Trunks held onto the seven year old with all his might. The kid had been, as usual, hyper active. Though it was kind of fun to see him at his best. The little runt was too active for his own good. T.J. was running around. He was young, but he was active. Goten looked at his best friend wrestling with his son and smiled. Goten didn't have that problem yet, but due time. Seven months, to be exact. (Heh, I like the number seven )
"T.J. Hold still!"
"I don't wanna! I wanna play with Uncle Goten!"
"T.J., I can't—never mind..."
T.J. looked up at his father, who was on the verge of tears.
"Daddy, why are you so sad?"
"Nothing, today is just—the anniversary of the day your mom and I got married."
"How come I never met mommy?"
Goten, again, came to his rescue picking the boy up. He spun him around and set him back down. Then he looked at Trunks and mouthed Chi wants you. So he went to see what Chichi wanted. What he saw shocked him. The tall woman with long ebony hair smiled at him. Her hair was down to her torso now. She had the same Green eyes as usual, and her smile still warmed his heart. He looked at her palm and noticed her ring was still on. He grinned and hugged her.
"It's so good to be home again!" she said.
"I know, and it's so good to see you again! Who, when, and why did they bring you back?"
"Mom and Dad, a week ago, and because it's our ten year anniversary. So where is T.J?"
"Daddy, I—who's that?"
She smiled at the boy. "T.J. I presume?"
The boy looked up at her and hid behind his dad's leg. "How did you know that? Are you side kick?"
"Heh, Psychic, honey." She answered.
"Daddy, why did she call me 'honey'?"
"T.J. that's your mom."
His bottom lip quivered and he ran away. Trunks looked at Pan, then ran off after T.J. She looked up and rolled her eyes. I thank you, Dende, for allowing me to come back, but why did you make my son afraid of me? She sighed and walked outside. She knew no one realized who she was, which was good, but a 'spark in her eye' gave her away to Bra. Bra ran over and embraced her best friend.
"Bra," She gasped. "Oh, my Dende! Look at you!"
"I know, blame Goten. Seven months, Pan. Ten years. Wow..."
"I've been gone seven years, Bra."
"No, you've been married to my brother ten years!"
"Oh, I know. I was only allowed the luxury to enjoy it for three years."
"It's ok, you'll make up for it. From what I hear, there are many plans for you."
"Wow..." She looked down and saw a little boy at her feet. T.J. and Trunks were holding hands.
"It took a while, and a lot of fighting, and persuading, but I finally got him to come say hi." He said grinning.
She smiled and picked the boy up. "T.J...Trunks Junior. I picked out that name. You understand about what powers we have, right?"
"If you're my mommy, can you prove it?"
She grinned. "Sure, Trunks, Come here!" Trunks reluctantly walked over to the duo and held out his hand.
"So you have the same ring. That's no biggie."
"T.J. do me a favor, go look at Grandma, and Grandpa, and Great Grandma, and Great Grandpa, and you'll see, sure enough, that each pair has the same ring."
He did what he was told and walked over. "So?"
Bulma who had heard the conversation, walked over and took Pan's palm. She looked at the ring. Then she looked at T.J.
"T.J., that was my mom's ring, it was given to me, and I gave it to Trunks to give it to his wife."
"Well it's pretty."
Pan was bundled in a green sweater. She had on jeans and her hair was in a ponytail that went just to her waist. She was pushing T.J. on a swing as Trunks watched her.
"So what's it like in the other world?"
"No fun. No one I know. Your not planning on a 'little trip' up there are you?"
"No," he answered yawning. "But I over heard Grandpa. They were at an appointment; and daddy thought I couldn't hear him. I heard him say quote, un-quote, 'I'm trying to hide it from the poor kid, I don't want him to know his father, and only parent, is dying. Wouldn't that be a bit traumatizing at his age?' that's what he said!"
She yawned and walked over to the front of the swing. She kneeled down to his level and he saw she was crying. "Honey, I know daddy is sick. I was the one with him when he found out. You won't remember, you weren't even born yet. I threatened to leave him, and he told me not to. I know he's sick, and I'm doing everything I can to keep him from dying anytime soon."
