After dropping Marron off at home, Bura immediately rushed to Trunks' apartment to investigate the alleged 'break-in'. It hadn't taken her long to deduce what had really happened when she discovered a black duffel bag bearing the Capsule Corp logo full of her brother's clothing, covered in a fresh layer of his scent.

Not a break-in, only a half-saiyan meltdown.

Trunks came home, saw the vacant apartment … and this was the result.

She scowled down at the shards of glass scattered across the beige carpet. Lovely.

She was going to have a very long chat with the elder Briefs when he returned. The place looked like a war-zone.

After consoling the housekeeper and sending her on her way. Bura had barely begun tidying up when she felt two familiar ki signatures clashing violently in the distance.

She didn't think, she just moved.

"Let me go right now Bura! This doesn't concern you!" Trunks gave a hard jerk, nearly head-butting her, but Bura only tightened her grip. Trunks let out a sound of frustration.

Bura's muscles burned with the effort to keep her brother restrained as he raged against her hold, desperate to continue his assault.

"No. Not until you calm down." Bura spoke, trying to keep her tone gentle, although she wanted nothing more than to give her brother a piece of her mind. There was already enough animosity roiling around them. When she'd discovered the pair of hybrids, Trunks was on top of Goten, looking murderous in a way she'd never seen before. She needed to diffuse the situation.

Her gaze flicked to the dark-haired halfling as he pulled himself up into a sitting position in the snow. Her heart squeezed at the sight of his handsome face mottled with blood and bruises.

"You know, Trunks, of all the ways I pictured your homecoming, beating your best friend to a pulp wasn't on that list."

"Well, that makes two of us." Her brother bit out. "I never should have gotten on that ship. Everything is fucked up now. I fucked it all up."

She hadn't known what to expect upon her Trunks' return, but this maelstrom of emotion was so wholly uncharacteristic of the normally cool and collected hybrid. She'd never seen him like this before.

Bura drew in a deep, steadying breath. "You did fuck up. I will not argue with that, but pummeling Goten won't help you fix it-"

"How can I possibly fix any of this? Everything is ruined! I practically shoved her right into his arms!" Trunks croaked out, nearly startling Bura out of her skin. His shoulders shook, and though Bura couldn't see his face from her position at his back, she suspected his eyes were lined with tears.

"… What?" Bura's brows drew together in confusion.

"Marron! Don't act like you don't know!" Trunks ground out. "They're all over the tabloids! I know all about the two of them… and the baby."

Oh Kami. No wonder he'd demolished his apartment and, subsequently, his best friend's face.

"What the fuck are you talking about?" Goten scowled up at the Heir.

Bura's gaze flicked to his. If his expression was any indication, he hadn't seen the most recent issue of the infamous gossip rag. "The star ran a story speculating about your relationship with Marron." Bura let out a sigh of irritation. "Trunks. Everything in that article was bullshit. That is not Goten's baby."

Some of the tension in the lavender-haired hybrid's body eased at her words.

"It's… not?"

"No." Bura said firmly. His voice was so tremulous with emotion she didn't know whether to hug him or smack him. She was leaning towards the latter.

"If not him, then… who?"

"You, you dumbass!" Goten snarled.

"… Me? … It's mine …?" It seemed as though the prince was speaking more to himself than either of them. Trunks shifted in her hold, craning his neck to face Goten more directly. "And you and Marron didn't…?"

"Of course not." Goten scowled, his dark eyes simmering with irritation. "How could you think I would ever do something like that?! To you!"

A heavy silence fell filled the air around the trio. But as a fresh blanket of snow drifted from the sky, Bura felt the raging storm of her brother's ki signature sink back into the cool, steady pulse she was accustomed to.

"Trunks, you should know better than most people how the press operates." Bura censured evenly. "I'm going to let you go now. If you promise that when I do, you won't attack Goten again."

After a beat, he nodded in agreement, and Bura carefully released her grip on him.

Goten winced in pain as he stood, clutching his side. Unthinking, Bura swiftly moved to help support him. He tentatively wrapped an arm around her shoulders, easing some of the weight off his injured side. And Bura was immediately enveloped in his warm, familiar smell that she'd missed so much.

Before she could take stock of his injuries, Trunks' sharp tone cut through the air.

