Chapter 8: "Plans"

"Good morning Trunks, did you sleep well last night?" Dawn greeted Trunks grinning, when he climbed down the stairs and stepped into the kitchen.

Faith could barely hold back her laughter, when she saw the half-Saiyajin. He was just wearing his black boxers and a tank top. His long hair was a pure mess - he hadn't tied it back yet - and his eyes were still full of sleep. Plus, he had a stupid grin on his face. "Morning," he said yawning, as he walked to the desk and poured black coffee into a mug. He didn't get much sleep in the last night, because he always had to think about Pan. Pan smiling, Pan laughing, Pan slaying, kissing Pan… Trunks had never been that happy before. But not just the lack of sleep was nagging at him, he was never someone who could get up early in the morning and be fresh and active. Well, he was like this since he had defeated the androids in his world.

"Hello! Earth to Trunks! Are you in there?" Dawn asked laughing.

"Huh?" Trunks was interrupted in his daydream. Still grinning he took a sip of his coffee that made him at once a bit more awake. He then turned around and faced the two girls. "Did you ask something?"

Now, the girls couldn't stop laughing, even if it was the same each morning, when Trunks was on patrol the night before. You could first speak with him when he had at least one sip of his coffee. "Dawn wanted to know, if you slept well last night… But I guess you did, according to the grin on your face."

"So, I guess you finally talked to Pan about your feelings for each other?" Dawn asked him still smiling. "Thought so," Dawn told him, when his grin grew even wider at the mention of Pan.

"And? How far did it go last night?" Faith now wanted to know.

Just at that moment Pan came through the door. "Not far. We kissed and then he brought me to bed," she said with a grin, matching Trunks'.

"Just kissing? Not more?" Faith asked, playing disappointed.

"No, not more." Pan walked up to Trunks and kissed him. "Morning."

"Good morning Panny." He kissed her back and put his arm around her shoulder.

"Awwwww! How cute! He called her Panny!" Dawn squealed in a mocking voice. Pan and Trunks just looked at each other and suddenly began to chase Dawn through the whole house, leaving a laughing Faith in the kitchen behind.

~*~

When Vegeta woke up the next morning at 8 o'clock he found the other side of the bed empty. It was Sunday and usally he and Bulma would snuggle a bit after both woke up, but since Pan disappeared she was always in her lab at that time. Vegeta grunted and got up. After he took a shower and got dressed, he walked down to the kitchen, silently hoping that Bulma would be there, making his breakfast. But as he got there, he was disappointed. No woman, no breakfast. Unnoticeable sighing, he followed the corridor to the lab, from where he could hear the quiet hum of the computers and machines.

And there she was. Sitting at her desk and racking her brains over many papers. Next to her was Gohan sitting in front of a monitor, where Vegeta saw hundreds of numbers passing by. He shook his head and entered the room, unnoticed by the two 'inhabitants' as you could call them in the last three month. He cleared his throat, trying to gain their attention, but didn't succeed. 'Okay, plan B.' "WOMAN!" he shouted, causing Bulma nearly to fall from her chair.

"VEGETA! WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING HERE? If this is about breakfast, you can make your own, or shouldn't you be training somewhere?" she asked him annoyed.

"I'm not here because of breakfast and I can train whenever and wherever I want. I'm here because of your constant presence in this lab. You should take a break or doing something else, like … building an interdimensional portal…" he told her.

"What? Why should I build that?"

That got Gohan's attention. "Vegeta, do you know something we don't know. Do you know where my daughter is?"

"No, I don't know where your stupid brat is," Vegeta said exasperated. Well that was not a lie, Goku just told him that Pan was alright, except of the amnesia-thing.

"And why do you think I should make an interdimensional portal?" Bulma wanted to know.

"Because," he began. He had thought of this answer almost the whole night, since he met Goku. "What if you find her? I'm sure you would want to bring her home as soon as possible, but you would still have to wait until that portal is finished, and I'm sure Kakarotto's brat wouldn't like that." Vegeta smirked, when he saw the thoughtful looks on both their faces. He knew that he had them there, where he wanted them to be.

Bulma looked Vegeta straight in his eyes. "Gohan, I think that he's right. It's better to have this portal finished before we find her." Gohan wanted to say something, but Bulma interrupted him. "You can continue the research and I will design that machine. Okay?" Gohan nodded unwillingly, after all it was his daughter who was somewhere lost in some strange dimension, without knowing how to get home, but he saw the point Vegeta had. "Fine." Bulma stood up and walked towards Vegeta. "Vegeta, can I talk to you, just for a minute?"

'Oh, oh. What does she want now?' "Okay," he said and he and his wife walked out of the lab and closed the door. Vegeta crossed his arms over his chest and leaned against the wall, while Bulma was pacing in front of him.

