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“Just breathe, okay?” Goku says for the hundredth time.
Chi-Chi is about ready to reach up and choke him – for all the good it would do. This is why she would rather he not be in the room during the birth. Because he’s no help whatsoever and just repeating random things that he’s heard the midwife say.
Sure, squeezing his hand like this is helpful in its own way. She’s broken and torn so many other things before, like in Gohan’s birth, so having his big strong hand to hold onto is nice. Even if she’s a little worried about breaking bones with the way he keeps flinching at every push.
A little. Because -
“Chi-Chi, just keep breathing. You got this.”
Hissing words come from between her clenched teeth. “Would. You. Shut. Up.”
Goku’s eyes grow as he stares at her. “H-huh? But I thought -”
“Just -”
She doesn’t get a chance to tell him what to do because the baby is pushing out further now and she loses all sense of where she is for a moment. While she’s done this before, it truly doesn’t get any easier. A part of her wonders if it’s any harder. She’s pushing and pushing and pushing and it doesn’t stop. The midwife gives directions and she follows them. She stops to breathe. Sweat beads down her face, collecting in her hair.
Time slips away from her as things repeat. Nothing else matters but following instructions and doing her best to push this second half-Saiyan child out of her. She tries to think of the moments of before, of the sweet moments of Goku giving his ki to the baby, of talking to the baby in the womb, of what it’ll feel like when the baby is finally in her arms.
And then, before Chi-Chi knows it, she’s holding another boy and resting against the bed as she tries to come back to the world. Back to where time flows more normally.
Of course once she sees the way Goku looks at the boy – who looks just like him, even as a baby – time breaks up once again and all the pain and torture of before disappears. The aches are gone. There’s only her. And her husband. And her oldest son hovering nearby with a big grin on his face; Gohan is so ready to be a big brother, she can tell.
They all smile down at the new little addition to their family.
“Goten,” she coos to the quiet baby, “Do you want to meet your father?”
Goku’s eyes light up, and he takes the baby in his hands, smiling in a way that he only does for his children, and time slows once more. This. This is what she loves to see. This is why she’s glad they’re all alive. Why she’s glad that Cell is gone and there isn’t even a whisper of more threats on the horizon.
Chi-Chi takes a deep breath. This is what matters.