A/N: I just want to make a note here that I realized after writing this chapter, I somehow slipped a lot of content in here that might seem political, even with things as minor as vocabulary choices. IDK. That was totally unintentional, but I'm sure it subconsciously leaked in there from all the campaign coverage here in America. Still, I want to be clear that it is purely coincidental and has nothing to do with expressing my viewpoints. I am NOT bringing politics into my fics. But once it was written, I couldn't see changing it. I like what I have here purely for the purpose of this story.

Aside from that, if any of you are following In Pursuit of Vengeance, I realize it's been a while since I posted a new chapter of that story. I am constantly thinking about it, but just having some temporary writer's block there and will put out a new chapter as soon as that irritating block goes away. Thank you for being patient.

A couple of weeks passed uneventfully for Chi-Chi after the meeting with Goku. As she stood there, looking down at Goten scribbling his pencil against his crisp, white paper, Chi-Chi kept catching herself thinking back to that night, and wondering how she hadn't remembered to call Goku as she promised. His weekend to take the boys was fast-approaching again, and they hadn't spoken a word to each other since.

At the front of the house, the door closed loudly, causing Chi-Chi to momentarily divert her attention from Goten's schoolwork and her thoughts, towards her arriving son.

Chi-Chi braced a hand on the table as she turned and called over her shoulder, "welcome home, Gohan! How was school today?"

"Good." Gohan rounded the corner with a smile on his face as he tossed the backpack from his shoulder onto the couch. "What are you working on, Goten?"

"Math." Goten pulled in his tongue which had been jutting from his lips in concentration, to look up from the table at his brother. "Mom's making me do the hard addition."

Chi-Chi smiled down proudly at the half-completed page with all correct answers, in spite of the fact that Goten was having difficulty with the problems.

Gohan eyed his brother and mother both, then ruffled his brother's hair and laughed. "Hey, you've got it easy. Mom had me doing much harder stuff at your age."

As Goten pouted and tapped his pencil against the table, Chi-Chi met Gohan's eyes with a knowing smile. It was true that she used to challenge Gohan more. She might've made him into an over-achiever, but as a young first-time mother, she didn't realize how high her standards were back then. And Gohan had his father around, mostly. With Goten growing up without Goku for such long stretches of time, Chi-Chi realized she had cut him some slack in comparison to his brother, more than likely to subconsciously compensate for his father's absence.

"Finish up those last few problems, Goten," Chi-Chi told her son with an encouraging pat on his back, "before Trunks gets here."

Gohan turned to Chi-Chi with his brows raised in surprise. "Trunks is coming over?"

Goten giggled and turned to flash his teeth at his brother. "Yeah, Gohan. It's Thursday!"

Before addressing her older son, Chi-Chi grasped the top of Goten's head firmly to redirect his gaze to his work. "I don't know yet who's bringing Trunks over, but he should be here around four."

Gohan placed his hands on his hips and glanced at the clock above the stone mantle, which read ten minutes to four. "Hm. I didn't realize it was Thursday already. I guess if they're coming, that kind of changes my plans."

"What were you going to do, Sweetheart?"

"Well, aside from homework, I was going to give Videl a call."

"You were?" Chi-Chi frowned. "Gohan, if you're getting serious about this girl, I want to meet her."

Gohan nervously laughed it off. "Mom, Videl is just a friend."

"Yeah," Goten giggled, "a friend who you want to kiss."

Gohan fumed as his cheeks reddened. "I do not!"

Chi-Chi tried not to laugh. "If you want to still call her, Gohan, you can. You don't have to stop yourself because Vegeta or Bulma will be over here with Trunks."

Gohan nodded, then after he watched Goten set his pencil down atop his completed assignment, turned to Chi-Chi with a curious frown. "You think it'll be Vegeta or Bulma today?"

Chi-Chi pursed her lips pensively. She wouldn't look forward to the idea of Vegeta bringing Trunks to the house. He was always such an asshole. Chi-Chi never looked forward to spending time with the man, but at least he kept to himself when he came over. As long as Chi-Chi fed him, he was content to leave her house doing them no more damage than a few snide comments.

