A/N: I've had this chapter done for a while, just wasn't sure how to end it, but I don't want to keep you guys waiting any more so I finally jotted something down and posted. The end is near :)

:*: Breathless :*:

She watched her warm breaths mist into the air, and as her breaths slowed, she knew they were close to reaching the suffering. A smile loomed on her lips as her last breath carried in the air to the one she had sacrificed herself to save. 'My gift to you, one of love and light. I will rest now, for peace has come for me tonight.'

Vegeta rolled his eyes at the excerpt as he tossed the old folklore magazine back onto the stack scattered across the table of the Maternity Ward lobby. He, Goku, Gohan, and Trunks paced the area now after helping Trunks regroup upon their arrival. It had only been less than a half hour since Trunks had called with the distressing news of the baby not breathing. Vegeta snuck a glance at his son and Gohan whom were both standing on opposite sides of the room from each other, using the wall for support to keep them from collapsing as their worlds both seemed to be.

Pan's blood pressure was dangerously high, causing her fallout and effects on the baby. Doctors and nurses surrounded her as they rushed to get her heart under control. The four men were pulled from their thoughts as Gohan's cellphone sounded off in the quiet room. He answered without hesitation, clearing his voice before speaking.

"Gohan speaking… Yes-…. Can you at least tell me how she is?" He cursed out loud as he slipped the phone back into his pocket. "It's about Videl, they hung up without telling me anything except to come down."

The others could see his already pale skin grow 3 shades lighter. "Vegeta, keep us posted, please. Let's go, Gohan." Goku directed, refusing to let his son be on his own. Gohan didn't put up a fight, he needed his father there, regardless of what was to happen. It was all too much. If everything turned for the worse, he would lose his only child, his grandchild, his wife, and his brother.

"Mr. Briefs?" Both Vegeta and Trunks turned their attention from the Sons whom had just disappeared from the Maternity Ward to go to the other side of the hospital. A nurse motioned for Trunks to enter through the door with her.

Trunks' scared eyes locked with Vegeta's for a brief moment as he followed her motion. "I'll be right here." Vegeta reminded him, taking a seat in the now empty lobby. He rested his forearms atop his thighs as he took the quiet moment to absorb what all was happening at this very moment, and hung his head as each outcome weighed heavier and heavier on his shoulders.

Seconds turned into minutes. Minutes that seemed to be hours. He now began to dwell on an odd sensation that washed over him minutes before Gohan's cellphone had rang. It was a warm tightness circling his torso, then vanished before anyone could see the brief panic in his eyes.

He smirked. "Damn, don't tell me I'm next." A chuckled rolled in his throat as he placed his right hand over his heart, as if double checking that he wasn't having a heart attack.

"Mr. Briefs?" The nurse called for the third time, relieved as Vegeta's dark eyes finally lifted to meet hers. He was too lost in his thoughts to hear her initially calling his name. "Sir, the mother and father would like to see you now."

She led him down the maternity hall until reaching their destination.

"Don't you ever scare me like that again." Trunks exhaustingly scolded Pan as he took her hands in his, kissing them gently.

Vegeta could feel his own color coming back to his skin as he saw Pan's smiling face and his son seated next to her bed. He couldn't help the smile that played on his lips as the two looked over to him in the doorway. "Hey, Brat."

"Vegeta!" Pan grinned eagerly in her tired state. "Tell your son to stop giving me a hard time, I'm right here."

The two noticed Vegeta's downcast eyes, knowing what he was thinking about.

"Dad, he's gonna be okay. Come look." He released his hold on Pan as he walked his dad across the way to the large window looking into the nursery. "Tubes and monitors just for the next 24 hours. Then he should be ready to go home."

Vegeta exhaled in relief as he read the nameplate aloud. "Jedhan Vegeta Briefs."

"Yup. We wanted to carry out the Son family's -han name, and of course my middle name. And when the time is right, we'll all share the same last name."

That smile from the doorway graced Vegeta's lips again. "Son, taking into consideration everything you and the Sons have been through, it's safe to say there is no right time. Anything can happen. Live while the opportunity is there."

