Pride & Prejudice D.B.Z
Chapter Ten
Bulma stirred the cup of steaming freshly made coffee lightly so as to keep the bubbly foam consistent before tossing the teaspoon in the sink and sipping it tentatively, feeling revived at the bursting heat.
Coffee was what she was living on these days in order to function correctly and conduct for the three most unimpressed men in her life. Her father with his ecstatic experiments, Yamcha with their romantic relationship and the amazing 'wonder' prince and his disfavoring demands.
The clock struck five and Bulma sighed heavily at the thought on what was coming next.
"Time to check on Vegeta" she mumbled in a depressed way as she lent forward on the counter and grabbed the bottle of pain killer pills, the one that lead to unconsciousness, shaking it out of habit before reading the prescription notice out loud to stall for time.
"Half a pill, children. One pill teenagers. Two pills adults" Bulma read off, still at a loss. "Where's the tiny print on dissatisfied Saiyans, huh? I have to stuff Vegeta with at least seven pills before he stops bad mouthing me and snuffs it!"
Tossing the bottle about from hand to hand, she left the kitchen and strolled out the house steadily, heading for the gravity room where Vegeta was being 'hospitalized' since no one had the inhuman strength to carry him into the house, not that he had let anyone actually try and he was too weak and badly injured to mobilize himself in anyway.
Knocking with grace this time as opposed to earlier that morning, she let herself in, smiling over at the bed ridden Vegeta who looked positively murderous.
"Hey! I have your pills!" she informed him cheerfully, once again shaking the pills to make him aware, which he was instantly as the fear flashed across his face and he pressed himself against the head of his bed, trying to edge as far as was possible from her in distance, though it wasn't going to do him much good..
"I do not need those stupid pills!" he cried as Bulma rolled her eyes and came closer, closing in on her prey like some ruthless predator would, ready to launch, claws at ready.
"Vegeta, without your pills you won't be able to sit at the dinner table Thursday night and it's already Tuesday! How do you expect to get better?"
"Why can't you bring me my food like always?" he argued in a more suggestive tone but Bulma felt no sympathy, her own plans were at stake here.
"Well, Vegeta, number one, I'm not your maid despite you constant fantasies on the prospect. Number two, on Thursday…there's…well…ugh…ugh…"
"Spit it out woman!"
"Oh! You-have-to-be-there-on-Thursday-because-we're-having-a-special-dinner-with-Yamcha-okay?" Bulma blurted uncontrollably, not wanting to witness Vegeta's supposed 'happiness' on dinner with Yamcha.
"WHAT?" Vegeta yelled, sitting up without thinking before gritting his teeth in pain while his eyes remained wide and frozen and Bulma bit her lips as she moved over to his motionless figure, pills in hand at ready.
"Open up" she chided, waving it under his nose as if that would tempt him, which it most definitely didn't as he refused.
"Vegeta, please!" she begged but there was no response of any positive sorts. "Fine!"
With this exclamation she dropped the pills in his lap and exited briskly from the gravity room, not looking back once, she was nerved.
Returning to her coffee a few minutes later she was furious at Vegeta's rejection towards the necessary medications to heal himself. She didn't even feel sorry for him; he was bringing this upon himself she concluded.
Taking a gentle gulp she let the added sugary flavor stick to her tongue just as she was explicitly cursing Vegeta considerably. A half an hour later she had run her tongue dry and left her mind spinning from the vulgar language she had exposed. Feeling she should say it all to Vegeta's face to cheer herself up she gripped her third mug of coffee, she was that sleepy and headed back to the domain of the gravity room, rehearsing her lines.
Just as she paused in front of the door, ready to knock she heard distinct voices from behind the metal formation walls, both equally the same. Curious she pressed her ear against the door, supporting herself with her free hand, still clutching the coffee mug in the other.
She could barely distinguish Vegeta's voice from the two conversing but to her disbelief the other sounded uncannily similar, just a bit gruffer and less sickly than the present Vegeta she had been attending to lately. A conversation was heatedly progressing between them and from the likes of it, it wasn't an enjoyable one, the hatred between the two couldn't have been put amiss.
