Goku stood, motionless before the door to his home. It had been several minutes since he had materialised back at the origin of his journey, but rather than enter straight away, the Saiyan had chosen to stall.

There he stood, looking up at the quaint little construction which had taken on a foreboding new nature. On several occasions, he had reached reluctantly for the cold brass of the door handle, only to whip the appendage away as if the doorknob were burning hot. Goku felt paralysed by a combination of his own dread, and the persistent chill that had lingered throughout the morning, and was now still present at the start of the afternoon.

The breath that left Goku's mouth billowed away, meeting with the cool wooden door to form steady breakers of vapour. He allowed many a second to slip by as he watched the steam condense upon the timbre, then slowly fade from view.

Goku shook his head hard, and furrowed his brow. Energised by a fresh intent, he proceeded to encourage himself forward.

"C'mon Goku," he muttered to himself, "You've got to do this."

Though the sound of his words was short lived, the vapour that accompanied them lingered. Finally, it to met with the surface of the door, and its form dissolved. Goku chose to act now, before his courage went the way of the condensate.

Goku raised his hand, and placed upon the door handle. Instantly, the ravenous cold of the metal began to devour the warmth from his hand. The sudden bite of chill was almost enough to cause Goku's courage to waver. Almost, but not quite. Slowly, and deliberately, he turned the handle, and pushed the door aside.

A torrent of heat crashed down upon Goku, futilely rushing to quench the thirst of the heat-dry world. Again finding himself racing against the collapse of his own will, he did not hesitate to cross the threshold.

Slipping into the inviting warmth, Goku gently closed the door behind himself putting pay to the chill that had dogged him on every leg of his journey. Upon hearing the soft click of the catch sealing the portal, he tuned his senses to the sounds emanating from within the house. Listening intently, he was almost certain he could detect the strains of boisterous chatter from the living room down the hall. This sound was being beaten into submission, however, by the discordant crescendo of crockery being manhandled. The sound was, of course, coming from the kitchen, the door to which was a few paces from where Goku stood. Steeling himself, he prepared to confront the one thing he had spent the morning trying to avoid. He then began to pace towards the kitchen, his anxiety stimulating an instinctive urge to employ stealth.

"Hi, dad!" a shrill voice rang throughout the little house, filling its narrow halls.

Gohan had apparently detected the arrival of his father. Betrayed by his own son, Goku wondered whether the young Saiyan knew just how long he had been waiting outside, and whether he suspected anything untoward had been going. His voice sounded cheery enough, however, which Goku found to be quite encouraging.

With his presence betrayed, Goku proceeded to the doorway of the kitchen without bothering to mask his steps. Stopping at the cusp of the entrance, he swallowed hard, and took a deep breath.

"Uh, hello, dear." He barley more than whispered, peering meekly around the door frame.

Chi Chi was stood before a set of cupboards, suspended from the wall opposite to Goku's side of the door. She had been removing stacks of plates from the open cabinet, but had stopped upon hearing the gingerly delivered words of her husband. For an aeon, she stared coolly at the wall before, her imminent response hanging over Goku like an executioners blade. Then, without casting so much as a glance to the partially obscured Saiyan, Chi Chi spoke.

"Hello, Goku." She replied, the tone of her voice as cold and indifferent as the air that rested against the exterior of the cottage.

Goku shuddered at the frigidity of the address, then drawing another breath of comfortingly warm air, he stepped into the doorway.

"I, er... I'm..." he stammered, all the time, staring at the brown tiled floor.

"Lunch will be ready soon." Chi Chi interrupted her stuttering spouse, her words as icebound as before, "I suggest you get washed up."

Indeed, the smell of turkey was thick in the air. Goku had not even noticed it from beneath his heavy burden of worry.

"Right." Goku mumbled, and made a ninety degree turn from the door.

He was ready to take his leave of the doorway, when he stopped himself.

No, Goku. You've got to do this; he thought.

Unwilling to allow this to fester, he turned back to his wife who had resumed her activities. Goku made ready to begin. He had no idea what it was he was about to embark upon. However, be it an explanation, an apology, or even a renewal of the morning's conflict, he knew he had to start somewhere.

"How's Gohan been this morning." He enquired, choosing to work his way on to the subject subtly.

"Gohan's been fine." Chi Chi replied, still keeping her eyes averted from him, "I told him you went for a walk. I didn't see any reason why today should be ruined for him."

These words entailed a pang of guilt, which Goku fought to control. He had to stay his course. Chi Chi then continued.

"My dad's here." She informed her husband, "Gohan's been having a fine time showing off his new toy."

Goku saw his chance. He had to speak now before his confidence waned, or he was simply dismissed by the quietly seething Chi Chi.

"Listen, Chi Chi," he began, "I'm sorry that ..."

"Save it, Goku." Chi Chi rasped, turning sharply to face him, "I'm just not in the mood to do this now."

Goku was teetering on the precipice of retreat, but was just barely able to steady himself. Fighting to keep eye contact, he stepped into the kitchen.

"Please, Chi Chi." Goku pleaded, "I just want a chance to explain myself."

Chi Chi's brow furrowed, her cold expression contorting into one of escalating rage.

"Fine." She growled, between gritted teeth, "Explain to me why you've blatantly ignored my wishes for Gohan. Explain why you don't respect my authority over my own son. Explain why you contradict me at every opportunity."

"Listen, Chi Chi. If this about that Gundam thing, I've already told you. I just thought that, since he had been so good recently, he deserved something special." Goku explained, trying to keep his voice down for the benefit of Gohan and Oxking.

