'Face to Face'

Chapter Ten: Wake Up, Wake Up

'The little things you do to me are
Taking me over, I wanna show ya
Everything inside of me,
Like a nervous heart that, is crazy beating.
My feet are stuck here, against the pavement,
I wanna break free, I wanna make it
Closer to your eyes, get your attention
Before you pass me by.'

Colbie Caillat: The Little Things

Days had passed since Dr Briefs' laboratory fire and after hearing his story of the bots' destructive pattern, and remembering Vegeta's brief of what had happened in the Gravity Chamber, Bulma had been triple-checking all of her father and hers' plans and stats for the bots, trying to figure out what went wrong.

She had- just the day before- recovered the melted remains of the bot and was planning on checking them out when Vegeta strode into the kitchen and sat down in the seat at the opposite end of the table. She bid him a cheery "Good morning", to which he grunted in response, and then stood up and begun to make his breakfast. She grilled the bacon and sausages and bread, poached the eggs and sliced the tomatoes and mushrooms, all the while chatting animatedly about her plans for the day.

It had become somewhat of a routine. Bulma discovered- and was not at all surprised- that he responded well to routine. He arrived at the same time every morning, wanting the same food every morning, he listened to her babbling- she knew he listened because sometimes he would randomly question her about it later on- and he ate in silence, finishing his meal at the same time every morning. She filled up the fruit bowl as he ate his meal, and poured herself a coffee, and carried on reading the fashion pages of the paper- as she did every morning.

It feels a bit like we're married or something, she thought in bemusement, looking up to trail her eyes over his handsome features. You can tell he's a Prince…he looks so aristocratic. With his high brow and defined cheekbones and jaw line, he was haughtily handsome. She found his hair the most interesting though. It was almost flame shaped and it never changed. It hasn't grown a bit since he's been here. Goku's hair is the same though, it must be a Saiyan trait. She sipped at her coffee and studied him further. He really is a puzzle…but I'm piecing him up bit by bit. I've just got to work on his communication skills. He listens well enough, and he can certainly talk when he wants too – although only when he's showing off or he's angry. But I did make progress before, and now he's settling in- she almost laughed aloud when she recalled going into his room a few days before and finding he had re-arranged everything so it was the most organised, minimalist room possible. So I know he's anal, organised…he's obsessive about being the best he can be, and he hates showing his weaknesses, or even admitting he has any….which he certainly does: His pride for one, his arrogance…and his insecurity- because underneath it all he's scared he's not enough and that's why he hates Goku so much- for being so comfortable with who he is. She sighed and looked back down at the paper, not noticing Vegeta glance up and lock his onyx eyes on her- like he did every morning. He studied her carefully, appreciating her beauty, before shoving his last forkful into his mouth and pushing away from the table, grunting a response as she called "See you at lunch" like she did every morning.

Vegeta sat down, breathing heavily, and rubbed his aching shoulder with a furious scowl plastered across his face. I know I can do better than this…I know it. I've got to be able to become Super-Saiyan…I have to beat Kakarot! I am the Prince of all Saiyans, I cannot be beaten by a third-class warrior…especially not a clown like him! He remembered what Bulma had said to him earlier in the week, about how he had willingly had his tail cut off to prevent his transformations…What kind of fool would willingly relinquish such power? What had the woman said…something about him not wanting to hurt people? She said it was so noble of him.

"What nonsense," he growled aloud, standing up and stretching out his arm, listening to the bone crack loudly with grim satisfaction. He was about to start again when the video link machine flickered on and Bulma's face appeared on the screen. Speak of the devil…

"What do you want?" he snapped, and she rolled her eyes.

"I need to talk to you." She said, crossing her arms over her chest. She was annoyed, but feeling self-conscious; he had noticed that whenever she was feeling particularly defensive or insecure of something she crossed her arms over her chest, just like he had noticed she always splayed her hands on her hips whenever she was furious and preparing for an argument, and like he had noticed she always involuntarily shivered every time he caught her staring…he shook himself and turned his gaze back to her, eyebrows arched.

"How many times have I told you not to interrupt my training?"

