Dragon Ball/Z/GT Fan Fiction ❯ Lost and Found Love ❯ Finding What Was Lost ( Chapter 2 )

[ T - Teen: Not suitable for readers under 13 ]

Alright. It's probably not a good thing to suggest skimming, but I didn't change much. Most of what is changed is toward the middle. I'm sure you'll find it. I hope you enjoy it. And only the idea was mine. The characters are all owned by someone else, as sad as I am to admit it. Enjoy, and submit reviews! ~Autumn


Chapter Two- Finding What Was Lost
The ride to Beachtree Pass was filled with tense quiet. It was nearing three in the morning, but none of the three occupants cared about the time. Loaded with flashlights and bullett-proof vests, the three were tense with the adrenaline rush. The picnic area was empty when they parked and continued on foot, but Cold could have come, dropped off his valuable hostage, and taken the car somewhere. He could have brought her here for the taping then left.
There were so many possibilities of what could have been done, but Vegeta kept the ideas at bay. He had to concentrate. He had to find his wife. She had been so young, yet so full of wisdom. She had trusted him to keep her safe, and he had failed.
The trees were thick and ever dangerous in the darkness. Dawn would be approaching soon and they would need the extra light. Quietly, scanning the dense Pass meticulously, the three men were exauhsted by the time the crew arrived. The sun had just started to rise, and the twenty men loaded with guns and vests immediately spread out, looking for anything out of the ordinary.
Burns and Goku were loaded into the ambulance, given food and a blanket, and given the chance to nap. Vegeta chugged a cup of cold coffee and returned to scouring the woods.
Five men followed Vegeta to the tree in the tape. The heart bearing their initials had been crossed out with blood, but since there was none on the ground, the group assumed it was ketchup or blood from a small cut. Vegeta was ready to move on, follow the tracks on the ground, when someone called out.
"Hell...o?" Vegeta reacted immediately, following the cracked voice.
"Keep talking," one of the men answered, following Vegeta's lead.
"I...I'm hurt...I can't see anything," came the pained voice again. Bushes concealed a cave entrance that would have been passed had Vegeta not remembered it. How did Cold know all these things? How did he know all the special meanings to things shared only between the couple? Their first time had been on a picnic blanket in the cave, surrounded by candles and rose petals.
"Keep talking sweet heart, we have paramedics up the hill," Vegeta said, trying to keep the anger out of his voice. It wasn't her and rescuing whoever it was took valuable time away from looking for his wife.
There was a pause as Vegeta wretched the bushes away and turned his flashlight on. The darkness of the cave was dispersed as the light shone through it.
"Vegeta?" the voice called, filled with hope and desperation. Vegeta stilled, his light shining on a small figure covered in dirt and caked in blood.
"Bulma." The name was wretched from his throat as he recognized the voice, finally. A whimper propelled him forward, gathering the precious bundle of thin skin and bones in his arms.
"We found her, be on the look out," Vegeta called, hurrying back to the entrance. The five men formed a circle around Vegeta and Bulma, their guns ready as they watched and escorted the two back to the picnic area where the ambulance was waiting. Burns and Goku jumped out of the way immediately as the paramdics took control. She was suffering from massive malnutrition, dehydration, early signs of the flu, and a broken arm. All found from quick examination.
Bulma was hysterical, muttering things in her own language, fighting the paramedics as they tried to help her. She'd been in hell for two long years and now that she was being rescued, her unstable mentality was declining fast.
"NO!" she screamed, the sound ripping from a raw, dry throat as they tried to give her an IV. Vegeta was immediately beside her, pushing paramedics out of the way.
"Bulma," he said, grabbing her hand and holding it firmly. Her large blue eyes locked with his, sparkling with tears and fear. "Look at me," he ordered. "Do you remember me?" She nodded and gulped, swallowing a hiccup as the paramedic finally managed to get an IV into her. The doors shut and teh ambulance pulled away, heading for the nearest hospital.
"Vegeta," she whispered, her hand squeezing around his. She was weak, so weak he hardly felt the squeeze, but she was trying so hard to hang on.
"Come on, just stay with me," he begged, kissing her dirty hand. The bones were thin and sharp in contrast to her skin. Once soft and satiny, it was now dry and caked with dirt and blood. "I've missed you so much," he said. "Do you remember the good news you were going to share with me tonight?" He tried to get her to revert back to the time before she had been abducted, hoping it would work for as long as possible.
Bulma's eyes brightened and she smiled, more of a wince than an actual smile, showing teeth that were still straight, but yellowed. A few were broken. "I'm having a baby, love," she said. "We'll name him..." she trailed off, bemusement on her face. "I named him Trunks, but...he was taken from me," she looked up at him, her eyes recognizing him yet far off. "I knew you would come someday," she murmered as the medicince that had been induced through IV started working. "I knew it," she murmered, barely audible, as her breathing evened and her eyes slid closed.
The baby was sweet. So cute, innocence and completely trusting in her arms. A creation made of love. Hers and his. Trunks. Wide, dark eyes looked up at her in the fading sunlight, taking its warmth with as it settled beyond the horizon, taking its duty seriously as it dipped to warm the other half of the world. Such a sweet child, brought into such a horrid place, unable to be properly loved at this time.
Glancing over her shoulder, where the bones protruded in a groutesque way that was unhuman, she cuddled the child closer, wrapping his tiny frame in her shirt. "Watch over him, Lord. Keep him safe when I can't. Amen." Bowing her head, she kissed his soft, scrunched forehead, wondering if his dark hair would soften into her own color as he grew.
A noise behind her made her scurry forward, setting the small bundle in the dark, somewhere were someone would be sure to find him in coming hours. A tear slid down her cheek, falling onto the babys cheek as she drew back, trying to lead her follower away from him.

