Bra was back. Jensen had strolled onto the Briefs residence and sensed her immediately. Even with time, his hate for her had not cooled. Bulma had texted him earlier that Bra would be coming back, but Jensen wasn't sure if that was really happening. Bra was allergic to responsibility. Why would she care about her own children? She certainly didn't care much about him. He didn't want her to in the first place.

Jensen was nowhere near the main house and he didn't feel like approaching it any further. He knew that if he was in the same room with her, he wouldn't be able to maintain his composure. He closed his eyes trying to calm his racing heart. His room was in the main house, but he decided then that it would probably be better to occupy one of the many unused living quarters strewn throughout the property. He also still had a capsule house he'd taken from one of the million caches Bulma had in almost every location on the property. There were several lines of capsule houses that Bulma was always updating. One could scarcely walk a few steps before stumbling over yet another capsule. That he had one on hand wasn't exactly a surprising development.

When his phone started vibrating all of sudden, he answered without even bothering to look at the caller ID. Only one person would be calling him at this hour. Him and Aster had decided it was best that they parted ways for a little while so that they weren't so absent from their families. Already, she was calling him.

"That bitch is actually living here!" Aster said in a quiet but angered voice.

"Who?" Jensen asked confused, looking off into the horizon—the stars were just starting to peek out for the night.

"That woman from before you saw when you visited. Just get over here! I need to show you something."

"Fine, I'll be there in a few minutes."

It was better than futilely trying to regain his composure all night and trying to convince himself that it would be unseemly to pick a fight with someone who couldn't really defend themselves. The only thing that stayed his hand was the thought that his father would be deeply disappointed. He'd desperately wanted him to give Bra another chance. Jensen so far couldn't think of a reason to do so.

Without a second thought, he took off into the air and sped off to Aster's place—a nice apartment complex near the suburbs. It didn't take him long to arrive and the door was open when he tried turning the knob.

"Come look at this," Aster insisted upon him arriving, grabbing his hand, and dragging him past the living room, down the short hallway to the room at the end.

The door was cracked a bit, but now Aster carefully pushed the door open a little further so that he could peer inside. Jensen had to wait for his eyes to readjust in the pitch blackness. Eventually, he could see two sleeping forms under the comforter, both quietly snoring, one turned away and the other on their back. It took him another moment to realize who was who. They seemed quite peaceful, so much so that it felt a little intrusive watching them mundanely sharing a bed as adults tended to do at night. It was making him tired as well seeing as he'd not had a proper rest in some time—Aster kept him up all hours of the night deep in some conversation that neither would feel like ending in a timely manner.

Jensen stepped back, closing the door the way he'd seen it, forcing Aster to move back as well. He looked at her questioningly. "So what?"

Aster frowned at him, grabbed his hand, and dragged him to the bathroom now, switching the light on. He hissed at the sudden introduction of light, but Aster was already pointing at some skin care products on the sink counter.

"See, look!" she said angrily, but still in her quiet voice. "That gold digger must have had him buy that—I don't believe for a second that she could even afford it. That's like a thousand dollars' worth of product right there."

"A thousand dollars?" Jensen asked more surprised about the price tag than anything else.

"C'mon, I found something else too," Aster said, already dragging him along. Hopefully, this was the last thing she wanted him to see.

Aster took him to the kitchen and switched the light on there. Her voice was still quiet as she pointed out how full the refrigerator was with leftovers. "It's never been this full before. Dad doesn't cook this much and definitely not enough for leftovers."

Jensen remembered that he hadn't eaten anything that day as he gazed at all the readily available food, wondering how Aster could somehow spin food in a fridge as being the worst thing ever in the world. "Let me just…help them out with that—I doubt they'll be able to eat all of this…" Jensen said eyeing something that looked like stew and another that was full of rice.

"Jensen," Aster said with a frown, "You're actually gonna' eat that woman's food?"

"Why not? Didn't we do that last time?"

"Well—that was different," Aster said haughtily. "We were tricked because Dad said he was cooking, then that bitch decided to get in the way."

"I'm hungry," he said simply, tossing said containers into the nearby microwave and putting it on for a few minutes.

Speaking of that time, Chi-Chi's cooking was obviously top-notch. Better than Bunny's in his opinion, but then he preferred more rustic tasting food over "perfection". He leaned on the counter watching the containers spin slowly inside.

"This is bad," Aster continued standing just out of his view. "First it's Pan, now it's Chi-Chi, but now it's much worse. I don't even know how long she's been here cozying up to him. You have to help me stop them! Maybe you can do one of your mind tricks."

Jensen glanced over at her. "You know I don't like to resort to that kind of thing unless I have to. You were so worried about Pan, but then nothing happened," he reminded her. "Maybe the same thing will happen here."

"No, this is different. Pan was never staying here. You don't understand. Dad sleeping in the same bed with someone?—that's taboo! I can barely even believe what I'm seeing. Please, Jensen, you have to do something. I don't want to see him get hurt."

Jensen flicked his dark hair back from his eyes with an index finger as he stood up straighter to look at her better. "I really don't feel comfortable manipulating people like that. You have to give me some real evidence that someone's really getting hurt or that it'd even be fun to do."

"I told you about my dad. He's so naïve and vulnerable. I'm always having to step in and save him from his mistakes."

"Yeah, you told me about that and then I met him the other day. He was pretty intimidating. When he looked at me, I felt like a small, annoying child and I didn't want to give him a reason to think I was hurting you in anyway—I would hate to have him as an enemy. And I couldn't read his mind. That usually happens when someone is so powerful that it creates a natural barrier to my probing. Like Vegeta or Pan. So I can't manipulate him to do anything anyway."

"Intimidating?" Aster asked flabbergasted, "Are we even talking about the same guy? Dad wouldn't hurt a fly. You were just being all self-conscious 'cus he's my dad and you wanted to leave a good impression."

"Well, there's that, but…" Jensen turned back to the microwave, "The way he got pissed off the more you kept pushing him about those pills—if looks could kill…"

"It's cause of that woman—I've never seen him get mad at me before."

"I saved you that day. I may not be able to read his mind, but anyone could tell he was this close to going completely off the handle."

"Please, he was never going to hurt me."

"Right," Jensen chuckled. "Anyways, he didn't seem so vulnerable and he definitely didn't seem all that naïve. I'm sure he's really nice to you, but to anyone who's not you—it's definitely not the same."

"I've known him since forever and the person you're describing doesn't even sound like him at all."

The microwave started beeping so Jensen popped open the door and carefully took out the containers. When he placed a utensil in to see if it was heated all the way through, he saw that it was still frozen in the center. With a sigh he took out a plate from the cabinet and decided to pull out what he could onto the plate and microwaved that instead. "Maybe you don't know him that well. You just know one side to him. All I'm saying is that from the outside, he's kinda intimidating. His voice isn't rough or anything, but it's deep and somewhat commanding with perfect diction—as soon as he says something, I'm sure everyone's paying attention and I bet he uses that to his advantage. Didn't you say he was a director at CC?"

"Yeah, that's what he said."

"Very prestigious and at a place like that—you have to know something. They don't just let anyone work there and it's even harder to move up in the ranks. You can't be a pushover."

"How do you know all that?" Aster asked with arms crossed.

"Is that even a real question? You know where I live and who I live with. I hear stuff all the time and it's even easier when adults don't think you're old enough to understand things."

"Well, even so, I know him better than anybody. I know what's best for him—trust me. We have to get rid of Chi-Chi."

Jensen watched the microwave with a dreary expression. There was no way he was going to do anything about Chi-Chi no matter how much Aster begged and pleaded with him. For one thing, if either Gohan or Pan found out about it, his life would probably be forfeit. Other than Aster's word, nothing terrible seemed to be happening. He understood her need to want to protect her father. After all the stories she'd told him about Auden, he was practically a dainty flower that should never leave the house. His own impression of the man didn't seem to match her description, however. Either there was something different about him now or she didn't really know him as much as she thought. When the microwave beeped again, he took it out and found the food to be piping hot. He placed it on the counter waiting for it to cool off some as he carefully mixed the contents to even out the heat. It smelled heavenly, but he didn't want to burn his tongue off.

