CHAPTER 6

"But…" the desperate woman stammered, her tissue-filled hands shaking uncontrollably, "You don't understand…" Tears began spilling out of her dark eyes, already swollen from the insomnia of the past month.

"Mrs. Son," the doctor said gingerly as he took a seat beside her, "Considering everything that you've gone through as of late, it's perfectly natural to be a bit upset about this pregnancy." He gently laid a hand on her shoulder.

"No…it can't…" Chi Chi buried her face in her hands, sobs erupting from her. The doctor frowned and looked at the blue-haired woman sitting in the chair across the examination room. The latter nodded at the doctor, who understood that nothing more was to be done. He simply needed to leave. With a concerned last glance at the inconsolable Son widow, he left the room, closing the door behind him.

Bulma sat down in the doctor's now-vacant chair and put an arm around Chi Chi, holding her tightly.

"Chi Chi," she said, beginning to tear up as well, "I know this must be killing you. But after you have a good cry, you're going to look at the news as good- I just know it!" Bulma attempted an encouraging smile and continued.

"It's not like you're alone, sweetie. You've got Gohan, and your dad, and me, and Krillin, and, well, everyone! And they'll all be so excited when you tell them!"

Chi Chi, clearly not buying any of it, looked up miserably at Bulma. The poor woman had completely deteriorated since her husband's untimely death, only really holding it together when her son was around.

"I-I can't do this alone," Chi Chi stammered softly, looking hopelessly ahead of her.

"It's really not as hard as it sounds- I promise!" Bulma replied. "I didn't think I could raise a kid by myself, either, and look at me now! Not too shabby, if I do say so myself. I mean, Vegeta's around and everything…but for as much help as he is, I can consider myself a single parent…" Her smile slowly deteriorated into a frown. Apparently Chi Chi wasn't going to be cheered up in any way. Bulma searched for the right words. She found nothing.

"It wasn't supposed to be like this," Chi Chi whispered.

xxx

After a few minutes of darting through the forest and across several fields, Trunks spotted her. Or rather, he saw what he presumed to be her. From a distance, it appeared to be a very bright, very calm flame. It glowed gold, its tongues licking at the air every few moments. Within was Ada, sitting completely still with her legs crossed and one hand resting atop each knee. Trunks approached her from behind, stopping several feet away. He envied her seemingly absolute control. She had always been that way, able to keep all of her energy pulled inward, ready to explode at a moment's notice. Nothing wasted. To Gohan's chagrin, he had never been able to put his finger on what gave her the gift, only venturing to guess that it had something to do with her being female. As he considered his last conversation with Ada, Trunks wondered how Kami could grant someone with such a fiery temper the ability to be so collected when necessary.

"It's rude to sneak up on people."

Quickly jarred from his own thoughts, Trunks blinked rapidly and realized she had probably known he was coming from the moment he left West City. If Ada could feel his ki as delicately as he could feel hers, not a single flare of anxiety or raising of defenses would go unnoticed.

The energy around her died down, and she slowly stood to look at him. Ada folded her arms, an unreadable expression gracing her features.

"Sorry about that," Trunks said, scratching the back of his head.

"About what?" she inquired hopefully, one eyebrow raised.

"About sneaking up."

"Oh," Ada said flatly with a hint of disappointment in her eyes. "It's fine." Silence. Trunks just looked at her, unsure of what he should say. Or rather, what he should say first. A few feet in front of him, Ada stood very still other than several flyaway strands of hair that the wind was blowing about her face. She wore an exceedingly tattered pair of faded orange pants- Gohan's, he knew- a patch or two sewn on here and there, as well as a white spandex tank top.

Trunks pulled off his jacket, followed by his boots, at which point Ada tilted her head sideways. "Is there something about me that makes you want to take off your clothes?" she asked with a devilish smirk. Trunks, coughing involuntarily, was sure he turned ten different shades of red at that moment.

Think of something witty!

