Hours had passed since Gohan first arrived at the hospital where Mr. Satan was being looked after. He skipped lunch time and his stomach endured on a couple of sandwiches he bought from a vending machine in the waiting room.
This precise moment, he was sitting on the visitor's chair, right next to the bed where his father-in-law was laying down with his left leg elevated. A young orthopaedist had just finished examining him and was giving some instructions; apparently the champion's injury wouldn't need surgery... but it would require time, patience and lots of physical therapy.
"I suggest you spend the next few days with us, but after that you can move to your home to recover."
Gohan heard the doctor say.
"But I'll be able to walk again right?" Mr. Satan, although not in pain at the moment as pain-killers were doing wonders, was slightly worried of how today's accident could jeopardise his daily life and career.
"Of course! In a couple of months you'll be as good as new. You just need to rest and work hard on therapy." The man in white coat relaxed the older man. "Although that Cell dude really gave you something to remind you of him for the rest of your life."
When the name 'Cell' was mentioned, Mr. Satan became pale and eyes shrunk... he looked at Gohan, who was just looking at them with the same expression as before. Mr. Satan replied with a nervous laugh, and the doctor didn't notice the change of his facial expression as he was writing his notes.
"Okay, I'm done. A colleague will be looking after you for the rest of the day." Exchanging polite goodbyes the doctor went out of the room, leaving both in-laws on their own.
Gohan noticed Mr. Satan looking at him, to the point that it started to become uncomfortable.
"Sir, is everything okay?" Gohan broke the silence, and despite knowing that Mr. Satan always told him not to call him Sir as they were family after all, old habits die hard and Gohan could never stop using the title.
"Doesn't it bother you?" the moustached man asked, his eyes normal... his expression was serious.
"Hmm?" Gohan didn't get the question at all.
"You know..." Gohan could see the champ fidgeting, playing with his thumbs. "The Cell business..." he said very quietly.
"Oh..." Gohan then realised why the reaction of his father-in-law to the doctor's words.
"I had to say it was an old injury from the fight with Cell."
"Don't worry about it," Gohan said, closing his eyes with a smile. "You did fight him... besides, it's better this way to keep your reputation." After all, Cell's hit and consequent landing on a rocky mountain could've caused some damage... he did fight Cell for 40 seconds.
"Oh thank you son, I'm glad you understand." Mr. Satan sighed in relief, relaxing his back on the pile of pillows, his head looking at the ceiling. "You are being honest, right? Or do you really hate me for... you know what."
Gohan couldn't get why he insisted on bringing the topic into conversation.
"I am being honest. It doesn't even cross my mind." Gohan reassured. "Despite what Videl, my mother or what others say, I honestly don't mind. I wouldn't know how to deal with it all and my life out of the spotlight."
A silence followed... both men looking at nothing; they've already had engaged on common chitchat before the doctor came in, and obviously both ran out of conversation topics.
"I wonder why Videl is taking so long..."
"I sent her some messages but she hasn't replied back... I'm sure we'll hear from her soon." Gohan tried to tranquilise the man and himself. He was also finding strange not hearing any signs of life from his wife, but he was sure everything was okay and there would be an explanation for it.
A loud rumbling noise interrupted their worried thoughts.
"I guess I'm a little hungry..." Gohan said as his stomach complained.
"Why don't you go and grab something to eat. Who knows? Videl might be back by the time you finish." Mr. Satan suggested.
"We were meant to go out for dinner tonight... Pan's playing at Bulma's."
"I'm sure a snack won't spoil your appetite for dinner, after all..." he stopped talking as the echo of quick steps from the corridor could be heard - whoever it was, it had hard sole shoes – was running and was getting closer.
Although they both had their hopes to whom that may be, their suspicion only got confirmed at the sight of a flustered, red faced and panting Videl.
She slowed down as soon as she entered the room, and was trying to catch her breath. First she took a look at the room, first spotting her dad on the bed, wearing a hospital gown, his left leg slightly elevated, and then her husband who was sitting on a chair.
