Something stirred Bulma from her doze. For a while she lay still, torn between her curiosity and her deep feeling of relaxation and comfort. Curiosity came out on top though, with the added nudge of the thought that survival was not a hundred percent assured on this ship.

She opened her eyes to see what had woken her to find more light that usual in the lounge. It wasn't the overhead light or the hologram; it was pink and shifting softly across the ceiling. It was enough to see Vegeta's face clearly as he lay next to her, and the fact that he wasn't asleep either, but looking at her.

'What's going on?' she whispered.

'Come with me,' he replied. 'Don't wake the others.'

He stood and pulled her after him by her hand, leading her up the steps to the window next to the dining table. Outside the window were not only stars, but colourful streaks and twists of misty nebulae, lit from within by infant stars. At least she thought there were nebulae – if they were, they shouldn't be moving like they did; languid arms and sheets of colour unwinding lazily as she watched. This was where the extra light was coming from, in soft hues of orange and purple and pink. What astronomer on Earth would believe her if she told them what she'd seen? It was beautiful and impossible.

Vegeta dropped her hand, and she hadn't noticed until then that he still held it, nor how warm and nice it had felt while he did. He reached for something she hadn't noticed before – a clamp for holding the window closed.

'What are you doing?' she asked, alarmed. 'Don't open it - we'll all be sucked into space!'

'Not here, we won't.' he replied calmly. For a second she was almost lulled by the deep, rumbling tone, but then her rational brain piped up.

'Yes, we will! What part of outer space has a breathable atmosphere?'

'You still don't trust me after all we've been through?'

She looked him in the eye and saw the gleam of humour lurking there - a smirk bordering on a smile. The expression sent a flutter of emotion to her belly.

'No,' she told him.

He took a step closer to her, his hand still on the window latch. 'Even though you want to?'

She grabbed his arm to stop him, knowing she had no hope of winning against his strength, but even so, she seemed weak and unable to control her hands. She tried to yell at him to stop, but her voice lodged in her throat, unable to make a sound before the seal on the window cracked open and…

Nothing happened. A warm breeze touched her face. Vegeta had been right - there was no greedy vacuum of intense cold outside. Her fear hadn't even had time to fully form before it turned into astonishment.

Vegeta pulled away from her and stepped off into the void, drifting slowly away from the ship and turned back to face the window.

'Are you coming?' he asked.

Bulma stared out at him hanging in space. It was impossible! There was no way an atmosphere could exist in space – the only thing that would hold together an atmosphere dense enough to breathe was a strong gravitation field, such as from a planet, and there appeared to be no gravity in effect on Vegeta. In fact she could feel the lack of gravity in front of her, or at least that's what she supposed it was; a weightless stirring in her belly and breasts, and her knees weak with the desire to jump after him. Something was going on that she didn't understand, but she didn't want to miss out on this experience, no matter what it was.

She judged the gap between them, and looked up at his face. Would he keep her from coming to harm? He was silhouetted by the enormous glowing clouds behind him, his face almost dark, but his eyes shone, intent on her.

'Come with me,' he said, and then that familiar longing descended on her heart. Her phantom. Vegeta was her phantom – it was obvious to her now. She had to go with him, or her heart would break from missing him.

She jumped out into weightlessness and squealed at the sensation. The warm air wrapped around her body, making her feel like she was held in the gentle hands of an invisible god at the same time as she was suspended by nothing, above nothing. Vegeta moved away from her, and Bulma panicked, attempting to follow him by clumsily swimming in the ether.

'Wait!' she cried and he laughed softly at her fear and helplessness. 'Vegeta! Help me!'

He reached down towards her and she seized his hands and then his shoulders as he pulled her gently to him, anchoring herself to him to stop from drifting off into space forever. He was still laughing; the low rumble of it as warm as his hands around her waist.

And then they were slowly revolving together in the emptiness.

Bulma was dizzied and calmed and awed by the spectacle that spun around them. 'This is amazing,' she said. 'It's so beautiful!'

'Yes,' he said simply, and the sound of his voice dragged her attention back to his face. His eyes, normally so sharp, were soft in the diffused light of the baby stars, and bottomless, like windows into the mirror of her galaxy. His smile was so playful and so promising she felt herself melting in his hands. It was hard to imagine he was ever hard and brutal to see him like this. Why couldn't he be like this all the time? She could trust this man. She could love him even.

Almost inevitably their lips were drawn together, and he pulled her tight against him. Her heart took a leap into weightlessness too; jettisoned into a realm with no boundary and no up or down. He kissed her slowly, and without hesitation she kissed him back, their mouths opening at the same time so that their tongues met and the floodgates of Bulma's desire opened.

How had it taken her so long to see how wonderful he was? She was disintegrating from the point where their mouths met, her chest so tight with joy she felt she could barely breathe with how much she wanted him.

This is wrong! said the last fragment of her brain not awash in pleasure. I know there's a reason I shouldn't let this happen!

