So sorry for taking so long, my dear readers. I've been slacking, yes I know. Laziness and entertaining people, along with people entertaining me don't combine very well, as you can see. I'll try to be more punctual on updating, but it's hard with a person like me. But don't worry, I'll never give up on this story, so always expect me to continue. And due to my rush to update, ignore any typos.

Special Thanks to Reviews From:
Matt
Loaf of Pan
chello
Anime Ambreen and Poke Manic
StarLite Wind
pan86
Brandon B
ills

Disclaimer: You know the expression, "The best things in life are free"? Well, that must be true, because I write this story for free. But then again, that has to be false, because DBZ isn't free. If it was, I would've bought it by now.

Oh, and this: ~...~ indicates Trunks and Pan's telepathic conversations through their bond.


Chapter 10

The next two months flew by in a flash. Pan and Trunks were both in a daze. They spent almost every waking moment with each other, even more than they spent when they were just friends. They trained together, went to the movies together, ate together... and... other things, and when they weren't together they had fun using their newfound telepathic bond they were granted. It worked well when they were in large groups or around their mothers too. They were like two kids passing notes in class.

Sometimes Pan even dragged Xavier along whenever she and Trunks went out. She always said she felt guilty leaving one behind (only sometimes, that is), and she always said that both of them were important to her, so why not take both along? And she also wanted them to get along together, since it was obvious that there might be some hostility between the two. There was Trunks' behavior to Pan during the time he was dating Pyra which made Xavier hate him, and there was the implications of Xavier finding Trunks attractive that made Trunks a little uneasy. But they both seemed to be at ease with each other, but that was only how it looked. Pan knew them both well enough to finish their thoughts before they could.

"So why don't you like Xavier?" She asked Trunks bluntly one day. They were sitting around in his room one night doing basically nothing, but enjoying each other's company.

"What do you mean?" He looked blank at first, but remembered that she knew him too well to be fooled that easily. He sighed. "I don't really know, Pan. Something about him just... just doesn't seem right."

Pan looked puzzled. "What do you mean by that?"

"Well it's just that I feel a little awkward around him.... I don't know..."

Pan raised an eyebrow and then laughed. She knew what he meant by it. Ever since the revelation that Xavier was gay, Trunks hadn't actually been very friendly towards him and it amused Pan that he was so threatened by it.

"I can't believe you're so narrow-minded," She said once she got over her amusement.

"Narrow-minded?" He looked as confused as she had before.

"Yes, narrow-minded. I can't believe Xavier's sexuality is what makes you uncomfortable."

"His sexuality? That's not it at all," But when she narrowed her eyes at him and gave him that, "Stop with the bullshit" look, he said, "Ok, it is. But can you blame me? You said the guy might ass rape me before...."

Pan laughed even harder at what she'd said months ago. "I said that during a moment of anger, Trunks. Didn't you think I was just joking? Why would he want to do that to you?"

"It's a possibility," Trunks looked a little insulted as he said it, then a look of arrogance overcame his features. "After all, I am Trunks Briefs, the man who saved us all from the Androids."

"Yeah, and it only took you about 20 years."

"It was more like.... 14.... but that's not my point...."

"Your point is that you think you're the shit and that every woman and man should want you so it shouldn't be that unfathomable for Xavier to want to ass rape you? Right?"

"...Uh... yeah," Sometimes it unnerved him when she finished his thoughts. This was one of those times. "I mean, after all, you're a part of the spell too."

"That may be," She grinned at him. "But I sure as hell don't want to ass rape you. I'm not equipped for that, so you'll have to ask Xavier the next time you see him."

He raised an eyebrow, but before he could retaliate she silenced him with a kiss, and of course all was forgotten. Kissing was beginning to become her way of controlling him, instead of the old way: whining and pouting.

Xavier couldn't be won over with a kiss, however. Convincing him to like Trunks was a little harder.

"I don't understand why you don't like Trunks," Pan said to him one afternoon when they were at a coffeehouse, the same one they shared their "reunion" in.

"Well, it's not that I don't like him," He said. "It's just there's something about him that I find sort of weird."

"What's that?" She asked with slightly worried eyes. It didn't make sense to her that two of the most important people in her lives seemed to find fault with each other. She thought if she found everything perfect in them, then they should feel the same way about each other. As far as she was concerned, she was always right in this kind of situation.

