Caught in Time

CHAPTER: A Strange Arrival

He woke up to the sound of deafening explosion.

Without even stopping to think about what may have caused it, the young hybrid quickly discarded his Dragon Ball pajamas in favor of his purple fighting gi with blue wristbands and sash. Then, without even exchanging words with his mother, he exited the door from his house and took off in flight, hoping to find out what could have happened.

He arrived at the source of the commotion in less than a minute. Gohan was shocked at what he saw. Where once had been a beautiful forest now was a smoking giant crater, with the area surrounding it reduced to scorching ashes.

"My God..." the boy whispered, horrified at the devastation. He had seen similar things before in his life, even worse than this, in fact, but the death and devastation oh so casually inflicted to any living being still greatly affected him. He truly would never get used to such things. Deep down, he didn't think he would ever want to get used to them, otherwise he would be just like the monsters he opposed.

As he slowly approached the scene, he began feeling multiple presences approaching, presences he knew all too well.

"Gohan!" he could hear one of them calling.

"I'm over here, Krillin!" he responded, turning around to wave at his old friend and surrogate uncle figure. As Krillin approached, he landed right next to him at the edge of the crater. The bald ex-monk looked over at Gohan in concern.

"Hey buddy, you okay? Nothing happened to you?" he asked him with mild worry. Gohan almost wanted to roll his eyes at the question.

"Krillin, I'm fine, but... this place isn't," he said, looking at the devastated forest in sadness. Krillin couldn't help but look at his best friend's son with sympathy in his heart. The boy was very sensitive, and despite his great strength, his feelings bruised very easily.

"Holy cow," Krillin whistled in awe. "That's some crater. I wonder what could have happened here."

"I don't know, Krillin, but whatever it was that caused this landed over there," Gohan answered him, pointing the center of the crater.

"Well, we better check it out then," Krillin said, sounding nervous.

With good reason, Gohan thought — he was afraid they might have to face some new and terrible monster like Frieza or Cell.

"Right!" Gohan said determinedly.

"Gohan!"

"Gohan-san!"

Two voices the duo knew all too well made them stop before they could approach any further.

"Piccolo-san! Mirai-san!" Gohan called out to them, waving his hand to them as they landed a few feet away from them.

"Gohan, what happened here?" Piccolo, never the one to lose time, asked immediately as Gohan approached them.

"I'm not sure, Piccolo-san, but it destroyed the entire forest."

"Whatever caused this doesn't seem that impressive, but we should keep our guard up nonetheless, all of us," the tall Namekian instructed them all. Gohan nodded and the four warriors proceeded to approach the source of the destruction. As the four of them closed in, they were just barely able to see past the great cloud of smoke and they began making out the silhouette of a strange-looking ship on its side.

However, it was no normal ship. It was round and ovular in shape, with multiple cylinders surrounding that tapered down the further they went. The main carriage was a soft yellow in color, containing a glass bubble canopy, and finally, the word "HOPE!" was emblazoned across the side. Overall, the ship looked familiar, very familiar to Trunks.

"Impossible!" the lilac-haired young man exclaimed in disbelief.

As the smoke cleared, they were all able to get a better look at what had Trunks so shocked: It was a time machine!

"What the hell?!" Piccolo said in realization. "It can't be. That's a time capsule similar to the one Trunks came here in!"

"B-But who's inside?" Krillin asked, almost fearful of the answer he might receive. "The last time this happened, a horrible monster came out that threatened to destroy the entire planet. I don't want that to happen again! I don't want another repeat of Cell!"

"I don't know who it is..." Trunks replied. "I sense a weak ki from inside, but I can't pinpoint who it might be... however, it feels familiar somehow," the time traveler added, much to everyone's confusion.

"Hey, he's right!" Krillin remarked. "I can sense it too!"

Their train of thought was suddenly halted as the hatch to the time machine began opening, the metal groaning and creaking in protest as it did so, making everyone go on alert. They assumed a battle-ready guard.

"Who's there?!" Krillin demanded, trying to sound much braver than he actually felt, with just mild success.

