Goten stared outside the car as Rose took him to his mother's house. He swung his legs back and forth against the seat. She had told him his daddy had stopped by last night and explained things, so he was happy she'd take him to see him again very soon.

"What's the matter, Goten?" Rose asked, looking in the rear view mirror at the little boy in the backseat of her car. "You're being very quiet. We're going to see your mom today. Aren't you excited?"

Goten shrugged his shoulders. "I'd rather go see my daddy," he admitted, "and Sabriena promised me she'd teach me how to milk a cow!"

Rose blinked her eyes as she looked in the mirror. "You really want to milk a cow?" She turned into the driveway in front of the perfect little suburban house that belonged to Mrs. Son. The yard was beautifully landscaped with flowers and shrubs. Rose stepped out and opened the door for Goten, who reluctantly stepped out of the vehicle.

"Oh, Goten!" Chichi cried, running across the yard and wrapping her arms around him. "Oh, my baby! I've missed you!"

Goten tried not to cringe as his mom wrapped her arms around him, he hugged her back. Maybe she wasn't mad today. "Hi, Momma. I missed you too. I've been real good! The family I'm with are nice people. They are taking good care of me."

Chichi stood up and smiled at Rose. "Thank you so much for bringing him by. When will you be picking him up?"

Rose maintained her smile, "I'm sorry, Mrs. Son, I can't leave him alone with you. I'm going to be here with you all today." It never amused her when the parents tried to dismiss her like that, as if she would leave these children unattended with the family members who had possibly hurt them. And it was amazing how many of these parents tried the same techniques, said the exact same things, made up the same excuses. The ridiculous part was that they all thought they were being original. She nearly sighed.

Chichi frowned. "Oh that's just silly," she protested. "I'm his mother. I don't need to be supervised with my son!"

"Well, the law says otherwise," Rose replied softly but firmly. Chichi opened her mouth to protest again, but Rose cut across her, "Goten, would you like to show me your room?"

Goten smiled widely and grabbed her hand, "Yeah! Come on! Mom is it okay if we cook for her? She's a veggietarian!" He tugged on Rose, "Lets go play after I show you my room. You like tag?"

"I love tag!" Rose grinned, letting Goten drag her in the house, followed closely by Chichi. It was exactly as it had been the last time she'd visited. Magazine-perfect, immaculately spotless. She vaguely wondered if anyone was allowed to do anything inside this house except sit or clean. She almost expected to see the furniture covered in clear plastic.

"She's a what?" Chichi asked and Goten repeated his words. "You mean vegetarian," Chichi said, drawing out the last word and speaking a little louder. "I see."

"You don't have to fix me anything," Rose said, "I brought a lunch."

"Well that's good," Chichi stated, "I don't have the income to be feeding you government workers. No offense meant of course, but I'm sure you understand. Being a single mother isn't easy. It's quite stressful, especially when the father of your children is a jobless bum."

Rose watched her with a polite expression, but something about the way she spoke about Goku didn't set well with Rose. He hadn't spoken a mean word about her. And even when he almost did, he would always stop himself and rephrase his words. But not Mrs. Son. She seemed all too eager to point out Mr. Son's faults.

Goten tugged at Rose's hand and she looked down at him, and then around at his room. "Oh wow!" Rose said excitedly, "Look at all your toys!"

Goten chuckled, "Yeah, they're okay. Momma keeps buying them for me...even though I've been asking her for a cookbook and some cooking stuff! Some of the board games are fun though!" He looked around, his mom had put his toys in little labeled bins...if he took them out, they all had to go into the bins before he went to sleep. He smiled up at Rose, "Okay, lets go outside and play!"

"Don't you want your mommy to come play with us?" Rose asked and looked over at Chichi.

"No, I have some housework to finish up. You two go ahead," Chichi said.

Goten tugged at Rose's hand and she allowed him to pull her out the back door. "Goten," she said quietly as he skipped across the grass, "Does your mommy play with you?"

Goten shook his head, "Momma says she doesnt have time for games and she says I should be focused more on studies instead of goofing off all the time. After I get my homework done I can play though! It's usually only for an hour or so." He smiled at her, "Lets play!"

He and Rose chased each other around for a while. It didn't seem like it was long enough, the time passed by in an instant.

"Goten! Your lunch is ready!" Chichi finally called through the open window. "I made your favorite!"

Rose turned to smile at Goten, but he cringed. "Come on," she said encouragingly. "Your mom says it's your favorite."

Goten shook his head, but headed up towards the house, "She thinks meatloaf is my favorite. I keep telling her I love pasta, but she doesn't seem to hear me." He ran up to the house and held the door open for Rose, closing it after himself and he went to the table and climbed into his chair, looking to see meatloaf sitting on his plate. A glass cup next to his plate filled with water. He smiled over at his mom, "Looks great momma."

Chichi smiled. "Thank you, Goten," she said in an overly polite voice and she sat at the table.

