Time for another chapter! Hope it hasn't been too long for you, and hopefully you won't go too crazy at the end. Hehe. For once in my life I don't really have anything to say – except to thank everyone for their patience because I've been slowing down since I got my job and all. Anywayz, love to all my readers, you guys are great!

"OK, here's the deal." Bura grinned mischievously. "I got Donny to say he'd do it." Pan rolled her eyes. And, well, that was after she had groaned. "He's going to snag you at the 4th and 25th street bus stop in a van. He'll drive you around, you'll call trunks and make it sound realistic, tell him the location of the 49th street warehouse. That's where Donny will take you. Donny runs when he sees Trunks, Trunks saves you, blah, blah, blah, romantic spark is back. Bam!" Marron giggled and Pan looked at her with a cocked brow.

"Well," She excused herself. "It just sounds so funny." Bura rolled her eyes at Marron's obvious poking fun at her plan.

"It sounds realistic! Seriously. We're going to dress Pan up like a hot babe." Pan looked between them both, just being told this part of the scheme. "And we're doing it tomorrow."

"Tomorrow?" Marron's eyes became wide. "We're really doing this so soon?" Bura nodded proudly, and Pan nodded sadly.

The doorbell rang downstairs, and Pan jumped off of the bed.

"That'll be Trunks; he's coming over for dinner." Both the girls giggled while Pan slid her house shoes on, and she looked at them, confused. "What?" She snapped.

"You sure got up and ready in a hurry…what is it, Pan? Do you actually love my brother?" Pan rolled her eyes. "OK, OK, we'll slip out. See you later—I'll call you for details, Kay?"

Pan nodded, but before anyone moved the door opened and Trunks and Goten walked in.

"You ready for dinner?" Goten asked, turning to Marron. She looked surprised, then disappointed. "Forgot?" She nodded. "That's OK…do you still want to go though?"

"Um…sure. Yeah. We'll catch you guys later." She left, hand-in-hand with Goten, and Trunks and Pan exchanged smiles.

"They're such a cute couple." Pan giggled. "Do we act like that?" She asked Bura, and Bura nodded. "Good."

"Good?" Her nearly sister-in-law asked her. "Do you think it's good to be old fogies before you're twenty-five?" She seemed baffled. "I'm gonna leave you two alone, then." She winked. "I'll call you later, Pan." Pan nodded.

Both left on the note that they knew more than the male that was in the room.

~*

Silverware clanked and scraped, but it was the only sound in the room, save the turned on TV that could be heard from the next room. Pan cleared her throat, the silence tangible. It was never this quiet when she ate at Capsule Corps. So why was it here? Everyone was comfortable with each other and all.

She then realized that usually, at Capsule Corps., the topic was either controversial, comprising of a disagreement, or a full out argument. She smiled to herself, stifled a chuckle, however the others at the table caught it and looked at her.

"What's so funny, sweety?" Her mother asked kindly, a pleasant smile of her own on her full lips. Pan put a finger to her mouth and cleared her throat.

"Oh, um, nothing. Nothing really." The silence returned before Trunks sat his silverware down and looked at Videl.

"I'm sorry about that phone call yesterday." He apologized. "The one where, um, I—"

"Oh, don't worry about it, Trunks." She smiled knowingly. "I'm very happy to know you're beginning to take over the task of worrying about Pan." Gohan nodded, pulling himself into the conversation, and Pan looked down at her plate, half embarrassed and half annoyed.

"She's a hassle, Trunks…do you know this yet?" His son-in-law chuckled. "Sometimes she decides to—"

"Dad!"

"What? He already knows all about you, Pan. Besides, you are marrying him. Can't hide any secrets anymore." He seemed to reminisce.

"Da-ud." Pan drew out the word and emphasized it like an average annoyed teenager, and Gohan shook off his reminiscing and chuckled lightly. "Enough about this. He may even decide to cancel the wedding after dinner now." Gohan and Trunks exchanged looks that agreed to humor her.

"So, Pan, tomorrow we're going to go by the club and they said they'd give us a tour. Is three or so OK?"

