The song is "It Can't Rain All the Time." By Jane Siberry it is on the original Crow soundtrack.
Song lyrics are in Italics and * . . .*
Thanks to Mia Skywalker and Ane S. Thesia for betaing.
by Lady Lark
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Chapter 2: Flying Apart
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*Do you have faith
in what we believe?
The truest test is when we cannot,
when we cannot see.*
Trunks held Marron loosely in his arms. They were snuggled up on the couch in her family room watching television together. The television was tuned to an old black and white movie about two rich brothers who fall for the chauffeur's daughter. Well, Marron was watching the movie, Trunks was watching her. Trunks could watch her for hours. Her elfin face was extremely expressive. At certain points during the film, she would grin like a gamin or scowl viciously. Finally her face settled into a huge grin with crystalline tears streaming down her cheeks.
"Why are you crying?" Trunks asked confused. There looked like there was nothing to cry over on screen. The young woman was kissing the older brother passionately.
"Because the story is so sweet and I'm happy that Linus finally woke up and realized that she was for him. Besides don't you know that women cry when they're happy?" Marron snuffled with a smile.
"You are a nut, love."
"I know. But that's why you love me," she shot back with a grin. "Well the movie's over, did you want anything from the kitchen. I'm gonna go get some munchies."
"Whatever you're having is fine with me," Trunks replied stretching out on the couch and picking up the remote.
Marron leaned over and kissed him lightly, "Be right back."
Trunks flipped through the stations idly. There wasn't very much on this late at night and he didn't feel like watching paid programming. He finally settled on ZDTV, which had on old sitcom reruns.
The phone rang. Trunks was a little startled since it was after midnight but figured that it was either Marron's parents or a wrong number. He heard Marron pick up the phone in the kitchen and her muffled voice saying something like. "I'll get them."
Marron walked back into the family room slowly carrying the portable phone with her. "Trunks, it's Goten," she said softly, handing him the phone.
Trunks looked at her wildly. He knew what this call was about. He just didn't want to have to face it. It was like so long as he didn't hear the words, the truth wouldn't be real.
"Trunks, honey, I'll be right here. Just take the phone," she soothed in a low tone.
Trunks took the headset numbly and put it up to his ear. "Yes."
"Trunks, you need to come home," his brother-in-law's voice came over to him, but Trunks couldn't bring himself to respond. His heart was numb and he couldn't think. Goten continued as if he hadn't noticed the silence emanating from his best friend, "It's your Mom. I'm sorry Trunks. She . . . she's gone," Goten paused waiting for a response but all he got was silence so he continued. "Trunks, your family needs you right now."
Those words roused Trunks from his grief-stricken stupor into anger. "You don't need me! We need her! She was the glue that held us together! And now she's gone. . ." Trunks voice caught and he continued in a toneless voice, "Mom's gone. I can't believe it. It's too soon. It's too soon to say goodbye. What are we going to do without her?" Trunks asked rhetorically. Marron moved over to where Trunks was sitting on the couch and put her arms around him to try to comfort him. His body was shaking in grief and rage. Tears were streaming down his pale cheeks and his lower lip was quivering.
"I don't know, Bro. Go on, I guess. But you need to come home and be here with your family," Goten answered.
"I don't know if I can face Father right now. He won't understand me and my grief."
"You might be surprised."
Trunks snorted at this.
"In any case, Bra needs you."
"Bra doesn't need me, she has you now. No one needs me in that house," Trunks said softly, dejectedly.
"Shut up, Trunks. You're a part of this family and right now that family needs you. So get your ass over here or I'll hand it to ya later," Goten said sharply. He was sick of Trunks' whining.
Trunks looked hurt and pulled the phone away from his ear. Marron looked at him and gently removed the headset from his hand and put it against her ear.
"Goten . . ."
"What, Marron?" Goten asked tiredly. He had to make more phone calls and he wasn't relishing the task.
"You want him to go home, right?"
"That's what I've been telling him."
"I'll make sure he gets there."
