A/N: I don't own DBZ or the characters, that honour belongs to Akira Toriyama. I use British English spelling.

"Are you sure you're okay with this?" Bulma asked, measuring out the exact dosage that would kill the Saiyan prince, and the dosage that would restart his heart before placing them on the metal trolley beside her.

Vegeta sat shirtless on a stretcher in her lab, wearing only a pair of loose boxer shorts. With his feet planted firmly on the floor and hands wrapped around the metal edges of the bed he was obviously nervous, but he clenched his jaw at her question. "Let's just get this over with."

"Alright, big guy. I'm going to attach this to track your heart beat…" Bulma ran her hands across his pecs as she attached the the ends of the monitor to his chest. At the touch, Vegeta breathed in sharply, his abs rippling. His eyes tracked her every movement with a wild look that made her suspect he was tossing up between fleeing or pouncing on her.

"And now the IV, okay? You'll feel a pinch." Bulma inserted the peripheral IV, and to his credit, Vegeta didn't flinch as the need slid into the sensitive skin of his elbow pit. She paused before inserting the IV line. "Once this is in, I'll inject the serum. If won't hurt, but you'll feel woozy real fast. If you're ready, then lie on down."

Vegeta opened his mouth as if he was going to say something, then snapped it shut and began to lie down. Before he could, Bulma stopped him, putting her hand on his shoulder and setting the line back on the trolley.

"Wait," she said breathlessly.

"Hurry up, Woman," Vegeta growled. "I-"

Bulma cut him off by pressing her lips to his, suddenly desperate to feel him warm and alive. Vegeta responded with a growl, opening his mouth to deepen the kiss. She was vaguely aware of the heart monitor beeping faster as his hands found their way to her back and crept up the back of her shirt, every movement making her shiver. She pushed in between his legs, grinding up against him. Her own hands explored him, carefully avoiding the heart monitor ends, as she ran them down his smooth chest to the ridges of his stomach where his fine hair began to trail into his pants.

Just as Vegeta's hands made their way the her front, fumbling at the button of her pants, Bulma wrenched herself away with a gasp, frustrated as hell, but also resolved that a quick fuck on a hospital bed would not change the fact that she still had to kill him.

"Why the fuck are you stopping?" Vegeta's naked chest rose and fell heavily as he stared at her with dark, heavy lidded eyes.

"You're the one who said you wanted to wait until Frieza was taken care of," Bulma reminded him as she straightened her top and tried to steady her breathing. "I just wanted to make sure you had a good enough reason to come back."

Vegeta raised his eyebrows incredulously.

"And if you don't, it will be three whole months before I can with you back with the dragon balls... so maybe I needed something to keep me going too."

Vegeta blinked, his face flashing with surprise before he frowned at her. "Surely there are other human males who can uh…" His face darkened to a deep red. "Satisfy… uh…"

"Not likely," Bulma said, interrupting him before he choked with embarrassment. "You've spoilt me for sex with anyone else." She dropped her gaze and let it linger on his not-so-subtle package before looking back up and throwing him a wink. "So you'd better get your hot ass back here so I can show you exactly how much I appreciate it."

She didn't think it was possible, but Vegeta actually coloured even more, the flush creeping right down his neck. Kami, for a semi-reformed murderer he was so damn cute.

"Just kill me now," he mumbled, then lay down on the stretcher with a huff.

Bulma couldn't help but chuckle. Sure, thirty seconds before killing the man probably wasn't the best time to bring up exclusivity, but she doubted he was going to be tapping any ghost ass in the afterlife, even if he did remain dead for longer than intended. And hey, this was Vegeta. The man who was totally turned on by the idea of her killing him to get rid of Frieza. Maybe thirty seconds before death was exactly the right time.

"Alrighty…" Bulma attached the IV line to the peripheral then picked up the serum that would stop his heart. "Speak now or forever hold your peace." She carefully squeezed out the air bubbles of the injection, then held it up to the line.