Trunks was taken aback. "Wow, when did you become so philosophical?" He leaned away as his dad ruffled his hand in his hair. "Thanks, dad. Anything can happen? With that said… I just hope you know that I love you. You're the strongest man I've ever met. I know we've had our fights but-"

"Save it. Nothing can ever break a bond between father and son. Now go take care of your mate. I've got things to do."

Trunks laughed lightly as he obeyed his father, whom stayed around for a few minutes longer to peer through that window at his newborn grandson.

xXxXxXx

"Ouch!" Bra gasped to herself as she unknowingly picked at the nail of her right middle finger to the point of pulling on the skin of her nailbed. She stuck her finger in her mouth, trying to suck away the pain. She and Chichi had spent the time after the trial together since everybody else had disappeared to the hospital. Now, she spent time alone in the hall of the courthouse while Chichi headed outside to find a more quiet area to call her husband. While examining her finger closely for any blood, she looked to her right for the source of a feminine voice calling her name. "Marron! I thought you weren't here." Bra quickly stood to her feet to embrace her friend.

"I got here late, they wouldn't let me in. I barely saw you through the crowd, seems like the whole university is here." She and Bra looked around at the mixed crowd of Nagoya alumni, as well as unfamiliar spectators here for their own interest in the case.

Bra couldn't fight back the grin as three more familiar faces approached.

"Blue! Blondie!" The maroon haired male greeted the two girls.

"Renji, Nori, Ryo, so good to see you guys. There's more people showing up, what's going on?" Bra pointed at an increasing amount of Nagoya students and faculty gathering outside, some with signs, some with t-shirts, all in support of Goten's innocence.

"Everyone knows this charge is a bunch of bs. A lot of people were pointing the finger at you, Bra. A whole he said she said story about you being the whistle blower on him. And according to a few sources, it was Valese and Tundra that were spreading that rumor. That's why people were picking on you and not her." Renji ended his findings there, noticing how upset Bra was getting.

"I know. Ryo had picked up on that weeks ago. We've been over this a thousand times. I just want this to be over with already… with him freed and things as close to normal as they could be…" Her voice faltered, she couldn't remember the last time things had been 'normal'. She couldn't remember the last time she had looked at her mother with love in her eyes instead of suspicion and aversion. Now that she thought about it, she didn't even see her mother show up to the hearing. She was surprised that the woman hadn't been blowing up her phone with text messages and phone calls since she didn't show up to sit beside Valese, but rather in the back of the room with her dad.

"Bra, you okay?" A concerned Ryo wrapped an arm around her shoulders as her expression distanced with her thoughts.

Her thoughts faded as a brief warmth enveloped her, then left as quickly as it came. "That was strange…" She muttered to herself but still loud enough for Ryo to hear.

"You guys! Come on, the court room is filling up again!" Marron called as she stood on her tiptoes to look over the crowd. The group quickly flocked to her side and squeezed in with the rest. Bra sat with the others on Goten's side, hoping not to draw any unwanted attention. She stole glances to the opposite side of the room searching for her mother, still nothing. She waved Chichi over as she barely made it through before the doors closed.

"Chichi, how is everything at the hospital?" She whispered as the judge began his introduction.

"I barely got through to my husband. He hasn't heard anything on Pan yet, they got called over to Videl's wing-" Chichi's words caught in her throat as her son was brought back into the court room.

Bra followed her pained eyes to see Goten standing beside his defense team, hands cuffed behind him, pale as a sheet.

"I believe the jury has reached a verdict." The sound of the bailiff gripping the envelope could be heard in the silent room. It was as if everyone held their breath to hear the fate of a framed young man.

The judge cleared his throat as he opened the envelope. "The verdict reads as follows: We, the jury, find the defendant, Goten Son, …."

xXxXxXx

Beep, beep, beep, beep…

Those noises… those low rumbles and high beeps of the monitor machines echoed in her head now. Am I awake? Am I dreaming? I feel warmth all around me… Finally, her eyes slowly opened.

There was a small TV, some beige curtains, light blue walls, and… and that handsome, masculine figure she had fallen in love with over and over again. His hand held hers while his other hand supported his head upright on the chair. She tried to get his attention. She couldn't process how to speak. After much effort, she was able to tense her hand enough to lightly squeeze his.

