Chi-Chi groaned as she trudged up another foothill carrying bag upon bag of groceries. All that work she put into making Goku get a license and this is how it pays off? She stopped for a moment to catch her breath She silently cursed everyone she could think to blame, Supermarkets, shoe makers, Goku, Goku, and Goku.

He was the one who suggested living off in the middle of nowhere. Honestly, she wasn't sure why she had agreed to a stipulation like that. At the time she was thinking some alone time with her beloved husband would be good but in reality it cut her off from everything she knew. Sure she still saw her father, but other people? Never.

She had seen the exact same people for years and years; had the same exact conversation with them time after time. Who ever said country living was relaxing was full of it. The work was hard, the winters harsh and the alone time unbearable. Had Goku been around more often, maybe living so far away from civilization would be somewhat bearable, but times like these, where he went for months and months with no word. She would find herself dreaming of running away from everything with a knight in shining armor, the one she would dream of when she was a child. He'd ride up on his mighty steed, announce that he loved her and had been searching for her for years. She'd swoon over him and climb upon his horse and they'd ride off into the sunset. Goku used to be that knight, but lately, it was nothing she was sure.

Cringing, she looked down at her feet, they were blistered and she could feel the cuts forming inside her shoe. If only she had better shoes for these rough pathways. These ones barely covered her feet and were worn beyond giving her feet any support at all. She had ten more miles to go and she was already ready to give up. But something (pure will? Determination? Hope her family would return tonight?) made her limp on.

She shouldn't have let Bulma keep her car the night earlier. Of course, there were a lot of things she shouldn't have done that night.

Bulma had found her and Vegeta at dawn. She had dozed off on the bed and Vegeta had even begun to nod off on his perch but Bulma's barging in had startled them both. Chi-Chi and been flabbergasted and the Saiyajin prince defensive. Really, why did he insist that everyone know he was a prince anyway? She was a princess and you didn't here her running around telling everyone?

Anyway, Bulma had found them. She had been surprised that Chi-Chi hadn't left and even more so that she had somehow gotten into a long-winded conversation with Vegeta without incident. The ensuing conversation between the women had been far from friendly. Bulma had commented on the two making, 'quite the pair.' And then after having her fun offered her a ride home with one of the Capsule Corp. drivers.

Chi-Chi had resisted at first, she had, believe it or not, driven there herself after all, albeit shakily. It was only one of a dozen times she had been behind a wheel. She would have made it home fine by herself except, she realized that one of her headlights was on the blink and reluctantly decided it would be safer to take a ride.

Politely, Bulma even offered to take a look at the car, 'and see if there wasn't something she could do to fix it.' She thanked Bulma for her generosity, to which the genius answered, 'anything for Gohan's mom.'

Anything for Gohan's mom.

She huffed as she continued on her way home. Wasn't she worthy of anything just because she was Chi-Chi, not because she was Son Chi-Chi? No, she decided all she was now were Goku's wife and Gohan's mom and that was partly her fault. She had cut herself off from the rest of the world hadn't she? And she was the one who had been bitchy to all of Goku's friends when they had come along, but it was just she had lost her social sense after all those years alone, she didn't know how to deal with people. But how do you explain something like that? You can't to someone who doesn't understand, someone who hasn't experienced such a large amount of solitude.

******

"Onna. I demand you fix the gravity room this instant! I've been waiting for precisely twenty four hours and you've yet to repair it!" Vegeta hollered as Bulma toiled away on Chi-Chi's car.

Slowly and threateningly, she looked up at the Saiyajin through slitted eyes, "If memory serves, I DID FIX IT TWENTY FOUR AGO, you baka!"

"Hmph, I hardly call pressing a few buttons 'fixing'." He responded, crossing his arms frustrated.

"And I hardly call nearly killing yourself on a daily basis a training regiment.but it works for you doesn't it?!" she answered snidely. Really, the man could be too predictable.

"The thing gave out after five minutes woman, I would say that means you did a poor job doing this supposed, 'fixing'." He growled, taking a step towards her.

She turned to him violently, "Well if you were more careful in there, it wouldn't keep breaking you klutz!"

His eye twitched," I don't even know why I waste my time on this mud ball."

"That's a good question Vegeta? What keeps you here?" Bulma answered her arms akimbo.

He stalked up to her face and through gritted teeth answered, "Because of the spawn, nothing more nothing less, that is why."

"So what I am? Some one night stand that got knocked up?" she said, staring back at him as icily as he was at her.

"You said it." He hissed staring at her for a prolonged moment before turning on his heels and flying off.

"Yeah that's right! Run off somewhere! Hell why don't you go and visit your harpy friend!" She screamed throwing the wrench she had been gripping in her hand at him.

She hated him, she decided as she stood there seething. What was she thinking when she slept with that disgusting creature? He'd never be anything but a snide, smug jerk.

