It was three days later before Tora felt calmed down enough to return to the hospital. He'd spent most of his time at Capsule Corp with Vegeta, training in the gravity room, using up the energy and anger he felt about the situation. He didn't speak a word about what happened to anyone. It wasn't their business. He didn't know if Eighteen was going to kill him or not, but he wasn't afraid. If that's what she needed to do, then he wouldn't hold it against her. What was that saying the earthlings had? An eye for an eye? Well, in this case, it was more a life for a life. He understood.

He had a second key made for his apartment and gave it to Bulma with the only explanation of, "Just in case." If the android did decide to kill him, at least they could clean out his apartment afterwards. He hated the thought of the landlord coming in and just throwing out his books.

He arrived late in the morning at the hospital and was greeted by a couple of the nurses who recognized him. He hadn't seen the hateful nurse since that night he'd confronted her. He didn't go in Marron's room. There was one more thing he had to do before he saw Eighteen again. The stunt Seventeen pulled left Tora less than impressed and he was going to make it known. Hopefully he could resist the urge to kill the younger man. So he settled himself in a chair outside Marron's room and waited.

He didn't have to wait long. The tall, slender android appeared within the hour, heading straight for Marron's room and Tora rose to his feet to block Seventeen's path. He leered over the android as he swallowed down the feral growl in his throat. "I gotta bone to pick with you," he said in a tone that clearly conveyed he was not going to be brushed off.

Seventeen gave him a confused look, but it didn't last long and a smirk crossed his face. "Oh! Hey man," he chuckled, "Let me guess, Lazuli didn't appreciate her own name? I thought for sure if she heard you purr it, she'd have a change of heart," he joked, "Come on man, it's funny! Don't you think?"

"Funny?" Tora asked, raising his eyebrows. "You think that's funny? She threatened to kill me! LITERALLY! She still might, for all I know. You have no idea the fight you caused. Seventeen, goddammit, man, you know she hates me as it is. Why on earth would you suggest something like that? We got kicked out of Marron's room, we were arguing so bad."

Eighteen was exhausted, nodding off next to her daughter's bedside when she heard the shouting outside of the closed door. Her brother probably tried something stupid with the nurses. He was never going to realize his jokes weren't that funny and that they could border on the obscene if he wasn't careful. He didn't mean a word of it, of course. He loved Leelee and would never dream of betraying her, but sometimes he got a little too carried away with his jokes. She got up, moving to open the door when she froze, hearing Tora's voice on the other side.

Seventeen shrugged his shoulders. "She's a big girl, she'll get over it. It's just the name our mother gave her… us, when we were born. I really think she was high that day. It's always funny to watch her face when she gets called 'Lazuli.' Hilarious, man. It's not my fault you chose to execute the name at the wrong time."

Tora pinched the bridge of his nose to keep himself from strangling Seventeen. He met the android's pale blue eyes with a fierce stare. "You're not listening. It wasn't funny. If you can get away with it, fine. But it enraged her when I did it. Your sister ended up crying on the goddamn sidewalk after it was all said and done. She's having a hard enough time as it is. You still think it's funny?" There was a threatening growl to his voice that he didn't intend, but he was so frustrated that he couldn't stop it.

Seventeen froze, hearing what happened. He usually just got a punch in the arm for calling her that. "Really?" He ran a hand over his face. He hadn't meant for Eighteen to get so upset. In all honesty, he thought the two of them would end up laughing about it after her irritation wore off. Now he felt like shi for upsetting her so much. "I thought it would be good for her, you know? She's been so stressed out, she needed something closer to reality, you know?"

Eighteen threw the door open, glaring daggers at her brother. "Reality?! We can't all be potheads and think that reality will just catch up with us. Her heart rate that night could have killed her! It's not something to laugh at! Not now! Damn it, Seventeen! This is not the place I want to have jokes thrown at me from left and right! Don't you realize how serious this is?! Don't you care about my daughter!?" She cried as she threw herself at him. The anger she had felt over the past few days, the anger at Tora calling her by her "real" name, she finally let go and pulled back her arm to throw a punch at her brother.

Tora's eyes went wide as Eighteen's fist slammed into Seventeen's nose and he stumbled back, blood dripping down his lip. "Eighteen, stop!" Tora cried and wrapped his heavily muscled arm around her tiny waist. She fought against him, still trying to get at her brother as Tora held her back. His face went red with the effort; she was far stronger than he'd anticipated. "Stop! Hurting your brother isn't going to solve anything!" he pleaded. This was not how he envisioned this visit going. Once again, he'd managed to fuck things up. He was going to end up banned from the hospital if he didn't watch it. "Damn you," he growled in a strained voice as he fought to hold her back.

Seventeen growled at the display and backed away. "Fuck, Eighteen, I didn't mean anything by it!" he protested as he wiped his nose on the back of his wrist, streaking blood across his face. He watched on as Tora held his sister back. Had he been the one insulted by the situation, he would have let his sister go a long time ago, but Tora held her back. "You needed something to make you smile for just a minute! I didn't mean for you to get all butthurt," he spat at her. "And for the record, I'm not a pothead! That's a fucking insult and you know it. Jesus, you smoke once in a while and everyone's gotta throw it in your face."