"I just... I got a voicemail from the hospital... are you okay?" Videl's expression was of genuine concern. She approached the bed and gave her dad a peck on his cheek, then looked at Gohan. "I know you tried to call me and that I've got text messages, but the voicemail from the hospital was what I got first..." she paused to breathe, exchanging looks between the men of her life "... and then my cellphone died on me. I got so scared..." she confessed and then hugged her father.
"I'm okay sweetheart, I'm okay... it was just a little accident. I'm fine!" he returned the hug, petting his little girl's hair... assuring her of his words.
Gohan gave up his chair, standing up behind her... when father and daughter broke the hug, she turned and stretched a bit up so she could give Gohan's lips a quick kiss; as if reading her mind he met her halfway. Long gone was the time where displays of affection were compromising in front of any of their parents.
Although the chair was vacant, Videl didn't take it and stood next to the bed still trying to figure out the state her father was in.
"What have you done to yourself?" she thought out loud.
"I just fell from some steps..."
"How did you manage to injure yourself like this falling from some steps?" she asked, her concerned expression started to wear off.
"Er... they were big steps?"
Gohan almost chuckled with his in-law's answer... but for Videl's sake, he kept it quiet.
"Is it just your leg?"
"It's my knee..."
Videl sat down on the chair, putting her hand on her forehead.
"He fractured his left patella... but apparently there's no need for surgery, which is good." Gohan explained.
"I just need to rest and do physio, I'll be fine in no time... I'm sorry you got so worried."
"It's okay... I'm glad it wasn't anything serious." She said, her breathing was returning to normal and the redness of her cheeks was fading.
"Well... it's a bit serious..." Gohan pointed.
"Gohan, I thought he was in a coma or died... broken bones don't count as serious!"
Gohan found that his wife had a point.
"I have to get myself a new cellphone. Since Pan sank it in the sink it's never been the same." Videl looked at her dead cellphone; no matter how much she insisted, there was no way it'd come back to life before being powered up.
"You've been saying that for weeks now." Gohan commented. The couple walked hand-in-hand; they had just left the hospital and were heading to the restaurant they had made a reservation previously. Luckily enough it was just a few blocks away from the hospital, a good 20 minutes walk... the sun was setting, the sky was getting darker but the street lights were still not on. The temperature was pleasant and a gentle breeze made them both not even consider driving there, since walking felt so much nicer.
"I got really scared today." Videl confessed, shoving her phone in her business suit jacket. She tightened the grip on Gohan's hand; he caressed her hand with his thumb in a reassuring manner. "Did you pick up Pan from school?"
"No, I left work as soon as the hospital called. Apparently Trunks was taking Bra out for an ice-cream so Bulma told him to pick Pan up."
"Oh, that was nice of her... pass me your phone, I want to call Bulma."
Gohan passed her his phone; she searched through the contacts list... Bulma's contact was one of the firsts she came across.
"Do you think she's mad at you?" she asked, diverting her look from the display to look at Gohan; resting the phone at her ear she waited until somebody answered from the other side. Her free hand still intertwined with his.
"I don't think so... you know how she is. I'll go early tomorrow to catch up."
"Okay... Oh hello Bulma! No, it's Videl." The misunderstanding was expected. "Oh, yes... Yes, he seems fine."
Gohan freed his hand from his wife's and changed position, his arm was now hanging loosely around Videl's shoulders, they slowed their pace.
"No, nothing serious. It's only his knee..."
Gohan looked at his surroundings the rush hour was over, but road and air traffic was still dense as the capital never slept. Gohan was leading the walk, with a simple nudge Videl understood her husband's intentions of changing directions. Instead of taking the known shortcut across tall buildings, they were taking the long walk through one of the parks surrounded by towers of concrete.
Listening to only half of the conversation, he mouthed a mute 'hi'.
"By the way, Gohan says hi... I know!! I thought he was on a coma or dead!!!"
Gohan chuckled as his wife's gesticulations. He found it amusing listening to her talking on the phone with other friends who were females, as he found that the tone she used was different... gossipy even! Yes... as the years passed even Videl, the atypical female, hardcore tomboyish, indulged in sporadic gossip sessions.
"Gohan told me Trunks picked Pan from school, thank him for us okay? ... I feel sorry for him, the girls must've given him such a hard time."
