A/N: Hello everyone! I know I have been on hiatus over summer, but I am finally back! This is a quick one-shot I wrote in a couple hours, but I believe it works pretty well with the others in the series. For those of you who don't know, this one-shot is based off my stories "A Week Left Wanting" and "A Lifetime of Learning". You don't really need to read them to appreciate this one-shot, but if you would like more of the same, please check them, and the one-shot "A Moment of Madness", out. I will hopefully be updating my other stories within the next month or two, but I have my senior year of college coming up in a few weeks, plus moving into my first apartment. Please bear with me if updates take a little while. Thank you. I hope you enjoy.

DISCLAIMER: Dragonball Z belongs to Akira Toriyama.

WARNING: For Mature Adults Only.


"Can't this thing go any faster?" quipped a very perturbed Saiyan prince. She had had just about enough of him.

"You know, Vegeta, you didn't have to come. You could have stayed home with Trunks, but you insisted you would be less annoyed with me." And it was not as though her aircraft was slow. It was top of the line and could break the sound barrier if need be. Of course, compared to the flight speed of an average Saiyan, it was a clunker. Still, he did not have to be such an ass about it.

The prince tightened his crossed arms and growled throatily under his breath. "Perhaps I was wrong. Trunks would not be this insufferable. And I can beat him if he's being a brat. You would snap like a twig if I tried anything of the sort."

"Are you threatening me?" Her voice cracked into a shrill tone only she could achieve.

Vegeta growled more loudly. "Maybe I am! What are you going to do, hmm? Scream at me until I surrender before my hearing gives out?"

The conversation continued along the same path until the both of them were fuming and sitting in silence. This was, sadly, not the first time they had argued like this. Recently, she had been finding herself getting more annoyed at Vegeta than usual. At first she thought it was just PMS, and some of it had been, but she was finally getting tired of his domestic laziness. Sure, he could be busy as a bee training and fighting, but when it came to doing simple chores around the house he was nowhere to be found. She had been understanding for awhile. Not anymore.

A few hours and several more grumblings later, they arrived at their destination. One of the Capsule Corporation storm-tracking arrays had been offline for the past two weeks. It was necessary for early warning of blizzards and ice storms in the surrounding area. And, of course, since it was the middle of winter and she did not want her father breaking his back trying to repair the damned thing, she volunteered to do it. A small part of her was thankful for the chance to get away from her infuriating husband, but she had no such luck.

The air was cold outside, even colder with the wind. She grabbed the capsules with an assortment of every tool she could think of, and went inside the cave before her. Vegeta trudged along behind, childishly kicking snow off the cliff. The array control-system was not too far into the cave. Except, she could not find it.

Looking around furiously, all she saw was smooth ice and…a small bit of metal. Sticking out only a few inches from the solid ice sheet was the tip of a lever. She swore vehemently. The ice had frozen the array and encased it! After several minutes of swearing and stomping around, she opened her tool capsule and dug out an ice pick and mallet. As she began to chip away at the sheet of ice, she heard two noises simultaneously:

A loud crack and the raised voice of her Saiyan prince.

"Woman!" she heard him yell angrily, a split second before she was pressed against the ice. Something shattered behind her. That was when she realized she had clamped her eyes closed. Opening them, she was momentarily taken aback by an arm pushed halfway into the wall of ice, and by a familiar warmth radiating down the length of her body. Vegeta had pushed her against the wall, using his arm to brace the impact so she would not be crushed. She had only a few seconds to gather these thoughts before the warmth pulled away.

"Dammit, woman, you have the worst sense of your surroundings I have ever seen! You just go pounding away at the ice before even looking around to see what its integrity might be." She turned around to face him, nearly bumping into him in the process. He had not pulled away very far. A furious look possessed his eyes as he pointed towards the roof of the cave. Stalactites of ice, some over one foot wide, covered the roof. She could see where a sizeable one had broken off and shattered near where she had been standing. She also noticed the shoulders of Vegeta's sweater were soaked: if she had seen him seconds after the stalactite had fallen, she guessed she would have seen ice on his shoulders. He had gotten hit to protect her. Very suddenly she felt tears well up in her eyes.

"What is it now?" He crossed his arms. "Your life force is the same, I did not hurt you," he said almost accusingly.

She sniffed back the tears. "You saved me."

He grumbled. "Of course. If you think you are leaving me alone with Trunks, think again." She felt very bitter then.

"Is that the only reason? You only saved me because you don't want to be left alone with your son? Did those words you told me nearly two years ago mean nothing? Dammit, Vegeta! I still love you, for whatever stupid reason. Have I just been deluding myself that you felt the same way?" She was shaking, and not from the cold. So, it hadn't been just his lack of housework that had been infuriating her. The prince tensed.

"No, that's not it." He threw his arms up in frustration. "My feelings have not changed, you silly woman. That should be all that matters."

