"And he cried, there goes my life…/There goes my future…/My everything…/I love you, baby goodbye/…There goes my life…"

~Kenny Chesney – "There Goes My Life"

…

As she waited with her friends for her father to show up, Kali wrung her hands in her lap. A moment later, she took off the poof-ball hat Stan had given her when she was six and began twisting it in her hands. She hated being in the stark white waiting room of Hell's Pass Hospital regardless of feeling Piper's hand on her arm and Thane's arm around her shoulders. The sounds and smells around her was a continuous reminder of why they were there: she had found Kyle unresponsive on the kitchen floor. He was in the E.R. right now; the doctors were struggling to bring him back to the conscious world.

"Thane." Kenny stopped in the threshold to the waiting room with Butters beside him. "We told you to come home after school today."

Thane shrugged just slightly. "I didn't feel like it." When Kenny sent a glare at him, he quickly said, "Besides, I helped Kali and Piper with Kyle! Shouldn't that be your main concern right now?"

Kenny's face softened as he watched his husband walk forward and kneel down in front of Kali. Butters grabbed onto her wringing hands and smiled softly at her. "That's not a good habit. I've seen y-you do it before."

Kali's lips formed a tight line. "I can't help it. It's better than what Pip told me to do." She very seldom called the others "uncle" since she had become a teenager.

"What'd Pip tell you to d-do?"

"He said belting out a song would make me feel better, but I don't wanna do that in the waiting room," she muttered.

Kenny raised and exchanged a confused look with Thane. He looked at Kali again. "Singing?"

Kali nodded and Piper smiled. "But singing's great therapy!" She stood up and turned her Ipod on. Trapt's "Headstrong" began blaring through the headphones. "Back off, I'll take you on! …"

The blonde teen kept singing and swaying her hips to the beat of the song, unaware that Nicolai was staring at her from the threshold of the waiting room. Actually, no one noticed him there until he yelled as Damien kicked him down. The former anti-Christ sent a glare down at the teen boy face down on the floor. "Stop ogling my daughter you little fuck," he growled.

Pip though knelt down and helped Nicolai back to his feet. "I'm terribly sorry about that Nicolai. Damien's just a trifle protective."

Nicolai rubbed his back where he'd been kicked and sent a quick glare at the adult with the short weird lined beard he thought only existed in cartoons. "Yeah, I can tell."

"I wouldn't have to be if I could trust you'd keep it in your pants." Damien crossed his arms over his chest and glared right back at the teen, wishing he could still barbeque the bastard in front of him.

"Guys!" Kenny interrupted before it could go any further than an exchange of words. He pointed past Damien, where Stan was standing looking distressed.

"Stan…" Damien's lips formed a tight line. He'd behave around Nicolai as long as he had to, (or at least until he caught him staring at Piper again.) He stepped aside and let the man walk past him.

Butters moved so that Kali could stand up and launch herself into her father's arms to cry. Finding Kyle had to have been almost traumatic for her; Stan wished he had been the one to find the redhead instead of her. In the nearly silent moment, Piper fumbled to turn off her Ipod, now playing "State of Emergency" by Pillar. Kenny stopped her; it was a good song for the moment. Not too heavy and yet not a ballad, the beat was good and the lyrics were near perfect.

Sometime during the 3-minute song while Kali and Stan were crying, a calm doctor walked into the waiting room. "Excuse me? Marsh family?"

Stan and Kali released each other and walked to the doctor. Stan gestured to both him and his daughter. "That's us."

The doctor smiled. "Kyle's going to be just fine. He's in stable condition and is expected to wake up soon."

Stan and Kali exchanged a relieved smile with everyone around them; Nicolai, Piper, and Thane next to Kali, and Butters, Kenny, Damien, and Pip next to Stan. Stan looked back at the doctor. "So, what happened to him?"

"Well, he went into diabetic shock." The doctor flipped through the medical chart in his hand. "I'm sure you've known about his diabetes since you were children, right…?"

Stan nodded. "Of course I have, everyone has."

"Well, then you should probably know that he's been silently struggling with it for fourteen years."

