Chapter 10 - Tears At Last

"He'll be fine! Now stand back so I can get him out of this damned thing!"
"I'll do as I please, woman!"

Bulma sighed and shook her head. It was usually the other way around with Vegeta - he let her worry about their son. This was different, though. They both knew where Trunks had gotten his wounds, and it was painful for Vegeta to see Trunks in such a state.

Vegeta looked at his son. He seemed so frail and helpless, and yet, he had saved them all. He had never been so proud of Trunks, and so ashamed of himself. He remembered everything - they all did.

By now the life-giving fluid had been emptied from the regeneration chamber, and the robots were lifting Trunks' thin form onto a bed. Vegeta still did not believe he would be fine.

Suddenly Vegeta heard small footsteps padding down the hallway; someone must have told Pan that Trunks was coming out of the chamber today. She careened into the room, heading straight for the bed, but Vegeta hooked his arm around her waist before she could get there.

"He-ey!" She protested, "I wanna talk to Trunks!"
"Hold on," he said, "He's not even awake yet. Besides, it'll take him a few minutes to get re-oriented." Vegeta smiled at Pan, enjoying her surprise at this guesture. He knew what had given Trunks his strength all that time - Pan was truly a wonder.

A few moments later Gohan and Videl came running into the room.

"Sorry about that, Vegeta. She snuck away from us," Gohan said apologetically.

"It's ok," Vegeta said, letting go of Pan's waist. Vegeta sighed as Piccolo, Goku, Goten and Chichi entered the room. It was starting to look like he would not be able to get near his son.

"So, Vegeta, when is Trunks supposed to wake up?" Goten said.

"Soon, hopefully." Vegeta said. Frowning, he noted the large circles under Goten's eyes. He had not been well the last few days - they'd had to make sure Goten was busy to keep him from thinking about the slave camps. They all had to keep busy.

"Well, it's a good thing Videl found Trunks when she did," Goku said, "Otherwise we might have lost him."

Videl blushed at this - she had been in the tower as a lower sentry, and was the first to stagger to her feet after the defeat of the Reavers. She found Trunks lying in a pool of his own blood, barely alive. It had taken all her stregnth to haul him to the tower's regeneration chamber.

"Well, if the Reaver's hadn't taken advantage of Bulma's brilliant mind," Videl said, "There would have been no healing chamber for me to dump him into."

Bulma sighed, yes, they definately used her mind, but at least SOMETHING good had come out of it.

"Ok, everybody," Bulma said, after a short pause, "Trunks is starting to come around, and I want everybody but Pan and Vegeta out of here, now!"

There were no protests as the majority of the group filed out. There would be plenty of time to see Trunks later.

"Mom?" Trunks' first word in over a week was barely more than a croak, but the three remaining in the infirmary heard him perfectly. Bulma was standing over him with tears in her eyes as Vegeta and Pan walked up to the bed.

"It's ok, Trunks, everything's fine now." Bulma said soothingly. Trunks blinked his eyes - where was he? This wasn't home - Capsule Corps had been destroyed...

Then he realized that they were still in the Reavers' tower, but somehow Bulma had managed to fix up the infirmary to feel like home. There were even curtains on the circular window portals.

"Mom, how - " Trunks stopped; there was Pan, staring at him over the edge of his bed, happy as ever.

"C'mere Panny," he said with a smile. Pan leaned over and embraced Trunks - he had never been happier to see someone in his life.

"I thought I'd killed you, Pan -" He said, choking back tears. It was the first time he had cried since childhood. Damn, that had been ages ago...

"I'm fine Trunks, really!" Pan said, surprised by his emotion, "You SAVED me...you saved all of us."

"Yes, son," Vegeta said, leaning over the bed, "You saved everyone - even this proud Saiyan prince." Trunks was shocked at the grief he saw in his father's eyes. It had been a cruel joke to have a father torture his son.

"Dad, listen," Trunks said quietly, "I don't blame you for anything that happened, and I don't want you to think that you failed because you couldn't beat those monsters. I don't really know how I did it..."

Vegeta sighed. Trunks had read his mind - he was blaming himself. It would take time to heal, and he would never truly get over what he had done to Trunks. He was just going to have to move on.

"I'm really proud of you son," Vegeta said honestly, "There was no better man to save us."

Trunks smiled, he could tell that he meant what he said. There was a long pause, as the four of them thought about everything that had happened. Each of them would have demons to fight as they walked the long road to recovery, but at least they had the chance to return to normal.

