By dawn, Trunks and her capsule house had disappeared from the Son 'estate'. It could've been just all a vivid dream if it wasn't for the basket of wild strawberries left on the outside table. Gohan snacked on the parting gift, disappointed he hadn't gotten to know more about the mysterious teenager. Chichi lamented the absence of conversation at breakfast and the help with dinner dishes, but Goku and Piccolo acted as if the teen had never been there to begin with. It peeved the young boy but he figured he'd have other chances before the Dragon Balls became active.

The flight took the better part of the morning. Trunks first flew high, figuring she'd go faster that way, but she quickly realized that this world, unlike hers, had planes. And an army, recovering from Nappa's assault two years prior. So she flew lower, avoiding any hint of sentient life if possible.

Finding West City wasn't a challenge, but recognizing this West City was a whole different beast. Thankfully the general layout hadn't changed despite the carnage, and the occasional noticeable landmark guided her eyes to find the past version of her home neighborhood. She landed swiftly atop a building and observed the traffic below, the life, the carelessness. Her alertness had to be dulled, with so many people it was becoming overwhelming. She never went that far from Mount Paozu during her night 'patrols' the previous week; Mount Paozu was remote and uninhabited, overall, and West City was the exact opposite. Trunks wondered if she'd ever felt that many people before. This is going to be so much harder.

She found the signature dome of the Capsule Corp complex and marveled seeing it undamaged, beaming even, with the greenery surrounding it, and not the rubble and scrap metal she was used to. And that round space-ship on the lawn… She slid down between buildings to touch ground and took a walk around. She needed an hour getting used to being surrounded by more people than her whole world had left. Let alone traffic laws. She apologized to the police officer who stopped her when she tried to cross at red, mumbling about not being from around here. The police officer remembered a young boy who had landed on a sort of cloud, with a pole on his back who was looking for the Briefs' heir, when seeing this teenager with a sword on her back and the same look of wonder in her eyes, and let her go with a little scolding.

Trunks was reminded she'd skipped breakfast when the sweet smell of a bakery got her attention. Still had that pre-charged card, so she went in to get some sweet, delicious nutritious baked goods. And a strawberry cake for the past version of her mother. Her favorite. She checked her watch. 11:00.

"Capsule Corp., state your business please?" The robotic voice told her over the intercom.

"My name is Tora, I came to see Bulma-sama," she stood in front of the camera with a smile, waving at it with her free hand.

"Please wait a moment," the voice said.

While waiting, Trunks focused on her senses for a brief instant. Vegeta was there, in that space-ship she'd seen from above. The Gravity Room. There were many other lifeforms. Her mother had told her how her grandparents kept a whole menagerie of animals, this was probably it.

The door opened to an enthusiastic blonde young-looking woman wearing an apron, shorts and a tube top. That chignon was tight. Trunks knew who she was, but she didn't know the older woman at all.

"Welcome there young lady! Please come in, Bulma-chan will be here shortly. You came for girl-time? How adorable!"

Trunks froze. No, she hadn't forgotten anything, did she? Side part, day one outfit, sword on her back, practiced gait.. She followed. Now if a meteor could strike me right now…

"Mrs Brief," how.

"Oh please, call me Panchy! Mrs Brief was my mother-in-law," her grandmother giggled and led her through the reception area. She'd seen pictures of her, but her mother never elaborated on her family history. They walked past a couple of doors and into the habitation proper.

"Panchy-san," she was red in the face, and lifted the white cardboard box she held by the string securing the package together. "I brought cake."

"What a nice gesture, such a polite young lady aren't you? Thank you, Tora-chan." She took it. "I'll refrigerate it, you are staying for lunch aren't you? This will be perfect for dessert. Do you want lemonade, coffee, beer or something else dear?"

Beer was tempting actually. Was this a test?

"Nothing, I wish not to be a bother." Keep it cool, don't let it get to you.

"Aw, are you sure? It's no trouble. Alright then, I'll get lunch finished, that dashing young man is probably starving by now."

The living room past the reception area, in the living quarters of the complex, was so different from her own. The dining room adjacent, though, hadn't changed much (at least the table was the exact same she knew). Most kitchen appliances had been recycled by her world's mother. Panchy put the cake in the large fridge and resumed cooking with a little song for herself.

"MOM!" Bulma ran down the stairs to see how her mother had intercepted her 'guest', and she saw how embarrassed and baffled the teenager was by the whole exchange. Those red overalls looked far too familiar on the blue-haired engineer, too, and Trunks was speechless from the double shock..

"Geez mom! Don't embarrass my friends like that!" Panchy giggled from the neighboring kitchen.

