Trunks groaned as he began to stir. Incoherent things were mumbled as the little prince furrowed his brows. Slowly, he began to open his eyes. "Where am I?" he croaked out with an extremely weak voice.

"You're on Kame Island," Gohan softly reassured.

The boy nodded softly, starting to drift off again almost instantly. Suddenly, he sat bolt upright. "My parents…!" He jumped out of the bed and made a break for the window.

Gohan just barely managed to grab on to the purple blur before the boy got out the window. "Whoah, slow down!"

"I know that energy! I know it!" Trunks thrashed wildly in Gohan's arms, desperately trying to get out. His voice was clearly strained, but that would not stop his cries. "That's what I sense whenever my parents are…" The nine year stopped thrashing almost as quickly as he started it. "Oh…I really don't want to go there, then…"

Gohan blinked, trying hard to hide his disgust as a thought crossed his mind. "You know what it feels like when your parents are doing that?"

Trunks snorted. "Believe me, once you walk in on them, that energy signal is burned into your head forever. It never, ever goes away."

The teenager smiled as he put the boy back on the floor, and it broadened as he saw an ear to ear grin forming on the child's face. Trunks turned around, his blue eyes positively sparkling with joy.

"They're okay?" he hopefully whispered. "Mom and Dad…they're okay? Like, really okay?"

Gohan nodded and took a knee, making himself eyelevel with Trunks. "They're just fine," he quietly answered. "I don't know if she has all of it back, but your mom is starting to remember some stuff. And it's enough for you all to be…"

"A family again!" the nine year old croaked. He finally cringed as the pain in his throat truly registered for the first time. "Why is my voice like this?"

"Trunks," Gohan started, placing a hand on the child's shoulder, "do you remember what happened the other day?"

The nine year old's eyes glazed over as he began to think back. "The fight Mom and Dad had," he softly stated. "I remember the fight, and I remember wanting them to stop, and I remember…okay, this is going to sound weird, but I just remember this strange kind of rush and everything going white. And I think Dad was talking to me, but I'm not sure, because I think Dad was yelling at your dad, and I don't remember your dad being there at all."

Gohan sat all the way down on the floor and crossed his legs, signaling for Trunks to do the same. "Trunks, you ascended. You hit the second level of Super Saiyan."

Trunks gawked at those words. "But…but I don't remember that at all!" he protested, pushing his damaged voice to its limits. "That's not fair! That's the coolest thing I'll ever do in my life!"

"Remember it or not, it did happen," the teenager assured. "And because you've already broken the barrier, it means you'll be able to do it again without, um, freaking out first."

Trunks pouted and crossed his arms. "This is so not cool," he grumbled. "I get all this kick-ass new power, and the coolest time it happens I'm not even aware of it. Major gyp."

Gohan rolled his eyes, but his smile stayed strong. He flipped open his cell phone and quickly sent the message to the reconciled couple to let them know their son was awake. As he slid his phone back into his pocket, he noticed Trunks watching him with great interest. "What?"

"Who are you talking to?"

Again, Gohan rolled his eyes. "I just sent a message to your mom to let her know that you're awake and okay. You've been out for over a day, kiddo, and I promised to let her know."

"A day?!?" the boy gawked. "I've been out for an entire freaking day?"

"Yep," the teenager quickly replied. "You've out cold."

Trunks closed his eyes and rubbed the bridge of his nose, and Gohan could not help but chuckle at how much the boy looked like his father at that moment. "Let me get this straight," Trunks hoarsely began. "My parents fought with each other in the not cool way, then I ascended, then I was unconscious for an entire day, and now my parents are doing something that I really wish I didn't know they were doing right now?"

Gohan leaned back against the wall and uncrossed his legs, enjoying a moment of relaxation. "Yeah, that pretty much sums it up."

The nine year old copied Gohan's movements, leaning his own weary little body against the wall before slumping against it. "You know Mom's not going to get that message any time soon, right?"

"I know," Gohan calmly replied. The exhausted teen stifled a yawn as he reached for the doorknob, refusing to bother standing up. "Fortunately for you, we have just the thing to keep you busy until that happens." He popped the door open slightly before calling out, "All clear!"

Before either of them could blink, a blur of orange and black came barreling into the room. "TRUNKS!" an excited Goten cried out as he tackled his best friend.

