A/N: Yo! it's been 2 years huh? wow, I haven't even realized hhee. anyways all jokes aside, I haven't forgotten about this fic(nor have I died, duh?) but you all can thank the two guests who left reviews no my other fic 'Trapped' for this update coming sooner than expected...

chapter 10:

Plans in motion.

The chandelier above the dining table was awe-inspiring, he couldn't stop looking at it. The multi-colored crystals shone so beautifully around its yellow lights, he keeps bending his head up, keeps staring until the smell of food hits him, and he finally looks down, making an intelligible sound at the different cuisines laid in front of him completely unaware of the eyes on him.

Karin pats him on the back, her face unusually serene, and her lips giving a satisfied smile. "You're making funny noises, baby…"

He shrugs. "Sorry, the food smells really good."

"It's okay," she assures.

Before he starts eating, Goku catches Karin's parents watching him. Her father sat at the head of the table, one hand twirling his glass of wine, the other laid politely on the table. He was a lean man with white hair and beard, and sharp features; long narrow nose, flat lips and icy blue eyes that eyed him down from a high tower. Goku never called himself good at reading impressions (though some people might've said he was) and he wasn't known to be astute but from the moment he met the old man at the door, he felt a chill run through his veins, not like those he usually get from the bad guys, different, he couldn't describe it but there was no kindness in his tone of voice, no sincerity in his words as they shook hands and greeted, even now as he stares at him unflinching.

Next to him sat another presumably high-class person, she had red hair and grey eyes and failed to give even the slightest resemblance to his girlfriend- now that he recalls, Karin never called her mother…

Goku clears his throat and flashes them a disarming smile that does nothing to bend their cold demeanor so instead, he busies himself with eating. "Wow, this is delicious, even better than the food Bulma's mom makes. It's great, Mrs. Shou."

He can see the older woman force a smile until Karin rolls her eyes and remarks, "it's not like she cooked it."

"Of course, Karin, why do you think we have a cook for?" Mrs. Shou says flatly. It was mild, barely even noticeable but Goku swears he felt concealed contempt in the way she spoke.

"Because you're a terrible cook?" Karin replies earning a warning glare from her father to which she also rolls her eyes to.

"So, Goku, what family are you from?" the father questions.

Goku stops eating to look at Mr. Shou, confused about what he meant by that. "Uhm, I don't know?"

"You don't know your own family?"

"Uh, well… yes and no…"

The older man raises a brow and Goku proceeds, "Well Grandpa found me in the woods all alone and he decided to raise me… he was my only family."

"So, you're a bastard?"

"I don't know what that means…" wasn't it a bad word though? he heard some of the bad guys call him that, and he even heard his friends call the bad guys bastards…

"Fundamentally, it means, you were born out of wedlock, and your real parents didn't want you, so they left you in the woods."

"Dad!"

His words strike differently, no one ever explained it to him like this before and he was speechless. When he was a child there were times when he would observe the animals giving birth and caring for their babies, his Grandpa would explain to him how families consist of a mother and a father and sometimes sibling, and the parents would care, protect and provide for their children, and when he asked about himself and his own parents, Gohan would tell him that he was different, special, that he was a gift the heavens had sent to him, and after he met Bulma and traveled with her to gather the dragon balls and he got to meet people he understood a little more and even though it wasn't often that he got to think about his parents, sometimes he did.

But he never thought about such possibilities, that they didn't want him…

"I would ask about your education but from your earlier question, I am assuming you don't have much."

"Huh, what?" he snaps from his reverie and rubs the back of his neck. "Oh, uh, well, Grandpa taught me how to write and read and master Roshi made us—"

"Sorry, I'm late." A new woman walks in, and in this one, he can see a resemblance to his Karen. She greets her mother and kisses her father's forehead.

The smile that her father wears was entirely different from the one he gave his other daughter.

"Sophia, this is…" he takes a deep breath. "Karen's new boyfriend, Goku."

Goku gets up, extending his hand from across the table to shake hers. She stares at him, all of him with stone-cold eyes, much like her father's and he was unnerved before she hesitantly shakes his hand.