Rose tried not to gag at the sight of the meat. It looked greasy, the sauce on top bubbling and dripping down the sides. She supposed it might've looked enticing to some people, but not to her. She just couldn't understand how people could eat the flesh of another living creature. It was practically cannibalism as far as she was concerned. "Please excuse me for a moment, won't you?" she said, "My lunch is in the car." She hurried out the front door, thinking that even the braised rabbit that Sabriena had prepared seemed less brutal than that meatloaf.

"Are you being good?" Chichi asked Goten once Rose was out of the house. "You keeping quiet? You know there are certain things you're not supposed to talk about, Goten. Family business means family only. You don't want to cause problems for our family, do you? I'd better not hear of you telling anyone what goes on in this house. That's no one else's concern. You understand me, mister?"

Goten nodded and looked down at his plate, "Yes, Momma." He swallowed harshly and reached for his glass of water to take a drink. He was shaking, he knew that tone in Momma's voice. She wasn't happy. "I am happy to be back home, Momma." He moved to set his cup back on the table, but his hand was shaking, he clenched a little too tightly and the glass snapped under his strength, spilling water everywhere. His eyes went wide and he looked over at Chichi fearfully, "I'm sorry, Momma! I'll clean it up." He grabbed his napkin and started mopping up the liquid

"OH GOTEN!" she snapped. "Why can't you ever get through one meal without making a mess?" She huffed and got to her feet. "No! NO! Let me do it! You won't do it right," she said, grabbing a hand towel and mopping up the mess. She picked up the pieces of broken glass and tossed them in the trash, all the while hissing at Goten that he was useless, that he was too much like his father, that she was sick of cleaning up after a monster who did nothing but break things and make her work harder.

Goten's eyes started watering as he cowered back in his chair, "I'm sorry, Momma. It was an accident! I didn't mean to! Please, let me help, I can do it! You dont have to work so hard Momma, please let me help you!" He reached to move his plate out of his mother's way, but she turned to fling more glass into the trash can and he flinched, dropping the plate on the ground.

Rose grabbed her lunchbox and trotted back into the house, a smile on her full lips as she thought about playing in the backyard with Goten. It had been fun to kick off her shoes and run through the grass with him. She wondered what Barb would think of that. She'd disapprove, Rose was sure, but poor little Goten didn't have anyone else here to play with and his mother had seemed too busy with housework to do it.

She couldn't help but let her mind drift to tomorrow when Mr. Son... Goku, she corrected herself... would come to pick her up. It was highly unprofessional, she knew that, but the draw of having an actual friend who was interested in who she was; it was too good to pass up. Rose entered the house just as she heard a plate clatter to the floor.

"DARN IT, GOTEN!" Chichi shouted. Rose hurried to the kitchen, just in time to see Goten flinch as Chichi screamed at him. Chichi's arm jerked as Rose said, "Goten! What happened?"

Chichi froze and turned, her face furious for a moment before she schooled her expression. She answered with a sigh, "He's a bit clumsy. You'll have to excuse the mess." And she bent to clean up the spilled food on the floor.

"It's okay," Rose said to Chichi and walked to Goten's side. He looked frightened as tears welled up in his dark eyes. "Hey, it was an accident," she said softly, rubbing his hair. "You don't have to look so sad."

Goten nodded and wiped at his eyes cowering on his chair, leaning into Rose as he looked at the edge of the table, trying not to make any more sudden moves. Trying not to break anything. He didn't want Momma to hit him, he didn't want her to get the switch out. He choked on a whimper as he thought about how embarrassing it would be if he was spanked in front of Miss Rose. He wanted to go to the cabin, he wanted to go see his daddy. He even wanted to go back to his foster home. He looked up at Rose while Chichi was busy cleaning up the mess, trying to convey his thoughts to her without speaking.

Rose bent and picked up the plate, breathing hard through her nose at the sight of the splattered meatloaf. She carried it to the sink to wash and dry it quickly, then returned it to the table. Chichi had the floor cleaned and served Goten a fresh piece of meatloaf. Rose sat down at the little table and pulled out the salad she'd packed. She watched as Goten picked at his food; he didn't have nearly the appetite today as he had yesterday. He looked sad and timid. Rose tried not to frown as she ate; she'd seen the movement of Chichi's hand just before she'd realized Rose was in the house. Was she planning on striking Goten in that moment? It had certainly seemed so. Although she didn't want to see Goten get hurt, Rose almost wished Chichi had done it. It would've made this whole mess so much easier. She could've gotten Goten away from his mother that afternoon and returned him to his father within the week.

She rolled her eyes at her own thought process. It was never that easy. Never.

Chichi was eating her dinner, her eyes on her plate. "Are you keeping up with your studies, Goten?" she asked.

Goten nodded, "Yes, Momma. I've been doing good, I complete it every day before I go to bed. My momma at the new house checks it in the morning for me." He swallowed and looked up, not quite looking at her, "Momma, would it be alright if I could get a cookbook? I would like to start learning how to cook."

"A cookbook?" Chichi asked, looking across the table at him. "Why on earth would you want something like that? Boys don't need to learn how to cook. That's what you'll have a wife for, after you graduate from college and get a good career as a doctor, like your brother."

