Dear Chich,

I guess you're pretty upset with me for not coming back to Earth, huh? The dragon was going to bring me back, which would be great because then I could see you and Gohan and everybody, but I need to stay where I'm at for a while. I'm mostly better from my fight with Freeza on Namek, but I'm still healing a little bit. I didn't want you to see me like this and have you fuss over me… well, that and I'm having a lot of fun here.

The people on this planet are really great. They eat a lot and they're teaching me a new technique that's really neat. I'll show you when I get home. I know you're not into martial arts, but I still think you'll like this move. It's worth staying here a while longer, I promise! So please, please don't yell at me when I come back, okay? A year's a long time, I know, but I was dead for a year once, remember? It'll go by fast and then we can be together again. And I promise I won't leave you again. I don't like being away from you so long.

How is Gohan? Don't be too hard on him even if he is behind in schoolwork. He needs a break now and then to have some fun. I'm not saying studying isn't important, honest! Just take it easy. Hey, maybe if he studies real hard I can take him camping when I get back to Earth. I bet he'd love that. I mean, if you're okay with it, that is.

Gosh, I really hope you're not too mad at me for staying here. I didn't want to make you mad or anything. It's not that I don't want to be with you. I mean, I miss your cooking (it's the best in the whole universe) and I miss…other things. Oh, I know! If I do the dishes for a week will you promise not to hit me with the frying pan when I get back to Earth? Or, hey, you can hit me, but please don't yell at me. I really don't want you to yell at me. Just give me a big hug, okay? I like hugs a lot better than yelling. And getting hit with frying pans.

Maybe I can bring you a gift from space or something. Would that make things better? I don't know what you'd like from this planet, but there's got to be something. I'll have to look around. Oh, tell everyone hi for me. I'll probably be leaving here in another month or so, and it'll take me about three months to get back to Earth in the ship I have. It's not near as fast as the one Dr. Brief built for me.

I love you and I miss you and I promise to make it up to you for staying away so long, okay?

Love,

Goku

He stared at the two-sided letter, marred with scribbles, smudges, rips, and creases. His brows furrowed as he read over it one last time to make sure he didn't forget to say anything important. Really he just wanted to appease his wife a little before returning home. He knew she would be super mad at him for staying away for a year when he could have come home much sooner. Honestly, he was afraid of her reaction. She would scream until he had a serious migraine and his ears would ring for at least a week. With a sigh he wadded up the letter for the tenth time and stuffed it in his pocket. He wanted to send it, but there was no interplanetary courier service to deliver it and there was no way to send an electronic message to his wife. Knowing his letter wouldn't reach her first, he was almost reluctant to go home and face her.

…

Rejected. It was the only way to describe the way Chi-Chi felt as she recalled the Namekian dragon telling her that her husband didn't want to be brought back to Earth but would come home later. When was later? A month? A year? A decade? She had no way of knowing. Why wouldn't he come home when given the chance, when he could save himself a flight through space? She still didn't even know where he was or what he was doing. All she knew was that he was far away and didn't want to be on Earth. With her. With Gohan.

Forget forgiveness. She had thought at one time she could let Goku get away with leaving Earth again since he was going to save their son from danger, but how could she forgive him for choosing to stay gone when he had no reason to? She could even understand him needing to stay dead for a year to train in Otherworld for the coming of the saiyans. Sure, she hadn't been happy about it and let him know it, but at least it was a reasonable decision on his part. This wasn't. He had no reason to stay gone. He should come home and be with his family. Kami, it had been almost two years since she really had the chance to spend any quality time with him. When would she get to be with her husband again? Why didn't he want to be with her as much as she wanted to be with him? Had she done something wrong?

As much as she tried to ignore it, she couldn't deny the heartache she felt every day when she woke up alone, when she cooked for only herself and Gohan, when she had to interrupt her son's studying to help with the chores, or when she went to bed at night, alone. She wasn't worried that Goku had found some sort of alien lover or something that was keeping him from wanting to come back. He was far too naïve for anything like that. She didn't suspect adultery. But she was still hurting terribly every day she had to face his absence.