Gohan smirked. Although he couldn't hear the entire conversation, he gathered that Trunks was having a taste of his own medicine... payback is even sweeter when you wait over a decade for it.
---
"Oh don't worry, he'll survive." Bulma giggled as she looked at her teenage son, dozing on the living room couch, a ponytail and a bow adorning his longish purple hair. She glanced at the girls who were sitting down on the rug playing.
"Bra's been on hairdresser mode... no, don't worry I won't let her shave Pan's hair."
"NOOO!! " Pan raised her voice. "I don't want Zarbie kissing Saiyaman!!" Pan tossed Saiyaman's action figure out of Bra's sight.
"What was that? Oh nothing, they're playing dollies... I know she doesn't like it..." Bulma leaned on the wall, this way she could keep eye contact while talking. She wondered why she hadn't bothered to replace that phone, pretty much all of her house had cordless devices...
"We must give your daughter some credit for her patience 'tho... Yes she's been good, don't worry. Now off you go, you two enjoy your night out!"
---
"Will do, we'll pick her up after dinner... See you later, thanks once again. Bye!"
"Bye Bulma." Gohan said instants before Videl hung up.
"She heard you."
"Are the girls alright?" Gohan asked pushing Videl closer.
"Yeah, sounds like Trunks had a ball." She sniggered.
"Good for him, he deserves every single bit of it!"
"Uhhh... evil today, aren't we?" Videl playfully punched Gohan on his ribs. "That was ages ago..."
"It only feels like yesterday."
"True... Gosh, I just felt really old just now." Videl admitted.
"We're not old." Gohan responded.
"We're getting there." Videl rested her head on Gohan's arm. "It feels like yesterday that we were walking like this in Satan City... after school. Do you remember?"
"Hmm, hmm..." He closed his eyes, enjoying the memories flowing through his head.
"You know what? I'm really glad your mum signed you up for Orange Star High."
"Me too... Probably it was meant to be."
"I think it probably was more destiny's irony... because we must admit it's quite ironic how things turned out..."
"What do you mean ironic?"
"You and me, together... I mean, after all I'm the daughter of the man who took all the credit for something you and others did. Looking at it, you should hate me... you should see me as, er... as, I don't know, an archenemy! You could use me to take revenge on my father, ask for a ransom."
Gohan laughed out loud at what Videl came up with, his laugh contaminated her forcing the couple to stop walking until the laughing fit calmed down.
"Wouldn't I have to kidnap you to ask for a ransom?" He held her hands.
"You know... it's never too late, you still can kidnap me." Videl said in a very suggestive way. He smirked and decided to tag along the game that he was sure Videl was playing. "You can always rip my clothes so it looks more serious..." she winked at him.
"As I'm about to kidnap you now, where does Miss Satan want to be held hostage?"
"Uh... Miss Satan, is it? Demoted from being your wife, eh?"
Gohan pulled his wife's hand towards his chest, Videl looked up grinning like mad. She really appreciated when Gohan was spontaneous. Made her feel young... Gohan lowered his head, his lips meeting Videl's halfway, as she raised herself on her toes. They always coped well with their significant height difference.
Videl was surprised at the intensity of the kiss... some people passing by, only few acknowledging their displays of affection. After all West capital was a busy city... people minded their own business disregarding pretty much everything around them, except of course, which music track was being sent directly to their brains via the headphones stuck in their ears. Besides, the park was a normal place where amorous meetings took place, sometimes in form of dates... other times in form of transactions.
The kiss lasted for a bit but it didn't take long to Gohan's lips reach a new destination... right now, her neck was tempting him.
"Go-Gohan, how about we just get straight to dessert and get dinner afterwards?" Videl asked, her eyes closed enjoying her husband's manoeuvres on one of her soft spots. Oh, how she loved when he was spontaneous. Her hands caressed his back, not in a very encouraging manner... the sidewalk was definitely not the place.
"Hmm hmm." Videl heard him mumble, next to her ear, the vibration of his low hum made her giggle, as it felt somehow ticklish. "My place or your place?" Gohan asked between pecks.
