Bulma wanted to open her eyes. She wanted to so badly. She wanted to throw her arms around the boy who was professing his feelings for her and tell him she cared about him too. That he was the only boy that she had ever felt love for. That nothing else could even compete with the way he made her feel. Why couldn't she open her eyes? She remembered reading somewhere that when people are in comas, sometimes, their senses can awaken, but they can't yet move their bodies. She wondered how long it would be. Or, if she would ever open her eyes again. If she were being honest, she just wished she could see Vegeta's face one more time. She felt a heavy weight against her chest and assumed it was he, his face was nestled in between her breasts. Any other time she would roll her eyes at him for taking that position, but at that moment, it was nice. And, although she couldn't move her body or her mouth to tell him how she felt, she appreciated the compassion and love he had been giving her for the past few hours.

After what seemed like days, although probably not more than a half hour or so, her attempts to open her eyes suddenly became easy. Her beautiful, cerulean orbs fluttered open, and everything appeared very blurry, coming into focus slowly. She blinked a few times, then moved her hand up towards her face, shakily, and weakly stroked her own cheek, wondering if this were really happening or not. She heard a sharp gasp come from the corner of the room, and he was next to her in less than a second. She smirked as she saw the relief flood his face, but it quickly disappeared as he regained control of his cool. Vegeta tried his best to suppress the urge to pick her weak body out of the hospital bed and squeeze her. He wanted to yell at her for scaring him so much. He wanted to kiss her. Wanted to feel her breathing in his ear, constantly securing him that she was alive. But, for some reason, he couldn't. And, all his pride would allow him to say was, "About time, woman." He abruptly left the room, running his hands through his hair, looking for the doctors. She felt all the happiness from before, from his kind words to her, suddenly leave her, and it finally set in that he would never change. That no matter what feelings he had for her, he would never be able to look her in the eyes and admit them. And, she could not let him string her along anymore. She sighed and lay back down on her pillows, staring up at the ceiling.

Suddenly, the medical staff came bustling into the room and checked her over. They ran blood tests on her and injected in her arm a medicine that would hopefully stabilize her system. The main doctor, Dr. Akiro, said, "She's going to be fine." He smiled at Bulma and then nodded at Vegeta. "Her vitals are normal...Whatever that poison was that she was injected with, it seems to have completely left her body, which is great news. If everything stays this way...I'd say she can be out of here by tomorrow night."

Bulma groaned to herself, she didn't want to be in here any longer. She had been thinking it over, and she had decided that, although Vegeta hadn't asked or said anything, she wanted to continue on the Dragon Ball search. She felt fine, she was enjoying his company, despite all the faults, and he really did need her help. She then wondered if she should tell him that she had heard him, when he had made his big speech to her about how much he cared about her. She wondered if maybe she brought it up, she could coax him into admitting true feelings for her, if they existed. "Vegeta...I...I have to tell you something." She brought up slowly, once the doctors had left the room.

"What?"

"I..." She paused and looked deeply into his onyx eyes. She knew he was not ready to come to terms with his feelings for her, if he had any. "I'm hungry!" She lied in a very obvious way but hoped that he wouldn't notice. "Can you get me some food?"

Vegeta rolled his eyes. She had worried him. "Fine, woman, but only because you almost died." He snapped and got out of the chair, heading to the cafeteria to grab her a sandwich.

Goku rummaged around in a basket full of oranges, collecting about ten, as he was picking up some last minute things for dinner. Whenever he did the groceries, he returned with about 99% of the store. Saying he ate a lot would be an understatement. He had promised Chi-Chi that he would try to cook for her again, despite the earlier setback where he had almost burned his kitchen down. Thus, she was wary of his invitation, but finally agreed to give his "chef skills" a second chance. She would be over 7:30 and it was 4:30 now, so he had to hurry up his shopping. He only needed to get a few more things, some chicken breast and potatoes, and then he would be on his way. He headed over to the meat aisle and saw Mrs. Briefs there, picking up some steaks. He contemplated walking over to her to greet her, for he had only met her acquaintance a few times. Before he could reach a decision, she noticed him and waved him over. He walked up to her.

"Hi Mrs. Briefs!" He exclaimed warmly.

"Goku! Oh, I wasn't expecting to see you here! How are you?" She asked the flame haired boy kindly, pulling him in for a quick hug.

"I'm great, just running a few errands. How've you been?"

"Wonderful, dear. Dr. Briefs and I just got back from a short trip to the country side...I needed a vacation," she explained, laughing slightly. Goku chuckled. Mrs. Briefs was always so disorientated. "I'm just picking up some food on our way home. Hey...Why aren't you at the beach house with Bulma?"

