A Light in the Darkness - part 26: A Day with Goku
by  Mia Skywalker & Wataruo

PAIRING: Goku/Chi-Chi
RATING: G
WARNINGS: None
DISCLAIMER: Neither of us owns any of the DBZ characters or anything about DBZ, but we both wish we owned the Saiyans. All of them. At least all of the ones with hair. These characters are owned by Toei, Viz, Akira Toriyama, and FUNimation, even though the last one is a crying shame. We do own what we've written here, and our specific storyline, just not Dragonball itself. We make no money off of any of these guys, nor off this fic. We just have fun writing it.
SUMMARY: More quality time for Goku and Chi-Chi.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT: Thanks to saiyengerl for beta'ing!

NOTE: This chapter is a little bit short, but it's a Goku/Chi-Chi interlude. For those of you waiting for the Bulma/Vegeta continuation... you'll pretty much have to wait for next chapter, sorry.

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Last time on Dragonball Z: A Light in the Darkness....

Broken hearts for Bulma and Vegeta.

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Goku woke up at first light. He was always an early riser and this morning was no exception. He looked down and smiled when he saw Chi-Chi cuddled up next to him, her hair all mussed and face relaxed. She always looked so carefree when she was sleeping. As if she had no worries at all. Goku shifted and scooted out from his wife's embrace then covered her back up. He decided that he was going to let her sleep. After all everyone deserved to have a break, right?

A big grin spread its way across Goku's face as a sudden idea came to him. He would make her breakfast for a change. Happy with this plan of action, he tiptoed out of the room not to disturb his sleeping wife and made his way to the kitchen.

He stood there for a few moments, wondering what he should even make, when he decided on soup. That seemed to be easy enough. All you had to do was put vegetables in water and let it boil, Goku reasoned. It should be simple.

He made his way to the fridge and selected a few vegetables, then took them to the table and proceeded to cut them up without bothering to wash them. He had no idea why Chi-Chi did that anyway. He filled a pot full of water then threw the vegetables in. Goku sat down at the table, his task complete, and waited for his soup to boil.

Chi-Chi stirred sleepily, reaching for where her husband was, but her eyes opened in surprise when she didn't find him there. She sighed when she realized he'd already woken and gotten out of bed. Usually she woke at the same time that he did; by the standards of most, they were fairly early risers. But she'd been tired the previous night, and apparently had slept later than usual, since the sun had already risen, even though it was still low on the horizon.

She yawned and stretched, then went into the bathroom, and washed herself quickly, splashing her face and brushing her teeth. She did her hair up quickly, going downstairs to see what Goku was doing.

Goku was so relaxed that he was almost asleep when something sizzling caught his attention. He looked over to see the soup boiling over unto the stove top and running onto the floor. Some of the pieces of vegetables had caught on fire and were now smoking on the counter top. Goku yelped, jumped up and went to douse the food in water, but he grabbed the dishwashing liquid by mistake and dumped it onto the burning vegetables.

The little mix-up caused the fire to go out, but some of the soap found its way into the still boiling over pot and was now boiling over with soapy bubbles. "Eeek!" Goku yelped, as the bubbles ran onto the counter top and floor creating a soapy mess.

Goku stood there helplessly for a few minutes before he realized that he needed to turn the fire off underneath the pot. By that time, the kitchen floor was covered in soapy bubbles along with chunks of vegetables. There were several scorch marks on the counter top from the burnt food, and a huge sticky mess on the stove top from the dish soap.

"Oh man!" he said putting a hand behind his head. "Chi-Chi is going to kill me. I had better clean this up."

As was inevitable in such situations, Chi-Chi arrived just when everything appeared in the worst possible light. She stared at the scene in front of her in dismay for several minutes. She looked at the burn marks on the counter. She took careful note of the bubbly mess all over the stove and floor. She studied the chunks of food spread out everywhere. She stared at it all for several minutes, and the longer she stared without speaking, the greater Goku's trepidation grew. Finally he could stand the tension no longer.

"Chi-Chi?" he asked tentatively.

She looked up at him finally, a blank expression on her face, and then, to Goku's surprise, suddenly burst into laughter.

Goku did not know what to make of that. He placed a hand behind his head and looked at her a bit sheepishly. "I was trying to make you breakfast. But something happened." He studied her for a few minutes hoping that her laughter was a good sign. He thought for sure she'd have a fit. "Umm, you're not mad at me, are you, Chi?" he asked.

Chi-Chi continued to laugh for several minutes, much to Goku's consternation, since he wasn't entirely sure what to make of it. She'd never reacted this way; usually she blew up at things like this. Eventually her laughter died, and she wiped the tears from the corners of her eyes, giggling up at him. "It's all right, Goku. You were trying to do something nice." She looked around at the mess. "But you are going to clean it up, right?" She smiled at him, then walked out of the room, still giggling. "Maybe we should go out for breakfast, Go-chan," she shot back over her shoulder.

