Bulma got up at the crack of dawn to check on the baby and estimated she had at least another good hour of sleep. She grabbed the baby monitor from her room and snuck back into Vegeta's. She slipped back into his bed and had just dozed off when she felt Vegeta shifting beside her. She opened one eye and watched him sit up, pushing the covers back.

"I do not think you are leaving here without talking to me about this."

Vegeta had half his foot on the floor when the woman's voice broke the lovely silence and ruined his chance for escape. He sighed and rolled his eyes, flopping back down on the bed. Bulma giggled and sat up on her elbows, running a quick hand through her hair. "So. There's this."

"This." Vegeta repeated, eyes closed and hand on his chest. Bulma turned her hips so she was facing him and put her chin in her hand.

"So, what then?"

"What then." Vegeta copied again, and Bulma blinked.

"Are you broken or something? Try sentences." she said irritably, and Vegeta glared at her.

"I need to go train." he said, and only got his head raised before Bulma slammed her hand down on his bare chest, holding him hostage. Vegeta sighed for the twentieth time and lay back down. "What."

"Vegeta."

"What." he asked through his teeth, and Bulma looked down, finger looping in a circle on his chest.

"Um, what exactly did you mean by I don't know what I do to you?" she asked timidly, and Vegeta was quiet a moment before taking her hand.

"You know what you do to part of me." he replied, and placed her hand over his sheet-covered groin. Bulma squawked and yanked her hand away as Vegeta grinned wolfishly.

"You're disgusting." she laughed in spite of herself. "I'm serious. You've been ignoring me for months and I don't know what to think."

Vegeta, smile gone, stared at the ceiling.

"You're reading too much into it. It means just what you think it means."

"Well I figured it meant I was either enticing you or killing you." Bulma replied, fingers still inching around Vegeta's skin, dipping at his navel.

"Both." Vegeta answered, and Bulma smiled a little.

"So….now what?" she asked, and Vegeta closed his eyes.

"I don't know, Bulma. You want answers to too many uncertainties." Vegeta scolded softly, and Bulma's face fell.

"What's uncertain? Whether you'll defeat the androids?"

"Of that I am certain I will prevail." he replied adamantly.

"What then?" Bulma looked down, afraid to ask her next question, a question she'd been thinking about for a long time now. "...Will you stay?"

Vegeta knew what she meant without clarification, and eventually turned to look at her.

"I don't stay where I'm not wanted."

"You're wanted." Bulma replied immediately, unable to play coy with her feelings anymore. She leaned close to him. "You are so, so wanted." she poked his nose with each inflection. Vegeta frowned and swatted her hand away.

"If this is what I have to look forward to I'm out of here." he grumbled. Bulma shut up and kept her hands to herself as she watched him think. Finally,

"The child will need a trainer." Vegeta said to the ceiling, and Bulma creased her brow.

"Well I don't really know anyone, I mean Master Roshi trained Goku but he's getting kinda old, So I guess I'd have to call around…"

Vegeta turned to her, his face so impatiently pained that Bulma had to stifle a laugh.

"I meant me."

Bulma's eyes widened a little in understanding and she grinned.

"Ohhhhh. Sure! That'd be really great!" She exclaimed, shaking his forearm excitedly. Vegeta grunted in response. Bulma scooched a little closer to him. "Can it wait til he's at least one?"

Vegeta rolled his eyes and Bulma interrupted him with a slow, sweet kiss on his cheek, punctuating her words with a period, not a question mark. Vegeta gave a long, long sigh, turning his face so that her lips grazed his.

"I suppose."

Bulma smiled against his lips and closed her eyes, suddenly choking on a giant lump in her throat.

"I missed you so much." she blurted, yanking him up and throwing her arms around his neck. "I thought having you here sucked but it sucked even more without you, and then the baby, fuck I had no idea how hard it would be and you weren't here and it just sucked!" she blubbered, and Vegeta groaned inwardly. He let her squeeze the life out of him for a minute before putting his hands over her arms and lightly pushing her back.

"You were perfectly capable of doing this on your own." he said firmly, eyes locked on her watering ones. "I wouldn't have left if I thought otherwise." he nodded once to her, as if confirming his words. "Now may I PLEASE go train." he dug his fingers into her arms a little harder than necessary and Bulma winced.

"Absolutely." she said with a grimace, and Vegeta released her. She rubbed the divots in her arms and Vegeta got up. He heard her mumbling something about stupid monkeys as he got clothes out of his dresser, and he hid a smirk.

"By the way," he glanced back at her as he headed for the bathroom, "You're leaking all over the damn place." he said casually, and shut the door behind him. Bulma looked down and saw that the sheet she had wrapped around her chest was soaked.

"Son of a bitch."

