Disclaimer: They're all mine!!! Too bad, that's just wishful thinking… They don't belong to me…
A/N: Again, thank you soooo much for the reviews… Maybe I should slowly start to think about a 500 reviews special… Whatever, I think I found out tonight, why I'm so addicted to write cliffhangers… It hit me, as I watched Dragonball Z today and I've noticed that they somehow never ended an episode without a cliffhanger and I'm watching DBZ daily since August… That must be it… Oh, and by the way, I just want to warn you that this chapter will most likely again end with a cliffie!
@ Ed: I'm sorry to disappoint you, but you're wrong!
Okay, all in all did ten people out of 51(!!!) reviews guess right about who the guy at the end of the last chapter is and three of them actually found out, who the guy is… Did I confuse you now? I hope so!
Chapter
17: Don't run away
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Trunks stared disbelievingly at his mother. "That can't be true…" he said, shaking his head. "The others are really thinking that? Why didn't you tell me sooner?"
"They didn't want us to. They wanted you to act normal around her and thought that you wouldn't be able to do this, knowing about their suspicions," Bulma explained to him.
Agitated, Trunks ran a hand through his hair. "But… I mean… She…" He didn't know what to say. That was just… crazy!
"Trunks," his mother began. "Have you ever noticed something strange about her? Have you ever felt her ki?"
Trunks seemed to think for a minute. No, he had never felt her ki. He hadn't even acknowledged the missing of it. He never needed to. He just always knew when she was near him. He didn't need to feel her ki, he always felt it in his body. Something just told him that she was there. But now that he thought over it, he had to admit, the others were right. Pia didn't have a ki.
Sadly, Trunks shook his head at his mother's question. "No," he answered almost inaudible.
For the next few minutes, no one dared to say something. Bulma hated it to see her son that broken, but she just had to tell him what the others were thinking. Suddenly, without saying a word, Trunks got up and walked to the door. "Trunks? Where are you going?"
He stopped in the doorframe, but didn't turn around. "I need to know the truth. I need to prove to the others that Pia isn't…" he stopped before he finished the sentence and left the house, taking off into the sky. He didn't want to say that word. Evil.
"Vegeta! Go after him!" Bulma demanded, as she turned around to face her husband, but he was already gone as well. "Vegeta!" Bulma sighed angrily. Those Saiyajins.
With his advanced hearing Vegeta could still hear his mate calling out for him, as he was now slowly walking down the hallways of Capsule Corporation to his beloved gravity room. He couldn't do anything now. He had an idea where the brat was going and knew that he couldn't stop the inevitable. And until something happened, he could use the time to train.
"Hey daddy!" Bra, who just came out of the gravity room, greeted him. "Do you know why Trunks rushed off like this? I could feel in his ki that he was upset."
"Your mother told him about the suspicions the others have and now he's probably on his way to find out the truth," Vegeta told her.
"And you just let him go like this?" the young Bulma-look-alike asked exasperated, as she wanted to run past him, but Vegeta grabbed her at her arm.
"Stay. There's nothing we can do. Right now it's just something between him and Kakarotto's grandbrat. We have no right to say anything in that matter."
Bra sighed in defeat. "Okay, you're right, dad."
~*~
After recovering from her first shock that someone was sitting next to her and she hadn't even felt him coming, she gratefully took the tissue and wiped away the tears. "Thank you," she whispered, as she looked again at him.
"You're welcome," he said, smiling at her.
She didn't know why, but Pan somehow had this strange feeling that this young man was somehow familiar to her. "I'm sorry if this sounds rude, but do I know you?"
"Uhm," the young man, whom Pan thought was a bit older than twenty, started to grin sheepishly and scratched the back of his head, "I don't think so… I'm not from around here…"
The first thought that was running through her head, was that this grin and the rest of the face didn't match at all. It looked just too strange and… well… weird. But Pan absolutely couldn't say why. She was still too confused about the earlier incidents to be able to think about that. "Oh, okay… Then… thanks again… I think I have to go now…" She got up from the bench, but as she saw a happy couple playing with their child, she just stared at them. Would her child to be able to grow up like this?
