Disclaimer: As always I own nothing but the original characters and the situations I put them all in. thanks to all my readers and especially to my reviewers! Hope you enjoy this latest chapter and please review!

Sorry about the weird spacing, damn FanficNet.

From Encouraging to Suggestive

Hearing feet stomping hard on concrete Bulma knew who was coming before Yamcha came into view. If Vegeta had been stomping around like that he would leave craters in his wake, Bulma thought as she bit back a grin since from the look on his face Yamcha wasn't in a grinning mood. She'd thought Vegeta was up to something and this pretty much confirmed it. "I take it you ran into Vegeta?" Putting on her most sympathetic face Bulma was cursing Vegeta inside. He just had to make this whole thing that much more difficult, she fumed.

"I'd sell my soul to the devil himself for the ability to kill that son of a bitch."

"Why would Vegeta want your soul?" Bulma joked, not surprised when he just continued to scowl darkly. No one got to Yamcha the way Vegeta did. She was pretty sure tormenting Yamcha was one of Vegeta's favorite things to do. Right up there with blowing things up and destroying her inventions.

"How can you live with that assehole? I swear to God it's a wonder you haven't killed yourself. I still say you must have gone temporarily insane to let him stay here. Aren't you worried that some day he'll just up and blow you all away? He's a mass murderer for Christ sakes. When he dies Hell won't take him because Satan will know that son of a bitch would take over."

"You know, you should really stop calling his mother a bitch. She might have been a very nice woman. It's not her fault Vegeta turned out the way he did."

"I'm not in the mood for your jokes. Just tell me what it is you dragged me here for so that I can go home and beat the hell out of inanimate objects and pretend that they're a certain Saiyan bastard." Looking ready to chew nails Yamcha only wished he could go out there and beat the hell out of the real deal. The fact that Vegeta would beat him to a pulp within minutes was lowering. Especially since minutes might be just wishful thinking. Okay, was wishful thinking dammit.

"Damn, I told him to leave you alone." Rubbing at her temples Bulma tried to figure out a way to tell him that wouldn't make this that much worse. Damn, there really was no way to put this in a good light, especially since Vegeta had already wound Yamcha up. Deliberately no doubt. "Look, Yamcha." She began, her face going serious. "There's something I've got to tell you and it's really going to make you mad and upset. The fact that you're already mad and upset thanks to Vegeta is going to just make this that much worse."

"Are you in some sort of trouble? Did that bastard do something to you?" Concern pushing away the mental images of decapitating Vegeta Yamcha reached over to take her hand in his, squeezing it gently. Something was definitely up.

I

"Some months ago..I sorta got into a relationship that I shouldn't have. I knew that the guy was a selfish, arrogant bastard and that things wouldn't end well but it..it just sort of happened. We've broken up but...well...I'm pregnant, Yamcha." Watching his face go slack with shock Bulma winced as she landed the final blow. "And that arrogant bastard...well he's a certain Saiyan prince you love to hate."

Letting her hand go Yamcha just stared at her in shock and growing horror. "Vegeta? You had sex with Vegeta! How the hell could you do that? IT'S HIM!"

"Yeah, a year ago I would have had to agree." Well, at least he hadn't keeled over from the shock, that was a good sign. At least she hoped it was since that shock was starting to wear off fast now that she'd admitted it had been Vegeta. "Look, things are over between us and it's not like it lasted long to begin with. The baby was completely unexpected but since I'm keeping it I wanted you to know. You're one of my best friends and well..it would be impossible to hide who the father is."

"How could you unleash another Vegeta onto the world! One is bad enough!" Backing away at her Yamcha couldn't believe what she'd just told him. He'd loved her, worshipped the ground she'd walked on and she'd dumped him. Now she'd just informed him that she been sleeping around with his arch nemesis, the cold blooded bastard, and that she was pregnant. Pregnant with Vegeta's child! And she sure didn't seem upset about it either. "How could you?" He said simply, shaking his head slowly as he stared at her like he didn't even know her. "How could you." Turning on his heels he walked out leaving Bulma to simply watch him go, knowing that going after him would just make things that much worse. If that was even possible.

I

Having gone back to training since he knew better then to be around when Bulma gave her former boy toy the news Vegeta was working up a good sweat when Bulma came marching in looking ready to kill him. Well, her little conversation had obviously gone well, he thought with satisfaction as her eyes threatened all sorts of painful retribution even from the other side of the room. "Something the matter?" He asked, actually daring to grin at her.

