Chapter Two

The next morning after Bulma awoke not feeling quite that rested, she re noticed her bandaged hand and thought back to last night. Taking a hold of her hand in her other, she held her hands to her chest. Not being able to stop, she smile a bit as she thought about how Vegeta if not know to him completely, was very gentle in cleaning and dressing her cut. Maybe there was hope for some decency from the Saiyan after all. If he only smiled a touch more he would be quite handsome but it was that frown he always wore that wreaked it.

Getting up she headed over to her balcony and stood in front of the tinted windows, why wasn't she not the least bit surprised to see Vegeta training in front of her window. Sliding open the glass door she walked out side in her pj's that was just a pair of black gym pants and a pale orange tank top. Her hair was a mess but looked fine for the most part. Sitting into one of the chairs, her chin rested in her hand and she leaned up against the balcony wall.

Watching him move she silently admitted that is was like watching a performance at the theater. He did move with a grace that only years upon years of training could give a fighter. Remembering back to the mornings years ago, Bulma would watch Goku do his own early morning workouts after she finally got up. It felt nice to have a fighter now in her home who did the same. Yamcha never stuck to such ridging training like the others and mostly did his only when he was reminded he needed to shape up.

Part of her was sad that soon she was no longer going to able to watch Vegeta like this, soon as he had the gravity room for his own personal use she knew he would be practically living it. In the short time he also first stayed at her home, she had fallen into a habit of waking up and watching him while they waited for the Namek's Dragonballs to recharge.

The Saiyan's internal clock had him awake at the same time every day, he worked out for the same length and kept to his schedule with an unwavering punctuality. If anything it was good for her and her family, especially her and her father who seemed to live on strange hours that would shift around at any moment. Now she awoke and they all ate their meals together now. In a way he bad brought her family a little closer together unknowingly.

As the sun peaked over the tall oaks and started to pull the darkness back off the grass, Vegeta became bathed in light as he touched down now finished with his warm up. Grabbing a towel off the ground he cleaned off the sweat from his brow and glanced up at Bulma.

He found it strange that she would always come out on to her balcony in her sleep attire and watch him while he was half way through his morning warm up. He couldn't tell any emotion she felt because she always looked so placid watching him. At first it had gotten on his nerves and they had their share of fights already from it but now he couldn't care less if she did so. His ego did get a kick out of the fact each morning, a woman lovely as she would observe him from her higher perch. He wasn't an idiot and to be honest with himself she was very attractive but normally that was wrecked as soon as she opened her mouth or gave him one of her patented sour faces. But even then when she would verbally fight with him and win at times she was beautiful in a whole new way. He would never let her know any of this but he did smile on the inside at the secret knowledge. She for the most part, kept his life some what interesting.

"Morning wench" he yelled up to her as he headed past her towards the kitchen.

With a limp wave she called back down to him, "Morning jerk."

Soon as his back was to her he smirked, it didn't feel like the day could begin with out them insulting one another. Maybe his stay on Earth wouldn't be so bad if they kept this up. He might not even kill everyone after her killed the androids. Nah, they were all dead.

Bulma didn't bother with a shower because she knew she was going to need one after a day of hard work and sweat that waited her today. Already dressed in her work outfit she noticed Vegeta give her a once over as she entered the kitchen.

Grabbing a glass and pouring herself some orange juice she stared at him. "What?"

He sneered at her and swallowed the mouthful of bacon he had been chewing. "I want to see more work done when I come by tonight."

Half tempted to just break the glass in her hand, Bulma turned and gave Vegeta her back as she could feel him smirk at her. 'If only I had the strength' she silently thought. 'If only.'

Turning back around Bulma huffed and finished her orange juice down and grabbed a bagel from his plate. She looked him in the eyes as he grabbed her wrist. "Drop it." he demanded.

Her face relaxed and she smiled widely. "Fine"

The bagel dropped back down on the plate and Vegeta started eating again with both hands. Bulma just smiled as he glared up at, he knew she was up to something. Waiting until he picked up his bowl of miso, soon as the rim touched his lips she grabbed back up the bagel again.