It was wrong and it was right. He was her phantom and he was a fiend. But his mouth was giving, and his breath was warm against her cheek – he was a flesh and blood monster, and she moaned in pleasure and confusion and he pulled her flush against his body. She buried a hand in the hair at the back of his head, and with the other she timidly traced down over the hard muscles of his chest and belly – he felt like everything she'd imagined. He kissed her deeper in response, then abandoned her mouth to kiss her ear and then her neck, the feeling sending new rivulets of thrilling heat through her.

'Bulma,' he spoke, the burr of lust in his voice dragging like rough silk across her naked want. His hands slid over her, down her back, over her buttocks and down her thighs to pull them up and wrap her legs around his hips. She jerked with surprise as his hardness pressed against her flesh that was so ready to cleave…

'Mmmm!' she moaned, inadvertently waking herself up. Desperately she tried to hold onto the ends of the dream to keep the feeling alive and imagine what happened next, and ran a hand down into her panties to satisfy the need that had been building. Ah, Vegeta…

Then she froze, remembering where she was. She opened her eyes and looked one way, and none of the younger boys nor Raditz seemed to be awake. Then, much slower, lest she wake him, she turned the other way to make sure Vegeta was asleep.

He wasn't even there.

Frowning, she quietly sat up at looked around, and her heart began to beat double time when she saw him standing at the same window as he had in her dream. There was no clamp on the window, and there were no pretty nebulae outside. No soft, warm light. Only the cold, faint light of distant stars.

She still sat for long moments blinking sleep from her eyes, trying to tease the dream from reality and feeling cheated to find the two weren't the same. She stared at his back, daring herself to go over to him and turn the reality into the dream. It hadn't even been the real Vegeta in her dream, but she wanted it to be true so bad at that moment that she didn't care.

Vegeta's heart sank as he heard her get up out of the den of furs and blankets and pad softly up the steps towards him.

He'd lain sleepless for a long time, tormented by the conversation he'd had with Nappa and Raditz on the flight deck earlier, becoming more and more uneasy and twisted up over the girl who slept next to him. He had started to think she was attracted to him, and he was enraged to think that it might be an act. He wanted to follow Nappa's suggestion, and yet he could not face making a fool of himself, nor the sordidness of engaging on such a dishonest footing even though she might be a liar herself.

When she stopped at his shoulder her scent enveloped him in carnal fugginess and arousal intruded over his thoughts with the subtlety of a hand down the front of his pants. This was the dark side of her scent, gone deep and thick with stirred appetite. He recognised it from that night in the apartment, and his body responded the same way - with want.

He pressed his forehead hard against the top edge of the window in frustration, on the edge of telling her to go away. He was a creature of reason, not instinct, and he did not like to be so provoked by hot and dubious biological urges.

Is she doing this on purpose? The thought suddenly came to him. Is this an act of cold seduction? What if it's really someone else she wants? The "boyfriend"? Or maybe she really does want Brolly? She was the most upset when we thought we'd have to kill him. That thought was accompanied by a stab of pain, but he immediately pushed it aside. Impossible, he told himself, trying to suppress that particular bitterness.

'Vegeta?' she whispered. 'What are you doing?'

'Thinking.'

'About what?'

'My thoughts are my own, and not for sharing.' He forgot himself and glanced at her, then immediately wished he hadn't. Her face was all soft curves and a shining moistness of eye and lips. It made him want to smoosh himself against it. Ugh! Stupid girl! Why the Hell did Raditz and Nappa think having such a creature around was a good idea? This was more torturous than pleasurable.

Her expression widened into a devious grin. 'Well, I guess that's all right, because I wouldn't want to share my thoughts right now either.'

'Why not? What are they?' he demanded, desperate for a window into her mind.

'I just told you, I'm not telling! Unless you tell me yours first, maybe?'

'No!'

She pouted. 'Wow, bite my head off, why don't you? So, are you going to stand here all night, or are you going to come back to bed?'

'What does it matter-' He cut himself short as he registered the fact that she was requesting him back next to her as she slept, and his eyes roamed her face looking for clues as to why. She was watching him intently in return. He couldn't go back to being nestled a few inches of her right now – he thought he would go crazy with the effort of denying himself – which seemed to be exactly what she wanted.

'Why?'

She shrugged and put her hands on her hips. 'Maybe I just don't want you waking me again once I've fallen back asleep? Who do you think woke me when they got up, huh?'

'I didn't wake you.'

'Oh, yeah? How do you know?'

'I know.' He had left her side as she became restless in her sleep, and she still twitched and breathed like a dreamer when he'd crept away. He saw an opportunity to get at her. 'You drool in your sleep!'

'I do not!' she said, and then wiped at her chin with the back of her hand to check. 'Liar!'

He smiled at having razzed her; he couldn't help but fall back into the familiarity he'd started to become accustomed to with her. 'You do sometimes, maybe not tonight.'

She tried to look offended even though she was smiling. Whether it was an act or not, something about her gladdened him.

'Well, Prince Charming, if you won't come now, you'd better not wake me when you do decide come back to bed.'

'Why would that bother me at all?'

'Oh, yeah! Of course it wouldn't – I forgot that you're completely inconsiderate,' she said, and made to back up her words with a playful poke at his chest, which Vegeta caught before it even made contact. He enjoyed the look of mild panic that passed over her features when he didn't let it go. He supposed that he might be holding a little too hard for her liking, though she was still smiling.

