"Gohan?" asked a soft, female voice, stirring him out of his thoughts. He turned his attention in the direction of the voice. He smiled and looked at his beautiful wife who was approaching him. "Sorry about that. I didn't realize that you were in your "deep thinker" state." she teased, " I was just going to ask you if you wanted a refill?" Videl smiled, holding up a pitcher of iced tea. He lifted his glass and sure enough, it was empty. "Sure! I didn't realize I had already drank the whole glass. Must have been thirsty." he chuckled. He went back reading. She poured the amber liquid into the glass and sat down next to him. As she proceeded to pour herself a glass, she glanced over at her husband. "Your mom is making dinner tonight." she said while sipping her tea. Gohan looked up. "Yeah? Doesn't she make dinner every night? Or is she not allowed to eat two out of the three meals now?" he asked, jokingly, but with a straight face. He turned his attention back to his book. Videl smirked, picked up her cold glass, and planted it against Gohan's bare hand. He jumped slightly and then pouted at her, good-naturedly, over the rim of his glasses. "You ass. You know what I mean. She wants us to have dinner with her. You know how lonely she has been since…" Videl stopped.
"I know, I know." Gohan sighed. "I thought it would be nice to have dinner with her since she asks every night and we keep refusing." Videl said as she let out her own sigh. "Mom has become so clingy since dad left." Gohan stated, matter-of-factly. His grimaced. "Besides, what should be a one or two hour visit will be all night if she gets her way. I love my mother, but she has been a little over-bearing lately." Videl reached over and patted his arm comfortingly. "Don't worry about it. What could it hurt? Honestly, if we don't, I am willing to bet you are out of excuses for why we cannot attend dinner with her tonight." She winked and then smirked as he pouted. "Plus, your mom is a great cook and I bet Pan would like to spend some quality time with her. It's been a while anyways." she looked over at her daughter. Pan, obviously done horsing around in the water, ran up to them.
"Hi Mama, hey papa. Look what I caught!" Pan beamed, drenched, as she held up a large Amur catfish. She was very cautious of the barbs as she showed off her latest companion. "Wow, Panny! Good catch." her mother smiled, clearly amused as the catfish wiggled in her daughter's arms. "Pan, that's great!" Gohan said, whistling at the size of the fish. "Why don't you go take that to your grandmother's? We will be dining with her tonight! Besides, you know how much she loves to make fish. Especially if YOU are the one who caught it." Gohan said, playfully shooing her away. Pan, still juggling the giant fish, gave both her parents a quick "Okay!" and she ran off in the direction of Chichi's house. Both of them watched her until she entered her grandmother's house. After she was completely out of eyesight, Gohan turned his attention back to Videl and continued the conversation with "Pan, though she loves her grandmother dearly, also notices the changes going on with mom. Mom still treats her like she is a little girl. Pan is 15!" Videl sighed and brought her long braid over her shoulder where she proceeded to play with it, a nervous tick she has always be accustomed to when conversations became awkward. "She is still a little girl Gohan. She also happens to be your mother's only grandchild. After Goku left, she is afraid of Pan growing older. Chichi once told me that she was afraid of Pan becoming an adult and forgetting all about her. So, until Goten decides to settle down and start a family of his…" she was interrupted by choking, spluttering sounds. 'Easy tiger, that boy is still too young yet. We are going to have to tame him first before he starts re-populating. Anyways, he has been moody lately" Gohan coughed, pounding his chest. Videl patted him on the back. "Gohan! He is not an animal," Gohan looked at her skeptically," technically speaking." Videl finished. Gohan smiled at her. "You big ape, of course he is still a wild child. These are going to be the best years of his life. He needs to live them till the fullest before he settles down. If not, he may end up regretting it later down the road. Although, I have noticed his odd mood changes recently. Speaking of Goten, it's been awhile since I have seen or heard from him. I wonder what he's been up to?" she mused. Gohan shrugged. Sighing, he put his book down for the rest of the afternoon and gave his wife a big grin. "You know what? I think I'm starting to get hungry." "You're always hungry." she threw her head back and laughed, though obviously relieved the conversation had ended..
Soon after, Pan returned from her grandmother's house. As soon as she made her way back to where her parents sat, she looked directly at her mother and whined, "I'm starrrrrrrving!" Her parents looked at each other and started to laugh. Later on, after a hearty lunch Videl made and the rest of the day spent relaxing, it was time to go to dinner. It was, surprisingly, a good night. The night was filled with much laughter and plenty of good food. Gohan was right. What should have been a one to two hour visit was four, but this time, he found that he didn't mind. He was actually enjoying himself. 'Wow. I cannot believe I was actually dreading this. Dining with mother turned out to be a great idea. Surprisingly, she isn't mopey or being irrational. I wonder what is up with that?' He thought and stretched lazily against his wife. 'Well, whatever it is, I will worry about it later."