A/N: Hi. Yes, I'm finally updating. I am sorry about the delay. Our computer crashed then the new one crashed and this is a replacement computer until our new one is fixed but that's ok cause it means we finally have the internet and a text program. But I'm really annoyed because i lost all of my other chapters saved on my old computer which means i have to start all over again. Sigh. But anyway, hope you enjoy the chapter and don't forget to review.

Kia Ora

Chapter Five.

"Goku is another dimensions Hercule?"

"But he's a SAIYAN!"

"I thought he was involved in a power struggle."

"Why was he fighting?"

"Did you see him, Pan?"

"What happened when you two met up?"

"Who won the power struggle?"

"What did you do for five more years?"

The questions grew louder as each person demanded they be heard and answered. Finally Pan let out an earsplitting whistle which made everyone fall silent and Gosan to wake and start crying.

"Great one Pan, wake the baby why don't you." Bura shot her an accusatory glare and ran to get him from the lounge where Videl had laid him. Pan rolled her eyes, looking really contrite. "Sor-ry." was mumbled under her breath as she pulled herself up on the bench and began to kick her legs.

She waited for Bura to come back before she carried on. "I'll finish my explanation and hopefully by then your questions will be answered. If they're not then you can ask and grandpa and I will try to answer them." She looked around everyone crowded around the table. "Maybe we should move to the lounge seeing as we've finished eating. We'll have more room."

"Good idea. Then the droids will have more room to clean up." Bulma ushered everyone through to the next room. Pan jumped off the bench and bumped into Goten, who had waited for her. He slung an arm around her shoulders and pulled her to him.

"Glad to have you home, kid. It's been boring without you around. No-one to spar with except Vegeta." He pulled a face, showing his deep enjoyment of those sparring lessons.

Pan looked up at him slyly, her arm around his waist. "Can't have been too boring. You would have had Bura all to yourself."

He yelped as she winked at him, pinched his butt and then moved quickly out of reach. She went and sat between her parents and grinned at him. He settled in beside Bura and glared at her, promising retribution. She flicked her eyes between him and Bura and then grinned even wider. Bura looked at him curiously, seeing Pan look between them. He smiled re assuredly at her and then glared even more at Pan. This was going to be fun.

Trunks looked on in amusement as Pan stirred up trouble with Goten. Back not even a day and already causing mischief. It was good to have her home. He tuned back in as he heard Videl ask what had happened next.

Pan turned her attention back to telling her tale. Her gaze drifted over to Goku where he sat squirming, next to Chichi. He looked 12 again as he was swinging his feet and looked mightily uncomfortable. He sighed and seeing him, Pan once again took up the telling of their tale.

"So, where was I? Right, Grandpa gets beaten by Raoul. They're fighting hand to hand, no ki blasts because Raoul's human and they don't really know what Saiyans are except for the little grandpa told them. Anyway, he's caught between these 2 factions and Raoul challenged his as Champion of the World or whatever. Apparently, and this is what I was told," She flicked a sardonic look at Goku, "The group Raoul was supporting was the better of the two so Grandpa decided to throw his support to them and started his campaign by losing to Raoul, thus making them the more powerful of the warring sides. So practically the whole city turns up to watch their hero fight and he gets beaten. You should have heard the crowd! I've never heard so much cursing in all my life. Picked up some good new ones," She winked at Goten, he grinned and mouthed 'Tell me later'.

"After the fight I caught up with Grandpa and there was much rejoicing." She sat back, crossing her arms over her stomach and let out a sigh.

There was silence. Everyone stared at her, then around at each other and then back to Pan

"That's it?" Videl was incredulous.

Pan thought for a bit. "Yeah, pretty much. Like Grandpa already told you, once I caught up with him and we both supported Raoul's faction and did some fighting, they won and our work there was done. I told him I'd come looking for him so he could come home. I never told him about 'the voice' that ordered me to find him, but I think he figured it out for himself," Goku nodded, "So we decided that since we were in another dimension we might as well explore it for awhile. We spent another two years traveling around, planet hopping, fighting, learning new skills and about different technology, stuff like that. Then we met up with Lexin again, he gave us a ship and we decided it was time to come home. Like we said before, only 3 years had gone by not 6. Guess that makes me 23." She muttered the last bit under her breath.