Then slowly, a figure stepped out of the wrecked time machine. The person slowly approached the foursome, limping with every step, and clearly having trouble even standing up. As the person neared, they noticed that it was actually a female. Of all the things that could have emerged from the time capsule, a young girl was on the bottom of their guesses. And surprisingly, the girl was apparently no older than Gohan himself, maybe ten or eleven years old, twelve at the most.

The raven-haired boy was the first to approach the mysterious girl, slowly taking in her appearance. She looked genuinely worse for the wear, and she was grievously wounded too. Gohan noticed that the tatters of her shirt, which seemed to have been a bright red color, was torn apart, in a similar way his had been during the final moments of his fight with Cell. In fact, most of her clothes had been ripped to shreds, leaving her entire body practically exposed to them, though that was the farthest thing on anyone's mind. He could see wounds and bruises pretty much covered almost all of her body. However, the most surprising thing he could see about her was that she had a tail!

"A-Are you all right?" he asked tentatively.

The girl just looked up at him and opened her mouth, struggling to even communicate. As she did so, Gohan was able to make out more of her appearance: she had a peachy complexion and had charcoal black eyes, similar to him, as well as short black hair that went down to her shoulders. She was actually kind of pretty, in her own way.

"Gohan, be careful!" his green-skinned mentor warned him.

Upon hearing his name, the girl's eyes suddenly widened with recognition and then began sparkling with hope and unshed tears. Her lips curved upward into a pained but obviously happy smile, and she began speaking.

"D-D-D..." she seemed to struggle to say something.

"E-Excuse me?"

"Daddy..." she whispered weakly.

Gohan's eyes widened in shock at her words.

Daddy? S-She called me daddy? the boy wondered in shock, but before he could even begin translate these thoughts into words, the girl's eyes glazed over, and she suddenly collapsed on top of him.

"H-Hey! Hold on! We'll get you some help!" Gohan said hurriedly, taking the girl into his arms bridal-style.

"But where do we take her?" Krillin asked.

"To the Lookout! Dende can heal her!" Gohan said, his white aura igniting as he shot through the heavens with the girl still in his arms, his friends merely a second behind him and keeping even with him.

"Did that girl just call you what I think she called you?" the short monk asked incredulously.

"I-I don't know. She could be confused," Gohan replied, obviously not wanting to believe what all of them were thinking.

"But she came here in a time machine, Gohan-san. And this girl also has a tail. Only Saiyans or people related to Saiyans have tails. I think we have to at least consider the possibility that she might be your... well, you know," Trunks argued back.

"Trunks, I'm trying not to think about that. Let's just get her some help," Gohan said back.

"Gohan's right, that won't matter if she dies. We should focus on getting her to Dende now. Then we'll get the answers out from her," the Namekian said with a tone of finality as the warriors picked up speed.

In less than a minute, they had reached their destination. As soon they landed, they were all greeted by the Lookout's new Guardian and the current God of Earth: Gohan's childhood friend, Dende, as well as his companion, Mr. Popo.

"Gohan, I saw something crashing near your home on the Lookout. What happened?" the little Namekian boy asked worriedly.

"I don't know! There was an explosion and then this girl showed up all battered and bruised and —" Gohan explained frantically to Dende.

"Calm down, Gohan!" Gohan's mentor barked.

"S-Sorry," Gohan whispered, quieting down. "Anyway, this girl is severely injured. If she doesn't get help soon, she could die. Please heal her, Dende! We can't let anything happen to her!" the hybrid pleaded to the young deity.

"Yes, don't worry," Dende said reassuringly as Gohan laid the girl on the ground.

Dende's hands glowed a warm green as he put all his energies into healing the young girl. Cuts closed, burns vanished, and broken bones reattached and relocated themselves as her battered body recovered from the injuries that had so very nearly claimed her life.

Within a few minutes, he was done, and the girl was fully healed.

Just seconds later, her eyes began fluttering open as she managed to recover consciousness. Then she quickly sat up.

"What...? Where...? Where am I?" she wondered. A sudden cold breeze surprised her, making her look down.