Bulma pursed her lips, "You can spare a few minutes. It's about the bot. I need to know exactly what happened when it attacked you in the Chamber."

"I've already told you what happened woman!" he growled, stretching out again and preparing to cut off the link and carry on with his training.

"Well fine, I suppose you won't want to know how it managed to figure out your power levels or techniques then?"

That caught his attention. "What?"

"The bot's learning on its own. It's built up a bit of a database of information on you…I can't get much sense out of it since you basically blew it to pieces but…"

"What does it know?" Vegeta interrupted swiftly, frowning. Learning on its own? How is that possible?

"It knows your current power level...but then your ki radar knows that and more…but it also can…" she paused and Vegeta recognised a flicker of concern cross her face, "It can almost dictate your every move…"

Vegeta started and stared up at her. "What do you want to know?"

Bulma smiled gratefully, "Hang on a second, I'll be right over." Before he could protest the link switched off.

'It can almost dictate your every move'…'learning on it's own'…what the hell have they built?

Bulma rushed over to the Gravity Chamber, her laptop and the remainder of the bot in her arms, chewing her lip and thinking rapidly. How can this be possible? I've checked practically every stat, every single piece of data Dad and I used for this thing, but nothing is explaining it's behaviour…it's like it came alive or something… She reached the Chamber and rapped on the door, startled by how quickly Vegeta responded. He glared down at her, and she knew he was unhappy about being interrupted but was too curious to tell her to stuff it. She slipped past him and immediately sat down, crossing her legs under her and setting the laptop on her lap, flicking it open and back to the page she had been working on before making her startling discovery. Once it was up and running, she motioned Vegeta over.

Vegeta strode over and crouched down beside her, staring at the mass of data on the screen with confusion and curiosity.

"Basically, the bot's hard-drive got a mind of it's own. I'm not sure how that happened yet, but that's not the point. The point is that it took to you immediately- it set you out as it's primary opponent and in the short space of time you used it, it gathered up as much data as possible about you and used that to plan an attack of it's own." She tilted her head to glance over at him, her eyes widening as she realised their proximity.

He gazed back at her, eyes flickering over face, before turning back to the screen, "So it did try to kill me?"

Bulma turned away and nodded, "Yeah…it thought of you as its primary opponent. When that attack failed it turned on my dad, knowing he had the ability to shut it down."

"What about you?" Vegeta asked.

"Huh?" Bulma spun back to face him, completely non-plussed.

Vegeta rolled his eyes, "Why hasn't it attacked you? Surely you can disable it too."

Bulma nodded, wondering if that was a compliment to her intelligence, "Yes I can, but it was only turned on once in my presence…it couldn't have developed its own sense of survival at that point and therefore couldn't categorise me as a threat."

Vegeta frowned, "What about all the rest of the things you've built? The new Chamber?"

Bulma winced, this was the bit she was dreading. "There won't be a new Chamber…we can't take that risk until I can figure out how the bot developed it's own system…if the Gravity Chamber could do the same," she shuddered, "it's not worth the risk." She folded up her laptop and winced again as Vegeta stood up, arms crossed over his chest, "I'm sorry…"

He scowled and shrugged, "Whatever."

Bulma gaped, Whatever? That's it? No screaming row? No insults? She stood, flabbergasted, frozen to the spot until Vegeta huffed and raised his eyebrows archly.

"Is there something else or are you just wasting my time now?"

Bulma shook her head and swallowed several times to try and regain her composure and her voice, "Err, No. No, that's all." She nodded, "Right, well, I'll go…" she turned to leave and looked back at him, "Lunch at one o'clock?"

Vegeta nodded shortly, "Fine."

Still slightly stunned, Bulma nodded again, and stared a little longer, before Vegeta stomped over and grabbed the door and she scampered off, shooting another bemused look over her shoulder as he shut the door with a bang.

Vegeta shut down the Gravity Chamber with a frown and headed for the kitchen, casually looking around the lawn and noticing suddenly that Yamcha wasn't doing his own training there. If you can call that training, he thought disdainfully. But where is the weakling anyway? He's normally hovering around Bulma like a pathetic puppy…

"Ah! There you are Vegeta!" Mrs Briefs seemed to suddenly appear out of nowhere, standing in front of Vegeta, her gardening apron tied around her waist and wearing her trademark grin.

