Chapter Text
It had been over a month since the Tournament of Power, and things for Bulma and Vegeta were, to say the least, complicated. But since when had their lives ever been that simple? To begin with, Bulma was discovering more and more what it was like having a bond with her Saiyan husband. When he was working out in the Gravity Room, she often felt his intensity, and sometimes she would even hear his thoughts (usually pertaining to her best friend and kicking his butt.) At first it caught her off guard. She even dropped some tiny screws on the floor that she had been working with and had to get on hands and knees to find them. When she told him of this development, he was rather amused and deviously tested it, sending her thoughts that would be distracting to her. But, she was a genius after all. She could control this new situation and find ways to make it work to her advantage. Eventually, she learned to tune him out when she chose, unless he thought her name loudly to get her attention. Usually this was to tell him that he was hungry.
To her amusement, there were a lot of benefits to the bond that she was discovering. During all the years that they had known each other, Vegeta had this habit of appearing out of nowhere and startling her. She never had got used to it, though over time, it didn't scare her has badly as it used to. Now, she sensed when he was near her and she didn't jump anymore. Vegeta pouted a bit when he discovered he could no longer sneak up on her, something she never knew he loved doing until then. There was a benefit of knowing where he was at all times; when he did decide to go off and be by himself for a few hours, she knew where he was and she didn't get upset at him for just flying off without a word. She both knew where he was and understood better his mood and reasons for doing so.
The bond seemed do be effected by distance, but still held firm. Whenever the prince would travel to Beerus's world to train with Whis for a few days, she didn't sense his thoughts, but she did know when he was injured.
She discovered this one afternoon while working in her lab. She felt a sting in her side, followed by a throbbing. At first, she thought she had strained a muscle while sitting tensely working with delicate materials that required her to be extremely still. Carefully, she set down her work and rubbed her side. Then realization dawned on her. She grabbed the communication device that Whis had given her and activated it.
"Bulma, how good to see you. How's Bulla?" Whis's cheerful voice filled her lab.
She did her best to remain calm. "Oh, she's doing great, growing too fast. Listen, quick question, is Vegeta near by? I wanted to check on him."
In the light of the comm image, the angel cocked an eyebrow. "Oh?"
The blunette sighed heavily. "It's the bond. I felt pain and I wanted to see if he was okay."
The angel beamed widely at her now, understanding. "Ah. I wondered as much. " The image before her shifted and Vegeta appeared in it, holding his side and leaning against a tree. "We were sparring and he didn't move in time. He's fine, just banged up."
Vegeta looked up at the projection in a familiar scowl, though she could tell that he wasn't truly upset. "I'm fine, Bulma." He only used her name when he was being sincere.
Letting go of a breath she didn't realize she was holding, she nodded in relief. "Thank goodness. Thank you, Whis. This is all so new to me, I wasn't sure..." She trailed off in thought.
"It's perfectly alright, Bulma. It's completely understandable." His voice was gentle. "If anything were to actually happen, you know I would see to it that he was taken care of."
She nodded again. "I appreciate it. Thank you for always being so understanding." She winked at him. "When you boys come back, I'll make sure I'll have some of that green tea ice cream you liked so much last time ready."
***
Months passed and this new normal settled in. She felt closer than ever to her Saiyan husband. If she ever had doubts about how he felt about her or their family, they were merely ghosts now. Of course bickering still happened, but it wasn't like it used to be. It was never over miscommunication, but rather opinions. Which was fine by her. She would stand her ground as always, and their verbal jousting continued as it always had.
One morning Vegeta seemed anxious and not matter how hard she tried, she couldn't read his thoughts. Curse that Saiyan, of course he figured out how to block me. He always has been a fast learner. But what is he keeping from me? The prince engulfed his breakfast feast that Panchy had made for them, then sat and impatiently waited for his wife to finish her own meal. She was tempted to keep him waiting, but she cleared her place, finished feeding Bulla, then asked her mum to watch her for the day. Trunks at this point had kissed his mother and trotted off for his lessons. "Okay, my impatient Prince, what did you want?" He practically flew to her side and guided her out of the kitchen.
Vegeta led them to the Gravity Room and sealed the door behind them. Looking about in confusion, she couldn't figure out what was so important that he needed to bring her here of all places. Had he broken something? Was he going to show off some new ability he had learned? She rolled her eyes just thinking about it.
With a smug look, he gave a command to the computer. "Initiate program BB1 vocal pattern recognition." She didn't recognize that program. Furrowing her brows, she glared at him. She was the one that wrote all the programs for the GR for Vegeta. Since when did he know how to-
Her thoughts were cut off by her husband taking a swing at her. Out of sheer reflex, she dodged and before she could bark out a retort for the action, he swung again. She twisted out of the way deftly. "What the heck, Vegeta?"
