Author's Note: Thank you to Draquia for being my second reviewer and for being so thorough, and thanks to CRdragonPyro for the lovely review as well! I certainly appreciate any and all reviews, but specificity is really wonderful. Now, about the timeline. I assumed this would need to be cleared up at some point, but I wasn't sure if I would be doing it in the story or not. After thinking on it, I decided it would be less confusing if I just laid it out here. In the future timeline, Goku contracts the heart disease not long after returning from space and defeating Frieza and King Cold. In Trunks and Ada's timeline, Ada was conceived about one year after this. Goku, for this story's purpose, contracted the disease and died several weeks later; Ada, then, was born about 21 months after his return (Gohan was 8). Trunks was born in the year 766 of Toriyama's timeline, putting Gohan at age 8, so it follows that Ada and Trunks have an age difference of only several months. I see Trunks being the older of the two. If Bulma had heard about Chi Chi being pregnant, I have a feeling that somehow, simply because it would have been on her mind, she would have been slightly more careful in her extra-curriculars with Vegeta. To sum things up, Ada isn't the female, mirai version of Goten, she and Trunks are roughly the same age, and both were born when Gohan was 8. Phew! I'm glad I got that explained. But if there are any discrepancies with Toriyama's established stuff, please do let me know.

CHAPTER 3

Leaning against the headboard of his bed, arms folded behind his head, Son Goku let out an exhausted, relaxed sigh and smiled. He hadn't had such an amazing evening in…well…honestly, he couldn't even remember. Goku looked over to the glow of light emerging from the bathroom door after hearing the soft singing of his wife. She emerged shortly thereafter, again cloaked in her small, baby blue nightgown. Flipping off the bathroom light, Chi Chi smiled at her husband and walked back over to bed. She climbed under the blanket and settled up against him, her head rested against his chest.

"It's all just...perfect, Goku," Chi Chi said. "I still feel like you've only just come back to me."

"Aw, Chi. But it's been almost a whole year!" Goku replied happily, fingering a few strands of her hair. "You better start getting used to it. I'm not goin' anywhere."

She smiled. "Promise?"

"Of course!"

They sat in silence for a time, listening to the sound of one another's breath.

"Chi Chi?" Goku asked quietly.

"Hm?" Goku seemed to have a sensor that told him to speak exactly when Chi Chi began drifting off to sleep.

"I've been thinking…" he began. Chi Chi opened her eyes. Her husband wasn't the type to choose speaking over sleeping without being prepared to say something of consequence.

"And, well, Gohan's getting older, you know? He's really growing up."

Chi Chi lifted her head and looked quizzically up at him. "Well, yes. That's what children do, Goku."

"Yeah, I know. But that's not really what I was thinking about…" He looked down at her and scratched the back of his head. Silence again. Chi Chi felt her eyelids drooping.

"I think we should have another baby," Goku spit out rather quickly.

"Wait…what?" She sat bolt upright, her unblinking eyes focused directly on her husband. "A…what?"

"Oh, don't tell me you've never thought about it, Chi Chi," he said, looking up at the ceiling. "I mean, we've had so much fun with Gohan! Except for that time when he was with Piccolo, and I was dead, and…well, ya know…" Goku finished sheepishly.

Chi Chi only blinked. "Well," she began in shock, "I guess it's worth thinking about." After a short silence, she smiled.

"You know something, Goku? Lying here, talking about something like this- about our family- makes me believe that things are finally back to normal."

xxx

After over an hour of waiting out the android attack until the radio signaled an 'all-clear', Ada found herself yawning from both boredom and fatigue. She, Bulma, and Trunks had spent most of the time listening to Louisa's stories (How delightful, Ada mused.), none of them finding it easy to actually focus on what the girl was saying. Instead Ada found herself braiding the ends of her hair and making silent observations.

I suppose I might have given her the benefit of the doubt if she hadn't opened her mouth, she considered. He's never actually dated anyone before, so what does Trunks see in this girl? She's very pretty…maybe he has a thing for blondes.

Ada looked down at her own locks and smiled a little. But she can't change hair color on demand.

"Well," Bulma said tiredly as the radio finished its all-clear message, "I suppose it's safe for you to go back out, Trunks."

"Oh…yeah, I guess you're right," he replied. "It's gotten pretty late, though…I should probably just take Louisa home."

Louisa's face fell a little. "Aw…if you're sure, Trunks. I suppose that's not a bad idea. Besides, if we both get a good night's sleep, we can go out for coffee in the morning!"

Trunks forced a smile. "Yeah, that would be…really great!"

Bulma and Ada watched the scene unfold, both of them terribly amused.

"We'd better get going," Trunks finished, standing up out of his chair. "Louisa doesn't live too far from here, so I shouldn't be long."

Ada yawned and looked over at Bulma. "I suppose I should get going, too."

"How are you getting home?" Bulma asked with concern.

"Well…you know," Ada said, glancing tellingly at Louisa so that Bulma would get the gist. "The usual." I should've said, 'flying,' just to see the look on that poor girl's face!

"Listen, girl, I know it's nighttime and all that, but I think it might be safer if you let Trunks drive you home," the former heiress replied.

"Oh, I'll be fine! Don't worry so much…you might just turn into my mother," Ada shot back with a grin. She wanted to say, "You couldn't pay me to get in a car with your son and his girlfriend," but naturally kept that bit to herself.

"It's no problem," Trunks unexpectedly added to the conversation. "I'll drop Louisa off, and then we'll head out to the country. We'll just fly low and a little more slowly and keep the lights off. Mom's right about it being safer, I think."

Ada looked over at him and, for just a moment, detected concern on his face.