That was when she noticed her clothes were practically shredded, revealing pretty much all of her now healed naked body...

Her reaction was expected.

"EEEEEEEEEEEK! Don't look! Don't look! Don't look!" she shrieked, trying to cover herself up.

Gohan, Krillin and Trunks immediately turned away, their cheeks turning bright red.

Piccolo simply winced, before growling in annoyance.

"SHUT THE HELL UP, CHILD!" the green-skinned warrior screamed.

"Don't you tell me to shut up, Piccolo! I'm naked! I'm naked!" the girl shouted back, covering herself as best as she could.

"Fine! If this makes you shut up any faster, then here!" the former God of Earth shouted back, pointing at her and shooting a small beam of energy. The blast engulfed her in a bright glow, before fading and leaving the girl with brand new clothes practically identical to the ones she had just been wearing, minus the very reveal damage, of course.

"Hehe, I guess we can call that 'your most metro attack,' eh, Piccolo?" Krillin commented, making everyone stare at him weirdly.

"Krillin, that was a terrible joke..." Gohan deadpanned. The former monk looked down in defeated embarrassment.

"Um... okay... oh, thank you, Piccolo-san," the girl said, bowing to the green-skinned warrior.

Gohan couldn't help but look at her strangely.

"You know Piccolo's name," he said. It wasn't a question.

"Yes, I know all of you," the girl answered, turning to face Gohan directly. He was still shocked by the girl's words, and her appearance didn't help either. She had almost his same height, similar skin tone and complexion, and the same warm, charcoal hued eyes. She almost looked like a female version of himself, and that worried Gohan a lot.

"So it's true then. You are a time traveler," the lilac-haired young man stated.

"Yes. My name is Pan."

"So... where is it that you come from?" Krillin asked her.

"Well... what year is it?" the girl named Pan asked.

"767. It's May 27th," the seemingly bald man answered her.

"Twenty-eighth, actually. It's already past midnight... at least in my area," Gohan answered.

"Then... by your timeline, I come from twenty-three years in the future," she said.

"But Pan, I-I-I..." He held back what he wanted to say. "W-Why are you here?" Gohan inquired. Truth to be told, he felt slightly frightened at the prospect. Was this mysterious girl truly... who he thought she was?

"Oh, yes! I've come to warn you!" Pan said urgently.

"If it's about the androids, we've already defeated them. Cell too," Trunks stated as matter-of-factly.

"No, worse! Much worse!" Pan shot back.

"W-Worse than Cell?" Gohan asked in disbelief and a bit of fright.

"Yes. You see, the new threat... is the Dragon Balls!" she said, sounding needlessly dramatic. Everyone just stared at her as if she'd grown a second head just for the fun of it all, sweatdropping a bit.

"The Dragon Balls?" Krillin wondered skeptically. "How can they be a threat to us?"

He had huge difficulty grasping how the Dragon Balls could possibly be dangerous, as did everyone else.

"It's something we didn't find out till years later, but for every wish that you ask the Dragon, an excess amount of negative ki accumulates inside of the balls themselves, but the ki dissipates over a long period of time. When Bulma invented the Dragon Radar, she made it easier to locate them. When we made our last wish, the balls broke, and seven evil dragons rose out of them. We were able to beat most of them, but the last dragon was just too powerful for us. Not even when I..." The raven-haired girl hesitated, but then she shook her head. "When I left, he destroyed the universe. You have to be careful! You can't overuse the Dragon Balls!" she warned them desperately.

Realization seemed to set in as everyone looked at her sadly.

"What? What is it?" Pan asked, noticing the pitying looks she was receiving.

"Pan... thanks for warning us. It really means a lot. Because of you, we know something we didn't and we can prepare for it. But, I-I don't know if you're familiar with how time travel works?" Gohan told her, stepping up to her.

"W-What do you mean? Just don't overuse them! And then I can go back home and everything will be okay!" She said hopefully.

Trunks just shook his head.

