Disclaimer: I don't own Dragon Ball Z or its characters.  They respectfully belong to Mr. Akira Toriyama.

Author's Notes: For all you Goku + Chi-Chi (relation)shippers, get the witch burning bonfire ready, you will want to flame me.  I'm warning you, I split up this lovable couple.  Not a divorce, a separation!

Goku glanced up nervously at the kitchen clock.  It was almost morning.  "I have to go.  Uub will be expecting me."  He got up from his chair and was heading for the door.

Chi-Chi, still sitting, watched him go.  She didn't know why she was crying this time, she had seen Goku leave many times.  The feelings she kept back all these years were starting to break through.  She got up from her table and ran up to her husband.  "Goku, wait!  Please don't leave!"

Goku turned around to see Chi-Chi running towards him.  She tugged at his gi, trying to stop him.  He kept on walking, dragging his wife behind him.  As he kept walking, her tugging became more stubborn.  He could hear her sobbing and pleading, but he was numb to do anything.

He stopped short of the door, and he looked back to see Chi-Chi still there, clinging to him.  He pried her off of him.  "Chi-Chi, you know I have to go, now let's make this easier on ourselves and let me go."

"But you can't go!  I need you, please stay with me and your family!" she said, her crying more desperate.

"Don't worry, I'll come back."

"When?!  In a few months?  In another year?  Why do you have to do this to me?  You always choose fighting over me!"

Goku couldn't control himself.  In his hand was a reflex, and with it, he slapped Chi-Chi across the face.  It must have been harder than he thought, because she backed against the wall.

She held her face in her hands.  She looked at him with disbelief and confusion.

Goku, looked down at his hand, and then back at his wife.  "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to-"

"Just go.  You just proved that you love fighting more than me."  Her voice was barely a whisper.

Goku just headed out the door.  Chi-Chi didn't notice that he was also crying.

It had been days since Chi-Chi had seen Goku.  But those days apart had given her time to think.  Goku had never raised a hand against her, but now, she was scared that he might do it again.  It seemed that the best thing to do was to go their separate ways.

But something in her nagged her to stop and not give up on their love.  But was it love?

They had married, but it was based on a promise.  And he always left her alone, to go off and fight and make her worry about him and their sons.  If he really loved her, would he do that to her?

She went into the kitchen and picked up a folder that was placed on top of the table.  She sat down and looked through it.  They were divorce papers that she had kept years ago.  She signed them when Goku had died a second time, thinking that he would never come back from the dead.

But she kept delaying the delivery to the courthouse, telling herself, "I'll do it when Goten is a little bit older, then they'll understand."

Chi-Chi decided not to tell Goten and Gohan about the incident, not yet.  Actually, she never told anyone.  She would tell them all when she finally made her decision.

Chi-Chi got up from the table to go answer the knock at the door.  "You came back."

Goku looked down at his wife.  A bruise on her cheek was a reminder of that night.  "I came back to say that I'm sorry.  You know I didn't really mean to do it."

"I know."

"Are you just going to do that?  Talk to me in a few short sentences?"  He then gave her a flash of that trademark smile.

Chi-Chi couldn't stay too mad at him when he gave her that smile, and she was ready to forgive him, but she was then reminded of the papers.  "No.  Why don't you come in?"

Goku happily walked inside their home.  She led her husband to the kitchen and showed him the papers.  It seemed that all the happiness in him melted away.

"You want a divorce?!" he exclaimed.

"Not a divorce, just a separation."

"But why?"

"I realized that we've grown apart," she explained.  "Over the years, you spent more time on the battlefield than at home."

"It's not final.  Is it?"

"We'll see.  We should just spend some time apart, that's all."

A heavy silence settled over the two.  Both of them seemed to wrestle with the feelings bubbling inside of them.

Finally, Goku spoke up.  "If this the best thing for us, then go ahead and make it official.  I won't stop you."

Chi-Chi just nodded numbly.  "I guess I should go get your stuff."

"Let me help you, there are some things that you may not know about."

They started with their bedroom.  Together, they rummaged through the closets and under the bed.  Every corner that they searched through held some momento of their "love", but they would hold back their tears and toss the reminder aside.  Chi-Chi was surprised when she came across their wedding album.  She couldn't resist, so she took it out and rested it on her dresser.

Goku went to her side to look at it.  "Remember what a day that was?"

"Mm-hmm," Chi-Chi mumbled as she flipped a page.