"Yoink!" she yelled and bit into it while running away.

"Woman!" Vegeta yelled as he stood.

Laughing through the bagel Vegeta watched as she vanished off towards the lab. Sitting back down into his chair, he grabbed back up the bowl of miso and swallowed it down quickly before slamming the bowl down. "I'm going to kill that woman."

Walking now down the hallway she had to give her self a pat on the back for a job well done. She had scored a tasty onion bagel and pissed off a Saiyan prince all at the same time. Oh she was going to get such hell from him later but she knew it was well worth it.

It was becoming one of her joys in life to piss off that man. Normally she wouldn't do such a thing to a person but frankly the guy asked for it by the way he treated her. He was in desperate need of some lightening up and she was just the person to bringit, if he liked it or not. She thought about the first time she really truly picked on the man by making him wear a pink shirt with the word 'Badman' on the back. He would kill her if he ever knew where she had bought the shirt but when she saw it in the window of that gay men's shop, she had to buy it. Deep down even though at the time he was somewhere deep in space, she knew as soon as Goku was back he would return as well. It was only a matter of time and shirt stayed clean and pressed in her closet until the Saiyan came back to Earth.

Many hours had passed with Bulma working hard through all of them, she wandered back to the kitchen while holding her hand to her chest. It was really killing her now after all that work. "Maybe I should take it easy for the rest of the day." she mumbled out loud.

Her mood didn't lighten as she spotted the scowling Saiyan prince already eating his share of lunch and looked in need of a cold shower. His skin looked slightly red and sweat still clung to his skin. She smirked slightly and knew the sun was starting to get to him even thought he would never let it on that it was. Pausing she stared at her hand that she cradled and could already feel the disapproving look before he even gave it.

"Woman" he started.

"I know, I know. I'll just take some aspirin and I'll be fine." She spoke while waving him off.

He stood and walked over to her. "Let me see." he demanded but he had let his voice take a slightly softer tone than his normal abrasive one.

She frowned but gave in to him, opening her hand he frowned deeply before snapping his eyes up to her. "What did I tell you last night? You didn't even re-bandage it before started to work, idiot."

Looking away slightly she didn't want to meet his gaze. "I was wearing gloves…"

"Not good enough!" he cut her off and pushed her over to the kitchen table. "Sit!" he commanded.

Doing as what she was told, she took a seat and watched as he found yet again what he used last night and sat down in the chair next to hers. "I wont do this again woman."

Nodding she watched once more as he carefully cleaned the cut that now was scabbed slightly and cake with bits of fabric and dirt. Not saying a word this time she found it funny even if it wasn't true, Vegeta caring for her in some strange and small way. When he was done cleaning her cut he looked it over for any signs of infection. Bulma had to stifle a giggle as his fingers held her hand and opened it more to look closer. Satisfied with what he saw he applied the gauze and started to tape up her hand once more.

When he was done Bulma finally looked up at him. "Thank you."

Frowning a little more he stood, taking the medical supplies with him to put away. "You can thank me by taking care of that until it is healed." Shutting the cabinet he even started to mutter. "Humans, they can't even heal quickly. What a pathetic bunch."

Bulma ignored his tangent and just smiled, her hand feeling slightly better now. When he turned around and saw her smiling softly, he glared at her. "What!?" he barked.

She looked away while still smiling, "Oh nothing."

Wanting to push the subject further but deciding against it, he simply took his leave while grinding his teeth as he could hear her softly giggling. He rolled his eyes before pushing open the door to the backyard. Taking off into the air, he went higher up then normal, cursing out as he started up his training once more.

In was while biting into her sandwich she noticed the phone on the counter had its message light blinking. Picking it up she dialed one and then entered in the password. When a man spoke her name she recognized it right away. "Oh its Yamcha."

