Avoidance
Over a month had passed since Bulma learned the truth about Vegeta's life and he realized he had a particular attraction to her, but it was weeks of constantly staying out of each other's paths. Even if Vegeta wanted to reconcile with her, explain the reasons behind his actions, and even if she was interested in hearing him out, neither of them were willing to make the first move. Like magnets of the same pole, they continued evading the other, and when they were forced to be in the same location at the same time, such as at meals, they belligerently avoided eye contact or snarled insults with previously unmatched venom. For them, it was a way of coping with their feelings, albeit an unhealthy coping mechanism. Bulma couldn't overcome her feelings of fear, disgust, and betrayal; Vegeta, on the other hand, was struggling with the realization that he not only tolerated her, but he actually liked her while she hated him.
The tension between them was palpable, making it clear to everyone else in the household that they were not to be trifled with. Moods constantly sour, they were liable to snap at anyone over the smallest perceived slight or inadequacy, which further isolated them as the elder Briefs and older saiyans were careful to avoid both Vegeta and Bulma as if they had the plague. It was a miserable month at Capsule Corporation, and by the end of it, Bulma's parents and Nappa had had enough of it. Raditz, while not comfortable with the situation, was at least able to escape it for the majority of the day by going to train with Goku, so he didn't have to endure the wrath of either the prince or the heiress.
It was at the end of the torturous month on a Sunday afternoon when the Briefs and Nappa were sitting in the kitchen after lunch. Vegeta had gone back out to the gravity room to train, Bulma was at headquarters working on an 'urgent' project, and Raditz was at Goku's house. Dr. Brief sighed in the silence that followed their departure from the kitchen and rested his hands on the table. "What has gotten into those two? They've never acted like this before."
Nappa grunted, turning his gaze to the window over the sink where Mrs. Brief was washing dishes. "They don't know how to act around each other."
"What do you mean?"
Mrs. Brief turned around and leaned against the counter. "Do you know what's going on between them?"
Nodding, Nappa told them, "Bulma feels like she can't trust him after asking him about the sorts of things he did while working for Frieza. Vegeta doesn't want to admit he's hurt by her distrust because he –" He paused, considering what word to use, then decided on the simple human term "—because he loves her."
Normally Nappa wasn't one to break the prince's confidence, but in this case he thought it might help both him and Bulma. Her parents, he gathered, were supportive of a relationship budding between the two of them, so he hoped that by telling them the truth they might be able to devise a plan to get them together despite their differences. It took a few moments for his words to sink in before Mrs. Brief squealed excitedly and Dr. Brief cracked a small smile.
"He loves her?" Mrs. Brief asked. "Are you sure? Oh, this is just wonderful! I always knew they would be just perfect for each other. Oh my, but how are we going to get them together if they keep avoiding each other like this?"
Chuckling, Dr. Brief said, "Dear, I don't think they need us to give them a push. They'll figure it out on their own soon enough."
"Don't be ridiculous!" Mrs. Brief hurried over to the kitchen table and sat down next to Nappa, resting her hand on his forearm. "Now tell me, how long has he been in love?"
Nappa, somewhat taken aback by her enthusiasm, replied dumbly, "Long enough."
"Of course long enough!" Mrs. Brief nodded to herself. "Does Bulma love him too? She should! She's got the best kind of husband material right in front of her. She'll get over this little episode and then I'm sure she'll be all over him. We just need to help her get over her feelings about what he did so long ago."
While she prattled on about romantic get-togethers, horse-drawn carriages, moonlit weddings, and adorable grandbabies, Nappa and Dr. Brief exchanged a glance, shrugging. Though Nappa had finally managed to force Vegeta into admitting he was interested in Bulma as a mate, he still didn't consider himself any sort of matchmaker and had little desire to try playing the part to bring them together, especially when they were having a problem rooted from Vegeta's past on both accounts. He could imagine it would be hard for her to forgive Vegeta for his transgressions, and Vegeta was still convinced that remaining a loner was the best route for his life. While Nappa didn't want his prince to have any weaknesses when Frieza arrived, he did believe that overall Vegeta's life would be much improved if he took Bulma as his mate.
After listening a few more minutes to Mrs. Brief's senseless babbling, Nappa stood and excused himself to go train in the back yard. He did want to see Vegeta and Bulma reconcile, but he didn't know how to coerce them into it. His mind was clearest while he was training, so he figured the best way to come up with a plan would be to spend the afternoon training alone instead of with Bulma as he usually did. Besides, she probably wasn't coming back to the compound until dinner, so he didn't need to worry about that.