"But I like to cook," Goten protested. "Sabriena's been showing me. She taught me how to make pasta and she showed me how to flip pancakes and make pizza! It's a lot of fun and I wanna surprise her the next time I go see her!"

A muscle ticked in Chichi's jaw. "Don't pay attention to her," she said firmly. "She's nothing but trouble. Don't let her fill your head with silly ideas like that. Like I said, you're going to become a doctor, just like Gohan." Chichi paused and sighed, "Well, your brother did things a little backwards, of course. Now he's trying to get through school with that wife of his and a baby." She looked over to Rose, "I really did try my best with him. And he IS in medical school. He's advancing so quickly! The Dean let him take extra classes since he's so smart! He just... let his judgement be clouded when it came to choosing a wife."

"You don't approve of your daughter-in-law?" Rose asked. "May I ask why?"

Chichi sighed dramatically. "She's a bit of a trouble maker." She put up a hand and stage-whispered, "She's an addict. She claims she's clean now, but I still wonder. She had an overdose on cocaine."

Rose's eyes went wide. THAT was the house Goku wanted his son to go to if he couldn't take Goten himself? This was getting worse and worse, the more she delved into this family. While she liked Goku very much, she was still not one hundred percent sold on the whole martial arts thing. And she could definitely see that Goten had a fear of his mother, which was a huge red flag when it came to investigations. Now, there was the added problem of the daughter-in-law, if she had a drug problem. "Do you like your brother's wife?" Rose asked Goten.

Goten nodded, "Momma, remember? Daddy helped Lindsey with her problem! He was gone for a long time, but when he came back, Lindsey was all better." He smiled, "I have a new nephew! I cant wait til he's bigger! Then we can play together!"

Chichi rolled her eyes again. "Yes, yes, that BABY," she huffed. "I've never seen grown men make such a fuss," she said to Rose.

Rose couldn't help but smile, "Yes, your ex-husband certainly seemed fond of your grandson."

"That's the understatement of the year," Chichi muttered. "Anyway, enough about that. So how long until Goten can come home?"

Rose chewed slowly and lowered her hand. "Well, I still have a lot of work to do," she answered. "I have to take my time to make sure I make the right decision for Goten. I have to know which home is better suited for him and I have to figure out who hurt him."

Chichi looked furious, "Oh, as if you can't tell it was Goku! Or that... that..." her voice dropped to a hissing whisper, "HUSBAND... of his. Tien Shinhan is a brute of a man. It wouldn't surprise me if he'd done it. Of course they'd be the ones to report this and try to paint me in a bad light. They corrupted my son's father and now they're trying to steal my son from meeeee!" She finished in a wail and dropped her face to her hands, sobbing uncontrollably.

Rose's eyes went wide and she looked over at Goten, trying to gauge his reaction to his mother's accusations. Where on earth had that come from? She'd seen parents who had tried to garner sympathy from her before, but none of them had been quite so theatrical about it. It was almost comical the way Mrs. Son sobbed and sniffled, covering her face with her hands. Surely no one had ever fallen for this act.

Goten swallowed hard, Momma was lying, but she said not to tell anyone, "Momma..." He shook his head, opening his mouth to say something else, but the fierce look from her had him shutting it again. What would she do to him if he told Rose the truth? He couldn't suppress the shudder that went through his body. He'd told Gohan what happened and then he'd been taken to that old lady who let the marks show again. He'd told the officer at Capsule Corp what happened, and the next thing Goten knew, he was being taken from his family. No. He wasn't going to tell anyone else ever again what had happened. Bad things happened when he did what his mother told him not to do.

Rose looked curiously at Goten. She didn't know what kind of a fool Chichi took her for, but she hadn't gone to college for six years for nothing. It was pretty easy for her to read body language, even when people thought they were hiding it. That's why she'd trusted Goku so easily. And that was why she was now convinced that Chichi was Goten's abuser. She just didn't have enough evidence to prove her case yet. Rose packed her lunch away. "Mrs. Son, you seem to be having a bad day," Rose said kindly. "I think maybe it's best if we called it a day. I'll be speaking with the foster parents and arrange a visitation time for you. I promise I'll try to resolve this situation as quickly as I can."

Chichi blinked up at her. "You're taking my son away again?" There it was. That look parents gave her as if she delighted in snatching children from their homes.

"I promise I'll get everything sorted out as fast as I can," Rose emphasized. "Goten, are you ready to go?"

Goten nodded slowly, looking back at Chichi, "Bye, Momma." He stiffly moved to give her a hug. seeming to pull away as quickly as he was able that was still considered polite. He took Rose's hand and walked with her out to the car, not shedding a tear as he did. He climbed into the car and looked up at Rose with big, innocent eyes. He was grateful she walked in when she did.

Rose leaned on the car door, her face close to Goten's. She spoke softly, "You know, your foster parents aren't expecting you home until later. You wanna grab an ice cream and go play at the park for a little bit?"

Goten's face lit up like the sun and he nodded excitedly, "Yes, please Miss Rose! I'd like that a lot!" He smiled bounced in his seat, watching Rose as she climbed into the car and took off. He didn't even think to look back as his mother as her house disappeared into the distance.