Chapter Text
He was late. Again.
“Man, Chi-Chi is gonna kill me’’, he said while he was flying back towards his house on Mount Paozu.
His wife had sent him grocery shopping in the morning, specifying that he had to be back on time for dinner. Chi-Chi had mentioned something about a good news she wanted to share with him. As always, he had promised that he would make it back on time, and as always, he had broken his promise. He really had meant to go shopping and come back home right away for once, but as he wandered in the sky heading towards the city, he noticed a clearing he had never seen before. That'd make a great training spot!, he had thought. He had then landed on his feet and had begun throwing some punches in the air. And there he was, flying at full-speed in the pitch-black sky, his clothes partially destroyed and filthy. He was over three hours late and wasn't even coming back with groceries. She definitely was going to kill him.
When he arrived in front of his house, he tried to land as silently as possible. He hoped that Chi-Chi would already be asleep so he would have time to think about a good excuse during the night. Obviously, he did not have such chance. As he snuck a peek through the dining room's window, he saw his wife and sons sitting around the table laughing over something. At least, she seemed to be in a good mood, something that had become quite rare with Chi-Chi in the past years. She would always complain about the fact that he did not have a job, that he was unpredictable, always running away to some place to train, leaving her alone without money to take care of their sons.
He sighed before opening the door. As soon as he stepped inside the dining room, he closed his eyes, preparing himself for his wife's wrath. But it never came.
“Hey, honey! We were waiting for you!’’. He opened his eyes and looked at Chi-Chi, she was smiling at him from across the table. “Come, sit down, I'll go get dinner’’. He said before standing up and going to the kitchen.
This is weird, he thought, stunned. She did not mention his terrible look, nor the fact that we was late once again and came back empty handed. Hell, she didn't even look mad.
“What's going on with her?’’, Goku whispered to the boys with wide eyes.
“I don't know, she was in a really good mood all day. She wasn't even angry I didn't do my homework.’’ Goten said still in owe at his mother's reaction. Usually she would shout and sermon him about how important it was that he studied hard so he could go to university and have a job to support his family. But today, she had brushed it off. She had smiled and told him it was okay. Worse than that, she had not asked him to do it right away and offered him to play a board game instead.
“Goten's right, dad. I don't think I have ever seen her like that.’’ The older of the two brothers said. ‘‘Did you do something to make her this happy?’’.
“No! Look at me, I'm a mess. I stopped on my way to the city to train and completely forgot about shopping...’’
At that moment, Chi-Chi re-entered the room with a trail of food. “There you go, boys! Enjoy!’’.
The atmosphere was really bizarre throughout dinner. Chi-Chi did not stop smiling, asking her sons questions about school, their friends, even about training. Goku kept looking at her with wide eyes, trying to understand what was going on with his usually constantly angry wife. Then, something came to his mind: she had told him about a great news she wanted to share with them. Maybe that's the reason she was acting this way? But what sort of news could have made her this happy? He frowned, trying to come up with possibilities, comparing it with other times she had been this cheerful before. All these memories were from a long time ago: when they were kids and he had agreed to marry her, their actual wedding, when they had moved into their house on Mount Paozu, when she had learnt about her first pregnancy... All this was from more than twenty years ago, since then she had changed. A lot. She had become a completely different person. A mom, over-protecting her sons, only caring about their education, the fact that they would get a real job. Not like their useless father, Goku thought. She was always irritated and cold. Their relationship had been different since he had died for the first time, like something had been broken between them when he had left for Otherworld. They were not as happy as before. The sensations Goku had felt at the beginning of their marriage, when they got to know each other, these palpitations, this overwhelming happiness, had not been here in such a long time. These days, they only rarely shared intimacy and every time it felt more like something they had to do because they were married than something they really wanted to do. Now that Goku thought about it, sex had never actually been great between them. He often had talked about it with Roshi, Krillin and Yamcha when they were younger, and the three other men had always described it as something that was supposed to feel amazing, something you could never get enough of, a need that came directly from your guts when you saw the other person. But for Goku... it was not something he hated, it was good, kinda, but he would rather be training than lay in bed with his wife.
Bulma had once asked him during one of their talks if he was still in love with Chi-Chi. Goku had immediately answered that of course he was still in love with her. But then he started thinking. He did not really know what love was. Sure, he loved his sons, and his friends, and ramen, but he knew it was not was Bulma meant by it. He'd never really understood what love exactly was. Bulma had explained to him what it was, when he was still a kid and she was desperate to find a boyfriend. Yet, he had difficulties to grasp the concept and the implications lying behind it. He only had had one woman in his life, and he had only married her because of a promise he had felt he had to fulfill. He really thought he had loved her at some point, he had felt all these sensations Bulma had said some things were linked to love: the light-heartedness, the happiness, the need to be close to one another, the mutual caring. But all this was long gone or had never been there in the first place. So maybe, he was not in love with her anymore, maybe he had never been, but either way he would never leave her. She had done some much for him over the twenty years they had been together. She had given him two great sons, that he loved very much. She had taken care of him, cooked for him every night of everyday. He sure cared about her, even only as a friend, he could never leave her. Yeah, he would stay with her forever even though he was not in love with her. He could not tell her this, that he did not love her, he knew it would destroy her, and he could never do this to Chi-Chi.
The joyful mood had stayed all along the evening. Goku had enjoyed it. It was particularly pleasant to have dinner without yelling. After, the boys had gone to bed, Chi-Chi stood behind him while he was still seated on the couch, putting her frail arms around his shoulders . Goku was still lost in his thoughts when he felt her caressing lovingly his biceps. He looked over at her, she was smiling lightly.