'Impertinent female,' he admonished quietly, and then he breathed in, and the thick, musky scent on her hand was drawn right into his chest, hitting him hard and pushing out any other words or thoughts other than utter perversion – to lift her nightdress or suck her fingers or somehow devour her. He froze in place while the blood thundered to his loins, and her pretend scowl faded into puzzlement.

'Vegeta?' she asked. 'What's wrong?'

He pushed her away, and her puzzlement turned to hurt.

'What was that about?' she asked.

Vegeta found his voice again. 'Don't touch me,' he said, turning back to the window to get his eyes off her.

'What? Why not?' she whispered back urgently. 'I only poked you! I barely touched you, really! It's not like I could even hurt you if I tried!' She stepped right up the window frame too, trying to see his face. Vegeta staggered away, giving her his back. She seemed to be doing this on purpose! He was so stiff in his underwear he felt there was no way she couldn't have noticed. He felt humiliated by his lack of control over his own body.

'Keep away from me,' he said and then looked at their pile of bedclothes over his shoulder, realising that he couldn't go back there.

For a few long moments they said nothing, and in the silence he could hear her take a ragged couple of breaths. Then, sounding miserable, she spoke.

'Well, I'm going back to bed at least.' She took her spot next to Kakarott. 'I guess staying away from me isn't going to work if you want to sleep tonight, because I'll be right here.'

Vegeta darted down the steps, bundled his fur and blanket against his front and then walked away, heading up the steep, curved stairs to the flight deck. For good measure he closed the narrow door at the top. He heard one last word before it closed, whispered vehemently into the darkness.

'Fuck!'

They landed on a large planet around midday on their ship's time. The gravity there was about one and a half times Earth's.

'I'm surprised I can stand up,' commented Bulma as Tarble piloted the ship in to land.

Raditz grinned at her over his shoulder from the other pilot's seat. 'We've been edging the gravity up ever since we left Earth,' he said. 'Done it so slowly you guys didn't even notice.'

Still, she did feel a lot heavier here, and it was uncomfortable, like trying to walk around in a very fast elevator. She glanced over at Vegeta. Urgh, everything is uncomfortable! She didn't know how everything had gone so wrong last night, but it had, and now she felt like a fool. She was bloody pining. For Vegeta! She rolled her eyes.

They had landed on a rocky plain with nothing but short, tiny-leaved plants and colourful lichens growing on it. When they opened the door it was cold and windy, and Bulma hurried back inside for more layers of clothes to wear while the boys unhooked the water and power from the regen tank and manhandled it out of the door. Bulma joined them reluctantly, shivering, and not just from the cold. The older Saiyans had been in agreement; Bulma should be the one to get the jewels on Brolly. Goku, Krillin and Tarble had been placated by the assurance that they would be just out of sight to help her if needed.

Now she stood in front of the tank under the cold sun of this nameless planet, looking at the still figure within. He looked skinny. In the seventeen days he'd been in the tank his cheeks had hollowed, the ribs begun to show through the muscle that had covered them, his hips start to jut and his legs look longer and thinner. They had topped up the nutrient canisters so many times that they'd gone through most of the supply, but apparently this wasn't enough to prevent wasting during a long term stay. Heaven knew what other effects the tank had had on him. The feedback panel put Brolly's brain activity levels at a very low level of consciousness – only slightly above a coma.

The battery light was flashing, too, to show that the tank was disconnected from its power source and had only a handful of hours until it ran through its battery power.

She tried to imagine how this would go.

'We didn't think this end of the plan through very well,' she mumbled to herself, or perhaps to Tarble, who was standing next to her, looking at Brolly with similar consternation.

'Indeed, we did not,' said Vegeta from behind her, striding towards her with Raditz next to him, holding, of all things, his home-made spit roasting gear, and Goku and Krillin bearing frozen game from the pantry. Vegeta stopped short of her though, and when his eyes met hers for a second he quickly looked away.

'Are you guys so hungry for barbeque we can't get Brolly out first?' she asked.

'This is for Brolly,' said Vegeta.

'Yeah, we reckon he'll be pretty damn hungry when he gets out,' said Raditz. 'The distraction of food could help things along.'

'You sound like you have a plan already,' she said, feeling even angrier that she hadn't been given a say in a plan that used her as a pawn.

'We do,' replied Vegeta.

'Well, don't keep us in suspense!'

The plan was this – Vegeta, Nappa and Goku went to find trees or similar to turn into a bonfire while Raditz prepared the meat for cooking and Tarble and Bulma were consigned to the kitchen to come up with some treats. Once the fire was built and then burning down somewhat, Raditz chucked the beasts over it and Bulma made disastrous experimental muffins and cookies from the mixture of alien ingredients in the kitchen and pantry, and hydrated a bunch of dubious Grenoulliean dishes and desserts. They carried the dining table and chairs outside and set up dinner before the tank, and a few hours later, when the meat was cooked they took their positions. Nappa and Raditz lay flat on the top rim of the ship, out of sight but close enough to hear what was going on below. Vegeta and the boys were to remain below, as they were small enough to be hide behind the regen tank.

