Bulma choked as all the air was squeezed from her still frail body. Once everyone else had noticed her, she was swarmed. At the moment, Goku and Turles had her in a bear hug, hanging on as if their own lives depended on it. She laughed and tried to push her family away before they suffocated her.
"Guys," she choked, "can't breathe."
They went wide-eyed and released her immediately. Both imitated the classic Son grin and scratched their necks.
"Sorry B." they replied at the same time.
Bulma looked at them incrediously then burst out laughing. The others stared at her while she laughed. Krillin nudged Tien.
"You think she's gone mad?"
Tien shrugged, "I don't know. Maybe that coma did some permanant damage."
Krillin thought for a minute then shrugged as well.
"Hey Bulma, what are you laughing at?"
It was Goku who decided to break her trance. She looked over at him, still giggling a bit. He had a confused look on his face, as well as everyone else. Vegeta watched awestruck.
'I like someone who's mad. Wait, where'd that come from? I don't LIKE her.' He watched as she composed herself, leaning against the hospital bed while everyone else crowded around her.
"When you did that-" She burst out laughing once more, gulping to get air, "your faces-it was-so great." she said between laughs. Once she quieted down again, she looked at her group of friends. Tien was standing with his arm around Launch, 18 and Krillin were holding hands, Turles was standing beside Bardock, Goku and ChiChi were hand in hand also, and Vegeta and Piccolo were behind the group.
'Hmm, Piccolo. He doesn't come around often. Wonder why Yamucha isn't here. Oh well. I wish everyone else would follow Vegeta's example. All this attention is a little much.'
She broke out into a wide smile.
"So, you guys miss me?" she looked to them with innocent eyes and batted her eyelashes. They all laughed at her. Turles walked up and put an arm around her shoulders.
"You bet, B. What do you say we get out of here and go get some grub?" he asked as he steered her towards the door. Bardock intercepted them before they even moved.
"Not so fast kids. Before anyone moves a muscle, she" he pointed to Bulma, "is getting checked out by the doctor. No more dissapearing acts. Got it?"
Bulma felt like laughing at the look on her father's face. It was sort of like a mixture of grief and anger. Instead, she laughed and nodded.
"Got it, Pops."
After an hour of even more testing and prodding, they were allowed to exit the facilities. As they walked out of the automatic glass doors, Bulma ran to the grass. She got down on her knees and kissed the frozen ground. She then flopped on her back and sighed, permitting a smile on her face.
"No more white walls, hard floors, monotonous beeps. No more hospitals."
Everyone looked at her as if she was crazy. It was in the middle of December for God's sake! ChiChi coughed a little to get Bulma's attention. It worked, and the blue haired teen on the ground turned to her friend with a raised brow.
"Um, Bulma, you might not wanna lay on the ground, or you might get a cold and have to go back to the doctors."
Bulma shot up off the ground in a flash. She dusted herself off and shivered a bit.
"Well let's get going, it's freezing!" She rubbed her arms to get the blood flowing a bit more.
When she had left the hospital, her hoodie was ruined so it had to be thrown away, along with her stained white pants. Her lime green Vans were the only thing salvaged from the accident, something she was thankful for. Now, all she was left with was some thin navy scrubs a nurse let her have and a light jacket. The biting wind didn't help her cause a bit either. Vegeta, tired of her nagging, shrugged his own jacket off and threw it at her.
"Stop your whining. It's not that cold." he growled as he crossed his arms and glared at her.
"Aww, Thanks Veggie!" She smiled as his left eye twitched and pulled his coat on. She snuggled into his collar and sighed. It smelt just like him. It was an assortment of mint, spices, and outdoors. She loved it. They continued on to their parked cars.
As they came up the three cars, Bulma rasied a brow.
'Carpooling. Great. Who will I be stuck with?'
She looked around. Goku laughed a bit and rubbed his neck.
"Uh, B. I rode with Chi."
Launch and Tien nodded.
"Us too."
ChiChi looked to her apologetically.
"You know my car is only a four seater or you'd be welcome to ride with me. Sorry."
She looked to her father and cousin expectantly. Bardock shook his head.
"Don't look at me like that. These kids bummed a ride from me." He pointed to Turles, Piccolo, Krillin and 18. They all laughed nervously, afraid she might explode any minute.
She merely shrugged.
"That's cool. No one rode with Vegeta, right? We're all going to the same place, it won't kill me to ride in a car with him for 20 minutes."