"Well," He hesitated, and then decided to tell her. They hadn't had any secrets from each other since their days at summer camp. "It's the age difference. It seems sort of weird to me that you're so in love with someone who's 14 years older than you are." Pan looked stunned by his confession. She hadn't really paid it much mind once she and Trunks were bonded. She figured that if it was meant to be, then it was meant to be. End of discussion. It didn't matter if he was 14 years older or if he was her father's best friend or that he watched her grow up. It was what was meant to be, something that didn't need further explanation or observation. Simple as that. But upon noticing her reaction, Xavier immediately said something to soften the blow. "But don't get me wrong, he's a nice guy and all, once you get passed all that crap you guys went through in the last few months. It's just not an everyday occurrence to see an 18 year old with a 32 year old, even though it's obvious he hardly looks his age or acts his age...." He touched her hand and added, "But my opinion doesn't matter. Who am I to say what looks right and what doesn't? It's your life, not mine."

"Your opinion does matter," She told him. "You're my best friend and you're important to me." To her, his opinion on whatever decision she made was mandatory, as it was with Trunks. They were both her friends, the only two people that knew her best.

"That may be true," He replied. "But that doesn't mean you have to listen to me or take my advice when I give it."

"I understand," She said, then added, "Why would I take your suggestions seriously anyway? I mean, you're the one that told me when we were in camp that one tree on fire couldn't burn down the whole forest."

"You wanted to get kicked out of camp, didn't you? I think I did you a favor."

"My stupidity got us kicked out of camp." They both laughed and then she said in a more serious tone. "Just remember that you and Trunks are the most important people in my life, so try to get along for me, ok?"

"Yes, ma'am," He saluted her and the topic was dropped. And even though his concerns of the 14 year age difference between Trunks and Pan was still hanging in Pan's head for awhile, she eventually dismissed it. Like he said, it was her life and her choice.

Bulma's House....
"What do you think about this one, Bulma?" Videl asked her blue-haired friend as she showed her a picture of a wedding dress in one of the many bridal magazines that were sprawled all over the table. Bulma was sitting at the computer in her lab, typing and still managing to help Videl plan Trunks and Pan's wedding, the wedding that they hadn't said they wanted quite yet. They were still enjoying the fact that they were together too much to even think about marriage. But of course, Videl and Bulma were too stubborn to hear anything other than themselves.

Bulma tilted her head slightly so that she could see the dress Videl was pointing at while still typing rapidly on the computer. She had decided to fire the new assistant she had, after the whole Pyra incident, and now it seemed like she had double the work to do. She nodded at Videl's suggestion and smiled. "Looks good to me." She slid in her chair to the table and grabbed another magazine. She opened it and pointed to something. "But what about this for the bridesmaids dresses..."

~ Bridesmaid dresses? How am I going to have bridesmaids? ~ Pan complained to Trunks through their bond. Since their mothers demanded that they be there during the planning of their wedding (as though they would actually let them choose anything that they actually wanted), they were down in the lab as well, having a conversation mentally so as to keep their privacy. Trunks got bored and started to do some push ups, and Pan was sitting Indian-style on his back.

~ Don't worry about it, Panny.~ Trunks told her in regards to her complaint about the plans for a wedding she was not ready to have. ~ Just ignore it. We've already established the fact that we don't want to get married just yet. It's not like they can force us to do anything we don't want to do. We're both adults. We can make our own decisions. ~

~ Trunks, look who our mothers are. They're the most stubborn, powerful women on the planet. They will not take no for an answer. ~

~ Yeah, you're probably right.... but still.... We'll just have to hide every frying pan in the world when we tell them. ~

Pan laughed and Videl and Bulma looked at her strangely for a moment and then continued their plans. ~ The thing about all this that gets me is why my mom's so interested in it. She never struck me as the type to want to plan a big, lavish, overly expensive wedding. ~

~ That's true. She didn't even want her own wedding to be so glamorous. I remember the big fuss she made about having a small wedding here. It was peaceful, with my mom as her maid of honor and me as Gohan's best man. They both wanted it that way. But my mom was a little heartbroken over not being able to give Gohan a huge wedding. You know how that is. ~

Pan nodded as Trunks continued his pushups. She realized again just how much older he was, but she shrugged it off and explored Bulma's lab with her eyes. She always wondered why Bulma did all of her Capsule Corp. work here instead of at the actual headquarters of the company, but then again it was also a little baffling to realize she also invented things here and had time to raise her only child into a fine man. Bulma was truly a miracle worker.

Pan remembered how much fun this room was when she was kid, and now at 18 years old it still held a sort of magic to her. She'd spend hours wandering around the room and looking at inventions, imagining what they did and how they did it or what kinds of pieces make it work and how long it took Bulma to think of them. She'd seen inventions come and go and some that never made it passed the drawing board and others that turned out perfectly and seemed to totally reverse the laws of science in every way possible. It seemed like a fairytale land, a world of innumerable possibilities where the sky was the limit of creation. She looked with awe at all of the objects, some huge, some small, some shiny, some dull, all spawned from the genius mind of Bulma Briefs. And once she came around to something she'd never seen before, she let her eyes rest a little longer on it.