His eyes widened, as did Kali's. "But he's told me since junior high that he has it under control!"

The doctor shook his head. "Sorry, but that's not entirely true. He did have under control somewhat through most of his teenage years, but after he got pregnant, it became difficult. He's been trying to get it back under control ever since…with little success."

Everyone was silent. How could Kyle keep silent about it all these years? Sure, when Kali was younger, he focused all he had on her, but now that she was a teenager and didn't need so much attention…he should've told someone, even if it wasn't Stan. He had blatantly endangered himself by not telling anyone about him not being able to control his diabetes. Why would he do that? Didn't he know that everyone would've helped him if he'd just said something?

When her father didn't speak, Kali asked, "Can we go back and see him?"

The doctor nodded. "Of course you may. His room's at the end of the hall. Family only until he starts feeling better. Sorry."

Stan nodded and walked with Kali to Kyle's room at the end of the hall. He was still sleeping, but he was hooked up to a few loud machines to monitor his vitals. It was amazing that alone hadn't woken him up.

While they were standing there in silence, Kali asked out-of-the-blue, "Dad, how did you know you were in love with mom?"

Stan looked at her with surprise. He wasn't expecting that question already. He shrugged. "I just…knew. When you love someone, no matter the reason, it just feels right."

"What feels right?"

"Being with that person, or even just around them. You'll notice how the little things they do make you smile and feel extremely proud of the smallest things." He smiled softly at Kyle's calm face. "You'll find that even the most obvious flaw in that person isn't a flaw at all. It's the thing you'll end up loving most about them."

Kali raised an eyebrow. "Dad?"

Stan shook his head and chuckled. "Sorry, I got caught up with that a bit. Why'd you wanna know?"

She looked at the tiled floor and blushed lightly. "No reason." Thane, she thought as her blush deepened.

An awkward silence filled the space between father and daughter as Kali thought about what Stan said. The little things in Thane that she had noticed, she loved being with him, even more so when they were hanging out, just the two of them, and his flaw… She never noticed it before, but he could be the meanest fucker in the entire junior high, having picked and won more than his fair share of fights. It wasn't all bad though, actually she loved it, and no one messed with her even though it was more than obvious they really wanted to.

Stan smiled knowingly and sat down in one of the high-backed chairs next to the hospital bed - Kali sat in the one on the other side of the bed. It was easy for him to see the same look on his daughter's face that he recognized that had been on his own when he wanted Kyle years before; she had a crush on someone. He wondered who it was.

Suddenly, Kyle groaned and slowly opened his eyes. Kali and Stan stood up to catch on him with smiles on their faces. He woke up, he was okay! They were happy for that, and Stan was determined for them to make changes so that Kyle wouldn't end up back in the hospital.

Sixteen Years…

Kyle, in an old white Kingdom Hearts t-shirt and cargo shorts and his hair pulled back into a messy ponytail, paced nervously back and forth in front of where Stan, in a black Robot Chicken t-shirt and black cargo shorts, was sitting in a dark blue hard plastic chair in the front row of six rows of empty chairs in the DMV. He knew that Stan was far more nervous about Kali getting her driver's license than he was, but at least he could look calm. Kyle couldn't even look calm, he was too antsy.

"Babe," Stan grabbed Kyle's wrist when he noticed all of the people behind their computers staring at him, "sit down."

The redhead ground his teeth together. "I can't! I'm too nervous for Kali!"

Stan rolled his eyes and gently pulled Kyle into his lap, knowing that'd calm him down. He laced his hands on his husband's hip to hold him there. "I'm nervous for her too, but stop freaking out. Besides," he grabbed Kyle's chin so they could look each other in the eyes, "when she gets her license, we can have the apartment to ourselves." He smirked seductively. "We haven't had that in a while."

"But her and Thane will have a car!" Kyle jumped up and began freaking out again. Thane and Kali had been dating for five months and though Kyle approved of it - Stan approved too, but he made it seem like he didn't just to keep Thane on his toes - he worried about Kali getting pregnant more than anything. She's the same age he was when he got pregnant - which he really still couldn't wrap his head around - and that scared him. He didn't want his daughter to do the same thing he did. "She could get pregnant…!"