"Okay, Vegeta. What do you know?" Bulma asked him.

"What are you talking about woman?"

"Pan. I'm talking about Pan. You know something, I can see that. But what?" When Vegeta didn't answer her, she continued asking. "You know what has happened to her. Is she okay? Where is she?" Scowling, he turned around and walked away.

"VEGETA!" Bulma shouted after him, but he simply ignored her. "Vegeta, I hope you know what you're doing," she added whispering.

~*~

The same afternoon Giles had called the Scoobies to meet him at the Magic Box, because there was something important he had to talk to them about.

"… a-and that's why I think that Faith and Pan should attend the last year of High School to graduate, so that they could go to college and lead a … an almost normal life," he finished his 'small' speech which he had been holding for the last 30 minutes. In that time he named every possible reason why the two Slayers should go to High School. Said Slayers tried their best to listen to their Watcher, but not really that successful. Faith was gazing somewhere into space, trying to find something that was more interesting than Giles' speech and Pan flirted non-stop with Trunks through their newly discovered bond, while she was sitting on his lap. "So, what do you think?" Giles asked at the end.

"That was why you called everyone, and I mean everyone here?" Xander asked confused. "I mean, what do we have to do with it? We graduated, destroyed the Sunnydale High and some of us are now going to college."

"I-I just thought it might interest you that I want to send them back to school," Giles said embarrassed, cleaning his glasses and then turned to the girls. "Do you want to say something about that?" He placed the glasses back on his nose and noticed that neither Faith nor Pan were listening to him. "Pan? Faith?"

That got the attention of the two girls. "Yep?" they asked in unison.

"I wanted to know if you want to say something about it."

"About what?" Faith asked cluelessly.

"I…"

"He wanted to ask you if you want to say something against his plan of sending you two back to High School to graduate since the summer holidays will end today," Anya informed them. "That's the reason why he had to steal some Xander-time from me."

"Thank you Anya, that was exactly what I wanted to ask them. So?" he wanted to know, completely ignoring Anya's last comment.

"You what?" Pan asked disbelieving.

"You want to send us to High School? Come on Giles. We're the Slayers, the Chosen Ones, we don't need a High School diploma," Faith tried to convince him.

"Giles, Faith is right. Besides, what should we learn there? The anatomy of a vampire in biology class?" Pan asked sarcastically.

"What?" Giles asked confused, until he got the point. "Well, no. You will go to school and learn hard, that's my last word." 

"You sound exactly like my grandma," Pan mumbled instinctively under her breath.

"What did you just say?" Giles asked her.

"I--uhm, nothing…" she lied. 'Shit. What did I say? I don't remember…'

"Giles, was that all?" Trunks asked. "Because I promised Pan to take her out for ice cream today and later we wanted to go to the Bronze."

"Yes, okay… You can leave… But can I first talk to you in private, Trunks?"

"Sure…" Trunks gently pushed Pan down of his lap and followed Giles to the back into the training room. "Giles, I know… It's about Pan and me, isn't it?"

Giles took his glasses and began to clean them, like always when he was nervous. "To be honest Trunks, yes, it is. I would advise you to stay away from her." Trunks wanted to say something, but Giles continued. "I'm not sure anymore if she's on our side, after what happened yesterday. I also called Quentin Travers again this morning, and he still denies having some books we need, even though I know for sure that the Council must possess those books. I mean, what if there's something about Pan they try to hide? I did some research last night after you left and I found out, that there never was a Slayer who possessed the strength to destroy a whole planet, like you described her power. Just some demons could do that. That's why I think we should be careful around her."

"I'm sorry Giles, but if I stay away from her it would kill both of us," Trunks told the Watcher.

"Trunks, I'm sure that you really like her, yeah, maybe even love her. But you won't die if you keep a distance."

"You're right, I love her. But not just that. We formed a bond, a Saiyajin-bond. This is deeper than love, much deeper. We need each other to survive. And believe me, she is on our side. I know it. I feel it."

"Okay, Trunks, I believe you. But I still must see what the Council's up to. I have one question. If I'm right and Pan was sent by the Council, would you be able to stop her? I mean, are you stronger than her?" When Trunks nodded, Giles sighed with relief and just as Trunks was about to go, Giles stopped him. "By the way, Trunks. You have to show me this Super Saiyajin form some time. I want to see it."

"Sure!"

~*~

"I see she's training hard," Quentin Travers told Mr. Yasuo, when he entered the gym. Buffy was fighting against five masked men, in black fighting clothes. And it seemed as if she didn't have any problems with them. A punch here, a roundhouse kick there, and so she was superior to all of them. But the most important thing was, that her she was blindfolded. "When will she be ready?"

