Over 50 followers!? Thank you all! This fic is fun to write and I'm glad that you are enjoying reading it. Here's the next chapter!

Chapter 10: Delays

As she walked back to her room, Bulma grumbled under her breath. She was understandably pissed at Vegeta for his antics, especially now that she was pretty sure that he broke the gravity simulator. She stepped into her room and plopped down at her desk, deciding it was time to give her dad a call. He always had a way of calming her down.

Bulma turned on her video communicator and within moments was face to face with a tired looking Dr. Briefs.

"Dad! It's good to see you!" She smiled.

Dr. Briefs returned it with one of his own, combing his fingers through his hair. "Bulma, hello dear. You do realize it's midnight here?"

"Oh, sorry. I didn't think about the time difference. I just wanted to check in with you. How's mom and the rest of our house guests?"

"Oh your mom's fine. As cheery as ever." He chuckled. "And thanks to the blueprints you left, we are well on our way to completing a second ship. This one is quite a bit larger than yours."

"Wow, that sounds great! I can't wait to see it. And how are the rest of the Saiyans? Are they causing any trouble?" Bulma smirked.

"Besides the media not being able to keep their noses out of our affairs, I'd say everything is going just fine. I've already contacted Earth's government about the situation and reassured them I have it under control. They agreed it would be best to keep this under wraps, but you know the tabloids, they're always looking for a good story. Nappa is doing a fine job of managing and overseeing them. They mostly keep to themselves you know. Saiyans aren't very social creatures, well except for Goku. That boy is an anomaly."

"You got that right." Bulma agreed. "So we're almost to Namek now, but Vegeta fried the control board for the gravity simulator, so I have to repair it. I'm hoping I can do it with the supplies aboard, but we might have to make a stop some where. I haven't taken a look at it yet."

Dr. Briefs furrowed his brows slightly. "Well, try and stay safe dear. I know you and your adventurous spirit. Don't take any unnecessary risks."

"Don't worry dad. I've got Goku and Piccolo with me. We'll be fine. Well, I better get started on repairs. Talk to you soon!" Bulma waved and blew a kiss before she ended the transmission.

She sighed just thinking about her busy day ahead. Once Bulma had changed into her capsule corp jumpsuit, she grabbed her tool belt and kit and made her way to the training room to inspect the damage done.

A few hours later and several trips to the storage room below deck, Bulma screamed out in frustration. "AAAHHHGGH!" She threw her screw driver down hard, watching as it bounced off the ground before settling a few feet away from her.

She had tried everything she could conceivably do and the panel still wasn't operating. She would need to get several feet of new fiber optic cables and a transistor coil. That means they'd have to stop somewhere, which meant that Vegeta would be pissed. But then again, he has no right to be since he created this mess.

"Hey Bulma!" She heard the voice of her best friend as he entered the room and relaxed just a little. Goku just had that effect on people.

She got up from the ground and turned to face him, wiping the grease on her hands off on her jumpsuit.

"So Turles told me the gravity room's broken?"

"Yes, no thanks to your fearless leader." Her voice thick with sarcasm. "By the way, how's he doing?"

"Oh, he'll be okay. He's got a pretty bad ki burn on his chest and some bruised ribs, but he'll survive. Saiyans heal pretty quickly.

Bulma sighed in relief and nodded. "Good, I'm glad to hear it."

"So, did you fix it?" He asked, nodding his head towards the panel behind her.

"Unfortunately no. several important cables and wires were melted, along with a coil. We need to get replacement parts from somewhere."

Goku's face dropped in disappointment. "Oh, I see."

"Tell the guys to meet me on the bridge in fifteen ok?"

Goku nodded. "Sure thing Bulma!" He waved as he left to begin his task.

Bulma started packing up her tools and left to head to the bridge.

Once everyone assembled she stood from her chair to speak. "So, thanks to your King's outburst earlier today, the gravity simulator is offline. I did my best to repair it but I can't get it functioning with out stopping to get some replacement parts."