"Bulma, you obviously forgot about me last night and I don't care why" he took a pause and sighed. "Look, babe. This isn't working out between us. Your always busy with work and we, we'll we just don't seem to think about one another much any more so…"

Bulma placed her sandwich down on her plate and now held the phone with both her hands as Yamcha finished. "So, I guess I'm trying to say is were done. Done done this time. So I hope we can still be friends but I don't ever see us being anything more. Give me a call if you want to talk but I'll understand if you don't. Bye."

Placing the phone back on its stand, she let her hands slide across the counter top towards her until they were holding her up. As the door from the outside clicked open she turned and stared at Vegeta. Blinking he watched as she realized what she was doing and her fingers rose to touch the tears now falling freely.

"What happened?" he quickly asked while crossing the room towards her.

Holding up a hand she turned around. "Nothing, I'm fine."

Glaring at her back he grabbed her shoulder and spun her around. "Is it your hand?"

Her eyes snapped up to his and she almost laughed at his question. Smiling slightly she wiped a few more of her tears away. "No, it's not my hand. Its my heart."

"Your…" he paused as he understood the meaning behind what she had said. "Oh, that."

Wincing in pain as he belittled her, Bulma's eyes fell to the floor. She took a deep breath in before looking back up at him. "Yes, that. I have to get back to work now, excuse me."

Trying to push her way past, she gasped as his hand caught her arm. "Don't work too hard otherwise your hand will reopen and I already told you, I won't fix it again."

Getting his point she bit back her smile and just nodded before he let her go. Leaving him Bulma only took a glance back to see he had come back in looking for water. Finishing one bottle quickly, he took two more back outside with him. She watched him leave from the hallway doorframe and finally smiled.

Outside Vegeta set down the water bottles next to the towel he kept. Taking a peek up into the sky he raised a hand to block the sun. Already back outside and he could feel his body pumping out sweat to try and cool his skin down. Normally he enjoyed the heat but it was this planet's damn humidity that was draining him. He hated the fact that damn woman was right and called him out on it. If it was any worse tomorrow he half wondered if he should take the day off for fear of dehydration alone. There was no way he could get a good work out if he had to keep stopping to replenish all the water he was losing quickly from sweating so much.

Thinking about loss of water had him pause as his mind drifted back to the moment he just went through. It was strange seeing tears on the woman's face, sure she was a weak human but she hadn't shown weakness like that since he's known her. Sure Bulma got upset but somehow he could never picture her the crying type. He was so sure at first it had to be something physical to cause her to cry, that the damn woman went and hurt her self again. But when she said it was her heart, it took him a moment to understand she was talking about, emotional pain.

As a fighter he knew any kind of emotional pain one could inflict, was far more painful then any physical damage could be. Most fights are truly won purely by psychological means rather than any physical beating. That a cunning strategy was at times the best weapon. Emotions like humiliation and shame would always cut deeper than any wound that could be inflicted to the body. It was why in his own round about way he gave her a nudge of encouragement. There was a part of him that wondered why he did so but knew it was because of her eyes. For just a moment she looked so utterly crushed and broken, a feeling he knew all too well. It was because of that and nothing more he told him self.

Drinking down another bottle he tossed the now empty bottle next to an unopened one. He had enough water now and it was time for him to focus once more on his training. In his mind he pictured Kakarot and took to the sky, acting out a simulated battle in his mind. He wanted to be ready for anything that could be thrown at him.

Before reentering the lab Bulma took a moment to wash her face in a near by bathroom and didn't leave until she was sure she could hold it together. Once satisfied that her eyes and face no longer looked red or puffy she entered back into main area of the lab and was ready to get back to work.

Throwing herself right in, Bulma worked long and hard but took little breaks in between, she was trying to careful with her left hand the best she could. Vegeta was right but she also wasn't going to let it stop her from working either. It was around ten at night she finally looked up at the clock and knew then she had worked right through dinner. Her father had gone off to bed leaving Bulma alone, but she still didn't stop.

