Suddenly Gohan took a sharp, quick deep breath rousing from his slumber only slightly, something that was very rare to happen. Gohan always slept like a rock, enjoying every moment of peace and rest he'd gotten ever since he was a boy. But he was really awake as he shifted beneath the blankets next to Videl. A small smile fell upon his lips as he reached his arms to surround her. She was already cuddling comfortably into his body next to her and a smile formed on her unconscious face at the feel of her husband's touch. Gohan attempted relaxing further, but something felt off. He tried readjusting his legs, aiming to find a better suited sleeping position, but as the minutes flew by, Gohan could not sleep. After a frustrating hour had past, he'd chosen to lay flat on his back pouting against whatever force was keeping him from his well appreciated sleep.

Videl suddenly colder as her muscles tensed, trying to shiver herself warm. Her eyes creeped open slowly at her sudden discomfort when she saw Gohan's face next to her, his eyes wide open.

"What's wrong, Gohan?"

He turned his head and a disappointed face arranged upon his features. He hadn't to wake her, she was so peaceful. But she was always an infinitely lighter sleeper than Gohan.

"I can't sleep."

This was serious. Gohan not being able to sleep was completely uncharted territory for Videl. The only times he'd ever told her he had a hard time sleeping were normally nights when he wasn't sleeping due to training for the next threat to the earth or being on a planet with no nighttime. Gohan loved his sleep. He fell asleep blissfully embracing the release from consciousness every night and slept harder than a rock. Usually only the smell of food really woke him up.

"What's bothering you?"

Gohan looked at the ceiling once more, as if he was looking at something years in the distance.

"Nothing. It's so weird. I startled myself awake and haven't been able to sleep for nearly an hour."

"That's...unusual."

"Yeah... You should go back to sleep though. You look so peaceful sleeping."

A smile and a blush dawned onto Videl's face, enjoying the compliment of his words.

Gohan removed an arm from behind his head, where they both were, and opened himself for her. She saw her favorite place vacant for her taking as she scooted herself closer to him. Her head laid on his chest, his arms wrapped around her. Soon she was knocked out once more.

Gohan listened to her breathing for a while as it slowed and steadied, getting comfortable within a deep sleep. He knew by now he wouldn't be falling back asleep anytime soon. He considered getting up to train, but felt a little uneasy knowing it wasn't exactly something he did very often anymore. He closed his eyes and searched for the ki of possible sparring partners. He found his father, obviously sleeping sounder than a dead man. Then there was Vegeta, at Capsule Corp, also in bed asleep with Bulma, somethign that was still sometimes hard to grasp. Then there was Piccolo. He was up at the lookout and it seemed that he was meditating, nothing unusual fo rhis old mentor considering Gohan had never once seen him sleep. He let out a sigh as his sensing returned form searching so far away when he noticed something unusual... Not a new energy, but a lack of one.

Pan wasn't in her crib.

Fear soared within Gohan's chest as he gently laid Videl down off of his chest and slipped out of bed. His heart beat faster than he could ever remember it beating, knowing all too well how fearsome certain unforgettable moments in his life had once been. This was the most terrifying this Gohan had ever felt. He didn't even bother letting his feet stouch the ground as he flew through the house, just down the hall to the little girl's nursery.

The door was cracked open.

Gohan distinctly remembered closing it when he'd put her in her crib that evening, turning out the lights on his way out after savoring a lingering gaze at her, still clinging to a small stuffed dinosaur Goten had gotten her.

Sure enough, there was no sign of Pan inside. Except the Icarus look-a-like toy was now on the ground next to the crib.

Fury ripped through Gohan as his fear threatened to blind him.

His daughter was gone.

He turned from the room and moved at an inhuman speed down their staircase only to be stopped dead in his tracks.

There, at the bottom of the stairs, sat Pan. Her face showed much concern, but she hadn't cried a single tear. It wa as if she'd gotten lost in the scholarly funded size home and now only wanted to see her bed once more. Gohan's heart was hit with a pang of sadness at her frightened face, but relief swept through him as he sweeped his only daughter from the floor.

"Now how'd you get down here?" Gohan knew she couldn't answer, but he had a thoery of his own.

She'd learned how to sit up by now and was attemptig to crawl constantly. She seemed eager to be removed from the burden of being carried and ready to embrace freedom, even still at only a few months old. Though if Gohan's guess was correct, then she'd climbed out of her crib and fallen down the stairs, which could very well be what woke Gohan up in the first place.

"You really are a fighter aren't you?" Gohan smiled at his words as he ascended the stairs to returned his fearful baby girl to her crib and her dinosaur. She nestled into his arms, gripping his neck with every once of strength she had. And when Gohan finally placed her within the nicely carved crib, she refused to let go as a few wimpers escaped through her otherwise silent lips. Gohan faced his daughter in his arms, ready to tell her to let go now, but instead he saw her face as tears fell from her tiny eyes in silence, her face still communicating her fright to her father. He couldn't just leave her now.

He kissed her forehead.

"Okay, I won't let you go Panny. Daddy's here."

She held onto him with all the tiny strength her infant body could muster and laid her head down against his chest. He held her firmly and walked back down the stairs to his personal library. He found the right chair and sat in it, reclining into a laying position. Pan now laid in a ball on her tummy on top of her father's chest, one arm still extended trying to hold onto a random protruding muscle on his shoulder. Gohan ran his fingers through her soft, thin black hair and leaned his neck foward to kiss her forehead. In his eyes, there was nothing in the world more fragile, defenseless, and absolutely important than the small replica of himself he held in his arms. As she slept against his bare chest, he could feel the same intense feeling of how completely weak and small the baby was in his lethally strong arms. Despite his worries from the first few months of her life, Gohan now felt only a strong privilage when he held his flawless daughter.

Nothing on earth could be more perfect...

Then Gohan's thought's drifted away from him, finally succumbing to the sleep he had been longingly waiting for.