Ok, here's chapter 9. And, it has the moment you've all been waiting for. Yep, you've had to suffer through 8 other chapters, now you get what you want. Once again, thank you to all the reviewers, because without you guys, this fic definitely wouldn't have lasted this long. I love you all!

Special Thanks to Reviews From:
Brandon B
ills
Mii-chan
pan86
Matt
Netty
Yokiko-Pan
Hope
Jami-chan

Disclaimer: Hmm... how shall I phrase this... If I owned DBZ, let's just say I sure as hell wouldn't be spending my time writing this for free.


Chapter 9

Trunks sighed as he plopped on Pan's bed, both mentally drained and physically drained from the previous events that occurred that night. Luckily, his Saiyan genes helped heal his stab wound a lot faster, but the chaos of earlier left his brain in a puddle of incompetence that demanded rest of some sort, preferably sleep. His brain seemed to perk up however when the love of his life planted a kiss to his lips.

"Don't start that," Trunks told her, when their lips parted. "Or I'll never get to the talk I promised you."

Pan smiled mischievously and replied, "Personally, I think this is a lot more fun."

And he didn't appear to object when she kissed him again, and again after that, and so on and so forth until neither one of them cared about anything but each other. It was one of those endearing acts of affection that made you want to cry at the tenderness of it all, and any idiot could see the power of the love they shared. It was even more powerful that an ascended Saiyan, and neither one of them could believe their good fortune, particularly Pan. It all happened so fast, all in a matter of hours her hopes and dreams, that she so adamantly gave up days before, all came true. All she wanted to do now was be with Trunks forever, to never let go of this special and rare, happy moment, to preserve it for all eternity.

And as Trunks held her in his arms, a million things were going on in his head. All at once he thought about what to say to her when they finally stopped kissing, how he could be so lucky to have someone like her, and why kissing her seemed a lot more familiar than it should be. There was something about the way she kissed that made him wonder why it wasn't such a new experience when they kissed in the Gravity Room. He wanted to stop and ask her, but his hormones wouldn't allow such a thing. He'd just have to wait for that rare breath of air Pan stopped for.

~*~

"Can you believe it, Bulma?" Videl asked, still in awe that her child finally got the man of her dreams. "I mean, Trunks and Pan... our babies... together. It all seems so... weird."

"I know," Bulma replied, sitting across from Videl in the kitchen and handing her a cup of coffee. She sipped on her own, then added, "It seems like Pan was just born yesterday... and their ages are so far apart..."

"Yeah," Videl replied, then smiled. "But Trunks has always had enough immaturity to maintain a friendship with Pan, and she's always had enough maturity to match up with Trunks, so I think they'll be fine."

"That's true," Bulma said with a smile.

Videl looked down at her mug of coffee with a sort of hesitant look, as if trying to derive courage from the dark beverage. She looked up again, and the instant her lavender-blue eyes met the blue ones of her friend, she smiled desolately. "I feel kind of... I don't know... I just wondered why I didn't see any of this coming before.... I always thought Pan and I were close..."

Bulma smiled sympathetically at her younger companion. "You are close.... closer than Trunks and I have ever been. You'd be surprised what kind of shit kids are capable of hiding."

"Did you suspect that Trunks had feelings for Pan?" Videl asked with an almost hopeful look in her eyes, hoping that she wasn't the only one that wasn't as observant as she would've liked to be.

"Well..." Bulma hesitated for a fraction of a second. "Sort of... it was just the way he acted around her that reminded me of Vegeta."

Videl raised an eyebrow in interest. "Oh yeah? How's that?"

Bulma grinned as she thought of the memories. "Well, before we started dating, he would act really funny around me. He'd start stuttering or making excuses for why he'd suddenly appear in the lab when I was working, and he trained a lot more than he usually did, in order to avoid me," She laughed. "Once I caught him trying to look into my room one night, and he stuttered so much I thought he was going to convulse or something." The two women laughed together at the thought of Vegeta losing control like that. It definitely wasn't a Vegeta-like attribute. "Later I learned, through our bond, that he did all those things because he was afraid of his feelings for me... he was afraid to fall in love with me. Believe me, if it wasn't for Vegeta, I would have been just as clueless as you were."

