Author's Note: Thanks again to Adli for beta-magic and dedication! I have the best beta, I swear.

Thanks all you readers for your comments and reviews, too! Without readers reviewing there would be no fan fictions.

Last time on Never Ever Land: The crew got their feet under them after the disaster on Namek and Bulma and Vegeta had some things to say to each other. We pick up right where we left off.


Bulma left Vegeta to make his lonely bed and found Puar and the boys all awake still, apparently waiting for her.

'Are you okay?' Krillin asked, leaping to his feet.

'Yes,' she replied. 'Why?'

'We heard you guys yelling.'

'Did you hear what we were yelling?' she asked, embarrassed by the thought.

'No, it was too muffled.'

'I told you she was okay,' Goku said to Krillin. 'Vegeta's chi was low the whole time.'

'It's not like he'd have to power up to hurt her. And I wasn't only worried about him beating her,' replied Krillin darkly. Bulma glanced over at him. What did Krillin think was going on?

'We were just talking,' she said. 'Vigorously.'

'What did he say?' Brolly asked her as she crossed the room to the corner where she kept her capsules, including the one that held her wardrobe.

She didn't want to answer that right then. 'About what I expected.'

'And what did you say?' asked Puar.

'Some things that needed to be said.'

'Wow. Enlightening,' Raditz quipped, but Bulma didn't take the bait.

'I'm not in the mood right now, guys. I just want to do my teeth and go to bed.'

'You're not going to tell us?' asked Puar.

'I'll tell you more in the morning.'


Sleep was slow to come to Bulma that night. Her mind was still a jumbled mess, and even once she edged close to sleep her dreamlike-thoughts took off at a million miles an hour, as if her brain was still racing against the clock. Eventually the thoughts deepened into actual dreams, still frantic in pace and deeply uneasy. She crept about a supermarket, trying to stock a trolley as swiftly and quietly as she could, meanwhile wolves stalked her through the aisles. She would catch sight of a tail disappearing past the rack of flatbreads or hear the click of lupine toe nails in the next aisle over, and sometimes jump with shock when a yip or a bark rang around the empty market. Making it at last to the checkout, a slow and unruffled Namekian dutifully checked her items one by one while the wolves spotted her and attacked. She desperately fended off the snarling maws full of sharp teeth with the trolley and when the Namekian was done totalling the shop she realised that she had no money and her panic was absolute. Life depended on these groceries!

'I need to go home to get my wallet - I'll be back as soon as I can!' she told the cashier. With an extra hard shove of the trolley she knocked the wolves back and then ran into the street, wondering if she could thumb a ride or maybe flag down a taxi that would allow her to pay once she found her wallet, but there were no cars on the street and no people on the sidewalks. There was no one.

She'd forgotten they were all dead.

The wolves made it out onto the street, barking, and she took off running even as she knew it was useless. They were on her in a second, nipping at her elbows, biting at her ankles…

She jerked awake at a tug on her ankle.

'Huh?'

Her eyes opened to the sight of Brolly's sweetly slumbering face in the dim blue light that counted as pre-dawn on the ship, adrenalin rushing around her body – Nappa!

She sat straight up, heart racing, but it's wasn't Nappa crouched at the foot of the couch-cushion bed. It was Vegeta.

'We need to discuss terms,' he said quietly, and stood, making his way back to the stairs. She took a few moments to get over her fright and process what he'd just said. Discuss terms? Did that mean he was going to agree?

Heart racing for a different reason now, she rolled to her feet and darted after him, practically dancing up the stairs in joy. As soon as she was through the door, Vegeta closed it, locked it and turned.

She felt a tiny bit nervous then, retreating to the end of the map table. She had locked them in here the night before for privacy, but now that it was Vegeta doing the locking she felt apprehensive.

Shit, we really do have some trust issues, she admitted to herself.

He walked a few steps towards her, not looking nearly as happy about things as she felt. In response she tried to hammer her smile down into an expression of sober inquiry. It didn't help that Vegeta was only wearing the undershorts that he slept in. She'd seen those pects and abs via sidelong glances lots of times, though she tended to feign disinterest or distraction when they were full frontal, but having to look at his face was challenging her ability to refrain from checking him out. Her eyes swooped down and back up, down and back up…Dammit!

He's only taken five steps and I've already checked what he's packing in those shorts twice! I wonder if he noticed?

Then it occurred to her that she'd seen him completely naked once, when he was stuck in the regeneration tank on Frieza's ship. It hadn't been a time to appreciate it then, but now her memory furnished her with the remaining piece of the picture and she turned bright red.

She looked up through the glass ceiling in order to wrestle her thoughts back on topic.

'So, you're taking up my proposal, huh?' she asked him.

He stopped at the other end of the map table and leant against it, turning side-on so that he wasn't looking directly at her either. His voice was a soft burr as he answered.

'With conditions.'

'Oh. Okay. So, what are the conditions?'

He paused, considering his words.

'We may share decision making, but I remain captain of this ship.'

'How does that work?'

'While we remain on board this ship I am the ultimate authority, and you are still the mechanic. We'll decide together where we're going and what we do when we get there, but a ship can't have more than one master.'

'O-kay,' said Bulma, doubtfully. That sounded like logic backed by old-fashioned conventions rather than actual evidence that co-captaining didn't work, but she suspected that the Captain title was more symbolic than practical.

'Should we have a difference of opinion you will not argue me down in front of my men, nor the Earthlings for that matter.'

Bulma's cheer began to wear off. 'And when am I meant to argue with you about it?'

'In private, if you must,' he replied. She looked up at him sharply.

'And where exactly is the line between discussion and argument?'

'Where I say it is.'

'Well, I like a robust discussion.'

'I've noticed!' he snapped back, gracing her with a direct look for a moment.

Bulma almost snorted. Vegeta's conditions were all about maintaining face and keeping the illusion of absolute authority.

'For that matter,' he continued, 'if we are unable to reach agreement I will have the final say.'

'Hey! No deal!' she said, standing straight and rounding on him. 'Do you think I'm a ninny? If I agree to that, then all you have to do to win an argument is to hold out until you decree that no resolution can be agreed, and then get to do whatever you want!'

He glowered at her. 'Well, how else are we supposed to settle disputes? With you getting what you want?'

'Okay, then.'

'Huh! And why should I ever agree to that?'

'I was kidding,' she explained. 'But now you see why I will never agree to that.'

