I have too many ideas for my own good! I'm starting a new story , a really long one an AU fic too. Of course I'm going to finish this one first. Sorry I haven't updated in a while I'm really behind in my school work since I've been sick for two weeks.

to answer some of your questions about the amount of time that Videl was given to kill Gohan: it was two weeks not one. You can check but I'm pretty sure. alright on to the next chapter......oh wait, fell free to E-mail me, you guys!! and thanks to Goldengirl for the continuous E-mails compliments and suggestions!! (~,^) Okay NOW on to the story.......

Videl sat staring at the darkness. She was thinking. She did a lot of that lately. Where was her life going? Did she actually want to do this for a living? Her occupational risks were extremely hazardous to her health. Physically and Mentally. They left her with horrible nightmares. seeing people die over and over again by her hands. Karma was really getting to her. All that existed now was the darkness. Sort of like her life. The comfort of light gone from it.

"What are you still doing up?" Gohan's voice came to her in a surprise.

She didn't turn around to face him or even glance at him. He came around and sat next to her on the couch, still waiting for her to answer. She kept her gaze straight foreword, her eyes never straying for the spot on the wall that she stared at. It was almost like she was being hypnotized by the darkness.

"I'm boycotting sleep," she stated slightly dazed, "if I don't sleep then I won't dream and if I don't dream.......Then the pain wont hurt as much....or maybe that's just a dream in itself." It sounded as if she was talking to herself rather than to Gohan.

"Well then, that kind of defeats the purpose of not sleeping if your dreams are going to haunt you whether you do are not." he said his tone soft. She still didn't look at him. She finally looked down to a spot on her night gown.

He rubbed her back before standing up and stretching.

"Get some sleep Videl." he said before she started away from her. She grabbed his wrist.

"Don't go. I......" she let the sentence hang.

She wasn't about to tell him that she needed him. She wanted him, to hold her, to comfort her. To rid her of her awful nightmares with soothing words and caresses. No she wouldn't tell him that. She didn't need to.

Gohan looked her in her face and saw for the first time that she had been crying. From the dim moon light that shone through the kitchen window he could barely trace the tracks of her tears. He silently sat back down and pulled her to him. She snuggled into his T-shirt feeling at last the comfort that she had lacked her whole life, for a couple of precious moments the light was back on and she no longer had to sit alone in the darkness. (AN: if this stuff is getting too complicated for you guys bear with me.)

"What's the matter, Videl?" he asked shattering her silent bliss. What was the mater? Everything was. But he wouldn't understand that. He hadn't grown up the way she had. With her father. He had two wonderful parents and a little brother. A great job. His life was perfect. Hers was a little less than.

He rubbed her back soothingly and repeated the question previously asked.

She looked up into his face. "Gohan? If you could have one wish, anything in the entire universe no matter what it was, what would you wish for?" She asked him. He blinked a couple times before his eyes blanketed over in deep thought.

"I wish you would tell me why you're so upset." He responded.

She chuckled lightly and hit him on the arm. "I'm serious!" she said slightly offended that he would make a joke when just a few minutes ago she was crying her eyes out.

"So was I." he stated smugly.

She sighed in his shirt taking in the smell of fresh soap that lingered in her nostrils. "I wasn't upset. I was thinking." she stated defensively.

Gohan looked down at her amused. "Oh really? Do you always cry when you think? or is it just occasionally?" he asked her, the amusement on his face sounding in his voice as well.

"I-I wasn't crying.." she started before Gohan cut her off his tone a bit more serious this time.

"Don't lie to me, Videl." he said in a whisper. "your face is still wet."

She looked away from him for a minute while she spoke. "Okay so maybe I was crying a little."

"Why?"

"You wouldn't understand."

"Try me." She cocked her head and looked up at him. ::Why is he so damn persistent!::

She sighed. "I was crying because I was felling a little bit of self-pity. I never had the life you had. My mom died when I was three, my dad didn't help any by trying to keep me from the world like I was some convict. And then after all I've lived through to tell me that we've been living on lies all of our lives. Then I turned to this business. Erasa followed me to keep me safe, I suppose I should thank her she had been, after all, a good friend."

