Disclaimer: I own nothing.

Ages: Chi-Chi-30, Goku-31, Bulma-34, Vegeta-39, Gohan-12

A/N: Alright. Keep in mind that Chapter 1 and this chapter is the first day Chi-Chi's experiencing without Goku. I'll start labeling it.

~ Day 1 ~

Chapter 2: Chores; An Unsuccessful Diversion

There. That should do it, Chi-Chi thought to herself, as she dried the last dish with a dishtowel before placing it where it belonged. After Gohan had taken off outside, she immediately began cleaning, seeing no reason to stay seated at the table with a plate of barely untouched food in front of her. Plus, she deemed it best to keep herself occupied - she didn't want her thoughts to keep constantly swirling around Goku. And now, that the dishes were clean and the kitchen was now clean as well, she could now start working on her still developing garden - anything to keep her mind off her husband.

With that thought in mind, Chi-Chi proceeded to head upstairs to retrieve all of the necessary equipment and then headed back downstairs once she gathered everything. Afterwards, Chi-Chi then headed outside, lightly smiling as the light breeze brushed against her, slightly blowing her silky, black hair. If only Goku was here - No! She stopped her train of thought from going any further. She wouldn't think about him, that was the whole reason she was trying to keep busy, to keep her mind free of him...It was just too painful to think about him. It almost seemed like each time her thoughts wandered off towards him, her heart shattered even more each time.

It almost seemed like the pain she felt and continued to feel, grew and increased each time her thoughts even so much as touched him.

She never knew love could be such a contradiction. When she was younger, all she thought about was love and finding her 'prince charming' until she met Goku of course, and then her perspective changed, but no matter how much her perspective changed she had to admit that she was still naive. Granted, love could be powerful and a beautiful thing. Love could also make you feel as if you're on top of the world and love could open up a whole new dimension of overflowing, wonderful emotions, yet at the same time it could be painful, full of hurt and full of tears.

As a child, getting hurt and experiencing pain didn't register in her mind even once, instead of thinking of the positives and the negatives of love, she focused on the positives, resulting in her notion of love being nothing more than a mere fantasy until she got married to Goku and started to see just how unrealistic her idea of love really was.

She wasn't stating that she didn't love Goku, or that she regretted marrying him, she just wished her notions of love were more realistic. Chi-Chi exhaled a sigh of frustration, before getting down on her knees and planting various seeds that would eventually grow into different fruits and vegetables.

She wasn't doing herself any good pondering and thinking about him. She needed to keep herself busy, so her thoughts wouldn't slip towards him again.

%%%

Chi-Chi stood up and looked at the garden, admiring her work. There were an equal amount of seeds planted in each column. It took her a while, but she was finally finished. Now, all she had left to do was the laundry, clean the house - excluding the kitchen - and cook lunch...speaking of lunch, she wondered when Gohan was coming back. He has been gone for two hours now...

She shrugged, fighting the urge to go find him and bring him back. He finished up all his studies and he deserved a break anyway. He'd be back around lunch time. She nodded to herself before heading back into the house to start on the laundry. There shouldn't be too much to wash since it was just her and Gohan now.

Once she entered the house, she went upstairs to gather up the laundry, starting with Gohan's room first. Thank goodness, he inherited her tidiness.

She pushed his room door open, before walking in and grabbing his hamper and then leaving his room. She then walked into the bedroom she shared with her husband and grabbed the hamper they shared and paused once she spotted Goku's gi's.

Chi-Chi sighed before plopping down on the edge of the bed. What did she expect? He has only been dead since yesterday, did she really expect to do the laundry without coming across his clothes? Did she expect to be able to handle seeing his belongings, but not him without having the urge to break down?

Why couldn't he just stay? He didn't have to stay dead, he had another option. Did he even consider how she might feel? Did he even consider all the various emotions she'd go through just because of his decision? Did he ever consider that she was tired of being left behind without a second thought?

Chi-Chi growled, clenching her fists tightly as she bared her teeth in anger. She wouldn't stand for this any longer! If he came back, he had an decision to make! Either, he stay for good or don't come back all! She wouldn't take being hurt every time he left or refused to be wished back! She was tired of being a widow! She was only thirty for pete's sake!

Chi-Chi gasped in surprise as an unexpected, sharp pain coursed throughout her head, cutting off her mental rant. The raven-haired woman took a deep breath and stood up slowly before collecting the hamper and returning back to her previous actions. She needed to calm down. She was getting stressed and although she couldn't help it, she needed to at least try to control her stress level.

###

"How's your mother, kid?"

"She's torn. I can tell."

Piccolo nodded, "I expected that much. How are you holding up, yourself? "

Gohan looked towards the ground, his eyes full of sadness and hurt. They were at the same clearing he, his dad and Krillin were at before the Cell games. He turned his head towards the sky as he finally answered, "I understand his decision, but yet I don't. If I would have listened, then dad would be right here with mom - "

" - You shouldn't blame yourself, Gohan. You said it yourself, it was your father's decision not yours. He could have been here right now, but he chose not too. It wasn't your fault."

Gohan sighed, "Yeah, I know Piccolo. It just hurts to know that he's not here, especially since there's a great chance he won't return."

"I'm pretty sure that everyone was affected by his decision, especially your mother. You should head back home and keep an eye on her."

"Right." Gohan nodded. "I'll see you later, Piccolo!"

Piccolo merely nodded. "Take care, kid."

###

Chi-Chi stirred the contents in the skillet and pot cautiously as she continually added more, necessary ingredients. She just finished putting the laundry in the washer and decided to go ahead and start cooking before Gohan got back. She decided to make stir fry rice along with some ramen. It wasn't anything special, but it'd at least hold them over until dinner.

"Mom, I'm back!" Gohan called out as soon as he made it back home.

"I'm in the kitchen, Gohan!"Chi-Chi responded back, before adding on, "Lunch will be done soon! "

"Okay, Mom!"

Chi-Chi continued to stir the rice and sighed. She was feeling a bit exhausted. She was probably going through another aftermath of stress. She'd probably take a nap after she cleaned the kitchen up.

*30 minutes later *

"Gohan, lunch is ready!"

"Coming, Mom! "

Chi-Chi washed her hands thoroughly, before placing everything on the table and sitting down.

About a minute later, Gohan finally arrived at the table and sat down, "This looks really good, Mom."

He looked up when he didn't get a response and frowned, "Mom, are you okay? "

"..."

He decided to just tell her later. Her head obviously wasn't clear, she was probably thinking about dad again.

Perhaps, Piccolo was right, not that he doubted what he said in the first place, but he was finally realizing just how hard she was taking it. The thing that was worrying him the most was just how hard will she be able to continue to take this? And just how close or far was she from snapping? ... Yeah, He should definitely stick around until she started grieving better.