Chapter 11 – Secrets Revealed

"Gohan, your daughter has yet to come home. Today is the wedding and she's been off gallivanting for the past two days; I know a bachelorette party doesn't last that long." I watched my beautiful wife shake her head at her daughter's whereabouts. I sadly knew the reason that Pan hadn't come home and I have yet the heart to tell Jade. I would've only assumed that Goten had done the proper thing and helped his two best friends reconcile their love and wedding, but with the new news that had developed; I just didn't know. A surprise visit from my father last night was quite unusual in itself but then the whopper he laid out for me was even worse. I just wanted my daughter to be happy, no matter who she marries. I think Trunks is an outstanding young man, to be Vegeta's son, but the things he's done to hurt Pan...Goten's always been there for Pan, I would have to say that he's her best friend.

"Gohan, are you listening?" I looked up and into the green eyes of my wife. Not too many people knew what had distanced me from my family when I had married Jade, the fact that our family is back is all that should matter, or so I thought.

Jade Mathews is American, she has green eyes and brown hair and she's the most beautiful woman I have ever seen, excluding my daughter. That was one reason my father and mother didn't approve of our wedding, another is that Jade just believes that I am Japanese. She doesn't know that I am a Saiyan and that we are considered aliens to the Earth. I am happy with the life that I have but my father wasn't, he said that it wasn't right to deny who you are to the woman you love. Eventually we reconciled our relationship and I agreed to let Dad train Pan in Saiyan fighting ways, but I forbade him or anyone to tell her or her mother anything about Saiyans. I was not bonded to Jade therefore Pan would not be bonded to her mate.

I had talked with Trunks on the subject and I had expected him to disagree with my decision. He did not, saying he thought it was for the best. I focused back on Jade's green eyes and decided it was time to tell her all that I knew, about everything. Though I do not agree with what my father said and I know this will be a shock to her, it's for the best interest of our daughter, Pan. My expression changed I knew and Jade also knew because she pulled out the kitchen chair across from mine and sat down, throwing the dishtowel aside. I took her small hands into mine and smiled.

"Jade, love, there are things that I need to tell you that will probably shock and upset you, but believe me it's nothing bad..."

When I was finished there were tears in Jade's eyes but she was smiling. I smiled too and I knew what I had to do, I had wasted an hour telling Jade, but she needed to know first. Uncomprehendingly she understood everything, all that I had hid and everything I had lied about was for the good of our family and now for the good of our daughter's life I had owned up to it. She loved me forever and more and would support me until the day I die. I smiled as I freely read these things from her mind; the bond is a wonderful experience to two people that know what it's all about. Therefore I knew I had to tell her everything before we could. Truthfully I had wanted to bond with Jade the moment we were married but the secrets that I wanted to keep hidden kept me from it.

"You need to go and tell him." Jade said aloud. I stood up and came around the table to hug her. I loved her so much. I couldn't say anything right now and so I just shook my head in accordance. "Besides, there are some things I want to discuss with Moma Chichi and Daddy Goku." She said it with such hope and determination that I almost wept. To think that after eighteen years the animosity between my family and Jade could be lifted. I nodded and gave her a chaste kiss before heading upstairs to dress. I knew I needed to hurry, because the wedding was scheduled for six pm and with it being nearly eleven I hadn't much time. I dressed as fast as possible and left the house as Jade left to go to fathers. I kissed her goodbye and then left. Driving like a normal human would take an hour to get to Goten's but seeing as I was in a huge rush, I took to the sky.

When one flies while in a hurry they tend to zone out and think on the reason they're in a hurry. So it was no surprise when I nearly collided with three large birds and a recreational aircraft. The close call with the small airplane made me think, that I could ponder the reasons I was in a hurry when I landed. The hour trip only took me thirty minutes I observed as I landed and tried to smooth my wind-blown hair. I walked up to Goten's door, where I saw that a sizable dent had penetrated Bulma's special metal that she had invented. I smiled as I knocked on the door. After a few moments, that sounded like crashes and small explosions the door swung open to reveal Goten in a pair of blue jeans, a tank top, and an apron.

