A/N: You thought she had run dry…you thought she'd given up…you thought wrong! I'm BACK at last! And thank God! I was beginning to think this would never work! Hopefully this pans out right, because this chapter has had MANY scenarios and I finally found one that flows. I hope. I'll let y'all decide.

Disclaimer: Second verse, same as the first.

-

Melting a Winter Heart

Chapter Six: The Five Stages

-

Bulma returned from the kitchen with a cup of hot herbal tea and knelt beside the couch where Vegeta lay. His face was turned away from her, one hand rested on his aching stomach.

"Uh, Vegeta?" He didn't respond. She placed her hand on his shoulder and gave it a gentle squeeze. Finally, he turned his face towards her. His brows were still knitted in discomfort, but a little color had returned to his face.

"Here…some tea. It might help the stomachache." He nodded a silent thanks and accepted the steaming drink. "I have a senzu with me too. I don't know if it helps illnesses, but then again, I didn't know Saiya-jins got sick."

"I am not ill onna," he mumbled, finishing off the tea. With that statement, he seemed to sink further into the cushions. Bulma smiled a little at his stubborn pride.

"Vegeta, you could barely stand up when you came in and I could smell…uh, that you got sick," she said with a little discomfort.

He quickly sat up and looked her in the face. "I am not sick!" He shouted, nearly slamming the mug down on the table. She flinched a little and Vegeta checked himself immediately. She was, after all, only trying to help. He held up a hand, eyes on the floor. "I am not sick onna," he said again, gently. "Just…sickened." Vegeta's hands suddenly became very fascinating to him. The images of that fool and his whore assaulted his brain and he clenched them into fists, seeing their scrawny necks in his grasp...

Bulma sensed his growing anger and stepped away from him. "Uhh…what about?" she asked in a small voice. Vegeta heard the apprehension and sighed heavily, trying to calm himself. This proud, pretty Chikkyu-jin would be hurt enough without him frightening her as well.

He took a deep breath and sat up more fully. He opened his mouth…and closed it again. The Saiya-jin prince had a hard time remembering the last time he was speechless. He almost considered not saying anything. But unfortunately this woman could read him like a damned book. She would know he was hiding something.

"Vegeta?"

Her inquisitive voice snapped him out of his momentary trouble. He faced her and tried again.

"Onna, I have something very…important…uh, distressing…no…"

"What?" Normally, she would have been very amused with his inability to speak. In fact she would've taken great pleasure in mocking it. But something really seemed to be troubling him, so she let it go and sat next to him. "Vegeta?"

"I'm… I apologize onna. This isn't easy to say."

"That's okay. Don't worry about how it sounds. Get it off your chest," she said, hoping she could help whatever he had to say come out a little easier.

Vegeta took one more deep breath and set his mind against his hesitation. "Okay. Well, I followed your…'boyfriend' home after he left you," he ventured. Left you in every sense, crossed his mind, but he wanted to get to the point of this uncomfortable topic fast.

"You followed…Yamcha? Why did you…were you spying on us?" she accused, raising a thin blue brow in annoyance. Vegeta averted his eyes for a moment. He'd hoped she wouldn't ask that.

"Yes, I was, but that is not important. After you went inside, he called some whore on his cellular phone and went off to meet her. I uh…witnessed a small enough portion of their courtship that resulted in…the um…" Vegeta cringed, humiliated at the state he now realized she found him in, "the way I appeared at the door. It seems he's done this before from what I listened to. I just thought you should hear about it before you found out by yourself."

There he said it. She knew now. He mentally braced himself for the very, very loud outburst from her. Inwardly, he grinned at the thought of the weakling's scarred face when she confronted him. Chances were he'd end up with a lot more scars when she was through with him.

The outburst didn't come.

Vegeta blinked. He looked at Bulma. She was staring at him, her large blue eyes absolutely boring through his. Her mouth was slack and her eyebrows pulled in slightly as she read his eyes. He could've squirmed under her close scrutiny, but princes, and certainly Saiya-jins, do not squirm.

