To any new reader, this is the second story in a trilogy. The order of the stories is as follows:
1) Anyone But Him
2) The 3 Year Gap
3) The 7 Year Gap

You're welcome to read this on its own, but for character development you may want to check out the "Anyone But Him" first!

Bulma and Yamcha had been going through a rough patch. That was to say the least! It had been just before Raditz had kidnapped Gohan that the couple had their worst fight yet, which has been lingering on and was still causing issues for the couple, even six months after the ordeal on Namek. It was during the early days of this fight that signs really started to wave – all cautionary indications that he wasn't the one. Yet, despite seeing this, Bulma wasn't yet ready to accept it. She wasn't ready for it to be true. So she ignored those red flags. And, especially after the pain she felt when Yamcha was killed during the battle with Vegeta, she told herself that they could work something out. 'Isn't this proof that our bond is still strong?' She had thought when the relief overwhelmed her senses when Yamcha was in her arms once again. Weren't the two just meant to be?

In theory, Yamcha really was a good guy. But it was certain traits he had that bothered the Bluehead. He was financially unstable, devoid of any responsibility, and his humor was often times too harsh. These were all things that she had seen in the Z-Fighter since the very beginning, but she had ultimately chosen to try and work with, thinking perhaps he would one day grow out of it. As time went on, though, she found herself often feeling more like his mother than his girlfriend. Especially in the most recent days of their relationship, it seemed that if the two were having any argument that was centered around one of Yamcha's faults he would deflect the blame and find ways to twist the truth… It was infuriating!

...And then, of course, there was blondie.

A woman he had seen temporarily. He met her during that notorious fight the couple had just weeks before everything with Namek happened. They'd been broken up at the time, but that didn't make the sting any less painful. Blondie was a woman that Yamcha only told Bulma about after they'd reconciled, and he'd insisted she'd been nothing more than a distraction - a fling that never reached serious depths. He'd adamantly claimed that his relations with Blondie had only gone as far as a dinner date. And yet Bulma couldn't forget about it. She just couldn't shake it away. How could she overlook the fact that he had actually seen someone else? Even if the two had been broken up at the time – how?

.

It was 11 in the morning and she had just finished arguing on the phone with him. She was tired of the way his own actions seemed to bounce off his shoulders. Bulma never suspected Yamcha of being unfaithful while they were together. But he hadn't been returning her calls the day before, and she was jealous. Jealous of whatever it was that he had been doing. He could have been sleeping, for all she knew, but they were going through a rough time, and he should have been concerned enough to want to talk about it. To be blunt, she needed attention. And she wanted it from him. She felt so much pressure to try and make things work, and the more effort she attempted to give, the less he seemed to reciprocate. Perhaps that was the reason why, even when they were on good terms, she always felt that something was missing. She was frustrated by where his priorities seemed to be, and she felt as if she were being taken for granted. She didn't want to be told to "take it easy" when she was trying to explain something he had done to upset her. She didn't want to be shrugged off in exchange for sleep! She was a genius! And a blue-haired genius, at that! She deserved more respect!

Bulma had thrown her phone on her bed and stormed into the backyard with a couple of hand-weights in her arms. She had recently decided she wanted to tone up her body a little. Perhaps that would make him regret his ordeal with blondie... Not that the Bluehead even cared! She picked up her handweight and held it above her body with both hands. Bending her elbows slowly, letting it lower behind her head before pressing it back up. She was determined to get into the best shape of her life and throw it in Yamcha's face. This had become her new way of coping, now that she was done rebuilding Vegeta's ship and had free time. Oh, she would also tend to focus on blueprints and formulas, of course, but in the last couple of weeks she had decided to also work towards tightening up her body. She wanted to make Yamcha cry with regret. Her jealousy today was motivating her more than ever. So she continued with her weight training, until the muscles in the back of her arms felt so tight and tired that she couldn't bring herself to lift anymore. "Hmph! Just a few more weeks of this and it'll make him REAL sorry!" She huffed, feeling powerful as she threw her weight to the grass. "Why didn't I think of this months ago?!"

She watched the weight roll slightly as it landed, taking time to catch her breath. She'd decided to go inside and take a quick shower under some cool water, but that was when she heard his voice.

"Woman! Come here at once!"

