Feeding Genius

Chapter Twenty Three

Therapy

Disclaimer: Hmmm… I wonder how many different ways I've managed to say that DBZ isn't mine?

Vegeta's POV

Warning - This chapter contains adult situations that some readers may find offensive. If you are under 18 stop reading NOW! Wait - Shit! I've already written a lemon in this story… if you're under 18, shame on you for reading this far! >_<

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I stand tall, relieved to finally be able to do so effortlessly, and with the added elixir of fresh crisp oxygen. Turning from the main computer I direct a curt nod outside and wait for a response. A sanguine smile, accompanied by a thumbs up, is my reply. I take a moment to watch Bulma as she turns away, playing with the ends of her hair as she picks her bag up from the floor, and I stretch slightly, experimentally rotating a shoulder just to make sure it's functioning properly.

As I watch, my mind wanders to hers, bombarding me with questions that I attribute to hunger and fatigue. Has she really forgiven me? Am I really that fortunate or is it merely circumstance that has altered her views? Her looks say that she has and yet… and yet I can't be secure. Something tells me that the woman I am watching now is not the same one that left Capsule Corporation almost four months ago.

I know I am beginning to feel the strain and I haven't had the same stresses exerted onto me as she has, and even if I had, well… lets just say that perhaps it would have been better if the burden had been mine. I have a notion that I would better be able to endure than she. That capacity could be described as instinctive to me now. It is a natural form of defence that springs into life as easily as my ki might. It would not have been so detrimental for me had I suffered in her place.

I risk a glance once again, giving myself the humiliation of being caught watching. After a moment I order my attention away, lathering up my natural defences into a snort. Under the mask, however, I am worried for her. There doesn't seem to be as much energy and intensity to her features as before. The kidnapping of our son is crinkled into worry on the lines of her forehead, and exhaustion in her normally lively eyes. Perhaps… perhaps it was wrong to torment her earlier, but I am a selfish creature, and after witnessing her unconscious shell for two days, without any indication as to whether she would recover, any sign of normalcy was imperative for me to receive, and almost necessary to indulge in.

My shoulder twinges slightly under my sudden and too aggressive assessment, (not that it didn't feel slightly out of sync before,) and I grit my teeth slightly under the pain. Enduring the pressure of two hundred times gravity for so long was quite a test, not in its intensity, (my training has put me well ahead of such trivialities,) but in my body I feel it. The extent of my injuries, although now healed, have been enough to take their toll on my system and I find I am not quite as capable in such a situation as I had previously thought.

"You okay there, old man?"

"Fine!" I snap.

She is at the door, hovering nervously at the threshold. "Is it safe?"

"Whilst we are stuck on this planet 'safe' is not a word I would chose to describe any situation. If, however, you merely wish to know whether the gravity is off then yes… yes it is."

Under my reassurance she puts a foot tentatively into the room, testing it out for herself. I feel a little disappointed that she doesn't trust my word absolutely, but I guess we both have a little way to go before that emotion will be as easily obtainable as it was before. Satisfied that she isn't going to be squashed flat she enters and has her first look at the wreckage.

The sky of this bizarre planet is a deep orange, and now the sun is risen, the light streams in through the windows, giving a very warm glow to the room that reminds me of a vibrant Chikyu-jin sunset.

"Shit!" she says dejectedly behind me. "It's a mess in here."

I turn to watch her over my shoulder. She is kneeling on the floor by the main computer. The casing has been splintered by the impact, and wires have been flung and wrenched from the main panel. They are now littering the tiled floor in a crisscross of confusion. She scratches her head and makes a start, picking up each component in turn and setting it out into an imaginary plan on the floor.

"Well…" she says at length. "At least we should be thankful that the hull is intact. The wiring, on the other hand, is a complete mess. I can't be certain, of course, but it's probably going to take me the best part of two days to fix. I'll try to get it done in twenty-four hours though. I'm awake, fully healed and rested, so as long as I don't take a break then I think we can be off planet by then. Vegeta?"

"What?"

"I need you to get the spare memory for me please. In the living area there's a floor safe under the bed. The code is right seven, left twenty, right three and push in. If I remember rightly there should be a box of spare components in there. We've just got to hope that memory is one of them, otherwise we're fucked."

I growl at being ordered around so flippantly, but I know that it would be pointless arguing with her over it. We both want to be off planet as quickly as possible and in the current circumstances obstinacy and pride can be left painfully at the side. I turn to the steps and down to the lower level without a word.

Not even stooping, I pick up the bed effortlessly, and rest it on its side along the wall. My eyebrows rise in grudging admiration. The only clue that anything is there at all is a small metal flap, which could easily be mistaken for an industrial socket cover. The edges of the hatch are nearly seamless.

I really don't want to spend any more time on this than is necessary. The safe code is easily bypassed and the box is there in the far corner, just as Bulma said it was. Taking it carefully out, I simply close the safe again and let the bed fall back into place.

As I emerge from the top of the steps I can hear Bulma softly humming away to herself as she works, and am treated to a delicious view of her backside as she wiggles it temptingly from side to side. As mesmerizing as the show is, I can't afford to be distracted by it now. I lay the box carefully by her side. Silently leaving it for her to discover at her own leisure. I retreat to a window and look out across the desolate canyon.