"No!" All eyes turned to Pan. "It's just, uh…" She looked down at her plate. "Trunks was planning on taking me out." She said it very quickly, quietly…convincingly. Videl nodded, thinking.

"Well, that's fine sweety—"

"Really, we can just go out later—or tomorrow maybe." Trunks suggested diplomatically. Pan's eyes darted to him.

"But—" He looked at her. "You did say you had something special." She prodded. "And, really, we can do that another time…right, mom?" Videl nodded enthusiastically.

"Yes, that's fine. Let me go call Bulma and Chi-Chi, oh, and Eighteen too." With that she got up and went into the kitchen, and they could hear her talking to someone in the background.

"Um, Pan?" She looked across the table at Trunks. She could see her father, in the corner of her eye, attempt to be invisible and attempt to ignore them as well. She smirked.

"Do you want to go outside?" She suggested, and after he agreed, they escaped to the deck. "So, want did you want?" She asked, bracing her hips against the wooden rail. She perked her brow, her hands slung on her hips, and Trunks shook his head slightly, tossing lavender hair in his eyes as he smiled.

"I just wanted to be alone with you." He confessed, and she chuckled.

"You dirty, dirty boy." She scolded, and his facial expression defended himself. "Don't deny it!" She poked a finger to his rock-hard chest. "You wanted to kiss me—didn't you?" She dramatically turned her head to the side and cast her eyes downward.

"You're right." He threw his hands up, defeated. "Dead right. I just can't keep anything from you, can I?" She shook her head, and smiled as he leant down and pressed his lips against hers.

"I'm so lucky that you decided to love a guy like me." He said happily, holding her in a cute embrace. Suddenly Pan was hit with a ball of guilt in her stomach. Was she really tricking this guy into such a devious little plan? How could she plot such a thing?

She felt totally sick, totally stupid, and totally immature. She sighed against his chest—how could he love her?

~*

Goten and Marron sat across from each other at the kitchen table, both scooping their spoons into the ice-cream container, giggling about the different events of their days and generally enjoying their company.

"So what did you do at Pan's?" He then asked, and she swallowed her ice-cream and licked the spoon thoughtfully. She bit her lip, and his expression prodded her.

"Um, nothing." She said casually, scooping more ice-cream.

"Come on, Marron—what did you guys do that was so secretive?" She chewed her lip nervously. Both sides pulled at her—tell or don't tell. She knew that this whole thing was a huge mistake, something that'd blow up in Pan's and Bura's faces—not to mention her own—but she could trust Goten, right? I mean, in the last couple months they had grown closer than close…right?

"Promise not to tell?"

~*

Trunks closed the door quietly behind himself. He had his jacket slung over one shoulder, and he trotted up the steps two at a time. His feet carried him into his room, and he tossed his coat over the computer chair and kicked his shoes off by the door.

Why did Pan always make him feel like this? Lighter than air—like he was flying without realizing it. Why did she always make him feel like he was in that dreamy, hazy, perfect world? Why, when he was with her, did everything feel so…right…?

He plopped on the bed and sighed. He was tired, but not necessarily sleepy. He decided to watch some of the tube, but when he reached for the remote the phone rang, and, for some strange reason, he picked it up.

"Yeah?"

"Trunks?" Goten's voice was clearly distinguishable to his best friend.

"Yeah?"

"I need to talk to you about something…I just thought I'd warn you that—"

~*

Pan shuffled around under her covers. Bright morning sunlight shone in through her window, warming her face and blue feather blanket. Her body was slowly waking up, however her mind didn't want to do so. She reluctantly drew her covers down from under her chin and yawned, stretching and arm around her face.

She could hear birds chirping out her window—spring was finally present—and she slung her feet over the side of her bed and slipped out from under the covers. Today was a big day, though with each second she regretted all the plans. Bura, late last night, had told her it was too late; there was no way to re-plan and warn Donny.

She sighed as she grabbed a towel from her drawer and some clean clothes, then trotted to the bathroom for a shower. She had already slept in dreadfully late—thanks to the pay-per-view channel starting a movie at 12:35 in the morning that she refused, due to paying, to not finish all the way. Fifteen minutes later she entered her room with curling, wet hair dripping onto her shoulders, and a shiny reflection. She decided to throw her hair up into a rubber band and went downstairs for some lunch.

