Disclaimer – I don't own Dragonball Z. I am the proud owner of sexy underwear though….

A/N: Hello everyone. I'm really excited that a lot of you like this story. I'm really working hard on it… sorry chapters come out so slowly. I got accepted to college (Columbia College of Chicago, baby. Major: film editing) and I'll be going there in the fall. I just thought I'd share some good news with my lovely lovely readers. I'll hopefully get some more writing done now, since college aps are now behind me.

Thanks for sticking around!

Convalescence

"Goku, you son of a bitch!"

The door swung open and a small bald headed man waltzed into the room as if he owned it.

Goku sat up in bed. He waved. "Hello."

The bald man smirked. "You son of a bitch!" He walked over to the bed and smacked Goku in the arm. He shook his head. "We thought you'd never wake up." The bald man set his coat on the chair next to the bed and then fixed his watch. He mumbled something about the time.

Goku watched him with interest. The bald man finished setting his watch and looked up at Goku. He smiled crookedly, "Well? Aren't you going to say somethin'?"

"Hello."

The bald man laughed. "You already said that." He picked up a briefcase off of the floor and took a stack of papers and a pad of paper out. He handed it all to Goku. "Now that you've stopped counting sheep, we've got a big job to do. Start by analyzing these figures, kay? If I'm going to be your partner, you've gotta start pulling your weight."

Goku stared at the pile of papers on his lap. "What do I do with these?"

The bald man stopped shuffling papers and looked up. "What the hell d'you mean, 'what do I do with these' … you do your job."

"And … what is that again?"

"Well, you're not going to fucking have one anymore if you don't get your ass moving."

"There's no need to swear."

The bald man looked at Goku as if he sprouted twelve heads. "Who are you? Are you Goku king of the cuss words? You know more ways to use the word 'fuck' than the dictionary."

Goku just looked confused.

The bald man ran a hand through his nonexistent hair. "You've got to be fucking kidding me." He muttered, looking at the floor. "I thought Bulma was kidding."

As if on cue, the blue haired beauty walked through the door. "Good morning Goku." She sipped her mug of coffee and glanced at the bald man. "Morning, Krillin."

"Morning, Bulma." She nodded her response as she took a long sip of her coffee.

Goku smiled. "I'm sorry, I didn't recognize you, Krillin! Man … what a way to treat my best friend."

Bulma promptly spit her coffee across the room and Krillin's eyes widened to the size of saucers.

Goku just looked confused.

"Your what?" Krillin asked, almost speechless. But not quite. "You think I'm friends with you? I only brought your work so you won't bankrupt the company. We're partners, not friends. I don't know where the fuck you got that idea, cause I swear to God, I want nothing to do with you, you overgrown monkey. I just didn't want you ruining my career!"

Bulma gave Krillin a seething look. "Would you just shut up, you little hairless pygmy?"

Goku looked at Bulma, already defeated. "I'm assuming that this is different too."

"Well … it depends. What did you think Krillin was?"

"My best friend."

"Yes. Way different." Krillin answered for Bulma, and received a smack on the back of his bald head.

"You're not exactly best friends," Bulma said, obviously trying to break it gently.

"We're not really friends at all." Krillin interjected.

"You're more like … competitors."

Goku shook his head. "He said we were partners."

"Well … yes. You are partners. At your firm. You work together."

"That doesn't mean you're better than me." Krillin cut in.

"Goku, Krillin, I need you in my office."

Krillin and Goku in adjacent desks as CEO Roshi delivered them that statement. Both of them quickly nodded and schemed.

"He's probably going to fire you." Krillin said, handing Goku a box. "Better pack up your things."

"Fuck that." Goku replied. "He's going to fire you. He probably heard you wasted 18 shares."

"Those were nothing compared to the money you lost on that fucking ridiculous move with the A.E. stock. What a joke."

"Well, let's find out."

The men made their way down the hall. They were the only ones in the office, but that wasn't unusual. They usually stayed late trying to get the edge on each other. The other cubicles were eerily empty as the made their way to the CEO's office. After a brief knock, they were let in.