It was sitting on Bulma's desk, right next to her computer. It was a shiny, football-shaped, metal object with a screen on it and a few buttons underneath. It was simple, but for some reason Pan felt the need to explore it further. She didn't know why, but suddenly she felt a need to see just what that thing did and experience all its wonders.

Her thoughts were cut short, however, when Bulma's voice said, "I think that's enough for today. Who's hungry?"

That was the only word Trunks agreed with all day. He shot up and flew to the stairs so quickly that Pan flew off his back and landed on the hard floor on her butt.

"Sorry, Panny," He said quickly as he continued up the stairs and to the kitchen, with Bulma and Videl laughing behind him.

Pan was less than amused as she got up and rubbed her sore ass, but then she realized she was all alone in Bulma's lab. Grinning almost sadistically, she quickly ran over to the computer desk and picked up the object that held so much of her attention. It gave her an instant flashback of her as a kid, waiting until she was alone to play with something and end up breaking it. But she was extra careful with this object, and she didn't know why, but she felt a serious need to, like it held something that was vital to her existence or happiness. She let her fingers run over the curves of its football shape and then over the screen. It looked as if no one had ever touched it, for the buttons felt new and the screen was very clear. It was then that she noticed the buttons had numbers on them. There was also three buttons at the bottom that said, "Month", "Day", and "Year". She was a little perplexed, but she didn't have time to ponder it more, for Trunks came down the stairs and startled her a little bit. She'd been so deep in thought that she hadn't sensed him.

"Aren't you coming up?" He asked as he approached her. She quickly set the object down and turned to face him, but he noticed the quick action and asked, "What are you doing?"

Knowing it was impossible to lie to him, she answered, "I was wondering what this was." She handed it to him and he looked just as confused as she was.

And then, like a light bulb hit her, she snatched it away from him. "I want to find out what it does."

"No, don't do that," Trunks told her as he grabbed it back from her. "You don't know what this thing is capable of or if it's even safe. Just leave it alone."

He tried to put it back on the desk but Pan snatched it back from him. "Why would Bulma make something dangerous? C'mon, let me just see what it does."

Trunks grabbed it back. "No. You can ask my mom what it does once we go back upstairs."

That was it. Pan was a little impatient and intolerant of being told what to do when it came to things like that. It was just like when they were younger and she would fight with him about staying up late or the answer to a question on her homework. She hated to be told no, especially by Trunks. So she grabbed the invention back, starting a little game of tug-o-war. They pulled and pushed at each other in order to get a hold of it, and ended up pressing a few buttons in the process.

"Pan, leave it alone!" Trunks shouted as he tried to pull the object away from her. "Stop being so childish!"

"You're the one who's being childish!" Pan shouted back. She was so aggressive and determined to have custody of the new invention that she almost had her elbow in Trunks' mouth. "You won't even let me see it!"

They were so engrossed in their battle that they hadn't noticed what buttons they were pushing or that their mothers were laughing at them from the top of the stairs. But their laughter stopped when a blinding green light escaped from the football-like object and engulfed the feuding lovers, making them vanish into thin air.

After a few seconds, Videl turned to Bulma and said, "What the hell just happened?"

Bulma blinked a few times at the spot where Trunks and Pan just were. "...Beats the hell out of me..."

Uh... Somewhere....
Pan and Trunks reappeared in the same position, still fighting over the object. Pan yanked it away from him so hard, that she slipped and fell backwards, causing the football-like object to fly out of her hands and onto the cement sidewalk. Upon contact with the hard surface, the invention exploded into several small pieces.

Trunks was furious. "Look what you did now Pan! Mom's going to kill you!"

"It's not my fault!" Pan shouted back from her seat on the ground. "You should've just let me have it and it would've been the end of it!"

"You are so childish, Pan!" Trunks shouted back as he leaned down to pick up the pieces of metal and wires on the concrete. Wait a minute... concrete? He blinked a few times and it was then that both he and Pan noticed exactly where they were. They were in the middle of a city of some sort, right in front of a store. There were crowds of people gathering around them wondering where they came from and others too scared to get that close to the people that magically appeared out of the sky.

"Where the hell are we?" Trunks asked as he helped Pan up and stuck the pieces of the invention in the pocket of his jacket.

"I don't know..." She said as she surveyed her surroundings. "How did we get here?"

