Chapter Eleven

Bra slipped into her strapless dress and took special care with her hair. She was excited. She never took the time to just go out with friends to have fun anymore.

"That's because you don't have any friends," she sniffed at her reflection.

In truth, she had no time for them or the energy to find out if they were true or not. She didn't need friends when she had family.

She glanced at the clock, perfect, she had just enough time to make it to the restaurant to make the reservation.

"And where are you going?"

Her dad's voice coming from out of nowhere didn't surprise her or make her jump. She knew he would show up before she left.

"I'm going to dinner daddy," she picked up her purse, "How do I look?"

Midnight eyes scanned her figure critically before meeting her eyes.

"Much too fancy to meet with your cousin."

Bra giggled and pinched his cheek, or tried to as he moved away.

"Dad, it's a nice restaurant," she planted a hand on her hip. "Besides, this is no fancier than how Mom dresses when she goes shopping."

"Hn."

Her father turned on his heel and left her doorway.

Bra glanced in the mirror again for a final make-up check. He was so protective.

**

The Dark Prince watched as the beautiful blue-haired woman entered a vehicle and left.

"Bra left already?"

Vegeta turned to his only son before he returned his attention to the window.

"Yes."

"I hope she has a nice dinner with Maron," Trunks kept his tone light and slightly disinterested.

This part of the plan was key. He had to make sure his dad didn't decide to go flying to make sure she got there safely or just to see where she was going to be.

"Where is this dinner going to be?" His father's voice was gruff.

"Z Right Place," he replied promptly. "You've been there before with Mom, on your anniversary."

Trunks watched his father out of the corner of his eye. He could nearly see the thoughts churning chaotically in his father's head. What those thoughts were, would remain forever unknown. Though, Trunks could tell the exact moment when his father had decided she would be safe. The atmosphere became less tense and the air easier to breathe.

"Hn, females," his father turned his eyes on him. "Enigmas, all of them."

Trunks frowned, "True."

Vegeta saw the shadows enter his son's eyes and chuckled.

"What?" Trunks tilted his head curiously.

"My only son is constantly chased my women," Vegeta's eyes danced with amusement. "Only he doesn't like it."

Trunks fidgeted under his father's observation.

"Dad, these aren't exactly normal women-"

"Nonsense, if you took after me more than just looks, we wouldn't be having this conversation," Vegeta crossed his arms, a smirk playing with his lips.

"What do you mean?" Trunks' brow creased.

"Silly boy, you are one of the strongest fighters in the universe and yet you run from weakling human females. Show them you won't be messed with, Trunks, show some force."

"Force?" Trunks was perplexed, was his father telling him to threaten his employees?

Vegeta chuckled darkly, his son's thoughts were written all over his face.

"Maybe one or two."

"Dad, they'll sue me," Trunks ran a hand threw his hair discouraged.

"Trunks, have you ever thought of filing sexual harassment?"

Trunks blinked.

"I'll take that as a no," Vegeta crossed his arms.

"But . . ." Trunks eyes narrowed suddenly, "What about the time when Zarah was being stalked? You were surrounded by women."

Vegeta inclined his head in acknowledgment.

"Only because you allowed them to run amok, did they dare to approach me. They had no fear of retribution so they act without consideration." Vegeta's gaze turned inward, "They would not have dared when I first took residence on this planet."

Trunks crossed his arms, he unconsciously mimicked his father.

"Did you even enter the building back then?"

"Don't be ridiculous boy, of course I did." Vegeta snorted, "Your mother used to use this as her hiding place."

"Didn't the women bother you?" Trunks was listening closely.

"Once," Vegeta's voice was distant, "then never again."

Trunks watched his father walk away with something close to awe. The women had bothered his father once and never again . . . How in the world did he accomplish that?!

**

Pan and Zarah landed silently in front of his parents cave.

"It's not too late to forget about this whole thing," Zarah looked at her hopefully and pouted when she shook her head.

"They already agreed to go," Pan studied her husband critically, "Is there something wrong?"

Zarah gave her his 'are you kidding me?'

"Are we going to stand her all day or are we going to eat?"

The couple turned sharply at the feminine voice and was shocked into silence. Zarah's mother wore what one could only call female armor, it's alien influences all too clear. A short flowing dress clung to her every curve with a stylish diagonal slash around her midriff revealing her tail, which hung on her hips at an angle. The red garment accented her dark coloring and her face held a dark look. Her yellow boots might have looked silly on anyone else but on her only served to complete the look. The only thing that seemed to be missing was a knife strapped to her arm and leg.

"Ava?"

The female saiyan about faced at her name, causing her dress to twirl out gracefully and revealed a pair of tiny matching shorts. Her outfit wasn't going anywhere and looked as if it had been through many battles already with it's many strategically placed rips. The strips were meant to distract from her body shape as she moved though they also accentuated her slim lines.

"What?" She barked.

"Ava," 17 appeared in the cave opening with an annoyed scowl, "Why are we . . . Oh, hi kids."

