He awoke with tears rolling down his face.
It had been a couple weeks since he defeated Cell, and brought peace back to Earth. He wanted to be proud of himself. Proud of himself for somehow conjuring up the strength to defeat someone as powerful as Cell. Proud of himself for saving the world. But, there was something that would not allow him to feel this pride. Something that would not allow him to sleep soundly at night. Something that made him lay face down in his bed crying throughout every night.
Guilt. How could he have been so stupid, so arrogant, to let his father die right in front of him? It didn't matter that Goku had forgiven him, because he could never forgive himself. He was reminded of the truth whenever he looked at his mother's face that was constantly trying to fight back tears. Whenever he went out all alone to hunt and find firewood. That they would never be a family again. And it was all his fault.
Gohan shook his head. He couldn't allow himself to indulge in these feelings of sadness. He had to be strong for his mother. Like Goku had told him, she needed him now more than ever. So, he somehow put on a smile and went downstairs to the kitchen to greet her.
"Good morning, mom! What's for breakfast, I'm starving!" Gohan tried to act a little like his father, an attempt to comfort her.
She turned around from the stove, where she seemed to be cooking. He immediately noticed her face. Bags under her red eyes. Clearly she hadn't slept, and it was probably due to crying. He winced, that familiar feeling of guilt creeping back up. Chichi made a pathetic attempt to smile at her son.
"Hey Gohan! I'm cooking some eggs for breakfast, but we need some more meat for lunch. Could you go get something for us?" Chichi asked.
Gohan nodded, "Of course." With that, he ran out, happy to have some type of distraction.
As soon as Chichi saw that her son had left, she dropped to her knees. She knew Gohan blamed himself for Goku's death. She also knew nothing she could say could make it better. She felt so powerless. She was failing as a mother, in letting her child suffer so much. But she just did not know what to do.
She herself was constantly sad about Goku not being around. Even when he was gone after Namek, she and Gohan knew he would come back eventually, so it was tolerable. But now, knowing that they were going to be without his lively spirit at all times, neither of them could stand it. She wanted to find a way to bring Gohan out of his sadness, but how could she do that when she couldn't even do it for herself?
The past few days were especially tough for her. She had been crying so much each morning that she actually started throwing up. She had been upset before, such as when Gohan left with Piccolo and Goku had died after the saiyans had come, but she had never gotten to the point where she actually had gotten sick just from crying.
She decided that she might as well set the table up for Gohan when he gets back. She started to put down his plate when she felt it again. She was about to be sick. She ran to the bathroom and started throwing up again. It was horrible. She hadn't had this type of morning sickness since…
Wait.
She went to check the date. Her eyes widened when she noticed it.
"I'm late" She thought. She hadn't even thought about it with all that had happened. She rummaged around, looking to see if she had any tests lying about.
Gohan was returning home with some boar meat. That was always his favorite, and his dad loved it too. His stomach rumbled, as he remembered that he hadn't eaten anything all day. He ran excitedly into his house, when he saw his mother sitting at the table, with a blank look on her face. She looked shaken.
"Mom? Mom, what's wrong?" Gohan asked, running up to her. He had no idea what could have happened. She may have been still sad about his father, but the look on her face wasn't of just sadness. It was of shock.
Chichi looked up at her son. She had no idea what emotion to feel. Finally, she was able to utter 2 words that would change their lives.
"I'm pregnant."