A contemplative silence reigned as everyone thought their own thoughts.

Gohan broke the silence, shifting in his seat to face Pan. "You still don't know who told you to go after Dad?"

She shook her head. "No, and I'm not sorry I went. I apologize for all the pain I caused everyone by leaving suddenly like that but I had to get Grandpa back."

Gohan smiled sadly and pulled her into his arms again. "We know you did Pan. You did the right thing." Releasing her, he turned to the rest of the room and smiled brightly. Addressing Bulma he asked, "Does these two arriving back warrant one of your reunion parties, Bulma?"

Perking up immediately at the thought Bulma clapped her hands together. "Of course Gohan! We'll have it tomorrow. Oh! There's so much to organize. Chichi, Videl, I'll need your help!"

The other women smiled as Bulma started listing all the things that needed to be done. She started to make her way out but halted as Vegetas voice rumbled throughout the room.

"Stop. The brat still hasn't said how she got her tail."

All activity froze as they looked at Vegeta and then Pan, who was in the middle of telling Goten and Trunks about some of the races they had encountered on their travels.

She looked around at everyone as they fell silent and then settled her glower on the Saiyan Prince lounging against the wall. He smirked.

"Yes Pan, do tell. We are most interested." Her gaze returned to Trunks and she started when she saw the almost hungry interest on his face. She frowned a bit, not liking his interest and wondered if it had anything to do with what had happened between them in the kitchen. Her tail started to tingle just thinking about it and a dull throb started pulsing at the base. She put a hand back to rub at it gently and narrowed her eyes as she watched him track her movements with gleaming eyes. She didn't think this was normal Trunks behavior but then it was pretty close to the full moon and he was a male Saiyan. She hissed quietly as she realized the implications of what that could mean. She looked over at Vegeta and saw that he was once again glaring angrily at his son. Another mystery to add to the confusion or was that just how he normally looked at Trunks? She had been gone 6 years, apparently. Maybe something had occurred between the two of them. Was possible. Vegeta had a temper and Trunks could be as stubborn as a mule when pushed. It couldn't be anything to do with her. Shaking away the thought she sighed, not wanting to have to explain and relive the most painful part of her absence. She turned pleading eyes on Goku, hoping he'd understand and help her.

Goku winced when he saw the desperate look on Pans face. He smiled sympathetically and spoke gently. "You're going to tell them sometime, Pan. I know it's not easy but you might as well get it done now."

Her shoulders slumped and she sighed, knowing he was right. She looked into the curious faces surrounding her and knew that some of them wouldn't understand the her pain in telling them what happened and others would understand straight away. The worst part would be if anyone pitied her. She'd never forgive them if they did.

"It happened about three months after we left K-19," her voice was abrupt after the expectant silence, "We we're on a small planet that Grandpa said was strangely reminiscent of Vegetasei. I laughed and said we'd better not find any other Saiyans like Vegeta here and then he said.."

"Alright Pan," Goku hurriedly interrupted her, "You don't have to recount our entire conversation."

"Why not, Kakarott? Got something to hide?" Vegeta straightened from the wall and took a step towards him.

"No, no. Of course not, just don't want to be here all night listening to every conversation we had as it's repeated, right Pan?"

Pan smiled innocently as Goku turned warning eyes toward her. "Of course not Grandpa." She replied demurely. No-one bought it. Pan was not demure.

"Where was I? Ok, we're on Whangaporoa, we meet the natives, look around for awhile, get settled in. One of them invites us to stay with them, so we do. They're quite taken with Grandpas tail. They speak a rudimentary version of the common language and we explain the origins of it and how we're related. They don't understand why I don't have a tail as well. We tried to explain, but they seemed adamant I should have one. We just let it go thinking it was some little quirk of theirs, but they didn't let up about it. They wanted to know the ways a Saiyan could gain a tail. Thinking back on it now we should have seen were they were going with all of this but we didn't. Grandpa told them the 3 ways to get a tail. Re-grow it, pull it out or extreme emotions under the full moon. Two of those weren't possible for me." Pan fell silent, eyes distant, staring.

