I don't own DB/Z/GT or its characters, etc.

Author's NoteZ: Thank you to all of you who have read this long thing and to those of you who reviewed it. Without them, I wouldn't have been motivated to keep plugging away at this story. This is the conclusion of this particular fic, but remember, I have sevreal on-going fics and a brain that's willing to think up more new stories as well. :)

Now without further adieu...the conclusion/epilogue to "Introspective"--

a few months later...

With the babies being a few months old, their proud parents were now finding it difficult to keep up and had yet to fall into a 'routine'. Trunks was frequently caught napping at the office and Pan was doing the same on their sofa...at least until one of the kids wailed for attention. The three never did the same thing at the same time. This was what was driving their parents to exhaustion. On occasion that had assistance, usually in the form of one of their mothers who were now grandmothers or great-grandma ChiChi. Goten and Parisu tried to babysit once but found trying to manage three tikes too much.

3 am one very early morning...

One of the babies piercing wail shattered the temporarily peaceful silence of the night.

Trunks growled and groaned. Pan did the same then tapped Trunks' shoulder. "Your turn."

"I was just up. Isn't it yours?"

Pan scooted him off the bed with a foot on his butt. Trunks fell to the floor and Pan grabbed all the blankets. "Guess it's my turn." he mumbled as he stumbled his way towards one of the rooms. For now, all three were in the same room,but later, all would have their own rooms. Trunks was already in the process of converting the nearest guest room to their own into a third kid's room.

Moments later, the crying continued as Trunks returned to the bedroom. "I can't give him what he wants. I don't have the proper equipment to give him milk." Trunks smirked as he patted his chest then stole the blankets back from his wife and forced her to get up.

"Dende and the dragonballs could fix that y'know." she shot back as she trudged out of their room.

"Dende and the dragonballs...one of these days Dende, one of these days!" Trunks muttered to the ceiling.

Up at Kami's Tower Dende shrugged. He had no part of Trunks' pitfalls. The son of Vegeta was doing it all by himself. It wasn't his fault the half saiyan had the luck of a toad.

Soon silence was restored and Pan returned. Trunks was already sound asleep and completely snuggled in every bit of blanket. With a hmph, Pan went to their closet and took out a couple more blankets for herself. She returned to bed and relished in its soothing softness and warmth. She closed her eyes only to meet with another piercing wail to her ears. Trunks didn't stir. Prying the blanket and three pillows nearest his head away, Pan realized why. The smartass saiyan was wearing earplugs! She was about to thwap him and force him up, but then figured why bother. He had to go to work in a couple of hours anyway. He'd already blasted a new hallway into one of the foyers of the office building when anger from lack of sleep built up and felt the need to release it. His employees really didn't deserve a grumpy, half awake president every day. It was bad enough that employee morale was at an all time low due to the loss of their president's singleness. Whether they liked it or not, Trunks was a family man now albeit the fact he wasn't having the best go of it.

In the morning, Pan slept in as Trunks awoke for work. He didn't wake her but rather assumed the role of dealing with the tikes' morning bouts so she could sleep a little longer. One always seemed to know when daddy was awake and sure enough the wail came. Then two others. All were fed in the middle of the night so now all demanded fresh diapers.

Trunks opened the door to their room and was met with a rather unpleasant odor.

"Eeewww, you three are poop machines. Where is all that coming from? You're only drinking milk!" he mumbled to them as he pulled his shirt up to his nose. For a moment, he looked back into the hall towards his room once again. He really wanted Pan to deal with this, but he knew, she'd pelt him for not doing his part. As he began to change them he recollected his memories of the event that produced them.

"Y'know, I still can't believe those minutes in bliss gave me you three. Pleasure and pain really do go hand-in-hand. Ah well, at least now my mother, your grandmother, can't say I'm not doing my part to continue our line. I made up for lost years I guess." he muttered quietly to them as he changed the girl first.

"You're the easiest to change Panti. I'm not sure why, but I guess you're smart enough to realize that the easier you make it on daddy the faster you get out of that stinky thing." he told her as he quickly changed her without any struggle.

The larger, pudgy boy was next. He of course, liked to kick any part of his father he could reach. "You're definitely your grandpa's boy, Boxer. You're a bully who always seems to get what he wants. Guess that's why you're so much larger than your brother and sister. You stole all the nutrients and space from them. Grandpa will take interest in that, so I hope for your sake, you become a little more gentle as you get older. Otherwise, grandpa Vegeta's going to put you through a gauntlet of training."

When he got to the last boy, as usual, the little tike was all smiles...or was it a developing smirk?

