AN: Hello to every wonderful person that is reading this. It has been a little while since I updated, hasn't it? Well, I'm skipping class right now to give you this chapter, so I hope you all enjoy it. For those of you who have been wondering how the other Piccolo is doing, wonder no more. Oh, and by the way, contrary to what parts of this chapter might make you think, I by no means think that Gohan is perfect. That's just Piccolo's opinion.

Interlude III

The Son family house had not changed. It still sat where it had twenty years ago; the cheery atmosphere still washed over Piccolo as he stood outside, and the trees still grew in the same spots, close enough to be a nice view from behind the safety of a window, but far enough away that they wouldn't drop leaves all over Chichi's well-kept, evenly coloured and evenly cut lawn.

The people inside were always changing though, Piccolo reflected as he knocked on the door. It didn't seem so long ago that he would have been welcomed into the house by Gohan's smiling face and open arms. If Goku was alive at the time then the eldest Son probably would have greeted him warmly, possibly leaving him with the promise of a sparring session some time.

But today, there would be no welcome for him here. The door was opened by Chichi, who quickly slammed it back in his face, without even as much as a 'hello'.

Piccolo opened the door again, letting himself in and not really caring what Gohan's mother would think of his actions.

"You!" Chichi screamed at him. "You're not allowed in this house! If it wasn't for you then my baby Gohan wouldn't have gone missing!"

Piccolo growled, trying to keep his old self in check. If he wasn't careful then he might end up doing something he would regret. He was fairly certain that killing Gohan's mother would not keep him on the man's good side.

"Get out!" Chichi screamed at him.

"I'm here to save Gohan!" Piccolo yelled at Chichi, unable to stand the woman's screeching any longer. "And I had nothing to do with his disappearance!"

"But if it wasn't for you then he wouldn't have…"

"I know!" Piccolo growled. "I heard everything the two of you said, and it's your fault Chichi, not mine!"

"It's not," Chichi answered, her voice suddenly dropping to a lower level. "It's not my fault!"

"Uncle Piccolo," a small voice called out.

Piccolo looked over to see that Pan had entered the room, and was now gazing at him with a hopeful look on her face. He had sensed the girl's energy from outside, along with several other familiar energy signals. It seemed as though the entire Son family had gathered at Chichi's house for some reason.

Pan sprinted towards the Namek, wrapping her arms around his legs in a welcoming hug.

"Is it true?" she asked eagerly. "Are you here to save my Dad?"

"Yes Pan," Piccolo answered. "I'm here to save your Dad."

"Hooray!" Pan exclaimed. "Hear that Grandma Chichi? Uncle Piccolo's going to get Dad back!"

"Pan," Piccolo said, trying to be soft, but afraid that his words were coming out far too angrily. "I'll need your help."

"Okay Uncle Piccolo!" the child said, getting rather excited at the prospect of playing hero and helping Piccoloto rescue her father.

"I need you to help me find something special of your father's," he continued. "It has to be something that only your father would have, do you understand me? It has to be something that only the Gohan of this dimension would have."

Pan nodded. Piccolo thought that the concept might have possibly been a little too much for Pan's young mind to fully grasp, but she had always been intelligent for her age; she did have Gohan asher father, after all.

"I know just the thing!" she said. The girl ran out of the kitchen and in to the sitting room. She stopped suddenly in the doorway, and looked behind her to see whether Piccolo had been following her or not.

"Come on!" she told him, waving her arms in the direction of the sitting room.

Piccolo hesitated. Sounds of a family that were generally having a good time and enjoying each other's company could be heard coming from inside the room, and he knew his presence would change that. He walked in nevertheless, not even blinking when all conversation stopped due to his presence.

"Piccolo?" someone gasped. The Namek was a little surprised when he realised that there was no disgust in the voice, as there had been in Chichi's. He looked over to see the source of the voice, Gohan's younger brother Goten, smiling at him.

"Piccolo!" the demi-Saiya-jin repeated. "Man, I thought you were dead! What are you doing here?"

"Saving your brother, hopefully," Piccolo growled.

While the demi-Saiya-jin and Namek had been conversing, Pan had made her way over to a bookcase, and was now effortlessly climbing the shelves to reach a book at the top.

Piccolo looked around the room at the various faces, mostly familiar. Still, there was one energy signature that didn't belong here.

"Pan!" Videl screamed as she realised her daughter had reached the top shelf of the book case. Pan wobbled a bit as she pulled out an exceptionally large book, before she jumped back down to the ground.

"It's okay Mom!" Pan said, holding the book up. "I've got what I needed."

Piccolo's eyes fixed on Videl, then on the man that was sitting next to here. He looked a little like Gohan, with short black hair and wide eyes hidden behind a pair of glasses, but Piccolo could tell, without the man even speaking, that he was nothing like Gohan.

The man was staring at Piccolo as though the alien was about to eat him alive. Piccolo couldn't help but bare his fangs at the new face. The man squealed in fright and clutched Videl's hand as though the woman could save him.