As he sank into his fighting stance to begin his kata, he wondered which problem was worse: Bulma's distrust or Vegeta's reluctance to face his feelings. Probably Bulma's distrust because even if he managed to get Vegeta to confess his feelings, she wouldn't be receptive to him. So, he needed to focus his energy on getting Bulma to forgive Vegeta, but he had no idea how to accomplish that goal. Forgiveness was not his strong point; hell, his whole life was nothing but holding a grudge against Frieza for what he did to his race. He hardly knew the meaning of forgiveness, so how could he expect to get someone else to forgive someone? It was much easier said than done, he concluded.
'Maybe if they're just stuck together long enough, they'll work it out to preserve their own sanity.' Snorting, Nappa started punching the air, fighting with an imaginary opponent with every ounce of strength his body possessed. 'Even if that would work, how could they be forced together? The only time they ever saw each other even before this started was at meals.'
Thoroughly stumped in trying to come up with a suitable course of action, Nappa started to wonder if, perhaps, the crazy blonde woman was actually the key to success here. The things she talked about sounded absurd, completely un-saiyan, but it might just work. Why not? Apparently it was common practice for humans to date when they were interested in each other as mates, so why couldn't Vegeta and Bulma go on a 'date' too? The problem was getting them to agree. The only way for such a plan to work would be through the use of deception, which wouldn't be easy considering both involved were extremely intelligent and capable of seeing through such ploys. No, he would have to come up with something better than that.
He was broken out of his thoughts when the back door opened and slapped shut behind Mrs. Brief. She pranced over to the door of the gravity room and knocked a few times before the simulator turned off and the door opened. They exchanged a few words before Vegeta disappeared inside again before coming out wearing a fresh shirt and wiping the sweat from his face and neck with a towel. He followed Mrs. Brief around the compound to the front. Apparently it was time for them to go grocery shopping.
Nappa shook his head after they disappeared. If anyone thought Vegeta trained too much before, now he practically lived in the gravity room. The only times he came out were for meals and shopping with Mrs. Brief. He had even taken to sleeping in there, assuming he slept at all. Obviously he was going out of his way to stay away from Bulma, who had likewise taken extreme measures to avoid Vegeta. Whereas she used to go to headquarters for business twice a week at the most, she had been there almost every single day since their dispute began. When she wasn't at headquarters, she was locked in her laboratory and almost never answered her door when someone knocked. Nappa was lucky to keep her training most afternoons.
He continued training for a few minute before a new idea suddenly struck him. A little sabotage never hurt anyone. Smirking to himself, he crossed the yard and sneaked into the gravity room once he was sure Vegeta was off the premises. Once inside, he immediately headed for the gravity console, ripping the cover off the control panel, and started crossing and disconnecting wires. Satisfied that the gravity console was no longer operable, he went back outside and resumed his training as if nothing happened.
It was a long wait before Vegeta got back from shopping with Mrs. Brief. When he did, he immediately headed off to the gravity room to train more before dinner. Having no idea that the console was tampered with, he engaged it at 450Gs, but nothing happened. At first he didn't think much of it, simply assuming that he hadn't activated it as he thought he had. Hitting the engage button again, he realized something was wrong when still nothing happened. He growled in irritation as he pulled the panel off to see if he could diagnose the problem. What he saw made him furious. The wires, though he never really took the time to learn where each went and what its function was, were obviously put in the wrong places because nothing looked like he remembered it. Someone must have messed with it, but he didn't know who or why. He forced the panel back in place and sniffed the air until he picked up the faint scent of another saiyan still in the air. Nappa. What the hell was that fool doing crossing wires in the gravity console?
He would confront Nappa about that later; at the moment, all he wanted was for the gravity simulator to run again. Thankfully, Dr. Brief was at the compound today working in his own laboratory, so Vegeta didn't have to resort to asking Bulma for help fixing the gravity console. The saiyan prince stormed out of the gravity room and headed back inside the compound to find Dr. Brief immediately. He went to the lab door that he hadn't been in very often since he was a boy and stopped to knock on the door. A few seconds later, he heard Dr. Brief calling for him to come in, so he opened the door and strode in, crossing his arms over his chest.
"Ah, it's you, Vegeta," Dr. Brief said, looking up from under the hood of a hovercar. "What can I do for you?"
Vegeta's tail started flicking, the tip thumping against his hip. "Someone messed with the gravity console. I need you to fix it."