His laugh was a bit sadistic, sending her mind back to the day they all were sent back to Earth from Namek. He had actually frightened her at first. "Fire."
A laser beam shot cross her path, and she lept over it, landing crouched with one hand on the floor, a death glare on her face on her husband. Oh, he was going to get it.
"Fire." A second beam cut through the air and she ducked and rolled under it. He was laughing so hard now. "Fire." He could barely contain himself. She sprung up into the air.
"You jerk! Cut this out. What are you trying to do, kill me? I'm not in destructible like you, Mister. And it's not like I can just fly--" She cut herself off. She was hanging in midair, glowering down at her Saiyan husband, who was now in stitches with laughter. "Crap baskets! Vegeta, get me down!"
"You got yourself up there. Figure it out!" He barely got the words out through his howling.
In a panic she started kicking in place, but she was frozen there suspended in midair. Then she felt the red heat of anger fill her and she simply yelled in rage. Now she had his attention. He watched her eagerly as her ki lightly pulsed all around her, taking the sight in. When she had stopped screaming, he crossed his arms. "I always said you'd be formidable if you knew how to use your ki." Then a thin smile crossed his face.
The sudden truth hit her. The bond. It was more than just the occasional thoughts or dreams passed to her, she had access to his knowledge now-his fighting knowledge, what made Vegeta, Prince of all Saiyans, Vegeta. Concentrating, she closed her eyes let herself search through this knowledge and in moments, her feet gently met the floor.
"Knew you would figure it out eventually." Her husband gave her an approving look.
Bulma found herself beaming. "I never thought I'd say this, but that was amazing! I never thought I could do any of that!"
Her husband nodded. "And with time, you could do much more." He gave her a sly look as he powered down the room and proceeded for the door.
"You know, this doesn't mean I'm flying everywhere with you boys now. I still prefer my air ship!" She called after him.
He paused, smirking. "Oh we'll see." Out of playful instinct, she jogged up to him and slugged him in the shoulder, and for the the time since they met, her fist met and he actually was impacted by the force. He looked both stunned and impressed. Somehow she was able to pinpoint the correct spot to make an impact, and her fist didn't even hurt like it should have when meeting her husband's solid form. She looked down at her hand, flexing it in awe.
Vegeta had continued on his way, but not towards the living quarters. "Where are you going?"
The burly Saiyan prince didn't bother stopping or looking back. "To the lab. I have some updates to that armor you made me for training with Whis."
Updates? Vegeta was smart, he even understood a lot of her scientific jargon she spouted all the time, and picked up more over the years, but nano fiber tech that she used in his vests was never something he really seemed to grasp. Then it hit her again. The program in the GR-He had written it. He had access to her knowledge as well. She stopped in her tacks, and sensing her, he paused as well, chuckling. "But, I thought this ended up being a one way thing?"
He turned back around and paced back her way. "So did I at first, being that you aren't Saiyan. Imagine my surprise when I woke up a few mornings ago with ideas on updating the Gravity Room."
Thoughts of the possibilities this presented filled her mind. His brawn, her amazing intellect. The things they could accomplish being of the same mind. She found herself grinning wickedly up at her husband. "Were we different people, the universe would be cowering in fear right now."
His laughter filled the hall, a devious glint in his eye as he took her into his arms. "You would have made such a queen, Bulma."
Cocking a half smile, she leaned in closer. "Who ever said I wasn't?" Playfully, he pulled her in around her waist, laughing wickedly and dragged her down to the lab to work.
After spending all day in the lab, Trunks came bounding in to announce that Panchy had dinner on the table for them. The sight he found there confused him. Vegeta was sitting at the computer, and Bulma was leaning over him, gazing intently at the screen. His father's fingers flew across the keys. "There." He announced.
Bulma leaned in, scrutinized the figures before her, running a finger across the monitor to read better, then straightened up and crossed her arms. "My stars, I think you've actually done it. I never would have thought to approach it from that way."
Vegeta leaned back in the chair, arms behind his head, sporting a smart look. "I'm more than a pretty face." He mocked his wife.
In reaction, she punched him playfully in the shoulder. "Jerk."
Trunks had been frozen by the door, but hearing her mother call her father a jerk as usually confirmed that nothing was wrong per say, but something was definitely different. "Um, Gran says dinner's ready."
Getting to his feet, Vegeta's stomach audibly rumbled. "Oh that's right, we missed lunch." Bulma giggled.
Her husband gazed at her. "Now I understand why you miss meals. We were so focused on this project-" the scientist cut him off.
"We lost track of time. Yeah..." She trailed off.
The two followed their son towards the kitchen. "I won't get upset with you over that again, but that doesn't mean I won't try to make sure you are eating." She grinned widely at her husband.
"Fine by me. I really do appreciate it." She reached down and took his hand. She knew he actually liked this, especially now that she could sense his emotions, even if he did act like he didn't.