"You're up to something. I know that smile." Trunks said to him as he removed the pungent diaper from him. When he turned to dispose of the dirty diaper and grab a new one, he heard a giggle. Turning back, the baby just stared at him with a goofy smirk.

"You make me nervous Jocke." Trunks replied. The little boy cooed and watched his daddy. When Trunks bent down to clean his little bottom up, Jocke let loose and peed. A little stream shot up and hit his father in the face.

"EEEiiiiicccckk! I knew you were up to something, little demon." Trunks replied as he turned and grabbed a baby wipe to clean his face. Jocke returned to his smiles and cooing as if nothing happened.

"I guess that was payback for you being the last and sitting in your dirty diaper the longest. Now your daddy's going to go to work and hear that he smells like baby wipes. You're gonna get daddy laughed at once again." Trunks replied as he completed changing the devillish little boy.

Giru found the loud, high-pitched cries of the babies to be harmful to his sensors. He also made the mistake of getting too close to Boxer, who grabbed the little robot by a leg and flung him side-to-side into the floor. Luckily Trunks was there to save Giru, but the little tike was displaying saiyan strength already. Trunks and Pan opted to keep the tails on their children for the time being. Trunks' sword was always ready (but hidden out-of-reach of little tots) in case of an emergency.

Once Trunks tended to the babies, he returned to tending himself. He drank several cups of coffee loaded with large amounts of sugar, ate a box of doughnuts, read the morning paper, then waited for the familiar sound of a car motor. Jimmy appeared with the limo within minutes. Trunks quietly departed for work as Bulma stepped out of the limo. She was rather enjoying lending her assistance and spending time with her grandchildren. She was becoming a typical grandma. Trunks shook his head. His kids were going to be as spoiled if not more so than he was and there wasn't much he could do about it. Between his mother, ChiChi, and Videl, these kids were going to get all the attention they could ever wish for. It was a good thing however, as Trunks and Pan needed a break now and then so they could enjoy time alone with each other. Most of the time, that alone time was spent laying on the sofa together munching on popcorn and watching a movie. They were too tired to do much else.

A couple years later...

One day, the exhausted couple was greeted with some unusual, but welcome relief. With Trunks needing a break from parenting to deal with an important out-of-town business meeting, Gohan and Videl offered to assist their daughter while he was away. Bulma had to run the company at home in Trunks' absence. The trio of tots were now nearly three and sporting their troublesome ways. All three showed advanced intelligence and motor skills. They were crawling, walking, and attacking everything and anything. Giru had already opted to 'live' with Bulma for a while. He'd been victim of one too many saiyan tot sneak attacks.

Gohan was finding it difficult to keep up as well. He and Videl only reared one and only one. He didn't have to deal with three, the same age, at the same time. And unfortunately for him, the tot trio knew it. They sensed fear or inexperience and utilized that knowledge in the best way two-year olds could.

"Hey, put that back young man!"

Jocke looked at Gohan, then ignored him and continued his attempt at the cookies inside the canister he had just managed to knock off a counter.

"Jocke, I said put it back."

By now, Gohan had made the mistake at drawing the attention of the other two. Boxer and Panti immediately teamed up with their brother in exchange for a share of the cookies.

"Videl dear, how about some assitance please?"

"Gohan, I'm kind of busy in here. Pan and I are cleaning up a mess in the bathroom. They have powder and toilet paper everywhere."

"Well, they're going to have cookies everywhere in a moment."

"Take 'em away from them dad."

"Pan, they've ganged up against me."

"Hang on, I'm coming."

Pan ran into the kitchen to see three devious tots prepared to defend their find like a lion over a carcass.

"Mine." Jocke said strongly as he watched his mother approach.

"Not yours. Daddy's. He'll be mad if you eat his cookies."

Jocke looked around. "Daddy not here. Mine."

"Mine too." Panti added.

"No, mine!" Jocke replied as he took away the cookie Panti had and then grabbed Boxer's as well. Boxer then grabbed Jocke's tail and bit down hard on it. Jocke wailed in pain. While the two boys were distracted, Panti grabbed a couple cookies and charged off into her room as fast as her little legs could take her. Suddenly the boys realized that their prizes were missing. They looked at their mother with begging eyes.

"Serves you two right. You both know you're not supposed to fight. Now, go to your rooms and don't come out until I say so."

Both sniffled as if they were about to cry. Jocke then opted to run to his grandfather as if to try and convince Gohan to argue his case.

"That won't work Jocke. Get to your room now bad boy.Just wait til your father hears about what you've been doing in his absence." Pan sternly replied.

