"Gohan. Are you still working?"

Turning around in his chair, the man rubbed his eyes. "Almost done."

Shaking her head, Videl entered the room, Pan hoisted on her hip. The girl was almost asleep herself but immediately perked up when she was plopped on her father's lap. With the giant grin so reminiscent of her father and grandfather, she cooed, "DaDa!"

Warmth filled Gohan's eyes and he rested his forehead on Pan's, chuckling. "You talked your Mom into letting your stay up late, didn't you?"

Pan gurgled and laughed but Videl sat down on the desk, pushing Gohan's notes aside.

"I figured you'd be more willing to listen to me with a baby in your lap."

Setting her with a dark look, Gohan couldn't resist a smile. "You know me too well. Bit underhanded to use Pan against me though." He gently touched the girl's nose and she awarded her father with a giggle.

"I know how stubborn you are. Just like your Mama. When we got married, your dad told me that sometimes you need to use a helper."

Despite everything, Gohan laughed. "Figures Dad would give you inside info."

Videl gave him that moment, added, "I'm serious, Gohan and I want you to be serious."

Frowning a bit, he asked her, "Aren't I always?"

"No." Folding her arms, she said, "You're an expert at telling people what they want to hear. And what I want to hear is the truth, got me?"

Well, her look was certainly convincing. "Alright. Honest truth. I promise."

"Good." She set back, was quiet a moment then said, "Not counting me and Pan. Are you happy here?"

"Not counting…Videl, you two are the whole reason I AM happy!"

"Ha!" Confidence in her face, she pointed to his nose. "See? So if we weren't here, you wouldn't be happy here!"

"But…but the whole reason we're here is to take care of you and –"

"AND…" She added. "You're avoiding my question." Huffing, she took his chin in her hand. "Gohan, I mean here…in this place, close to the city. You're not happy."

"Aw, Videl, I have you and Pan so—"

"No. I wanna know. If you were here, without us, you wouldn't be happy."

Sighing, he said, "Well, if you weren't here, I wouldn't be in this big ol' mansion."

Pan gurgled and Videl asked, "Where would you be, if you hadn't met me?"

Shrugging, Gohan said, "Probably still livin' at home."

"Exactly." She leaned in, setting their eyes not even an inch from one another. "You're not a city boy."

Blushing a bit, Gohan bounced Pan on his lap. "Never really have been."

Videl pulled back and stood, "We never should have accepted the mansion from Papa."

"Aw, Videl, don't say that. It was the nicest thing anyone's ever offered me!"

Turning, Videl answered "But you aren't happy here. Don't think I haven't noticed it. You're a terrible liar."

Shrugging, Gohan said, "Well, I can't argue that."

Making her way around the desk, she said, "And I know you don't exactly enjoy going to the meetings and presentations all the time."

"Well, never been much of a public speaker."

"Not that." She pulled out a folder buried under the others. "I mean that your eyes light up when you work on this." She reached into the top drawer and pulled out another folder, bright green. "Or this. Or when you get to go and train with your dad."

"Well, sure, I enjoy it—"

"So, why don't make a job out of all this?" She flipped open the green folder. "I mean, Gohan, all this research. You could completely revamp the energy field with this—using ki to power homes, businesses, devices? And I know you wouldn't be spending this much time on it if it wasn't plausible."

Standing, Gohan settled Pan again who wasted no time resting her head on his shoulder, fingers in her mouth. "No, it's plausible but I just don't have the time to devote to it—"

"But you could." Videl followed him as he paced the hall. "You could be a researcher but for stuff YOU want to research."

He smiled, longingly. "Would be nice but we have to eat in the meantime."

Scoffing, she put her hands on her hips. "As if you don't have the skills to take food out of the mountain without a problem. And you know, Papa has been wanting to retire."

Turning, he eyed her. "Retire? I thought he'd be doin' the Champ thing the rest of his life."

Chuckling, she shook her head. "I think he would, if his body would let him. But since Panny was born, he's been loving the Grandpa kick more." Her face turned serious. "He'd give his school over to you, Gohan. I know he would." She added "And you could make it legitimate."

Gohan turned around again. "So…be a researcher and teach martial arts? Not exactly the scholar life." But the spark was in his voice.

"But you've never wanted to be JUST a scholar." She jogged to walk next to him. "You've always loved learning, exploring, trying new things. That's the researcher in you, the learner, the scholar. But you've also loved the sport of martial arts. You can't fake that." She added, "Why do you think you can only do one? You can do both."

He sighed, heavily. "Can I? I mean, teaching a martial arts school has to be hard. Master Roshi only took on a handful of students because of how he taught."

"But you don't teach like Roshi. You teach like your Dad, like Piccolo, like Krillin. You're like a mutt of martial arts' styles." She leaned her head on his free shoulder. "And you wouldn't be doing it alone."

Gohan set his sights to her. "You'd help?" His voice squeaked, if only a bit.

"Of course I would. I don't want you to think I don't love being a Mom to Panny." She tweaked the girl's nose, though gently as the almost-toddler was drifting to sleep. "It's the most rewarding thing I've ever done. Your mom, Bulma, everyone told me when I was pregnant that once I was a Mom, everything else would pale. They were right. But they were also wrong. I can't just be a housewife or a Mom, Gohan. It's not who I am."

Gohan was silent a moment. "So…you're not happy, either?"

Shaking her head, she hugged him tight. "Probably a bit like you, Gohan. You make me happy, Pan makes me happy. But not having an identify outside of being a Mom doesn't." She waited as Gohan slipped into the nursery and laid Pan down. He watched her, a moment more before slipping out.

