Returning home came late in the day, when the mosquitos were first starting to emerge and seek out their meals. Gohan watched Krillin and Yamcha bat at them for a good five minutes before calling up his Super Saiyan form. The light attracted the insects but the energy quickly fried them.

Yamcha laughed and adjusted the package on his shoulder. "Well look at that. You're a living bug lamp."

Gohan sent him a look but there was no venom behind it. "Daddy does it all the time; especially if he and Mom are outside after dark. Doesn't take long before all the bugs leave. Only time Mom likes Super Saiyan."

Krillin laughed out loud. "Well, it's a perk I never thought about, that's for sure." He went solemn a moment and gave Gohan a slow smile. "You have fun, little buddy?"

Gohan turned, held his arm up to block the wind from his eyes and beamed. He meant it too. "I did, Krillin. Was real nice for you and a Yamcha to think about me."

The taller man laughed to Gohan's right. "Hey, your parents aren't the only ones that can spoil you, you know." With a gentle jostle of the arm, the man added. "Life just hadn't really let us!"

For some reason, that made Gohan's heart swell. "Yeah, we don't always get a chance to hang out. But now that Cell is gone, I bet we can do it more! Next time, I'll buy the food!" How he would manage that, he truly didn't know but it was only fair!

Yamcha just smiled. "Don't worry about it, kid. If you can make people fall over in shock like those poor folk did every time, I'll call that even."

Turning a faint pink in his cheeks, Gohan retorted. "Hey! They said I could hit it as hard as I could! So I did!" He eyed the parcel that Yamcha had tucked under his arm "I just asked for one prize. They're the ones that decided to give me three!"

Krillin gently nudged him "Because when you hit that paddle with that hammer, the whole stand blew up."

Gohan gave a half-embarrassed, half cheeky grin, rubbing the small cut on his cheek where a flying splinter had cut him. "But that was neat!"

Yamcha grinned as they crossed over the largest of the mountain range. "Was pretty cool. He's lucky you weren't golden haired!"

"Daddy always tells me to mind my strength and it's harder to do as Super Saiyan." The statement was matter of fact as the small home slowly came into view. From the air, the growing farm and its beginning sprouts gleamed next to the river Gohan had helped divert to provide irrigation. The results were clear—bright greenery that nearly rivaled their mountain's natural trees and brush.

But what caught the eye was the large pile of broken wall, wood and dust. Gohan felt weak in the heart. What had he missed? How had he missed it? He was trained to sense thus kind of stuff! And Daddy was HOME! What could have taken him by surprise?!

"Mom? Dad?!" Gohan dropped from the air, landing amid the rubble and almost immediately, the dust covered heads of both his parents popped out from behind a layer of cloth and bamboo.

Whole, unharmed and alive.

Gohan let out a breath and accepted his mother's embrace more readily than usual. The adrenaline crash at realizing they were both fine was leaving him shaky and he stayed an extra moment or two with his cheek on her slightly rounded belly.

He didn't feel anything. Mom kept saying it wouldn't be long before the baby started to move and both she and Dad had gotten this syrupy starry eyed look. He hoped they wouldn't be pulling him over to feel. No interest. So, while he felt the baby's ki, nice and strong, he was glad to pull away without feeling a kick.

"We're fine, Gohan. Blame your father for not thinking about giving you a heads up." ChiChi sent her husband a dark look but he was already grinning sheepishly as he bounded over the fallen wood and dust, catching his son up in a sharp embrace and tossing him over his shoulder like a sack of potatoes before lightly running his fingers over the boy's exposed ribs.

"Was starting to wonder if you were gonna come back tonight or not, Gohan!" Goku grinned. "Should have expected them to spoil you rotten!" He gave his friends a teasing look. "Ain't he rotten enough?"

With a squeal, Gohan protested his father's grip with "Full belly, Daddy, full belly!"

Goku immediately turned the boy right up and set him on his feet. A full stomach was never something to mess with on a Saiyan! Especially on a boy that seemed to grow an inch every day and ate to maintain that!

Gohan accepted their gentle ruffle of his hair before looking around and setting a look to his parents. "Why did you tear down half my room?" For a moment, his mind raced and he remembered. Right...it took time to get a new room ready. "Oh. For the baby, right?"