He leaned over and she hugged him. "Momma," he whispered. "I don't want to lose daddy anytime soon. He's the only person I remember when I was sick. I want him to stay with us."
"Well, if we want him to stay with us, I need to go now."
"Why?"
"I have a special ability to sense when people are dying, or sick. I basically can feel their Ki drop. Your father isn't exactly in his original form anymore, but he's hurt." She answered sprinting to the house, T.J. following close behind.
"Trunks?" she called. "Trunks, where are you?"
She listened closely to the house and heard him. She routed through the medicines in the cabinet and picked up his prescription and cursed running off to find him. T.J. was the one who found him. He was crying when he found him. She looked at him and forced him to take his medication. She then picked up T.J. and took him to his room. She set him on his bed and looked at him. She brushed his purple hair from his eyes, and looked in his eyes.
"Honey, I know your scared, but I'm trying. I can only do so much but I know he's not going anywhere. You just have to do him a favor and remind him to take his medication. He's not taking it so you don't get scared."
"Momma, why is he doing this? He's suffering because he doesn't want me to know."
"I don't know why he does anything he does. He's changed since I last saw him."
"Momma, will you be here with me if anything happens to him?"
"I'll be the one to save him, and take care of you." She yawned. He knew she was tired, so he hugged her. She hugged back and went back into Trunks' room. He was awake, staring at the door. She picked up his medicine bottle waving it in front of his face.
"You scared him! Twice! What's your problem?? You know if it wasn't for me you would be dead by now!"
"Yeah, and if it wasn't for me, you'd be dead. Oh wait, you are!"
She slapped him. He could see she was crying recently. The gears were spinning, but what was she thinking?
"Trunks, just once in your life, can you try to be serious? Now shut up and listen closely."
He was quiet, so was she. He heard his son crying. "Why is he crying?"
"You almost died today. Why do you think???"
"Look, I'm not avoiding my medicine, I'm taking it, but it's not working anymore. Read
the prescription and do the math. Pan, I'm not going to survive much longer without
some medical help. Do you understand that? I bet you do, you're smart. Figure it out,
Pan."
"I didn't come back just to have you die on me."
She took off her ring and threw it at him. After that she got T.J. storming out of the
house, Trunks was exceptionally pissed.
Goten cursed as the frantic knock at the apartment door startled him from his
sleep. Bra was still sleeping peacefully behind him. He threw on some jeans and went to the door. What was there was something he never thought he'd see. Pan stood with her palms rested on T.J's shoulders.
"Pan, what happened? Where's Trunks?"
"Fight. Can we bunk here for a bit? If it's not too much trouble?"
"Uh sure. What exactly happened?"
"Trunks hasn't been taking his medicine. He almost died today. T.J. was scared, so I took him and left. After saving Trunks, no doubt."
"Pan, I think your overreacting. He's been taking his medicine; I was the one who refilled it for him. Go back to him. Please? For your brother-in-law, and uncle?"
"Watch T.J."
"Alright."
"Trunks? Honey? Are you—" She read the note laying on the bedside table.
Panny,
I got a call from Trunks, and he insisted I leave a note in case if you should return. He told me he wasn't feeling well, so I took him to the hospital, your father is afraid he might not make it through the night. He told me to leave your ring here for you in case if you decide to come back to him. All he wants is you let T.J. visit him one last time before you decide if your leaving him or not.
Momma
She absently took the ring and slid it on her finger. This was all too familiar. All too. She went back to Gotens', picked up T.J. and left. The trek to the hospital would be hard, yes, but she needed to get there. She wasn't going to let him die on her. That wasn't something she'd ever live for.
She held onto T.J's hand tightly as she wove through the hospital halls. T.J. had something he was determined to give Trunks, and she had something she was determined to tell him.
"T.J. can you wait in the hall for a moment, please?"
"Yes Momma."
She walked over to Trunks, took his hand and kissed him.
"I know I didn't mean what I said. And I know you meant in honest decency what you said. I know you probably don't have long, and I really appreciated what you've done for me. Thank you..."
What did T.J. want to give his father? Will Trunks survive the battle with his disease? Will T.J. Run away? Will Trunks forgive Pan? Heh, read and find out! Review!