A/N: Hey! Sorry for such the long wait. I've actually been busy since summer started back at the end of May. I can't believe it's almost July already. I don't want summer to be over yet! Well, enjoy the chapter! :D
My eyes follow every movement on her face as my words sink in. "Move back in!" she shrieks. "Now of all times! What made you choose now!" I sigh heavily and lean back in my chair, crossing my arms over my chest. Well, I need to figure out if that son-of-a-bitch Vegeta knocked you up. Of course I can't say that, though I wish I could. Both of our ears perk up as we hear stomping above us, followed by the sound of feet flying down a staircase.
"Mom, is Daddy here?" says my youngest son. His eyes go wide as he enters the kitchen and sees me sitting across from his mother. "Daddy! It is you!" Goten flies into me, knocking the air right out of my lungs. My heart smiles knowing that he's become so strong.
"Hey, squirt! Man, you sure are getting strong, eh?" I kiss his forehead and ruffle his hair. I look up to see Chichi with her arm on the table, holding her head up. She's obviously mad over the fact that Goten cares so much more about fighting than studying, but hey, whose fault is that? She's the one who taught him how to fight while Gohan was locked away studying.
Goten nods his head feverishly. "Yeah! Trunks and I train everyday! Sometimes, when I'm at Trunks' house, Uncle Vegeta lets us use the Gravity Room. He never lets us go past a hundred, though." His mouth falls into a scowl–so much like Chichi's that it takes me aback–and his arms come up to cross over his chest. "It's not fair, Dad! Trunks and I can practically fly through that gravity! We don't even have to become Super Saiyans!" I chuckle as Chichi rolls her eyes and ruffle Goten's hair again.
"Vegeta's only looking out for the two of you." I have no idea why I'm sticking up for the guy. "The Gravity Room can be an awfully dangerous place, you know?" Chichi looks in my direction as I go further into my explanation. "I almost killed myself in the Gravity Room!"
Goten's eyes widen again. "Really, Dad! When was this?"
"Back when Gohan was about your age. Has he ever told you about a place called Namek?"
Goten smiles. "No, but Piccolo did. Piccolo said that it's his home planet, and that Dende was born there. He also mentioned something about some guy named Guru, but I was too preoccupied with how those little things on his head twitch when he gets mad."
I laugh and lean back in my seat. "Well, remind me to tell you about it sometime, okay? Your mother and I need to finish talking."
"Oh," he says, "okay. Sorry, Mom. I didn't know you and Dad were talking."
Chichi waves her hand and smiles. "It's fine, dear. Now, come give me a kiss and go get started on some of your homework, okay?" My face twitches at the word. Yeah, that word. Nonetheless, Goten hugs me a final time and kisses his mother. He waves to the both of us and heads back up the stairs.
"You make him study, too?" I say.
"Of course," she says, nonchalantly. "It's the only way he'll ever get into a good school like our Gohan." She pauses, then looks to the window above the sink. "Goku," she says, softly, "you know it was Gohan's birthday not too long ago, right?" Reluctantly I nod my head, feeling the mood of the conversation beginning to spiral downward. "Did you see him?"
"Yes," I say, taking every inch of my willpower to say it. "I brought over some dinner." I decide to keep the gift Goten and Trunks gave him out of the conversation.
"Enough to feed the three of you?" she states, obviously referring to Videl.
I can't help but laugh. "Of course, Chichi. I'm not that rude." She smiles softly and turns her attention back to me.
". . . I worry about Goten sometimes." My eyes blink up to her own and my face shifts. "Sometimes I think he's going to have a rougher time fitting in than Gohan . . ."
"Why do you think that?" I ask. "If anything, Goten is better equipped at handling social situations. I have to say that having Trunks as a friend surely is a benefit. Gohan never had any friends growing up."
"That's true," she agrees, playing with a lone crumb on the surface of the table. "All he had was Piccolo, and Krillin." Chichi sighs again and shakes her head. "I don't know, I just have this gut feeling that he's going to accidentally blow his cover once he gets older in a game of baseball or something!"
