November

November rolled around and still no baby despite Videl trying every trick in the book: more sex during ovulation, lying flat on her back after sex, super smoothies, and any crazy wives' tale she could try. In the end, the pregnancy test always came up negative. The reality of her being infertile was starting to dawn on her more than ever. Luckily, she had Gohan, who was nothing but supportive and loving. A man of facts and science, Gohan kept reassuring her that she should not worry until it's been longer than a year. Theoretically, she knew that her fear was premature and that she could get pregnant at any moment. All she needed to do was let the paranoia and pessimism go.

Considering all the emotional turmoil, it did not stop this resilient woman. She still went about her days taking care of business and her family. As promised to her daughter, every morning before school, they would go on a five-mile run to work on Pan's mile time and to keep the detective in the best shape.

"What was your mile time last week?" Videl asked her daughter. This morning the mother-daughter duo decided to run on the Satan City Trail versus their usual spot in the woods near her grandparents' home.

"Two minutes and fifteen seconds," Pan said disappointedly.

"You know it needs to be at least six minutes," Videl responded sternly. Since Pan was significantly stronger than her peers, Videl and Gohan thought it was best if she stayed away from sports and pushed her into the direction of chess and photography club. Of course, that did not keep her away from her favorite sport. In the end, Gohan and Videl caved in and agreed only if she never used her powers to help her.

That wasn't a problem for Pan as she was all about earning things through honesty and good old-fashioned hard work. Being the granddaughter of the world savior meant she could do whatever and be whoever she wanted with a quick phone call; however, she prided herself on making a name for herself without any help.

"I know, I know," the girl sighed, "Sometimes I forget to hold back."

"Well, as long as you get that time down, your father shouldn't have a problem doing basketball again this year," Videl told her daughter.

"I promise I'll get it down," Pan replied as she and her mother came to a stop, they were only a couple of blocks from their house. At this point, they would walk it off and finish their conversations as they wouldn't be seeing each other until dinner that night.

"So, who's dropping me off to school today?" Pan curiously asked.

Videl laughed nervously as she mumbled something under her breath. "About that… your father and I were both called into meeting this morning, so you're going to have to fly there yourself."

Pan's eyebrows furrowed from irritation. "Mom! You know I hate flying; bugs get in my hair, and it's super disgusting."

"I'm sorry, we'll make it up to you! The captain will have my head on a platter if I'm not there, kiddo," Videl said regretfully before pulling Pan into a hug and kissing softly on her forehead. "I hate letting you down, but somethings I have control over, Panny." Her hands were press firmly on her daughter's cheeks, which triggered Pan to screech out in embarrassment.

"Fine, it's whatever, mom," Pan sneered, pushing her mother away and immediately crossed her arms defensively over her chest. "You and Dad owe me, though."

"Yo, Satan!" Videl heard her name being called and provoked her to look over the crowd to immediately find the culprit. As assumed, it was her partner, Lime Nakamori, smiling and waving frantically for Videl to come over.

Pushing her way through the donut-hungry detectives, Videl eventually joined her partner and greeted her with a hug. "Hey, what do you think this emergency meeting is about?" she curiously asked as they huddled in the corner near the refreshment table.

"Hm, my old man is probably retiring," Lime confessed. "Mama is ready to spend her golden years in the Caribbean; I don't blame her. Daddy has been captain of our unit since I was a kid, so that meant very short and close vacations."

"I'm happy for him, but… does that mean Xander will be our captain seeing as he's always bending over backward for your dad. He's such a showboat, we should have never picked up a vice guy on our unit," Videl whispered with her hands covering her mouth.

Lime chuckled at the thought of their tool of a coworker being in charge of their unit. "No worries Vi, my Dad sees him for who he truly is," she informed. "To be honest, my dad hasn't really talked about his possible replacements with me at all. The only reason why I found out about him retiring is that my Mom accidentally let it slip out when we were having dinner."

Videl was still curious and continued to probe her friend for questions. A part of her couldn't help but think he was promoting her, and she just wanted to play dumb. "Do you think he'll be considering you?"