Beach house? What was she talking about? He looked at her blankly for a few moments, and then it hit him. Bulma must have used this "beach house" as her cover up for wherever she had actually gone. Choosing to remain loyal to his new friend, he tried to talk himself out of the situation. "Oh! The beach house. Uh, my grandpa needed me to...come home and help him with...something. A small emergency, you know how it is," he lied badly. "I'm heading back out tomorrow morning! I'll say hi to Bulma for you."

Mrs. Briefs looked at him suspiciously, but after Goku flashed her one of his signature, innocent smiles, she thought nothing more of it. "Oh, I hope everything's okay!" Goku nodded to assure her. "Well, that's great, sweetie. Ah...I should get going. Dr. Briefs must be getting impatient. Have fun, dear! Give Bulma a hug from me!" She called over her shoulder as she walked to the check out area. Goku exhaled out of relief. That had been the first time he had really lied, and he did not like it one bit. He did know what he had to do now, though.

"Hey, tell everyone to meet at my house in, like, twenty minutes. Thanks," he said into his phone.

"So, Bulma's mom's under the impression that we're all at some beach house together?" Krillin reiterated for the umpteenth time. Everyone else in Goku's crowded bedroom groaned.

"Yes, Krillin, do you need someone to write it down for you?" 18 snapped, causing the bald headed teenager to blush and suddenly become very intrigued by his shoelace. He chanced a glance at her beautiful face and looked at her staggeringly cold yet striking blue eyes. He wondered how many secrets they hid. He wondered if he would ever be able to melt her icy heart.

"18, back off," Goku said, chuckling. He had recently learned of Krillin's supposed feelings for the blonde, and he didn't think that her yelling at the poor guy would be the best for his self esteem. "But, yeah. So, don't you guys see what this means?" Goku inquired of his friends, causing Chi-Chi to stand up and scream. A side he had not yet seen of the raven haired girl.

"Yes, Goku, I'm pretty sure we're all aware what this means, ya doof!" She yelled in his face but instantly felt awful when she saw her beautiful, innocent boy's expression go sour. "I'm sorry. That was rude. But, yes. Clearly Bulma and Vegeta are up to something...I can't let her be alone with him for too long...I know she's going to fall for him again. Kami, I already know that! She messaged me about a week ago saying that she was falling for him! Goku, I can't let that happen. I know he's going to hurt her again, and I don't know if I can handle that again...You should have seen her the last time, she was completely broken." Chi-Chi progressively got quieter as her tirade proceeded. Goku came over to her and rubbed her shoulders consolingly.

"Chi's right," Krillin spoke up again, out of the blue. "B was a mess back then, those two years ago. We promised each other, me and Chi did, that we wouldn't let her go back down the Vegeta road again."

A thick silence suddenly clouded the room. And, all though no one said anything outloud, the entire group seemed to reflect back to the moment when Vegeta had humiliated Bulma. Yamcha remembered the mix of hatred and smugness that had crowded Vegeta's pupils. 18 recalled the shock on each person who had witnessed the event's faces and recalling how she had not thought even Vegeta could be so heartless. Chi-Chi thought back to how Bulma hadn't come to school for weeks, following the "incident" as it was thus forth named, how she barely ate anything, how the spark left her eyes and didn't really come back until she become more involved with Capsule Corporation. The void that Vegeta had left in her heart had been filled by science, it seemed. Bulma was always smiling when she was working on a new project. It was as though quantum physics was the bandaid to her broken heart, and that truth always amused Chi-Chi.

18 cut the silence with her stoic voice. "We need to find out where Bulma is. I don't really know what kind of person Vegeta is now, but I do know he's just about as unstable as a radioactive nucleus, and if what you say is true, if he is Bulma's weak spot, then I for one do not think leaving her with him is a good idea. At all. We need to figure out what's going on and bring her home." She paused and took a breath. "I'm with Krillin; I don't want her going down the Vegeta road again."

"I already called Vegeta, like, twenty times, on my way over here," Goku offered, taking a seat a his desk. Chi-Chi paced over the carpet before him, her mind racing to all possible conclusions, growing more and more worried with each tick of the clock. "Have any of you tried Bulma?"

Yamcha, Chi-Chi, and Krillin all nodded. "I got no reply," Yamcha admitted. "I called her a good ten times last night and another five earlier today."

"Well, obviously she wouldn't want to talk to you, you scumbag," Chi-Chi snapped and the scar faced eighteen year old with disgust. 18 snorted but waved her hands to alleviate the tension.