Vegeta paced outside the closed doors. They had denied everyone access while they tried to stabilize her. Burns sat in a chair next to his wife, Lauren who was soothing him as best she could. Both had silent tears running down their faces. They had been shown a private waiting room, a doctor's office, while Bulma was in the ICU. Chichi and Goku were in the waiting room, since they weren't family.
Books, certificates, pictures, and letters from patients lined the walls. All were framed, as if they all held equal value to the doctor. Vegeta turned away, nausea and exauhstion making his stomach turn. He had been pacing for two hours, wearing a trail in the carpet. His once clean black slacks and white shirt were covered in dirt and sweat. He had been wearing the same thing for close to twenty hours.
The door opened and Vegeta looked up sharply. The doctors face was wrinkled and sweaty, but he smiled in reassurance as he closed the door. "She's sleeping right now. We've had to give her sedatives for the nightmares. She's retaining the liquid the IV has been giving her quite well, and her arm is set, but we still have to start working on getting her to eat. It's gonna take a long time for her to regain her appetite and fill out like she once was. I would advise that she see a psycologist, soon. From what I gather from her mutterings, sexual activity should probably wait for a year or so, if not longer. It's going to take a long time for her to overcome what has happend to her," the doctor said.
"We're going to keep her for a few weeks, until she is healthy enough to leave. I can have a psycologist come in and see her while she is here, if you would like," the doctor offered. Vegeta sneered.
"You want her to see a shrink when she's not even capable of eating or walking to the bathroom by herself?" he demanded.
"Vegeta, calm down. If you can't help her, no one can," Lauren said, her voice trembling with the emotion of her step-daughter being returned to her. She had never been able to have her own children so Bulma was her child.
Vegeta fisted his hands and forced himself to take a deep breath. "When can I see her?"
"You can see her right now, but she's asleep," the doctor said. "Room 32C." Vegeta nodded and surpressed a wry grin. Her room number had been her bra size, two years ago. He heard Burns and Lauren following him as he made his way down the hall to her room. She was still hooked up to an IV, with a monitor keeping count of her heart beats. Her parents stopped outside the door and turned away, deciding to give Vegeta time with his wife.
Her face was translucent, with blue veins visible and bruises splotched across her small jaw and cheeks. The rise and fall of the sheet over her was barely visible. Once wide, sparkling, passionate eyes were sunken in. Her ribs and hip bones were visible from the doorway, poking out of her thin body at the sheet. Vegeta's heart ripped in two a second time. He couldn't bear to see her this way, but it was better than dead. Yes, she needed professional help to overcome all that had happend to her and it would be a long time before she was healthy again, but she would be alive. She would never be the old Bulma, but she would be alive.
A bright pink cast was wrapped around her left wrist and lower arm. Vegeta smiled, she had always liked pink. Pulling up a seat next to her, he held her right hand in his, careful of the fragilness of it. She had been bathed, and all signs of the dirt and blood had been removed. Even her hair cascaded in clean, bouncy lavender curls around her on the pillow. She had always smelled like flowers and spices. She loved cooking. When they'd married, he would come home to a kitchen filled with baked goods and a delicious dinner. Like the angel she was, she would volunteer at the orphanage, the hospital, the church, absolutely anywhere she felt she was needed. Her cookies went to the elderly, the children, and anyone she wanted to give them to.
She had been made to love others. She had been given a gift to heal with her smile and tender caring, and now she would never be able to give that comfort ever again. He knew she would never get over the terror.