The rest of dinner went ordinarily, they excluded him from all their conversations even when he tried to give his input, they acted like whatever he had to say was of no importance and even though he wasn't a man who cared about such trivial things, it irked how they managed to make him feel so… insignificant.

…..

Goku takes a deep breath, relieved to be finally breathing fresh air. Karen had led him to this isolated balcony while she went to have a talk with her father, he was grateful.

He looks down at the garden, it was a nice drop-down, maybe he could jump? Maybe even fly a little, he sure felt like flying. His hand tightens on the rail, looking down at the tight jeans Karen had made him wear, those would sure rip if he jumped, but this over-sized sweater is fine. He looks around to see if someone is there, he sees none and smiles. He could take off those jeans, take a quick fly around and come back before anyone misses him, not that anyone beside Karen would anyway.

Yep, perfect idea!

He starts unbuckling his belt and then unzipping his jeans when suddenly he feels a presence approaching. Frantically he buttons his jeans and buckles his belt.

Footsteps getting closer, when he turns he's surprised to see Karin's sister, Sophia was her name?

"Goku, right?"

He nods, feeling less guilty that she too doesn't entirely remember his name.

"Can I join you?"

"Uh, sure, go ahead!"

She walks to stand beside him and pulls a cigarette, she offers him one but he refuses, waving both his hand. She lights it up, takes a few breathees and he tries hard not to cough from the wafting smoke. "So... how long have you been seeing my sister?"

"Oh…" He squints, how long had he been with Karen? That was a good question, he met her at Bulma's party which was maybe in august and they've been together ever since, he does a quick math with his fingers and says, "uhm, two to three months?"

Sophia wasn't impressed by his response, he can observe a slight twitch of her lips with the faintest of nods. Her eyes spoke displeasure as she dropped her cigarette to the floor and snuffed it with her shoe. "Tell me Goku what is you want from my sister?"

The question catches him off guard, what did he want from Karin? "Nothing," he says.

Her features contort, she suddenly looks fierce. "Don't lie, I know your type."

"My type?"

"Yes! You don't really like my sister, you like what she can provide for you. You're just using her," she says then calms herself by blowing a breath and flicks a strand of hair away from her face, she folds her arms as he stood flabbergasted and confused.

"I-I don't know why you would say that I would never use her, My grandpa always told me to be nice to girls and yes I like the stuff she gives me, some of them, but it's not like I can't live without those stuff…"

He didn't realize he said something wrong because her arms drop and her face was suddenly a mixture of rage and disgust. "Drop the act!" she spat, "You can't fool me like you did my sister… although I hardly believe you managed to do that…"

What did she mean? Why was she being so mean to him? Ever since he stepped into this house, everyone is treating him all wrong… it's unfair, he hadn't done anything to them.

"Let me give you a piece of advice, don't think you can gain anything from this… relationship you have with my sister, and trust me you're not the first one to try, soon she's going to get bored like she always does and moves on to the next exciting thing."

"What do you want me to do?"

"Save us the headache of having to deal with you until she finally does," she says arrogantly then turns to exit the balcony stopping one last time. "And your fly is open!"

The sister leaves. Thankfully, shortly after, he and Karin leave too. He stays silent the entire trip home, his wife singing along the song on the radio without a care in the world. But once they're at their apartment, he sits on the couch and Karin follows suit with a bottle of beer in her hand and he tells her that her sister came to talk to him.

Karin grimaces, he can see her jaw tighten. "Is that why you're upset?"

He nods.

"What did she tell you?"

"She said that you'll get bored of me soon and that I should spare them the hassle until you do. Is that true? Are you really going to get bored of me?"

"That bitch!" she mutters, "Don't listen to her, baby, she's just... " Goku observes as she closes her eyes and breathes before she speaks again, "Karin had always had it out for me she's a terrible sister and it didn't help that my dad and her mother always supported her on whatever she did to me..."

