He had been working hard at toughening him up a bit so he wasn’t such a cry baby. So far he thought Trunks was doing pretty good and he was discovering that he actually didn’t mind spending time with him now that he could talk and walk and use the bathroom on his own.
He had to admit that had he not been woken up those several weeks back by the boy’s temper tantrum he probably still wouldn’t be having anything to do with him now and he would still be in that deep dark mind set he’d been in for the last few years.
He had been asleep when he’d heard the racket which was nearly becoming a daily occurrence. It drove him crazy and made him begin to feel resentful. Why were they simply allowing him to behave that way and then reward it by caving and giving into his tantrums? He understood that Bulma’s parents did this so as to shut him up but in the weeks leading up to him intervening it was becoming worse instead of better until he decided he could not take it anymore.
He had angrily crawled out of bed, dressed himself and stormed downstairs into the front living room where Bulma’s mother was trying to unsuccessfully dress the boy in a jacket. He didn't say anything, just picked him up by the back of his t-shirt and brought him up to his eye level and looked sternly at him.
It was just as he has suspected. The boy was simply making a fuss over nothing. He was wailing and carrying on as though something horrible was about to happen to him and yet there wasn’t a tear in his eye.
Trunks had gone quiet almost immediately and Mrs. Briefs was so thankful for the reprieve she had asked him to watch Trunks for her and before he knew it, he was stuck alone with the child with no clue as to how to interact with him or what he should do with him. What did one do with a child?
The only memories he’d had with his father were mostly of training and they weren't necessarily good memories. He wouldn’t quite classify them as bad either. He was born a warrior prince to a warrior culture. It was expected that he begin his training as soon as he learned to walk.
He had been expected to keep up with his father during training. There was no coddling. The rule had been keep up or be prepared to take a beating so he had learned real quick how to block and avoid taking damage.
That was all he knew of raising a son if he used his own father as a reference. He wasn’t even sure if his father was right or wrong. All he knew was that was all he knew and he was certain Bulma would not agree.
During his time here on this planet, he had observed that this culture seemed to overly coddle and shelter their young. It was a small wonder to him why this planet was inhabited by weaklings. They raised their young to be weak and defenceless. It didn’t make sense to him.
While he felt he had little to no obligation to train the boy, a part of him really didn’t want his son to grow up to be another weak human. He thought of Gohan. The boy had so much potential yet that harpy mate of Kakarott’s refused to allow him to reach that potential so the boy was soft and weak. He assumed now that Kakarott was gone for good that she would raise their second child the same way and he too would be weak. It bothered him.
On top of that, having seen the potential his son had from observing the future version of him, he felt it was a waste almost to not work with him and he was beginning to consider it despite his vow after the Cell games to never train again.
He wasn’t sure why he was suddenly feeling the need to train the boy, but he was. He himself may be finished with training but he knew he had a certain amount of obligation to teach his son and honour his heritage that way. With any luck, he would become stronger than Gohan and that alone was something that gave him pride. He himself may have been surpassed by both the third class and his offspring but his own son had great potential and he could not fully justify not training Trunks.
That was why he was bothering.
Vegeta thought back on his conversation with Bulma this evening. No, he did not want her to think that he was wanting to settle into a domestic family role. That did not appeal to him, nor did he want her to think that his staying here had anything to do with her.
He did however agree with her that if he was to stay here and assist somewhat in Trunks upbringing, they did need to come to some agreement. He had no problem discussing that with her but he also did not want her to read more into his actions than what they were.
He would let her know the next time they spoke that he would like to begin training Trunks. He was old enough. Already he had begun working on the boys attention span and teaching him to meditate. He knew he didn’t fully grasp the concept of what they were doing, but it was a start. He could tell that it would take little effort to teach the boy how to form a ki ball. However it was concentration that was needed in order to control it and not destroy everything in the immediate area. So he had begun to teach him how to concentrate.
Vegeta decided he would speak with her tomorrow. He would not join her in her activities with the boy, but he would make a point of speaking with her to make an agreement with her where Trunks was concerned.
The question did run through his head of what he would do if she would not allow him to train the boy. He thought about it a moment, unsure of what he would do.
He would leave, he decided. He had nothing else to offer the boy except training. If the woman didn’t want that then there was no reason for him to remain here.
0-0-0
Thanks guys!! :D
Chapter 3
The weeks following Bulma’s discovery that Vegeta was showing a slight interest in Trunks flew by quickly for her. She tried to remain as hands off as possible, not wanting to do anything to possibly discourage or derail these new, almost miraculous advancements.