Videl caught what was happening between the human and the Namek and sighed.

"Sorry," she said. "I haven't introduced the two of you yet. Piccolo; this is Daniel. Daniel; Piccolo. He's an old friend of the family."

"I've got it Piccolo!" Pan interrupted, handing the book to the Namek.

Piccolo stared at the book that was placed in his hands for a few moments, wondering what significance it could possibly have. The book's title was simple enough; 'Alexander the Great.' Piccolo wondered what a man could have possibly achieved in his lifetime to be known forever after as 'the Great', and more than that, wondered if this book would work. After all, Gohan did enjoy his job as a history professor, and other Gohans in other realities had probably made this same career choice as his Gohan had. Not to mention that there were probably thousands of other people in this world alone that owned this book.

"Open it up," Pan told him after Piccolo had spent several uneventful seconds staring at the front cover, wondering at the book's significance.

Piccolo did as the girl instructed. He turned the front cover aside, careful not to tear the shiny paper jacket, and noticed the words which were scribbled next to the title page in thick black felt pen.

"HAPPY 28th BIRTHDAY DAD! LOTS AND LOTS OF LOVE! PAN!"

How many Gohans would be a history professor? Probably a few. How many of those would have a daughter named Pan? Still probably quite a number. How many of those would have received this particular book from her, with that specific inscription on their last birthday? Piccolo was willing to bet that there was only one.

"Thank you Pan," he said, ruffling the girl's messy hair.

Piccolo sighed and turned around to find that Daniel was still staring at him in shock and fear.

"Do you really think that this fool can take Gohan's place?" he growled at Videl. "He's only been gone for a couple of months and yet you replace him with this weakling!"

Piccolo turned to leave, but found he couldn't do it without adding one last painful comment.

"You don't deserve him," he told Videl.

"What; and you do!" Videl asked, sounding rather upset that Piccolo had chosen to criticize her.

Piccolo didn't answer. He found he didn't have a reply. It was hard to know what to say to defend yourself against a stabbing remark that you yourself had always agreed with. He knew he didn't deserve Gohan at all; he had done far too many cruel and evil things to deserve even the friendship of some so pure and beautiful. For Dende's sake; he had spent the first eight years of his life trying to kill the boy's father.

But at least he recognised how lucky he was to know Gohan. At least he realised how precious Gohan's inner beauty was. At least…

"At least he tries!" Goten's indignant voice called over to Videl from the other sofa. "I'm beginning to wonder if Piccolo is the only one in this family who cares that Gohan is gone!" Goten continued. "You all say that you miss him, yet Piccolo is the only one that's doing anything to get him back!"

Pan let out a 'huff' that obviously meant she wasn't happy with what Goten was saying.

"Apart from Pan of course," Goten added, "but you won't let her do anything, anyway!"

Goten had jumped to his feet by this stage. Chichi stood in the kitchen doorway, looking from one person to the other with eyes so sad and tear-filled that she looked as though she would burst into tears at any second.

"For what it's worth Piccolo," Goten said. "I hope you find him, and even though I can't really remember what the two of you used to be like, I've heard stories, so…" A huge smile burst onto Goten's face. "I hope the two of you work everything out. Tell Gohan I said hello, for me, would you?" Goten laughed, the sound so unexpected in the solemn room that it made Piccolo smile.

"Thank you," Piccolo said, nodding in gratitude at Gohan's brother.

Videl and Daniel sat beside each other on the couch, both of them looking rather disgusted. Pan was smiling quite widely by now, echoing Goten's enthusiasm and joy.

Chichi, Piccolo was surprised to discover, was still almost close to tears. She stared at her youngest son for a couple of moments, before the tears began to fall down her face. Piccolo had never seen the woman cry genuinely before. Sure, she had faked tears many a time to get attention before, but never had he seen her so sorrow-stricken and vulnerable.

"I just wanted," the woman sobbed. "I just wanted to keep my boy safe and happy. I'm a failure though, aren't I? You made him happier than I ever could." Chichi sniffed, trying to hold back the tears. "I don't want to give up on him yet."

"You haven't given up on him," Piccolo told her, forcing himself to stay civil for the moment. He and Chichi had something in common; their pure love for Gohan, and for now, that was all that mattered, and Chichi finally seemed to realise that as well.

"Take care of my baby okay?" Chichi asked him. "And tell him I'm sorry."

Piccolo nodded, and forced himself to smile at the woman. He turned around one last time, and gave Pan and Goten a parting grin, purposely ignoring Videl and Daniel as he did so.

With that he stepped out of the room. The instant he did so, Chichi snapped out of her solemn mood and turned back into the screaming harpy Piccolo would always remember her as.

"You two-timing…" Piccolo couldn't help but grin as he heard Chichi turn on her son's wife, calling the woman every name under the sun, and then demanding that Videl and Daniel get out of her house.

Kibito Kai smiled at the Namek as he emerged from the house.

"I take it things got a little interesting in there?" the Kai commented. "Did you get it?"

Piccolo held up the book triumphantly.