The alarming sound of the dining room chair skidding across the wood floor made Chi-Chi cringe. Goten hurriedly pushed his finished work aside as he jumped from the pushed-out chair, seemingly before the doorbell rang, as if he could sense his friend's presence at the door. "Trunks!"

After hearing the belated doorbell, Chi-Chi turned to follow Goten and Gohan to the door, but before Chi-Chi even reached the door in their wake, Trunks was racing past her with Goten. "Hi, Aunt Chi-Chi! Hey, Gohan!"

Chi-Chi turned to smile at the blur of black and purple hair as Trunks zoomed past with Goten, heading straight for Goten's room. The boy obviously needed no acknowledgement from Chi-Chi, not when he and Goten were already so excited about their own plans to play.

"Gohan!" At the sound of the feminine voice calling from the doorway, Chi-Chi turned away from the sight of Goten's bedroom door swinging closed behind the boys. Immediately, she wished it were a different voice she heard. Even Vegeta's company was preferable to what she was about to be subjected to.

"Hi, Aunt Bulma! How have you been?"

"Let me take a look at you." Chi-Chi entered the foyer to find Bulma tucking a blue lock of stray hair from her beautifully made-up face as she spun Gohan around by the shoulder to inspect him. "I swear, every time I see you, you're looking more and more like your father."

Interrupting Gohan's embarrassed laughter, Chi-Chi crossed her arms and propped her hip against the wall in the foyer. "Hi, Bulma."

"Chi-Chi!" Bulma turned her attention from Gohan to beam at Chi-Chi. "I love that dress!"

Chi-Chi glanced down at her pink, coral and purple floral shirt-dress, then smiled at Bulma. "Thanks."

It wasn't exactly one of her favorite dresses, or much of a standout from what she typically wore, but Chi-Chi figured the compliment was the nicest thing Bulma could say at the time, even if Bulma was only saying it to fish for a return compliment. Chi-Chi could tell, by the way Bulma grinned expectantly at her, and by the jewels around Bulma's neck and body-fitting sleeveless green sheath dress she wore, she was expecting as much from Chi-Chi.

"You do look nice, Mom." Coming from Gohan, that compliment meant so much more.

Chi-Chi smiled as she met Gohan's gaze in appreciation, before turning to lead both him and Bulma to the kitchen. Gohan smiled all the way into the kitchen, folding his forearms on the counter to lean in for conversation. As Chi-Chi opened the refrigerator to pull out a pitcher of iced tea, she took comfort in his added presence.

"Iced tea, Bulma?" Chi-Chi asked, even as she was already reaching into the cabinet for glasses for Gohan and herself.

"Yes, please." Bulma hummed amiably as she sat on a barstool behind the counter and shifted to face Gohan while Chi-Chi poured the drinks. "So, what's up lately, Kid?"

"Not much. School's great. I'm doing really well, actually."

Chi-Chi smiled into the refrigerator as she returned the pitcher to its proper place. "He's at the top of his class."

"Huh. So's Trunks!" Bulma said as Chi-Chi scooped an arm around the three poured glasses lined up on the counter.

"That's great, Bulma!" Gohan gushed, conveniently leaving out any feedback about Goten's performance, which, though excellent, was not yet top of his class.

"Yeah." Bulma fluffed her shoulder length, straight blue locks as Chi-Chi delivered the drinks to them. "He's just like his mother."

"I think he's getting more like his father." Chi-Chi said with a stern scowl. "That boy blew right past me when he came in here!"

"Oh," Bulma pursed her lips as she grasped the glass of iced tea and her eyes narrowed towards Goten's half-opened bedroom door, "I'm going to have a talk with him about that. Sorry, Chi-Chi."

"It's all right."

"It's just so hard to keep Vegeta's attitude from rubbing off on Trunks, you know?" Bulma sighed and sipped her drink. "I mean, Vegeta's always around training. And Trunks absolutely emulates him."

Chi-Chi frowned as she caught Gohan looking momentarily forlorn by Bulma's mention of Trunks' father always being around. Bulma was no dense woman, so Chi-Chi wondered how she could mention something like that without realizing she could upset Gohan. More likely, she intentionally made the remark to upset Chi-Chi.