"Hmmph." Vegeta sounded, looking away from the heiress. The other three warriors were silent while they took in the news. Piccolo was the first one to speak.

"We have nearly reached our destination. It would be logical to stay on course and continue this mission."

"But that means we wouldn't be able to train under stronger gravity till afterwards." Goku whined in disagreement. "I don't know if I can wait that long."

"How much longer until we get there?" Turles asked.

"A week at most."

Vegeta's eye's narrowed as he let out a heavy sigh. Yes, this current situation was his doing. But he had no other choice. Now it's either no rigorous training for a week, or they delay their trip by who knows how many days to obtain these parts the woman was going on about. For the sake of his people, he had to make the right choice, though it wasn't his first one.

"Fine, we'll wait until we've collected the dragon balls. We can get these parts on our way back." Vegeta snapped.

Bulma watched with her arms crossed over her chest. She would have preferred to get the parts and thought that Vegeta would have wanted the same, she wasn't too sure about waiting. He was already pretty intolerable as it was. How was he going to be when he can't train the way he wants to?

Piccolo nodded in approval of Vegeta's decision while Goku and Turles looked to each other in worry and then back to their King.

"Do you really think that's the best idea?" Turles questioned.

"Are you second guessing my decision?!" Vegeta threatened. "It's not one I made lightly. This break from training could be our downfall should we run into trouble, but we have the last of our people back on Earth that are depending on us to get this done. Am I clear?"

The two other Saiyans nodded apprehensively.

Bulma rolled her eyes. She had a feeling Turles just wanted to rile Vegeta up for what had happened only hours ago. It wasn't smart for him to question his King's decision, then again Vegeta wasn't that smart when he got mad for no reason and attacked his comrade, breaking the gravity simulator in the process.

"Good. Are we done here?" Vegeta looked to Bulma.

"I suppose we are. Thanks everyone."

With that the gang departed from the bridge, all going their separate ways. Bulma heading to her quarters for a much needed shower.

After her relaxing shower, Bulma changed into a pair of black shorts and a teal tanktop. Stepping into her slippers, she left her room and walked towards the common area. She walked through the doors and noticing no one was there, she made some popcorn and picked out a movie.

About a half hour into the film, Vegeta walked into the common area, hoping to get some food and go back to his room. Bulma heard someone rifling through the cupboards and paused her movie, turning around and kneeling on the couch cushions, facing the kitchen.

When she saw it was Vegeta, she mentally rolled her eyes. She did not want to deal with him right now. All she wanted to do was watch the movie and relax. She turned back around to face the tv but didn't turn the movie back on. Bulma was torn up inside. Whenever she was around him, she had this inexplicable urge to talk to him, get close to him, learn more about him. However, the more logical side of her told her otherwise. With his track record of angering her whenever they were in a room together, Bulma wanted to err on the side of caution and just ignore the man, but this urge deep within her was telling her otherwise. She had never felt more compelled to connect with someone than she did with Vegeta. Part of her thought that since they had to work together on this mission that she should at least be cordial to the guy.

Before she could make up her mind on whether or not to say anything to the man, she saw him standing next to the couch out of the corner of her eye.

"Hungry?" She asked, then mentally chided herself for such a stupid question.

"Obviously." Came his reply as he continued to eat his giant bowl of cashews he'd just assembled. He couldn't really explain why he walked over to her, except that she was his mate so he was naturally drawn to the woman. He still hadn't decided what he was going to do in regards to that though.

"What are you staring at?" He asked between bites.

Bulma looked over at him, wondering why he'd asked that since she wasn't looking at him, before it dawned on her that he was referring to the movie. She blushed a little amidst her confusion.

"Oh, it's just a movie I'm watching. I paused it when you came in."

"Is this one of those foolms Kakarot mentioned?"

Bulma tried to hide her laugh at his mispronunciation, but wasn't fairing too well. "Uh, y-yes. It's pronounced film though. Would you like to watch it with me?"

