Goten jumped up to see Marron sitting straight up on the bed, staring straight ahead. He plopped down next to her and shook her. "What happened Marron?"
Slowly, she turned her head so it faced him and burst into tears. "Oh Dende! You're okay, Goten!" She fell into his open arms. "I can't face Trunks, I can't. I can't stay here and I can't go home."
"What was that about Trunks, babe?" He kissed her on the top of her head. "What did you dream about?"
Marron paused to catch her breath. "A dream? You mean it was only a dream? Of course; you're here, and I'm here, and Trunks isn't here." She clutched Goten tighter. "But I still can't go back. Not after what he did."
Goten rested his chin on her head. "What did he do Marron? What was your dream about?"
"We were getting married, and Trunks walked in, and he walked right up to the alter, and he… he…" she broke out in another fit of sobs.
"Shhh," Goten soothed. "What did he do to you Marron?"
She took a deep breath. "He killed you. But the worst part was that nobody noticed! Your brother, my parents, your parents. No one noticed. Except for me. It was Trunks' revenge. He wanted to get back at you for dating me. And your dead, and its all my fault."
"Marron, Marron. Calm down. I'm not dead. I'm still right here, and I don't plan on going anywhere soon. Now you need to go back to sleep, and stop worrying. The nightmare's over." Goten laid back down, taking Marron with him.
They both fell asleep after half an hour of worrying.
………………………………...
Marron sat against the windowed wall the morning after her nightmare, staring out at the view, lost in thought. She had no idea Goten was watching her from the kitchen doorway.
She does not deserve this, not in any way. She is the most important thing in my life right now, and there's nothing I can do to help her. When I get home next June, I'm never going to let her feel this scared again, he thought.
The phone rang, snapping him out of his thoughts. "Marron, could you get that for me, please babe?"
Marron nodded and reached over to grab the phone. "Hello?" she answered with shakiness in her voice.
"Marron! Hey babe, how's it going?"
She almost dropped the phone. "Hi Trunks. Things are great here, but Goten wants to talk to you, so I'll see you on Saturday. Bye." She thrust the phone in Goten's hands before running to the bedroom.
"Hey man, what's up?" Goten asked sadly.
"Well I was hoping to talk to Marron. Is she okay?"
Goten sighed. "She's not feeling too good; there's a bug going around here and she must have caught it."
Trunks paused. "Goten, I owe you an apology. I tried to date Marron, and I was wrong. I shouldn't have done that. I'm sorry."
Is he apologizing to me? "I'm sorry, too. I shouldn't have blown up at you. I know how much you like Marron and I understand how much it must hurt you to see us together. So I'll tell Marron to call you later then?"
"Sure 'Ten. Thanks a lot, and I'll see you hopefully soon," Trunks said. "Bye."
"Bye Trunks." Goten hung up the phone and ran to the bedroom.
Marron was sitting on the edge of the bed with her back toward the door. "I couldn't do it 'Ten. Its too hard to talk to him. I wish I didn't have to go home on Saturday."
Goten sat down next to her. "You know you can stay here. You know you don't have to go home."
"I know. But I couldn't do that to my parents, and I have to be there for your parents. I can't stay here forever. Paradise never stays perfect for too long," she added bitterly.
"Marron we went over this. I can't come home. I'm trying to make this work out and you should too," he said. "Now I think you need some sleep. You only got a few hours last night, didn't you? So you just lay down here, and get some sleep."
She looked up at him meekly. "Will you stay here? And promise you won't leave?"
He smiled. "I promise." He laid down next to her and watched her fall asleep.
The phone range twenty minutes later. "Hello?" Goten whispered.
"Why are we whispering?" 18 whispered back.
Goten chuckled softly. "Marron's sleeping. She had a nightmare last night, and didn't get enough sleep, so she went to bed."
"Is she okay? She never usually has nightmares like that. In fact, I think the last time she had a nightmare was when she was twelve," 18 noted, with her motherly voice.
"Its about Trunks. She dreamt he killed me, and now she's afraid to go home. And of course, Trunks had to call, so she got kind of freaked out by that," he explained.
18 sighed. "That boy needs to learn how to move on. He can't be stuck on Marron forever."
"That's why I can't come home. I can't hurt Trunks like that. It'd be the end of our friendship," he said.
She laughed. "Too much of Goku in you, that's your problem. You're always putting other people before yourself. You should've been like your mother. That'd be better for both you and Marron," she joked. "Do me a favor Goten."
"What's that?"
"Try not to break my little girl's heart. She's a good kid, and you hurt her, I'll hurt you."
Goten laughed. "18, I wouldn't hurt Marron if the world depended on it."
Marron stirred next to him, and her eyes fluttered open. She smiled. "Who's on the phone, 'Ten?" she asked.
"Looks like our sleeping beauty is awake now. Here talk to her," he handed Marron the phone.
"Hello?… Oh, hi Mom… yeah… Saturday… I think four… Okay, tell Daddy I said I miss him and I love him… Okay, bye Mom." She gave the phone to Goten and he hung it up.
He kissed her on the head. "That was fast. You miss your daddy?"
She smacked him on the arm. "Yes, I do. But I think the more important question is what did you talk to my mom about?"
"We discussed how your being haunted by our favorite Prez. And the nightmare you had last night. And how I'm too much like my father for my own good. You know, just little conversation," he said.
She snuggled up against him and yawned. "That's nice. I'm going back to sleep now. Good night."
"Okay, babe."
Marron didn't here him say 'I love you' because she had already fallen asleep.
*There!!!! This is the ninth time I typed this thing. I'm serious. My computer lost it a million times. That does in fact explain why it took so long. (Aside from working on my WC contest entry...)
