"Back when I was a child
Before life removed all the innocence
My father would lift me high
And dance with my mother and me and then
Spin me around 'till I fell asleep
Then up the stairs he would carry me
And I knew for sure, I was loved,"

A tear crept down Gohan's eye as he stared at a small photo that sat on his desk. It was just another one of the things he had never really noticed before now, just another picture of the family together; him, his mother… and his father. Grinning his usual big dopey grin. Gohan smiled a little, it had always been so great when Dad was around, and he'd always figured Dad would be around forever…

"If I could get another chance, another walk, another dance with him
I'd play a song the would never, ever end
How I'd love, love, love, to dance with my father again,"

Gohan looked with a mild jealousy at the boy in the photo. Only a month ago he'd been there, thinking that there'd be a hundred more photos like this. Today was nothing special…
He'd been so happy there, and right now he wished he could go back. If only he could just crawl into the photo with everyone else… Then they could be a family again.

"When I and my mother would disagree
To get my way I would run from her to him
He'd make me laugh just to comfort me Yeah yeah, then finally make me do just what my mama said,"

"Gohan, have you done your homework?"
He still heard that all the time. Dad used to try to help him with it, then Mom would come in and yell at them because they were just talking instead, Dad was never all that good with school stuff. But he helped anyway; he always made everything seem less than half as bad as it really was.
"Listen to your mother, Gohan. She only wants what's best for you, after all."
Somehow, Gohan would always buy that – even when Dad only said it because Mom had told him to. Dad had a way of making everything better…

"Later that night when I was asleep
He left a dollar under my sheet
Never dreamed that he would be gone from me,"

"Gohan, I'm so proud of you."
And then he disappeared. It had all seemed so fast it was only half-real. It was really only when Gohan had gone home without Dad that he realised Dad wasn't coming home.

"If I could steal, one final glance, one final step, one final dance with him
I'd play a song that would never, ever end
'Cause I'd love, love, love, to dance with my father, again,

Sometimes I'd listen outside her door
And I'd hear my mother would cry for him
I prayed for her even more than me
I prayed for her even more than me,"

Mom cried herself to sleep and Gohan knew it. She tried so hard to be strong for him, but sometimes at night he could hear her crying when she thought he was asleep, and a few other times when she was in the kitchen and she thought he was doing his homework, Gohan would see her stop for a moment and wipe the tears from her eyes. It hurt him more to see Mom crying too.

"I know I'm praying for much too much
But could you send the only man she loved
I know you don't do it usually
But dear Lord she's dying to dance with my father again,"

Gohan took one last look at the happy photo, and wished more than anything in the world that it could be like that again. The whole family there… everyone smiling.

"Every night I fall asleep
And this is all I ever dream."

"Daddy…"
He turned his back to the photo, and cried himself to sleep.

~~

Dance with my Father
by Luther Vandross