"Hey, bro. What's up? I didn't expect you to come by. Pan's not here though, she left a few minutes ago with Bra." Goten says blushing a little. I wonder why for a moment before remembering the reason I was here.

"Oh, Pan's with Bra, ok. Well I actually need to talk to you. What's with the apron? You know you can't cook." I said walking into the house. I notice that Goten blushes a little more as he closes the door.

"I thought I would try and cook something to eat tonight, the last two nights Pan and I have had take-out and we're both getting tired of it."

"Then why doesn't Pan cook? She's an excellent cook just like her mother." I said as Goten shrugged, "By the way what happened to the Unobtainium door Bulma made you?"

"That was actually the hard head of your daughter. That's what happened after she found out about Trunks." Goten said sadly. I nodded. I had called Goten yesterday to find out where Pan was, when I heard what Trunks had done. Surely Pan would have been a wreck, so the door was no surprise. Goten removes the apron from around him and sits on the couch.

"What about dinner?" I ask wondering just what Goten was trying to cook. He hangs his head down as if ashamed.

"It's either burnt or blown up by now. I can't cook if my life depended on it. I thought you had something to tell me." He said as I sat down on the couch as well. Suddenly I realized that Pan had been here for two nights and Goten didn't have an extra bedroom. Where had my darling little girl slept while here? I hope that it was this lumpy old couch or rather Goten had given up his bed for Pan and then he had been the one to sleep on this uncomfortable couch. Reluctantly I pushed these questions aside while I contemplated how I was going to tell Goten this whopper of a tale.

"Is everything alright? Does it have to do with Pan and Trunk's wedding, or lack there of?" Goten asks with a worried look on his face.

"No, nothing to do with the wedding. By the way Vegeta didn't cancel the wedding preparations."

"What? Does he expect Pan to marry Trunks after what he did to her? Vegeta better open his eyes and realize that Trunks screwed up." I shook my head at the obvious hatred in Goten's voice.

"Listen, yes, Trunks screwed up but it was not his fault. That Marron girl was behind it. After Bra dropped the bombshell, that she's dating and in love with Seventeen, to Vegeta, he went investigating. Talked to Emily and..."

"Who's Emily?" Goten asked before I could finish. For minute I panicked, but then relaxed.

"Eighteen, goes by Emily now. She said that she doesn't want to be recognized as the mindless robot that she used to be. So she changed her name not to mention her whole look; Krillin's idea really. Anyway, Vegeta found that Marron had used a mind-control agent on Trunks. She got it from Seventeen, who found it around the area where Majin Boo was resurrected."

"Shit! Trunks was telling the damned truth and I may have screwed up their chance to be together! I have to go and find Pan so I can tell her!" Goten yelled, jumping up and heading for the door. I stood up as well to restrain him from leaving.

"Wait! There's some more news that I have to tell you and I would advise you to sit, because when Dad told me, I nearly fainted." I said as I sat back down with Goten following suit. He had a queer look on his face.

"Well, hurry up. I want Pan to be happy and if Trunks makes her happy then they should get married tonight." Goten said a little too dejectedly. I hung my head wondering if Pan, when she found out that Trunks was framed, would actually go back to him or would this news make her change her mind.

"Like I said Dad told me something that I now have to tell you. I don't understand why he couldn't tell you himself but here goes,

"Twenty-five years ago, a very power-hungry Saiyan was compelled to challenge another Saiyan to a fight, with the winner being recognized as the bravest, fastest, and strongest Saiyan. But in order for the man to build up his strength and endurance for the match; he had to train in the Room of Spirit and Time, which placed him in an environment one hundred times the Earth's gravity for one year. The problem was that training by yourself was pointless; you needed someone to spar with. Well it just so happens that he knew a woman that had unlimited energy and that she wouldn't be affected by the time and the gravity change. So they went in for the year, really being only one day on Earth.