Chi-Chi narrowed her eyes at Bulma as she tapped her fingernails roughly against her laminate countertop. "That must be hard on you, Bulma."

"Mm-hm." Bulma nodded. "But I've learned to live with that asshole."

"I should hope so." Chi-Chi shook her head. "You've only been living with the guy for ten years now."

"Married for eight." Bulma smiled before a sad look crossed her face. "We've lasted longer than any other marriage I know of, aside from my parents'."

Chi-Chi pressed her lips together in a hard line as she instantly averted her gaze from both Gohan and Bulma, busying herself with the few remaining dirty dishes in her sink to avoid seeing their pitying frowns. What Bulma failed to recall was that Chi-Chi managed to stay married to Goku for even longer than that - twelve years, to be exact. This conversation was a painful reminder of how many years were adding up that they'd spent divorced.

"How's Vegeta's citizenship coming along, Bulma?" Gohan asked. "Did he get that all squared away?"

"Yeah." Bulma scoffed as Chi-Chi sighed in relief at the change in subject. "Stupid bureaucracy. He's been living here for how many years now? He's even married to a natural born citizen, yet suddenly they want all this paperwork."

Gohan shook his head with chagrin as Chi-Chi vigorously scrubbed away the food caked into a dirtied white plate and then set the dripping clean plate on her padded drying rack.

"You better hope the same never happens to your dad." Bulma continued. "I warned Goku about that, but you know how he is."

Gohan nodded as Chi-Chi wrung her wet fingers through a green cotton dishrag, drying her hands as she processed everything Bulma was saying. The citizenship they were referring to was a problem for Vegeta, as he wasn't a natural born citizen here. He actually came to the country in search of Goku, who was unknowingly adopted from the same war-torn country from which Vegeta hailed. Growing up here with his adoptive grandfather, Goku knew nothing of his origin. But Vegeta knew it very well and for some reason, always looked down upon Goku for not having national pride. As if Goku was supposed to relate with a population of strangers halfway across the world that never cared about him.

Chi-Chi tossed her wet dish rag aside and snorted. "No one is revoking Goku's citizenship."

"You never know, Chi-Chi. He wasn't born here."

"Yeah, but he served in this country's military, Bulma." Chi-Chi said. "He even fought against his native country."

"Mom's right." Gohan said. "Dad even received honors from the president when he was wounded in battle and had to leave the service."

"I know, I know." Bulma flapped her hand. "I just don't want to see anything happen to him. He deserves so much better."

As she looked at Bulma's wistful expression, Chi-Chi formed her lips into a hard line. She knew Bulma was referring to Goku deserving better than his current situation of living alone in a modest little house, but part of her felt a sting of double meaning from her remark. Chi-Chi always felt like Bulma thought she wasn't good enough for Goku. Bulma would never say it, but it was the little things she said and did that made Chi-Chi feel that way.

"When you get home, Bulma, tell Vegeta we said hi." Gohan said before tipping his head back to gulp down the rest of his tea.

"Sure, Gohan. Vegeta says hi, too." At Gohan's surprised look and Chi-Chi's disbelieving raise of her brows, Bulma rolled her eyes. "I mean, that's what he should have said, so I'm saying it for him."

Gohan laughed as he made his way around to place his emptied glass in the sink. "All right, well I'm going to go get my homework started. Mom, can you two keep Trunks and Goten out of my room?"

"Sure, honey." Chi-Chi smiled and sipped her refreshing, sweet iced tea. "We wouldn't want the boys interrupting your conversation with Videl."

Gohan grit his teeth and winced as Bulma looked at him curiously, but ducked away to head to his room without another word about it. Bulma turned to Chi-Chi and propped a hand on her hip. "Who's Videl?"

"Gohan's new girlfriend, apparently." Relieved to hear that she'd at least heard about the girl before Bulma, Chi-Chi sipped her tea again and peered at Bulma over the rim. "He doesn't want to admit it, but he's been talking to and about the girl nearly every day."

"Wow." Bulma blinked. "I never thought Gohan would've had it in him, seeing how clueless his father was about girls at his age."

Chi-Chi set her glass down and smirked at Bulma. "Just because he never showed any attraction to you doesn't mean Goku was clueless."