Videl smiled while reminiscing some of their dates... the same question was asked many other times in the past, luckily for them, some things had changed.
"How about our place?"
The weather was pleasant; a nice breeze touched the hills as it passed by... the sound of the wind singing through grass and tree leaves. Far away, the traffic from the busy capital could be heard, but at this distance, it blended homogenously with the sound of crickets and other nocturnal creatures.
The thoughts of how green did not match burgundy hit Videl's mind. Almost instantly, she thought that green stains did not match Gohan's suit trousers either, which and to her dismay, were cream... or were dirty white, or beige?
"What are you doing?" Her thoughts were interrupted by Gohan's voice, the couple had been laying on the grass for a while now, not many words were shared the previous moments.
"Thinking," Videl replied without moving her gaze away from the starlighted sky.
"About what?" he turned to his side, supporting his head on his arm, this way he could look at Videl's face... she did not move an inch and ignored the question.
"Come on, I wanna know" Gohan asked playfully, almost singing his words. Her lips curved in a smile.
"I can't tell you because it'll ruin the moment."
"Videl, nothing you'll say can ruin this" he gently caressed her cheek with his thumb.
"Do you really want to know?"
"Hmm hmm,"
"I'm thinking about how are we going to pick up Pan, without Bulma noticing that we've been doing what we've been doing... I'm also thinking that I need to buy some super gel to remove the grass stains from your trousers... your knees are in a right state."
Gohan couldn't help but laugh... he certainly wasn't expecting those to be his wife's thoughts.
"Gosh, I feel offended now. Is sex with me so boring that you think of doing laundry straight away?"
Videl turned to her side and smacked Gohan's forehead playfully. "Silly... what would you like me to say instead? Oh Gohan, I was thinking of how this reminded me of when we were younger." Videl faked a dreamily voice, straight out of a soap opera.
"That wouldn't have hurt my ego as much as your blunt honesty did." Gohan said with a serious tone, luckily for them, they both knew when they were not being serious.
"Stop whinging. We've been lying on the grass for almost half an hour, of course my line of thought has changed."
"So it means that you enjoyed this reminiscing session of ours."
"And what if I did?" she moved her head forward to peck his lips.
He returned the kiss.
"It's been awhile since we've done one of these..."
"What do you mean one of these? You mean outside?"
"No... I mean that we barely couldn't make it out of town." she giggled "Besides, the outskirts aren't exactly our place. We can still hear the city noise."
"That's because the wind is coming from that side"
Just like moments ago... silence took over. Sounds of night replaced their voices.
Videl
"Gohan..."
"Hmm?"
Videl didn't exactly know how to put it into words.
"Videl?"
"Gohan, you know... I really enjoy times like these."
"Me too." He replied, showing her a sly but sweet grin. He moved the arm he was using as a pillow to hug her, pulling her closer.
"I'm not talking about having a romp outside..."
"Oh..." Gohan looked at her, his eyebrow lifting in an inquisitorial manner... his expression also showed a bit of disappointment. He caressed her shoulder in an attempt to warm her up.
"Okay, okay... I do enjoy our spontaneous romps." She confessed, causing a giggle from both parts.
Gohan adjusted Videl's shirt, moving it to cover her shoulder and chest, without buttoning up. She snuggled him.
"But what I meant was... this... being with you. Enjoying a moment of peace and quiet, away from everything, far from everyone but you."
"Oh..."
"Don't get me wrong, I love Pan, I love to be with her and I miss her the whole day when I'm at work. I love when we're all together as well... but it feels really nice when it's just the two of us." Videl explained closing her eyes, enjoying the heat emanating from her husband... she was officially cold.
Gohan was a good listener, and he felt like his silence as a reply was all Videl was expecting, his gut told him she wanted to talk... he might as well let her talk.
"Since our deal, we've been spending a lot more time together... and it feels great. Ever since Pan came along, being together as a couple instead of a family it's been too much of an effort. I didn't realise how much I missed it until we started going out for dinner... or star home and leave Pan at your mum's or Bulma's.
Gohan removed a hair strand that was glued to Videl's forehead.
"Gohan..." she called to make sure he was looking straight into her eyes and not at the stars... she wanted to see his face, his expression.