Gohan sat in silence for a few moments digesting all she had just told him.

"No one's life is perfect. Everybody has things they have to face and it's never easy.......even me."

Videl looked at him as if to say 'What?-You?-Mr.-perfect?-Problems?-Yeah-right!'

"Like what?" She scoffed disbelievingly.

He looked down at her, an unreadable look enveloping his eyes. "Like you."

If Videl had never known confusion in her life she certainly knew it now. She was thoroughly confused at this point. Everything about him was confusing. The way he talked, that unreadable look in his eyes and frankly the whole situation was making her a little uncomfortable. A little as in a lot.

" I don't understand." she told him truthfully, the confusion drooling from her voice.

Gohan chuckled.. "Neither do I, that's what makes it so scary. I know that I feel something for you. I just wish I knew what it was."

Videl smirked at him. "Okay, now you really need to get some sleep, you're more confused than I am!" she told him.

He chuckled. "Yeah maybe.... Or maybe I've just cracked." he stated not obvious that he was talking to himself as Videl was slowly drifting off to sleep.

He looked down at her and frowned. "Videl? Videl! Wake up!" she said as he shook her.

She snapped at him irritably. "What?! First you want me to go to sleep, then you want me to stay awake. I wish you'd make up your mind because you are really starting too-"

Gohan cut her off with a kiss.

At first it shocked her, the feel of his lips on hers. A strange but pleasurable sensation blanketed her from her toes all the way to the top of her head. She slowly opened up to him, drowning. Sinking deeper and deeper in the sweetness of the kiss and it didn't take long for her to realize that.... ::Gohan's a damn good kisser!:: It seemed too short a time before he pulled away slightly, a smirk on his face.

"You talk too much.." he murmured to her before moving in for another kiss. Gohan couldn't get enough of her. Her smell, her feel, her taste was so exquisite. He doubted that there was another flavor to match it in the whole universe.

Videl pulled away and stared at him in utter shock. ::What the Hell am i doing?! This man isn't even supposed to be alive right now and I'm kissing him? Your just setting yourself up for heartbreak, Videl. If you don't kill him then somebody else will. Don't you get it? You loose no matter what you do. Why do I even care what happens to him? I'm not falling for Gohan, I don't want to!:: The millions of thoughts swarmed through her head contradicting each other, confusing her until she thought she was going to pass out from the lack of knowledge of her own feelings.

She searched Gohan's face with her eyes. She didn't know what she was looking for, or if she even wanted to find it. Being with him felt so right, but it couldn't be anything but wrong. Everything was all wrong. It wasn't supposed to happen this way!! This was not her plan.

"Maybe we both ought to get some sleep. I should get going anyway. I wouldn't want Erasa to worry about me." she told him.

A look of confusion passed over Gohan's face before it was clouded over with something else that she didn't recognize. Disappointment? She wasn't sure.

Gohan nodded silently as Videl gathered her things and began to walking towards the door.

"Are you going to stop by tomorrow?" he asked suddenly, to delay her departure. He didn't want her to leave for some reason.

She turned and looked at him. He looked so desperate so vulnerable but they both knew that if she would have stayed then this would have gone farther than any of them needed it to. For right now she just needed to go home and try and sort out her feelings.

"I don't think so. I'm going to be very busy tomorrow."

Gohan bowed his head letting his disappointment show. "Oh. Okay."

She risked one last look at him before walking out the door leaving him with nothing more than a silent goodbye. Everything was dark again. Gohan being the only light. Hope. But she was too afraid to hope. Too scared to dream... What now? What happens now? She always had a plan, a schedule, an explanation for everything that went on in her life.

Step 1: Realization

Step2: ...

The fact that she didn't Know what came after step1, scared her more than anything.

There you go ! Chapter 14. was it good ? sucked? let me know.

ADVERTISEMENTS: sorry none today.

in the next chapter: Gohan has no problems accepting his feelings but Videl....is a whole 'nother story. The two grow further apart .....is there hope in friends and family? (I'm beginning to sound like a soap opera aren't I? )