Unfortunately for the young prince, he had been in a relaxed position when Goten tackled him against the wall. Two small bodies went crashing through the frame of the house, and the young boys both grunted as they made a very solid impact with the beach below.

A stampede formed on the staircase as Krillen, Roshi, and Yamcha all tried to get to the room to see what had happened. Eighteen, however, simply carried her daughter outside and pointed to the new crater on their property. "And what does this teach you, Marron?"

"Boys are stupid?" the little blonde responded.

"Technically, yes," her mother coolly replied. "But if your father asks, this is a lesson about friendship."

Marron giggled as she watched Goten and Trunks claw their way out of the hole.

"Aw, man!" Goten complained, shaking out his hair. "The sand is everywhere!"

Trunks spat out a mouthful of it before glaring at his partner in crime. "Then don't tackle me into a pile of it!" he croaked out.

Goten snickered as he shook out the lower part of his shirt. "He he, your voice sounds funny, Trunks!"

Without saying a word, Trunks launched himself through the air and tackled Goten with all his might. Goten retaliated, and in under two seconds blows were being exchanged. From the window above, three adults watched with wide eyes.

"Oh, no, they're fighting!" Roshi said.

"Shouldn't we stop them?" Yamcha asked.

From behind them, Gohan snorted. "They're not really fighting," he calmly stated. "Look, every punch is slightly pulled."

"So?" Krillen asked.

"So," Gohan went on, "this isn't a fight. They're just playing with each other, and this is their favorite game."

Yamcha raised an eyebrow as he watched the boys tear into each other. "Their favorite game is 'Beat the Crap out of Each Other'?"

"Something like that, yeah," Gohan laughed. "Believe me, the worst possible thing you could do right now is try to get between them. They'll think you want to 'play' too, and they'll gang up on you."

Off on the side, Krillen snickered. "Found that one out the hard way, did ya'?" he asked.

Gohan groaned. "Since I'm fairly certain we can all figure out the answer to that question, I'm going to do something that I haven't done for days: I'm going to bed."

/////

Up in the mountains, Goku slid back into his bed where his wife was still curled up. Gently, he pulled her into his arms and rested her head against his chest. "Chi-Chi?" he quietly spoke.

"Hn?" was the only reply the poor, hungover wife could respond with. She had always been a featherweight, and after the way she felt that morning, she really was swearing off all forms of the drink.

Goku wrapped his arms gently around her entire body, pulling her close. "Do you love me?"

Chi-Chi groaned as she tried to submerge her head under the blankets again. What the hell kind of question was that? "Of course I love you, honey," she mumbled.

Her husband squeezed her gently in an affectionate hug. "I love you, too."

The poor housewife would normally kill to get that sort of unprovoked verbal affection, but her head was screaming at her and at that exact moment it was taking all of her willpower to not kick him out of the room.

Again, Goku hugged his wife. "Thank you for loving me, even when I'm not the hero."

Hesitantly, Chi-Chi cracked an eye open. She took a brief moment to catalogue that statement for a future talk, but felt too out of it to deal with it at that exact moment. Regardless of whatever he might have been talking about, she absolutely loved him, so it was not a pressing issue. It could wait for another day. "Any time, sweetie," she mumbled. "Now let me sleep."

/////

Bulma nuzzled against her husband's neck as she lay beside him in bed. Weeks of physical and emotional pain had often left her feeling drained on a level that she could barely comprehend. Even when she had tried to maintain a positive attitude, her heart had never truly been in it. In that one day, though, she found her spark again.

The rush of the entire afternoon had been positively blissful. Certainly there was physical source of euphoria that she had sorely missed in the past few weeks, but for once it was only her second greatest source of ecstasy.

She had her life back. Her whole life was, at last, back within her own control. Her memories, her husband…everything was finally falling into place. All of the pain that their family had been going through was, finally and at last, over.

"You know," she mumbled, pulling herself into her husband's arms, "as much fun as I'm having right now, we really do need to go get Trunks. And before you protest, I know you heard my phone, too."

Vegeta grumbled, but he wouldn't argue with her. Their son had been through just as much, if not more, than anyone else through the ordeal. No matter how great a time they were having with their 'reconciliation', the boy certainly did need to be attended to.