"It probably has something to do with this football thing," Trunks told her. He grabbed her hand and moved out of the crowd. He looked at some of the billboards and other things on the walls of stores and noticed something different about them. And without a word, he took off into the sky with Pan following behind him.

"Where are we going?" She asked him through the sound of the wind whipping her face.

"I'm not sure," He told her honestly. "But I have a feeling I know what happened to us."

~*~

"Bulma, what the hell happened to my little girl?" Videl shouted at her friend that was typing furiously on the computer. She went hysterical once the shock of her daughter's disappearance wore off, and she demanded that Bulma find out the cause of it.

"I'm trying to figure it out!" Bulma shouted back. "I want to find her just as much as you do. After all, it wasn't just your daughter that disappeared, it was my son too!"

"I'm sorry, Bulma," Videl seemed a little calmer as she grabbed a chair and sat next to her. "I'm just worried. They just... vanished."

"I know," Bulma said sympathetically. "But I've got the blueprints to that invention right here on the computer and if I remember them correctly Pan and Trunks should be fine."

"What do you mean 'if I remember them correctly'?" Videl asked, her tone a little harsh and an eyebrow raised.

"Well, I haven't worked on this thing in years, and I haven't had a chance to test it," Bulma told her. "I'm hoping that looking at the blueprints will give me a little reassurance that they're ok."

"So you're telling me you don't know what this thing is capable of?" Videl asked, looking worried again.

"Well... yeah I guess," Bulma told her honestly and Videl was seething.

"What the hell is that thing supposed to do anyway?"

"It was supposed to be an alternative to the time machine. I invented it in case we ever needed to go back in time again, but when it seemed that Trunks had everything under control and no other threat to the world has been made, I stopped working on it and looked toward other things. It was only a few days ago that I found it again and vowed to finish it, but I haven't had a chance."

"So basically they could be Kami knows where in the past or the future?"

"Yeah. But I put a tracking device on it, so if it works correctly we can find out where they are as long as the device hasn't been damaged."

"And then we can use the other time machine to go get them!" Videl exclaimed happily.

"Exactly," Bulma grinned victoriously and continued to type commands into her computer.

"You know, I was beginning to wonder if all that crap about you being a genius was a load of shit," Videl told her. "But now, I see it wasn't."

"Thanks," Bulma said, but then it dawned on her and she looked at Videl with a puzzled look. "Wait a minute... what do you mean by that?"

~*~

Trunks and Pan flew for what seemed like hours in the same direction. Trunks was just sure he knew what happened by the looks of the place, that they had somehow gone back in time, but he wasn't sure exactly what year they landed in. He was also confused as to why that little item did it, but he didn't want to think about that now. All he wanted to do at the moment was figure out if Capsule Corp. existed in this place.

"Where are we going, Trunks?" Pan asked him again. She was beginning to get a little nervous by the feeling she was getting from Trunks through their bond. She could tell his mind was working a mile a minute and she was anxious to know what was going on.

"I want to see if there's a Capsule Corp. somewhere around here," He told her. "I think we went back in time."

"Back in time?!" She shrieked. "...How?"

"If I knew, I'd tell you," He told her honestly. "Right now I'm trying to find out if Capsule Corp. exists here. If so, I can ask my mom from this time if she can fix this thing somehow and hopefully we'll be home again soon."

Pan just nodded and continued to fly with him. But when he stopped suddenly a second later, she looked a little startled. "What's wrong?"

"I feel..." He squinted his eyes in concentration. "I feel something... strangely familiar... that ki.... where did I feel it before?.... and the other one that's with it?..."

Pan expanded her senses and felt something a little familiar too. "I feel something familiar too, but only one of them is familiar."

They both flew down to the direction of the kis that they were feeling, which landed them in the heart of some sort of forest area. They settled themselves behind some bushes when they heard the voices of the two individuals.

"Concentrate harder! I know you can do this!" A male voice commanded.

"I'm trying! It might not be hard to you, but it's hard to me!" A female voice returned.

"Ok, just relax and try to concentrate. Make your mind very clear. The only way you can do this is if you master ki."

"Are you sure that's the only way I can fly? This ki stuff sounds like a load of bullshit to me."

"What the hell..." Trunks looked at Pan with a confused look. "That sounds like... no it can't be... Can it?"

"What do you mean 'the energy I can feel in my body'?!" The female voice shrieked. "You have no right to be talking about my body, Gohan!"

"That sounds like my mom..." Pan murmured.

"I think it is," Trunks whispered. "It's got to be."

They both looked up from the bush slowly and sure enough, they saw two teenage versions of Pan's parents arguing. Pan's mouth dropped open. "That is my mom! She's like... my age!" Her face fell a little then and she cocked her head to one side as she stared at the tall, black-haired boy with whom her mother was yelling at. "Is that.... my...."