"Unless someone has made a conscious decision to do so, it's not good for people to isolate themselves from others. Any therapist will tell you that. It must be incredibly lonely and exhausting to always keep others at arm-length."

"He has me."

"Yeah, his daughter." He glanced over at her. "That's not enough."

Aster looked at him with furrowed eyebrows. "Why not? He can tell me anything."

Jensen shook his head as he felt how hot the plate was. Determining that he could lift it with his bare hands without too much trouble, he grabbed the sides and headed for the dining room table with Aster in tow. "He's not going to tell you everything. That's how dads are or parents for that matter. He raised you as best he could, kept a roof over your head. He'll always see you as someone to protect or provide for, not someone who's his equal with which to share everything with. Those boundaries are there whether you choose to acknowledge them or not." Jensen climbed into one of the chairs after setting the plate onto one of the placement mats.

"He's…told me something like that before," Aster said faltering a little. "And it still doesn't make sense. Relationships can be whatever we make them. We don't have to follow all the rules."

"Those rules are there for a reason and for someone like your father, they probably mean a lot."

"What do you mean, 'someone like'?"

"From what you told me, he doesn't express himself physically in a romantic relationship—which means the whole thing must be some sort of mental exercise for him. If he treated you the way you wanted him to, there would no longer be much distinction between someone who he's romantically involved with versus a close friendship with a family member. That line is probably more heavily drawn than most—it's probably really important. I'm just speculating."

"It sounds like you're making excuses." She was pacing back and forth in front of Jensen as he partook in a very late dinner. "It's sounds like you're totally okay with him engaging in all these risky behaviors. It always looks fine at first. We can all come up with convenient reasons as to why it's fine for someone to put themselves out there, but you have to put it into context. Taking a risk means something different for Dad. I told you that before and yet you're sitting there like all of this is normal, not even taking any of that into account."

Jensen finished off a few bites of food before responding. He paused and looked at her squarely. She stopped moving for a moment. "Listen to me, Aster. I guess I'll have to tell you this plainly. Unless you actually plan on dating your own father, you will never be enough."

Aster gasped involuntarily at the very notion. "Th-That's not what's I want at all! You're putting words in my mouth."

"Keep your voice down," Jensen said wearily. "I'm not even supposed to be here right now."

Aster frowned and then pulled out a chair to sit down in. "Didn't you say it's easier to manipulate people when they're asleep?"

"Perhaps."

"This is the perfect time then."

"It's as if I've been talking to a brick wall." He continued on his food in earnest deciding the taste was better than trying to further explain himself to her.

"After everything I've told you about Dad, you really don't think he's in a dangerous situation? I still can't believe what I'm seeing right now. You haven't seen him when he's completely broken. I don't want to see that ever happen again. I can't let that happen again."

"Alright," Jensen said after he'd down the majority of what was on the plate. "In theory, what would you have me do?"

"Make her disinterested in Auden. Make her want to distance herself."

"And what if she actually likes him?"

"So what? It doesn't matter."

"What if they both like each other?"

"Dad would get the memo if she decides on her own to leave him. He did with Pan."

"Manipulating something like love is pretty risky. I'm not sure if that's something I ever want to touch honestly. I'm also not an expert in figuring out how something is going to affect someone. Often times, little changes around the edges is all it takes rather than completely changing someone's mind."

"Okay, then do that."

Jensen sighed wearily at this. "I'll think about it."

"You'll think about it?" Aster asked as if it should have been a done deal already. "Meanwhile, that woman is pushing him closer and closer to the edge of a cliff."

"I get it. You don't have to be so dramatic. I just have to be careful about this stuff. No matter how you slice it, it's never a good thing to impose your will on others. Like I said, there has to be a really good reason or something that won't change things too much. What if someone decided that they knew what was best for us and forced us to act accordingly? We would hate that, if we knew it was happening."

"But people don't know when it's happening, right? When you change someone's mind, then it's changed. They're none the wiser. No harm done."

"That's true. It's just hypothetically, if people knew, they wouldn't like it."

"To hell with your hypotheticals."

"I like hypotheticals."

Aster rolled her eyes at this and then walked over to take up his now empty plate.

"Hey," Jensen began when she did this.

"I'll take it. You're my guest after all."

Jensen still protested, but Aster ignored him as she went to the sink and quickly cleaned everything up including the empty containers, placing them in the drying rack. All Jensen could do was watch helplessly, slightly embarrassed.

She turned back to him with a wink. "So, are you gonna' stay here and keep me company?"

"I guess I should go back home," he said looking away.

"You don't actually want to go home," Aster stated matter-of-factly. "I can tell. Just stay here with me. You know I have a room all to myself."

"And it's okay with your dad that I'm here unannounced?"

"He doesn't care. He lets me do whatever I want."

Jensen had his doubts about this, but it sounded better than having to be in the same vicinity as Bra. He'd never get any sleep, if it came to that. He took her up on her offer. It wasn't as if they hadn't shared a bed together before, they simply hadn't done it at her place.

Her bed was probably the smallest one they'd tried sleeping together on. She was constantly apologizing, but he didn't care. Jensen hardly had a preference of beds. After attempting various positions, they ended up in the obvious one where they laid side-by-side on their back at least for the time being looking up to the barren ceiling.

"It's been awhile," Aster said quietly, "Since I've spent much time here."

"Well, you always kept saying it was boring and there's nothing to do."

"That's 'cus it is boring with nothing to do. Your place is way cooler. You could get lost in there. I can't imagine living like that."

"This seems nice too. Everything's closer. You know where things are. It feels…a little safer."

Aster chortled at this. "I guess, but there's a lot more random people around. I've never met our neighbors before."

"Hm, maybe they like keeping to themselves."

"Everyone likes keeping to themselves."

They were quiet for a while as they had no more to say to one another. Aster was already yawning which in turn caused him to do the same eventually. There was a bright streetlight just outside the closed blinded window that his eyes kept drifting to. He should have been annoyed, but he didn't have the energy for that sort of thing. It was just an oddity. His room had always been completely dark at night. Here, in the midst of the city, things still felt alive. He could still hear passing cars. It was quiet enough, though, for anyone truly tired enough to fall asleep.

"Aster?" Jensen said quietly.

When she didn't respond, he knew she'd already turned in. Must have been nice. But he was restless as he stretched out a little more on the bed. He couldn't move too much or else he might disturb her. He had to listen closely to hear the soft whispers of her breath as she slipped further into slumber. He wondered if she'd be so keen on manipulating minds, if it was done to her. She would have been an easy target, a prime target actually. He knew how her mind worked so well that he could better understand how changes to her thoughts would affect her emotionally. Of course, he could never bring himself to do it, but it was always a habit of his to forever lose himself in what-if scenarios. What would he change about her? He couldn't think of anything at the moment. Maybe there was nothing to change. Anything that would take away from her passionate nature would be a literal crime. When she really cared about someone, she would go to extreme means to make sure they were always safe and always happy. Sometimes it could be smothering, but in the case of her father, it was a little inappropriate. It wasn't like he was the injured lamb she'd made him out to be. He was far from that, but she simply couldn't see that for herself.

After staring at the ceiling for a while, he climbed out of bed and quietly made his way down the hall towards the door of Auden's room. Even without fully opening the door, he could still hear that they were definitely asleep. When he stepped him, he noticed they'd changed positions again—turned toward each other. He'd come up with something that he felt comfortable engaging with that didn't include actively sabotaging a relationship. There was an underlying issue that Jensen felt Aster was more concerned about and her calls for kicking the woman out was just a means to an end.

When he felt he was close enough, he closed his eyes so that he might parse through the thoughts of someone who would otherwise be impenetrable were they fully conscious. He wasn't altogether sure if anything was happening since he still found himself surrounded by darkness. He stepped forward a little and felt that the ground beneath his feet sounded a little different than the carpet he'd been standing on before.