A few minutes later, they were both modest again and ready to go. Bulma stepped up to her husband and wrapped her arms around his neck. "You know what I remember?" she coyly said.

"Hn?"

She jumped up, knowing perfectly well that her Saiyan would catch her up in his arms. "I remember how much fun it is to have you carry me as your soar through the air. Let's go!"

With a smirk on his face, Vegeta took to the skies. It wasn't often that he responded well to things that sounded like direct commands, but that was definitely one moment that he was willing to make an exception for.

/////

Trunks laughed as he continued his spar with Goten. Since the island was so small, most of their battle had to take place in the sky. Goten swung his leg to the side, hoping to get a solid connection with his opponent, but Trunks was fast enough to avoid the majority of the blow. However, Goten did manage to clip the older boy slightly in the shoulder, and while it was not enough to cause any damage, it did throw Trunks slightly off balance.

The nine year old noticed in the nick of time that Goten was preparing to take advantage of that move, and he knew that he had to act fast. In a desperate move, Trunks spun in the air, his leg extended, hoping that Goten's incoming trajectory would fall within his tilted circumference.

As luck would have it, the younger boy did go shooting right into that area. Goten grunted as he caught Trunks' leg firmly in the chest. The boy flew at a tremendous speed, straight for Kame House. He plowed through the roof and landed very firmly on the stomach of his sleeping older brother.

Gohan immediately curled up at the impact, desperately trying to suck in air. "Oh, damn it…" he wheezed.

Goten turned around, wide eyed, and faced his big brother. "Gohan! You swore!"

"Hah ha, nerd boy swore!" Trunks taunted, appearing in the new hole in the ceiling.

"Oh, I think I'm gonna die," Gohan whimpered

Goten hopped off the bed and gave his brother a concerned look. "Are you really gonna die, Gohan?"

"He's fine, you don't need to worry." Trunks called down. He stuck his head through the hole and smirked at Goten. "Or are you just trying to find a way to wuss out of this?"

"Hey! I'm not a wuss!" the youngest boy called out.

He jumped to his feet and launched himself toward the hole. Trunks smirked as he pulled back out of the flight path before getting right back into the fray. For several more minutes, the boys continued their game. Friendly taunts were exchanged with blows, and the boys laughed their way through their fight.

Suddenly, Trunks' head snapped to the side. "STOP!" he yelled out. He froze in the air and stared out over the water. Slowly, a smile began to form on his face. As the image in the distance grew nearer, that smile became a full blown grin. A joyous laugh escaped him as he flew through the air. "MOM!"

Bulma twisted in Vegeta's arms to make sure that her own were open to her son. "TRUNKS!"

Realizing just how quickly the boy was flying at them, Vegeta had to move fast. He flipped his wife under his left arm, tilted sideways to minimize her exposure to the incoming target, and used his right hand to block his son. "Whoah," he grunted at the impact. "Boy, what have I told you about doing that with your mother?"

"Yeah, sorry 'bout that," Trunks quickly said, literally climbing over his father's shoulders to get to his mother. Hanging upside down, the nine year hugged his mother. "Mom, you're okay?" he asked. "You're really, really okay? Everything back to normal okay?"

Bulma laughed as she wrapped her arms around her little boy. "I'm okay, Trunks, I really, really am okay. Everything back to normal okay!" She kissed him on the forehead before pulling away slightly and kicking her husband in the shin. "Hey, is it too much to ask that you put me right side up for this little reunion?"

"Picky, picky," the prince chuckled, acquiescing to his wife's request.

Trunks laughed as he swung away just long enough for his mother to be pulled upright again before immediately latching back on. "You're back!" he cried out, tears of happiness rolling down his face. "You're really back!"

Bulma nodded, pulling her son in so the top of his head was right under her nose. Her own tears of joy began to flow, and she looked over her shoulder at her husband. Finally, finally, they were a family again.

"Come on, guys," she softly said, "let's go home."

/////

THE END

Ending Note: Well, it's been a heck of a ride, but it had to end at some point. And in reality, it's not over over. There are a couple stories in the works that are direct spin offs of this one.

I want to thank you all for your wonderful support with this story. Your reviews have kept me motivated to keep this and other stories going. I thank you, one and all.

Peace Out!