"This isn't just about that damn toy, Goku!" Chi Chi snapped, momentarily loosing her composure. Gathering herself once more, she continued in lower, but equally agitated tone, "You do stuff like this all the time. You take him out fishing when he should be studying. You... you let him goof off with your martial arts friends when I've told you I told like the influence they have on him. And you encourage him to watch those anime shows that you know I don't approve of."

"Well, I wouldn't say I encour..." Goku began, before being cut off once more.

"It's like you just have no concept of Gohan's future." Chi Chi complained, "Do you even care where he'll be in ten, or even twenty years time?"

"Of course I do!" Goku stated quite loudly, then he himself sought to lower the volume of the conversation, "It's just that... well, he needs some time to relax as well as study. He needs some fun." Goku's voice then softened further, "All that he's been through in the last five years, it's more than any kid should have to deal with. I worry that Gohan's missed too much of what it is to be young. Gohan's been forced to grow up so fast, far faster than I ever did."

"I know." Chi Chi barked, "I'm still waiting for that to happen."

Goku gave a wry smile. He had walked right into that one.

"I just want him to have some sort of childhood." Goku told Chi Chi.

These words seemed to have an ever so slightly pacifying effect on Chi Chi. Her heavily furrowed brow slackened, and her tightly balled fists were released.

"So do I." Chi Chi replied, her voice becoming tempered at the first signs of common ground, "But he has to learn to live in the real world, as well. And Kami knows, he's not going to get there by going fishing with you and Krillin, or learning to blow stuff up with Piccollo." She paused as a waver of emotion attempted to sabotage the progress of her explanation. She forded on regardless, however, the delivery of her words becoming more rapid as her control over her feelings began to fail, "He has so few friends his own age, someone he can grow up with. With all of this, it's just difficult to see how he can grow up to be a well adjusted young man. And now these androids are coming, and I'm just so terrified that he might not even get to grow up at all."

And there it was. It was something that had been coming for three, long years. In her final, teary sentence, Chi Chi had summed up all of the anguish, all of the fear and apprehension that had been building as the time of the androids' arrival had drawn ever nearer. This was not something that had been limited to Gohan's mother. His father, Goku had felt all of this as well. As he watched the tears begin to advance over his wife's cheeks, he to had to fight to hold back his own tears. He could feel the warm saline building up behind his eyes, on the verge of giving away the anguish that had riddled his being since Trunks' fateful visit from the future.

"Oh no, Chi Chi." Goku said, striding across the hard floor. He then embraced his wife, placing his chin gently atop her head. As well as comforting the distraught Chi Chi, his actions served to hide his tears, which were now in near free flow down his face, "Don't say that. Gohan's always been able to look out for himself before, why should this time be any different. Everything'll be fine." He whispered, as much in reassurance to himself as to Chi Chi. He then allowed himself a smile, as he remembered something a dear friend had said earlier that day, "Was there ever a time when it wasn't?"

Chi Chi gently pushed Goku away. Her tear sodden face looked up at his.

"Don't get me started." She sniffed, almost laughing through the tears, "Oh my. Look at the pair of us. We're a mess."

"You can say that again." Goku agreed, wiping some of the moisture from his cheek with the back of his hand.

"I can't go in for lunch looking like this." Chi Chi stated, mirroring the action of her husband.

"It's all right for you." Goku smiled, "You can just say you were peeling onions. I'm meant to be the big, tough Saiyan guy."

Chi Chi gave a little chuckle at Goku's jest. Her expression then became more sober.

"That's been building up for a while now." She told Goku of her outburst, "It feels good to get it out in the open."

"I bet it does." Goku replied, "But seriously, you don't have to worry about Gohan. He's a tough little guy. I've got the bruises to prove."

"Of course I have to worry about him. I'm his mother." Chi Chi retorted. She then looked around at the cluttered kitchen. Her distant expression gave the impression that she had only just arrived, and was trying to identify where she was. This was quickly replaced by a look of startled realisation, "Oh dear. Everything's gonna burn."

"Uh, is there anything I can do to help?" Goku enquired of Chi Chi, who was now busily darting from end to end of the room, checking on various culinary projects.

"I think you'd better just stand clear." she responded as she peered into the oven at the steadily roasting bird.

"Right you are." Goku capitulated. He then turned to leave.

"Goku?" Chi Chi's voice stopped the Saiyan in his tracks.

"Yes, dear?" Goku responded cautiously, unaware of the nature of his summons.

"You know this isn't finished." She informed him, "We still need to sort this out properly."

Goku took a second to absorb the words. Of course, Chi Chi was right. Five minutes of crying and soul baring lament was never going to be adequate to resolve what was a quite complex and far reaching problem.

"I understand." He replied, trying not to smile so much as to undermine the seriousness of Chi Chi's observation.

Chi Chi returned Goku's half smile. Though barely readable on her flushed face, that modest up-turning of his wife's lips was the most beautiful thing Goku had seen in quite some time. At that moment, a huge weight was lifted from Goku's consciousness. This looming mass that had rested upon his mind had been there, not just since that morning, but since that afternoon he had returned home from his encounter with Trunks and informed Chi Chi of the hardships that were to come. Though the problem remained, and was far from a resolution, it was out in the open. And for now, at least, that was enough.

The two finally broke eye contact, with Chi Chi tending once more to the subject of her toils, and Goku hastily moving to fulfil his wife's original order of getting washed up. Kami forbid he should be expelled from the dinner table.

THE END