"I'm sorry, Pan, but... you can't change the past. When you travel back in time, all you can do is create a new parallel reality. There's no changing the course of history," the older time traveler told her. Pan just stared at him in disbelief.

"But... but that's not possible! But, but, but... that means... m-my parents... my grandpa... my friends..." she whispered as her hope was utterly crushed by the cold hard facts. Tears welled up in her eyes as despair and grief set in.

"I'm sorry, Pan..." Gohan whispered, placing a hand on her shoulder.

"Gone! They're all gone... and I left them! I'm a coward...!" she sobbed hopelessly, her hands coming to cup her face. Gohan gently squeezed her shoulder in an attempt to comfort her, which made Pan turn around and embrace him in a tight hug, crying on his shoulder. Gohan didn't bother pulling her away, instead embracing her back as she cried.

"Hey, you're not a coward. You were trying to help us. You just didn't know," Gohan told her soothingly, his hands softly rubbing her back. As he comforted her, Gohan couldn't help but feel how... natural it felt to care for her. As if there was an instantaneous connection between the two.

After a few minutes, her sobs finally began to subside, but she didn't break the hug.

"Thank you, D... Gohan," she whispered, instantly correcting herself at the last moment.

"There's... there's something I want to ask you, Pan," the boy began, his tone already sounded uncertain and nervous.

"Go ahead. What do you want to know?" she asked back, finally breaking the hug.

"Well, am I g-going nuts, or... d-did you call me daddy down in the clearing?" the boy asked.

His question made Pan seize up, her eyes reflecting bits of terror.

"W-What?" Pan whispered back in complete horror.

"Y-You called me daddy," Gohan repeated.

"U-Uh... oops! My mistake! Boy, do I feel silly right now!" Pan said, waving her arms in front of her and laughing nervously.

"There's no need to hide it, Pan. Your acute resemblance to Gohan, the fact that you came here in a time machine, your tail... there's no denying that you are Gohan's daughter," Piccolo said, finally voicing the words all of them had thought up to that point. Saying it, however, made Pan wince noticeably as tears threatened to spill from her eyes.

"I-I messed up... I'm so sorry! Now I might not even be born!" Pan cried out, ashamed.

"Hey, it's okay, Pan. You seem like a nice girl to me, and I promise, w-when I meet your... your mother someday, I won't forget you."

At his words, she looked back at the boy that was to become her father, taking in his physical appearance. Truth to be told, they looked very similar. They had almost the exact same facial structure. Aside from that, he had a very peculiar spiky hairstyle, and, despite his age, was also incredibly muscular. Pan was fit, that was sure, but Gohan already looked like a miniature bodybuilder.

She'd never known how sexy her father had been at her age... and then she immediately banished that thought, blushing. She couldn't be thinking this way about Gohan! He was her FATHER, for Kami's sake!

Gohan noticed that the girl was looking at him with an intense blush, which got him worried.

"Hey, are you alright?" the boy asked in concern. "Your cheek are red. Are you feeling okay?"

"O-Oh... it's nothing! Nothing at all!" she quickly replied, waving her hands in front of her again as she stepped back from him.

"So... what do we do now?" Krillin asked after a few seconds of awkward silence.

"First things first, we need to decide what to do about her," Piccolo stated.

"Oh yeah, true," Krillin said. "We need to find a place for you to live. After all, um, well, not to be cold-hearted, but you don't have a home anymore, Pan," Krillin said with some regret at having to remind her.

"Yeah, I know. It's okay, Krillin..." Pan replied, looking away.

"I suppose you can come to the future with me. I mean, you are out of time in this place," Trunks offered.

"Thanks, Trunks. It's a nice offer, but I don't think I can take you up on it," Pan said, knowing he, too, had come from an apocalyptic future where everyone was dead. As much as she missed her time, going to that place sounded even worse!

"Oh, I know! Why don't you come live with me?" Gohan suddenly chirped.

"Huh? With you?"

"Sure, why not? I mean, you are my daughter, and I know Mom would just love to meet you," Gohan said cheerfully.

Pan, however, seemed unsure about his offer.