He wasn't impressed and only continued to seethe, arms crossed before him.

'How are we meant to resolve major disagreements, then?' he snarled.

'I don't know,' she admitted. 'Let's wait and see if we actually have one, first.'

'Your solution is to ignore the problem?'

'Yes. After all, it's not really a problem yet – unless of course we can't agree on this one point.'

He narrowed his eyes. He looked tired, and she wondered if he'd actually slept much. She looked over his shoulder at the sofa on the far side of the room and saw his fur still laid out, the blanket rumpled atop it and Vegeta's journal on top of that. His reply pulled her attention back to him.

'Fine, we'll agree to have no plan to settle disagreements. Not that it will probably matter if we do or not, as I am fairly certain that whatever we arrange now, it would not alter your behaviour in the event of a disagreement. Nor would it change mine.'

She smirked at him. 'How very honest of you to say so.'

He apparently didn't see the humour in it and turned his face away from her again.

'I will remain in control of disciplinary action for both Saiyans and Earthlings.'

'Huh? What do you mean?'

'I mean, should someone do something against orders or amazingly stupid, I will determine, and if necessary, administer the punishment.'

Bulma suddenly recalled the "disciplinary session" on the desolate planet where Brolly was awakened, and the swift justice that Nappa had received for striking her. She had hated it, but Goku and Krillin didn't seem to be as fazed about it as she had been. Goku had practically enjoyed it.

'And who decides who needs punishing?'

Vegeta brought his hand to his chin and thought for a few moments. 'If someone on either side does something that would obviously compromise either of our aims or threaten the cohesion of our alliance it would be grounds for discipline. You would of course have a say should a Saiyan endanger your aims, and if you need me to, I can discipline one of your own if you feel they need it.'

Bulma's mind exploded trying to imagine asking Vegeta to beat the ever-living-snot out of Goku or Krillin for any reason at all.

'You are a barbarian,' she murmured. 'What else warrants discipline as you call it? What about simple disrespect for instance?' After all, that was the reason he'd turned Raditz into pudding after their trip to Grenouillea II.

He looked back at her, his lips curling in a sneer. 'Well, if I had to punish an Earthling every time they showed disrespect I'd never get anything else done. You yourself would never be out of the tank!'

'What!'

Finally his mouth untwisted itself into a wicked smile, and Bulma felt herself back on familiar ground with him.

'Oh, really? And how would you punish me, Vegeta? Take me outside of a bit of biffo?'

His smile faded. 'I already said I wouldn't punish you for disrespect.'

'Then what happens if I'm the transgressor? Or you for that matter?'

'You mean if one of we two do something that scuppers the aim of the other group?'

'Yeah.'

'As primary signatories, I would assume that we would know better. Should one of us break terms then it would be considered to nullify the agreement.'

A shiver went up her spine. 'You mean we'd be enemies again – no holds barred.'

'Exactly.'

Well, this proposal was her idea, and she supposed that they couldn't make an ally without making themselves vulnerable to that ally. She looked into his eyes and held that stern gaze for just a second before he wrenched away from it, pushing himself away from the map table and walking away.

'Agreed,' she said to his back.

'Good.'

'So that's all your conditions, then?'

'No.' He turned around again and from the safety of the far side of the room he said, 'You will offer reparations for your treatment of me on Planet Namek.'

'What!' she cried, and then remembered that everyone downstairs was still asleep. She lowered her voice to a hiss. 'What're you talking about? You pushed me off a cliff – I consider that tit-for-tat, so we're even!'

'It is not the same,' he growled back softly.

'How?'

He glared, refusing to say. She suspected how it was different – her drugging him had been a blow to his ego, and maybe he thought his standing in the eyes of Nappa and Raditz had fallen because of it. Vegeta pushing her off a cliff had been painful and dangerous, but her bruises had only been physical. Still, she wasn't going to agree to some unknown "reparation" to coddle his fragile alpha-male pride. It was about time Vegeta swallowed some humble pie!

'You are insufferable!' he said, deflecting the question. 'I will write up the terms and then we can tell the others what we have agreed to.'

Bulma snorted as Vegeta made his way to the journal sitting on the blanket. 'You're literally going to draw up a contract?' she asked.

'Only an idiot wouldn't put such an agreement in writing.'

'We could just shake on it!'

'I prefer having a signed document as reference and evidence,' he replied, picking up the journal. 'Memory is a conveniently malleable thing.'

'Did Frieza teach you that in PTO business school?' she asked acidly, then instantly wished she hadn't. Vegeta looked up at her sharply.

'Not everything he taught was without value. In fact, every lesson had its purpose.'

Feeling contrite but not wanting to actually apologise, Bulma took the dining chair that was still sitting at the map table and sat down to the array of wires and circuits there.

'Can we get the lights up in here so I can see what I'm doing?' she asked.

'Yes,' replied Vegeta. 'I believe you know the command.'

'Lights up to seventy five percent,' she ordered, and the flight deck was brightened with warm, white light.

'What's that?' Vegeta asked as she picked up a component.

'A device to pick up the signal coming off you. It will nail down the interval and give us the rough location of the tracking device. With any luck, after that it'll be a matter of simple surgery.' She shuddered, not looking forward to that part at all.

'You started already?' he said in surprise.

'Yeah. I started yesterday while you were still in the tank. It's nearly finished.'

She looked up to see him gawping at her. She shrugged.

'I was counting on us working things out. To tell you the truth, I probably would have finished it and given it to you anyway. I don't like the thought of Frieza being on your ass forever.'

Vegeta continued gawping and then looked down at the open page of his journal, his cheeks starting to pinken. Bulma started to blush too, but she was glad she'd been honest. It might have been illogical, but even if Vegeta had turned her away, she felt that this service was in her power and therefore should be rendered, even if it was to someone who wasn't an ally and didn't return her friendship.

Huh, friends, she mused, wondering when she had started to consider him as one. At least they were allies now. Her heart clenched particularly painfully with regret.

'You know I didn't intend to kill you when I pushed you off the top of the hill,' he said.

Bulma froze, staring at the pliers in her hand. 'What did you intend, then?'

He paused for several moments before answering. 'I was angry with you. I needed to get you away from Dodoria before he attacked. The two impulses combined, unfortunately.'

Getting her away from the fight hadn't been a motivation that she'd considered, but still...

'You got a funny way of keeping a girl safe.'

He huffed. 'I already said I didn't intend to kill you; I just wasn't thinking straight at the time.'