No, she and Vegeta still weren’t interacting much except for when in passing so their conversations were very brief and usually only pertained to Trunks but they weren’t negative or cutting in anyway, which was a relief to both of them.
In the end, it was beginning to work out in Bulma’s favour because her father had transferred her to the sales department of Capsule Corporation around the same time. It was the only department she had yet to get her feet wet in and she had been avoiding it as long as possible.
Bulma hated sales.
She recognized that sales were essential to the survival of the company, after all they sold their inventions to the public; but she had no desire to set foot on that side of the business. Bulma’s strengths were in the lab designing, creating, building and improving their inventions. Not selling them.
Her father, however insisted that if she was to be taking over Capsule Corporation one day, she needed to have experience with every department and job that the company had to offer should there ever be a shortage somewhere so that she could jump right in and fill any and every position. She agreed with the rationale behind that, he was right; but she had absolutely zero interest to do with anything in sales.
Not only did this force her into a niche that she was not uncomfortable with, but it also meant double the hours she was used to working. Since she’d started as an assistant sales manager on the floor a few weeks back, she had just barely had time to see and spend time with Trunks.
The only positive in all of this was it came at the same time that Vegeta was beginning to show an interest in Trunks, which was nice because it took some of the pressure off of her poor mother.
Just yesterday morning, she happened to mention to him in passing on her way out the door that her mother had appointment in the afternoon and would most likely not be back until late so not to expect dinner at the regular time. As per her new work schedule, Bulma didn’t return home until the evening time after Trunks had been put to sleep. Her mother informed her that Vegeta not only took Trunks for a little while in the morning for their now usual meditation sessions but he had shown up around the time Bulma had told him that her mother was getting ready to leave and watched Trunks until she had come home.
Bulma knew it wasn’t that big a deal, but it was. For Vegeta to have done that meant a lot to her and it gave her some hope that maybe they could agree on some sort of co-parenting schedule. Sure she wasn’t expecting him to become a full-time babysitter while she was at work but it made her feel good that she possibly had someone else to rely on in terms of caring for Trunks than just her mother.
It made her feel good in any case that Vegeta was at least attempting to spend time with Trunks and that was all she really cared about she thought as she got off the elevator and darted into her office.
Late again, she sighed to herself as she tossed her purse on the floor. She needed to get going and get her things together for their morning sales meeting. So stupid, she groaned inwardly to herself as she began looking for the notes she’d prepared.
There were several call lists from the database that they’d not tapped into in several years. Capsule Corporation had grown so much since then that it was virtually an untouched demographic.
“Shit,” she cursed under her breath as she went through the scattered mess on her desk.
“Need any help?” asked Derek, who was the second assistant sales manager. He had worked in their sales department for years and had gotten the promotion of assistant sales manager the same time she had; not only because he was one of their top sales people but because he had been there for so long.
Bulma wasn’t sure how old he was but she assumed around the same age as herself. He was smart, tall, handsome, well dressed and very confident. She had of course met him many times over the years at company functions and he was always very polite to her. Despite not knowing him very well, she was relieved that he had been promoted the same time she had so they were both experiencing the same learning curve and it was becoming quite evident that they worked extremely well together.
“No, I’m just looking for those new phone lists I found last night,” she sighed, flipping through a mass of paperwork. “I stayed an extra hour later than I needed to just to have this shit ready this morning. I thought I’d left it on top,”
“On top of what?” he asked in amusement.
“The pile,”
“I realize that, but which pile?” he clarified with a chuckle.
“Very funny!” she snipped at him however she knew in all fairness her office did look like a bomb had gone off and her desk was ground zero. “I know it looks like a mess, but it really isn’t. It’s organized,”
“An organized mess,”
“Yea,” she paused, shooting him another look that told him to drop the subject of the state of her office.
Derek was quiet a moment as he watched her look for her papers in a flustered manner. He’d always liked her from the first time they’d met at his first Christmas gala with Capsule Corporation. Sure he’d seen her before here and there and he’d seen her in the tabloids every once in a while and like everybody else thought she was stunningly gorgeous, but he hadn’t actually met her until that party and that was when he’d decided that he really liked her.