Real progress was being made and the surge of creating something new was pumping her blood full of adrenaline. The capsule its self was still half way complete but most of the hardware needed was almost finished being installed under where the floor would be. The shell of the ship was made of really amazing stuff, she was able to replicate from Kami's ship thankfully. The metal under pressure would compact its molecules and become even stronger. So basically the more you pushed on it, the more it could take. With out this material there was no way the gravity room would have been possible. But there was a breaking point to it so she needed a new batch for the floor. The rest of the hull would be able to take it but the floor, which would feel the pull the most out of anything, would crack and break apart any higher than 200 times normal Earth's gravity.

Soon as the floor came in along with a few other components with in the next few days, it would be a snap to finish up the gravity room. Bulma had to admit to her self it was going to be a work of engineering genius and in the end that it would become the Saiyan Prince's plaything. She could almost cry over the matter but she knew what it was destined for from the very beginning so Bulma couldn't complain really. But thanks to her excellent fore sight, she had taken it upon her self to order double the amount of everything, because heaven forbid the man actually was able to blow the damn thing up. Bulma didn't want to have to go through the same trouble if she had to build a new one all over again.

Kneeling down she carefully placed a metal box into its rack and picked up her handheld drill. Tightening the screws she squeezed around the tall rack and started to plug in the thick cables. Once the last one was plugged in she carefully stepped out of the hole she was working in and walked over to the ladder. Looking over the side Bulma could see the large pile she still had to install. Climbing down the ladder to the floor she walked over and started to pile some of hardware on to a cart to push it over to the pod. Once the cart was full she wheeled it up a ramp and on to a small platform where it would be easier to access the equipment.

One by one Bulma pulled down each box and slid it into a rack then screwed it into place. Her arms started to ache as each box weighted a good sixty pounds each. It had to be made out of a heavy-duty material to take the punishment of the increased air pressure that could build up under the floor. While half way through another rack she heard the door open and thought it to be the cleaning woman.

"Still working in here, could you please come and pick up the trash tomorrow." Bulma called out from inside the capsule.

"I'm not here to pick up your trash woman." Vegeta's voice replied back disgust.

Placing down her drill she walked down the thin metal catwalk to the ladder and climbed it again. Her head poked over the edge and stared down at Vegeta who was holding a plate covered in plastic wrap. Tilting her head slightly her brain took in the strange sight. "What's that?"

Vegeta looked down at the plate then back up at her with a sour expression. "Your mother wouldn't let me eat until I promised to bring you this."

She smirked, "That's mom, so what's on the menu?"

Vegeta watched as Bulma carefully swung her legs over the side and climbed down. "Pork chops with some of that white mushy vegetable and the little green orbs."

Walking over Bulma spied happily indeed pork chops along with mashed potato's and peas. "I like how you're learning the names of all the meats first."

Handing over the plate he huffed, "The meats here are actually edible."

Bulma snickered at his comment and took her plate over to the small kitchen table to eat. "Well here's a lesson for you, the white stuff is mashed potato's and the green ones, peas. But by the way you eat, I'm surprised you even taste your food at all."

Taking a seat across from her, he frowned. "I taste all that I eat and most of the time the cooking is barely above disgusting."

Bulma frowned and pointed her fork at him. "Hey, that's my mother's cooking your talking about there. You can insult any one else's but hers."

"Feh." he scoffed and stared over at the pod. "How far are you along?"

Chewing on a piece of pork, Bulma took a moment to savor the rich taste and completely ignored Vegeta. As a moan escaped her lips she now saw he was now staring at her and then her food. "Hey, this is my food. Didn't you get enough at dinner?"

"Why did you just make that noise?" he demanded.

Poking another piece with her fork she smirked. "Because its good, duh."

She popped another piece in her mouth and moaned again, noticing this seemed to disturbed and fascinate Vegeta she smirked even more. "So you didn't stop to taste it, did you?"

Crossing his arms over his chest, he turned his left shoulder towards her. "I did, I just can't understand why you have to moan on like some kind of animal in heat while eating that. It was just ok as far as a commoner's meal goes."

