--Note: Alright. This is the episode we've all been waiting for. I know I've been waiting for it. I know what some of you may be thinking. This whole marriage idea seemed to come out of nowhere. Well, I've actually known that she was going to do this since chapter 13, "Rain Song". When she and Goten were talking on the phone and she went into this little daze about halfway through the chapter. If you want to check it out again, you'll notice that it's there. Anyway, I hope you enjoy this chapter. And I'll see you on the other side.
--Okay, so the title's a little strange. Don't blame me. Blame Queens of the Stone Age.
Versus 4: Temporal Distortion
--You Got a Killer Scene There, Man--
Trunks drove as the two couples set a course for the bowling alley.
"Yeah, Marron and Uubu couldn't make it. They had something else to take care of," Pan told the guys.
"That's a real shame. I was looking forward to it being the six of us. Like old times, you know," Goten commented. "But I guess you can't have 'em all. Am I right?" He was sitting in the back seat with his arm around Bra. The two were both behind Pan's seat.
Bra nodded. "When you're right, you're right."
"Hey, Trunks. What's your deal? You haven't said anything all night," Pan said from the passenger seat.
"Sorry. I guess I'm still kinda groggy from the shot Mom gave me," Trunks told her.
Pan nodded. "Yeah, I can understand that. This whole thing about brain waves and stuff. I don't understand it at all. What exactly is it supposed to accomplish?"
"Well, I had the same question. My mom was talking to me about it today while Goten was under. I don't know if Bra's been telling you what's been going on with her or whatever, but--" Trunks began.
As Pan and Trunks chattered, Goten put his nose on Bra's neck and she giggled quietly.
"You know, you were right the other day," Goten whispered to Bra. "We should really get back to sparring. I haven't been training the way I should."
Bra nodded. "Neither have I. Maybe we've just had too much on our minds lately," she whispered back to him. She looked at him. "Oh, I've been meaning to ask you something. It's been on my mind a lot."
Goten raised his eyebrows.
"When we first got together, you said that you wanted to wait for us to start a relationship," Bra began. "You said that I should wait until I experienced college before becoming a couple. What changed that?"
Goten looked at her strangely.
"I mean, I'm not saying that changing your mind was a bad thing. I'm just asking why the sudden change," Bra clarified.
"It's hard to explain," Goten told her. "The reason I suggested it in the first place is because I wanted things to be perfect between us. I wanted you to be with me, not because I've always been the only one in your life, but because even out of all the other men you've come into contact with, you still wanted to be with me. In a way I guess it was selfish, but in a way it was really risky because I could have lost you to someone else." He put his free hand to her cheek. "I started seeing you all the time. And we became so close, even when we weren't a couple. But after you left me that time we sparred, I was so confused. For a while there, I wanted to call it quits altogether." He looked away.
Bra put her head down. She knew that he thought about that incident from time to time, just like she did. She'd never regretted anything so much. It was something that would haunt her for the rest of her life and quite possibly even in death.
"But being near death made me realize something. It made me realize that life isn't a game. If you have something you want, you should hold on to it," he went on. He gazed deeply into her eyes, even in the dark. "And then when you sang that song, my whole life with you flashed before my eyes. I thought back to when we were growing up and how you looked up to me as a fighter. And I thought about all those times I defended you from your brother. When I taught you how to fly. Things like that. When we were younger, I really did see you as a little sister. You meant the world to me. But even before I left for college, I saw how much you were growing up. You'd always been much more sophisticated than other kids your age. And you've been one of the smartest people I know for as long as I can remember. I really admired those things about you. Then I came back from college and I saw that you'd become a woman. You weren't that little girl I grew up with. You weren't that little girl I babysat. You were a brilliant, strong and gorgeous young woman. A woman I knew all my life." He smiled that smile of his. "On the night you sang that song, everything became so clear. Whether it was my doing or your own, I wouldn't be able to deal with losing you."
Bra blushed, but she was sure he couldn't see it in the dark. "Oh, Goten. You never would have lost me. Not even if you gave me away. I've been in love with you all my life. And I'll always love you. NOTHING could ever change that. NO ONE could ever change that." She was about to go on, but instead she pulled him close, kissing him deeply.
"Hey, lovebirds, we're here," Pan said. She had turned all the way around in her seat. "You can save making out for later. We're here to bowl." She giggled.
Trunks laughed a little as well.
They all got out of the car and saw that the place was pretty much deserted. What else had they expected when going out on a Tuesday night?
Goten had his arm around Bra's shoulders as they headed for the entrance.
And Bra noticed that Pan was pulling Trunks along by his hand.
"Come on, come on, sleepy-head," Pan told him. "We can get the farthest lane. That way if we break something, we won't call too much attention to ourselves."
Bra was still a little flustered by the things Goten had said to her in the car. Her mind was reeling. Considering everything he'd just said, there was no reason for him to say no this proposal. She thought about the purse she'd left in the car. The only things she had in it were the game DVD she'd made and the infamous little black box.
