In the following weeks leading up to the next trip to the courthouse, Lindsey was making herself scarce. When someone ran into her, she acted as close to normal as she was capable, but it was rare for anyone to see her, it seemed. When Gohan returned to her room in the evening she was always there, already asleep. He was spending more and more time with Catie and Trunks, mostly watching movies in Catie's room or reading books while lounging in the formal living room, which no one really used on a regular basis.
He could feel his own nervousness and tension building as the days passed, dreading being put on the stand again or hearing Lindsey recount her time in the cellar. He didn't know if he could handle it twice. On the evening before they were supposed to go to court again, Yelena approached Gohan as he sat in a chair in the living room, his nose buried in a novel.
"They've pushed the date back again," Yelena said.
"Huh?"
"The defense. They're really working on something if they want to wait another month."
"Any idea what it could be?" he asked, closing his book.
Yelena shook her head. "Even Yorgi can't find out what they're trying to do. I told you that Flynn is a snake."
"Yelena, have you talked to Lindsey? She's acting funny again."
"Only about your wedding," Yelena said. "And it would make my job much easier if you two would set a date."
"Hard to marry someone you never see anymore," Gohan grumbled.
"You need to be more compassionate," Yelena scolded.
"Me? She's the one who's hiding all the time now!"
"Then go find her. Fix the problem now, or it's not going away."
"I can't fix it by myself!"
Yelena shook her head. "I get so tired of you men. You have no idea what women go through in this house. You all think you can just be all macho and make everything bad disappear. That's not how it work. Have you ask her how she feeling? Noooo. That would be too simple."
"Oh, what do you care?" Gohan said, slumping back in his seat. He was becoming more and more dejected as the days went on.
"You have no idea what she's going through," Yelena said in a deathly tone. "You have no idea how it feels."
Gohan looked up at her, trying to comprehend what she was insinuating.
Yelena narrowed her eyes at him. "And I don't care? I'm the only one working on this damn wedding of yours. And now I wondering if I wasting my time!" With that, she stomped away, muttering to herself in Russian and throwing Gohan a filthy look over her shoulder.
Getting to his feet, feeling more confused than ever before, Gohan made his way to the garage, which was exceptionally full that evening.
"Anyone seen Lindsey?" he asked loudly above the noise of the TV.
Several people shook their heads.
"We should look for her," Kolya said, standing up. "Like reverse hide and seek. We all seek!"
"Kolya, no," Gohan started.
"I bet I find her first!" Sophie teased, running from the garage.
"Oh no you won't!" Sabriena called after her, getting up and running for the door as well.
"Guys! I'm being serious!" Gohan shouted. It was too late. Everyone had been bored and the suggestion of such a child-like game from Kolya was far too enticing. Before he realized what had happened, Gohan found himself alone in the garage with Piccolo.
"You should have known better," Piccolo said with a smirk.
Gohan threw his hands in the air. "I give up!" And with that, he returned to the house, hoping he'd stumble across his fiancée before anyone else did.
The whole house was buzzing about the little game they'd taken up. Shouts of "Lindsey!" "Where are youuuuu?" and "Come out, come out, wherever you are!" filled the hallways.
Trunks was standing in a hallway near a closet, debating about which direction to head, when he felt a tap on his shoulder. He spun around and found himself face-to-face with Lindsey.
"There you are!"
"What the hell is going on?"
"Everyone's trying to find you," he answered.
"Why?"
"Gohan's looking for you. Kolya turned it into a game. I guess I win."
Lindsey's wide green eyes blinked several times in confusion. "Well, let's not make it too easy for them, then." She grabbed his arm suddenly and pulled him into the closet with her.
"This is weird," Trunks said, uneasily shifting his weight from foot to foot. "Should we be in here?"
"Shhh!" Lindsey giggled. "This is funny, now."
Trunks didn't look convinced.
"Every time someone passes here, grab them. Let's see how many people we can fit in one broom closet."
Trunks snickered then, actually thinking her idea was rather brilliant. It would certainly break up the monotony of the afternoon. They heard a noise in the hallway and they both threw themselves against the door, listening hard.
"Lindseeeeey? Where are you, loooove?"
"That's Sophie," Lindsey whispered to Trunks. She creaked the door open, reached out and snagged Sophie, yanking her inside the closet with them as Trunks snapped the door shut. "Gotcha."
In the dim light, Sophie looked bewildered until they explained their own game they'd created within the reverse hide and seek game. Sophie sat on an overturned bucket, trying not to laugh as Trunks struggled to drag Seventeen into the closet.
"Captured," Trunks beamed as Seventeen sulked in the corner.
"This is the most ridiculous…"
"Captured!"
Seventeen huffed.
Kolya was captured next, who then attempted to capture Kirill, but released him when Kirill, who had not been part of the game, pulled his gun.
"He's no fun," Kolya pouted.
Catie and Viktor were captured shortly thereafter and the closet was becoming very crowded.
The door was wrenched open and there stood Xander, gaping at them all.
"Party in the closet!" Catie proclaimed.
Xander couldn't help but laugh. "Get out of there. You're like the clowns that pile out of that tiny car at the circus."
As they filed one by one out of the closet, Lindsey blinked innocently at Xander.
"This was your doing," he accused.
"Moi? Neverrrr," she grinned.
"There you are!" Gohan exclaimed as he rounded the corner of the hallway. "Everyone's been looking for you."
"And they are all now my hostages," Lindsey said, throwing her shoulders back proudly.
"Um, hostages?"
"She kidnapped us!" Catie cried.
"I helped," Trunks admitted.
Gohan shook his head.
"I demand ransom!" Lindsey proclaimed.
"Lindsey…" Gohan began.
"Ransom!"
"Here's your ransom," Sophie said, withdrawing a sucker from the purse she had slung over her shoulder.
"CANDY!" Lindsey happily took the sweet, unwrapped it and popped it in her mouth. "I has a lolli."
"Now can we talk?" Gohan asked.
Lindsey nodded and followed him down the hallway as everyone else began to organize a proper game of hide-n-seek.
"Why are you avoiding me?" Gohan asked when he was sure they were out of earshot of the others.
Lindsey rolled the candy in her mouth to her cheek, speaking around it. "I thought you were mad at me. I wath just giving you some spathe."
"I'm not mad at you," he sighed. "I just didn't understand you snapping at me at the party the way you did."
"I sthnapped at you?" she asked. "I don't remember thath."
"Yeah, you did."
"I'm thorry."
"Would you take that sucker out of your mouth? I can't understand you."
She pulled the sucker from her lips with a loud smack and said, "I'm sorry."
"Lindsey, if we're going to make this relationship work, we can't be arguing and avoiding each other."
"I know," she answered, looking at the floor.
"You do still want this to work, don't you?"
She met his eyes then. "I do. More than you know."
Gohan breathed a sigh of relief. "Okay, then. From now on, we talk to each other about everything, okay?"
She nodded and hugged him. He wrapped his arms around her, pulling her close. They stayed that way for a long time, enjoying the peaceful moment until Trunks ran by, smacking Gohan hard on the back and yelling, "Found you! You're it!"
Gohan wheeled around, watching Trunks disappear down the hall. Lindsey popped the lollipop back in her mouth and ran after Trunks, calling back to Gohan, "You'll never find meeee!"
"If you can't beat 'em, join 'em, I suppose," Gohan said to himself as he turned to the corner, closed his eyes, and began to count out loud.