"Ok, everyone has their differences, but let's focus on this problem first, okay?" She argued and Chi-Chi agreed angrily, sitting down as far away from Yamcha as possible.

Krillin spoke up, "Chi and I called her also today, but she's not replying to us either. I don't think she will unless she wants to talk to us, so I think calling and getting her to admit her whereabouts is out of the question...unfortunately."

They all sat together for the next few hours, every now and then someone burst out with a new idea but was quickly shut down. It was becoming more and more obvious that the only way they would find out where their good friends had gone off to was if Vegeta sent them all personal invitations to join them. Just when the group was about to give up for the night, Chi-Chi's phone rang.

She picked up uncertainly, seeing an unfamiliar number on the screen. "Hello?"

"Is this the friend of Bulma? Chi...something?" Came a raspy voice from the other end. Vegeta.

"VEGETA!" Chi-Chi exclaimed, giving all her friends a wild look. "Where the hell are you two?! Give Bulma the phone, NOW!"

Vegeta, completely ignoring what the raven haired girl had said, replied, "The woman requested that I inform you that she was hospitalized for reasons that shall remain unknown until she sees you, or longer after that, but is now fine. She also wishes I ask you not to worry, she is fine. Don't call anymore, baka, she'll see you...when she sees you. I think that suffices. Goodbye."

Chi-Chi heard Bulma's muffled, annoyed protests come from the background. "Give Bulma the PHONE, YOU MONSTER!"

"Hi, Chich, it's B."

"BULMA, WHERE THE HELL ARE YOU? WHY HAVEN'T YOU BEEN ANSWERING YOUR PHONE? WHY ARE YOU WITH HIM?"

"Okay, Chi, breath." She heard her high strung friend exhale. "Okay, second, I can't really explain much to you, but I just called to let you know I'm fine and please don't worry about me. I'll be home soon, okay?"

"Bulma, if you don't tell me where the fuck you are, I will go straight to your parents. And, you know they will have every cop in this fucking country looking for you. So, where are you?!"

"You wouldn't!" Bulma exclaimed. That would be too far, right? She argued to herself.

"Yes. I. Would."

"Ugh...Hold on a sec," Bulma surredned, hitting the mute button on the screen. "Vegeta, I need to tell her where we are. I won't tell her why or where we're going, but everything's gonna get screwed up if I don't. I'm sorry."

Vegeta growled and thought to himself for a moment. On one hand, the idiot girl that Bulma was friends with knowing where they were wasn't a good idea, but he found himself trusting the blue haired woman's instincts more and more each day, thus he stiffly nodded at her, exhibiting his agreement.

"Okay, Chi..." Bulma began, taking the phone off mute. "I am at the Orange Star Hospital, near the base of Mount Fuji-"

"Mount Fuji? What are you doing there?!" Chi-Chi interrupted.

"CHI, shut up! I'm at the Orange Star Hospital near the base of Mount Fuji. You asked me where I am, and I told you. I can't tell you why, or anything, but please don't come here, okay? Promise me that!"

Chi-Chi gulped. "What was that? Sorry, I can't here you, B! Gotta go!" And, the line went dead.

"So...We have a little bit of a drive ahead of us," Chi-Chi explained to her onlooking friends.

THE NEXT DAY

Bulma rolled around in her, hospital bed, trying to find a comfortable position to nap in. How was she ever going to fall asleep? It was five in the afternoon. She wasn't a newborn baby or above the age of ninety. She had no business entering her REM cycle at this hour She wrestled with the sheets, pulling them over her face, then deciding against it. She lay on her stomach but found herself more at ease when lying on her side. She didn't know why she was so restless but assumed it had something to do with the secret she was keeping from the flame haired boy who was sitting just a few feet away from her at that very moment. The fact that she hadn't told him that she had heard him admit that he cared about her was eating her alive, and it made no sense. It wasn't even that big a deal, but she wasn't sure if she wanted to bring it up because she knew if she did, her true, true feelings for him would come out. She rolled over onto her other side, trying to shut out her anxious thoughts from taking over her mind.

"Woman, stop your fussing at once!" Vegeta snarled from the corner of the now dimly lit hospital room.

Bulma sat up in her bed angrily. "Well, excuse me, Vegeta, for trying to get comfortable! Ugh, you are so annoying!"