In truth, he had nothing better to do, but he wasn't sure if he wanted to spend his time sitting next to her watching a moving picture on a screen for who knows how long. Especially not while she's wearing so little. It would only be another temptation he wasn't sure he could resist. He was sure however, that she would most certainly deny any advance he were to make at this point in time. Why he was even considering that, he didn't know. He thought he was doing well with convincing himself that he couldn't afford to take a mate, but this urge only got stronger with each passing day.

Bulma was about to ask the question again, but Vegeta walked in front of her and sat down to her left, setting the bowl of cashews in his lap, without a word. He sat ramrod straight with his feet touching the ground.

"Feel free to get comfortable. This is supposed to be relaxing and entertaining you know." She giggled as she started up the movie again.

Vegeta said nothing but slowly moved until his back rested against the cushions of the couch. Bulma smirked knowingly as she watched from the corner of her eye.

As the movie went on, Vegeta would scoff or make some snide remark.

"Why do they call him iron man? He's not made of iron."

"Because he made the suit he wears, and that has iron in it. I think. It's more likely that it's made out of a combination of metals, but hey, it's just a movie so I'm not complaining. Especially when the main character is so dreamy." Bulma sighed

"Tch. Looks like a human weakling to me."

"Hey!" She playfully punched Vegeta's shoulder. "He's actually pretty buff in this movie!"

"That's laughable."

"Whatever, just shut up and watch bud."

Vegeta didn't respond but the corner of his mouth turned up ever so slightly in a smirk. He had forgotten how much he enjoyed the playful banter with the woman.

Half way through, Bulma started to yawn. She hadn't realized she was so tired, but now that she thought about it, she'd been up since 6am and was working a majority of the day. Without thinking, she moved over and leaned her head against Vegeta's shoulder.

He stilled when he felt her against him. He was definitely not expecting that. His gut reaction was to push her off of him. But in that moment, it being just the two of them, alone, he couldn't do it. So instead he let her rest against him. It wasn't long before he heard her breathing slowing down and he realized she had fallen asleep. Vegeta attempted to put his arm around her, but when he moved, she started slipping towards his lap. He quickly switched out his snacks for a throw pillow and eased her down, trying not to wake her, not wanting to see what she was like after being awoken abruptly, since he'd already witnessed her state of being in the mornings.

Lucky for him, she didn't wake and only snuggled into his lap more, making the emotionally handicapped Saiyan even more uncomfortable. He really had no interest in this stupid human movie, but figured he could at least have some alone time for a bit, so he sat there, with Bulma's head just inches from his crotch, the only thing in between being a pillow, and watched the rest of the movie.

As the credits rolled he looked down at the still sleeping woman and thought about the best way to leave without waking her when the ship shook violently causing the room to be illuminated in red, the emergency alarms blaring to life.

Bulma shot up from her position and looked around before she crawled over Vegeta and stumbled to a control panel near the door.

"Woman, what's happening?"

The ship shook violently once more, knocking Bulma off balance. "I'm not sure." She punched some commands into the panel and looked at some data before she gasped.

"Shit." She cursed.

"What is it?!" Vegeta demanded.

Bulma turned to him. "We're flying into an asteroid field." She punched a few more commands in and connected to the comm system. "Everyone find somewhere to sit down and strap in. It's going to be a bumpy ride for a while." She turned back towards Vegeta.

"Come with me." She then ran through the hallway, her bare feet not liking the cold metal beneath them.

Vegeta complied, more out of curiosity then anything. He wasn't one to follow someone else's orders. He soon found himself on the bridge where Bulma sat herself in the chair behind the main control panel and activated the view screen. She began entering in commands while the ship continued to tremble and shake.

"Vegeta, take a seat over there. I'll need your help." Bulma spoke hurriedly.

Vegeta remained standing, despite the rocking and shaking of the ship. Bulma stopped what she was doing and turned her head over her shoulder.

"Look, I know you don't like me ordering you around, but I really need some assistance here. This is a life or death situation! So sit in the damn chair and do as I tell you!" She yelled, fire dancing in her eyes.

Vegeta grumbled but assented, moving to sit in the chair as she asked. He then looked to her and waited for the next command, but it didn't come. She was too preoccupied with her current task.

