I'm sorry, readers, but school has officially begun! I was on quite a writing spree over this winter break, but now I don't have the free time I used to. I think I'll be able to update at least one thing a day, though I may favor a short story over this.

I must say, I had never realized how slow this story moves. Unfortunately, I can't make any promises about moving the speed up at all, seeing as this is just how I write naturally. I hope it isn't too bothersome; if it is, just tell me. I can try speeding up some of my chapters a bit, if only that much.

Krillin had simply been standing to the side of the room, leaning against the stair's railing. He had a forearm resting on top of it as he watched the rest of the room cautiously. He didn't see why everybody else was so upset. He had been hit by Goku too harshly before, and he was sure that this was all just a misunderstanding. He was certain that Goku hadn't meant to hurt Gohan like he did. That just wasn't who Goku was. He knew that the man wasn't ruthless enough to take that much blood out of his own son. Now, if it had been Vegeta, maybe... That man was evil. He didn't care how much Bulma had always insisted how sweet he had been. With as much experience as Krillin had with villains, he knew that a cold killer couldn't just turn around in a few years and become 'good'.

That was when Krillin noticed Goku had left. He swerved his head around, his arm sliding from the railing and back to his side. Finally, after searching very briefly, just standing in one place, Krillin asked, "Hey, where did-"

But before he could finish he question, he jumped back, the very man having appeared right by his side. With a grin on his face, feeling better after eating that one Senzu Bean, Goku announced quite obviously, "I'm back!" Everybody's eyes had turned to the tall man who was now walking to the sofa, displaying the bean between his fingers for the world to see. As he came closer, however, he found that his path to his son was blocked by a rather furious woman, her arms crossed and black hair frizzing.

"Don't come any closer!" she demanded, attempting to keep the man away from his injured son. "If you know what's good for you, you'll hand me the bean."

Rather reluctantly, he dropped the bean into her open palm, watching as she kneeled near their son again. He thought that, as the person who caused the damage to his son, it would be right for him to be the one to heal his son. But there was no arguing with Chi-Chi. He knew that he wouldn't be able to come a foot closer without the woman yelling at him, forcing him to step away from her son. Their son. And, though he knew that he could easily overpower Chi-Chi, he didn't want to. That would only make her angrier, something that he thought wouldn't be a good idea if he wanted to win her heart back. And it seemed as if he was on a bad enough track already; she refused to look at him, having simply clamped her small hand around the bean and turned away.

Goku couldn't help but stare at Chi-Chi as she pried her son's jaws opened as gently as she could when in such a foul mood. She wasn't the prettiest sight to behold when her temper was so high, but he still found her irresistably charming, even as she snarled, "I can't force the stupid bean down his throat!" He watched as she shoved her hand into his mouth, everything from the wrist down disappearing in that swollen mess. Her face reddened as she ran her other hand through her hair in frustration. "By Kami! It won't go down!"

"I've seen galactic slugs save people faster than this," Krillin muttered, Goten smirking in appreciation at this jab at Vegeta's old insult when things weren't going quickly enough. But Krillin only received a look of death from Chi-Chi, making him immediately back away from the sofa and out of the woman's smacking range. He tugged at his collar and whispered audibly in her son's ear, "Geez, I really don't know how you've put up with her sense of humor after all of these years. I'm just dying from laughing in here."

Another glare from Chi-Chi shut him up for the moment, though, as she stood up abruptly, throwing her bloodied hands up in defeat. "It's impossible!" she exclaimed, nearly dropping the bean in her anger. But she managed to catch it with the tips of her fingers before it fell, clenching it tightly in her grasp again as she moved around the coffee table and to the kitchen. "I give up!"

"But Chi-Chi-" Goku said desperately as she shoved past him. She couldn't just give up on Gohan... It was their son, after all."

