Five minutes to seven. How ironic.

Chi-Chi stared unblinkingly at her slumbering husband, scrutinising and memorising his face's every contour. She was afraid that if she averted her eyes away, even for just the skin of a second, he would miraculously disappear just as suddenly as he had miraculously re-appeared. She was still finding the information that he was supposedly back for good hard to swallow.

Absentmindedly, she rubbed one of her raw, puffy eyelids with the back of her hand, golden wedding ring glinting as it caught the watery morning sunlight streaming through the crack between the velvety curtains. There was nothing left to cry about anymore and no tears physically left to cry. Seven years, nearly to the date shockingly enough. Seven whole years in which she had tried to bring up two children alone, live out in the woods alone, provide for a family alone….

And then one morning, quite suddenly, there he is filling the indent his body had left in the mattress she never quite got around to throwing out. It was almost like he had never left in the first place.

She was happy. Oh God, she was happy. She was so elated that her blood ignited and fizzed like fire when she looked at him, urging her to trash and writhe with ecstasy and excitement like the little princess bent on getting things her way that really was at heart. Pure bliss and joy filled her up inside, surging through every corner of her being so powerfully that she felt numb from the shock of it. The happiness disabled her, making her too weak to stand on her trembling legs.

But more than anything she was scared. She was more terrified of him returning than she had been of him leaving. She was so scared of falling hopelessly in love with him all over again, like the little girl she really was at heart. She was so frightened that the last seven years of buried heartache could be rewritten in one passionate night or forgotten about over the course of the next few weeks when life finally settled into a vaguely mundane, but at least safe, pattern. She was afraid of getting close to him again, only to have him leave for whatever reason and rip her heart out so painfully it was almost physical.

… They definitely needed 'to talk'.

Honestly, it was getting to be a very vicious cycle. But Kaios and Kamis be damned, he looked so beautiful laying there that he was magnetic.

Slowly, Ch-Chi drank him in, wanting to reach out but afraid he might melt away under her touch, disintegrating like a sand sculpture in the waves. Light dappled sensually across his bulging torso and his lightly-toasted skin was pulled taught over his rippling, lithe abdomen, just as deliciously as she remembered. Lush, glossy tufts of wild hair sprouted like a shaggy rug from his head, but each firm spike was deliberate and delicate, looking so soft to the touch but equally as pointed and lethal. Dark bangs draped and parted over thick eyebrows, his face more mature and angular than she last remembered it.

His whole body was immersed in some sort of ethereal, otherworldly glow; he looked a true alien beauty, his appearance alone making it not so hard to believe he really was sent to conquer earth in a steely spherical space-ship.

Cautiously, Chi-Chi reached out a timid hand and experimentally placed it on one of his strapping pectorals. The glowing warmth of his body pricked her palms and burnt the pit of her stomach. Lightly, her thumb massaged the supple skin in circles, her hand tiny in comparison to his imposing chest. She jerked back when he mumbled something incoherent and sleepy in reply, and started the motion again when he sighed in content from between blossoming lips. Gradually, she moved her hand higher and placed it fondly on one of his established cheek bones. Nuzzling instinctually against her palm, his mouth twitched into a vague smile.

Languidly, he opened his eyes and peered at her from behind sooty eyelashes. Her breath hitched in her throat, caught in the moment.

BBZZZZZZZZZZZZ!

The alarm clock wailed for attention, bouncing up and down and rattling against the bedside table.

Chi-Chi sprung up from between the spongy bed covers, reaching for the resounding alarm in fear of it waking the children. Yesterday was monumental and they needed as much sleep as they could get before emotionally adjusting to Goku's spontaneous return. Besides, she wanted to steal him to herself for a little while too. Yesterday, the entire family had crashed out from exhaustion before she had a chance to. He was never one for public displays of affection, however platonic it could turn out to be.

"Don't worry, I'll get it." yawned Goku, lazily groping for the alarm clock with one hand. Eventually, his fingers met with the snooze button and pressed down, flattening the plastic into a pancake and sending sharp screws rolling across the table top. The clock went into its final death-throws, woozy bleeping dying out until the bedroom fell to perfect silence.

With the enemy suitably defeated, Goku groaned and groggily pulled the bed-sheets over his and Chi-Chi's heads, hiding them from the world and its invading sunlight for just a few more minutes. He pulled his wife's warm body to his, pressing her back against his abdomen and nesting his face against her hair. The smell of sweat, sleep and yesterday's perfume filled his nostrils and he revelled in the scent. It was good to be back.

"That was my alarm clock, idiot." Ch-Chi retorted, trying her hardest to sound angry as she melted into the brawny arms engulfing her body.

"Sorry," Goku whispered simply, feeling his wife jump as his languorous lips sought her slender neck. "I'm sorry." He whispered again, both of them aware of its double meaning as his powerful hands stroked her sides indolently; sleep tugging at them into a dizzy darkness.

"S'okay…" Chi-Chi mumbled, another wave of darkness crashing over her as she was lulled to sleep by his embrace. She could hear the first scuffling of feet from Goten as she deliberately put off cooking breakfast, dragging out the time between her and Goku as long as possible.

An unknown number of minutes later, she actually felt his stomach lurch into a violent earthquake.

"Chi-Chi," he complained, his voice taking on the notion of a whinging child. "I'm really hungry."

Quirking into a fond smile, she rolled over in his arms and feathered a soft kiss on his lips. He sought into it eagerly.

"What do you want for breakfast?" she giggled, blushing like a bride and pressing her tiny, ski-jump nose against his.

"Everything." He sighed, trying to seek her lips to capture them in another fluttering kiss.

"…We'll see if we have that in the freezer."

With a final appreciative peck on the lips, he sealed the plaster he had placed on the gash in her heart. Five minutes past seven. It had taken ten minutes and she was already grinning like a soppy idiot, a loved up teenager, an idealistic little princess.

… It really wasn't his fault he had to go; at least she had him back now, right?

Things were far from perfect, but when had they ever been. At least it was a start.

Propping himself up on strong elbows, Goku watched Chi-Chi haul herself off of the mattress and swagger down the hallway, a signature, goofy smile splitting his face. His sensitive ears perked up as he heard his eldest son's deep voice sound "Mom, I'm hungry. Is dad awake yet?" from his bedroom. It was hard to adjust to that voice, certainly not the one he had left behind or the one he heard echo from the past in his head during his time in the Otherworld. Nevertheless, a strange, warm feeling surfaced in his chest and beat steadily with his heart. The feeling felt good; it felt good to be back, it felt good to be caressed, it felt good to caress, it felt good to talk to his sons, and it felt VERY good to eat Chi-Chi's cooking. … Goku didn't cry, but if he did, he definitely could right now.

"Surprise!" resonated from the kitchen; this time exclaimed in Goten's voice and followed by a shrill female scream and a clattering of silverware.

…Marriage may not have been Goku's greatest adventure yet, but it and all of its hybrid by-products certainly were for Chi-Chi.

A/N:

(SPOILERS. RUN!)

Seven years is roughly the time between Goku's 'sacrifice' at the Cell Games and his return from fighting Buu, when he is granted a new life and goes to live back with his family.

The first chapter is set the morning after Goku and Chi-Chi are first married in the final episode of Dragon Ball. The second chapter is set the morning after Goku's return from fighting Buu.

Thank you for reading, this couple need more love, I think. Reviews are lovely.

Unbeta'd.

- Diplodoco