Not one for being patient, Vegeta had enough of waiting for 'orders.' "Now what." He spat.

Bulma looked up from her controls. "We need to manually steer the ship out of the asteroid field without being destroyed. You see that screen in front of you? It's our auxiliary navigation station. I need you to scan this sector of space and determine how big the asteroid field is and it's shape. I'm going to pilot us out of here. On the touch screen there, just hit the "map area" button and then hit "include celestial objects."

Vegeta eyed the screen before him, quickly finding what Bulma had just mentioned. In no time he was looking at a grid of the entire asteroid field. The measurements on the side saying it was thousands of kilometers in all directions. He noticed a blue dot amidst the asteroids that was traveling through the middle.

"Did you figure it out?" Bulma asked as she made another course adjustment, causing the ship to tilt severely to the right.

Vegeta snapped his head over to the woman and glared at her before nodding quickly.

"Good. Now tell me what direction I need to go in to get out of here."

"Turn 45 degrees to your left."

"Got it." Bulma adjusted the ships course, but couldn't avoid scraping against one of the giant space rocks.

The ship shuddered and screeched, then a computerized voice could be heard.

"WARNING HULL BREACH...WARNING HULL BREACH..."

"Damn it woman, watch where you're going, you're going to get us killed!" Vegeta shouted over the commotion.

"Don't you think I know that?!" She yelled back. She adjusted course once more to avoid another rock before she opened up the comm line. "Piccolo! You read me?!"

a few seconds went by before she got a response.

"Yes, I'm assuming this is about the hull breach?" He spoke harshly.

"Yea, I need you three to get up here immediately. It looks like the breach is on the underside of the ship. I'm going to block off the area but I want to make sure you three aren't down there."

"Got it. We'll be up soon."

Bulma then went back to her controls and initiated a lock down of the damaged area, resulting in the warnings ceasing. She took a second to take a deep breath before she was once again at the helm.

"How much farther till we're out?"

Vegeta looked at the screen in front of him. "2,000 kilometers. straight ahead now."

"Ok, you can do this Bulma Briefs." She pep talked herself.

If this were any other situation Vegeta would have had a decent chuckle at her expense, but now was not the time to lose focus. Just then the door to the bridge opened and the three warriors rushed in, all taking a seat where they could.

"What the hell is happening!" Turles demanded as he strapped himself in.

"Have a look for yourself!" Vegeta snapped back.

The three looked at the viewing screen.

"Kami." Piccolo whispered.

"Shit, this doesn't look good." Turles muttered.

"Wow." Goku said breathlessly.

Meanwhile Bulma and Vegeta worked seamlessly as a team. He would give her a heads up on the rocks that weren't yet in her field of vision and Bulma almost effortlessly maneuvered around them.

"Asteroid up ahead, 10 meters wide." Vegeta announced. Bulma nodded, preparing for it to show itself. As it appeared in front of them, so did two smaller ones on either side of it. Bulma had to make a decision on which way to go, and fast.

As they neared the three rocks, the whole bridge was silent. That was until she was just feet away from it.

Turles was the first one to voice his concern. "Fuuuucccckkk!"

Vegeta cringed, expecting his death to come quickly, then he felt a jolt upward and opened his eyes. Bulma's knuckles were white as she held onto the controls, gritting her teeth in concentration. He watched her as she brought them up and over the giant space rock, holding his breath the entire time.

Once they cleared it, the rest of the asteroid debris was minor and wouldn't cause any serious damage to the hull. They had made it through intact. Vegeta let out the breath he was holding.

"Damn, that was some fine flying blue." Turles exhaled.

"Yea, that was awesome Bulma!" Goku cheered.

Bulma slowly removed her hands from the controls and took a few deep breaths to calm herself. She looked towards Vegeta and smiled softly while sighing in relief. He nodded his appreciation, but remained silent.

Bulma then stood and faced her comrades.

"Okay, so now we'll definitely have to stop somewhere for repairs. Who knows what kind of damage we've sustained. Turles, you said you're familiar with some outposts around here?"