"How could you?"

But they do jump. And Vegeta did when he heard her response. Had she heard him? "Wha-"

Bulma stood and looked down at him, her eyes sharp like blue steel. "How could you say something like that!" She shouted, resentment thick in her voice. Vegeta jumped to his feet, on the defensive.

"Because it's true onna!" He shouted back just as loudly.

"I mean jeez Vegeta! I thought we were on track, you and me! I thought I could at least trust you, and then you come out with this incredible lie!" Bulma fumed, absolutely livid.

"I am not lying onna!" He growled. He took a slow, dangerous step towards her. "I am a Saiya-jin and above all the Prince of All Saiya-jins!"

"And that means what to me?" she asked, crossing her arms over her chest.

Vegeta felt his blood stirring hot under his skin. "That ought to mean that, unlike your false mate, I have some semblance of honor about you! He's cheating on you!"

"He is not my mate, dammit!" She yelled, loud enough to make his fine ears ring. "But he is my boyfriend, and I trust him! He would never do something like that, he loves me!"

"Like hell he does! He's betrayed you! If what he's done is a token of his 'love' then you're truly pathetic!"

Bulma gaped, and laughed incredulously. "I'm pathetic! At least I don't have to make up outrageous lies just to-"

"To what!" Vegeta barked, shutting her up immediately. She looked shocked but still furious. "Tell me onna. What would I have to gain by lying to you?" he challenged

Bulma was silent. She didn't exactly know how she was going to finish her accusation. She frowned deeply. What would he have to gain by lying about Yamcha cheating on her?

Nothing. She knew deep down that was true. But it couldn't, couldn't be! It wasn't true. Yamcha loved her.

"Never mind that," she muttered, turning away from him. "For all I know, you're just trying to make my life miserable…or score points with me by thinking you're being 'noble.'"

Vegeta bristled. "Score points…what the hell are you thinking onna! You think I'd hurt you like that if I wanted you!"

Where…the hell…did that come from? He reeled inwardly. Had she caught that? What was that?

"Maybe!" She whirled around, her long blue hair a flurry, adding to her stormy demeanor. "Maybe that's how you aliens operate! Is that it? Do you just get off on causing pain!" She screamed, feeling her eyes sting. No! He would not see her cry!

"Onna!" He called as she ran out of the living room and down the corridor to her room. He ran after her. "Wait! Onna!" He was too late to stop her from slamming the door in his face.

"Leave me alone!" She yelled, her voice already strained with tears. Vegeta thought about going in to finish their fight, but he knew at this state he was in, he might do more than yell at her.

"Fine! I'm going to train!"

"Fine! Go blow yourself up! Go! Just leave me alone!"

"You got it onna!" He shouted, slamming his fist into the wall next to her doorframe. Good. That felt good. Anger was good. Anger would make him the Legendary. Damn that blue-haired onna and her fuck-around boyfriend for making him lose his focus. With that he stomped out of the house and filled his mind with images of himself attaining his destiny, just as he'd always intended.

-

Inside her room, Bulma waited until she heard the whine of the GR start up before burying her face into her pillow, sobbing loudly.

Why? Why would he do that to her? She thought they were friends, or something close to that. How could he?

"Noble! Honor! BULLSHIT!" She screamed, pounding the pillow as hard as his words had pounded her.

"…I have some semblance of honor about you!"

What? She picked her head up from the pillow, still sniffling. He said that? She had heard him right, hadn't she? Not just honor, honor about…her? What was that supposed to mean?

"You think I'd hurt you like that if I wanted you!"

Whoa! She hadn't caught that before; she'd been too angry. Was he saying he had feelings for her? Or was it just and outburst? When had everything in her life gone insane?

This had been going on for too long. She'd felt this unexplainable connection with Vegeta ever since Namek's explosion. Everywhere she was, he seemed to be in her thoughts. After a while, she found herself understanding, even tolerating, his moods, rants, and power-struggles with Gokou. She saw him as a wounded prince from a lost race who was trying to reclaim his former glory. He was really something.

