Piccolo debated for most of the afternoon about whether or not he should mention the previous night's encounter with Lindsey. He was concerned about her. Drinking alone in the middle of the night wasn't a good sign and her reaction when he'd leaned over her confused him. Did he approach Gohan about it? Gohan was worried about her enough without adding this to the equation, but didn't he deserve to know what was going on? Had this been going on for awhile and none of them knew? Should he mention it to her brothers? He didn't know them very well and found them odd. Perhaps Jenny and the other girls would be able to shed some light on the situation. He knew they told each other everything (sometimes in painstaking detail) and thought it unlikely that they would not know what was going on.

Getting the girls alone, however, was a rare thing. The situation finally presented itself after dinner when the girls volunteered to clean up while everyone else headed outside to enjoy the rest of the day.

"Everything okay?" Jenny asked him as she gathered the mountain of plates from the table.

Piccolo crossed his arms and leaned against the doorframe, considering his words. "I'm worried about Lindsey."

Jenny paused and stared at him for a minute. "What do you mean?"

"Early this morning, I caught her on the porch drinking by herself and smoking," he answered.

Catie cocked an eyebrow. "That doesn't sound like her."

"She'll have a cigarette when her nerves are shot, sometimes," Jenny reminded her. She carried the plates over to the counter and set them near the sink. "But I've never known her to drink alone. Only at a party."

"Wait, was that the whiskey bottle I found in the fridge this morning?" Catie asked, the thought dawning on her.

Piccolo nodded.

"She drank whiskey?" Sabriena asked incredulously. "She hates whiskey. What the hell?"

The girls looked at one another, confusion on every face.

"You know, guys, she's been through a lot. I'd be drinking, too," Leelee stated.

"That doesn't make it right, though," Jenny countered.

"What," Piccolo hesitated for a minute, "What exactly did she go through?"

Jenny looked at him like he was stupid. "You know she was beat nearly to death by those assholes."

"I think there's something missing to the story," Piccolo said.

The girls waited for him to continue. After a moment, he sighed and told them how she reacted when he took the bottle from her.

Catie crossed her arms and leaned her back against the countertop, chewing on the inside corner of her mouth. She didn't understand it either. It seemed extreme for Lindsey to retreat from Piccolo like that. The two of them weren't close by any means, but he would never harm her and Lindsey should have known that.

"She doesn't touch anybody anymore, have you noticed that?" Sabriena said.

After a moment of thought, Leelee answered, "She doesn't, does she?"

"That's weird, too," Jenny thought aloud. "She's always been an affectionate person. Hell, she kissed my cheek when I gave her a piece of candy once."

"She hasn't told any of you what exactly happened to her?" Piccolo asked.

The girls looked at one another and then shook their heads.

"I bet Gohan knows," Catie said softly.

"He won't talk about it, you know that," Jenny said, a sad look in her eyes. "He doesn't want to even believe anything happened."

"Well that ain't gonna fix shit," Sabriena said loudly, cracking open a soda and taking a long swig.

Jenny eyed Sabriena. "Like you're one to talk about feelings."

Sabriena shrugged. "This is different and you know it."

Jenny sighed. "Yeah," she agreed.

"So what do we do?" Leelee finally asked.

"I say we talk to Gohan," Sabriena offered. "We're her friends. If there's something we need to know, then we deserve to know it."

"We can't just go prying and force all the gory details out of them," Leelee argued.

"Why the hell not?"

"What more could there be to the story?" Leelee asked. "Maybe she's just scared of everything now, simply because of what happened. I mean, wouldn't you be?"

Catie shrugged. "Maybe. But I'm going to find out." She slammed the dish towel she'd been holding on the counter and marched out the sliding glass door from the kitchen to the porch out back.

Startled, Piccolo and the other girls followed her as she tromped down the steps and across the yard, heading towards Gohan and Trunks, who had taken up a game of horseshoes.

"Hey babe," Trunks greeted his girlfriend. His smile faded when he saw the serious look on her face.

"What happened to her?" Catie demanded, facing Gohan with her hands on her hips.

Gohan blinked. "Huh?"

"In that cellar. What did they do to her?"

Gohan's eyes narrowed slightly. "Catie, I don't want to talk about that."

Trunks walked to Catie and put his hand on her shoulder. "Don't put him on the spot like that," he said in a soft tone.