She was polite and funny and she didn’t think she was better than anyone else because her dad owned the company. There were many who spoke negatively about her, presumably out of jealousy, but from what he’d seen and now experienced while working with her these past several weeks, she was just as intelligent as rumoured. She carried herself well, was confident and not just another ditzy heiress socialite who liked to party and spend daddy’s money. She worked just as hard, if not harder than any other employee he’d met and she knew just about everything about every single product in their inventory. She was professional and didn’t have time for stupid people or corporate politics. If she didn’t like you, you knew it and she was quick to commend others on a job well done.
He liked her very much but only admired her from a far all this time. Working with her had been a complete joy for him and he had been thinking about a way of asking her out these past few weeks they had been working together.
“We should go out one of these days,” he suggested casually as she was frantically trying to find her notes for the sales meeting
“Us? No,” she exclaimed in surprise and paused from her rummaging a moment before shaking her head and resuming her search. “My personal life is really complicated.”
“Well, you’re the brilliant Bulma Briefs. If your personal life wasn’t complicated, I think I’d find myself somewhat disappointed.”
“Oh, you have no idea,” she chuckled, choosing to be amused by his comment rather than offended. “It’s beyond complicated.”
“So you have a son,” he shrugged. “Big deal. That’s not a deal breaker for me, I like kids.”
“Alright, well what if I told you that my son’s father lives with us,” she countered. If being a single mother wasn’t a deal breaker she was sure that this would be. “We aren’t together, but he is a permanent resident at my home.”
He paused a moment as he mulled that new piece of information over. He had never heard her talk about Trunks’ father and had assumed that he was simply out of the picture altogether, never mind living with them. “A permanent resident, huh? Meaning...”
“Meaning that he will always be around in some capacity. And even if I did decide to find myself someone, that someone would have to be alright with and accept that. They would have to understand that Vegeta's home is Capsule Corporation and that even though we aren’t together as a couple, he isn’t going anywhere. That someone would have to accept that.”
“Well, I’m sure if there’s no chance of anything going on between you and him anymore then that someone may be alright with it. Maybe they’d even become friends with him,”
Bulma snorted. “Vegeta isn’t like anyone you have ever met,”
“You aren’t like anyone I’ve ever met,”
“Alright, Vegeta doesn’t have friends and no one is friends with Vegeta. It isn't done,” she sighed.
“Well everyone needs at least one friend,”
“Vegeta isn’t like everyone,” she insisted. “He’s antisocial, he doesn’t like anyone and he doesn’t like to be bothered. He’s not some guy you can just call up to go to the gym or to hang out with and have a few beers while watching the game. He... He’s impossible and doesn’t get the concept of interacting with people on a social level,” she tried to explain, feeling bad that she was making him out to sound like he was nothing more than a social reject with severe mental issues.
Derek chuckled. “He’s so impossible but you managed to make a child with him?”
“Yea,” she sighed. “That’s a whole ‘nother story on a day where I can drink a whole lot of wine.”
“Then come out with me and we’ll have wine and discuss failed relationships,” he joked.
“Do you have a girlfriend?” she asked pointedly, not recalling ever seeing him at any functions with another girl before. On the other hand, she had never made a point of noticing either.
“Not for a few years,” he admitted, crossing his arms and leaning against one of her office chairs. “Which another reason why we should go out.”
“I can’t,” she said again and shook her head beginning to become very frustrated with not being able to find her stuff. “It’s not personal, I’d love to but I work way too many hours and barely see my son as it is. I wouldn’t feel right taking a night off and going out on a date.”
A date, she chuckled inwardly to herself. Now there was a word and activity that had become nearly foreign to her since she and Yamcha had broken up. Come to think of it, the last date she’d gone on was with Yamcha. “Not to mention that I don’t think my father would approve of me dating a fellow employee of the company. Not sure what the policy is on that, but I don’t think he’d be too pleased.”
“Yet he lets the father of your son live under the same roof,” he said jokingly before thinking better of it. “Sorry, that was maybe crossing the line a bit there.”
“It was, but that’s ok. You have a point,” she agreed. “But again, it’s not your typical situation.”
“Another story for another day?”
“Yea,” she nodded, placing her hands on her hips and looking around her office.
“So that’s two dates I get to take you on then,”
“Ha haa don’t hold your breath,” she snorted. “Hey! Are those my lists on that chair you’re leaning on?”
Derek looked down at the chair and looked at them and nodded. “Looks like it,”
“Fuck my life!” she groaned, stomping over to the chair and picking them up. “Alright, now that we’re late, let’s go!”
Derek smirked at her and followed her into the board room. He wasn’t discouraged by her declining his invitation to go out with him. It obviously wasn’t personal and it seemed like it wasn’t something she’d considered. He’d leave her alone for a few weeks and let the idea simmer with her before asking her again.