"Well, uh," he began, "I was- I thought maybe you'd-you would…How about a fight?" He exhaled strongly after the battle to force something coherent from his mouth. Really clever, he thought sarcastically, mentally covering his face with his hands and darting off in the other direction.

"Oh?" she asked, and he realized happily that she was intrigued. "Why?"

"I suppose," Trunks began, taking a deep breath, "I'm aching for a challenge. I haven't fought anyone since Freeza, and he was cake." Nice recovery. After having collected himself and saved face (as best as he thought possible in the situation), the young man unclasped the strap connected to the sheath of his sword and set the weapon on the ground. Ada sat back down, fingering a blade of grass.

"Well I guess I can oblige," she responded. In spite of having convinced herself that he didn't deserve the favor, she couldn't really resist the opportunity to release some of the tension she was feeling. And maybe she would get the chance to serve him a slice of humble pie while she was at it.

Oh yeah, she thought as she brushed the hair from her eyes, I'm totally kicking his ass.

xxx

It took only two rounds of furious blows and blocks before Ada found a flaw in the rhythm of her opponent's fighting. She took advantage of it, latching one hand on each of Trunks' shoulders and pushing him roughly onto the ground from some ten feet in the air. The young man found himself suddenly pinned to the ground, Ada straddling his midsection and pushing his upper body down with her palms. Somewhat shocked and yet absolutely furious that he had been thus disabled so quickly, Trunks attempted to throw her off. Ada did not budge.

Amused by Trunks' visible anger and frustration at the rather emasculating position in which he found himself, Ada smirked down at him, her face about ten inches above his own. "You're trying not to hurt me, and it's making your technique sloppy," she informed him matter-of-factly. "If you won't be serious about this, we can stop now. I'll take it as forfeiture."

Trunks mustered all of his energy, at the same time accidentally letting a growl escape his throat. As she was forced off him and several feet backwards, Ada mentally congratulated herself. This was what she wanted out of him; he would never improve if he was trying harder not to harm his opponent than to obliterate her.

A half hour later, the two warriors, chests heaving rapidly, lay panting on the ground several feet from one another. Trunks absolutely could not believe it. Sure, he had held back. He winced at the realization that he would never really be able to hit a girl (not counting the monstrous Android Eighteen, of course), no matter how strong. Yet the fact remained that, even if he would have fought at full strength, he may not have been able to take her down despite her not having truly trained in months and his having worked at it almost every day. And what if she had been holding back, too? Such a stunt was not characteristic of Ada, who almost certainly understood how seriously Trunks took testing his strength and, he imagined, would have had no reason to lead him on. Especially while she was angry at him, Ada would have given no less than her best. So why, Kami, why had he been unable to beat her with ease? He wanted to shout so loudly that the Grand Kai himself would hear, to throw his fists into the ground and grind his teeth.

But…I can't let her know. Even if she won't admit it, she's got to be counting on me making something of this trip to the past…and if she figures out that I'm spent? That I've hit a plateau? That I'm nowhere near strong enough to take on the androids, in our time or theirs? Trunks turned his head sideways and looked at Ada, whose hair was plastered to her sweat-drenched face. No. If I'm going down, I'm going down with a fight- even one I can't hope to win. And she'll never have to know how…weak…I was. No one will.

Trunks had closed his eyes and was attempting to catch his breath when Ada spoke, still panting herself in between phrases. "You didn't…have to hold back…I can hold…my own…against you…" So she knew that even after he had begun trying to really fight her, he was still holding back power.

"I just…don't think…I could hit…a girl," he replied, at which point Ada smirked. Her smile, however, slowly fell into a frown.

"But you can't…have trained…very hard…or long…" she added.

"What…d'you mean?" Trunks asked.

"It's been…what…six months…since we sparred?" Ada thought out loud, "And you haven't…really improved…much at all."