Videl smiled. "Yeah, I guess you're right... but still... Pan's had feelings for Trunks a lot longer than he's had feelings for her. How could I not have sensed that?"

"Well," Bulma thought about it for awhile. "Maybe we just overlooked it and classified it as friendship... or just admiration, you know?"

Videl nodded, not totally satisfied, but willing to accept it. She shook her head as she looked into her cup of coffee again and sighed. "Time passes so quickly, doesn't it?"

"Sure does. At least you aren't an old woman, like me."

Videl scoffed at that. "Shit, I'm close enough."

Bulma smiled, but it faded a second later. "Wait a minute... are you saying I'm old?"

The two women argued about it for awhile, as two Saiyan men looked down on them smiled from their usual place in the Other World, one of them with family and friends, mourning his lost chance to be with the family of his own, and the other one isolated, wishing he could've made more out of himself and stayed with his family a little longer, before his untimely end.

~*~

"Damn, Pan!" Trunks said, practically pushing Pan across the room so he could take a breather from kissing. "You're going to kill me if you keep this up!"

Pan through her arms around his neck and smiled wickedly. "At least you'd die happy."

Trunks laughed and pulled her into his lap. "I'll die after I explain what I wanted you to know."

"And what is that?" Pan asked while switching her position in his lap, so that her head was resting on his chest.

Trunks sighed and looked out of the window toward the GR. With his Saiyan sense of sight, he could see a clump of red hair on the ground, illuminated by the streetlight that stood in the distance, which made a smirk cross his lips. He looked back down at Pan, who looked so comfortable in his arms that she'd fall asleep within seconds. "I don't know how to start any of this... and I'm not sure you care... but I feel an obligation to tell you... or rather explain to you the reasons for my strange behavior these past few months... and why I ever went out with that controlling whore... whatever her name was..."

Pan laughed. "Do my kisses cause memory loss, Trunks?"

He grinned. "I guess so... but my point is..." He sighed again as he trailed off. He didn't think it would be so hard, but all of a sudden his brain wasn't fully functional, and the part that formed sentences was currently out of order. And he said as much to her with a grim, apologetic look on his face.

"Just say what's in your heart," Pan told him. "Just be blunt about it. Say the words as they come into your head...," She sat up and gently touched his cheek and added, "You know, you don't have to tell me anything. I'm perfectly happy now, knowing that I have you through all the shit we've had to go through."

But Trunks shook his head. He was determined to be perfectly honest with her. And he learned now that honesty wasn't always easy, even when it involved a person you loved. "No, I have to tell you this. I won't feel right unless I do." Taking one last deep breath, he began with, "I know I've been an ass to you lately, and I'm deeply sorry about it. The whole me-getting-mad-at-you-for-what-you-did-to-Pyra-thing was just something for me to put my frustration out on, I think, because by then, I'd pretty much made up my mind."

"Made up your mind about what?" Pan asked as she looked him in the eye, her eyebrows creased in confusion.

"About who I wanted to be with," He smiled at her and she smiled back, completely satisfied with that answer as she settled her head back on his chest. He ran a hand through her long, black hair as he continued, "I never should have gone out with her in the first place. The only reason I did was because I was so damn confused..."

"About?" Pan asked again, although she was smiling, hoping it involved what she wanted it to be.

"I was confused about my feelings for you. I started... well... falling in love with you...," Pan inwardly smiled as the words, "falling in love with you" echoed in her head, "and I was so confused because you're my best friend..., my dead friend's daughter to be exact... and you're so much younger than I am... it was all too much to digest at once... And then Pyra came along, the next day after your birthday in fact, and I just felt she'd be a way to ignore these feelings... to escape them, you know?"

She nodded against his chest. "So you're telling me that you were a pussy and didn't want to be a man about it and admit your feelings to me?"

Trunks grinned. It was just like Pan to get straight to the desired point, with no breaks in between. "Yeah, I guess you could say that. But it wasn't all it was cut out to be, as you can see. There were some terrible repercussions from my dispensation."

