1: Return
The air car creaked and groaned as it flew unevenly over the choppy ocean waves. To the pilot, the water below was little more than an endless void broken up briefly with flashes of light as the water caught the light of the waxing moon. The car shuddered and the driver quickly pulled up to avoid clipping the ocean. She had a feeling that should the flying vehicle touch the water, she wouldn't be able to get it into the air again.
Something popped and started to whine at the strain of staying airborne. The woman at the wheel gritted her teeth and prayed both that the decrepit old thing would hold together for a little while longer and that the noise wouldn't wake up her passenger.
She chanced a glance to the seat beside her. A box was held in place with the seatbelts, but not very well. If she strained her ears, she could just barely make out the sound of her son sleeping nested in the cheap cardboard. Her heart broke a little bit at the knowledge that the box was the only thing she could find to hold him. Even filled with the softest blankets and fabrics she managed to scrounge up to pad it, a box was no place for a baby.
A quick look to the rearview mirrors showed no lights following her, though that didn't mean much, and she returned her attention to coaxing the old craft to going just a little bit farther. She prayed to Kami that the coordinates she had were the right ones. Her son couldn't afford for her to mess up.
It was only a couple minutes, but if felt like forever before she came upon a small island with a little two story house on it. With some manhandling and more quiet cursing than she would ever admit to doing, the woman managed to land the car as far away from the house as possible while still staying clear of the water. She wasn't sure if she wanted to wake the old man living there quite yet. While she did want him to get up and answer the door promptly, meeting with her and talking would take far too long. She could not afford for it to take that long.
As quickly as possible the young mother unbuckled the box and grabbed a ratty bag from the foot well. After a brief moment of struggle, she removed a slightly crumpled letter from the bag that she tucked in with her son. Then she left the car, carefully carrying the box with her son in it as she stumbled up to the door. Her legs were unsteady on the sand, much to her frustration, though she should be used to it by now; the lack of food had made her feel weak and unsteady for a while. All she had to do now was knock on the door, as loudly as she could, and leave as fast as possible. She'd done it before, earlier that night she'd done it nearly half a dozen times. This time would be different though. This time she'd be leaving her child behind.
This time she lingered just a bit, staring at her son one last time. She didn't have time to do this, not if she wanted him to be safe and loved. With a stifled sob she turned away from his sleeping form and went to knock.
The door flew open before she could so much as touch it. Standing in the opening was someone she'd never thought she'd see again.
"Chi-Chi?!" It'd been about a year since she'd heard her husband's voice, but there was no mistaking it, or his silhouette. The lights were off inside, but she could make out enough of his form from what little moonlight was there.
She wanted to smile at him, to fling herself into his arms and never leave. Instead she ignored the questions and concern in his voice and hiccupped out, "I-help. I'm-I'm being followed."
His gaze immediately sharpened and he looked passed her shoulder, she turned to look as well, but like before she couldn't see anything. However, that didn't mean there was nothing there.
Chi-Chi had only looked away for a second, but by the time she looked back Goku had lost that hard look and was now gazing at her with worry and confusion.
"Let's go inside." He glanced at the box, but he didn't ask about it, or the baby in it; instead he moved aside to allow her to enter.
Despite herself, Chi-Chi hesitated. A part of her was still convinced that her original plan, the one she'd been committed to, was the only one that would work for sure to keep her child safe. But her husband was here. Goku, who was the strongest man in the world, who'd went against the odds and defeated the Demon King Piccolo and then Piccolo Jr. Who was surely more than strong enough to defeat the people she couldn't overcome herself. Though their time spent together was much less than the time they'd been apart since their marriage, Chi-Chi couldn't help but put her faith in his strength.
With another shuddering breath, she entered the dark house.
As soon as she heard the door click shut relief washed over her. There was no more need to run, she was safe now. Though it'd been so long since she'd last felt safe that the feeling was almost disconcerting.
Light abruptly illuminated the room, Chi-Chi couldn't hold back her flinch at the sudden blinding brightness. She wasn't the only one, a groan from the other side of the couch almost distracted her from the low growl her husband let out as he got a good look at her. The young woman had to suppress another flinch; she knew she wasn't in the best of conditions physically but she hadn't really had time to worry about it before. It seemed like a silly thing to be concerned about even now, but Chi-Chi was acutely aware that her hair was a matted tangled mess, her clothes were little more than dirty rags and she hadn't been able to wash herself in days. If it had been anyone else looking at her she likely wouldn't have cared, but it was Goku and she couldn't help but worry about what he'd think of her in this state.
