It had been seven hours since Vegeta had been in the gravity room, a very familiar area; constant and unchanging. He needed that—he needed it desperately. He needed his daughter to remain the same little girl that he shamelessly doted on, but that was not to be and he knew it. He knew that one day she'd look at him as more of a nuisance than someone to admire, he just didn't expect that day to come so soon.

Vegeta blamed her change squarely on an unfortunate youth who his daughter seemed smitten with—a man named Malachi. That boy had wreaked havoc on the time he used to spend with Bra. Ever since she started dating him, she was nowhere to be found. Bra spent too much time with the fool in his opinion, but then this hadn't simply been a phase. It had been a year now. Vegeta had been so certain that no human male could stand to put up with her for more than a month and he had been right. She was intimidating, fiercely independent, and spoke her mind no matter what the circumstance. No weakling human could ever be a match for her. She'd wear them out in a second and they would go running for their lives—he'd seen it happen quite often. Bra did have quite the love life much to his annoyance. It was boy after boy with her. Now she claimed to have found "the one". Vegeta swore if he heard that name Malachi one more time, he would do far more than rigorous training to alleviate his mounting annoyance, an annoyance that could very easily become stoked into real anger.

He'd seen Malachi a few times: a petite man, dark shoulder length hair, dark eyes, and a height that was just an inch taller than Bra. He was musician and a very famous one at that, at least he gleaned that from the reaction Bulma had upon hearing his full name. A pop star? A rock star? One of those. He at least had money which was already a step up from Bra's usual guys. What could a man like that want with his daughter? How could such a weakling human put up with her?

Bra's previous boyfriends all had their faults and they had been fatal ones, but Vegeta could not find one with Malachi. There were many times in the past in which they'd tried to have Malachi meet the family and vice versa, but for some reason or another Vegeta would have a convenient excuse not to be there. He was fooling no one, though. Vegeta was sure they all knew he was avoiding the situation. In fact, Vegeta was surprised he wasn't dealing with an irate Bulma overriding the lock on the gravity room and storming in…He was waiting for the issue to resolve itself for Bra to realize something awful about the boy and move on as usual.

Moments later, when the lock was overridden, he knew it was Bulma and he braced himself for her presence. Just as the door was sliding open, he spoke first. He would be damned if she got in the first words coming into his domain.

"What the hell do you want, woman?" Vegeta said just loud enough for anyone from behind the door to hear.

But a split-second later, he realized that it wasn't Bulma at all, wrong scent, wrong ki signature. It was a worrying mistake that caused him pause just as the gravity was automatically turned off. The presence at the entrance had not entered. Then it donned on him just who it was. He turned on his heel to see with his own eyes if it was true. There he was: Malachi. The audacity! But more troubling, how did he know the override? Bulma or Bra weren't even on the premises.

"Is that how you greet your wife? Tsk, tsk, Mr. Vegeta."

He stood confidently without even a hint of fear being in his presence.

Vegeta growled and then questioned. "Did Bulma tell you how to do that?"

"The override? Well, it seems that keypad has been used quite often—the four digit code was pretty easy to discern with the slightly faded numbers. Not surprising as I've heard you like training here a lot."

Vegeta was caught off guard by this explanation. Had he just admitted to hacking the system? "Boy, you have five seconds to tell me why I shouldn't disintegrate you where you stand."

Malachi still seemed at ease frustratingly enough. A grinning smile came to his face, one that seemed to come easy to him—a smile that wasn't nearly as sincere as Kakarot's. "Is it okay for me to step in?" he asked.

"Your choice," Vegeta said gruffly.

He hesitated, the first sign of uncertainty which did wonders for putting the Saiyan at ease, then stepped in.