"But why?" he asks with heartfelt concern.

she bites her lower lip. "I'm not important to them, I'm a mistake my dad made with his wife's best friend, ironic, right? after the shit he gave you about being a bastard." she takes another chug of her drink and comes to sit in his lap. "they're entitled fools and they're probably just jealous that what we have is better than anything they could ever hope to have."

her words comfort him, he smiles and nods and she strokes his cheek. "Hell, I'm thinking about pissing them off even more..."

Goku scrunches his eyebrows. "What do you mean?"

her lips stretch in a sly smile. "Let's get married, Goku."

The air around them was charged and thick, he stood behind Chichi with his eyes on the people before him and his whole body tense.

"Well? Aren't you going to greet us back?"

Why why why? Why are they here? Why now of all time? He wasn't ready.

"what… what are you doing here, Sophia?"

Sophia raises a brow and stares Chichi down. "That should be my question… and aren't you at least going to introduce us?"

His chest felt constricted, Sophia had always had this heavy effect on him, those judging eyes of hers had always felt like hot iron rods tied around his neck. He clears his throat. "Chichi, this is my… sister in law, Sophia… Sophia, this is Chichi."

Chichi makes a face of clarification but says nothing in return as Sophia interjects, "You're supposed to introduce her to me first, but it's not like you know how etiquette works."

"And he didn't even introduce me…" James pouts mockingly and Goku couldn't resist to glare as James smirks in reply.

"What do you want?" he says all of a sudden, gaining back some of his courage.

The blond woman looked almost offended like he had absolutely no right to question her motives, she gave him a direct authoritative glance. "I just wanted to say hi, was that bad, or are you uncomfortable that I found you with a new slut?" she returns her condescending gaze towards Chichi as the latter gasps in mortification.

"Are you talking about me? How dare—" he grabs Chichi by the wrist as she was pointing her finger in the other woman's face. the mist in his eyes change, something inside him was stirred, he'll be damned before he lets her involve Chichi into this.

"I don't know why you're behaving the way you do but you have no right to talk about my friend like that!"

"Excuse me? I have every right to talk however I want when you leave my sister pregnant with your child just so you can frolic around with some tacky whore!" Sophia proceeds, hateful and unyielding. "You have some nerve, you know that, Goku? Even after everything you've done to my sister-"

"What I've done?!"

"Yes! Do you want me to write you a list?!" Sophia takes a breath, a look of regret mars her features. "I can't believe I even doubted her all this time, and let a good for nothing asshole like you mistreat her, cheat on her multiple times and leave her pregnant!"

Goku shakes his head. "You're wrong…"

"Wrong?! Then how do you explain her?"

"She's my friend!"

"She's a slut!"

"Stop disrespecting her!"

"Hey! Don't raise your voice at my wife, you cheating bastard!"

"You would know all about cheating bastards, now wouldn't you, James?"

James steps back, weary, his wife narrows her eyes at him but he was done with this conversation. "I don't know what your sister told you but you should know better than anyone what a liar your sister is."

Consumed by rage, he grabs Chichi by the hand as she scurries to gather their bags and depart, leaving Sophia, her jerk of a husband and a lot of spectators behind.

He couldn't believe it.

"Goku…"

After everything she's done to him and she still dares to play the victim.

"Goku… slow down…"

He was the victim goddammit, he was the one who got cheated on.

"You're going too fast…"

He was the one left hurt…

"And you're holding my hand too tight!"

He was the one whose life was destroyed…

"Goku…"

Fuck, he even lost all his friends because of her.

"Goku!"

Yet, she has the gall to rile up her family and blame it all on him.

She has the fucking nerve to say it was his baby…

Fuck, he's so pissed, his whole body is shaking!

"Darn it, Goku, stop!" his head was slapped with a bunch of shopping bags but he finally stops. He turns to Chichi, she's panting and they were already standing in the garage, he didn't even realize. He can spot the people in there staring at him. "Were you not listening to me? I've been calling your name all this time."

"I.." he stammers, distressed.

Chichi's eyes soften, placing a gentle hand on his arm. "Let's just go home."

...

The ride back to mount Paozu had been silent, he was grateful for that as Chichi drove, he spent the time mulling over the events of the last hour until his head started to hurt. He was ashamed of himself, ashamed of how he let them have this control over him, how they completely managed to ruin his mood and he's even more ashamed and embarrassed to expose Chichi to all that.

