A/N:    Thanks a lot for your reviews!!! You still make me happy with them!!

Chapter 9: As time passes

************************************************************************************

Have you ever wondered how fast time could pass, when you last expect it? It still seemed for Pan like yesterday that she ran away from home to start a new life here in LA, but now it's rapidly nearing April. Nearly eight months have passed since then, since the fight of Trunks and her – the fight that changed their life. She had a hard time at the beginning, but now life was good. She had a new home, work and soon a child she would have to take care of - a small boy. It wasn't always easy and there were times, when she wished that it could be different, that she could again be with her family and… Trunks. But she was living and having a life on her own and that was everything that was important.

Okay, in the first two months after she had come to LA everything looked more than a bit grim. The pain of the separation had still been too fresh and she was trying so hard to adjust to her new life there – finding a job, a place to live and of course getting used to the thought that she would soon be a mother – and with the help of her friends she was able to do it.

Thanks to Angela she now had a place to live. Pan had moved into the house of her friend's grandparents a few days after they had dinner together. To be precise from that evening on everything started to go upwards for her. The following week she did have an appointment with her doctor, her three months check, and at this appointment she got to know the sex of her baby. A boy. She was going to be the mother of a small boy. This had been the luckiest – and at the same time – the saddest moment in her life. Knowing this somehow made the whole things final. From that moment on the baby wasn't an 'it' anymore but a 'he' – her son. This was just an incredible feeling. But knowing this also made her realize that this would be a son Trunks would most likely never meet, never have the knowledge of. But this wasn't just about Trunks. This was also about her parents. They would never know about their grandchild, never experience the feeling of having a small boy running around in their house.

That night, after getting the news that the baby would be a boy, she had cried for the first time after the time directly after the break up. But the next day Pan had called Lindsay to tell her that the baby's going to be a boy, just like the other woman had asked her to do, when they had left the airport. They had talked for about one hour on the phone and in the end agreed to meet for lunch the following day.

And then at lunch something happened that would make Pan grateful to Lindsay till eternity…

Flashback

"So Pan," Lindsay said after cleaning her mouth and put the napkin on the table next to her now empty plate. They had just finished eating and she thought that she could now talk to Pan about a matter that the younger woman didn't want to talk about – her work, or better the lack thereof. "Are there any job interviews in the next time?" she asked hesitatingly, eyeing Pan closely.

"Lindsay, do we really have to talk about his right now?" Pan wanted to know, trying not to sound too rude. She looked up from her plate and saw the resolved look on her friend's face. She sighed, knowing that they had to talk about this now. "No," she answered finally. "There aren't any job interviews. I think I'm slowly loosing hope about ever finding one, at least in the next year or so…" Eventually she found herself telling about the problems she had until now, when she was having a job interview. She told Lindsay how everything always went fine until they came to the subject of her current condition.

Lindsay just nodded lightly, while Pan was telling here this. She could understand her all too well, since she also did have the same problems, when she had been pregnant with Emily and moved out of her parents' house. She had been lucky in the end, but not all young women, who had the same problems, could say to be that lucky. And Pan seemed to be one of them – until now. Lindsay grinned inwardly. She still had a small surprise for Pan.

At the end of their lunch she gave Pan a small card – a calling card. "What's this?" Pan asked surprised, turning it to see the address of a large company on the back.

"That's the company my fiancé," she flashed Pan a large smile and proudly showed her the plain silver ring on her left ring finger, before she continued, "and I'm working for. And I don't know if this is just coincident or fate, but he just fired his assistant last week, because she tried to hit on him. The official version is of course, that she hadn't done her work to his satisfaction, which was also correct. Well, and now he's looking for a new one and then I thought of you. With your education and the experiences you made at Capsule Corporation…" When Lindsay mentioned this, Pan's eyes went wide. She was sure that she didn't tell her about that. But Lindsay just smiled. "Yeah, I figured it out. Wasn't too hard after the speech on TV, but don't worry, I didn't tell anyone, not even Josh. Whatever, what I wanted to say is that you might just be the right person for the job. You have a job interview tomorrow at ten sharp."