She looked at him out of the corner of her eye. He was staring at his bare feet, stiff and glum. Could she detect remorse? Well, this was as close to an apology as she might get.

'You can hardly criticise,' he added, ruining it. Well, no, she couldn't deny that, and let it go with a sigh.

'Well, like I said last night, we've done shitty things to each other. But we're not going to any more.'

He looked up and nodded curtly before picking up his pen and journal and beginning to write, and so Bulma applied herself to her own task. It was kind of a suit made of wire bands at regular intervals that would go all the way down to his fingers and toes. It would be hard to get on, rather uncomfortable, difficult to go to the bathroom in to say the least, and Vegeta could be wearing it for up to two days, so that would be fun. She could already imagine the griping.

Almost an hour passed before she heard the sound of paper tearing and looked up to see Vegeta brandishing a page ripped from his journal. He laid it on the table before her, turning it over and pointing.

'Sign here, please.'

She turned the contract back over to read the first couple of clauses before deciding it seemed to be in order, so she turned back and signed her name. Vegeta took the pen back and signed his name also.

'Done. And in time for breakfast, too.'

'So we tell the others now, then?'

'Yes.'

She waited while he pulled a shirt and pants on and then followed him down the stairs.


In the lounge and kitchen, Earthlings and Saiyans moved about in the semi-stupor of the early morning, except for Nappa who looked as sharp as he ever did by the waking hour.

'Listen up!' Vegeta shouted, shocking everyone to attention. He looked about. 'Where's Tarble?'

'Gone to the bathroom, I think,' replied Kakarott.

'TARBLE! Get in here ASAP!'

A moment later Tarble appeared, still zipping his jeans as he ran.

'I'm here, what is it?'

Vegeta's gaze swept the room. This was not an announcement he was proud to make, but all things considered, it was still a beneficial one. He was fairly sure Nappa wasn't going to like the deal he'd arranged with Bulma, but it could go either way with Raditz. Tarble hated conflict and was obviously taken with the Earthlings, so chances were he'd be happy with the new alliance. Kakarott was an Earthling through and through, so it was pointless to even consider his opinion. Brolly was… He locked eyes with Brolly, and realised he had no idea how Brolly would take this or even who the kid was anymore. Brolly looked at him warily, distrustfully, and Vegeta felt a surge of distrust in return. Last he'd seen him, Brolly was tearing out of Guru's place having some fit of anxiety over Bulma. Well, whatever the brat thought, he was going to have to swallow what Vegeta was spooning out.

'Bulma and I have agreed on a new alliance between Saiyans and Earthlings.'

The breath went out of everyone in the room, then Puar zipped through the air to cling to his shirt.

'I'm so glad!'

'Get off me!' he snapped in embarrassment and Raditz laughed. Puar let go, flustered, and then turned to Bulma.

'This is good, right?'

Bulma nodded, starting to grin, and the cat leapt on her instead. Bulma rocked her like a baby while Krillin and Kakarott ran forward, Kakarott happily, Krillin not quite so much. Vegeta tried to ignore that both Tarble and Brolly looked excited.

'An alliance?' spluttered Nappa.

Vegeta fired his reply back, as sharp as knives. 'Yes! A mutually beneficial allegiance for the purposes of returning to Planet Namek, revoking Frieza's wish of immortality, granting me my immortality and resurrecting the Earth's Guardian. Which is exactly what we want. What I want.'

He saw Nappa inflate as if he was going to shout back, then bite back on whatever it was, and slump down again, shrinking into himself. 'You negotiated reasonable terms, I expect, your Highness?' he muttered, by which Vegeta took it that Nappa didn't expect anything of the sort.

'Terms?' said Kakarott. 'What do you mean?'

'I did,' Vegeta replied to Nappa's question. 'I shall read them to you now.' He cleared his throat, regretting the name of the contract now.

'Contract of Reciprocal Arrangements Between Prince Vegeta of the Saiyans and Bulma of the Earthlings on Behalf of Their Peoples:

'From the moment of signing, henceforth the peoples of Saiyan and Earthling origin have entered into a co-operative relationship designed to further the aims of both parties. Each side will have their responsibilities and obligations to this end.

'The Saiyans have agreed to protect the Earthlings and grant them safe passage to Planet Namek, guaranteeing them one wish from the Namekian dragon in return for this service.

'The Earthlings have agreed to guide the Saiyans to Planet Namek by any means necessary, that Prince Vegeta may utilise one wish to remove the immortality granted to Lord Frieza, and one wish to secure his own wish for immortality. The Earthlings also agree to remove from Prince Vegeta one tracking device planted by Lord Frieza at a previous time-'

Vegeta paused for the exclamations of surprise to die down, suffering again his own chagrin that he'd never suspected an internal tracking device.

'-and to assist the Saiyans and Prince Vegeta by all means possible in his preparation to defeat said Lord Frieza, until such time as this is accomplished.'

Now it was the Earthlings' turn to gasp and look shocked. Puar backed away to stare at Bulma.

'Bulma!' cried Krillin. She looked guilty and uncomfortable and Vegeta stepped to her side as if Krillin were a threat to her, though he wasn't sure why. Bulma's issues with her people were her own.

'She not only agreed to it but suggested it, Earthling.'

Krillin gave him a scathing look before turning his ire back on Bulma. 'Yeah, that doesn't make a lot of difference.'

'It makes sense, Krillin!' she protested. 'What are we going to do if we bring all the people on Earth back to life but then Frieza's men wipe them all out again so that they can sell the planet?'

'Goku and me are stronger than we were!' said Krillin.

'That doesn't matter,' she insisted. 'Even if you're stronger than all of Frieza's cronies, two of you can't be all over the planet at once. People are going to die.'

'She's right!' said Kakarott. 'Just bringing them back is only half the job. We have to take down Frieza, too!'

Krillin's face became crestfallen and he fell to his knees. 'We're never going to get home!' Puar, joined him, crumpling to the floor with a moan of despair.

Bulma looked upset but said nothing. Vegeta decided to continue before his announcement was derailed again.

'Prince Vegeta will remain Captain of this or any other vessel we procure. Prince Vegeta will also remain as overseer of all disciplinary action deemed necessary.'

Groans.

'Both parties agree not to interfere with the aims of the other, nor to subvert, deny or prevent their wishes becoming reality through any action or inaction. Further, both parties agree not to enter any into action that may damage the cohesion of the allegiance. What constitutes a breach of this term will be determined by Prince Vegeta and Bulma of Earth, and appropriate disciplinary action taken.