As a group the others all turned to Goku. He was standing, shoulders tensed watching Pan with a pained look gracing his features. You could almost smell the confusion in the air, it was thick and riding alongside with it was pain. They could all feel Pans reluctance to tell them and now she was back with them the lat thing anybody wanted to do was upset her and cause her grief.

"Look, Pan," Trunks voice shattered the silence and made Pan jump. She turned to him and when he saw her eyes he glimpsed pain and anger shining rawly in them before she quickly hid the emotion behind a blank, unworried stare.

He blinked in surprise. Pan was one of the most emotive people he'd ever met. When did she learn to conceal her feelings? He gave himself a mental slap. She'd been gone 6 years. Of course she would've changed and possibly gone through experiences that moved her to become different. In his heart he mourned for the loss of the Pan he use to know and resigned himself to getting to know the new Pan. Not that she'd bee all that different. But some things definitely would be. He inwardly smiled, remembering how she'd reacted to his touch. Dende, but that had felt good. He came back to himself with a jolt, realizing Pan was still waiting for him to finish his sentence and his father was once again glaring at him. What was up with that anyway?

"Look, Pan. You don't have to tell us if you don't want to. We've got no right to expect and insist you tell us. If you want to explain it to someone later or not at all, then that's fine. We won't push you and we don't want you to hurt just because we're curious. All that matters is that you've now got your tail and with it, presumably, higher energy levels," He raised an eyebrow in question. She nodded. "That's good enough for us."

Murmurs and nods of agreement sounded throughout the room.

Pan was sceptical. "Can you really all just let it go? When I walk out of here tonight will that be the end of it unless I initiate it? No-one asking questions or dropping hints?" She turned burning eyes onto all the occupants of the room, trying to see the truth written on their faces.

Obviously she saw something that reassured her, because she relaxed and unclenched fists that had unconsciously tightened. "Thank-you. You really have no idea of what it means to me."

Bulma smiled kindly at the relieved girl. "Well, you and Goku have obviously had a long day. How about you both go and settle in at home and we'll see you tomorrow at 4pm for your welcome home party."

"Thank-you Bulma. It's very kind of you, but we don't need a party. Just being back and with family again is good enough."

"Nonsense Goku. Everybody will want to see you and Pan again. It's not just your family you left behind when you were gone. Your friends missed you too. So get plenty of rest. There'll be lots of food for you to eat." Bulma played her trump card, knowing there was no way Goku could refuse now.

"Well..that's very kind of you. Ok. Bye everybody. We'll see you again tomorrow." He waved in general at the room and gathering Chichi to him, started for the door. As he passed Pan she shook her head at him.

"And once again he is brought down by his stomach."

He shrugged and grinned sheepishly. He stopped in the doorway. "Are you coming, Son?"

"I think I'll stay at Gohans tonight, Dad. But I'll come home tomorrow morning."

Goku nodded and disappeared into the night sky, Chichi securely wrapped in his arms.

Gohan pulled Pan up off the sofa and with an arm around her shoulders steered her towards the door.

"Thank-you Bulma, Vegeta for your hospitality," As always, Gohan was unfailingly polite, "Look forward to seeing you tomorrow."

Goten and Videl with Gosan followed them to the foyer.

"Hang on." Pan pulled away from her father and walked back to where Vegeta was slouching. "Can I come train with you tomorrow morning?"

Vegetas' surprise didn't show. He stared emotionlessly as she waited for an answer. Finally he gave a tiny nod. "Be here at 6am. Don't be late."

She gave a quick grin and turning back waved goodbye to Trunks and Bura who were in shock over the thought of someone actually wanting to train with their dad.

Pan hugged Bulma. "Thank-you."

She then joined her family and finally started to make her way home.