This seemed to stir him from wherever he mentally was. His eyes opened, darting to hers.

"Videl!" He leaned towards her, lightly smoothing the back of his hand down her cheek. "Videl, can you hear me?"

She hoped she was smiling, and by his reaction, she was. He chuckled with joy as he brought his lips to hers. "Honey I'm so proud of you." As the minutes passed, he watched her state of awareness return, along with her motor functions and speech.

After leaving the maternity wing, Goku and Gohan met with Videl's surgeon. He had relayed the news that they had just finished and that she had made it through. Goku laughed aloud in happiness as Gohan held a hand over his heart, exhaling for the first time in what seemed like minutes with relief.

After clearing her to a room, Goku made sure his son was well enough to be left alone with his still unconscious wife, then bee-lined out the door after receiving a final update from Chichi.

"How are you feeling?" Gohan asked, for the eighteenth time since Videl was able to speak again.

"I'm still feeling okay." She grinned. "Gohan, how is Pan?" The memories had returned now, especially those of the tears in her daughter's eyes after their farewell.

Gohan hesitated. "Well, here, I'll let you see for yourself." He pulled out his phone and hit a few buttons, then held the phone in front of him as the facetime feature opened. After a few rings, a blue haired female answered the call.

"Gohan! Look who Iiiii'm with." The blue-haired Bra sang while she repositioned herself for Gohan to see Trunks and Pan behind her.

"Oh yeah? Well look who I'm with." He turned the phone towards Videl, allowing her to hold it and see the bewilderment in her daughter's eyes as she snatched her phone away from Bra.

"Mom! Mom, how are you?"

Videl chuckled, then stared at her daughter's surroundings with concern. "I'm fine. Pan, what happened? Are you at the hospital too? You look awful, what happened?!"

"Gee, mom, thanks! I'm sure you didn't look so great either after I came out of you." She joked, watching her mother glow at the news.

"He's here?! Oh, baby, I'm so proud of you! Where is he?"

Pan explained the situation with Trunks and Bra seated beside her around the bed.

"Oh, honey, hang in there. Before you know it we'll all be out of here and back home-"

Pan and the others watched on as her mother was interrupted.

"Speaking of going back home…" Gohan flipped the camera to record his father making an entrance.

"Hi Grandpa, hi grandma!" Pan waved as the two entered her mother's room. Both rooms on either end of that phone call fell silent as a third figure entered the room. The phone dropped, then was picked up by Videl in time for Pan, Bra, and Trunks to see Gohan embracing his brother.

Chichi soon joined in to hug her two sons once again, followed by Goku.

After a tearful reunion from members in both rooms, Goten broke away to greet Videl and the onlookers on the phone. "Sorry I'm late. Had to go home and shower off the hard time I did." He teased, receiving a hug from Videl as she sat upright in her bed.

Gohan took the phone again while it recorded them, and watched Bra uncomfortably move out of Pan's camera view. Once everyone was able to keep their hands off of him, Goten stood beside his brother while Videl and Pan continued to talk on the phone.

"Goten." Gohan spoke in a low tone to keep others from eavesdropping. "Second floor, east wing, room 4."

Goten responded with confusion. "I'm pretty sure we are on the third floor Gohan."

"No you dunce." He laughed. "That's Pan's room with her guests. Go now before she leaves." Finally, Goten caught on, and slipped out the door.

xXxXxXx

"Are you leaving already?" Trunks asked his sister as she gathered her purse.

After the verdict was read, the crowd was ecstatic. Not guilty, the two best words she had ever heard in her life while Valese and Tundra crumbled on the opposite end of the court room. Chichi invited her to come home with them once the court released him, but she felt too ashamed. As the cheers erupted and the bailiff took him back behind closed doors to gather his things and sign some paperwork, she fled the scene.

She had not spoken to him since their one and only passionate, illegal encounter weeks ago. What would she say to him? How does she look at him without the guilt that this situation had pinned on her?

"Yeah, I'm gonna head home now.I love you, Trunks. I'll come visit tomorrow." She hugged him, then tip-toed out while Pan was still distracted on her phone.

