Bulma lay nestled securely within the hollow of his arm; his body curled around hers like a warm cocoon. She smiled, listening to the deep even rhythm of his breathing; feeling it as it gently fanned the fine hairs of her neck. For once she had worn him out; something that was a rare occasion in their home.

She turned, allowing her fingers to gently travel the sharp contours of his face. The eyebrows, slashing downwards so dramatically; tracing over the warm mouth...down, down to his neck, onto the hard chest. It had been a rocky road to happiness; but they had prevailed and Vegeta was alive and well and content or at least reasonably so...though she knew he missed the joy of a good battle. He had taken to pummeling the life out of Kakkarot each day, the competition between them running hot and heavy and strong.

Bulma could recall with clarity, the horror she and Kakkarot had felt when they had arrived at the battlefield; seeing Frieza's sickening form draped across Vegeta's as if in a lover's embrace. She had given no thought to anything, save one: saving her mate. She had loaded the tranquilizer gun they had found within Toma's office; pushing the virus-laced dart into the the weapon. Her aim had been true, striking Frieza between his shoulders. She had laid claim to Vegeta in that moment, telling Frieza in the only way he would understand that he had never had Vegeta. That his desire to possess the Saiya-jin--heart, mind, body, and spirit--was nothing more but a twisted fantasy. A fantasy he would never obtain. Bulma already owned them; not that they had ever been for sale. Vegeta was the master of his own destiny and it had never been Frieza.

Bulma had healed him with the senzu beans, and when she had looked into his eyes, she had seen a love, pure and unending, burning deep within the black depths. Vegeta had accepted her claim and embraced it, giving himself--heart, mind, body and soul--into her keeping. She would keep it well. She had shown him the syringes of the half-done antidote to the virus; the missing piece of the puzzle. When fit with hers, it was the solution and then she had healed him.

The nightmare had been over. Vegeta had cradled her body closely to his as he had flown them back to their home; his face nuzzling her hair. They had gone straight to the laboratory, where she had combined the solutions. Her created protein; the one that had been so close to the actual antidote had mixed with the antivenom of the cobra...she had held the syringe in her hand; preparing to test it.

He had shook his head. "Just do it, woman...I don't want to waste anymore time."

His eyes had confirmed that, burning with trust and love and desire and everything she could have ever hoped to see shining in any man's eyes when they gazed upon her. That they radiated from his, left her exhultant; even in the face of so much tragedy. His hand had guided hers to his arm and he had waited as she had pushed it into his arm, hands trembling...injecting him full of the mixture she had combined. She had prayed, chanting it in her mind like a mantra in her mind. Bulma had looked into the black eyes which had never left her; burning into hers with so much emotion she had thought she might cry.

It is said 'That which does not kill us, serves only to make us stronger.' The antidote had not killed him. He had sat patiently for over an hour; his eyes never leaving her as she had tested and re-tested his blood. The virus had been diminished. Each time she had taken blood, the virus was a little less. They had done it. Bulma had sagged against him in relief, the knowledge that she was not going to be losing him anytime soon, vibrating through her body like an electric jolt of awareness. For so long, she had lived with the threat of his imminent death; the very idea that in a flash of time it would all be gone. She had sobbed against his chest like a baby for over an hour; for what she would never be sure. Perhaps for her child that was forever lost to her. Perhaps for him and the knowledge of how close a thing losing him had been; maybe for her brother who had come so close to surviving. The sobbing had finally diminished, leaving her body drained and spent. Bulma had been vaguely aware of him picking her up and carrying her to their room; his deep voice telling people that she was exhausted and would be going to bed. She had not looked, keeping her head buried safely against his neck. Vegeta had laid her gently on the bed; leaving her to tend to Trunks. She had rocked the boy to sleep, grateful he was alive, crooning a gentle lullabye against his head; the soft, sweet, clean scent of him a balm to her soul.

Vegeta had come to her, stripped off his clothes, pulling her up against him; drawing her back to the hot water of a bath. He had stripped her of all her clothes; his hands roaming over every part of her body, enflaming her; exciting her, dragging her along with him into a passion filled haze. He had washed her gently, cleansing every part of her tired aching body; his hands touching, his mouth tasting and then he had simply loved her. God, how he had loved her. Pushing her against the cool porcelain of the tub, he had rent her body near in half with the power of his first deep thrust; penetrating her so fully, so completely she had screamed out with the beauty and power of their connection. Each thrust, hard and full, bringing them closer and closer to edge. Their bodies had strained together; each trying to get closer to the other, but never quite succeeding in anything except wanting more. Vegeta had sobbed with his release, crying her name as though he had been shot. Something she had never thought to see in her life, and she had held him as it rocked through him. Her own climax coming as he continued to move within her depths. She had sobbed with him. In the end she would never be completely sure if they had cried for their losses or for the beautiful knowledge that together, they had a future.