"Hey, mom." She greeted, opening the fridge and retrieving some juice. Videl smiled from her book—one of those mysteries she loved to check out. This time, though, she hadn't guessed the ending in the first chapter.

"I'm going to the store in a minute." She said by way of an invitation. "Do you want to come?" She resorted to when Pan didn't answer. Pan gulped another mouthful and then stowed the jug away.

"I guess so…yeah, sure."

~*

Pan stepped out of her house and shut the door behind her at 5:46pm. She had inch high, strappy sandals on her feet, and a light chocolate colored dress. Her dress was full skirted, just below her knee, with a strapless top and a white ribbon with a small bow around her waist.

She had her hair curled lightly around her face, with chocolate brown eyeliner, thickly done eyelashes, and a baby pink pout. Her heels clicked on the sidewalk of her home as she walked to her car—they weren't functional for the plan, but she thought sneakers would look suspicious.

She slid into her car seat and turned the key, the tires making a slight crunching noise on the pavement as she backed out and left for the city.

~*

Trunks tapped the top of his desk absentmindedly, waiting for Pan's "call". What was she thinking? He was glad Goten had called and told him beforehand; now he could teach Panny a lesson.

She'll sure feel silly when she called for help and he didn't show up, not to mention when he…

~*

Pan impatiently tapped her fingers against the steering wheel and looked at the light that still hadn't turned. She was supposed to meet Donny at fifteen after, and she was running late. Her only hope was that Donny would be late, just a bit, himself or that he'd wait, watching for her or something.

The light finally turned green, and she slammed her foot on the gas pedal.

At 6:22 she pulled into the parking lot near the bus stop and leapt out of her car, jogging to her spot and shoving her hand out behind her to push the lock button on her keypad.

She skidded to a stop at the bus stop terminal—nothing more than a bench shielded on three sides by plastic walls. She looked around. There was no sign of Donny, no sign of a human soul at all, and she sighed in relief. Either he was late, or he had waited for her.

She adjusted her skirt, which had slid to the side, and brushed a hand through her hair, steadying her breathing from the two-block run from the parking lot. Her keen onyx eyes scanned around her, and she jumped at the sight of a beat up van turning the corner. The dark gray color was fading and chipping, there were no windows on the sides or the back, and she was reminded of the stereotype "kidnapper van".

She tossed her curls over one shoulder, adjusted her purse, and slid her fingers around her cell phone, ready to dial the button for speed-dial to Trunks' office. She had it on the ready, waiting for the send button to be pushed.

The van slowed and came to a stop in front of her, and she smiled at Donny who was in the driver's seat. He had brought a friend for the action, apparently, and both had dressed themselves up quite well for the plan.

He wore a ripped up baseball cap and large aviator glasses, and his friend, apparently, had gone for the more laid-back approach with steely, secret agent glasses that reminded her of a computer-based action movie she had seen a bit back.

"Hey there." She greeted with a smile. The driver lifted his brow and smirked, and the passenger smacked once on his gum and jerked his chin in a nod. Pan rolled her eyes; Donny and his friend were just too much getting so into this roleplay.

The passenger opened the door and she took a step back to accommodate, and he grabbed her by the wrist and pulled her close as he walked her around to the back of the car.

"I think you might want to come with us." His slippery voice hissed in her ear, and she rolled her eyes. "The accommodations here in the back are quite comfortable…" He jerked the back door of the van open to reveal dingy and damp surroundings.

He snorted, finishing his sentence, and thrust her inside, slamming the door behind her.

"Donny!" She yelled, pounding on the back of the driver's seat. "Donny, this isn't funny anymore! No one said you had to be such a creep during the stunt—"

"What's the chick calling me Donny for?" The driver asked the passenger, and Pan's stomach dropped. It wasn't Donny's voice. It wasn't even close. She dived as far back as she could in the van and jerked her hand up with her cell phone just as the passenger was making his way in the back with her.

~*