:*: Calm Before the Storm :*:
It took about a week for Trunks' departure to finally sink in for Pan. After receiving a goodnight call from him every day at three pm, she realized just how far he was from her. She hated sulking, but today just felt like her hormones were forcing her to do just that.
After tossing her phone to the coffee table, she kicked her feet up to the couch and browsed through television channels. Settling on the discovery channel, she tucked the remote underneath her and listened to the phenomenon about the 'calm before the storm'. You can step outside, and things seem still. Nothing seems to be going wrong, but little do you know about the trouble brewing on the horizon.
Trunks on the other hand was adapting very well to the American customs. In his opinion, their business management strategies were sloppy, but what a night life they had. Los Angeles offered quite a variety when it came to the lounges and clubs, and if it wasn't for the American group of students he had befriended he wouldn't have had such an exposure to them.
As he feared, he had to stay cautious of a couple of the girls in the internship. One from his country and two from the American group. They weren't to the point of annoyance, but he could see them gaining potential in that category.
"Briefs, you ready yet? Everyone's waitin." Trunks' roommate, Kaien Shiba, entered their hotel room after knocking politely. Kaien was 21 as well and, like Trunks, liked to drink. He, unlike Trunks, was single and liked to invite their female partners out with them to Trunks' dismay. "Done cupcakin with the hometown honey?"
Trunks chuckled, tossing his phone to his nightstand for the night. "Let's go Shiba."
Kaien had shaggy, unkempt brown hair that the girls seemed to love. After being opted to 'watch and learn', Trunks sat at the bar counter and did just that while his roommate waved his brown hair around like Justin Beiber and flirted with a small group of women in their mid twenties.
"He shoots and, ouch rejected." He announced as the Asian Beiber returned.
"I got turned down but the brunette is interested in ya." He nudged him with his elbow.
Trunks shook his head. "No thanks, I'm happy with my hometown honey."
"That's the problem!" Kaien cried, slamming his mug to the table. "She's hometown, bro! You're in A-MER-I-CA with American girls!"
"He's on one again." A stolid female rolled her eyes at the ranting male. Ayama Kasuga was another junior from Japan chosen for the internship. She dressed more conservative than the others, dressed in a purple long sleeve and jeans with black heels. She tucked her long black hair behind her ear and gestured for a drink. Her and Trunks had been partnered this week, and she rolled pretty well with oddball scenarios that had been thrown at them. Her stoic expression made her difficult to read, but she made for a great business partner.
"Miss Kasuga, show this guy how to have a good time. Jesus it's like he's married or som-"
"Kaien, that's enough." A month had gone by, and every weekend Trunks had to listen to the 'pros' of cheating on his girlfriend. Quite frankly he was sickened by just the thought of it.
"Wait, where ya goin?" Kaien watched his lavender haired roommate stride out of the bar.
"The man's obviously in love. You're not making the distance between him and his girlfriend any easier." Ayame spoke before taking a sip of her beer.
Kaien grunted in response. "Love, huh? It doesn't exist. His woman's pretty cute. I give it a month until he gets that phone call that it's over."
"Your confidence is overwhelming." She uttered between sips once more.
xXxXxXx
After a quick shower, Trunks dropped to his bed and propped himself up on his pillow. The bedstand clock displayed 12:04am. After doing some brief calculations in his head, he was pleased to figure out it was a decent time to call her. The sound of her voice would suffice for now.
"Trunks, is everything okay?" She glanced at the clock, it was a little after 5pm. They had just spoken a little over an hour ago, she was surprised to see him call again.
"Promise me something..."
Her mood grew worrisome. He sounded so... unhappy. "Anything."
He took a moment before he spoke again. "If six months is too long, and someone else comes along, don't feel bad to be honest with me-"
"Trunks, are you drunk or something? For once, you sound ridiculous. If anything, I'm the one that should be telling you that. You're the one surrounded by beautiful American girls and-"
"Now who sounds ridiculous?"
She could just see him smirking now.
"So, you're not breaking up with me?" He chaffed, his smile expanding into a grin at the sound of her laughter.
"Not yet you anguished soul."
"I love you, Pan."
She circled the ring on her finger, releasing a sigh that was heavier than expected. "I love you too. Sweet dreams, Trunks."
The next morning, Pan awoke to a quiet house as usual. Her father was at work and her mother was always a busy body, either outside doing yard work, cleaning, or running errands. Pan headed outside to the mailbox. She admired Trunks' silver truck parked on the street just waiting for him to return. She shuffled through some of the letters from the mailbox and stopped in her tracks.
Nagoya University
"Oh my god... It's here..." In her hands was one of the best school's in Japan, not to mention the same university her uncle and boyfriend were attending, either accepting or declining her application. Pan noticed her mother's car was still here. Since she wasn't pulling weeds in the front or backyard, she considered that maybe she was taking a nap. It was almost eleven pm so it was unlike her to still be asleep.