Dr. Brief's mustache twitched before he disappeared under the hood again. For a few moments all Vegeta heard was the clanking of metal, but then Dr. Brief said, "I'm sorry, Vegeta, but since Bulma made so many upgrades I hardly know the ins and outs of that machine anymore. If it's really messed up you'll have to ask her for help. I might only further break it."
"That's ridiculous!" Vegeta growled and started pacing. "I won't have her fix it."
"Why not?" There was another loud clank and some muttering.
"Because," Vegeta ground out, "she won't do it. She hates me."
"Son, the day she starts hating you will be the day hell freezes over." Dr. Brief moved away from the car, wiping his hands on an already oily cloth. "As you know, she's at headquarters holed up her office, no doubt. As it so happens I need to have something delivered to her, so if you're going you may as well take it along with you."
"I'm not going," Vegeta reiterated stubbornly.
The old scientist sighed and tossed the cloth down on his desk before sitting down in his chair. "Well, that's too bad then. I don't know how else you intend to get your gravity room fixed."
Vegeta stopped at a workstation and rested his hand on it. "You can fix it."
"No, I'm sorry, but I don't believe I can." Dr. Brief turned to his computer and opened a window to read a document.
The saiyan's fingers dug into the metal surface. He was sure that the old man could fix it but was choosing not to simply to force him to have Bulma do it. For what reason he couldn't figure, but it didn't matter. There was no way to force Dr. Brief to fix his gravity room. "Fine," he said through a deep sigh, "What do you want me to take?"
"Just some documents," Dr. Brief answered as his printer started up. A few papers shot out, which he promptly grabbed and stuffed into a yellow envelope and sealed. He stood up and walked over to Vegeta, handing him the envelope. "Remember, these are confidential, so make sure no one else gets a hold of this."
"Hn." Vegeta accepted the envelope and, with one final sullen glance at the doctor, left the laboratory to go to Capsule Corporation headquarters. He went outside and blasted into the air, flying across the city fast enough that he didn't have time to change his mind. When he landed in front of the tall building, he stood on the sidewalk, looking up at the windows of the floor below the top. That was Bulma's office, his destination.
Vegeta stalked into the building and ignored the receptionist's greeting on his way to the elevators. He pushed the up button and waited a few seconds before one of the elevator doors opened with a ding. Hesitantly, he stepped onto the elevator and pushed the button to take him to Bulma's office suite, providing identification when prompted. The ride to her floor seemed to take years as the seconds ticked by; with each passing moment his heart rate increased and he could feel sweat breaking out on the back of his neck. What was this feeling? Anxiety? He shook his head, trying to clear his mind before the elevator gave another cheerful ding and the door slid open.
When he saw her sitting at her desk, head bowed as she scribbled notes on a pad of paper, he lost all confidence and pushed the button to take him back down to the main floor, but before the door could close again, she looked up and spotted him. He heard her quiet gasp and felt his stomach twist. There was no backing out now, not since she'd seen him. He refused to take the cowardly way out, to be seen so weak, especially by her. Holding the door open, he stepped off the elevator, and, clutching the envelope tightly in his hand, slowly walked across the office toward her desk.
"Vegeta," she said, feigning a calm demeanor, "What are you doing here?"
Once he reached the desk, he slapped the envelope down on it and turned to leave without an explanation. Forget the damn gravity room, he could train without it. Either Dr. Brief would fix it or it wouldn't get fixed at all. He started back toward the elevator when he heard Bulma quietly clearing her throat, obviously trying to gain his attention without seeming too obvious. He turned sideways, watching her from the corner of his eye.
"What is this, exactly?" she asked, her finger on the envelope.
He shrugged. "Documents your father wanted me to give you."
She nodded once, furrowing her brows. As she pulled the envelope across her desk to open, she asked him, "What's the real reason you came?"
Vegeta sighed, knowing he couldn't fool her into believing he came only to deliver the envelope. "I need you to fix the gravity room. Someone… broke it."
"Who, you?" Bulma rolled her eyes as she propped her feet up on the desk. "People don't just go in there and fool around. Anyway, have my dad do it. I'm too busy."
"He said he can't do it!" Vegeta snapped. "Can't or won't, but either way if you don't fix it then I am not going to be able to use it to train."
"Sucks to be you then. I'm not doing it."
