Title: The Great Pad Thai Tour

Author: elektra12

Rating: M

Characters/Pairings: Yamcha/Marron

Spoilers: None

Disclaimer: I do not own DB/Z/GT nor any of the restaurants or stores mentioned (real or otherwise). I write for fun and have no intentions of profiting off this piece.

Summary: Yamcha and Marron go on a hunt. Not for dragonballs, but for the perfect dish of Pad Thai. How far will they go to find it?

Author's notes: No, you aren't crazy, you probably have read this before. It used to be called, "Road Trip" but I hated that title. Talk about generic...Anyway, I fixed a few typos and formatting while I was at it. - e

o-0-o-0-o

When my girl gets a hair up her ass there's no stopping her. We've been on the road since 10am and all this driving is killing me. Marron gets up this morning, you see, craving Pad Thai. And she wants to go for a drive. I had no idea she's going to combine the two.

We start the morning from our home in Monterey and drive down the 101. We stop in Salinas, King City, San Luis Obispo, Pismo Beach, Santa Barbara, and now we're in Ventura. The catch is, we can only go to one restaurant per city, and if it's not the one, then we have to drive to the next city. So goes the rules of the Great Pad Thai Tour.

"Yamcha, look! Stop here baby, this is it!" She gives that special little squeal of hers that is alternately adorable and annoying.

"You gotta be kidding Shortcake, this is a House of Pancakes," I protest.

"It was a House of Pancakes. Now it's a Palace of Siam! This is going to be the one, I can tell!" She's practically bouncing out of the seat. Dende bless seat belts, she nearly dents the roof with that last bounce.

I sigh and pull the caddy into the driveway. 'Dende, please let this be the one,' I plead.

We get out of the car and make our way to the front door. The sign above indeed reads Palace of Siam. On my mental checklist I note NAME: 1 star. Not very original. The one in San Luis Obispo had the best name so far, Thai-rrific. Yeah that's my favorite. It's definitely a 5 star name.

Marron walks up to the cashier. "Hi! I'm here for a take out order of Pad Thai. I called a half-hour ago."

"Are you Marion Wuff?"

"Close enough."

The woman hands her a bag and two cans of soda. Marron thanks her, pays and we leave with our food. She attacks the dish without preamble after we get in the car.

I have to admit, watching Shortcake eat Pad Thai makes all the driving worthwhile. She nearly makes a fetish of the act. First, she squeezes a bit of lime into the slightly coconut-flavored dish. She then digs out a long noodle, pink with spices, and tilts her head back slowly dropping it in her open mouth. I'm so jealous of that noodle. She chews it for a moment with her eyes closed, savoring its taste with care. Then, she licks the tip of her finger with her tiny pink tongue. That really gets me going. Finally she dabs her fingertip into the crushed peanut garnish, carefully avoiding any green onions and sticks it into her mouth. I nearly lose my mind when she sucks on it for a minute.

Marron peers through half-closed eyes, her expression unreadable. She then announces, "Eh, not quite there. Sorry." She grabs a random bean sprout and chews on it with disappointment.

I expel a long shaky breath. "S'right. On to the next place," I say as I start the caddy up.

Before I do she places a hand on my arm. When I look at her, she has an apologetic grin on her face. Then she leans over and gives me a peck.

"Thanks Sweetpotato."

"What for?" I ask.

"For putting up with my weird bullshit," she answers playfully.

I grab her hand and bring it to my lips for a kiss. Then I pull out of the parking lot and head for the next city.

o-0-o-0-o

We're on PCH (Pacific Coast Hwy) heading for Malibu. I insist that we stop at Point Dume. I want to watch the sunset and I like looking at the ocean from this beach. When Marron was a little girl she once asked me who lived on the side of the ocean from where the sun rises. They would be us, now that we live in California. It's funny where life takes you.

"We'll be in LA soon," she says, wrapping her arm around my waist.

"Lots of good Pad Thai there," I reply running my fingers through one of her messy blonde pigtails. I fall into a short daydream. It involves Marron and a smutty lingerie store that happens to be next door to an excellent Thai food restaurant on Melrose Boulevard. It occurs to me that we're going to have to find a hotel soon, and not just because it's getting dark.

"Let me drive for awhile baby," she offers. "You've been doing most of the driving and you're starting to look tired. You could take a nap."

I want to tell Marron no, because she's only been to Los Angeles once, on her twentieth birthday I think, and I don't want us to get lost. Then, I look into her baby blues and see the concern and slight guilt in them.