"What's the worse that can happen? Can't he get into school on an athletic scholarship, anyway?"
She shoots me a look that sends shivers down my spine. "Goku, didn't you just listen to what I said! Goten would never last! Goten's only bet is to do well in school, just like Gohan!" Her eyes are filled with ice as they break through my facade. Chichi knows I was only trying to give her some false hope. She's smarter than me. It's stupid of me to believe it would work. She sighs for what seems like the tenth time that evening and gets up, walking toward the kitchen sink. "Look, Goku," she begins, "I know you don't see the importance of education, but that's because you aren't . . ."
My ears twitch with her words. Chichi has a tendency to pick on me due to my Saiyan heritage. It is as if she was never able to come to terms with that fact that she is married to an alien. She has always hated me for it.
"I'm not what, Chichi?" I decide that if I press her on the subject she'll eventually spill, though she shakes when I stand up. "What aren't I, Chichi? You've been dying to say it to me for years, haven't you? Ever since you learned what I was." I begin to shorten the distance between us. She begins to back further and further into the corner. "But it was too late by then, wasn't it, Chichi? You had already given me a son." She looks over her shoulder once she realizes she has gone as far as the walls of the kitchen allow. I slam my hand against the wall, right next to her head, and gently grab her face with the other. I speak to her, voice low and husky: "The son of a monster, of a fiend, of a devil . . ." I tilt my head to the side, closing the gap between our lips. "The man you loved turned out to be a monster, a fiend, a devil, and his child grew inside you, sucking the very life out of you." I am speaking only to her lips now. "With each passing day your stomach swelled," I say as my hand falls from her face to rest on her stomach, "and your body became weaker. You were dying in order to birth this demon's child, and you did it all with a smile."
As my hand lies on her stomach, I notice that it is distended; a tiny swell, like that of an early pregnancy. ". . . And you're willing to do it a third time," I remark, my eyes living her lips to meet with her own. "Except, this isn't any ordinary demon we're dealing with." I laugh, and her eyes grow wide as I lean in toward her ear. "No, we're dealing with the prince of all demons, now!"
Chichi whips her head away from me and shoves me back a couple of steps. Fire has overcome her fear, and I can see it dancing in her dark eyes. At this moment she hates me, and I am convinced I have gone too far. "Yes, Goku, you're a beast. A fowl, horrible, dreadful beast! Is that what you want to hear! The struggle I went through day after day once I learned exactly what I had married and what I had given a child! To know that my own son was an alien took a while for me to get over! To know that my own husband, who I had given my body fully to, was an alien took me even longer to get over!" She looks away and takes a deep breath, a hand raising to her stomach. "While this might not be your child inside of me, I have come to realize that you Saiyans are capable of love, just as us humans are. Yes, you are brutes, but you would never raise a hand to your own family." She smiles. "Even Vegeta, fowl tempered Vegeta, would never lay a hand on Trunks, or even Bulma for that matter!"
She is right, in every way possible. Vegeta is even more well mannered than I am when it comes to laying hands on his family. The times I have accidentally hit Chichi too hard, the times I have thrown her far up into the air . . . I have to give credit where credit is do. It would be wrong of me to deny it. However, instead of telling Chichi she was right, I merely take my place again at the table. My elbows come up to rest on the top of the tiny table, and my head falls into my hands. I rub my fingers roughly over my temples, and shake my head, as if to rid myself of a shock. "Chichi," I begin, voice quiet, "do you even want to get back together?"
Her eyes grow wide once the question sinks in. Chichi scratches the back of her neck as she takes the seat across from me, adverting her eyes. "I'm not so sure," she finally says. "It was much easier when I wasn't pregnant."
"What was your answer then?" I press.
". . . Yes," she states.
A/N: Yeesh, this is a pretty sticky situation, isn't it? What will Chichi's ultimate decision be? All shall be revealed in time . . .