****

Vegeta seethed as he flew over cities and countryside, trying to sort things out in his mind. That damn woman, That damn brat. Damn everything, he hated what he had become, a mere shadow of his former self. He used to be a strong soldier now he was some pseudo-human, not a Saiyajin that was for sure.

He looked down at his gloved hands. Some many innocent and not so innocent had been slain by those hands. They held in them pride and sin, evil and good. He scowled and landed in some forest, somewhere he was sure he hadn't been before. It looked to be untouched and lush with vegetation. Imagine that, something the humans hadn't destroyed.

Good, he was far away from aggravation then. Or would have been had his mind decided to stop working. Death would be a cherished gift, he sometimes thought. Then he wouldn't have to think the things he sometimes thought or feel what he sometimes felt. Guilt, that was the new feeling he was having, wasn't that ridiculous? Actual guilt. It was maddening; it made him want to blast something, of course most things made him want to blast something.

He walked slowly through the forest. Chancing upon a figure up ahead, he hid behind a tree, it looked as though it was some sort of forest animal, he smirked. His victim. E was due for some target practice. He released a blast and watched as it made it's way towards the creature. Then he realized something. The creature was humming. The creature was walking on two legs. The creature had a slender figure. He squinted and looked closer at the creature.it was human.

"Shimatta!" he yelled shooting off after his ki blast and sending another blast to divert it off its course, just in time. He landed in front of the person; he just saved. The person huffed annoyed at him.

"Vegeta? What the hell are you doing here?" the voice asked from behind a mound of paper bag.

Chi-Chi? What was she doing out here? He cocked an eyebrow and tried to get a better look at her, "What am I doing out here? What are you doing out here?"

"I live here moron." She responded motioning as best she could to the path ahead where a small cottage lay.

"What a pathetic excuse for a living quarters." He mused to himself.

She rolled her eyes, "Hey excuse me prince charming, thanks for the help with the grocery bags."

He scowled, what made her think he was going to help her? He'd say he'd done his duty saving her life. He looked over at her from the corner of his eyes, she looked so pitiful, he couldn't believe he was actually going to do this. Begrudgingly he took the bags from her and stamped towards the home down the long path, after a few feet, he realized the woman was a pretty far behind him.

He looked back at her, "Can't you walk?" he spat.

"I just walked ten miles to the market and ten back, up hills and through rough terrain on practically my bare feet, I'm lucky I can limp." She answered angrily.

"For the love of." he cursed, storming over to her and turning his back to her, kneeling down.

"What are you doing?" she asked mystified.

He sighed frustrated at how long this was taking, "Hop on, I'll carry you back."

"I uh." she hesitated.

"Just do it woman, or I'll leave you and the damned food out here, I'm in no mood." He answered testily.

She growled, "You're in no mood! Look at me feet! You have no right."

"Just hold on!" he yelled back to her.

"Fine!" she finally relented, grabbing his neck tightly. He might have won that little squabble but she was going to make him pay for it.

He stood up and began walking down the path. After a few moments he looked back at her, scowling, "Do you have to hold on so tightly?"

She smirked, "Am I too strong for the Saiyajin prince?"

He grumbled something to himself about a conspiracy against him and suddenly lifted off the ground, much to Chi-Chi's dismay.

"What the hell are you doing?" she panicked, grabbing him tighter.

"I'm making this go faster." He answered speeding down the hill.

"GHA! Stop it! I'm gonna fall off." She screamed in protest.

"With the grip you have?" he answered snidely, "I doubt that."

She closed her eyes, deciding not to see the world speed past her. Her stomach was doing flips as she felt the ground spinning around her. She buried her face in his back, trying to gain some semblance of balance.

Finally, after what seemed like a lifetime, the spinning stopped and she opened her eyes to see her home in front of her. She looked at it dazed for a moment before Vegeta's gruff voice brought her back to reality.

"Will you let go now?" he growled.

Chi-Chi fought back the blood rushing to her face and let him go; wincing as her feet hit the ground, "Thank you."

"Hmph." Was all he said as she opened the door to the cottage and put the groceries down.

"Well it would be rude of me to not to invite you to stay for dinner after your help." She said as she saw him turn to leave. It would be nice to have some company she thought to herself as she watched him intently.

He turned around and eyed her suspiciously as he examined his neck with his hand, "Dinner?"

"Yeah.I was about to cook it anyhow." She answered, suddenly feeling uncomfortable again, she wasn't sure she liked how he looked at her at times, it was so intense.

It was better than the alternative, Vegeta reasoned to himself. He couldn't bear to look at the blue haired woman right then or stomach her cooking. Then again, that meant staying in Kakarot's home, but he was being fed.

"Fine." He answered turning from her and sitting rigidly on one of the chairs in her kitchen.

She smiled bitter sweetly; well at least she hadn't scared him away. *~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

Author's Note: Thanks for the kind words guys. Your reviews fueled me on to get passed the writer's block. Especially, Bucky's extra hard pushes. So how was the chapter? I aim to please and now that I have a game plan for the fic. I think the chapters should be coming out a lot faster.