"Pan, what else can you do?" he asked her. "Your home universe was destroyed, and... well..." the boy trailed off, blushing.

"What? What is it, Daddy?"

"I... I'd k-kind of like to get to know you a little bit," he stammered.

Pan gazed at the younger version of her father for a few minutes. He really wants me to stay with him? She thought. Oh, Daddy...

It would be so nice to just go back home and pretend the last few days had never happened, even if she was twenty years out of time...

Not that I can really afford to say no... she mused wryly. As Trunks himself had stated, she was twenty years in the past, and she truly did have nowhere else to go. Maybe going with her dad, she could regain some sense of normality.

"I'd like that," she finally said with a smile.

"Well, I guess it's settled then! You Gohan take her home, and we'll talk to you guys tomorrow to better sort this out," Krillin said, looking relieved the situation had been resolved, at least for the time being.

"Well, I better return to Capsule Corp as well. Mother might get worried that I'm away so late," Trunks replied sheepishly.

"I'll stay here for now then," Piccolo finished.

With all settled, Gohan and the others each said their goodbyes to Dende, Popo, and Piccolo, parting to their respective homes.

As they flew home, though, Gohan couldn't help but feel a building curiosity regarding the raven-haired girl flying besides him. She was his daughter. His future daughter! Her presence alone raised many questions, but some in particular took importance on his mind. Who was her mother? And more importantly... would his father, Goku, have returned from the grave by the time of her birth? She had mentioned knowing her grandpa when she broke down, but that could have easily been her mother's father, whoever her mother would be in the future.

"Hey, you know all about the future, right?" he finally decided to ask her.

"Um... yes, I do. Is there something you wanted to ask me?" she inquired back.

"Nah, nothing. I'm just wondering if there's anything more you wanted to tell me?" he said, trying to sound as casual as possible.

"Not right now. I'm really tired. Can I tell you tomorrow? I promise I'll explain everything then," she replied.

"Okay, tomorrow it is then," he said finally. As if on cue, the both of them shot through the heavens in a burst of supersonic speeds as they approached the Son household literally on the other side of the globe.

As Pan and Gohan flew over the landscape, Pan looked down at the Earth beneath her. She couldn't help but appreciate the beauty of the world, completely untouched by the ravages of hell and the Shadow Dragons. She closed her eyes, blinking back tears as the grief that her memories caused her, silently promising she was not going to let the same thing happen to this new world too.

As they flew, Gohan's eyes couldn't help but look at the girl he now knew was his daughter from the future.

"You fly pretty well, Pan."

"You really think so, Daddy?"

Gohan still felt strange when she called him that way, still not used to her calling him that.

"Yeah. You fly with smooth precision while lightly conserving your ki, yet there's barely any strain on your power supply. You must've been flying since you were a baby. Tell me, who taught you?" Gohan said.

"You did, along with Grandpa Goku and Grandpa Hercule," she replied. Gohan's eyes widened in shock at her words.

"Hercule, as in Mark 'Hercule' Satan?! You mean... you mean he has a daughter? And I end up with her?!" Gohan nearly cried out in shock.

Pan almost dropped to the ground in shock at her clumsiness.

"Ah...! I'm sorry, Daddy. I didn't want to tell you... but I guess I pretty much gave it away," Pan quickly replied, shame evident in her voice.

"Hey... it's... it's okay, Pan. Now that I know who your mother is, I'll remember that when I meet her," Gohan aid reassuringly, flying closer to her and gently slinging a comforting arm across her left shoulder.

Pan looked up to her father and smiled at him.

"Thanks, Daddy."

Gohan simply flashed her a Son grin and looked back in front.

"Hey, I think I can see my house from here!" Gohan said.

In quick succession, Gohan and Pan skid to a halt and quickly landed in front of the house.

"So... what are you going to tell Grandma, Daddy?"

"I... I don't know, honestly. The truth, I guess, but how do we tell her?"

Pan laughed at her dad's remark.

"I hear you. First thing she'll do is probably faint."

With that said, they both walked in, ready to face the wrath of the Son matron.