The rest of the day flew by for Bulma. Fortunately nothing else went wrong, but she was still late leaving the office and was beyond exhausted by the time she’d made it home.
“Thank god it’s Saturday,” she groaned out loud as she dropped her keys and purse on the floor. Sunday was the only day she had off because that was the only day the sales department was closed. I need a bath and a very large glass of wine, she thought to herself as she made her way into the kitchen.
She opened a bottle of her favorite red wine, grabbed a glass and headed up the stairs to her room. Once up there, she started running her bath and walked out of her room to check on Trunks. They had moved his room from her bonus room into his own room across the hall from her room and Vegeta’s room, who was directly next to hers.
It had been several months now since they had moved him and Bulma was glad to have the privacy and space of her own again but a part of her really missed not having Trunks so nearby. He’d been a really good baby and not much of a fuss at all.
Of course, he was fast asleep, she thought sadly as guilt began to weigh on her again at how demanding this new position was becoming. It’s only for a few months, she told herself again as she always did when she began to feel bad again for all the time she was spending away from Trunks.
She kissed him lightly on the forehead so as not to wake him and exited his room to check on her bath to make sure it wasn’t over running.
Bulma checked it to make sure it wasn’t becoming too hot and when she was satisfied, went to pour herself a glass of her wine and went to find her pajamas when she noticed Vegeta walk down the hall.
“Hey!” she called out to him, skipping towards her door.
Vegeta stopped, crossed his arms and turned to look at her in reply.
“I heard you watched Trunks yesterday afternoon for my mom,” she said.
Vegeta snorted in reply. Of course the old woman would have made a big deal of that, he thought to himself. “You strategically mentioned her time of departure for a reason,”
Bulma felt her face turn slightly red at his accusation. “Well, I mentioned it so that you wouldn’t bitch over why there was no dinner if you decided to join my parents for dinner, as I heard you have been recently.”
“Someone needs to teach the brat some table manners,” he replied sourly. “I will not have him making the same disgusting display at the table that clown Kakarott had and his spawn seem to have inherited from him.”
Bulma held back a chuckle. “Good idea, thanks.”
“Hmmn,”
“How has he been?” she asked. “Hang on, I need to shut my water off before it overflows. Come in!” she said, racing back into her room and turning off the tap water.
Vegeta cautiously walked into her room. He didn’t like being in here and only had come in when Trunks had been occupying her attached bonus room and only when Bulma was sleeping or at work. Even then, it bothered him. He could remember quite vividly the things they had done together in this room and he never dwelled on that except when he came into this room for whatever reason.
“So?” she asked, coming back into her room to find him standing in the middle of the floor looking awkward. “Do you want some wine?” she asked him, offering him her glass.
He shook his head at her.
“Alright,” she nodded, not surprised that he declined her offer but still feeling slightly disappointed. “How was your day?”
“Fine,” he answered.
“Good,” she nodded again. “How was Trunks? I feel so bad I haven’t had a chance to spend any time with him,”
“He’s fine,” he shrugged. “Becoming less of a whiney brat you turned him into,”
“I didn’t turn him into a brat!” she objected in offence.
“You’re right,” he snorted. “Your mother and father played a hand in turning him that way as well,”
“Like you’re the authority on raising children,” she said sourly. “It’s not like they come with an operators manual.”
“No, they do not but it is not rocket science either.”
“Look, I don’t want to argue with you on parenting ideologies, alright? I just wanted to thank you for helping out with him like you have been. I know I haven’t been around a lot and I feel terrible about that but I want you to know that you taking time out of your day to help my mom out with him means the world to me,” she said nervously. “Mom says she’s noticed a very positive change in Trunks and while I haven’t seen that, I know it’s because of your doing.”
“Like I said, someone has to teach the boy manners as you and your parents seem to be inept,”
“Right,” she nodded, not wanting to argue with him. “Whatever your reasons, I wanted to let you know how much I appreciate it and was wanting to talk to you about it a little just so we are on the same page with him.”
“What is there to talk about?” he asked, crossing his arms.
“Nothing huge, just I’d like to know what rules and boundaries you’ve set in place so I don’t do anything to mess that up and confuse him or undermine you is all,” she shrugged, trying to explain what she meant to tell him so he would understand. “If you’re helping me with raising him then I think it’s important that we both be in agreement on how we raise him and make sure we’re both consistent.”
