A/N: The character of Bra in this story is based on the Bra in my other story 'Truth be Told' as this is the third part of my trilogy, continuing on from where the last story left off. If you want to understand why Bra is the way she is in this story, you'll have to read the other two stories that go with this one.
(o)
I awoke early the next morning, showered, changed into a mud brown shirt and half-length denim pants with a brown bandana wrapped around my wet raven hair, then made my way to the kitchen for breakfast. As I neared the end of the wall that led to the kitchen, I heard a squeal of delight issuing from behind a nearby door, and nearly fell backwards in surprise.
"Bra is coming to visit us, and she has some exciting news!" Bulma cried, bursting out from a door to my right after speaking to her daughter on the phone. "She's pregnant, and for the first time! Oh, I can't believe it! She and Uub are going to have a baby! And I'll finally get to be a grandma!"
"Congratulations." I said with a smile, as Bulma pulled me into a rib crushing hug.
"Oh this is so exciting!" She exclaimed, doing a sort of dance on the spot. "We'll have to do something to celebrate. Why don't we have a barbeque lunch? Just the family, and you of course, Pan dear. My gosh, it's all happening so suddenly!"
She danced into the kitchen, humming a tune to herself. I followed her gingerly, taking my usual place on a kitchen stool and smiling kindly while she prepared breakfast for me and herself. After we'd eaten, she left for the shops, and returned with platters of food, which she forced me into preparing with her, taking up most of the morning. As she worked, Bulma told me more about her daughter.
"Bra owns an apartment on the other side of Capsule City. We don't see much of her, since she's always been so private, and she and her husband do a lot of charity work, so they're often away from home. She's a forensic scientist as well, and works very diligently at her job. I can seriously see her as a model, she's incredibly beautiful for 28, with a lovely figure, manner, and expression. She and Uub lead a busy lifestyle, and I always thought they wouldn't want to have a child as it would disrupt the way they live. But I'm so happy they've decided to! She didn't tell me much over the phone, and I can't wait to hear all she has to say."
(o)
Bra arrived at Capsule corp. around midday. She was a younger version of her mother, and must have looked like Bulma did at one stage, with glossy, shimmering teal hair cut at chest length, and allowed to flow freely over her shoulders. She had her mother's teal eyes, and her mother's slim, elegant feminine figure with the acceptation of the bulk in her stomach where her baby was. But unlike Bulma, she dressed simply in baggy jeans and a black shirt with 'Fight the System' printed across the front in white letters – the sort of shirt Zara would envy.
"Oh my goodness!" Bulma cried, enveloping her daughter in a tight embrace the minute the front door was opened. "Bra, darling, how are you? You look so beautiful, even when pregnant! God, I can't believe you're pregnant!"
"Lovely to see you too, Mother dearest." She said in a voice dripping with sarcasm. She had an unusually deep voice for a woman, and a cruel, wicked smile very similar to her father's.
Bulma allowed Bra to struggle free and move into the entrance hall. I smiled, but she hardly paid me any attention, watching as her mother then stepped forward to embrace her young husband.
"Congratulations, Uub." Bulma exclaimed, hugging the young man tightly. "Vegeta and I are so proud of you!"
"Thank you, Bulma." He said shyly. She moved away so that I could get a clearer view of him, and saw that he was lanky and meek, with a neatly trimmed black Mohawk and brown eyes that seemed to stand out against his dark skin, and the white jacket he wore, covering a black tank top and accompanied with matching baggy black pants.
"Come through into the backyard. We were planning on having a barbeque lunch, while we talk about the new baby. How far along are you? I can already see a bulk, so it mustn't be that long!"
"Five and a half months." Bra answered promptly.
"When did you find out?" Bulma asked, leading the way down towards the kitchen.
"About two months ago." Bra said with a shrug.
"Two months ago!?" Bulma shouted, rounding on her daughter swiftly. "Why didn't you tell me when you found out?"
"Because I knew this is what you'd do." She said, nodding to the assortment of prepared foods resting in the kitchen. "And I obviously didn't want to suffer through unwanted attention, so we decided to keep it hidden from you for as long as possible."
"I bet you told Uub's mother." Bulma scowled, opening the door from the kitchen that led into the backyard.
"Naturally." Bra said with a wicked smile. "But only because I knew she didn't plan on sweeping me up into her arms and parading about the room like an idiot before prancing next door to tell the neighbors."
