Chapter III

A gentle sloshing sound emitted from the mug as a tired Bulma poured some coffee in the early morning hours. Vegeta had woken her up early, by the outrageous blasts and yelling out in the gravity capsule. At first, it hadn't been so bad but after about an hour, she'd been awakened with a "Fix this, Woman!" or "This isn't what I asked for Woman!" After the third time, she gave up on sleep.

Looking at the clock, she groaned. It was only four in the morning! This was way too early for anyone to be up, least of all her. She sat down in a chair, rubbing her forehead. Her blue hair frizzed out, evidence that she had not been up very long and that she probably wasn't feeling like being up right now. She took a sip of the brown drink, blessing the founder of caffeine.

"Hey Bulma!" A hand tugged on her nightgown sleeve.

Bulma choked, dropped the mug so it shattered and fell out of the chair.

Gohan blinked at her and offered her a hand up, "Sorry, did I spook you?"

"Yes!" Bulma was cranky but once she glanced on the boy's face, she had to smile. Bright dark eyes gazed down at her, mature warrior and innocent child embodied in the same form. Gohan was still in his pajamas and he was a cutie in them! His black hair was starting to go wild like his father's and right now it looked like he'd gotten caught in a tornado. He had on green and white checkered pajama pants and a long sleeved shirt. He hadn't bothered to put any of his shoes on, despite the fact his feet had to be cold.

"Sorry Bulma, didn't mean to. Wanted to come see you and I saw you were awake."

"More or less….kiddo, do you know what time it is?"

"Yeah, it's early."

"More like too early. Did you ask your parents if you could come over here?"

"I left them a note."

Bulma regarded him with an odd look. It was out of Gohan's character to just take off without telling his parents verbally. Besides that, Goku was pretty stern on the boy getting enough sleep, because of the harsh training they did. Goku was pretty lenient on most things but eating a complete meal and getting enough sleep were two things he usually didn't cave in on. Bulma gave Gohan a peculiar look as she got out a broom to sweep up the coffee mug shards. "Kiddo, when did you go to bed last night?"

"Daddy puts me to bed at eight."

"So you only got eight hours of sleep." The scientist mused as she swept up the ceramic pieces. Gohan got a mop out and helped her to mop up the coffee stains from the tile. The boy certainly looked tired. His eyes were blood shot and he had developed dark circles under his eyes, something Bulma was almost certain Goku would notice. Probably one reason he neglected to tell his parents he was leaving so early.

"Nope, I got six. I woke up at two, tried to fall back asleep but couldn't so I got dressed, left them the note and headed over here."

"Then you need to go home and go back to bed."

"Wouldn't do me any good Bulma. I can't sleep."

"Why don't you tell your father? I know he'd sit with you or something until you fell asleep."

"I already wake Mother and Daddy up enough with my stupid dreams." He mused, head down. "I don't wanna wake Daddy up again."

"Gohan, he doesn't care. Heck, he'd probably be more upset you weren't telling him when you're scared."

The demi-Saiyan changed the subject. "I wanted to talk to you about the heart virus."

Bulma blinked, her eyes bulging. Oh, she knew the heart virus. Everyone was on edge about it. Fear struck Bulma's heart. She got down on her knees and put her hands on Gohan's shoulders. "Your Daddy didn't catch it, did he?" Her eyes watered a little bit. "Has he caught it already? You guys have the medicine, right?"

"No, Bulma. Daddy hasn't gotten it yet."

Bulma let out a sigh of relief and stood up. "Good. So…what about the virus?"

"Can you use the antidote to find out anything about it?"

Bulma cocked her head at the boy.

Gohan pulled a single pill from his pajama's front pocket. He handed it to her. "I just borrowed one because I figured if you could figure out the make up of the antidote, maybe you could figure out something about the illness. Maybe then, we could make a vaccine or something. That way, Daddy'll never even have to catch it at all. Can you try, Bulma?"

Bulma studied the purple colored pill a moment. Why hadn't she thought of that? The elements of a disease would obviously be revealed in any cure for it, at least to some degree. Whether or not enough would be revealed to make a vaccine was yet to be seen but there was a pretty good chance for that. In any event, it might at least give them some insight to the type of mutation that had created the virus.

"I'll try kiddo."

"I'm gonna help!" Gohan started to run up to her lab but Bulma grabbed the back of his shirt, pulling him back. Gohan looked at her, confused and baffled. The human scientist picked him up under her arm like a sack of flour and dropped him on his backside in a kitchen chair. Gohan looked up at her and she walked over to her kitchen cabinets, scrounging through them.

"First off, kiddo, breakfast! Even a genius needs fuel!"

Gohan grinned, widely. As worried as he was, he was also starving! "Sounds good to me! What are we having?"

Bulma looked at Gohan, smiling. She thought of the half-human brood as her little nephew. He had figured that out too. She knew he had. Every time that boy really wanted something, she wasn't Bulma, she was "Auntie" Bulma. He used the same trick on Krillin. If he really wanted or needed something, be it something material or just something abstract like some time, he'd charm his way with "Unca" Krillin. Unlike her however, Krillin gave in a whole lot easier.

Still, as the human scientist regarded her truest friend's son, she was taken in by his bright shining eyes. She gave him a bright smile in retaliation. "Well, what do you want, kiddo? You know my kitchen is yours." Gohan gave her a "sure you wanna say that" grin that was indistinguishable from his father's. Bulma ruffled his black hair and started to pull supplies out onto the counter. Gohan watched her, standing on his tiptoes. He could have flown up but his father and mother had established a firm "no flying indoors" rule. Bulma handed the boy a bowl and pushed a chair up so he could reach the counter. He climbed up. Handing the boy a bowl and spoon, she took a rubber band out of the drawer and pulled the boy's shoulder length hair out of his face, binding it in a low ponytail that trailed down his back a little.