She couldn't have asked for a better outcome. The Sons were okay. Videl was alive, the baby will be ready to go in no time, Pan was healthy, and the love of her life was a free man. She just wished that she had the courage to face him. The courage to look into his hurt eyes, tell him how much she wanted him, how much she wants to be with him forever and carry his babies and-

"….."

As she made her way down the maternity hall, she stopped in her tracks. Eyes wide, mouth ajar as she stared forward, dumbfounded. No more than 3 yards away from her, there he was, staring back with matching intensity.

He was here. He was finally here, standing right in front of her, and she couldn't move. His dark, intense eyes held intent, for what? She didn't know, but she could tell that he too had thoughts racing through his mind. She could feel the coldness of the silver necklace draped around her neck, the one that he had given her one night months ago as they sat around a fire behind his parents' house.

How long have we been standing here? How crazy do I look right now? She was finally able to crack her statue-like pose, smoothing her hair nervously, hoping her tossed bun on top of her head looked somewhat decent. Her hands retreated into the pockets of her white jacket as she cleared her throat. "Pan and my brother are in room four…. It's just three rooms that way…" She didn't even have the courage to look him in the eye now.

"I'm not here to see them."

Her breathing became shallower, panicked as she felt him coming closer. "I… I was there… I left to come check on Pan after the verdict. But I was there." She felt her eyes began to tear up as she met his again.

He stood an arm's length from her now, hands in the pockets of his jeans. "I know you were there, my mom told me once they released me. She tried to get you to stay-" He stopped as she broke into hushed sobs, burying her face into her hands. He closed the space between them and pulled her to his chest. "Bra, what is it? This isn't your fault. I don't know what happened, but I never blamed you." He held her against him as she took a minute to regain her composure. "I've had the time to do some thinking, a lot of thinking, these past few weeks. Knowing that everything I had and wanted could be taken away from me, it made me realize what I wanted and how fast things can change." He stepped back from her, maintaining his hands gently on her shoulders, lightly massaging them until she was able to pick up her head again. "Bra, you were right. That last night I saw you, you told me I was too dumb to see how much you cared about me. But right now, you're too dumb to see how happy I am to be with you right now. How bad I want to tell you that I'm in love with you, and I know you feel the same about me." He toyed with the familiar necklace in his fingers, feeling the rise and fall of her chest, then met her oceanic eyes, taken aback by their depth.

"Oh, Goten…" Her moist cheeks raised as a smile danced onto her lips. She pressed her hands against his chest, gripping his shirt into her hands as if taking in everything around her. "This is real… You're actually here. And you just said that you loved me."

His smile matched hers as he curled his arms around her waist. "I always have. You were just too dumb to see it."

They both laughed as he ducked his head to press his lips to hers. The tender kiss extended into a long, passionate session, interrupted by a nurse clearing her throat at the site.

"Excuse me, but this is where babies are delivered, not conceived."

The two broke their kiss as they burst into laughter and apologized.

"Come with me."

She didn't know where he was taking her, but she didn't care. She followed from behind as he led her hand in hand to the elevators and out of the hospital doors.

xXxXxXx

Vegeta tossed his keys atop the living room table, groaning with dread as he thought about how to get answers from his wife. Why was Goten taken to court? What was her involvement? And why did she steal Gohan's money?

He had long avoided the subject as much as he could, but now that the boy was free, he wanted answers. He tapped his knuckle to the door of her home office, a room that she had occupied more and more frequently these past few months. He knocked with more force after not receiving a response.

No answer. He returned downstairs and began cooking dinner while he awaited her return home from wherever she was.

Hours passed. He stepped into the moonlight of the front porch, then noticed that her car had been parked in front of the house the entire time. Surely she was home…

He did a final room sweep of the house and yard, then found himself standing outside of her locked office once again. He pulled out his cell and dialed her number for what must've been the thirtieth time that evening. This time, he heard a familiar ringtone on the opposite side of the door.

Acting on raw instinct, he flexed his knee upward and kicked the door in.

Vegeta stood breathlessly as the door rocked on its hinges, and his eyes had finally settled on what he had been looking for.

A/N: This chapter encompassed like every resolution in the story except for one hot button issue: BULMA and WHY! Had trouble coming up with a chapter title so stuck with Breathless. Thank you for your continued support via your reviews and messages, love you guys!