CHAPTER 22

"That's just…that's just so exciting, Jen," Ada said, her smile stretching the width of her face. She laughed at the response that came from the other end of the phone line.

Trunks eyed her curiously from his spot on the sofa. No one except his mother received phone calls – and those were almost always people asking if she could repair some appliance or other. In fact, when the phone in the Son home had rung, Ada and Trunks both looked at it in terror. The androids, they had assumed, were at it again. Maybe Bulma was hurt. The two had looked at one another, dreading what news waited on the other end of that receiver. It had taken a, "Are you going to get that, Ada?!" from Chi Chi – who was trying to take a nap in her bedroom – to shake them out of their trance.

And it was just…a friend. Or at least, Trunks guessed it was a friend. Perhaps an acquaintance. He'd not seen Ada socialize since they were in their mid-teens. After the schools had closed, there hadn't exactly been a wealth of people their age to befriend.

"Of course!" Ada exclaimed. "Just let me know, and I'll be there."

Another pause as Ada listened cheerily to the voice on the phone.

"Thank you for calling," the young woman said kindly, a sad sort of smile crossing her lips. "I know it's been forever…but I really appreciate that you thought of me. Yes. Sure. Keep me updated, alright? Bye." Ada looked at the receiver for a moment before setting it back in its cradle.

"So…?" Trunks raised an eyebrow at her. Ada seemed somewhat lost as she slowly sat down next to him on the couch.

"It was a girl I knew…know," she corrected herself. "Jen Baille. Her grandparents used to live a mile or so away from us. I haven't heard from her in…years." She shook her head in disbelief. "I assumed she was dead."

Trunks put a hand on her knee. "Old friend?"

Ada nodded. "She said that…I'm the only person she's been able to find. All of her friends from school, from her neighborhood…gone. Or lost. Or moved to Lowtown."

"Just calling to catch up?" Trunks asked suspiciously.

"No, no." Ada shook her head. "I guess she got married some time ago, and she's…having a baby."

"She called someone she's not spoken to in years to tell her she's pregnant?"

"She asked if I would be the godmother," Ada said quietly.

Trunks' eyes widened. He was about to speak when Ada did:

"I can't believe she even thought of me. And that she called me. And that she's having a baby…in spite of all this." She gestured around vaguely, frowning. "It's so…strange."

"Yeah." Trunks nodded. "You don't see many kids running around these days. I think Rei was the last one I saw."

Ada smiled at the name of her old student. After the last attack on the city, Rei's family had chosen to move to Lowtown. Ada hadn't seen them since.

The two sat in silence for some time, digesting the oddness of the situation.

"Do you think," Ada asked, "that people will start having children again, once all this has passed?"

Ada turned to look at him. His arms were loosely folded, and he was gazing somewhat pensively at his knees. She liked to hear him talk about the ineffable post-android future; it made her feel more confident that he felt confident.

"I've always assumed so," he replied. "Why not? That's what people usually do when things are normal, right? Get married, have babies, live happily ever after."

"So you've thought about it before?" Ada asked after a moment.

"About what? About the future?"

"Erm…yes. About the future," she finished awkwardly.

"I've always thought about the future."

"And?"

"And what?"

"What do you think?"

Trunks chuckled for a moment at the question. "Well…I think about the cities looking like they do in the old pictures; about seeing a whole load of people in one place, enjoying themselves; about people coming out from their hiding places and seeing their friends and family who they assumed were dead…I think about it all the time."

Ada looked at him strangely for a moment before nodding. "Yeah. So do I."

"You're acting…strange. What's on your mind?" Trunks asked, looking at her with some concern.

"Strange? No," she said, her cheeks coloring a little.

"We're not talking about the same thing, are we?" Trunks brushed a particle of something off her cheek.

"What do you mean?"

"About the future. That's not what you meant, is it?"

Ada studied him for a moment, then folded her hands together and looked straight ahead.

"I…no, it's not."

"What did you mean?"

Ada glanced at Trunks again before shaking her head nervously. "You know, I don't want to force this…it's…let's just forget about it, alright?"

Trunks cocked her head sideways and smiled mischievously. "Well now I'm just curious, so you're going to have to tell me."

Ada folded her hands and placed them in her lap. "You love me," she said, almost as though she were reassuring herself.

"You know I do," he replied, squeezing her knee.

"How…much?"

"What?" Trunks gave her a puzzled smile.

"When all of this is over, when the androids are gone…then what?" Ada asked quietly. Trunks' eyes widened with sudden understanding. He wrestled one of her hands into his and looked at her intently.

"Nothing will change," he said. "I'll still be right here. With you." He hesitated a moment, fumbling with his words. "For…forever, if you want."

Ada looked up at him, finally, and smiled uncharacteristically shyly. She squeezed his hand.

"Do you promise?"

