Dragon Ball/Z/GT Fan Fiction ❯ Falling in Love the First Time ❯ The Decision ( Chapter 19 )

Falling In Love The First Time

Chapter 19 - The Decision

Bulma sat tapping her pencil aimlessly against her desk, unable to think of anything short of her two most recent proposals. 'Figures, I wait thirty plus years to have a man ask to spend the rest of his life with me, but before I can enjoy it, a second has to, at the last minute, throw his hat into the ring. Dende, I have been living with Vegeta for seven years now, and he waits until another man proposes to me to present this ultimatum? Mate me now, or never. The nerve of that man! Everything is do-or-die with him. He wants me to decide the rest of my life in less than twelve hours? Well, he had better be ready for some heartbreak. It would serve the bastard right after all he put me through,' she mused while leaning back in her chair, trying to collect her thoughts.

Choosing how she is going to spend the rest of her life is not a decision to be taken lightly. She could not let spite be a factor in her decision making. She had to look at this from all angles. First, there was her son to consider. Not that his feelings were in any way ambiguous. She knew damn well he would hate her for an eternity if he ever found out she gave up a chance at bringing their little family together. But, then of course, there were her desires: security, comfort, love, affection, trust, devotion, and a slew of other storybook elements that Jet possessed. Was she just to ignore all of those wants?

'But what about the most important one, Bulma, Passion?' she asked herself as memories of her conversation with Vegeta the night before popped into her head. Though she would never have admitted it to him, she knew Vegeta was right. As much as she tried to deny it, Bulma never felt that spark that she had with her former mate, the fervor that kept her wanting more of him, and only him. Yes, Jet was handsome, and charming, and always fun to spend time with, but so was Yamcha, and the more Bulma began to analyze her feelings, the more she realized they parallel those that she held for the ex Z-fighter.

'I wish I could just role them into one man,' Bulma groaned as she spun her chair around so she was facing the window behind her. Her office was on the thirty-second floor, and therefore had a gorgeous view of the West City skyline. It was always particularly stunning during sunset, so taking advantage of her front row seat she watched the darkness rise, hoping some sort of inspiration would set her mind at ease.

'I bet Vegeta is watching this right now.' The thought drifted into her mind unconsciously. She had caught him many times over the years perched atop the dome they called home, watching the day fade into night. She often wondered if he thought of the sunset as a symbol of another day of his life wasted, or as a blessing for yet another day lived in peace. 'Hm, my money is on the first,' she decided, knowing Vegeta is a pessimist before all else. One of her greatest fears was that his negativity would drag her down with him. His sour disposition had already on more than one occasion broken her heart in two.

'How much worse will that pain be if I fully give my heart to him? There would be no end to the extensive damage he could do to me,' she realized with a frightened gasp. 'Dende, how can I even consider this? I know Vegeta; he will break my heart if I give it to him!' Turning her seat back towards her desk, Bulma decided not to contemplate her options any longer. Over thinking this choice would only lead her astray. She knew what she had to do to ensure her happiness and the happiness of her family.

Picking up her phone she quickly punched in a cell phone number. After three rings, a voice on the other side greeted her. "Hey, Jet. I have my answer."

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"It's eight O'clock. Where do you think Mom is, Dad?" Trunks asked mildly worried as he continued to chomp into his pizza. Half an hour ago, sixty prepaid pizzas had arrived for father and son's dining enjoyment, with a note from the lady of the house sending her regrets that she could not make it home in time to join them. Both men had found the development curious.

"She is probably just working late," Vegeta answered between bites, assuming the reason for her absence was because of her contemplation of his proposal.

"You did not upset her earlier, did you?" Trunks accused as he opened another box up. "I only agreed to leave you two alone so you could work things out. But with Mom not home for dinner, you must have done a real bang up job at that."

Vegeta growled at his insulting son. "Feh, just wait until you grow up and have to deal with a woman. We'll see how well you do," he proudly responded sharply.

"Well, I couldn't be much worse than you," the demi Saiya-jin muttered under his breath, before being startled with an angry, "I heard that" from his father immediately after.

