8: Reconvene

While Chi-Chi had acknowledged that she was perhaps a little underweight, she hadn't really thought about just how thin she'd gotten. At least, until she was wearing her own clothes again. They were significantly looser than they should be. No wonder Goku was so insistent she eat a lot.

However there wasn't really any time to worry about that. Not with Gohan crying up a storm outside. Thankfully getting to him took no time at all and soon her poor baby was sniffling, hiccupping and whining in her arms. Her dad handed her a bottle that he'd apparently been trying, and failing, to distract her son with, but she asked that he just stick it in the fridge. Gohan didn't look in the mood for food.

Actually it looked like he wasn't in the mood for anything that didn't involve her holding him. Chi-Chi was willing to bet that he'd probably start screaming again if it looked like she'd hand him off to anyone else. Especially with the death grip he had on her shirt and arm. Now that her son was relatively calm, Chi-Chi took the opportunity to sit down on a free lounge chair. Between telling them what'd happened, reacquainting herself with her husband, rapidly getting dressed and dashing through the house, Chi-Chi was ready for a break. It was honestly frustrating how weak she'd become, especially without the adrenaline and fear for Gohan pushing her on.

Like with her weight though, the only way to fix it was with time. As she relaxed into the chair, cooing and humming to sooth her son, Chi-Chi glanced around the beach.

Nothing much had changed in the last half hour or so since she'd been out there; Krillin and Yamcha were sparring some distance away, though for some reason both of them refused to look in her direction. Her dad and master Roshi went inside, maybe to get started on lunch or perhaps to talk in private. Chi-Chi didn't know, she didn't really care all that much either. As much as she had missed her father, being around him and so many other people for even the short amount of time before had been tiring. She was just glad it wasn't like that with Goku.

Bulma on the other hand, had wandered over to her, looking kind of nervous. "Hey."

Chi-Chi smiled shyly in return. "Hi," truth be told, she wasn't sure what to make of Goku's oldest friend. Her husband had always spoken highly of her and between their history together, her well-endowed body, her intelligence, and her wealth; Chi-Chi couldn't help but feel jealous and inadequate compared to the heiress of Capsule Corp.

"Looks like you have your hands full."

"Yeah," she couldn't help but smile down at Gohan. The boy had started whining again and had tightened his grip on her when Bulma approached. Chi-Chi rubbed his back in assurance, she didn't want to stress him out anymore right now.

"Would you mind if I comb your hair? It's an absolute mess right now."

She tried running a hand through her hair. She hit a snag almost immediately. Between her quick attempt at drying, getting it washed and the state it had been in beforehand, Chi-Chi didn't want to know how bad it looked. With a huff, she returned the hand to Gohan's back. "Please, that'd be great. I can't actually remember the last time I brushed it."

"I can tell." The older woman pulled out a comb from her pocket and with a bit of maneuvering slipped behind Chi-Chi. Chi-Chi herself scooted to the end of the chair so that Bulma could arrange herself comfortably behind her.

They sat in a comfortable silence for a couple of minutes with her cooing and chirping at her son and Bulma delicately picking the knots in her hair apart. Chi-Chi was just starting to wonder why Goku was taking so long to finish his shower when Bulma spoke up.

"I'm sorry."

"Hm? For what?" She couldn't recall actually speaking to Bulma before now, nor could she recall anything that would require the heiress to apologize.

"I wouldn't let Goku use the Dragon Balls to get you back."

"The Dragon? Oh, right, they grant wishes, don't they?" Honestly she hadn't thought about those orbs. Not that she doubted what Goku had told her about them, but they sounded far too good to be true. Besides, it wasn't like they would have done her any good if she'd been aware of them; she hadn't the time or energy to do anything other than take care of Gohan and keep him safe.

Bulma made a noise of agreement. "Considering you'd fought just before vanishing… I thought you'd been, I don't know, disillusioned with your marriage or something and left. Then when Goku wanted to wish you back… I thought he'd just get hurt."