Vegeta smiled, remembering the time he'd stolen all her cookies to eat himself. She had turned red and yelled at him until he'd silenced her with a kiss and told her how good her cookies were and how beautiful she was when she was angry. She had stared at him and blushed, walking back into the kitchen to make more cookies. It wasn't the only time she'd been angry at him, either. He had purposely made her angry, nothing big, just small things, but he had loved the fire in her eyes and the passion in the kisses. Sex afterwards had been great, too.
One day he had come home and Boomer had tripped him, making him land face first in cream puffs on the counter. Bulma had run in, took one look, fell into hysteric giggles as she gathered Boomer to her, and watched him storm off to the shower. She had joined him in the shower, still giggling, and had told him that Goku had given Boomer to her for her birthday. Their first month being married, filled with laughter and love.
Then he'd had to go on a mission, leaving her for long lengths of time and returning with blood on his hands and stains upon his soul. She'd always jumped into his arms, kissing him with such passion and love, and raced him home. They would be locked in eachothers arms until his boss called with another assignment.
The night she had been abducted, he'd just been returning from an assignment. The joy in her voice had made him skip going to turn in his report and instead going straight home. He'd never forgotten the deadly silence of the house, the lights on, the furniture moved out of place from a struggle, the dinner on the table with candles and soft love music stopped on the sound system.
He'd thought he'd escaped hell, but until that night he hadn't known what hell was. The guilt, knowing she had been taken by a maniac he had most likely helped put away, had been tremendous, tearing at him until he couldn't be awake without a bottle of whiskey. He had turned into a robot, doing his job without letting his emotions out of the prison he'd sentenced them to. Now they were breaking free.
Bulma's hand gripped his softly, making him raise his head and meet her gaze. Her sapphire eyes were warm and loving, silently thanking him for coming.
"I thought you had all given up. I didn't blame you, I knew they would declare me dead after the first couple days and the shirt I delivered Trunks into wouldn't help. I never once blamed you Vegeta," she said, knowing that he blamed himself. "Never. You were all that kept me going. I love you," she whispered, bringing his hand to her face awkwardly, the needle from the IV biting into her as she bent her arm.
"You need rest," Vegeta said, ashamed to hear the emotion in his voice. She smiled slowly and pressed his fingers to her lips. They were cracked and dry, but still as soft as he remembered.
"I need a cookie," she teased, her stomach growling as she smelt the breakfast trays being delivered to patients. Vegeta stood and walked to the door, stoping the nurse.
"Can she have a cookie? She's wanting one," Vegeta said. The nurse stepped inside the room and looked at Bulma's chart.
"She'd better have some broth and jello before she has a cookie," the round faced nurse said. "I hope thats alright. Would you like broth or soup? What flavor jello?"
"Some potatoe cream soup, and strawberry jello, please," Bulma said, smiling at the nurse. "And when I finish that, I would like a gingersnap, please," she added. "Thank you so much, God Bless you," Bulma said as the nurse left.
"And may He bless you equally sweetie," the nurse said before leaving. Vegeta stared at Bulma, his wife, laying in a hospital bed. She was nearly swallowed by the bed. Was she returning to normal? She had always said that, God Bless you.
"Vegeta, do you still have my Bible?" she asked quietly. She had wondered about him many times over the past two years. Had he remarried? Was he a father now? So many questions.
"Yes," he said, returning to his seat beside her. "I can have your dad come in and I can go get it," he offered.
"My dad is here?" she asked, pleasure making her face glow with beauty. Vegeta nodded. "Oh, and Lauren too?" Again, Vegeta nodded. "Bring them in!" Bulma said, watching him in apprehension. Vegeta smiled, kissed her forehead, and left.
The few moments alone gave Bulma a moment to herself, to think. She kept feeling something nagging her in the back of her mind. Like she'd forgotten something important. She frowned in thought, not noticing right away when Burns and Lauren entered. They came without Vegeta, both pouring tears as they reunited with Bulma.

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