Author note: So I feel like this is being dragged out slowly, not long to go now though! Exams are over so it should be a lot easier to write! Stick with it though. Warning; this chapter may be quite disturbing for some readers, I've tried to write this in the most realistic way possible and do the storyline justice but I am just going to warn those who may be sensitive towards to subject. I strongly suggest under sixteen's do not read Hope's point of view but I suppose it's up to you. You'll see what I mean by the end. It may not be the merriest Christmas Eve ever in this chapter but this had to be done at some point. Thanks guys xx

24th December

Stan pov

"Ok take it slowly Stan." Wendy reminded me as she clung onto me, walking towards the car. I was being released from hospital today, finally and was certain I was in a perfectly alright state to be walking by myself. She however, did not think the same.

"Yes ok Wendy, I can manage." I sighed, not wanting to start an argument in the hospital car park. That would be a record. I climbed into the passenger seat of the car and she sat the other side. Before starting the engine she turned to look at me, as if she was about to cry. Jesus, I had not already upset her had I? Or was it just pregnancy hormones?

"Stan, I'm sorry." She whimpered and I frowned.

"What for?" I managed a slight laugh and she bent her head to stare at her knees.

"It was my fault we crashed the car, I should have been more mature about the situation." She cried. "I love you, I really do and now I've got myself pregnant again and-"

"We've got you pregnant." I interrupted, wiping her tears away with my hand. "And of course it's not your fault. Sweetie, I love you too and we are going to have the best Christmas ever, us and the kids. Besides, we have five of them already, how hard can it be to handle a sixth?"

"Mmm." She giggled and I kissed her gently. I still had slight pain in my head and backache from lying on that metal hospital bed for weeks, no, months, but none of that mattered when I was with my wife. She had been so brave about the entire situation and now I was going to make it up to her.

"Ok, shall we go home?" I asked and she nodded, started up the engine and began driving away from the hospital.

Kyle pov

"Yes mom… No mom." Bebe babbled on down the phone. Why did she get to sit with her feet up on the couch whilst I had to defrost the turkey? Well, she was pregnant, that was the answer, but luckily only for half a month longer. Mind you, she had to put up with her mother whilst doing so, so I suppose I was the lucky one. "We have got guests coming over, yes… The McCormick's… Yes they are real people."

"Do not let her invite herself to Christmas dinner." I hissed, entering the living room. She nodded at me and joined her thumb and index finger to insinuate her saying 'Ok'.

"Kenny and Red." She continued, holding the phone an inch away from her ear so as to not be deafened. Bebe's mother had recently got a new hearing aid and, aside from the fact that she had to shout to hear herself speak, it was almost as if she wanted everyone else to lose their hearing in the process. "…Rebecca then, you remember her, she used to come for slumber parties with Wendy and Lola."

"Hang up. Hang up." I snapped under my breath and Bebe put the phone on mute.

"I can't just hang up." She whispered aggressively.

"Why not?" I whined.

"Because she'll just call back." She mumbled.

"Then ignore the call." I shrugged.

"She'll come to the house." Bebe argued.

"Then don't answer the door…" I trailed off as she took the phone off mute.

"…Um, yeah course." Bebe sighed down the phone, not knowing what had previously been said. "Wait, I don't… Mom no… I didn't mean-" She cut off as the line went dead and threw the phone down on the floor.

"What happened?" I gritted my teeth, possibly knowing the outcome of this situation.

"…She's coming for Christmas dinner." Bebe concluded, folding her arms over her enormous stomach.

"Great." I nodded and returned to the kitchen. Why could we not have a peaceful Christmas, just for once? Last year we spent the entire day at Wendy's, where there were squealing kids everywhere and she spent about two hours rowing down the phone to Red, who was the only person in South Park not invited. The year before we went to Cartman's, which was even worse, as the turkey got burnt and we had to order Kentucky fried chicken, which did not suit many people's dietary requests, was too fattening for Bebe and too spicy for any of the children. In the end there was a massive fight and the Christmas tree collapsed on top of me. I do not even celebrate Christmas. I am Jewish, why does no one respect that?