"Hey." This strange young man also got up and put a hand on her shoulder. "Are you really okay?"
Pan looked up again and saw now that he was about as large as Trunks. Trunks. Thinking of him brought new tears into her eyes and no matter how hard she tried, she just couldn't stop them from flowing. Much to her surprise did the young man pull her into a hug and stroked gently over her back, while mumbling soothing words the whole time. As she started to calm down Pan silently asked herself, how someone she just knew for not more than a few minutes could comfort her that easily.
A few minutes later, after all tear were shed, he pulled out another tissue and dried her face, while she was still sobbing lightly. "You feeling better?" he asked her worried.
Pan took the tissue and blew her nose. "Yeah… thank you…"
"Can I help you somehow? I mean, what about we go somewhere to a café or something like that and you tell me what's wrong?" he wanted to know.
Pan looked uneasily to the ground. "I don't know…"
"Come on," he said softly. "My friends always say that I'm a great listener… So, what do you think?"
"O-okay…" Pan finally agreed. Maybe talking to someone who wasn't involved in this big lie would be good. And this young man really seemed to want to help her. She extended her hand. "My name is Pan."
He almost sighed with relief, when he heard the okay and shook her hand. "I'm Takeo."
~*~
With the speed he was flying at, Trunks could already after not even one minute see his destination. After he found a small alley he landed in it and ran the rest of the way. Entering the building and flying up to the twentieth floor, he noticed that he really couldn't feel her ki.
Trunks really couldn't believe that she should be evil. An android? Maybe, but evil? No, no and no. But how could he convince the others? They would say for sure that he was blinded by love, that he didn't want to see the obvious. He had to find something to prove them wrong. He wanted to find out the truth. The whole time, even before they slept with each other, Pia had wanted to tell him something, but he never gave her the chance to explain herself. Was it that, what she wanted to tell him? - Most likely.
As he arrived at her door, he knocked frantically, but no one answered. "Pia!" he called, but again nothing. Looking around, he grabbed the doorknob and turned it lightly, breaking the door open. "Pia?" he called again, after he shut the door behind him and went into the living room. He couldn't see her in the kitchen, so he tried the bathroom and as he didn't find her there, he went to the bedroom. But she wasn't at home.
A small smile appeared on his face, when he saw the teddy bear sitting on the bed. So she didn't hate him, otherwise she would have thrown it away. He sat down next to it and ran his hand through his hair, sighing. What should he do now? He couldn't just sit there and wait until she got back. That would drive him crazy.
Suddenly he got an idea. He knew, he shouldn't do this, but he needed answers. He wanted to know what she had been keeping from him. Getting up he started to look through her things, eager to find something – anything – to prove them wrong. He rummaged through her bedside tables, her drawers, looked under her bed and finally arrived at her closet.
Suddenly, while he was looking through her clothes, something fell out of the closet. Curious about what it had been, he looked to the floor and picked up an orange piece of cloth. "What the…" he asked surprised. This looked exactly like… But that couldn't be… Frantically he continued his search. He opened the other door of the closet and found a small box under some clothes. He pulled it out and sat again down on the bed, the whole time holding that piece of cloth.
Opening the box, he found several photos inside. But not just any photos. There were photos of him, Bra, Goten, Marron, his family, Gohan, Videl, ChiChi, Gyuu Mao, even one of Piccolo. The last picture was a group picture with everyone, really everyone, on it, taken a few years before the grand tour. He stared at it for a few minutes, reveling in memories of that day. There had been again a picnic at CC and everyone was there, from Muten Roshi, over Yamcha till all Saiyajins and the other humans. His mother wanted to make this huge 'family portrait' and ChiChi had helped with her frying pan getting everyone on this picture. But after all, they all looked happy on that picture, even Piccolo and Vegeta were having something on their faces that somehow resembled a smile. This afternoon had really been unforgettable. The gang had still been complete then.
