Chapter Thirty-Five: Time Out

Authors Notes: Guy's, I'm -really- sorry about the late update. I just hope you're all still interested in the story (and that you haven't lost faith in me!). Like I have said many times before I WILL finish this ^_^ Meanwhile, my excuse is (again) writers block, and the fact that I've been working on my novel, which is much more important than this fic.sorry, but that's the truth!

Bulma lay on her stomach, watching the Prince as he slept. His chest rose evenly, even with the weight of her body on him. She smiled. Such a funny thing it was that someone with such a tainted past could look so angelic when they slept. Truly, just another enigma about Vegeta that she knew made him irresistible.

The twin bite marks on her neck were nearly gone. Absently she ran her fingers over them, still wondering at their true meaning. She was afraid to ask the Prince what the bite marks signified, thinking it might upset him, or even worse, offend him. But then, how was she supposed to know? She wasn't exactly an expert on the mating habits of full-blooded Sayajin's.

Now, however, she had her very own patient to study on.

She blushed at the thought and rose, regretfully, from the gentle embrace of her Prince, heading for the showers. She had not wanted to leave his warmth, but she had not wanted to wake him. Once they had arrived back at the ship to find Koru and Arden together, a sudden and unexpected pain had attacked Bulma. She sighed as she thought about it. The pain hadn't been terrible, but it -had- been enough to put her off of the idea of a sensual shower with Vegeta. They had ended up curling up together on the downstairs bed, falling asleep within moments. She supposed it was the next best thing.

She massaged her scalp slowly with the remaining shampoo that her father had supplied Vegeta with. Obviously, her father didn't think the Prince cared too much about personal hygiene; there was only one bottle of shampoo and one bar of soap. Bulma went through two bottles a week, sometimes more. She did have an awful lot of hair, however.

She thought of Spider and Ghost. She and Vegeta had meant to go looking for them, but one thing had led to another. She frowned at herself. Could she really had forsaken her friends for lust? It made her feel awful. She made a decision to go looking for them again, perhaps with Koru and Arden. She smiled at the thought. They really were an adorable couple.yet they seemed in denial somehow.

Much like she and a certain Sayajin Prince.

Bulma jumped as the shower curtain suddenly slid to the left to reveal Vegeta. She gasped in fright before realizing who it was. She covered her breasts with her free hand and clutched the bar of soap with the other. "Vegeta! You scared the hell out of me! Why do you have to do that?"

He smirked, looking over her appraisingly. "Does it matter?" he shrugged, then narrowed his eyes suddenly. "Are you all right?"

"Why wouldn't I be?" Bulma snapped, confused at his words and angered at his intrusion.

He snorted, "Well, you weren't exactly feeling too well last night." He said. "I wondered if you still felt ill." He turned to leave. "That's the last time I'll give a shit about you."

"No," Bulma grabbed him by the arm and hauled him back toward her, "Come in with me. I'm sorry. I didn't mean to snap at you."

He watched her for a second before grumbling and pulling his shirt over his head. "Fine." He said, "How could I resist a naked woman's soapy offer?"

Bulma smiled shyly as she pulled him in the shower with her. It wasn't the first time she had seen the man naked, but it was the first time she had had a shower with him. She watched the water pelt his tanned skin as he reached for the bar of soap in her hand.

"What's on your mind." He didn't make it a question, more of a statement. She sighed, irritated that he could already know how she worked so well. Had something more than attraction happened between them?

"Spider and Ghost." She admitted. "I.I feel awful for the way we." she trailed off, avoiding him. "It just makes me feel like a real dirt bag."

"Why?" he smirked, and she hated herself for shivering under the expression. "Just because we had a night of intense animal sex instead of looking for them?"

She slapped him, her hand sliding easily off his soapy chest. "Do you have to be such an ass about everything?"

"I try." He replied. "If you're so worried, then we'll go looking for them after this."

"I was thinking the same thing." She said. She was about to reach for the shampoo when a sudden commotion in the kitchen startled her.

She froze. "What was that?"

Vegeta's Ki flared to life instantly, startling her even further. "Don't do that!" she hissed, straining to listen.

"Stay here." He ordered, stepping out of the shower. He didn't bother to throw a towel around his waist, but simply stalked out of the bathroom toward the kitchen. Bulma leaned against the shower stall, waiting, the water smoothing her hair over her eyes. She brushed it aside and snorted. It must be nice to be so confident. Telling him to be careful would have been useless.

Seconds later she heard another bang, a curse from Vegeta, and silence. She strained her ears even further. What the hell was happening out there?

Bulma was about to go investigate for herself when a large brown nose poked itself through the shower curtain. She shrieked and doubled backward, trying desperately to get out of the way of the strange beast. Only when it poked its entire head through did she realize that it was Spider.

"Spider!" She cried, trying to still her beating heart. "You came back!"

Spider smiled his lopsided doggy/cat smile at her, though only halfheartedly. Bulma kneeled down while the water pelted her back. She frowned. Something was wrong.where was Ghost? Spider should have been leaping around and growling and wagging his tails, such was his usual behavior. She reached out and scratched his ears. "Are you ok, boy?" she asked softly.

