Goku, Krillen, and Gohan appeared just outside of Bulma's room, looking at Chi-Chi's soft features. She went to each one of them, offering each a hug and a comforting smile. "Are you boys all okay?" she softly asked.

Gohan held his mother in a full embrace. "We're all okay, Mama," he gently answered. He pulled back and looked down at his mother's soft brown eyes. "How are you doing?"

Chi-Chi just waved off the question. "Oh, I'm fine." She pointed to the area he had been patiently waiting in for hours. "I thought that I might end up being here for a while, so I came prepared to set up camp. I balanced the checkbook, went over Goten's homework from last week, organized my recipe cards, did my daily Tai Chi, and knitted a blanket and two pairs of booties."

"Booties?" Krillen asked. "Chi-Chi, are you…"

"Oh, heavens no!" she dismissed with a laugh. "I think my baby making days are over."

Krillen took a moment to process what was being said before his eyes grew wide. He whipped to the side to look at Gohan. "Holy crap, did you get Videl…"

"NO!" Gohan cried, waving his hands defensively. "I swear, she's not!" The boy glared at his mother. "Somebody I know is just a little over eager to get some grandchildren."

Chi-Chi simply shrugged, putting on her best 'innocent' face.

"Grandchildren?" Krillen asked. "Chi-Chi, you're, what, thirty five?"

"Thirty seven," she corrected.

"Under forty," the short man emphasized. "Aren't you a little young to be desperate for grandchildren?"

As she responded with, "Not at all," her son growled, "YES!"

Chi-Chi glared at her son. "Oh, you hush up," she pouted. "I had you when I was your age, didn't I?"

"You were married when you were my age," Gohan countered. "I'm not even engaged yet!"

"Yes, why is that?" the mother asked, putting her hands on her hips. "Honestly, Gohan, I don't know what is taking you so long. Kami knows you've been with her long enough. It's been a year, honey. What on earth are you waiting for?"

Gohan cleared his throat. "Is this really the time or the place to discuss this?"

The mother couldn't help but agree. She quietly turned to her husband. "He's out like a light," she said, referring to the oft temperamental prince. "Dr. Briefs is waiting at Capsule Corp in one of the spare rooms, so you can use him as a locater."

Goku just nodded as he went in to the room, not bothering to look back at the others.

Krillen let out a low whistle. "Damn, Chi-Chi, you really took care of everything, didn't you?"

She smiled softly at the little man. "I'm good at staying organized, and everyone else had their own little jobs to do. You and Eighteen were taking care of the kids, Vegeta was keeping himself from exploding, Goku was having a breakdown, and Gohan was keeping the most powerful men in the universe under a watchful eye." Her smile faded slightly, and she turned her gaze away. "As horrible as this may sound, it's nice to actually be needed in a crisis."

Krillen winced a bit at that statement. It was no secret that in times of crisis, Chi-Chi was ditched in her little mountain home. Largely, it was because they feared her temper. To the rest of the gang, she was seen as more of an obstacle than an asset. The short man was ashamed to admit it, but he had never actually thought of how the poor woman might have been feeling during any of the challenges the group faced.

"I'm sorry," he whispered, staring at his shoes.

Chi-Chi gave him a soft smile and a soft squeeze on the shoulder. "Don't worry about it," she assured. "Things happened, life went on, and now we must move forward."

Gohan gave his mother a questioning look. "When did that become your mantra?"

"Oh, about fifty eight hours ago," she casually said. Her gaze turned toward the shut door that stood between them and the heiress. "I guess I finally realized that life is just too short to bear a grudge."

/\/\/\

On the other side of the door, Goku stood frozen in place. Never, in all his years, had he ever seen anything like what was laying before him.

Bulma didn't look any better than she had the last time he had seen her. If anything, she looked worse. Her injuries had been there long enough to fully bruise and swell up, and her beautiful hair was nowhere to be seen.

Laying on the side of the bed, with an arm protectively and gently wrapped around her, was the sleeping prince. He lay on his side, so he wouldn't take up much room, and his face was nestled in the crook of her neck.