Bulma's shallow breaths had originally been stemmed from exhaustion, but her lungs now tightened as her body transitioned to anger. "Hey!" She snapped, turning to Vegeta and gritting her teeth. "I have a name, you know!" That pompous prince had been living with her for six months at this point, and still he seemed insistent on referring to her as the Woman. She was getting tired of correcting him. Regardless, she wiped her sweaty hands off on her shirt and began to walk towards the Saiyan.

"The gravity machine stopped working again. I expect it to be repaired at once." Vegeta glared at Bulma as he spoke, but she was used to this.

"What's wrong with it this time?" She asked, rolling her eyes. It seemed as if every week the gravity machine broke down. There was always something going wrong with it, and she was getting tired of having to repair it.

"That weak machine can't withstand my power. It's as simple as that." He growled. "If you would mend it properly this time, I would be able to get through an entire training session without interruptions. Get it right this time!"

"Hey, it isn't my fault you keep breaking it!" Bulma glared. It went without question that Vegeta was angry. He was always in an unpleasant mood, and it he always found a way to make it somebody else's fault. "I'm doing you a favor by taking care of it in the first place!"

"Don't speak to me like that, Woman! You should be dedicating more time to strengthening your technology instead of," Vegeta eyed the weights that had been left on the grass "wasting it on smaller things."

Bulma threw a hand in the air, pointing at her weights. "If you can spend your entire day training by yourself, I have the right to spend 30 minutes working out!" She was yelling now, but it didn't nothing less that make Vegeta grin. "You call what you were doing training. Good to know." He scoffed. He gave her a look as if he thought she was a fool before he turned away. He began to head towards the house, turning glance at her from over his shoulder as he went. "I expect the machine to be fixed by the time I finish my meal."

And with that, Bulma was left alone in the yard. Her chest was heaving violently as she fought to hold in her temper. This was her house, wasn't it? What right did he have to mock her for what she chose to do in her house? Furious, she just couldn't take it anymore. Flustered by her exercise, bitter about Yamcha, and hurt by Vegeta's harsh attitude, the Bluehead closed her eyes and let out what could only described as a primal scream from hell.

.

Yamcha didn't knock - he just walked right in to the Briefs' residence. So many thoughts were going through his mind. He'd told Bulma countless times that he didn't like Vegeta living in that house, but he never went into full detail of exactly how jealous it made him. She'd accused him of it, but he'd never owned up. It bothered the Z-Fighter - the way Bulma would drop whatever it was she was doing to mend something at Vegeta's command. It angered him to hear how that Ape spoke to her, viciously barking disrespectful orders with not so much as a 'please' or 'thanks'. And, what bothered him most of all, was that she really didn't seem to mind! Why - she'd even make excuses for his behavior when Yamcha spoke up! "He's like a kid who hasn't gotten his way!" She'd say.

The forlorn Z-Fighter made his way upstairs and found Bulma in her room, sitting at her desk. She was bent over, quietly tuning at something that he couldn't see. She was so deep into her work that she hadn't even when he walked through the door. 'Yet another project,' he thought. As the Z-Fighter got closer, he could see that Bulma was sticking a screwdriver into what looked like a metal box. Intense determination on her face, she was acting so silently that he couldn't be sure if she was even breathing. If Bulma had noticed his presence in the room, she was refusing to acknowledge it. Yamcha finally decided that he needed to break the silence. Their fight was much more important than whatever it was she was working on, anyway. "Hey babe, we need to chat."

A sharp hiss immediately erupted from the Bluehead. "Can't it wait?! I'm busy!" She hadn't even looked up from her tweaking. "I need to finish this soon!" She was racing to have the gravity machine up and running before Vegeta could even come looking for it. She'd show that arrogant saiyan not to underestimate her capabilities – she was determined to make him eat his own words!

Yamcha was taken aback by how easily she'd dismissed him. He knew that she was angry, and she certainly wasn't one to keep her thoughts to herself. Why wasn't she taking this opportunity to chew his head off? "That's not for Vegeta, is it?" Yamcha asked nervously, and he was only half-joking. He'd been hoping that she would disagree with him – that she would yell something in response to settle his paranoia. Instead, the Bluehead simply looked up to shoot him a scowl. Her eyes said it all. Indignant, the Z-Fighter glared back, feeling as the heat rushed to his cheeks. "It is!" He cried, stomping a foot on the floor. "You don't have enough time to work on us but you'll work on something for him?!"