"I don't act like that." Bulma defended.
"Really, woman, I've grown up with you, and I know your natural behavior as well as you know mine." She turned to me for the first time that day, smirking cruelly. "I bet she was singing and dancing all morning, wasn't she."
"Yeah." I said truthfully. "Yeah, she was."
Bulma chose to ignore me. I grinned, liking Bra already.
"I'll just go and see if I can find Vegeta and Trunks." Bulma said brightly. "Just make yourself at home."
"Um….this is partly my home anyway." Bra retorted. "Or at least it was for the first nineteen years of my life."
Bulma had already disappeared through the opposite kitchen door, and thankfully didn't hear this comment.
"Mothers." Bra shook her head in dismay, dropping into one of the outdoor chairs surrounding the matching table on the Briefs' back porch. She turned to me, smiling once more. "Oh hello, by the way. I haven't seen you since you were twelve years old. Look at you now, you're practically a woman. But obviously still have the same personality traits. I can see Goten written all over you. How are you?"
"Good." I lied, my voice simple and meek. I sank into the chair opposite her, resting my head in elbows on the table.
"Still as tomboyish as ever." She said, gesturing to my clothes. "Style suits you, in a way."
"Thanks." I smiled politely.
"Like high school?"
"Yeah." I lied.
"Oh we've all been there." She said as Uub sat himself in the chair beside her. She had obviously sensed the sarcasm in my voice when I answered her last question. "It was only the last two years I really liked. Back then I was officially classified as 'The Nerd'. Because I skipped a grade back in year eight, and was moved up into the same year as Trunks, I never really made friends until he came along." She hit her husband playfully on the arm. "After that, everything went uphill."
"So you're saying I need to fall in love before high school can get better?"
"Basically." She replied. I couldn't tell if she was being sarcastic or not. "Oh trust me, kid. Someday you'll look back on high school and realize that it was the best six years of your life, no matter if you got teased, bullied, or worshiped by peers and teachers alike. You'll never get the opportunity to do it again, so you may as well enjoy it."
"They're the years of youth." Uub added shyly. "After you leave, you start feeling really old."
"Well he did anyway." Bra smirked. "But he's still unaware of the infinity of time."
"Huh?" I wondered, but before she could reply, Bulma could be heard speaking with Vegeta on her return to the kitchen.
"Let's make a prediction, shall we?" Bra joked. "Who here agrees with me in saying that the first question Bulma asks me about the baby is if I know if it's a boy or a girl?"
I raised my hand, and Bra laughed. I wasn't sure if she was laughing with me, or at me, so I lowered my hand and kept my mouth shut tightly.
"Sorry Trunks isn't here. But he was tied up in a meeting." Bulma explained, and I felt my heart sink into the pit of my stomach, though I supposed I should be relieved that I had managed to escape another meal of awkward sullenness with him yet again.
"I'll just dish up the food." Bulma said as Vegeta sat down gingerly at the round table between Bra and I. "Back in a moment."
"Afternoon." She grinned, turning her attentions to her father. Vegeta merely grunted. "No need to be grumpy with me. It's not my fault she dragged you out here."
"Yes it is." He grumbled. "Now she wants me to congratulate you both, and buy you a gift…those funny little twigs that get in your way when you're trying to fight…you know…"
"Flowers?" Uub asked quietly.
"Yes. Them."
"Oh don't worry. I don't believe in gifts made for the soul purpose of ornamental decoration." Bra joked. "Just bring a couple of sweatbands to the baby shower and I'll be pleased that you made the effort."
Vegeta was right. Bra was nothing like me in any way, yet I couldn't help but to like her. There was a certain air about her…as if she was made up of a mixture of both Trunks and Vegeta, blended together to create her own unique personality trait. She seemed to be the sort of person who could easily get on your nerves, but who you ended up liking and befriending anyway.
Bulma returned with the food and, as Bra had expected, immediately began to question about the baby.
"So do you know if it's a boy or a girl?" She asked.
"No, we've decided we want to be surprised." Bra said, winking at me from across the table. "Honestly we don't care, as long as it doesn't end up having eight arms and blue skin I'll be happy."
"I still can't believe you didn't tell me straight away." Bulma sulked. "I'm still very offended, you know."
"Oh please. Did you tell your mother the day you became pregnant with Trunks?"
