"…And finally, I want to say- enjoy the show!" In the park by the compound, hundreds of civilians cheered as her speech was ended. She waved at them all and walked away, escorted by her husband through the gates and into their private garden. The second they were out of sight, he pulled the earpiece out and shoved it in his pocket. The end was just a spare piece of wire.

"I still don't understand why you have me go through this pretence. It's ridiculous." He grumbled.

Bulma hugged his arm as they walked back. For a few precious moments it was just them and she pecked him on his cheek. "In a way, you are. Trunks and I are never safer than when you're around. And this way, you accompany me, make sure I'm safe and turn up to occasions where it's expected that I bring you. But as long as they think you're 'head of security' then they'll leave you alone." The private part came into view, her friend mulling around awaiting their arrival. Before they broke apart, she winked at him. "Everyone's a winner!"

"Hey, guys!" shouted Goku. He was heading over to the couple as he boomed. "Have you put in you penny for the guy yet?"

"We're not doing that this year, Goku, we're doing something a bit different," explained Trunks, cutting in Goku's path. He grabbed an arm and, with the help of Goten, pulled him towards to the straw stuffed effigy a short distance away.

"What. The Hell. Is that thing?" Vegeta grunted. Bulma had to laugh at the look on his face.

"It's a replica of Guy Fawkes, silly! I know it's not that lifelike-" she stopped when he snorted "-but it's the symbolism that counts. Come on, I'll show you… Come on!" Amazingly, she dragged him over to the scarecrow-esque figure standing atop several lumps of straw- the bonfire.

"-and you write down what's bought you bad luck and put it in this envelope. Then you pin it to the Guy and it'll burn, see?"

"Yeah, I can see, Trunks. Thanks! Now, I wonder what I'll write down… I know bad weather! Bad weather means bad crops and no food. It also makes sparring difficult…" Goku was completely oblivious to Chichi writing her own note with just two words; husband dying again.

"Guy Fawkes was this guy who tried to blow up Parliament and kill the King," Bulma explained to her husband. "But he got caught red handed and was executed- this night is to celebrate the King escaping."

"The man was punished for Treason- that I understand. But why burn a replica of just one of the many thousands of criminals? And the fireworks?"

"All part of the gunpowder theme. He wasn't burnt in real life though; he was hung, drawn and quartered," she smiled.

"Humans… and you blame me for being violent?"

The rest of the gang took turns to pin their notes to the Guy, stepping back for Bulma and Trunks to do theirs. Bulma looked over her shoulder. "Do want to do one, Vegeta?"

"No."

"Thought so," she said. "This is why my one's shared with you." She opened up her little envelope to expose her blister pack of pills. 'The Pill'. He recognised it immediately, and nodded. They had finally come to a decision a few weeks ago as to… try. Who knows, maybe it'll work?

"If we're doing this thing, honey, we're doing it with a bang!" She chuckled and pinned it to the dummy. Stepping back, she motioned the entire group to pull away to a safe distance.

Just in time, a loud bang filled the sky followed by several streams of light. Red, then blue, then green.

A thousand yellow stars.

Gigantic dandelions of flame.

Waterfalls of white sparks.

Tornadoes of purple and gold.

Crack! Bang! Pop! Whizz! Whistle! Even the silent ones that didn't work properly looked beautiful.

From their place on the lawn, they had the perfect view. Most of the city was probably watching Capsule Corps firework show by the compound had the best seats. The kids, adults, animals, aliens, humans and hybrids all admired the view. Some Ooh'ed and Ahh'ed. Some laughed. Puar got scared by the one called "Armageddon" with its colossal explosion and chose to hide behind Yamcha, but it wasn't long before she was coaxed out of her shell. Goku couldn't even summon up the effort to describe how beautiful it all was. Instead, he chose to just keep his mouth closed and sit back. When Chichi snuggled in the warmth of his chest, he lay his head on top of hers, wishing he could know what she wrote as the cause of their troubles.

Trunks pulled on his father's hand and motioned towards the taller Saiyan. It was obvious what he wanted to say. Vegeta leant down slightly to murmur to his son;

"The deal's off, boy. You lost the second Kakarrot started talking to your mother."

