Authors Note: Hi! Just thought I'd write a small fic for Valentine's day. It's a Chichi x Goku and it takes place right after the cell games. It's a oneshot. Enjoy!

Hint: listen to the song "one word" by the dutch artist Anouk

Without you

Chichi was sitting by the window, a stoic look on her face.

Right now, she didn't care anymore. Nothing mattered. She gazed out of the window, while wondering why it was always her. Why wasn't it ever somebody else who was left without hope.

First her husband died. Then her son was taken away from her for more then a year, to train in the forest. As soon as her husband had been revived with those mysterious dragon balls, he went off again! She had been alone for such a long time that she was actually starting to get used to it.

And now,her only son had been killed by Cell and her husband was responsible. Yes, sure, go ahead and let an eleven-year-old boy fight Cell! What did he expect? A miracle?

No, if Goku couldn't beat Cell, her son couldn't either.

She remembered seeing Goku fight on the television. She thought for sure he was going to win. Everybody thought so. He'd been so relaxed the last few days, he hadn't even trained to win the Cell games. They had both been enjoying their lives to the full. She simply assumed he was certain he had the strength to win.

And even if he didn't, you wouldn't hear her complain. Finally, after many years of constant training he had spent ten days with her. Just spent them with her. And she couldn't have been happier. She'd rather die happy, then be alive miserable and alone.

Good gods, they had even…well it had been a while. She smiled.

Then she came back to reality. She remembered how her husband had suddenly said he would stop. He'd simply stopped fighting! He'd left them all without any hope. She had almost crushed the television with her bare hands, but her father had kept her from doing so.

Then, to her amazement, he'd said there would be another person to fight. Probably Vegeta, she'd assumed.

But no, Goku'd pointed out Gohan. He'd wanted his only son to fight! NO, HER only son. After all, she was the one who had been taking care of him alone.

She'd screamed at Gohan to not do it, she'd begged her tv-husband not to go on with this plan. She'd struggled, almost destroyed the television again, yelled at her father in utter frustration for there was nothing she could do.

There was nothing she could do. Helpless she'd watched as her son complied and threw off his cape to fight cell. She cried.

Cell had managed to gain the upper hand easily. Her son had been blown away and covered by a huge pile of rocks. He hadn't come out.

That's when something inside her had snapped. She had calmly gotten up, turned off the television, grabbed a rocking chair and sat by the window, tears streaming down her face.

That is how Yamcha found her.

Obviously he had to be the one to tell her Goku was dead, since Krillin was to busy drooling over android eighteen, Gohan was exhausted, Vegeta went home to his family, Trunks went back to the future timeline and that only left few who knew Chichi. Or, as Vegeta had so nicely put it, since he was de dumbest moron that ever walked this planet and perhaps Chichi felt sorry for him and then she wouldn't kill him immediately.

Of course Goku himself had refused too, he thought she needed somebody to tell her slowly. His voice bulging in her head suddenly would most definitely scare the hell out of her.

As her father guided Yamcha towards her chair, he softly whispered to him: "She's been like this for hours now."

Yamcha looked at her red eyes and let out a sigh. "Hi" he said softly.

"I've come to tell you that…" "I already knew" she cut in. "I saw it at the television, thanks to Baba"

Yamcha, relieved that he didn't need to be the bringer of bad new, continued more clearly now. "Well, then, Gohan is still asleep, he was quite exhausted, considering the stunt he pulled there".

As he said it, Chichi felt her heart rise. Gohan wasn't dead? But, how? It couldn't be!

Yamcha jumped as Chichi suddenly yelled at him: "You mean he is still alive?" "And where's Cell?" "And where's Goku! If I find that man I'LL KILL HIM!

"What? You mean you don't know?" He totally forgot to be tactical with this and yelled: Goku's dead!

Her heart sank and anger started to fill it.

"What do you mean, he's dead?"

"Well, didn't you see?. Cell wanted to blow himself up, taking Gohan and the rest of the planet with him. He used his instant transmission to teleport Cell to King Kai's place…he sacrificed himself to save us all. But it didn't work. Cell survived and came back. Then Gohan beat him.

"He did?"

I close my eyes
And imagine you're here
Did it all seem so hopeless
Given the chance
I would ask
Forgive me
I didn't do a thing to make you stay
I didn't say a word to make you stay
If I would have known
Could I have tried to make it easier
But I didn't do a thing
Or say a word
One word

And I don't know why you're gone, now you're gone
No beautiful goodbye
You will never leave my mind
And it turns out to be so much different than our dreams
Now you're, you're a star in heaven

("One word", Anouk)

A voice sounded in her head.

"Hey Chi. As you can hear, I didn't make it out of here in time."

"Goku…?" Chichi whispered with hope gleaming in her eyes

"Yes, it's me. I talking to you through King Kai."

"You mean it's true?"

Then she regained her composure.

"What were you thinking to have our only son fight that creature?"

"Gohan was our only hope, he's stronger than me. And he's done it, Chi! I knew all along he could do it, and I couldn't."

"But then, why did you die?"

"Cell realized he didn't stand a chance against Gohan, so he tried to self-destruct. There was only one way to stop him."

Chichi started crying again. "Can't we revive you with the dragonballs?"

"Only Porunga, the Namekian dragon revives people who have been revived before, so it would be very hard. But don't be sad, Chi! I want to stay.

You see, I realized that the reason the earth is in danger is actually ME most of the times. I've decided that it would be better if I stayed dead for a while."

"But Goku! I can't live without you! You were finally home and…"

"Don't be sad, I'll be back. And until then, remember that I did this for you and for our son."

A silence followed…

"Yes, I'll remember that. I love you, Goku."

"Or maybe I should say…for our sons."

"Huh?" Chichi asked

"I love you to, Chi. Goodbye"

Please review! Thank you.