"Are you getting a fever again, Vegeta?You're all red in the face ... "She quickly took the thermometer out of her apron pocket and put it in his mouth.
<br />
"So, and now be very quiet until the display lights up green," she said in the commanding voice of all mothers who care for unruly children. "You are a difficult patient, Vegeta. You must have given your mother a lot of trouble when you had measles ..."
<br />
Vegeta just growled because he couldn't speak intelligibly because of the thermometer. There was something about Bulma's mother that just didn't allow for arguing. Mother ... the word evoked a vague memory in him. He couldn't remember a name, no face, only warmth, softness, a scent and a voice .... All of a sudden he remembered his feverish dream. There had been another female voice that had brought him out of the darkness. Soft arms that had held him, warmth that had driven the cold from his soul and a scent that seemed very familiar to him ...<br />
"Beep!", The display glowed green and Bulma's mother pulled the thermometer out of his mouth. "Great ... You are almost free of fever. Now take your medicine well." Frau Briefs gave him the tablet and with a mumbled "No matter what ..." he washed it down with a sip of tea. Satisfied, Bulma's mother took the blanket, which was still on the arm of the armchair, and put it around Vegeta's shoulders. "As soon as Bulma and my husband come back, I'll make you chicken soup and we should have canned peaches in the house somewhere."
<br />
Vegeta took a deep breath to protest. There it was again ... the scent from his dream. He lifted a corner of the blanket to his nose. Yes, it was clearly that scent he had smelled the previous night. He looked questioningly at Bulma's mother.
<br />
"That's Bulma's blanket," she said, getting up to carry the plate into the kitchen and make fresh tea. "She told me that you were pretty cold ... But today you are much better."<br />
She walked towards the door with the plate.
<br />
"Wait a minute," he called after her. "Bulma ... where is she ... is she still sleeping?"
<br />
"No, she went to the hospital with my husband for an X-ray because of the ribs ...". With that she walked out and left Vegeta to piece the pieces together.
<br />
Vegeta tried to straighten up further, feeling a little dizzy and cursed that moment of weakness when he had only wanted to close his eyes for a moment, out there in the middle of the storm. He had convinced himself that he didn't feel the cold, that he just wanted to gather his strength for another round against the storm ... but the storm had already won the game. Vegeta knew quite well what it meant to fall asleep in such a storm. Involuntarily he shivered and pulled the blanket tighter around his shoulders. Bulma's blanket. He looked down at his hands. Dark and hazy came the memory of a voice that had awakened him from the twilight sleep.He had woken up so halfway, not awake enough to open his eyes, not awake enough to get up ... just awake enough to realize that he was about to freeze to death. Someone had grabbed him and pulled him, had he been more awake, he would have resisted, resisted, insisted on sleeping ... so he had tolerated being dragged out of the cold, brightness had hurt through the closed lids in his eyes, the Warmth had cut into his numb body, something had been wrapped around him, something soft, warm ... and that voice over and over again, full of anger and yet full of fear and subdued tears ... Vegeta shook his head. Could that have been ... Bulma? The more he thought about it, the more certain he was that no one else could have been crazy enough to go looking for him in the middle of the blowing snow. And she had found him, saved him ... Vegeta knitted his eyebrows. He hated to owe anyone, and it looks like he owed Bulma a lot.If he wanted to get rid of this annoying feeling, he would have to do something for her. He grimaced, imagining enough humiliating things for Bulma to punish him; starting with cleaning work to peeling vegetables or digging up the flower beds ... all activities that were extremely unworthy of a Saiyan prince ... but this time he would just have to bite the bullet ...
<br />
With the thought of the bathroom and how he'd gotten into those pajamas, he didn't want to dig deeper into thinking about the night before ... well, it was her own fault that he had touched her a little hard, him was a warrior and when she got too close ...
<br />
He shook his head and made himself think of something else. How could he most likely catch up with the training deficit ...?
<br />
Two hours later, he still hadn't come to a conclusive result, except that he would probably have to start again at 80G if he was in bed longer, a car pulled up outside.Vegeta heard two people get out and walk towards the house. Bulma's mother opened the door for them and he could hear her talking in the hallway.
<br />
"How are you dear?"
<br />
"Not so bad," replied Bulma reassuringly. "Nothing is broken."