"Yep," Trunks whispered back. "It's your dad, Pan."

"Holy shit this is weird...."

~*~

Gohan backed up as Videl advanced on him, yelling and screeching about Gohan's nonexistent obsession with her body and his "constant" perverted thoughts. He failed to realize, however, that he was backing up into a bush, and he found out too late when he fell into it. He expected to land on something that felt a little more like thorny branches rather than something as hard as a rock.

"Ow..." He complained as he got up, and his eyes went wide when he realized he landed on someone's head. "I'm so sorry.... Trunks?"

Trunks sat up and rubbed his head. "Yeah, that's me," He told Gohan with a grin. "Damn, is your ass made of bricks?"

Gohan grinned. "I guess so." It was then that someone else arose from the ground and sat up next to Trunks. Gohan cocked his head to the side and looked at her for awhile, thinking he'd seen her somewhere before.

Trunks noticed his puzzled look and stood up with Pan. "Gohan, this is Pan. Pan, this is Gohan."

They both stood there for a long time, each of them never blinking. Pan was shocked to be so close to the father she'd never known that she was speechless, and Gohan kept thinking he knew her somewhere before. She looked so familiar to him for some strange reason.

Videl was growing impatient. "I thought I was supposed to get a flying lesson, today." She narrowed her eyes at the new comers and pointed at Trunks. "You look like Trunks."

He grinned. "That's because I am."

Videl cocked an eyebrow and looked from him to Gohan about a million times. "Explanation, please?" She asked Gohan, although it was more of a command than a question.

"Well..." Gohan hesitated. He didn't want to tell her so much of his past or any of the other inhuman things that came along with it. It was bad enough that she knew he was a superhero named the Great Saiyaman and knew how to fly. How was he supposed to explain this one?

But Trunks filled in for him. "Well, my girlfriend," He motioned towards Pan, "and I come from the future. I'm the future version of Trunks.... judging from how old Gohan looks, he's probably about 8 years old now, right?"

Gohan nodded. "Why are you guys here now? Is there something we should be watching out for again?" He asked with worried eyes.

"No, not at all," Trunks reassured him. "It was an accident that we ended up here." He gave Pan a dirty look and she rolled her eyes.

"The future?" Videl asked in total bemusement. "That's impossible! Time travel does not exist."

"You also thought it was impossible for humans to fly, am I correct?" Pan asked. She loved to prove people wrong, especially her mother... although she wasn't exactly her mother really... but you get the point.

"....True," Videl said. "But who asked you anyway?"

"Some things you don't ask for. Some things just happen that way." Pan smirked and Videl growled.

Luckily for them they didn't get a chance to start something up, for two kids appeared almost instantly by their sides. One was of course the miniature version of Trunks, the head of lavender hair and the blue eyes that were quick to show just how mischievous he could be. But the second child was someone Trunks (the future Trunks, that is) hadn't seen before, and again he felt that sensation of deja vu as he looked at the short kid with black, spiky hair and a friendly, childish smile.

The child blinked a few times and looked from Trunks, his best friend, and the older man that looked exactly like him. He tugged on Gohan's pants, signaling him to lower his ear. He complied, and the boy whispered in his ear, "Why are there two Trunks, big brother?"

"Big brother?" Trunks asked. - How can Gohan have a little brother if Goku died after the Cell Games...-

~ Well, Trunks, it's called sex. See, they must've had sex before... Goku went to the... Cell Games. You think? ~

~ You always have to be a smart ass, don't you? ~

~ Of course. It's part of my charm. ~

"Yeah, this is my little brother, Goten," Gohan replied as he pushed the frightened child in front of him for Trunks to meet.

"He looks just like Goku!" Trunks exclaimed.

Meanwhile, Little Trunks was looking him over with suspicion. "So you're supposed to be me from the future, am I right?"

Trunks nodded. "Yeah, that would be me."

"Oh, you were so cute when you were little, Trunks!" Pan said while running a hand through Little Trunks' hair. "What happened?"

Everyone laughed but Videl and Trunks snorted. "You didn't seem to have a problem with my looks last night when we were-"

"Shut up!" Pan quickly put a hand over his mouth before he could say something to embarrass her, and it was obvious that Trunks was laughing.

Gohan's poor naive mind hadn't grasped that, so he just cocked his head to the side and stared at Pan for awhile. This feeling of deja vu was really bothering him. He couldn't figure out where he had seen her before, and he swore it was going to drive him crazy if he didn't figure it out.