'What if he doesn't regain consciousness?' she asked Vegeta as they stood before the tank. 'What if he's too weak to get out?'

'Then that will make things very easy, will it not? You can just shove the crown on his head.'

'And what if he won't wear either of them?'

'Then you'll figure something out – you're very manipulative, after all.'

Bulma looked sharply at Vegeta, but he just remained staring stonily into the tank

'Is that why I have to be the one to get them on him, then?' she asked carefully.

'Yes. That and you have made some sort of connection with Brolly. Last time he was clear-headed and without his crown he tried to kill Nappa, Raditz and I. He hasn't tried to kill you yet.'

'There's always a first time!' she retorted.

'That's why I'll just be here and the others above,' he said, and started walking around the back of the tank that Krillin was still peering around.

'Wait!' she snapped, frustrated and scared. 'I'd hardly say it was a "connection" I made with Brolly! You don't even know what happened!'

Vegeta stopped and half turned but didn't look at her. 'Yes, I do. Raditz told me you led him on with empty promises of loyalty and…affections.'

'Oh, you do know,' she said lamely.

Vegeta snorted with disgust and disappeared to the back of the tank. 'Saving Brolly by putting him in the tank was your idea, so you do your part now to complete it!'

Bulma whimpered.

'Okay, I'm about to drain the tank!' she called out for the benefit of the others above.

'Righto!' hollered Nappa in return.

She pressed the button with a shaking finger and after a minute the pump began to work, sucking the pale aqua fluid away. Brolly sank with the water level and folded to his knees on the floor of the tank. For a short while Bulma was hopeful that he was fully unconscious, but then his hand moved forwards to stop himself falling forwards. As the last of the fluid disappeared Brolly slumped to his hands and knees in the bottom.

The door popped open and reluctantly Bulma swung it out of the way. Brolly groaned, shifting side to side.

'Hey,' she croaked, her fear stopping her voice coming out properly. 'How do you feel, Brolly?'

Brolly let out a long groan and lifted his head; his dark, wet bangs hanging in his eyes. 'Not good,' he said. He tried to lurch to standing and failed, falling to all fours again, hands on the lichen outside the tank, and Bulma jumped back in fright. 'Why can't I stand?' he said, and Bulma remembered her pity for him. This must be scary for him too.

'You're – you've been in the regen tank a really long time,' she told him.

He looked around the edge of the tank entrance. 'Why?'

'You remember that you got sick, right?'

He looked up at her, a frown of bewilderment and panic on his face. 'Sick?'

'From the wound, you know? Your missing tail? You got really sick and almost died.'

'Oh, yeah,' he said, comprehension returning to him. 'I remember.'

'We had to put you in the tank to stop you from dying,' she said, her voice warbling a little. Recalling the emotion of that time, and her fear and pity, her eyes started to prick with tears as she watched his feeble attempts to crawl out of the tank. 'Then we had to go to a Planet called Grenouillea Two to get the cure for you.'

He collapsed onto the rocky ground before the tank like a new born foal. 'Am I better?' he asked. 'I don't feel better.'

'You're cured; you're just weak from the tank.'

He shivered then, his naked skin twitching over the thin muscles. 'Cold,' he said, and Bulma grabbed the blanket she had brought out for this purpose and threw it over his body. Brolly got to his knees again and wrapped it about himself, dropping one of the ends with his shaking fingers. Despite her fear, Bulma stepped forward and pulled the blanket tight over the front of him, covering that nakedness that had adorned the lounge for so long like a piece of macabre conceptual art. Brolly gripped the blanket tight in front of him and breathed in deeply.

'Where's the food?' he said, sounding more urgent than he had before.

'Just behind me,' she said. 'Do you want to eat? We made all this food for you.'

He nodded and started crawling to the table in a weak but determined manner. When he got there he struggled to raise himself using the table.

'Do you want help?' asked Bulma, too scared to touch him without asking permission. Brolly scowled but then nodded, and then Bulma wasn't sure how to help him. She hooked him under his blanketed arms and hauled, trying to get him into the chair they'd set with his assistance, but the higher gravity made this even harder than it might've been. He almost knocked the chair right over and sent a bottle of juice tumbling off the table to shatter on the stones, but he made it, and without so much as a glance at Bulma he started eating, reaching for the great steaming chunks of spit roasted bird and tearing into it with his hands and teeth, fat and meat juices pouring down his chin. Bulma winched a bit at the even-more-messy-than-usual display of Saiyan appetite and the moans of appreciation Brolly was making. The hastily roasted bird was black on the outside and not just raw, but still cold in the middle, but Brolly didn't seem to care. After some meat he began hoeing onto the approximations of vanilla custard cupcakes that Bulma had made – sunken and dense, though still sweet and hopefully edible. She watched him eat for some minutes, laying her hands on the two silk lined boxes of jewellery in front of her, and wondering when and how to attempt to get them on him.

Brolly slowed and then stopped, staring off into the distance.

'What's wrong?' she asked, knowing that he hadn't even eaten a normal sized Saiyan meal, so he couldn't be full.