"I'm afraid..."
"Of what?" what could possibly be his wife afraid of he thought, times were peaceful...
"I'm afraid that if we do have another baby, we'll stop being together... that we'll go back to that routine where I only saw you before bedtime and that was it... and then, I'd be stuck home with two hungry kids. I know it sounds silly and selfish..."
"No... not at all." Gohan commented.
"It's just that... things are going great. I honestly don't want it all to go tits up."
"You know..." Gohan hugged her even tighter. "Things could get even better."
She giggled at his positive input... he was the positivist whereas she was the realistic.
"I'm late again."
"Are you?" His eyes widened.
"Don't get too excited... the test came out negative."
Videl studied her husband's expression... "Why didn't you tell me?" disappointment was an understatement.
"Well, I'm telling you now. Perhaps it's a sign..."
"A sign? Since when do you believe in that kind of stuff?" he questioned.
"I don't know... I just can't get over the fact that I got pregnant with Pan when we were being careful, and now... nothing."
"Well... you know it's normal to take a while."
"I know... I'm just getting doubts, that's all."
"Chicken..." he called her in a kidding manner, trying to cheer up the mood... and the easiest way would be winding up his wife, playing with her pride. "Where is your sense of adventure?"
Videl smiled... he understood what Gohan was trying to do and decided to play along. She raised herself from the grass, crossing her arms on her chest as she stood up.
"MY sense of adventure? As far as I'm concerned, YOU're the law-abiding one who never entered a changing booth with me."
"There's CCTV on those." He justified himself. She put her bare foot on Gohan's chest, in a symbolic way of showing him his defeat.
Gohan laughed, putting his arms underneath his head like a pillow "Okay, okay, you win! I'm a law-abiding, responsible, adult who puts some sense into his horny wife."
Videl's mouth opened "I can't believe you just said that" she applied more force to her foot. She knew that she was nowhere near close to hurting him.
"Quite a nice view from down here."
Videl then realised that she wasn't very composed... as her skirt was still wrapped up her hips, and her undergarments were somewhere discarded among with her shoes. As she noticed it, in an attempt to recompose herself, she pulled her skirt down... until she could feel the fabric touching the top of her knees, and buttoned up some of the buttons that were undone from her shirt.
Gohan took the chance to stand up, as Videl's dominant foot wasn't impeding him to... not that it ever did, but it was part of the game that they played ever since they got to know each other better.
Gohan himself was far from composed... he pulled up his loose trousers, tucked his shirt in, tightened the belt. Videl was right, his light trousers had grass stains all over.
"We can always tell Bulma we decided to have a picnic." he suggested. She giggled and approached him, dusting some loose grass strings from his shirt and hair.
He did the same, and tried to comb Videl's growing hair with his fingers... he quite liked it how she had it now, barely touching her shoulders, a bit wavy down the bottom... but a lot more tamed then when she first had it cut. She looked feminine, and despite all the stubbornness, feistiness and still tomboyish manners and attitude, there was no way anybody could deny that Videl was a gorgeous woman.
"Shall we go and pick up our daughter then?" Videl asked after grooming Gohan. "I really hope she's all tired and sleepy." Videl sighed.
"You sure you don't want me to kidnap you for a couple of hours more?"
"Looking at our state somebody could actually believe it." She held his hand. "How about I kidnap you now so we can get some food?"
"Arrest me detective Satan-Son, I'm all yours."
"Now, see... that turns me on, not demoting me to Miss Satan. I think you need some lessons on how to treat a lady, you know... I can charge you for deceiving me, after all, we were supposed to be having a romantic candle dinner." Gohan started taking off the ground, his hand intertwined with Videl's.
"Wait Gohan, we can't leave yet! I need to find my shoes and knickers!" Their feet touched the ground again, and both couldn't prevent from laughing out loud while searching for the discarded items...
That's it for now...
Btw, there is a lemon version of this chapter. If you're curious and want to read it just send me a note/email and I'll show you.
Thanks a lot El ^^ for betaing it for me :D You're a star!!
P.S.: I know, I know I have a '...' problem!!!!
