"You need to stop," Piccolo said in a warning voice.
Jenny was leaning back on the couch, sweating and out of breath, holding her stomach. "I can't stop. I have to keep training."
"Vegeta, you need to ease up on her!" Bulma shrieked at her husband. "This is getting ridiculous."
"She knows how much she can handle," Vegeta responded simply.
"We just got back from the trial and all you can think about is training?"
"We had to do something to blow off steam!" Catie argued back. "I'm ready to kill someone!"
"I don't see why we can't," Yamcha said darkly, crossing his arms.
Trunks nodded in agreement. "I've been saying that since this happened."
"Then what are we just sitting around here for?" Yamcha demanded.
"Because Goku said not to attack them," Piccolo answered.
"But, Piccolo…"
Lindsey's eldest brother Shayne tromped into the room, distracting them from their argument, and extended his hand to Chichi, handing her his cell phone. "Your husband is calling."
Chichi blinked. "He never uses a phone." She took it and asked, "Goku?"
Everyone sat quietly as Chichi listened intently over the phone.
"This doesn't look good," Trunks said in a quiet voice to Catie.
"SHE WHAT?"
Everyone jumped at Chichi's sudden exclamation. "Well are they taking her to the hospital?... Oh my goodness, Goku… But Gohan didn't… phew, okay… okay, sweetheart. I love you." Chichi handed the phone back to Shayne who shook his head and turned to leave the room.
"Hey! Do you know what's going on with your sister?" Chichi shouted at his back.
Shayne paused and answered, "Yeah."
"Aren't you concerned?"
"She's in good hands," he answered simply and continued on his way.
"I've never seen such a dysfunctional…" Chichi trailed off, shaking her head.
"What's wrong, Chichi?" Bulma asked.
"Lindsey's sick," she answered.
"What do you mean?" Leelee asked, standing up. "Do we need to help?"
"There's nothing you can do, dear," Chichi said kindly, seeming very out of character for her. She looked very concerned. "We just need to be supportive right now."
"What's going on?" Catie asked. A sad-looking Chichi was much more frightening than an angry Chichi.
"I guess part of what that boy at the trial said was true," Chichi answered. "She has been using drugs. Goku found her unconscious. She took too much, I suppose."
"WHAT?" Jenny cried, struggling to get to her feet. Piccolo pulled her back on the couch and she swatted at him. "Help… me…" she was rocking forward, trying to stand and Leelee grabbed her wrist, pulling her up. Jenny sucked in a lung-full of air, finally able to breathe properly again. "I wish this baby would come out already."
"So what does this mean?" Vegeta asked.
"They're going to try to get her some help. Goku's going to stay with her until she recovers."
"That could take weeks," Trunks protested. "Why don't they take her to the hospital?"
"That man she works for won't let them," Chichi said, shaking her head. "So silly. But Goku agrees with him. You all know how he reacts to doctors."
"Chichi, what can we do to help?" Krillin asked, getting to his feet.
Chichi was looking frightened. "I don't know. I don't think there's anything we can do."
"What'd she take?" Sabriena asked.
"Goku didn't say," Chichi answered.
"Isn't Gohan staying with her?" Trunks asked.
"No. I suppose they think he'd be too lenient on her," Chichi said. "They need someone who won't let her hurt herself again."
"You'd be good at that," Bulma said to Vegeta.
"I have my own brats to deal with," Vegeta responded coldly.
"Vegeta, I wish you'd have just a little compassion for others sometimes!" Bulma argued.
He heaved a sigh. "Fine. I'll see what I can do." He turned to his son, "Trunks, take me to them."
"We're coming, too," Catie said as she gathered her purse and coat.
"No, you're not," Vegeta barked. "If I'm going to assist with this mess Kakarot's brats have gotten themselves into, I don't need the likes of you in there mucking things up."
Trunks squeezed Catie's shoulders, then followed his father out the front door.
"I don't know where they're keeping her," Trunks said as he and Vegeta entered the warehouse through the garage door.
"Just look for Kakarot's energy. We'll find them."
They finally made their way to Yorgi's room where Trunks knocked at the door.
"Tell them I shoot the next person who comes prying up here!" Yorgi shouted.
The door creeked open and Yelena peered out at them, her intense, dark eyes staring coldly at them. "You're not welcome."
Vegeta shoved the door open and marched passed her.
"You can't come in here!" she protested.
"I AM NOT PLAYING!" Yorgi roared, withdrawing a pistol from the back of his pants. His patience had been pushed to the brink.
"Put that away, fool," Vegeta said.
"Vegeta!" Goku cried, sounding relieved. "What are you doing here?"
"You know this man?" Yorgi asked, staring down the length of his arm at Vegeta.
"He's all right, Yorgi," Goku assured.
Yorgi lowered his gun, "I haff no control in my own fucking house anymore."
"Bulma sent me," Vegeta answered. "It was easier to come here than to listen to her nagging."
"Thanks, Vegeta," Goku said and sat back in the chair he'd been occupying since he'd arrived in the room.
"How is she?" Trunks said, trying to look at the young woman lying on the bed with the clear tubing coming from her arm.
"Sleeping," Goku answered.
"So what do we do now? Just sit around and wait for her to wake up?" Vegeta asked.
Goku nodded.
"What a waste of time," Vegeta growled.
"Hey, Trunks, why don't you go find Gohan? You probably shouldn't be around if she wakes up."
"Isn't there anything I can do to help?" Trunks asked, tearing his eyes away from the bed.