Suddenly Brolly turned his head aside and vomited onto the ground. Bulma squealed and turned away with her hands on her ears – Saiyan puking was even more disgusting than human; he was like a hosepipe! When he was done and slumped over, spitting onto the ground, he let out a whine of pure misery.

'Why can't I eat?' he asked. 'Are you poisoning me?'

Bulma truly hoped it wasn't her cupcakes. 'No! Brolly, you know I would never do that to you!'

He sat up again and got his elbows on the table. 'One of the others? They don't like me, you know.'

'They do like you!' objected Bulma. 'Why else would we have gone to such great lengths to save your life? Your life was in our hands for days. They wouldn't poison you now.'

Brolly growled and the hair up Bulma's back stood up.

'You know what it is?' she said much more gently. 'You've been in the tank so long your stomach isn't used to holding so much food. Just eat a little bit, and slowly. You can always have more later. Here.' She passed him another bottle of juice and a bowl of mashed root with salt with a fork stuck in it. Brolly hesitated, looking her in the eye before accepting the items. He took the bottle of juice first and sipped from it. Then he took the bowl and started to eat slowly, as she'd said, glancing up and down between the mash and her face.

'Where're the others?' he asked between mouthfuls.

'Off hunting and things. They'll be back soon.'

He was halfway done with the bowl when he stopped, still looking her in the eye as a small smile added a gleam to his gaze. Even though he was still clumsy from his uber-sleep, he already seemed more consciousness and present than she'd ever seen him before.

'I remember,' he said.

She shivered and hoped he didn't notice.

'What do you remember?'

He smiled wider, the expression almost shy and quite transforming; wide and happy and charming. He was a good looking boy after all. 'You. Did you really say you'd come away with me?'

'Yes,' she said.

He sighed in wonder. 'So you'll be my queen when I go back to Horten to reclaim my throne?'

'One day, when we're older.'

'Older?' he said and sat straighter. 'How about now? I'm not sure how much longer I want to hang about with these guys. I think I'm done with them.'

'Oh?'

'Yeah. In fact, I'm going as soon as I feel better. So you'll have to come with me now.'

'Oh, okay,' said Bulma, her fear a step away breaking completely free. 'Not right now though, right? I mean, you're still eating.'

'No, I don't think I could walk yet, let alone fly. Maybe tomorrow.' He looked at her again, his eyes wandering in a very penetrating and possessive manner over her face and upper body. 'You're beautiful,' he said.

'Thanks,' she said and he raised his eyes to hers again.

'It's weird. It's almost like I'm seeing you for the first time, but I know that's not true.'

Bulma shrugged, not sure what she could say to this, but then she jumped in her seat as he suddenly took hold of her forearm and ran his greasy hand down it. 'Wow, you're soft,' he said. 'Smooth. I remember than from the first time I saw you. I picked you up when we thought you were dead.'

'Did you?' she asked. She hadn't known that.

'Yeah. Vegeta told me to get rid of your body because he thought Tarble had killed you. I thought it was a shame that someone who smelled as nice and felt as nice as you should be dead, but then I realised that you were still alive and told the others.'

'Well…thanks for…noticing.'

He smiled again. 'Do you remember me carrying you inside?'

'No. I don't remember anything that happened that morning.'

'Well, when I told him you weren't dead, Vegeta told me to take you inside and put you on the bed. You looked so pretty, all pale with blood in your hair, and Vegeta ordered us all around while he and Nappa cleaned you up.' He frowned, thinking something over. 'Vegeta is really bossy – I don't know why I always seem to do what he says. Are you sure he's not around? I don't want him showing up and starting to order me around again - I'm not in the mood.'

'No, he's not here,' she squeaked. 'I wanted it to be just you and me when you woke up.' She forced herself to relax, to lower her shoulders from her ears and not quake. Staring into the mashed tubers she forced herself to grasp Brolly's wrist in return and stroke her fingers slightly on his skin. He flinched and gasped slightly, and his surprise was almost touching, in a way. She looked up into his eyes and felt an awful pang of guilt for this fakery. He haltingly stroked her back with his fingertips in the same way and goosebumps erupted up Bulma's arm.

'Are you feeling a little better?' she asked.

He nodded, his mouth open as he stared at her.

'That's good.'

'Maybe if I'm feeling even better before the others come back...we could take the ship now and leave them here?'

'Urh, maybe...' Oh god, she had to get some of this jewellery on him quick. She dragged her arm from his grasp and picked up the first of the boxes. 'Brolly, when we were on Grenouillea Two getting the cure for you, we also got your crown and necklace fixed up.' She opened it, but Brolly was sneering before the lid was even all the way up.

'I'm not wearing that piece of shit again,' he said. 'It weighs my hair down, it scratches, it looks dumb...I can't think why I put up with it for so long.'

Bulma snapped the lid closed again and chucked the box on the ground, immediately switching to plan B.

'You know, that's just what I said to the others! I knew you wouldn't want that thing back and I don't like it either.'

Brolly smiled at that.

'But I thought to myself, the Grenouilleans make such amazing jewellery, and a king needs a crown...'

