Versus 4: Temporal Distortion

--Stand--

The whole occurrence had been like a dream. Goten had accepted her marriage proposal and all should have been right with the world. The only reason she knew that it had not been a dream was because she was there with him now, both still on their knees, and she was holding the tiny black box, which was open.

Suddenly Bra was aware of Pan and Trunks' presence again.

"This is beautiful," Pan said with a smile.

Trunks was speechless. Bra could tell by the look on his face that this was something he hadn't expected, maybe even something with which he did not agree.

But she didn't care. It was her decision no matter what anyone else thought. Bra took the ring from its little cradle and looked at it for a while. The ring was very simple really. It was just a big gold band with an engraving on the inside. The engraving was the word: Forever.

She looked at Goten's hand and sighed. There was nothing hindering her now. He had already said yes. So she took his hand and placed the ring on the proper finger. Then she looked up at him.

Goten smiled and hugged her, but as soon as he took a good look at the ring, he let her go. The smile disappeared from his face. "Bra, this ring..."

Bra only looked at him.

Goten looked up at her. "I...can't take this."

"What?" Pan nearly shouted.

Bra looked confused. "You don't like it?" she asked Goten

"No. I mean, I love it. It's just... I-it's much too expensive. You didn't have to get something so...," Goten stammered a bit.

"Don't worry about it, Goten," Bra said. "I got it because I thought you would like it. And you do."

"I don't know about this, Bra. I love you and I want to marry you, but this is...too much," Goten said.

Bra frowned and hugged herself.

Just as Goten was about to take the ring off of his finger, Trunks stopped him. "Goten, she wants you to have it. You should keep it."

Bra looked at her brother, a little surprised. Considering the look on his face earlier, she could have sworn that he thought this whole marriage thing was a mistake on her part. She wasn't sure what to say or think now.

Goten also looked a little surprised. "But it had to cost a grand at least."

Bra wouldn't dare correct him by telling him it was actually a two thousand dollar ring. And when she saw that Pan was about to let him in on this bit of information, she looked at the quarter Saiyan and shook her head.

"What does that matter? It's just a ring. Did you forget who this is? She's a member of one of the richest families in the world," Trunks said. He walked over to Bra and Goten and put a hand on each of their shoulders.

Pan walked over to Trunks and hugged one of his arms. "You're always giving Bra a hard time, but you're just as bad as your dad when it comes to her, aren't you?"

Trunks looked at Pan. "Don't read too much into this." He looked at his sister and his soon-to-be brother-in-law. "Getting engaged is okay, but I don't like the idea of you two getting married before Bra even gets out of high school. I think that's a bad move. But I know how hard-headed you two can be. It's not like you'll listen to me anyway."

"Oh, come on, Trunks. Look at them. They're so silly for each other, it's almost deafening," Pan told Trunks.

Trunks looked at Pan strangely.

Now that statement just didn't make sense.

"Huh? What sense did that make?" Goten asked Pan. He finally stood and helped Bra to her feet.

He took the words right out of Bra's mouth.

"I don't know. Sometimes I just say things," Pan admitted, leaning against Trunks as she held onto his arm.

Bra rolled her eyes. "That's true." Then she raised her eyes at the sight of Pan's closeness to Trunks.

Pan pouted.

Trunks sighed. "Listen, I had a really good time tonight, but don't you two have school in the morning? It's getting late."

"Awwwww. I'm too excited to sleep," Pan whined.

"We all have someplace to be tomorrow," Bra reminded Pan. "Trunks always has to go to work early and Goten's starting up a new job in the morning. These guys need their rest."

"Yeah, I heard about that new job thing. That's great news too," Pan said. She smiled. "My mom and dad are gonna freak. It's way past my curfew."

How did Pan keep getting the information she always seemed to have? First, the fact that Uubu was back in town, and now the fact that Goten had another job. Bra was starting to believe that she was a little behind on the news scene. She looked at the clock, which read 12:13 A.M. She knew that her own weeknight curfew was 10:30. Hopefully, her mother and father were in bed by now.