"Yeah, there is. You can keep Gohan busy and away from this room."
Trunks nodded and turned to leave.
"I'm serious, Trunks," Goku said. "Keep Gohan away from here."
"Got it."
"Man, you need to sit the fuck down," Xander scolded.
Gohan was pacing back and forth in Xander's room. "We should be doing something!"
Trunks opened the bedroom door, "Hey guys."
Xander tipped his chin up at Trunks, and he took that as his invitation to enter. He snapped the door shut behind him. "Man, it's bright in here."
"Someone's always a critic," Xander mumbled, swigging the beer he held in his hand.
The inside of Gohan's mouth was bleeding, he'd chewed on it so much. He ran his tongue along the inside of his cheek, wincing slightly. He looked up a Trunks. "I'm assuming you heard?" Gohan asked.
Trunks nodded.
"Great," Gohan snorted. "So that means everyone knows."
"Your dad called," Trunks said.
"What'd my mom say?"
"Just that we need to be supportive," Trunks answered.
"She didn't freak?"
Trunks shook his head.
Gohan's eyes widened, but he said nothing. He couldn't understand his mom passing by on an opportunity to scream at someone.
"Your mom freak out easy?" Xander asked.
"Yeah," Gohan nodded.
Xander smirked. "My mom's the same way. I used to drive that woman nuts."
"How'd you end up here, X?" Trunks asked, leaning back against the metal footboard of Xander's bed.
"My mom sent me up here to live with her sister after I got in trouble for stealing a car," Xander answered, studying the dark bottle in his hands. "But my aunt worked two jobs as a waitress. She couldn't keep tabs on me. She barely kept the lights on. I started partying, wound up hitting it off with Kolya. Been here ever since."
"Where are you from?" Trunks asked.
"L.A." Xander crossed his arms and stared at Trunks. "So explain how you got here."
Trunks blinked at him. "What do you mean?"
"We know you're Bulma's son, but there's only record of her having one kid, like, eight years ago. So how do you fit in with all this?"
Trunks gaped at him. "You saw my mom's medical records?"
Xander snickered. "Only because we couldn't figure out where the hell you came from."
Trunks looked to Gohan for help. Gohan shrugged, "Tell 'im. They know everything else already."
"What do you mean, everything?" Trunks asked.
"Nobody hides anything from Yorgi," Xander answered, swigging on his beer again. "So, c'mon, Mister Super Saiyan. Let's hear it."
Trunks shook his head for a moment, trying to understand it all. He finally decided there wasn't any harm in telling Xander the truth, they already knew too much about him as it was, and recounted the whole story to him. He told him about the androids from his time, about bringing the medicine back to save Goku, about Cell using the same time machine in an alternate timeline to come back to this one, about defeating the androids in his own time, and finally coming back to stay in this one after his mother was killed in an accident.
Xander sat silently, drinking his beer and staring at the floor, listening intently. "That's effed up, man." Xander looked up. "You really have the technology to time-travel?"
Trunks nodded.
"What the hell are you doing here?" Xander exclaimed. "Dude, you could be out exploring all kinds of shit! What the hell, bro?"
Trunks blinked. "I never really intended to use it for that."
Xander shook his head, looking at the floor again. What a waste. All the time periods he could explore, the adventures he could have, and no, the kid shows up in the American Midwest without so much as an inclination to discover what could be waiting in the past or future. He suddenly looked up and got to his feet. "You can travel through time. You could go back and save Lindsey before any of this happened!"
Trunks shook his head sadly. "It wouldn't change her in this time."
"Why not?" Xander demanded.
"It would only prevent it in that timeline. What has happened here is already done and cannot be undone. It's the same as destroying Cell in this time, but yet a future form of himself was able to travel back here."
Xander looked disappointed as he flopped back down into the gaming seat. "Laaaaame."
Gohan hadn't been paying attention. He knew the story and he'd even already given consideration to the time machine. He began to pace again.
"Your boy needs to chill out," Xander told Trunks. "He's making me dizzy."
"You try telling him that," Trunks answered in a hushed voice.
Xander polished off his bottle and pulled a second one from the opened cardboard box he had sitting next to his seat. He offered it to Trunks. "Want one?"
"I could use it," Trunks answered, accepting it and using his shirt to twist the top off.
"Gohan?" Xander asked, holding one out to him.
Gohan shook his head and continued to pace. "I can't stand being here while she's alone up there!"
"Our dads are with her," Trunks said. "She'll be okay."
"I should be with her," Gohan stated. "I'm going to see her."
"You're not going to help anything," Trunks said. "She's not even conscious anyway."
"Then what would it hurt?" Gohan asked.
Trunks shook his head slowly, "I don't know, but there's got to be a reason they don't want us up there. You just have to wait. I know this is hard…"
"No, you don't!" Gohan shouted at Trunks. "You have no idea what this is like. YOUR girlfriend is fine. She isn't in some self-inflicted, drug induced coma because you failed to protect her!"
Trunks didn't respond. He knew Gohan wasn't truly angry with him. But he did feel a bit guilty at Gohan's words. There had been several times over the past months that he'd been grateful their places weren't switched.
Gohan had stopped pacing and was staring hard at Trunks.
"You're right," Trunks said after a minute. "I don't know. But I do know that we just need to keep ourselves busy and out of the way so they can help her."
"And what do you suggest we do in the mean time?" Gohan asked sarcastically.
Trunks looked at Xander, his expression asking for help. Xander gazed at Trunks for a moment, then turned to Gohan. "Beer?"