"Yeah, Chi-Chi. I'll clean it up." Goku scratched his head with his hand and shook his head. He couldn't believe that she hadn't screamed at him. He grinned when Chi-Chi suggested that they go out for breakfast, then sighed when he looked back at the mess. "Well, this may take me a while. Do you want to go to the store while I clean this up?" he asked her retreating back. "I guess I'll leave cooking to you from now on. I don't think I have the skill for it."

Chi-Chi paused. "Why would it take you a lot of time, Go-chan? Are you saying you'll only use your speed when you're fighting, not for anything else? I know you can clean this place up in minutes." She smiled at him, then walked over to him and hugged him, before stepping away again. "Please do hurry, Go-chan. I'd like to do something today! And I'm hungry!" she said stretching her limbs.

"Oh I didn't think of that," Goku said looking sheepish. "Excuse me Chi. I'll be done in ten minutes." When Chi-Chi stepped outside the kitchen and into the hallway, Goku put his Saiyan speed to good use and cleaned the kitchen from top to bottom.

It only took him five minutes to clean his mess. Anyone looking in would never have guessed that recently this had been the place of a cooking disaster. Goku could tell from Chi-Chi's expression that she was more than a little impressed. Goku leaned on the mop and grinned at her. "How's this?"

Chi-Chi went over and hugged him, smiling up at him. "It's fine, Go-chan. Now, can we go out someplace to eat?" She considered for a moment. "It had better be that 'all you can eat' breakfast place that we've gone to before. Otherwise it will be too expensive." She continued to smile into his eyes expectantly. "Well? Are you going to take us?"

Goku grinned, took his wife's hand and went outdoors. "Kinto'un!" he hollered and a little yellow cloud appeared out of nowhere. "Ah there you are." Goku hopped up onto it and extended a hand to his wife. "Come on, let's go." When Chi-Chi was situated behind him, her arms linked securely around his waist, the little cloud took off to the city. "Hold on Chi, it goes a lot faster than when we were kids."

They flew swiftly to the city. Chi-Chi enjoyed the feel of the wind in her face, even though flying still frightened her at times. She didn't know why she'd never learned to fly like the others had, since Goku had told her that she could probably do it easily. When they landed near the restaurant, many other people stared at them curiously. Flying people, while not something that people would run screaming in terror from, were certainly not run-of-the-mill events. Still, people recognized her husband, so they knew that the couple wasn't one of which to be frightened.

The manager of the restaurant noted their arrival with dismay, but since it would be bad public relations to kick out one of Chikyuu's greatest heroes, he gave a weak smile and helped them find seats. He took their money, and watched in dismay as Goku helped himself to portions that the man knew would put him in the hole for the day's profits.

"Is that all you are going to eat Chi?" he asked around a mouthful. "You don't eat enough," he told her as he swallowed. He eyed her thoughtfully and then asked, "How will you keep up with Gohan if you don't have your strength?" Goku ate his way through six plates of food before going back to the buffet table and gathering up six more. As he dug into his new dish, he looked up at Chi-Chi. "Ummm Chi? I have been thinking. It would be nice for Gohan to have a sibling, don't you think?"

Chi-Chi blushed that Goku would discuss something so intimate when they were in a public place like this. "Go-chan!" she hissed at him. "Not here!" 

She glanced around them, and then leaned forward and whispered to him, "I think we should think about it, Goku. That isn't something... that isn't something we should just jump into." She looked down at her plate as she continued eating. "I'd rather... I'd rather not, not for a little while, all right Go-chan? But someday...."

"Sure Chi-Chi," he said munching more of his breakfast. "Whenever. I didn't mean right now." Goku sat back in his chair sighing. "Wow that was much better than the breakfast I made." Goku smiled at his wife. "So what do you want to do after breakfast?"

Chi-Chi looked a little confused. "Well, you promised that you'd take me shopping... are you still willing?"

Goku smiled, and agreed. The two of them left the restaurant, to the relief of the proprietor, who still knew that he had to work hard that day to make the place break even.

The two of them went through several malls, mostly window-shopping, but Chi-Chi also selected several new dresses, and she tried on a lot more. Goku was fairly bored by it, but he seemed happy enough spending time with his wife. The two ate at another restaurant that evening, also an all-you-can-eat, before heading home. Chi-Chi missed her son, but was happy to be spending time with Goku, and happy that he was home at last.

As they flew Goku yawned. He found that he was more than a little tired, although he hadn't done anything more exhausting than to carry Chi-Chi's purchases about. He was about to ask her if she had enjoyed herself but found that she was dozing against his back. He chuckled as they sped along on the little cloud, and when they got home, Goku didn't even wake his wife as he hopped off Kinto'un. He held her securely in his arms as he went into their home and tucked her in bed for the second night in a row.

To be continued.....

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And in the next exciting episode of DragonBallZ: A Light in the Darkness...  Something's wrong with Bulma, and a new arrival.