Counting the Stars
by: Pro-Pan (Not to be confused with PROPANE)

Part I
Prologue
"What are you doing out here?" I mentally slapped myself as I said those words.
She turned around and looked at me strangely. As I started blushing, she smiled and those beautiful blue eyes of hers shone with warmth. "Just looking at the stars." I started to turn away, but those beautiful eyes of hers called me back. "Care to join me?"
I smiled, tried to stop my insane blushing, and sat down beside her. She looked at me again, smiled once more, and fell backwards to the cool night grass behind her. I heard her soft giggling and turned to look at her. "What is it?"
"Oh, nothing." She reached for my arm and pulled me down beside her. "I was just thinking."
"What about?" I asked as I felt her warm body touch mine. Electricity. She didn't say anything, and my eyes were locked on the twinkling stars up above. "What are you thinking about?" I looked over to see her eyes shut and her breathing deep. I pulled myself away from her and reached for the blanket.
"Goten?"
"Hmm...?" I asked as I pulled the blanket snugly around her shoulders. She shook it off and sat up.
"Do you think they're all right out there?"
I smiled and brushed away a strand of her magnificent blue hair. "My father, my best friend, and my niece?" She looked me in the eyes and waited for my answer. "They are fine. Believe me, Bra. Those are three people that can take care of themselves."
She smiled and looked back to the stars. "You wanted to go, too."
*No. Then I couldn't be with you.* I remained silent as the stars above grew dimmer. My gaze found the distant eastern horizon, and locked on to the growing amount of sunlight. "Why do you ask?"
She laughed and shook her head sadly. "I was just a little worried, I guess." She pushed herself to her feet and looked over to the rising sun. "Goten, do you ever have crazy dreams?"
I bit my lip from telling her about my chronic nightmares. That wouldn't help her. "What kind of crazy dreams?"
She laughed breathlessly, then tried to shrug it off. "Oh, not really crazy. Just about the weirdest things - " She brought her hand over her eyes to shield them from the sunlight. "Look, Goten! A shooting star! Let's make a wish!" I allowed her to pull me to my feet, and pulled her close.
"What do we wish for?" I asked, savoring the feel of her heartbeat against my chest.
"Anything in the world," she said and rested her head against my shoulder.
*I wish you loved me...*

Chapter One
"Goten-chan!" I yelled as I saw his familiar face. He stopped walking, grinned and literally swept me off my feet. I laughed and giggled, and wrapped my hands around his neck. He swung me around until my world started to become dizzy, and he picked me up and started flying.
"Goten," I whispered, pressing my mouth against his ear. "Set me down now."
He did so and I gave him the deepest kiss I could. "I couldn't stand being away from you," he whispered and started pressing warm kisses against my neck.
"It was only three hours," I managed to get out between my laughter.
"Hey!" someone shouted. I looked up and saw it was one of my friends from school. "Get a hotel room!" she continued and I blushed like mad. Goten stopped and looked at my friend with a huge grin on his face.
"If you pay!" he shouted back and I smacked his arm. We walked off, hand in hand.

********

I really shouldn't have been bringing the subject up in front of Goten's brother. Gohan was always really sensitive to the subject. But Videl asked me, and I felt I should answer.
"Twenty." I said and instantly regretted it. No one needed to be reminded that Pan would have been that old a few days ago. I wished I knew where she was. They never came back. My brother, one of my best friends, and Goku-san. They went out into space to save Earth, and they never came back. It had taken a few years for the facts to finally settle into everyone's hearts. They would never come back. Earth hadn't been destroyed, but they weren't coming back. "Twenty," I repeated the number again before getting up and leaving the Son household.
"I'm sorry," I sobbed to the shadow behind me. "I shouldn't have brought it up."
Goten had followed me out and took my wrist. "You don't have to be sorry," He pulled me into a big hug and took both of my hands in his. "No matter what you say, it won't be any different." He pointed back to the house. "Gohan is never going to get over it. The loss of his father, his daughter. That's not something you can just get over."
"I know that." I sobbed out between breaths. His warm breath on my neck soothed my nerves and stopped the tears from falling. "I know. It's just that sometimes I have to just reassure myself that you're still with me. That you didn't go off with Trunks and die. I wake up sometimes and start crying, thinking you've left me."
He pulled me closer, kissed me lightly, and looked me in the eyes. "I will never leave you."

********

I woke up at around three in the morning. The wind was blowing in from the open window, and I went to close it. I looked back at my wife, still in our bed, shivering slightly. The window slid shut, and I went back to our bed. I shook her arm slightly, and her beautifully blue eyes opened and found mine. "Dreamin' of me, Bra?" I teased and she smiled.
"Of course," she whispered and started running her fingers through my hair.
"Are you coming with me to see my mother today?" I asked as sleep started to pull me away from her.
"Hmm..." her voice was teasing and sincere at the same time. "Let's see. Constant questions about expecting grandkids, trying to get me to cook with her and Videl, more talk about grandchildren." She grinned and fingered her wedding band. "I wouldn't miss it."
I smiled, but my eyes grew wider as I felt the approach of an average-powered ki. Bra seemed to sense it somehow, and climbed out of the bed. "I'll go see who it is." I reached for her wrist, but she wriggled out of my grasp and slipped into her bathrobe.
"Wait," I said and followed her down the stairs.

********

*No. No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no,* I thought over and over again as I recognized both kis. There's a logical reason. There has to be. Both of them grew closer and I heard incoherent noises from behind the door. This was Capsule Corp. He shouldn't have been there. I looked back and forth between my two traveling companions. They felt it, too.
The door swung open. My mouth dropped. There she was: my sister in all her glory. Extremely short bathrobe draped over her shoulders and nothing else. Goten appeared behind her. A sweaty tanktop and boxers. The wedding bands glimmered in my sight. I swung my fist back and punched. He went flying across the floor.
*No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no.*