Kenny pov

Wrapping presents was the best part of Christmas in my opinion. It was like stuffing excitement into tissue paper, knowing the next time you see that gift, your children's faces will light up… hopefully. Red was working her last shift in the shop, which was probably hell considering it was Christmas Eve and it was pretty much the only clothing store in South Park, unless you went to the newly built Wall Mart on the side of town, though who was going to buy clothes as Christmas presents from there? It was a handy essence of the town though; let's hope it does not get burnt down this time…

As for Scarlett and Ruby, they were over at Kevin and Lola's. We had looked after their many children this morning, so they could get things sorted in preparation for tomorrow and now they were looking after the twins whilst I went undercover as my alter-ego Santa… as opposed to that Mysterion character I used to pretend to be. Wow, I was weird… at least I never dressed up as a fat racoon…

On top of all this, we were now going to Bebe's for Christmas day, originally they were coming here, which would have made more sense as I am a chef so, in the nicest way possible, would have been more capable of cooking dinner in comparison to a heavily pregnant woman and man who does not even celebrate Christmas. But oh well, I was not complaining, free lunch would do me!

I finished wrapping presents and went to put a few of my parents' and Karen's under the tree. Not that they would need them; anything under one thousand dollars to them was junk, and as for Karen, I would not see her for half a month until she came to visit from London. She had picked up this awful British accent as well, do not get me wrong, I loved British accents but when it was my little sister and there were some British, Eastern and Western American tones all thrown into one, it sounded quite freaky.

The girls' presents would have to be put in a sack under my bed, so that Red and I could transport them downstairs when they had fallen asleep. I decided to add Red's to that pile as well, just to prevent any confusion if 'mommy's' was found under the tree. Santa still delivered presents to grown up's in their eyes.

Ruby had been bought a toy pony, which was almost the size of me, intimidating as that was. How it was going to fit in her bedroom I did not know but she had been asking for it for ages so both Red and I gave in. Scarlett had been bought a 'pilot experience' voucher, which meant she could go to the airport in Denver and get a chance to sit in the passenger seat, next to the pilot during flight. I think she also go shown how to drive it by a real pilot, but obviously, she would not actually fly the airplane, I do not think we'd have bought it if that was the case. On top of all this, we had bought other bits and bobs such as Little Mermaid accessories and smaller toys. I really hoped no one really gave them money; they had enough of that in their banks for the moment thanks to the commercials and interviews they had been involved in and I did not want their lives to start revolving around money. Red I had bought a 'Pandora' ring, which may look as if I was proposing to her again but at least that was over and done with a few years back. She had been admiring it in the shop as we passed one time so knew she liked it. I had also bought her a cherry blossom scented perfume and some rosebud earrings. To be perfectly honest, I thought I had done quite well considering I was a member of the male species and we were strangers to the concept of shopping…

"Hiya." I heard Red's voice brighten up the house even more as the front door slammed and she entered the living room, still wrapped in a snow covered duffel coat and cheeks the colour of her hair.

"Hi babe." I greeted, getting up off the carpet and wandering over to kiss her.

"You've been busy." She beamed, resting her head on my shoulder as we both admired the scene in front of us; the gleaming green Christmas tree presented among the colourful paper chains and fairy lights that hung above the sea of presents below. It was so warm and beautiful. I said this every year but, this was going to be the best Christmas ever.

Hope pov

I thought my ear drums would snap if this music continued. It was obvious my drink had been spiked because it felt like there were tiny donkey's trampling on my skull and making me feel like I wanted to pass out. The fact that I just created that image also proves I was no sober.

It was Rachel's Christmas Eve party, which I knew I should not have come to because I was now going to be hung over for Christmas day. Secretly, I had wished I had spent the evening at home with my family, listening to Christmas carols and making cookies to hang on the tree. Me and mom used to do that when I was younger, before any of the other children were born. It would just be dad, mom and me, skipping back from church on the cool, crisp night, laughing excitedly and then being tucked into bed early to wait for Santa. I had grown up too fast, and I hated that, but considering things could not change now, I just had to be satisfied with the memories.

"You ok babe?" I heard Reece's voice behind me and spun around, making me feel dizzier. It was then I realised I had been standing alone in the centre of a dark room with a fond smile on my face for about ten minutes.

"Um… Yeah." I slurred, I could tell he was pissed out of his mind because his eyes were half closed and he stank of alcohol. "Reece did you put something in my drink?"

