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Bulma remembered the dread she felt in the exhausted moments afterwards when her brain finally caught up to her body. She'd felt the blood drain from her face and wondered how she could gracefully retreat. It certainly wouldn't be easy, given that she was naked and panting beneath him.
Fortunately, or perhaps unfortunately depending on your perspective, Vegeta seemed to have had a similar moment of clarity. He'd suddenly lurched upwards and swung his body off the bed, avoiding her eyes. And in a silence so uncomfortable and awkward it could have been cut with a knife, they had each gathered up their clothing and parted ways.
But that feeling of dread had been nothing compared to when Bulma had finally taken a pregnancy test and, with eyes closed, willed it to be negative.
(It wasn't.)
She felt guilty, now, about that, as she stroked Trunks' hair. She and Vegeta both knew they weren't meant for each other and that was fine, but she was so happy to have Trunks from their fleeting affair. She regretted ever feeling otherwise towards her boy. She gave him a small smile before tiptoeing out of his room. He wasn't quite asleep yet but he was well on his way -- and good thing, because she was a complete nervous wreck.
She paused just beyond his closed door and wrung her hands, gazing up and down the hallway. She knew she should try to sleep before the Cell Games tomorrow, but felt jittery with adrenaline and knew sleep wouldn't come.
*
Down the hall, Yamcha followed her Ki from his room. Well, not his room, just the room he was occupying currently. It had been years since he'd slept at the Capsule Corporation but Bulma had offered a place to stay given the circumstances and he'd accepted. It was both comforting and disquieting to be back here, the place that had become his first real home; the place that he'd been too afraid to return to after their fight. That was his biggest regret. If he'd just come back then maybe it would be his child sleeping in the other room.
He blocked the thought. He understood now that Bulma and Vegeta were not a couple. He understood that Vegeta mainly ignored Bulma and Trunks. He understood that Vegeta slept in his own room and not in Bulma's. He also understood that too much time had passed and too much had happened between Bulma and himself for them to ever reconcile. Once, that knowledge ripped his heart out. But he'd come to accept it, and it was fine.
But the world was ending. She'd come over, right?
It was probably wishful thinking. There was no reason for her to need or want to go to him tonight. Bulma was nothing if not fiercely independent, and he could clearly see her in his mind's eye working away in her lab until dawn, trying to find a way to help them all out of this mess. She didn't need anyone, and the end of the world certainly wouldn't change that.
So why was her Ki hovering in the hallway?
Yamcha felt his hope and heart rate rise, and--
He smashed his pillow over his face. He had always been a silly, hopeless romantic. He needed to get a grip. He rolled over, determined to sleep, and tried to ignore her Ki moving in his direction.
*
Bulma hadn't had a meaningful conversation with him in ages. It was too uncomfortable between them. There was too much left unsaid, too much hurt and pain, too much feeling of betrayal. For a long time, it stung to even think about him. She'd gradually realized that was no longer the case, but that did little to break the tension between them.
He'd spent so much time away from the Capsule Corporation that it had been easier to focus her attention on other things, and of course now Trunks consumed so much of her day and her heart, but tonight he was back and sleeping just down the hall. Her stare fixed on his door. She wondered if he was sleeping.
She gave her head a shake. It was ridiculous to even be considering this after everything that had happened. She knew that she was only debating seeing him because the world was ending.
Bulma clenched her fist. Who was she? Why had she suddenly so little faith in her friends? They had never let her down before. They wouldn't this time either.
She took a small step towards her own room, and then swiveled and went in the other direction. She had to go.
He'd love her for the hell of it.
Right?
*
A quiet knock on the door had his heart in his mouth, and he hated himself for having been so hopeful and so worried she wouldn't come.
And so worried that she would.
Things were already so frigid between them he couldn't possibly imagine that this would make things any better. Besides, he figured that after the Cell Games he would ease back out of her life again. Would tonight make that harder? Did it matter?
He realized that the minute was stretching out before him. He gathered up a confidence that he didn't quite feel and slid out of bed to open the door. She stood there in all her radiant, blue beauty, her eyes a little wide and wild, and they peered at each other for a long moment before they fell into each other.
It had been so long since he'd felt her warmth, since he'd tangled his fingers in her hair, since he'd tasted her skin. He relished the press of her thighs around him, her soft lips along his body, the way she sighed his name. His fears felt irrelevant. He let himself succumb to her. There was no harm in just once more.
Right?
They drifted to sleep in each other's arms in the early morning, just as the birds were starting to awake.
*
The warriors assembled at the site of the Cell Games early the next morning. Bulma awoke alone to Trunks' cries from the other room, the bed tousled beside her where he had been only a couple hours earlier.
She spent a moment looking at the empty spot. He hadn't even said goodbye. She guessed it didn't matter if the world was ending.
She climbed out of bed to find the one person she wanted to spend the last of her time with, and granted him a wide smile as she lifted him out of his crib.
*
Of course, the world didn't end. She should have known it wouldn't. The battle certainly wasn't without its losses, but she would be able to live another day. She gave Trunks a kiss that smooshed his cheek. She couldn't wait to watch him grow.
And that evening when he quietly slunk into her room, unsure of what was next for them, unsure of where he belonged and who he was, she greeted him with a hug that he returned a little too fiercely.
Later, while they laid naked together for the second time, she turned to face him. "You didn't say goodbye," Bulma accused gently.
He said nothing for a long moment. Then, "I didn't think it was necessary."
"Usually people say goodbye before they leave for war."
He peered at her, his black eyes barely visible in the dark. "If the world had ended, it would be the last thing either of us would care about. And if it didn't, then I planned to come back."
Bulma's lips twitched in a smile. "You did?"
Vegeta was silent, and answered her only by finding her lips with his.
*
Yamcha felt Vegeta's Ki finally settle at the Capsule Corporation much later that night. He'd done many aimless laps of the world before he at last made his way there. Yamcha let out a heavy breath. He should have known Bulma would choose the Saiyan prince last night, but there was more acceptance than jealousy when he'd felt her Ki pass his door. There was something magnetic between Bulma and Vegeta, like they couldn't resist each other as much as they may want to. She and Vegeta were made for each other, and that was fine.
Right?
Right.