Sighing, he put the picture away and looked at the few frames that were still in the box. But they held no pictures. Those were all diplomas. He picked up the first two. A High-School diploma and a College diploma. Both of… "No…" Trunks just mumbled, when he stared at the name written on both of them and also on the other ones.
~*~
A few minutes after the meeting in the park Pan and Takeo went into a small café. He had invited her to a drink and they were right now sitting there in silence. Now and then looking up from her cup of hot chocolate Pan found herself staring at this young man. She had to admit, this Takeo was quite handsome and had a really well built body from what she could see under those clothes, but she still had this feeling that she knew him. Even though he was wearing sunglasses, this short black and spiky hair that was standing up straight, the large forehead and his whole face somehow seemed familiar to her. By the way sunglasses. Where they were sitting now was no sun, so why was he still wearing them?
Even though Takeo was not trying to show it, he felt uneasy under her gaze. Was she checking him out? Or why was she staring at him like that? "What are you looking at?" he asked nonchalantly.
"What? Uhm…" Pan found herself blushing a bit. "Nothing… I was just wondering, why you're still wearing your sunglasses…"
"Oh that… All people ask that…" Takeo said laughing. "I think it has become some kind of habit. I've been wearing them for the last sixteen years, because of my mother…" he added thoughtfully, "But that's not important right now. Your problems are now more important than my history… So, do you want to talk about them?" Pan nodded at his question and started her story.
Pan was surprised of how much she trusted this young man, but she just couldn't help it. It seemed as if some vibes were going out from him, telling her that he was absolutely trustful and would never do anything to hurt her. Pan found herself telling this young man, whom she had just met a short time ago, everything about what had happened in the last few months. And he had told her the truth. He was a great listener. He never interrupted her and comforted her, when she had started crying again. His face, or at least what she could see of his face, showed true concern and interest in her 'case'.
After Pan had finished her story, she was surprised of how much better she felt. This talking about her problems really helped her a lot. The weight she had been carrying on her shoulder wasn't as big as it had been and all in all it had been good to confide in someone. Even though she barely knew this someone.
"That's bad," was the only thing Takeo had said, as Pan had finished telling him about her problems. "You have to tell him…"
"I know…" Pan said, hanging her head.
"I mean everything, also about the baby. He deserves to know about that. Don't do the same mistake my mother did," he told her.
"What do you mean?" she asked confused.
"Well, the story of my mother is kind of similar to your story…" he began. "She had also lied to my father and when he found out he was so angry and disappointed that he told her that he never wanted to see her again. He never even gave her the chance to tell him that she was pregnant with me. Deeply hurt by his reaction she left and broke every contact to her family and friends. So she raised me alone. The only person, who knows where she is and that she has a son is my grandfather, who had met her by coincidence," Takeo told her, even though that wasn't the whole truth. "As I got older, I found her often looking at me with those hurt and sad eyes and so, when I was eight years old, I asked her why she was always sad, when she looked at me. That was when she told me that I have the eyes of my father and that she would always be reminded of him, when she looked at me. That's the reason why I bought the sunglasses. I didn't want to see my mother hurt anymore and so this has become a habit. I'm almost never taking them off, mostly just to sleep."
"Oh," Pan just managed to say. This story was even worse than hers. "I'm sorry…"
For the next few minutes they sat there in silence, neither of them knowing what to say. Pan thought about the child that was growing within her. Would she do what Takeo's mother had done and just leave like that, raising this child all on her own? Would she be able to do that?
"Do you know your father?" she suddenly wanted to know.
He nodded. "Kind of… I knew his name and after college I started working for him, without my mother knowing. I've met him a few times, because I'm in the lab and not in the office, where he is." He took a sip of his coffee and sighed. "He's okay and I think that she still loves him… And that he still loves her. I've caught him once looking at a picture of her with a sad look in his eyes."