Their son remained quite confused, and they both had taken notice. He was aware of their bond, but this behavior was so out of the norm. He had liked that they seemed to argue less and his father even seemed more thoughtful of his mother. It was a nice change, but this was just strange.
Vegeta glanced sideways at his wife, who was stifling a smile. Wordlessly they both agreed to keep this new development under wraps for a few days, at least until they had properly explored every aspect.
Dinner was quieter than usual for the Briefs, but Panchy and Dr. Briefs didn't seem to notice, they were far to wrapped up in feeding and spoiling their new granddaughter. Trunks kept on staring at his parents, who were eating in silence. Usually Bulma was bright and bubbly, asking about how his day went, but this time she was as stoic as his father. He caught them both shoot each other glances and give one another smug looks a few times. Then it clicked, it had to be that bond his mum had mentioned! But why were they acting so strange?
Bulma took notice of her son's questioning looks and sent a thought towards Vegeta. Our son is catching on.
I noticed.
She tried not to giggle. The two of them finished eating and Bulma cleared up the plates. "Trunks, help your grandparents with the dishes. Mum, Vegeta and I are going out for a bit if you don't mind watching Bulla for a bit longer. I promise you have me all day tomorrow, and we can even go shopping. Call it a girl's day out."
"Oh sure thing, sweetie! Take your time. You two don't get out enough!" Panchy took Bulla in her arms and cooed at her. The baby girl giggled at her grandmother. "Besides, she is so easy!"
Trunks eyed his parents as they got ready to leave, nearly dropping the plates as his grandfather handed them to be loaded into the dishwasher. As they left, he noticed his mother did not take her purse. That was the last straw, he would sneak out later and find out what was going on.
*****
The night air stung at Bulma's cheeks, but it felt invigorating. So this was why her husband would so often take off for hours at night, she could understand better now. Sure he and the others had flown her places before, but being able to do it on her own was a whole new experience. She certainly wasn't as speedy as Vegeta, but she did her best to keep up with him as he led the way to their destination. It wasn't far from where they first met Future Trunks, a good place to try what they wanted to experiment with next. Her landing needed some work, and Vegeta had to practically catch her to keep her from crashing. "Sorry!" She tumbled into him. He gently set her down by his side. "I'll have to learn how to slow down."
"Tch, you don't have to learn, just lean into my thoughts, it's right there." He paused, looking her over. Then he felt her inner emotions, "Oh, you're afraid of falling."
Her gaze drifted to the ground. "I know, it's silly. I can fly now, and yet, I'm still terrified. Hights have never been an issue, but falling, yeah. I sort of lost it when I was landing and got scared."
Placing a finger under her chin, he tipped her head to look into her blue eyes. "It's fine. I just never knew you were afraid." His face was full of understanding, an emotion she rarely saw. Without thinking she threw her arms around him. He stiffened from surprise, then returned the embrace, resting his face in her shoulders and taking in her scent. After a long moment, he let her go and grinned deviously.
Bulma returned the smile. "So, which move should we try first?" She rubbed her hands together in anticipation.
Placing a hand atop hers, he closed his eyes and shook his head. "You're getting ahead of yourself, princess. First you need to power up."
She nodded and began to dive deep into Vegeta's subconscious, looking for how he harnessed ki, then she began to use this information and took hold of her own latent power and began to use it. In moments, the air around her was filled with electricity, particles of dirt a debris flew about her.
The Prince of all Saiyans stood back, arms crossed, watching her intently. "Good, now find your rage."
"That shouldn't be hard, I'm married to you!" She shouted back into the wind she had generated. Digging deep, she thought of every argument they had had before they had started their relationship, how she felt when he had left her for space, then again the pain of betrayal when he became Majin Vegeta. She had actually been bottling more of this up then she had ever realized, and the more she thought about the past, the more that anger built, until it came to a head. Screaming into the night air, power pulsed around her. Had she been a Saiyan, she might have gone Super Saiyan at that moment. Vegeta gazed at her, both impressed and worried.
"Now control that emotion, and we can begin." But she kept powering up her ki, screaming in pure rage again. "Bulma!" Vegeta shouted, "You are going too far, you've never done this before, you-" forget it, he ran towards her and enveloped her in an embrace. Stunned, she froze in place and slowly her aura went back to nothing. When he pulled away, he gazed intently into her eyes.
Her blue orbs softened and she was herself again. "I'm sorry, I don't know what happened..." her voice faded.
Heaving a heavy sigh, Vegeta looked away. "I do. You were drawing from my Saiyan desire to keep pushing. Don't. Ignore it and just keep that energy focused. Eventually you will and should go further, but for today, just harness your energy so we can practice some attacks."
