Disclaimer: I don't own DBZ or the characters

To the guest reviewer, aswf, I really appreciate the review and condolences. It has been a difficult two years, as I'm sure you can imagine. I have been doing my best to capture the feelings of loss as I have felt them in hopes that the story would be more realistic and relatable. I just want you to know that I understand very well and, if you would like and you are still around, shoot me a PM if you need someone to talk to. Sometimes it's easier to talk to a stranger than the people around us.


It was a nice day outside, a breeze blowing through the open windows of the mountain home. Gohan was downstairs in the living room working on some assignment. He was starting to like the school work a bit, for it kept him distracted enough from the world around him. He was starting to really get into literature, being able to read stories about different worlds and peoples. It stole him from his current world, after all. Of course, reading his science books did the same. He was really interested in some of the scientific journals Bulma leant him as well.

Chi Chi had been resting a bit, not really feeling up to doing housework that day. It was starting to get pretty hot, and the woman realized that she would need to dig out her old maternity clothes from her closet. She was looking forward to finding some of those summer dresses.

She smiled when she saw Gohan hard at work and ascended the stairs to her room. As she entered, she hummed a bit, until she opened closet and her heart felt sunk. She knew what side of the closet the boxes of maternity clothes were, but she hadn't truly thought on it.

Inside the closet were all of Goku's clothes and gis, and Chi Chi felt a pain in her heart. As her hand moved to the spot in her chest, tears formed in her eyes. In the past, Goku had always returned home be it from training or from Otherworld, and so she had never considered touching his belongings before. As she stared at the mostly orange wardrobe, she fell to her knees and burst out into tears.

With his sensitive hearing, Gohan picked up the sound of his mother sobbing and instantly runs up the stairs to find her on the floor of her room in front of the open closet. Gohan's lips pursed into a firm line as he made the connection. He looked down to his mother and knelt down beside her. As soon as his hand reached her shoulder, he was pulled into her grip. Unprepared, he sort of sat there as his mother cried against him squeezing him tightly. He calmed and wrapped his arms around the woman, patting her back. Surprisingly, his mother's grip tightened and he actually felt slight pain. "Hey, mom," he called out softly. "Sh, I know. It's okay."

"I-I'm sorry," she choked out. "I've been trying so hard to hold it together. I didn't expect to breakdown like this. I-I didn't want you to see me like this."

"Don't worry about it," Gohan assured her. "I'm fine, and you've been holding this in. You're suffering too, mom."

She laughed weakly and rested her chin on her boy's head. "I love you, sweetie," she told him. "You're so understanding."

Gohan managed to smile and then looked to the closet. "Hey, what were you doing, anyway?" he asked.

"I wanted to find my old maternity clothes and I just didn't think about the fact that we shared that side of the closet. Your dad always came back."

"I know," Gohan murmured. "Why don't you go downstairs and I'll put dad's clothes away? You can go work in the garden, and I'll put his stuff away in capsules and put them up in the attic."

Chi Chi nodded, wiping away her tears. "Gohan, will you be okay?"

Her son nodded to her. "Just go. I'll take care of it."

Chi Chi offered him a weak smile as he helped her up from the floor. Once she was gone, Gohan took in a shaky breath and clenched his fists. He knew he was in for a long, painful afternoon, and to be honest it was not something he was looking forward to. He had to do this, though, for his mother. He would do anything to make things easier for her. She had enough to worry about.


From the moment he started going through the clothes, Gohan was slow and sluggish, his emotions spinning. Every article seemed to contain a ton of memories of his father, especially all of his training gis. That seemed to be what his father wore the most, having a ton of replacements after all the fights he had been in. Gohan lost count of how many times his gi was torn and shredded or disintegrated by ki. All of the times they trained together were brought to the surface of his mind that Gohan had to shove the uniforms aside. Goku hardly had any casual clothing at all, but there were two suits left in the closet. One was the suit he wore on his wedding day. Gohan knew that picture well, for it still remained in his living room. He was thankful once again that he was doing this and not his mother, or she would upset both herself and the baby.

The other suit was what his father had worn to an interview with a preparatory school for him. His parents had gone to try to get him into the private school. Of course, the interview hadn't gone as well as his mother had hoped. Gohan could only chuckle weakly as tears began to stream down his face.

He wiped them away and then threw down the capsule at the now folded clothes. They disappeared in a puff of smoke leaving the small pod behind. Gohan just stood over it, hesitant to pick it up. It was strange how the boy who saved the world from Cell was reluctant to pick up a capsule and put it in the attic. He was sure his father would be teasing him about how ridiculous he was being.

His father would never back down from a challenge, and Gohan wasn't going to either. He found it within himself to grab the capsule and then headed towards the attic. There wasn't really anything up there except for an old, empty shelf where Gohan placed the clothes. He turned away quickly, not looking back, and left the musty room slamming the door behind him. Then he returned to his mother's room and started getting her maternity clothes out of the boxes placing them on the now empty hangers, to fill the space and finalize the change.


It wasn't much later after he finished that his mother finally came inside, though Gohan was nowhere to be found. However, Chi Chi found a plate of berries and a glass of cold water indicating that he hadn't been gone long. She smiled sadly knowing that he son had had a rough day, but she was so thankful what he had done for her. She would have never been able to handle it herself. Gohan really was a good kid. He had been so helpful ever since finding out she was pregnant. It was then she remembered how close she came to losing both her husband and son and tears began to form in her eyes once more.

She managed to will them away, taking a drink of the water and eating some of the berries. It would have been hell had she lost both of them. She would have been devastated.

She was very lucky that hadn't happened. She just needed to remind herself of that.