Disclaimer:
I do not own or profit from any Dragonball Z content or characters. The same applies to any popular songs referenced in the story, any publications, movies, or other cultural references. Any original characters not in the Dragonball Z universe are named at random, and not intended to mirror any living or dead individual.
The idea for this story belongs to Charismatic Beauty.
Chapter 11: An Awkward Holiday
"Hello mother."
Chi Chi paused in the middle of the sidewalk, knowing who it was but afraid to acknowledge him. With Gohan at her side facing her, she stared straight ahead into the urban landscape with wide eyes, completely stunned and defeated.
Gohan stepped in front of her and assailed her.
"What's going on?" he asked, with a deep and almost blood thirsty voice that only a Saiyan could muster.
"I…" Chi Chi stuttered.
"I was visiting a mutual friend of Bulma's for lunch," Chi Chi finally let out in an unconvincing voice.
"Well that must've been a literal power lunch then giving the bodily activity of you and the other person. Were you talking bites while doing push-ups?" Gohan sarcastically asked.
Chi Chi let her head and eyes fall to the ground. It occurred to her Gohan would've known what happened without seeing it.
The awkward silence between the two was filled by buses, cars, cyclists and pedestrians.
"Look, I knew something had be up for a while. I don't know how long this been going on but you can certainly count on me to NOT consider you as my mother from this point forward."
Chi Chi now looked up with tears welling in her eyes.
"Not only have you shown yourself to be a hypocrite with me and my brother, by raising us to act in exactly the opposite manner you have; but more importantly you've betrayed the love and caring of my father. In what world does he deserve such a thing?!"
Chi Chi had no response because she knew this was ultimately indefensible, as tears now rolled down her face.
"I'm going home. At least I'm at peace knowing what all of these strange behaviors with you recently have been all about," Gohan concluded as he started to walk away.
As the distance between Chi Chi and Gohan spread, panic set in.
"Now he's going to tell everyone and not only will I have no friends, I won't even have a home where I'm welcome?!"
"Gohan!" Chi Chi screamed with her voice cracking.
Gohan turned around and looked at her with a compassionless face, so different from the one she was used to seeing from her oldest son.
"…so I guess you're going to tell everyone then…" Chi Chi stated softly while staring back at the pavement.
"No," he replied matter-of-factly.
Chi Chi looked up at him with confusion evident in her facial expressions.
"If I tell anyone it will crush both Goten and Dad. I'd rather keep it a secret than them know. Though I anticipate at some point your guilt will cause you to tell them-especially now that you've been caught."
With that, Gohan turned and started walking away again. Chi Chi leaned against the building and sat while crying fully with her eyes buried in her knees.
***Christmas Day at the (original) Son House***
It was the first time in several years Chi Chi and her family hosted Christmas. It had been at Capsule Corp several years running; but it was decided a time ago that venues would change given Bulma's recent Vacation/CIA operation/Rehab, depending on who you asked.
Chi Chi started cooking the day prior to Christmas Eve, since she would be having a lot of people and many of those people would be Saiyans. Given the food demand levels, Goku offered to help cook a lot of meat the day of using energy blasts. Bulma offered to pay a catering service to provide even more food, because it would almost certainly be eaten; but Chi Chi declined as she normally would have. This was augmented by the fact that her last conversation with Bulma had been…awkward.
The house had been barren of decorations until then. Chi Chi let Goten decorate the house and put up a conifer he procured from the forest. For him, it was a break from school work, and it made things easier for Chi Chi.
In the couple days leading up, Goten, Goku, and Pan had played in the snow while Gohan worked right up to the holiday along with some of the other go-getters at the university on a 'major' project.
Chi Chi was doing okay from her encounter with Gohan, and that she had truly been disloyal to her husband because she was constantly cooking. It was a good enough distraction. However, the nights haunted her. Because then she had no distraction. She used liquor to fall asleep, and woke up hungover. The morning of Christmas Eve she vomited from the effects. And even alcohol couldn't hide her guilt at night, especially when Goku would hold her.
It didn't help that Videl was helping her quite a bit in the kitchen. She could tell Gohan said nothing to her since she was acting exactly as she always did around Chi Chi: extremely reverent, polite, and helpful. But Chi Chi sharing her space required her to 'fake it.' And when she dropped her guard, Videl would of course ask if she was doing alright. And then she had to keep her lie consistent, that she was overwhelmed by the amount of work involved in hosting-especially at her more advanced age.