Chi-Chi was honestly a little angry and a little hurt at that. Did Goku's friends really think so little of her? Did he? His friends didn't know her very well, if at all, so that was at least a little understandable. But Goku? Had he given up? Had he listened to their thoughts on what she did, regardless of what he knew of her? The idea left a bitter taste in her mouth.

Unintentionally, Bulma relieved her worries before she could wallow in them. "He never stopped asking for them though, or looking for you. He always insisted that you wouldn't stay away willingly." Her voice went quiet as she continued to run the comb through Chi-Chi's hair. "We –I- didn't believe him though."

Chi-Chi wasn't sure how to feel about this apology and explanation now. On one hand, she could easily see how they could have come to that conclusion and she understood the desire to keep Goku from getting heartbroken. On the other hand it hurt knowing that people so important to Goku thought that way about her, that they probably had thought that way for over a year. "Why didn't you believe him?" That was another thing that bothered her. Goku knew her the best out of all of them, save perhaps for her dad, why didn't his friends listen to him?

"Goku can be a bit naïve at times." Chi-Chi bit back a snort. She wouldn't call him naïve, ignorant sometimes, but not naïve. "And, you've saw it, he gave someone like Piccolo Jr. a second chance. Why wouldn't we think that he's just giving you another chance?"

The circumstances around him sparing Piccolo Jr. were far more than him just giving the demon spawn a second chance. Chi-Chi knew that Bulma knew that. She didn't really want to start an argument on why it wasn't the same thing, though it really wasn't, but she couldn't help but keep questioning the older woman. "Did you talk to Goku about this?" She couldn't quite keep the tartness out of her voice.

"Several times," Bulma sighed, "I know we messed up, I know we should have trusted him. But we didn't and you're the one who had to suffer for it. I was the one who was the most convinced nothing good could come of you coming back and for that I'm sorry."

They fell into silence once again. Chi-Chi didn't know how to respond, but it sounded like Bulma should be apologizing to both her and Goku rather than just her. She wished Bulma was apologizing to the both of them right now; Goku knew the other woman better and would know how sincere she was being.

Before she could come up with an answer though Goku finally appeared. She smiled and waved at him, though they weren't that far away from each other. He waved back though an odd expression had briefly crossed his face. Was that jealousy? Betrayal? It'd honestly vanished too quickly for Chi-Chi to read it. Though she couldn't fathom why he'd feel that way, considering what they'd done not even half an hour ago. Then again, despite how much he enjoyed having sex, his favorite part was cuddling afterwards and Chi-Chi hadn't stuck around for that.

However, Gohan had been crying and Gohan would always come first. She felt guilty enough lingering long enough to satisfy Goku beforehand while her baby had been crying out for her. A part of her really wanted to be angry at her husband for that, but he still had to get used to having a baby around. He and Gohan had only known each other for less than a day, after all. Still, she'd probably have to have a talk with him about that at some point.

Rather than going to her, he went and joined his friends sparing. It made sense, she supposed, other than her nap that morning, he'd been with her all day. Even then, he'd had to take care of Gohan. A part of her was actually glad she could finish her talk with Bulma in relative privacy.

"I'm not sure if I can forgive you," her voice was low as she honestly didn't want the others to hear. "Right now everything's just a little too much."

"Fair enough."

"And I think you should apologize to Goku too, if you haven't already."

Bulma let out a gusty sigh, "yeah, I really should."

There was really nothing more Chi-Chi could think of to say, Bulma apparently felt the same way, as they lapsed into silence once again. By the time Bulma finished with her hair, Gohan had calmed down enough to want food and some delicious smells were starting to waft out from the house.

Now was a good time to feed her son, she decided, so Chi-Chi quietly thanked Bulma for helping with her hair and went inside to get food for Gohan. She was only half surprised when Goku broke off his sparring session with his other friends and joined her. It made her heart flutter; he'd never passed up a chance for training before.

A quick word had them splitting up, with Goku going to the kitchen to make the bottles and Chi-Chi heading upstairs to start feeding Gohan, who still very much did not want to be separated from her.

By the time she'd gotten settled, her husband returned and curled up next to her, one arm holding food for their son and the other balancing a bowl of soup and a couple of bread rolls. Given the size, it was clearly meant for her. The food, however, was quickly set aside so he could start playing with her hair.

