A/N: This chapter gets quite angsty in some parts. There's also a bit of smut included - teensy weensy bit: just enough to wet the… appetite. I want to say that it's all part of the plot (because it is), but it's mostly self-indulgence.

Disclaimer: I don't own Dragon Ball Z, Super or GT or any of the associated characters that appear in this fanfic.

Chapter 7: Dreams and Nightmares

It was dark all around him, he tried to open his eyes but all he saw was black. Everything hurt. He tried to take a breath but a heavy weight was preventing his chest cavity from rising, and the little he could get it to move sent shocks of pain reverberating through his whole body. His lungs were on fire. The smell of smoke permeated the air, thick and suffocating, and still not a spark of light penetrated the black haze around him despite the fact that he was now blinking.

Someone was calling his name, the sound high pitched and melodious. Like wind chimes, familiar, but he couldn't seem to place it. He felt more weight settle atop his bruised body and groaned. Or at least, he thought he did. Suddenly, some of the weight started disappearing atop him, and the first shaft of white light penetrated the blackness. The voice became clearer. His brain finally registered its owner. Bra - the daughter that was his, but not. He reached for the light and felt his hand burst through towards cool daylight.

He finally remembered where he was.

The Gravity Chamber.

It exploded. Burying him alive. Right as he felt himself breaking through a threshold that he could have sworn held the Legendary just beyond. He sighed wearily, too tired to curse his bad luck.

The girl was helping him out. The woman was on her ass in the rubble staring at him dumbfounded. Then, like the fucking insane bitch she was started screaming at him. Naturally he didn't take her insults lying down. Such was just not their way even if he'd give anything to be doing just that: Lying down.

His vision blurred and he suddenly found himself attempting to yank a pole out of his side, which prompted more inane yapping from the woman.

His vision went dark again and suddenly he found himself standing alone, looking at the woman who was now on the other side of the lawn. She held something in her arms, something small in a piece of cloth that was squirming. Two figures landed before her, causing her to back up in fear, clutching the bundle tighter to her chest. Her terrified eyes met his for a moment, pleading, before she focused on the threat before her once more. Vegeta lifted into the air, preparing to fly towards her but something suddenly caught around his throat and he instinctively grabbed at it, only for it to coil tighter around his neck, cutting off his air supply. His finger dug in, feeling the obstruction give a little, like flesh. He registered the cloying musk of it an instant before the gratingly pitched voice spoke next to his ear.

"Just where do you think you're going, filthy little Monkey?" Frieza whispered tauntingly and his stomach dropped at the familiarity of the scene. He struggled to free himself, watching Bulma get backed into a corner by the humanoid shapes.

"Bulma!" he shouted, his attempts becoming more and more desperate while his former master laughed at his struggle.

"Now now, Vegeta. What did I tell you about attachments?"

"Son of a -let go!"

"They make you weak!" Frieza continued, unperturbed as Vegeta clawed at the vise that was Frieza's tail.

Suddenly, Bulma screams became hysterical and he looked over to see one of the figures holding a naked infant, dangling by one leg. The child's little tail was thrashing violently as it cried. Vegeta couldn't see his face but his hair was in the characteristic flame shape of his own. Vegeta choked on his breath as the realization of just what was about to happen hit him. The child was his. His son. And those monsters were about to murder him.

"No! No don't!" he heard himself beg, his heart in his throat.

"Vegeta help!" Bulma screamed, as she herself was being restrained by the other one. He hurled himself forward, Frieza's tail disappearing from his neck, just as the figure holding the babe threw the boy up into the air, and followed the motion with a ball of energy.

The blast threw him backwards and hurled him towards the earth, to where Bulma was on her knees, a little yellow blanket clutched in her hands and tears streaming down her cheeks. The androids were nowhere to be seen. Neither was Frieza.

"Why?" The blue-haired woman whispered hoarsely. "Why didn't you save him? You were supposed to save him!" she was shouting at him now. Her face a crumpled mess of desolation.

"I -" he started answering, but didn't finish. Bra was suddenly at her mother's side, arms wrapped around her consolingly. She was looking at him with those haunted blue eyes.

"Why couldn't you save us Papa?" she asked forlornly.

"Because he's weak!" Frieza was suddenly beside the two females. He watched, helplessly as that clawed alabaster-skinned hand reached out and caressed Bra's cheek as he gazed upon her young face with avarice. "Oh yes." Frieza said, almost to himself, "You'll make a fine addition to my Forces girl."

He tried to rise up, but his body was broken. Something pinned him to the ground, with a start he realized it was a metal rod. Instinctively, he reached to pull it out.

"Don't do it." Bulma suddenly cautioned, staring at him with empty eyes. "You'll bleed out"

"Bulma." he called, but she was unresponsive. She was dead inside, like he had been for all those years after his planet's demise, trying to fill the void with violence and death.

