steps and he bumped the toe on the ceiling that he had thrown off the bed when he got up. Irritated, he tried to step over it, but got tangled up and flailed his arms to keep his balance.
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“Vegeta!” With a jump she was at his side and caught him. "Is everything ok?"
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Instead of an answer, he felt for her face, brushed away the damp trail of tears with his thumb. "I'm an idiot, am I not?"he asked hoarsely.
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She didn't move, spellbound by the uncertainty in his voice and the questioning undertone.
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"This is nothing new," she burst out. "Why do you always have to act like an elephant in a china shop?"
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"We Saiyans usually react before we think about it," the explanation sounded a bit lame even in his ears, so he tried to put the reason for his anger into words. "When I am treated like a helpless invalid, that's how I feel and it makes me angry"
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“Is that an excuse?” She searched his blind eyes for a clue, but they remained fixed on a spot on the side of her head. "I apologize to you? Where are you thinking?" He laughed, but his laugh didn't sound as arrogant as usual, but rather insecure. "You should know me better than you should expect me to."
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<br />
He took another step and pushed her back a little.Now she slipped, and with a startled cry she fell back on the bed. Vegeta stumbled after her and fell on top of her, his elbow digging into the back of her hand. She sucked in air sharply and couldn't suppress a pained whimper. Immediately he rolled off her. “Sorry, I didn't mean to.” The real regret in his voice kept her from washing his head.
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"It's okay," she mumbled and started to get up when he did something she would have expected last. He felt for her injured hand, lifted to his lips, kissed it gently and blew on it like her mother had done when she was a small child. "Does that help?"
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"Vegeta ... where from?"
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He grinned at the amazement in her voice. "I saw that in a movie that your mother pulled into. She told me that all mothers do that with small children and small scratches."
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"You are one of me ..." Her heart pounded violently not only because of the pain and the horror, but above all because of his closeness and the unusual tenderness in his voice.Should she dare ...? "Ve ... Vegeta ... I ..." Why was it so difficult for her, why didn't the words escape her lips?
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<br />
"Yes?"
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"I ... I wanted to tell you earlier, but then ... well I ..."
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At that moment the alarm went off and the lights turned red.
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“Damn it!” Bulma hastily pulled her hand from Vegeta's grasp, pushed herself up and ran for the stairs. "Hopefully the rest of the generator didn't go up!"
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<br />
Vegeta heard them rush up the stairs. In frustration, he punched the mattress with his fist. He felt like he had been betrayed of something important. Annoyed, he climbed out of bed and felt his way to the stairs. * Such a stick would be very useful *, it occurred to him.
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At the top of the stairs he paused for a moment. "What's the matter, Bulma?"
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“That can't be true ...?!” The incredulity in her voice awakened his instincts.It smelled of danger here.
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"WHAT mustn't be true? Come on, talk about it!", He urged her and crossed the room with outstretched arms until he bumped into her armchair.
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"Vegeta, we ... we're going to die here, the two of us, together," she squeezed out with difficulty. Vegeta felt herself trembling.
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"What makes you think that?"
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“The, the satellites that destroyed both spaceships, they have left their orbits.” She swallowed audibly and continued. "They hang right over us, their weapons, whatever they are, are pointed at us. Even if I repair the drive, we can't possibly get past them." The despondency in her voice said it all. Vegeta leaned forward, put his hands on her trembling shoulders and overcame the cold fear that held his heart as well. "Nothing is lost yet, Bulma. If they wanted to destroy us, they would have done it long ago, would they? We weren't exactly hiding."<br />
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"What should I do, Vegeta?"
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It wasn't like asking him for advice so directly. He could feel that the shock had gone into her bones. “Above all, you have to keep a cool head.” It was strange that he of all people should say such a thing. "Finish the repair, then we'll see. Is there anything I can do to help you?"
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She put a hand on his, which was still on her shoulder, and gave it a squeeze. "Thank you for being here with me, it's help enough. He felt her take her hand away and instead nuzzled her cheek against the back of his hand." I don't know why, but when you are there, everything doesn't seem so bad to be."