"I hope you don't have anything strange in mind for this little outing," Trunks said. "I know how you like to do things."
Pan giggled and looked back at Bra. "I don't have anything planned." She looked back at Trunks and frowned. "What? You don't trust me?"
"No, not really," Trunks said with a laugh. He escaped Pan's grasp and jogged toward the entrance.
Pan gasped. "I do not believe this." She started chasing him. "You can't run forever, you know!"
Goten laughed at the two. "I think we're gonna have to play the role of the parents," he said to Bra.
Bra shook her head. "Can't take these kids anywhere, can we?"
--the date: part 2--
Considering their strengths, it was amazing that nothing was destroyed. Unfortunately, the person who'd suggested that they go bowling was terrible at it. Poor Pan's ball hit the gutter more times than any of them could count. She was dubbed 'master of the gutter'. Bra, on the other hand, would roll the ball right up the middle, but it was moving so fast that none of the other pens were touched besides the few that were stationed there. It sounds impossible considering the physics of the game, but she somehow managed to make it happen that way each and every time she rolled. All night she was called 'master of the middle'. Goten did alright. He was the 'master of spares'. He'd knock down pens in weird places, then every time he had to pick up spares, he did. Every time. All of them. He was surprisingly talented. Trunks, however, stole the show. He was called 'master of strikes' all night long. That one was a self-explanatory title.
And what better to do after a night filled with laughing at Pan and Bra than picking up something to eat on their way back to the apartment? They were polite about it, only ordering 20 pizzas. Trunks insisted that he pay.
On to the apartment, laughing and chatting all the way.
"I swear if you guys weren't holding the food, I wouldn't let you in," Pan said to Trunks and Goten. She laughed as she unlocked the apartment door with Trunks' keys.
The guys were holding 10 boxes of pizza a piece. Bra was simply holding that purse she hadn't removed from the car since they set out that night.
After letting the guys walk past her, Pan gave Bra a smile. "Are you ready?"
Bra's heart raced as she hugged the purse she carried. "I don't know if I can do this..."
Pan's smile faded. "What do you mean? You're the only person I know who COULD do this," she whispered to Bra. "You worked so hard to get him back. And you worked so hard to find a creative way to do it. You can't back out now."
Bra looked away.
"Come on. You're just nervous," Pan said. "Everything's gonna be fine. You'll see. And when he says yes, you'll be ecstatic." She smiled once again.
She'd never been so nervous in her life. She tried to keep her usual confidence, but something in the back of her mind kept singing to her. It reminded her that she was only 16. That she was still in high school. And it warned her that if she did this, nothing but heartbreak would lie ahead.
Then there was a small part of her, which was almost being drowned out by the singings of the prior, telling her that she had a very slim chance of being rejected. He loved her. They had already been talking about getting married. It was only logical for them to make it official.
Bra nodded to Pan. "Alright. I'm ready. I'm gonna do this."
"That's the spirit!" Pan said. She pushed Bra into the apartment.
Trunks was setting up the DVD player and Goten was sorting out the pizzas. Actually, Goten was eating a couple of slices while he thought no one was looking.
But Bra saw him. She walked over to Goten and stood behind him for a while. "Hungry?"
Goten gasped and almost choked. "I wasn't doing anything," he lied, trying to hide the pizza in his hand.
Bra laughed and wiped some tomato sauce off of his nose. "Then what's this?" She showed him the sauce on her fingers.
Goten looked at her hand, then licked the sauce off. "What's what?" He smiled like he was actually innocent of the accusation.
Bra could only look at him. He had been acting differently. He'd been more and more physical with her these days than he had before. Was this somehow connected to what he was talking about during their drive to the bowling alley? She had a feeling it was. She sure wasn't going to complain. Of course, she had been more physical with him these days as well. So, in a way, maybe they had both come to the same realization. If you have something in this life, you should most definitely hold onto it. In the most literal of senses.
By the time she came out of her stupor, Goten had moved all the pizzas to the coffee table in the living room.
"What are we watching?" Pan asked as she took a seat on the sofa next to Trunks. She grabbed one of the pizza boxes and started eating.
Trunks held the remote in hand. "Something I got a couple of weeks ago and never watched. It's called 'High Tension'."
"Never heard of it," Pan said.
"Neither have I," Bra told them.
She noticed that Goten was sitting in the recliner. She was about to walk past him and sit on the sofa with Trunks and Pan, but Goten grabbed her by the hand and pulled her onto his lap. She looked at him strangely.
"Where do you think you're going?" Goten asked with a grin.
Pan looked over at them and smiled.
Trunks was oblivious. Or so it seemed. He started the movie...