"Oh you know exactly why I'm pissed off at you. You just had to pick a fight with him, didn't you? Do you realize how much harder you made that for me?"

Now that she was up close Vegeta was surprised to see that her eyes were red rimmed from crying. She might have been really angry but she was hurting too, he realized. "He's not worth crying over." Vegeta pointed out, trying not to let the look in her eyes get to him. He wasn't going to feel guilty for taking advantage of the fact that her ex was a moron. Picking on Yamcha was as automatic for him as breathing. Of course he had set out to put the screws to the little cretin with more force, Vegeta admitted to himself, the eyes getting to him despite his better efforts. Damn, you'd think once the sex was over she'd have lost some of her ability to manipulate him with those damn things. Eyes like hers should be illegal. He wasn't supposed to feel guilty. He wasn't supposed to have a conscience for God sakes. He was a Saiyan!

"Why do you have to be such a bastard!" Tearing brimming Bulma glared at him as she struggled to keep her temper in check. Hitting him now would only do more damage to her physically since she knew from experience it would be like bashing her body into concrete. Reinforced concrete. "I asked you specifically, just this once, to leave him alone. He's my friend and now he's gone and I don't know if he's ever going to forgive me. We were together for years, Vegeta. He and I have a history and I might have just ruined those years because I was stupid enough to sleep with you! But why am I bothering to tell you, it's not like you care." Turning on her heels Bulma started to leave, only to have her arm caught by Vegeta who held her in her place. Whirling around she glared at him, too stubborn to let the tears fall. "What?"

"If he doesn't come back he doesn't deserve you for a friend in the first place, Woman."

I

Eyes going wide Bulma stared at him, in shock that he'd said anything at all, much less that. That was almost something a friend would say to comfort you. Of course this was Vegeta so there had to be some ulterior motive. He probably figured if she stayed mad she'd punish him in some way which she had been known to do in the past. He wasn't the only one who knew how to manipulate someone.

Letting her arm go Vegeta stuck his hands into his pockets. "What is first base?"

"Huh?" Blinking Bulma stared at him in confusion, wondering where the hell that had come from. She was too confused to even remember she was trying to figure out what he wanted from her. When he repeated his question Bulma raised an eyebrow, getting more confused by the minute. "Uhm...what does baseball have to do with anything?"

"Isn't baseball that stupid game your father likes where you hit a ball with a piece of wood then other idiots try to catch it?" When she nodded her head Vegeta shook his head. "That makes no sense."

"On that we agree. What does first base have to do with anything?"

"Just something that idiot said." Shrugging it off Vegeta decided that once again the moron had simply been demonstrating his lack of intellect. The fool did that pretty much every time he opened his mouth.

"You and Yamcha were talking about baseball?" Now she was really confused. It wasn't like Vegeta could play baseball, even if he wanted to. With his strength it just wouldn't be fair to the other players and no one would want to go against him. Not that he would want to of course. She was more likely to get breast reduction. That and as far as she knew Yamcha hadn't played in years. Not since high school anyway. So why bring it up? Or was this just one of those stupid guy things that made sense only to them. Then again Vegeta obviously wasn't getting it either. "What exactly did he say?"

"He said that I probably would have never gotten past first base with any woman if I hadn't been royalty and able to break them like toothpicks if they said no. What does baseball have to do with women? It's not like they would have the strength to play a decent game anyway." When she started chuckling he raised an eyebrow, when she broke out in hold your ribs laughing he just didn't know what to think. "What?" He'd just said something she usually would have yelled at him for as being sexist. Why was she laughing?

Laughing so hard she was doubled over Bulma could feel the tears streaming down her face for a whole other reason. She could tell Vegeta was completely out to sea but she was laughing too hard to even attempt to explain it to him. Oh the irony, she thought, imagining the scene. Yamcha just gets done telling Vegeta that no woman would sleep with him unless she had to and then Yamcha talks to her and finds out his ex girlfriend had done exactly that. Willingly. She really shouldn't find that so hilarious but she couldn't get over the timing of it all. That, plus the fact that Vegeta had no idea just what Yamcha had been insinuating was absolutely priceless.

I

After a couple minutes of this Vegeta was torn between being glad she wasn't crying and annoyance that she seemed to be having quite the laugh, likely at his expense. Apparently whatever Yamcha had said to him was kill worthy after all. "So care to let me in on the joke?" He asked silkily, his dark eyes beginning to hint that he was far from amused.

Biting her lower lip as she struggled for control Bulma had to take a few deep breathes before she was up to saying anything. "If I tell you you have to promise not to kill him. You have to swear on the honor and strength of the Saiyan race that you won't or I'm not telling you."