Pan jogged upstairs and knocked on her parents' bedroom door. "Mom? I'm coming in!" She crept through the door and to her mother's bedside where she was still asleep. "Mom? Mom look what came in the mail." She shook her shoulder eagerly. "Mom... Mom?" She shook her again. Her eyes didn't budge a wink. Her hand flipped the blanket from her body and moved to her wrist to check for a pulse. It was weak, but there was definitely still a pulse.
Pan ran to her room for her phone, dialing 911. After giving the address, the woman asked for her to stay on the line. "No, no I can't I need to call my dad." Without waiting for a response, Pan hung up and dialed her father's cell number.
"You've reached Gohan Son. Leave a message and I'll get back to you."
"Damn it- Dad! The- the amb- ah.." She couldn't speak. She paced back and forth, occasionally glancing over at her mother's pale body. "Dad, the ambulance is coming, mom won't wake up. I-I checked her pulse, she has a pulse..." She was moreso trying to convince herself that things would be okay. "Call me when you get this..."
Pan prepped her mother for the ambulance's arrival, tears falling as she smoothed the hair from her peaceful face. She held her warm hands until the paramedics arrived.
xXxXxXx
"I'm looking for Videl, Videl Son."
Pan could hear her father's voice from the hall. She cursed at herself for leaving her phone behind in her race to gather what she could to follow behind the ambulance.
"Jesus Christ, Pan I've been calling you for the past thirty minutes, what happened?" He flew in, rushing to the opposite side of the bed to examine his unconscious wife.
Pan was wearing jeans and a dirty t-shirt she had thrown on from her floor with her hair tossed atop her head. "Around eleven this morning I went to wake her up and she wouldn't wake up. The doctor said from the looks of it she had a seizure sometime in her sleep this morning."
"It's three o'clock now, has she woken up at all?"
Pan shook her head no. She watched her father's eyes drop for a moment, then drift up to his wife's resting face. He rolled her hand in his and kissed it.
"I'll go find the doctor." She muttered before leaving the room, looking for a reason to allow her father some private time. It didn't take long to find the older male doctor pacing through the halls. Pan asked for him to talk to her father, then headed to the cafeteria. Between the stress of the situation and not eating at all today, she was growing extremely nauseated.
Her father joined her in the middle of her meal with a cup of coffee and an order of his own.
"What'd the doctor say?" She asked after he fixed up his plate with the proper seasonings.
"Due to certain levels in her blood, they could tell she had a moderate seizure. She could be asleep for hours now. She should be up by tomorrow morning."
Pan exhaled a long, heavy sigh. "So, it's spreading."
Gohan took a moment to think while he chewed. "We'll let the MRI determine that. Don't go jumping to conclusions." Gohan could tell his daughter was still shook up by the situation. She sounded very panicked on the phone, and even now she looked pale. "Pan, you don't look well. You should go home and rest, you've had a rough day."
Pan couldn't agree more. Her nausea returned more severe now but she was going to fight it as much as she could. "Dad, I'm fine. I'm not going to leave you here alone."
He put an arm over her shoulders as they walked back to the room. "I'll stay until sundown, then I'll be home. I don't know if I can trust you to make dinner so go ahead and order us some takeout." He joked, finally cracking a small smile on her face.
Pan took a moment to kiss her mother goodbye, then her father. "Promise me you'll call if anything happens." Gohan nodded in agreement.
Pan collapsed onto her bed. She was tired and still felt sick. Her feet found her phone at the end of the bed so she bent down to grab it. She had numerous missed calls and texts from Bra, Marron, and Trunks. "Damn it..." She rubbed her eyes, opening up her phone app to see what time it was in the USA. "Eleven thirty... He's probably asleep by now, it's Thursday he has his internship in the morning..."
She switched over to her text messages to read his last message.
You're probably busy right now but just wanted to say I love you and miss you, I'll see you in a few minutes in my dreams.
She grinned at his corny lines, knowing he did it on purpose.
Hey Trunks, I'd call but I don't want to wake you. I left the house and left my phone behind I'm sorry :( I love and miss you too. Wish you were here right now... I'll take a nap so I can see you in my dreams too.
She hit send before going back to read it. She hoped he wouldn't read too much into 'Wish you were here right now'. She didn't want him to be hung up on her problems when he couldn't do anything about it. She made a mental note to be more secretive with her personal matters.
Next on her list was Bra and Marron. She had various missed calls from them throughout the afternoon with messages ranging from 'Did you get your letter today?' to 'Oh my gosh you didn't get accepted huh... It's okay, Pan, we're coming over!'
Pan decided not to text them back right now. For one thing she hadn't even opened her letter yet and didn't have the energy to get up and locate it. Secondly, she didn't have the energy to keep up with their excitement that was emitted just from their messages alone. She kept her phone nearby incase Trunks called or texted back, but soon drifted into a well needed sleep.
xXxXxXx
"See, Ayama, what did I tell you? One month and she'd dump him." Kaien whispered to the very uninterested woman on his left. Their group this month focused on the marketing sector of business. Ayama, Kaien, and Trunks were among three other students awaiting their morning breifing. "And then she tells him she didn't have her phone on her, come on really? If you ask me it all sounds scandalous."