Lime's eyes were the size of the moon. Videl's question before she let out a harsh laugh. "No way! He knows being a mom is my number one priority. I HATED the fact that he was captain for most of my childhood. Always home late, always missing important events- he even left my high school graduation!"

"Ouch, what on Earth possessed you to become a detective then?" Videl asked.

"I really like solving mysteries," Lime shrugged nonchalantly. "However, I vowed never to put work over family. Therefore, I made sure my Dad knew that I never wanted to fill in his shoes one day. There's no way you could do that job and be a good parent. Look at our unit, for example, most of these guys don't have kids, all the dudes who have kids rely on their wives and nannies to do ninety percent of the caretaking, and the other women here are childless."

"Wow, I guess I never really thought about that. Gohan and I luckily didn't run into that problem when Pan was younger," Pan responded, a little bit taken aback from Lime's rant. A wave of worry came over here as she thought about her career and family. There's no way having a baby would affect her negatively now. I mean, the couple were more stable and wiser than they were thirteen years ago. Ergo that meant it would be easier.

Before their conversation could continue, their attention was brought to the front of the room as they heard a deep grunt from a man standing at the podium. He scanned the sea of people before he spoke. "Good morning all, now you know I'm not for long unnecessarily sappy speeches, so I'm going to cut to the chase. You've probably already heard the rumors, and I'm here to announce that they are true; I am retiring effective ASAP. I'm old, and I'm ready to get the heck away from you all."

This caused everyone to chuckle. Despite his seemingly rude comments, this was just a funny facade their captain liked to put up. Deep down, they all knew he was a nice, respectful, and playful man who enjoyed teasing his unit.

"Now, for the good part. The announcement of my successor," the captain smirked as he watched all the men straighten up in their seats and ears perk up with alertness. The ones sitting close to him were clad in their best. Although he wasn't a betting man, he was willing to bet that the ones wearing their Sunday best were assuming they were going to win.

"This person has been on this unit since day one as just a lowly beater cop. I wasn't expecting much from them considering their family name. Any cop that has come from privilege has always been a pain in my ass, but this person has done nothing but impressed me since she first walked through those doors. Videl Satan, will you stand up please and join me on stage so you can accept your round of applause in front of your peers."

Did he just say my name? Videl was frozen as the room grew loud with praise, shouts, and claps. Regardless of all this commotion, she could still hear her heart fall to the bottom of her stomach.

"Oh my god, Vi! It's you!" Lime shouted with glee as she helped the girl up. "Get up there!"

Although all the anxiety in her body and her mind tell her to retreat, her feet betrayed her and made for the podium where she awkwardly stood and blushing.

'Oh, Kami. What have I gotten myself into?"

Meanwhile, at the city's local university, a certain professor was anxiously waiting in the Dean's office for a meeting. Usually, the big boss only wanted to see Gohan when it was time to impress some filthy rich investors, but there wasn't any talk about that from other faculty.

"Professor Son, the Dean, is ready to see you now," a docile voice announced from the receptionist, interrupting him from his trance. She winked at him before suggesting a bit onto her red-covered bottom lip. Gohan ignored her before making his way to the Dean's office.

"You wanted to see me, Sir," Gohan said as he walked into the room. There he found Dean Vincent, lounging back in his swivel chair with a small glass in his hand and a lit cigar in the other. The liquid that occupied the glass by the looks of it was dark liquor. Whiskey was his guess. The whole room smelled like it.

"Gohan! How's my best professor doing?" the man slurred.

"I'm doing great. What about you?" Gohan politely responded, trying his best not to come off as awkward or uncomfortable.

"I'm glad you ask Gohan. I'm screwed," the dean said as he laughed in despair before filling his glass more with his vice. "Word of advice. Don't sleep with one of the university's biggest donor's wife; otherwise, you'll end up fired and in the process of a divorce."

Initially, Gohan was confused, but it didn't take long to realize that the Dean's advice hinted at the turmoil he was going through. "Oh. Oh, I'm so sorry to hear that," he empathetically replied. Deep down, he wished he was anywhere, but here. What do his affairs have to do with him?

