Be Your Girl

Disclaimer: I do not claim any rights to Dragon Ball Z/GT or the characters associated with the anime/manga. Those rights belong to Akira Toriyama and anyone else he says has rights to it. I am merely borrowing his characters for the sole purpose of entertainment and am making no money from this story.

Chapter Two: One Last Cry

It didn’t surprise Pan when both Marron and Bra appeared shortly after Trunks had left. Instead of bursting nosily in the room as they usually did, they entered quietly and sat on either side of her on the couch and enveloped her in a group hug.

It was then the dam that had been holding the tears back came crumbling down and Pan began crying as her body shook with the sobs that she let out.

Marron and Bra continued to hold Pan as she cried, rocking her back and forth like a baby until the sobs began to subside and then stopped. The room was silent for a moment, none of them knowing what to say, and then….

Pan hiccupped.

They looked at each other for a second and then burst out laughing.

“Well hasn’t this been a fucking-bloody-tastic day,” said Bra. “First Paris, the bitch and now Cara, the mouse.”

“No kidding. I don’t even get what Trunks sees in Cara,” Marron replied. “She’s so timid and weak. Not that his other girlfriends were great, but at least they had some fire to them. But Cara? She’s completely pathetic.”

“No, she isn’t,” said Pan, causing the other two to look at her in surprise. “I know you guys are trying to cheer me up, but it isn’t right to bash on Cara. She’s a nice person. It’s true that she does seem a bit timid, but that could just be shyness. Who knows, maybe once we get to know her, she’ll turn out to be a vivacious person.”

“She did seem nice,” Marron admitted reluctantly.

“She was nice,” Pan said firmly. “There was nothing fake or insincere about her. She comes from old money so she’s not after Trunks for his money, nor does she care about the fame that would come with being his wife when she has her own fame from being a painter. Cara is exactly what she appears to be; a nice woman who truly loves Trunks for who he is and not for what he can do for her. She’s… she’s perfect for him.”

“Pan-chan,” murmured Bra, her eyes filled with sadness as she gazed at her friend.

“I’m not saying I’m a hundred percent okay,” Pan continued, staring out the window at the gorgeous blue sky that seemed to mock her mood. “I love Trunks… I think I always will. But loving him means that his happiness means more to me then my own… Trunks loves Cara. She makes him happy and nothing in this world could ever make me deny him that. So… no matter how much it breaks my heart… I’ll smile and help out with the wedding plans, just like I would for any of my friends. And after the wedding…”

Tears threatened to spill from her eyes again and Pan had to take a deep breath before she could continue to speak.

“Dende only knows what I’ll do then.”

*~*~*~*~*

Pan was coming to the conclusion that being hell would be have been more preferable then Bulma’s party. At least in hell she didn’t have to see Trunks and Cara being so damn happy or listen to Bulma go on about how it was finally time that Trunks gave her grandbabies and how happy she was to find that he had found someone to spend his life with. Not to mention that she wouldn’t be standing here posed ready to make a run for it when her mother and grandmother finally turned their attention away from nagging Goten into settling down and having a family and onto her.

Being nagged at was the last thing that she wanted to deal with tonight. She really should have pleaded illness so that she could have gotten out of coming to the party, but Trunks would have been hurt if she didn’t put in an appearance. The only reason she had lasted for the past hour and a half was because of Bra and Marron who took turns pulling her away to some other part of the house on some trumped up excuse.

But despite the short breaks, she was still on edge. One nagging word about her lack of a significant other and she might snap and Dende only know what she would say or do if that happened.

A vision of her announcing that she couldn’t be with anyone because she loved Trunks and the pity in everyone’s eyes flitted through her mind. She could just see the shock that would appear on her face before the pity and guilt would follow because he didn’t love her in the same way.

No, she couldn’t let that happen. She may not have the heart of the one person that she wanted, but damnit she would keep her pride, hence the reason why she had picked the darkest corner in the room away from everyone else.

“If you want him then just take him, brat.”

Pan turned and looked at Vegeta, the surprise evident in her eyes because she had thought she was alone in her corner and because he knew. She had thought that no one had known about her feelings for Trunks; well except for Bra and Marron, but she had just told them today. But maybe she shouldn’t have been surprised that Vegeta had known. The Saiyan Prince seemed to always know things before anyone else. In that way, he reminded her of her Grandpa Goku.

Son Goku would never be considered a genius like his son, Gohan, but he was smarter then his eldest son in whole another way. It had eerie it times to her how her grandfather seemed to know what was wrong with her before she could find the words to tell it to him herself.

Come to think of it, she wondered if he even knew about her unrequited love towards Trunks.

Pan glanced at her grandfather who was currently attempting in vain try and get his wife’s attention away from their son so that Goten could slip away. He must have felt her eyes upon him because he looked up and gave her a gentle smile and nodded and then somehow she just knew that he had known about her feelings for Trunks. Had probably known since she herself had realized that she was head over heels in love with the lavender-haired demi-Saiyan.

“Well?”

She glanced back to the Saiyan Prince, who gazed at her steadily with his coal-black eyes, before turning her eyes to Trunks, who had his arms wrapped around the waist of a laughing Cara.

“I can’t do that,” she replied, shaking her head slightly. “They love each other. Besides Cara is the only woman that he’s dated that really loves him for who he is and not for what’s in his bank account or what his fame can do for her. What right do I have to interfere in their happiness?”

“You have that right because he deserves better,” Vegeta snarled. “That girl may love him, but you and I know that she will never love him as much as you do and that you will never love no one else, but my son.”

“I think no such thing,” Pan replied, but her voice trembled as she spoke. “I’m sure that Cara loves Trunks very much and one day I’ll find someone to love someday.”

“You won’t. Despite the fact that three-quarters of your blood is human, you have the soul of a Saiyan woman. You’ve picked Trunks as your lifemate and once a Saiyan woman picks their mate, there is no other for them. To be with another man is blasphemous to them. The woman is nice enough, but she’s only second best. My son deserves better then that. Despite that polished veneer that his mother made him learn, underneath it all he’s a true Saiyan Prince. He needs a mate who can compliment him, not that weak artist woman. Think about and fight for what’s yours.”

She watched as the Saiyan Prince walked away. Part of her had been hoping that maybe one day she would get over her feelings for Trunks and find someone else that she could fall in love and marry and have the half dozen kids that she had dreamed of since she was a little girl. But now Vegeta had just squashed that hope like a bug.

If she didn’t try to win Trunks away from Cara, then she would be alone for the rest of her life. Could she do it? Could she actually him away from Cara? Cara, the woman who she had gotten to know during little intervals of the party? This woman who was as actually quite sweet and funny and who Pan felt that she could become good friends?

No. She couldn’t. She just couldn’t do that to Cara or to Trunks. Despite what Vegeta said, Cara would make Trunks happy.

Pan slipped out of the house and went out into the Briefs’ backyard. Curling up in one of the pool lounge chairs, she thought about all of the things that she was losing because of her Saiyan heritage. Tears welled up in her eyes again for what had to be the hundredth time that day. She tried to hold them back, but they spilled free and she finally gave in to the need and let herself cry.