"Yes, there aren't many and we might have to take quite a detour but there are a few that might have what we need."

"Good, why don't you and Vegeta figure out which one to go to." Bulma took the reigns once more. Turles nodded and walked over to Vegeta and the two began looking over the navigation screen.

Bulma walked over to Piccolo now. "I'm curious, how did we not know about this asteroid field? I thought we plotted our course pretty well. How could we miss something as big as that?"

Piccolo furrowed his brows in thought. He was just as perplexed. when Kami had told him of the planet's location he didn't mention anything about an asteroid field.

"I don't know Bulma. But I'm sure we're still on track. I'll check on our flight trajectory."

Bulma nodded. She knew Piccolo didn't make crucial errors like this. It must have just been missed or forgotten somehow. It didn't really matter now anyway, they were safe, the hull breach was contained and they could head to an outpost for repairs and parts. It would delay their journey but it was most definitely worth it.

A little while and plenty of shouting and arguing later, Vegeta and Turles gave everyone an update of their findings.

"There's a PTO base not far from here. It's a two day detour." Turles spoke.

"What's a PTO base?" Bulma wondered.

"It stands for the Planet Trade Organization. It's Frieza's 'business', if you can call it that. He wipes out entire species and then sells their planets to the highest bidder. He controls most of this part of the galaxy and has bases everywhere. This one isn't very big, so we hopefully won't get anyone's attention."

"I don't think that's the wisest course of action." Vegeta spoke up. "It doesn't matter if it's a small or large PTO base. The fact is, Frieza's men are stationed there. No doubt news of our planet's demise at Frieza's hands have reached this far. It will be very suspicious that three saiyans, a namekian and an earthling female are just out and about looking for parts."

"However, it looks like we don't have much of a choice, now do we?" Piccolo added. "If we go in disguise or if just Bulma and I go, we may have a chance at not attracting the wrong kind of attention. I think the issue would be if anyone saw Saiyans on the base. Am I wrong?"

"No, you're not. That could actually work." Turles thought it over.

Vegeta was none too pleased with the plan. He didn't like the idea of going to any PTO base, let alone having Bulma go with just the Namekian. He would only be okay with it if he could accompany her, but then that could jeopardize their objective. Vegeta had no problem with taking out a few PTO soldiers here and there, but a whole base? That could be tricky with just four of them.

"What do you think Vegeta?" Goku asked "This could be our only shot at getting the ship fixed."

The King frowned before speaking. "I'm well aware of our situation Kakarott. I'm not happy about this in the least, but it seems I'm in the minority. I'll ok this little trip if I can go with the woman and Namekian.

Turles' eyes got wide at hearing the demand. "But, out of all of us, you'd be the most recognizable! How do you plan on staying hidden?"

"Leave that to me." Bulma smirked. "I have an idea."

The four men looked towards her with confusion and curiosity.

"And just what is your plan?" Vegeta asked demandingly.

"You'll see." Bulma winked. "Okay, now that that's settled, let's get the coordinates set and get our ship fixed!" She fist pumped the air in determination.

The rest of them just looked at her like she had just sprouted a second head. Bulma noticed the silence and just giggled. "Come on you guys, I'm just trying to pump us up. You know, team spirit and all?"

They continued to just stare at her.

"Fine, have it your way lame-o's. Just set the coordinates ok?" With that she waved to them all and left the room.

"Blue is one strange woman, isn't she?" Turles commented.

"Nah, Bulma's just trying to stay positive is all. She's always like this. She comes up with a plan, has some great ideas, and always finds a way out of sticky situations. It's been like this since we were kids." Goku said.

Vegeta stared at the door that she just left out of. He was experiencing a new feeling towards the female, but he couldn't place it. He just witnessed her saving their asses without using an ounce of ki. He was impressed, but there was something else. She's resourceful, quick thinking and calm and collected under pressure. Just like any of his elites would be. He admired those qualities about her and her execution of them. Vegeta then realized what this feeling was. He was proud of her.