Disclaimer: As hard as it is to say, Dragonball is not mine.
A/N: Here it is! A new chapter! I really typed as fast as I could to bring it out! By the way, my friend was really happy to get the translation on Saturday! But now you guys got me back! No more translations, for now (until she asks me to translate the other parts, which hopefully won't happen soon *lol*). Oh, and thank you sooooooooooo much for the many reviews! You have no idea how happy I am!!!!
Oh, and special thanks to Z for also reading and reviewing my other stories! Tell me, have you really read all three parts of TLW? How long did it take?
Chapter 5: Office Romance?
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It was a wonderful Friday morning. The sun was just rising, letting the blue sky mingle with the colors red, orange and gold. For it was summer, it was already pleasantly warm. It would have been a perfect day for Pan, if it weren't for the annoying beeping sound of her alarm clock tearing her out of her peaceful slumber. She pulled the blanket over her head, trying to shut the noise out, but failed miserably. This thing didn't have any mercy and just continued beeping, forcing its way through the blanket to her ear. Groaning, she gave in and got up, blasting the alarm clock into the next dimension, or whatever place alarm clocks would go, when they were destroyed.
Not that Pan didn't want to go to work. No, she really looked forward to meet Trunks again. The first week she had really fun at work. Trunks gave her all the time and help she needed to get into the new job. They both joked around a lot and it soon felt like in old times, even though she sometimes could feel Trunks' eyes in her back, watching her like he had never watched her, when she was still sixteen and younger. Pan sighed. He didn't watch her like that, he was watching her like that - Pia.
Whatever. The first week was relaxing for Pan, but as she arrived last Monday at Capsule Corporation, she and Trunks were practically flooded with work. There had been many, many conferences, after the 30th Pan stopped to count, plus the normal work Trunks had to do. She had never known this kind of stress before, not even on college and she wondered how Trunks could deal with it. The whole last week, since it began on Monday, they had been working till late in the night, sometimes even early in the morning, so that they would get at best four to five hours sleep per night. For one or two nights it was okay for a Saiyajin to not get so much sleep, but working the whole week without the chance to relax a bit, it was a wonder how they could even stay awake during work. But it didn't bother Trunks as much as it did Pan, maybe because he was used to it and because of the higher share of Saiyajinblood in his body.
After taking a shower and still not being completely awake, Pan drowned down a mug full of black and strong coffee. She made a face at the bitterness of this liquid she normally despised, but in this week she needed as much caffeine as she could get.
Taking a quick glance at the clock, she groaned. When she didn't hurry up, she would be late. Not just that they had to work till late in the night, Pan and Trunks had agreed to start one hour earlier in the morning, so that they would manage more work and actually could stay home the weekend.
She quickly drank the last sip of the coffee and put the mug into the sink, where all the other dishes from this week were already waiting to be made. Pan wrinkled her nose. Well, the dishes must have to wait till tomorrow and as long as they didn't grow fur and start walking through the apartment, everything would be okay, she guessed.
Deciding that she should think about the possibility to buy a dishwasher when she had enough money, she grabbed her purse and keys and left the apartment.
It was exactly seven o'clock as Pan stepped out of the elevator on the highest floor. She smiled, when she sensed that Trunks was already there. She had expected him to sit at his desk, when she stepped into the office, but was badly mistaken, when she found him lying on his personal couch, soundly asleep. She noticed that he was still wearing the suit from the day before and wondered, if he had gone home at all last night, or if he had worked after she left.
Pan looked at him and found herself thinking of how cute he was, when he was sleeping. He just looked like a small boy. With this small grin on his face and his curled up form on the couch, she couldn't help herself but to love him.
Wait a minute! Did she just really think that? She shook her head. No, she was over him. She didn't see him that way, no matter how her body reacted at his touch, she tried to tell herself, but it just sounded unconvincing.
Suddenly the form on the couch began to stir and Trunks opened his eyes, just to see an angel standing in front of him. "Am I in heaven?" he asked sleepily, with a goofy grin on his face.
Pan felt her legs wanting to give in again, as he was looking at her like that. But she forced herself to regain her composure. "I'm sorry to disappoint you Trunks. But this is not heaven. It's hell," she answered coolly.
At that moment Trunks was fully awake and took in his surroundings. He groaned. Pia was right. This was hell. "How late is it?"
Pan chuckled. "A few minutes past seven… You know what? You go to the bathroom and freshen up and I go and make some coffee and breakfast for you. Are donuts okay?"
"Yeah… Thanks." Trunks got up from the couch and went to the bathroom, followed by Pan, who went to the small kitchen of this floor.
After Trunks had his breakfast, the two of them started to work again. There was again plenty of it, but much to his relief, Trunks didn't have to hold a conference that day. So the time flew by fast. They had even so much work to do that they didn't have time to have a real lunch that day and just some delivered fast food.
In the late afternoon Pan felt the effect of the caffeine wearing off. The numbers on the monitor became blurred and Pan had to shake her head to focus again on the monitor. Her eyelids started to become heavy and her eyes just wanted to drift shut, as she heard Trunks voice. Her head shot up and she saw him looking at her with a worried look on his face. "Huh? Sorry, what did you just say?"
"Are you okay, Pia?" he asked worried.