"Hmm I guess we have some time," she says as they reach the house and look into the horizon, it was the afternoon the sun has yet to set. "With your strength and speed we can furnish your house before dusk, what do you think?"

"Y-yeah…"

He was pretty sure she was tired, as she had complained at the mall about it, yet she still stayed to help him out; he's not sure if she stayed because she understood he wanted company or because she just wanted to get this over and done with but he was relieved she did, her cheery attitude and orderly nature as she barked orders had actually managed to make him forget the day's hectic events.

It was a little after sunset when they were finally done, they dropped down on the new couch in the living room and breathed out a sigh of relief. "This couch is pretty comfortable," he comments.

Chichi turns to look at him, a smile playing on her lips. "So how does it feel to finally have a house of your own?"

"I didn't think about that, now that you'd mention it, it feels great! I never owned much before."

Chichi's countenance shifts into one of concern, as if what he said reminded her of his own plight, she places her hand on his shoulder and asks, "are you OK, Goku?"

He knew what she meant so he stares at her perplexed. "I'm fine," he replies, slightly cheerful and then repeats when her eyebrows crease, "I'm fine really, don't worry about me…"

"Are they always like that with you?"

"I don't fit the descriptions of the people they'd rather associate themselves with, I got used to it with time." It was a lie he never got used to how condescendingly they treated him.

"Well, shame on them," she starts, her eyes passionate and fierce, "you saved the world more than once, which includes them, they don't deserve you, those ungrateful snobs!" she huffs and folds her arms around her chest and he's flattered, happy and warm all over.

He chuckles. "I don't think they know about that."

"Oh... well still, they should've treated you better."

Suddenly he remembers what Sophia had said about him and he feels ashamed all over again, he decides to come clean. "Listen Chichi about what they said…"

She lifts her hand to stop him, "You don't have to explain, I know they were lying."

He lets his head down. "Not about everything…"

She looks at him confused. "What do you mean?"

Goku gulps, when he decided to tell her everything about him he left out the part of him having his fair share of cheating and philandering. Right now he wished he had told her about it, but he left out those parts because it wasn't something he wanted to admit to Chichi and probably himself that he was just as dirty as his wife was, then again he never expected to be put in the situation of today. he looks down."What they said about me cheating… it was true, I cheated on my wife too." He wasn't looking at her face, he was afraid of what might be written across it. "But it's not what you think, I only did it because... because…" he closes his eyes. "I guess I wanted to hurt her, I wanted to make her feel what I felt back then."

Goku cradles his face in his hands, he felt terrible; she must think he's an awful person now.

How's Chichi ever going to trust him again?

He felt her touch him and he finally turns to look at her, he expected to see anger, hell maybe even disappointment but all that was palpable on her face was sympathy. "Like I said, you don't have to explain anything to me." She flashes him a reassuring smile and pursues, "besides, I sort of had an inkling about that…"

He's shocked, his eyebrows stretched. "How?"

"You thought I was one of the girls you slept with and forgot about when you first met me at the lake…" he opens his mouth wide. "Aha, did you honestly think I believed you when you said it was a joke?"

He emits a groan of frustration, then rubs the back of his head, a gesture he accompanies with a nervous smile. "Sorry about that."

Chichi laughs, the noise is a gentle melody that Goku found it incredibly pleasant. "It's Ok."

Chichi looks at the window briefly and turns to face him. "I better leave now. It's gotten late, dad is gonna be worried."

"Oh, yeah. Don't worry, I can IT you there in a second, I'll just lock on to Ox king's energy." He lifts two fingers to his forehead and concentrates.

She gets up from picking her stuff from where she had left them and gives him a hesitant quirk of her lips. "Um, I think I'm just gonna capsule the car and take Nimbus home."

"What? But it's faster if we just IT there."

"Yeah, I know, I'm just in the mood of flying, and I-I like riding Nimbus," she stammers, her eyes looking down as she wears her bag on her shoulder.