"But how am I supposed to know that if you never tell me? How hard is it to tell me?"

"I cannot repeat those words. Do you know how hard it was to say them the first time? The sentiment of 'love' was unknown to Saiyan warriors. All there was, all I had to think about, was the fight and the kill. Love had no business being a part of that."

"You still said them! Is it your pride? Your stupid, inflated pride? There is no one else out here! No one is going to know you love me except me! And who else really matters?" She balled her fists.

The prince took a step forward and grasped her upper arms. "I cannot. Understand that," he said too softly.

She tried to wriggle out of his grasp, but she would just injure herself in vain. A few tears began streaming down her face. "If you can save me from monsters and villains, if you can protect me from big-ass icicles, if you can get hit to save me, then you can tell me that you love me!" She felt herself being moved backwards and felt the cold of the ice against her back.

"I…"

"Tell me!" A very warm hand removed itself from her left arm to cup her cheek. It was shaking.

"But, I—"

"Just tell me!"

The grasp on her other arm slackened and found her other cheek. His head moved closer to hers and she felt warm breath against her ear. He did not move for several moments, just held her.

Ever so quietly, Vegeta whispered, "I love you."

She was about to retort something like "See, that wasn't so hard," but she could feel his entire body shaking. She pressed the rest of her body against his, wrapping her arms around his chest. "Oh, Vegeta." It was not fair of her to press the matter. In all likelihood, this had been only the second time in his entire life he had ever uttered those words with any meaning. "Oh, Vegeta, I am sorry. I should not have done that."

"No, Bulma, probably not. But what kind of warrior can I call myself if I am afraid of three words?" His voice laughed a little. Her whole body tightened when he said her name. She was now very aware of his body against hers, the maleness of it. His muscles rippled and made her legs weak. He may have only been consciously touching her cheeks, but she could feel all of him. And she wanted more.

She raised a hand to his cheek and made him look at her. He was still shaking a little. "My prince, make love to me." She felt a bit ashamed at the pleading tone in her voice. But it had been so long since they had truly made love.

"As you wish." The hands cupping her face held her steady as he lowered his lips to hers. She was always surprised with his gentle kisses, and melted into them. He kissed her softly for awhile, enjoying the slow pace. Eventually, however, the primitive brain began to creep in. His tongue slid over her lips and was granted swift entry. It became a hot and passionate kiss, she yielding to his dominance and enjoying every second of it.

His hands gradually trailed down her body, caressing her breasts through the thick jacket. It did not matter how many layers of clothing were between their flesh: he made her quiver nonetheless. One hand slid under all the layers of her clothing to smooth over her waist. The other made its way under and up, diving right underneath her bra. She arched her back against the ice, moaning breathlessly as his fingers stroked devilishly over her nipple. She could feel his erection through his pants, and the mere knowledge sent a twinge of pleasure between her thighs.

He played with both breasts equally, eliciting soft mewls when he switched between the two. She did not doubt he could smell her arousal even through the thick snow pants. Then he removed his hand from her breasts altogether. She almost protested, but his hand quickly found the waistband of her pants and slipped beneath. A shriek came from her lips when he pressed a finger against her sensitive spot through her panties. He chuckled. She decided to get even.

As he pulled her panties aside to press his fingers into her slick folds, she slipped her hand into his pants. He gave out an involuntary grunt of pleasure when she stroked his length. Both gave and took, though she suspected they could not last much longer.

"Vegeta…" she managed.

He removed his hand from within her folds, but pushed her garments down to her knees before leaving entirely. His other arm braced her back so her bare flesh would not be pressed against the ice.

"I'm going to need that," he whispered, and she realized she was still grasping his length. She removed it and unzipped his pants. He did not wait for an invitation. He lifted her with one arm and spread her thighs with the other, and brought her down onto him. She cried out as he stretched her and filled her completely. She could not remember the last time he had felt so good inside her. He pumped into her and brought her down on him, and continued at a frenzied pace. Neither was in the mood anymore to be patient. She screamed as she neared her release and let out a piercing shriek when her folds contracted about him. He was close to follow as she felt a hot liquid pour into her and heard a loud groan she was sure he had not meant for her ears.

He knelt still inside her and breathed heavily for the exertion. She wrapped her arms about his neck and leaned against his shoulder.

"We need to have that more often," she finally said, still a bit breathless.

He smiled predatorily. "We will." She smiled back.

"Oh? You're an optimist now?"

"No, I'm a capitalist. I am going to melt the ice so you can do your repairs, and then you are going to pay me for services rendered in sex for the next week."

She laughed. "Oh, torture, torture."

"And, you will never make me say those words again."

"Hmm, I don't think I can promise that, but I'll try."

He gave her an amused grunt. "From you, that's good enough."


A/N: Thank you for reading. I hope you enjoyed. If you liked this and haven't checked out the rest of the series, I highly recommend it. Thanks again.