She brushed his hand away and he withdrew it, looking hurt. "We're her best friends. We deserve to know."

"You all know everything," Gohan said, holding up a horseshoe carefully and then lobbed it across the yard.

"All we know is that they beat her up," Sabriena said, joining Catie at her side. "And it's bullshit if you're not telling us everything." The two girls had never hung out much one-on-one, but Catie suddenly felt a rush of appreciation for Sabriena. Crass as she may be, the girl was straightforward and loyal to her friends, and that was worth something in Catie's book.

Gohan tossed another horseshoe, avoiding the gaze of the women before him.

"Earth to Gohan!" Sabriena snapped her fingers at him. "Why is she so damn scared of everyone now?"

Gohan rounded on her. "Wouldn't you be if you had been beaten by a couple of guys who wanted to kill you?"

"That's the part I don't understand," Catie said. "She's way more powerful than a couple of punk kids. How'd they get to her in the first place? Why didn't she use her powers on them?"

"And furthermore, why the crap is she drinking pints of whiskey in the middle of the night?" Sabriena asked.

Gohan's eyebrows furrowed as he looked at Sabriena. "What?"

"You heard me."

"I don't know what you're talking about."

"Piccolo does."

Gohan turned questioningly to his friend. "Piccolo?"

Piccolo sighed and recounted the story to Gohan, who looked angry and confused as he listened. When Piccolo finished, they waited nervously for Gohan to react. He seemed to consider the information for a long time before he finally said, in a dangerous voice, "You all need to leave her alone."

"What?" Piccolo asked, confusion all over his face.

"If she wants to have a drink every now and then to calm her nerves, then let her. It's none of your business. Just leave her alone!" Gohan was angrier than any of them had ever seen him.

"So you're okay if she becomes an alcoholic?" Catie asked, anger rising in her own voice.

"That's not going to happen," Gohan answered. "I won't let it happen."

"Just like you didn't let them hurt her, right?" Catie spat before she even realized the words that were coming out of her mouth. She regretted them instantly.

"WHAT?" Gohan shouted. "YOU THINK THAT I-"

Trunks threw himself between Gohan and Catie. "Whoa! Everybody chill out!"

Gohan started towards Catie, his hair rising and his eyes flashing to blue. She stumbled back away from him, frightened at the reaction she'd provoked. "IF I'D BEEN ABLE TO PREVENT THIS, I WOULD HAVE!" Gohan thundered. "How dare you? How DARE you?!"

Trunks' hair flashed golden as he shielded Catie from his friend. "Gohan, stop! She didn't mean it."

Hot tears burned Catie's eyes and she blinked them away. "I shouldn't have. . ."

"No you shouldn't," Gohan interrupted. "I will kill the bastards that did this to her if I ever get my hands on them! And you want to suggest that I let it happen?!"

Trunks put his hands on Gohan's shoulders. "No one thinks that, Gohan. Now calm down."

"Don't tell me to calm down," Gohan warned Trunks in a dangerous voice as the two super Saiyans stared each other down. "You think I don't feel guilty enough as it is without your stupid girlfriend making comments like that?"

Trunks narrowed his eyes. "Don't call her stupid."

"Please stop," Catie said softly. She felt like shit.

"This doesn't concern any of you," Gohan said, stepping backwards away from Trunks, swatting his hands away. "You stay out of it and leave her alone. This is between me and her. Not you."

"It does concern us, though, Gohan," Leelee said in a kind voice. "We're her friends and we care about her, too."

"Leelee, don't start with me," Gohan warned. "I forbid any of you to speak to her about this."

"That's ridiculous," Sabriena argued.

"I forbid it!" And with that, Gohan marched passed his friends, returning to the house.

After a long, awkward moment, Sabriena said, "Well that didn't go very well."

Jenny stared at Sabriena like she was the dumbest thing on earth. "Ya think?"

They waited a good, long while for Gohan to calm down before they reentered the house. Catie was the last one in the door, directly behind Trunks. Once inside, a sharp smack cracked the back of her head. Eyes streaming in pain, she grasped her head and turned to see Vegeta standing there.

"Don't you ever let me see you back down like that again," he said in a low voice, then walked away.

She narrowed her eyes at his back. "I am so printing those donkey pictures and handing them out like fliers," she whispered to herself.