Bulma's eyes glossed over for a second. How tired she was of fighting… This wasn't an argument that she felt was even worth having, but here she was… Once again...

…Oh well.

She slammed her screwdriver down on the desk, allowing the anger to take over. "Oh? It's not as if this is my job, is it!" She barked, rising to her feet. "It's not as if I should be taking advice on priorities from you? Are you really that dumb!?"

There was no going back from there. The argument escalated with the heat of an explosion, both participants throwing insults and verbal daggers at each other. Their yells echoed across the house, but they were both past caring at that point. There was no question that anybody in the Briefs household was learning about the many issues that they had in their decade-long relationship. In all, it took about 10 minutes before Yamcha announced that he needed a break. With a rude hand gesture and a glare, he stormed out of the room.

Bulma watched him go, her hands cupping her hips. "Oh, you need a break, do you?! What's surprising about that? This isn't the first time you'll be going M.I.A. on me!" She screamed, but he was already long gone from her sight. She could hear as his footsteps ran downstairs, and she cringed when the front door slammed shut. "Dammit!" She growled, throwing herself back into her chair. She was so angry that her hands were shaking, but she fought to keep control. She was still bent on finishing this project before Vegeta asked for it. She just had to! The thought of how much time she had lost by that pointless dispute was even more infuriating. She turned back to her desk, picking up her screwdriver to continue where she had left off. She glared at the box, noting how badly her knuckles quivered as she attempted to work.

It was only a few seconds later that Vegeta walked in. When the couple had been arguing he'd stood in the hall, his back leaning against the wall. He had been smirking, listening to the entire ordeal in slight amusement. He hated Yamcha - especially since he was such a close friend of Kakarot's and he seemed to always ruin the Woman's mood. He wasn't fond of what he heard him saying to the her, but she was always quick to put him in his place. It was always good to hear that pest be verbally ripped apart! The sight of a flustered Yamcha storming downstairs almost made the Saiyan want to laugh, but he never would let himself get that far. These human arguments were so irrelevant – Vegeta would be damned if he stooped low enough to get genuine entertainment from them!

And now he stood in Bulma's room, his arms crossed as he stood behind her. "What's with all the noise, Woman? What's the progress on your assignment?"

Dammit! Bulma bit her lip to muffle a scream. She'd been so close! She would have achieved her goal if Yamcha hadn't interrupted her! Fuck Yamcha – fuck him! And screw Vegeta, too! All that any of these men seemed to do was demand things from her! Scorned, she slammed the small box shut. "Yamcha is such an idiot!" She yelled, jumping from her chair. She turned and threw the box at Vegeta with all her might, taking all of that day's anger out on the poor little cube she'd worked so hard to mend. Her aim wasn't good at all, though, and it went flying straight for the wall. Of course, Vegeta had the reflexes and speed to jump through the air and catch it before it smashed into pieces behind him. As she'd predicted he would…

Was he just perfect at everything he did? How annoying!

"I re-calibrated the server for you, and all you need to do is pop this back into the chamber!" She screamed. Vegeta had been an unwilling witness to many of the Earthling's fights, but never before had she acted so aggressive towards him during the aftermath. She'd given him lip before, but hadn't done anything quite this physical. He was taken aback. For a moment he considered his options. He wanted to put her in her place. He had been a prince on his planet, hadn't he? Who did she think she was to act so rash! On the other hand, though, he had gotten what he wanted from her. Vegeta had learned by now that the Earth woman seemed to relish in any excuse to go on a verbal tirade when she was angry, and if he said anything to her right now it would probably just cost him more time that could be spent on training. So, instead of yelling back, the saiyan grunted and turned away. "Very well," He growled, looking over the box in his hand. "I will come to you if I have any more requests."

Bulma waved her hands in the air as he began to step away. "Um, excuse you?" She snapped. "Are you forgetting to thank me, again!?"

When she said this Vegeta stopped walking so he could glare at her from over his shoulder. "I finished my meal some time ago. You are late with this." He waved it at her. Taunting. "I suppose it wasn't all your fault. You did seem to be having some... distractions."