Why yes the title is taken from an actual DBZ episode title I am not original.
I'm not really sure whether there are any potential triggers/uncomfortable content in this chapter, but just in case if for whatever reason you can't read it please feel free to contact me either here or on Tumblr (agirlnameded, eddrawsandwrites, or westcitypubliclibrary) and I can give you a brief overview/summary of events. This should be the last of the really serious stuff for at least a little while and soon we can get back to goofy shipping shenanigans like usual.

Also, westcitypubliclibrary on Tumblr has some cool bonus stuff - including something I'm quite excited to post within the next couple of days, so check it out maybe!

Thank you for reading; I hope you enjoy it! I'm always open to feedback if you have any.

Summary: Cell is missing. So is Lapis.

Jaco walked into Bulma's office without knocking. "Problem."

Bulma sat back in her chair and grimaced. Nothing had been going right all morning - Lazurite was supposed to be guarding the twins until the Cell situation was dealt with, but a busted sink in the family washroom had taken priority. A patron had started making a scene at the Children and Youth Services desk over gay penguins in a children's picture book and Piccolo had lashed out back at him, leaving Bulma to deal with the aftermath. Tien found that a very expensive book on quantum theory had been defaced with "research notes" and was trying to get ahold of the person who'd had it last to get them to pay their hefty fine. "What now?" she asked. "And can it wait five minutes?"

"Can't wait. Know how we're supposed to have that meeting with Cell this afternoon?"

Her face fell. "Oh god."

"Yeah." Jaco frowned and leaned on the doorframe. "He's gone AWOL."

She reached for her desk phone. "When was the last time anyone heard from him?"

"I put out an all-call about half an hour ago when I realised he wasn't in his office." Cell had been confined to "office arrest," as Jaco called it, ever since Lapis and Lazuli came forward two days before. Bulma had "politely" requested he spend more of his time in his office so he could be more easily reached if there was a problem, then insisted on it when he refused. She hadn't told him in so many words that he was in deep shit, but Cell wasn't stupid - she was sure he'd figured it out. "Don't know how long he's been out."

Bulma swore. "Get Lazurite on the walkie and get him to IT immediately if he's not already there. I'm calling Lazuli to make sure she and Lapis are okay."

"On it." Jaco scrambled back to his desk as Bulma dialled extension 18.

As usual, Lazuli picked up right away. "IT department, Lazuli speaking."

"Is Lapis there with you?"

"Bulma, if you wanted to know that you could've just called his extension."

"Lazuli, is he there or not?"

She must have heard the annoyance and desperation in her voice, because she dropped his teasing tone immediately. "No, he just went on his break. He should be in the staff room, or flirting with patrons at Circ. Why?"

"What about Lazurite? Is he there?"

"No, he - oh, there he is, just came in." Jaco stuck his head into her office and gave her a thumbs up. She returned it. "Bulma, what's going on?" Lazuli sounded nervous.

"Honestly? I'm not sure. We haven't seen Cell in about half an hour and he knows we're supposed to have a chat this afternoon - maybe I'm being paranoid, but best to take precautions. Stay in IT, and tell Lazurite he needs to stay there too."

"What about Lapis?"

"We'll take care of him." God, she sounded way more confident about that than she felt. "If anything happens, call me or Jaco immediately." She hung up and turned her desk chair to face the door. "Jaco, keep your walkie with you at all times. Go do another all-call for Cell to either come to my office or call me, then call Circulation to see if Lapis is around there. I'm calling the staff room."

"Right." Jaco disappeared again, walkie-talkie bouncing at his hip.

The staff room extension rang a worrying four times before Krillin answered. "Hello?"

"Krillin, is Lapis there?"

"No. Should he be?"

Bulma swore. "According to Lazuli, he just went on break. Any idea where else he might be?"

"Circulation? Lazuli says he thinks it's a good place to pick up girls."

Jaco's voice rang through the overhead speakers. "Cell, please call extension 42 or come to the third floor office immediately, that's Cell, extension 42 or the third floor office. Thank you."

"Oh god." Krillin's voice wavered. He'd always been good at putting two and two together. "You don't think - "

"I don't think anything at this point. But I'm not ruling anything out. Do me a favour-go find Lapis. You can have the rest of your break afterwards, once we know where he is."

"Okay." Krillin was clearly trying not to panic.

"Krillin. He's fine. He probably just went to the Ox Cafe or something." Lapis never went to the cafe next door. But it seemed to make Krillin feel better, because he managed another shaky "okay" before hanging up. "Jaco," she called, "call Tien and Piccolo and tell them to go looking for Cell. I'd go looking myself, but I can't walk very fast." She rubbed her stomach and flinched when the baby kicked. "Top priority right now is finding that son of a - "

Jaco peeped into her office. "Lapis isn't at Circulation. Also Cell's back."