"What threat is he to me?" she managed to hear Vegeta cough before the other voice spoke up in a threatening start.
"Once again, not physically you fool! To your bloody life!"
Bulma was shocked at this approach, surprised Vegeta was taking it so calmly, half expecting a mauling to start.
"You call me the fool!" Vegeta challenged. "What is it about my life that concerns you might I ask?"
"It's…that woman!"
Bulma's senses shot up keenly, her eyes sparkling mischievously at the supposed prospect of dare she think it, a woman in the Saiyan Prince's life.
"What do you mean…that woman?"
"Do I have to spell it out for you? You know who I'm talking about! She's…your wife!"
"WHAT? You can't be serious!"
"Blame me for a decision YOU will make!"
"I will change this!"
"Try! But believe me when I say you'll fail!"
"You cannot be serious!"
"Don't you find me serious? You'll loose unless you think ahead!"
Silence prevailed and Bulma felt her heart in her throat, eager to hear more yet frightened of who was inside, succeeding in demeaning Vegeta's tough skinned pride.
"What about…you know…him?"
"Him? I've told you what he'll do! Keep him away!"
"Why the hell should I care?'
"Because...I…you…we…love…her!"
"NO! NO! NO! THAT IS WEAK!"
"Well, then you have succumbed to weakness! Do it or you'll regret it!"
Bulma was tensely sweating, ready to launch in to see what on earth was going on behind the door, the oddity of it all. Despite her loathe and hatred towards him she could tell something was deeply wrong.
Hesitating for a while longer she was left unsure of whether the conversation was at an end or still going on, but in hushed voices and at long last she was unable to stand the suspense and with many second thoughts pushed aside she pushed on the latch and the door flew open, revealing the single Vegeta, sitting up in his bed, wide eyed, seemingly flustered, yet thoughtful, staring straight ahead of him at the blank space of air.
"Vegeta" she spoke up weakly. "What's going on?"
"Nothing. What do you want?" he demanded, turning to her in a flash, brought back to his usual self so that Bulma's cheeks flushed as she felt stupidity wash over.
"I want…what I want…"
Bulma struggled with her words unable to form the necessary sentences as she strolled over to his bedside, approaching him when she hit a brain storm.
"What I want is for you to have this!" she exclaimed, falling to her knees beside his bed quickly snatching up the two pills of the counter which she had discarded carelessly in his lap earlier and stuffed them in his unprepared mouth, cupping her palm over it to stop him from spitting the pills out. With no other alternative Vegeta swallowed before trying to force Bulma away but she simply repeated the process, except with five more pills while he attempted to squirm out of her grip, unable to push her off him until he had swallowed and digested the nasty medication completely and thoroughly.
"Woman! Are you dizzy?" he wanted to know when she finally withdrew her hand and wiped it down the side of her jeans, taking in his venomous glare with much appreciation.
"Maybe I am. But that just makes you the bigger baby, afraid of a couple of pills!" she teased, turning to walk out when she asked something that had hit her mind, something she'd have preferred to let slip by but in Vegeta's vulnerable position he might lighten up slightly…
"Vegeta" she began at a loss for the correct words. "When I came in … before … was there someone in-"
"There was nobody" he thundered as she began to walk away backwards in surprise to his considerably suspicious rejection. Nodding in false approval she began to back away, heading for the door, so many wild emotions whipping her, masses of muddled thoughts roaming free in her mind.
'He's in trouble' she concluded thoughtfully. 'He needs help…even if he doesn't know it'
Turning around once more she saw him sink back into his sheets with much effort, then cross his arms over his chest, looking unbelievably worried.
"Vegeta" she sounded off one last time and he responded with a low growl. "You'll fix this" she urged with a brief smile and a nod before quickly leaving, forgetting her coffee in the room.
In a period of ten minutes she had collapsed on the lounge sofa in dead faint…