Work Text:
The tournament of power had come and gone, time had passed and life was as simple as one could hope for in a time of peace. Although he didn't train quite as hard as he once had, Vegeta still put a level of priority in ensuring that he was in enough shape to defend the planet he now called home against any new threats. Bulma continued to maintain the gravity room, and occasionally the Saiyan Prince would take a brief leave to spend a week or two training on the destroyer God, Beerus' planet, under Whis.
Trunks had just entered high school, and there was no doubt that there would be an endless wave of shenanigans from he and Goten as they maneuvered their way through teenhood. On the flipside, Bulla had just turned three, and she was the ultimate three-nager in so many ways. She idolized her father, and although he would vehemently deny it, he was wrapped around her little finger.
Being away on another planet to train certainly had its drawbacks, Vegeta had never really realized how much he cared about his family until he spent long absences away from them. He'd resolved that training on Beerus' planet would only occur when necessary to continue learning, because he wasn't going to miss out on his children growing up any more than he had to. He'd done enough of that in the past, and he refused to make that mistake again.
It had been nine days since he'd left home to train, and those feelings had bubbled to the surface full force.
It was late evening on Beerus' planet, and he'd approached Whis after his training had wrapped up for the day, an odd request playing on his lips. Vegeta, for a moment, shoved aside his pride, and asked that Whis return him home so that he could see his family. A knowing smile danced across the tall angel's face, and he'd obliged, whisking the Saiyan warrior across the universe back to Earth, the planet he now called home without so much as a second thought.
They'd arrived on the balcony of Capsule Corporation only a short time later, and while it had been nightfall on the world he'd just come from, the sun had only been up a few short hours on Earth, blazing high in the sky. Vegeta knew Bulma was likely in her lab somewhere, Trunks at school or with Goten, and Bulla was either with her mother or Panchy. He smiled, and quickly sought out their ki signatures to settle his mind, and was pleased to find that they were indeed were he had expected them to be. He shouldered the one small bag he always took with him when he went training, and flew up toward the balcony of the room he shared with Bulma.
After putting his few belongings away, he showered and changed into a clean outfit, a pair of jeans and a lightweight button up shirt. It was one of the earth outfits that Bulma loved to see him wear, besides that awful pink badman shirt she'd coaxed him into when he'd first arrived on the planet so long ago.
He smiled as he sensed a shift in Bulma's energy, and Bulla's as well; they were coming toward him. He could hear Bulla's excited chirps from down the hallway as they drew closer, she must have sensed his return home herself, and alerted her mother.
The door to the room flew open with a bang, and a little body collided with his.
"You're home, you're home!" Bulla screeched happily, clutching his leg with a death grip only a half Saiyan child could possess. She stepped back, and looked up at him. "Daddy, LOOK, it's PINK!"
He took in the sight of his small but proud daughter standing in front of him, wearing an exact copy of his armor. Except, it was in fact, pink. Bright pink. Where he would normally be sporting a blue or black body suit, hers was pink. It was as if a unicorn or a fairy had crawled out of a rainbow and thrown up all over her armor, and he was half surprised there wasn't glitter or gems on it somewhere too. Vegeta blinked. She danced around the room, hopping and skipping with little shouts of glee.
Bulma laughed. "What do you think, Badman? Be glad I didn't make you your own. I figured you'd like to keep those days in the past." She came up to him and wrapped her arms around his waist. "I missed you. Now go spend some time with your daughter and tell her you like it, even if you think it's the ugliest thing you've ever seen since Zarbon turned into that giant glob on Namek."
"Tch." He grunted with a wry smile, and kissed Bulma on the cheek. "I expect time with my woman later."
"Don't worry badman, I'll be here waiting." She replied with a smile.
Vegeta released his hold from her waist, and walked over to where Bulla was flitting about, scooping her up into his arms.
"Hey Princess, how about we go get some ice cream?" He asked, and of course the three year old agreed in utter delight.
"Ice cream for breakfast?! You're the best, daddy!"
Bulma rolled her eyes. "Just don't give her too much, Vegeta, or you're cleaning it up if she gets sick."
He pretended not to hear her.
The father daughter duo made their way downstairs to the kitchen, and Vegeta dug through the freezer to find his prize, a large tub of chocolate fudge ice cream. He filled two bowls full, topping them with chocolate syrup and sprinkles, while Bulla looked on with wide, excited eyes. They sat down at the picnic table on the porch outside, the warm sun overhead and the birds singing happily in the trees.
"So daddy, what do you think of my armor? Isn't it just the coolest? I look just like you! Mommy made it for me!"
"It is...quite pink, princess." He shot her a lopsided smile, and she grinned as she shoved a big spoonful of ice cream into her mouth, smearing chocolate around her mouth.
"But isn't it so cool that I match you, daddy? Someday I want to be just like you, tough and smart!" She looked at him, her blue eyes beaming.
Something tugged at his heart when he looked into those blue eyes. He'd fallen for Bulma through her blue eyes, but the blue eyes of the little lady sitting before him were a whole different world. She was half him, he realized, a part of his heart outside of his body.
"You're right, it is...cool...that you match me. Even if it looks like a unicorn threw up all over your armor." Vegeta said, smirking at her.