'Should the primary signatories of this contract instigate a breach of the above term then the contract shall be considered null and void.

'Lastly, Bulma of Earth has agreed to reparation for her actions on Planet Namek in the form of one day servitude on board the ship, during which she may not refuse any order issued or condoned by Prince Vegeta.'

'What did you just say?' said Bulma, rounding on him. Her face was amusingly horrified.

'Do I need to repeat myself?' he asked.

She leaned in close to whisper at him, though it was doubtful many on the room couldn't hear what she said.

'I never agreed to any such thing!'

He passed her the paper. 'Read it if you must, but you did sign it.'

She glanced at it and shoved it back at him. 'I thought we decided no reparation was required!'

'You didn't think so, but I did. We never agreed anything.'

Her eyes flashed with anger and the sight was rather satisfying.

'Do I need to tear up this agreement?' he asked.

Her face was starting to go red with wrath. 'No,' she choked. 'I'll play your silly game, and you'll pay for it one day, somehow!'

He grinned, taking some pleasure from the first taste of her humiliation. Then he turned to the group.

'And that is the agreement. Any questions?'

There was a stunned silence before Nappa spoke.

'Yes. Can I have a word in private, your Highness?'

He should have known. He followed Nappa away to towards the bedroom.

Left behind in the lounge, Brolly grinned at Bulma and Tarble laughed.

'This is cool!'

Raditz scowled at him. 'Shut up, you little turncoat!'

Krillin grabbed Bulma's hand and started towing her away.

'Goku, Puar, come with us,' he ordered.

Bulma let herself be lead into the bathroom, sure that this wasn't going to go well. The door closed and she was proven right.

'Bulma, how could you?' Krillin started in.

'Yeah, why didn't you tell us about this contract thing?' asked Goku. 'I'm not sure I like everything in it.'

Bulma stared at them, wishing they'd just be grateful, but she knew that if it had been her kept in the dark she'd be furious, too, so maybe an apology was in order.

'I'm sorry, guys, it just happened really fast. I came up with the idea last night and then I got stuck arguing with Vegeta, and it all came out. Then he wrote the freaking contract thing just now!'

'You signed for all of us!' cried Krillin. 'Was I in the tank or something when we elected you president of the Earthlings? I know that the Saiyans are ruled by a tyrant, but I kind of thought we Earthlings were more of a collective, you know?'

'You're going to object to a perfectly good allegiance based on the fact that you didn't get a say in the making of it?'

'No, I'm objecting to you committing us all to things without asking us!'

'I didn't plan it this way! I was just acting as our de facto leader, and I think that this deal is the best thing we could have hoped for right now. Besides, if we were to have a leader, wouldn't it be me? I'm the oldest, and forgive me, but I think it can safely be argued that I'm the cleverest, too! And I can handle Vegeta better than you guys.'

Puar made a choking sound of disgust.

'Oh, yeah?' said Krillin. 'I'm sure you're going to love your day of servitude; well done on reading the entire contract before signing, oh wise leader!'

'I didn't say I was the leader!'

'It doesn't matter!' said Krillin. 'Vegeta is treating you as our leader now. The agreement is between him and you, so congrats, Queen of Earth!'

Bulma covered her face with her hands and screamed behind them with frustration before glaring at her pissed off teammates.

'I'm sorry! But this is what happened! I thought you guys would be pleased that we're definitely on track to get back to Planet Namek. I mean, that's what's most important right now, am I wrong?'

'Yeah, it is,' conceded Goku. 'I think you did right, but you should've come got us to talk about things before you made a deal.'

'Before you went giving Vegeta the right to punish us,' said Krillin. 'I thought a proper allegiance would be free of being beat the hell up.'

'Don't rock the boat and you won't get punished,' Bulma told him coldly. 'It was the best deal I could get out of him. Vegeta wasn't going to agree to something where he didn't at least sound like he had the upper hand over me. Over us, I mean.'

A knock sounded on the door and then Raditz stuck his head in.

'Oh, servant! Your master is calling.'

I'm going to shish-kebab Vegeta and char-grill him over the flames of Hell, she seethed.

The head withdrew and Bulma turned on the others. 'Look, can we just pretend that we're a unit and that we're happy with what we got? I think I'm about to have a really shitty day on behalf of you and the whole population of our planet, so some support would be nice.'


'I require breakfast,' Vegeta told her, taking a seat on one of the sofas. 'And one of your Earth beverages. Coffee, I think.'

Bulma sighed but complied, only to find that no one else had started the breakfast prep.

'What's going on, guys?' she asked Raditz and Tarble. 'What're we having for breakfast?'

'I don't know,' replied Raditz taking a seat next to Vegeta. 'You're cooking.'

'I am? Oh, of course I am!' She rolled her eyes and decided on the easy way out. She headed back into the lounge and crouched down to dig through her emergency capsules. There was a capsule of breakfast burritos and huevos rancheros that she'd been saving for a special occasion, and it looked like her cooking breakfast single-handedly was that occasion.

'Not Earth food,' said Vegeta behind her. 'Something else.'

She stiffened with annoyance but stood and faced him. Puar, Goku and Krillin filed back into the room.

'What do you want, then?'

'Make some suggestions, Woman.'

She crossed her arms. 'Toasted botho cakes.'

'Keep going.'

'That rehydrated spicy sausage stuff?'

Vegeta made a face of consideration. 'Next.'

'Breakfast flakes.' They had boxes of the stuff from Grenouillea II and it was similar to instant oatmeal in appearance, but with a higher protein content and slight algae aftertaste.

'Hot breakfast flakes,' Vegeta amended for her.

'So you want hot breakfast flakes?'

'And sausage and toasted botho cakes, yes.'

'Oh, jeez,' Bulma muttered, turning back to the kitchen.

Three quarters of an hour later she was wiping the sweat from her brow as she finally sat down at the dining table with her own coffee and a botho cake having managed to feed the entire crew by herself. Tarble and Goku had tried to help her and gotten told off for it. Botho cakes were another Grenouillean staple; they were slightly sweet and starchy buns, and compared to the breakfast flakes she was a big fan.

'Woman.'

Bulma looked up sharply. Had Vegeta found a new and irritating nickname for her? She wasn't sure if it was better or worse than "Girl", but he hadn't called her that for a while. She decided that having her name removed again must be part of her punishment.