Brolly grinned. 'No, he doesn't. He just needs power and for everyone else to be in fear of him.'

Bulma faltered in the act of opening the second box and then she tittered, forcing a laugh. 'Very true! But anyway, I got you a gift on Grenouillea.' She opened the box and turned it to him.

Brolly frowned into the box. 'Is it a necklace?'

'No, it's a diadem - for your head. They're very fashionable on Grenouillea.'

Brolly made a scornful face.

'Um, I think they look great,' she said. 'And this one is a very special one.'

'It is?'

'The gem stone is exceeding rare.'

'Is it?' He looked at it with renewed interest. 'It's girly looking.'

Bulma was inclined to agree - the white-platinum links were too chunky for women's jewellery, but the brilliant green pendent stone that would hang on his forehead was over the top for Earth Men's fashion. 'No, it isn't! This is very masculine where I come from!' she lied.

He picked it up out of the box and held it up, but then moved to lay it down again.

'And it's a gift of...my love for you,' she said, reaching for anything that would convince him to put it on. He paused with it in his hands. 'Please Brolly, at least try it on. I spent so long picking out the one that would suit you the best.'

'May as well try it on,' he ceded. He lifted his hands to his head and Bulma hurried to stand and help him position it correctly, balanced and even. Then she quickly picked up the box and handed it to him. There was a mirror in the lid.

'What do you think?' she asked, and when he held up the mirror she quickly made some adjustments.

'Hmm,' he said doubtfully.

Bulma pressed the rearmost link for a second as the instructions in the box had said and then stepped back, holding her breath.

Brolly just stared for a long moment as his reflection then turned his head this way and that.

'Do you like it?'

An enormous grin spread across his face. 'Yes. I do. It looks amazing.' He continued staring at his reflection then laughed as if from sheer delight. 'Wow! It really suits me.'

'It really does,' agreed Bulma, and that was no lie. For all it was a piece of jewellery purchased sight unseen, the gleaming white metal and green gem complimented Brolly rather than dominating his face like the old gold band and red stone had.

'There's earrings too,' he said lifting them out. 'Are these for me as well?'

'Yep,' she said, watching him put them on with relief. There was a moment when he flinched slightly as whatever mechanism inside the earrings moved into action and clamped themselves permanently to his lobes, but he just shook it off and picked up the mirror again to admire himself.

Bulma sat down again, wondering if there would be a definite sign that the diadem was working, though it was certainly doing something. Brolly flicked the pendant and then shook his head from side to side to swing the earrings to and fro.

'Are you still hungry, Brolly?' she asked gently. 'Maybe you should eat a little more.'

'Oh, yes!' he said, putting down the box. He started scooping up the last of the mashed tubers. 'These are good,' he said, his mouth full.

She decided to tentatively test the effect. 'You know, Brolly, I don't think I want to leave the others just yet,' she said. 'Can we wait a little longer? I want to see Planet Namek, which is where they're going.'

'Hmm, I guess so,' he said. 'Planet Namek could be interesting.'

'You don't mind sticking with the others?'

He paused and frowned. She held her breath because Brolly looked truly confused and she was worried that whatever spell the diadem was casting was about to fail. His expression flickered and then smoothed out into bland happiness again. 'Nah, they can be annoying sometimes, but they're okay.'

Phew! 'Great! Anyway, I think they might be back soon.'

'Good; I can show them my new diadem thing! I hope they don't have ones as good as mine!'

Bulma smiled with relief. 'No, I only got you one, because you're special to me.'

He turned a beautiful, good natured smile on her.

'Thank you, Bulma!'

Brolly ate for a while, proving amiable to Bulma's suggestions of what to eat and to slow down and even stop when she thought he'd had as much as was wise. Bulma felt weak with relief that this ordeal was over and Brolly preserved, though she was intrigued and little disturbed by the personality shift the Grenouillean diadem had had. For a few minutes the real Brolly had begun to emerge, and now he was thankfully, but a tiny bit sadly gone again.

Vegeta appeared from around the tank looking sullen, with his arms crossed awkwardly in front of him because his shoulder was still paining him.

'I see you're out of the tank,' Vegeta stated.

Brolly looked around and his brows shot up in pleasant surprise to see Vegeta. 'I still feel really weak, but I'm sure I'll feel better soon,' replied Brolly. 'Look what Bulma got me!' he said, pointing at his head and shaking it side to side to flick the earrings and pendant around.

Bulma smiled at Brolly's simple minded happiness, but Vegeta sneered.

'Very fetching,' he said insincerely.

The others dropped to the ground and appeared from behind the tank and Brolly laughed with delight, greeting them with the same enthusiasm he'd shown Vegeta as they crowded around the table, nodding and saying 'Hi'.

'It's good to see you awake again at last,' said Goku happily, but even he was frowning a bit with puzzlement. After Brolly finished showing them all his new adornments, Goku turned to Bulma.

'Is he okay?' he asked Bulma. 'He seems different.'

'Shush,' she warned him.

'Well, if Chuckles here is done with the food,' said Nappa, sneaking his hand towards one of the drumsticks. Vegeta nodded, and the locusts descended. Within a couple of minutes all the food on the table was gone.