"See Vegeta. This is why you cannot have nice things. You cannot help but break them in the end." Frieza mocked. "You don't deserve a family. Not with how many families you have already slaughtered. You'll never be worthy of one. So I'll just do you a favor and put this one out of her misery for you."

A blood-stained hand burst from Bulma's chest and her face twisted in agony, before her features went lax and she slumped to the ground, the puddle of red growing steadily larger around her.

"Bulma!" he cried out, crawling towards her despite his own debilitating injuries.

He reached her, and she was suddenly above him, a concerned frown on her brow.

"Shhh" she comforted and laid something white and cool on his forehead. It's okay. You're going to be okay." Something cold slid up his arm, and his vision started to fade.

"M'sorry… I couldn't ...protect… our son." he managed to get out, before the blackness took him once more.

Bulma watched the crease between his brows smooth out as he succumbed to unconsciousness. Courtesy of the dose of sedative she had just administered via his IV.

It had been less than six hours since his admittance. When Bulma finally showed up at the hospital, Vegeta was already in surgery and poor Bra was being interrogated by the nurse about Vegeta's particulars, for administrative purposes. Bulma decided that this was as good a time as any to step in and introduced herself (not that she needed much introduction, given her fame, but as her mother would say: courtesy cost nothing). Then she went on to explain about the unique physiology of their current patient and requested to be allowed to speak to the head surgeon so that she may hand over the blood that she extracts from Vegeta monthly for just such a purpose, in case a transfusion is needed.

The surgery went off without a hitch, largely thanks to the miracles of Saiyan physiology, much as she was loath to give any sort of credit to Vegeta. He was soon transferred to a private room to sleep off the anesthesia.

She had been working steadily at his bedside in West City General Hospital when he started thrashing and mumbling in his sleep. She heard her name a few times. When he started becoming really agitated she figured it was time to intervene.

His words before he succumbed to sleep had her own brow furrowing in confusion, more than that the sincerity and sadness in his eyes as he apologized, actually apologized, made her heart flutter with hope… and tenderness. Kami. She really hoped that it wasn't just the drugs talking. That the brief depth of emotion he showed her was something she would be able to see once again.

She hoped he would sleep peacefully now and that whatever demons he was battling saw fit to leave him alone for a few more hours.

"I can't believe you Vegeta," Bulma muttered as she rewound his bandages around his chest. "I damn well told you that the machine can only take so much as at max gravity before it becomes unstable, and you went and ignored my cautionary advice anyway. Now look at you."

"Woman, I'm fine. A little explosion isn't nearly enough to off the Prince of all Saiyans."

"Oh really, and I suppose this" she poked at his wound and he hissed, "Is just a tiny little scrape of no consequence." He glared at her.

"Exactly." he bit out through clenched teeth.

"Oh you're so full of it."

"If by 'full of it', you're referring to my awesomeness, then I completely agree." he retorted with a smug grin.

"Kami, I just want to strangle you sometimes."

"You can try, Woman... I might just like it."

"Ugh! You're the most arrogant, egotistical, overbearing, pretentious-"

"Gods in the heaven, Woman, don't you ever shut up?!"

"Try and make me, you jerk. I might just like it."

And he did. He had her on her back in an instant. Mouth covering hers as he took in, for the first time, the taste of her lips. She tasted like that red little berry she loved so much and he couldn't get enough, licking and sucking on those plump lips and that sweet tongue until he was dizzy with arousal.

His clothes were gone, and so was hers and he was settled into the juncture of her thighs, her wetness coating him and slickening the slide of his erection though her folds as he grinded against her.

"Please." she whined and lifted her hips, notching him at her opening. It was oh so tempting to flex his hips and bury himself in her heat, but…

"Bulma," he whispered hoarsely, his whole body trembling with the need to fuck, but he had questions. Pertinent ones. "Are you on any pregnancy-preventatives?"

She froze beneath him, her frantic hips stilling. He looked into her eyes and saw the truth in them before she answered "No" He sighed.

"That's okay, right?" she suddenly spoke, sounding a bit desperate, "I mean, it's not the right time in my cycle for it and if it does happen… well, I guess then it's meant to, don't you think?"

"Bulma," he said, frustration clear in his voice as he sat back on his calves, "I… can't. I don't want any brats."

"What do you mean, Vegeta? I thought you liked Bra. Don't you want her to exist in this timeline?"

"The girl is… fine. I just can't risk it. Risk what happened in that other timeline."

Bulma suddenly sat up from underneath him as well until she mirrored his position. She sighed.

"What do you want most in the universe, Vegeta?" she asked, eyes solemn.

"To become the Legendary. To surpass it. To defeat my enemies. To defeat Kakarot." he answered immediately, to which his reply was a sad smile.