"So you had no feelings for Pyra then?" Pan asked. Trunks sensed a small hint of anxiety in her voice, which was really uncharacteristic of her. "None whatsoever?"

Trunks started to agree with her, but stopped. There was, in fact, a certain feeling for Pyra that he felt, which started with an "L", and had four letters, but it definitely wasn't love, and he wasn't sure he wanted to flat out tell Pan that. It was kind of an awkward thing, talking about your lust for your ex-girlfriend with your new one. "Well..."

"I get it," Pan interrupted him before he got a chance to stutter. "It was just physical then?"

He nodded, not wanting to say the words. The whole idea totally repulsed him now, and just thinking about saying the words left a bitter taste in his mouth that he'd never forget.

But she shocked him with her next statement, "That's good."

"Good?" He repeated, looking both shocked, confused, and amused at the way she analyzed certain facts. "How's that good?"

"That tells me that I've been the only you've ever loved," She answered with a smile. "'Cause I know none of those other whores you've dated in the past have made you that happy." She kissed him again, and when their lips parted, she added, "I'm your first love, just as you are mine."

He smiled. "You know me too well." But when they kissed again, his question from earlier arose from its storage area in his brain, and he stopped the kiss short. He wanted to laugh at the angry look she gave him.

"What the fuck did you stop for?" She made it sound like the most dreadful and unacceptable offense anyone could commit, and he couldn't help but smile.

"This might sound stupid," He started. "But I feel like this is all too familiar for some reason... that the time in the GR wasn't the first time we kissed."

Her face changed from confusion, to realization, to panic, then to sheepishness when she figured out what he meant by that, and now that they'd already established the fact that they loved each other, it wouldn't hurt to explain the little secret she'd been hiding extremely well.

She put her hand behind her head and laughed uneasily. "Well, there's a reason for that." Trunks cocked an eyebrow in interest. He knew that look only a Son was capable of, and he couldn't wait for the explanation she gave him. "You remember when you took me to that bar for my birthday present, right?"

Trunks laughed. "Who could forget? I had a bitch of a hang over the next morning."

Pan looked down. "Uh... yeah... well, when I dragged you home... and we were standing on the steps of your house... I kind of... well..." She shook her head, as if trying to rid herself of all nervousness. After all, this was only Trunks, and she had nothing to lose now if she told him the truth. "To put it in simple terms, I confessed my feelings for you, then kissed you, and in return you passed out and landed on top of me."

Trunks' eyes widened slightly as he processed it all. It all made sense now... the sense of familiarity... the words, "I love you", he'd thought he heard her say weeks before. But now the question was, what made her do something like that, and all she could say when he asked her was, "Temporary insanity." He just shook his head and kissed her.

~*~

"Vegeta's son and my granddaughter," Goku said with a look of intense awe as he sat with his wife and son, watching the warm act of affection on Earth, as if it was an important news cast that their lives depended on. "Who would've thought..."

"Certainly not me," The Prince of Saiyans just had to get his two cents in, determined to piss off anyone and everyone that ever crossed his path. It was undeniably his favorite pastime. "I, for one, think my brat can do better."

Chichi glared at him while Goku and Gohan just shook their heads. They both knew better, especially Gohan, who saw the amused look in Vegeta's eyes when Pan and Pyra fought, and the way he seemed to be deeply impressed by the power she was generating. He assumed Pan was one of the strongest female Saiyans Vegeta had ever seen, and he couldn't have been more right. It was obvious that Vegeta was pleased with the potential daughter-in-law he'd inherit, even if she was a descendant of his rival.

But Chichi didn't see what Gohan saw, and was determined to prove Vegeta wrong as she stormed over to him, and Gohan gulped when he saw the silvery object she brandished behind her. Another chaotic event was sure to take place any moment.

"Now wait just a minute, Vegeta!" Chichi screamed. "I will not let you sit here and disrespect my family like this anymore! I don't care if you are, or were, a prince, or if you were one of the most powerful beings in the universe, it doesn't give you the right to treat people like garbage!"

Vegeta smirked. "Looks like you picked a feisty bitch, Kakarrot... and a loud one too."

