Disclaimer: A reminder that dialogue marked ** is from the funimation dub version of DBZ and not written by me and belongs to them. However all other content, plot and dialogue is my intellectual property and cannot be reproduced without my permission - thanks!

Chapter Thirteen

Vegeta opened his eyes and tried to sit up suddenly from the dream. An oxygen mask fell from his face. He ached all over and the memory of the previous day came back to him all at once. The training bots, the gravity machine, the ear splitting crack followed by the thundering explosion and the rubble, he'd blown the gravitron up!

He turned his head to the side to get his bearings. Vegeta noticed that he seemed to be in a different room, perhaps a downstairs room. Bulma's head was on the desk beside the bed and she appeared to be asleep.

**What is she doing here?** he thought. He tried to get up, he groaned in pain. He was just barely able to lift his head. Bulma stirred, she must have heard me, he thought, he wasn't sure why but he shut his eyes and pretended to be asleep.

Bulma lifted her head from the desk and rubbed her arm sleepily. She woke with the instant remembrance that something awful had happened. Vegeta's groaning had woken her. She got up from the desk and went over to him. "Poor Vegeta, he must be in pain." She put her hand on his forehead.

Vegeta flinched momentarily and Bulma thought that perhaps her hands were cold.

"His fevers gone down," she said to herself, "that's a relief." She stared at the Saiyan Prince and looked at the wrinkles between his eyes, his face was frowning. Her hand reached out in reflex to stroke the creases away.

"Bulma?" Yamcha called from somewhere nearby.

Bulma jumped and her hand recoiled instantaneously from its near touch of Vegeta's brow.

The door opened. "Oh you're in here." Yamcha said loudly. "You look awful."

"SSShhh!" Bulma indicated Vegeta. "And what do you mean I look awful. You'd look awful too if you slept on a desk all night."

"You slept here all night?" Yamcha's mouth opened.

"Shh, Keep your voice down Vegeta is trying to sleep."

Vegeta resisted the urge to retort with a witticism, he didn't want to alert them to the fact that he was awake, instead he found himself coughing quite involuntarily.

Bulma raced over to the bed, "Look what you've done Yamcha! Honestly you have no consideration for other people at all."

Yamcha watched her delicately place the oxygen mask back on Vegeta, she lowered his head back to the pillow with evident care. Yamcha's eyes widened slightly as he watched her and felt, not for the first time, troubled by Bulma's actions.

"I don't think you woke him." She said relieved.

Yamcha said nothing and waited until Bulma finished fussing but soon he noticed she was just standing still looking at Vegeta. It almost seemed as if she had forgotten he was there. Her hand was raised to her mouth and she looked concerned.

"How is he?" Yamcha asked.

"Huh?" Bulma's voice was low and distant, she turned, her eyes gradually coming back to focus on him. "Sorry Yamcha, I forgot you were there."

Yamcha was dumbfounded.

Bulma did not notice, "what did you say?"

"I said how is he?" Yamcha raised his voice to be clear.

This time she didn't even shush him. "Dad says he should be okay . . ." her voice trailed. She returned to her morose staring at Vegeta.

"Listen Bulma, can we talk to outside?"

"Outside? I don't know Yamcha. I'm not sure I should leave-" Bulma hesitated and she had not taken her eyes from Vegeta's prone form.

"It's important." Yamcha insisted taking her hand firmly.

"Well . . . just for a moment." Bulma agreed.

Bulma and Yamcha left the room.

x x x

Vegeta breathed deeply. He almost thought he'd given himself away. It was a close enough call when the woman had touched him to check for a fever. He certainly hadn't been expecting her touch, he'd almost opened his eyes in surprise and was still not sure why it particularly mattered if he had. Vegeta absent-mindedly wiped his own hand over his forehead where her touch had been. Then he was sure when he started coughing that he would be given away but finally now they were gone.

