Disclaimer: I don't own DBZ or DBGT.

Chapter 4

"No." She said. "No, no."

"Aw, come on mom." Trunks pleaded.

"No sir, you are not going." She said. "It's bad enough that Gohan nearly gets his head blown off, now you want to go join in the fun."

"It's hardly fun." Gohan interjected, snickering just a little.

"That's enough sarcasm from you." Bulma snapped at him, though he was a good head and shoulders taller than her.

"He's not going, he's too young." Bulma said, hands on her hips.

"But he's strong, and it's not like I'm going to take him straight up to the androids and say 'here, go to it'." Gohan said, still trying to be pleasantly coercive.

"Stop talking about me like I'm not standing right here!" Trunks barked at them both. "I want to go, I'm the right age. Gohan was even younger when he first started fighting them."

Bulma's anger turned to her son this time. "He was a Super Saiyan, and he had no choice. And if ChiChi could have, she would've stopped him."

"But I'm old enough, I'm stronger than anyone else around…except Gohan."

"You're only twelve! Maybe when you're older, and hopefully by then at least one of them will be gone." Bulma said, looking to Gohan. "I mean it, he's not going."

Gohan just nodded, sighed and walked out the door. That left Bulma and Trunks alone together. Trunks huffed and crossed his arms defiantly.

"I hate this! I'm old enough and strong enough, I should be able to go!" Trunks yelled.

"Please Trunks, just think of me for a minute here. I've lost everyone I've ever cared about in my life. I can't lose you too."

She grabbed him up and planted a kiss on his forehead quickly, and though she knew Trunks could have pushed her away easily enough, he never did.

"You might hate me now, but you'll see later why I'm so protective." She said, putting her hand on his cheek.

"I don't hate you." Trunks said, shirking her off. "But I don't like you either." Then he turned to leave the room.

"Yeah, well," Bulma said, before he was gone. "You're not one of my favorites right now either, son."

"Just like your father." She whispered once Trunks was out of the room, and had to shake her head of any thoughts towards Vegeta. It was just too frustrating.

I don't know how much help you would be. She thought. But I wish you were here for him.

"Trunks, I can't let you go." Gohan said, taking Trunks by his shoulders and literally pushing him away.

"But mom doesn't even know I'm here." He said. "We used to train behind her back, what's the difference with this?"

Gohan scowled down at Trunks just a little, after the young man had turned back around to face him.

"That was different in several ways." Gohan said sternly. "I wouldn't have done it if I had known you would give me trouble now."

"I'm not giving you trouble." Trunks countered, looked somewhat betrayed. "You argued with mom about this too…you were on my side earlier."

"And I'm on your side now, but I can't just go against your mom like this. She'd never trust me again if I willingly let you come with me." Gohan put his hand on Trunks' shoulder. "She has a good reason to not want you to go. I wouldn't have pushed the issue if you weren't so gung-ho about it yourself."

"Why not?" Trunks asked. "I'm strong enough, and old enough."

"But your still a kid, Trunks. You need to stay a kid for as long as you can. Trust me…growing up isn't all it's cracked up to be."

Trunks crossed his arms fiercely. "I don't like it. Not at all."

Gohan snickered just a little. "Yeah, nobody ever does Trunks."

Then Gohan powered up and took off into the distance, leaving Trunks at the entrance to the Compound. Trunks kicked away some debris, mostly out of frustration, then sat down on a large pillar that had, at some point in the past, been part of the wall of the building. Not long after Gohan had left, Trunks felt the ki of his mother coming toward him. It wasn't often she ventured outdoors anymore, so he knew she must be looking for him.

When she came into view he could tell she was a mix between anger and fear, but then she saw him sitting there and her face changed completely to relief.

He had to admit, his mom certainly cared about him.

"I thought…" She started, but Trunks stood up and walked over to her before she could finish the sentence.

When he reached her he put his arms around her tightly, his head reaching to her shoulders where he leaned against her right shoulder blade. Her arms instinctively went around his neck and, suddenly, she began to shake.

"Mom?" Trunks asked, but she didn't say anything.

He pulled back to look at her and to his surprise, she was crying. Seriously crying, not like the few times he'd seen her shed a tear or two…but she was really sobbing this time. She let go of Trunks and put her hands over her face, slumping over slightly with the force of her sadness. Trunks, bewildered, grabbed her up after just a few seconds and tried to calm her down.