Trunks mustered all of his willpower to hold his tongue. He wanted to shout that he already knew that, that it was hopeless, that he was going nowhere fast without much chance of improvement in the short timeframe left before he would have to leave again. How can I possibly turn myself around in eighteen months?

"Well," he replied sagely, finally catching his breath. "I haven't been training very intensely. I'm working more on the mental aspect of things."

Ada sat up, propping herself up on her hands, which were splayed out on the ground behind her. She looked at him knowingly, a sad, wry sort of smile on her face. "Your lying to me would really piss me off if you were any good at it." He had nothing to say to her, only her gaze to return. The girl knew everything. The soul-crushing feeling that he expected to arrive any moment, however, did not come. Rather, he felt like a massive boulder had been removed from his chest. He could breathe.

They surveyed one another in silence for several moments, their eye contact steady and unblinking. Trunks had expected her to show her disappointment in him, to share in his grief; if nothing else, he thought that Ada would lash out at him for laziness or lack of work ethic- he was certainly doing it to himself (Going on dates? What were you thinking? What would your father say?). And yet she only gave him a small, encouraging smile as she got to her feet.

"Thanks for the fight, Trunks," she said somewhat quietly, her voice carrying a genuine sweetness that lifted him tremendously. "It's getting late. Would you like to stay for dinner?"

He stood, returning the smile albeit unsure. "Dinner sounds great," he replied with a nod. Ada turned, readying herself to dart off through the forest, when Trunks took hold of her wrist. She looked at him as though puzzled. He took his hand away and looked down at his feet. "Ada…"

"Yeah?" she asked, taking a step toward him.

"About what happened…at the ball…" He struggled a little with the words. "I shouldn't have said…well…I'm sorry. And it was wrong not to have apologized sooner." He was somewhat ashamed of the next thing he said: "I thought you would be more fun to fight, you know…if you were still angry at me…" Trunks blushed with shame at such a cheap, manipulative tactic, looked up at her, and, to his surprise, found her smiling at him yet again.

"Thank you," she said slowly. "But it really wasn't necessary, the apology. I kind of…I was a little on edge, I guess, and I...not that that's an excuse, but…I jumped down your throat, and that was childish. So, I mean…I'm sorry, too." Trunks noticed that she was blushing a bit.

"It's alright," he said. "Maybe we were both in bad moods, huh?"

"I guess so," she affirmed with a nod, her cheeks still pink.

"Are…you okay?" Trunks inquired, touching her arm lightly. She jumped and laughed nervously.

"Oh- yeah, just…a little wound up, I guess. So…how about that dinner?"

xxx

The next several days passed in much the same fashion, with Trunks heading over to spar with Ada in the afternoon after doing his own workouts in the morning. Beyond that, the two had actually begun working on training exercises, something that surprised Trunks as he thought that Gohan purposely had never taught so many formal exercises to his sister. He found out that he thought correctly but that kid Ada had made a habit of tracking her brother and his pupil down and spying on them from a safe distance. Learning this did not surprise Trunks in the least, of course. It was Ada. Would he have expected anything less?

After a particularly difficult fight one afternoon, Trunks headed home for a shower and a nap only to wake up shortly after sunset to the crackling din of the radio emergency alert system.

" – seen a thing like this, not since the massacre in Pepper City some years ago now! The entire Grove Street District has been completely leveled, with no word on a single survivor as of yet, and the monsters have moved into downtown. There's no end in sight to this rampage, folks, none at all. We urge you, please, to take cover immediately if you live in Pepper or West City, the surrounding villages, or in the 426 to 440 Mountain Areas, the latter having been the beginning of the several hundred kilometer chain of absolute decimation begun this afternoon. Again, please move to a protected, underground area, locking all doors and windows behind you. I repeat, this is an emergency alert for those inhabiting Pepper City and its environs, West City and its environs, or the 426 through 440 Mountain Areas."

Trunks' throat ran dry. The Son household was in Area 439. For several moments, he was absolutely frozen with dread.