The ten year olds face drained of colour as he glared at his father gloating smirk. "That's not fair- she didn't meet them at the door, she met them on the way back! AND I kept him away from you the whole night, didn't I?"

"Wrong- the chef did. Even I know that," Vegeta rumbled.

Too astonished to say anything else, Trunks turned his gave to the unlit bonfire nearby. Oh, his dad played nasty sometimes, but there were several possible pay backs.

Next to him, Goten had heard his friend's sigh of disappointment and elbowed him lightly. "Don't worry, Trunks. Maybe next time?" He offered him a peace sign.

Trunks looked at his friends hand, but it was only after part one of the show had finished and his mother announced the lighting of the fire did he return the gesture.

It wasn't a peace sign. It was a "Stage 2" sign.

/

Because of his status as 'the man of the house', Vegeta was forced to light it. And by light it he meant throw a small Ki ball at it and watch it half explode. But the outcome was still the same and Bulma was ecstatic that he agreed to do it in the first place. Since Buu, she found him to be a little less impossible to live with. As a silent token of thanks, grasped the hand that remained unseen by the party. They were all too distracted by the flames anyway.

"Me likey fire! Fire pretty!"

Hercule grabbed his childish companions arm to stop him from toddling forward. "You're right Buu, that fire is one heck of a good'un! You know, Mrs Bulma," he added in her direction, "this is one mighty good show you put on for all o' us!"

"Thanks," she said but she didn't really hear him. She never took her eyes off the display.

Suddenly, Tien looked puzzled. "Hey, what's that?"

"What's what, Tien?" asked little Chioutzu. He pulled on the man's leg until he got an answer.

"In the Guys hand."

"I see it too!" claimed Yamcha, "Is that sparkly thing supposed to be there?"

The whole crowd started to squint at the dummy. Sure enough, something tiny glimmered in the light of the flames. Bulma was thinking about investigating it, as far as she was concerned, it wasn't supposed to be there.

The little boys sidled up to Gohan, who stood shoulder to shoulder with Videl. Goten stage whispered to his friend. "Any idea what it could be Trunks? It might be something precious if it's sparkly like that!"

"Gee, I'm not sure, Goten," he side whispered back. He looked cunningly at the older Son boy, as did Goten. "But maybe Gohan would know exactly what it is."

Not liking the tone in the children's voice, Gohan snapped his gaze to the accused hand…The left hand…with something glittering on its finger…

"Nooooo!" the lad suddenly lunged past everybody else in a blaze of golden light, knocking half of them to the floor. "No, no, no, no, no!"

The others could only gawk in bewilderment as Gohan spontaneously ascended to Super Saiyan to tackle the blazing dummy and beat the flames away with his bare hands. They were all too stunned to intervene when he released a pressure wave that completely extinguished the thing, taking out half the bonfire with it. And they looked on in utter confusion when he practically ripped the sparkling thing off its hand.

When his woollen gloves had started to burn, Gohan had ripped them off completely. No he wish he had kept them off as he tossed the diamond ring back and forth. The metal was smouldering hot, little pink circles appearing on his palms. Finally, it cooled down enough for him to hold up- the diamond was as pristine as ever, even if the gold and silver band had become a bit scuffed. It hadn't melted yet and the slight blemishes in its surface could be easily cleaned by any jewellers. As the ring cooled down, Gohan's temper was just heating up.

With an angry stride, he quickly covered the distance to the criminal duo and grasped the front of their coats. He yanked them up to his eye level before shouting at them directly in the face.

"You… little…Shits!" Everybody watched wide eyed as, for the first time, good-guy-Gohan swore. "Do you have any idea how close that was? I nearly lost the perfect ring because of you two even when I did everything you told me to!"

"Wha- ring?" Chichi gasped. Gohan ignored her as easily as he ignored the boy's pathetic attempts to squirm free of his killer grasp.

"Thanks to you, its damaged, I'm sporting several burns, this party is going downhill quickly and my hopes of the perfect proposal just flew out the-"

He dropped the boys suddenly like rag dolls, his face draining of colour as he forced his shaky body to turn round. About a metre behind him stood Videl. Her violet eyes were bulging out of her head which was tilted sidewise as she stared at him. Little whimpers of bafflement escaped her mouth.