She chuckled at that. "Careful, you'll get it all tangled up." Her tone was light and joking, Goku was always good with regards to her hair. Surprisingly so at times.

He huffed in response, "you know I'll never do that. Besides, Bulma didn't do it right."

"I don't think there's a wrong way to comb hair, Goku."

"There is," came the whined response. "And she did it wrong, your hair'll get all weird when it dries."

"Hmm," She leaned into his hands as they brushed her neck and scalp. Even if she couldn't tell any difference between Bulma's work and what she normally did with her hair, she did enjoy the feeling of her husband playing with it. "Do I ever get your hair wrong?" Even if she wasn't sure what it meant to get hair wrong, it seemed to matter to Goku quite a bit. If she had, though, he'd never complained about it. Was it because he didn't want to hurt her feelings?

A gentle tug had her looking him in the eye. "You can't get it wrong, Chi-Chi. I love it when you touch my hair." She wasn't sure if it was the angle or the intensity in his words that made her blush. It may even have been what he said that affected her. Goku may not act like it, but there were times when he was extremely picky about his hair, it was especially bad when other people had touched it. To hear him say something like that made her heart flutter.

The angle of her head was, unfortunately, too awkward for them to kiss. She did, however, snuggle closer to him. She also refocused on her son to hide the red in her face. Not that it did much good to hide it, considering how close they were.

Goku just chuckled and cooed, burying his face in her hair.

They fell into a comfortable silence while Gohan ate before Goku's voice, soft and rough with a purr broke it. "Your dad and master Roshi want to talk after lunch."

"Bout what?"

"Taking care of those guys that chased you." Chi-Chi froze. She'd forgotten about them, as impossible as it seemed. "Chi-Chi?"

"I… I forgot about them." Saying it out loud made it sound even worse. "Well, I don't think I could forget about them, but they didn't… I'm safe, Gohan's safe and it didn't seem to matter… But they're right. We do need to do something about them." Or else the next time she was alone for five minutes she'd probably have a panic attack.

He kissed the back of her head. "If you don't want to, we can wait. Either way, I won't let them touch you."

"I know. But you can't stay with me all the time."

"Sure I can."

She huffed. How can he say such sweet things so easily? "It wouldn't be fair to you. And I'm more worried about them taking Gohan anyway."

"They won't lay a hand on either one of you, I promise."

Chi-Chi sighed and leaned back against him, closing her eyes and basking in his and Gohan's presence. That answer was about what she'd expected, really. "Goku?"

"Hm?"

"You can sense ki, right?" He tensed slightly, if she hadn't been so close she might not have noticed. His nod was more obvious. "How close are they?"

"… Not that close. It feels kind of like they're circling."

She sighed and it felt like all her energy left her with that breath. "I guess it's a good thing we could find them." It didn't feel like a good thing. Even with Goku right there, knowing that they were out there waiting for her left her feeling unsafe and worried.

Chi-Chi did her best to push those feelings aside as Gohan finished eating from her. A problem arouse, however, when she went to hand him to Goku so that she could get started on her meal while he finished his. Gohan was still very much not ready to stop being held by her. He clung and whined at her when she tried to give him to his father. Whenever Goku tried to take him, Gohan would make a strange heavy breathing sound. Chi-Chi was starting to worry they were giving her son a panic attack.

"Gohan, stop that!" Goku made a sound somewhere between a click and a cluck, it was remarkably similar to the noise Gohan had made earlier; had he learned that from Goku? "Chi-Chi," her husband whined, "he keeps hissing at me."

"He's hissing?" She'd never heard either one of them hiss before. It didn't sound anything like a snake hiss, maybe it was a little cat-like?

"Yeah. It's not very nice of him to hiss like that though."

"I see." Sort of. Hissing at people did sound rude, but he was just a baby and didn't know any better. She cooed at him some, "what's wrong? You liked being with your daddy before."

"Aw, don't make that sound, it'll confuse him, you kind of have to," he made the clicking noise again. "It's sort of… A gentle scold I guess? I did it when he grabbed Puar's tail. He listened then."