'Hey, give that back!' cried Bulma as Raditz nicked the flattened cupcake right out of her hand as her fingers closed around it.

'Too slow,' he said, and Bulma looked to Vegeta to defend her right to get a proper share of the food, but he just watched Raditz pop the cake in his mouth.

'Excuse me, but I didn't get enough to eat!' she prompted.

'Neither did we,' said Vegeta. 'Go back into the kitchen and prepare more food.'

'What! I'm not your maid, you know,' said Bulma, getting sick of Vegeta's regression of attitude. 'Maybe you should do it. You said you'd do a turn in the kitchen after all to prove how easy it was.'

'I said no such thing!' he replied with an unwarranted amount of ire. 'Raditz, come with me! You others, bring Brolly inside and cloth him, and the tank and table too.'

Raditz looked a little unhappy with this.

'Was there any point in snatching that sweet?' Nappa asked him as he walked away. 'Vegeta's probably going to sucker you so hard in the gut that you regurgitate it. Shoulda left it for me!'

Vegeta turned again and called back, 'On second thoughts, Girl, prepare the regeneration tank for another usage. Then make us some more dinner.'

Girl? Bulma was so stunned, insulted and hurt by this that she couldn't come up with a suitable response before he took to the air and was probably out of earshot.

'Asshole!' she shouted after him half-heartedly. Krillin made a sympathetic grimace but Nappa just chuckled.

'Kakarott, help that halfwit inside the ship.'

The tank got good use that evening. Brolly was clothed and settled on a sofa, making small talk with Bulma about their time on Grenouillea as she set the tank to a cleaning cycle and then retreated to the kitchen to produce even more food. She resorted to her capsules, too fed up to face cooking alien food again, but by the time she'd finished prepping and heating steamed pork buns and some family sized portions of beef and vegetable stir fry the boys were back, bearing a half conscious and bloody Raditz with a weeping Puar bringing up the rear.

'Jeez, what've you done to him?' cried Bulma as Nappa stripped Raditz on the steps before the tank. Her eyes swivelled to Vegeta and he was giving Raditz in a completely chilling, black stare. He then turned that look on her and she took a step backwards, even though she was still on the other side of the lounge in the kitchen.

'Following through on the punishment I promised on Grenouillea.'

'Arrh, s'okay,' drawled Raditz, blood drooling from the side of his swollen mouth. For a second his resemblance to Goku was apparent. He even managed to laugh breathlessly in a way that suggested it hurt to do so. 'Just get me in the fucking tank, Nappa.'

Nappa laughed, sticking electrodes on his chest, and Raditz managed to pull himself upright enough to get in the tank.

Goku and Krillin looked shell shocked, though Tarble just looked worried. Vegeta walked into the kitchen and grabbed a tureen and spoon without a word to Bulma, and then stalked back outside to eat.

'He just didn't stop, even when Raditz was down on the ground,' said Puar, softly. 'It wasn't really a fight.'

'That really didn't give me much of an appetite,' remarked Krillin, taking two buns anyway. Goku and Tarble grabbed bowls from the breakfast bar and began eating until Nappa glided up behind Tarble and whispered, 'Are you sure you want to be eating so much when you lot are next up for discipline?'

Tarble gulped and lowered his fork and his eyes. Goku on the other hand looked at Nappa in alarm and started eating faster. Krillin turned pale.

Thankfully Nappa took his food outside too. Tarble handed Bulma his bowl. 'Can you save that for me?' he asked and trudged after Nappa.

'What do you think would happen if we refused to go outside?' asked Krillin.

'They'd probably drag us outside,' answered Goku. Then he got a steely glint in his eye, looking forward into an imagined future. 'I think we've gotten stronger though. I think we might be able to fight back more against Nappa now.'

'This isn't right!' said Bulma. 'They're going to beat you to a pulp like Raditz? No! I won't let this happen!'

When Nappa yelled at them to get outside they wandered out like the prisoners to the gallows, but Bulma marched out, furious, picking Vegeta as her target and getting right in his face before letting rip.

'How can you treat these children in such a barbaric way? What the hell have they done to you that deserves them being beaten savagely?' She was so angry with him that little bits of spit flew out of her mouth and hit him in the face, but there was nothing that could be done about that.

Vegeta sneered and stepped back from her. 'Lying, disobedience, stupidity! Endangering us and our mission! And they're warriors, not children!'

'They're just teenagers even younger than us! They're not in your stupid fucking PTO! Neither am I! Neither, for that matter, are YOU! Quit acting like you're still beholden to some stupid military order!'

Nappa made a noise of disgust behind her.

'I'll use whatever methods I like. Nappa, deal to Tarble.'

Bulma wheeled around, but Tarble was stepping forward obediently. Nappa rose into the air and Tarble went up after him.

'No!' she cried. 'He's still got a broken hand!'

Nappa flew at Tarble, and the boy defended himself, flying backwards and fending the man with his legs and good hand, but Nappa's superior speed and reach won out pretty quickly. Tarble's head flicked back from a punch and he sailed in a huge arc, crashing into the ground quite a way away. Bulma screamed, but Goku said. 'He's okay, Bulma. Nappa didn't hit him full strength.'