Damn, she was starting to know him a little too well. If she'd asked him to swear on his own honor he would have done it and still killed the son of a bitch. His own honor was pretty much tarnished beyond repair at the moment. Now, if he wanted to find out what the little bastard had said he was going to have to promise not to kill the idiot for it. Then again, when wasn't Yamcha providing him with excuses to kill him. After all, he was just promising not to kill the useless human for this, not to never kill him. "Fine, I swear on the honor of my race. Now what did he mean?"

She could see from his eyes that he was up to something but he was also going to just hound her until she explained anyway. That or he'd go to her parents and that would just not end well at all. All she could really do was hope that by her explaining it as nicely as possible things wouldn't end too badly. For Yamcha. "First base is a metaphor usually used by teenagers. It's sorta hard to explain though because first, second and the rest means different things to different people by definition."

"What does it have to do with women though? I got the distinct impression he was insulting me. I just want to know how." Okay, she was hedging. Maybe he would be finding an excuse to kill the son of a bitch sooner rather than later.

"Actually, given why he came here it's actually pretty funny." Okay, he wasn't going to be put off. Big surprise there. "Basically, the whole first base comment was a..a reference to your luck with the ladies. Men usually refer to how far they've gone with a girl by using the whole bases thing since it sounds better than coming out and say just how far they got with the girl."

"So by saying first base I take it he meant I couldn't get very far with a woman unless by force."

"Exactly."

"I take it back. I'm going to kill him."

I

"NO!" Leaping at him automatically Bulma wrapped her arms and legs around him, acting as a human weight which was really laughable if you thought about it. He put on a hell of a lot more weight when he was training. In the gravity room. But it was the only thing she could think to do as she tightened her legs around his waist since there wasn't a lot of hip there to hold on to.

Staring into her face Vegeta couldn't believe she'd just done that, even as his body began to respond to having her wrapped around him like a second piece of clothing. "Get off." Putting his hands on either side of her waist he tugged gently to make a point. If she didn't let go he was going to have to make her and he didn't want to have to do that. He would though, rather than risk her figuring out that she could effect him still.

"Not until you promise you aren't going to kill him. Think about it, Vegeta. Think of the irony!" Instinctively tightening her grip, since it wasn't much thanks to her lack of grip and her growing stomach that even loose T-shirts were beginning to be unable to hide Bulma knew every word here counted. Well that and being in this sort of full body contact with him again was doing things to her insides that her increased hormone levels were only making that much worse. Damn but he had one bitchin bod.

"What irony?"

"He said you couldn't get first base and then he finds out you've been hitting grand slams with his ex girlfriend." Okay, so this was going to require some serious ego stroking on her part. The worst part about it, or the best part depending on your point of view, was that she wouldn't even have to lie in this case. "I mean he may have hit some homers in his day but your batting average is still better consistency wise and not only did you hit grand slams but you totally blew the other teams away."

I

Struggling to follow her baseball metaphors Vegeta was getting the just of it. Or at least he thought he was. If he was following her she was saying that he was a lot better in bed then Yamcha was and that the fact that that idiot knew that was a bigger and more appropriate revenge then merely killing the annoyance off. A smug grin sliding across his face his eyes took on an almost rakish look as they stared into her blue ones. "So explain these bases to me. Exactly how do you define each one, Woman?"

Cheeks going pink Bulma let go, intending to get down when his hands, which had been resting so innocently on her waist moved to cup her rear end, holding her against him as her hands moved to his chest to at least brace her upper body away from him. "Put me down! You told me to get off and now I'm trying to!"

"After you tell me." He told her, his dark eyes showing his amusement.

But there was more there than just amusement, Bulma thought in surprise, unable to look away. There was something there she'd thought she'd never see in his eyes again. He still wanted her, she realized in shock, for the first time becoming aware of the possessiveness of his hold, the increase in heart rate under her hand. So she'd been right all this time. It hadn't been that he'd stopped wanting her. He'd broken up with her for the opposite reason. And just how much did he want her, that he was unable to hide it completely from her. Her cheeks going from pink to red her fingers dug into muscle, holding on now instead of pushing herself away. But no, she couldn't do this. She wouldn't go through this again. Forcing her body to relax she did her best to keep her voice even and calm. "Put me down now, please."

"After you explain."

"Jerk."

"Shrew."

"You don't even know what a shrew is!"

"True but I know you hate being called one."

"Oh kiss my ass!"

"I have."

"SHUT UP!"