"Hey, Trunks. Why don't you take Pan home? I'll just fly with Bra back to her place," Goten told his roommate. "It'll save some time."

"Alright," Trunks said.

"I'll see you guys later," Pan sang to Goten and Bra. Trunks lead Pan to the apartment door and opened it for her, but she just kept a hold of his arm and pulled him outside.

Once Trunks closed the door, Bra laughed. "Oh, I'm gonna get her about all of that tomorrow. Did you see those two?"

Goten put his arms around Bra from behind. "I saw them, but that's not what I wanna talk about right now." He planted kisses on the back of her neck.

She thought she felt her spine melt as he kissed her. "Let me guess. You want to talk about us." She leaned her head back and he simply trailed his kisses to the side of her neck.

"Yeah. I'm really happy that you proposed to me. It shows that you're just as serious about us as I am," Goten told her. One of his hands slowly made its way down to her stomach and he just ran his hand across it over and over again. He wouldn't stop kissing the side of her neck.

Bra giggled. "That tickles." She turned to him and grabbed his hands. It didn't tickle. What it WAS doing, she would rather not mention to him. But surely he knew, or he wouldn't have been doing it. "Was there ever any doubt? I'm serious about everything, you know."

Goten kissed each of her hands. "That you are."

"I just wanted you to know just how much I love you. And I know I haven't really shown you that in the past," Bra said. She was about to go into the whole thing with her inability to tell him that she loved him and the whole 'trying to kill him' episode, but she decided against it. She was sure he understood what she was talking about.

"Well, you really take things to the extreme when you want to make a point," Goten pointed out.

"I didn't do this just to make a point, though," Bra corrected. "I want us to get married." She looked away. "But I have to agree with Trunks. It may not be a good idea to rush it."

Goten expression flickered to disappointment. He looked at the ring on his finger, then back at Bra. "I can't think of a single reason for us to wait."

Bra was about to say something, but he interrupted her by gently touching her lips.

"So, you're in high school. You'll graduate whether we're married or not," Goten told her.

Bra nodded.

"And you'll go to college whether we're married or not," Goten went on.

Bra nodded again.

Goten smiled again and ran his fingers across her lips. "And I have one last argument for you, if you still want to suggest putting it off."

She raised her eyebrows. What was he going to say next? What was his last argument?

"I know the way you work. You like to do things that other people wouldn't. And this is definitely one of those things other people wouldn't do," Goten said. "Not only that, but you're also a delinquent. I've seen you do things just because you're not supposed to. I think you get some of that from Pan. She's a bad influence."

Bra smirked, but wouldn't say anything. He had a point. She was a bit of a delinquent, as he'd told her a couple of times. And even though she wanted to correct him on saying that Pan was a bad influence, she just stood there and let Goten study her lips. He'd seemed so fascinated by them that she didn't want to interrupt. It made her a little nervous for him to examine her so, however.

"I want us to set a date," Goten said. He moved his fingers to explore her face as if he were blind and trying to familiarize himself with who she was. "And I think that date should be soon." He finally did what she was sure he was working his way around to anyway. He kissed her on the lips, but only briefly.

Bra sighed and nodded. She sure wasn't using her voice much right about now.

Goten smiled. "Come on. I should take you home. I think you're just about tuckered out."

Was she? Was she simply tired and didn't know it? She put her arms around him as he led them to the door.

--End Stand--

--That's the end of a strange chapter. I'm sorry it took so long to get done. I had some bad days last week and I wrote some short but weird side stories to get a little anger off my chest. And now I'm back. I was still a little angry when I wrote this, so it didn't turn out the way I would have liked. Let's just hope for the best for future episodes.

--Ah, the reviews. I thank you all for everything you do for me and for this story. I don't know what I'm going to do without this audience once this one is done. I'll really miss you all. It's kinda sad that once this story is done, I'll probably never bump into any of you again. You've been so helpful. Sigh

--Alright, stay tuned for the episodes to come. Though the most exciting part of the series is pretty much over, there are still some interesting things to find out. Let's just see what happens next.