Trunks was a real joy that day, and by the time Bulma finally got him down for the night she was totally done. She went into her room, kicked off her shorts and climbed into bed, falling asleep immediately. She was drawn from a deep unconsciousness when she felt hands on her, and she slowly opened her eyes to see Vegeta carefully unbuttoning her shirt. She said nothing, just raised herself up a bit so he could slide it off her shoulders. She expected him to keep undressing her but he simply dropped her shirt off the side of the bed and lay down beside her, drawing the blankets up to their faces. Bulma closed her eyes again and fell asleep to the gentle, steady strokes of Vegeta's thumb along her ribcage.

He was there each morning but Bulma never commented on it, and they never spoke of anything more complicated than your breath is disgusting and could you take up anymore space? The knots in her stomach grew tighter and heavier as The Day loomed closer, the only thing that really loosened the tension was rolling around with Vegeta in the dark as he rumbled I want you in her ear. So naturally there was a lot of rolling and rumbling as the time slipped away. Bulma was still Bulma though, and she couldn't keep casual forever.

"Are you scared?" She asked as the sun rose on May 10. Vegeta opened one mildly blood-shot eye and scoffed.

"I've never been scared in my life."

"Liar." Bulma replied, and Vegeta growled and closed his eye again.

"No. I'm not scared. I'm quite looking forward to it actually." he said, fingers inching down her thigh. Bulma slipped her hand under the covers and Vegeta sucked in his breath at her touch.

"You're crazy."

"I'm prepared. They don't stand a chance." he mumbled, shifting so she had better access. Bulma giggled at his obvious motion and continued slowly.

"We don't know that."

"You may not." Vegeta answered, gulping as her grip grew tighter. "But I do."

"I guess I'll just have to take your word for it then." Bulma gently released him and moved to get up, but Vegeta grabbed her wrist and yanked her back.

"Where the hell do you think you're going."

"The baby's awake. I need to feed him" Bulma laughed, struggling against Vegeta as he kissed her face and neck, holding her flush against him.

"He's fine. You need to feed me first."

The night of May 11, Bulma waited up until Vegeta came to bed. He slipped in beside her and though she feigned sleep, the rigidness of her body gave her away.

"I know you're awake." he said in the dark behind her and Bulma sighed, but didn't turn.

"I'm scared about tomorrow." she whispered. Vegeta snickered softly and Bulma glared at the wall at his inappropriate response.

"Again with this? What are you scared for, do you intend on joining the battle?" he asked, and Bulma rolled her eyes.

"You're such a jackass sometimes." she mumbled, and ignored his arm as it slipped around her waist, pulling her to him.

"I told you I am certain I will prevail." Vegeta whispered in her ear, the low vibration of his deep voice making her shiver. "Why do you doubt me?"

Bulma finally squirmed around till she was facing him.

"It's not doubt. It's just...fear. It's the unknown. Nothing is guaranteed." she worried, and Vegeta sighed irritably.

"What did I just tell you." he said in a voice one might use to scold a child.

"Vegeta, you can't possibly KNOW-" she shut up when he put a hand solidly over her mouth.

"Do you love me?"

Bulma ripped his hand off her face and gaped at him.

"Come again?" she asked bewilderedly.

"Answer. Do you love me as you claim?" Vegeta repeated, and though a faint blush crept over him from saying the foreign word he didn't falter.

"I love you as I claim." Bulma said mechanically, still staring at him like he'd grown a second head.

"Then you trust me, yes? Is that not a condition?"

"That is a condition."

"Then you believe I will defeat them. Because I told you I would. Yes?"

"Yes." Bulma echoed softly, feeling stupid. How was it that Vegeta had never experienced a relationship for himself and he understood it better than she did?

"That's better." Vegeta affirmed, and shut his eyes. "Now go to sleep."

Bulma closed her eyes for a moment, then opened them again.

"Vegeta."

"What."

"Do you love me?"

"Don't press your luck." he warned in a growl, eyes still closed, and Bulma rolled her eyes briefly.

"Yeah yeah, sorry. Goodnight."

Vegeta didn't respond and she settled back into the pillow. As she started to doze off, she felt Vegeta's grip on her tighten. She smiled into the dark and fell asleep.

The next morning, he was gone.

End

Thank you so much for reading! I really like these two like this so watch for more short stories/one-shots involving them as written :)

As I like to do, here are the songs that helped me write this.

Soundtrack

Hozier: To Be Alone

Arctic Monkeys: I Wanna Be Yours

Alt-J: Every Other Freckle

Florence + The Machine: What Kind of Man?

Carly Rae Jepson: I Really Like You

Kasabian: Bow

Hozier: It Will Come Back

Royal Blood: Little Monster

Thank you again. Until next time!

-Washu II