It isn't until fifteen minutes later that I hear a quiet "thank you" whispered from my wife. She carefully peels back the tape and looks inside. For the first time since her recovery I see her eyes light up, as she reaches inside and pulls out two equally long sticks of memory, cushioned protectively in layers of bubblewrap. "At last!" she smiles. "Something's going right."

Unwrapping them she holds each of them up to the light, before slipping back inside the computer and throwing herself back into work.

It's almost eerily quiet as she works and I keep up my silent vigil. Not that there's much to look at. It's all rock and dust. Such an appalling little hellhole! I wouldn't mind exploring it in greater detail though, but I won't leave anything to chance. I have learnt my lesson. I will not leave her side. Still… there's something in the memory of the name 'Mantion' that I just can't seem to shake, and as if on high alert my senses stay sharp.

The next interruption doesn't come until a good five hours later. I hear a shift behind me as Bulma pulls herself upright, and stretches out tired and cramped limbs. Several of the appendages crack in complaint.

"Maybe taking no breaks was a bit ambitious of you," I state. "It is amazing how weak the human body really is."

"Don't start with that crap, Vegeta," she grouses. "I'm not in the mood."

I raise an eyebrow at her tone. "Not going well, Onna?"

"It's going fine!" she snaps, going to her bag and uncapsulating a fridge. She looks back at me, her eyes sharpened in discontent. Something is definitely up, she is still watching me as she opens the door and takes out a can of drink and a pre-packaged sandwich.

She will not bait me to ask. Instead I simply shrug my shoulders. "Whatever," and push past her to gain access to the food.

She lays a hand on my bicep as I pass. "You'll need to ration that."

I nod in silent agreement and she looks awkwardly away. It is amazing how far and distant her touch feels to me. What is wrong with her? What has changed so dramatically in the last few hours to make her so crabby? I watch her with greater curiosity as she covers herself in technology, and I sup thoughtfully on a can of soft drink.

It has been several minutes since she continued working, and I am caught off guard by a softly whispered, "Vegeta?"

"Hn?"

"I'm not a liar." Her voice is faint and unsteady. "I wasn't deceiving you."

What the hell? Where did that come from? "What the fuck are you talking about? Deceiving me about what?"

She growls angrily in the throat, a spanner paying for her bad mood as it's flung to the floor. "Do you have to swear?"

"Well… perhaps if you'd explain what the hell you are talking about I might not have to!" My voice is rising in anger, and my head swimming a little under it.

"Oh fine! Just forget I said anything."

There is silence and I can feel my body seething at her abrupt and changeable behaviour towards me. Somehow I manage to control it. There is something in this situation that I feel will be demolished forever if I lose my temper any more than I already have.

Under the computer I can hear her breathing increase. Proof she is feeling the effect as well. I wait for her to continue, knowing instinctively that this conversation isn't anywhere near over.

I am right to do so. When her breathing is finally under control and my own has been satiated, she speaks once again. "You really hurt me, Vegeta. The day I left Earth."

Shit! I knew it. Fuck! I'm such an idiot. I should have known our reconciliation was too easy.

"I mean," she continues. "I gave you everything. I apologised to you. I said that I loved you, and I meant every fucking word. Why didn't you believe me?"

"I was angry." I say honestly.

"And that meant you had to crush me completely?"

"You were a convenient vent for my shitty mood that was all. I was angry with you… I had convinced myself that you were out to get me, that through our - our… intimacy you were trying to manipulate me. It made me so angry I couldn't see straight and… ugh! This is ridiculous. Things have changed since that day."

"I… I think they have changed. I hope they have, but I just can't get over how much it still affects me when I think about it."

I wish I could see her face, as she stumbles over the right words, but all I can do is listen.

"I'm sorry - it's just all this time, working and knowing you are here… I can't stop myself thinking of it all and wondering… wondering if its only because something more important has over-shadowed our own pettiness that all the problems have miraculously gone away, and I'm scared that if we shove them into the background whilst we are both suffering the same uncertainty, they might never be resolvable. Don't get me wrong Vegeta. I still love you, but you hurt me that day - more than anyone else ever has before, and it still hurts. I… I guess I just want you to understand that."

There is nothing more said. For a long while I just watch her as she continues with her work. All I can see are her long legs, now comfortably clad in a pair of dark blue jeans - the royal colours of Vegeta-sei. Not that she knows as much of course, or the significance that is built on her association with me. I have purposely kept that part hidden from her. Completing the ceremony with her in the first place was hard enough. What more does she expect from me? Well… I guess there is no telling what she expects. The only certainty is that I will never be able to live up to it.

I sigh, abandoning the window to be nearer her. "Bulma," I growl.

"Yeah?" is her tentative reply.

"I understand."

She had been working furiously to cover her nervousness, but under those two short words her body relaxes, her breathing increases again, and she pulls herself out from under the computer. She has been laying on her back and my vision is treated to a stunning view of aquamarine hair splayed on deep red tiles, as her eyes look up to mine, shimmering in the intense light with her tears.

