Chapter 34

Stan's POV

"How are you feeling?" I ask Susan as I check on her. She decided to stay in South Park with me after she got out of the hospital. Right now, she's lying in the bed with the blanket wrapped around her. She spends about half the day like that.

She sits up. "I'm ready to go back home."

I sigh. I'm still not ready to go back there. "Already? It's only been a few days."

"I have a business to run...as do you. We still have bills Stan."

I shake my head. "I just need more time."

"I get it, you're still grieving. I am too." She grabs my hand. "We can go home and grieve together."

"But Eli's things..."

"Everything is the way he left it."

I let out another sigh. "It's going to be so hard to see it knowing he's never coming home."

"We'll get through it together." She repeats with a smile. She's so patient and forgiving. All she wants is to go back to our house, it's the least I can do for her. We have to get our lives and marriage back on track and I guess going back to Utah is the first step.

Cartman's POV

Heidi gave me her address. She moved to Arizona. As promised, I packed all my things and left. Once I'm settled, I'll let Wendy and the kids know what's going on and I'll send Wendy divorce papers. I arrive at the address Heidi gave me, I'm not sure about this neighborhood. It looks abandoned. I get out of the car and the first person I see is that lousy no good son of ours. "What the hell are you doing here?"

"Mommy told me to meet you here." He replies nervously.

"Why?" I can feel my blood boiling.

"She wants us to bond before you move in."

I shake my head. "That's not going to happen."

"Why not?"

"Look kid, you were always my biggest mistake! I'm trying to work on my relationship with Heidi and I can't do that with you in the way."

He begins to slowly back away. "I promise I won't get in the way."

"I know you're not because the first chance I get, I'm sending you far away."

"Away where?"

"Don't worry about that. Now where the fuck is Heidi?" I yell as he backs away some more.

"Daddy, can we try to get along? I-I love you daddy..." He stutters.

"Don't daddy me, boy! I don't want a damn thing to do with you!"

"Why? Why can't you love me like your other kids?"

"Because my other kids aren't an embarrassment to society! They're not autistic!"

He starts to cry, he wonders why I say he's an embarrassment. "That's not fair! I didn't ask for this!"

"Life isn't fair, get use to it!"

"But Dad-" He tries to hug me…I think, but I stop him.

"Don't touch me! I told Heidi I would make an effort to get along with you, but that was a lie! I just want her back! I would say anything to make that happen. I'll never get along with you because I fucking hate your guts."

"You're so cruel…"

"I don't give a fuck!" I raise my hand to him.

"ERIC!" I suddenly hear. "Don't you dare hit him!" Just then I see Heidi, Shannon, and Wendy approaching us.

"What the fuck?"

"I knew you were full of it!" Heidi tells me as we're now face to face.

"Dad, how could you be so mean?" Shannon asks. She walks over to the boy. "Are you okay?" He nods.

"You set me up?" I ask Heidi and she nods. "How could you do this to me?"

"I told you before I was sick of you lying to me! I didn't buy your last attempt claiming to change. I knew you still hated Josh!"

Wendy walks over to me and shakes her head in disgust. "To think you were going to try to leave me without saying anything!" She slaps me across the face. "You're going to get your wish! You want a divorce? You got it!"

"It's about damn time! I wanted out years ago!" I feel a tap on my shoulder. I turn around and I'm met with another slap to the face, this time by Heidi.

"That's for all the lies you told me!" She punches me. "That's for the way you've treated Josh!"

"Heidi!" I'm in complete shock. I've never seen this side of her.

Wendy and Heidi high five each other. "Thanks for helping me out!" Heidi smiles.

"Anytime! As much as I hate that you two were sneaking around behind my back, I would hate to see you or Josh hurt any further by this monster!"

"He won't." She looks at me. "You'll be going to jail soon."

I frown. "Jail? For what?"

"Child abuse."

I start laughing. "Child abuse? The boy is a grown man!"

"He may be an adult now, but the abuse has gone on for years. I have documents to prove it and to prove that it continued into his adulthood. Not to mention that you abused a person with autism. You're going down big time for that!"

I shake my head and laugh. "You're bluffing!"