The two reconnected in the hall.

"Gohan. I mean what I said. I want you happy. I want me happy. And I think…I think we have a right to that. Being happy with Pan and being happy with each other doesn't mean we can't have more. I know your mom was thrilled just being a mom and a wife but that's not me."

Smiling at her, Gohan nodded. "You're a lot like her. I think that's always been something I liked about you—I respect Mom and I respect you. There's a fire to you both that…well, I dunno how to describe it but my heart loves it. But I wouldn't want you to be just like her. You're not her. I want you happy too."

"So…" Videl looked up at him, standing on her tiptoes to be a little closer to his face. He was so tall! "How about we stop trying to be what others want or expect us to be…or what standards we gave ourselves for whatever reason and just be what WE want?"

Gohan took a breath, taking in her words. It was an exhilarating feeling. He did so love learning and researching but not what the schools wanted. Sure, there was importance to research on machines, science, mathematics, physics but there were so many folks already tackling that. Heck, Bulma had whole departments at Capsule Corp devoted to them. He needed something different, unique, and special and something only he felt he could really provide a difference in.

Ki. That was where his interest lay. It had been that way ever since he had first been exposed to it and it only grew. At first, it was seeing the techniques his father and the others could do but then he started to wonder if it could be applied to other areas—energy for consumption, healing (he had a sneaking suspicion the senzu beans did something with ki, given they also replenished your energy stores—something else he longed to dig into) and communication. Oh, the things you could hear, see, feel, smell, and even taste with ki that your other senses couldn't touch. There was uniqueness to ki that even DNA could not replicate. The applications of all those things and he was just brushing the surface.

Even now, the thought of being able to devote himself to researching and applying ki-study to everyday life had him giddy.

Then there was the martial arts. Videl was right. While he might hate battles and hurting others—protecting people, sparring and enjoying the sport for what it was—self-improvement—he had a deep love for that. He had no problem believing that even without all the craziness that life exposed them to that he would have found his way into the art eventually, regardless.

"And…what do you want, Videl?" He asked her.

Her face bright, she said, "Well, like I said, I would make an excellent martial arts teacher too. I learned from the best."

Blushing, Gohan drowned in nostalgia a moment. That time, teaching her and Goten to fly, he had to admit, that had tapped into both sides of his blood—the side that longed to fight and the side that longed to learn and teach. What a wonderful balance that had been. He never thought much about how good a teacher he was or wasn't but hearing it sent his pride bubbling.

"But I've also been considering," she went on, "When I'm not helping with that…why don't I actually make the police force something that functions like it's supposed to? I mean, the city owes a lot to Great Saiyaman," She smiled and teased his hair. "But they shouldn't need Great Saiyaman. Maybe I could…make a difference there."

They were quiet a moment more, just standing in the hallway.

"So…" Gohan finally said, rubbing the back of his head. "Are we…can we really do this?"

Taking his arm firmly, Videl led him down the hallway, pointing as she went. "Well, we could make this into a great research lab for you. We have the space. Or there's a lot of space on the top floor. That might be better. That way you could have more buffer room if experiments don't go like you want. Papa's training hall isn't small but I betcha we'll need more room than it has to offer. Maybe the yard and the bottom two floors?"

Stepping on his brakes, Gohan asked, "Wait. If we turn this place into a lab and a training hall what about us? And Pan?"

Rolling her eyes, Videl turned back to him, wrapped her arms around his neck, "Gohan, I love you but sometimes you are so thick."

Flushing a bit, he offered "How…I mean, did I miss somethin'?"

"Gohan. You're not happy here because you're a country boy. No matter what we do, that's always going to be a part of you." She gave him a light peck on the cheek. "And I like that 'bout you. So, if you're happy in the country, we go to the country."

"Move—"

"Good thing we know a certain father that told us when we got married that if we wanted a 'little patch o' land'" She stumbled a bit as she had never been very good at mimicking the accent she loved so much, "all we had to do was ask. Since when does he lie?"

Stumbling a bit, Gohan couldn't hide the light in his eyes at the thought of going back to the mountain where he'd grown up. "Mount Paouz. I…do know it pretty well. There's lots of stuff I could show Pan and—"

"And if we decide to…expand a bit…" Videl teased, "What better place than near the only grandparents on the planet that understand about raising a part-Saiyan kid?" She took Gohan's face in her hands. "Gohan. I want this for us. For Pan. And for you. This is a great house Papa bought us. But it's not home." Warmth flooded from her face. "So, let's go where there IS home."

"But what about you…"

"Gohan, I've never been really attached to the city. And Papa can come and go anywhere. Even the countryside. Plus, what better way to teach Panny about the world than to be able to SHOW her? You made me fall in love with that mountain too." She added, "And that mountain is part of the reason you're how you are. That's enough by itself." She waited for him to absorb that before saying, "So, c'mon, let's get some sleep tonight and tomorrow, let's go talk to your parents."

Gohan licked his lips, willing the nerves away. "I…what if I don't make it as a ki researcher? What if the school doesn't take off, what if—"

Pushing her finger against his lips, Videl answered, "Then, we'll manage. But my family is going to be HAPPY." Setting him with one of her looks that left no room for argument, she said, "Clear?"

Chuckling a bit, Gohan relented and leaned over, kissing her again. "Clear, Videl." A light erupted in his chest, true enthusiasm and excitement for the future, no matter what it brought. "Tomorrow, we'll go talk to Mom and Dad."

Videl added, "And tell them?" She pressed.

"…say we want to come home."