"Videl, I can explain… I- this- I…um… actually, I can't…"

He took a step towards her, and she dropped her gaze to the floor and her mouth shutting with a little snap. Everybody around them was too stunned to look away and didn't even hide it. The world could have been hurtling into a black hole but they wouldn't notice.

"I didn't want this to happen, you gotta understand that. I know you'd hate it in front of anybody," he cringed when her hands curled into tight fists by her sides, "and there's no flowers, no dinner, no prepared speech…" when her eyes squeezed shut in anger, Gohan actually gulped, his hands flying palm side up as a gesture of honesty.

"But I'm sorry! The boys found out- I didn't tell them! - and they've made my life hell for the past few hours al because I wanted to wait- I wanted to find that perfect moment and tell you the perfect words to show you just how perfect you really are, Videl… Videl?"

The young woman was breathing a bit too heavily for his liking. One look at her twitching eyes told Gohan to run- run and hide from his clearly embarrassed and mad girlfriend. His young face was a mask of pure terror when she suddenly snapped her eyes open. Leaping over to him, Videl pulled him down to her height for the second time that evening. The fire from the bonfire was mirrored perfectly in her violet eyes.

"That's why you've played Mr Weird on holiday? Because you thought I needed all those little things? My answer would always have been the same, you nerd!" She looked into his dark eyes, like those of a lost and scared little boy but with the first glimmers of hope shining in them. Lightly she kissed his lips and answered his unspoken question;

"Of course I will!"

After a moment of still silence, cheers erupted from the guests, many eager to congratulate the young couple, with Chichi releasing great sobs of heart-breaking joy into her oldest son's chest. Hercule picked up Videl in a big bear hug and Bulma was already at the intercom, ordering for some champagne to be brought outside, things just went from a get together to a full blown party!

/

Meanwhile, young Trunks and Goten cast a sideways cast at each other. The boys were still sitting on the floor where Gohan had dropped them. In all of the drama, the two had been easily forgotten. The majority of the crowd were now huddled a short distance away, with only Vegeta, Eighteen and Piccolo standing back. As it was, their attention was also fixed in the direction of the happy couple. Sharing a smile that can only be described as criminal, they both burst into a golden aura and sprung into the black night sky, much to the shock of everybody below.

They levitated in their Super Saiyan glory, laughing at how their mothers blasted out threats many, many feet below. In the park behind them, there were mumbles from the crowd, assuming this was all part of the show. They seemed to enjoy it anyway.

"Goten, get down from there right now!"

"Trunks, if you don't do as I say then you'll be sorry!-"

"What? I can't hear you-," called Trunks. In the corner of his sharp eye, he saw the flare of light signalling the firework people were setting off another round. "-over all the loud banging noises!"

On cue, the sky filled up with fireworks even grander than before. The timing of each rocket was perfect, a simple rhythm for the sparks to dance to. Between them weaved two little boys having the times of their life.

Above all of the noise was a terrible screeching. "Goku! Get up there now and bring him down!"

"You too, Vegeta! I refuse to have a lump of charcoal for a son!"

"But Chich, I can't see him or Trunks!"

"Those blasted brats are hiding because they know they're up to their necks in sh-"

Goku suddenly held up a finger. "Shh! Vegeta can you hear that?" Everybody strained their ears to hear beyond the flashy bangs and crackles. Yes, they could hear it too! Fuuuu-siiiooooon-HA!

"Oh no-" Piccolo groaned. A hundred feet in the air above them levitated a single glowing figure, laughing in its gravely double voice. Gotenks

"What's the matter everybody, not enjoying the show? The let's see what I can do to make it more interesting," he smirked. He fazed out of sight, appearing briefly on the very top of CC's family dome and grabbed something before taking a dive towards the crackling bonfire. In his hands he now carried a dark blue cylinder.

"Bombs waaaaay!"

With is perfect aim he dropped the firework, called Night Fury, into the open mouth of the flames and whizzing off again with a pilot's grace. It took only milliseconds before entire thing exploded with such force that it knocked the weaker ones to the floor, Puar colliding with the solid wall behind her. There was a mixture of stunned gasps and livid curses.

Gotenks scratched his head in mock worry. "Looks like they didn't enjoy that, let's see what else we've got! Lucky we hid all the other fireworks on different places!" He rubbed his chin in thought before snapping his fingers. "Better not be open to attack though."