She dragged her hand down across her face as she felt another wave of hurt weighing heavily on her chest. Taking a deep breath, she bent over and finished making her bed. It was perfectly smooth with no wrinkles and fluffed pillows, but it didn't make her feel any sort of satisfaction. It only reminded her again that she was acting as a single parent. She hadn't shared her bed with anyone since before Goku died. Was it so wrong for her to want to fall asleep in the warm, strong arms of her husband? To want to be able to kiss him? Make love to him? It wasn't wrong, it was what people did when they were married! But not her. Because her husband was busy partying on some distant planet, leaving her to raise Gohan alone for an indefinite period of time.

That upset her even more than being abandoned. Gohan needed a father in his life! Right now all he had was that – that – oh, she couldn't even think it. Piccolo was not a father figure to her little boy! Chi-Chi's hands clenched into fists as she stomped over to the window to look outside. It was a warm day, but the sky was overcast. It would probably rain in the afternoon. She wasn't looking forward to any added dreariness in her life.

Her morning housework done, she turned away from the window and left her bedroom – the one she used to share with her husband – and went to the kitchen to start lunch. She had a growing boy to feed, one who was half saiyan, and he needed brain food to help him study. It was wonderful to have Gohan back, but it didn't ease the emptiness inside that could only be filled by her husband's presence. She was only half of a whole, and she was feeling the pain of being separated from the other half for too long.

She stopped in front of the sink and leaned against the counter, not really seeing anything in front of her. Her mind was somewhere else entirely. Memories flashed through her mind of Goku playing with Gohan as a baby, Goku chopping wood, Goku pouting when she slapped his hand as he reached for a piece of food before dinner was served. Goku, Goku, Goku. His face was etched in her memory so clearly it was almost as if he were there with her at that moment. But he wasn't. He was gone, and she had no idea when he would ever be back. The only hope she had to hold on to was his promise to return eventually.

Chi-Chi wanted so badly to tell Goku how much she missed him. Would that make him come home sooner? Would he care? Did he miss her too? She would probably never know. It wasn't like him to open up about something like that. He would shrug off his long leave with that goofy grin of his and give her a hug and a peck on the cheek. Then everything would be all right again, wouldn't it? She wasn't so sure anymore. Could a hug and a kiss fix the obvious problems in their marriage? It wasn't that she didn't love him anymore – she did, much to her chagrin. It would have been so much easier to stop loving him, to not mind being separated, to even be able to entertain the thought of divorce. But she couldn't because she loved him too much. No matter what he did to hurt her, she would always welcome him back and, after screaming and throwing a tantrum, would act as if he had never done anything wrong at all. But after two years? She was afraid she would hardly know him anymore.

"I can't believe he refused to come back!" she exclaimed, no longer able to hold it inside. "Why did he leave us? Gohan needs him. I need him! How selfish could he possibly be? There's no reason good enough for him to abandon us like this!"

She didn't hear Gohan as he took a step into the kitchen before backing out when he heard her unkind words. She continued, "He can't keep doing this to us! He's better than this. I know he loves us, doesn't he? Even if he – he didn't love me anymore… what about Gohan? Oh, Goku, where are you? When will you come home?"

Not for the first time she started feeling anger instead of sadness. How dare he leave her like this? How dare he abandon his young son? She knew deep down he was a good man, but he really could make some poor choices sometimes. Would she ever be able to knock some sense into him? She hefted her frying pan in her hand as she imagined herself hitting her husband over the head with it for good measure as she lectured him about needing to stay home for Gohan's sake. Yes, she would definitely have to teach him a thing or two when he got back. Most importantly, that his family should be his top priority. If she had to scream and lecture all day and all night she would get it through his impossibly thick skull.