Trunks returned the smile and nodded.

xxx

Trunks awoke with a start, surprised to find his fist driven several inches into the wall next to his bed. He blinked and slowly pulled away his hand, rubbing his knuckle.

A dream.

He panted and wiped away the hair that was sticking to his forehead. There was no hint of light outside the curtain that guarded his bed – his haven – from the menacing eternity of the chamber. He lay his head back down, hoping to catch at least a few more hours of sleep. The next day was sure to be just as grueling as every other one from the previous six months.

But sleep did not come. He tossed about, feeling strangely warm considering how cool nights in the chamber tended to be. Trunks sat up, resting his forearms on his knees, and began to do what he did best these days…thought. He thought about the androids, picturing their faces. He thought about his mother, and about Chi Chi. Mostly, he thought about Ada. About her smile. About the curves of her body when she lay next to him. About his unending want for her. About how helpful she had ended up being to him without even realizing it.

He winced slightly. He was somewhat ashamed to admit it to himself, but there was nothing so potent as sexual frustration to lend fierceness and drive to one's fighting capabilities. And he still had six months to go. By the time he faced Cell, and the androids…he would have enough pent up self-denial to wipe out whatever stood in his way. And when he got back to Ada…

Except for the marriage bit. She would certainly still be concerned about that. As would he. He thought of the man sleeping only feet away from him and shuddered. Marrying Ada would be just one more step down the path opposite Vegeta's. Trunks worried at his desperation to do everything as differently as possible from his father, worried at his childhood psychological issues being a justification for marriage…but it was better than following the ruthless Saiyan, at any rate.

Trunks lay back, clenching his fists just to keep his hands from wandering elsewhere, and settled on a memory that would, he hoped, whisk him back to sleep.

xxx

"Trunks"

He heard a whisper right next to his ear, and on his neck he could feel the exhalation of the breath that accompanied it.

"Baby. You awake?" The hoarse voice seemed to get closer as the young man yawned and slowly made his way back to consciousness.

"Hm?" He muttered. "Yeah, yeah. 'M awake." Trunks turned over to face the figure lying next to him. Ada lay on her side, her hand propping up her head. Her hair fell in messy waves about her face, and her lacy tank top clung to her abdomen, but there were no signs of sleep in her eyes.

"I woke you up," she stated with a sigh. "I'm sorry."

Trunks shook his head and rubbed his eyes. "No, no. It's fine. Why're you awake?" He lifted one arm in the air, indicating that Ada take her place beneath it. She did, snuggling up against his chest, and he lowered it around her.

"Just couldn't sleep. I don't know. Just thinking, I guess."

"About what?" Trunks fought to keep his eyes open.

"I…had a dream…about us."

"Oh yeah? What kind of dream?"

Ada did not reply. Her face, Trunks noted, felt warm against his chest. The arm she had flung across his abdomen held tightly to him, fingers digging comfortably into his skin.

"The kind that makes you wake up feeling…needy," she finally said. Her voice hesitated on the last word.

Trunks grinned in the darkness, glad that she couldn't see him. "Something I can help with, perhaps?" he inquired, his eyes now fully open.

She propped herself up and looked into his eyes.

"I hate this," she said pointedly.

"What?"

"The boundaries. It seems s-" Before she could finish, Trunks had pressed his lips against hers and pulled her body to him. Still maintaining the contact, he pulled one of Ada's legs across his body and – rather roughly, she thought – placed her on top of him. She pulled away and sat atop him, looking down into his eyes.

"You're not helping, you know," she said flatly. Trunks gave her a devilish grin.

"Nice view from down here," he chuckled, placing his hands on her waist. "So tell me. In your dream…"

Ada raised an eyebrow. She didn't like that grin on his face, not one bit.

"…was it good?"

A scandalized Ada gave him a light slap on the cheek. He laughed and pulled her down so that she was flush against him. Again, he kissed her – this time until she smiled.

"Since when," Ada asked, "has the noble Trunks been able to talk about sex without stuttering and blushing, hm?"

"Well," Trunks replied, planting a kiss on her neck, "since you're around most of the time, and when you're around it's generally all that I can think about, it's gotten a little easier."

She lay her head down on his chest, and he instinctively began to stroke her hair. "So how do you keep yourself…under control…so well."

"You're going to laugh," he said.

"Try me."

"Pink elephants."

"What?" Ada asked quizzically.

"When it gets to be too much, and I'm having trouble controlling my thoughts, I just think about pink elephants instead."

"You're right. I'm going to laugh at you," she said, doing just that.

"Laugh all you like, but it works!" he replied.

She skeptically raised an eyebrow at him.

"Think of it like this," he said with a smile "Have you ever been jumped in the middle of the night by the desperate man lying next to you?"

At that, Ada rolled her eyes and lifted herself from off Trunks. Smiling, she planted a quick, dry kiss on his lips before turning over to her own side of the bed and closing her eyes.

She took a deep breath.

Pink elephants.

xxx