"Well, good, I'm not dead," Malachi said as if death was a casual thing to avoid. He took a deep breath. It seemed he'd already had something planned to tell him. "Here's what I think, Mr. Vegeta. I think it's impossible for any boyfriend of your daughter to start off on the right foot with you. You've been avoiding me as if by doing so, I'll simply disappear. I don't intend to do that not in the slightest." Vegeta's usual glare intensified at this. "Let's just get this out the way—Hi, I'm Malachi, nice to meet you, sir." He held out his hand to the man.

Vegeta was quite aware of the human custom of handshakes. He'd never participated in it before and he didn't plan on starting today. He stepped a little closer to the annoying cockroach barely hiding his utter contempt if at all as he scowled. "You have some nerves, human—

Before he could finish, Malachi had unconsciously stepped back momentarily forgetting that there were stairs behind him and fell quite unceremoniously down the three steps onto the ground. There was clear amusement in his eyes as Vegeta stepped into the doorway to see the other. Malachi looked the picture of embarrassed. His cheeks were reddened and he looked anywhere, but the other's face. He cursed under his breath probably from the sprained ankle that Vegeta was noticing at the moment. Finally, Malachi did look back at him. To his credit, there was no hint of fear more like exasperation as if this was something that occurred often. Curious, as they had just officially met.

"Enjoying the view? I suppose this is the first of many," Malachi said with a healthy amount of acid.

This was the man that Bra was attracted to? How could she even feel mildly safe or protected in his presence? Even a simple fall caused injuries. Vegeta climbed down the steps with ease that had not been lost on the man on the ground. "What did you expect to accomplish here today, boy?"

Vegeta watched the other struggle back to his feet.

"I wanted to do this with more finesse," Malachi started with a frown, "But I think I'm done here."

The man had a pronounced limp and what bravado he did have seemed nonexistent as he made his way across the entirety of the field and into the house—it was pitiful to watch and it amused Vegeta to no end until he realized that he now had fuel to add to the fire. One look at him and the other two harpies namely Bulma and Bra would be down his throat with accusations. With a grimace, he too entered the compound and found the man sitting on one of the couches of the living room, his dark eyes deep in thought, his body language giving off quite a relaxed air. It irked him a bit that he seemed so comfortable in his house. Then again, he had been invited over countless times for dinner or for no reason at all. Everyone seemed dead set on inviting him into the family. Everyone, that is except him.

"Yes?" Malachi questioned with a raised eyebrow.

The nerves…As if he was the one invading the other's space and not the other way around. "You're probably going to run off and tell Bra about all this."

"That I was intimidated by you and fell down some stairs? It wouldn't look good for either of us, now would it?" he said with a frown. "I do have my pride, you know. How about I say that everything went well and that I sprained my ankle during rehearsal? Sound agreeable?"

Vegeta hmphed at this. It sounded better than the shit storm he'd have to endure if either of the ladies found out he had anything to do with Malachi's injuries.

"Good," Malachi said icily.

Malachi didn't seem angry with him specifically. He seemed to instead be glaring daggers into the large screen television directly in front of him. He ran a hand through his hair—an action Vegeta had seen Bra do millions of times when she was stressed. It was as if the other had forgotten Vegeta was even in the room. He quickly took a small device out of his pocket—a cellphone. Was he going to call Bra and tell her his predicament? He pressed a few buttons and then was speaking curtly to another individual that Vegeta quickly knew could not have been Bra.

"Yes, yes, I'm fine. I just need you to come out here and pick me up without your 21 questions." There was a pause before he spoke again. A permanent blush had fallen across his face. "Fell down some stairs and bring someone else to take my car as well—" Now he seemed interrupted by the one on the line. "Because I'm really fucking clumsy—I'm not paying you for your concern, Derrick." He hung up immediately after and slipped the device back into his pocket before climbing to his feet again.

The scene was oddly amusing to the prince. How one so weak would even bother with something like pride was beyond him. Humans had too many shortcomings to count; surely it would be a waste of energy to get so worked up over all of them all the time.

"I think I've overstayed my welcome," he said with a brief smile looking his way now, "Nice to meet you finally. I'll take my leave."