"Sorry about my mom, she's a bit out there sometimes… Glad you didn't forget your promise to visit, too! Mind coming with me to the lab? Mr Prince of all of two Saiyans broke some equipment and I need to repair it else.." She closed a fist in front of them and made her best impression of a Vegeta threat. She seemed annoyed by Vegeta's antics, but not intimidated. Trunks agreed and followed her upstairs to the first floor. Her version of the first floor's main lab was destroyed a while back, her mother lamented the loss of her precious equipment and research.

"Well, Prince of all three and a half, actually," Bulma corrected the amount of Saiyans and used her card to open the door to one of the workshops of the lab, and resumed working on some destroyed robots. Trunks stood by the older woman, observing how she tried to open up the beaten up mechanical creations to fix the motherboards. Unable to do it by hand alone, Bulma fumed, and gestured towards the toolbox.

"We can chat while I work. Can you pass me the-" the 12" wrench she wanted appeared in her hand. Trunks knew her modus operandi better than anyone else.

"Yes, that one! Thanks. He somehow manages to squish them so much getting to the motherboard is a pain.." The wrench was used to pry open the poor bot, and get the desired electronics out of the carcass. She put the aforementioned piece under a magnifying glass to start working on it.

The halfling decided that her strength might be put to good use, and she used her fingers to force open the remaining robots while Bulma worked on testing and soldering back the components. Trunks, almost on autopilot, started passing the tools over and clearing the workspace as the genius worked, like she'd do at home. Only the permed curls and the absence of tobacco helped Trunks remember that this was not, in fact, her mother. Everything else, such as the rants, the curses, the rage groans, the threats and insults at the uncooperative piece of tech, the prideful victory speeches, felt identical to her mother. Only this past version was more energetic, and arguably less stressed. Trunks was pretty sure the coffee brewer she spotted near the buzzing computers was also the exact same model the one her mother had. It was half full.

"Vegeta-san is training hard." Trunks noted the obvious after a while.

"Your little fight with Son-kun got him all riled up, actually, he's even more unbearable than usual. Gotta admire the tenacity. I don't think he even slept!" You barely have rested too, mother.

"Vegeta-san seems goal oriented," understatement of the year. "Here," Trunks passed the tin for the soldering iron to the genius at work as the previous roll had run out.

"Thanks- You're a pretty good assistant. No way would I let any of those morons approach a workstation, but you know your way around a lab. Brawn and brains aren't you?" Bulma had noticed how the teenager cleared the table and replaced supplies as they ran out, anticipating her needs, and somehow found stuff in her organized chaos. Yamcha had nowhere near enough wits to follow her workflow and be useful, even if he tinkered a little himself. Goku was an absolute tech illiterate, and Vegeta didn't seem to have enough patience for such delicate work (or patience for anything, really). Her dad was busy programming the new improved gravity system and she was stuck working alone. She accomplished almost a day's work in under an hour with the help of this strange teen.

"You flatter me, Bulma-san," she didn't really want to continue that conversation, perhaps her helpfulness was dangerous, instead placing a cup of freshly poured coffee on Bulma's field of vision, who drank it with a primal need she didn't know she had.

"Calling it quits until after lunch." Bulma decided with a sigh, the caffeine releasing much needed dopamine in her sore body. "I'm exhausted. Tora-kun, you gotta stay and keep that ungrateful son of a bitch busy while I catch some rest and upgrade these."

"If you wish so, I can incapacitate him for a few weeks," Trunks joked with a little mischievous smile.

"Don't tempt me with peace and quiet," Bulma laughed, patting the teenager's arm. Deep down the woman enjoyed the challenge of keeping up with Vegeta's demands.

The intercom buzzed. "Lunch is almost ready darlings!" Panchy's voice echoed in the room.

"Great! I'll get changed. You know your way back to the dining room?"

Trunks confirmed she knew her way back, but stayed a moment. She was used to her mother getting out of her overalls in the lab. But this wasn't her mother, and she was expecting the teenager to leave. Shit. Trunks got red, mumbled something about zoning out and promptly disappeared, leaving Bulma wondering if perhaps he had a crush on her.

Trunks met Dr Brief at the table, apologizing for the intrusion in their family. He was welcoming and unbothered. She knew from the pictures the man smoked, but not that he smoked constantly . She was assigned a seat by the housewife, and took it, letting the sword rest against her right leg.

"Tora-kun was it? Are you Bulma's new boyfriend?" Dr Brief wondered, easy going and simply curious.

"Oh don't be silly darling!" his wife corrected, serving lemonade. "Bulma-chan only has eyes for Vegeta-kun, can't you see?"

Trunks just drank to keep quiet. Could use a smoke, actually. She made eye-contact with the little black creature on her grandfather's shoulder. The little cat stared back wide-eyed. Holding a staring contest with a cat was a good way to take her mind off the two adults talking about the dating history of her mother. She didn't register Panchy wondering where that other handsome young man had gone, neither did she notice her mother arrive until she pulled the chair at her left and sat down. The cat won their little duel and looked smug.