'What?'

'What, your Highness,' her corrected her, and Nappa sniggered.

'Are we back to this again?' she asked, suddenly flashing back to those first days in space.

'Today you are the servant and I am your master,' he reminded her, smiling smugly, 'so you will call me "your Highness".'

'You're not my prince though, so I think I'm going to call you…Mr Vegeta, just for today.'

'Mr Vegeta?' he repeated, making a face. 'No – I will only accept "master" or "your Highness". You may call the others by that generic honorific.'

'Mr Raditz,' said Raditz, nodding his head slowly. 'I like it. What do you think, Mr Tarble?'

'I get to be a Mr, too?'

'There. It's settled,' said Vegeta. 'Bulma will call you all by Mr, and me by my proper title.'

Bulma thought she might burst a blood vessel with the effort of not blowing her top, and had to unclench her teeth to speak. 'Whatever you say, your Highness. What do you want?'

Vegeta chuckled, wordlessly offering her his empty plates. As she abandoned her cooling botho cake and coffee to take them he said, 'When you've done stacking the dish sanitiser you need to finish the tracker-finding device.'

She stopped midway through taking the dishes from him.

'It's already finished. All I need to do is fit it to you.'

'Really? Then forget the dishes and get it down.'

She shoved the stack of plates at Raditz and hurried to do so, remembering as she went up the stairs to warn him.

'You might want to go to the bathroom first!'


The sensor suit, as Bulma had begun to call it in her head, was basically a cage of wires fitted snuggly to the entirety of Vegeta's body. Each loop of wire was about three inches from the next one, and all of them linked back to one of the seven nodal points which held the circuits; one on each shoulder, one on the top of each leg, the middle of the spine, the centre of his chest and the middle of his forehead. Bulma went wire by wire, attaching the ends and tying them off, starting at his feet and going up while Vegeta stood still. The rest of the crew sat around watching – there wasn't all that much else to do, after all.

Bulma knelt before him and had made her way up from each foot, across the swell of both calves and the knees, and was now beginning on his thighs, wrapping each length of wire over the soft cloth of Vegeta's Capsule Corp sweatpants. It felt odd to be touching him like this; he probably had no desire for her to be touching him, and yet this process was horribly intimate. She personally didn't find it horrible. In fact, some part of her insisted that this was wonderful and that maybe Vegeta agreed a little because he hadn't ordered her to stop. It was embarrassing though, as well as mortifying to be kneeling in front of a man. She glanced up at his crotch, not sure how she was going to handle that area, and started to grow pink.

Oh, make this stop, she prayed. I don't like him, he doesn't like me, and that's all over now! It's stupid to get embarrassed!

There was an eruption of sniggers from the peanut gallery, and Vegeta snapped, 'This isn't a peep show!' She wondered what had prompted that chastisement.

'It's still entertaining,' was Nappa's reply.

'I am not entertainment. Why don't you go do something useful?' Vegeta gripped.

'Like what?'

'Like not be in here.'

Bulma glanced over at the couches where Nappa was looking pissed off now.

'As your Highness commands,' he replied, not covering his sarcasm at all. He stood. 'Come on, Raditz, you can show me how to work this hunk of junk's insane computer.'

'But I wasn't told to take a hike!' complained Raditz.

Nappa reached out and wrenched Raditz up by the shoulder. 'I don't care!'

Vegeta tensed under Bulma's fingers, watching them go. Bulma braced herself and picked the next wire up, just a few short inches from Vegeta's area of special interest. He flinched.

'Sorry.'

'Just hurry it up! Tarble! Come here and help so we can get this over and done with.'

Tarble skipped to Bulma's side as the two older Saiyans stomped upstairs and Bulma made a weak noise of protest.

'Can I?' Tarble asked her. 'It doesn't look too complicated.'

'Mmm,' Bulma considered. But she could find no valid reason that he couldn't. 'I guess so. Just attach the wires with a twist and make sure it's snug and that the back wires stay reasonably taut.'

'Okay.' He took to it quickly, lacing up the rest of Vegeta's other thigh, getting right up there with little ceremony or self-consciousness. Bulma moved quickly to secure the band around Vegeta's waist and adjust the lines from where they split and ran down the back of those rock hard buns. She was tempted to poke him in the butt or maybe slap him in frustration while she was at it.

'Ah!' said Vegeta, and cuffed Tarble with the back of his hand. 'That was my ball you just pinched with that wire! Time is not that important a consideration!'

'Sorry,' said Tarble, covering his head. Bulma saw that Tarble had finished all the wires up to his crotch, and so that particular trouble spot wasn't going to be an issue. She wasn't sure if she felt relieved or disappointed. She stood up to do up the loops that went around his hips, and over Vegeta's shoulder she caught sight of Brolly, standing up now and watching with an alarmingly intent expression. Her heart began thumping, wondering where the danger was.

'What is it, Brolly?' she asked.

Brolly's expression shattered into surprise. The other boys and Puar all turned to look at him, but he didn't answer.

'What's the problem?' asked Vegeta.

'Um…' Brolly looked uncomfortable. 'Nothing.'

Bulma had a second moment of alarm when Vegeta growled under her hands. It was a soft, barely audible kind of growl, and she probably wouldn't have noticed it if she wasn't literally standing at his shoulder with her hands on his back.

Brolly took a step back and sat down on a step, shrinking back into himself. It didn't look like "nothing" to Bulma. Maybe it wasn't something he wanted to mention in front of Vegeta or the others, because it seemed like some macho crap was going down. She sighed and decided to ask Brolly about it next time they chanced to be alone together.

Twenty minutes later they had Vegeta completely trussed up like a rolled roast. Bulma couldn't help but see the comparison, nor could she entirely hide her smile as she wrapped the wires over his head and face. He huffed and rolled his eyes and generally made a show of how unpleasant this whole situation was, but as she was pulling his hair through the gaps in the wires she almost automatically rested her hand on the back of his head for a moment like she had dared to when they were on Grenouillea, and she was sure that he had rested the weight of his head there in return. Quickly she pulled away.

Whoopsie.

'Are you done?' Vegeta asked.

She came around to the front of him to double check everything was in place. 'Yup.'

He walked towards the steps up to the parquet floor, his arms and legs stiff like a china doll's. 'I can barely move!' he exclaimed.