"Takeo…" Pan took his hand and squeezed it lightly. "I'm really sorry…"
"Nah, don't be." Takeo smiled, trying to cheer her up. "Pan, just remember one thing. Don't run away. Your child should grow up with both mother and father. I don't want you to be hurt like my mother. Tears don't suit her and neither do they suit you. Try to talk to Trunks. Don't give up when he doesn't want to listen. Maybe you should also tell another person that you're pregnant. Maybe he could back you up a bit or give you some other advice."
Pan just nodded and turned her attention back to the cup in her hands. They sat again in silence, but this time it was comfortable. Both finished their cups, Takeo paid and they were now standing in front of the café. Pan smiled at Takeo and hugged him. "Thank you… I don't know what I would've done if I hadn't met you."
Takeo hugged her back, also smiling. "I'm glad that I could help you…"
Little did they notice that a surprised Goten was watching them from the other side of the street. He had just walked by and saw Pia smiling at and hugging this strange young man. Then Pia waved at him and walked away, while this young man, whom Goten thought looked awfully familiar, looked after her. They had looked really close and he wondered if that was the reason that Trunks had been acting so strange lately. And even if not, he had a right to know about that. Goten had thought that they were in love…
Suddenly his stomach grumbled. Okay, first food and then telling Trunks, before he starved to death.
~*~
Vegeta had still been training, as suddenly the gravity was shut down from the outside and the door was opened. Much to his surprise it was Pan, who was walking directly up to him. "What are you doing here, brat?" he demanded to know.
"Is the ki-shield up?" she asked him directly, avoiding his question. "Good," she said, when Vegeta nodded. She took off her bracelet, grabbed his hand and put it on her stomach.
Vegeta's eyes went wide. There was a ki. A weak and tiny ki. "You're pregnant?" he asked, the surprise was evident in his voice.
"With your grandchild," she answered.
"Does…?"
"No, Trunks doesn't know, yet. But I will tell him, tonight. That's the reason why I'm here. I can't feel him anywhere, so I thought that he might be training," Pan said.
"No, he's not here."
"Okay, then I'll just have to look for him…" she answered and put the ki-shield back on. "Wish me luck!" Pan said, before she left the gravity room.
Vegeta just stared at her, still stunned. He hadn't even thought of telling her that he might know where Trunks was. He shook his head. Kakarotto's grandbrat was carrying his grandchild! He should've seen that coming.
~*~
Before Pan wanted to look for Trunks, she wanted to go home and change into something that was more comfortable to wear than her 'office-clothes'. She just wanted to unlock the door, when she noticed that something wasn't right with it. The lock was obviously broken. She carefully opened the door and slowly went inside, ready to take a mugger or something like that down.
But what she saw was something that she hadn't expected at all. On her couch was sitting Trunks, now looking at her with an unreadable expression on his face, clutching an orange piece of cloth in his hands. Her bandana. "Trunks…"
~*~
Takeo had watched until Pan had disappeared, before he decapsulized a black motorcycle. He grinned. "Mom will kill me, when she finds out that I've taken her baby…" He started it and drove off until he reached some lonely clearing in the outskirt of the city. He put the bike back into the capsule and picked another one from his pocket. He pushed the button and threw it on the floor, a few meters away from him. It made *poof* and revealed a large machine. He opened the glass dome of the upper half and easily jumped inside. "Okay, that was everything I could do without giving too much away. Now it's up to you, mom, dad…" he mumbled, as he pushed the start button of the machine. It began to hum but suddenly the sound died down, as well as everything else in the machine. "What?" Takeo asked confused and pushed the button again, several times, but nothing happened. He stared at it, shocked. "Oh shit!"
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I know, another cliffie, but as I already explained, I'm completely innocent…
Okay, did you really think I'll let Pan go out with another man? I may be mean, but not that mean!
Whatever, please review and tell me what you think of this chapter, okay? Thanks a lot!
Eternally yours
ChibiChibi