"EARTH TO TRUNKS!" screamed a voice in his ear. The young man's eyes snapped suddenly to his mother, who was now standing over him with a flashlight and the wireless radio from the kitchen.

"S-sorry, Mom," he blurted out, standing and facing her.

"C'mon, we're going to the kitchen. I need to try to get Chi Chi on the phone," Bulma said in an intense, business-like fashion. Crises seemed to bring out the most maturity in his mother, Trunks thought, which still wasn't saying a lot. Nonetheless, she always handled herself deftly when the situation called for it.

"Right. I'll grab some blankets." Trunks went to his closet and began pulling old quilts and pillows down, his hands shaking nervously. Depending on the severity of the attack, he sometimes waited the night out on the floor of the kitchen. The androids knew where the Brief family lived, and there was always the lingering possibility of getting a house visit if the monsters were in a particularly destructive mood. Attacks happened so often that Trunks usually handled it well, but tonight he simply could not pull his mind from Ada.

I'm sure they got out in time. Ada's probably headed this way right now, perfectly fine…she can take care of herself. But I don't get it…those monsters hardly ever attack the countryside. Did they just wake up and decide that this would be the day to begin finishing off everyone on the planet? he wondered bitterly as he headed into the kitchen. Bulma was already sitting at the table, furiously dialing the number of the Son residence for the fifth time in a row. Trunks set down the bedclothes and leaned against the countertop, telling himself over and over that everything would be fine. Ada knew the drill. She'd spent her whole life hiding and come out without a scratch.

Bulma slammed the receiver down. "Son of a bitch," she spat out, trying to take deep breaths. "The phones must be down out there. I'm getting a dial tone, but the calls keep disconnecting." Trunks frowned and picked the phone up himself, punching in the number as his mother massaged her temples. The sound of a massive blast echoed through their ears from several kilometers away.

"Work…please work," Trunks muttered into the telephone, gulping. After several rings, the line went dead. He set it down and took a seat across from his mother. "No luck." Two more explosions, closer than the last.

"We apologize for the drop in radio transmission," a voice announced from the small metal box on the table. "We're back with live coverage of the attack on Pepper City. The androids have moved out of downtown and into the outskirts of the city. No apparent destination or purpose is discernible at this point. Several rescue crews were dispatched about five minutes ago, but we're getting reports that one of them has lost communication with law enforcement headquarters. The reason why can only be guessed at."

Trunks and his mother looked at the radio, hanging on every bit of news in a kind of trance. They both nearly fell backwards at the sound of the door into the basement being slammed shut. Seconds later, Ada and Chi Chi emerged from the stairwell, the former looking panic-stricken and the latter, completely dazed. Both were clad in pajamas. Catching her breath, Ada looked at the two Briefs, a hint of desperation in her eyes.

"Didn't you hear us knock? I was pounding on the door," she said. Bulma ran over immediately and caught her and then her mother in two astoundingly strong hugs.

"I'm so, so sorry," Bulma said, relief evident in her face and voice. "We were listening to the radio – we must not have heard; we kept trying to call-"

"It's alright," Ada replied, smiling the slightest bit. "I broke the lock, I think…sorry about that…"

"Don't apologize!" Bulma said, rolling her eyes at the absurdity of it. "As if a lock would do us any good. Honestly. But anyway…no sense in standing around here getting flustered. We may as well have some tea and take a seat; all we can do is wait."

xxx

Postscript: Thank you, thank you, thank you (seriously though, I can't say it enough) to my loyal reviewers. I appreciate it so much! Speaking of which, you should certainly go have a look at some of Draquia's work. I'm reading "Lovefools Part 1", a K/18 fic, at the moment, and it's awesome. I know that the android attack seems like déjà vu at this point, but I'm going somewhere with it, I promise. We're on the uphill climb to a turning point in the story, and I can't wait to write everything that I've got in mind! As always, questions, comments, concerns, criticism – I love reading it all, so send it my way!