Pan's mouth opened and closed again, but no word came out. She was simply at a loss of words. "B-but… I- the baby…" she finally managed to stutter.

"Don't worry about your little boy," she said gently. "I already told you about the day-care center in the company and besides, it's just a part-time job."

Pan hung her shoulders in defeat. How could it be that all of her old or new friends here in LA manage to convince her like that? "Okay, I'll go."

End Flashback

And she had been there – and ten sharp. Much to Pan's surprise the job interview went really smooth. Two men, one elderly, whom she thought to be one of the higher bosses of this company, and a younger one, who was Lindsay's fiancé and direct superior, due to the fact that she was his secretary – that was how they got to know each other - and one middle-aged woman were interviewing her. After taking the advice of Lindsay that keeping some important information from her could-be bosses might be a huge mistake, she decided to tell them about her decision and her reasons for wanting to live with a new identity, though asking for understanding that she would keep the true circumstances as to why she left her home for herself. They were really understandable in this matter. Just one time Pan's heart almost stood still – when the elderly man started to talk about her pregnancy. She assured him that she wouldn't stop working until it really wouldn't be possible for her anymore and would start again as soon as possible after the baby was born and that even then the elderly couple she was living with could take care of him. But Pan was worried for no reason, because the woman then told her about the day-care center in their company and that this wouldn't pose any problem.

This time Pan left an office with a huge smile on her face and a signed contract in her pocket.

The only other time that Pan had cried after getting the news that her baby would be a boy was at Christmas. There had been a small party at the Crawford's house with family and friends, but even though Pan was already long seen as a part of the family, she had felt sad watching them. Of course she had known it before, but it all came back to her then that she would never again celebrate Christmas with her parents, family and friends back in Japan. Never. She would never again eat her grandmother's delicious dinner, never again laugh at her uncle, when he got hit with the frying Pan for trying to steal something out of the kitchen, never again hear Vegeta complain about those stupid human holidays, which he didn't understand or other things that always made Christmas at her old home special.

Christmas was, what she had missed the most, when she had been in LA the last seven years and the knowledge that the Christmas when she had been sixteen was the last one she would ever have with her family hit her hard. The whole time at the party she had kept up a brave face – first when all the guests were gone and she had been lying in her bed in her room the tears started to flow freely. But she hadn't thought about the possibility that maybe on the other side of the world someone felt as miserable as she…

~*~

Trunks Vegeta Briefs, the President of Capsule Corporation, hadn't been in a mood for a party this Christmas. That was the reason why he had still been at his office and not at the traditional Christmas party his mother held every year at their home. But he wasn't working like everyone was assuming.

After two months of doing nothing concerning Pan, he had started to look for her again – but until now in vain. Even though they protested and told him that it wouldn't work, he had hired some of the best private detectives in the end and even started to fly around the planet on his own, hoping against hope that he would catch a glimpse of her ki or feel her through their bond. But nothing had happened. Simply nothing. Just a few days ago the detectives had told him that they would quit. That was enough for Trunks to let Christmas be Christmas and to stay in his office with – even though he knew he would regret it in the morning – a few bottles of high-proved vodka. All his employees had left after lunch and since then he had been the only person in the huge building, first finishing up his work until it was already pitch-black outside. And he had been glad for that. It had been better for him to get drunk alone than in company of family, friends and maybe even coworkers. The last thing he had needed right then would've been another huge article in the newspapers.

It hadn't even been midnight, when Trunks had already passed out on the floor of his office…

This had just been a one-time thing. He had wanted to get away from all of it, especially in this one night of the year, when everyone else around him was happy. When this whole holiday had been over, he had started again with his search – but unsuccessful.

~*~

Eight months. Eight months since the break-up. Summer, fall and winter have passed, everyone has somehow managed to go on with their lives and it's spring now. Time of rebirth. Flowers, leaves – animals are coming out again – everything is starting new. Also the circle of life. So why not starting with the birth of a small baby-boy?

************************************************************************************

Okay, not much action in this chapter and it was also really short, but I somehow had to fill those eight months… I started to drag this out to an incredible length and also got bored with it. But I think you know what'll happen in the next chapter.

Please be so nice and review! Thanks a lot!

Eternally yours

ChibiChibi