"You foolish, insolent little—" He cut himself off, his hands balling into fists as a low growl erupted in his chest. This was precisely why he didn't demand she fix the gravity room in the first place. He already knew she would refuse and he knew he wouldn't do anything about it because he couldn't hurt her and threats never worked. Neither did name-calling for that matter. Rather than arguing, he headed back toward the elevator, his tail flicking behind him. "Fine then, let everyone die when Frieza comes. See if I care."
The elevator door slid open and he stepped onto it, pushing the close door button before Bulma could throw a retort at him that would ruin his exit. He leaned against the wall of the elevator and banged his head against it a few times. Why did he have to take an interest in someone so insufferable? So stubborn and stupid? It didn't matter why, what mattered was that he did, and it was going to be the death of him at this rate. She hated him and now she wouldn't fix the gravity room so he would never be strong enough to defeat Frieza, avenging his fallen race and defending her from the tyrant's grasp.
Once Vegeta was gone, Bulma sighed and dropped the papers her father sent on the desk. They were nothing but memos he could have sent in an email if they were all that important. Why he would send Vegeta with them, she didn't know. Regardless, Vegeta's last words kept running through her mind despite how hard she tried to shake it off. Denying Vegeta the gravity room was no way to settle her problems. Whether or not she liked him, he was still their best bet against the evil space tyrant, and if he needed his training equipment fixed, she was practically obligated to do it for the good of, well, everyone.
'Tonight,' she decided, 'I'll work on it tonight so he can leave me the hell alone. Kami knows I don't need him nagging me about it.' With a tired sigh she slid her feet off the desk and continued jotting notes for her next project, trying not to think of her surly visitor. It was getting harder not to think about him through the days she spent at headquarters. In all honesty, she missed being around him and she was craving a satisfying verbal spar with him. He was the only person willing and able to keep up with her intelligence and temperament, and denying herself his presence was practically unbearable after becoming so used to having him around. Besides, staying mad at someone was hard when that someone wasn't around to be a rude, arrogant jerk in need of serious attitude adjustment and social skills lessons. When she thought of him, she thought of the good times they had together instead of the times he was unfriendly or the things he said he did as Frieza's slave. Her resolve to distance herself from him was slipping, and that was why she was more determined than ever to stay away. Maybe she would forgive him eventually, but she wanted to stay upset with him as long as she could; after all, her spite was the least he deserved.
Bulma came home to the compound a few minutes before dinner started, doing her best to be around as little as possible so there were fewer chances to see a certain alien prince. She walked into the kitchen and saw Nappa and her parents already seated at the table, but Vegeta was missing. Not one to fret over his absence, she sat down and tried to strike up a conversation, but no one seemed particularly responsive.
A few minutes later, Vegeta came into the kitchen, receiving cheerful greetings from everyone but Bulma, and sat down next to her, though his chair was noticeably farther away than usual. Through dinner, there was little talking, but Bulma's parents and Nappa seemed to be eating with abnormal speed, finishing before either Vegeta or Bulma. Once Mrs. Brief saw that Nappa was finished, she stood up and carried his dishes to think sink.
"Nappa, would you be a dear and help me reach some things in the storage room? I've started the spring cleaning but I can't get to the boxes on the top shelf, and you're just the height I need." She grinned when the large saiyan grunted and stood up, following her out of the kitchen.
Another minute of silence passed before Dr. Brief folded up his newspaper and set it on the table, leaning back in his chair as he stretched. "My, it feels like it's getting late. I'd better go back to my lab and finish the car I'm working on before I fall asleep." With a dramatic yawn, he stood up and shuffled out of the kitchen, leaving Bulma and Vegeta alone.
They glanced at each other before scooting farther away, neither willing to leave before finishing dinner for the sake of escape. Vegeta didn't want to back down and show his discomfort around her, and Bulma didn't want to lose ground in her own home. And so, despite their mutual unease, they remained sitting at the table, picking at their food more than eating.
Bulma was somewhat irritated with the others for leaving. Their departures hadn't been exactly subtle – or believable. Obviously they were trying to force her to spend some time alone with Vegeta. Well, at least her parents were, though she had never seen Nappa actually do anything for her mother before. But then, she did know he thought more of the Briefs than he ever really let on since he finally figured out they only had Vegeta's best interest in mind and considered him a legitimate part of their family. Either way, she knew that there was a reason behind her being abandoned in the kitchen with Vegeta, the one person she didn't want to spend any time at all with. Ironic, considering just a few weeks ago she would have given almost anything for such an opportunity.
