Val felt Vegeta carry her through the medical research building, yelling embarrassingly to demand a doctor come and treat her. She felt herself cringe, trying to slip her way off of his shoulder and get back outside, even for sure by now Tien would have left. She kicked at him with her good leg, smacking at his back. She heard him grunt, but not loosen his hold on her. "Put me down," she demanded.
He ignored her, with one of the doctors she knew bravely stepped over to them, beckoning Vegeta to follow him. She tried to twist around to look at who it was, guessing it was Dr. Daiki based on his voice, but she could not be sure. She was held too tightly, annoyed and still wanting to get down while she felt him walk.
Dr. Daiki led them down to the hallway to an exam room, telling Vegeta to set her down while he went to get a nurse and supplies to check her over. He dropped her roughly on the bed, making her grunt as her injured leg was jarred. She straightened up, and looked up at him, seeing him loom over her, eyes trained on her injured leg. She moved to get up and slip around him. He caught her by the shoulders, shoving her back down on the bed. She cringed away from him being so close to her. He pulled away, keep his face up and away from hers, but not letting her get away from him. She turned her head to the side, trying to get more away from him as well. Him being that close set her teeth on edge.
"Let me go," she insisted, tugging at one of his wrists.
"Why? That healer is coming right back," he said, pulling his head a bit higher. He had a sour look on his face, possibly because of the smell of blood coming from her.
She turned to face him, looking up at him. "I need to get back to him," she insisted.
"Why?" he asked again.
"Because you had to open your mouth and tell him all that," she spat, trying to twist away.
"The main question is, why didn't you?" he countered.
She reached up and slapped him at that, hardly garnering any force with how she was pinned. She fought against him to get up, a level of grogginess distracting her in from the day's events. She reached for the curtain that went around the bed, but could not reach it. She fought on to leave, fought to get up, fought to get around him, but he still held her pinned to the bed. She hated how easily he overpowered her. She tried and failed to slap him a second time.
"That's a very interesting position to find the two of you in together," a sarcastic, yet slightly worn out voice came from the door. Both of them froze and looked up towards the door at the same time. Bulma walked into the room, looking tired and eyes a bit puffy. "I was down the hall and heard the commotion." She looked down at Val's leg, makeshift bandage allowing blood to seep through now. She tsked. "You didn't bother to take her pants off? Or you hadn't gotten there yet when I interrupted?" Her voice sounded kind of flat when she said that.
Val felt his grip slacken at the suggestion. She sat up, but did not try to get away from him, feeling worn down. "Why would he take my pants off? He's not a doctor," she asked, confused by what she meant. A trickle of disgust made her shake her head after she realized what Bulma was hinting at.
Bulma shook her head, humming to herself. "Daiki's going to want those pants off to look at the wound," she warned. "Might as well take them off now since he's coming back soon. Going to let him do the honors?"
Val looked right at him, ordering, "leave. Now." The very idea of her partially undressing herself in front of him made her feel sick to her stomach.
He stepped away from her, letting her go carefully before standing up and yanking the curtain around the bed to give them some semblance of privacy. Val looked up, still seeing his outline behind the curtain. He had not left them, which irritated her. It would be difficult to get around him and go after Tien to explain away what he had told him. She felt her ears ring at the memory of it.
She heard a sound at the door, hearing Dr. Daiki and his nurse come in, wheeling a cart. Along with some supplies, she saw a pair of clean scrub pants sitting there, which was grateful for. The two came up, around the curtain. Val hummed, undoing the makeshift bandage and shrugging out of her pants with Bulma's help at his prompting. She saw the wound for the first time, swearing, "Great Mother," under her breath. The scratches were deeper, across and down her hip and thigh.
"That's going to need stitches," the nurse hummed, more to himself rather than anyone else.
"And getting a needle into you for that is impossible," Bulma recalled, looking down at her.
Val bit her lip, watching the nurse clean at the wound, not flinching at the wound he worked. She wished the red head woman had still been around. She felt that she would be able to do it, just as she had been able to draw five vials of blood from her just before the Namekians left. Bulma never did find out why the woman quit without notice. "What about those bandages I got from Frieza's ship? Those would work on this," she asked, remembering applying them before to a similar wound on one of Frieza's fighters.
Dr. Daiki nodded, reaching into the cart. "I brought some of them, figuring we ask for them, even though I know you desperately wanted to keep them in case of an emergency." He held them up.
Val sat up straighter, looking at them. "This is just such an emergency," she ruled tiredly, trying to convince herself taking them now was not wasteful. "I'll need to keep them on for a few days and take it easy though. I can't be too active or even sweat with these on. They cannot get wet, so I won't be able even to shower properly until I don't need them anymore. And change them daily," she explained, hating what she was telling herself and them. It would use up most of the stash. "Not until they've healed." She sighed, going on to explain how to wrap them to Dr. Daiki and his nurse. She hated that she realized she would not be able to fly, which means she could not go to Tien and explain away what Vegeta had said to him. Somehow over the phone did not feel like the best way to go about it.
It felt like it took a long time to watch and walk the doctor through the injury. She explained what had happened with Tien, Aiko, and the onikuma, Bulma following the best of the four of them listening in. After explaining, Val leaned back on the bed as he worked, eyes closed briefly. When Dr. Daiki and his nurse finished and cleaned up, Bulma moved, offering to help her stand up and slip into the clean pair of scrub pants. Val gave in, accepting the help, bound leg able to move, but tight. Bulma helped her hobble into the hallway, leaning her back against the wall. Vegeta was still hovering around them, much to her distaste after what he had said to Tien.
"Do you have your phone? Do you want to call Tien?" Bulma asked.
Val tapped her side, realizing she did not have her phone. She sighed, realizing it was still in Tien's yurt, far away from Capsule Corps, as well as her bag. She huffed. "It's still in the village," she admitted, not sure how to get it back. She racked her tired brain. She looked over at Vegeta, knowing he could not be trusted to go get it back without picking a fight. She felt her stomach flame at the idea. "Can you perhaps ask Yamcha to go get it for me?" she asked shyly.
Bulma went suddenly stiff and cold, wounded look in her eyes. "I'll see if I can get them," she decided, voice tight. "I don't know when I'll have time though, with all I have to do here..."
Val looked over at her, confused by both her offer and her reaction. That and how tired she looked. "But you cannot fly," she pointed out. "Yamcha can-"
She felt a firm hand clamp down on her shoulder. She looked at the hand and then over at its owner. "She had the courage to dump her weakling," Vegeta explained, giving her shoulder a hinting shake before letting her go.
Val looked away from either of them, not sure what to say or do with that new information.