And Tarble's little figure did pop up again, leaping back into the sky to meet Nappa for more punishment.

'Why is he going back?' she asked, distressed at this apparent lack of self-preservation.

'Tarble knows he has to do this to regain his standing,' said Vegeta.

'That's not it,' said Goku. 'He wants to be stronger and beat Nappa one day.'

Vegeta gave a cool chuckle at that. 'You're probably right there, too.'

They watched as Tarble crashed into the stones again, and again struggled to his feet and back into the air.

'I…I don't understand you people,' admitted Bulma.

'Then keep out of Saiyan affairs and let the brats reap the consequences of their actions.'

'You realise I'm not a Saiyan, right?' asked Krillin quietly, but no one answered.

'Girl, go back inside if you can't stand the sight of violence,' said Vegeta.

Bulma wandered back towards the ship where Puar hovered, but didn't go back inside. Instead she stayed there sniffling on tears of wrath, with Puar clinging to her shoulder. She forced herself to watch as Tarble was beaten down until he could no longer stand, and then Goku and then Krillin, all three fighting back for all they were worth, but still ending up very much on the losing end of the fight.

Tarble was laid out next to her, groaning in pain, and she hurried inside for her first aid kit, but by the time she was back out he was sitting up on his elbows watching Goku fight. When the beaten Goku was deposited next to him, Tarble said, 'That was a pretty good show.'

'Yeah, Nappa had to work a lot harder to put me down this time, I could feel it,' said Goku happily, even though Bulma was pretty sure his arm was broken again.

'Idiots,' Bulma muttered. 'Why am I wasting my tears over them?'

She had more sympathy for Krillin though, who went up trembling with fear. He still fought valiantly though, between frequent cries of, 'I'm sorry! I promise I'll never lie to you again!'

He was moaning piteously when Nappa picked him up by the back of his shirt and dropped him on Bulma's other side, and he eagerly took some sedative to dull the pain of his broken ribs.

'Hey, cut that out,' said Nappa, catching her administering it. 'A warrior needs to know how to endure pain or else he risks being crippled by it during battle. That'll get him killed.'

Bulma glared needles at him.

Vegeta approached, his face still dark.

'Are you guys finally done beating the shit out of each other?' she asked spitefully.

'No,' said Vegeta. 'Nappa, get in the air again.'

'What?' asked Nappa. 'Why?'

'Because you passed on your duty to an insubordinate who was not up to it, thereby endangering all of us.'

Nappa's face looked blank, and it sounded a flimsy reason to Bulma too.

'Okay, then, your Highness.'

Vegeta's fight with Nappa was faster, meaner and more brutal than anything Nappa had dealt to the boys. Nappa went down a few times without hitting the ground, but when he did, he hit like a meteor, throwing up a massive crater of dirt a mile away. Bulma ran inside the side, not waiting to see if he was dead or alive, and not able to give a reason for the many distressing emotions she felt to see it. She stood in the middle of the lounge, listening to Brolly's gentle snores from the couch and feeling a vague sense of everything being out of her control and her utter aloneness. When Vegeta dragged the body of Nappa up the rampway she burst into tears, but then the big man let out a ragged breath and she knew he was still alive.

'Tell me…Tell me Raditz's almost done…ina tank…' he gasped.

Vegeta looked fairly banged up too, standing heaving great breaths, but Bulma felt disgust when she looked at him. He lifted his eyes to her, and some of the fury was gone, chased away by exertion, but they still burned her with their coldness. There was something else there too, though. She thought she could read shame there in the set of his mouth and chin. She ran around him and up the stairs to the flight deck, slamming the door after her.

That night they all had rather poor sleep as one by one the boys took their turns in the tank. Bulma took a leaf from Vegeta's book and took her blanket upstairs to sleep in solitude for once, pleased to discover that the door could be locked.

'The "warriors" can go rot,' she muttered to no one but the stars, and then she cried and cried for her parents and her home and homesickness and loneliness as the stars whisked past, the ship taking her further and further away from Earth.

Author's Note: Thanks for all your reviews so far guys!

The Unnatural Lovers Fan Fiction and Fan Art awards is still open until (I think) midnight of August 1st EST (less than 2 days at the time of posting), so go and vote and support the awards. It seems like fan fiction net has fucked all the outgoing links from profile pages, so sorry that's not working. To get to the awards pages please go to unnatural lovers dot com. I hope that the links issue is just due to temporary brokeness and not a new anti-spam measure as that would suck big ones.

Author's Note update 21/09/15: Some people have been leaving me anxious reviews on my two unfinished stories asking what's happened to me and when I will update next. Leaving aside the fact that it's only been 7 weeks since the last update (I realize I usually don't leave things this long), the answer is I haven't abandoned the stories and I am still working on them. However, it's still going to be weeks before I post anything more. I am busy - sucks but true. And worse, I am at a tricky part of Never Ever Land that requires me to write chapters ahead of where I'm posting if I'm not going to make mistakes that I later can't correct.

Also, my beta has just had a baby! Yay Adli!