"Let go of me!" Eighteen barked at Tora as she struggled in his grasp before she looked at Seventeen again. "It wasn't funny! If that was your idea of trying to cheer me up, you failed! MISERABLY! There's nothing to smile about anymore!" She wiped at her eyes before she tried to take another swing at him, but Tora held her out of reach of Seventeen.

"Fine!" Seventeen shot back. He felt lousy; all he wanted was for his sister to relax for a little bit. He missed the way she used to be, how happy she had been when Krillin was still alive. "Fuck it all. I'm going back home. Hope you can handle her on your own, Tora."

Tora glared at Seventeen. "Just go. She'll be fine. Just go home," he said sternly as Eighteen still struggled to free herself from his grasp. He watched as Seventeen turned and headed down the hallway towards the exit. "Eighteen, stop," he said in a soothing tone. "Stop." He frowned as her struggling lessened, but her tears began to fall more freely.

He could've kicked himself then. He'd caused this. All of this. If Krillin were here, Eighteen wouldn't have been nearly as distraught as she was. He squeezed his eyes shut and wrapped his other arm around her, leaning over her, holding her tightly. "Stop fighting me," he growled in her ear. "I'm not letting you go."

Eighteen sagged in Tora's arms, barely able to see her brother leave as he walked down the hallway. The whole world felt as if it were pressing down on her. Why didn't they understand? Her entire world was falling apart, and all they wanted to do was tease her and pester her in some half-assed attempt at cheering her up. "You're so lame, Seventeen!" she shouted after him. A sob escaped her throat, "So lame."

Tora didn't know what to do, still holding her in his arms as she cried. Thinking quickly, he stepped backwards into Marron's room, then kicked the door shut, trying to hide Eighteen away from the curious stares of the nurses and patrons in the hallway. It broke his heart to hear her cry like that. He wondered if she'd had a chance to really cry like this, to just give in to her emotions, if anyone had held her and comforted her. "Shhhhh," he soothed.

The room was a quiet comfort compared to the hustle and bustle of the active hallway. She wanted to curl in on herself, but sobbed into Tora's arms at all the hurt she felt, digging her fingers into the muscled bicep as she looked over at her daughter on the bed. Hearing her brother first hand and realizing Tora really had just been trying to do something nice for her was almost too much to bear. She had been looking for an outlet and jumped at the first chance that one presented itself to her.

She wiped at her eyes, but more tears fell down her face as she cried, "I'm sorry, I'm so sorry." She gasped out as she only sobbed harder than before, "You didn't deserve it. I'm so sorry."

Tora couldn't quite swallow the knot in his throat. "Yes I do," he answered thickly. "I'm the one who's sorry, Eighteen. I caused this." He held her tighter, his face pressed into the back of her hair. He didn't know what to do, how to comfort her. This was new to him. Saiyans usually didn't express their emotions like this, if they had any at all. He moved to sit in one of the chairs next to Marron's bed and pulled her into his lap, crushing her to his chest. "Let it out, Eighteen. I'm not going to judge you."

No one had done this for her since it started, since that day she had held Krillin on the battlefield. No one had been able to hold her like this. No one had offered and she didn't offer an invitation to do so. Now, she couldn't believe how much she had missed the comfort of someone else, a friend's comforting touch while she grieved and let it all out of her system. She wasn't sure how long she sat in Tora's lap crying, long enough to justify for the year or so she had been hurting so deeply. She was exhausted when her sobs turned into hiccups and she gratefully accepted the cold water that the Saiyan poured for her from the pitcher in the room. Her head pounded and she leaned over, not moving to get up out of his lap. She just sat there, looking at her daughter while she sipped at her water.

Tora rubbed gently at her back, his heart aching for her. She needed this, needed someone to vent to, to comfort her, to be an understanding friend, or just someone to rage against who could handle her. He looked over at Marron, longing for her to wake up. Eighteen needed her daughter just as much as her daughter needed her right now. He continued to rub her back, feeling her jerk with hiccups under his touch. "You can still kill me if it'll make you feel better," he offered, only half-joking.

Eighteen couldn't stop the half cry, half laugh at escaped her lips as she tore her gaze from her daughter and looked up at him. "Doubt it would do much good at the moment. Let's just go beat up my brother instead," she said as she looked back at her little girl, "I just want her to wake up. For things to go back to the way they were." She frowned and shook her head. "You never realize how good things are until they are taken away."

Tora felt a sharp pang in his chest at her words. "Oh, I know it all too well, darlin'," he answered. He regretted now that he had taken every moment with Bardock and Gine for granted. He'd always thought they would be there, the closest thing to family he'd ever had. What he wouldn't give for just one more day with them. And if his pain still ached like that after all these years for his friends, he couldn't imagine how she felt after losing her husband. Or how she felt knowing that her daughter might never wake up. "It'll never stop hurting," he told her honestly. "You just learn how to deal with it."