Vegeta thought about it. “Be more specific,”
“Well for example say you don’t let him run around the house at mach one whenever he wants and then when I see him on evenings or on Sundays he runs around the house and I allow it,” she explained. “The rules should be the same no matter which one of us has him. Does that make sense?”
“Hmmn,” Vegeta nodded in agreement. “It does,”
“Alright!” she smiled. “Well, I’m exhausted. I had stupidly long week and I really need to unwind. Want to talk about it tomorrow some time? I’m off. Maybe the three of us could spend some time together?”
Vegeta looked at her a moment, unsure if he was comfortable with that. He was suddenly feeling like she was cornering him into something and he didn’t like it. Sure he had been spending some time with the boy recently but that was all he had signed on for. He wasn’t putting himself out for her benefit. He wasn’t even sure why he had even bothered in the first place. It was becoming a regular part of his day to day routine and he still wasn’t sure how he felt about it.
“We will discuss it at a later time,” he said. “You are not working tomorrow therefore you are to look after him tomorrow.”
“Well, that was my plan, Vegeta,” she sighed in aggravation. “I just thought it would be nice if I included you in that time too is all,”
“Just because I spend time with him during the week in your absence does not mean I want to start playing house with you,” he reminded her before abruptly turning and exiting her room.
“I wasn’t asking you to play house, you jerk!” she shouted after him, not thinking about possibly waking Trunks. She stood there a moment, waiting to hear if she had woken him up but it was silent. “Ugh!” she groaned out load and headed into her bathroom to take her bath.
Oh, yea, I really needed this, she thought to herself as she sunk into the warm water and took in the warmth and calm and peace and quiet. She had been so busy she hadn’t really taken any time for herself in the last few months.
As she lay back with her eyes closed and sipped her wine, she tried to not think about work and the stresses of this new position and the targets they were all expected to hit. How does anyone live like that, she wondered. How does Derek live like that? He’s been in sales forever and he just thrives on it.
Derek, she sighed. He’d asked her out today and while it had taken her completely by surprise and she had been flattered, she wasn’t sure what to do about it. Sure she liked him. She liked him a lot actually. If her life weren’t so complicated and she didn’t have Trunks she would have probably jumped at the opportunity to go out with him. Ugh, what are you even thinking? She chastised herself. You can’t go out with him! He’s your co-worker, not to mention how is that going to work since Vegeta lives here?
She groaned out loud again. She couldn’t let him pursue her no matter how attracted to him she was. It just wouldn’t work. She sat in her hot water thinking about that a moment. It was tempting. Bulma hadn’t had a boyfriend since Yamcha as she didn’t categorize Vegeta as an ex-boyfriend. She hadn’t been on a real date since she and Yamcha had broken up. Hell she hadn’t had sex since she and Vegeta had hooked up and that was nearly five years ago now, she estimated. Right. Trunks is almost four so yea, it’s been that long, alright. God that’s depressing!
Bulma wasn’t even sure what to do about this. Things between her and Vegeta were finally on somewhat good terms; did she really want to throw a new relationship into the equation and potentially put stress on that? More importantly, how would Vegeta react if she brought home a potential boyfriend?
She let that thought hang on for a moment. How would he react if I found someone, she asked herself seriously. She honestly didn’t have a clue. Part of her figured he wouldn’t care less. As he so rudely reminded her just now that he had no desire to “play house” with her. Well if I find someone that does want to play house with me then he’s just going to have to go fuck himself, she told herself. I don’t want to play house with him either!
However as soon as she thought that, she knew that she was lying to herself. If she found herself another guy, she knew that no matter how serious it got with that person, if Vegeta ever expressed an interest in her, she would drop everything, anything and anyone to be with him. Like a pathetic high school girl, she sighed to herself.
Bulma thought long and hard about it. Things were only just now beginning to turn around with her and Vegeta. He wasn’t keeping himself completely secluded anymore and he was actually spending time with Trunks, which made her so happy the last thing she wanted to do was rock the boat and create unnecessary tension between them again.
Besides, maybe if she just let things evolve naturally like she had been, maybe there was a chance Vegeta may have a change of heart where she was concerned. She knew it was dangerous for her to even hope for that but maybe if she was patient and waited for him to come to her maybe there was a future there for them.
Bulma nodded to herself, she would wait for him.
0-0-0
Vegeta decided to leave Capsule Corporation and spend the night out on one of his favourite secluded areas. He liked to go out there to think and clear his head without the influence of anyone else.