Dropping to the ground, Gotenks made a run on foot behind a storage compartment. He observed how his mothers, plus Videl, Maron, Hercule, Buu and Puar, all made a break for inside. He could hear Vegeta swearing to kill those brats but Bulma interrupted him- apparently she wanted them alive so she could punish them herself. Inside, he heard the two vices of the doomed boys, by Gotenks shrugged them off. They were already in trouble, so it's not like stopping would let them off the hook. If they were going down, it would not be so lightly.

Gathering a small amount of energy, Gotenks began to blow out several ghosts. One after the other, a dozen of them was lined up and ready for orders.

"Ok, I want six teams to go to all the various locations I've hidden the fireworks and toss them into the fire one by one. Try to get keep everybody away from me, coz I'll be staying right here, with 'The Big Guy'," he said. At his feet was the big black box filled with a dozen types of the most expensive and famous fireworks- the mother of all explosives. "Make sure you keep one rocket each, and when I give the word, assume the position! Got it? Then go!" With several high pitched chuckles, the ghosts filtered out of sight.

From her spot by the window, Bulma slapped her hand to her forehead. "Of course, that Ghost technique! That must be what they were doing earlier! They never left the room- they simply sent those things to do their bidding! Those conniving little…" Still, she had to admit, it was so cleverly simple to leave even her stumped.

In the distance, the hidden Gotenks could hear his family and friends yelp in surprise or grunting to escape the explosions. One particularly squeaky one sent Gohan back several meters and through a nearby tree. He hoped it wasn't one of Mrs Brief's favourites.

Vegeta swerved a bright green streak in mid-air. His clothes, like the others, had several scorch marks. "I swear when I get my hands on those bastards I'm gonna-!"

"Argh, ah! Is my hair on fire? Son, is it on fire?" Frantically, Goku swiped at his black birds nest. There was a faint stream of smoke coming from the end like a candle wick.

Piccolo had long discarded his (used to be) white cloak, and now looked around him. It had been around thirty seconds since the last round of aerial attacks. "Is it over?"

"It's never over when it comes to those two-"

From out of nowhere there was a demanding double voice. "Assume your positions- NOW!"

"-see what I mean?"

At the highest point on the sky yet, twelve mini Gotenks swarmed about before spreading out into a roughly symmetrical shape, each holding up identical red tubes. The warriors below looked on in bewilderment as nothing happened for a long time before a golden figure flew up underneath it.

Without a word, it extended an arm up to the shape and shot one massive Ki blast. It managed to hit each red tube- recognised too late as Scarlet Rockets- leaving a crimson sparkle in its wake.

"Congratulations Gohan and Videl!" the boy hollered!

As each rocket simoutainiously burst into light, the mass shape formed into one massive red heart. Below them, the awww's of hundreds of civilians (still believing this to be part of an epic show) drowned out the mortified whimpers from Gohan, who was blushing as deep as his fiancé in the building.

As the soppy sight deteriorated into nothing, so did the ghosts. Turning around to face them, Gotenks didn't try to hide the grin on his face. "Did you miss me?"

All at once, the grown warriors made a dive for him, their hands inches away when his Fusion speed let him slip from their grasp. Looking behind them, they all blanched in fear when that smug tone rung out clear as a bell.

"And now, ladies and gentlemen, the moment you've all been waiting for…"

Turning on the spot, the watched in horror as Gotenks floated high above the fire, and in his hands he held the big black box that was a treasure chest as far as fireworks were concerned. When he raised it above his head like a trophy the others suddenly knew what was going on. "Shit!" they all cried in unison.

"The Big-Bang-Kaio-Ken-Beam of Death!"

Piccolo suddenly dive-bombed to the dark grass below, bellowing to his fellow warriors. "Hit the dirt, now!"

They all followed suit but just in time. The night sky became a mass void of anything- no sound, or movement at all- when Goten rapidly hurled it downwards, the air tense as the box fell though the sky. It was swallowed up by the now huge fire, its flames moving like waves in an ocean.

It was like dropping a bomb in your back garden. Great trails of sparks flew off in every direction and a gigantic pillar of flames jumped into the sky. The occupants of the house ran away from the window in fear of having shattered glass thrown in their face because of Gotenks deathly bomb. Around them, tree wavered with such force as the boom shook the ground and scattered the dry brown leaves over the covered fighters like one mass broom. They looked up in time to see a small mushroom cloud climb into the sky.