Gohan stopped, clamped his hand over his mouth and even Krillin and Yamcha looked a little baffled. The poison in his voice when he said baby was tangible. Why? He'd come to terms with it. Or so he thought. So why did seeing the walls turn down and the start of work on something he KNEW was coming make his heart heavy and more anger than he'd felt in a long time well up so quickly his stomach churned? "Takes a long time to fix up a baby's room, right? Don't want wait on that. Can't wait on that."

Gah! What was wrong with him?! That sass and that venom was not him and it wasn't deserved and—

"Hey."

Goku knelt and his hand tipped under Gohan's chin, forcing the boy to look up at him. "Why you jumping to so many conclusions right now, little man? Only gets ya in trouble, remember?"

For once, Gohan found no comfort in the gesture and swatted his father's hand away. "Don't patronize me! I'm not stupid! You and Mom were talking about giving the baby half my room since Mom said she was pregnant! Don't stand there and act like it's something else! Sorry that I'm mad I wasn't told I would be coming home to my room being half gone when the baby ain't even movin' yet! Sorry that having to give it up before the baby's even here pisses me off!" Okay, now his accent was slipping. And he was on a roll. Whirling around to Krillin and Yancha, he spat "Were you in on this?!"

"Son Gohan! Enough!"

Okay. That was a tone he could count on one hand the number of times he'd heard it. It was enough to stop his tirade in its tracks. Mom might have been a booming presence of a woman but...

Daddy's "Dad Voice" was scary.

That look wasn't kind either. Gohan hated that look. It was frustration, anger and disappointment all rolled into one glance. Gohan's stomach dropped at it and his eyes followed.

"Ya done, son?"

Nodding, head still down, hair in his eyes, he offered, "Yessir."

ChiChi chimed in, "Good then you apologize to Yamcha and Krillin right now! For your information, Gohan, no, they weren't aware of this and even if they were, they still spent a pretty penny on you and that's how you say thanks?!"

Guilt and shame flooded Gohan's face and his heart followed. Turning, he met the faces of his two friends who less than five minutes ago, he'd been laughing and joking with. He bowed low and kept his eyes down. "I..I'm sorry! I'm so sorry. You guys went out of your way today and I'm being a spoiled brat. I'm sorry."

There was quiet a moment and then a pair of arms wrapped around Gohan and pulled him into a tight embrace. Looking up, Gohan blinked at Yamcha who grinned at him. "Don't you worry about it, kiddo."

Krillin offered his own hug around the boy's shoulders as he pulled away. "Kinda makes me feel better to see you act like a kid, sometimes!"

ChiChi huffed, "No excuse."

Yamcha eyed her "Naw, maybe not but understandable."

Gohan turned from the two men back to his parents and looked up at his father who hadn't budged from his arms-folded stance. "I'm sorry, Father. Mother."

Goku let out a huge sigh and looked skyward. "You ready to listen to me, now?" He hated when he had to be stern and he hated it even more when—

"Yessir."

Gah, he was NOT a Sir!

"Yeah, this started because of the issue of the baby room but that's not ALL we're doing." Goku knelt again. "I figured that since Daddy built this place the first time around, what's to stop me from doing it again? And if I getta decide that then maybe I decided to make your room a little bigger, add in a hallway so you can't hear the baby so bad on the other side?"

Gohan blinked, surprised. "I...I'm not losing my room?"

ChiChi shook her head, "No, Gohan. You're not. Your father decided it would be a fun project to expand the house instead. Give you each your own space."

Gohan turned back to his father who put his hand under the boy's chin again. "But I might need me a partner for this. I'm moving a lotta wood and I'm not too good at measurements and stuff. Plus, I want these rooms to look good! Who do I know that's creative, good at math and can move a whole lotta wood better than anyone else?"

Red colored Gohan's cheeks. "Me?"

Goku grinned, stood up and snapped his fingers. "Knew there was somebody." He looked at the mess of wood and dust. "Might make sleeping a little hard but it's been a little bit since you and I camped out under the stars, hasn't it?"

Gohan just gaped. He wasn't losing his room. He wasn't losing the meditation room. Instead...he was gaining. More space, separation from the baby, a chance to add his own flare into his own space. How long had he wanted to make his room his own, give it his own flavor? And now he could.

And not just his. The first sight his younger sister (yes, he was SURE it was a girl) would see would be something HE made. Something HE decided on. Something HE thought they'd like.

There was an odd kind of pride in that.

"Can we start now?"