"It's okay, mom." He said, holding her as best her could. "I'm here…I didn't mean to…I'm sorry."

He felt rather stupid, he couldn't even put his words together and form a complete sentence. He really wasn't use to things like this, his mother had never just broken down like this before.

Finally, after a few minutes, she was calmer. She wrapped her arms around Trunks hard, and then put her hands on either side of his face. When she started to speak, her breath kept hitching from her crying spell, so he had to listen carefully.

"The only thing…I could think…was that…you had went to…fight the Androids." She said.

"Mom, I didn't know it would make you this…upset." Trunks said, trying to sound as nice as he could. "Besides, Gohan wouldn't let me go without your permission."

Bulma began shaking her head in the middle of his sentence. "No, it wasn't just that."

She inhaled deeply and smiled shakily at him. "I was thinking that you had gone off the fight those monsters, that you wouldn't ever come back…just like all the others."

Trunks sighed and opened his mouth to say something, but she shook her head again. "And the one thing that frightened me most was that if you didn't come back, then the last thing I ever said to you was that I didn't like you…and that's not true. You know that don't you? You know I'm crazy about you, don't you?"

Trunks nodded. "Yeah, I know. We were just mad."

Bulma must frowned. "That's no excuse. You can tell me you don't like me all you want, you're the teenager and I'm the parent, that's just how it is."

She kissed Trunks on the forehead and put her both hands on either side of his face again. "But I like you, and I love you. And don't you think any amount of fighting or arguing is going to change that."

Trunks swallowed hard, his mom's tears and sentimental talking was starting to get to him and his eyesight became a little blurry.

"It's okay." He said, not trusting his voice enough to say much more. He looked down and tried to will the unnecessary tears to go away. He wasn't the one upset, so why was he crying now?

Catching on a little to her son's dilemma, she turned and pretended she had not seen his watery eyes or heard his voice crack just a little. She took his hand and started leading him into the Compound. By the time they reached their rooms Trunks had recovered and Bulma was calm and collected.

"I'll make a deal with you." Bulma said.

"Okay." Trunks answered.

"Wait just a little while longer before you go off and try to beat the Androids. You can train with Gohan until then, I don't mind. But I want you to be a Super Saiyan before you do, you'll have a better chance then."

"I don't know how long it'll take me to become one though. Gohan says it just…happens."

"Then, be patient until it happens. That's my deal. You turn Super Saiyan, you have my permission to go fight the Androids."

Trunks nodded and smirked as his mother held out her hand, then they shook on the promise. He figured it was the best thing he was going to get out of her, so he didn't try his luck any further. Besides, she might start crying again and Trunks simply could not handle his mother in hysterics twice in one day.

So, he went to out on the balcony and looked into the familiar view of the ruined city, and farther into the valley that surrounded it. Somewhere, Gohan was getting ready to fight those Androids. Trunks imagined that if he was worried over Gohan when he left, just how much more anxious would his mother be waiting on him to come home safely.

Hurry back Gohan. Trunks thought. The sooner I become a Super Saiyan, the sooner I can help you out there.

Then he went back inside the house, ate supper with his mother, and went to bed. He wondered, just sometimes, if the people of the past would believe that the future would have turned out like this. If they had ever imagined it could be this bad. Though, Trunks' life could have turned much, much worse if not for his mother and Gohan.

Before he went to sleep he imagined what his father looked like. He imaged what his father would say to him if he were here, what he would smell like and what clothes he would wear. Would he help train his son? Would he talk with him, like Gohan did?

Trunks rolled over and leaned hard into his pillow, closing his eyes tight to fight away more tears that were threatening to appear. It was bad enough he had nearly cried in front of his mother…he never cried more than once in a day, and rarely cried at that. What was wrong with him today?

He shook his head and tried to go to sleep, but one thought continued to bug him. It was the same thought that bugged him several nights a week and, more often than not, was in the back of his mind throughout each day.

If he knew nothing else about the man named Vegeta, he wished he knew just what he had looked like. At least then, when his mom and Gohan said "Just look in the mirror, you'll see him", he'd know what they meant.

He couldn't see anyone but himself when he looked in the mirror…and that wasn't nearly enough.