Dragon Ball/Z/GT Fan Fiction ❯ The Arrangement ❯ Negotiations ( Chapter 4 )

Three days later when Vegeta came in for lunch, Bulma was waiting for him. She had chosen her timing carefully. She'd thought of approaching him at the end of the day, but he was too irritable after another day of failing to reach Super Sayan. She'd decided to catch him at lunch, when he'd be distracted by hunger.

"Vegeta," she said briskly as soon as he entered the kitchen. "I need to talk to you."

"Too bad," he grunted. "I need to eat."

"As I'm sure you've noticed by now, I can talk while you eat."

"Whatever." Brushing her aside as usual, Vegeta proceeded to pillage the kitchen. Also as usual.

//I hope I'm up to the task of feeding a Sayan baby,// Bulma mused as she watched him.

Vegeta looked up from where he was putting together a pile of giant sandwiches. "It's rude to stare," he growled mockingly.

"Since when have you cared about human manners?" she shot back.

"I'm not human. You are."

Bulma seethed in exasperation, but then realized that she was letting him sidetrack her and tried to get a grip on her temper. "Anyway," she said in as businesslike a tone as she could muster when she wanted to hit him upside the head with something large and heavy, "I have a proposition for you."

Vegeta didn't respond. He picked up his plate and moved to the table, then sat down and started eating. Bulma watched him with eyes narrowed in irritation. She was NOT (even after living with him for a year) used to being ignored. Putting her hands on her hips, she stormed over to the table and ripped the plate of sandwiches away. "Listen, buddy," she snapped, "I have something to say and you're going to listen. What's more, you're going to give me a response. When we're done with that I'll let you get back to stuffing your face, but not before. Do you understand?"

Vegeta folded his arms and glared at her, but there was something thoughtful in his expression, so Bulma took that as agreement. Now that it had come down to it, she felt nervous, awkward and silly, but figuring that the only way out was through, she took a big breath and barged ahead.

"I want a baby. To be perfectly blunt about it, I want your baby. I've been thinking about this a lot recently. I want a child, but I don't want a man in my life. I don't need a man complicating my life and making domestic demands of me. I have a very demanding career as it is, and adding motherhood to that will be more than enough for me."

Vegeta raised a skeptically inquisitive eyebrow. "And you chose me?"

"Well, yes." Bulma raised her chin defiantly. "I want my child to be strong. You are arrogant and annoying as hell, but you're certainly strong."

"You aren't worried about the Saiya-jin genes affecting your child's intelligence?" Vegeta sneered.

She leveled her best 'don't bait me' look at him. "Gohan hasn't been affected."

As expected, Vegeta grunted and glared at her. After a moment, though, he did something completely unexpected. He raised his head and asked, without a trace of sarcasm, "What's in it for me?"

Bulma was caught flatfooted. "What?"

"What do I get out of this little arrangement?" he said, speaking slowly and distinctly, in the tone of 'let me repeat myself so that your poor, befuddled little mind can understand.'

"Um... Well, what do you want out of it?"

"Number one: the boy will be named Vegeta. Number two: I will train him."

"Hang on a sec! What makes you so sure that it'll be a boy? There's a 50 percent chance it'll be a sweet little girl, who looks just like her lovely mother!"

Vegeta smirked at her. It wasn't one of his usual smirks, it was more like he found her little display amusing. "Saiya-jins have a lower female-to-male birth rate. For humans it may be about 50 percent, but for Saiya-jins it's closer to 25 percent. Also, if you think any Saiya-jin child is going to be sweet, then you're completely delusional."

Bulma stared at him, still flummoxed by how rationally Vegeta was behaving. She hadn't been sure how he would react to her proposal, but this... this matter-of-fact attitude was BIZARRE. "Whatever," she said. "But I'm not naming him Vegeta."

Well, there went Vegeta's calm. He stood and snapped at her angrily. "It's a family name and has been tradition since the first Saiya-jin king. He WILL be called Vegeta."

"Then what do we call you?" Bulma shot back. "Somehow I don't think you'd be that thrilled with being called 'papa'. What do we do then, call him 'Vegeta, Duke of the Sayans'?"

Vegeta glared at her coldly, but didn't retort as expected. She must have scored a point. She'd better throw him a bone before he broke the deal off entirely. "If you'll remember, I want this kid to be my heir. Given his unique heritage I'll agree to letting you train him, but I will chose his name."

"This isn't as cut and dry as you'd like to think," Vegeta retorted. "As my son, he'll be next in line for the Saiya-jin throne."

"There IS NO Sayan throne, Vegeta!" she yelled. "It got destroyed with the rest of your planet 20 years ago, or had you forgotten that little detail?" That was definitely not the right thing to say. The temperature in the room plummeted from the icy waves of anger that were coming off of Vegeta.

"No I HAVEN'T forgotten it," he ground out. "Which is why I care about this at all. If Vegetasei hadn't been destroyed, then we wouldn't be having this little conversation. But it WAS and I'm all that's left and I'll be damned if I'm going to let it all fade away without a fight."

They were silent for awhile, glaring tensely at one another. Finally, Bulma gave in. After all, she could always give the poor kid a nickname. "Fine. You win. He gets the name." Vegeta smirked triumphantly. "BUT legally he gets my last name."

Vegeta waved her off. "I don't care about your silly human legalities. What about point two?" he asked abruptly.

"I already told you that you can train him. You do realize, though, that that means you're stuck on Earth indefinitely?"

"I know," Vegeta answered her shortly. "Don't concern yourself about me."

"I have to be concerned," Bulma muttered. "I don't want to be held responsible if you go off the deep end and kill anybody." Vegeta snorted, but didn't comment. "Do we have an agreement, then?" she asked.

"You forgot just one thing," Vegeta drawled. Bulma eyed him warily. He had that 'something up my sleeve that you're going to hate' look that she'd learned to loathe. "Just how did you intend to get this child?"

Bulma smiled slowly, enjoying the look of wariness and confusion that crept over Vegeta's Mr. Tough Man mask. "Why, the old fashioned way, of course."

Author's Notes:
In case you're wondering, yes Bulma DID forget to make any provisions for Trunks tail in their little agreement. This will also come up later.
Before you comment on the Sayan/Saiya-jin switch, pay close attention to who is pronouncing it in what way. This is a small plot point that that'll show up again later. *g* Oh, and don't worry about Trunks' name. That'll be taken care of.

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