Bright, mourning sun lit up the bedroom. Kimchi scratched piteously on the thin, wooden door. Finally he barked to wake his human up so he could go outside. Chichi stumbled to the door pulling on her robe. After she let Kimchi out the front, and nearest, door she walked back to the bedroom to lay down for a few more minutes Vegeta lay snoring softly in the bed., Chichi was shocked t see him. She hadn't expected him to stay after their previous night's activities. Carefully she slipped back into bed, glad it wasn't empty, at least not all the time. The widow dozed off lying curled up beside Vegeta. When she finally did wake up he was lying beside her on his back. At first she blinked to make sure she wasn't seeing things. She'd laid down n his outstretched arm after letting Kimchi out.

"Did I cut off circulation?" Chichi muttered as Vegeta bent his elbow.

"No." He shrugged as he sat up against the head board. Goku had always pulled his arm away just as Chichi got comfortable lying against him. When they were intimate she had always felt like something was missing. The guilt boiling on the back burners of Chichi's mind began to bubble. She almost resented Vegeta, sitting beside her. He was more deceptive, cold, calculating, strategist to everyone but passionate and loving to Bulma. Chichi knew she had only see the watered down version of what Bulma had had for years. Vegeta noticed the abrupt change in Kakarot's wife. She lay on her side, facing away from him. Quick sighs and restlessness emanated from her. He lay on his side looking at the back of her head until Chichi snapped.

"What!" She spat, looking over her bare shoulder at the dark, daring eyes. Vegeta just cocked an eyebrow and changed the angle of his head.

"It's not fair, Bulma got everything she needed or wanted, I've had to work my fingers to the bone to provide for my family, Goku was always gone." Chichi had to let a sob out she'd struggled to stop.

"Even when he was here I felt alone, oh dear." Tears fell freely from her dark eyes.

"I know he loved me, but there's more than one kind of love, Bulma was lucky, she knew you were attached to her and only her in a special way." Chichi couldn't stop talking. Vegta lay propped up on one elbow, just listening. She lay sobbing, bright morning sunshine blocked by Vegeta's lean body.

"Goku never loved me as much as I loved him." Chichi buried her face in the pillow and cried. Her heart lay in pieces along the bottom of her soul. Vegeta let her get all the emotion out of her system. When Chichi quit sobbing and began pulling herself together she looked up at the Sayian in her bed. His tight lipped expression and furrowed brow showed his underlying concern. Then eyes locked for a long moment.

"I sound foolish." Chichi sat up, the sheet pulled up beneath her arm pits. She pulled a hanky out of the tip night stand drawer and dabbed at her dark, shining eyes.

"No.: Vegeta spoke the one simple word with no emotion. The old mask had gone back up. A veneer of control and detachment covered his angular face. The whole scene felt oddly familiar and dreamlike at the same time. Vegeta was certain that Chici hadn't told a soul about how she felt for Goku.

"Bulma never heard me speak the only time I said I love you." Vegeta's voice was low, just above a whisper. Chichi jaw dropped.

"You found her that morning, Bulma's lab is the long way around from the gravity chamber, you went through just to …" Her voice trailed off.

"Just to see her." Vegeta sighed heavily as he looked out the window. Gauzy, white curtains blew in the light breeze from the ceiling fan. Vegeta felt Chichi's hand on his shoulder for the briefest moment but he didn't move. The world continued to move on, birds sang and the ocean tides drifted in then out. Chichi dressed and left Vegeta sitting, looking out the window.

Scene Break ***************************

Gohan packed the vehicle with everything the baby would ever need it seemed. Videl carried beautiful Pan out, covered in a thin pink blanket. Goten trailed behind with another load.

"I wonder how Mom's been doing this summer. I can't believe it's been so long since we've visited." Gohan squeezed in behind the wheel. Goten sat up front so Videl cold sit in the back with the baby.

"I know, I feel bad, she's been all alone living in the mountains." Videl shook her head as she buckled up.

"Mom gets a letter a week from me." Goten shrugged as he stared at the side mirror. A leggy blonde walked down the sidewalk as Gohan pulled the vehicle into the slow stream of traffic.

The little party set out of the city for the weekend. Gohan had decided to go as soon as Videl and Pan could travel. Pan sat in her car seat looking around as they drove. Her eyes were open wide, taking in the whole world. Gohan looked at his family in the rear view mirror. He wondered what his father would think of Pan. It made him a little sad that Goku wasn't there to share his blessings with.

Scene Break ************

Chichi leaned on her favorite grubbing hoe wiping sweat from her face. Between the rabbits and the crows her tomato plants were suffering. Kimchi played around chasing a butterfly. He was always chasing something it seemed. Vegeta was off drawing water. The late summer sun beat down steadily on the farming widow. After leaping for the hundredth time Kimchi stood still and listened for a minute, his ears perked. Suddenly the mutt began barking happily and wagging his rear end furiously. A few minutes later Chichi heard the vehicle doors close in front of the house. Goten came bounding around the house like a colt. He was a little taller and much tanner than when Chichi had last seen him.

"Mom" He yelled with a crack in the middle. Chichi chucked the grubbing hoe and ran towards her baby boy. The teenager winced under her crushing hug. Gohan and Videl walked around the house towards the garden. Tears fell from Chichi's eyes. She grabbed both her boys in a hug then turned loose to greet Videl. Big tears fell at the sight of the first grandchild.

"Oh, my, she's perfect!" Chichi exclaimed, "Let's go inside where its cooler, you have to be so careful in this hot sun. " Chichi rambled on in her usual mother hen fashion. Videl just smiled and let her mother-in-law talk. Chichi ushered the group into the kitchen and poured lemonade all around. Gohan came in last. As he pulled off his loafers he noticed a pair of black leather boots sitting beside his mother's gum boots. They didn't seem to fit into the picture. He didn't have a pair Goten didn't and his father never had worn anything like them.

"Come on in, Gohan, I've got cookies made." The second generation Sayian shrugged it off and went into the kitchen.

Scene Break ***********

Vegeta set the huge fifty-five gallon drums down by the shed near the garden. It took four trips to fill the reservoir for two days. Most of the four hundred and forty gallons of water went towards Chichi's garden, some to her flowers and the rest on household uses. It was the least the warrior could do to help out. He ate and slept there at her house, especially lately. Vegeta was getting use to his late night visits to Chichi's bed room and seeing her in the pre-dawn light. He listened as she told stories about Kakarot or his sons. Sometimes the Sayian Prince sat by the window and read from Gohan's text books. Chichi had done a double take the first time he pulled a horror novel from the book case and began reading.

"Well, I'll be." Chichi's eyes were as wide as saucers. Her crochet lay forgotten in her lap.

"I can read." Vegeta had growled, annoyed at her disbelief.

"It was more your choice of books, I would have figured you for history or detective novels." Chichi growled back. Vegeta raised one eyebrow and snorted disdainfully before returning to his Stephen King book.

Scene Break *****************