"Who were you talking about, then?"

Both Bura and Goten turned to meet the prince's narrowed gaze. "You said, 'I love her.' Who were you referring to?"

Goten's eyes met hers and for a moment, there was complete silence.

Bura was speechless as she gazed dazedly up at Goten's handsome face, bruised and smeared with blood from his scuffle with her brother, snow gathering on the tips of his inky hair. He was looking at her with such earnest reverence; it was almost startling. It was the same way he looked at her when he…

When he made love to her the very first night spent in this house.

This house that he bought because, in his words, it allowed for 'more room to grow' when he'd been adamant about finding a small apartment before.

"I was talking about Bura." Goten said quietly, and the blunette's heart stuttered in her chest.

A thousand thoughts raced through her mind all at once.

The intense, consuming desire that darkened his gaze before that first kiss they shared. The almost feral reaction Goten displayed when she'd tried to make him jealous at her brother's rehearsal dinner.

The day in her lab, when he'd plainly asked her, "what are we doing?" and she'd used sex to avoid the conversation because deep down she was terrified to unpack the question and face a possible rejection.

The way he was always perfectly content to simply keep her company as she finished reviewing a stack of documents or checked over the schematics for a new project. And when she left the house each day to go to the office, he never seemed quite ready to let her go.

And how, when she'd left the Dojo in a fit of anger and hurt the last time they saw each other, he was solely concerned with her, not Paris.

She was a fool. Goten wouldn't string her along while carrying a torch for someone else. It went against his very nature. He didn't have a cruel bone in his body. The whole notion of him doing such a thing was absurd.

Her heart clenched at the memory of those awful, petty, untrue things she'd said to him.

She'd done nothing but needlessly punish them both because she refused to listen to him, allowing fear to dictate her actions.

And now he was professing his feelings for her in front of her brother, his oldest, dearest friend. Knowing there was a possibility that the revelation wouldn't be well-received.

She'd never wanted to kiss him more than she did right then and there, but she was acutely aware that they weren't exactly alone.

"… You two? This is what you were hiding?"

The question may have been directed at Goten, but it was Bura who replied. "Yes."

That was it. The truth was out.

She cautiously turned her gaze back to her brother, the crease in his brow had softened, marginally. He was no longer radiating the intense rage and hostility he had moments ago, but he still looked far from placated.

"I knew you had some silly crush on him when you were a teenager, but I never thought… How long has this been going on?"

"Does it matter?" Goten replied with a wry smile.

"I …Fuck, I don't know!" Trunks let out a deep sigh, rubbing a hand over his face. He looked so drained, defeated, miserable. "I… wish you would have just told me."

"Like you would've just been okay with it?" Goten snorted.

"I'm not … not-okay with it … I don't like it. But I can live with it." His eyes dropped to his feet, his shoulders sagged, his hands slackened at his sides. "A lot more than the thought of you and my…" He drifted off, as if he didn't even know how to properly refer to her. "… Marron."

A few beats of silence passed before the heir tentatively drew up beside them. Trunks considered the dark-haired hybrid, his icy blue gaze pensive.

He opened his mouth as if to say something, but at the last second thought better of it. She'd never seen her brother look so… lost. Bura suspected he wanted to apologize, to offer some utterance of remorse, but he just couldn't find the words. Typical. Apologies never had come easily for either of the Briefs siblings or their parents.

His piercing gaze flicked between them one last time before he shook his head and turned toward the end of the driveway. "I'm gonna go. I need to process all of this. Alone… and preferably with alcohol."

With a last glance, Trunks shot off into the night sky.

Goten couldn't quite believe his eyes as Bura wordlessly placed her boots beside the door, before sliding out of her red pea coat.

Part of him absently considered the possibility that she was a figment of his imagination, courtesy of the many blows he'd taken to the head.

His entire body felt like one giant bruise, but he couldn't seem to find it in himself to care. He was silent as she moved about the kitchen without having to ask him where anything was, because this was her place as much as it was his.

When she'd finished collecting all the necessary supplies, she padded into the living room and pressed one of the Senzu beans he had tucked away into his hand. "Here, Take this."

He popped it in his mouth without hesitation as she set her burden on the coffee table. His emotions were running so high, he barely registered the rush of vitality as it kicked in.