Pan was the one to finally break the silence.

"So, guys," she said cheerfully, "Do you like Trunks and me's new look? I don't know about the scars, personally, but I think I like being this skinny." She reached down and ran her hand along Trunks' ribs.

"Pan, stop that!" Trunks protested, "It tickles!" Pan laughed and sat down on the bed with a plop.

"Well, I don't care if you do like being skinny, young lady," Bulma said with a smile, "You'll still be on that IV drip every night until it's safe for you to eat real food."

Pan grimaced rubbed the spot on her wrist where the IV went.

Bulma sighed and touched Trunks' scarred face, causing him to flinch.

"Mom, don't..." he said quietly - he was ashamed of the scars. Apparently only he and Pan had them; the penalty for tearing off a Reaver in mid-possession.

"Those scars will never fade," Vegeta said, "But be proud of them - they're a token of your victory."

"And what about my hair?" Trunks said heatedly. Too much had changed - he was not even close to the same person he had been. The way he looked now would be a constant reminder of what had happened. He would eventually gain back the weight he had lost, but every time he looked in a mirror he would see the stress of their exile and the pain of the Reavers.

"I like your hair that way." Pan said, smiling, "It makes you look like an elf or something." Trunks grumbled. He hated it, but he would have to get used to it.

"I don't like it," Vegeta said.

Pan glared at Vegeta for his harsh words, and was about to say something about touchy subjects when Trunks burst out laughing. Pan looked at him quizzically.

"This is great!" Trunks said, wiping tears of joy from his eyes, "I really did miss your brutal honesty, dad. Hell, I missed everything - I missed mom's concern, Goten's adventures with women - " Trunks then looked Pan square in the eyes.

"And I missed your innocence, Pan. It never should have been taken the way it was - no child deserves what you had to go through."

She had tears in her eyes - Trunks touched her hand and continued.

"You should know, I never would have made it without you, Pan. I was on the brink of defeat so many times, and you pulled me back. I owe you everything."

"We all do," Bulma said. Pan opened and closed her mouth trying to say something to the people who had been her mentors all her life - people that were now treating her as an adult.

"Bulma....how old am I? I was seven when the Reavers came." Pan finally managed to say.

"It's been three years."

"Holy shit! I can't beleive it's been that long!"

"Pan! Where did you learn to talk like that?" Bulma glared accusingly at Trunks, who could not help but laugh. She then looked to her husband for help, but he was smiling too.

"You people are impossible!" Bulma cried, totally exasperated.

They all laughed - it was wonderful for all of them to enjoy time together. Even Vegeta allowed his emotions to come out. They spent an hour just enjoying one another's company. Eventually, Bulma had to leave to tend to the other wounded people they had found over the past week, and Vegeta allowed the others to come in and visit Trunks, but he and Pan never left his side.

For Trunks, it had been a fairly good day, but bittersweet as well - many lives had ended when he purged the Reavers. Some had just been too weak to withstand the enormous energy, and several others had killed themselves in their grief. The most disturbing news was that Goten had tried to kill himself earlier that week, before Trunks' survival was certain. Goku, battling his own depressive urges, had reasoned with Goten and talked him out of it.
Thankfully, as far as Trunks had been told, everyone he cared about was alive. Krillin, Marron, and Eighteen had suffered for three years in a high-security slave camp in a far away desert, but they had been able to identify Trunks' ki when the Reavers were destroyed. It had taken them six days to fly to the tower, gasping with fatigue when then arrived. They were all three still recuperating in their own infirmary room. Bulma promised Trunks that he could visit them in a couple of days, when everyone was feeling better.

Though the tower was a depressing place to be, it was the best place to heal everyone's wounds. Bulma and Chichi had worked hard to make the place more comfortable, but they both knew that Vegeta was itching to blast the whole place to pieces. They would let him, but only when everyone was out - he hated the place enough to do it that very moment, but Bulma had threatened to take away his food for a week if he did, among other things.

Trunks was starting to feel fatigue seeping into his body when Vegeta finally ordered everyone out of the room. Trunks waved good night to all of his friends, somewhat sad that he was too tired to spend the whole night with them. Pan was already curled up next to him, sound asleep. Vegeta shook his head and gently lifted the girl into his arms. Then, with a nod to his son, he left the room. Trunks smiled as he watched the door slide silently shut behind his father, then, with a sigh, he fell asleep, content for the first time in three years.

***