She stared up at him furiously before slamming the bean into his chest, mocking him, "'Chi-Chi! Oh, Chi-Chi!'" Then, with her voice back to normal, she said, "Why don't you give it a try, Mr. I-Can-Do-Anything-Because-I'm-A-Big-Bad-Saiyan! You've always been able to do things better than I have!" And with that, she marched off into the kitchen, leaving Goku to fumble with the bean she had released.

"Yowch," Krillin murmured, his silence not lasting long. But Goku held the bean in his grip with determination to show Chi-Chi that he wasn't useless. He respected her, and he hoped that by doing her this favor, he would gain her respect. He ignored Krillin's comment and stood by his son's side, bending his knees until they were at approximately the same height. Then, using the same techniques Chi-Chi had earlier, he attempted to shove the bean down his son's throat. Everytime he tried pushing away his bloated tongue, however, Gohan would only cough up more blood, making it impossible to put anything there.

Goku clenched his teeth, trying to be gentle with his son but quickly becoming disheartened by this seemingly impossible task. It seemed as if there was nothing he could do right these days; if Chi-Chi came back in there without the bean being swallowed, he knew that she would go on another rant about how the Saiyan wasn't that great after all. But if he did manage to put the bean down Gohan's throat, he knew that Chi-Chi would be mad that he had done something successfully that she couldn't. He continued with methods of trial and error, trying different ways of creating a gap large enough for him to shove his large hand down his son's throat without him coughing up more blood. As he was about to give in, considering just ripping Gohan's jaw completely off with hopes that the Senzu Bean would be able to heal it, he saw that Chi-Chi had reentered the room, hands on hips.

Attempting to release all of her frustration in one breath, she walked up to the kneeling Saiyan, ready to admit defeat. It was obvious that Goku would be able to get Gohan to swallow the Senzu Bean by using one of his little martial arts tricks or something of that sort. The way that he seemed able to do everything she couldn't do and everything she could do better had always chagrined her; it was humiliating to always be one-upped by her ex-husband, whether it be in speed, strength, stamina, or how fast he could get to the grocery story and back. He even had a better temper than she did, making her only more furious. The only thing she really had him beat on was brains, and even then, she wasn't terribly far ahead. Sure, her father had engaged her in some studies when she was younger, but he had killed most of her earlier tutors. And then, by the time her father wasn't evil any more, she had become more interested in other things, like getting married... Bah, getting married. What a joke.

To her pleasure and surprise, Goku was still trying to stuff the tiny, green bean into their son's mouth. She smirked evilly, knowing the Saiyan did have limitations as she taunted, "It looks as if you can't do everything, can you?"

Goku was relieved to hear that she had calmed down after her brief tantrum, but he was still uneased by her tone of voice. He shrugged his shoulders and looked up at her, his own hand bloody now as he said, "Well, I could get the Senzu Bean down his throat, but it would require some sacrifices." Chi-Chi raised an eyebrow curiously, wondering just what the man was talking about. Feeling obliged to explain further, Goku asked, "How do you think he'd look without his lower jaw?"

This only forced Chi-Chi to clench her hands over the arm of the sofa and yell, "Goku!" Her teeth were gritted angrily as she leaned over, trying to make sure that he hadn't touched her baby boy.

"I was just kidding, Chi-Chi," he tried saying quite meekly, only to receive her eyes of death. He cowered back a bit and stood up to his full height, his hands held up to calm her down. "I promise, it was just a joke."

But Chi-Chi ignored his apologies, standing up on tiptoe in an attempt to loom over him as he backed away slowly. "You think it's funny to joke around like that?" she asked viciously, advancing upon the retreating Saiyan. "You think it's funny to make this poor, old woman almost suffer from a heart attack, hearing that her precious son's been hurt?"

"But you're not old, Chi-Chi," Goku said, trying one of those compliments Krillin had taught him to use a long time ago to soothe an enraged wife. He noticed Krillin sticking his thumb up as a sign of a good job behind Chi-Chi, who brushed his words to the side.