Chichi screamed in exasperation, slamming her stainless steel frying pan down on the mountain of spiky black hair that rested on top of the prince's head, earning a glare so evil and intimidating that Gohan felt the need to step in. Goku was still staring at his granddaughter and her new love.

"Alright, calm down, Mom. Vegeta." Gohan stepped between them and held his arms out to keep them at bay, suddenly feeling that this situation was all too familiar. "No need to start a fight over this."

"Well tell that bitch to keep her frying pan away from me, and her mouth shut!" Vegeta shouted fiercely.

"And tell that pompous bastard to stop insulting my family!" Chichi shot back.

Gohan just sighed in frustration as they continued to argue, and Goku continued to watch the events on Earth with great concentration, as if waiting for them to look up and say something to him. His eyes widened suddenly, an action Gohan noticed, and he ran over to his father with worried eyes, leaving the quarreling adults to themselves.

"What's the..." Gohan started, but trailed off when he saw what his father was looking at and grinned.

Somehow, Vegeta and Chichi were brought out of their shouts and screams and walked over to the father and son duo, like some sort of unforeseen force pushed them there. When they saw what the other two did, Chichi clasped her hands together with stars in her eyes, mumbling something that sounded like, "great-grandchildren", as Vegeta just shook his head and grunted, a sound of disapproval to most, but to all who knew him, it was just the opposite.

Goku looked completely horrified and embarrassed, but never once turned away from what he was watching. He turned his head to the side and his eyes widened even more as the two attempted something he didn't even think was possible for his granddaughter. "Umm..." He muttered, as he poked Gohan's pant leg. "Maybe we should turn this off now."

Gohan just continued to grin in response. Finally, his little girl and his best friend were happy, at last.

~*~

It was very late into the night when Videl finally decided to go home, after noticing that all seemed dead in the house next door and that Trunks didn't seem to be coming back to Bulma's soon. The two women giggled at the possibilities of what might have happened between their children, and Bulma absolutely insisted on walking Videl home so that she could get a better look at just that.

They crept into the house on silent feet, or as silent as they could be, and walked down the hall to Pan's room. When they heard not a sound coming from the room, Videl slowly turned the knob and pushed open the door, both of them grinning all the way. And they both wanted to scream with delight at the sight that they saw, but instead closed the door quickly and jumped up and down, whispering, "Grandchildren!", over and over again.

Bulma stopped suddenly and told her younger friend with an almost horrified look, "We sound like your mother-in-law."

~*~

Xavier wasn't the only one who felt a need to drop in on the Son house. He wanted to check up on Pan, since she seemed to be in such a state of nostalgia the last time he saw her. He knew it was late, but he figured she'd be up anyway, sitting on the roof watching the stars, ready to dish out more depressing philosophies on Kami and life itself.

But when he got there, he didn't see Pan on the roof, and the house looked to be completely dead except for one light, which was coming from Pan's room. Rather than knocking on the door and risking waking Pan's mother up, he walked around the dome-shaped house to the back yard, so that he could peek into Pan's window.

He narrowed his eyes as he looked inside, and nearly feel over at the sight. Pan was asleep, but she wasn't alone apparently. A certain lavender-haired man was lying next to her, his arms wrapped around her as she rested her head on his chest, and although he couldn't tell if they were fully-clothed or not, it was pretty obvious to him what they'd been doing.

But what really caught his eye was the strange-looking mark on both of their necks. It appeared to be two small dots of some sort, almost like... a bite-mark?

He cocked an eyebrow and concluded, "Saiyans must be really freaky in bed."

The Next Morning...
Pan walked down the hall to the kitchen with a broad smile that seemed to be imperishable. She'd just said good-bye to Trunks, who left through the window so he wouldn't be noticed, and for once in her life, everything seemed to be going her way.

Little did she know, three people were waiting for her in the kitchen with equally broad smiles, waiting to get the chance to tease her for what she'd done with Trunks last night. And when she walked into the room, their smiles seemed to get bigger, and she looked both uneasy and startled by their sudden appearance.