Goten sighed. "I've got more calls to make, Marron. I'm counting on you to get him here. Goodbye."
"Yeah, goodbye," she said as she hit the 'off' button on the phone.
She looked at her boyfriend and sighed. He was a wreck. Trunks had pulled his legs up to his chest and was hugging them with his arms. There were tears flowing down his cheeks and he was moaning softly while rocking back and forth.
"Trunks, love, we've got to get you home."
Trunks shook his head mutely.
"Trunks, you have to face this. Running away isn't going to do you any good. I'll be here. I love you, Trunks," she said softly kneeling in front of him. Her right hand went up to his face and began wiping away his tears.
Trunks looked up at her. His eyes were wide but there was life in them.
"Did I just hear you say what I thought I heard you say?" he asked hopefully.
Marron grinned at him and nodded a bit shyly.
"Thank you, Marron."
Marron wiped away a few more tears from his face before she spoke. "Trunks, we need to go. You need to be with your family now and I'll be right there with you."
Trunks nodded and then smiled ruefully looking down at his hands. "I think you had better drive, love. I don't think I could handle it right now."
Marron looked at his hands, which were shaking violently, and nodded. "I was planning on it. You can always fly back here and pick up your car whenever you're ready."
"Yeah I can do that," he said softly.
Marron led Trunks out to her aircar and flew towards Capsule Corps. The trip was conducted mostly in silence. Marron talked a bit but Trunks wasn't up for much in the way of conversation. He was focused inward. He knew he was on the verge of flying apart and the only way he knew to control the pain was to bottle it up. But the pain was too new, too raw, that he could not ignore it. So he was forced to deal with it, and he didn't have any coping mechanisms available at the moment.
They arrived at Trunks' house a little while later. Marron held his hand as they walked into the house. Somehow her presence made him feel better.
A light was on in the kitchen and Trunks could hear Goten's voice. It sounded like he was on the phone with one of Z Fighters but Trunks couldn't quite make out the words. Marron led him towards the open doorway of the kitchen and Trunks could make out the remnants of the conversation.
"Yeah" pause "I know" pause "I'll tell you when I know, okay" a longer pause and then Goten said, "Can you do me a favor, Mom? Can you call Yamcha and Master Roshi? I got a hold of Krillan and Gohan. And I called Bulma's doctors. I still have to call Capsule Corps Headquarters and let them know. But I think I'll do that in the morning." He paused again waiting for Chi-chi's response. "Thanks Mom. Dr. Yamamoto is coming over. He'll fill out the death certificate. I don't think the family could handle a stranger poking her anymore." He paused again as Chi-chi said something. "Mom, I have to go. Bra needs me and the kids need me. I'll call you tomorrow, okay."
Goten hung up the phone and turned around.
"Good you made it. Bra and Vegeta are upstairs. The doctor should be here soon."
Marron nodded and led Trunks upstairs with Goten bringing up the rear.
A single small lamp next to the couch illuminated the master bedroom. Bra knelt next to the bassinet containing her children. She was humming a lullaby under her breath. Trunks didn't see his father in the poorly lit room, but he felt the Saiyajin Prince's ki.
Bra looked up at her brother and gave him a sad smile. Her face was streaked with tears but she looked like she was holding together. She stood up slowly and walked over to her brother.
She gave him a fierce hug before she pulled away and started speaking.
"We were waiting for you, Trunks. We have to talk about what we are going to do," she stated quietly.
Trunks ignored his sister and turned to look at the body of the woman lying on the bed, his mind trying to process that his mother was really dead. "I can't believe she's gone," he murmured brokenly. "I thought I was prepared for this. But I'm not."
"No one is ever prepared, Trunks," Goten spoke from where he stood by the door. "No one. It doesn't matter how much you prepare for it; it is never easy to lose some one you love. But that's the way life works. You have to deal with what it gives you and move on."
Trunks turned slowly to gape incredulously at his best friend. His mouth worked slowly but no sound managed to escape. His blue eyes darkened and narrowed slightly. Taking a deep breath, he managed to find his voice. "What would you know about losing someone? It's not like your father counts."