"Better?" she asked as she settled on the cushion beside him.

He nodded absently, attempting to ignore the fluttering in his chest brought on by her mere presence.

He felt the need to say something, anything.

"So… How'd you realize he was here?"

"Believe it or not, I can actually sense ki just like the rest of you brutes." Bura replied as she wet a cloth in a bowl of warm water.

"… I … yeah, that was a dumb question." He gulped. "… But if getting my face beaten in by your brother is what it takes to get your attention, I'll have to do it more often."

Something flickered in her gaze at his words, but she quickly shifted her focus back to her task. "… be still for me, okay?"

Goten stayed perfectly still, ignoring the slight sting as the blunette brought the cloth to his lower lip, carefully dabbing it clean. Her face was free of makeup, her cheeks dusted with pink from the cold. Fuck, he'd missed looking at her. He was content to let her do whatever she pleased as long as she kept touching him, talking to him, allowing him to bask in that delicate, sweet scent that was entirely Bura.

This was his shot. If Bura hadn't left yet, that had to mean she was willing to hear him out. This was the opportunity he'd been waiting for.

She moved to dip the cloth back into the water, but Goten reached out, catching her by the wrist, halting her progress.

"Bura, look at me."

She froze, her aqua gaze drifting to meet his, and she let go the cloth and he thought he detected the slightest tremor in the movement.

He gently cradled her hand in his larger ones as he slowly slid off the couch to kneel before her. He half expected her to jerk away from him. But much to his relief, she remained seated.

"I meant what I said." He began. "What you saw at the Dojo… that was all Paris. I need you to believe me when I say; she is in the past, there is nothing between us anymore. There hasn't been for a while."

He drew in a shaky breath, gathering all the courage he possessed and hoping it would be enough.

"You are my first and last thought of the day. You are always on my mind, no matter where or what I'm doing. You're the one." He swallowed thickly. "I want to be with you. I want to give this, give us a real chance. Out in the open. No more hiding. Unless that isn't what you want. I'll take whatever you're willing to give me, because I love you."

Goten could scarcely breathe as he waited for Bura's response. Her gaze dropped to their joined hands, resting in her lap as if they held all the answers to life's questions.

"I'm sorry that I told your brother before I told you." He added with a nervous laugh.

Finally, she looked up at him, brilliant blue eyes wet with the beginnings of tears.

"Well, he didn't give you much of a choice." She laughed shakily. "I'm sorry too… about those horrible things I said to you. They weren't true. I…"

She wiped at her eyes, and the misery on her face triggered such a powerful wave of emotion. It was as if his heart were being prised from his breast one string at a time. "I assumed the worst and I'm sorry."

"It's okay." He brought her hand to his lips, pressing a kiss to her knuckles.

"All those things you just said, I feel the same way. I don't want anyone else but you." With that declaration, she cupped his cheeks, and warmth flooded his chest like liquid sunshine, threatening to overwhelm him. "I love you too. I think… I always have."

He leaned forward, pressing his forehead to hers. "Now that we've got the make-up part all squared away… can we please get to the kissing? Because I've really missed you."

"I thought you'd never ask." She couldn't stop the smile the spread across her lips.

He didn't need any convincing before he dug his hands into her hair and captured her mouth in a soul-stealing kiss.

Goten couldn't recall how or why he'd ever believed he stood a chance of resisting this absolute goddess.

The mouth that found hers was both a caress and a demand. Reverent, but with a ferocity she'd never only ever experienced with him. Calloused fingers cupped the back of her neck as his tongue swept into the cavern of her mouth and he groaned. The sound as if he'd tasted nothing so delicious in his life and he needed more.

"Fuck, I've missed you." Goten rasped in between kisses, the raw desire in his voice igniting a flare of heat in her belly.

"Show me how much." She sighed, spreading her legs, allowing him to settle between them.

He reluctantly withdrew his mouth from hers in favor of reacquainting himself with the smooth column of her neck, luxuriating in the satisfying, gasping sounds that fell from her lips. Bura groped at the collar of his jacket. She wanted him naked, wanted to feel his bare skin against hers. He helped her remove it along with his shirt, eager as her to be rid of the offending garments.

She couldn't stop touching him, sliding her palms over the taut skin of his chest and abs; careful of the bruise on his side, already fading away courtesy of the Senzu bean he'd consumed.