He gaped at her. How dare she speak with him that way? He had saved her life, taken time out of his busy schedule to wait until she recovered, been there at her beck and call for the past 48 hours. How could she still treat him with such disgust? Perhaps she still hasn't forgiven me for the incident, he mused, while leafing through a rather boring magazine about real estate in Tokyo. He snapped it shut, wanting to burn his eyes out due to boredom.

"Entertain me," he rasped, moving from his side chair to the edge of her bed, still looking quite stiff all the while.

Bulma rolled her cerulean eyes. "What, am I your servant or something?"

"Yes," he sneered, running a finger down her cheek interestedly. She was the most beautiful creature he had ever laid eyes on.

"I don't think so, bud!" She retorted, looking away from him in a fake anger attempt. He snickered, loving the way he could get her all riled up. He swallowed hard on his yearn to take her, then and there. He had already kissed her for the last time, as he had phrased it. Getting romantically or physically involved with Bulma would bring about too many complications. And, he had hurt her too many times in the past. And, she had said that she couldn't be with him again, and though she had broken that promise a few times, her words still rung true. They were clearly not good for each other. They brought out all the bad emotions in each other: possessiveness, jealousy, anger, rage, lust. Vegeta pushed away the fact that he was never happier than when he was with his little blue haired scientist.

"Woman, you must," he persuaded, leaning back into her pillows and closing his eyes for a few moments. It was the most relaxed he had felt since rescuing Bulma from the arms of Dr. Gero.

"Fine," she grunted. "Tell me something."

"Tell you what?"

"Anything."

"Why would I do that?" He glared at her. This was not the entertainment he had in mind. He was hoping she would tell him some bogus story about her friends or a summary of a new science project, just so he could hear her voice, and it would gently lull him to sleep. Although she screeched on occasion, her voice was among the more calming things in his life.

"Why can't you ever just cooperate? Kami, sometimes you make me want to rip my hair out, Vegeta..." she groaned, playfully nudging him with her elbow. He rolled his eyes at her feeble attempt to hurt him.

"You tell me something," he offered, looking up at the white ceiling above them.

Bulma thought to herself. Should she go with something heavy duty, like a profession of her feelings? Kami, this would be the perfect opportunity to tell Vegeta she had heard him, while she was in the coma! But, she thought about it for a few moments longer and realized he was most definitely not ready to admit that. She didn't know if she was ready to hear his admission. She figured she would go for a more lighthearted confession. "Uh...I hate even numbers cause-"

"They're too perfect." He finished, not looking away from the blank ceiling. "Try again," he growled.

"You knew that?" She inquired, amazement lighting up each of her syllables. She didn't even remember telling Vegeta about that. Even if she had, she was completely stunned that he would recall it and then have the audacity to admit it to her.

"Obviously, woman. Did I not just make that perfectly clear?" He snapped, now peering into her beautiful eyes, noting to himself how he loved how they shined with wonder whenever he surprised her.

Completely taken aback by this rare exhibition of feelings, Bulma gently cupped Vegeta's cheek with her small hand, gently pulling him closer to her. His eyes never left hers, except for a brief second to glance at her full lips. He knew what she was about to do. Knew that, for both their sakes, he should stop her. But, the electricity that sparkled between them was too much for him to fight off, and he found himself slowly closing his eyes, unable to resist her any longer.

"Uh, Miss Briefs, these people are here to see you," Bulma heard the nurse say from the door, awkwardly, and she quickly pulled away from the spiky haired boy, immediately looking quite flushed. To her astonishment, as her eyes found the doorway, they fell on Goku. She then glanced to his right and saw Chi-Chi standing there, biting her lip nervously.

Vegeta let out an irritated sigh, knowing this would happen if Bulma revealed their location. She was much too loved by her friends for them to leave her with him, alone. For Kami knows how long.

"What the hell are you all doing here?!" Bulma yelled. She squinted her eyes in annoyance as she noticed Krillin, 18, Yamcha, and 17 standing behind Goku and Chi-Chi. There was silence for a few moments, and she knew her friends were searching for the right words to start with.

"We're bringing you home, B," Chi finally explained.

Chapter 9, done! I think this chapter was kind of boring, but the last one was more exciting, so I needed to balance it out. So, the rest of the gang has joined them! Will Bulma listen to her friends and go home? Or, will she stay with Vegeta? Will they all stay? Find out next chapter! Also, please, please keep reviewing because if I get a lot of reviews, I can tell that you guys are enjoying the story, and I will update faster! Also, reviews just make me happy LOL, I like to know you guys are enjoying my writing. Also, let me know if you are confused/want to see anything happen/etc. It's September :(. Okay, well anyway, please review, and thank you for sticking with me and reading! Sorry this update took so long!