The boys snorted and Vegeta gave them a look that swiftly shut them up. They burst out again when Vegeta tried to lift his leg to take the step. There was not enough play in the wire suit to let him, and he stumbled before levitating and floating himself up and over to the kitchen. There he caught sight of himself in the reflection in the wall-mounted oven door and made a strange noise.

'Woman, if you have made this contraption more ridiculous-looking than necessary I will gut and flay you, do you hear?'

Vegeta's threat was not enough to stop the sniggers escaping entirely from her.

'No! I assure you, it has to look this stupid!'

He gave her the evils.

'And I must wear this for two days? How am I to take a crap? Or do anything for that matter?'

'Well, up to two days. The signal might go off any moment, so maybe you'll get lucky. If you need to go for the bathroom you'll need to get me or someone else to undo the wires around your…uh, parts, and be quick about it. I guess you won't be able to do much until we do get a signal off you though.'

'Great.'

She picked her laptop up and skipped over to him, brandishing one last wire. 'One last thing; I need to hook you up so that I can actually capture and analyse the data we get off your signal.' She held out the two metre wire tether. She could have made it a wireless connection, but she'd cut that corner this morning in the name of expediency.

Vegeta's expression of disgust said it all. 'Do it already. With my luck the signal has just gone out and I will have to suffer the entire two days in this wire cage.'


Vegeta soon found that the best place for someone in his position was lying on his back on the sofa. At least Bulma was his servant for the day, and he occupied her by getting her to bring him drinks, scratch his foot, change the holovid and gather his laundry to put it in the wash. She did all this without arguing (other than a noise of outrage about the laundry) with an air of being extremely put out, but that air made it all the sweeter to Vegeta. It was good that she hated it.

When he ran out of requests he had the others think of orders for her, and as if on cue, Nappa and Raditz reappeared, and after a laugh at Vegeta's expense they proved to be into the spirit of things.

'Hell yes, I have an order for her!' said Nappa, looking at the girl. 'It starts with you going to the bedroom and getting on your knees in front of-'

Bulma blanched pale.

'Nappa!' Vegeta shouted, cutting of that line of talk. The man really pushed the boundaries at all times! He'd already had to endure another predictable lecture from him this morning, and been forced to justify himself to his second yet again. The deal he'd made this time was a good one in that he got more out of it than the Earthlings did. Being allies was regrettable, but Nappa would just have to adjust.

'I was just kidding, your Highness!' Nappa said with a chuckle, sitting down on the other couch and putting his feet up by shoving Brolly and Krillin off the seat. 'I wouldn't treat a valued ally in that way.' He wriggled his toes and grinned. 'What I really want is a foot rub.'

The face Bulma made caused Vegeta to grin. 'Go on, servant woman!'

She eased herself onto the arm of the sofa and gingerly took up one of Nappa's huge feet in her little hands, keeping her face as far from it as possible, and began to squeeze and prod about. Nappa's feet weren't that smelly, but Vegeta was glad she was finding it unpleasant.

'No need to be so timid,' Nappa teased her. 'You'd think this was your first time or something!'

Everyone laughed, though Vegeta suspected that some of them didn't get the joke. Bulma looked about the group with lips pressed flat with anger, and started to rub circles on the balls of Nappa's foot.

'I think you can put a bit more back into it than that,' Nappa told her, and so she began furiously digging her fingers and nails into him.

'Ooh, that's it!' The big man closed his eyes and leant back. 'Ah! Yeah! More of that!'

And that's how it proceeded for another few minutes, with Nappa's groans and grunts of pleasure and Bulma turning red. They all laughed while she attempted to strike everyone dead with her vicious glares, and maybe it worked because one by one they fell silent again.

'Oh, Princess, I never knew you'd be this good! It feels incredible,' exclaimed Nappa, and Vegeta found his own amusement die away, replaced by a creeping sense of shame.

'Enough, Nappa,' he said, ending what she obviously found a torment. Bulma didn't wait another second, standing straight up and dumping Nappa's feet on the couch. 'It's someone else's turn. Tarble, give Bulma an order.'

Tarble looked surprised to be singled out like this. Vegeta was surprised too. If he was handing out favours, why wouldn't he do it in order of status? Raditz should have been next, but no, he'd picked Tarble.

The kid was looking back and forth between Vegeta and Bulma, who had turned her back to the room. Something was a little different about Tarble since they'd gotten away from that cursed green planet. It was as if he had just a little bit more of a spine. Or more confidence, or…something. According to Raditz, Tarble had acquitted himself well on the planet (for all that it mattered) both in decision making and in battle. Maybe he wasn't as much of a wash-out as previously thought, and he'd gotten a mystical power-up from Guru, too. Perhaps he was no longer a disgrace to his race?

'I can't think of anything,' Tarble admitted. 'I don't really want to order her about.'

'Then someone else will,' said Vegeta. Bulma spun around and looked at Tarble.

'Give me an order,' she snarled.

'What?'

'Give me an order. That's an order, Mr Tarble!'

Tarble looked shocked. 'Um, er, do my hair like you did Vegeta's on Grenouillea Two!' he blurted out.

'Good,' she said, and walked away to fetch a capsule from her collection.

'You weirdo!' Krillin said to Tarble. 'Why would you order her to do that?'

Vegeta wondered too.

'I don't know! That's the only thing that came to mind!'

He watched from the couch as Bulma sat on the top step and got Tarble to sit one step below her, leaning back against her knees so that she could comb his spikes of hair. The styling goop came out and she used it to smooth the stubborn hair back into a bun, filling the lounge with its pong. It wasn't a bad smell, really, kind of a fake fruitiness, but strong for a Saiyan nose. It immediately reminded him of their time in the apartment, and all their posturing and manoeuvring that turned out to be all for naught. He wanted to blame Bulma for how badly things turned out on Namek, though he knew that Frieza beating them there probably doomed the entire operation before they'd even landed. But she had made things worse, so he could hold that against her.

Once Tarble's top knot was done and he'd admired himself in a hand mirror (and Bulma had praised his "cuteness"), Brolly made a similar request to be groomed, only without the hair style, just the hair combing.

Vegeta watched all this feeling not slightly powerless. He couldn't even ask for the same treatment because of this stupid contraption around his head. But why would I want it? he asked himself. Well, he did remember the sensation as being very pleasant. Just as he had that thought, Brolly's eyes slid closed in pleasure and Vegeta felt something shift inside him – a kind of clutching, anxious feeling. He had the sudden, strange impulse to halt this exercise.

