Crossroads

Chapter 35

Gohan was perfect. Beautiful, strong, peaceful, helpless: perfect. Goku didn't have any words to describe his emotions, only his son. Everything Raditz had said about the birth of Radom suddenly made so much sense, but, as his brother had also mentioned, there are no words that could do the moment nearly enough justice, and not enough of them to describe his precious child. Goku was in love with his little boy, and the more he stared down at him, the more he knew he would never be able to get enough, and the more all of his father's small chats with him about family and fatherhood started to finally sink in. He knew Bardock would be so proud, if only he were there to see him.

Both Chi Chi and the baby were healthy, though, and that's all that mattered to Goku, for now. Chi Chi slept off and on for some time after Gohan's birth, and so did Gohan for that matter. Goku hung about but tried his best not to disturb her or the baby too much. He was constantly in and out of the room, too anxious to sit still, and more often than not he was being shushed and shooed away by the midwives Bulma had sent over whenever he was around. Goku pouted at them but was grateful for their help and the fact that Chi Chi decided to have the baby at home. He'd been to the hospital with her for checkups during the pregnancy, and that was too much by itself. He didn't think he could have handled being in one for Gohan's birth.

Goku found that he didn't know what to do with himself for the first month of Gohan's life. Sometimes he would go out to do yardwork just to find something to preoccupy his time with and sometimes he'd meditate or train a little bit. All Gohan did was sleep and eat, and he wasn't much help in either of those departments, so the only time he could really see his son was when the women allowed him to hold him, mostly as he slept, and Chi Chi watched with a small, tired smile, telling him to mind his son's head. He felt perfectly at ease in those moments, but in spite of the joy within him, and the family he now has, he still felt a little alone in this world.

He wished his brother could be there, and his father, and his wished he had friends here that he could share his happiness with. He knew of quite a few people he wanted to see but couldn't, and he constantly texted and called his family, even to the point of annoyance, on Raditz's end, anyways, but it wasn't the same as being together in person. He even invited his father and brother to come out to Earth, but they both replied that there was too much going on back home, and that they couldn't leave right now, but they said they would plan for it, soon. They were vague about everything going on back home. Goku shrugged it off, distracted.

He was in constant contact with the guard back at Bulma's, though, who said they were eager to see him, but that they had to wait for Bulma's okay. Goku wasn't sure why, but he didn't let it bother him. He was overwhelmed with messages from some of his friends from the guard back at the castle, too, and even some of his friends from before he ever moved into the castle who found his number through castle records. Even Tarble texted him from time to time, but he didn't keep up with any of those texts like he should, often forgetting to send a reply, or falling asleep during conversations, or not knowing what to say, so he simply didn't respond. It didn't help that Gohan's sleep schedule was a little erratic, and so were Chi Chi's moods, and so his schedule was thrown off quite a bit as a result, and he was preoccupied, anyways.

After a little over three months Chi Chi got all of her strength back and she was more or less her normal self, humming in the kitchen as she planned out meals while her father attended to Gohan and Goku sat there smiling foolishly watching them. His tail twitched behind him in his excitement. He was proud; Gohan had a tail, too.

The situation was a little awkward, despite the happiness the small family felt. Of course, the Ox King wasn't thrilled to find out that Chi Chi was pregnant out of wedlock at first. He didn't say much to Goku about it, but the tension was there, and he frowned at Goku several times over the course of the pregnancy. What he was thinking, Goku couldn't have known. It had gotten better since Gohan was born, but Goku was treading carefully regardless. Mostly a silent observer, content to get his chance at some time with Gohan mostly when no one was looking. Like right now.