Chi-Chi wasn't sure she should scold him when all Gohan wanted to do was stay in her arms. However, she supposed it couldn't hurt to start teaching him some manners now. So when Gohan started hissing again, she did her best to mimic that clicking-clucking sound.

She had to bite her lip to keep from laughing, his look of betrayal was the same as Goku's had been at breakfast time. "I'm sorry baby, mommy will hold you when she's done eating, okay?" As soon as he was in Goku's arms, she cooed at him again. "I'm staying right here, alright?"

He grabbed at her fingers and whined, and Chi-Chi almost took him back right then. Goku shook his head at her, gently getting their son to release her. "Go on and eat, I've got this." He picked up one of the bottles and tried to put it into their son's mouth. He kept turning away though, at least until Chi-Chi moved close enough so that her son could, and did, wrap his tail around her arm. Only with that contact did Gohan began eating again.

She smiled a little at that as she picked up the bowl of soup and some bread. Despite her smile though, the reminder that she and her son weren't completely safe remained in the forefront of her thoughts. Chi-Chi couldn't help but worry that her feelings of safety and comfort were just an illusion, and that something soon will happen to destroy it.

That feeling persisted, despite her best efforts, long after she'd finished her lunch and had gathered with the others on the beach. Gohan was comfortably back in her arms and Goku was just finishing off his own lunch, as well as any leftovers that people hadn't wanted to eat, when Bulma decided to take charge and start.

"Okay, so we know that leaving those guys that kidnapped Chi-Chi alone is a bad idea. What are we going to do about it?"

"Well," Krillin began, "we could always beat them up and leave them for the police, or even the world army?"

Her father made a noise of disagreement. "Sometimes the only way to make sure something doesn't happen again is to eliminate the threat completely." If it wasn't rude, Chi-Chi would've rolled her eyes at that. Why was his first reaction always murder? It was a little disconcerting that Goku looked like he was seriously considering it though.

In all honesty, she couldn't say that the idea of those people being gone permanently didn't appeal to her. Chi-Chi was just really tired of seeing her dad kill people, she had been since she was 10, and she didn't like the idea of Goku killing people either. She didn't even know if he could kill anyone. She never wanted to find out either.

Master Roshi apparently agreed with her initial reaction to her dad's response though, if the noise of despair he made was any indication. "I know I didn't train you to kill so easily. But you do have a point, sometimes there's no other option, and this may be one of them."

"What do you think, Chi-Chi?" Yamcha asked, "lock them up or kill them?" He said those options so easily and she was reminded that he had been a bandit not unlike her father. Krillin and Bulma were the only other ones who looked bothered by the idea of killing the people who'd kidnapped her.

"I… I don't know. A part of me doesn't want anyone to die, but…" She looked at her son, letting him play with her fingers. The idea that someone could come and just take him away, that she'd be unable to stop it… She couldn't bear it. As much as she didn't like the idea of even suggesting that Goku kill someone, Gohan was far too important to risk. "Even if they were arrested, I don't think I'd feel safe. I'd be scared they'd escape."

Heck, she didn't know what the process for being arrested was, what jail was supposed to be like or anything other than that the police would get involved. Chi-Chi didn't even know if they would be arrested. Her dad had killed people, everyone knew that, and no one had even attempted to try and arrest him. Her dad's village even had a small police force in it and still no one said anything about it to her father.

"Okay, I guess that's that settled," Yamcha interrupted her thoughts. "How are we going to go about doing it? Fly up to them and crash their car?"

"I don't know," Goku started, staring at a point over the house. "I think they're a little too close right now."

The martial artists that could sense ki all frowned, staring in the same direction he was. Krillin was the only one who spoke up though. "Yeah, you've got a point. We should probably lure them a bit farther away."

"I could transform into Chi-Chi!" Yamcha's cat friend spoke up. "If they see me leaving the island like that, they'll probably follow."

"Good thinking Puar." Bulma started, "but I think we can add a few more details." The group subtly shifted closer together as they began planning in earnest.