"Hey, Mom... and Bulma... and X-kun," She said as she surveyed the room a little further. Their smiles made her nervous, especially Xavier's, for she knew that that smile always indicated some sort of trouble. "What are you guys doing here so early?" She asked as she sat down at the table.

"Oh, just visiting," Bulma replied, and Xavier nodded in agreement. Pan looked a little frightened by the extra sparkle in Bulma's blue eyes. She didn't think the woman could get any happier. "I don't think Trunks came home last night, Pan. Do you know where he could've gone?"

Pan looked around nervously and instinctively put her hand behind her head and laughed. "I have no idea... He sure didn't stay here last night... Nope, not all."

"Hmmm, that's awkward," Bulma said sarcastically. "I know he wasn't in his room this morning when I went to wake him up either."

"Umm... yeah, that is weird," Pan said, still rubbing the back of her head.

"And you know what's even weirder?" It was Videl's turn to play, "Let's make Pan nervous". "The noises I heard coming from your room last night."

"N-Noises?" Pan looked genuinely panicked as she moved her hair so that it covered the bite mark on her neck.

"What kind of noises, Mrs. Son?" Xavier asked with mock curiosity.

"Well," Videl put her hands on her hips, as if she had to think about how to describe them. "It kind of sounded like she was having sex." Pan's black eyes widened so much that Videl had to suppress a grin. "But I know my daughter would never do that. She's only 18 years old. Right, Panny-chan?"

"Uh...yeah..." Pan said as she looked down, trying to conceal her blush.

Xavier was too observant, however. "What's this? Is Panny-chan blushing?"

Pan's blush of embarrassment became a blush of anger as she glared daggers at Xavier. "No."

"I think it is," Bulma agreed, then grinned. "Is there something you're hiding from us, Panny?"

"Uh... no..." Pan once again looked scared as her eyes darted around every corner of the room, as if monsters were lurking everywhere and might pounce on her at any minute. But, luckily for her, Trunks burst into the house, and ran into the kitchen where he felt all of their kis.

"Thank Kami," Trunks said as he put a hand to his beating heart. He looked at his mother and said, "I didn't know where you were at when I came-I mean- when I woke up. I couldn't find you." Bulma grinned at his almost slip-up, and the taunting threesome decided to play games with Trunks now.

"Well if you would've been home all night," The blue-haired woman began. "Then you could've came over here with me to have breakfast."

"Been home all night?" Trunks repeated, trying to look innocent. Unfortunately for him, he didn't have long enough hair to conceal his bite mark, so he just had to hope they didn't notice, for the only way for the bond to fully work would be to have sex, and that would totally blow their cover. They wanted to keep it a secret for now. No such luck.

Trunks looked to Pan for support, but she only shrugged with a terrified look on her face that he understood completely.

"Yes," Bulma confirmed. "You were gone all night. Now Pan says you weren't here, which is odd, because you never leave without telling me, so your whereabouts last night are totally unknown."

"And don't forget those strange noises Mrs. Son heard coming from Pan's room," Xavier chimed in, his broad grin getting even wider.

"Noises?" Trunks really looked worried now.

"Yes," Videl answered. "They sounded somewhat like she was having sex or something." Trunks' eyes widened and a faint blush crossed his features as he gulped in nervousness. "Last night was truly unusual."

"It sure was," Bulma agreed, then looked serious. "So if you weren't at Pan's last night, where were you, Trunks?"

There was a long pause in the quaint little room as Trunks began to think of a lie to save his and Pan's asses. Xavier grinned again as a small bead of perspiration ran down Trunks' face, and Bulma was beginning to wonder why they would hide this from them, when they should've known that Videl and Bulma would be more than happy for them. Apparently Videl was thinking the same thing, for she decided to use guilt to get her daughter to tell the truth.

"You know, Panny," Videl said with a sigh as she took a seat at the table. "I just don't understand why you've felt the need to lie to me all these years."

Now Pan looked really confused as her eyebrow rose. "When was I lying to you, Mom?"

"Maybe lying is a strong word," Videl answered. "I just don't understand why you had to... keep your feelings for Trunks a secret for so long," She looked sad as she added, "...from your own mother..."