Goku had never felt so moved in his life.

On the topic of moving, the tall Saiyan realized that there might be a slight problem with their plan of getting the prince back to Capsule Corp. With Vegeta wrapped protectively around his wife, there was no way to teleport just him away.

"Shit," he muttered. He could never feel comfortable talking to Bulma if Vegeta, even an unconscious Vegeta, was in the room. And even though he had been off the planet for seven years, even he knew that the prince was a ridiculously light sleeper. "How the hell am I supposed to get him away?"

He stood there for a few minutes, just wondering what the hell to do, when a thought struck him. He had come into the room, stared at the couple for a while, and even spoken out loud. Under normal circumstances, just thinking about entering a room with Vegeta in it could wake that man up.

"Poor guy must really be out," Goku muttered to himself. "I guess he's been awake even longer than Gohan was." With a sad smile, he approached the bed.

He hesitated for a moment before daring to see if the prince truly was asleep. "Vegeta?" he softly asked, placing a hand on the smaller man's shoulder. "Vegeta, are you up?"

When the small man didn't respond more than a quiet murmur, Goku let out a sigh of relief. He wasn't entirely sure what he would have done if the prince had woken up from that. In fact, it could have been downright disasterous.

Goku gave the smaller man a sympathetic smile as he lifted him from the bed. "Come on, Vegeta," he softly said. "Let's give you a break."

The taller Saiyan adjusted his prince in his arms so he could free up his hand to get to his forehead. Quickly focusing on his target, he disappeared from the hospital.

/\/\/\

Gohan closed his eyes, a blank look on his face. "They just left," he calmly said. He opened his eyes and turned to his mother. "How, may I ask did you actually get Vegeta to fall asleep like that?"

The mother sent her son a mischievous smile. "Oh, a little of this, a little of that."

"Mom…"

"Nurse left his water unguarded for a second," she admitted, a coy look on her face. "She's been coming by ever hour, on the hour, to give him something to eat and drink. I'm not sure if he's actually eaten anything, but she kept bringing out empty water pitchers, so I knew he was drinking the water."

Krillen laughed softly. "How much did you put in?"

"A lot," she admitted. "And you all remember the deal: Goku doesn't know about the formula, and we're going to keep it that way."

The two men agreed enthusiastically. They both knew that the man couldn't keep a secret to save his life. Besides, he would never agree on any of them having access to that solution.

"How long do you think he'll be out?" Gohan asked his mother. "I mean, thinking about the amount that you gave him…"

"Two hour minimum," Chi-Chi interrupted. "Even the mightiest Saiyan would have a hell of a time waking up quickly from what I gave that man."

Gohan nodded. "Good," he thought out loud. "That should give us enough time to check on her, get as much out of our system as we can, and get Vegeta back without him ever knowing."

"Until, of course, your father tells him," Krillen pointed out.

Gohan simply shrugged his shoulders. "Well, by that point we'll have come up with a better plan. Either that, or we just let Vegeta take it all out on Dad and pretend that we had nothing to do with it."

/\/\/\

"Put him down here, my boy," Dr. Briefs said, pointing to the bed.

Goku did directly as he was told, gently laying the prince on the comfortable furniture. He kept his eyes locked on the sleeping form. It just was not within his abilities to look up at the moment. If he looked up, he would have to see Dr. Briefs, and that could lead to talking. At that moment, the Saiyan found the thought of talking to the good doctor to be completely impossible.

The two awake men only really had one common ground. Goku didn't understand any of the scientific wonders that the scientist filled his life with, and the doctor was equally flummoxed when pulled into a conversation about the finer details of fighting. On the rare occasion that they two did talk, they usually talked about Bulma.

"I'm glad that she has all of you there with her," Dr. Briefs quietly said. "I wish we could be there, but it's enough of a miracle that her condition hasn't been made public yet. If either her mother or I went down there…well, boy, it probably wouldn't turn out well."

Goku just stood there, continuing to stare at the prince and refusing to say a word.

"I hear that she's been holding stable," the doctor softly went on. "How was she doing when you last saw her?"