"Well, are you sure you don't want me to take you?" he felt she had a reason for not wanting him to take her and he had a suspicion of who might be the cause so he decides not to pester her any longer.

"Yeah." She heads for the door.

He follows suit and reaches his hand inside his pocket, retracting a box. "Hey Chichi, there's something I want to give before you go."

"What is it?"

He hands her the box and she takes it, opening it to find a pair of earrings. They were nothing fancy, just a simple orange sphere that reminded him of the dragon balls, he had noticed them when he first walked in the mall and thought they would look good on her. He scratches the back of his skull. "I know it's not much, you deserve much more but I wanted to thank you for all the help you've given me. I really, really appreciate everything you've done for me so far, Chichi." Her eyes are glued to his gift which inspires uncertainty in his thoughts, that maybe she didn't like it. "Do… do you like it?"

At his question, she looks up, her eyes warm, her face delighted and she answers, "I love it! Thank you, Goku."

His heart flutters, he felt relieved and happy. "No, thank you, Chichi." He locks eyes with her and thinks he never wants her to leave but she has to go and he can't help but ask, "I'm going to see you again, right?"

She was surprised by the question but doesn't hesitate to ease his worries with a smile. "Of course, you still haven't taught all there's to know about Ki."

Chichi says goodbye and leaves, and he returns to settle on the couch, a stupid grin on his face and butterflies dancing excitedly in his stomach.

He was content.

She was a terrible cook, she knew that about herself but right now she had no choice but to cook, she's only two months along and the food cravings have been driving her insane!

It almost seemed like all she does now is eat and sleep.

She's cooking eggs and bacon on the stove and had impulsively added all kinds of other ingredients that she wasn't even sure why she added them in the first place, it didn't look good to eat but she was too hungry to throw it away.

Karin puts her food in a plate and breathes a forlorn sigh before she takes her first bite, aside from her voracious appetite, she can't seem to get her emotions in check, she has been missing her estranged husband to the point that all she had been thinking about was him… and it didn't bother that she had a lot of time on her hands (her sister gave her an extended leave from work until she got her things back on track). And all this free time had gotten her to think about a lot of things, about the mistakes she's done, it had gotten her to regret and feel guilty.

She consumes half of her plate and throws the rest in the trash. Goku had left her before, a lot of times, yet this time it hit different. She's really missing him…

The door knocks, she goes to open it, not at all surprised to see her sister at the door as Sophia was the only one who visited her now that she had lost even her friends.

"Hey," she greets and her sister walks in not bothering to greet her back, clearly displeased about something as she takes her bag and discards it on her sofa then proceeds to fold her arms around her chest. "What's wrong?"

"I just got back from the mall-"

"You went to the mall?" Karin raises an eyebrow, her sister wasn't your regular mall person, she was more into fancy stores and restaurant, so the knowledge was a bit amusing.

Sophia rolls her eyes. "Yes, but that's beside the point. I met your good for nothing husband there."

That silences her, it wipes the amusement from her face, she never expected her sister to randomly meet him, and at the mall no less, Goku wasn't a mall person too so she was surprised to hear that her sister had met him there, still, her heart beats a little faster, she involuntarily asks, "How was he?"

"How was he?!" Sophia asks in disbelief, "How was he?" she repeats, throwing her hands in the air. "He was fine, he looked more than fine actually laughing and chatting with some black haired girl."

That news takes her by surprise, she doesn't know how to react to what her sister said but the sudden churning of her stomach indicates fear, she shakes her head it's not like Goku had never been with other girls before. "I'm sure she's just another fling," she mutters, more to herself than her sister and heads to the kitchen to wash her dish.

"I'm not sure about that, sis, they looked pretty close," Sophia mocks, and the dish in her hand slips and breaks on the floor, she curses and bends down to pick up the pieces.

"He'll come back to me, I'm sure."

"Are you for real?! You still want that prick?"

She throws the broken dish in the trash and doesn't say anything, she was on the verge of crying, her hormones had made her an emotional wreck, shaking her up, she didn't trust herself to speak.