"Well, nobody asked you Kaien." Ayama uttered, taking a quick glance at Trunks sitting across from her at the table. She hoped he wasn't being influenced by Kaien's conspiracy talks, and by the looks of it he seemed like the normal professional he presented to the table every day from the beginning. She frequently wondered how a paranoid person like Kaien got into such a prestigious program.
Trunks received a text from his sister and Marron the previous day that they had both gotten into Nagoya University. Trunks wondered if Pan had gotten in. He couldn't see why not. The school was very big on sports, which is why he and Goten chose to go there. The thought of her receiving a denial letter even crossed his mind since she didn't pick up at all. He thought that maybe she was too shamed to tell anybody. He snapped out of his thoughts at the sight of the two people sitting across from him staring at him with concern. He threw them a confused expression, causing them to avert their eyes.
Pan awoke to the smell of beef in the house, suddenly remembering she forgot to order dinner for her and her father. Her clock reflected 8:22 as the current time, she had napped for about four hours. After using the restroom and adjusting her hair, she dragged her feet downstairs into the kitchen where he sat in his pajama sweats reading the paper.
"Hi, dad. Sorry, I overslept."
"No problem. Here, got your favorite."
She joined him at the table and dug in. "How's mom?"
"She's doing well. Her vitals are stable so they're just going to keep an eye on her for the night and I told them to call me if she wakes up, otherwise I'll be in in the morning."
"Did you let Bulma know you're not going into work tomorrow?"
"Yeah. She was wondering if I could send you to pick up some paperwork for me. I offered to go myself but she wanted to talk to you anyways."
Pan wasn't sure what Bulma wanted to talk about but didn't think much of it. "Sure, that's fine. Then I'll meet you at the hospital afterwards."
She watched him toy with some papers stacked on the table, then pull out a familiar envelope. "Here. Found it on the floor in my room." He slid it over to her, probing her to open it.
It was her letter from the university. She took in a deep breath as she picked it up, toying with the edge to tear it open.
"Pan, will you open the damn thing? You get that dramatic suspense thing from your friends."
She laughed, tearing the edge open and pulling out a bundle of papers. "Dear Pan Son, thank you for your interest in Nagoya University. We have received your application and are pleased to inform you that you have been chosen to join our student body in the upcoming fall semester. We would also like to congratulate you with a full ride sports scholarship for the upcoming four years here at Nagoya. To meet the requirements, we ask that you play a minimum of two sports per academic year..." She continued reading the letter aloud.
Gohan was very proud of his daughter, that Pan could see in his eyes. "Bra and Marron came to the door earlier but I told them you had a rough day."
"You told them about mom?"
"Are you embarrassed by it or something?" He was confused by her tone.
"No, no, of course not dad! I just don't want them to tell Trunks. He has enough on his plate."
Gohan surveyed his daughter for a moment. He didn't exactly like the way she held Trunks so high sometimes. It's good that she cares for his well-being but what about her? "Congratulations, Pan. When does school start?"
She rummaged through the papers looking for the dates. "School starts August 20th, but sports training starts July 20th... Dad that's like two weeks away!"
"Well you better crack down on this. Make out a list of what you're gonna need, I'll put some money in your account so you can go shopping." He was hopeful that this would get her mind off things for a while. He'd take care of her mother while she took care of herself and her future.
xXxXxXx
The next morning, Pan arrived at Capsule Corps research department as planned to pick up some paperwork for her father as Bulma requested. She was escorted through the office and laboratory halls until they reached her office on the top floor.
"Oh, Pan, so good to see you. How are you?" She greeted her with a hug and stepped back to assess her for a moment.
"I'm great, how are you?"
"No need to be so discreet, honey. If you guys need anything do not hesitate to ask me. Times are rough for you guys right now, emotionally and financially. If you need someone to talk to, we are here for you. I've been giving your dad all the hours he could need to pay for your mother's expenses and now you're going off to college, poor man, I'm surprised he's not going gray by now."
Pan seemed confused as to what she was talking about. Looking back, her father was working longer hours. She hadn't realized they were having financial difficulty.
Bulma stopped talking after observing Pan's bafflement. "Sorry, it's not my place, I'll shut up. Here's your father's files that he requested. And, there's one favor I have to ask of you."
Pan shifted the large pile of files in her arms and gave the woman her full attention.
"Please, I know you care for Trunks a lot. He's doing a great job over there and I'd hate for him to get... distracted or feel like he has to come home. You're a strong girl, Pan. I'm not asking you to face this alone, but..." She bit her lip trying to think of a better way to phrase what she wanted to say.
"But leave your son out of it, right?" Pan finished her sentence coldly.
Bulma cleared her throat. "I don't mean it like that, but you understand don't you?"
Pan chuckled in disbelief. "You're right, Bulma. It's not your place. Thanks for the talk."
Bulma said nothing as she left her office. She knew what she was asking was selfish, but it was for her son's future and her company's success. She plopped down into her leather chair and exhaled through pursed lips. "Sometimes you have to step on some toes to get to the top." She reminded herself.