Vegeta lifted his head just a little and listened to make sure that he was definitely alone. He lay his head back down again, amazed at the amount of effort it had taken for such a simple movement. He gathered his strength in determination to sit up. His headed lifted once more. That's it. I can do this, he thought. He pressed his hands against the mattress but his arms had no strength at all. Blast! He breathed hard as his head fell back against the pillow. Perhaps another strategy might work, if he rolled himself out of the bed then he would be able to get his feet on the floor. He just had to wait a few more moments for enough energy.

x x x

Yamcha and Bulma moved outside into the grounds of Capsule Corp.

"Okay Yamcha, what's up? Make it quick though – I don't think Vegeta should be left on his own. I wonder if I should have propped him up more? He was coughing." She was turning back looking towards the room where Vegeta was recuperating.

"Bulma!" Yamcha interjected. "Do you know what you're doing?"

"Wha? What I am doing? What do you mean Yamcha?" Her voice was bewildered.

"Listen to yourself Bulma, this is Vegeta we're talking about it. You're being way too concerned about him. The way you're acting it's like . . ." Yamcha fell silent.

"Like?" Bulma blinked.

Yamcha wasn't sure he wanted to say. "Well like yesterday. Yesterday you pushed me out of the way to get to Vegeta."

"Were you there when he was injured?" Bulma asked distractedly.

"Yes, I was there!" Yamcha cried astounded, "I carried him inside."

"Oh yes, I forgot." Bulma nodded giving him her attention for a moment.

"That's what I mean. It's like I don't even exist when Vegeta's around."

"Of course you exist. That's just silly." Bulma dismissed all the while glancing back at the house.

"If you say so I believe it." Yamcha wasn't sure why he persisted but he couldn't help adding, "so this whole bedside vigil for Vegeta is just pity?"

Bulma was offended by the word and was even more certain the Vegeta would not approve of any pity coming his way. "Not pity, it's just that Vegeta hasn't got anybody and he needs someone."

"Does that someone have to be you?" Yamcha said grumpily folding his arms.

"Well," Bulma's smiled dissolved as she thought about the answer. Bulma's hands went sliding down her cheeks then together as she began wringing them. "No. I mean no. Oh, no, no, no." She looked up aghast into Yamcha's face. "Yes?"

"Don't say it Bulma." Yamcha pleaded. "I know what you're thinking, just don't say it."

Say it? Bulma wasn't sure she even wanted to think it but it came tumbling out none the less. "I think I'm in love with Vegeta."

Yamcha slumped. "You mean it's true? I was right?"

"Oh this is awful. Awful!" Bulma put her hands to her face again.

"You can say that again," Yamcha griped.

"Oh Yamcha, I'm so sorry." She turned her attention back to Yamcha. "How did you know?"

"I didn't." Yamcha said gloomily. "I didn't want to know. I still don't."

"But you have to," Bulma said sombrely.

"Maybe you're wrong, Bulma about your feelings maybe –"

"I'm not wrong. Yamcha," Bulma shook her head.

Yamcha looked dour. "I blame those androids and that kid from the future, if we didn't know about them, none of this would have happened."

Bulma didn't know if that were true. She and Yamcha had grown up and apart, changed as people and if not for the androids they would have seen it sooner or later and possibly broken up in a far more destructive manner. "Maybe." She conceded aloud, "but it's given us a chance. A chance to prepare, a chance for hope."

"I suppose."

The silence lengthened between them.

"Yamcha you are a great guy, the best." Bulma said honestly.

Yamcha just shrugged.

"Oh come on, you know you are. Sure, I know you've got girls throwing themselves at you, when I'm not around. They'd be crazy not to." Bulma tried to cheer him up.

Yamcha supposed she was right and there was that girl at the gym with the brown hair and the big . . .

"Earth to Yamcha," Bulma was already standing up hands on her hips. "You're not already thinking about your next date are you?"