Vegeta scowled in response.

"I was hoping you'd be out soon- off to have lunch with Bulma? Wonderful- you two do seem to be getting along!" She winked and Vegeta, before he could control it, felt his cheeks pink in both rage and embarrassment. He gaped wordlessly. 'Getting along'? What's that supposed to mean? Why did she wink? Who the hell does she think she is?!

Mrs Briefs- completely oblivious to Vegeta's mental rant, since he couldn't quite wrap his still stunned state around saying the words aloud- carried on, "Anyway, I wanted to speak to you, I've got some exciting news!" she beamed brighter still and Vegeta scowled again. "There's going to be a lovely ball! It's a Capsule Corp do, all the workers get together, etc, etc, but anyway, since Bulma and I and my dear husband will be hosting it I thought it'd be a lovely idea for you to come! You won't be able to train that night anyway as we'll be too busy, so I thought you could take the night off with us all." Before Vegeta could even open his mouth to tell her there was no way in hell he would go, she sped on, "I've already got you a lovely suit sorted out again so you've got no excuse now! It's on Wednesday night, and you'll be wanted around 9ish I should say- in the dining hall this time…" she sent him a cheery wave, and slightly gobsmacked, Vegeta watched silently as she wandered off, murmuring to herself.

This is ridiculous. I've got to ignore another night of training for some idiotic ball. What are they? Royalty?! He frowned and finally forced his feet to move, heading towards the kitchen with a growling stomach, I wonder if that idiot weakling will be going too?

Bulma plonked the tray of sandwiches on the table and frowned in surprise as the phone trilled loudly. She reached over the table and picked it up, "Hello?"

"Bulma? Hi. It's me."

"Yamcha?! What on earth are you doing ringing me?! Where are you?" Bulma was completely caught off guard, and suddenly squirmed with guilt. She hadn't seen him in the last week at all, heck, she hadn't even thought about him for a millisecond.

"I'm at my apartment."

Bulma's eyes bulged and she briefly lost her grip on the phone in surprise. "What apartment?"

There was a pause, before Yamcha said, "I moved out on Wednesday Bulma," tersely.

Bulma bit her lip and winced, Oh crap. I didn't even know he'd moved out! She scrambled for something to say when he added, "Not that you noticed…I suppose you were too busy making meals and such for Vegeta," with such a bitterness that Bulma felt as if he'd punched her in the gut.

"What?! Yamcha, Vegeta was injured on Tuesday, I spent the whole of Wednesday looking after him." She paused, "I'm sorry I didn't know you've moved out, but you didn't tell me and I've had a lot on my plate this week."

"Yeah, I suppose running around after Vegeta can be quite tiring." The venom in Yamcha's voice raised Bulma's heckles straightaway; her guilt replaced with anger.

"Look buddy, shut up about Vegeta. If you want to be so pathetic to slag him off then go do it to someone who cares what you think. I'm sorry I didn't know you'd moved out, but I actually do care about Vegeta and I didn't want anything to happen to him, and since you're so bothered about what kept me busy I'll have you know that my Dad almost died in an explosion…and guess what, it was Vegeta who saved his life!" Bulma slammed the phone down and let out a furious huff of breath, turning around to grab a sandwich and pausing when she spotted Vegeta stood in the doorway, looking completely stunned. Bulma immediately stored a mental image of it, He looks so unguarded. I've never seen him look so caught off-guard.

The moment she thought that though, it was like he had read her mind, and his trademark scowl snapped back into place. "Lovers quarrel?" he sneered.

Bulma felt like this time he'd punched her in the stomach. And it hurt twice as much. "Actually, we aren't dating anymore…but that doesn't make it any easier arguing with him over someone as ungrateful as you."

He didn't say anything, to which Bulma was both surprised and relieved. She didn't have the energy to argue with him. She sat down and helped herself to a few sandwiches and ate them in silence.