"Okay Shortcake," I reply while laying a kiss on her forehead. "Wake me up when we get to there." That shouldn't take too long, it's a 40-minute drive at most.

We walk to the car holding hands. I pass the keys to her and then get in on the passenger side. We both readjust our seats and I tilt mine back so I can sleep. Then we're off again.

o-0-o-0-o

I wake up with a start. Something's not quite right. It's dark outside and we seem to be driving up a steep grade. I watch for signs and see that we're on the 14 freeway. We pass an exit that says Pearblossom Highway. Pearblossom Highway?

"Shortcake? Where the hell are we?" I ask.

"We're almost in Palmdale, Sweetpotato," she answers as if there was nowhere else we should be.

"Um. Aren't we supposed to be in LA? Palmdale is kinda north of where we're supposed to be…"

"Yeah, I know. I got on the 405 going northbound by mistake. My bad. But I found a restaurant in the phone directory and we should be there in five minutes."

'Oh happy day!' I think to myself sourly. I was really looking forward to seeing Marron model smutty lingerie. Oh well. I look around as best I can in the dark. There are many lights, but no tall buildings. Palmdale is the place where tract homes go to die I decide.

We find our exit and drive past dark housing areas and mini-malls. We pull into a small shopping center and I shoot my wife a skeptical look. An unassuming restaurant called Blah Blah Thai Something (my vision is wrecked from being tired), is sandwiched between a Payless shoe store and a Mail-n-More center.

"Stay here," she commands. I have no problem with that. I watch her practically skip into the place. I must have dozed off because it's twenty minutes later when she finally comes out.

"I saw a Super Eight Motel across from the off-ramp on Palmdale Boulevard. Why don't we hole up there Yamcha?"

I give her a slight shrug. "Sounds good to me. I could use some sleep."

"Hmm. I think this is it baby! I think we found our Pad Thai," she remarks hopefully.

"Promises, promises," I answer mockingly.

"You'll see," she assures me. I close my eyes again and drift off.

o-0-o-0-o

We are a heap of naked, sweaty limbs and tangled sheets. As we both slow down our heavy panting, I collapse gracelessly on top of her. Marron hugs me briefly, then begins running her fingers through my hair. Our moment of frenzy dies down and we enjoy a bit of comfortable, silent companionship.

I prop myself up on my elbows and stare at her beautiful face for a moment.

"What?" She blurts out when I give her a smirk.

"Do we have any of the noodles left?"

Marron barks out a laugh and replies triumphantly, "I told you this was the place. See, I found the perfect Pad Thai dish."

"And only after driving 300 miles and stopping in, gee, eight different cities," I mock.

Marron lets out a growl and pushes me onto my back. Hope raises up within me, among other thing.

She looks down at my lap and says, "down boy, I'm just going for my shirt. Geez, somebody's insatiable!"

As she leans off the bed to get her tee shirt I fire back, "look who's talking Ms. I-must-have-the-perfect-Pad-Thai-dish-and-I'm-driving-the-entire-length-of-California-until-I-find-it." I say it with a falsetto voice.

She lets out an unladylike harumph as she retrieves her baby-tee. I try to hide a smile as she shrugs it on, because I know Marron can't eat naked. I don't know why, but I just find that funny. She sees me trying to cover my mirth and decides to punish me. Taking the carton of food from the night table next to our bed, she pulls out a long flat noodle. She dangles it teasingly over my head and as I try to snatch it with my teeth, she pulls it away. We play this game for a little while longer, and then she gives up and lets me have it.

We finish what's left of the noodles and lie back down again. I roll onto my side, facing her and begin caressing her hip. I run my hand over her miraculously still flat belly and ask, "are you going to make us do this every time you get a craving Shortcake?"

She sighs and replies, "No baby, I promise to show a little more control next time. Besides, I know where to go for Pad Thai now!"

Marron giggles as I glare at her. She seems to reflect on something, then adds, "but it was a fun little adventure, wasn't it? I mean it's nothing like the adventures you used to go on, but…"

"It's our adventure, " I say, interrupting her. "And yes, it was fun."

She smiles a bit relieved. She worries that she's being a pain in the ass, but I'd drive all over the world to make her happy. Hell, I'd fly even. Now there's a thought. Next time, I'm flying us.

I scoot down until my face is over her belly. "I hope you like Pad Thai little guy," I whisper to the small, flickering ki that's growing in my wife's womb.

I feel her belly tremble from her giggling. "He can't hear you yet, silly!"

I just sigh and lay my head in her lap. Then we both drift off into a peaceful, contented sleep.

The End.