No sent of Bulma creeping up to tempt him. No chance of Trunks crying and disturbing him from his thoughts, though that was a rare occurrence these days. Trunks wasn’t a baby anymore, he was a child. He had been working hard at toughening him up a bit so he wasn’t such a cry baby. So far he thought Trunks was doing pretty good and he was discovering that he actually didn’t mind spending time with him now that he could talk and walk and use the bathroom on his own.
He had to admit that had he not been woken up those several weeks back by the boy’s temper tantrum he probably still wouldn’t be having anything to do with him now and he would still be in that deep dark mind set he’d been in for the last few years.
He had been asleep when he’d heard the racket which was nearly becoming a daily occurrence. It drove him crazy and made him begin to feel resentful. Why were they simply allowing him to behave that way and then reward it by caving and giving into his tantrums? He understood that Bulma’s parents did this so as to shut him up but in the weeks leading up to him intervening it was becoming worse instead of better until he decided he could not take it anymore.
He had angrily crawled out of bed, dressed himself and stormed downstairs into the front living room where Bulma’s mother was trying to unsuccessfully dress the boy in a jacket. He didn't say anything, just picked him up by the back of his t-shirt and brought him up to his eye level and looked sternly at him.
It was just as he has suspected. The boy was simply making a fuss over nothing. He was wailing and carrying on as though something horrible was about to happen to him and yet there wasn’t a tear in his eye.
Trunks had gone quiet almost immediately and Mrs. Briefs was so thankful for the reprieve she had asked him to watch Trunks for her and before he knew it, he was stuck alone with the child with no clue as to how to interact with him or what he should do with him. What did one do with a child?
The only memories he’d had with his father were mostly of training and they weren't necessarily good memories. He wouldn’t quite classify them as bad either. He was born a warrior prince to a warrior culture. It was expected that he begin his training as soon as he learned to walk.
He had been expected to keep up with his father during training. There was no coddling. The rule had been keep up or be prepared to take a beating so he had learned real quick how to block and avoid taking damage.
That was all he knew of raising a son if he used his own father as a reference. He wasn’t even sure if his father was right or wrong. All he knew was that was all he knew and he was certain Bulma would not agree.
During his time here on this planet, he had observed that this culture seemed to overly coddle and shelter their young. It was a small wonder to him why this planet was inhabited by weaklings. They raised their young to be weak and defenceless. It didn’t make sense to him.
While he felt he had little to no obligation to train the boy, a part of him really didn’t want his son to grow up to be another weak human. He thought of Gohan. The boy had so much potential yet that harpy mate of Kakarott’s refused to allow him to reach that potential so the boy was soft and weak. He assumed now that Kakarott was gone for good that she would raise their second child the same way and he too would be weak. It bothered him.
On top of that, having seen the potential his son had from observing the future version of him, he felt it was a waste almost to not work with him and he was beginning to consider it despite his vow after the Cell games to never train again.
He wasn’t sure why he was suddenly feeling the need to train the boy, but he was. He himself may be finished with training but he knew he had a certain amount of obligation to teach his son and honour his heritage that way. With any luck, he would become stronger than Gohan and that alone was something that gave him pride. He himself may have been surpassed by both the third class and his offspring but his own son had great potential and he could not fully justify not training Trunks.
That was why he was bothering.
Vegeta thought back on his conversation with Bulma this evening. No, he did not want her to think that he was wanting to settle into a domestic family role. That did not appeal to him, nor did he want her to think that his staying here had anything to do with her.
He did however agree with her that if he was to stay here and assist somewhat in Trunks upbringing, they did need to come to some agreement. He had no problem discussing that with her but he also did not want her to read more into his actions than what they were.
He would let her know the next time they spoke that he would like to begin training Trunks. He was old enough. Already he had begun working on the boys attention span and teaching him to meditate. He knew he didn’t fully grasp the concept of what they were doing, but it was a start. He could tell that it would take little effort to teach the boy how to form a ki ball. However it was concentration that was needed in order to control it and not destroy everything in the immediate area. So he had begun to teach him how to concentrate.
Vegeta decided he would speak with her tomorrow. He would not join her in her activities with the boy, but he would make a point of speaking with her to make an agreement with her where Trunks was concerned.
The question did run through his head of what he would do if she would not allow him to train the boy. He thought about it a moment, unsure of what he would do.
He would leave, he decided. He had nothing else to offer the boy except training. If the woman didn’t want that then there was no reason for him to remain here.
0-0-0
Thanks guys!! :D