He did nothing though, and endured the strange feeling, finding relief when Bulma finished and Brolly stood up. When Kakarott asked for braids Bulma threatened to castrate him, but Vegeta ordered her to do it. Strange that he felt nothing when the dolt had his hair played with, and perhaps that was because even though he'd asked for it, Kakarott seemed uncomfortable with the process, barely managing to sit still and earning a sharp reprimand each time a careless head turn pulled the braids from Bulma's fingers. When she announced she was finished Kakarott skipped away with his hair done in short, clownish braids that stuck out from his head just like his hair usually did, and Raditz dumped himself in front of her, flicking his massive mane of hair so that it engulfed her and made her squeal.

'Make me beautiful!' he ordered, and Vegeta smiled despite himself. Now this was true punishment.


Bulma quirked her brow, observing Vegeta's flushed neck as she spoon-fed him his dinner. She was sitting at the breakfast bar while he stood alongside it. Though this was meant to be a day of humiliation for her, Vegeta was taking the fact that he couldn't bend his arms enough to feed himself very poorly. At breakfast he'd somehow managed to eat the sausages and cakes by himself, and tried to lick the hot breakfast flakes from the bowl, which didn't work so well. He'd given up on them and had to have the slop wiped from his nose and eyebrows. He'd wolfed the ration bars at lunch while Bulma held them out for him, but he wasn't going to get any dinner in him without being actively fed.

'You want some mash next?' she asked sweetly.

'I don't care what's next, just feed me!'

'Okay, open wide!'

She smiled as he chomped the mash off the spoon so violently that she almost lost her grip on it. His look soured further. She was really enjoying this. Being this close to him, even with that expression on his face, still caused surges of excitement and perhaps awe to ricochet around her body. She became sweeter and cheerier with every spoon she put in Vegeta's mouth, her soul alight with joy at the irony, while his mood did the opposite.

She wouldn't have admitted it out loud, but she had also rather enjoyed doing the boys' hair, even though getting the tangles out of Raditz's hair had taken over an hour. It had been therapeutic somehow. She had even put Krillin's short fuzz into spikes and afterwards he didn't seem quite so angry with her. Cooking breakfast had definitely sucked though, as did Nappa's "footrub". Urgh! She felt defiled.

She held up another spoonful.

'Now for some tasty stew-goo! Mmm-mmm, smells delicious! Here comes the plane, open the hangar!' She made a childish motor noise, flying the spoon towards Vegeta's mouth in a bumpy landing, but when the spoon got to his lips they stayed shut. 'Hey,' she said, bumping the spoon against them. 'Open up! Don't you want any more? Don't you like the stew?'

He turned his face slightly so he could talk without a spoon being forced into his mouth.

'I am not a babe, Woman. You are walking on thin ice.'

'Well, you're acting like a baby now, not wanting to eat your stew. I know you must still be hungry; this is only your second tray!'

Suddenly she felt a force on the end of the spoon, even though there was nothing touching it.

'Huh?'

She gripped the spoon harder, pulling up against the tip being pulled down, and then the force was gone and the bowl of the spoon shot upwards, firing its contents right at her face. Fatty Grenouillean stew splattered her and dripped from her hair. Raditz, who must've been watching, brayed with laughter.

'WHAT?' she screamed.

That caught everyone's attention and triggered universal amusement. Vegeta broke out his wicked smile.

'Did you do that?' she cried, gravy running down her neck. She hadn't even known that this was a power Vegeta possessed.

He grinned. 'Maybe I should be practicing my chi manipulation rather than putting up with such a disrespectful servant!'

'Maybe you should!' she replied, getting up to storm away from the bathroom.

'You weren't dismissed!'

'I'm covered in your food!' she replied, not slowing down.

'Servant Woman, come here and finish the job.'

Fuming she turned and stomped back. 'Why? You can just levitate the spoon to your mouth, apparently.'

'Perhaps I could, but I prefer not to wear my dinner, and you need to learn the proper attitude.'

Furious, and aware that everyone was watching now, she scooped a massive spoonful of stew and presented it before Vegeta's face. He lunged forward to wrap his mouth around it, and just as he did she pulled the spoon back a little. A gush of gravy ran down his chin and a chunk of meat tumbled down and hit the floor. The smug look was wiped right off his face.

'Oopsie. Looks like you got some food on you anyway. Try and be more careful next time.'

His eyes narrowed on her as she brought the tray up to under his chin. 'I'll just put the tray here so that the mucky pup doesn't get any more food on the floor.' She took another spoonful and tried to figure out if there was any way she could subtly cause him to get gravy in his own hair. 'Open wide, your Highness.'

She shoved the spoon at his face, and then the tray flipped up and over, throwing the rest of its contents down her front.

'Uh!' she said in shock, feeling warm gravy running down inside her shirt and mash plopping to the floor. Everyone else held their breath and then Vegeta began laughing, the others joining in.

Bulma saw red, and recalling the still-loaded spoon in her hand, she flicked its contents right across his face.

'Ah!' He blinked and backed up, gravy dripping from his eyelashes, then started laughing again. Bulma bent down to grab the splatters of food from the floor while Vegeta floated away, laughing his head off.

'Someone get a hold of her!' he shouted. She launched wild missiles and globs of mashed vegetable went wide and spackled across the ceiling, and then Bulma was being restrained by Nappa, judging by the size of the hands around her arms.

'Coward!' she yelled at Vegeta floating near the kitchen ceiling. He couldn't go far - he was tethered by the wire that went down to the laptop sitting on the breakfast bar. He really did look ridiculous in her signal suit. 'Come back here and fight like a man!'

'I'm under no obligation to engage in food fights with the servants,' he said, still grinning. 'Go and get cleaned up, then come back here and clean this mess up. I think I'll find someone a bit less volatile to help me eat.'

The hands shoved her towards the other corridor entrance on the other side of the lounge, and Bulma went, making a show of her temper, though it began to rapidly cool as she made her way to the bathroom. Seeing her gravy-festooned reflection in the vanity she snorted. Well.

Well, indeed.

She took her time showering and changing, and when she made it back the others, including Vegeta, had finished their dinners, and contrary to what he'd said about her cleaning up, the mess was already gone. She wondered who'd done it and on who's orders. They'd even wiped Vegeta's face. There were no more orders for her that evening, and whoever had to help Vegeta go to the bathroom it wasn't her. She ate her frozen dinner in peace.


