A Day at the Mall

Gohan's Morning

"I have to go, I'm late for work!" He kissed Videl goodbye in the kitchen and Pan as he passed the stairs. "Be good," he told his daughter.

"Tousan, I'm fourteen not four." He just gave her a look that made her sigh. "Fine. I'll be good."

Traffic was brutal at nine-fifteen a.m., so bad that he thought there had been an accident at first. Based on the fact that he was already behind schedule, he decided to use this time to get some work done.

"Shipping, Yokono speaking."

Gohan frowned at the static through the line and turned up the volume on his cell phone so that he could hear better. "Yoko, this is Gohan. I need those mainframes for Fujitaka Corp. shipped A.S.A.P!"

"Right away, Son-san!" Gohan could almost picture him saluting. "I promise they won't get shipped to Spain this time."

He winced as he remembered the incident. It had been a few years ago, right after he had gotten promoted to Director of Sales. A company in Tokyo ordered several hundred complete computer systems for its employees and the entire shipment ended up at a department store in Madrid. It took thirty minutes to clear the mistake up, twenty of which that had been spent searching for someone fluent in Spanish, and Yoko was embarrassed beyond belief.

"I know that they won't. The entire tenth floor glared at you for an entire week." They said their goodbyes and he disconnected the call just as traffic began to move again.

His office was all mirrored glass and gleaming steel, with highly polished marble tile gracing the lobby. He went over to the double set of golden elevators whose cars rose and fell within transparent glass tubes. When Gohan first began working there, watching the people become smaller and smaller had given him a case of vertigo each time he rode up to his floor.

He heard the ringing of the phone before he had even entered his office. "Hold on! I'm coming!" He dropped his briefcase on the desk and hit the speaker button. "Integrated Technology Systems Inc. sales department, Son Gohan speaking. How may I help you today?"

"Um, Gohan-sa?" a hesitant voice he eventually was able to identify as Videl, spoke. His stomach immediately knotted in worry. Videl never called him at work and he had never heard her sound so strange.

"Is something wrong? Is it you? Is it Pan?!" His voice took on a panicked tone.

She cleared her throat. "Hai and iie. Look, I need a pregnancy test. I'm so tied up at work that I can't get away to make the trip to the store."

There was a light knock at the door and he rolled his eyes in annoyance. "Hold on a second, sweetheart." To the unknown visitor he shouted, "Come in!" As the door opened, what his wife said suddenly made sense in his brain. "You need WHAT?!"

"Good morning, niichan. You have mail!" Goten chuckled as he laid one of the smaller boxes onto his brother's desk. "I've always wanted to say that."

Gohan didn't even notice him. "You need a pregnancy test? Are you going to have a baby, Videl?"

"Uh, iie. You see, this is where it becomes a little sticky..."

"Please just tell me, honey. I can deal with whatever it is."

"You have to promise not to get angry."

He sighed, knowing that it was something bad. "Okay, I promise."

There was a brief pause. "Pan asked for it."

Two mouths dropped open and two sets of eyes stared at the phone. "Holy shit!" Goten gasped.

Gohan's reaction was just a little bit different. He jumped up from his chair and all the color drained from his face. "I'm going to kill her!"

"Gohan, calm down!" This was spoken by both his brother and his wife. His ki was rising sharply and he was just shy of transforming into a Super Saiya-jin. Gohan took several deep breaths and slowly sat back down in his chair.

"When did she ask you?" he questioned in a lower tone of voice. Goten had planted himself in the visitor's chair on the other side of the desk. He had no intention on going anywhere.

"Around 9:35. I waited a while to call you because I knew that traffic was horrible this morning."

"Is she still at home?"

Videl snorted. "She left five minutes after you did and called me from the mall. If Pan had stayed home then you would have found her very easily. Promise me something else, okay Gohan-sa?"

He was starting to hate her promises. "What is it?"

"Please, for the love of Kami, don't murder our child."

***

Goten and Gohan took off for the mall at top speed. The entire time was spent trying to calm the elder Son child down. "Look, niichan, she consented to whatever happened. You know that no ningen can force Pan to do anything she doesn't want to do."

"She's only fourteen years old!" He shouted. "Pan's still a damn kid herself!"

"Kaasan was only a little older than she was, you know."

"Kaasan was married." He landed on the ground and transformed before Goten could even open his mouth again. Gohan stalked up to the entrance and went through the door, nearly ripping it from the frame. 'I can not believe she would complicate her life like this! How can she go to school with a baby to take care of?'

He could sense several strong kis in the immediate area. There was Pan, of course, but close by her he sensed Bra as well. 'That could complicate things.' Two other kis that were each stronger than the two girls' combined were also in the mall. 'Vegeta-san and tousan are here, too. They might try to stop me.'

"Gohan!" Goku shouted as he spotted him. The energy he emitted caused the air molecules to move frantically and a fierce wind picked up as a result of it. Ningen looked at him with expressions of fear and fascination, most choosing to get out of his way as fast as they could. Goku and Vegeta landed before him as he began to take steps forward. "What's wrong, son? Why are you so angry?"

Gohan merely ground his teeth together and searched for the ki of his daughter.

"Tousan! He's after Pan because there's reason to believe that's she's pregnant!" Goten ran up and grabbed his brother's arm. "Please, just calm down and try to think rationally about this."

"Despite everything that Videl and I have tried to teach her, she goes out and does something *this* stupid!" He yanked his arm away. "Let me go." What little energy he was able to pick up from her suddenly faded into nothing. "She knows that I'm here."

Vegeta rolled his eyes. "Everyone who's the least bit sensitive in a three mile radius knows that you're here. I wouldn't be freaking out about something like this. If Bra was going to have a kid, I wouldn't be this emotional about it."

He didn't respond. Flying off, he searched and wondered. How did his day get so bad so quickly?

-End of Gohan's Part-