"I guess that settles it," Ada said, faking playfulness. "If it's not too much trouble."

"Of course not," he replied, genuinely pleased.

Bulma surveyed the two of them carefully as though searching for something and then smiled and gave them a thumbs-up. "Be careful, and call if you need anything!"

xxx

When Trunks got back into the aero-car and shut the door, Ada could tell, even in the darkness, that he was visibly embarrassed. Hell, she was embarrassed for him. Louisa seemed to have been after more than just a goodnight kiss; she had practically climbed on top of the poor kid. Ada couldn't be sure, but she also thought that the girl had given him a little pat on the ass as he turned to walk away. Embarrassing indeed.

Neither said a word as Trunks started up the car and again left the ground. Several minutes later, the stubborn Ada was still adamantly keeping her mouth shut. Ordinarily, she was all about chatting it up with people no matter who they were, but there was something about Trunks that drained her of all ability to speak. The fact that he hadn't offered any topics to talk about made her determined not to say a word. He would have to be the first to crumble.

He was.

"So," he offered after clearing his throat, his shoulders somewhat tense, "how are things with that one guy…what's his name?"

"Who?" Ada asked curiously, honestly confused by what Trunks was talking about.

"You know," he continued, "Masao, or something of the like?" He had known the name all along. Not only had he known it, it had crept into his thoughts some nights as he tried to fall asleep. There was no forgetting it, as much as he had attempted to put it out of his mind.

"Oh! You mean the son of one of your mother's old employees or whatever he was?"

"Yeah, that's the one. Mom mentioned that he'd asked her...for your phone number. She said he wanted to take you to this ball thing that Mom's planning," Trunks replied.

"I'm not really sure. He was a good conversationalist the few times I really talked to him, but…well…" she trailed off, not really caring to talk about the absence of her love life with him.

"What?" he insisted. Ada noticed that he seemed genuinely interested. Maybe he was jea- No. Not in a million years, girl. You better drop it. Now.

"Nothing really. But, um," she searched for a diversion. "How about your girl? She…she seems…sweet."

"Louisa? Yeah, she's…sweet," Trunks answered in 'agreement', unsure of how else to describe her. He wanted to fall on his knees and beg for Ada's apology for what his 'girl' had said to her earlier. How, he asked the Powers That Be, could anyone possibly make any kind of comment at all about anything pertaining to Ada's looks? Trunks squeezed his eyes shut, trying to block out the embarrassment he was feeling for the sake of Louisa's impoliteness.

Silence alone filled the air for the remainder of the trip. Ada looked out the side window and kept to her own thoughts while Trunks had a few mental conversations with himself. Every once in a while his gaze would wander over to her, and he would take in her fair skin and dark eyes, her wavy ebony hair in its low-sitting knot, the very, very old t-shirt that hugged her curves, Tenkaichi Budokai!!! emblazoned across her chest in faded yellow letters, her worn jeans and red sneakers.

Beautiful. Intensely interesting. Stubborn. Thoughtful. Warm. Compassionate. Intelligent. Traits like many other girls, yes, but somehow different. Somehow more intense, more practiced, more feeling, wiser. And strong. Mentally, emotionally, and physically. As strong as he, even, and about no other girl could he say that. It wasn't necessarily muscular strength, the kind that made a warrior's fist become a deadly weapon, but rather the way she could channel her energy. He had never seen a thing like it, and neither had Gohan, which was really saying something. Ada's ki had a fierce otherness to it, like something untamed, and yet it was terribly calm and centered. She had the ability to control her energy in a way that her brother claimed even Goku had not mastered.

"You know something?" Ada broke Trunks' chain of thought, pulling him back into the moment. He blinked and looked over at her in the passenger's seat. She was studying him with a half-smile on her face, contemplating something or other.

"What?" he managed to get out. What could she possibly be thinking? The way she was looking at him, she could be getting ready to say something…something substantial, something that would change their relationship forever-

"I think you should grow out your hair," Ada suggested confidently.

Or not. Trunks, who had been bracing himself for some kind of moment of truth, exhaled deeply.

"What?" he asked.

"You've had that same haircut for so long, Trunks," she said, delighting somewhat in the rarity that was saying his name. Nonsense. A name is a name. "I think you should grow it out. Maybe about to here?" she mused as she put a straight hand up to one of her shoulders.

"And…you think it would look okay?" he questioned skeptically. "Or would I look like a girl?"

She laughed a little. "Of course not. Plenty of guys wear their hair long. I mean, it's just a thought. If you ever decided you wanted a change or anything." Afraid she had been too forward, she added, "Not that you need it, or anything- it would look handsome either way." Fantastic. Nice recovery. Was 'handsome' the only word you could think of?

"Well, thank you," he said genuinely, blushing slightly from her last comment and thanking Kami that Ada wouldn't be able to see him do so in the dark.

Only moments later, the car landed right outside the door of the Son residence. Trunks pushed the button that opened the top of the car, and Ada turned to get out.

"Thank you for the ride," she said before heading toward the door of her home. Just before Trunks' finger hit the button to close the top again, she turned and smiled at him.

"Oh, and Trunks," she said cheerily. "Happy birthday."

Postscript: That's right, folks, I'm going to be totally cliché and do the ball thing next chapter. But don't you worry! There won't be any fluffy romantic dancing at this gala, at least not for our heroes- you'll just have to tune in and see what happens. However, I do have a few different ideas about where to take the next couple chapters. So, my lovely reviewers, I would really appreciate your opinion: do you want some feel-good, get-together romance (no, I'm not talking about lemons) pretty soon or later on, and should I stick my planned vignettes about the past in during some of the next chapters or give it a rest?