When she was finished eating, Bulma took her plate to the sink and turned around, leaning against the counter. Vegeta was almost done with his food, which meant he would be going back to training soon. Or at least, he would if he had somewhere to train. She had no doubt he would continue training even without the gravity room, but she had decided she would fix it for him and she intended to do so – for the good of the world, of course. She didn't care about helping him. In her opinion, he was a monster; perhaps he had been molded to behave like that, but that didn't mean he had to give in. She couldn't just forgive him for taking pleasure in killing so many innocent lives, among other things.
Sighing, she looked over at the flame-haired saiyan. "I'll fix the gravity room."
He looked up at her, somewhat surprised, and nodded before shoveling another bite of food in his mouth. While he was finishing his meal, Bulma left the kitchen and went out back to take a look at the gravity console to see what was wrong with it. Hopefully it would be a quick fix so she could get back to ignoring the prince. She groaned when she pulled the panel off the console and saw all the mixed up and disconnected wires. Even though she was the one who knew the inner workings of the gravity room better than anyone else, it was still going to take time rewiring everything. Without a doubt this was done on purpose; she didn't know who did it, but she didn't appreciate it in the least. For all she knew, it was one of Vegeta's tricks to get her to talk to him or something, though she wasn't inclined to believe he would stoop to something so ridiculous. If he wanted her to talk, he would be a little more confrontational about it.
With a clear lack of enthusiasm, she went back to the compound to get her toolbox from her laboratory so she could begin work on the console. She was leaving her lab when she ran into Vegeta, who was going down the hall on his way outside. With a sneer, she cut him off to go out the back door before him, saying pugnaciously, "It's not fixed yet, you know."
Rolling his eyes, he continued after her as she crossed the yard to the gravity room. "As if I thought you could fix it in ten minutes," he retorted.
"What's that supposed to mean?"
He opened the door and went inside ahead of her. "It means that, no matter how much of a genius you are, it's going to take a while to fix."
"You want to bet?" she spat, sitting down in front of the console with her toolbox at her side. "I'll have it fixed in under an hour, just you watch."
Vegeta snorted as he sat down near her. "You're on."
"On? What? And what do you think you're doing? You can't train in here before I'm finished!" Bulma inched away from him and pulled out a pair of pliers from her toolbox, uncomfortable with his close proximity. She could feel the heat from his body and smell the faint scent of a thunderstorm, awakening memories of their 'training session' in the ballroom months ago. How could she hate this man? He wasn't so bad deep down, was he? Frowning, she dismissed those thoughts and focused on the task at hand.
"Your bet. I don't think you can finish in less than an hour. And I'm learning how to fix this damned thing so if that idiot Nappa tries to sabotage it again I can fix it without your assistance."
"Nappa?" She reached into the console and started untangling wires.
Vegeta nodded. "He's the one who did this. His scent was in here when I came back from shopping."
"Why would he want to break the gravity room?" Bulma asked. "He more than anyone else wants you to get stronger." Shaking her head, she pulled out a paper with all the notes on the console design so she could easily figure out which wire performed what function.
Other than a disinterested grunt, Vegeta didn't answer her question. He was as confused about Nappa's motive as she was. They didn't speak to each other as Bulma went about fixing the gravity console. He didn't know what to say to her, and he wasn't sure he wanted to say anything even if he did. Maybe it was because of his pride, but he didn't think he needed to justify himself in her eyes. What he did in the past was done, and if she wanted to hate him for those choices, poor as they may have been, that was her prerogative. To a degree, he regretted telling her the truth. If he had lied, would she have ever learned the truth? Possibly, and that was part of the reason he didn't lie, because he didn't want her to have more to hold against him.
Dismissing his thoughts, he watched as her hands deftly moved, sometimes peeking over to see her brow creased in concentration and her lips slightly downturned as she worked her way through the wires, carefully and accurately making the proper connections. He marveled at the speed at which she worked, but in a way he wished she would take her time. He'd never admit it, not to anyone but himself, but he was perfectly content to sit on the floor next to her, close enough to smell her sweet scent, to see her emotions play out in her subtle facial expressions, to hear each breath she took. The closer he was to her, the longer he was with her, the more he realized how attracted he really was, bordering obsession. He had to have her, but she wanted nothing to do with him. What was he supposed to do? Maybe the best way to go was to simply wait for her to come around. She couldn't hate him forever, could she?
Bulma put the last wire in place and smirked triumphantly. "There! I'm done." She checked her watch, then turned to Vegeta and stuck her tongue out. "And it was only 47 minutes. I win the bet. Unfortunately, we didn't bet anything."