"Yeah, sure… So, what did you want?"
"I just wanted to ask you if you could help me getting some folders."
"Sure…"
She got up and she and Trunks went to a huge room on the same floor. Inside were many shelves with big folders. Trunks gave her a list of some of the folders he needed and both of them went their own way in this room.
Pan stopped in front of a pretty high shelve and noticed that she had to get a folder that was right at the top. She groaned and looked around, trying to find a way to get this one. Of course, she could have just floated up there, but the danger was too big to get caught by Trunks. Relieved, she spotted a ladder at the shelves. She pulled it to the place where she needed it. She climbed up at ladder and suddenly, right after she took the folder, she felt a wave of dizziness coming over her. Everything became black around her and she lost the grip on the ladder…
Trunks had just floated down from one shelve, when he heard a small scream followed by a thud. "Pia?!" he yelled startled and ran to the shelves where he had sent her. And there she was, sitting on the floor and rubbing her behind. "Pia!" He ran up to her and helped her up, holding her in his arms. "Are you okay? What has happened?"
"Ouch, that hurt," Pan groaned, as she felt herself lifted up. She smiled. "Don't worry Trunks, it's not that bad… I'll be fine. I jut got a bit dizzy up there and lost my grip on the ladder."
"Really?" he asked concerned. "Nothing's broken? Is everything okay? Maybe you should go home."
"Everything's okay, really… I don't need to go home. I'm just a bit tired." Pan looked up and met his eyes. This was the worst thing that she could do. She felt her defenses immediately going down again, as their eyes locked, and the fact that Trunks was still holding her in his arms, not bothering to let her go, didn't make the whole situation easier for her.
Every rational thought was banned from her mind, as his head moved closer to hers. "Maybe you should lay down on my couch and rest a bit."
Pan's head also moved closer to his, not breaking the eye contact. "That's a good idea…" her voice trailed off, as she was now able to inhale his unmistakable and incomparable scent. Their lips almost touched, as Pan's mind suddenly screamed 'NO!'. She was just able to turn her head, before something happened and spotted the folders, which she dropped, lying on the floor. "But I think that we should first bring those back to your office."
Trunks growled inwardly, as she broke the magic moment between them, but complied. Maybe the time was not right yet. "No, I can get them alone. You really should lie down."
"Okay," Pan answered reluctantly, freeing herself out of his grip. Trunks put a hand on her shoulder and led her back to the office.
After Pan had taken off the blazer, which she was wearing over her shirt, she laid down on the couch. Trunks went to one of the closets, took out a wool blanket and gave it to her. "Here, sleep a bit. I'll wake you when I need your help."
Pan nodded and pulled the blanket up to her chin. "Thank you Trunks."
The half-Saiyajin just smiled down at her and went back to the folder room. He came back a few minutes later, just to find her already asleep. He put the folders down on his desk and sighed. They had almost kissed. Almost! Not wanting to think about that anymore, he sat down at his desk and began working.
It was already two o'clock in the morning, when Trunks finally closed the last folder. He took off his (unneeded) glasses and laid them on the desk. Rubbing his eyes, he looked over at the still sleeping figure of Pia. All the time she had not woken up and was still sleeping like a stone. Getting up from his chair he walked over to the couch and knelt next to her. He had been right that morning. She really was an angel. He just knew her for two weeks and was already having extremely strong feelings for her. Something in his heart told him that she was the one! That she was the one he had waited for so long. He wished he knew if she felt the same way for him.
He extended his hand to gently stroke her cheek, careful to not wake her up. "I love you, Pia…" he mumbled almost inaudible.
Suddenly, her eyes fluttered open, causing Trunks to jerk his hand away. She looked around a bit disoriented until her eyes rested on Trunks and she remembered, where she was. "Hey…" she said sleepily.
"Hey…" he answered just as softly. "It's two o'clock and I wanted to go home now."
"What? Already so late?" Pan asked and sat up.
Trunks nodded. "Do you want me to take you home?" Before Pan could answer, Trunks silenced her with a wave of his hand. "Just remember that I won't take 'no' as an answer."
Pan grinned. "Okay, Mr. President. You can take me home."
The ride in the car did just take a few minutes until they arrived at the building, where Pan lived in. "So, you live here?" Trunks asked curiously, when he stopped the car.
"Yes, on the twentieth floor," Pan answered, as she gathered her stuff. She opened the door and got out. "Well, then… Thank you for bringing me home. I'll see you on Monday."
"Your welcome…" Pan just wanted to close the door, when Trunks voice stopped her. "Oh, before I forget… Bra asked me to tell you that she wanted to invite you to her party tomorrow evening. She just graduated from college and my mother uses this opportunity to throw a huge party. Will you come?"
"I don't know…" Pan said uncertainly.
"Oh, come on. I'm sure she will be happy when you come. Oh, and she is just like me. She also doesn't take 'no' as an answer," Trunks told her smirking. "I'll pick you up at seven, okay?"
Pan sighed. "Okay… See ya tomorrow!" She threw the door shut and went to her apartment. Inside, she threw her keys on the table and let herself flop down on the couch, burying her head in her hands. On that party tomorrow she would surely meet everyone else, including her parents. "Dende, Trunks… Why do you make it so hard for me?"
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