"Sit down, boys." Roshi grinned as he sat behind his large mahogany desk. The gold plaque proclaiming his name sat in the front. Master Roshi, CEO DragonStock Inc.

"Hello sir." Krillin responded. "Lovely tie."

"Stop being a kiss-ass, Krillin" Roshi snapped.

Goku smirked. "You tell him, sir. You don't need a midget to tell you how good you look."

"You too, Goku. You both need to get laid before you make out with each other."

Goku and Krillin laughed nervously and shot evil glances at the other.

"The reason I brought you boys here, wasn't to hear you two tell me how good I look. I know that already, I don't need you punks to tell me that. I called you here to tell you something important." Roshi took a dramatic pause to fix his sunglasses. "I'm retiring."

"You're what!"

"Retiring, Krillin. Get your ears checked. I'm tired of running this company. I've got a house on an island that's got my name all over it. Gonna go have some sweet solitude. And I was thinking … who should I make my successor? Who deserves it? Well, you two instantly came to mind."

"Sir, we can finish this conversation without Krillin. I don't want to rub it in his face that I'm going to be the new CEO."

"Stop jumping the gun, Goku. That's why you're not going to be the CEO."

"Ha!"

"You're not going to be the CEO either, Krillin."

"Well, then, sir. Who is going to be the new CEO?"

"You two are going to share it. Joint CEOs."

Goku and Krillin sat in their chairs, stunned.

"So now you two either work together or you ruin this multimillion dollar company. The choice is yours. Now, leave my office."

The two left the office in a stunned silence. They reached their desks and quietly sat down. Goku stared at his computer screen, the cursor blinking waiting for him to type.

"Hey," a murmur came from Krillin and Goku looked up. "This doesn't mean you're better than me."

When he regained consciousness, he was on the floor. He looked up to see a foreign emotion in Krillin's eyes. He saw fear.

"You … okay?"

Goku coughed. "Yeah." He got up and walked back to his bed. "Just a memory."

"So you've got some sort of amnesia?"

"I guess so."

Bulma helped him get back into bed and pulled the sheets over him. She moved the papers off the bed and dropped them on the floor. Dust flew up and stayed suspended in the air until gradually floating down. Goku coughed.

"You should probably go, Krillin." Bulma said, opening the door to Goku's room.

"Yeah. I … um … guess I'll be back, Goku."

"You should visit me again, Krillin. I'll look forward to it!"

Krillin waved goodbye awkwardly and walked out the door. Bulma walked out after him and shut the door.

"Now tell me: when your growth was stunted, was your common sense stunted too?" She hissed.

Krillin scowled. "How the hell was I supposed to know that he's a fucking head case?"

"Cause I called you to tell you!"

"I thought you were joking!"

"Well, I wasn't."

Krillin sat down in a plastic chair. It squeaked with the weight. "Jesus." He ran a hand over his bald head. "Why did he think we were best friends?"

Bulma sat down next to him. "He had a dream while he was in a coma. It was sort of a … Wizard of Oz, thing. Everyone he knew was in it. But we were… we were all something different. In this dream, he was, like Superman, you know? He saved the world like a billion times. He could fly."

Krillin laughed. "He could fly? He is a head case."

"Well, the point is, he thinks this was real. I mean, he was married to Chichi in the dream, for God's sake."

"No shit? That's pretty screwed up."

"He thought you two were best friends. I mean, I know you grew up together - "

"Not together. Just near each other."

"Ok fine. But he thought you two were best friends your whole lives. It's like … he's taken every relationship he's ever had with anyone, and just made it a good one. I mean, he told me that you two were inseparable."

Krillin scoffed.

"Well, I told you he was delusional." Bulma said in her own defense.

"No kidding. We're not friends. We're rivals. At best."

"Well no kidding, Krillin. I know. It's not like I though you two were best friends or anything."

Krillin sighed. He slouched in the plastic chair making an inexcusably loud squeak. His face was contorted in concentration. "It's not like I hate him." He said, breaking the silence as if he were confessing to a crime.

Bulma raised an eyebrow, but said nothing.