"Gohan, where have you been, young man?! I've been waiting for hours! Oh, don't bother telling me where you are going! I'm just your mother. What right do I have to know?" Chi-Chi yelled once she saw her son entering the door.

Both Son children cringed.

"I'm sorry, Mom. I had to take care of something. And I wasn't out that much, it was less than thirty minutes," the boy replied, adding a mild protest at the end. He sighed. "Still, I am sorry if I upset you."

"Well, you're lucky. I'll let you off the hook for tonight if you head right back to bed!" she told him, her stern tone softening somewhat.

"Okay, thanks, Mom."

Chi-Chi then stared behind Gohan, finding another person almost hiding behind him.

"Gohan, dear, who's that strange girl? She looks... familiar."

"Oh, I, uh..." Pan stammered, trying to find any coherent words to say.

"That's gonna be kinda hard to explain, but Mom, this is my daughter from the future," he said as quickly as possible.

"WHAT?!" the woman screamed, loud enough to almost make the house shake in its foundation, before promptly losing consciousness at the shock of the news Gohan had delivered, falling to the floor with a loud thump.

"Mom!"

"Grandma!"

Both Saiyan hybrids promptly rushed to the unconscious woman's side, quickly picking her up.

"See? I told you she'd faint," Pan said wistfully. "Same old Grandma..."

"I see she hasn't changed much in the future, huh?" Gohan said.

"I guess not. Oh, by the way, is her room still the last one in the hall upstairs?" Pan asked.

"Um... yes," Gohan said in confusion. "How did you... oh wait, don't answer that," he said, blushing as he remembered how.

With a small giggle, Pan and Gohan gently took Chi-Chi to her room, depositing her on her bed is such a way as to avoid waking her up.

"Well, we better head to bed ourselves too. Um... you can sleep here with mom if you wish," Gohan offered.

"No thanks, I... I don't think she'd react too well to that," Pan said, remembering how Chi-Chi had fainted only minutes earlier.

"True..." Gohan conceded. "Well, you can always head to my room."

"The room you shared with Uncle Goten before you married Mom?" Pan asked.

"Yeah, that — wait! I'll have a brother?!" Gohan cried in shock, making Pan gasp once again.

"Oh, that's a little obvious, isn't it...? G-Grandma should be pregnant with him right now."

"Wow..." Gohan whispered in shock. He will have a baby brother!

"But then, if Uncle Goten isn't born yet... don't you have just one bed, Daddy?"

"Oh? That's okay, you can have my bed. I'll just grab some spare covers and a pillow and sleep on the ground."

"No, I don't want to kick you out of your own bed, Daddy," the time traveler protested.

"It's no trouble, Pan. Really," the boy insisted.

"Oh, I know! How about we both sleep in the same bed?"

"Oh, together? I don't know..." Gohan responded.

"What's so wrong with it? I've slept in your bed countless times growing up," she inquired.

"But I barely know you, Pan," Gohan said, his tone almost deadpan.

"Well, then maybe this will change that," she replied simply.

Gohan looked at her future daughter's eyes, seeing a pleading glint in them. He knew it would be inappropriate to lay in bed with a girl, even if said girl was supposedly his daughter. Still, she was his daughter, and had no doubt slept with him many times as she was growing up. And he really did want to get to know her. Besides, was it really so inappropriate if they didn't do anything?

"Okay, you can sleep with me, Pan," he said with a slight smile.

Pan wrapped her arms around him and pulled Gohan close.

"Thanks, Daddy," she whispered.

Gohan eagerly returned the hug, then broke it after a minute.

"Let's head to bed," Gohan said simply.

Pan nodded.

The two of them headed up the stairs and turned right into Gohan's room. It was a simple room with a desk, bedside table, a light, closet, and a bed. Gohan was simple by nature. Pan was a bit surprised this was his room; in the future, it was filled with books, journals, and lots of papers and shelves, but she guessed that was her dad becoming a scholar like his mom had wanted.