They looked to her with bewildered expressions. Didn't Bulma and Vegeta hate each other, or are they missing something?
Vegeta growled.
"I'm not a taxi, Woman."
Bulma looked to him from her position between her father and Krillin. She crossed her arms and smirked.
"You owe me."
He scoffed at her response. "For what? Getting yourself in a coma?" He leaned on the hood of his car, ignoring the frowns he got from a couple of the group. Bulma walked up to him. He tensed as she leaned into his ear, her lips brushing the sensative skin behind it.
"No. I think you know, or do I need to remind you, Snukums?"
She did a mental dance when she saw him pale slightly. She backed away and laughed as his features contorted to a look of anger. If looks could kill, she would have died, came back to life, and been sent to the seven pits of hell another time.
She patted his arm and everyone got into their respective vehicles.
"Our little secret." She assured him as she slid into the passenger seat.
Vegeta growled when she made contact.
'Sneaky little bitch. So she could hear me. Wonder what else she remembers.' he thought as he too slid into the midnight blue Spyder just as it started to snow. He turned the heat on full blast as soon as he turned the ignition. Bulma laughed at his action.
"Not too cold, eh?" she mocked him from earlier.
He glanced at her from the corner of his eye.
"Buckle up." he ordered, choosing to ignore her comment. They drove down the highway a few minutes behind the others. After another moment of silence, Bulma decided to break it.
"So. Where are we going?" she inquired as she looked out of the fogged window as best she could.
Vegeta let out a breath he didn't know he had been holding. He thought she'd ask about the four months she was out.
"Your old man's house. He prepared a dinner and Kakarott begged me to come. It is Christmas Eve, I thought you were smarter than that." He smirked as her face turned red and her eyes grew a shade darker than normal.
"Well excuse me for now knowing the fucking date. I've been in a coma for the past four months and you expect me to run to a calender as soon as I open my eyes?"
Truth was, she forgot. In the midst of the excitement, she it had completely slipped her mind. Anyone who had visited her lately had droned on about the meticulous holdiay. Now that she thought about it, there were many festive decorations hanging about. As the thought of Christmas came to mind, she perked up. Before she could say what was on her mind, the car sputtered.
Bulma turned wide eyes to Vegeta as they came to a stop on the side of the exit. He had his eyes closed and was gripping the steering wheel very tightly.
"Vegeta," she started in a calm voice, trying not to scream, "what just happened?"
He opened his eyes and glared at her. He really wanted to strangle something.
"It's out of gas."
The way he said those four simple words made Bulma want to wring his neck. He said it like it happened every day! She took a few breathes to calm herself before she spoke.
"And why did it run out of gas?" She counted to ten, not bothering to look at him as she spoke.
He scoffed at her question. Wasn't it obvious?
"Isn't it obvious, Woman? I forgot to fill it up. If it wasn't for you blackmailing rides off of me, we wouldn't be in this predicament, anyways."
It was Bulma's turn to glare. She shifted in her seat so she could look at him.
"ME? You are not about to put the blame on me because you let your car run out of gas!" She faced the front once again and crossed her arms.
"If I wouldn't've had to drive you to your father's, I would be at my own house right now!" he yelled as he tried to start it up again.
"This is not MY fault!" she screamed back, loosing her patience with the flame haired teen.
"It is too!"
"Is not!"
"TOO!"
"NOT!"
She had been out of her coma for a whole 3 hours and she wished she was back at the hospital. This HAD to be the worse day of her life.
'Look on the bright side, you're stuck with Vegeta.'
'That's not very bright if you ask me.'
'No one asked you.
'I'm your conscience, you don't have to ask.'
'Oh. Shit.'
Vegeta watched silently as Bulma struggled with something in her mind.
'At least she shut up.'
'You don't mean that, you love her voice.'
"No I don't. Dying cats sound better than that.'
'Don't lie to yourself, Vegeta.'
'Who the fuck are you? Get out of my head!'
'Im your conscience. I'm stuck here forever.'
'Fuck.'
Bulma sighed as she brought herself back to reality. They couldn't sit here forever, they'd freeze. They could walk the remaining four miles, but they'd probably freeze out there as well. She turned to the driver for advice.
"So, Mr. I Forgot to Put Gas in the Car, what now?"
Vegeta looked to her with raised brows.
"What do you think we do? Sit here or walk." he stated as he unbuckled himself. He opened his door and stepped out into the growing blizzard. Bulma watched as he got out, unsure of what he was doing. When he started walking, she flipped. She hopped out of the vehicle and hollered for him.
