A/N: Things are turning around….

Videl hurriedly tried to make dinner before 6:00pm. If she didn't then Gohan would come home furious. It'd been another year now. Gohan had gotten better at hitting her in less noticeable places and people didn't ask so many questions anymore. She quickly began scooping Gohan's favorite soup into their new plastic bowls. The bowls had survived a beating. Just like her. That's why she loved them. She needed simple things to hold on to. Whether they are bowls or her roses in the garden.

Little Goku sat swinging his feet over his chair, which was too big for him. Being the son of a saiyan he had grown quickly and was unusually mature. His black hair was as messy as his father's and his uncle's and his father's. He smiled at his mother.

"Smells good!" He shouted. Though it sounded more like: "Smwells Gwood!"

She smiled distractedly at him as she went through the last modifications on the dinner set up. Strangely enough Gohan wanted dinner to always be set up specifically and complicatedly. Maybe it was so he could find mistakes easier and give himself a reason to do the things he did. Or maybe he just liked to mess up her hard work. Either way she wanted it right.

She managed to just flinch and not jump as he opened the door and walked in. She turned nervously and looked at him. "Welcome home Gohan." She smiled quickly.

But her smile faded. He was standing straight, sober, his eyes looking solemnly at her. She could see the old Gohan in his eyes and face. There was weary resolution there too.

"Gohan?" She smiled as he did. "Gohan it's you!" She rushed forward and hugged him. Poor little Goku stared, not understanding.

"Videl. Oh Videl I'm so sorry. I swear it wasn't me. It never was." He mumbled in her hair. He winced in pain as the Dæmon fought back. He'd only just managed to suppress it long enough to do this. "Videl I don't have much time." He held her away from him. "I have to go. I won't be back for," he winced, "A long time. Promise you believe me when I say that who hit you was never, never me. I will explain when I get back. Just promise me." He begged her with his eyes.

"I-I promise." The confusion was all but apparent in her voice. "But Gohan what do you mean?"

"I don't have time. I lost control…just…just trust me." He let his hands slide of her arms sadly and backed to the door, reaching behind him for the handle. "I love you." He turned to Goku and looked at him for a long moment before smiling. "He'll be just as powerful as dad was. I'm sorry little tyke. Don't hate me for what I'm not." He whispered before opening the door, turning around and flying into darkness.

Videl turned, shaking, and looked at her son. It stunned her how much he looked like his father. Exactly like him. She sighed and ran to her son, closing him in her arms and holding him as close as she could. He blinked in surprise but hugged his mother back. He didn't really know what Gohan had meant when he had spoken to him, but he knew that his father wasn't evil after all.

*~*~* (A/N Nope not the end yet folks)

Gohan flew as far as he could, constantly struggling to keep the dæmon at bay. He had to get to somewhere where he wouldn't be able to get back. Flying low, he managed to find a ravine that, the way it was set up, you could only get in by flying. He landed lightly on the bottom and sat next to a rock, ignoring his hunger.

The dæmon fought back in full force but Gohan kept it at bay. He took the pack of cigarette's from his back pocket and set them in front of him. Then he pulled out the small bottle of whisky in his other pocket. He lifted his hand and screamed all his anger, pain and hate, while blasting the two items to nothing. His scream echoed through the canyon and he finally let the tears flood from his eyes.