Vegeta met her gaze, his teeth gritted, and gave her an almost imperceptible nod. Before she could change her mind, Bulma slid the needle into the line and injected the serum.

Within twenty seconds, Vegeta's gaze, which hadn't left her face, began to glaze over. As his eyes fluttered shut, and the beeping of the heart monitor slowed, she took his hand in hers, knowing he wouldn't have the strength to fight off her sign of affection. "See you soon," she said softly.

He showed no sign of having heard her, and three seconds later the slowing heartbeat faded to a solid beep.

Bulma stared at her watch, waiting for the second hand to circle twice. Two minutes. Not long enough to cause Vegeta any permanent damage, but it felt like an age watching the seconds pass by. Of course, she had no idea if it was long enough to severe the connection between him and Frieza - genius she might be but the supernatural was not something one got a PHD in. Still, it was the only idea she'd had, and as long as his body reacted to the epinephrine she'd prepared to restart his heart, at the very least it couldn't make things worse.

Every few seconds, she glanced at the Saiyan. He looked as though he were merely asleep, but even if she hadn't been the one to administer the killing dose that stopped his heart, she'd have known he was dead. His energy, which crackled every time he entered a room, had completely disappeared. Bulma couldn't sense ki, not like the Z fighters, but she could tell whenever Vegeta was in the room, and right now… he wasn't there.

Five seconds before the two minutes was up, Bulma picked up the epinephrine injection. Two seconds before the two minutes was up, she held it over his thigh. And at exactly two minutes, Bulma jabbed the needle in, pushing the plunger down.

After she pulled the now empty injection out, she stared at Vegeta's face, waiting for signs of life to return. The heart monitor continued its steady tone, and as the seconds faded on Bulma help her breath, suddenly terrified that she'd failed, and that he wasn't-

Beep.

Beep.

Bulma let out the air in her lungs with a cry at the same time that Vegeta took a deep breath in.

"You had me worried there for a moment," Bulma said with a shaky laugh as she helped him sit up.

Vegeta blinked slowly, the disorientating effects of the drug obviously hitting him. When he put a hand to his head, wincing, she handed him a glass of water. But he didn't take it, giving the glass, and then her a suspicious look.

"For goodness sake, Vegeta. It's just water. I'm hardly going to poison you after killing you then bringing you back to life."

The Saiyan opened his mouth as if to speak, but closed it again, before taking the glass from her, and sipping it. Something akin to pleasure crossed his face, and he closed his eyes serenely. "Who would have thought," he drawled in an odd tone. "A simple glass of water would taste so…" His stare met hers, and his lips curved into a smirk that was so cold, so devoid of any real emotion that the hairs on the back of Bulma's neck stood up. "... delicious." He drank the rest of the glass, then set it down on the metal trolley. "I suppose that's what happens when you've been in hell for as long as I have."

"You were only there for two minutes," Bulma reminded him, taking a step back as he swung his legs off the bed and stood, that same creepy smile still on his face.

"Was I?" His head tilted as he looked at her, and his tongue shot out and ran across his lips. "It felt like much longer."

Bulma swallowed hard, and took another step back. "Vegeta?" She whispered his name, but she already knew. The man standing in front of her was...

He lunged at her, and even though she saw him coming, his movements still sluggish from the drugs she'd administered, the sick realisation hitting the pit of her stomach froze her to the spot. His hand clasped around her neck and he slammed her against the wall, letting out a raspy laugh. Bulma's head spun at the impact and she clawed at his hand, terror setting in as she only managed to gasp in a slither of air.

His mouth widened into a feral grin, and he pressed his nose against her neck, making her skin crawl even as she struggled to suck in a breath.

"Ah, Miss Briefs," Frieza murmured in a cold, slippery voice. "It's finally just the two of us."

A/N:So this was supposed to be the end. It is a horror, after all. But... I kind of want Vegeta and Bulma to finally get it on without supernatural interference... What do you all think. Should I continue, or let it fade to black?

P.S. For anyone questioning when I will update Out of Time, I have not abandoned it, just needed some time apart!