The night she returned home after Gohan catching her, Goku noticed the puffiness in her eyes. Knowing something was wrong, he prodded here about it. Not knowing what to do, she lied and said that she was overwhelmed about hosting the holiday, a lie she continued for the next few days. This caused Goku to ask Goten and Bulma for help, and even offer it himself. His actions naturally made her feel even worse about her infidelity.
Chi Chi had gone so far the proceeding days to resist any intimate attempts from her husband. Even though this was part of why she had been frustrated with him for a time, she now felt filthy acquiescing to it because she had soiled herself with another man. When asked why she was resisting, all she could say was that she was very fatigued, which itself was true.
"DING-DONG!"
"Oh that's Krillin!" Goku exclaimed with obvious excitement as Chi Chi was finishing off some of the last side dishes.
Goten was excited to see Marron. He hadn't interacted with anyone nearly his age in months.
Goku greeted his friend and his family with a Claus hat and fake white beard.
"Merry Christmas!" he shouted to his friends.
"Merry Christmas, Goku" 18 courtesy replied.
Chi Chi had a plan to stay in the kitchen and avoid people as much as possible. She was wasn't in the best position to interact.
Rather quickly, other guests started filing in. Yamcha, Tien, Master Roshi, and then even Piccolo appeared. Notably absent were the Briefs, as well as Gohan and Pan.
Goku was goofing around with a lot of the guests as expected, Goten and Marron were catching up, and 18 decided to speak with Chi Chi and Videl.
Gohan finally showed with his daughter, at which point Videl went to greet her husband and Pan since she hadn't seen them since the previous evening as Gohan had slept in that morning. As Videl left the kitchen area, 18 gently asked Chi Chi how she was doing, sensing that she wasn't well.
"You don't look too hot Chi Chi, minus the heat of the stove and ovens obviously. Are things still not going too smoothly you and Captain Lummox?"
With sweat now starting to drip down her nose, Chi Chi turned to 18 and stared blankly for a moment with a cooking sheet in her hands.
"Thanks for asking 18. I'm alright. Just a bit worn out prepping for this. But as far as…Captain Lummox, things have actually been very good. I'm happy with where were are," Chi Chi replied in a convincing tone.
"Well good. I'm happy to hear it. Krillin was getting worried about that as well. Speaking of you being worn out, would you like some help carrying these…troughs out your way?"
"Yes, they are actually troughs, for the Saiyan table," Chi Chi joked.
"And no thank you. Outside of you, I'm still the strongest woman on the planet."
"Suit yourself," 18 replied in her usual aloof tone.
Gohan stepped in and proceeded to greet his father, brother, Piccolo, and everyone else-except for this mother.
"Hey Gohan, your mom's in the kitchen," Goku innocently directed his son.
"Oh, okay. Thanks Dad," Gohan responded in his standard innocent voice.
Gohan walked back toward the kitchen. Chi Chi turned and stared at him, petrified of her own son.
"I only came back here so Dad thinks I'm greeting you."
Chi Chi gulped and finally agreed in soft and sad voice, "Fine."
In fairness, Chi Chi had been doing okay up to that point. But her interaction with Gohan threw her off again. She abandoned the kitchen, with burners and timers running alike, and went the bathroom to get away. She reached for the bottle she had in the cabinet and started taking swings. She could only have so many while simultaneously avoiding full inebriation.
The doorbell rang again while Chi Chi was in the bathroom.
"That must be the prodigal asshole and his princess," she thought.
Sure, enough when the door was opened she heard the disingenuous, "Helllllllooooo!" that was unmistakably Bulma's.
As soon as Goten and Trucks made eye contact they shouted.
"Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!"
They then proceeded to engage in their special 'handshake/ceremony of greeting' making for quite a show for everyone else.
While Goku ultimately agreed with Chi Chi's punishment for Goten, he was happy his son was getting to see the person who was obviously his best friend. Naturally, on the other hand, Vegeta scowled and scoffed at the sight.
"If I didn't have tangible proof to the contrary, I'd swear you two were physically attracted to each other," Vegeta piped.
Bulma promptly slapped him on the shoulder.
"Keep an eye on those boys for us Marron," Bulma spoke across the room while winking at Krillin and 18's daughter. Her statement seemed to suggest that she was willing to let them engage in their usual shenanigans, if only for today.