Goten's nostrils flared. "What do you mean he doesn't count?" he asked in a low tone.
Advancing on the young man before him, he answered harshly. "He wasn't even alive when you were born. And then when he came back, he was only around for ten years before he ran off to train Uub as if he didn't have a care in the world. How often did you really see him even before that? I swear that you spent more time here than with him. Kami, Gohan or my father was more a father to you than your father was. How can you lose something if you never had it in the first place?" Trunks said derisively. He was hurting and lashing out and he knew it, but somehow he couldn't keep the hateful things inside.
His best friend's face spasmed and he turned away as silence descended. Bra glared at her brother then walked over to her husband. She gently touched his face, crooning softly at Goten. "Shhhhh. I'm certain he didn't mean it." Without missing a beat, she fixed a look at Trunks. "Did he?"
He locked eyes with Bra, battling silently with her. Bra's jaw tightened, her eyes promising murder if Trunks didn't apologize. But Trunks didn't. How could Goten understand what it was like to lose a parent? He hadn't been as close to Goku as Trunks had been to Bulma. Trunks had relied on his mother to always be there and to be his rock. It felt like the ground had been pulled out from under him. He turned away from his sister and brother-in-law and ended up meeting the obsidian eyes of his father.
Vegeta was regarding his son with an enigmatic expression on his face. Trunks glared at him defiantly, daring him to say something, but the Saiyajin Prince remained silent. Taken aback by his father's tolerance, Trunks attempted to decipher Vegeta's countenance. What he saw there shocked him even more. His father's eyes held deep sorrow and understanding. Vegeta understood what his son was feeling, because he too had lost the foundation of his world.
Seeing his father's look of compassion broke through Trunks' anger and defiance and he felt ashamed of the things he had said. Walking over to the couch, he sank into it wearily. "Goten, I-" he started, then stopped uncertain what to say. He looked over at Marron and then back at his father before trying again. "Goten, I shouldn't have said what I did. I didn't mean it. You had it tougher than either Bra or I. I just can't deal. Not right now. Life took my mommy away, and I wasn't ready. So I am a little angry at life at the moment." He paused and looked up at his best friend's back. "I'm sorry, Goten."
The room was plunged into silence once more as all eyes regarded Goten. The object of their scrutiny sighed and turned to face the man on the couch. Trunks noted the red eyes of his friend with a pang of guilt. "I'm really sorry," he repeated softly.
"I know," Goten stated simply. "It doesn't mean that it hurts any less. I know you're sorry and that you really didn't mean it. But it really hurt losing my dad. I always knew that he was likely to die in some heroic battle or run off to see something shiny at the other end of the universe. But it didn't make the pain of losing him that last time any less. He was still my dad and I loved him."
"I'm sorry."
Goten nodded. "It's ok. I just get to beat you up later."
Trunks smiled. Like his father, Goten had a big heart.
Bra gave her brother one final glare before switching gears. "The doctor will be here soon as will the rest of mom's friends. I suggest we go downstairs to meet them. But we need to start thinking about what we want to do."
~*~
Author's Notes:
Sorry this was a little late. No excuses or reasons really, other than I completley forgot the date. It happens at times and I swear my blond roots are showing then (And yes I am a natural blond :-P) My life is becoming uber-stressful and busy. I graduate in 6 weeks and I move to Florida right after that (I live in Michigan). I have also just finished plotting out another story -- Like I don't have enough unfinished works on my plate. It is a Vegeta based story (as most of mine are) but it is going to take place in the Future Timeline. It should be interesting.
And I will give my readers little Kudo Points if they can figure out the movie that Trunks and Marron were watching in this scene. It is one of my favorites. ^_^
Now in the spirit of Selenity Jade -- My responses to my Reviews
Mademoiselle - You're welcome! Does this chapter help fill your
angst quotient?
Leah Beth - Thank you!
Papa Bear - I hope this is as good as WWTLF too.
I look forward to hearing from my readers. Until Next Month!
Ja Ne!