Jocke immediately made a sour face and trudged off to his room. He was his father's son, always wanting to please his father. Both Pan and Trunks suspected that this boy was going to be Capsule Corporation's next president/CEO. He'd already displayed interest in daddy's work more than Trunks ever did when he was a child and was already displaying genius intelligence and creativity.

Boxer, the troublesome bully of the three was actually rather shy. He tried to hide this behind a show of strength which usually worked. Grandpa Vegeta saw a good portion of himself in this boy, but the kid lacked a warrior's heart just like his brother...and just like their father. Trunks never truly had a warrior's heart. Like Gohan, he fought when he had to, but often sought alternatives to physical fighting. This showed in his two boys as well despite their increased saiyan blood. Vegeta watched them carefully however. There was a chance they could change in time, particularly during their testesterone-charged teen years. It was then that Trunks had changed from a warrior brat to a smart, but lazy business-like type. Perhaps these boys who were already showing the dull-side would reverse and awaken their wild side later.

It was the little girl that, like her mother, displayed a warrior's heart. She was smart, devious, and slick. She knew how to get the best of her two brothers and even her parents. She showed no fear when her two brothers ganged up on her and often challeged the two physically, forcing the two brothers to back down. It was she that showed Boxer's weakness of all show and no bite. Like her father, she was kind and gentle most of the time, but if riled, she was a devil unleashed. If her parents would allow, it would be this child Vegeta would begin to train in the ways of a warrior.

All three took natural interest in learning the martial arts years later, but again, Boxer and Jocke seemed to use the techniques more for show and play much in the way Goten and Trunks did as children. Panti used the techniques to defend and fight. All three also displayed the Briefs genius intellect though Boxer and Panti, like their Aunt Bra, rarely displayed it outwardly. Jocke however, loved to study and work through mind puzzles. He took interest in Capsule Corporation's products and how they were created by watching his grandma Bulma. On days off from school, Jocke often asked to accompany his father to work. Trunks obliged and many employees were already anticipating this child to be their next leader. Jocke didn't mind of course, he loved the attention he was being given by all the employees. And by his teen years, was already assisting in the company and learning exactly how it was run. He'd take over the company upon graduating early from university at the age of 21 freeing up Trunks to become chairman so his aging mother could retire completely. The youngest president/CEO ever in the large corporation, Jocke attained the same popularity and liking as his father had and his youthful vigor and aggression struck fear in rival companies while comforting and strengthening ally companies. Also like his father, he married in his thirties, finding a mate in one of Marron's daughters thus restrengthening the fading bond between Krillin's family and the Briefs.

Pan had come to realize that in his teen years, Boxer was a bit different from the other two. The once bully was now taking interest in the things she did. He was a momma's boy. Eventhough Pan had indeed assumed co-presidency of Capsule Corporation, she worked only part-time while Trunks remained full-time. This allowed Pan to prepare dinners and whatnot for her family. Boxer often assisted her. He too, attended college, but had a rough time of it. He didn't like to be away from his mother. Like Gohan, he didn't move far from his parents' home. Like his grandma Bulma, he developed interest in inventing. He became an engineer and took over a good portion of creating products for Capsule Corporation. Slightly reclusive, it was soon revealed that he was gay. But even this was accepted by his open-minded parents though Pan would often joke about it with her husband by saying the she knew that other side was there somewhere in Trunks and that's where their son got it.

Panti, Pan and Trunks' only girl was a flirt like her Aunt Bra. She enjoyed shopping and socializing as well, but like mom, Pan, she also enjoyed kicking some butt now and then. This caused problems in getting dates. But she didn't mind. She was Earth's next gen defender...a warrior tried and true like Goku and Vegeta. When not socializing,etc. she could be found training or entering tournaments. It was she who returned reign back to the Satan's and Son's (and Briefs') as new reigning champion of the Tenkaichi Budoukai. She had a gentle, intelligent side to her as well. She was one of Earth's top scholars and writers. She never married or had any children.

As for Pan and Trunks, they lived out their lives in a loving bond that never faded. Through good and bad, their togetherness was their strength. They raised three successful kids, lived up to expectations both their families had for them, and continued to fulfill their dreams and desires. The saiyan blood continued. Kakarrot and Vegeta bloodlines were now as one aside from those of the Goten/Parisu marriage and those of Bra and her mate's. The Earth was assured a new generation of Z warriors to defend it and so, tradition continued for many more years to come.

THE END. :)

Hope you enjoyed this 20 chapter story as much as I enjoyed writing it. Now I gotta get back to writing some of my other stories that I put "on hold" so I could complete this one.