Meanwhile, Vegeta was whispering some instructions into his daughter's ears, likely about watching her brother. She walked over to where the other kids were, despite being a bit younger. Bulma eyed Vegeta as if to ask, "What'd you tell her?"
Vegeta remained mum on the matter, stating it was private.
"You remember that I'm her mother, right?" Bulma raised her voice at Vegeta.
"And a fantastic mother at that," Vegeta replied with sarcasm.
Realizing Bulma was ready to pop, Goku stepped in and offered some holiday adult beverages.
"Sure Goku. I'll drink everything you have," Bulma stated, rather excitedly.
Vegeta face-palmed while rolling his eyes. After this exchange Bulma and Vegeta were largely separated for the rest of the evening.
With the Briefs there Chi Chi could now start preparing for people to eat. She asked Goku to cook the meat he promised to skewer.
"Yea, sure thing, babe. What am I cooking?"
Babe. Chi Chi used to secretly like it when Goku called her that. Now it just kept reminding her of her indiscretions.
Chi Chi led Goku to their large outdoor freezer, which was quite practical in the winter. It was stocked with all different kinds of meat. Exactly the things that would make a Saiyan stomach happy.
"No problem, Chi. I'll be done in a jiff."
Chi. Another one of Goku's pet names that she openly adored. Because of this she felt even worse, and remained at a standstill near the freezer while Goku moved toward open space to 'cook' the meat.
"Chi Chi?" Bulma inquired about her whereabouts suggestively, as she often did.
Snapped out of her sorrow, Chi Chi followed her voice to the front door and greeted Bulma.
"Hey Baby. I haven't had a chance to see you yet," Bulma stated while embracing Chi Chi.
Chi Chi embraced back, but was rather surprised by Bulma's warm welcome, considering their last conversation. Nonetheless, she stated the perfunctory lines.
"How are you doing Bulma?"
"Okay," Bulma stated while nodding her head up and down.
"But you look terrible honey. Not to mention you've been drinking."
Chi Chi froze at Bulma's observation.
"How'd…?" Chi Chi inquired.
"I can spot it a mile away," Bulma replied.
"Well…it's been pretty stressful hosting this. It's taken a lot out of me," Chi Chi stated, trying to continue to her lie.
"I'm sure that's true; but if that were all you wouldn't be boozing on the DL."
Chi Chi looked at Bulma, not sure how to get out of this. Bulma had dealt with enough crap in her early years with Vegeta to know when someone was in really bad shape.
Meanwhile, Piccolo sensed a large disturbance within Gohan, with whom he shared a natural, and telepathic connection. He walked up to him in a fairly private corner of the Son Residence living area.
"Gohan."
"Yes, Piccolo?"
"Can we step outside?"
Gohan knew what Piccolo wanted to know as soon as that request was complete.
The two walked out and flew to an empty part of the forest. Snow covered the landscape, with bare trees dotting one's vision as far as it could see.
"Gohan, I've noticed a huge disturbance in you for the past several months. But over the past few days it's been both better and worse. I know you've been busy with your human-style work; so I didn't want to disturb you. I figured you had enough judgement by now to come to me if it were really that important. But since were here together anyway, I'm curious. Not to mention it bothers me when you're in turbulent emotional states."
"Yes, you're right on all counts Piccolo. It's nothing as serious as being a threat to the planet or someone's bodily well-being. So in that respect I certainly didn't feel it was worth approaching you about it."
"But there is something wrong?"
"Yes, of course. …You wouldn't believe me if I lied to you anyway. Basically there's been something that I was certain was happening for which I had no proof. Now I have proof. So if the emotional channel has changed recently, that's why. There's been a change in facts."
"You've been blocking your telepathic lanes; so I assume this is personal."
"As usual, you're correct."
"Anything to do with your child or mate?"
"No…not directly. And like I said, it's nothing regarding the planet being threatened, or anyone, including my father being in physical danger."
"You've said physical danger twice. So there's mental danger then."
"Yes. But it's a matter of human emotions, which you admittedly don't fully understand. So I'll have to handle this one myself."
Piccolo nodded, "Okay then. That's all I wanted to know."
"Piccolo, you can't say anything to anyone."
Piccolo grinned, "You know I wouldn't unless you gave me permission."
To Be Continued