"Gohaaan!"
Gohan dropped his garden tools and exploded towards the house.
His mother was kneeling on the floor, her eyes wide, her mouth hanging open, and Gohan already knew what was happened. He picked his mother up with one arm and carried her into her bedroom. The contractions were already starting, and she cried out.
Her fingers dug into his arm.
"He's coming," she said. "Baby's coming."
"I know mom, I know," Gohan said, gently taking her fingers from his arm. "I'm going to help, okay."
"Water – you have to boil some water –"
"Don't worry, I know what to do."
He knew that boiling water on their wood-stove would take much too long. He could hear his mother's heavy breaths and soft moans even from the next room, and – nervous in spite of his confidence in all the books he had recently been reading about midwifery – gripped the pot in two hands and turned on his chi in a burst. The water boiled almost instantly, and he rushed back to the bedroom.
"Here, mom, pain killers," he said.
Chichi really tried to swallow them, but another contraction came, and she almost choked. She had to spit the pills out before she did, and yelped as another contraction came. Gohan grabbed his mother's hand. Her nails dug into his palm with each pain.
She has such a strong grip! He thought with amazement. He couldn't imagine that even the androids or Cell had a tighter grip that his mother at that moment.
"Mom, mom, try to take the pain killers again," Gohan said.
Chichi yelped, but shook her head.
"No, no, no, it's fine, this is fine, I'm fine," she muttered. "I can handle – can handle this. Aaaa...oh, Goku, Goku, Goku, Goku."
Gohan squeezed his mother's hand even tighter. He couldn't remember the last time he had felt so frightened – not even fighting Cell could compare to this!
"It's going to be okay, mom, it's going to be okay."
She kept muttering to herself, and Gohan heard her mumble his father's name more than once. His heart dropped into his stomach.
Dammit, dad, why didn't you come back when you could have! Mom needs you! Don't you see that?
He could remember yelling at his mom. He could remember telling her that she had never really loved dad. The thought made his stomach turn now, thinking about how angry he had been with her, when she didn't deserve it.
But now, staring at his mother convulse with contractions, her hair matted to her face with sweat, her eyes squeezed shut with the pain – and the only thing she could say was 'Goku.'
I was wrong. It wasn't mom that didn't love him enough, he thought. But...maybe dad didn't love her enough...because he didn't come back for her.
Tears prickled at his eyes. He felt like a traitor for thinking things like this.
His mother cried out. Goku's name jumped to her lips again.
And five hours later, Goten was guided into the world.
"Mom," Gohan whispered. "Mom."
Chichi's eyes fluttered open. A smile flickered at the edges of her lips as Gohan passed his brother into her arms.
"Oh," she breathed.
That tiny little sound held the entire world inside of it.
He didn't hear her coming until half a second before impact, and it was only by luck that he managed to snap his hand back to catch her foot.
But there was a strange added power to the blow, and despite his own strength, he was forced several inches into the dirt by the blow. She snapped back away from him, and Vegeta whipped around.
Half a smile was dancing on Chichi's lips.
"Miss me?" she said.
Vegeta snorted, but he couldn't help but smirk back.
"Coating your blow with chi. That was smart."
"I try."
Vegeta glanced at Capsule Corp, then back to Chichi.
"Figured you weren't going to start again," he said. "What with how Bulma's been acting like since Trunks was born."
Chichi's eyes had the same fire that he had come to associate only with Goku.
"Giving up is out of the question."