"They trained nonstop for six-hour chunks during the days and slept during the nights. Going into the chamber the man despised the woman, but seeing as she was the only one that could train with him, he was able to resist his instinct to try and kill the woman. During the year that the Saiyan and the woman spent together sparing, eating, and sleeping; they begin to build a respect for each other; they may have even began to like each. The last hour that they spent together emotions were high and feelings were revealed. They spent their last hour having sex, both understood each other and so they knew that when the chamber opened that their secrets would stay within the chamber and no one would know."

"Mutual, no-strings-attached sex between both parties?" Goten asks interrupting. I try my hardest not to feel embarrassed. I was very self-conscious the first time I said it in front of him. For some reason the word 'sex' is like a taboo word for me.

"Yes, well you see there had to be no-strings-attached because the woman was married to a good friend of the Saiyan, and the Saiyan himself was married and had a one year old son. So they left the chamber, the fight was fought and the Saiyan continued with his family like nothing had happened. The woman, however, found that she was pregnant. She really wasn't aware that she could get pregnant and so the pregnancy snuck up on her. When she gave birth to the baby boy nine months later, she knew that her husband wouldn't understand, that it wasn't his child and that the one chance she was given was now scratched. So the woman went to the Saiyan that had given her the amnesty to begin with. Told him what had happened and that the father didn't know anything. He took in the child passing him off as his own son and that was that." I finished the story and waited for Goten to ask who or what this pertained to.

"So the woman gave up her child and the father to the child doesn't even know he exists now, but the child doesn't know that his mother and father aren't really his parents." Goten recited and then paused with a calculating expression on his face. "So I'm not really your brother?" Goten asked after a minute. Stunned I opened and closed my mouth like a fish wanting water. How in the hell had he gotten all of that out of my cryptic story?

"How..."

"Twenty-five years ago. Who starts a story, that doesn't pertain to someone specifically, like that? I mean if you wanted to tell me a Fairy Tale you would have started 'Once Upon A Time...' Instead you start the story the year I would have been conceived. I'm not stupid bro...Well, Gohan."

"No you're not, at least not with math and school stuff, but when it comes to women. Man, are you ignorant."

"There is something I don't understand though; if Goku and Chichi aren't my parents then who are?" Goten asked as I waited as long as he would let me to reveal that number. How would he take it? What would he say? Would he become crazy and leave my daughter with no best friend?

"Well, that would be Dad's enemy and the only woman that has unlimited energy and used to be bad." I said relying on clues instead of blatantness.

"Vegeta and Eighteen." Goten says stunned.

"Emily, you mean."

"Emily, yeah. You know Gohan that makes a lot of sense Mom and Dad, I mean Goku and Chichi always wondered how I was able to go Super without an emotional boost, not to mention that most of the time I was laughing when I did it." Goten paused and I thought about this. It's true that it does make since though. Where had Goten gotten his laziness? It sure wasn't Mom and Dad.

"Yeah, that's right. I guess because your mother had unlimited energy, she passed some of that onto you. It does take quite a lot of energy to go Super, we all know that..."

"Shit! That means... That means that Pan and I aren't..."

"Related." I said finishing his sentence for him, seeing as how his emotions weren't quite under control yet. Goten stood up and looked down at me. I stood up as well knowing that my visit was done.

"Gohan, I..." Goten said as we walked to the door. I turned to him and put my hand on his shoulder squeezing it for a moment. A hug would be too personal for two people that weren't related at all. I felt a loss, a loss that comes when someone loses a brother or sister to death. I had lost my brother, I thought; but then again would I gain someone else? He still had something to say to me, but I knew basically what it was. So as I walked out the door with a baffled Goten behind me, I called back,

"You know as soon as you realize that you love her, you better go propose; just in case someone else tries to first."

Author's Note

I am so sorry that this took so long to write and upload. I would like to thank the faithful readers there were looking forward to this chapter. I also want to thank the readers that have reviewed so far, though very few have. I am saddened to say though, that Chapter 12 is yet unwritten and the uploading date is uncertain. I have to maintain my grades in my classes that I am taking and plus I have three other stories that need to be updated, or I just might lose those faithful readers. NEway, enjoy this chapter and if it leaves you in an uproar, then flame me. I don't mind.

-Seraphyne