"But I'm with Yamcha!" She growled, absolutely frustrated with this whole situation. "I can't be falling for Vegeta!"

Immediately she clapped her hands over her mouth, terrified. No way that had just come out of her! Falling for Vegeta! Sure it was true, he was physically attractive and intelligent and unbelievably sexy and….oh shit.

"I am. I can't help it," she admitted miserably, burying her head in the pillow again. But there was one thing that kept her from Vegeta helped her hold on to Yamcha; that lie Vegeta had just told. It had to be a lie. "Yamcha…I'm sorry. I'll fix this. I promise," she vowed quietly. She'd make it better, she had to. And damn the feelings she felt in her heart.

-

Vegeta rose from the cold metal floor of the GR, every muscle in his body berating him and praising him at the same time. He had gone the whole morning training without a break, feeling his strength peaking once again. But every time he felt a breakthrough coming, the woman's fair, sad face appeared before him and obliterated his focus. He tried pushing the memory of her cheating clod to the back of his mind, but her accusations and unwillingness to believe him kept returning to the front. On the plus side, a nice visual was created when he thought of enemies to crush; that brainless, snivelingweakling Yamcha.

NO! He was not supposed to be protective towards that woman! She meant nothing to him! Nothing mattered but achieving his rightful place as Prince of All Saiya-jins!

Then what was that alien throb in his gut when he thought of how devastated she would be when she accepted the truth? That thought made him shake his head, trying to clear Bulma from his mind. Damn that woman was stubborn, even as a thought in his brain.

Limping to the console, he powered the GR down and grabbed a towel. As he wiped sweat from his face and neck, a soft, barely perceptible hum reached his ears. Hie looked out of one of the round windows and saw Bulma's hovercar rise slowly off of the drive way. He didn't need to ask where, he knew where she was headed. Her freshly made-up face and hair told him that much.

"No way onna!" Vegeta bellowed, his obvious anger not fazing the stubborn woman. "You can't be serious!"

"Shut up Vegeta!" She yelled back as she jerked on the accelerator lever. The engine roared and took off down the street. Vegeta blasted off after her, easily catching up.

"Did you hear one word I had said you thick Chikkyu-jin!"

"Yeah, I heard a hell of a lot of jealousy coming out of you, that's what I heard!" She sneered, trying to yell at him and keep looking ahead at the same time.

"Why in hell would I be jealous of that loser? I see nothing he has that I don't!" Vegeta heard the words he spoke and knew he couldn't take them back. Strangely he didn't care, he was just so pissed off.

"He's got me!"

"Please woman, he doesn't want you, and that means he doesn't have you!"

"Well, you certainly don't! I thought we were friends, but we're not, and somehow I don't care! As far as I'm concerned, you can go to hell!" She screamed and slammed her foot on the gas, trying to speed off before he saw her crying.

Vegeta stopped in midair and watched the car disappear. Something like a stone was settling in his stomach. Not just at the surprising sting of her words, but at the thought of what she'd find when she got to that place.

-

Bulma screeched through the air, her blue eyes blurry and sore from tears. Damn that Vegeta! Why couldn't he just leave her alone about Yamcha? Why did he have to work his way into her brain like he did? And that thing about "having her."

She flipped the auto-pilot switch and sat back in her seat, rubbing her throbbing temples. Deep down, she knew it was partly true. Unwittingly or not, that Saiya-jin Prince owned a part of her. This intense fascination she had for him had steadily swayed her from her once solid commitment to her long-time boyfriend.

She pulled over with a sigh and set the hovercar down. It didn't matter. After that stunt Vegeta pulled, she knew it would be easier for her to forget him and focus on Yamcha. Vegeta had finally shown his true colors. She'd surely gotten him completely out of her system now.

Bull, her mind's annoying little voice whispered.

"Shut up," Bulma muttered, checking her face in the vanity mirror. As she flipped it up, she saw something that cut her open inside.

A huge, red, very familiar eyesore of a car sitting behind Yamcha's Jeep in his driveway.