Goku suddenly felt like he was suffocating. How do you tell someone that their daughter, their only child, has been so mutilated that she isn't even recognizable? How do you tell someone about the burns, the breaks, and the bruising? How do you talk to them about the fact that they may want to get in a good-bye while they have the chance, because they may not have one in an hour?

How do you tell a person that someone they love isn't coming back?

"I have to go," Goku harshly croaked out, placing his fingers to his forehead.

The poor doctor didn't even have a chance to sputter before the Saiyan had disappeared.

/\/\/\

Goku appeared, once again, just outside of Bulma's hospital door. He had really wanted to go straight in to her room, and to not have to deal with his family. But Bulma's energy was so low that he couldn't sense it at all from her home. Again, he avoided looking at the others as he wordlessly went back into the room.

/\/\/\

Back inside the room, Goku leaned against the closed door. He still had a hard time believing that the battered creature in the bed before him was his oldest friend. It didn't look anything like her. It didn't even smell anything like her anymore. She didn't even smell like a living person. She smelled of harsh chemicals and plastics.

"I can't do this," he whispered to himself. "I can't…"

Several minutes passed before he moved from his spot at the door. He wasn't sure what had finally compelled him to move further in to the hospital room. As he approached the bed slowly, he felt his eyes well up. A single tear rolled down his cheek as he gazed down at his friend.

"Kami, Bulma, is that really you?" he asked, his voice cracking with every word.

She didn't respond at all, and while Goku hadn't really expected her to, he was still disappointed.

"How did you even get here?" he asked. He grabbed one of the hard plastic chairs and sat down by her side. "Was there something wrong with your car? Did someone run you off the road? Were you putting on your make-up and you just not see the giant cliff that was in front of you?"

For the first time since the accident, Goku felt anger rise up in his chest. "Is that why it happened, Bulma? Because you were too busy looking at yourself in the mirror to drive slowly? I don't know why that surprises me. You never drive carefully! You just want to go fast and have fun, don't you? Well, you shouldn't have done that! Damn it, Bulma, you can't be so damn reckless with your life! We need you, Bulma! You can't just leave us for something like this!"

The pure blooded Saiyan shot to his feet, knocking the chair over. "I mean, do you have any idea what we've been going through because you were so careless? Do you have any idea how hard it'll be on us if you die from this? Kami above, what the hell are Trunks and Vegeta going to do without you? How would they react if you don't make it?" By this point, the large man was yelling. "Damn it, Bulma, what the hell…"

"Dad!" a voice called out as Goku felt someone grab his shoulder.

Still worked up, Goku whipped around to see his wide eyed son standing right behind him. "What are you doing in here, Gohan?" he asked, his pulse still racing.

"We heard you yelling," Chi-Chi softly said, standing away from the two men. "We wanted to make sure that you were okay."

Goku blinked twice as he regained control of his senses. Gohan was still holding on to his shoulder, and he looked like he was getting ready to stand his ground. Chi-Chi stood halfway between them and the door, a worried look on her face. And Krillen was poking his head into the room, looking in on the whole situation with wide eyes.

"Sorry," he softly said, lowering his eyes. "I don't know what came over me."

"It's okay, honey," Chi-Chi said, stepping up to her husband. "Did something happen?"

The Saiyan shook his head. "I don't know. I was just thinking about what might have happened before the accident, and how it might have been caused by her being reckless, and…I don't know, I guess I just got mad that someone could possibly throw away their life like that."

Krillen glanced at the family in the room and, sensing a serious family moment, decided to leave. "I'll go ask the doctors if they know anything new," he softly said as he left.

Gohan, in the meantime, had let his hand slide from his father's shoulder. "Why would you think that this is her fault?" he asked, not sure he wanted to hear the answer.

Goku shook his head again. "I know this is going to sound like a horrible thing, but Bulma's never really been a safe driver, you know? She always goes way too fast, and she's always sure that her car can handle anything. I guess…I guess I thought that this probably happened because she was thinking more about having an adventure than she was about her safety."