"Fucking shit." She struggled to her feet and stomped out to the outer office. Cell was leaning casually on Jaco's desk, looking for all the world like he hadn't disobeyed her direct order. "Where the hell were you?"

He looked at her mildly. "I was thirsty."

"Thirsty." She folded her arms. "There's a staff room, like, ten feet from your office. With a sink. And a coffeemaker. And a fridge." She turned to Jaco. "Let Lazuli and Krillin know we've found Cell, but Lapis is still out."

"Lapis is missing?" To his credit, Cell looked very convincingly surprised and concerned. "Where could he possibly have gone?"

"Not your problem, Cell; he's still covered by his break time. You, on the other hand, were missing for over half an hour. And it's too early for you to take lunch." She pressed her thumb and index finger together. "I was this close to calling security on you."

"We don't have security."

"And by security I mean my husband, Nappa, and Lazurite." She made a mental note to hire some actual security guards at some point. "Where's Lapis, Cell?"

"I have no - "

"Don't give me that. I know you know where he is."

"No, I don't." He was trying, she knew he was, but he didn't look innocent at all.

"Bullshit. Where is he."

"We can do this all day," Cell said, folding his arms, "or you can admit you're wrong and actually go about finding him if it's that big a concern. He's probably just at the Ox Cafe."

"Just got off the phone with Chi-Chi," Jaco said, putting the phone down. "She said she and Maza haven't seen him today."

Bulma folded her arms back at Cell. "Well. Looks like that's not an option."

Was it her, or did his eye twitch? "I told you, I don't know where he is. Now if you'll excuse me, I have places to be, so - "

And that was it; Bulma was through dealing with this. "Listen, asshole, we know you've been harassing Lapis and Lazuli. You and Lapis going mysteriously AWOL at the same time is more than a little suspicious."

"I haven't been harassing them!"

"You've been stalking them through the library and bothering them in their department."

"Well, they never told me not to come talk to them. If they didn't want to talk to me they should've said something."

Shit. He had her there. "You invaded their personal space on several accounts."

"Did not."

"Cell, I know this is kind of a he-said-she-said situation, but at this point I think the twins are way more reliable than you." She glared up at him. "Is this going to be a problem now, Cell? Because you're halfway to being fired already, and if I have to call the cops I will."

"Halfway to - ! I haven't done anything - !"

"Stalking Lapis and Lazuli through the library. Invading staff's personal space. Threatening Piccolo when he had your nephews banned for assault." Bulma ticked each offense off on her fingers. "And now someone you're known to have a special interest in goes missing right after we realise we can't contact you. I'm going to ask you one more time, Cell: where. Is. Lapis."

The phone on Jaco's desk rang. Cell ignored it and drew himself up to his full height, which seemed taller than it had a few hours ago. "Listen, you," he started, "you can't just decide I've done anything when we don't even know if anything's happened! He's probably just making out with Lazurite in the boiler room or something!"

"Okay I'm gonna stop you right there." Bulma grimaced. She did not need the mental image of two of her employees making out. "If you - "

"Bulma?" Jaco peeked out from behind Cell, phone still in his hand.

"Not now, Jaco. If - "

"Bulma, this is important."

She shot him an exasperated look. "Now what?"

"Lapis is in Tech Serv."

Before Bulma could properly react, Cell's eyes widened to double their normal size and he whirled to look at Jaco. "What?"

"Yeah, I've got Vegeta on the line right now. He says that Lapis was locked in a broom closet." He squinted at the man who was rapidly becoming the former HR guy. "By Cell."

Cell's hands balled into fists and Bulma breathed a sigh of relief. "Good. Tell Vegeta I'll be down in a minute and call the police. I'm pretty sure stuffing someone into a broom closet counts as assault, wouldn't you say - "

Cell shoved past her and bolted out the door. Bulma managed to grab a wall-mounted shelf to stop her fall and swore. "Jaco, call the cops now."

But Jaco had vaulted the desk and was out the door after Cell already, and Bulma swore again, louder, and went to make the call herself.

"Dumbass."

Bulma patted Vegeta's arm. He stood behind her chair, arms around her shoulders, face in her hair. "Love you too, babe."

"When something like that happens you're supposed to call me."

"And I was going to. But then I got kind of distracted when Cell showed up."

"He shoved you. What if you'd actually fallen over? With the baby and everything - " She heard him swallow. "If I'd been here I could've at least done something. Like punch him in the face."