"I wouldn't go any further if I were you," said the very familiar voice of Auden. "You might fall."

He didn't seem particularly concerned about that. Jensen sensed an overall disinterest in his tone. In any case, he'd successfully entered his dreams. Manipulating thoughts were more straightforward than this method, but it was the only avenue left to him at the moment. For Chi-Chi, there were plenty of people who still cared about her and might retaliate if anything went wrong. With Auden, there was far less risk associated.

"Thanks," Jensen said turning towards the voice. He couldn't see anything though. Jensen stepped back a little, but it was a little disconcerting considering that he couldn't see his own feet. "Are you busy right now?" he asked as the silence drew out and became more pronounced.

"Not really," he answered simply. "I was waiting for something, but I can't remember what that was."

"Maybe it wasn't anything important," Jensen replied, already seeing an opening. "Maybe you were waiting for me."

"Maybe. Maybe not."

"I wanted to talk to you about Chi-Chi."

Jensen waited for a response, but Auden was strangely quiet.

"I think you should be careful around her. You should protect yourself against any potential downfalls."

There was more silence and Jensen was beginning to feel a little apprehensive. Was he still there or was he talking to the air? "Auden?"

"I've heard that voice before," Auden said distantly. "I can't seem to place it."

Jensen moved closer to where he was hearing the voice in hopes of seeing something in an environment that seemed entirely featureless. "It's not really important. I just wanted to warn you. Your daughter is very worried about you."

"Of course she is," he said back wearily. "I can't even pee the wrong way without her losing her mind."

"That's…just her way," Jensen said resisting the urge to laugh. He was trying to maintain a somber mood so that he could be perceived as someone to actually listen to.

"She's seen me at my lowest—it must have really bothered her how easily and how completely I could give up on everything. Sometimes it's easier not to fight at all. You realize how overwhelmingly hopeless it all is. You find yourself falling with nothing to grasp onto. It becomes inescapable. Why must so many of us fight and struggle for so long just to achieve some modicum of happiness? Why is it so important that we do? And why must there be someone who cares that a person has decided that it simply isn't worth it any longer?"

"Auden…" Jensen said slowly wondering over all the rhetorical questions. He couldn't think of an easy answer. It was true. Happiness was often so fleeting that perhaps, if it was our goal, it wasn't worth so much suffering to achieve. "Sometimes I wonder the same thing." It was people like Aster who insisted that it was worth it without question, without ever spending much time figuring out why that was the case. Perhaps that was one of the reasons he spent so much time around her—so that he could keep fighting no matter how hopeless things become.

"We can't predict what might happen from day to day, but living inside of a bubble or hiding somewhere in a cave never to see the light of day, is not living at all, it's simply waiting until the inevitable end. I understand her worry, but I'm willing to take that risk. I think it's necessary for my continued sanity. I hope one day she could respect that and not blame herself if something happens to go wrong. She cannot control the world around her to suit her tastes. Attempting to do so will eventually bring her more misery than one person could possibly handle. People make their own choices—she must accept them."

"I hope she understands that as well," Jensen said after a moment. He'd never heard such sentiments articulated quite so clearly. He doubted he could relay the same words in the same way to Aster. Not that it would matter. Aster would always be Aster no matter how much he tried to tell her to stop worrying over things that can't really be controlled.

On that note, Jensen decided that it was probably a good idea to leave. He'd planted Aster's warning—that was as much "manipulation" he was willing to do. It wouldn't be something Auden could easily forget or pass over as trivial. But even with that, Jensen wondered if he was doing too much. Auden seemed to have come to his decision in a rational way—it was hard to argue with his reasoning. It wasn't as if he was being rash or didn't know about Aster's worry; Auden felt it was something he had to do regardless.

"What would happen if you fell down into that abyss?"

Auden's voice was much closer now and when Jensen turned back, he could make out a figure in the darkness. For some reason, that caused him to involuntarily shiver. He tried to leave, but he realized that he was being forced to stay. Jensen was sure Auden had no idea what he was doing, but at this point he was exerting his will over his presence—it was not something Jensen could fight against since whoever mind he was inhabiting would always have the advantage. Doubly so if it was someone who had natural immunity against him.

"I don't know," Jensen said managing to keep the fear out of his voice.

"Would you like to experience it for yourself?"

"N-No, sir," Jensen squeaked suddenly feeling quite small.

"That's too bad. I want to see it."

He felt himself being pushed back to that place he'd been warned earlier not to go. "Please!"

"It's all just a dream, isn't it? Don't worry so much."

"But—please, you don't understand—

He felt himself thrown into the air and he heard himself screaming involuntarily. Below him was a darkness even deeper than the one he'd been occupying. He'd fell down something like this before—it seemed as if everyone had at some point within their own dreams, but doing so in someone else's dream felt far more frightening and endless. While he was falling, he felt his heart beating a mile a minute and he could barely breathe. He had to summon all of his concentration to bring himself back to his own body finally free of Auden's overwhelming presence.

When he could open his own eyes, he felt himself grasping for breath as he fell to the ground—he was making too much noise. He paused in pure fear when he heard more rustling than usual upon the bed. It took his eyes a moment to readjust to the natural darkness, but when he did, he realized that Auden was looking directly at him—he'd already sat up completely. Jensen's breath caught in his throat hoping the man's terrible eyesight wasn't actually making him out.

"What are you doing here?" Auden finally said with sleep still in his voice, breaking the tense silence. "You know I can see you, right?"

"Oh, um—"

"Aster put you up to this?"

All Jensen could do was nod though he instantly hated himself for ratting her out so easily. If he hadn't mentioned her and used her as a shield to his potential wrath, things might've gone worse.

"Whatever it is you're planning on doing, I guarantee it's not a good idea."

"Y-Yes, sir."

"Now—get out of my room," he growled.

Jensen was scrambling, almost tripping over himself to get to the entrance.

"And close the door on your way out," Auden called out though not too loudly as to disturb Chi-Chi.

Jensen obediently closed the door making sure not to slam it and then ran off to Aster's room. He wondered if he shouldn't just leave altogether, but that would end up leaving the front door unlocked and either having to wake up Aster or bothering Auden more to lock it behind him. He hid in Aster's room while on full alert, sitting on the floor near the bed. Then after long tense minutes passed and nothing further occurred, he climbed back into bed careful not to wake Aster. She was a deep sleeper in the first place, but it never hurt to be cautious.

Eventually, he was back to staring up at the ceiling unable to calm his racing mind. After sighing in boredom for the third time, he thought he might pour himself a glass of ice-cold water. It was something Bunny would do for him whenever she found him somewhere still up late into the night. He wondered if she ever slept. He walked as quietly as he could out of the room once again and down the short hall that led directly to the living room that was attached to the dining room. He was not expecting there to be someone else occupying the living room already. When he heard movement there on the couch, his heart skipped a beat.

Jensen stood still as if he were a thief in the night who had just been caught red handed. Was it Auden? Why hadn't he heard anyone pass down the hall if that was the case? He took a tentative step back hoping to slink away without being noticed.

"Jensen," came Auden's steady voice. "Get over here and sit down—with all your creeping around."

He was caught and there was no use in trying to hide now. With slumped shoulders, he shambled into the living room and sat on the couch cattycornered to the one Auden happened to be sitting in. It was still quite dark, and he couldn't see him very well. It reminded him eerily of the dream. When Jensen heard the soft ting of ice hitting glass as Auden lifted a glass to place to his lips, he thought only of the glass of water he'd failed at getting himself. Now it seemed his failure would be thoroughly rubbed into his face.

"I would turn the light on, but I hate turning them on so late," he said wearily.

Jensen was wondering when he was going to begin drilling him with a million questions. He sat ramrod straight in the chair only glancing Auden's way and staring at the closed blinds directly ahead of him across the room—it gave him the illusion of safety. The silence was drawn out a while as he listened to the other leisurely taking down whatever was in that glass. He felt the man's eyes on him the entire time and he was growing more and more anxious by the minute.