The pair then fell under a shroud of silence for the remainder of the meal. When they were finished, Trunks took the empty cups and dropped them in the sink while Vegeta cleared the table by quickly blasting all of the pizza boxes into oblivion. It was the closest to a household chore he had ever done. "All right boy, now get lost for the evening. I need some alone time with your mother, got it?"

"Sure thing, Dad!" Trunks promised as he grabbed a tub of ice cream to take to the entertainment center. It was in the basement of the house, just far enough from his parent's bedrooms to give the illusion of his absence, while keeping him well entertained throughout the night. "Good luck then!" he waved a goodnight before heading off to lock himself away for the remainder of the evening.

Once the coast was cleared, Vegeta headed towards his bedroom to wait for the commencement of this evening's events. The thought of his blue haired mate turning him down did not once cross Vegeta's mind, regardless of what reservations he knew she had, tonight, he was certain, would be a night long worth remembering.

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It was half past ten once Bulma finally returned home. She had called Jet to ask him to meet her for dinner. It seemed only right that she deliver her answer to him in person. To say he was surprised would have been an exaggeration. Though she could easily see the disappointment in his eyes, he must have had some suspicions her answer would be returned in a negative. "You deserve so much more than I can give you," she had told him in an honest attempt at helping him understand that the end of their relationship was truly a loss for only her. Jet was a wonderful man, and he deserved to be with a woman who could fully appreciate that. Though they had parted amiably, Bulma did not doubt it would be a long time, if ever, before she heard from him again. She believed him when he had said he loved her, and for a moment, when she had said goodbye, she wished she could have loved him that same way.

'Well, that's one down, only one more to go,' she thought with nervous sarcasm, knowing the earlier of the two breakups would be the easier. Not that she thought Vegeta would be heartbroken like Jet was, but Bulma could easily foresee a violently tempered reaction after he had 'swallowed his pride' for the evening. 'He is selfish even when he is supposed to be giving himself to me,' she scoffed at the thought as she ascended the stairs. After making a brief stop in her room to drop her purse and change into a pair of silk Pajama's, thinking this exchange would take a while and she did not want to have to change afterwards, she headed down the hall towards his room.

Taking one long breath, she slowly raised her hand and knocked twice on his door. After a few minutes passed and there had been no answer, she boldly opted to let herself into the room. After pushing the door quietly open, Bulma stepped inside the chilly area. 'I should have worn a robe,' she scolded herself for choosing a pair of PJ's where the top was sleeveless. Stepping inside, she closed the door behind her, scouring the room to find the man in question. "Vegeta?" she called his name softly. Walking over towards the bed, she noticed a single candle lit on the nightstand. 'Awe, is this your attempt at being romantic, Vegeta?' she wondered with an irrepressible smile as she took in the ambiance of the room.

It had been many years since she had been in his room. She made a point never to go in, perhaps afraid on some jealous level that she would find some sort of a sign that he had had other women there. That thought always frightened her more than any other, Vegeta, her Vegeta, with another woman. She imagined clawing the woman's eyes out, should she ever exist.

"Vegeta?" she called him once again as she took a seat upon his bed. It seemed illogical for him to stand her up for an engagement he had proposed. 'Maybe he was afraid I would not show. I am cutting it a little close,' she looked down at the clock on his nightstand. There was just under an hour until midnight. 'I wonder where he could be?' she again rose from the bed and began searching for her Saiya-jin prince. "Damn it, Vegeta, where are you? If you do not come out now, I am leaving!"

"I am right here woman, stop your screeching!" his deep voice announced from the balcony entrance.

Turning her head to see his silhouette in the moonlight, she frowned. "So that is why it is so damn cold in here. Will you shut that door, I am going to catch pneumonia!" she hissed, still somewhat stunned he had been sitting on the balcony, shirtless, in the middle of winter.

"Well, we cannot have that, now can we," Bulma could see his smirk through the darkness of his room as he closed and locked the balcony door. Once they were completely sheltered inside, Vegeta strutted across the room until he was face to face with his soon to be mate. "You kept me waiting an awfully long while, I will make you pay for that before the evening is through," he foreboded while taking a predatory walk around her.