<br />
"But the poor girl has a pretty nasty bruise on her back and lots of bruises," said the father. "She didn't want to take painkillers, even though the doctor said that it should hurt a lot more than a clean break."
<br />
"I'm not a Saiyan, but I'm tough," said Bulma cheerfully. "Nothing will kill me that quickly. How is Vegeta?"
<br />
"He's awake again," said her mother. "Here's his plate of chicken soup, why don't you bring it to him and see for yourself?"
<br />
Bulma hesitated. She didn't want to mention last night in front of her father, and her mother didn't seem to notice what her daughter wanted to hear. So Bulma sighed, took the tray and stepped into Vegeta's room.The Saiyan was still sitting with her blanket around his shoulders, staring holes in the air.
<br />
"Hello, Vegeta. I'm glad you're feeling better." She put the tray on the table. "My mother made soup for you, it must taste good."
<br />
Vegeta was undecided. Should he speak out of his own accord about his salvation or wait until she rubbed her biting tongue on him as she liked to do when he was too careless with his health or damaged something in her eyes. It made him nervous that she was just smiling at him in a friendly and concerned way, so he threw back the covers and swung his legs over the edge of the bed to get up and show that he wouldn't let a little fever get him down.
<br />
“Nothing there!” Bulma moved the table over to the bed so that he could eat while sitting. “You will be too weak to get up for a while.” She did not take her eyes off him. How much did he know about his rescue, about last night?Could he even remember anything?
<br />
Vegeta guessed what she was worried about, but he preferred to scoop the soup in than to speak a few words to clarify. She could interpret that as thanks and apology, and a Saiyan prince would never say thank you, just as he would never apologize for anything.
<br />
When the plate was empty, Bulma still hadn't moved. Vegeta put the spoon aside and gave up playing the ignorant. The dizziness was gone and he felt that his strength was slowly coming back. Tomorrow at the latest he could start a training session again. Certainly Kakerot wasn't fit again that quickly .... The sooner he paid off his debt to Bulma, the sooner he was calm again. Despite her protests, he got up, took two or three steps, and stretched to show that he no longer needed her mothering. Mothering ... this word led his thoughts back to the previous night, even if he hadn't wanted to think about it anymore.<br />
He could tell by the way she moved, on her face, even if she was quite in control, the injuries he had inflicted on her in his feverish madness hurt her far more than she would admit.
<br />
"Tell me what to do," he growled. "For bringing me back. It doesn't matter what, I'll pay my debt."
<br />
Bulma felt something harden inside her. That cocky, arrogant fool! She had waited the whole time for the magic word, for him to say "thank you" and perhaps apologize for the bruises, but this offer made with such reluctance knocked the bottom out of the barrel. Apparently he remembered everything, but no, thanking for this ... that monkey was probably out of the question. She feverishly wondered how to teach him a lesson that he would not soon forget ... tidy up the workshop and sort out every single screw by size?Going on a shopping spree with your mother at the sales in the largest department store in town? Cutting your dad's toenails or scrubbing the bathroom with a toothbrush? Somehow, none of this was punishment in the slightest bad enough that the thought of it would have softened Bulma's current anger at Vegeta's arrogance.
<br />
"And what about my injuries," she hissed at Vegeta. "Can it be an extra hour for that?
<br />
"It's your own fault. You know how much power a Saiyan has even when he's unconscious."
<br />
"Is that supposed to be an excuse ?!"
<br />
“You can wait until Easter and Christmas fall on one day!” Then it occurred to him that he had wanted her to make black armor for him. Not a good time to make her angrier. But asking for forgiveness was out of the question. He could ...
<br />
Relieved to have found a way out, Vegeta leaned against the wall and closed his eyes."Beat me."
<br />
"I beg your pardon?!"
<br />
"I said hit me. Hit as hard as you want. You can also kick me and we'll be even."
<br />
Bulma snorted. "As if a few punches from me could hurt your steely, super-trained body just a little!"
<br />
Vegeta didn't know why, but the "steely, super-trained body" went down on him like honey. "Okay, you can find a tool, hit me with a baseball bat or something."
<br />
His arrogant smile made Bulma's blood boil. Of course, even with a beating she couldn't do any significant damage, not even now that he was weakened. She looked down at her hands, but her fingernails were too short to