Later, as they drifted into the nightly routines, the over-crowded bed became somewhat of an issue again. Brolly, who had no set sleeping spot since they'd woken him from the tank, settled his blanket next to Bulma's again. Coming back from the bathroom she saw this and hesitated. Ah, no, was her immediate reaction. This couldn't happen.

She knelt down in her spot and said to him, 'Hey, Brolly, I think this is Vegeta's spot.'

'Oh, yeah,' he said, and got up again, pushing his blanket closer to Bulma's, hemming her in between himself and Goku. 'He sleeps on the outside, I remember. I'll sleep here.'

'Um…'

Vegeta returned from the kitchen where Tarble had been helping him clean his teeth. He was still levitating about like a floating roll-roast clutching a laptop.

'Brolly, you're in my spot.'

'No, I left room for you, see?'

Vegeta glanced at Bulma for one burning-black fraction of a second. 'No. You sleep at the other end.' His tone brooked no argument, but Brolly dared it anyway.

'But why?'

'Because I said so.'

'But what does it matter?'

Vegeta's expression grew angrier.

'Because I need to stay next to him tonight and monitor any signal that comes off him,' said Bulma, filling the silence before it could get awkward.

Brolly looked at her helplessly. 'Okay, then.'

'Watch yourself, Brolly,' Vegeta warned. 'I will remember you talked back to me when we are on land again.'

Brolly sullenly moved his blanket to the other end of the mattress, forcing a reshuffle along the whole length of the bed to redistribute space. Bulma watched him go, frowning. What was up with him? Vegeta watched him go too and then floated himself down into his bed and placed her laptop above his pillow.

'I wish you to know that this suit is diabolical. Did you specifically design it as a torture and humiliation device?'

'Of course not! Quit moaning – this thing is going to make your life a lot easier.'

'Easy for you to say – you're not wearing it.'

Bulma lay down and turned away to hide her smile, as she was sure it would be misinterpreted. It wasn't that she was happy he was suffering (okay, it was a little). She wasn't sure why, but her heart was swelling with something that felt like joy and sadness at the same time.


It was still full dark when the laptop beeped. Just a little beep. Krillin stirred, then came awake enough to wonder if he'd dreamed the beep, or if it had really happened. Then he heard Vegeta moving.

'Bulma,' the prince whispered. 'Wake up - your contraption made a noise.'

'Urgh,' replied Bulma.

'Bulma! Woman, wake up!'

'What?' she complained.

'Deal with this thing! If I have to wear it a minute longer than I need to there will be blood!'

Business as usual, then. Krillin allowed himself to drift back off to sleep again to the sound of grumpy whispers.

Bulma dragged the laptop over groggily and opened it up.

'The signal went out,' she observed.

'Where did it come from?' Vegeta asked.

'It's still calculating – give it a second.'

'Can I take the suit off now?'

'Yes.'

Vegeta made a sudden movement, and she heard a snapping noise.

'Don't tear it off!' she said, turning to see him in the light of the screen. 'We might need to use it again!'

He'd already torn the wires around one hand off, but now he sank back into the mattress in despair.

'I'll take it off for you,' she told him, and sat up. She began with the wires on his arm, untwisting the ends to release each loop. Vegeta's skin was warm, and Bulma felt a shiver go up her back from leaving the warm nest of blankets and fur for the cooler air of the cabin. She took a quick glance down the bed and saw that no one else seemed awake, so she moved slowly and gently so as not to make more noise than necessary. Her stealth was prompted not so much by consideration as by a desire to have a peaceful, private moment with Vegeta. She valued those moments, she now realised. She missed them.

Vegeta said nothing and watched her as she made her way to his shoulder and then crabbed her way over him to do the other arm. Then she started on one leg, and Vegeta flinched and pulled his foot away as she accidentally tickled him. She smiled. Huh, he's ticklish. Who'd've thought?

She was halfway up his thigh again and she was starting to grow warmer again at thought of undoing wires at the crease of his groin, but Vegeta reached down and started to undo them himself. Damn.

Before too long the two of them had both legs freed.

'Sit up,' she whispered to him, and when he did she went around behind him and undid the wires on his head, neck and back. It couldn't be helped that she touched him over and over while doing so, and perhaps it also couldn't be helped that she became befuddled by the gentle contact, wishing that things were not ruined between them.

Bulma had no idea that there could be such intimacy just in the sound of someone's breathing. Sure, they were all breathing in here – Goku was almost snoring. But Vegeta's conscious, active breath was picked out by her ears, faster and louder than the rest, like it was telling her a story without words. Her own breath was telling her things too, becoming a little ragged, and her heart was beating hard enough for her to hear it thumping in her ears.

Stop it, she warned herself again. He can probably hear me breathing too – hear my heart. It skipped a beat. Don't get turned on, he'll smell it! He doesn't like me anymore!

And yet he had chosen to sleep next to her again. He trusted her enough to want to. He didn't need to – he could have slept on the couch or upstairs or allowed Brolly to sleep between them, but no, he wanted to be near her. Bulma let her fingers slow a little more on the last few wires, lingering, her heart starting to pound with anticipated rejection. His breath seemed to catch a little but that could have been her imagination. Otherwise he did nothing. Surely he could tell that she was dragging this out on purpose; touching him on purpose?

Blushing with shame, and almost shaking with nervousness, she finally ran out of wires and gathered the suit into a bundle to put aside. Vegeta lay back again and watched her.

Am I crazy?

She looked into his eyes. Just stopped what she was doing and waited to see what he would do. His expression was hard to read with the screen light just glancing his forehead, nose and chin, and his dark eyes were almost lost in blackness. One, two, three heartbeats passed before Vegeta spoke.

'What is it?' he said, very softly.

A really inconvenient and silly crush, Bulma thought to herself. But the answer she shared was, 'I don't know.'

'Does your computer say where the tracking device is?' he asked.

'Oh. Yes, I'd almost forgot.'

She lay back down on her stomach and peeked at the rudimentary interface on her laptop and then froze.

'Where is it?' asked Vegeta more gruffly, seeing the stricken look on her face. It was the worst case scenario, and if she'd thought her heart was pounding before it was racing now. She turned to him as he rolled onto his side, not wanting to tell him and end this interlude of quiet and peace and closeness, but it was already destroyed.

'It's in your head, Vegeta.'

His shock reverberated through her on the tail of her own. 'On the surface?' he asked.

She shook her own head, feeling ill. 'No. It's right in the middle.'