"Nothing to say for yourself, huh?" Auden asked.

Jensen wanted to say something but he didn't want to dig an even bigger hole, so he remained quiet. He heard Auden chuckle at this. This man was in full control of the situation. He couldn't possibly be the vulnerable lamb that Aster was always making him out to be.

"Don't want to say anything incriminating. That's fine. I don't really care whatever it is you were doing before. Since I have your undivided attention, though, I'd like to thank you for ruining my perfectly restful night that featured no nightmares or the usual restlessness. If you desperately wanted to get on my good side, that was the perfect way to do it."

Aster claimed that her father had issues expressing emotions. Maybe she was just really bad at recognizing them. Jensen could clearly read the irritation off his tone alone. "I'm sorry." He said finally.

"Right," Auden said brushing him off easily. Jensen heard as the other took another long draft from the glass—he hoped it was water and nothing else…stronger. "I'm worried about Aster." He let the sentence hang in the air a bit before continuing. "I can't seem to stop worrying about her and I'm not sure why. I thought…Well, it took me a long time to allow her some space and independence. I always needed her to do exactly as I wanted at precisely the right time. To relinquish that sort of control over her life was one of the most difficult things I'd ever done—to trust that she could take of herself without me. Yet here I am back to square one. Back to being overly concerned about what she's doing every second of the day. I can't ignore it."

Jensen's eyes widened when he realized what he was getting at. That suggestion he had given him: to be careful around Chi-Chi and to protect himself. That had been the main point, but what if it was irrelevant? Suggesting someone to do something that they already do wouldn't do much to change someone's behavior. He'd mentioned that Aster was worried about him. Somehow the message had been changed to him worrying about Aster. There was no exact way to interpret his own abilities and there was always some level of uncertainty when dealing with dreams or just thoughts in general. It was one of the big reasons why he often hesitated to use them in the first place. They could have unintended results. He'd long suspected that his powers dealt more with intentions rather than the exact words used. Perhaps, Aster simply wanted the attention that was presently being taken by Chi-Chi. She didn't want to see her father in a relationship because then she wouldn't be the center of his universe anymore. Maybe that was the true message all along and he'd passed on her intentions onto him unwittingly.

"You're around her almost all the time, aren't you?" Auden asked.

"Y-Yes," he stammered. The guilt was already starting to trip him up. Not to mention that he had no idea that this used to be such a huge problem in the past and he was just ripping open old wounds or worse directly responsible for tearing down someone who'd worked hard to improve themselves.

"I want you to—no I need you to keep me updated on her whereabouts throughout the day."

Jensen's eyebrows furrowed at the impossibility. "You want me to call—

"I want you to text me—isn't that what kids do these days? Just text me every hour."

"Every hour?" Jensen asked taken aback.

"And don't tell Aster about it. This is just between me and you."

Jensen stared at him with disbelief wondering if he was being serious. "Sir, you're…" He paused before he finished because he didn't want to piss him off even more, but it had to be said. "Crazy." He meant for that to come out with more teeth, but it was more of a whisper than anything else.

"I've heard that before," Auden replied unperturbed. "You'll do that for me, won't you?"

He sounded so matter-of-factly, that it seemed like a done deal already. He really had no choice but to agree, but he couldn't bring himself to do it. It sounded too outlandish and he didn't want to just lie about it just to get him off his back.

"If you don't," Auden began when Jensen was quiet for too long, "You won't like the consequences. It's very easy for me to ruin people's lives and with you being a Brief—I'm sure you have a lot to lose whether you realize it or not. If you depend on technology in any way, it can be turned against you…very discreetly and very anonymously."

Jensen gulped involuntarily. Was this a threat? Should he take this seriously? Auden really hadn't given him a reason to think that he wouldn't go to such extreme measures just to make a point. Soft and vulnerable indeed, Jensen thought to himself grimly. "Don't worry, it's not a problem—I'll keep you updated," he replied hoarsely.

"Good. As long as you make an honest effort, you have nothing to worry about."

Jensen let out a sigh of relief, however, he didn't feel very relieved afterwards. Besides, he was still being keenly observed by Auden. He could make out the fact that he still didn't have on his eyeglasses—how well could he possibly be seeing him? There was another stretch of silence and the tenseness in his muscles wouldn't let up. He simply couldn't relax in the chair—a far cry from how Auden sat with legs splayed open, taking up almost half the couch. Jensen noticed after a while that he could no longer feel the other's gaze. He was looking elsewhere.

"Ugh, my head—this is a wonderful start for a Wednesday," Auden rumbled almost inaudibly.

"I could get you some aspirin," Jensen volunteered automatically.

"Oh, really?" he said with suspicion heavy in his tone. "How nice. It's in the—

"Bathroom in the cabinet," Jensen said quickly as he stood up. "I know."

"Great."

Jensen escaped the hellhole known as the living room at nearly breakneck speed just so he could recover a modicum of sanity. Even Vegeta wasn't that weird. Something told him, though, that he probably shouldn't test this theory out with Vegeta…He found the cabinet easily enough and pulled out the chosen drug for this early morning rendezvous. He noticed quickly that the cabinet was looking a lot more sparse than usual and held mostly over-the-counter medicine like NyQuil and Ibuprofen. He didn't really have time to dwell on the irregularities fearing that Auden might have some issue with him taking too long to get back.

He was still as quiet as possible, gently setting the bottle on the table and lightly sitting down on the couch so that he wouldn't convey anything that could be misconstrued as agitation. He heard as the pills were taken quite expertly considering it was so dark. Then another stretch of silence ensued. Jensen still wasn't brave enough to simply get up and leave. Something told him that he'd better not do that right now. He was still on trial.

"So what brings you here, Jensen? I heard the Briefs had quite a spacious abode—empty rooms as far as the eyes can see."

Jensen was already desperately trying to figure out an acceptable response to this. He wondered why he didn't have one readily available since it was an obvious one to ask.

"Is it too personal?" Auden questioned further.

"N-No, it's just better here. Right now."

"Better?" he said with a laugh. "Right. Must be some trouble in paradise. Are you running away from home?"

"It's not that," Jensen said immediately. He knew he was going to keep badgering him until he gave something more substantial. "It's just—I don't like the current residents there."

"Hmm, family problems?"

"Ah…yes."

"And what is distancing yourself from the problem going to do for you in the long run?"

Jensen finally turned to look at Auden, tiring of all the questions. "It'll keep me from doing something I'll regret later." His hands hand unconsciously balled up into fists.

"Do you hate your entire family?"

"No, of course not!" he said a little too loudly. "It's not like that. It's just one person. One person just gets under my skin no matter what she does."

"A 'she'," he noted and then took down the rest of the contents in the glass. "I see. You needed some time to cool off. Well, don't take too long 'cooling off'. Time is too short for petty quarrels."

"It's not petty," Jensen argued back. "That woman is the reason my dad is dead. She took advantage of his kindness and weakened him until his body gave out altogether. And now she's decided to come back home, and we're supposed to welcome her back with open arms. Well, I cannot. Leave it up to my family to have enough clout to hide the fact that my dad's death wasn't suicide."

"Not suicide?" Auden asked mildly interested. "Are you going to tell me that everyone has it wrong?"

Jensen wondered if he should be so candid in front of someone he wasn't completely familiar with, but it was too late and he was already on a roll. To be honest, he wanted to tell the whole world. He'd been sworn to secrecy by Bulma and she could be scary too. But this was Auden, the guy who'd helped Bulma with finding the dragon balls in the first place and he couldn't be pushed around so easily. He seemed discerning enough to keep that information to himself.

"It definitely wasn't suicide. Someone administered a deadly combination of drugs to him that led directly to his death and he was already compromised as it is because he was dealing with chronic heart issues."

"Hm, and what does 'that woman' have to do with this?"