Vegeta walked in seconds later with Ghost in his arms. Bulma stood and gratefully took the Ceribulum from him. "Ghost!" she said happily. "You're ok!" Ghost chirped and nuzzled against her neck, the water smoothing down his fur and making him appear very small. Bulma turned and shut the water off. She stepped out, Ghost still in her arms, and Vegeta wrapped a towel around her shoulders. She smiled thankfully at him.

"Where were you two, huh?" she held Ghost at arms length, inspecting him. They both seemed free of injury. "We were so worried!" Vegeta was kneeling beside Spider, inspecting his body.

"He's not entirely all right, woman." He said after a moment. "His injuries were still too fresh. They hadn't had time to heal properly." He stood. "I guess he was just too concerned about finding Ghost."

Spider wagged his tails happily, but looked tired enough to collapse. "Come on." Vegeta clicked his tongue and Spider followed him obediently.

"Good boy." Bulma said warmly as he passed by her legs.

Time was passing quickly on R'haksin, prolonged by Bulma's sickness, which, Vegeta noted with dismay, was finally beginning to hit it's peak. They had two weeks left, which meant fourteen days before the Psytrim would finally burst free of it's hold and (hopefully) be the one to take Bulma's pain away. So much had happened in the last two weeks, so much pain and excitement and development. And yet, it seemed to have happened so slowly. Fortricres continued to advance like an ever-threatening raincloud, ready to burst and pour its toxins upon Bulma.

It did not come in violent spasms or bouts of fever, as it had before, but was now a different sort sickness. She seemed older; somehow, walking about the ship with a slowness that gave doubt to every adventure she had ever been on. So full of life, she was, that Vegeta often found himself being unable to watch. She would sigh upon sitting down, and groan and complain about her backpain and constant weariness, as though she was a woman of seventy years.

And.another strange thing was happening.

Bulma had begun to spend long hours in the basement of the ship, tinkering and puttering around with assorted scraps of metal and machinery that her father had left behind during the building of the ship. Vegeta couldn't possibly imagine what she could be doing, and every time he had asked her, Bulma had written it off a simple 'mechanical playtime'.

Vegeta didn't know what the hell 'mechanical playtime' was, but with a mind like Bulma's, he knew it was much more than she was letting on.

Bulma had just gotten out of the shower, and now she stood looking at her reflection in the mirror. She had been mulling over the last week's events, and was about to go and pay a visit to Strifelon and Koru and Arden, when she was struck with another sharp pain in her abdomen. For so long, the Forae and the other nasty symptoms had seemed to elude her, but now, it was sneaking up upon her once more, with a forgotten fierceness, and a renewed intensity. She leaned against the counter with one hand and popped her small pink birth control pill out of its package. The last thing she needed, she thought, as she pushed it between her clenched lips, was to become pregnant. Now that she and Vegeta were sleeping together regularly, she was ashamed to admit that she had begun to get careless. She wondered what would happen to a baby whose mother was infected with such a strange disease. She had the mind to know it would not be pleasant, and she swallowed the small pill, shutting the rest of the package away in the cabinet.

Vegeta was waiting outside the bathroom for her. She smiled wearily when she saw him; the pain in her stomach had not gone away.

He grunted a greeting to her and pushed past her into the bathroom. She continued walking into the kitchen, where she began to fix herself an Alka- Seltzer drink and a buttered piece of toast. She dared not try anything else; she was beginning to feel light-headed.

When Vegeta returned Bulma expected him to ignore her and continue with his own errands, but instead he sat down at the table with her, propping his feet up across from her. His countenance was far from happy, but it was not angry, and in his deeply set frown she took note of something she had not yet seen from the man.

The toast popped, startling her from her thoughts before she could get a hold of them, and she stood and began buttering it. She took tiny nibbles from it, while Vegeta watched her. She still could not quite grasp what it was that was strange about him today. She swallowed, and frowned.

"Is something wrong?" she asked, for lack of anything better to say.

Vegeta shook his head. "Do you feel well this morning?"

Bulma sighed and shook her head. The toast was doing no good for her. She placed it down on the counter, and sipped at the bubbling concoction.

"No. My stomach is getting to me again." She said, raising the glass. "Which is why I'm drinking this."

"Well." he stood, and she sensed that she was about to discover the origin of his strangeness. "I was thinking."

She put down the drink and dabbed at imaginary crumbs on her lips with a napkin. "Yes?" she said hopefully.

He seemed to be struggling. Bulma could not help but smile a tiny smile as he rubbed his neck and cast his eyes downward (if only for a fleeting moment). Bulma approached him and put her hands on his hips, loosely, looking up into eyes that were trying desperately to avoid her own.

"We do not have much time left, here," he paused, "And there are some very.beautiful.rivers that I would like to show you."

Bulma's eyes lit up, and her genuine smile seemed to set Vegeta at ease. She felt his muscles relax as she threw herself into his arms and hugged him for all her trembling arms would allow.

"I thought," he said, his hands coming slowly around her, "That Koru and that wimp of a boyfriend could come, as well." he said. She felt him gently lay his lips in her hair, inhaling her shampoo.

"Vegeta, why?" she asked when she pulled away. "Why are you being so nice to me all of a sudden?"

"You." Vegeta said, awkwardly, "You deserve it."

Bulma smiled and thought to herself that yes, she deserved a day of fun and peace, but that she did not deserve the affections of this man, for it took a good person, indeed, to be able to conquer such pride and ignorance in the name of love.