"You want to become a super saiyan. Such an achievement is not without cost. If it's truly what you want Vegeta, then you have to be willing to pay the price." she said, drawing him towards her and laying back down.

"What… what are you saying, woman?" he sputtered incredulously, "You do realize what you're asking of me, right? What you're asking of yourself?"

"If you truly want the power, Vegeta Prince of Saiyans," she replied calmly, almost eerily so, "You need to be willing to make the sacrifice."

"Are you cra-" he stopped mid-rant, as he noticed a drop of red suddenly appearing on her chest. The drop turned into a puddled that started flowing from a large wound on her chest.

"What the - Bulma?" he asked, distressed, automatically trying to staunch the flow of it with his hands. When the blood continued flowing from underneath them he grabbed for the sheet, only to notice that his arm, his whole body was glowing with a golden aura. Instinctively, he looked towards the mirror, and saw that his hair had turned bright gold and that his eyes were shining teal… did he... do it? And then he noticed that he was still leaning over Bulma, and that the blood was now flowing over the side of the bed to drip to the floor. He saw, in their reflection, her hand reach toward his cheek and try to turn his face towards her now deathly pale one, he briefly noted the streak of red she left on the side of his face before he caught her eyes.

"It's… what you wanted most, is it not?" she asked softly, almost inaudible. "It will be worth it, right?"

On his next breath he was staring up at white ceiling. His brain struggled to process his new surroundings until he caught a flash of blue in his peripheral.

Bulma was resting on her arms at his side. Blue curls were spread all over the sheets of his bed… or cot, rather he noted as he finally took in his surroundings. He seemed to be in a primitive medical facility of some sort. He tried to lever himself upward, but abandoned that idea as a surprising stab of pain in his side caused him to hiss out and clutch at the space as memories started flooding back.

It took awhile for him to sort through the images flashing through his mind, to what was real and what were hallucinations… The Gravity Chamber exploded. He was run through with a metal rod. Bulma was alive. They had no son. Frieza was dead. He sighed and was about to run his hand through his hair when something snagged on his arm, causing a pinch of pain. His brow furrowed as he caught sight of the plastic tubes against his arm.

"The fuck's this shit?" he muttered in a voice raspy from disuse. It woke up the blue haired scientist at his side who peered at him blearily.

"Why is it every time I see you, you're busy pulling things from your body that aren't meant to be pulled?" she said through gritted teeth.

Vegeta froze, hand poised to do exactly that, but at her admonishment his grip on the line slackened. "I don't know, Woman. Why every time I wake up there are things stuck in me that have no business being there?"

"The first was due to your own stupidity-"

"You mean your shoddy workmanship?"

"How many times did I tell you not to overtax that machine, you reckless nincompoop?!"

"We're getting extra creative with the insults today, I see," Vegeta said with a smirk.

"Shut it short-stack! And Kami-dammit, stop fucking with your IV line!"

"It's a nuisance, just like some blue-haired bitch I know." He retorted and with a final yank, ripped the tube and needle out.

"Well, us nuisances are good for providing medical care and essential nourishment to arrogant assholes."

"I can heal fine on my own, and I can find my own nourishment. Preferably to be taken orally."

"Ugh! You Saiyans are incorrigible!"

"And you're exasperating."

They were both breathing hard. Eyes flashing. Emotions crackling through the air, and not for the first time, Vegeta caught himself marveling at her beauty. She was absolutely breathtaking when she was angry. As if sensing the change in his mood, Bulma's features suddenly morphed into smug satisfaction.

"Ok Bad man." she drawled, "If I'm sooo exasperating, why were you moaning my name in your sleep?"

"What?!" he sputtered, taken aback. "I… I did not." he denied vehemently.

"Did too," she teased. "Why, Prince! Were you having naughty dreams about me?" she said and wiggled her eyebrows slyly. Vegeta felt his face flame as he struggled to form a coherent reply.

"Tch." he spat instead, crossing his arms over his chest. She giggled, and his eyes drifted to the window in petulance. The doctor chose that opportune moment to walk in. He stopped at the threshold. Looked from the IV lines lying discarded on the tiled floor to Vegeta.

"I see our patient is feeling better." he stated.

"Yes." Bulma answered. "I think you can go ahead and arrange his discharge."

"I'll do so right away, Dr. Briefs."

As soon as the doctor left her heard her sigh. He peeked at her. The playfulness seemed to have left her, replaced by what Vegeta could only guess as weariness.

"I guess we're going home then" she finally said and left the room shortly afterwards.

A/N: I'm on a freaking roll here, people. If my life were an avatar in Sims 4, both my tea brewer and shower would be spitting sparks from all the thoughtful showers and healthy green teas I've been taking these last two days. #so_inspired. I just pray the muses will bless me with enough inspiration for at least two more chapters 'cause I have plans...