"Do you have a problem?" Pan asked, trying to be as polite as she could, but it apparently didn't work by the annoyed tone of her voice. She hated it when people looked at her for too long. Father or no father, that was just a sin.

"Oh, no... I'm sorry," Gohan stammered as he blushed. He titled his head and raised his hand to the back of his head, nervous laughter escaping his lips. "It's just that you look so familiar to me."

Pan looked a little nervous as well, for she suspected that feeling was due to her slight resemblance to him and Videl. She repeated his gesture. "Really.... that's... uh... weird.."

They both stood there laughing and rubbing their heads, and it obvious even to Goten that they looked a little alike. But he and Little Trunks just shrugged it off and the older Trunks looked down, nervous as hell. He knew it would be dangerous if they found out who Pan really was, and the father-daughter laughter that was taking place wasn't helping any.

Videl noticed this too and looked very much confused. "What the hell is going on...?"

~*~

"I don't understand it..." Bulma said with a look of despair. It had been about 2 hours since Trunks and Pan's disappearance, and she had been working nonstop to try to find a way to bring them back. She checked the blueprints a million times, and everything seemed to be in perfect order. Nothing in the invention she had manufactured would cause them any harm, but the tracking device she'd installed didn't seem to be working. It made no sense to her, and she was near tears along with Videl, who never left her side at the computer.

"You mean you can't trace them?" Videl was nervous and jittery and worried about her only child.

"No, I'm afraid I can't," She said. She sighed loudly. "I don't know what to do either. I'll have to think and look at all the information on my computer again to see if there's an alternative." She pulled up more files with a click of her mouse. "I just don't understand. The blueprints were in perfect order, so the tracking device should've worked perfectly.... unless..."

"Unless what?" Videl said, looking desperate again.

"Shit!" Bulma said. "They were probably still fighting when they got transported to wherever they are and destroyed it somehow."

"Shit," Videl repeated. "So what are we going to do?"

"I don't know," Bulma said honestly. "But I'll find a way. Trust me."

~*~

Trunks and Pan decided to go check out Gohan's house instead of going straight to Bulma's. Well, actually Pan decided for them. She wanted to see how her father lived, even though she knew it had to be a lot better than the Gohan of her timeline had lived. Still, she was excited beyond words. She finally got to meet the father she never knew.

They walked into the cheery, dome-shaped house and were immediately greeted by the sweet smell of various foods cooking. All of the Saiyans' mouths started to instantly water.

"Did you bring home a small village, Gohan?" A black-haired woman asked. She came in wearing a bright smile and there was a motherly look about her that made you instantly feel comfortable. Pan couldn't help but smile at her.

"Yeah, I guess so, Mom," Gohan grinned that Son grin that was so characteristic of any descendant of Goku Son. There was about 7 of them there for dinner, counting his mother, as opposed to their usual 3 or sometimes 4, depending on when Little Trunks was over or not.

- Mom, huh?- Pan thought, then grinned. - So that's where my middle name comes from.-

Chichi looked at Trunks and became worried. "Oh Dende. Please don't tell me there's another threat to the world..."

"Oh no, that's not it," Trunks was quick to reassure her. "My girlfriend and I just got transported here by accident. I hope you don't mind feeding us."

"No, not a problem," Chichi said, then started examining Pan with her eyes. "How old are you?" She asked bluntly.

Pan looked a little startled by the question. "Uh... 18..."

"Eighteen?!" She almost shrieked it. She looked at Trunks with a weird, disapproving look. "Trunks, how old are you?"

"Uh... 32..." He said, looking just as confused as Pan was.

"Wow, Trunks," Goten said to his best friend, the smaller version of Trunks. "You're old!"

"I'm not old, stupid," Little Trunks told him. "Future Me is."

"He's 32 and she's 18!" Videl said, almost to herself. "That's pretty sick."

Trunks and Pan both blushed and Chichi put her face right in front of Pan's. "You look really familiar."

Pan laughed nervously. "Uh... really?"

"That's what I thought," Gohan chimed in.

"Uh, you know, we've had a rough day," Trunks tried to change the subject. "Why don't we eat?"

"Yeah!" Goten helped, thank Kami. "Let's eat!"

All of the Saiyans ran to the table, leaving Videl and Chichi wondering just what the hell this girl from the future was doing here.

~*~

Poor Goten. He was horrified by what he was seeing. Pan was shoveling just about as much food into her mouth as he and Gohan were. And he thought he could eat more than anybody in the world. How dare this girl stage him up?

"Holy crap," A very appalled Videl said in regards to Pan's eating habits. "Can she breathe?" Even Gohan had to stop eating and gawk at her. In fact, everyone was looking at her, except Trunks, that is. They all assumed she was human, and humans never had appetites like that.