Vegeta watched her curiously, her words 'I actually do care about Vegeta' seemed to be floating around and around in his mind…'we aren't dating anymore'…he couldn't quite escape the satisfaction that filled him…Without really knowing what he was doing, he strode over and sat opposite her, filling his plate with sandwiches and eating in silence. He wished she would speak- despite the fact her chatter sometimes drove him mad, he liked the sound of her voice, how confident she was. She certainly wasn't afraid of him, or of what he or anyone else thought of her. He admired her. He glanced up and scanned her quickly, taking note of how dull her usually bright eyes seemed, and how she was beginning to look peaky rather than creamy-skinned. He frowned. What's wrong with her? Is she ill?

Bulma prodded at her sandwiches and stared down at them. This is ridiculous. I shouldn't feel this bad…he's never exactly pleasant to me. Why should it matter that he didn't thank me for sticking up for him? Why would he? No-one's probably done it before. And besides, he probably doesn't give a hoot about me.

And again, as if he had read her mind, and was determined to prove her wrong, Vegeta suddenly stood up and coughed slightly to get her attention. Bulma glanced up and was stunned to see a pink tinge on his cheeks. It was only the firm line of his mouth that kept her from immediately pointing it out.

"I'm going to take my lunch into the Gravity Chamber. I need more time to train because of that ridiculous ball on Wednesday."

Bulma gaped, "You're coming to that?"

Vegeta nodded stiffly and lingered a moment, and he frowned before adding, "I'll see you at dinner."

Bulma grinned, immediately knowing this was both his apology and thank-you. "See you at dinner." She repeated, too pleased to properly recognise the butterflies fluttering madly in her stomach as he nodded again and strode from the room.

Later on in her lab, all Bulma could do was recognise her still fluttering stomach. And it was driving her barmy. What on earth is going on? I can't be attracted to Vegeta…she paused for a moment and her body seemed to ache as she remembered his kiss…ok, stuff that, I can be attracted to Vegeta. But butterflies in my stomach?! This is all wrong! I can't…I can't like him …it's the most ridiculous, impossible, stupid, wonderful, exciting…AHH! She dropped her head in her hands and burst out into uncontrollable laughter.

Dinner seemed to fly around and Bulma's stomach was still fluttering. She winced and hoped he wouldn't notice. Oh heck, don't Saiyans have a great sense of smell? I'm probably going to be wafting off pheromones like I'm in heat! She chuckled at the thought, Not that I'd be complaining if he kissed me again…She sighed dreamily before shaking herself. Get a grip Bulma. You're a grown woman now, not a silly teenage girl. She shoved the roast chicken in the oven and let out a large snort of laughter.

"Very charming." A dry voice suddenly sounded and Bulma spun around, already knowing she would see Vegeta stood in the doorway. She flushed the moment she spotted him and couldn't help the wide grin that spread across her face.

"Hi." She said breathlessly, before mentally slapping herself as he raised an eyebrow.

Something's cheered her up…he sauntered into the room and sat down at the table, scanning her over again as she carried on with her cooking.

"So, what made you decide to come on Wednesday?" Bulma asked, trying to sound casual, and suddenly feeling like she was a teenage girl all over again.

Vegeta snorted this time, "Your mother."

"My mum?! What did she do? Threaten you with her garden plants?" Bulma teased, and Vegeta noted her eyes were sparkling again. He briefly wondered if he had anything to do with her mood change, before realising she had spoken. He didn't want to admit how easily he had given in so he grumbled, "Something like that."

Bulma laughed, feeling the jitters in her stomach tenfold as reluctant smile spread across Vegeta's face.

I'm smiling, Vegeta realised with a sudden, overwhelming feeling of confusion. Why the hell am I smiling? What is it about this woman that is messing with my mind…my emotions? He would have shuddered at using the word in the same sentence as himself, but Bulma turned around and placed a large glass of juice in front of him with a smile and a saucy wink that sent his mind wandering into a very different direction.

Oh my god, I am so sorry for the rubbish delays with this story for the last week, I have been having major connection troubles! All is solved now, and to make up for the long wait I've put two chapters up at once! :D

Thanks again for all the wonderful reviews- i hope you carry on! You gorgeous lot keep me going! And I promise I won't take this long to update again! :D xxxx