He was every bit as desperate to get her naked, pulling her sweater over her head with hands that she could have sworn were trembling, just a little. He traced a thumb over a lace covered nipple as he claimed her lips once again, as if he just couldn't get enough of her mouth.

They parted reluctantly, panting for breath, and she nearly whined at the loss of contact when he shifted away. He grasped her hips, pulling her into a standing position. She braced her hands on his shoulders as he unfastened her jeans, easing them down shaky legs along with her panties. Goten's eyes darkened with unbridled hunger as he drank in the sight of her bare sex.

He curled a hand around the back of her knee, drawing a leg over his shoulder before burying his face between her thighs.

Bura's mouth dropped open in a silent cry, her hands going to his hair and grasping tightly, rocking against his face involuntarily. Her legs shook and her breaths came in shallow little gasps as he nuzzled, nibbled and sucked at her swollen clit. It was too much and not enough all at once.

He pressed a long lingering kiss to her folds, drawing his tongue through her slickness and sending a thousand tiny bolts of fire ricocheting through her belly.

And then he wrenched his head away, and she nearly wailed at the loss of him. But then his lips brushed over the skin of her belly, her sternum, breasts. And then he was on his feet, cupping her face and crushing his mouth to hers.

"Need to be inside you." He rasped.

She let out a breathless, unintelligible sound of agreement.

Without delay, Goten's hands fell to her ass, and he hoisted her into his arms. Her legs instinctively circled his waist as he walked them back towards the sofa. Her back hit the cushion, and his hands fumbled for his belt buckle as they traded fevered kisses.

She was so needy, so hot, so wet that if he didn't fuck her soon; she might die. She grabbed his shoulders, intent on rolling him beneath her.

They pitched sideways and tumbled to the floor with a crash, nearly taking out the coffee table. Bura landed on top of Goten with a startled cry of "ouch!" as her forehead smacked against his.

"Oh, shit! Are you alright?" His eyes were wide with concern as he swept her hair back to examine her more closely, cradling her jaw.

Bura's shoulders trembled, and she clapped a palm over her mouth, but she couldn't contain the snort that escaped her or the stream of giggles that followed.

The seriousness in his gaze vanished and his chest rumbled with mirth as he dragged her down for a kiss.

"You know, if you wanted to be on top, all you had to do was ask," he grinned against her mouth. The mood that was nearly killed by their little tumble roared back to life in an instant.

Unable to wait even a second longer, she unzipped his pants, sliding her hand beneath his boxers and drawing out his cock. She gave him a squeeze, eliciting a soft hiss from the dark-haired Saiyan as she dragged his hard length through her wetness, coating him in her essences and teasing her clit in equal measure. She guided him to her opening and with agonizing slowness; she sank down on him, inch by languid inch. Goten let out a strangled groan, sinking his teeth into his bottom lip. The pleasure on his face, coupled with the sensation of being filled so completely, was indescribable.

Bura rocked her hips, and a wave of scorching heat flooded her core that had her clenching around him.

"Wait," he gasped out, his hands moved to still her rocking hips."I- I need a second."

He closed his eyes, dragging in deep, steadying breaths. His skin was flushed, beads of sweat dotting his brow. Bura preened knowing that it was all because of her. A beat passed, and then another, the pressure between her legs mounting until it was almost unbearable. And then he opened his eyes.

"Fuck you're beautiful." He breathed.

Abruptly, he sat up, adjusting their positions so that she was now seated in his lap, bringing her legs up to curl around him.

His hands slipped to her ass, and then was raising her up and dragging her down in deep, languid strokes. It felt like…a homecoming. His mouth found her neck, pressing hot, open-mouthed kisses over her shoulder and across her collarbone.

In this position, her nipples dragged across his chest and his pubic bone strummed her clit with every rock of his hips, sparking deep ripples of ecstasy that had her clutching at him so desperately there would be a hundred little crescent-shaped imprints littering his body the next day.

Her head dropped back with a ragged cry at the pulse of pleasure that sang through her as his cock rubbed that sweet spot inside her over and over and over.

"Give me your mouth." He rasped, and the raw passion in his expression was nothing short of breathtaking.