"Hn." Vegeta stood up and stepped over to the console.
"Really, you don't have to thank me," Bulma said, her tone dripping with malicious sarcasm. She groaned as she stood up and picked up her toolbox. Without giving him another glance, she walked out of the gravity room, leaving him to train all night. She didn't care what he did as long as he would leave her alone now. Outside, it was dark and cold, making goosebumps rise on her arms. While working she hadn't noticed how warm it was in the gravity room...or how much the room smelled like the saiyan. Blood, sweat, and that wild aroma she caught whenever she was near him. And though she refused to dwell on it, she decided she rather liked that scent and missed it once she was out in the fresh air.
The blue-haired scientist was almost to the door of the compound when she saw movement from the corner of her eye. Setting down her toolbox on the back step, she walked around the building until she could see Nappa training in the yard, sweat pouring down his face and neck. She was always amazed by his quick movements, never able to understand how someone so large could be so swift. After watching for a couple minutes, she walked over to him and rested her hands on her hips.
"So, you had to help my mom reach some boxes, huh?"
Nappa came to a grinding halt in his kata and glanced over his shoulder at her. He shrugged, turning around, and wiped the sweat from his forehead with the back of his arm. "I was tall enough to reach them."
"Right." Bulma took a few steps closer to him, raising an eyebrow. "Why did you try to break the gravity console? Don't you know Vegeta could have been hurt if you did something to it?"
The saiyan's expression did not betray him, but she could see the tip of his tail starting to twitch agitatedly. "What are you talking about?"
She rolled her eyes. "Don't play dumb with me. Vegeta said he smelled your scent in there after the wires of the gravity console mysteriously crossed and disconnected. What were you trying to do?"
This time, she could see him frown a little before he turned away and resumed punching the air. "I would never do anything to hurt the prince."
"Okay, so if you weren't trying to hurt him, what were you trying to do?" She walked around so he was facing her again, determined to get a straight answer out of him. "You can tell me, it's not like it'll make any difference if I know why you did it."
Nappa sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose. "I did it so that you two would have to see each other for a few minutes. It's obvious the way you've been avoiding each other lately and it's making both of you hell to be around."
"I don't know what you're talking about."
"Now who's hiding things?"
Bulma huffed, crossing her arms over her chest. "Okay, so maybe I haven't wanted to be around him much lately. What's it to you? He doesn't want to be around me either."
"You're wrong about that," Nappa muttered.
"What do you mean?"
"He's avoiding you because you're avoiding him. He's respecting your decision to distance yourself from him. What you're too blind to see is that he cares about you and it's hurting him the way you're staying away from him." Nappa maintained eye contact with her for a while before turning away to continue his kata, considering the conversation over. If she couldn't take a hint, then there was no sense pushing further, at least not tonight. They had managed to stay together for an hour without getting into any sort of fight, so maybe there was hope for them yet.
Bulma stared at him for a minute before nodding slowly and turning to go inside. Maybe Nappa was right. Maybe she was being too hard on Vegeta. At the very least she could give him a chance to explain himself instead of writing him off as a monster without understanding why he had done such horrible things, or at least find out if he was sorry he did it. There had to be more to the story than he told her when he answered her questions. Even now, knowing the truth, she didn't honestly want to believe that Vegeta did what he did without some kind of good reason. And it was getting harder to hold a grudge against him; that was why she spent so much time away from the compound. She was afraid that if she was around him too much she would cave and forgive him. Why? Because she cared for him. Damn it all, no matter what he had done, she still cared for him and still wanted to believe he was a good person she could trust.
A/N: This part might be reminiscent of Rediscovering Honor, but I like using Vegeta's past as a means for them to grow closer, build trust, etc. Bulma reacts strongly to his past because she never knew the details, and no matter how "typical" Vegeta's behavior was of a conquering soldier, it would still be a shock to her because she loves him. Mostly she's punishing Vegeta at this point while trying to convince herself he deserves her anger. And yeah, Nappa is pretty cool in my story, isn't he? :) And happy late birthday to iluvveggie.
Done being in weddings this summer! And I only got a total of 13 hours of sleep over a three day period, none of which occurred during the first 32 hours...Either way, another roommate is successfully married off. Now I just have to go to one more wedding next weekend. I'm stuck on writing chapter 66, which is not good considering I'm catching up pretty fast in my updates. So, hopefully I can get it done soon and move on...
Beta'd by lilpumpkingirl
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