She laughed. "Well, I mean, you could've, but then I would've had to write you up or whatever. And it probably would've affected Cell's chances of actually getting arrested."

Vegeta started to say something else, but then Jaco wandered in and Vegeta's hands immediately left her. "Good news," Jaco said, one hand on his hip. "Just got off the phone with the police. Cell's in their custody - apparently they nabbed him back at his apartment. He refuses to talk without a lawyer present."

"Smart. How's Lapis?" Bulma asked.

Jaco shrugged. "Haven't heard from IT lately, but probably the same as he was an hour ago. Lazuli and Lazurite are down there with him, but I think the police have left."

Bulma pulled herself to her feet, Vegeta at her elbow. "I'm going down there to talk to him. He's going to need at least the rest of the day off."

"I can walk."

"I don't care."

Lapis squirmed in Lazurite's hold and folded his arms. "Put me down, you big lug. I'm fine."

"I'm sure you are." For someone who didn't show a lot of emotion, Lazurite sounded incredibly condescending. He continued walking down the street towards Lapis's apartment, holding Lapis under the back and knees like he was his bride. Honestly, after the morning Lapis had had, Lazurite being protective of him was nice, stabilizing, but like hell was he going to admit that out loud.

"I agreed to let you walk me back to my apartment, not carry." An elderly woman stared at them from across the street, and he gave her a wave. She turned up her nose and turned away. "Seriously. Laz. Put me down."

To his surprise, Lazurite complied. They were in front of Lapis's building, and Lapis sighed, knowing Lazurite had only put him down because he needed Lapis to get his keys. "Alright, big guy," he said, digging his keychain out of his pocket. He fumbled with the keys - work keys, keys to Lazuli's apartment for emergencies, black cat keychain Lazurite once bought him because "it reminded me of you" - and finally found the key to his building. "You win." The key turned in the lock and he opened the door, bowing Lazurite through it. "After you."

Lazurite raised an eyebrow at him, but went through anyway, Lapis on his heels. Lazurite had been to Lapis's so many times he knew the route to his apartment better than Lapis (and Lapis suddenly realised he'd never actually been to Lazurite's place, how weird was that?). They walked down the stairs and through the halls in silence, and Lapis's mind started working in overdrive again. He'd been attacked at work by a creep with a fascination for him and his sister. Honestly, there was a part of him that was glad Cell had only gotten him - at least Lazuli hadn't had to be subjected to anything. Not that anything had happened aside from being locked in a closet next to Tech Serv for twenty minutes and also having to listen to Cell's creepy laughter, but he had a sneaking suspicion that Cell had something particularly nasty planned once he had both of them.

"Lapis?" Lazurite was waiting in front of his door for Lapis to unlock it. "Are you sure you are alright?"

He waved his friend off. "Don't worry about me." He unlocked his apartment and strode in, trying to pretend he wasn't still shaken over the whole experience. "Basement sweet basement, am I right? Boy, it's good to be back. I think I forgot to water the cactus this morning."

"Do you need anything else, Lapis?"

Lapis faltered in the middle of stretching his back. "Uh. No, I don't think so." Aside from some constant reassurance that it was over and everything was going to be alright, of course.

"Then do you want to be left alone?"

He turned to face Lazurite again. The giant of a man was still in the doorway, arms folded, face unreadable. But Lapis knew him too well - the tilt of his head, slight clench to his jaw, feet firmly planted - all of it pointed to Lazurite being stubbornly concerned.

And honestly, maybe Lazurite knew Lapis just as well as Lapis knew him, because everything about him screamed that he wasn't going anywhere whether or not Lapis wanted him to, because he knew just as well as Lapis did that if there was one thing Lapis didn't want right now, it was to be left alone.

So Lapis shrugged and scratched the bridge of his nose and pretended for both of their sakes that he didn't care either way. "Not really. Stay if you want. I taped more of that wildcat documentary, if you wanted to watch that."

Lapis regarded him silently for another moment or seven, then nodded and came into the apartment, closing the door behind him. "You stay there," he told Lapis, walking towards the tiny kitchen. "I will make you some tea."

"Laz, I'm fine."

Lazurite's messy mop of hair poked out of the kitchen. "You are not. I will make you tea, and we will sit together and do whatever you want, because that is what you need right now - a friend, someone to be with."

Lapis stuffed his hands in his pockets and looked away. "Well, when you're right, you're right," he mumbled gruffly. He was not shaking. He wasn't.

There were arms around his shoulders and hands rubbing his back. He wrapped his arms around Lazurite and buried his face in his chest. "It will be alright," Lazurite said gently. "You will be alright."