A smile. His clothes were a distinct contrast against his wife's with his torn pants and simple black tee-shirt.

Zarah approached his mother curiously.

"What are you wearing?"

"Her traditional battle outfit," 17 rolled his eyes.

Zarah and Pan turned their eyes to Ava.

She sneered at her husband.

"It's tradition."

"I've never seen you dressed in this before," Zarah circled his mother, "It's looks your old spandex suit."

"Correct," she gave a sharp nod, "that was an uniform soldiers wore. This is what we wore when visited alien planets to show rank."

"It's really nice," Pan bit her lip almost enviously, Zarah's mom had such a great figure!

"I'm glad you like it," Ava snatched Pan's arm and proceeded to drag her to the cave, "I made one for you as well."

"What?" Pan threw Zarah a pleading look. Sure, she liked the outfit but didn't mean she wanted to walk around half naked in it.

Zarah snagged her other arm.

"I think what she is wearing is fine, Mother."

"Don't be ridiculous! She must show her allegiance to our family! It's bad enough your father refuses to wear his but she must-"

"I refuse to wear something that will make me look like Vegeta," 17 interrupted flatly.

Ava threw her husband an equally flat look of disgust.

"I am only trying to preserve our son's life and yet, even now, you-"

"Wait," Zarah stepped between his parents before they could start yet another argument. "Preserve my life?"

Pan frowned, just as concerned and went to his side to show she was there for him.

Ava growled at them.

"You must know, you are the one who informed me. Gohan was marked Zarah for death."

"What?!" Three voices demanded simultaneously.

"My dad would never-"

"Pan," Zarah put a restrained hand on his mate, "Let me handle this. Mother, why do you think Gohan out to destroy me."

"I want a clear explanation," 17 demanded sharply.

Ava squirmed but pointed her finger at Zarah, "You came to me and said Gohan wished to dine with us."

She turned to 17, "He wishes to compensate for the loss of our son with food."

They just stared at her.

"We must pull rank." Her eyes darted between them desperately, "I will go to our prince, Vegeta will not allow my heir to die this way."

They continued to stare at her.

"Zarah," she touched her son's face in a rare gesture of affection, "I will protect you."

She turned around to blast off and was only stopped when her mate tackled her to the ground.

"What are you doing-"

"You've misunderstood-"

Pan went to her husband who stood frozen as his parents bickered about his safety.

"Zarah?"

His response was to allow his legs to collapse so he could sit on the ground with a defeated sigh. This was just wonderful. His mother was on a campaign to save his life when it wasn't in danger and wanted his Uncle Vegeta to help, even though he had no idea what was going on. She wanted to pull rank, where rank no longer existed, except to Bardock and he wasn't going to be there. She wanted them in traditional saiyan attire but his dad refused, as did Pan.

Fabulous, and they haven't even made it to the Son house yet.

"Zarah?"

Zarah met his wife's concerned gaze and allowed his lips to tilt up slightly to let her know he was fine. Deeply embarrassed, but fine.

"He just wants to eat with us?" His mom's confused voice was unnaturally loud in the air.

Zarah just buried his face in his hands.

Why did he ever agree to go this again?

**

Goten fiddled with his tie nervously. Maron had said to dress nice so after searching long and hard, he had found a decent pair of slacks with a nice dress shirt.

"My, don't you look handsome."

Goten flushed as he turned to face his mother.

"I've never seen you get this dressed up for a girl before," Chichi smiled as she fixed his tie, "Is she pretty?"

Goten's eyes flashed as he shook his head.

"Mom, I'm having dinner with Zarah. He's treating so it's an expensive restaurant, thus, a certain dress code."

Goten planted a kiss on his mom's head and darted out the door.

He shut the door and leaned against it. Yeah, mom, she's beautiful.

He exhaled and tried to rid himself of thoughts of blue hair. He was going to share some quality eating time with Zarah.

**

Bra smiled at the waiter who directed her to the table and twisted her lips in irritation when she spotted a dark head.

"Zarah, if you were going to be able to make it, you should have called me . . ." She trailed as the figure spun and instead of the blue eyes she expected she was met with black.

Her lips parted in surprise, "Goten . . ."

**

Gohan ran a hand through his hair nervously as he wondered for thousandth time if he had bought enough food for roughly four saiyans, though if you counted them as halves then it was two and a half . . . Though half-saiyans ate as much as full saiyans so one might as well count them as full-

"Gohan?"

The flustered demi-saiyan turned to find his wife watching him with amusement.

"Oh, hey Videl."

Videl tossed back her head and laughed at him.

"Videl!" Gohan came very close to whining.

"I'm sorry Gohan but . . ." she paused a moment to catch her breath. "But, it's like we never left high school sometimes."

Videl flicked his nose and passed him to enter the living room.

"Do you think we have enough food?" Gohan trailed her like a puppy.

"I think we have enough to feed an army," she tossed over her shoulder sarcastically.

"How many armies?" He asked a bit desperately.