His son took a step away, a hurt look on his face. Chi-Chi stepped between father and son, keeping her eyes locked on her husband. "I know that this is hard for you, Goku," she said, "but now is not the time to be placing blame. Even if this was caused by a little bit of recklessness, getting mad at her isn't going to fix anything." She lowered her eyes and stared at her hands before whispering, "It never fixed anything."

"You weren't there!" Goku shot back. "You weren't there when she was first hurt! You weren't there when Trunks looked at her! You weren't there when Dr. Briefs wanted to know how she was! How was I supposed to answer that, Chi-Chi? How do you tell someone that their family is on the brink of death?"

"You pray like hell that they take it well, then spend the next few years feeling guilty and awkward like you were the one that killed them," Gohan muttered, stepping back again.

Again, Goku blinked in surprise. "Gohan, what are you talking about?" asked Goku.

Gohan growled slightly, sick of holding in his feelings. "What?" he snapped. "I've done this before, remember? I got to tell Mom that you weren't coming back, and that it was you're choice!" The teenager took two strides forward, getting nose to nose with his father. "So before you get on this self-pity trip of yours and bitch to us about how hard this is, knowing that someone you care about might have done something accidentally that could have caused her to possibly die, why don't you think about what we went through when you chose to die, and then refused to come back?!?"

Goku wasn't sure what he was feeling at the moment, but he knew he didn't like it. "That was different, Gohan…"

"You're right," Gohan shouted back, "because you had a choice!"

"Gohan," Chi-Chi interrupted, placing her hand on his chest, "let's not get into this right…"

"There's nothing to get in to!" Goku countered. "I left because I thought it was the best thing for…"

"FOR YOU!" Gohan yelled. "You couldn't have seriously thought…"

"I did too seriously think!" Goku shot back. "All the bad guys we fought were coming after me!"

Chi-Chi turned to face her husband. "Well, actually, that's not quite…"

"Oh, yeah, Buu was really aiming for you," Gohan sneered. "That's why Bobbiti was so caught off guard by us. Because he was expecting us."

"Now, Gohan," Chi-Chi tried to explain, "if you would just calm down…"

"How was I supposed to know that Buu was coming?" Goku argued. "None of us knew about him!"

"Exactly!" Gohan shouted. "You never know what's going to happen! You just assumed that everything was about you!"

"That's it!" Chi-Chi screamed, forcing her way between the two of them. "Gohan, it is not alright to speak to your father in such a tone, and Goku, you need to get off Gohan's back! Both of you just need to shut the hell up!"

Krillen, having heard the shouting from down the hall, poked his head inside the doorway. "Um, guys, is everything…"

All three Sons whipped around and glared at the former monk, fire burning in all six dark eyes.

"Okay, just checking!" the short man defended. "It's just…do you think your 'family issues' could wait until you get home? You know, out of respect for…" He tilted his chin, indicating the brutalized body in the bed.

The fire disappeared faster than it had come as all three of them suddenly became aware of their surroundings again.

"Oh, Kami," Chi-Chi whispered, placing her hand on her mouth. "Oh, I'm so sorry!"

Goku stared at the floor, and grabbed his wrist. "Me too," he softly said.

"So am I," Gohan whispered, turning back to look at Bulma.

Krillen fully entered the room, and for a full five minutes, no one said a word. They just stared down at the body, lost in their own thoughts.

Suddenly, Gohan's head shot up. "What was that?" he asked apprehensively.

"What?" all three of the others asked simultaneously.

Gohan put his hand up, indicating that he wanted them to be quiet. A few seconds passed before a hint of a smile appeared on his face. "That!"

None of the other occupants of the room knew what he was talking about. The teenager rolled his eyes and pointed at one of the monitors. "Keep your eyes on this!" he enthusiastically said. The four of them waited, not speaking, not moving, not even breathing, for something to happen. Suddenly, there was a blip on the monitor.

"What does that mean?" Chi-Chi asked, clutching on to her husband's arm.

Gohan grinned from ear to ear as he looked down at Bulma's face. Just barely, he could see her eyelids twitching.

"She's waking up!"