" The Long and Winding Road "

Written By: Debs-dragon

Disclaimer: I don't own any of the Dbz crew. Matty belongs to himself, any other characters are either mine or belong to themselves ^_^

Android arc # 6

THE LONG WINDING ROAD"

2001 Debs - dragon

For Matty.....

 

Chapter 2

Juuhachigou picked her way slowly & carefully over the rubble. There wasn't much left of the original structure. When the Z fighters had destroyed the lab they had done a thorough job. She made her way across to the base of the mountain, part of the cave still stood. She made her way inside. Any equipment that had survived the Z fighters destruction had long since been picked over by scavengers, only useless skeletons remained. But at least it was shelter and in one sense.... home.....

She sat in the darkness, the silence overwhelming her. The tears again began to run free, zig zagging down her cheeks and making little craters in the dust at her feet. "Oh 17." she whispered, "What is it I must do to achieve peace & happiness?" Just when she thought she had managed to put all the sadness & heartache behind her this had to happen.

The more she thought about it the more miserable she became. Really she couldn't blame Matty, he did work hard and had never denied her anything. He never demanded anything from her either. He had given her a home, fed her and clothed her without expecting anything in return. He gave her everything, even his unconditional love.

And what had she given him?

She sighed, all this mental sparring was wearing her out. She dried her tears. She had a lot of thinking to do, a lot to sort out in her head. She moved further into the dark recess of the cave. Night was beginning to fall, she may as well spend it here. There wasn't any point in going back to Matty's, not yet anyway, not until she had figured out what it was she wanted to do. She curled up on some old rags she found at the back of the cave and began to think things through.

Matty drove around the city looking for her. He visited all her usual favourite spots but never caught so much as a glimpse of her. He parked the car and got out to walk. He called at all her favourite shops, speaking to the people who worked there but no one had seen her. He stopped at a cafe & ordered a coffee. While he drank it he got out his mobile phone and called all of his and her friends, but she hadn't contacted or shown up at any of their places. As a last ditch attempt he thought about calling her old boyfriend Krillin but then decided against it. As much as she was fond of Krillin she wouldn't have given him the satisfaction of knowing they had had an argument.

He paid for his coffee and went back to his car. He drove around for another hour but still couldn't find any trace of her. Eventually it was getting too dark to see so Matty turned the car & headed for home. With any luck she had made her way home and would be waiting for him. The house was shrouded in darkness, he parked the car & unlocked the front door. He flicked on the light switch.

"Juu?" he called, hoping for an answer but not at all suprised when non was forthcoming. He threw his keys on the table & removed his jacket. He went through to the lounge & turned on the TV. The noise gave him some form of comfort, at least it was better than the sound of the oppressive silence that abounded. He checked the answering machine..... nothing, just the usual message from his mother about looking after himself. He went through to check her room. Everything was still in its place, she hadn't been back. Softly he cursed and went to the fridge.

As he drank his beer he held some comfort knowing that at least she would have to come home at some stage as all her belongings were still here. He continued to run through a list of places and people where she could have gone or contacted and one by one mentally ticked them off. He looked at his watch, 9pm, it was getting late Damn it! Where could she be? He was beginning to get really worried. He knew she was strong enough to take care of herself but that didn't ease his conscience. She was out there, somewhere, alone and upset and it was all his fault.

Why hadn't he explained their situation to her a lot clearer ? Then all of this could have been avoided. He knew that he had no right to have lost his temper with her the way he did, It want her fault that he was having problems with the supervisor at work, he hadn't told her as he didn't want her to worry about it.

( A.N. ^_^ Damn that supervisor, he has to spoil everything...)

The last credit card statement had been the final straw and before he knew it he was taking out his frustration's on her. He groaned as he recalled their harsh words. Oh how he wished he could take all those words back. He would give anything to have her in his arms right now, to hold her, to tell her how sorry he was. He crushed the empty can and threw it into the rubbish bin...hard...

He went to bed but couldn't sleep. He lay staring at the ceiling, the argument playing over and over in his head. He sighed in exasperation and rolled over. Staring out the window the stars twinkled back at him. "Where are you?" he asked mentally. As he wrestled with the question a thought popped into his head. Surely not? Why hadn't he thought of that before? He threw back the bed clothes & pulled on a shirt & jeans. He ran his fingers through his hair as he grabbed his keys from the table & headed out the door. This would be his last chance. With any luck she would still be there. He drove to the outskirts of the city and on into the mountains. He didn't stop till he got to the area where Dr Gero's lab once stood. He got out of the car and began to walk towards the pile of rock & rubble.