"Daddy! Ew! That's so gross! A unicorn did NOT throw up on my armor. Mommy bought special dye to make it pink, so...so yeah!" She said, giving him her best fake pout, the chocolate ice cream mustache she'd given to herself adding to the facade.
Vegeta laughed. "You are so much like your mother, princess."
She paused. "That's good, right? I mean, mommy's pretty awesome too, huh? She's the richest person on the whole entire planet! And she says she's the hottest, too!" Bulla slammed her hand down on the table in emphasis.
Vegeta almost choked on his bite of ice cream as he laughed again. The one thing he'd learned with his daughter right away when she'd first started talking was there was never a dull moment. She was the life of the party, and if they thought Trunks saying fuck as his first word was bad, they had a whole new thing coming for them with the slew of things Bulla would say as she progressed through her childhood years. She had indeed inherited her mother's sassy behavior, on top of Vegeta's pride and toughness.
"Hey Daddy?" Bulla's questioning broke the brief silence.
"Yes, princess?"
"What's it like training so far away for so long?"
Vegeta wasn't quite prepared for that question from his small daughter, and his eyes widened slightly.
"Well...I train all day, from the moment I wake up until I go to bed. It is very tiring."
"Yeah, mommy always says you're really busy. But...do you miss us when you're gone?"
The weight of the question hit him like a ton of bricks. While he'd already come to terms with the fact that it was hard, if not almost impossible for him to be away from his family now, it was a challenge to admit it verbally. But, his family deserved his honesty, especially his young daughter.
"Of course I miss you, Bulla. I miss all of you. Your mother, Trunks…" he trailed off.
"Even Scratch and Uncle Goku?" Bulla asked, her blue pigtails bobbing as she finished off the last of her ice cream.
"Yes, even Scratch….and Kakarot. Bulla, we call him Kakarot. Not Uncle Goku. We've been over this." Vegeta admonished lightly, chuckling.
"But why? Mommy calls him Goku, and she says he's basically my uncle, so I can call him Uncle Goku if I want. And plus he's so funny!"
"Funny is right...that clown," Vegeta muttered under his breath.
"What, Daddy?" Bulla asked, pushing her bowl away, climbing into his lap to dig into his unfinished bowl.
"Oh no, you already had your ice cream. Get out of mine," he said, as he picked her up. She squealed and laughed, and he set her down next to the table. "Now take your dirty bowl to the sink inside."
"Ok, daddy!" She grabbed the bowl and disappeared inside, only to return a minute later.
"Daddy, daddy! Pan and her mommy are here, can I go play? Please, please, please?!" She cried excitedly, hands clutched together in front of her. "I can't wait to show her my pink armor! She's going to be soooooo jealous!"
"Go ahead, princess. Just remember, you're not allowed in the gravity room!"
"Yay!" She yelled, taking off to the kitchen.
Vegeta stayed sitting at the table on the porch, finishing his ice cream. A few minutes later, Bulma came out and sat next to him.
"Videl dropped Pan off for a few hours to play with Bulla, as I'm sure you already noticed. My mom has the girls in the greenhouse garden, they're watering plants and playing in the sprinkler," Bulma explained.
"Hn. Good, that girl needed to get some energy out after eating ice cream and trying to steal mine."
"Oh Vegeta, you softie."
"Tch."
"Just admit it, you are."
"No, I will do no such thing."
"Then why did you ask Whis to bring you home a few days early?"
A pause, and then silence hung in the air for a few moments.
"I...I realized that I couldn't go any longer without seeing you and our children. I missed all of you," Vegeta replied, his voice uncharacteristically soft. He averted his gaze and looked up toward the sky. "This is my home."
Bulma smiled at him, and rested her hand over his.
"I'm glad you finally feel that way, Vegeta. Trunks and Bulla are lucky to have you, you are a great father, and it warms my heart to see you trying so hard with Bulla."
"I made many mistakes with Trunks, ones I do not intend to repeat with Eschalotte."
"Does she know you call her that?"
"No, not yet. I will tell her of her Saiyan name when she is a little older. I hope she will be proud to know it." He ran a hand through his hair.
"Vegeta, Bulla worships the very ground you walk upon. I have no doubt she would be proud to have a Saiyan name. That girl was so excited and so full of pride over that pink armor, I can't even begin to describe it," Bulma said with a laugh, her eyes sparkling with joy.
"I know. I am lucky to have her. To have been given a second chance with her. I have loved her since the moment I knew you were expecting," Vegeta said.
"Whoa, whoa, wait a minute, buddy, I loved her first," Bulma exclaimed.
"I'm not so sure about that," he said, dodging the hand that came at him.
"Oh yeah? I was the one who took the test and found out I was pregnant!" She said, standing up to intimidate him.
"That may very well be the case, but I could sense her presence in your womb at least a week before you took that test. So, I loved her first. Sorry, woman. I win this one." Vegeta said firmly, smirk plastered on his face.
"Wait, you mean to tell me you KNEW and didn't tell me?!" Bulma said, voice gaining in octave as she spoke.
"Perhaps…" he paused. "Oh, look at the time, I need to go check on the girls."
With that, he shot up off the porch and into the air. Bulma waved her fist up at him. "You lousy, stubborn pain in my ass!" She smiled, watching as he flew over to the greenhouse. Fifteen some odd years ago, she never would have expected her life to be where it was right this very second. But she was ever so thankful that it was the way it was, because she wouldn't trade it for anything.