Pouring a little flour, then water into the bowl, she set out eggs and other ingredients out for the child. "You know how to make pancakes?"

Gohan nodded. "Yeah! Daddy can't cook much but he can cook breakfast! And fish."

Bulma got a brief image of Goku in an apron and laughed silently. "I didn't think your father could cook much other than fish, squirt."

Dark and blazing eyes met her eyes and she was met with a boy's hissing, "Don't talk about Daddy that way! Daddy's not dumb! I'm sick of everyone acting like he is! He's not! Daddy's brave, Daddy's loyal! He's-"

"Whoa! Whoa! Calm down, Gohan!" Bulma held her hands up, palms open. "I didn't mean it that way."

Gohan blinked "No?"

"No, kiddo. Honest. I just had an interesting picture in my head of your father in an apron like I always see your mother in."

Gohan had to laugh at that but not for the reason Bulma had. "Daddy's done that."

Bulma chuckled at that image and then said, "So, you know how to make pancakes then?"

Gohan cracked two eggs together but with his Saiyan strength that completely crumbled in his hands. He winced and looked at her "Uh, yeah…honest."

Bulma just left the mop by the side of the wall. She had a feeling she was going to need it.

OOO

Getting up slowly so not to disturb his mate, Goku padded down the hall towards his son's room. He pushed the door open slowly, hoping he didn't wake the boy up. He liked to walk in sometimes and just watch Gohan sleep. He didn't do it every night but every so often he would. He always waited until early morning. Those were the times when his son would wind up in the oddest positions. One time, Goku had walked in to find the boy had somehow managed to get all his clothes ripped off, so he walked in to see a tailed behind sticking out of the covers because the boy had turned horizontal across the bed. He chuckled lightly at the memory.

Glancing around the room a little bit, he blinked, surprised. His son's ki wasn't anywhere nearby. He searched the boy's room to see if his senses were just off but they weren't. The room was empty. He looked around, checking even in the bathroom but he wasn't there. He ran out of the room and downstairs, thinking maybe the boy was in the kitchen again. Gohan had gotten into a habit lately of wanting to cook for his parents. ChiChi was more annoyed by it mainly because it made her kitchen a mess. Goku loved it though. The boy wasn't a very good cook; he combined things he suspected were not meant to be combined. Heck, Goku had wound up in bed with a stomachache from one of the mixtures which was saying something, given his iron clad stomach but he was flattered by it. However, the boy wasn't there either.

"Gohan?"

Goku looked outside, trying to see if the boy had gone outside to play. He doubted he had given the fact that Gohan never left to go play without breakfast. Goku had pounded that into his head. If he was playing outside and he hadn't eaten yet, Goku was going to have something to say about that. Goku didn't like to be the bad guy and a lot of the time he saw his son's actions as harmless childish mischief but there were a few things he would be rough on and that was one of them. Luckily, his son wasn't there but that brought him back to square one.

Wandering into the kitchen again, he finally saw the note thrown on the table. Goku wasn't completely uneducated. He could read, although he couldn't read at the same level as ChiChi or the others, but he could read basic vocabulary and that included his son's handwriting. At least the boy had thought to leave a note. That was just like his son though. That would be his responsible side.

Reading through his son's note quickly, Goku breathed a sigh of relief. He was at Bulma's. But he was disturbed. It just wasn't like Gohan to take off somewhere without telling him. Oh, he'd take off without telling ChiChi all the time but never without telling him. He cleared everything with his father. Their close bond made sure of that. The boy wasn't perfect, not by any means, but he was a pretty obedient little boy. Goku'd had to scold him a handful of times, he could count the number of times he sent him to the corner on one hand and he only remembered swatting him once. Goku liked it that way but because of that, it bothered him that the boy hadn't told him he was leaving. What was up?

Goku concentrated, drawing upon his new ability to instant transmit and willed himself to the kis that were gathered at Bulma's. Popping in, he found the lower floors abandoned but the remains of Gohan's handiwork was decorating the kitchen counters, floor, walls and ceiling. Goku still hadn't figured out how his son managed to get it on the ceiling. It was one of the mysteries that he supposed had to do with being a child.

He headed upstairs, his sharp Saiyan ears catching his son's distinct voice and Bulma's.He followed it, all the way up to Bulma's lab. As he entered, he heard his son declare

"I KNEW it! I knew it wasn't natural!"

"Knew what wasn't natural, little man?"

Gohan fell off his stool and turned. "Daddy! When'd you get here?"

"Just dropped in. You didn't tell me you were coming here, little man. Why not?"

"Sorry. I just…really wanted to do it real quick and I didn't wanna wake you or Mother up."

Goku looked at his son. "So you were up a while before us."

"Yeah…"

"How much sleep did you get, Gohan?"

Gohan winced "Not a lot but Bulma and I just figured something out about that heart virus Daddy!"

Goku's brows went up and he looked at Bulma. She rubbed her eyes and nodded, turning about. "It's not natural, Goku."

"Huh?"

"It's manmade Daddy!"

"Man made?"

"Yes." Bulma confirmed. "I can't even begin to figure out how they did it but it's a nasty one from what this antidote tells me. Looks like it was created simply to kill you Goku. Any guesses on its creator?"

Goku narrowed his eyes. "Gero."

"Right on the first try."