Carefully he picked his way over the debris. He shone the torch around looking for any possible clue as to where she might be hiding. Nothing. Undeterred he continued his search. As he made his way deeper into the rubble he noticed a shadow by the rock face. He moved towards it and shone the torch around. It was a cave, but more importantly he saw in the dust a footprint. His heart began to race. It had to be hers, and what's more there was only one set, going in. Nothing coming out which meant she still had to be here.

Carefully he worked his way through the remaining machine carcasses and deeper into the cave.

She sensed his Ki long before he got to the cave. Part of her was still angry, angry at him for the harsh words they had exchanged. But the majority of her was happy. The fact that he had managed to track her down showed her that really he did care.

He shone the flashlight around. "Juu" he called, "Juu, are you there?"

She held her silence.

The beam caught something. He swung the light back and shone it around. The beam picked up on a sneaker, then going further... a leg. "Juuhachigou." said Matty, the relief at having finally found her was evident in his voice.

"Hi Matty." she whispered.

He reached forward & taking her hand pulled her up and into his warm embrace.

She shivered against him.

He rubbed his hands up & down her arms trying to warm her. "Come on, lets go home." he said softly.

"Are you sure you still want me in your home?" she asked sadly.

"Of course, what sort of a question is that." he replied. "Lets get you home & cleaned up. Then I think we have a lot to talk about & sort out." He put his arm around her shoulders and pulled her close to him as they picked their way back out of the cave & over to his waiting car.

"How did you know I would be here?" she asked as they drove home.

"I looked everywhere else that I thought you could possibly be, I even thought about checking your ex's place."

She smiled at the thought of that!

He continued. "Then I was thinking where would I go if I needed to be alone & sort things out and I came up with the lab. It just seemed to me that you would go back to your roots to try to find the answers....." He rubbed his hands on the steering wheel, "Does that make any sense at all to you?"

She nodded & put her hand on his arm, "You know me better than I know myself at times." she replied.

They pulled into the driveway. Once inside Juuhachigou headed for the bathroom.

"I'll make you something to eat while you have your shower." he said & went into the kitchen. "Thanks." she replied.

"That was so nice, thankyou Matty." said Juuhachigou as she finished the meal Matty had made for her.

"Knew I should have been a chef." he chuckled. He put his hand on hers, "We need to talk." he said.

She nodded, "I know"

"Look hear me out first, dont say anything just listen, then when I'm finished you have your say and I'll listen. Then we can work from there." He stared deep into her eyes.

"Okay" she said. "But you will need to be totally honest with me. If your not then there's no point to this." she said.

He grinned, "Dont worry, I'll be brutally honest."

She smiled back, at least they were making some sort of progress.

He took a deep breath and began.

She listened intently as he told her everything, from their financial position to the problems he was having at work. When he had finished he looked carefully at her, searching her face for a clue as to what she could be thinking.

She swallowed and then began. Hers was a much shorter story. Now that she understood the workings of the money system she could understand and appreciate his concerns. "Why didn't you tell me all this before?" she asked.

"I didn't want to worry you" he said.

"I'd rather you worry me than us end up fighting like this." she got up and walked around the table to Matty. She sat on his lap and entwined her arms around his neck. "I have seen and experienced enough fighting and heart ache to last me until eternity. The last thing I need is more of it." she sighed & put her head on Matty's chest.

He put his arms around her waist & pulled her warm body close to his. "Lets not fight ever again." he whispered.

"I'll hold you to that." she replied softly.

He stroked her hair. "Err... Juu?"

She raised her head slightly, "yes?"

"I'm afraid I haven't been completely honest with you." he said.

"You mean theres more?" she said trying to keep the sound of suprise out of her voice. She shifted slightly in his lap.

He ran his finger down under her chin & tilted her face up to look at his. "Ummm....theres something else I need to tell you..."

She sat up & waited for him to continue.

"I'm not very good with words or expressing my feelings but I'll try." He stumbled over the words.

"Come on, spit it out. I'm not getting any younger here." she said, her eyes dancing with amusement at his obvious discomfort.

"Well while you were gone I did some deep thinking, and well, I really missed you, and umm, realised just what you mean to me, and err.... that is.... I..."

Juuhachigou stared at him. "Matty, just what is it you are trying to say?"

He swallowed hard then took a couple of deep breaths and wiped his sweaty palms on his jeans.

"Juuhachigou, I can't live without you, Please do you think you could.... err...... ummm..... Oh god... Juu, would you marry me?" He sighed deeply, at last he had got enough courage up and managed to ask her. Now all he had to do was wait for her reply. He searched her face for a clue, there was none. Her eyes were completely closed off to him.

She reached forward and wrapped her arms around him, pulling him in close. "I thought you would never ask." she said huskily and then kissed him, putting everything she had into the kiss.

"I'll take that as a yes." thought Matty to himself.

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