--the date: part 3--
Bra spent the whole movie leaning back against Goten. He just sat there with his arms around her. It was a little strange. She was sure that she was cutting off the circulation to his legs by the time the movie was half over, but he didn't move.
She thought the movie was great. Not only was the story fantastic, but the soundtrack was awesome. Yes, it was a French movie, but that didn't matter. It was good. A suspense thriller for the ages.
But she'd noticed something funny while the movie was playing. They probably didn't notice that she noticed, but Trunks and Pan had gotten pretty close. Pan, who normally didn't scare easily, had hidden her face in Trunks' arm several times during the movie. Bra wanted to call them out on it, but she decided not to. Especially since she could be called out on something she'd rather not be called out on.
"Oh, yeah. Didn't I hear you say something about a game you wanted me to check out?" Goten asked.
Bra had mentioned the game she'd developed while they were bowling. She was a little surprised that he remembered that she'd brought it up. Her heart thumped rapidly. Her stomach felt like it had giant butterflies flapping around in it. Her eyes even felt like they might leak at any given moment. "That's right." She stood and headed toward the computer in the corner of the living room.
Pan looked like she wanted to stand, but she stayed put. "You guys and your video games," she said nonchalantly. Or at least that's how she sounded when she said it.
Goten followed Bra over to the computer and sat down.
Trunks raised his eyebrows. "A new game? Maybe I should check this out. Come on, Pan. Seems like you'd like video games." He stood and pulled Pan over to the computer as well.
Bra was more nervous now than she was before. She put the game DVD in and ran the program.
"Hey, that's you," Goten pointed out to Bra. "And that's me."
"What kind of game is this?" Trunks asked.
"Bra told me that she'd put a game together, but she didn't tell me that it would star us," Goten said as he played through it. He smiled. "This is cool."
Pan and Bra exchanged a look.
After about 30 minutes of game play, Goten had made it to the end. "It was short, but it was really cool. I had no idea you could do things like this, Bra. You're really talented."
Bra couldn't even say anything. She simply blushed and kept watching the monitor.
"Hey, there's more," Pan said.
All of them stared at the computer screen as the ending cinema played:
"We've been through so much together," the game version of Goten said.
The game version of Bra nodded. "With everything that's been happening, it's a miracle that we're still together. And I know that as long as we're together, there's nothing we can't face. There's no force in the universe that could ever come between us. Neither space nor death nor time will ever tear us apart." Game Bra hugged Game Goten tightly.
"I love you, Bra," Game Goten told her with a smile.
Game Bra smiled. "I love you too, Goten. There aren't enough words in the world that could describe how much I love you." She slowly dropped to one knee and pulled a little box from her pocket. "That's why I want to ask you this. Will you marry me...?"
The game ended abruptly.
"Wow. Why did it end like that? What was his answer?" Goten asked, still staring at the screen.
When he looked over at Bra, she was on her knees beside him, holding the tiny black box in her hands. Tears were in her eyes. She placed the box on his thigh and just held onto it. She couldn't even get the words out. She wouldn't look to see what Pan and Trunks' reactions were. She just held the box there.
She finally looked up at Goten after she didn't hear an immediate answer. And to her surprise, his eyes were quickly filling with tears as well. "Bra..."
Bra took a deep breath, but still wasn't able to speak. There were so many things she wanted to say, but not only were her vocal chords not working, her brain had all but quit functioning.
Once again, nothing else mattered. They may as well have been there all by themselves. The silence surrounding them seemed to go on for an eternity. Her heart raced and her hands were beginning to tremble. She took another deep breath, hoping to steady herself enough to speak. "Goten...you mean more to me than even the beating of my heart." She opened the little box. "Will you marry me?" She gazed into his dark eyes, seeking his answer.
"Bra...," seemed to be the only thing Goten could say.
"I already know what you're going to say. I'm not talking about getting married tomorrow or even a year from--" Bra began.
Goten's teary eyes looked confused. "Why not?"
It was Bra's turn to look confused. "Huh?"
Goten stood and dropped to his knees in front of her. "Why not get married some time next year or something? We both know what's what. It would be silly to hold off on a wedding when you already know that you're gonna get married anyway."
This was shocking to hear. Bra was speechless.
"We don't have to set a date today," Goten told her. He laughed a little. "In other words, I'm saying yes. Yes, I'll marry you."
Bra looked at the ring she'd spent so much time picking out, then looked back at Goten. She was so flabbergasted that she wasn't sure what to do anymore. She hadn't expected THIS reaction.
--End You Got a Killer Scene There, Man--
--Well..., that didn't go the way I thought it would. Ummmmmm... It was a surprise to me. I don't know what to say.
--And since I don't know what to say, let me hear what you have to say. Please review.
--I'm honestly thrown off here. I...
--Thanks for past reviews and thanks for reading this chapter. What does Pan think? And what about Trunks? How will their mothers take the news? How will Vegeta feel about it? We'll just have to find out in the episodes to come.