"She's the reason he was compromised in the first place. She's the reason he had to deal with all those side effects. She's the reason he couldn't simply just keep taking the medication the doctor prescribed to him in the first place because she threw them away exacerbating the issues he already had leading him to take much harder drugs to deal with his insomnia. Maybe you don't know what that feels like, not ever being able to truly rest. It makes everything else so much harder to deal with. It makes you delirious. And you start making stupid decisions because you're desperate enough to try anything that might ease the symptoms. And he died because of it. At every turn, she was there to make things worse. Never once did she take it seriously that he was only human and that needing proper care wasn't inherently bad or showing weakness."

"A shrewd lawyer could make her partially responsible for his death, but it would be a difficult case to prove. There's the glaring reality that your father was complicit in all of it. He was never forced to do anything. If anything, it sounds like he was guilty for putting his trust in someone who ultimately didn't have his best interest at heart. It happens to the best of us."

Jensen looked away when he said this. "Yeah, I know my father was being stupid, but…"

"From the outside it might look like that. It depends on what someone holds most important to them—their own wellbeing or the wellbeing of others. The legacy he might leave behind, the happiness of his family, his reputation. It's not always so easy breaking ties with someone despite the obvious signs of toxicity. For just a moment a bliss, you'll find that most people are willing to sacrifice quite a bit."

"You're…probably right."

"We're both just speculating, but you know him better than I ever will. You'll have to decide for yourself what you want to believe."

Hearing such reasoning brought the situation into a different perspective, but Bra still had a role in it all. That was still something he couldn't forgive. At the same time, he'd told his father that he shouldn't trust her, but his father had made his own decision on the matter. He was still…Jensen didn't want to even think the words out loud. Pinning the responsibility squarely on Bra's shoulder wasn't completely fair though that didn't stop him from doing it.

"Leave it up to the Briefs to hide the full truth from the general public. The amount of control they have over the information people have access to is pretty unnerving. I'm sure CC has more than a few skeletons in the closet."

"It's to keep the peace," Jensen said after a few moments. "That's what Bulma says anyway."

"Bulma says a lot of things in the guise of altruism. I'm not sure she even knows what the word means."

Jensen snorted at this and wondered how true that statement was.

"Why don't you head off to bed before you divulge any more confidential information."

The trial must have been over. Had he passed his evaluation? He hadn't meant to talk so much but it was better than having Auden suspicious of him—that might be far worse than the alternative. "You won't…tell anyone, right?"

Auden chuckled at this. "It would be in my best interest not to. Besides, you make for a very unreliable source."

"Well," Jensen began satisfied with his answer. He stood up from the sofa stretching out his muscles that were just beginning to scream under such unrelenting tension. "Good night then."

He left before Auden could change his mind. He'd wanted a glass of water, but now he just wanted to go to bed, tired out by the entire exercise. At least he'd become a bit more acquainted with Aster's father. He was just as crazy as he thought. Could a mere suggestion really set him off this far? Texting him every hour? Overbearing didn't even begin to describe it. He wasn't supposed to tell Aster, but how was he going to keep that a secret? And how serious was Auden's threat?

He crawled into bed and didn't find it too difficult drifting off.

Chi-Chi awoke to an empty bed beside her. Auden wasn't generally the early riser and that was only ever the case when he had a difficult night. She'd thought after his doctor significantly lessened the medication, he would have less side effects to deal with. That didn't seem to be the case today. For a while though, everything had been perfect. Maybe too perfect. It always made her nervous when that was case. She was always waiting for the next obstacle that would take her down from her high. Besides, she wasn't even sure if she deserved any of this. Wasn't he too nice? Wasn't he too willing to provide for her? What was he expecting in return? With a yawn, she climbed out of bed and commenced her morning hygiene routine, finishing within twenty minutes. She'd even changed clothes by the time she made it down the hallway and into the dining room. Immediately, she could hear the sounds of cooking coming from the kitchen. Exactly how long had he already been up?

Breakfast in the morning smelled wonderful, doubly so if she wasn't involved with making it. She was already in a brighter mood. Being catered to was something she still wasn't used to, but she was certainly becoming a huge fan of it. Now being in her husband's usual position, she could understand why he loved it when she pampered him with food. She closed her eyes listening to the familiar sounds of meat sizzling in a hot pan. She knew that he was finished when she could hear the swishing and scrubbing sounds of someone quickly cleaning out the pan that was just used and the stovetop being wiped down as well. She was in heaven. She was being spoiled to death.

"Good morning," he said, clearly not put off by the fact that she was sitting there waiting.

He wasn't wearing his eyeglasses and it was still something she had to get used to. After coming home late yesterday, Auden told her that following the vision test, it was decided that he no longer required corrective lens. No one knew why that was the case. In fact, the doctor was so flabbergasted that he took several tests just to make sure the first one wasn't a fluke. Despite there being no explanation, they had to follow the data. He was also told to come back in once a week to see if any changes occurred just to be sure there weren't any underlying issues at play.

Now she could see those royal blue eyes of his sparkling with pleasure without any obstruction. She hoped her poor heart would be able to cope…

"Good morning," she replied with a smile as he sat the plate down in front of her with utensils already placed on it. "Oh, wow, this looks even better than last time," she pointed out. The crepes looked absolutely amazing with the swizzled chocolate syrup on top and a dollop of whipped cream.

"Well, I was a lot more careful and I had someone special in mind."

And there was that ridiculous blushing again that she really had no control over at this point. She was hoping he wouldn't comment on it and make it worse. She tried out the scrambled eggs first—not overcooked, bright, yellow and fluffy, seasoned with a pinch of sea salt and pepper. They were superb. It was almost too much. It almost didn't seem real. "You're up really early," Chi-Chi noted.

He was fully dressed as well and they had plenty of time before he had to be at work. "It wasn't a great night," he admitted without her having to drag it out of him. "I was already up so I might as well make the best of it."

"Nightmares again?"

"Not that exactly. Did you know Jensen was here?" he asked seemingly changing the subject.

"No," she said with furrowed eyebrows. "The boy from before?"

"Aster's 'friend' who happens to be a boy. Must have came in really late."

"Wait, by himself?" Chi-Chi asked confused.

"No, I'm sure Aster must have invited him. But, looks like they're both crashing here today."

"Well, that's news to me. Maybe I should make something for them then," she said thoughtfully.

"I wouldn't bother. I'm sure they can take care of themselves."

She looked at him with a grin, but then continued on her delightful plate of food. That was when she heard him yawn though he politely covered it with a hand. "You sure you're going to be alright today?"

"I'm sure I'll be fine," he said unconcerned. "You just make sure to tire me out later on today like you always do."

"That suspiciously sounds like you're looking forward to it. Maybe I'll throw in something a little extra this time."

"Maybe I've said too much," he said this time with actual worry in his voice.

Chi-Chi giggled at this. "You'll have to see. By the way, is it okay if I go with you to work again?"

"I was hoping you'd ask that."

"After spending yesterday with nothing to do, suddenly spending time in that recreational area doesn't seem so horrible."

"Then it left a good impression on you?"

"There's a lot to do there," she said with nod, "And it would be nice to talk to more people. It's just…"

Auden looked up when she let the sentence hang for a while.

"Being treated like royalty will be something to get used to."

"What do you mean?" he asked curiously.

"Oh, nevermind. Let's just say you've left a good impression on everyone and you have far more admirers than you realize."

"As long as you're being treated well, that's good enough for me."

Chi-Chi wasn't sure if he understood what she was getting at, but she left it at that. While he wasn't completely ignorant to the culture at work, she wondered how well he knew his own reputation and how widespread it was. She wondered if he'd believe her if she tried to explain.

They finished breakfast quickly and left his apartment for good all before Aster and Jensen even began to stir. They'd be out for the rest of the day and Chi-Chi was ready for another action-packed day.

The day flew by quickly. Chi-Chi swam, rollerbladed, played pool and card games, and tried her hand at archery. Auden joined her at least for part of it much to everyone's delight including herself. He apparently didn't have to spend every waking minute in the office and lab. He could take breaks if he wanted to at his discretion being the director. Chi-Chi knew that it must have been good all-around for morale as she saw the swift change from the relaxed atmosphere of the recreational area to an energetic buzz once the news spread rapidly that Auden was around. Surely he must have noticed, but she wasn't entirely sure.