"Vegeta! What are you doing?"
He didn't stop walking as he answered her.
"What does it look like? I'm not sitting in a car with you for who knows how long." He shook his head and continued walking. As he got farther and farther away, Bulma was still rooted in her spot. A snowflake hit her in the face and she snapped out of it. She started running.
"VEGETA! WAIT UP!"
He didn't stop, but subconsciously slowed so she could catch up easier. She stopped at his left side panting for air. Her cheeks were red from the wind and her breathes caused large steam puffs to appear in front of her mouth. Vegeta looked at her from the corner of his eye.
'She looks gorgeous.' As soon as the thought occured, he growled to rid it from his mind. He quickly covered his embarrassment with annoyance.
"If you weren't fat you'd be able to breathe right now." he smirked.
Bulma merely glared at him, still out of breathe. They continued on their trek in silence.
Bulma collapsed on the ground. They had one more mile left, but she couldn't do it. She couldn't feel her legs at all, and her lips were a ghostly shade of blue. She moaned as she tried to pick herself up. After a fifth failed attempt at getting off the frozen ground, she felt two brawny arms lift her up. She looked to her savior and was met with endless onyx pools. She smiled and gave him a meek thanks. When she tried to take a step, her legs collapsed once more.
"Goddamnit." was the only word that escaped her lips as she held onto Vegeta for support.
Vegeta watched her intently. He was in a much better condition than her, partly because he hadn't been in a coma the past four months, but still. Don't be fooled, he was freezing his ass off, he just decided to hide it, minus the shiver that raked through his body every thirty seconds. He picked her up bridal style when she failed at walking.
Bulma looked to him warily.
"What are you doing?" She tried to sound angered, but it came out as a whisper instead.
He looked to her like she was stupid.
"You apparently can't walk, can you? If I have to endure Kakarott's loud mouth, so do you."
She took that as Vegeta lingo for, 'I care for you so i'm not going to leave you in this weather.' She put her arms around his neck and cuddled into his collarbone. She started to nod off after a while. Vegeta shook her gently.
"Don't fall asleep, you might not wake up." Bulma thought she heard a faint trace of care, but brushed it off, worrying about not dying instead.
After another five minutes, they saw her father's house in the distance. Vegeta picked his pace up, careful of the cargo in his arms. In no time at all he had reached the property. He moaned as he came to the stairs. Bulma looked up at his with half opened eyes.
"What?" Her voice cracked.
He didn't reply as he started to climb, his legs threatenin to give out any minute. He fell against the door as he made it to the top, his own body trying to conserve heat. The blizzard had become outrageous in the time in took them to walk, and both of them were covered in snow and ice. Vegeta hoisted Bulma into his lap and rubbed her back, heating them both up at the same time. He rested his head on the brick behind him, desparatly trying to keep his eyes open. He failed miserably and soon nodded off with Bulma out cold in his lap as well.
The door opened not two minutes later. Goku popped his head out and looked around. They had heard a thud and he was the one sent to investigate. His eyes widened as he looked down and saw his sister and best friend passed out on each other, looking like death itself. He ran inside and got everyone else, grabbing a couple blankets on his way back out. When everyone filed out onto the large marble porch, they were speechless.
"What happened? They look dead." Krillin asked as he looked at them, hs eyes big as saucers..
Goku shrugged as he shook his sister awake.
"I found them out here. Come to think of it, Vegeta's car isn't here either." He scratched his head as the duo stirred. Everyone looked at each other, confused about the situation.
Bulma groaned as she was being shook. She cuddled into whatever she was laying on, snapping awake when someone's arms tightened around her. She raised her head to see Vegeta looking down at her with half lidded eyes. She turned her head slightly and saw everyone staring at them. She blushed a bit and slid off of his lap, snatching a blanket from Goku and wrapping it around her shoulders, handing Vegeta one as well. Turles helped Bulma up and tried to help Vegeta, but he swatted him away. They got inside and warmed up immediately.
All of the others sat around the marroon painted room awkwardly as the two sat on a brown suade love seat, heating their bodies by the fireplace. Bardock walked in a couple of minutes later with a tray of hot chocolate, handing all of the teens one and keeping one for himself. He sat across from Bulma and Vegeta and cleared his throat.
They both looked to him. He sighed before he sat back, rubbing his temples.
"You two have some explaining to do."