DISCLAIMER: blah, blah, blah... you already know what i'm going to say!

NOTE: Sorry for not updating in a while, but I'm up to my neck in school stuff. This is a little short and it was all I had time for right now. I did this in one sitting so if it's not great don't hold it against me. Thanks for reading!

CHAPTER 2: Self Control

'What's going on here? Where am I? ANSWER ME!'

"Hey, it's okay. Wake Up... wake up..."

Chi-Chi gasped as she came out of her nightmare. She was immediately at ease when she saw Goku's smiling face above her. He was standing beside the bed holding a plate of leftover fried chicken.

"What time is it?" Chi-Chi asked as she sat up and wiped the sweat from her brow.

"It's 3 in the afternoon," he mumbled with a piece of chicken in his mouth

"WHAT! And you just let me sleep? I need to get those dishes from lunch clean and put away!" she said with urgency.

"Relax, it's all taken care of. The boys and I got it all done for you."

"WHAT!" Chi-Chi yelled in dismay.

"Whoa, whoa! Hey, did I say something wrong?" Goku asked with a confused look on his face. "I thought It'd make you happy."

Chi-Chi was frozen in her sitting postion spacing out as tears began to well up in her eyes. "W-Why..." she stuttered as she held back the tears.
"...why did you do that?"

"Well...you looked tired and I figured after preparing a lunch of that magnitude you could use a nap," he said after setting the plate of food on a short table near the bed. His expression became more concerned as he leaned in to wipe a stray tear from her cheek. "Chi-Chi are you alright?"

"That was my job...that was one thing that I could do that you couldn't. That was one of my abilities as a good wife...and now you don't even need me for that," she said as her control over the tears broke. "Goku, why do you stay with me? What do you need me for? How do I fit in to this family and-"

Goku pulled her into an embrace and held her cheek against his. "Don't talk like that," he said softly into her ear. "You are the hinge that holds us all together. Me and the boys wouldn't be here without you. Many times in battle when I almost lost the will to fight, it was the thought of you that kept me going. I would say to myself, 'I have someone special to protect, so I can't give up.' As long as I'm with you I will, without a doubt, never fail. I'm not just strong because I'm Saiyan, but because you give me strength. It's not menial tasks like cooking or cleaning that make me love you, it's the emotional bonds we share that were built through the lives we've lived. I thought you'd have figured that out by now?"

Chi-Chi grabbed his shoulder and cried tears of happiness all over his gi.

"Damnit! Open up woman, this isn't the bathroom so you shouldn't be taking this long!" Vegeta yelled throught the door of the gravity chamber as Bulma tinkered with wires under the central console.

"Be patient!" Bulma screamed. "Geez, if only you were this eager in the bedroom"
she muttered to herself.

"I heard that!" Vegeta yelled. "Don't forget about my superior Saiyan hearing, woman. You're lucky I put up with you! And I don't particularly care for those stupid new hair styles your always trying." Vegeta began imitating Bulma's voice while shaking his hips and patting his hair. "Oh Veggie-chan, come and look at my new hair isn't it fabulous! I just got it done, do you want to touch it? Do ya?" He got so into his impression that he didn't notice Bulma walking towards the door with an angry look on her face.

Bulma kicked the door off it's hinges and straight into Vegeta's face. She wore a crooked smile and her left eye twitched uncontrollably.

Vegeta, caught off guard by shock more than pain, brushed the steel door aside with ease, but slower than usual. In a second Bulma's hand was clasped around Vegeta's neck and she had him pinned up against the wall. Her dark black eyes gleamed with energy as they met his and they both understood what was to come next.

"Let's go! Right here, right now!" Bulma spit through her teeth. "I'm sick of your arrogance. If you won't give me the respect I deserve willingly, then I'll just have to beat it out of you!"

"Bulma, I'm not into guy's okay. You may have just put our marriage in jeopardy by growing balls!" Vegeta mocked as he pried his wife's hand from his throat. "But if you're so eager to learn then I guess I have no choice but to teach you."

Bulma backed off and assumed a defendive pose. She had never felt so energized in her entire life. She completely disregarded her previous statement about secrecy. She wanted Vegeta to know she wasn't weak anymore. "Bring it on."

Vegeta smirked and flashed toward her. He unconsciously threw a weaker punch - and paid for it in full. Out of nowhere Bulma's foot hit him in the jaw and sent him flying into the gravity chamber. She dashed after him comparitively slower than he had come at her and Vegeta was fully aware of her approach but, out of curiosity, took the hit. Her punch was decent enough, however at this level he wouldn't be entertained for very long. Still, he couldn't help but feel a familiarity with her unusually strong ki and it nagged at him to find out what it was so he played along.

Bulma sliced, punched, kicked, and body checked Vegeta repeatedly, but he wouldn't fall down. 'Isn't he tired yet? Of course not, he's Vegeta.' Bulma became enraged at him for not giving up and began to feel tingles move from her core outward and down her arms. Her obvious lack of battle tactics had taken the fight nowhere except around the chamber in circles. Fortunately, she had unknowingly built up ki behind her fists with the prolonged fighting. 'I don't know what this feeling is, but it feels good. I think I can win!' "Take this!" she cried out as she threw a flaming white fist into Vegeta's face, releasing her entire reserve of ki at once.

Vegeta accepted the attack and was knocked through the wall of the structure and into the bushes outside. It was then that he recognized the ki as Saiyan. He quickly got up and flew back into the chamber via the huge hole in the wall only to find Bulma lying unconscious. "Humph, it was too much for her to control and she used all of it at once. Pitifull." He picked her up gently and carried her into the house and upstairs to their room. Then he set her down on the bed and left her alone. 'She'll tell me she's ready.'

Bulma awoke to the annoying repetitive beep of her alarm clock. "Morning Already?" she yawned. "Oh man, why am I so sore? My muscles feel like they're on fire!" She rolled over and saw that Vegeta's side of the bed was empty, as usual. He was always up earlier than her to get a jump on his training. She laughed to herself a little, "I beat him. I bet he's training extra hard now."

"Actually," Vegeta said appearing from the bathroom in a towel, "I decided to take it easy today. I thought I might go hang out with Kakarot." He disappeared into the closet for a bit as he got dressed.

"You're certainly acting strange lately," she said, sliding out of bed and wincing at the pain her body endured just to walk.

"No stranger than you."

"Maybe." 'He never hangs out with Goku on purpose.' "Aren't you curious though?" she asked with proud smile.

"Nope," Vegeta said flatly.

This angered Bulma slightly. "But you don't even know what I was going to ask."

"Don't have the time. I've got to meet Kakarot in two minutes," he said as he stepped out of the closet fully dressed in his usual uniform. "See ya." Vegeta took off from the balcony and was out of sight in a matter of seconds.

'That was weird,' she thought, 'why is he acting so distant. Not even an insult or an order? Somethings definitely up with him. Maybe I hurt his pride as a man. Well, that will have to wait for later I should use this free time while I can and proceed with next stage of the therapy.' She picked up the phone and dialed Chi-Chi.