Stunned silence filed the world for a few precious moments before, in the next park, hundreds of earthling started cheering. Gotenks smiled in satisfaction as the people whooped and clapped his own private show. Maybe this could be his calling- to become a world famous pyro-technician?

"They love me!" he bowed in mid-air and stared to blow kisses in every direction. "They all love me-"

Zing! "GOTCHA!"

"Wha?" The fused boy attempted to turn around at the sound of the voice behind him when two think arms wound around his upper body, cutting off all movement. In the same second, he realised that Goku must have finally put his Instant Transmission to use.

Flying back towards the house, everybody soon gathered round. The boy knew that the second he was unfused, they were in for the scolding of a life time.

"Trunks! Goten! Unfuse right now!" Piccolo shouted.

"NO!" In vain, he struggled to escape, kicking his legs back and forth as though running. "Let me go, goddammit!" Goku's grip only increased.

This continued for only about two minutes, with only the boys struggles being the only sound. Finally, a soft white glow emanated from him. With quick reflexes, Goku shifted his grip to one boys forearm, whilst Vegeta swooped in and latched onto the other. The men jolted in opposite directions as finally Gotenks disappeared.

Goten's mouth quivered when he saw the look of disapproval on his father's face. At least he was allowed to stand on his own two feet- Trunks was slowly and menacingly lifted by his arm to his father's livid scowl. The ten year old gulped loudly.

The first word spoken in since their capture came from Bulma's stiff line of a mouth.

"I just knew you were up to something!"

/

"You were right."

Bulma looked up from her coffee at her husband. "Hm?"

"This will be a night I'll never forget," he chuckled. He didn't stop even when he saw the killer glare she gave him.

"It's not funny, Vegeta!" she ranted. "The grass outside is completely ruined, there's burn marks all-over the compound and poor Mr Piroe's worrying that his memories' going! Beside, do you have any idea of what'll be on the TV tomorrow? If I see so much as one picture of a Super Saiyan, then our son can forget ever seeing the light of day again!"

He stopped laughing but his smirk didn't fade. The woman's temper always served to cheer him up (he thought of it as fitting punishment for all the cock-teasing earlier). Oh he had been angry earlier, willing on beating the lads senseless then and there had the Son's not chosen that time to take their leave, along with pretty much everybody else. Only Krillin, Eighteen and Maron stayed because the little girl had enquired about "her end of the deal". With a sigh of defeat, Trunks told her to look under the bench. When she came bobbling back, she held onto her very own packet of sparklers as though it was the greatest treasure. The family then left the Briefs alone, the five year old completely oblivious to her parents dark moods.

He was roused from his thoughts by a repetitive thumping coming from down the hall. In a last ditch attempt to punish the boy, he had been thrown into a GR and sealed in under lock and key with only a pillow and a blanket for the night. Bulma forcibly put down her mug and glowered in that direction as their son went through another temper tantrum.

"Still, it was a pretty eventful night, wasn't it? What with Gohan and Videl's engagement?" relaxing slightly, Bulma gushed about how romantic it was. Vegeta was starting to zone out with utter boredom when she suddenly asked, "Do you remember ours? Engagement that it?"

He remained silent, looking away as his cheeks tinged pink.

"Well, I do. It may not have been as…"

"Sickening? Cheesy? Ostentatious?"

"I was gonna say 'magical'." She replied in a deadpan voice. "But it wasn't in any way less beautiful." She placed her small hand on his large one. Vegeta looked down at it for a while, noting how the dim light of their kitchen made her skin a milky white, in turn making his olive toned skin all the more richer. He had noticed that evening how the light from the explosions practically shimmered on her skin, changing colours with each flash, accentuating her beauty. He also noted with curiosity how she blinked with every bang and flinched with each pop, yet she never shrank away in fear. Baffling woman, he thought.

He turned his palm over to grasp hers, lifting it to his mouth now that they were away from prying eyes. He stood up and dragged her out of the door, ready to continue what they had started earlier. She was all too happy to comply. It seemed this evening really did go off with a bang.

/

A/N: So, what do you think?