"No." Bulma admitted. "But circumstances were very different. I wasn't married at the time, for one thing. And I wasn't expecting to have a child."
"Yes, well I wasn't expecting a child either. Perhaps I may be married, but I'm still entitled to my own privacy from you."
"Yes, but this is my grandchild and I want to be as involved as possible from now on." Bulma commented, placing a hand on her daughter's swollen stomach.
"Lord, it's as if my stomach has become everyone's public property." Bra muttered. "Tell me Vegeta, do I have a big sign on my stomach saying 'Rub me to find the meaning of life'? Mum isn't the first person to try and feel the baby today."
"Of course you don't." Vegeta scowled, irritated for being interrupted from his steak.
"So what will you name the baby if it's a girl?" Bulma asked.
"Well, nothing to do with underwear, for starters." Bra began, causing me to snort into my plate. "I don't know, we aren't really picking names just yet."
"Then what are you deciding on? Surely, you're thinking of moving house? You can't raise a child in that little shoebox you call a home."
"Yes we can, and we will. Uub was raised in a hovel in a village. And if it's good enough for the father, then it's good enough for the child. In fact, more than 46 of the world's population are born and bread in areas as small as our apartment."
"Oh don't start getting all technical with us again, Bra." Bulma frowned. "Can we please change the subject back to my grandchild?"
"Oh yes, would you like to know what sort of milk we plan to use once the child is ready to drink from a bottle? Or what brand of nappies we plan to use?" Bra smirked. "Oh the variety of conversational topics!"
I burst into a hysterical fit of laughter, no longer able to contain myself. Both Bra and Uub joined me, yet Vegeta scowled in irritation and Bulma looked slightly put-out.
"You know, Pan has been staying in your old room, Bra." Bulma commented, deciding now was the time to change the subject. "It's been completely redone from what it used to be."
"Oh really?" Bra said interestedly. "I'd like to see it, if you wouldn't mind showing me. I haven't set foot in my old bedroom since I was seventeen."
I nodded and stood, leading her towards the back kitchen door. In doing so, Bra managed to knock over her own chair and the bottle of wine Bulma had brought out for the adults, which had been balancing dangerously on the edge of the table.
"Oops, clumsy me with my big stomach." Bra said mockfully, holding a hand over her mouth.
"Gee, child, what do you think you're doing, yelling and rushing around like that?" He yelled, while rushing around.
"I'm just trying to follow in the example provided by my dear old dad." She said jokingly, causing everyone other than Vegeta to double over laughing. "Come on, Pan. Let's see that room."
(o)
"You know," She told me, allowing me to lead her up a flight of stairs in the direction of the room. "I haven't been down this corridor in ages. When I turned seventeen, Uub moved into Capsule corp. with us. We didn't move out until he proposed, and until then we had to stay in separate bedrooms on Vegeta's orders. But I moved bedrooms so I could be next to his anyway."
"Oh." I mumbled, unsure of what else to say.
"Don't you find it ironic that Vegeta still calls me a child, even when I'm about to have a child of my own?"
"He calls me that, too." I replied. "But I just call him a tart."
"I'm sure he likes you, then." Bra chuckled. "He loves women with attitude. I don't think he would have married my mother if she wasn't able to beat him in an argument."
We reached the door to the bedroom, and I wrenched it open, allowing her to step inside.
"Urgh, she's turned it all pink!" I heard her exclaim, causing me to laugh.
"I pity you for having to dwell in here." She said sympathetically, darting about the rooms. "It's nothing like how I remember. I had it all done up nicely when it was my room, back when I was your age. The only thing that's really the same is the furniture, which she's painted. And the style and shape, of course. Oh, she's still kept some of my old books! Not all, but she's remembered my favorites."
"They're yours?" I questioned, sitting myself on the bed. "I finished reading one the other day."
I gestured to the book, still sitting on my beside table and she beamed. "Good one, isn't it? Really gory. I love the part where she finally dies. So sudden and suspenseful….the writer is so talented."
"Yeah, I know. I was reading it in the closet at night." I smiled up at her. "It was really freaky."
"What were you doing in the closet?" She said bemusedly.
"It's the only place in the whole room which isn't pink, including the bathroom."
"Oh. I see." Bra chuckled. "Well, let's get out of this pink hellhole, then."
