Standard Disclaimer: Characters do not belong to me, the plot does.

Breathe Again

The coffee grew cold in her hands as her naked feet grew cold on the patterned tiles of the kitchen floor.

They sat opposite each other at their kitchen table. He was reading the morning paper and sipping coffee, his tie hanging loosely about his neck and making his crisp suit look almost casual. She sat with one leg crossed over the other, wearing only a frown and a shirt that didn't belong to her.

His short, lavender hair was neatly tussled while her long, black hair hung loosely over her shoulders and in her eyes. Brown eyes, so brown they were almost black, watched him blankly, while his own, as clear and blue as the early morning sky, scanned the paper.

They were Trunks and Pan Briefs, and this was how they started their mornings.

It hadn't always been like this, Pan remembered as she swept a hand through her hair and watched her husband from across the table. In the earlier years of their marriage there had been times Trunks had had to rush off to work because they had been making love and lost track of time. Lost track of the whole world, for that matter.

But that had been when they were newlyweds, when Trunks didn't spend fifteen hours at the office and the rest of his time sleeping or doing more work at home. Now, five years into their marriage, Pan was lucky to get an "I love you", let alone her mind blown in bed.

She shifted, flexing her cold toes against the dead marble and toying with the handle of her mug. She wasn't sure how it had happened, but their sex life had been sucked down the drain. And she missed it.

Missed the way he would pull her against him in the dark, whisper in her ear, and love her until she couldn't see straight anymore. She missed the way he'd casually touch her when they were in public; his fingertips on her arm, toying with her hair, or the slight brush of their bodies. Those little gestures had always sent her pulse racing. She hadn't been aroused in such a long time, Pan sometimes felt the need to check for a pulse.

Maybe it was the fact that they hadn't conceived a child in five years of marriage that had caused the collapse of their sex life, or maybe he simply wasn't attracted to her anymore.

The stab of pain in her chest at the thought almost made Pan wince.

It hurt to think that maybe your husband found you unattractive. It was was better to convince yourself that it was your childless marriage that had ruined things.

Pan didn't know why she hadn't gotten pregnant. Hell, they had had enough sex. She had even been to the doctor about it. But everything was normal. She was perfectly healthy. "Sometimes it just takes time," the doctor had told her. Well, it had taken too long and Trunks was apparently not interested in having children anymore. He spent too much time at the office anyway, she thought.

Pan desperately wanted children with the man she loved, but more than anything, she wanted her husband to show her that he still cared, that he still loved her.

"Pan, you're shivering."

Pan started, sloshing coffee onto the table.

Embarrassed that she had been so deep in thought that she hadn't noticed that her teeth were almost chattering, Pan got to her feet with a sigh.

"Yeah," she said, picking her mug up and crossing to the sink. The light touch on her hip had her going still and a sudden wave of warmth washing over her and settling in the pit of her stomach. She looked down and into Trunks's blue eyes, eyes that held an emotion she couldn't quite decipher.

His t-shirt did nothing to protect her skin from his touch, she might as well have been naked.

"Pan, baby, are you all right?"

Baby. He hadn't called her that in months, maybe years, she couldn't remember. "I don't feel too good, I think I'll go back to bed." She managed a small smile, even though a wave of confusion and longing was whirling restlessly in her chest.

She stepped away, but he caught her arm this time, his hand warm and solid. She looked back at him and saw that same, indescribable look in his eyes.

"Call me if you don't feel better, OK?"

They stared at each other a moment, then Pan nodded and turned back toward the sink. She dumped the icy coffee down the drain and rinsed her mug, and with a small sigh, she turned and bumped into Trunks's chest. She looked up at him with raised eyebrows as he stared down at her, knotting his tie at the same time.

Pan didn't say anything, nor did she move. She was no longer cold, but numb. He could always do that to her, even with a casual touch. Their bodies were barely brushing and the sweet heat of arousal was sweeping through her.

The one-sided attraction she had felt for ages was no longer there in that moment. Then and there, she felt like he wanted her just as much as she wanted him.

Then Trunks swept a hand through her hair, fisting it gently at the nape of her neck, and she thought her eyes might roll. He hadn't expressed that kind of emotion in what seemed like a lifetime. She ached for his touch, so much it almost made her sick.

"Call if you feel worse, please." He placed a gentle kiss on her lips and had goose flesh spreading across her skin. The simple kiss and his mild expression of concern had her heart bleeding and longing for more than just this casual touch.

