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From Placating to Encouraging

"So in other words getting married is like being bond mates?" Vegeta asked after sending her a dark look for suggesting that being "married" to him was a fate worse than death. Having her as his emura would definitely not be something worth celebrating in his mind either but tolerable if necessary. After all, it wasn't like he intended to get involved with any other female ever again. After this mess he was swearing off women for good.

"Sorta, my little alien friend didn't know much about it other than the bare basics. I guess the main differences are that if I were your wife, aka emura then that would mean you would have to...well I guess the only main difference was that if we got married we'd have to promise to love, honor and cherish each other."

Choking, Vegeta suddenly got her sentiments exactly. There was no way he was ever going to marry her. He'd die laughing before he'd give his word to do any of those things. By honor he supposed she meant that he had to swear to be nice to her which wasn't going to happen even more than the other two which were downright laughable. Not that he felt like laughing at the moment. Far from it.

"See what I mean?" Looking at him with a hint of amusement she decided not to be offended by the look on his face. He looked like he'd just been doused by a skunk, Bulma thought as she bit her lower lip to keep from smirking. "And don't worry about it. Like I said, I'll talk him out of it and it's not like we have to worry about a shotgun wedding."

"A what?"

"That's what they used to call it when relatives would force two people to be married, usually by threatening to shoot the poor guy otherwise."

"Your father would miss me if I was a foot away." Smirking Vegeta watched her smile back before turning his head to look at all the stuff she'd pulled out of the suitcase. "What's that?" He wanted to know as he walked over to pick up a strange looking thing that seemed to resemble an animal or alien of some sort. It was brown and soft, he'd seen them in store windows occasionally when he'd been forced to go shopping with one of the Briefs women to carry their bags.

Blinking Bulma stared at him, too surprised to answer him right away. "That's..a teddy bear."

Raising an eyebrow Vegeta studied the thing. "It doesn't look like a bear." He'd seen a few during training and had found them to be fat, noisy creatures who none the less seemed to intimidate all the other stupid creatures of the forest. Those had been alive though and this one was not. Was it a stuffed animal? Why would she want one of those when she was constantly harping at him not to blow up forests because of the defenseless animals in those forests?

"That's because it isn't a real bear. It's made out of fabric and its designed to look like a bear..or a bear cub I guess. They're made to cuddle with. You usually give them to children to sleep and play with." It shouldn't have seemed weird and sad to her that he didn't know this but it did anyway. "Did you have something like that when you were a kid?"

"Why would I?" Was his curt response as he tossed the so called teddy bear back on the bed. To his way of thinking this teddy bear had no real purpose but judging from the look on Bulma's face she disagreed with him. No big surprise there. "I take it you expect our son to sleep with that thing?"

"Only if he wants to. I'll buy him or her a lot of different stuffed animals and then he or she can decide which one to sleep with." Picking up the bear Bulma cuddled it against her chest. "When I was little my favorite thing to sleep with was a stuffed animal shaped like a puppy."

"Why not just sleep with an actual dog then? At least then the thing would serve some purpose. That stuffed animal of yours can't do anything."

"It does too do something. I could never sleep without Toto when I was little. I took him everywhere with me. Stuffed animals are great friends." Cuddling the bear more tightly Bulma could see Vegeta just wasn't getting the point. "Yes, I know they can't think or speak or do anything like that so quit looking at me like I'm an idiot. The point is that you can tell a stuffed animal anything and they're always there to hear what you have to say and to hold close when you're scared. To a child they really are as real as you or me. Didn't your young girls at least have dolls and toys to play with?"

Seeing where she was going with this Vegeta still thought it was stupid. The stuffed animal couldn't really hear you or protect you for that matter. All it would do was give the child a false sense of security and companionship that didn't exist. Obviously her culture just wasn't advanced enough to get that. As for the toys... "Yes, we had those. Most of them were used as training tools though." He acknowledged after a pause. "But we didn't have stuffed animals."

"No but I'd imagine some of those little girls slept with their dolls."

Shrugging, since he couldn't recall meeting or knowing little girls when he himself was a child Vegeta decided to drop the subject. Once the boy was old enough to understand he'd just explain that the bear was nothing more than stuffing and fabric and a waste of both at that.

"I know you're probably anxious to get on with your training, you can go ahead, you know." Bulma finally said after a few minutes of having Vegeta watch her unpack. "Won't be long before baby starts wanting to too." She added with a laugh as she patted her stomach. She couldn't wait to feel her baby move, even if she was sure that once the novelty wore off she was going to wish the kid would stay still more. How much harder would a Saiyan baby kick then a regular human baby would? Ouch, Bulma thought with a sheepish grin. That was not going to be fun to find out.