Without another word, Pan strode into the center of the room and gripped the edges of her shirt tightly, pulling upward. With one quick motion, she stripped off her shirt and tossed it casually to the floor.

"W-W-W-Wait, Pan, w-w-w-what are y-y-you d-d-d-doing?" Gohan stammered.

Pan turned to face him, giving Gohan a very clear view of her bare chest. She didn't have any breasts, but the exposed nipples and cute belly button as well as the seeming childlike nakedness of her torso more than made up for it, and Gohan couldn't help but find her to be very pretty. However, it wasn't appropriate for her to be shirtless in front of him.

"I wanna change," she said. "What's the problem, Daddy? You've seen me naked dozens of times."

Gohan blushed as he realized what the end result would be if the girl before him kept on stripping.

"That was the future version of your father, not me," Gohan muttered insistently. "Please, Pan, don't get naked in front of me."

Pan blushed now herself as she grasped the truth of his words.

"Okay, you're right," she conceded. "Do you have any underwear that will fit me?"

Gohan turned away, partially to look in his clothes drawer but also partially so she wouldn't see him blushing, and so he wouldn't have to stare at her bare chest. Despite her age, she really was very pretty.

But I can't be thinking of her like that, Gohan reminded himself. She's my daughter, and it wouldn't be right.

Gohan pulled out a pair of cyan colored briefs and a white colored undershirt from his drawer. He handed them wordlessly to Pan and turned away as she stripped naked to put them on. A few minutes later, Pan announced, "I'm done."

Gohan turned back to face her and found his face heating up.

Pan looked even more beautiful in the simple clothes Gohan gave her. He supposed that was him viewing her through his fatherly instincts.

Gohan smiled and said, "Let's head to bed, Pan."

"Okay!" she said with a faint smile.

Gohan was happy to see her smiling. Hopefully, in the months ahead, he could get her to open up and move past all that happened to her.

After Gohan had stripped into his boxers, he climbed into his bed, blushing a little at the idea of a girl sleeping in the same bed as him, never mind that it was a girl who carried his genes. Pan seemed to notice this and said, "Are you sure you wouldn't mind me sleeping on the floor, Daddy? If this makes you uncomfortable, I-I don't mind."

And all of Gohan's doubts evaporated at the look on Pan's face.

"Come here, Pan," he said with a gentle smile that he hoped looked fatherly as opposed to ridiculous on his young face.

Apparently, it seemed to do the trick, as Pan moved closer with a slight hesitancy in her steps. She placed her knee on the bedside and, at Gohan's nod, climbed into bed alongside of him. Gohan eased her into a laying position and then grabbed the blanket with his tail pulling it over them. It was warm next to Pan, with the heat generated from her body.

"Are you sure about this, Daddy?" Pan asked uncertainly.

And then she gasped as Gohan reached over and pulled her into a tight hug, wrapping his arms around her slender, petite form.

"I don't know, Pan," Gohan admitted hesitantly. "But you are my daughter and I do feel a strong connection to you. I want to try to see where this connection goes and get closer to you, if possible. I... I do think I love you, Pan. I can feel it. But, I also want to get to know you, so that you are worthy of my love."

"Oh, Daddy..."

Pan held on to her father for dear life, moving her lips closer until they brushed the soft skin of his forehead. She planted a tiny kiss on it.

Gohan felt his face flush in embarrassment, but he was glad that Pan seemed to have calmed down.

"Let's go to sleep, Pan," Gohan said.

"Okay."

And so Pan snuggled up closely in her daddy's arms, the perfect picture of a little girl seeking reassurance from an elder. Gohan just lay there in bed for a while, listening to the sound of her breathing, which sounded very nice to him, like a balm for his own anxieties and doubts. And slowly, as seconds turned into minutes and the minutes into hours, Gohan felt himself losing all his uncertainties about the future, about this strange girl that had suddenly entered his life, and all he focused on was the sound of Pan's breathing, the beat of her heart against his chest, and soon, he was fast asleep, the two of them curled up together and snoring deeply in the still of the empty room.

King here. Another story we wanted to begin. Tell us what you think!