"You do that," Vegeta said with little humor in his tone although he couldn't stop himself from grinning as he watched the poor human painfully limp towards the door.

Vegeta thought he'd seen the last of the human at least for a while as he had to recover from that injury. For humans, it would take two weeks, but he was wrong about the former—Vegeta saw Malachi often as both Bulma and Bra wound up worrying over him as if the man was on his death bed to the point that Vegeta was starting to feel a bit jealous with all the attention he was getting.

Apparently, the man couldn't recover at his own place. Oh, no, their home with all the spare rooms would be far better. Vegeta couldn't tell if they were doing this purposefully or if they were genuinely overly concerned about a sprained ankle.

Vegeta made a valiant effort to avoid him, but it was becoming too obvious and Bulma was beginning to break her stubborn silence about the matter with him. Bulma was patient, but not that patient. She'd expected for him to come around by now and Vegeta knew it. They invited Malachi to every meal and it would be quite odd for Vegeta to miss meals in general so with a host of misgivings, he sat down at dinner with them all.

He was quite tense about the whole thing and just as he was beginning to rethink the entire thing, Bulma placed a hand onto his shoulder and flashed a brilliant smile at him causing his mood to soften a little—the witch. He scowled at her, but did not leave the table. His attention was soon on the couple who sat with them. Bra was in a good mood, her face aglow with pleasure. It was a rare mood for her to be honest. There was a respectable distance between her and Malachi, but given the glances she was giving him, he knew she wanted to be closer. Malachi's expression wasn't nearly as glowing. Instead, it was a mix between contentment and annoyance, but when he caught Vegeta looking his way, he gave the other his easy smile, the one that wasn't quite innocent, almost sly.

"I'm so glad to have the famous Malachi over for dinner," Bulma said with a smile.

Vegeta nearly rolled his eyes at this. The woman was practically fawning over the man and he hadn't even said a word. How famous was this guy anyways? Vegeta admittedly was no expert when it came to the popular culture of Earth.

Malachi smiled brilliantly at the other as he seemed to preen at her enthusiasm. This time it was a smile that brightened his entire face and dare Vegeta say quite believable. Exactly the kind that unconsciously made his fist tighten. Anything that reminded him of Kakarot was punch worthy even to do this day.

"Aw, you make me want to come over and pinch those cute little cheeks of yours."

"Mom!" Bra said exasperatedly in embarrassment.

Malachi seemed largely unaffected as if he was used to such things though he spoke contrarily. "You're embarrassing me. It's the very least I can do for all the hospitality you've shown me these past few days."

Vegeta grunted. "Getting as bad as Bunny," he said which earned him a playful shove from Bulma.

"Sorry," Bulma said waving her hand as if it was already under the bridge. "So how is your ankle feeling?"

A flash of annoyance crossed his face, something that only Vegeta seemed to catch onto. But soon Vegeta was wearing a knowing look. He knew immediately that Malachi did not like being fussed over, but once again he spoke contrarily.

"Everything is healing smoothly," he said with a feigned smile. It was a short answer and he did not expound. Vegeta could hear a tinge of impatience in his tone.

"But missing so many days of rehearsal," Bra said knowingly. Vegeta wouldn't be surprised if Bra was completely privy to everything Malachi did. Bra had a habit not unlike Bulma to obsess a bit too much over the boy she was dating—yet another thing that drove suiters away.

"Nothing to worry about," he said in a tone that suggested he was completely at ease, "Two weeks shouldn't set me back by much. I accounted for chances of mishaps."

Bra was visibly satisfied with this answer which in turn drew another smile from Malachi. Vegeta was annoyed with the whole scene. Instead he decided to focus on the smell of food and the sound of it sizzling in the next room. Bunny was hard at work. At least there would be an award for him at the end of all this. He'd skipped breakfast because of Malachi and now he was literally starving. He was so used to this entire affair that he knew the exact scent of food that was cooked to Bunny's satisfaction and he silently started a countdown in the back of his mind for its tantalizing arrival.