"What do you mean?" Vegeta asked, his eyes following her hands to her stomach.

"Well soon the baby will start kicking and moving around enough that I'll be able to feel it."

"Move? Inside your stomach?" Obviously confused Vegeta tried to picture what she was describing. The baby couldn't actually move around in her stomach, could it? That would hurt and wouldn't her body be damaged in the process? Getting visions of a miniature version of Bulma kicking various important organs in Bulma's stomach mercilessly Vegeta barely hid his wince.

"In the womb, yeah. Babies do that, Vegeta." Since he was looking skeptical she winked at him teasingly. "As soon as he or she starts kicking hard enough I'll show you."

"And how would you do that?" He asked wearily, remembering well all the things he hadn't wanted to have described to him about pregnancy before.

"By putting your hand on my stomach so that you can feel the baby kick."

Well that didn't sound so bad. Curious now that he knew it didn't involve anything stomach turning Vegeta looked at her stomach with more interest. "Won't that hurt?"

"Likely, once the kicks get strong enough. Of course by then I'll be dealing with back pains, sleep depravation, food cravings and a very small bladder. It will be just one of many discomforts I get to suffer through. According to everyone it's all worth it." Bulma added with a shrug. Patting her tummy once more Bulma figured she'd agree once this was all over and she was holding her son or daughter in her arms. Hopefully anyway. Plus she'd have her mom to pamper her constantly which would be a definite plus.

Thinking about that Vegeta began to feel a little bit guilty for helping to get her into this predicament. Obviously being pregnant was not a pleasant situation to be in. It was strange but she almost seemed to be looking forward to it, Vegeta thought, watching her absently stroke her stomach. Maybe being with child affected ones ability to think and reason clearly. Then again, he'd never professed to understanding how her brain worked in the first place. "Why do you seemed happy about the idea?"

"Hmm?"

"None of what you just describe sounds remotely appealing but you seem happy about all this. Why aren't you upset or at the very least bitchy? You were bitchy before you were pregnant so why stop now that you actually have some reason to be."

Giving him a not at all amused look Bulma briefly considered throwing her pillow at him. No, he'd just destroy it so that she couldn't do it again. Heaving a sigh she turned back to her sorting so that she wouldn't have to look at him as she considered her answer to his question. "Well I was sorta upset when I first found out but I guess I've come to realize that this is a really good thing too. I get a baby and now I don't have to have a husband to get one. I'm at a point in my life where I can not only provide the baby with everything he or she could want but also give our baby all my time and attention. I can't say having you play the role of my baby's father thrills me to no end because this means we'll have even more to fight about but in the long run, I'm okay with that too. As for not being bitchy...well you should be glad if I really am behaving better. You on the other hand haven't changed a bit."

Smirking since he wasn't the least bit insulted Vegeta wondered just how much more this whole childbearing thing was going to change her. He rather liked her the way she was though he'd sooner bite his tongue off than admit it. She wouldn't be the least bit entertaining if she wasn't the spoiled, bitchy female that she'd always been.

"Anyway, scoot and let me finish up here. Oh and I'm going to call Yamcha to visit tomorrow so you'll want to stay in your training room all day." Bulma informed him, looking up from her clothes in time to see him grimace at the news. "Hey, at least I told you beforehand. Now you can avoid him and the bloodshed that could possibly follow."

"But I like spilling his blood."

"I know, I'm trying to avoid that." Was her dry response as she straightened, her hands going to her hips as she turned to face him. "I don't get why you two hate each other so much. If you'd just stop picking on him I think you two could at least manage to be civil."

God but she was an idiot sometimes, Vegeta thought with a slightly wider smirk. Anyone with the least bit of sense would know exactly why he hated Yamcha, a hatred that was completely mutual. It might have started from being on opposites sides of the battlefield at one time but now it was really all about one thing and one thing only. Bulma. It didn't matter that those two had broken up, Yamcha still thought of Bulma as his territory. Territory Vegeta was trespassing on since he was living in the same house as her. Oh if only the stupid human knew just how much trespassing had taken place, Vegeta thought as his smirk edged towards a grin. Once the pathetic weakling clued in he'd with out a doubt start a fight and than finally he'd have a solid, concrete reason to kill the waste of space. Self defense as Yamcha could be counted upon to rush into the fight, aka start it and wouldn't that just be perfect. "Why is he coming?" Vegeta finally asked, wondering if Bulma had bought the other man something on her trip. Whenever anyone went away they always seemed to feel the need to buy things for people, himself included. Had she bought him anything, Vegeta wondered, looking at the bed with new interest.