Bulma crossed her arms and spun around to glare at him, stopping his circling of her promptly. "No, Vegeta, you will not be making me pay for anything because I am not staying. I did not come for whatever you have in mind. I just came to tell you that I am not marrying Jet. You were right about us not having the sort of chemistry two people need to stay with each other for the rest of their lives, so I returned his ring and ended it with him this evening." She then stopped, giving him a few moments to respond, but when he did not, she finished, "well, that's it, so goodnight." Turning on her heel, she intended to depart without further difficulty, but she was quickly sidetracked as Vegeta blocked her path to the door.

"No, that is not it," he corrected while slowly backing her up towards his bed. "You have not said why you wish to leave."

"I didn't think I had to, you said you would not force me to stay, so let me go," she demanded while trying to get around him, he blocked her path a second time.

"I said I would not force you to complete our bond, but I never said I would not demand an explanation of your rejection," he explained reasonably, keeping his arms firmly crossed in front of his chest. "So?"

Taking a long breath, Bulma walked over to his bed, and took a heavy seat. "Where should I begin?" she shot him a dirty look as she crossed her arms defensively. "Aside from the fact that your ordering me to choose how I will live the rest of my life in less than half a day is utterly unreasonable, after doing some reflecting, I realized that you were right all of those years ago when you said you were going to be a disappointment; because that is exactly what you have been to me these last five years, Vegeta. I kept wishing you would turn your life around, and change for the better. I kept this secret hope for so long that you would change your mind about us, but you never did. And then, just because there was a chance I might spend the rest of my life with another man, you decided that you wanted more than just a… a whatever it is we have between us," she was unable to find a sufficient word to encompass what they were to each other. "I guess, when it all comes down to it, my point is that I do not want a man who will only see me as something important in his life when he is faced with losing me. I need something less transient than that."

Vegeta stood silently as she spoke. He would concede, though not verbally, that she had a point or two in her arguments, the basis of her beliefs were utterly false, and he intended to correct that. Sitting lightly next to her, he began his careful rebuttal. "You do not seem to understand, woman, what I am offering you is in no way ephemeral. It will be as enduring as our lives in both this dimension and the next," he stopped, bending his elbow to rest against his knee so he could support his fallen head with his hand. "Look, Bulma, I know I am not the easiest of men to get along with, but let us be honest here, you are certainly not the tamest of women." He lifted his free hand to cover her lips before she could refute his statement. "I do not say that to insult you, I mean it as proof of why we should just bite the ki blast and agree that we are not going to be contented with anyone but each other." Slowly raising his head with an exasperated sigh, he finished, "I will never be to you a mate as Krillin is to that android, or Kakarrot was to his harpy when he was still alive, but I will be faithful to you, I will protect you, I will respect you, and I will keep you very well sexed. But anything more than that I can not offer you, at least not now."

Closing her eyes, Bulma withheld the tears she felt threatening to fall as she pulled his hand from her lips so she could release a short laugh. "Well, all though 'protect, respect and sex' are not exactly 'love, honor and cherish,' if you mean them, and I mean really mean them, maybe this wouldn't be so bad." She blotted her eyes, eliminating any signs of sadness from his words.

"Oh, I mean them, woman, specifically the last one," he pointed out with one of his classic smirks as he pulled her into his lap. "So what will it be?" he asked while caressing his fingers up her goose bump covered arms until reaching the spaghetti strap of her shirt. "Yes?" he pulled the strap down her arm just enough to expose the top half of one of her creamy mounds, "or no?" with a frown he pulled the strap back up to rest securely on her shoulder. "What will it be?" he repeated while tracing her collarbone with his index finger. "Hm?" he insisted, allowing the finger to drop dangerously close to her cleavage.

"I don't like that you are trying to seduce an answer out of me," she pouted barely as his mere caress started a fire between her thighs.

"Seducing you?" Vegeta mocked the idea as he opted to begin a duel attack, sending his other hand to assault her from behind as he ran his fingertips softly up and down her slowly arching spine. "I am barely touching you, how could I be doing anything of the like?"