"The board emailed me yesterday telling me that I have to retire otherwise, they'll fire me, meaning I don't get my benefits, and I'll be damned if I worked for a company for almost twenty years and don't get my benefits," Dean Vincent rambled on.

"Sounds like a lot…" Gohan stoically commented. "So, you called me to the office to personally say goodbye?"

"Not really. I'm here to tell you this, you've been promoted to interim Dean. They'll be looking for a replacement, but all of it will be for show, the board adores you Gohan, and in a couple of months, your face will be on the wall of Deans, adjacent to mines," he said cheerfully.

Astonished with the news that was just relayed to him left Gohan in complete silence as he gazed, dumbfoundedly, at the drunk man before him. Surely his boss was pulling his leg, his receptionist would come out to take a picture of his face, and everyone would break into a fit of laughter. It was the boxed-up picture frames and the empty cabinet drawers that led him to believe that the Dean with telling the truth to him; he really was going to be the interim dean.

The dean laughed hysterically as he sloppily poured the remnants of his alcohol into two glasses. "How about a celebratory drink?" The Dean offered him as he raised it to Gohan.

Gohan raised his head to politely declined. "Forgive me, but I'm still confused. Why would they choose me? I mean, don't they usually choose the person who has leadership experience. I don't know anything about running a university."

"Gohan," Dean Vincent burped obscenely. "This is the best job you can get more money, less work, and you get to do whatever you want. As long as you know how to keep charming people with your smarts, you won't have a hard time."

'Look where that got you,' the younger man thought. Although he was quite annoyed with his short notice promotion, he was quite honored to the dean at such a young age. "The timing couldn't be any better," he mumbled under his breath.

The evening was usual antics for the Son family, homework, dinner, and a family show before Pan would pass out, and Gohan would have to carry her away to bed like she was a kid. Gohan and Videl would stay up longer though and have their nightly check-ins, a key feature that thought kept their marriage together.

"So, I have-"

"I need to tell you something- "

They both said in sync, then proceeded with them, both encouraging the other to speak first. Finally, Videl just spat her news out first. "I've been promoted to captain." She said, her face in an awkward smile before it fell into a frown upon seeing Gohan flash her the same awkward smile.

"I was promoted to Dean today," he confessed, still grinning.

The couple stood in silence as they gathered what to say next. Obviously, they were both avoiding what they truly wanted to say out of consideration for the other's feelings. A promotion for one of them was already going to be hard enough with a new baby. A stricter schedule for one parent meant the other would have to do most of the caretaking. Adding another parent who would need to be at work more meant what the unspeakable for them- they would have to stop trying.

The realization made Videl's eye well up. She was going to have to choose her career or family, a choice she had never made before. When Pan was born, Gohan was just a student teacher, and she was still in the police academy night school. Not only were they younger, but they had ample more time on their hands.

"As cliché as this may sound, don't feel like you need to decide on this right now, though," he advised her, pulling her into his arms. "I usually don't like to push you, but I think you forget how ambitious you are. You can make anything happen, and you're naturally good at it."

Videl scoffed in frustration as she pushed him away. At that moment, she wanted to scream at him for minimizing her worries. "It doesn't matter, Gohan! Parenthood is unpredictable, and being a captain of a whole squad is unpredictable, time-consuming, and stressful. I don't want to have another baby if it means I can't be there for them. You know what! What's even the point of talking about this when I can't even FUCKING get pregnant."

Videl threw her hands up in defeat before falling into bed. She knew she was hysterical, and she hated it. She prided herself in being able to keep a level head when things got tough, but at this moment, she didn't care, she felt like crying and yelling, and that's exactly what she was going to do. "Sorry," she mumbled as the tears cascaded down her face.

"Videl, I'm sorry I di- "he stopped himself when he saw her hand go up in protest.

"I don't want to talk about this anymore," she said flatly, avoiding making eye contact with him as she snaked into bed. "I'm not mad at you, Gohan, I'm just… exhausted."

"I hear you. Goodnight, Vi," Gohan sighed as he defeatedly dragged himself out of their room. Normally he would climb into bed and hold her, but not only did he not want to get his head chewed off anymore but wanted to respect her space. The last thing he wanted was to make her life more burdensome.