Why is it, on this desolate planet, out in the middle of nowhere, with no one within a light-year to witness this moment, it is still infuriatingly hard for me to give myself up to her. I want nothing more than to scoop her up in both arms and tell her that I am sorry a thousand times over, but I… I just can't do it. Instead I kneel down next to her and simply remove a strand of hair that has caught on her full bottom lip.

There are more tears now, and I run a finger along her jaw letting a few drops of the moisture flow over them.

"Then why…" she moans into my caress. "Why…?"

"Sh!" I interrupt, and I bring my body over hers, silencing questions I know I'll never be able to answer with my lips. I regret my behaviour towards her, and I am equally ashamed to think that it probably won't be the last time it happens. What did she ever do to deserve this… me, and yet she still comes back, she still wants me, even when I have caused her this much pain, even when my past has come back to haunt me, she effortlessly forgives me, just so long as I hold her close.

At length my lips leave hers. Her eyes are still fluttered closed and even though the tears and emotion are still there, I don't care. She has coped for too long on her own, I will give myself to her now, and I will do it with pleasure.

"I've missed you," she hiccups, reaching out and pulling me close. I allow it and take advantage of the closeness to her neck to breathe in her scent and savour it. "I just wish… I wish… Trunks."

Her grief is no longer bundled up behind that mask of indomitable confidence, and the vulnerable woman underneath is put on full show as the gravity of the situation that we now find ourselves in, breaks hellishly onto her body. She sobs violently into my neck, pulling my training suit as her fists clench on my back. I have never seen so much painful emotion from any creature in my life before. I thought it would be disgusting to witness something so incredibly weak and yet I have no desire to run from it. It's absolute madness, but the scene actually makes my insides knot and me want to find any possible way to ease her distress.

Fortunately her actions answer for me. Her arms cling onto me as though it is a matter of necessity, and her lips violently search mine for a release to her emotion. So she wants to redirect her pain, she wants to put all the emotion she is feeling into one act, an act that can blanket reality and give her release, albeit briefly. So be it.

The next few minutes are passed in an emotion filled, dance of pure desire and heartache, as we both claw the clothes from each other. Her anguish is a mirror of my own, of my own ineptitude, and my own inability to protect those I have silently sworn to for the last five years. I never realised how much it was affecting me, but her own tears have sparked a collapse in my own composure and I need her, and completion just as much as she does.

Her panties are the last item to be removed, and once they are, I eventually let my lips leave hers. "Are you sure this is what you want?" I say, giving her a chance to back out if this is not the therapy she desires.

"I don't want it," she whispers. "I need it. Don't stop!"

I close my eyes and nod my agreement. "As you wish."

I grab one of her long slender legs, and trailing kisses down her flat stomach I eventually reach her heated entrance. With one reassuring glance up I delve in, relishing her taste, and recording to memory how wonderful the sound of her pleasure through such immense negative emotion sounds.

After so many years enjoying her body it amazes me how much I still have to learn about its capabilities. There is so much to explore in her, so much pleasure to elicit and so much thought to process. I can feel her more powerfully now. Her release is close, and I can feel my own groin strain in response. Her legs clasp around my head as she orgasms violently against my lips.

Amazing!

Once her long shudders have evaporated into little shimmers of delight, I release myself from her and crawl back up to her lips. Here eyes are still closed, "Enough?" I question.

She shakes her head, "Never enough."

Minx! Even through her pain she is such a temptress. I capture her lips, my desire no longer able to be denied. I part her legs, giving me full access and thrust into her. She moans out loud at my intrusion, arching her back up to make her hips meet flush with mine. How does this one little woman manage to make me experience and express so much? She must be a witch.

Her hips move with mine, mixing up a pace that is slow to begin with, full of the sadness she feels, and then faster as her desperation is conveyed to the fullest. Her nails claw at my back as our thrusts become wilder, her body writhing underneath mine, beaded with sweat and flushed with exertion. My kami! She is something else. I can feel her slick walls stroke along me, squeezing me and coaxing me as she throws her head back and marks her second release with a cry that is so primal and overpowering that I lose my concentration.

I can't think straight anymore. My control has slipped and I can feel my body straining and convulsing in an orgasm that spirals in from every muscle. Under the pleasure I cling to Bulma, matting my fingers in her hair as I copy her cry of satisfaction.

My chest is rising and falling erratically, but I claim her lips with mine none the less, our ragged breathing melting into passion on each other. I am still inside her, enjoying the feel of her body as she is still contracting around me. Damn this woman is insatiable, she is doing this on purpose and even though I have only just climaxed, she is trying to reawaken my arousal.

"More!" she demands, and as the sun beats heavily through the space pod windows, repairs are unjustly forgotten, replaced with a therapy session like no other.

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A/N - Whoa! It feels like so long ago since I last wrote a lemon scene. I hope it lived up to expectation. I know everyone has been very patient in waiting for it and I want thank everyone who has stood by this story so far. So… thank you. *hugs* Please write a review and let me know what you think.

Next chapter - More of Piccolo's POV, and just what exactly is Master Suh up to?

Ember