Sophia wasn't done with her yet as she can hear her footsteps behind her. "You know what he said when I confronted him about you? He said I should know better than to believe you," Karin tenses, her sister stood affront of her intimidatingly, scrunching her eyebrows suspiciously. "You haven't lied to me, have you, Karin?"

She did, she had to, she couldn't lose her only supporter by telling the truth, but it's too late to back out now, she still needed that support. "Of course not!"

"Well you're acting pretty damn nonsensical; I can't imagine why you'd want the person who's hurt you so bad to be back."

Her eyes water, she was trembling, she doesn't understand why she feels the need to cry but it works in her favor and so she bursts into tears, cradling her face in her hands, babbling incoherently, "I love him!"

A sigh and second later her sister comes to hug her, patting her back sympathetically and says in soothing voice, "It's okay, it's okay…"

Sophia takes care of her during the rest of her stay, she felt guilty for what she was doing but she needed her sister especially through these harsh times of hers and at least the tears were real, but the question that kept plaguing her was about the girl her husband was with, should she be worried?

She shakes that thought, her hormones are making her doubtful. Goku will come back to her…

He always does.

And she and their baby are going to be waiting for him.

As soon as Chichi arrived home, she was met with a long speech from her father about staying this late with Goku but her mood was too good to be ruined by a little speech and in return, she gives her father a smile, a hug and a little kiss on the cheek rendering her father to a mere loving parent.

When she enters her room, the first thing she does is take a shower and when she's done she throws herself on the bed exhausted. Today had been both tiring and eventful but at least it ended on a pleasant note. She reaches inside her purse and pulls out a small box and opens it, her finger tracing the piece of jewelry inside.

She had stared at them the entire trip on Nimbus and she still can't stop her lips from stretching and her cheeks from warming up.

Chichi gets up and heads for her mirror, she takes her loop earrings from her ears and wears the ones that Goku had given her and as she looks in the mirror, she can't stop herself from smiling.

She was going to cherish his gift until the day she dies.

Of all the people Piccolo expected to see, Son Goku was the last of them.

His arch-enemy and rival stood before him with hands on his hips midair and that stupid grin on his face but he looks worse than when he first saw him when he returned from whatever planet he was on. "Hey!" he greets.

"If you're here for a fight then I can't indulge you as you can see I'm busy." He returns to meditating and hopes that Goku would just leave.

"Ouch, cold! But nah I'm not here to fight…" Goku stops to contemplate with arms folded and his chin between his index finger and thumb, "Well, I guess we are sort of gonna fight but not the kind of… fight you're expecting—"

"What is it you want, Goku?" Piccolo interjects and watches as Goku's face turns serious.

"Let's train together."

That response almost makes him lose his floating balance. "Huh?!"

"Let's train together," Goku repeats as if he hadn't just said the most absurd thing that can come out of his mouth.

Piccolo narrows his eyes. "What game are you playing at?"

"No game, I just want a training partner that can hold out against me."

"You have your friends."

Goku grimaces and responds, "It pains me to say but they're not much of a challenge to me anymore."

He felt flattered but Goku was still his first nemesis, the man that stood against his plans. He smirks, "And how do you know I won't try to kill you as we train."

The slight quirk of lips on the Saiyans face was dangerous, Piccolo was reminded of the blond warrior on Namek. "We both know you can't, you would've already tried."

"I just might do that right now," he hisses, but unfortunately the Saiyan was correct, it didn't matter if he tried to kill him the chances of him succeeding was very slim; Piccolo had spent enough time with this man to see him grow in tremendous strength.

Him right now was no match.

Goku laughs unfazed by his threat. "Come on, Piccolo, You can't tell me you're satisfied meditating by yourself here between the mountains,"

It's true, his training isn't going anywhere and they're already losing valuable time.

"I think this arrangement could benefit both of us. What do you think?"

He doesn't have much of a choice, he'll have to take him up on his offer if he wants to get stronger.

Piccolo stands up from his meditating position and floats closer to the Saiyan, he extends his hand and plasters a pseudo smile on. Goku shakes his hand and he says, "How about we start right now?"

He doesn't wait for a reply, he throws the man through a mountain.

A/N: Muhahaha I'm excited to write the next chapter.