"Oh, Mom," Pan said with worried eyes as she rounded the kitchen table and knelt next to her mother's chair. She draped an arm around her shoulder, and Videl put her face in her hands and pretended to cry. "I'm so sorry. I should have told you, but I always felt that my feelings would go away someday. I didn't want to fall for my best friend."

Videl continued to "cry", and it even had Xavier and Trunks concerned. Bulma was the only one who saw through it, and she smirked just like her dead mate. Guilt was truly the gift of motherhood.

"Please don't do that ever again," Videl told her through her fake sobs. "I want you to always trust me. No more secrets."

Pan looked up at Trunks and they both sighed. The question in her eyes couldn't be ignored, and with a single nod from Trunks, she proceeded on telling her mother the news she originally wanted to hide. "Well, in that case," She took another deep breath and looked away from everyone else. As fast as she could, she said, "Trunks and I had sex last night and now we're bonded."

"Well, no shit, Pan," Videl suddenly brought her head up to face her daughter's, no evidence of tears or sadness of any kind. Videl smirked at her daughter's stunned, confused face. "You could've came right out and told us that."

"Yeah, I think it was pretty obvious," Bulma added.

"But... what... how..." Pan stuttered, and Xavier laughed.

"I don't know why I never saw it," Xavier said. "Mrs. Son, you're truly good at the guilt thing."

Videl bowed in appreciation. "Why thank you."

"Guilt?" Trunks asked. "So you guys were just teasing us the whole time?"

"Glad you're so observant, Trunks," Bulma said sarcastically, but with a grin.

Pan let out a sigh of relief. "So you're not mad at me, Mom?"

"Why should I be?" Videl asked. She looked totally appalled by the assumption. "It's Trunks, and you've obviously been in love with him for far too long. I don't care that he's 14 years older, or that he was your best friend. Honestly, I couldn't imagine anyone more suited for you than him."

Trunks smiled and Pan hugged her mother as Xavier rose an empty glass as a toast to the young couple. "To Trunks and Pan. May they live a long, happy life.... together."

"Amen to that," Bulma said with a bright smile. At that moment, frantic calls and hugs of congratulations were issued to the part-Saiyans, and Videl looked almost teary-eyed she was so moved by her daughter's happiness. It sure was a far cry from the constant depression she was in only a day or two before, a time that had Videl genuinely worried. It was so unlike Pan to be so unanimated or unexcited. She was always so vibrant and always willing to see things with as much optimism as possible. She never once gave up, not even against the Androids when the one encounter she'd had with them arose. However, unrequited love seemed to be her one and only downfall, and the state she was in afterward had shaken not only her mother, but her friends as well. They were all just happy that she was back to her normal self again. As far as they were concerned, everything was finally right in the world.

Suddenly, Bulma let out a loud gasp, stopping the pandemonium of cheers and tenderness almost instantly. She smiled and said to Videl, "We have to plan the wedding!"

Videl immediately went into a Bulma-like state as they went through drawers, looking for bridal magazines of any kind, which totally surprised Trunks and Pan. Instead, the three younger people of the group retired to Pan's room, unnoticed by the two mothers, deciding that they better escape while they can.

And on the way down the hall, Pan and Trunks exchanged a smile, thinking about the events that had happened the previous night. The kiss in the GR... the fight between Pyra and Pan... the new revelations that unfolded... and the... other interesting things that followed... all leading up to the moment they'd both been dreaming of. They were finally together... forever.

*~*~*~*~*
Well, there you have it. They're finally together! Everyone cheer! I hope you liked the way I made it come about. I know it was pretty hectic and everything, but that was for effect. And don't worry, this sure as hell isn't the end. I have a totally new idea for an adventure I hope is original. Once again, I am happy to email people when the next chapter is out, and feel free to dish out some ideas. And also, check out my profile. I got some new ideas for fics, and I also put up the estimated time it'll take before the next chapter is posted for each fic I've written. Tell me if the new ideas for fics suck or what, please.

Next Chapter: While Videl and Bulma rant and rave over wedding preparations, Trunks and Pan are just enjoying their romance like it is. However, a new invention Pan discovers in Bulma's lab sends them to a place they never thought they'd see.