Maybe he really did want to be tired out today or he just had an extra burst of energy. Whatever the case, Chi-Chi was glad to see it. She couldn't be entirely certain, but she thought she saw his phone out much more often than usual. He was at work after all, so she didn't think much of it. She was only able to gather part of his attention at lunch and that alarmed her the most. Something didn't seem right. Was his job so important that he needed to keep checking his phone for updates over and over again?

By the time Chi-Chi was strolling towards Auden again at the end of the workday, his face was already in his phone.

"After getting such a miraculous prognosis for the optometrist, you just can't wait to ruin your eyes again with all that direct light." He didn't respond as she watched him tapping rapidly on the screen likely replying to some correspondence. "Auden?" she said this time drawing his glance.

"Huh? Ah, yes," he replied slipping the phone back into his pocket. "We should get going."

"You have no idea what I just said, do you?" she said as she walked easily beside him despite his somewhat rapid pace.

He looked at her a little confused, but she didn't press the issue. Clearly there had been something else on his mind. Once they made it to the car, Chi-Chi found herself waiting almost ten minutes before he even placed the keys into the ignition, and she was wondering if she shouldn't drive herself since he seemed so distracted.

"Auden? Are we going anywhere, anytime soon?"

"Right…" Auden said barely responding to her words as he finally pulled himself away from his phone which had apparently become the most fascinating thing in the world. "To that park, right?" he asked after another long moment.

"Yeah," Chi-Chi said drawing out the word looking at him with a raised eyebrow.

At the very least, he started the car. Chi-Chi had a mind to grab the phone and chuck it out the window, but she resisted the urge. He probably wouldn't like that. He might even be overly horrified as if she stepped on a puppy—Chi-Chi wouldn't put it past him. In fact, the air was a little tense as she imagined herself throwing phones out windows and Auden not really engaging her in conversation the entire way to the usual park. Or maybe she was reading too far into things. Maybe she was too eager to sabotage something that seemed too good to be true. Maybe there was some legitimate reason why his phone seemed so important today. She tried to convince herself of these things, but she quickly grew annoyed when his phone was out after barely taking a few steps out of the car and they were making their way to their usual spot. No time for idle chatting it seemed.

Once they made it there and he still hadn't looked up, she could no longer resist the urge to do what she did next. Without any further warning, she stalked over and snatched the treacherous phone out of his hand—that got his attention quickly enough.

"Hey!" he shouted surprised. In pure reaction, he tried to reach for it again, but she was much too quick for his poor reflexes. He stopped attempting to take it back after the second time sensing that it was useless. He looked at her as if she'd just lost her mind.

"Tell me what's so fascinating on this phone today," she demanded with a frown.

His expression soon became weary as he opted instead to sit down on the nearby bench. "Let me show you."

Chi-Chi stood still for a moment watching and then decided that they wouldn't get anywhere like this. At the moment, he was looking distantly at the sprawling lawn—his thoughts seemingly on some other topic altogether. She decided to join him on the bench and grudgingly handed him the phone back. This time she watched the bright screen as he made sure she could clearly see what he was doing. It was still difficult to follow as a confusing jumble of screens flashed by with mere flicks of his thumb to eventually reveal a screen of text boxes. He scrolled to the top and then handed it to her again.

She looked at him confused. "What is this?"

"Messages," he said, still holding it out to her. "The first one is from Jensen." He indicated where that very name showed up under an image on the side. After she didn't take the phone up in her hand preferring for him to guide her, he took it fully into his grasp again. "I replied in the next one and so on and so forth."

"So the green boxes are you and the black boxes is Jensen?"

"Correct."

It started to make more sense and she was aware that he was being quite patient with her. She knew she must have been asking stupid questions, but he seemed unconcerned about that. He wanted her to understand.

"This…" she said as she began to read the messages and her eyebrows began to furrow. She was reading a long series of rather intrusive questions about Aster and what she was doing over and over again like a broken record. She wasn't sure if this was normal—maybe it was something people did these days—but she knew that it didn't sit well with her. "Geez, Auden...All day?" It took her a moment to notice the timestamps and quickly answered her own question.

"Yes."

Chi-Chi took a deep breath trying to figure out what she should say to this. "Is it something you do all the time?"

"Not in a long time. Today, all of a sudden, I had an inescapable need to know where she was at all points of the day. It was difficult for me to focus on anything else. I really don't know any other way to explain it."

"Okay," she said looking at him trying to see if there was anything else there to glean from his expression. "We should try to get to the bottom of this. Having distractions like this isn't good for anyone. Not to mention I'm sure this Jensen probably doesn't want to respond to your messages all day."

"Probably."

"So let's do some meditation again."

"The one that leads to wanton destruction of public property?"

"It won't be like that this time because you're already aware of your own ki, right? We have a different goal in mind."

She had no idea if this would work. She wondered if this was just another quirk of Auden's personality. After all, she didn't know him that well. While she was used to dealing with men with strange behaviors, Auden was quickly taking the cake.

Eventually, they were sitting down on the grassy lawn with crossed legs. She started asking him a series of questions just like last time but easy ones so that he could become more relaxed—he seemed a bit tense.

"So, how do you feel about Aster?" she asked finally drawing nearer to the question she wanted to ask.

"She's my responsibility. Despite the circumstances of her birth, I wanted to make sure she didn't have to struggle all her life based on things she had no control over."

"What were the circumstances of her birth?" Chi-Chi asked wondering if that had anything to do with anything.

"It's…not important right now. At some point, I was able to adopt her and after doing so I knew that I wanted to provide the best life possible for her."

"You adopted her?" It was something a little unexpected. She'd assumed Aster was a daughter from another marriage.

"I wasn't always a fit parent, but she was part of the reason why I wanted to be in the first place."

"I see," Chi-Chi said sensing that grilling him on this point probably wouldn't be productive. He seemed somewhat evasive. "And that's why you care so much about her because it wasn't so easy bringing her into your life. Why must you always know where she is?"

"I don't know," he admitted.

"You have to dig deeper than that. Why is it you don't know?"

"I…" He paused as he gave this further thought. "Because I don't understand the origin of that need. I can't…figure out why it's so different today. It seems to have come out of nowhere."

"It had to come from somewhere."

"It feels as if it was something placed there."

"Do you honestly want to know about Aster's whereabouts?"

"I don't care where she is right now. She's a fully functioning adult who is capable of making her own decisions. If she wants to tell me, that's fine. If she doesn't, that's fine as well."

Chi-Chi was taken aback by this response. Was he lying right now? She certainly couldn't tell from his voice alone. "If that's the case, then why all the messages today?"

"I don't know. I realize that that doesn't make much sense. I'm sorry."

"No—it's fine," she said reflexively even though she was thoroughly confused. "So walk me through this. If you don't really care what she's doing right now, then there's no reason to find that out from Jensen."

"Yes, you're right," he said softly as if this fact was not obviously. "You're right," he repeated with more confidence.

"Then…" Chi-Chi began struggling to find her next words. It was then that she felt his eyes on her—he must have opened them already.

"Chi-Chi, I think I'm fine now. Let's move on to what you had planned today."

"Wait, what?" she said caught off guard, opening her eyes now trying to see if she'd missed something. "Are you sure?"

"I'm very sure."

"Just like that? You better not be lying to me."

"No," he reassured her, "I'm not. This feeling—this intense feeling from before doesn't seem real anymore. I don't know why I hadn't noticed that before. It's not real and I know exactly how I feel about things. It's hard to explain."

Chi-Chi found herself staring longer than intended with a confused expression, but Auden returned her gaze with one that was steady and quite self-assured.

"I don't think we've gotten to the bottom of this, but I also think you're being completely forthcoming." She still couldn't find anything there in his expression or gaze no matter how hard she tried to see something.

"I wish I had a better explanation for you," he said standing up and then holding his hand out to her. "All I know is that it feels a lot better not agonizing over things I don't really care to know. It's plagued me all day."