"I think in about three months, when she continues like this. Then not even the 'Flying Slayers' will be a match for her," Yasuo told the elder Watcher smiling. "I've heard you had again a phone call from Sunnydale?"

"Yes, it seems like Mr. Giles won't give up bugging us until we give him those books. But he can wait long for that."

~*~

The same night it was Faith's and Spike' turn to patrol. She had just finished the fifth graveyard and was now on the sixth, on the same graveyard Buffy was buried and Spike wanted to do the other half. Not far away from the previous Slayer's grave, she was fighting a few vampires, but most of them were just turned and didn't even know, who or what a Slayer was, until they met Faith. She smiled as she was fighting them. They were so pathetic, but good for a bit fun. After she had finished them off, she sat down, next to Buffy's gravestone.

"Hey B! Did you see that? Those pathetic vampires… I always hoped that you would gain more attention. I really hoped I would get a good fight here, but no… But I think the hardest fight will begin tomorrow. You ask why? I can tell ya. Giles wants to sent us, that means me and little Panny, back to school. Scary, huh? But I think that I should thank him… and the others… Going to school means much to me. I can finally start a new life, the Scoobies made it possible for me… You made it possible for me… You've done much with your sacrifice, not just that you saved Dawn and gave me a second chance, you also brought the cutest, but at the same time weirdest couple on this world together - Pan and Trunks, the Slayer and the half-alien from the other dimension." Faith laughed lightly. "Dawn also lightened up in the last time. I don't hear her cry anymore at night. I guess Trunks, Pan, Spike and I are now a family for her. But to be honest B, I miss you. I hoped that everything could be this way without you lying here, six feet under the earth. And I truly mean it."

At that moment, the wind began to whistle in the trees. And the leaves seemed to form words, almost unnoticeable.

She who died to save life will arise anew

Faith grabbed her stake and sprung up to her feet. She swore that she heard something, but couldn't make out where it came from.

Innocent as a child, just knowing her destiny, she will grow to enormous strength

"Hello? Is there someone?" Faith's Slayer-senses were alerted. Whoever was there, she swore she would get him.

Stronger than before, she'll be reborn, ready to go her destined path

When Faith sensed a vampire behind her, she turned around, throwing the hand with the stake at him, but he was able to grab it. "Hey, hey, pet! What's up?"

"Oh god, Spike… It's you. You scared me! What are you doing here?" Faith asked him, as she put the stake back into her pocket.

"I'm here to get you. Remember? We wanted to meet here and then go to the Bronze, where the others wanted to be," he told her.

"Oh, yeah, right. Sorry… I just thought that I heard someone talking or something like that. But I think we can go now. I don't want to let the others wait." With that, they both left the graveyard and the wind was one last time blowing through the leaves.

But just true love can show her the right way

~*~

At the Bronze the Scoobies, except of Spike and Faith, were sitting in a corner on the couches, watching the couples, including Trunks and Pan, on the dance floor. They just played 'Here with me' by Dido, so the couples just swayed lightly with their bodies. Pan liked the fact of Trunks being near her. It felt so familiar.

"Aren't they cute?" Willow asked the others smiling.

"Oh yeah, like they were destined to be together," Tara added dreaming.

"I think that Giles doesn't like the idea of those two together…" Anya suddenly said.

"Come on, An. I think he's just a bit overprotective over her," Xander told his fiancée.

"By the way, why isn't Giles here?" the red-haired witch wanted to know.

"He said he wanted to pack a few things, because he wants to go to England tomorrow, talking again to Quentin over those books," Xander informed her.

"Yep," Anya said promptly. "And he's leaving me in charge of the shop and all the money."

~*~

Vegeta couldn't take it any longer. He just wanted to eat his dinner, but he didn't plan on being disturbed by the music Trunks heard in his room. He played the same song for over an hour over and over again. But enough was enough. He stood up and went to Trunks room. Without bothering of knocking, he just walked in and found his son lying on the bed, arms crossed behind his head, ignoring his father. To gain his son's attention, Vegeta pointed to the stereo with his index finger and shot a small ki blast at it, destroying it completely. "Finally silence," he said smirking as he turned back to Trunks, who was now sitting.

"DAD! Why did you do that?" he asked his father exasperated.

"It was bothering me, besides, why do you hear the same song for over an hour?"

"It's 'Here with me' by Dido. It was a song they played at Pan's eighteen's birthday. I promised her to dance with her and so I chose this one. She was so happy as I asked her. And as I kissed her hand at the end of the song, it made her even happier. But now I know what it meant for her. It was so obvious and I didn't see it. I was such an idiot."

"Stop brooding brat. I'm sure she has the time of her life right now! Come, I want to spar with you."

"But…"

"No buts! Now come!" Vegeta said as he left the room and Trunks followed him unwillingly.