Pan must've felt their eyes on her, for she stopped suddenly and raised her eyes to look at them, with her fork inches from her face. She smiled awkwardly and asked, "Is something wrong?"

"You eat so much..." Videl said. Just like her daughter. Quick, blunt, and straight-to-the-point.

"Oh... yeah..." Pan smiled sheepishly and blushed.

"You eat as much as a Saiyan..." Chichi said, her eyes wide. "I've never met a woman who ever matched up to these boys."

"Saiyan?" Videl looked confused. "What's that?"

"Uh... nothing," Gohan started waving his arms frantically in typical, Anime fashion. "Nothing at all... don't uh... worry about it..."

Videl raised an eyebrow but decided she'd figure that out for herself later. After all, she had lots more flying lessons to get through. And at the rate she was going, there was going to be plenty of time to find out what a Saiyan was.

"Well..." Pan tried to reply to Chichi's comment on her appetite when Goten's voice rang in the room.

"Maybe she's gonna have a baby," He said, all innocence and smiles. "Mom said women eat a lot before they have babies."

That made Trunks look up, and he looked horrified as he stared at Goten. And then he blushed beet red, as was Pan. Being pregnant never even occurred to her, neither to Trunks, and they both looked genuinely frightened at the prospect.

"Uh, I don't think that's it, Goten," Gohan told his little brother. He could tell by the looks on their faces that they didn't look too thrilled at the possibility. "She probably just has a healthy appetite." Pan nodded and continued eating, although considerably slower this time.

"That reminds me, Gohan," Chichi started. "When are you ever going to give me grandchildren? I can't live forever, you know."

"Mom," He whined. "I'm only 18 years old. I haven't even found a girl I like yet," It was almost impossible not to see him move his eyes to Videl slightly, but Pan caught it and couldn't help but smile. "Give me a break."

"Pan's 'only 18' and she's found a guy she likes," Chichi said. "And I bet she feels like she wants to spend the rest of her life with Trunks. Don't you?" She looked directly at Pan and Pan couldn't help but smile wide and nod, while catching a glimpse at Trunks who was also smiling. "See? You're going to school now, so there's no reason for you not to find someone."

"Sure Mom. Whatever you say."

"And what do you mean you don't have a girl you like yet? What about Videl? She'd make a good wife for you."

Gohan blushed bright pink and Videl looked almost appalled, but it obvious to Pan that the possibility didn't seem too unattractive. There was something in her eyes that made Pan know otherwise. It was probably the fact that she was so close to her mother and knew when she was telling the truth or when she was hiding something or whatever else. Although she had to admit, this Videl was far different than the Videl of her time. She seemed a lot more hostile and temperamental. But that could've been due to the difference in age too.

"Videl and I are just friends, Mom," Gohan explained. Sometimes he wondered if his mother had more than one thing on her mind.

"Pan and I were too for a long time," Trunks said, grinning from ear to ear. He liked the game of "Embarrass Gohan", and he was doing a pretty good job of it. "And look what happened to us." Gohan blushed bright red this time and tried to hide it by putting his head down.

~ Leave my dad alone Trunks. ~ Pan told him through their bond. ~ Stop torturing him. ~

~ You don't know what kind of torture he put me through when I was a kid, not to mention the last couple months. ~

~ The last couple months...? ~ She had to look at him this time.

~ Uh... never mind...~ He'd forgotten about Gohan's invisibility when he had come back from the dead. It seemed almost a million years ago. It was far cry from the happiness he now felt constantly.

~ Whatever, Trunks. ~ Pan told him, and left it at that. There were some things, she realized, that she could never figure out about him.

~*~

After dinner, Little Trunks and Goten immediately disappeared outside while Trunks and Pan talked with Gohan about their plans. They told him they were planning to go to Bulma's as soon as possible, to see if she could possibly repair the broken object that sent them there. They wanted to get home as soon as possible, for they knew their mothers were probably worried sick about them. But Chichi came into the living room from the kitchen and interrupted them by saying, "You two are staying here tonight. I don't want to hear another word about it. I'm sure it can wait until tomorrow to see Bulma."

"Well, that's very generous," Trunks told her. "But it's ok. Besides, we really need to be getting home."

~ Oh, c'mon, Trunks. ~ He heard Pan's pleading voice in his head. ~ I want to spend as much time here as I can. I've never even seen my dad before. This is my only chance. ~

~ I know, Panny, but we shouldn't be here. This is not our world. It's a different time. ~

~ But you can come here when you need to stop the Androids or kill that other thing you had to fight here. What's wrong with staying here? Who knows how long it's going to take Bulma to fix this thing. We could be here for years. ~

Trunks sighed. There was no winning when you were arguing with Pan. "On second thought," He told Chichi. "Maybe we will take you up on that offer."