“Hey, go take a shower and come to bed. I have to tell you something, I think it will make you very happy’’, she told him before kissing the back of his head and walking towards their bedroom.
He did as told and went to take a shower. He kept thinking about what “great news’’ Chi-Chi could have for him while washing away the sweat and the dirt from his day of training. While putting on his pajamas he threw the towel he had used for his hair over to the laundry basket, but missed. When he bent down to pick it up, he noticed something weird laying at the bottom of the bin. It looked like a small technological device with a screen. He picked it up, looked at it and frowned. He was sure he had seen it before. Was it one of Bulma's creation? No, it couldn't, there was no CC logo on it. Then, what was it? Suddenly, an old memory came to his mind.
He was lying down at the bottom of tree on Mount Paozu. He had just finished a very successful training and has recovering from it, dosing off in the fresh breeze. Suddenly, he heard a voice calling his name from afar. It was Chi-Chi, running towards him a huge grin on her face. She was still so young, her eyes sparkling with happiness. He stood up and she went crashing into his arms.
“Goku...’’, she whispered, nuzzling against his neck.
When she pulled away from him, she put a small electronic device in front of his eyes. He was sure he never had seen such thing before.
“Look Goku!’’, He looked at her, puzzled, not quite understanding what it all meant.
“I don't really know what I'm looking at Chi-Chi...’’
‘‘I'm pregnant, silly! You are going to be a dad!’’
A pregnancy test that's what it was! But why on Earth... Oh! Everything made sense suddenly. Her happiness, the great news she had wanted to share with him...
Another child? Goku was not quite sure that's what he wanted. He already had two children! And even though he loved them both to bits, he knew he was not a really great dad. Having been dead for most part of his sons's lives and having been off training for the great majority of the remaining time. Even with Gohan when he was a small kid, he had not really been there, and when he was, he did really know what to do with him. How could they have another baby now?! Kami, they were old enough to be grand-parents! And Chi-Chi... she was aging way faster than he was. He had noticed a growing number of grey hair on her scalp, her skin wasn't has smooth as it used to; she was weaker too.
He needed more time to think about it. How would he react when Chi-Chi would tell him as soon as he got out of the bathroom. Yeah, he definitely need more time... Several months, even years to think about it... But Chi-Chi was waiting for him now, and if he ran away for years, he would once again miss the birth of one of his children. He needed to gain some time but how? He needed years when he only had minutes, how could he...? The hyperbolic time chamber! Goku thought. Yeah, he could go spend some time in it to think about it, and he would only have been gone a few days in reality. That was a great plan. But he did not want to go alone. Maybe he could ask Bulma to come with him. He and Bulma usually talked about that kind of stuff, they had great chats about serious subjects. Bulma understood relationships way better than Goku did and she provided great advice. He even helped her in her relationship with Vegeta sometimes. Vegeta... Maybe he could go with him. They would train and spar, it always helped him think, helped clear his mind. Vegeta was a wise man, at least in Goku's opinion. He might be able to help him with his problem too... Yeah, Vegeta was a great option. Not dwelling too much on this, he instant transmissioned to Vegeta right away, placing two fingers on his forehead.
He arrived in the middle of Bulma and Vegeta's bedroom, They were both lying in bed, Vegeta seemingly asleep on his side, while Bulma was reading a book. She jumped when she saw him and let her book fall to the floor, making a loud sound against the wooden boards. The noise awoke Vegeta.
“Goku?! What the hell are you doing here in the middle of the night?!’’. His blue-haired friend was furious glaring at him.
“Hum...’’ He did not have time to answer before Vegeta talked with a groggy voice.
“Get out, Kakarot!“, the prince growled, not even looking in his direction.
“But Vegeta...’’
“I said get out!’’, the other Saiyan said while getting up to chase him away. Goku had to think of something real quick or he was gonna get kicked out.
“Vegeta, listen! There is this super powerful enemy that is coming to destroy the Earth!’’
“What the hell are you babbling about? How do you know this guy is coming?’’, it seemed Goku had managed to catch the smaller Saiyan's attention.
“Well...’’ Come on, Goku, think! “Oh! Yeah, hum, King Kai told me. He had this vision. Yeah, it an alien, he is really strong and he wants to destroy the Earth! King Kai said he was stronger than Majin Buu, but that we could defeat him if we trained in the hyperbolic time chamber!’’
The prince seemed to be thinking about it. Well, it seemed like Goku's lying abilities had gotten better. “Do you know when he will be here?“ Vegeta asked him, concerned.
“Hum... in two days!’’
“Two days... Well, it leaves us two years of training. Do you think it is enough to be able to defeat that guy? Should we talk to the others?’’
“No!’’ Goku shouted, before continuing more calmly. “I mean, no, we don't tell the others, I don't want them to be in danger, King Kai seems to think we both can manage that guy with a bit of training. It should be fine. But we should leave right now, I'll explain you more once we're inside.’’
Goku extended his hand towards the prince “Take my hand. I will IT us to the lookout‘‘.
When Vegeta put his hand on Goku's shoulder, once again refusing to hold hands with this idiot, Bulma stood up and looked at him angrily.
“Don't you dare, Vegeta! You promised our son you would come see his play at school tomorrow. He got really excited about this! Trunks would be so disappointed if you did not show up!“, the threatened him with her forefinger.
“Woman! This is way more important than some stupid child's play! Trunks has to understand this. Let's go, Kakarot’’
“Vegeta!’’, she shouted when they both disappeared.