Hello again faithful readers. I feel this may not be my best work but I like how it turned out.

Sick in Bed

Chi Chi hummed to herself as she stirred the chicken soup she was preparing. She was distracted by the phone ringing and she answered it:

"Hello? Oh hi Videl! No they're not feeling any better yet but I'm sure they'll recover soon enough. Of course you're invited over as soon as they're on their feet again. I'll see you then."

She hung up as Goten entered the room and said "That smells really good Mom!"

"Thanks but it's not for you. It's for Goku and Gohan."

The small boy giggled and his mother reproached him; "It's very rude to laugh at someone while they are ill."

"I can't help it; it's hard to imagine Daddy in bed with a cold."

"It is true that he hardly ever gets sick but it does occasionally happen."

She ladled the soup into bowls and placed them on a tray along with mugs of hot tea. She carried the tray into the master bedroom and paused in the door way, gazing at her husband and son. They had been more or less quarantined in there since Gohan came home a few days previous infected with the cold that was going around school and passed it to Goku. Gohan was propped up against some pillows reading a book and Goku was dozing next to him.

"Soups on" Chi Chi gently called rousing Gohan from his reading and Goku from his slumber.

"Oh boy soup" Goku exclaimed in his stopped up voice. "That looks really tasty."

"If only we could smell it" the equally stopped up Gohan quipped.

His mother smiled as she handed each of them their soup and placed the tea cups on the bedside tables.

"Don't worry, if I know you two you'll be over this before you know it."

"It's not fair that neither you nor Goten have caught it" Gohan complained.

Goku said "Come now Gohan, that's not like you."

"I know; I'm just a little grumpy and stir crazy."

Chi Chi, who had quickly retreated so as not to breathe near them, said "Chin up Gohan. You should be happy; you spent the last seven years without Goku and now you have him all to yourself. Well I'll be back later to retrieve your empty bowls."

She left them alone and they ate in silence, occasionally having a fit of coughing and sneezing.

"Do you want to play another game of checkers?"

"Sure Dad."

As they set up the board Goku commented "Isn't it funny? All those years ago I took care of you when you had a cold without getting a single sniffle but no…now…achoo!!!"

"Bless you."

"Thanks." They played for a few minutes before Goku asked "Gohan is there something on your mind?"

"What makes you ask that?"

"Gohan I know my own children. Well I'm getting to know Goten at any rate."

"Dad it's just…it's just…it's just really weird, you coming back to life I mean."

"Go on" Goku gently prompted while he jumped two of Gohan's pieces.

"I'm thrilled to have you back but life without you wasn't exactly easy. I mean it wasn't hard or anything, it was…I thought I could handle it…but I did handle it…Oh boy this is hard."

Goku did not look hurt or offended. He said "Take your time, if something needs to be said then you will think of it."

"These feelings are new for the most part. I didn't know I even had them until you were back living with us again." He took a deep breath and continued "I suppose I'm angrier on Goten's behalf than my own. For seven years I helped Mom raise him. I know that your motive for staying dead was good and noble but that still doesn't change the fact that that little boy grew up without his father. In fact I'm more his dad than you are!"

Gohan clapped a hand to his mouth and Goku looked like his son had slapped him. "I'm sorry Dad. I didn't mean that…"

"Why not, it's true isn't it?" Gohan looked at his father but immediately turned away to sneeze. Goku took the opportunity and continued "You and Chi Chi have been Goten's parents and I can't tell you how much I regret that. This is a very unusual and complicated situation and you have every right to be angry with me."

Gohan could feel the sorrow in his father's words; "Dad I'm sorry. I've been lying here trying to decide if I'm angry at you or at myself. I keep thinking that if I had just finished off Cell then this situation would never have arisen." Tears leaked out of his eyes and he digressed into a fit of coughing.

The checkers game completely abandoned; Goku took his eldest son in his arms and held him. He hugged Gohan very tightly and tried to put seven years worth of hugs into that embrace. "Gohan I have not been the father you deserve…"

"You've been excellent!"

"Thank you for saying that but no I haven't. You deserved a father who could always be there for you and always understand you. I have failed both counts."

"But you've done the best you could. You were always doing what you thought was for the best. I'm the one who basically killed you."

"What! I forbid you to talk like that!"

"But if I had finished Cell off…"

"Then I would have lived and very easily might not have unlocked Super Sayian level 2 or 3, meaning I wouldn't have been able to fend of Majin Buu. I definitely wouldn't know the fusion dance or the Potara Earrings and then just think of where we'd be. No, you didn't do the wise thing and there was a cost but look at the good that came from it. The only thing I regret is the lost family time which I more than intend to make up for."

"And people say that you're not smart. Dad, you can find a silver lining in any storm cloud."

"It's a gift. The silver lining in this joint cold is that we were given the perfect opportunity to have this conversation."

"I agree and feel better now."

They hugged again but this time Goku's cold chose that moment to manifest and he sneezed into Gohan's shoulder. He pulled back quickly and started to apologize but began laughing at the look on Gohan's face. He laughed so hard that he rolled backwards off of the bed with a loud thump.

"Okay, I deserved that."

Gohan, who was trying to remove his shirt without touching the phlegm, agreed "Yes you did."

They looked at each other and laughed so hard that Chi Chi and Goten came in wondering what was wrong. They didn't answer but kept on laughing. They knew that they had had some rough times and that more were certainly on the horizon but the Son family would always pull through.