"You think it's funny to make me want to strangle you, Goku? Well, I'll have you know that it's not. What will be funny is, the next time you have to get a check-up and it turns out that you need a shot, I won't be there to hold your hand! No! I'll be right here with my son, trying to comfort him, seeing as he's basically the only thing I have left!" Goten flushed, hoping that his mother hadn't completely forgotten that she also had him, too. It was queer that she had also seemed to forget her own husband at this time, her face coming closer and closer to his father's. "And the two of us will be laughing at you, his father who never took the time to stay here and take care of him! We'll be laughing as-"

"Chi-Chi!" Krillin exclaimed, his fists waving through the air as he bit his lip. He didn't think that verbally abusing Goku would necessarily be dangerous, but he still didn't think of it as a very good idea. Through clenched teeth, seeing the two of them so close together with the Saiyan backed into the corner of the room, he insisted, "Let's keep thinking of ideas. If we can't get the Senzu Bean down Gohan's throat, what do we do now?"

Realizing just what she was doing, Chi-Chi dropped her arms back down to her side, immediately moving away from Goku and back to her unconscious son's side. Goku scratched the back of his head and nervously chuckled, "R-right. Now, anybody got an ideas?" That had been a bit too close for comfort; Chi-Chi had been staring him right in the face, hers only inches away from his, a familiar spark in her eyes. She always acted like that when nervous, making him wonder... Had she been about to kiss him? The way she had moved with such force, pushing him across the room with those black eyes. She had definitely gotten too close for him not to think that she still had feelings for him hidden somewhere deep inside. Even as a brave man, though, seeing that glint in those eyes had made him nervous. He had established boundaries during their first meeting that night, one in which he had swung her in his arms, transporting the two of them here.

This was completely different.

He was still in shock as he watched her stalk away as if nothing had been about to happen, making him only wonder if he had only been imagining the slight smile on her lips, the same playful one she used to always give him years ago. But he didn't have time to contemplate on whether this would be his chance of getting her back or not, seeing as Eighteen finally suggested, "Why don't you just have Dende heal him on Kami's Lookout? It seems as if it would be easier than trying to get him to swallow a bean."

Everybody's mouths fell open, never having thought of this possibility. Goku was astounded by it, his thoughts quickly shifting to what Chi-Chi had been planning on doing to why Piccolo hadn't just had Dende heal him earlier. But before he could even ponder over this, Goten exclaimed, "That's an awesome idea! Dad, you just have to use Instant Transmission and you'll get there in no time!"

Both Chi-Chi and Goku wilted at this, though for completely different reasons. Chi-Chi knew that, once again, her ex-husband would be the one to beat her. He would be the one to ultimately save Gohan, to show that, once again, his martial arts did come in handy. But Goku was perturbed by another reason all together: to return to Kami's Lookout would be to face Piccolo again. Though not the most threatening opponent, the Namekian certainly was terrifying. There was something about what he was saying that actually did make sense, and he didn't want that knowledge drilled into his head again. Piccolo had warned him to just leave everybody alone, to never go after his wife or kids or any of his friends again, though he had resisted. Of course, everything had taken a horrible turn, with one of his sons almost bleeding to death, though Goku couldn't help but wonder if he had been wrong about Chi-Chi. There might still have been a way to win his wife's heart back.

The whole room's eyes were on the Saiyan as he stepped forth, staying away from Chi-Chi, as he announced, "I can take him to Kami's Lookout." He had to put his own concerns behind in light of his son's life. It would be the only way to win back Chi-Chi's affections, though the looks she was giving him was rather venomous. He knew that he would go there, find Dende, get Gohan healed, and come back. If all went according to plan, they would all be able to finally start this family conference.

Of course, even with his hand on Gohan's arms, his fingers to his forehead, and visions of Kami's Lookout swirling through his mind, he couldn't help but notice the small pout of disapproval on Chi-Chi face as she stood back. He began doubting the plan immediately as he locked eye contact with Chi- Chi, the woman turning away instantly. It was a simple plan, though Goku was infamous for messing up the smallest of things.