Bulma nodded, and got back into place. Before she could start again, her husband frowned and crossed his arms again, "You have more pent up aggression then I had even thought. Something you haven't told me?"
She looked away, "One day, but for now, let's use it to our advantage."
"Now you sound like a true Saiyan warrior." He grinned back at her widely. "Alright, again." She began once more, and power surged around her, focused at hot. "Good now, let's try an attack. Let's start with-"
"Galick Gun?" Her eyes were wide and shining, like an eager little kid. She giggled. "I have wanted to try it since forever!"
Puffing his chest out widely with pride, the prince nodded, "Alright." He powered up to Super Saiyan and positioned his arms and hands for the attack. He side eyed his wife to see how she was setting herself up. It took a moment, and then she couldn't stop giggling. She put her arms up again and tried once more.
"Um, Vegeta, we have a problem." He got out of his stance and paced over to her.
"What is it, woman?" he practically growled at her, but then he saw what she was struggling with. No matter how hard she tried to position herself exactly like him, her breasts were in the way. She began to giggle again, and he felt his face turn a shade of pink. "Oh."
Nodding, she desperately tried to position herself again, but by now her ki had died down to nothing, and she just was looking more and more ridiculous. "Here, let me try something." He placed her arms up higher this time, so that her front arm was above her breasts. That seemed to do it. Her eyes grew wide and she felt a bit silly.
"Oh, I didn't think about that, I was just trying to copy you."
Shaking his head, he went back to where he had be standing. "Now, if you're done making a fool of yourself, raise your energy one more time. But this time as you do, draw all your ki into your hands." She did as she told, powering up swiftly. She was getting the hang of this, and was feeling quite pleased. Then she drew all her energy into her hands. He glanced over to her and nodded in approval as he watched energy surge into them. "Don't stop, give it everything you have." He gathered his own energy, matching the strength of hers. They weren't looking to destroy an enemy anyway, just practice the attack.
When she appeared to have given everything should could to the charge, he nodded and in sync, they both yelled into the cool night air. "Galick Gun!" In one swift motion, the Saiyan and his brilliant human wife sent blasts out into space, Bulma giving it every ounce within her. When the air cleared, she was panting, spent.
"Good, a proper Galick Gun should take everything out of you." He strode over to her, proud of her accomplishment, wrapping his arms around her and supporting her as she slumped.
With a breathy laugh, she leaned into him. "You know, now that I've done this, I'm even more sure I'm glad I stuck to the technical side of this. I'm not sure I'm cut out to be a fighter."
Gently, he kissed the top of her blue hair. "I would never want you to, either. But knowing you can at least defend yourself a bit now, does put my mind at ease for when I am away training." He breathed in deeply, holding her close. "Are you up for any-" He cut himself off and the two of them both shot looks towards a rocky outcropping behind them.
"Young man, you have some explaining to do." Bulma called out. Vegeta let go, crossing his arms, while his wife threw her hands on her hips in mom mode. "Get out here this instant."
From behind the stones, Trunks rose up, clad in his favorite green gi. "Your mother gave you instructions to stay at home." Vegeta scolded.
The young half Saiyan's brows furrowed, looking like a miniature version of his father. "Yeah, but you guys were keeping this from me!" He waved his hands at the two of them. "Mom, you can uses your ki now?"
Striding over to her son, she loomed over him. "We were trying to keep this part a secret until I had learned more about what else the bond can do."
"But mom, this is so cool! Can you do all of dad's attacks?"
Vegeta moved to stand beside his wife. "Most likely." He answered for her.
"But we haven't had a chance to try yet." She sighed. She should have known better. Their son was the best of the both of them, smart, curious, and most of all stubborn. Once he got an idea in his head, he wasn't letting it go. Even if he had known what they were up to and told to stay, he would have still disobeyed. "C'mon boys, let's go home. I'm beat, and actually hungry again... I think. Though-"
Vegeta's cheeks got a little pink. "No, that's me. I'm staving again."
Bulma pecked him on the cheek. "It's fine, sweetie. We'll get used to all this eventually."
Vegeta blushed even more deeply in front of Trunks. "Gah! You know I hate your sneak attacks!"
Giggling, the scientist took her son's hand. "So, you wanna lead the way home, kiddo?"
The boy's eyes went wide. "You mean I don't have to ride in the ship with you?"
Bulma's face took on a mischievous look, then glanced over at her husband. "Hey honey, did we bring the ship?"
Vegeta's face mirrored her look, even more deviously. "No, we did not."
Before Trunks could even respond, his mother began to rise up off the ground. "All right!" He rose up next to her. "This is awesome! Last one home is rotten egg!" The lavender haired boy shot off into the night. His parents rose off the ground and sped up to catch up with the boy. This moment felt so right, their family racing across the sky towards home. She wondered why she hadn't asked to learn how to fly sooner.