"That's what I call it." I said, jumping off the bed and following her into the backyard again cheerfully.
(o)
Bra and I had more in common than I expected. She was very intelligent, and had an opinion for almost every topic imaginable, which she presented by means of sardonic humor, always finding a way to make me laugh. We spent the rest of her visit sitting on the back lawn, discussing everything from fighting, to slave labor, to wrestling, to feminism. The conversation only really began to go downhill when we began to talk about memories.
"I remember the last time I saw you before the double wedding with Goten and Marron, Uub and I. Bulma was having one of her barbeques, just before you were set to go into high school. I remember kissing Uub, and Marron kissing Goten, and you telling us it was disgusting. You were sitting right there on the grass, playing with Trunks."
Once again, my heart had sunk back into my stomach. For a while, I had been able to enjoy Bra's company without worrying about either Elijah or Trunks. I knew it was too good to last.
"Something wrong?" She asked, seeing the darkened expression on my face.
"Trunks…" I began, subconsciously picking at strands of grass. "Trunks and I are having some issues…"
"What kind of issues?"
I found myself telling her everything. Everything from the moment I had arrived at Capsule corp., to the present, including all thoughts and feelings about Trunks Briefs, her brother, senior by one year, and obviously someone she held very close. As I spoke, I felt tears swelling in the corners of my eyes, and once or twice had to lift a hand to wipe a tear away.
"Shit, kid, I had no idea!" Bra cried once I had finished.
"No one does, except for you, Zara, and Mason." I reasoned. "Bra, I'm so confused. You have to tell me what to do!"
"Well, the only advice I can give you is to talk to him." Bra said thoughtfully. "Coming from a younger sister's point of view, I can tell you that my brother is a reasonable kind of guy, who lives for the soul purpose of living up to the satisfaction of others. He's not jealous, and his one ambition in life is to make others happy. In other words, he's the most unselfish person I know. If you ask him to talk about it with you, I'm sure he'll hear you out. Just talk about it, and sort things out together."
Time passed, and soon the discussion began to revolve around school, and the many amusing stories Bra had to tell about her teenage years, and Trunks'. Soon enough, the afternoon sun began to fade, and the cool dusk claimed the sky.
"Beautiful, isn't it?" Bra commented, staring gleefully up into the sky. "See, this is why I'm so involved in the environment and charity programs. To preserve our world, and make it a better place."
"Hmm…" I replied absentmindedly, staring drearily into space.
"Oh Pan!" Bulma cried shrilly. "Could you do me a favor, darling?"
I shuddered at the name she gave me, but stood and dusted my jeans before making me way to the back veranda with Bra at my side. Bulma smiled her wide, false smile which I did not attempt to return.
"Could you please go into the kitchen and bring out a bottle of something for us all to drink?" She asked politely. I scowled, resenting the task, but made no effort to refuse it and headed into the house. I took my time just to irritate her, but it seemed she hardly had noticed my long absence, for she seemed to be involved in deep conversation. I was about to open the door and interrupt when I heard my name mentioned, and paused to listen through the door.
"So how's Pan coping with it all?" I heard Bra ask.
"I don't know really." Bulma answered thoughtfully. "She's a very quiet child…sort of secluded. She likes to keep to herself, and spends a lot of time in her room. When she isn't alone or out with these friends of hers who she's never introduced to me, she's tagging along with Trunks. She seems to have taken a real shine to him."
"If I remember correctly, she always got on well with Trunks." Uub added meekly. "It doesn't really surprise me that she'd want to be around the most familiar face."
"Yes…well…she's never been this secluded before. Always such an outgoing little thing." Bulma commented. "I think the whole event with Elijah has really gotten to her, poor thing. That's why I didn't want to tell her when her father called the other day."
"Gohan called?" Bra said interestedly. "What did he say?"
"Well, it seems that Elijah has gotten worse." Bulma replied gravely. "The doctors are doing all they can, but nothing seems to be working for him. According to Gohan, they're not entirely sure, but they doubt he has much time left. In fact, they don't even think he'll survive the summer. Pan won't be stuck with us for too long, it seems."
I turned on my heel, leaving the bottle I'd brought with me beside the back door, and sprinted upstairs to my room, retreating to the safety of my closet. I'd heard more than enough.
It was funny, I thought long after Bra and Uub had departed and I had retired to bed, that both Bra and Mason should offer me the same advice.