Unable to deny him anything, she sealed her lips over his. The kiss was hungry and urgent, leaving them both gasping for breath when they finally came up for air.

Bura panted, pressing her forehead to his. Her hair was plastered across her face and she was covered in sweat, but none of that mattered as she lost herself in the maelstrom of sensation. All that registered, all that existed, was him. The feel of his body joining with hers, the lingering taste of his kiss and the sound of his heart pounding in answer to hers.

"Come for me, Princess."

The ferocity of his strokes increased, building the pleasure inside of her higher and higher until finally it detonated and she let out a stuttered cry of pleasure as her body trembled in his arms. Goten buried his face into her neck as he gripped the rounded globes of her ass, holding her firmly in place as his rolling hips slowed and he groaned out his own release.

As the last tremors of their respective climaxes receded, they collapsed onto their sides in a tangled of boneless limbs. Bura buried her face in the crook of his neck as Goten's hands traced soothing, lazy circles over her skin.

They remained that way for what felt like forever, listening to each other's ragged breaths and waiting for their racing hearts to still. And in that moment, Goten knew with absolute certainty that he was right where he belonged.

Trunks Briefs was watching a twisting plume of smoke float across the star strewn sky, an unopened bottle of scotch beside him as he laid on the domed roof of his apartment; wondering what had compelled him to so completely, so efficiently, destroy his own life.

Over the course of a single year, he had gone from being on top of the world to… whatever this was.

In a moment of sheer stupidity, he'd abandoned and humiliated the only woman he'd loved in the most cowardly way imaginable. Before he knew about the baby, he wouldn't have blamed her if she never wanted to see his face again. But now…

While he was wandering aimlessly through space, she was going through something so momentous, so life-changing… And he hadn't been there for her.

She must truly hate him.

That he was even slightly surprised to find their home empty upon his return was laughable.

What was he to do now? Beg for forgiveness?

He couldn't even forgive himself. How could he expect her to?

And to add to his ever-growing list of sins. He'd attacked his only friend and accused him of betraying him in the worst way possible. All because of the speculations of some sleazy magazine, only to find out he was in love with his sister. Which was… really not something he wanted to think about.

The little hairs on the back of his neck prickled. The air shifted and a familiar shadow spilled over the roof's domed surface.

"Your Mother was worried."

Trunks glanced up to see his father's still figure, staring out into the distance, his sharp features neutral.

"And you?" Trunks flicked some of the ash from his cigarette.

"You know the way home."

"Yeah, well, I'm thinking I should have stayed gone."

Trunks wondered absently if this was how his father felt during the more turbulent years of his marriage to his mother. This untethered, wayward feeling that permeated his existence for the last six months.

The elder prince scoffed, casting his gaze skyward. "There is nothing of significance out there."

"Fewer people to disappoint. That's for sure." Trunks replied, not bothering to keep the grim edge out of his voice.

The prince didn't offer a response to that. His father never was one to waste time on trivial words. He was a man of action. Always had been. What he couldn't offer in words, he showed with his actions.

Perhaps…

Perhaps that was somewhere to start.

He considered his father's profile. His father had made more than his fair share of mistakes. And yet… Trunks' gaze flicked to the unopened bottle of scotch. And yet, he had never known his father to be the type of man to sit around feeling sorry for himself like a coward.

If ever there was an example of a man who made all the wrong choices and still found his way back, it was this man.

The odds were not in Trunks' favor. Not in the slightest.

But he had to try, didn't he?

"I'll stop by and let Mom know I'm back." The heir took a long pull off of his cigarette, running a hand through his unkempt hair before exhaling a plume of smoke. "I'm sure she has plenty to say to me."

"Hn. See that you do." The prince gave his son a curt nod before he shot off into the clouds.

A/N: And to think, this entire story came about because of a daydream I had about BroTen making out in a closet while listening to the Spill Canvas on the treadmill. Wild. I thought no one would even read it. I know what you're thinking, Lusta, this can't be the end! What about Marron and Trunks? I couldn't agree more. I feel Trunks did such a bang-up job of single-handedly demolishing his own life, that there was no way for me to write his journey back to Marron within the context of this story and do it justice, because at its core, this is a Bura/Goten/Broten story. TruMar will get their conclusion in a story all their own, in an upcoming companion piece titled "Not Over You"! For up