"Maybe." A smile crept across his face and I rolled my eyes. Why did he think that was funny? He might be eighteen but I was three years younger than him and even though I did not give a shit, I was still legally too young to drink. I had a supportive boyfriend right there. "Hey!" He suddenly cried, collapsing on my face to either kiss me or break his fall, but I kissed him back all the same. "You know, we've been dating almost six months now."

"Really?" My eyes widened, it did not seem that long at all, guess I did not keep track of these things.

"Yeah… so I was wondering…" He trailed off, oh God he was not going to propose was he? A girl in the year above was engaged and she was only sixteen, how can you commit to something like that when you have your whole life ahead of you? "…You got me."

"What?" I frowned, could he read my mind?

"Don't worry, I've got condoms." He pulled out a small, silver package from his pocket. Ok, clearly he could not read my mind.

"Oh wait… no thanks." I held up my hands. If there was one thing mom had taught me, it was this and I was not about to follow in her footsteps.

"There's a bed upstairs." Reece continued, pointing upwards and spilling his drink in the process.

"No, I'm not ready for that." I told him firmly. I was sober enough to understand what was going on and to take control of my actions. This exact thing happened to mom and she made the wrong choice, that was why I was here today and I was not about to put another kid through that.

"Come on Hope." Reece whined, tugging at my arm. "It'll be fun."

"That's probably what my dad said my mom, when they were my age." I replied, watching him roll his eyes. "Then I happened."

"I have a condom, nothing's going to happen." Reece snapped, seeming rather angry.

"They don't always work." I informed him, studying the little silver package he was still clutching in his palm. "I'm not taking any risks, not yet anyway."

"Ugh, it's been six months." He continued, but I was not listening as my phone beeped. I pulled it out of my pocket and opened the text from my mom.

'Hoping you are ok, I suppose there is no point in trying to get you home but just thought I would let you know dad is back and safe. Love you, mom xx'

I read the text a few times over and sighed slowly, dad was home? I actually really wanted to see him and this party sucked anyway.

"I'm gonna go home I think." I turned back to Reece as I slid my phone back into my pocket.

"Aw, is this because of what I said?" He groaned, putting his hand on my shoulder.

"No, no, my dad has come home and I want to see him." I admitted, I could not be bothered to put in the effort to lie just so I could cover up any emotions I may have.

"That doesn't sound like the Hope Marsh I know." Reece frowned. "But ok, let's go and sober you up first."

"I think you're the one who needs sobering up!" I laughed but he grabbed my hand all the same. He led me across the corridor where couples were standing in corners with their tongues down each other's throats or smoking cigarettes and dabbing them on the wall. When we reached the top of the stairs however, he did not lead me into the bathroom, like I had assumed he would but instead into the nearest bedroom. I was guessing it was Rachel's as there were big posters of rock bands on the wall and a few empty cans scattered at one end. "All I need is a glass of water Reece, I don't think you'll find one in here!"

"Shame." He sighed, walking behind me and closing the door. I eyed him up carefully, observing his every move as he breathed heavily, leaning against the door handle.

"What's going on. " I gulped, now getting quite scared. I could feel my heart pounding heavily; like the donkey's had marched down my throat and were now stampeding all over my chest. "Reece?"

"You gave me no choice." He hissed, still covering the door with his very tall body. His eyes narrowed and he flicked his hair back off his face before slowly moving forward.

"Ok stop it now, you're scaring me." I told him, in the most fearless way possible, though staggering backwards at the same time. I knew what was happening and I also knew I could not back away any further, I hit the bed post and it was not long before I could feel the heat emanating off his body. The stench of alcohol hit the air around me and I raised my head slowly to look into his eyes. They were dark and lonely and soon they were not focusing on my eyes either, but the buttons on my shirt. "Reece stop it." I yelled as loud as possible as he began to grab at me. "HELP!" I continued but knew it was no use; nobody in the house was in the right mind to hear anything or take it seriously. I

I tried to push him off but he was strong, his arms had me held against the bed forcefully. Those arms I once fell in love with and used to wrap my fingers round just to feel the solidity. Now I never wanted to see them again, I wanted to run but could not. I screamed as he ripped my shirt off and began kissing me, even though I did not kiss him back his breath was warm against me neck. Then I felt him push me over the bed post, pain shooting up my spine as he did so and I knew there was no way of escaping now, this was it. But it was my fault. This is what you get for playing with fire. This is what I deserved…