Okay, this is it. This is the last chapter of "Runaway Hearts". Yes, there's and epilogue, but it's not much. I'm very proud of this chapter, but mostly the end, and not to sound vain, but I love the way the last paragraph came out. Enjoy.

I woke up the next morning exactly the way it always should have been: Marron and I wrapped up in each other's arms. But at six-thirty, the peace shattered as the stupid alarm clock went off.

"'Ten," she groaned sleepily. "I have to go to work."

I tightened my grip on her. "Can't you just stay home for today? Please?" I placed a kiss on her forehead.

She sighed heavily. "One day. I'll call in sick. But I'm the assistant manager now, 'Ten. I can't just skip work whenever I feel like it," she said. "Besides, I have to get Kira up and ready for school."

"Can I take her? And then when I get back I'll make you breakfast in bed. And then we can see what else happens," I added with a smirk.

Marron laughed. "Kira gets up in half an hour, you have to help her get dressed, do her hair, get her some breakfast, make sure she brushes her teeth and get her to school by a quarter to nine."

I groaned and pulled up the blankets over my head. "All right, I'll do it. But because I want to. I'm going to be the best father the universe has ever seen."

And I meant it. Kira deserved to have two wonderful parents, not one and one slacker. And starting right then, no more excuses. I had to prove myself to both my wife and my daughter.

"Okay, I'm going to hold you to that one," she whispered. "Now you go take a shower and I'll call in sick. Go on, get going." She shoved me away from her and rolled over.

I rubbed my eyes and peeled the blankets off of me. If I was going to be the best father ever, I had to get off to a nice, clean start-- a shower.

~

"Are you and Mommy getting married?" Kira asked in between spoonfuls of cereal. "'Cause that would be so cool!"

I chuckled. "No, we're not getting married. You know how Bra has lots of boyfriends? Well, I'm sort of your mom's boyfriend," I explained, sipping my coffee.

"Oh. But you're going to get married one day, aren't you?" she asked in a high, excited voice.

"One day, hopefully," I said, looking down at my ring. "One day. Now go brush you teeth and say goodbye to your mother. You don't want to be late for school."

~

"Oh honey," I chirped as I opened the door after dropping Kira off at school, "I'm home!"

The smell of pancakes and bacon floated back at me. "I'm in the kitchen!" Marron yelled.

"I was supposed to make breakfast," I whined, coming up behind Marron and wrapping my arms around her. "Smells good though."

"Good. Because it's just about ready. Here, if you really want breakfast in bed, you finish this and I'll go get in bed, okay?" She liked some pancake batter off of her finger and smiled.

"I'm on it," I said, picking up the spatula. Man, is this was how every morning was going to be; I was going to have the greatest life ever imaginable.

I finished up quickly and carefully balanced the plates to the bedroom, where

Marron was lying propped up against a pillow, idly reading a magazine. She smiled when she saw me. "Mmm, I am so hungry." She put down her magazine and took a plate from me.

I cringed. "Syrup on white sheets?"

"I wanted to talk to you anyway. About us. I, uh, heard you and Kira earlier. Goten, I do want to marry you. But not now. I want to take things as slow as possible. Which means that I want you to go back to your parents' house tonight."

How she could drop a bombshell like that so calmly while delicately eating a piece of bacon was beyond me. So I could only gape at her.

"Marron! How can you say something like that? Especially after last night!"

She placed her hand over mine. "I have to have a little bit of space. Look, I'm not saying that you can never spend the night here with me, but I think moving in together is going too fast."

"Okay," I said slowly. "I can take things slow. Just promise me that we won't go too slowly."

"Of course. I'm glad you understand. So was Kira okay with you taking her to school?" she asked.

"She was cool with it, yeah. I still with I didn't miss so many years," I murmured softly.

"I have pictures," Marron offered brightly. She leaned over the bed and pulled a big box from underneath it. "Everything from her first tooth to her first day of school."

I opened the box and picked up of a picture of Trunks, Marron, and Kira. Trunks had his arms wrapped around Marron and Kira was in the middle, laughing. "Were you happy with him?" I asked solemnly.

"Somewhat," Marron answered monotonously. "He was really just someone to take my mind off of you. I hate to say that, but now I think it's true."

I nodded and continued to look through the pictures. I couldn't help but smile at some of them. Kira looked so happy in each one, no matter if it was at home, in the park, at Capsule Corp., or at Kame House. There were a couple shots of her and her grandparents, and some with Trunks or Bra or Bulma, but not many with Marron. And then I found it.

The day that Marron brought Kira over to my parents' house after she was born and Pan snapped the picture of the three of us.

I fingered it gently, and if savoring the memory. I looked up at Marron, who was smiling softly, gazing out the window. That's the only picture of there is of the three of us. Pan sent it to me about a week after, and I had it in a frame in the living room. But after a while, I had to take it down. Right after we broke up, I think," she whispered.

Grinning slightly, I set the picture on the bed. "I want to put this back in a frame. And I think we need to take some pictures. We can do that this weekend."

Marron looked up at me. "I don't want to tell everyone about us yet, okay? I sort of was to just have it be us for a few days. I don't think we need to have everyone involved right now. Don't you agree?"

"Yeah. I think everyone else will only make it more complicated," I agreed. "Even though I'm dying to show you off."

"Bulma's Christmas ball," she smirked. "It's in about three weeks. We'll make it official there, I promise."

~

And we did. Marron and I made our grand entrance half an hour after the ball started. Marron looked incredibly gorgeous, with the skimpy red dress and strappy shoes she wanted to wear that year she was pregnant. And the beautiful new engagement ring on her finger didn't hurt, either.

I proposed to Marron in late December, the week before Christmas. We held Kira to absolute silence, and I think she was so excited, she did whatever we said.

So we walked in hand-in-hand, Kira happily marching in front of us. We weren't going to say anything; just see if anyone noticed.

Oh, and they noticed. It was the Son family's first Christmas ball in seven years, and they were all hypersensitive to anything and everything that was going on.

I caught my mother's eye first. She saw Kira and smiled softly, then saw Marron and myself and her jaw hit the ground. My father followed my mother's gaze, and soon Gohan, Videl, Pan, and her boyfriend Tony were all gaping at us. And just for effect, I moved my hand until the light caught Marron's ring. That really got them talking.

Trunks did a double take, Krillin didn't know whether to laugh or to cry, Juuhachigou rolled her eyes in annoyance, and Kira smiled almost proudly.

"Goten," Marron whispered, tugging on my hand, "I know this isn't the best time to tell you this, but I'm pregnant."