Rolling her eyes she huffed. "Oh don't give me that. Here, you can have a piece and really taste it this time. Its only my mother's famous pineapple sauce."

Holding out her fork for him, Vegeta stared down at it like it was pure poison. She sighed, "Vegeta, I don't have germs or something, just take it you big baby."

"Baby!?" he repeated. Grabbing the fork he was about to bite into the meat when Bulma waved her finger at him, tsking.

"Slowly now, really chew it and taste the flavor this time." Staring at her he took the pork into his mouth and slowly chewed.

Taking back the fork she popped another piece into her own mouth and smiled up at Vegeta. She swallowed when he finally did as well, "So?"

When he looked away and grumbled too low for her to hear she knew she had been right. "One more?" she asked and had his full attention again.

"Fine." he said not giving away any emotion in his tone of voice. This time Bulma leaned over the table and held the fork out for him to bite.

Smiling at his glare, he took the piece into his mouth and tried his best not to blush as he started to feel uncomfortable. A snarky comment was desperately needed to break this strange emotion he was feeling.

"About time you learned your place is to serve me woman. Your useless as woman in really any other way." That should do it.

Her pleasant disposition was gone in an instant. So much for enjoying a quite meal with him and even being a bit civil too, but that was Vegeta for you. Always wreaking a perfectly good moment. "I'll have the hardware all installed tonight except for the control panel which will be in the main room."

Vegeta frowned as she changed back to business and didn't fire back at him, she must be tried. "Good, I'll leave you to your work then."

He knew he had hit a nerve when she didn't say thank you before he left the lab. Quickly he had learned she only did this when she was truly mad, then she wouldn't use any manors. Part of him felt happy he was able to get her that pissed at him, hopefully she would channel that anger into her work. He already felt he had waited long enough for the gravity room to be finished and wouldn't take another delay.

Bulma ate the rest of her meal in silence and rinsed her dish off in the small sink. Biting down on her bottom lip she held back the tears she was still holding on to from earlier in the day. "Jerk." she cursed and then broke the dish in the sink before breaking down and crying. Sliding down to the floor she pulled her knees to her chest and hid her face into them. She didn't cry for long and didn't work any more either. Soon as the tears dried up, she was off to bed to get what little sleep she could.

The next morning Bulma silently mouthed along to a song currently playing a tad too loudly in her headphones. It felt good to push her self on the treadmill she was currently running on. Sweat was streaming down her face but still she pushed harder. All her anger and all her pain focused into a silent rage. Normally when something really bothered her, she worked out. In that aspect Bulma had to admit her and Vegeta had that in common. Speaking of the devil, she watched through the gym's window as he walked pass towards the door that went inside.

'Looks like he's done with his work out already.' she thought silently.

Vegeta caught her gaze and raised a brow as he watched her run all out. Her hair was pulled back into a ponytail that only puffed out into a huge ball behind her head. It bounced and looked pretty strange. Dressed in black shorts and a tank top, it looked rather good on her he silently admitted, it made up for the hairdo.

Bulma watched as Vegeta vanished from view and knew he was off to shower then onto the huge breakfast he required every morning. Rage at what he had said to her last night had her digging down deep and she ran even faster. The pain burning in her legs, she didn't even feel it anymore. Just the rage burning in her heart.

"Useless my ass." She hissed.

After a shower she finally entered the kitchen with her work clothes on and her headphones around her neck. Bulma was going to need loud and upbeat music to keep her going today. Ignoring Vegeta, she grabbed a bottle of water from the fridge and started to leave.

"Is that all your going to have?" Vegeta asked over his shoulder.

Bulma stopped in the doorway and glanced back. "Yes, and why do you care?"

Looking back at her he frowned. "I don't"

Giving a mocking grin that could have been a carbon copy of his own, "Good." she said with dripping distaste and headed for the lab.

Vegeta shook his head and smirked. "Now the day can begin."