Bulma's brows rose as she gaped at the remark, but she quickly dismissed it with a flippant shrug of her dainty shoulders. "So, when do we get to meet this girl?"

"I don't know." Chi-Chi sighed. "Maybe at the parent conference next week I'll be lucky enough to run into her and her parents."

"Oh?" Bulma shifted as she crossed her legs. "Gohan has parent conferences already? I wonder if Trunks has one coming soon."

"He might. Why don't you check with his school, Bulma?"

"Yeah." When Bulma nearly opened her mouth to say more, a loud crash sounded from Goten's bedroom, followed by a fit of giggles from the two young boys.

"Goten?" Chi-Chi stepped hastily around the kitchen counter, towards Goten's room.

Bulma was fast on Chi-Chi's heels. "Trunks?"

When they entered the room, they saw that the boys had somehow managed to strew Goten's toys all over. Everywhere. It looked like a bomb had gone off in the center of his room, with pictures knocked off his walls and his red sheets and blankets from his bed tossed across the mountainous mound of toys piled on the floor.

Chi-Chi bared her teeth furiously at her guiltily grimacing young son. "Goten!"

"Trunks," Bulma shook her finger at the other, stubbornly scowling boy, "you are going to help Goten clean up every single one of these toys before we go home, and don't dawdle, because you need a bath when we get home and you do not want to keep your father waiting for dinner."

"Aww!" Trunks complained as he kicked a toy across the room and petulantly crossed his arms.

"Mom," Goten whined, "me and Trunks won't have enough time to play!"

"Well you should've thought of that before you made this mess!" Chi-Chi yelled before throwing Goten's door wide open to give herself and Bulma a clear view of their progress from the kitchen. "Now get to work!"

Bulma added a firm nod of reinforcement to the boys before turning to follow Chi-Chi from the room, then scoffed, "Boys. Such a handful."

"What do you expect?" Chi-Chi asked as she reached the dining room and took a seat at the table where she could easily peer at the slow progress happening in Goten's room. "They are their father's sons."

"Yes, they are." Bulma crossed her arms with a scowling face as she took a seat opposite Chi-Chi. Before Chi-Chi could say anything else, a familiar ding sounded, notifying her of a text message. As Chi-Chi stood to check her phone, Bulma's brows rose curiously. "Was that mine?"

As Bulma reached for her purse and sought the phone inside it, Chi-Chi grasped hers from the kitchen countertop. "It's probably Goku. I haven't called him all week. His weekend is coming up and we never made arrangements for..." Chi-Chi furrowed her brows as she looked at the message, surprised to see that the text was not from Goku, but Eighteen.

"For the exchange?" Bulma finished for Chi-Chi with a suspicious frown as Chi-Chi intently read Eighteen's message.

"Hm." Chi-Chi carried her phone with her, staring at the words on the screen as she sat down again. "This is a change."

"What is it?" Bulma raised a brow and attempted to leer over Chi-Chi's phone. "Goku wants to meet you alone at his place before you bring the boys this time?"

As Bulma giggled at her suggestive remark, Chi-Chi just shook her head. Eighteen's text simply requested for Chi-Chi to meet at her place Friday night, rather than going directly to the sushi bar.

W-h-y-? Chi-Chi typed her one-worded response and looked at Bulma. "No, it's Eighteen. She's changing our meeting place for Friday night."

A sour frown suddenly crossed Bulma's face. "Yeah? That's funny. I still haven't received an invitation to this little weekly meeting."

Upon hearing noisy crashes, Chi-Chi glanced towards Goten's room and was relieved to see the wooden floor returning to its normal, clean state as the boys hustled around the room. Then, at the sound of another ding from her phone, she redirected her gaze to the screen.

"Yeah...sorry, Bulma." Chi-Chi said absently as she read Eighteen's new message. "We just always thought you were...busy on Friday nights."

Chi-Chi knit her brows together, reading Eighteen's message on the screen while Bulma talked. "Oh, that's right. Friday's the one night of the week I can get Vegeta to stop training. And when Trunks goes to bed..."