Vegeta had not let her sleep that night; his body demanding her to answer him each and every time, and she had; giving him everything she could give, every part of her that there was left to give a man . Bulma had taken from him, everything he had to offer, claiming him as he claimed her. A true joining of the souls. Nothing had been held back and in the morning as he lay spooned behind her, their bodies joined, he had spoken.

"I love you woman. You are everything to me."

Yes, Bulma could recall it all very clearly. They had buried her brother the next day; and she had grieved anew at the loss of him. How close they had been to the cure. If he had only lasted one day more. God, life was cruel. She supposed that was the nature of the beast. She had stood silent and alone, her memory back in that awful room with Frieza; the loss of her child weighing heavily on her heart. He had come to her finally, his eyes filled with concern. He had known as he had looked at her, what she'd been thinking.

"I will give you another child, woman, in time...when the pain has passed."

Vegeta had walked away then, leaving her to silently contemplate the turnabout of a man that had been terrified of the very idea of her giving birth. Had his attitude changed that much? He had said nothing save that he loved her. Yet, it had been different. He had been so...she couldn't really put a word on it, but it had shone forth from his eyes like a beacon. Perhaps, he had changed.

Bulma had spent the remainder of the day cloistered away with her newly found mother, learning everything about her and the father that she had never known; learning everything about her father's company that she could. She had rebuilt Capsule Corporation from the ground up, using her fuel and her inventions; she had done it. It was worth billions now; the leader in technological advances and all that just within the year since Frieza's demise. Things were much different now.

Her hand moved from his chest on down the flat, ridged plane of his stomach, tracing further down to clasp him gently within her hand. Bulma smirked as his eyes flared open, half-lidded with desire and passion. God, even now, he was ready; with no more then a single touch of her hand. How completely erotic. In the distance she could hear the squalling of a child. She smiled. Gohan; named in honor of the man that his father had come to respect and love, even if only briefly. Gohan was the apple of his grandfather's eyes. He and Bardock were rarely separated and she smiled again as she heard the soft drone of Bardock's voice singing some Saiya-jin lullabye to the boy.

Bardock would soon be a grandfather again since Raditz had mated with Evetta. She was due in any day, though she still showed up for work right on schedule.

"I'll be glad when Kakkarot is finished building his house. Get all these third class losers out of the house. "

Vegeta's deep burr vibrated through her body. She shivered as he rolled her over on her stomach, his hard shaft resting against the warm cleft of her body. Her stomach fluttering as he entered her smoothly, his head leaning down to press a heated kiss against the nape of her neck.

"The whole family is going to be gone. It'll just be us. They are going to train with that perverted Master Roshi and hunt up those dragonballs he spoke of."

"Thank God. The Namek spoke of a set on his planet. Perhaps I should go on a mission. How would you like to rule the universe for all time, woman?" Vegeta shuddered with desire as she moved back against him.

"Right now, for all time sounds pretty good, Vegeta."

She moaned with pleasure as he took her with a driving force, her mind fleeing from her as he drove away all thought save one; his body reclaiming her as his over and over. How close she had come to losing him; to Frieza; to Parisia, to the virus...but she hadn't. She hadn't; and as she reached her climax, crying out in an overflow of raw emotion that flooded her every sense, she took heart.

Gero looked down upon his newest creation, pulled from the rubble of Frieza's ship. Encased safely within a cryo chamber; her body being slowly rejuvenated for service. He had been clever; staying in hiding all the years of Frieza's control. He'd had no desire to be pressed into his service; not like that fellow scientist...what had his name been? Briefs. With the news of Frieza's death, there had been freedom. Personal and scientific freedom. It was his turn now; his turn for recognition and praise.

He had gone to the ship with the rest of the looters; only he had not been searching for just any old thing. He'd been searching for a subject and he had found one. The woman, near death...her body half-eaten by some kind of acid had only briefly moaned out as he walked by her. At first, he had been repulsed; turning away from her. Then he had realized what potential she had to be rebuilt and he had brought her here.

She was the latest in technological terrors built with specific modifications according to his very blueprints. Soon, she would be ready to be unleashed upon the world.

Ahh yes, the universe was his and it was about to know it.