Bulma growled as he continued with his ministrations, "I hate you," she moaned as he pushed her back against his bed, though not once breaking contact with her skin.

"No, you don't," he disagreed as he nudged her legs apart just enough to lie between them. "Because if you did," he clasped the bottom of her shirt and began slowly exposing her skin, inch by inch, "you would not be so affected by me." He pleasantly watched her raise her arms above her head so he could completely discard the impediment. His eyes devoured her too long concealed treasures as he dropped her shirt on the floor next to his bed.

Restraining himself from the temptation to consume them all at once, he focused his attention on the bottom half of her outfit, wanting to rid her of any further concealments. In the same painstakingly slow uncovering, Vegeta removed both Bulma's underwear and pants, stripping her body of all but her natural perfection. "Much better," he decided as he took a few moments to simply bask in all of her naked glory. It was difficult for him to believe he had managed to live so long without experiencing the exhilaration of her creamy skin against his.

"Vegeta," the slightly miffed sound of his name distracted his musings. "Are you just going to stare at me all night, or are you going to drop those Pajama pants," she grabbed the elastic holding them up, "and make love to me?" Though she tried to follow his lead by pulling down his PJ's, two strong hands grabbing hers to push her back against the bed stopped her attempt.

"All in good time," he promised before insisting that she allow him free reign over her body. "This must be done just right," he explained while bringing his lips down to her breasts to begin nipping at them with his teeth and tongue.

"Vegeta," Bulma groaned his name as she slipped her hands down his shoulders and began stroking his muscular back. "And just what is this we are doing?" she asked between gasps. "You… You said something about… about a bond earlier," she left her reminder at that; she had forgotten how distracting his tongue could be.

"Yes," he agreed while moving his lips down to her navel, slowly dipping his tongue in and out to tickle the nerves, "that is exactly what I am preparing you for." His hands drifted down to her thighs and gradually pulled them apart. Starting a slow trek of kisses down her pelvis, he grasped her hips to keep her spasms from interrupting his caresses. Pleased with her reaction, he could barely control his excitement as his lips arrived at the blue curls that lead him to his treasure.

In the years he had spent living in abstinence, he had many nights imagined this privilege, having her writhing beneath him, her body begging to join with his once more. Now that he finally had her, all of his dreams, his fantasies could be fulfilled. Inhaling the intoxicating scent of her arousal was almost enough to push him over the edge, but he restrained himself. Tonight was for her. It was the only way he knew how to apologize for all he had and would put her through because of their bond.

Briefly running his lips over her wet folds, he felt an immediate jolt of shock speed through her body upon contact. He assumed she would not expect such a selfless act from him, but he owed it to her. He wanted to atone for all of the pain he had bestowed upon her for so many years. Tonight would be merely the beginning of his pleasurable penance. Bringing his lips down upon her, he sent tremors through her body as he took to pleasuring her, biting, nipping, licking, and drinking all her sex had to offer him. He had long missed such personal gratification merely from her euphoric screams for more.

"Oh, Vegeta, yes," she repeated continually as Vegeta, the once nervous virgin, brought her the sort of ecstasy she could have only dreamed of. He never ceased to amaze her. When she thought the sensations running through her body could not become any more intense, any more potent, it happened. Nothing short of an explosion of her senses enraptured her body as he brought her to release.

Vegeta sopped up every last drop of her nectar before crawling back atop her body to watch as she experienced the after glow of her orgasm. He could not remember a time she ever look more radiant. Swiftly discarding his own pants to free his painfully restricted member, he hovered over her entrance, waiting for her to sober from her first orgasm so that he could warn her of what was about to happen between them.

Once the seizures in her body had lessened to mere chills, Bulma opened her eyes to gaze upon her lover. Lover, was that what he now was? Was that what they were now doing? Opening her mouth to ask, she was quickly silenced as he forced his lips upon hers, allowing her to taste herself. Welcoming the invasion she glided her hands up his back until her arms locked tightly around his torso. When he pulled his lips away, she was startled to see an almost frightened look in his eyes. "What's wrong?" she breathlessly asked as he laid his body atop hers, though not completely, for fear of crushing her.