Yamcha stood up and put his hand behind his head, "Of course not." He laughed nervously. "I better get going." He walked towards his speeder before turning towards her. "But just promise me you'll be careful Bulma."

"There's nothing to be careful about," Bulma said. After all it wasn't as if she planned on telling Vegeta she was inlove with him or as if Vegeta had any feelings for her and that was what made the whole thing so awful.

"It didn't look that way yesterday, not for either of you." Yamcha said pointedly. "Goodbye Bulma."

"Well, don't be a stranger." Bulma said as she hugged him goodbye.

Yamcha smiled thinly as he drove off.

Bulma watched him go before turning to the house. Her thoughts centred on the strange twists of life and Yamcha's comments about the androids. She wondered about how knowledge of the androids had factored into her break up with Yamcha, how it might be at play in her feelings for Vegeta. Certainly it had affected Vegeta's plans. That got her thinking about the timeline, she wondered how much more of it had been affected? How much of the future near and far?

x x x

With Yamcha gone, Bulma walked down the hall returning to the room where Vegeta was.

She stood at the door hesitating. Now that she had come to the full realisation that she had fallen for Vegeta she wasn't sure she would be able to interact with him without giving herself away. She felt hopeless. She was in a ridiculous situation, she'd given up the only boyfriend she had ever had for what? A man, who didn't care enough about himself sometimes, let alone others but Yamcha had seemed to disagree.

"It didn't look that way yesterday." Yamcha's voice came to her memory.

What did he mean yesterday? When Vegeta had his accident? She thought back.

**But I feel fine. I can take a little pain. I'm a Saiyan.** Vegeta's voice echoed in her mind as she relived those horrible moments. There was something about the words Vegeta used, something in his tone, the way he let her hold him. Was Yamcha right?

Bulma wondered if she was seeing what she wanted to see. She started to try to imagine how Vegeta might react to the knowledge of her feelings and failed. Also she had an overpowering fear that if she ever managed to look Vegeta in the eyes he would know everything. Her hand retracted from the door handle and faltered there. Suddenly she heard a thud from inside, a loud clattering followed and then moaning. There was no time to be indecisive. She opened the door and immediately saw Vegeta face down on the floor, oxygen canisters beside him. Bulma rushed over to him, much like she had when the accident first occurred and knelt beside him.

"Vegeta! Why aren't you in bed?" She rolled him over.

"The bed was too soft." He tried to laugh but instead grimaced in pain.

"I see your sense of humour isn't damaged; too bad about the rest of you. Just look at you!" she scolded. "Only a Saiyan would try to get out of bed the second he woke up after an accident like that."

Actually, Vegeta thought, he had spent the better part of ten minutes trying to summon enough energy to get up before he finally just rolled over and out.

With difficulty and little help from Vegeta Bulma managed to get the Saiyan back onto the bed. "Do you know not one component so far of the gravitron has been intact or identifiable?" She continued talking as she helped him. "Dad said it was a miracle that you survived. Honestly, you've got to take better care -" Bulma could feel tears and turned away from Vegeta towards the desk. She fussed with the water pitcher there. She hardened her feelings with anger, a tool she had learnt long ago to stem tears.

She turned back to him fiercely. "I for one have got better things to do than play nursemaid to you, so the sooner you lie down and rest the sooner you'll heal! Sooo . . . this time stay in bed and recover!" She stormed towards the door, opened it and paused. Her voice softened but she didn't look back, "for all our sakes." She closed the door quietly behind her and wiped a single tear hastily away.

"Strange earth woman!" muttered Vegeta.

x x x

Authors Narration - Vegeta may have blown up the gravitron but it was Bulma who was hit with the even bigger bombshell in discovering that she has feelings for Vegeta. Vegeta might be able to make a full recovery from his injuries but would he ever be able to recover from the truth that Bulma is inlove with him? And what about the timeline – how much has Trunks prediction changed the course of our heroes? Find out today in Dragonball B V.