Luckily the person from earlier spoke up before she could keep thinking along that line. "Goku, what the heck? It's too early for training." Upon hearing the youthful voice, Chi-Chi couldn't help but relax a little more; two capable fighters on her side were much better odds than what she'd had for the past year. At least, she hoped the second person was a capable fighter. She didn't know his friends enough to recognize them by voice alone.
Goku didn't answer his friend though, instead he moved to Chi-Chi, gently nudging her to the couch. The warmth from his body made her realize how cold she'd been. She shivered and unconsciously leaned towards him to warm up more and she was rewarded by a small, happy, almost purr like sound Goku made. She always loved the small noises he'd make, and he'd do them quite often. It was a small thing, but it was one of those things she'd missed the most about him.
By the time he'd guided her around the couch to the side of the sofa-bed he and his friend must have been sleeping on, his friend had woken up enough to take in the extra people in the house.
"Goku, who…wait, is that Chi-Chi?!" She gave a small shy smile in response while Goku enthusiastically nodded. His friend was the bald one with the incense burns on his forehead. She couldn't for the life of her remember his name though. He was eyeing her suspiciously, which she thought was kind of strange. "What's with that box-Holy shit is that a baby?!" Chi-Chi winced as the last question was shouted. Goku's friend hadn't even tried to move away from where he was looking into her son's temporary carrier before his exclamation.
That noise was way too much for her son to sleep through and he wasted no time at all in making himself heard. They all winced at the volume of his cries with Goku covering his more sensitive ears. Chi-Chi quickly scooped her son up to sooth him while discreetly stuffing the letter a little further down into his nest of blankets.
"Krillin!"
"Sorry! I was just shocked!"
It was around this point that master Roshi finally made himself known, ambling down the stairs in his night clothes. "What's going on down here, and who left that air car running outside?" It was then that he noticed Chi-Chi and the wailing infant. "Ohho, what's this?"
"Chi-Chi's back!" Goku chirped, taking his hands away from his ears, "and she has a baby."
"I noticed." She was fairly sure he was eyeing her, though it was difficult to tell with his ever present sunglasses and she was, in all honesty, much more focused on soothing her child.
He was usually fairly easy to calm down, but usually she was avoiding people, so the other people in the room were making him agitated. Normally she'd duck out of the room, hide somewhere that wouldn't attract much attention. However Goku was here, right by her side. There was no danger here. She and her son were safe. Even with her husband's warmth at her shoulder it was surprisingly hard to remember that. Despite that it didn't take all that long for her child to calm down.
She was so focused on her baby and ignoring that there were others in the room, watching her, that she missed the fact that they were talking. At least, until Goku nudged her shoulder, that is. She couldn't help but jump at the contact, causing her child to whimper, but thankfully not break out crying again.
Focusing back on the rest of the room, she noticed both Master Roshi and Krillin weren't there. Goku was giving her a soft smile, though he kept glancing to the baby in her arms.
"Krillin went to take care of the car and master Roshi's fixing up the upstairs for u- for you." His smile turned sheepish. "The bathroom's over there," he pointed, "if you want to use it."
Her lips twitched up a little. "I smell awful, don't I?"
"Nah, not that bad, kind of like milk for some reason though," Goku took a more obvious sniff, "they're starting to smell a little bit." He gestured slightly to her son, though he still didn't ask. She honestly wished he would; Chi-Chi wasn't sure how else to bring it up. Though they'd only had a short time to get to know each other, she'd quickly found that he greatly disliked sudden and drastic changes. And to him this was a very sudden change indeed.
She should just outright tell him that her son was his too. Instead she simply said, "I guess that's my cue to go change him." Before digging into the nearly forgotten bag for a diaper, though there wasn't many of those left in it. Clutching it in the hand that wasn't supporting her son, she stood slowly and carefully. Chi-Chi had long since learned that standing and moving too fast made her dizzy and too likely to drop her child. It hadn't happened yet, thankfully, but it was not something she'd ever want to risk if she could help it.
Sometimes she hadn't been able to help it.
She hesitated before leaving Goku's side though. He'd seemed happy enough to see her again, even when she hadn't said much of anything about what'd happened. However, just because he'd seemed happy, it didn't mean he was. More than that, they'd only gotten to know each other for a couple months before they'd been separated. She didn't know if their boundaries had changed since then. She didn't even know if hers had changed since then.
Still, she mustered up the courage and turned to his still sitting form. "Goku?"
"Hm?"
She couldn't help but bite her lip, but she'd come this far. "Can you stay with me? Tonight?" He seemed surprised she'd asked that but nodded anyway, and Chi-Chi wondered if he thought it was a given that they'd stay together. Regardless a genuine smile stretched across her face and without much thought she leaned forward and kissed his cheek. "I missed you," she murmured before retreating red faced to the bathroom.
She left too quickly to hear his equally quiet response.