"You have to understand what we are about to do," he paused to steady his breathing. "There will be consequences, most of which will be your burden to bear, I will try to help, but there is only so much I can do. I need to know if you are still willing," he had to give her an opportunity to leave, he would never forgive himself for allowing her to walk blindly into the hell he was about to unleash upon her.

"You are scaring me," she responded nervously as she moved one hand to encircle his face. "What are you talking about?"

Resting his head atop hers, he slowly began to explain, "this ritual, the bond, it is on both a physical and mental level. When we join our bodies, we will also be joining our minds. In mere seconds your past will become mine, and mine," he paused to deliver the blow, "mine will become yours." He waited another moment to allow the severity of his words to sink in. "You will see Vegeta-sei, you will know the pain of losing your home, people, and family. You will know what life is like under Freeza. You will experience death; both delivered by you, and to you. You will learn true pain: physical and emotional, done to and from you. And you will know me, all of me: my dark side, my evil side. Do you understand what I am telling you, Bulma? You will not know my life as merely an onlooker; you will see, smell, taste, hear and feel everything that I have experienced. My shame, my pain, my defeats, everything will become your own, Bulma. Are you still willing, knowing the burden you will come to bear because of me?"

Bulma felt his hand wiping her tears away as she was delivered the news. No wonder he had waited to drop this on her at the last minute, had she been of logical sound mind she would have bolted in the opposite direction upon hearing the concept of becoming that acquainted with Vegeta's life. She was not so naïve as to imagine his life was merely one of despondence under a cruel taskmaster. She knew how broken Vegeta once was, she had been told of his death on Namek, how painful and humiliating it was for him. Many times she had dreamed of being by his side, helping him through the suffering he had been subjected to. So how could she now, when he was offering to share his entire life with her, pull away? Looking into his ebony eyes, she knew her answer all too easily. After pulling his lips into hers for a quick kiss, she agreed, "I have never been able to deny you anything, Vegeta, I will not start now. I want this bond with you."

Closing his eyes, an atypical smile graced his lips as he pulled her body tightly into his embrace. "You will regret this at first, but after, I promise you will never take grievance with this decision." He left her with no chance for further thought as he plunged into her body. He moved at a rough pace, generating the most pleasure between their bodies as possible so that the pain of his first breaking of her skin would be less agonizing. Once they were close, Vegeta rested his teeth against the skin where her shoulder meets her neck. And once he felt her felt her body reach its release, he sunk his fangs into her flesh; drinking her blood, binding her mind, body, and spirit to him for all eternity.

His release followed soon after, as did the penetration of his own skin by her teeth. He assumed after having seen his memories she had known what to do. As he had said, it had only taken mere seconds for the transfer to take place. He knew her life, and her feelings, particularly the even stronger ones for him that he could have never imagined. From his exchange with her he came to realize one staggering concept, love. Emotion that he had fought against, but what he was being subjected to as they had spent more and more time together, was in fact what she had so desired, love. He finally understood, because what she had felt for him all these years was exactly what he was feeling for her. He only wished they could have done this sooner, it would have saved them years of grief.

Though nothing would have spared his mate what she was going through as she removed her teeth from his neck. She was sobbing. He expected no less. After pulling out of her body, he wrapped them together, tightly under the covers. He rested her head against his neck as he softly promised to help her through the night. He would enter her mind as she slept and try to heal some of the damage he was sure had been done by his barrage of memories. Of course, the only way to soothe her was through her dreams, and he feared she would never make it to that stage in her already agitated state.

Placing his fingers against a pressure point on the unmarked side of her neck, he rendered her unconscious. Then placing one hand lightly on her head and closing his eyes, he carefully entered her mind to begin to teach her how to live with the horrors she must now bear the burden of, just so she could live her life by his side.

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Author's Note: Ah, so they are bonded. I was going to leave it there, but I think this story needs one more chapter to tie everything together neatly. I hope you all return for the conclusion of Falling In Love the First Time.