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"Even now that I can't protect you?"
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“Would you want that? Protect me, useless, weak Earthling woman?” Did that sound like old pain through the joking tone of her words?
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He swallowed and cleared his throat, "Stupid question, of course I would."<br />
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"Thanks." She would have loved to ask "why?", But she didn't. She made up her mind to ask this question as soon as he could see again, so that he could read the truth of her words from her eyes.
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Neither of them moved for a few breaths. Then Vegeta stepped back and took her hands off her shoulders. "So I'll go outside and scan the area to see if there are any unusual auras."
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"A good idea, because I have the dull feeling that the satellites didn't perform this maneuver on their own. Someone has to be sitting somewhere to pull the strings."
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"I'll tackle this someone," Vegeta promised. "We're getting out of here. Together."
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It sounded like a promise and Bulma felt empowered and comforted. Somehow Vegeta was grasping through his handicap. His determination was no longer the blind rush of a hot-blooded Saiyan, but the relentless yet level-headed stride of a born leader.<br />
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She wondered if this positive change would be reversed as soon as he could see again and found herself thinking that she preferred this Vegeta to the proud stubborn he had been before. Not that he seemed any less proud or stubborn now, just something new had been added, something that balanced those two qualities. She was unable to say what that was.
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“I trust you.” The weight of this simple truth strengthened Vegeta's cracked self-esteem.
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"You won't regret it, Bulma."
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With that he went down the stairs. Bulma watched on the monitors through the internal cameras as he came to his senses and entered the elevator instead of taking the tedious route through the maintenance hatches. Once outside, he carefully stepped away from the ship and stretched out his mental feelers in all directions. No reaction. Whoever was lurking out there either had no aura or was well camouflaged.Both made Vegeta uncomfortable.
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Bulma tore herself away from the monitor and gathered her tools together. The drive had priority. Vegeta could take care of herself.
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She climbed down through the maintenance hatches and sorted the spare parts she had brought with her. Yes, she hadn't forgotten anything. Now it was time to spit in your hands and get down to work.
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Four hours later she tightened the last screw and wiped the sweat from her face. Done. If she changed the energy cells now, they would theoretically be ready to go. Theoretically.
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Bulma collected the tools again, put the replaced, unusable parts in a special box for recycling at home, scrubbed her oil-smeared hands and changed overalls. Her stomach growled noticeably. Certainly Vegeta had no objection to a snack either. She climbed up into the control room and checked the monitors.The satellites were still in a cluster above them in the stratosphere. They still made no move to attack. And Vegeta? Bulma searched the screens for the surrounding area, but could not see him. Strange. An hour ago, when she last checked that everything was okay, he had been out there and asked her to drop a full water bottle through the maintenance hatch.
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Where did he go Maybe back to his old ship? It occurred to her that he still had to have a few personal belongings, after all, this unscheduled trip should have been something like a move. Determined to worry later, Bulma replaced the energy cells and pushed the regulator forward, all displays on green.
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Since Vegeta was not in the danger zone, Bulma entered the code for a trial start. It would briefly run up the drive to full power and save the values.After that, only after that, would she go looking for Vegeta. In the event that they had to risk an emergency start despite the threat above their heads.
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The drive responded as expected and she noticed that her attempt had not gone unnoticed by the satellites. They moved closer together and their weapons gathered energy. Sighing, Bulma broke off the trial start and pulled the drive back again. As long as those damn guards were crouching up there, escape was out of the question.
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She had done her part, hopefully Vegeta had a useful idea how to proceed. Bulma considered swapping the overalls for something cleaner, but out there in the dust it wouldn't matter anyway. She took the elevator off the ship and looked around. Vegeta's steps had surely left traces in the dust, but since there was always a light wind whistling around the ruins, nothing of them could be seen for a long time.
<br />Bulma shaped her hands into a funnel. "Vegeta!" She yelled as loudly as she could. "Stop the nonsense and come here!"
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No Answer. "Vegeta! I don't