"I will," she said quietly, closing her eyes as Trunks gave her neck a gentle squeeze. Then his touch was gone as quickly as it had come. When Pan opened her eyes again he was buttoning his blazer.

"I'll see you later." He picked up his briefcase and smiled, then the front door closed and Pan was alone.

"Bye," she murmured.

---

Pan had no sense of time as she drifted somewhere between dreams and reality. What she did sense were the fingers tugging at the waist of the jeans she had put on to do nothing but lay around all day. She could even hear the throaty moan she made as those same fingers brushed aside the bulk of her husband's t-shirt to trail across her middle.

If this was a dream, she didn't want to wake up. But it became obvious that it wasn't a dream when his lips pressed against her ear and he whispered her name.

Her eyes slid open and his scent was there, curling around her every sense and holding tight. The scent that she had fallen asleep with and laid awake wanting on so many nights.

"Trunks. . ." she murmured. Pan wasn't sure whether she was thankful, shocked, or confused, so she decided to be all three.

His hands trailed across her body and his lips excited her in a way she had almost forgotten existed. His body was deliciously heavy as it pressed against her, causing her to arch when he shifted every so slightly, aching for the tiniest shred of contact.

"I'm sorry, Pan. God, I'm so sorry," Trunks murmured as he pulled her easily to a sitting position and buried his face in her hair.

Her arms banded around his shoulders and held tightly as she just savored him.

"I never saw it, Pan. Christ I was so blind. I all but forgot about you, baby, I'm sorry. Work took over my life and I didn't realize it until I looked at you this morning." He pulled back to look at her in the fading light. "Really looked. I hurt you, Pan, and I'm sorry."

Barely able to comprehend that the man she married was finally back, Pan simply smiled. "Just kiss me," she murmured.

And he did, with all the heat and passion she had been longing for. He laid her back on the bed and brought her deeper, so deep Pan thought she might simply be consumed by him.

His hands worked under her shirt, closed over her breasts, and had fireworks of arousal exploding in her stomach. Her hands clenched on his shoulders as his lips trailed along her jaw and over her throat, nipping where her pulse hammered shamelessly.

Trunks stripped his own shirt from her body and fed her desire with kisses. His mouth on her body was like heaven, better still. Her heart stuttered helplessly under his touch and she struggled for breath as his mouth lowered to her breast.

She arched, gasped, and slid her hands through his hair. Her body was his, soft and malleable under his touch, and Pan wondered how she ever did without his touch, how she ever fell asleep without his arm drapped protectively over her naked waist.

His hand were peeling away her jeans and his mouth was playing across her stomach, tracing patterns of invisible fire. Then his hands were on her thighs, caressing her into a state of delirium. Everything but Trunks seemed to vanish, just as it had before. She was aware only of him, of his hands on her body, of his breath on her lips, as she lay beneath him.

Barely aware of it, she slipped easily into the rhythm of pulling open the tiny buttons of his shirt, then sliding it from his shoulders so he could cast it aside. Then her hands were on the waist of his pants, stripping them from his body as he almost knocked her into oblivion with another kiss.

They were both naked the next time their bodies met, and the hand that hand been teasing her thigh snaked higher and Pan arched to him on a moan. She begged him without words as he brought her over the edge for the first time.

Pan couldn't speak, could barely breath as her body savored it's first release in months. But then he was inside of her, filling her to the point of bursting. His lips were on her own, possessing as his body moved within her own. Her heart thudded against his as her hips raised to meet his as their breathless whispers and moans filled the bedroom around them.

When they breathed, they breathed each other. When they closed their eyes, they saw each other. Emotions were thick, passions spilled over the edges, and Pan lost herself for the second time on a low scream.

Pan's body tensed, then shuddered as Trunks moved within her one final time before he stumbled over the edge behind her.

Her whole body was numb with satisfaction, and Pan could barely breath with the weight of her husband crushing down on her chest. But she didn't want it any other way.

Trunks shifted back and she opened her eyes. He was staring down at her, looking godly in the gray light of dusk. She smiled and reached up to run a hand over his hair.

"I've missed you," she whispered. His eyes dropped from her own for a moment, in shame, she knew.

"I'm sorry, Pan. I just--"

"Shut up, Trunks," she murmured, and leaned up to kiss him. "Just shut up."

He chuckled and they rolled over in each other's arms.

Last Edited: October 2, 2005