"What could possibly happen if we don't have enough food?" Videl turned to face her husband exasperatedly.

"You could insult your guests for one."

Gohan and Videl turned to find a sheepish looking Pan with her husband and his parents standing in the room.

Zarah glanced wearily between his parents and his mate's parents. His parents both were sporting dark expressions while hers seemed surprised and open. This was going to be very bad.

"Sorry, dad," Pan went to her father and kissed his cheek, "I should have knocked instead of just letting myself in."

"It's no problem, Pan," Gohan smiled as he embraced her. She looked extremely happy, Zarah must be taking very good care of her.

"Hi, I don't think we've ever been properly introduced," Videl smiled and extended her hand, "I am Videl Son."

Ava ignored her hand and bowed while 17 ignored Videl completely.

"I am Ava of the Vegeta line, the Saiyan royal family. I have full permission to execute all of you and your kin if you so much as attempt to kill my heir."

Videl's eyes filled with confusion and alarm as she withdrew her arm.

"Mother," Zarah put his hands on her shoulders, "We already explained."

"I will see for myself," Ava silenced her son with a sharp smile.

Videl retreated to her husband and put a weary hand on his arm.

"Um, ok," Gohan rubbed the back of his head nervously, "Why don't we sit down and talk."

"I love your dress," Videl smiled uneasily at Ava.

"This is traditional battle armor used by saiyan royalty," Ava kept a sharp eye on Gohan who she deemed the biggest threat.

"Oh," Videl was at a loss for words, "That's nice. Come Pan."

Zarah took advantage of the fact that Videl was leading his mother to the dinning room to move closer to Gohan with his father.

"Forgive her," Zarah executed a short bow, "I tried to explain but . . ."

"She's stubborn," 17 finished for his son, "But it will make the dinner interesting if nothing else."

Gohan relaxed and smiled.

"As long as there are no hard feelings between us. I didn't hurt you that bad , did I?" Gohan clapped Zarah on the back and chuckled nervously.

"It will take more then that to keep me down," Zarah grinned.

When Gohan returned the gesture 17 sighed, "Great, I'm surrounded by saiyans."

Gohan and Zarah snickered at the Android's sarcastic tone as they joined the women.

**

Goten's eyes almost rolled out of his head as he turned and saw Bra instead of Zarah. He had never seen her so dressed up before with her hair swept off her neck, revealing the delicate line of her throat and shoulders. Her lips were painted red and her eyes were wide with shock.

"Goten . . ."

Stunned, Bra just stared at him. She had never seen Goten looking so polished and cleaned up. He . . . could be handsome . . . when he wanted to. . .

"Bra, I . . ." He mentally shook himself, "What are you doing here?"

"What am I doing here?" That surprised her out of her stupor, "I'm here to have dinner with Maron. You?"

"Maron?" Goten blinked, "But she asked me to have dinner with Zarah?"

"With Zarah?" It was her turn to blink.

A waiter popped up and asked for their reservation.

"Briefs'," Bra and Goten replied simultaneously.

"Wonderful, follow me and I'll show you the private floor," the waiter bowed.

Almost mechanically they followed the uniformed man.

"Private floor?" Goten mumbled.

"Zarah doesn't like people to stare at him when he eats," Bra answered softly, "Unless, he's with his dad or me."

The waiter opened the elevator and they stepped in. The ride was short and silent.

"Here is your floor," the waiter smiled annoyingly, "The food should be here momentarily."

"Thank you," Goten smiled the unmistakable Son smile.

Bra nodded and went to the table to sit. She picked up her wine glass and took a sip to steady herself. She needed time to think and analyze the situation.

Ok, one, Zarah and Maron set up a dinner to get to know one another. Two, they were both unable to make it but couldn't stand to cancel it. Three, they asked people to substitute. Four, Maron had asked Goten, and, finally, five, Zarah had asked her.

The conclusion, she was having dinner with the very man she had been trying to avoid.

"Bra," Goten sat across the table from her awkwardly, "I've been meaning to talk with you."

"Oh?" Bra tried to set her wine down but couldn't help the telltale tremor.

"Yes," Goten fiddled with the napkin so he wouldn't have to look her in the eye. "I am sorry."

"For what?" Bra crossed her arms.

"For being short with you when you rescued me the other day," Goten lifted his eyes to met hers. "I am grateful."

"I should apologize as well," Bra averted her eyes, "I should have realized you might have been embarrassed."

Color bloomed in his cheeks.

"Yeah . . ."

"I should also apologize for the grudge I held for most of our lives," Bra turned her gaze on Goten. "It was stupid."

"Bra."

She glanced up at the sound of her name and was nearly blinded by Goten's smile.

"It's no problem," Goten's head turned as the door opened. "Good there's the food!"

Bra's brows arched as he squirmed in excitement as the food was wheeled in. Honestly, he was like a little kid.

Goten grinned at her.

A good looking kid, Bra tried to calm her heart, one that had potential to turn into a drool worthy man.

End of Chapter Eleven