On it was a picture of them walking down the aisle.  Her head was rested on his shoulder, and she looked up at him with hope for the future in her eyes.  He only looked down at her with confusion.

Chi-Chi slammed the book shut.  "I think that I should deliver those papers.  Why don't you stay here and finish up?"

Stunned, Goku just went back to doing his work.

Chi-Chi left him alone and went back to the kitchen to get the papers.  She then took the air car and drove off.

Goku was alone in the house.  It seemed now that wherever he looked, memories of him and Chi-Chi would haunt him.  He couldn't believe that it was over, but that was what just happened.

Goku dove under the bed to find what he was looking for.  He took out a large white box and he opened it to find records that they collected.  He sifted through it, looking for at least one song that would take his mind off of the situation.  But there were only love songs.

Frustrated, Goku closed the box, stuffed it back under the bed, and went to find the radio.  He turned it on at full volume hoping that the music would drown out the past.

"Welcome to StarO2Q AM radio!" said the DJ.  "Here's an old classic for you listeners out there."

The song that came on started with a chiming introduction.  Then a beat followed it, and then a female voice sang.

"No more care-free laughter.  Silence, ever after.  Walking through an empty house, tears in my eyes.  Here is where the story ends, this is good-bye..."

Memories of her and Goku flashed across her mind.  She shook them away from her head and grabbed the radio knob.  She blasted the volume up and hoped that she could concentrate on the road instead of the past.

"Knowing me, knowing you (ah-haa), there is nothing we can do, knowing me, knowing you (ah-haa).  We just have to face it, this time we're through (this time we're through, this time we're through, this time we're through, this time we're really through).  Breaking up is never easy I know, but I have to go (I have to go this time, I have to go, this time I know).  Knowing me, knowing you, it's the best I can do."

Chi-Chi let tears flow freely down her face as the song continued.  She let her life with Goku flow back into her mind's eye.

"Mem'ries (mem'ries), good days (good days), bad days (bad days).  They'll be (they'll be) with me (with me) always (always)..."

Goku wandered aimlessly through the house.  He looked inside Gohan and Goten's rooms.

"...In these old familiar rooms, children would play.  Now there's only emptiness, nothing to say.

"Knowing me, knowing you (ah-haa), there is nothing we can do, knowing me, knowing you (ah-haa).  We just have to face it, this time we're through (this time we're through, this time we're through, this time we're through, this time we're really through).  Breaking up is never easy I know, but I have to go (I have to go this time, I have to go, this time I know).  Knowing me, knowing you, it's the best I can do."

As the music played on, he remembered his times with his family.  A few short scenes he counted, but they seemed to stretch on forever.

"Knowing me, knowing you (ah-haa), there is nothing we can do, knowing me, knowing you (ah-haa).  We just have to face it, this time we're through (this time we're through, this time we're through, this time we're through, this time we're really through).  Breaking up is never easy I know, but I have to go (I have to go this time, I have to go, this time I know).  Knowing me, knowing you, it's the best I can do."

As the song faded away, Chi-Chi pulled up to the courthouse.  She wiped the tears from her eyes and tried her best to cover the evidence of her crying.

She walked up the stone steps, clutching the folder in her hands.  She was reluctant to do this, she even looked back, but something pushed her onward.  She entered inside the looming building, uncertain of if she wanted this.

Additional Disclaimer: I don't own ABBA's music.  My apologies to the writers of the song: Benny Andersson, Björn Ulvaeus, and Stig Anderson; and its singers: Anni-Frid Lyngstad and Agnetha Fältskog.  If you don't know who I'm talking about, ask your parents.

Additional Author's Notes:

Star Otaku:  *tied to a stake with firewood scattered at her feet* It hurt me more to write this fanfic than it hurt you to read it!  Honest!

*crowd of angry G + CC shippers are holding torches and booing*

Star Otaku:  *sweating* As for the old ABBA song from the 70's, well, that was the result of my parents leaving their CDs in my CD player.  I'm sorry if including an oldie offends you!

*some shippers lower their torches to the firewood*

Star Otaku:  Please!  I beg of you, spare me!  If you want, I'll bring them back together!  Just tell me if you want me to put them back together!  I'll make it sweet and over affectionate!  Just the way you like it!

*shippers stop their torches and think about the offer*

Star Otaku:  C'mon!  Don't just think about it, tell me!