As Chi-Chi glanced up from her phone to see Bulma's cheeks reddening and her eyes rolling back in her head, Chi-Chi appreciated Bulma keeping her thoughts to herself. Looking back down at her phone, Chi-Chi frowned at Eighteen's vague explanation.

Eighteen's text simply stated it was because Krillin was going out with Yamcha, too, that night. That was out of the ordinary. Usually, the only times Eighteen and Krillin made plans requiring a babysitter were when they were going out together. For fear of being put up as a candidate for the job on her rare night out, Chi-Chi didn't bother asking who Marron's babysitter would be.

Instead, she put her phone down dismissively on the dining room table and folded her hands in her lap. "So I take it you don't want to go out with us this Friday?"

Bulma smiled. "Maybe next weekend, if I'm not doing anything."

"Well, looks like I'll be seeing your ex on Friday."

"Yamcha?" Bulma blinked and then frowned. "Tell everyone I said hi."

"I will."

A sly smirk crossed Bulma's face. "You want me to do the same when I see your ex this weekend?"

Chi-Chi nearly gasped at Bulma's suggestion. "You're going to see Goku?"

She didn't know anything about Goku seeing the Briefs that coming weekend, but he was definitely going to have the boys with him. She was starting to wonder just how often Goku took the boys over there without informing her.

"Yep." Bulma let the 'p' pop as she smacked her glossy lips together. "He's bringing the boys over for some swimming on Sunday. I'll probably end up watching the kids while he and Vegeta do...whatever macho shit they get into."

Chi-Chi clenched her teeth and tried not to bite down on her lip. It seemed Goku was planning to use his valuable time meant to be spent with the boys goofing off with Vegeta instead. She couldn't believe him.

"Bulma, how often does Goku do this?"

Bulma's mouth fell open in a moment of realization, before she forced a smile at Chi-Chi. "Bring the boys over for a swim? Not too much. I mean, usually he swims with them, you know?"

Chi-Chi pressed her lips together and nodded as she crossed her arms tightly, not at all believing a word Bulma said. She knew Bulma lied to her from time to time, and usually Bulma was too good at it for Chi-Chi to tell the difference. But this was not one of those instances.

"Mm-hm." Chi-Chi tapped a finger on her bicep and glowered at Bulma. "I'm going to need to have a talk with that man. He's supposed to be spending time with his sons!"

"He does!" Bulma nodded fervently. "The boys train with him and Vegeta sometimes! And they always have so much fun with Goku. You're too hard on him, Chi-Chi! Cut the guy some slack!"

"You've never been married to him, Bulma." Chi-Chi leaned forward and spoke in a terse whisper that the boys couldn't possibly overhear from the other room. "Don't tell me I need to cut him slack."

"Well, you're not married to him." Bulma narrowed her eyes, matching Chi-Chi's tone. "You gave up the right to harp on him when you decided you didn't want him anymore, Chi-Chi."

Chi-Chi narrowed her eyes at Bulma, clenching her jaw shut as she released a heavy exhale through her nose. Chi-Chi had to remind herself that Bulma had no idea what she was saying, what it was she was getting herself angry about. Bulma never knew Chi-Chi's motives for sending the divorce papers, so Chi-Chi could overlook Bulma's attitude towards her. What was painful for Chi-Chi was the idea that Bulma thought she didn't want Goku anymore because of the possibility that Goku expressed feeling that way at some point.

Chi-Chi met Bulma's gaze with steely resolve. "I had to send those papers, Bulma."

Bulma's blue eyes burned into Chi-Chi as she shook her head with a stubborn scowl.

"As far as my right to be hard on Goku," Chi-Chi raised her chin and injected sass into her voice, "I am the mother of his children, no matter what. And when it comes to my children, I will be hard on anyone I have to, even Goku."

Bulma shook her head and rolled her eyes with a look of disgust. "Fine. Keep tormenting the poor guy."

"Me?" Chi-Chi scoffed as she placed her hand against her chest. "Tormenting him?"

Bulma nodded and looked Chi-Chi intently in the eye. "You can be really cruel, Chi-Chi."