Chi-Chi took up his hand and allowed him to pull her up. She supposed she didn't really need his help, but the sentiment was appreciated. "In that case, I'm glad to have been of help." The novelty was just then beginning to fade. He said he was fine. All she could do was take his word for it. "I have something special planned today, but first, stretches."

They went through a long set of stretches that were quickly becoming routine. In teaching Auden the proper way to exercise, she was reminding herself how to do it as well. Admittedly, she'd neglected doing stretches before jogging in the past. Doing so now showed her how effective they were in combating things like cramps and soreness later. She'd just been stubborn in the past, she supposed, and she wasn't trying to show off to anyone especially to herself. Pain was something she was intimately knowledgeable about. She didn't care if she experienced it, but she didn't want to be responsible for someone else sharing in it.

Auden was a great deal more energetic today. Not only had he joined her in extraneous activities at work, but he wasn't complaining nearly as much. He still wasn't as flexible as she wanted him to be, but he was definitely better than a couple days ago and not burnt out completely after doing just a few stretches. She showed him new forms to her traditional fighting technique which he once again took to instantly. Then she went back and had him recall all the other forms she'd taught. This time, to add a little spice to the session, she increased the sets and told him to move even faster than he was used to. He tried, at the very least, but she still ended up tiring him out, this time a little sooner than before. It was different though. He seemed to enjoy it. Auden was still painfully out of breath however, and sucked in the air greedily when she released him from today's torture. There was no doubt about it—he was improving ever so slightly.

"Up for a jog?" Chi-Chi teased to the red-faced Auden.

All he could manage was a few laughs.

"I'll be back in a little while then. Don't do anything stupid."

She didn't wait for a response as she started off in earnest. As she was jogging through the park that evening, she felt an extra burst of energy knowing that she was responsible for making someone stronger, making someone feel better. The evening was cooling off with the zephyr rustling the nearby leaves. By the time she decided to head back to the bench, the stars were already starting to peek out. He wasn't just dozing off this time, he was fully asleep. His head rested on his open palm with elbow perched on the metal armrest. It was as if he were modeling for a picture. Wasn't it dangerous to look that effortlessly handsome while being so enticingly vulnerable? At that moment, she wished she had a camera so that she could capture his grace and poise. She noticed how well-manicured his hands were, how the gentle breeze ruffled his blond locks, the minute movement of his chest as he breathed deeply in and out. It seemed a crime to disturb such serenity, but a bench wasn't the best place to rest.

As usual, just calling his name was enough to rouse him though it took a bit more time than usual for him to catch his bearing—he stretched and yawned. She'd definitely done her job today in pushing him to his limits just as he seemed to have requested that morning.

"C'mon, I'll drive this time."

"Alright," he said without protest as he tossed her the keys.

She didn't get many words out of him on the way back as he struggled to fight sleep for the few minutes it took to drive home—it was a good call that she'd driven this time. Once they were in the apartment, she had to stop him before he made a beeline to the back to settle down for the evening.

"Make sure you're back out here for dinner—you have to eat after a good work out, okay?"

He looked at her wearily. "Is it really that serious? It could just wait until next morning."

"No," Chi-Chi said stolidly. "It's important that you replenish yourself now or you'll make things a lot harder for yourself later."

"Guess I'll have to take your word for it," he said before making his way now to the hallway. "And please, Chi-Chi, don't make something new—we have way too much leftovers from before."

She sighed exasperatedly. "Fine! I'll heat up your precious leftovers."

That seemed to be enough to satisfy him as he continued his shuffle to bathroom. She supposed dinner would be even easier than she'd been anticipating since she couldn't convince him to just throw things away. It wasn't that leftovers were bad, but she still wasn't used to them. Sometimes, it felt like it was beneath her. Maybe they were losing a bit of the nutrition by constantly reheating food and who knew when any of this stuff would expire? It wasn't like they couldn't afford to use fresh ingredients each day, but Auden seemed strangely insistent about not wasting food. She'd have to be a bit more mindful of the servings if she didn't want to deal with frozen food too often. For now, she heated up the stove and turned on the microwave to bring her stew back to life.

Auden joined her a few minutes later having taken a quick shower and changed into his night clothes. Of course, he smelled ridiculously nice like fresh linen and lavender—his hair looked soft and bright in the overhead kitchen light. Chi-Chi could imagine his hair feeling like the fur of a cat though she was quite aware that he definitely did not want to be petted like one. She'd given him a generous portion and he was barely able to finish it much to her amusement; she was once again dead wrong in what she thought his appetite might be, but she was starting to see somewhat of a pattern.

"Just checked the room out of curiosity—seems like our two troublemakers aren't here at the moment."

"They just come and go as they please, I guess."

Chi-Chi was more glad that she didn't have to deal with Aster once again that night. She wasn't afraid of her, but she didn't have the energy right now. Dealing with Pan's nosiness was more than enough. Why was it so hard for people to fathom that she didn't have to follow the same routine day after day in order to prove her sanity or her ability to make sound decisions? While this ease and comfort she was feeling was odd considering that she wasn't used to it, in theory she wasn't doing anything wrong. There was still some part of her that thought maybe she was indulging herself too much, but it wasn't loud enough to make her want to run away from it.

She was also glad to have Auden's full, undivided attention again without a phone getting in the way—her worst nightmare. There were times when she'd catch Gohan and Videl sharing dinner together with both of them completely preoccupied with their little handheld devices. If this was what technology was doing to relationships, then the future looked very bleak. For the most part, however, Auden seemed to pay her special attention despite how attached he was to his precious phone. She supposed she could work with that. Just as she was trying to ease him off his dependence on technology, he was constantly trying to increase her grasp on it. She wondered which one of them would win. Well, she was using a microwave of all things and she wasn't really against driving cars. She'd also successfully dragged him outside using the time he would have likely been somewhere else with a bright screen in his face.

Chi-Chi insisted that she would clean off the table that day so that he could be free to finally climb into bed. When she looked at his bowl after he left, she noticed that he hadn't actually eaten everything, but she discretely threw the rest of that way—hopefully he wouldn't actually have a problem with that. She was back in her familiar elements as she stepped into the kitchen for the final time that night to clean everything up and set things back in place.

He'd left the hallway light on so that she wouldn't be in utter darkness as she made her way back. She cleaned herself off quickly in the shower and finally joined him in the bed. By now she'd thought he'd surely be asleep, but it seemed he'd been waiting for her to join him because she could feel his eyes on her when she entered.

"Pretty eventful day, huh?" Chi-Chi said when he was silent for a while.

"Yeah, I hadn't really rollerbladed in ages. I'm surprised I didn't make a complete fool of myself out there."

"Even if you had, I'm sure they all would have still loved you."

"They never would have let me live it down if I'd fallen on my face," he said with a laugh.

"I hope you realize how popular you are at work. They kind of worship the ground you walk on."

He let her words hang in the air for awhile before replying. "I noticed that long ago. I'm not that blind. I'd just rather not dwell on it else it'd make me uneasy. I'm not used to being accepted by so many people."

"Uneasy? Most people would be excited in your shoes."

"Hm," Auden rumbled thoughtfully. "I'm supposed to be excited? Would you be were you in my shoes?"

"Well…" Chi-Chi thought for a moment, "Eventually I would be. Initially, I'd be all shy about it, but I'd get used to it."

"I don't think I'd ever get used to it. People are far too fickle. In a snap, it could all change. One bad move and suddenly you don't matter anymore."

"Always waiting for the worst to happen, huh? I'm the same way. I'm used to things going wrong so I'm always bracing myself."

He hummed his agreement when he couldn't be bothered to form words. Exhaustion was slowly taking over. She could no longer feel his eyes on her, likely closed already in the pitch darkness.

"Auden," she began quietly.

"Hm?" He exhaled deeply.

"I hope nothing bad happens to us," she said.

He was quiet for a while and, for a moment, she thought he'd gone to sleep, but then he broke the silence. "I love you," he murmured softly.