"Well I have to tell him about the baby."

His interest in the contents of her suitcases vanishing in a flash he narrowed his eyes as he looked her in the eye. "Why? It doesn't concern him."

"He's my friend, Vegeta, one of my best ones. How can I not tell him something so important?" Raising an eyebrow at the vibes he was giving off Bulma wondered why it was that every time she mentioned Yamcha he got like this. Around her other friends he was just rude but when it came to Yamcha it was like he hated the guy even more than he hated losing to Goku. Okay, that was exaggerating a bit but it was still unreasonably bad between the two. So far nothing she'd said had improved matters between them either.

"Are you going to tell him it's my child?" Vegeta asked instead, trying not to let his irritation show. So she'd run to another continent rather than tell him about the baby but it was wrong not to tell Yamcha as soon as she got back? He was the father, dammit. If she should have been in a hurry to tell anyone it should have been him!

"Well he's going to want to know and once the baby goes Super Saiyan it's going to be pretty obvious just who to point the finger at. Better to tell him now and get it over with."

"True...not even he's stupid enough to point a finger at Goku."

"What's with that look in your eye.." Bulma asked slowly, not liking that look at all. It was anticipation she was seeing in those dark black depths and every cell in her body was screaming warnings of impending doom. Just what was going on in that twisted Saiyan brain of his?

"Nothing." Shrugging Vegeta made an effort to hide all emotion from her before she began to suspect how much he was looking forward to tomorrow. He certainly wouldn't be spending his day in the training room, Vegeta thought with inner glee. No, he'd be keeping an eye out for Bulma's ex and eagerly awaited the idiot's attempt to do him in once Bulma broke the news to the imbecile about the baby. Yes, tomorrow was going to be a very good day.

The next day the first clue that something was horribly wrong was the sight of Vegeta actually lounging by the pool with a glass of juice in his hand. He looked relaxed and without a care in the world, neither of which he'd ever been. Frowning Yamcha's eyes narrowed as he watched his arch enemy's head turn to look at him, dark shades hiding any emotion Vegeta might have shown. "Where's Bulma?" Yamcha asked, keeping three meters between them as he tried not to show how much he hated having to ask. How much he hated this man in particular.

"She's repairing one of my training droids." He'd had quite a bit of fun screwing around with that machine's programing, Vegeta thought absently, sipping on his straw as though being near the idiot goofball didn't make him want to use the pool for something other then it's intended purpose. Unfortunately, he was pretty sure there were hidden security cameras that would catch him drowning the idiot on purpose.

"She's not your slave you know." Okay, so he knew picking fights with Vegeta was akin to putting a loaded shotgun to ones head and pulling the damn trigger. It hadn't stopped him before and it obviously wasn't stopping him now. There was just something about the smirking bastard that made him lose all his common sense. Especially when he thought about what the bastard must put Bulma through on a regular basis.

"If she was she'd be wearing a lot less." God but he loved playing with minds, even if this one was so simple it was almost beneath him. Almost.

"God I hope Goku kills you one of these days. Then I'm going to throw a party and dance on your grave with Bulma, you bastard."

Raising an eyebrow Vegeta couldn't quite hold in the grin that crossed his face. "Well since Goku's convinced that I've been reformed I can't see that happening any time soon. As for dancing on my grave...well I think she'd be very upset that I was dead. Then again, I know her in a lot of ways you don't, now don't I?"

"What's that supposed to mean?" Yamcha demanded to know, his eyes narrowing to mere slits as bright color appeared on his cheeks. The bastard was just playing with his head, he told himself, even as his gut told him another story.

"Well you could try to use what little intelligence you have and find out. I did tell you where Bulma is after all." Vegeta pointed out, not surprised that everything the lowly human was thinking was written all over the idiot's face. This was why he was an especially bad fighter, Vegeta thought in disgust. Only a fool let their enemy read them like that. If it weren't for Goku the human cretin would have probably died a long time ago, Vegeta thought. It really was a pity Goku had ever met the other man.

"Go to hell."

"I've been there, thanks. But any time you want to visit it just give me a call." Vegeta replied with an almost cheeky grin now. "I'd be happy to be the one to send you there."

"You think you're all that but you aren't, Vegeta. You'd have nothing if it weren't for Goku and Bulma putting up with you. You're going to die without any family, friends or even people that marginally liked you. Hell you probably would have never gotten past first base with any woman if you hadn't been royalty and able to break them like toothpicks if they said no." Turning on his heels Yamcha headed in the direction of Bulma's workshop leaving a confused Saiyan behind him who wasn't exactly sure just how he'd been insulted.

What exactly was first base?