"My Dad use to be a cop. He still has friends on the force so they made this case a top priority."

"Now I know you're lying. You haven't even told your parents about the boy!"

"I told my parents everything about JOSH! Face it Eric, it's over!" She grabs his hand. "Come on honey. Your dad will never be able to hurt you again." She leaves with him.

"I'm so disappointed in you, Dad." Shannon tells me.

"I'm disappointed in YOU! How can you side with the enemy?"

"I'm on the side of what's right! You've mistreated all of them especially Josh! You made him an outcast and a stranger to his own family. I'm going to change that! He's going to be a brother to me, Eric Theo, and Isabella they way it should've been and there's nothing you can do about it!" She leaves.

"How does it feel to be left with nothing?" Wendy asks. "Now you know how you made us feel…" With that, she walks away. I sit down up against the wall. She's right, I have absolutely nothing now. FUCK!

Stan's POV

Susan and I were packing to go back home when mom tells us we have visitors. We go upstairs and I'm shocked to see Kenny, Demi, and Nick. "What's going on here?" I ask.

"I remember you." Susan points at Demi. "We met at the hospital."

Demi smiles and nods. "That's right. It's nice to see you again."

"So what brings you guys by?"

"First, I want to say I'm sorry for your loss." Kenny looks at us.

I raise my eyebrow. "How do you know about that?"

Kenny shrugs. "Dude, it's a small town. Demi and Nick had something they wanted to talk to you guys about."

"Sure, what is it?"

Nick stands in front of Susan and me and points at Demi. "As you can see, Demi is pregnant and she's due in a few weeks. We're not in a position to raise the baby so we're going to put it up for adoption." He looks at Demi and smiles, then back at us. "We were wondering if maybe you two would be interested in adopting the baby."

Wow, I didn't see that coming. "Umm…"

"That's kind of you to ask." Susan smiles.

"What made you ask us of all people?"

Demi sits in between us and takes Susan's hand. "Ms. Susan, remember when we talked in the hospital?" She nods. "I was really touched by your story about how you lost your son and you were close to losing your baby, which sadly you did and how it was your only chance to give Stan a biological child. I even suggested that you two should adopt. I know this baby won't biologically be yours, but it will still be your child together. You can give Stan the child you've hoped for."

Susan and I exchange looks. "I don't know."

"Nick, how do your parents feel about this?" I ask him.

He shrugs. "They don't like it, but it's not their child so they really don't get a say in this matter."

"So there's no catch?"

He shakes his head. "No catch, we just want to make sure our baby has a loving home. We think you two would be excellent parents."

"You do realize that we live in another state? So won't be able to come see the baby whenever you feel like it." I tell him. I know he said this is their decision, but I know Kyle and there's no way he'll go for this.

Demi and Nick nod. "We know. We're giving up our parental rights so we don't expect that." She states.

Susan and I exchange looks. "Can you give us some time to think about it? I mean this is really sudden." I ask them.

"Sure, please let us know something as soon as possible. Like Nick said, I'm due in a few weeks. We would like to have the paperwork ready so you can take the baby home."

"We will. Thank you for even considering us. We're honored." Susan hugs Demi and Nick.

"Yes, thank you." I add in. The three of them leave. "I'm sorry about that. I honestly didn't know that's what they were coming over for."

"It's okay. Would you want to adopt their baby?"

"I hadn't thought about adoption…at least not this soon."

"I didn't either, but it's a good opportunity…"

"What are you saying?"

Her eyes light up. "I think we should do it!"

"Really? You don't think it's too soon considering our recently losses?"

"It might be. But maybe this is what we need to help with our grief. I'm not saying this baby will replace Eli or our other baby boy, but it can help with our healing process. We may never get an the opportunity to adopt or it could take years. But this is now and it fell into our lap. I say we do it.

She's right. "Let's do it. This baby is already a blessing in many ways. It was obviously meant to be so let's call them and tell them the good news."

"Thank you so much Stan!" Susan smiles and hugs me. "This means so much to me." I haven't seen her look this happy in a long time. I feel like things are going to work out for us. I smile at the thought.

A/N: Epilogue coming soon!