Chi-Chi blinked rapidly, having trouble wrapping her head around what Bulma just said to her. Their conversations usually went this way, but this was the first time Bulma had spoken so directly. Usually, she'd just beat around the bush and made passive aggressive remarks that could pass for pleasantries and compliments. Chi-Chi was shocked by this turn in conversation. She never had any idea that Bulma or possibly other friends of Goku's saw her as cruel. That was harsh, and far from the truth. She knew Goku never saw her that way. Most of the time when she lost her temper with him, he knew he deserved the treatment he received.

"So can you, Bulma." Chi-Chi shook her head and closed her eyes briefly, fighting to calm herself before Gohan or the boys might emerge from their rooms to find Bulma and Chi-Chi in this tense atmosphere.

She knew how much Goten's friendship with Trunks meant to him. They'd known each other since they were babies and were like two peas in a pod. She couldn't risk ruining something as special as that because she found Trunks' parents insufferable ever since they blamed her for her divorce from Goku. As usual, she would stick it out for the sake of her boys, not for her friendship with the Briefs.

"Chi-Chi…" the resignation in Bulma's voice surprised Chi-Chi, enough for her to open her eyes and turn her gaze on the other woman again without animosity. However, before Bulma could say more, Chi-Chi caught a streak of purple and black in her peripheral vision, which was accompanied by a noise brigade of racing footsteps from Goten's doorway.

"We're done!" Goten exclaimed jubilantly as he jumped by Chi-Chi's side.

"Mom," Trunks stuck his hands in his jeans pockets and looked hopefully at Bulma, "can we play more now?"

"We want to play video games before Trunks leaves." Goten said with an equally hopeful smile.

Chi-Chi sighed and exchanged a glance with Bulma. At least the boys wanted to do something that wouldn't make another mess, and by taking a quick glance towards Goten's room, Chi-Chi was able to confirm that they had restored the room to its prior, cleanly state. She wouldn't be able to talk anymore with Bulma while the boys were playing in the living room, where their only game console was located. But Chi-Chi had no desire to continue anymore conversation with Bulma, even if she had been slightly curious about what Bulma was about to say.

Chi-Chi sighed. "Okay."

"But not for too long." Bulma added as she moved into the living room to help the boys set up the system.

Chi-Chi could end the day more easily this way. Then she would text Goku after Bulma and Trunks left, just to tell him to come and pick the boys up from the house as usual. She didn't feel up to talking to him after that conversation with Bulma.

When Chi-Chi sat back to watch the boys preparing to play as Bulma started up the game for them, her phone alerted her of another text message. This time, when she looked down, the text was from Goku.

R u ok? Do I still get the kids Friday?

Chi-Chi rolled her eyes towards the ceiling, feeling truly guilty about the fact that she hadn't called him in the last two weeks. She was surprised that he seemed concerned about her. It was unlike Goku to be worried about not hearing from someone for a stretch of time. Heaven knew he was often guilty of leaving people in the lurch. Chi-Chi texted him back immediately, letting him know he could come over around five o'clock as usual on Friday.

While Goten and Trunks started a game, hooting and hollering in excitement at the screen as Bulma took a seat at the barstool again and started looking at her phone, Chi-Chi tapped her foot beneath the table, feeling impatient for Bulma and Trunks to leave already so she could start dinner. Then, as she sat there, mulling over whether she had ever been cruel to Goku, the alert of another text sounded, causing Chi-Chi to look at her phone.

Gr8! C u 2morro! :)

Chi-Chi disregarded Goku's message as soon as she received it, sliding her phone away as she focused her attention on watching Goten and his best friend play together. But the more she tried to focus on Goten, she realized she couldn't shake her distraction. Her gaze kept shifting back to her black-screened phone on the table. When she finally picked it up and tapped it to re-read Goku's last message, she couldn't stop smiling. She could just picture Goku's enthusiastic smile as he texted her that message.

Regardless of what he was planning to do with their sons for the weekend, she knew he was looking forward to it, and so were they. Once Goku picked up the boys on Friday night, Chi-Chi would be off to Eighteen's for their usual Friday night out, or maybe night in. Chi-Chi didn't know what Eighteen had planned, but a change in pace felt welcome right now, and she no longer felt concerned about how Goku was planning to spend his weekend. He was free to enjoy his time with the boys however he saw fit.