"Oh, don't mind Vegeta," Bulma said drawing his attention again at the mention of his name, "he gets pretty one track when it comes to food."

"I see," Malachi said simply, "Bra gets like that sometimes. Now I know where she gets it from," he said with a playful laugh.

Embarrassment was written on her face as she punched the other in what was meant to be playful, but Vegeta noticed she put a bit too much strength behind it as Malachi grimaced and breathed inward sharply. He waved their ensuing concern away. Bra's fingers had been on his shirt quickly trying to assess his injuries when he took a hold of her hand and placed it gently on the table.

"My princess has the most…stirring of playful punches," he said.

Glossing over the fact that he'd referred to his daughter as his princess, it was a bit concerning to see Bra's lack of restraint. He wondered if it happened often. Vegeta glanced over at Bulma who seemed to take the incident in stride. The implications, however, was mildly telling about one of the many reasons things hadn't worked out for Bra in the past.

Just then, the food was brought in courtesy of the ever motherly Bunny. She winked at him as she added a second plate for Vegeta. She must have noticed that he'd been missing from this morning and at the moment was ravenous. Malachi was already peering over at him curiously and Vegeta gave him even more to look at as he tore through both plates. It was a decidedly normal ritual for the other two women, but by the time he finished Malachi was staring in wonderment having not even placed the dainty bit of steak on his fork into his mouth.

"I'm going to train," Vegeta said gruffly as he stood up.

"Vegeta," Bulma warned the other, but she was largely ignored as he turned from her.

"It's been a pleasure once again, Mr. Vegeta," Malachi said.

Vegeta afforded the other a glance, but he could hardly decipher if the other had been sincere or putting on airs. There was nothing in his demeanor, however, that would suggest the latter. He had only made it as far as the second room before he heard Bulma's approach.

"Is this really how you want things to be?" Bulma questioned.

Vegeta merely paused in his stride as he considered her question. Then he turned to her. "The boy is weak and he will go the way of all Bra's so-called 'boyfriends' just as it's always been."

"And what if you're wrong? You'd be making an enemy of the man who she chooses to spend the rest of her life with." She stepped closer to the haughty Saiyan.

"Aren't you jumping the gun a bit? She's too young to be making decisions like that."

"Everyone goes at their own pace," Bulma said back knowingly. "Spoiled though she is, she is an adult now and can make decisions on her own—even one like those. You'll say the same thing about any guy she fancies, but look around you. The world is full of humans and they will all be 'weak' by your standards." Now she was standing only inches away from Vegeta.

At such a close distance, her blue eyes were hard to look away from and her scent was intoxicating. For as long as he had known her, it had always been that way—he wondered if she used such things to her advantage. It wouldn't surprise him in the least.

"Give him a chance," she breathed.

Her lips were mere inches away and he found himself bridging that gap almost without realizing it. She pulled away far too soon much to his annoyance.

"That was a freebie," Bulma said with a smirk. "Tomorrow, you will stop ignoring him like you have been for the past year and get to know him. I'm not telling you to spend the whole day with, but just—interact, anything other than denying his entire existence."

Vegeta did not answer right away, but her spirited eyes now a bit angered gazed at him unabashedly willing him to respond.

"Fine," Vegeta said barely moving his mouth. "Tomorrow, but I'm not expecting anything to come of it."

"No one said you had to like him," Bulma with a sigh. With a peck on the cheek, Bulma headed back to the dining room.

For a moment more he stood there silently, wondering what he had gotten himself into and why he had agreed to do it.

AN: I was inspired by niteryde and her Bulma/Vegeta stories. I know I'm a bit late to the party in that regard. After I finished reading "To Live Again", I knew I wanted to write something more. I actually wrote this before DBS came out but it's set well after DBS and GT (if that's still canon, who knows anymore). I probably won't be adding characters like Whis or Beerus. Goku is no longer around at least on Earth just like GT suggests at the end of it.