"Good choice, Trunks," She whispered. She looked over then at Gohan and Videl who were heading out the door. Hoping to see something interesting, she ran over to the window and looked out. Gohan and Videl were standing in the yard, talking about something, and she gently pulled the window open a crack to hear what was going on.

~*~

"So I guess my next lesson is next weekend," Videl asked as she fished around in her pocket for the capsule that contained her jet copter.

"Yeah, if that works for you," Gohan said. He couldn't help but stare at the raven hair of the girl he liked so much, and she noticed this, much to his chagrin.

"Why are you looking at me like that?" She asked, looking irritated. Pan realized whom she got that pet peeve from.

"Oh... uh... no real reason," Gohan replied, blushing slightly. "I just thought that you might want to cut your hair. It seems a little long to me."

Videl smiled and twirled one pigtail around her finger. "Do you like girls with short hair, Gohan?"

His eyes widened, and he immediately started to thrash his arms around in order to signal that he didn't. "No, no, not at all! I just thought that it might get in your way when you fight, that's all."

Videl frowned and threw the capsule that contained her jet copter on the ground. "You are such a jerk, Gohan!" She screamed, before climbing into her copter and flying away, leaving Gohan to stare blankly at it and wonder what he did wrong. It seemed like whatever he said, he managed to get on Videl's nerves. And the worse part of it all was that he cared. He didn't like to make her mad. He only wanted to see her happy. And knowing why he felt that way, he almost cringed as he walked somberly back into the house.

Pan immediately settled herself on the couch so that he wouldn't know that she was spying on him. He looked at her once and tried to smile, but she saw how distressed he was and she felt sorry for him. She knew firsthand what he was feeling, and wanted to help him feel better.

"Hey, Gohan," She called out to him. He stopped walking towards his room and looked at her. It was then that he noticed they were alone in the living room, and he wondered what Pan was going to say to him.

"Yeah?" He asked.

"I saw what happened outside," She started. "And it doesn't take a genius to figure out that it upset you. Do you want to talk about it?"

He hesitated a minute, but surprised himself by nodding and walking over to the couch to sit next to her. He didn't know this person, but he felt strangely comfortable with her. "I don't understand why I let Videl get to me, but I do. People call me names and get mad with me all the time, just like Videl does, and it doesn't bother me. But when Videl does it, it seems like the whole world is going to end. I don't understand it...."

Pan smirked. "It sounds to me like you have a little crush on Videl."

"What?" Gohan almost shrieked it with horror, and instantly blushed. "No, that's not it! That's not it at all!"

"Yes, it is," Pan said, loving his look of embarrassment. "You have a crush on her!"

Gohan was about to deny it again, but he noticed that Pan wasn't buying it and sighed. "Ok, I guess you're right. I do have a crush on her. But I don't know how to handle it. I don't know how to get over it."

Pan nodded sympathetically, and then her head shot up when she suddenly got an idea. "What if I told you I could help you out? Would you be interested?"

Gohan raised an intrigued eyebrow. "Keep talking..."

Pan grinned. "Ok, here's what we can do...."

~*~

After her little talk with Gohan, Pan was feeling both victorious and a little tired. She decided to go to sleep, and she found Trunks already nearing dreamland in the room Chichi designated for them.

"Hey, Panny," He said sleepily. "Where have you been?"

"Oh, just talking to my dad," She told him, and grinned. She loved the sound of the words, "my dad".

Somehow, he had the feeling that she was up to something as she slipped into bed beside him. "What does that mean?"

"It means just what I said," She replied, looking insulted that he would think she was up to no good. "I was talking to my dad."

"And what came of this 'talk with your dad'?" He asked suspiciously.

"Nothing," She said defensively, then turned her back on him to signal that the discussion was over. He sighed and shook his head, preparing himself for sleep, when seconds later, he heard, "I just promised him I'd set him up with my mom."

Trunks' eyes shot open. "What?!"

*~*~*~*~*
Hehehe, how ya like dem apples? Tell me in your review. And check my little bio thingy. It usually has the estimated time it'll take me to update each of my stories. And feel free to read any of my other stories, and also check out my ideas for future fics as well. I love you all!

Next Chapter: Bulma and Videl work harder than ever to bring their children back, and Trunks finally makes it to his mother's home to see if she can fix the broken invention. While this is going on, Pan enrolls at Orange Star High in order bring her parents together.