For many minutes, she sat there gaping like a fish at the very large piece of proof just sitting there in plain sight. "No…" she whispered, her stomach beginning to blaze and twist within her. "No!"

She leapt out of the car and ran for the door. Not bothering to knock or ring, she wrenched at the doorknob and pushed the door open. The resounding slam crashed through the house as it struck the wall. A blast of cold air wind threw itself into the entryway.

Nothing Vegeta could've said would've prepared her for this moment.

At the sound of the door, two barely clad people sprang up from the plush couch. A woman Bulma recognized, and a man she realized she no longer knew.

"What the hell Yamchy," Marron pouted, readjusting the slipping straps on her outfit. "You said we'd be alone all day." Her blue hair was tousled and there were red marks all over her chest and neck. Bulma bristled as she felt her eyes burn through Yamcha, who stood gaping in horror as he tried to pull up his pants and walk at the same time.

"Bulma…" he began as he came closer to her.

"Don't," she hissed, her voice freezing him in place. The same marks mottled his neck, ringed with glossy crimson lipstick. She didn't care to assess the rest of his person; she didn't need to.

"Oh, I remember you!" Marron smiled in her dizzy way. Bulma glared at her.

"Yeah me too," she answered venomously, turning her angry eyes back to Yamcha, who stood stuttering over some kind of excuse. "I'm done here. Enjoy." With that, she turned on her heel and stepped back into the cold, gray air.

"Bulma wait!" Yamcha called after her, tripping as he pulled on a pair of shoes.

"Get away from me!" She screamed, not looking back. "I don't give a fuck about what you have to say!"

"Please, just hear my side!" He pleaded.

"What side!" She turned on him, her teary eyes slicing through his. "Vegeta tried to tell me! I didn't believe him, but it's true! You cheated on me! That's all there is!"

"Don't act so wounded Bulma, you're not the innocent one this time!"

Something snapped inside Bulma, damming up her tears again. "Well, if there's a 'this time' there must've been a 'that time', right!" She spat. "And what do you mean I'm not innocent?"

"I only did to you what you did to me!" He shouted, "You have no room to talk!"

Bulma gaped. Was he serious?

"First, there is NO way you are blaming this on me! Second , I NEVER cheated on you Yamcha! There has NEVER been anyone else in the picture!"

"Oh please Bulma! You gasped out his name when we were about to make love!"

She gasped, almost coughing the chilly air again. Was that why? Why he'd gone to her? Her stomach suddenly felt like ice, freezing the very blood in her veins.

"I…I have to get out of here. I have to go home," she muttered. Shocked out of her mind, she got into her hovercar, her shaking hands barely starting the ignition. She didn't even hear Yamcha's calls to her as the auto-pilot flew back her home.

-

Vegeta grunted as he pushed the refrigerator shut with his foot. Plopping down into a chair, he began randomly selecting food and shoveling it down.

He was still a little wounded by the onna's words. He actually enjoyed their new friendship; verbal spats especially. But perhaps it was best for him not to have close ties while preparing for the androids. Or at all.

His gut grumbled at that particular thought, though he blamed it on his hunger.

He nearly fell out of his seat when the front door hit the wall. Jumping up, he turned to face whomever was entering.

He barely recognized her as she stumbled in, her slender arms wrapped around her waist. "Bulma?"

He began to approach her, but she shrank from his impending touch.

"Don't touch me," she whispered sharply. Blindly, she moved down the hall to her room. Vegeta followed her, not too closely.

"What happened?" he asked, out of a foreign concern he dismissed as curiosity. He received no answer as she disappeared into her room, shutting the door softly. He waited for…he didn't know what. Sobbing, screaming, glass breaking…

Nothing. Silence.

Vegeta backed away from the door, something strange gnawing at his stomach. He knew it wasn't hunger this time. He turned to go to the kitchen again, glancing back at her closed door as black clouds rolled in the distant sky.

-

I-I-I-I can't believe it…I DID IT! I updated! Aren't you thrilled! Elated! Itching to review! If so, please click the nice reviewing button. Please!