"I mean, he's just always been competition," Krillin continued, keeping his eye contact on the hospital wall like it was going to move. "He's good at what he does. He's always been good at everything he does. He doesn't have to try. I mean, you know."

"I know." She responded.

"It's just not fair."

She turned to him. "So you're mad cause he's good?"

Krillin sat up and furrowed his brow, looking at Bulma disapprovingly. "No. I'm mad cause he gets everything. Without working for it. He's the poster boy for a fucking silver spoon up his ass."

"Ok, his grandpa was rich. So what?"

"So what? Bulma, anything Goku wanted in his life, he got. He went to a snotty prep school, a snotty Ivy League college and got a snotty internship right out of college." Krillin slouched in his chair. "Me? I had to work my ass off in high school. I'm still paying off my Ivy League loans and I worked for two years as a waiter so I could get somewhat out of debt." Krillin gestured towards Goku's room. "He gets everything."

"Not everything."

Krillin looked up, intrigued.

"He didn't get the girl." Bulma pointed out.

-- --- -- --- -- --- -- ---

Gohan sat at the table watching his mother eat. Hands folded across his chest, perpetually glaring, scowling… it was enough to make anyone nervous. His mother gave him a chilly look from across the table.

"Stop it, Gohan." She said, scooping vegetables onto Goten's plate. The 8 year old frowned as he watched copious amounts of broccoli fall onto his mashed potato mountain.

"Stop what, Mom?" Gohan answered his mother with a condescending tone.

"I don't need you judging me."

"I'm not judging you."

"So giving me the cold shoulder is what you like to do."

"You'll forgive me," Gohan sneered. "You forgave Dad for a lot worse. You forgive him for everything. Even screwing you over."

The spoon Chichi was holding fell to the table and make a loud clank. A piece of broccoli fell to the floor. Goten watched the vegetable fall with more interest than he gave to the ongoing fight at the table. Chichi's jaw clenched.

"Gohan, that was uncalled for."

"No, forcing me to see him was uncalled for." Gohan shot back.

"You're going to hold that over my head? I wanted you to go see your father, who has been in a coma for three year. I'm such a bad mother."

Gohan rolled his eyes. "How naïve."

"Hey!" Chichi barked, getting Gohan's attention. "I am still your mother, and I will not talked to like this in my house. You do not talk to me that way. I don't care how much you hate your father."

Gohan was grinding his teeth together to keep from crying. Tears of frustration welled up in his eyes.

A moment of silence passed between mother and son.

"I can't forgive him." Gohan whispered, fighting back tears.

"I know."

"How can you?"

Chichi opened her mouth to speak when the door opened.

"Hey!" a voice called out. "You all home?"

Chichi bit her lip; Gohan looked away. Seeing that no more progress would happen tonight, Chichi took a deep breath. "In here." She called back.

Goten looked up from building the perfect mashed potato mountain with adjoining broccoli forest to greet the visitor. "Yamcha!" he cried, leaping out of his chair into Yamcha's waiting arms.

"Hey buddy!" Yamcha put him down and looked from Gohan to Chichi. "Everything okay?"

After a lingering glance to Gohan, Chichi forced a smile to Yamcha. "Everything's fine."

Yamcha smiled and looked at Gohan. "How are you, Gohan? You okay?"

Gohan smiled genuinely at Yamcha as if the entire screaming match had not happened. "I'm great Yamcha. You gonna stay for dinner?"

"If your mom lets me." Yamcha cast a theatrical sidelong glance at Chichi.

She smiled softly. "Of course. I'll get another plate." She got up and walked to the cabinet. Yamcha followed her and placed a hand on her shoulder.

"You sure you're okay?" he whispered in her ear.

Chichi bit her lip before turning around with her façade ready. She smiled brightly. "I'm perfect."

Yamcha returned her smile. "Good." He leaned down and kissed her softly, arms slowly wrapping around her waist.

He broke the kiss and smiled. "And how is my fiancée today?"

Oooooh the cliffhanger. Wait… does this qualify as a cliffhanger? I'm going to assume it is.
Hopefully you'll stick around for the next chapter, which hopefully won't take a million years.

Love you all, thank you soooo much for the support.

PimpMasta Popo.