"What?" Chi-Chi said sharply.

Her sharp voice seemed to jostle him out of his sleepiness a little. "I love you, Chi-Chi," he said more clearly, but still quietly.

"D-Don't say that so…nonchalantly like that," she replied in a voice much louder than his.

"It's okay if you don't feel the same," he continued frustratingly relaxed, seemingly unaware of her growing panic. "I just thought I might let you know at some point."

"Auden, y-you can't just…" But she couldn't quite find the right words and he was already dropping off again as if nothing alarming had even transpired.

She sat up suddenly petrified, but his energy remained languid as he slipped further into slumber, his breathing slowly transforming into light snores utterly unperturbed. She watched him in disbelief wanting to wake him up again so that she could explain why he shouldn't have said that. Instead she leaned her head back on the backboard distressingly. Her heart was pounding a mile a minute and an undeniable warmth began to spread within her. Was it really that easy then? Could someone so easily fall in love with the likes of her? It didn't seem real. It didn't seem right. You don't deserve this. He's too nice. Go back home. That small voice in the back of her mind seemed more prominent. It was the pragmatic one she'd been ignoring for far too long. She climbed out of bed at this, but she turned back to gaze at his curled form, peacefully resting away the day's toil, abundantly comfortably under his downy comforters like an innocent kitten curled in their favorite nest. It was difficult to tear her gaze away, but she needed to leave. She needed to breathe.

She grabbed her clothes from the closet, quickly changed and ran out the door making sure to take the keys with her so that she could lock it. He'd made her a separate set of keys. It hadn't seemed that strange at the time—just another odd quirk of his—but now it made more sense.

"Auden, I promise I'll be back soon, but I have to go back home now. Forgive me, I'm taking your car."

It was a nice luxury car and after the first time she'd taken it for a spin, she enjoyed how smoothly it drove and how easily the automatic stick shift could be slid around. She needed to mend things with Gohan already and it was a nice excuse to go joyriding for a few hours. For some reason, without any real proof, she knew that Auden would understand—well, whenever she got around to explaining it to him. She couldn't bear to interrupt the little kitten in his natural habitat. Something told her that he enjoyed sleeping more than what he was letting on, it just so happened that he often had trouble overcoming restlessness.

Gohan would be up, she hoped. He often stayed up to ungodly hours of the night unable to pull himself away from his very important work. She took the pins out of her hair, rolled the windows down, and pressed down on the speed once she made it to the freeway. Eventually, she tapped on the radio and cranked up the volume marveling at how empty the streets were at night at this hour. She felt as if she was driving to a new dimension as dotted and solid lines sped by her.

The hours slipped by almost without her knowing. Once she was within city limits, she slowed down only marginally and made somewhat risky turns making her way into the neighborhood and finding the right mansion on the street. Ironically, she did not have a key to this house—perhaps that needed to change since she'd lived there for years now and was just as able to leave the house on her own than anyone else. She leaped out of the car feeling far too energetic for someone her age at this time of night, and sped off to the front door before knocking with moderate force. She didn't want to wake everyone, but whoever was still up would hear it. Gohan had impeccable hearing. While she waited, she tried futilely to brush down her windswept hair with her hands. Eventually, she just shook it out as her dark and gray tendrils fell freely down her shoulders. This would have to do.

"Mom!" Gohan said a little too loudly as soon as he cracked open the door a few minutes later.

Chi-Chi immediately found herself in a warm and strong embrace from her eldest son who buried his head into her chest—she couldn't help but reciprocate. "It's alright, honey," she began sympathetically, "I'm alive and well."

It took him a while, but he eventually had his fill and pulled back from her. "Mom, you look incredible. I'm sorry about what happened, but I'm glad you're back."

She stepped further into the house closing the door behind her. "Just for a little while."

"Where have you been?" Gohan asked walking over to the switch and turning the lights on in the foyer.

"I was at a friend's place in West City," Chi-Chi said not willing to go too far into it. "I really have to talk to you."

"Mom, I know, I'm sorry. I shouldn't have raised my voice at you. I don't know what I was thinking! I was really burnt out at the time and I just wasn't in the right mood. The research I've been doing…" He looked away at this. "The implications are looking bleaker and bleaker and CC isn't doing anything to make it better."

"That contamination you keep talking about?"

He nodded at her. "The more tests I run, the less accidental it all seems. Something very deliberate is going on and I have no way to pinpoint the source of it. My superiors still say it's better to keep things confidential, that the general population should not be made aware of anything just yet."

"Are you serious?" Chi-Chi said concerned. "I mean, do they have a good explanation as to why they're keeping everything hush-hush?"

"They're scared of the widespread panic and the fact that there's no way to counteract what has already come into contact with pretty much everyone globally. It would be difficult to maintain any sort of control once the cat's out of the bag. They keep telling me they're doing all they can to flush out the sources, but it keeps returning, it keeps propagating in more and more consumer products. I say 'it' but someone is doing this deliberately. That's the only way to explain all of this."

"And there's nothing we can do?"

Gohan shook his head. "The only silver lining is that I don't know how exactly it would affect humans. The real question is when will it start affecting them. That's why I need you here, Mom. It's the only way I can protect you. Not knowing where you were for days—You can't do that to me, right now. It's not safe anymore."

"You can't just keep me locked up here, Gohan. Even you said you don't know what's going to happen or when. In that case, it's like any other day then. We're all at some level of danger every time we wake up in the morning, son. By the way, I can protect myself just fine."

"Please," he said looking at her pleadingly, "This is not the time to suddenly run off on some escapade. I'm telling you it's not safe and I wouldn't say that unless I was absolutely sure. Please, Mom."

Chi-Chi crossed her arms. She noticed that he looked exhausted and it seemed as if he had lost some weight—perhaps he hadn't been eating right. If she wasn't here to drag him away from his work, apparently no one would. Videl could cook well enough, but she was always tepid about interrupting Gohan in his lab. "Damn it, Gohan, since when did you lose the ability to take care of yourself? Have I been babying you too much?"

"Mom!"

"No! You look like shit and you're making me feel guilty about something you should be taking care of. I don't care if the world is ending right now—you know better than that, Gohan! I raised you better than that!"

"Oh my god!" he said throwing his arms up in defeat. "I give up! If you want to leave, then just do that. Sorry if my caring for your wellbeing is somehow too much for you to understand!"

Chi-Chi laughed at this and his ensuing confused expression caused her to laugh even harder. It took her a moment to reign in her laughter as his expression grew more and more perplexed though it had softened as well. "We've been living together for too long. You've forgot that I'm more than just a mother and I forgot that you're not just a child anymore."

"Maybe you're onto something there," he said in less confrontational tones. "We're already down each other's throats again—and we don't even usually argue like that."

"I know you're worried about the future, but it sounds like you still have a lot of work to do. Knowing is half the battle, you know. We need to be able to counteract whatever is about to happen."

"I wish I had an estimate or some degree at to how deeply this might affect humanity as a whole, but I would be speculating right now. Someone on a large scale has systematically altered the DNA of every single human being on this planet and I don't know how that change might present itself in the population. There may not be a way to counteract anything. This may just be the new norm."

"Then, whatever's happened, has happened?" she asked for clarity.

He nodded.

"We'll just have to wait to see what comes of it then."

"Just for my peace of mind. I need to draw some blood from you. I've already done so with everyone else here."

"Alright," she said relenting. This seemed rather important. There was no sense in being reckless.

"And could you please, just for this night. Stay here while I run some tests?"

"Alright," she repeated wearily. "Just for this night."

Chi-Chi followed Gohan down into his lair. As she did so, she couldn't shake the foreboding fear building in her heart. If she was looking for something to go wrong, if she thought things were working out too perfectly, this news more than balanced things out again.

AN: This is probably a very convoluted chapter. I don't know where I was going with this and I was debating scrapping this altogether, but it has a little charm so here you go audience! Clearly, I'm always thinking of food while writing. There's way too many scenes of eating and talking! Oh well.