How to Carry On

By Catherine D. Kobasiuk

Chapter 3: 2 weeks after the Gotens birth

Yamcha could hear the sound of the winter rain outside the cozy kitchen as he washed up the dishes from lunch. He splashed some dishwater onto the floor and frowned. I'll have to mop that up. I probably should just clean all the floors while I'm at it. If they get any messier Chichi might decide to start cleaning them while I'm not around.

The dark haired man finished washing the dishes and then began to dry them. Hearing a sound he looked at the outside door just as it opened up and admitted Gohan. The boy was wet but had a satisfied look on his face.

"Wow is it raining out!" Gohan remarked with a grin." I 'm glad I didn't have to put too much wood in the wood shed. It's a good thing I chopped most of it yesterday and stored it away otherwise it would all have gotten wet."

"Yep, and then it would take forever to dry up." Yamcha agreed while he dried the dishes.

"So do you need any help with the dishes, Yamcha?" Gohan asked. He was taking off his wet shoes to put in the corner to dry.

"Actually Gohan I'm almost done with the dishes. I was thinking that I would clean the floors and then run out to the market and get a few things that we need. Your mother made a list of the things she needed." Then the older man inquired," Do you need anything?"

"No, I don't need anything, why don't I go to the market while you do the floors?" Gohan suggested. "Or would you prefer the reverse?"

Yamcha grinned at his young friend." You haven't had much time for your studies in the last two weeks Gohan. I thought you might take the afternoon to hit the books. That way when your mother wakes up from her nap with the baby, you could show her what you have done. We know that would make her happy, right?"

Gohan looked at Yamcha. He then smiled broadly and flew across the room to embrace his friend. "Gosh Yamcha, you've been so much help since the baby was born. I don't know what we would have done without you. "

Yamcha smiled down at Gohan. " I'm not the only one to be helping out around here Gohan." Yamcha reminded him. " Your Grandfather has been here a lot and Krillan has been by and-"

Gohan interrupted, "Don't be silly Yamcha, you know you have been doing the lion's share around here even before the baby was born. Sure I wanted to help Mom out but you were the one who seemed to know what she needed more than I did." Gohan pulled a face. "How do you do that anyway?"

"Huh? I don't know.may be it's just life experience." Yamcha shrugged and separated himself from the hug.

Gohan looked thoughtful for a moment. "Is that like battle experience? You don't know what to do in a fight until you've been in a fight? So to know what to do in life you have to have lived?" He asked.

Yamcha laughed. "Could be. The only thing I have that you don't have Gohan is age, so that is my only explanation." He began getting the mop and bucket out of the cupboard so that he could start the floors. If I'm lucky the rain will have stopped by the time I'm ready to go out shopping. Yamcha thought.

"Well, It doesn't change the fact that you have been so much help, Yamcha. Even when Mom went into labor, you took her to the hospital and you stayed with her when the baby was born. Heck, you helped Mom and me pick a name too. Goten.Goten.it is so great." Insisted the boy. " Thanks Yamcha"

"No kiddo I should thank you." Yamcha shook his head. " I've just been around, you did the big job nine months ago" He was filling the bucket with water so he almost missed Gohan's reaction to that last remark.

"I.." Gohan faltered. His happy smile quickly turned to a painful frown.

Nuts, I shouldn't have mentioned that. Thought Yamcha " Hey , how about."

"It's ok Yamcha." Gohan interrupted again. He took a deep breath. "I shouldn't do that every time someone brings up Cell, I guess I did the best I could at the time. Piccolo says it is wasted energy to worry about thing you can't change."

Yamcha shut off the water. "Maybe he doesn't but the rest of us do it. It really hasn't been that long. Maybe in time it won't hurt so bad, you know?" Yamcha went back over to Gohan and put both his hands on his shoulders.

Gohan slipped his arms around the older mans waist and hugged him again." Thanks." He said.

The phone took that opportunity to ring.

"I'll get the phone, you start studying, ok, Gohan? Yamcha suggested as he walked over and picked up the phone.

"Moshi, Moshi, Son residence."

TBC

ME: I've never written an authors note but here I go.

To all my reviewers: Thanks for the encouragement. I need it.

Bucky: You're my hero girl. Thanks for seeing what I picture. (ps. Give me more Vegeta)

Crash: Hey, I know how to use spell check and grammar check. No really thanks for the kudos. I didn't mean to make Yamcha sound like a waste; it was just his frame of mind at the time.

Jade: Yes. I know how to can and preserve and pickle. I have never pickled fish myself though, so I used one of my cookbooks for a reference.

ME: Hopefully the next chapter won't take to long, though my hubby is installing a new hard drive for me this week so I can't make any promises