Curry was served, there was one extra large plate. Vegeta hadn't come out of the GR. Trunks didn't ask, but her staring at it had Bulma answer the unspoken question.

"The sociopath bastard doesn't 'eat with weaklings'," she scoffed with disdain, "he'll come out when we're done."

Trunks accepted the answer and when Panchy sat down, it was go time. They ate with a little small talk, and Trunks was grateful the Briefs didn't grill her like Chichi had. They just accepted everything that came their way, including Vegeta, everything rolled off their back. Didn't ask where she was from. The teenager minded her manners but took seconds when pushed by Panchy. Even if she hadn't been hungry since she ate the senzu bean after her last spar with Goku (he'd explained senzu beans also kept people full for ten days, repressing the need to eat, but eating was also part of training).

"Oh right, Bulma-chan! Tora-chan brought us this strawberry cake for dessert."

"Really? If you weren't so young I'd believe you were trying to seduce me!" Bulma exclaimed and gently elbowed her neighbor with a playful wink. Trunks got scarlet red at the idea and begged for death. A big, big meteor would be nice... The housewife served them each a generous slice. Maybe shouldn't have picked her favorite. Coffee was last, and offered on the compound's balcony. Trunks really wanted to do the coffee-cigarette combo like her grandfather, but decided against it, so she instead offered to do the dishes, but Panchy stopped her.

"No, silly, we have a dishwasher! You go and prepare your sleepover and gossip about boys." Housewives were certainly the most powerful creatures on the planet. Trunks took her sword in hand and left the table with Bulma. The older couple drank their coffee on the balcony.

"Mom, Tora's staying with us a little while." Bulma stated, knowing it was no problem, especially after housing a few dozen Namekians a few months prior. "I'll show you your room."

"I have my own house-" Kami please not again.

"No-no, you don't fight me on this, young man. We have plenty of room." Bulma was determined, and Trunks couldn't bring herself to fight her. She agreed with a defeated sigh and followed her through the second floor. The layout was eerie in its familiarity, but also in its differences. Her second floor was barely used, as it was unstable and some parts lacked a ceiling, but she'd spent hours in there. Bulma walked in those halls in a much more confident way her future self did, and it was hard for Trunks to keep everything separate. Bulma chose one of the guest bedrooms, one close to her own room which she indicated was the last one down the hall, and opened it up for Trunks to see. It had everything furnished as a mini apartment, up to and including private showers, thank Kami, a desk, some books, a big fluffy bed.

"Is this to your taste?," Trunks just nodded yes, and put the sword on the bed as to claim it. "Make yourself at home. Vegeta's room is that one," indicating the door opposite of her new living quarters, heavens please no, "but he kinda sleeps in the Gravity Room. When he sleeps." Saved!

"Bulma-san, is it ok for me to access the network?" Trunks had another reason to accept the offer to stay at the compound. Meeting Vegeta and her grandparents were good perks, but this was more important on a pragmatic level.

"Yes of course. I'll get you a computer." Trunks shook her head to refuse and pulled her capsule case, indicating she had everything she needed. "Alright then, the cable is right behind the desk. If you need any help I'm either at the lab or in my room," Bulma added, and gave the teenager a card to access everything in the compound.

"I'll let you get settled on your own, gotta take a well deserved nap. Help yourself to the fridge, ok?"

Trunks nodded to show she'd understood. "Rest well, Bulma-san," she wished and once alone behind closed doors, she emptied her pockets; capsule case, cigarettes, wallet, (now clean) handkerchief and removed her jacket. She sat at the desk a moment, with the capsule case open, and considered her options. Accessing the network right there and then was feasible, but she decided against it.

Keeping only the access card and hiding the capsule case between two books on a shelf, she left her newly acquired base of operations, put back on her boots and went back to the first floor to meet Vegeta who was just done inhaling the curry left for him. He glared daggers at the time traveler who held firm and matched his gaze. Vegeta looked right out of intense workout; sweaty, shirtless, a towel thrown on his shoulders. And pissed.

"Why're you here?" He'd probably sensed her presence earlier, so he wasn't surprised to see her. Trunks was slow to answer. She needed to be walking on eggshells with the man, if she wanted to exist in this timeline. Her mother had told her he was a lonely, selfish and proud man whose only desire was to beat Goku.

"Answer me, brat!"

"To fight you," Stupid Saiyan genes.

I know it's common in fanon to have 'Briefs' in plural as a last name, but that's the name of the whole family (like the Simpsons). Individuals should be in singular (like Bart Simpson), and well, the Katakana writing kinda confirm it, so... Eh.

Fanon also admits 'Brief' is the last name while actual canon never really confirmed it (Bulma's dad being "Doctor/Professor Brief" could be his first name..) but I'm using it!

I'm also using the underground floor, ground floor, 1st floor, 2nd floor system. So the first floor is the first one above the stairs; the street level floor being ground floor, or floor 0. Sorry :)