Stan bit his bottom lip. He hated thinking about his daughter growing up, so he tried to block it out - especially the part about Thane and Kali having sex. He took a breath and stood up so that he could grab Kyle's shoulders to make him stop pacing. "Kyle, calm down. Yes, Kali might get pregnant, but–"

"Wow dad," Kali rested her hand on her hip and tightened her lips into a straight line, "thanks for the total vote of confidence and trust." Her black hair, still razor straight, now cascaded to the middle of her back, and she was in a stark white t-shirt and tight blue jean capris.

"No!" Stan defended quickly. "That's not what I meant!"

Kali rolled her eyes. "Whatever."

Kyle walked over to their daughter and grabbed her hands. "Well, did you pass?"

She smiled wildly. "With flying colors!" She gave her mother a thumbs-up. "I need to go get my picture taken and then I'll officially have my driver's license!"

He smiled too. "That's great! Well," he gently pushed her towards the photographer, "go get your picture taken!"

She giggled and went towards the photographer. "I'm going, I'm going!"

As they watched Kali go over to get her driver's license, Kyle's vision was suddenly blurred by tears. "Stan…Kali's almost seventeen…and she has her license now…"

Stan cleared his throat and shook his head as if to dispel the emotions Kyle was letting show. "Yeah…?"

Kyle threw his arms around his husband and buried his face into his shoulder. "She's growing up Stan. She's growing up so fast…"

Stan cleared his throat again. "Yeah…Yeah she is."

A minute later, Kali ran up to her parents and flashed them her driver's license with a wide smile. "I'm officially almost an adult."

Stan and Kyle exchanged a look and just nodded. They really didn't want to be reminded that she was growing up.

"So, um, can I drive?" She asked with an innocent smile as they walked out to the Blazer.

Stan smiled and handed her the keys. "Why not?"

Kali squealed with delight and ran over to the driver's side of the Blazer. She climbed into the driver's seat and easily started the engine. The car was silent as she drove them back to the apartment since she was concentrating on the road and Stan and Kyle were both lost in their thoughts. How could they have not realized how fast Kali was growing up? They both began to wish that they had slowed down just a bit the past sixteen years so that it wouldn't have seemed like she had grown up so quickly.

Eighteen Years…

Kali slammed the door of the Dodge Neon that Stan and Kyle had given her a year ago and ran up to the door of the single story brick house, banging on it hard and loud. A moment later, a very tired Piper in only a long, baggy white t-shirt answered the door.

The blonde girl rubbed her eyes to clear them. "Kali? Do you realize that it's two in the morning?"

"Are your parents here?" Kali asked as she pushed past her best friend into the house.

"No," Piper hit the pause button on the DVD for the anime Chrno Crusade, "they're still on tour." A year and a half ago, Damien and Pip signed a contract with a record company. They toured the country often, being at home for a month at best. They were due back from their first international tour sometime soon though. "What's wrong?"

Kali dug a thick plastic strip out of the front pocket of her blue jeans and tossed it to Piper. "That's what's wrong!"

Piper looked at the pink letters on the open space: "PREGNANT." Her eyes went wide as dinner plates. "Y-Y-Y-You're pregnant?"

Kali ground her teeth together. "According to that fucking thing!"

"Well, I guess it's good that you and Thane took a year off of college."

"I guess…" She rested her head in her hands and took a deep breath. "What am I gonna do? What's Thane gonna say? What're my parents gonna say?" She yelled to the ceiling.

"They'll be supportive…?"

"No! Dad's gonna murder Thane! Godammit!"

Piper made a face. Kali was right; Stan was going to kill Thane when he found out. "Well, did you confirm it?"

"Huh?"

"Did you go to the pregnancy center?"

"Well," Kali pulled her legs up and hugged them to her chest, "no…I was over at Thane's until an hour ago."

"What made you leave?" She set the positive pregnancy test aside.

"I realized that I'd missed my period and that I was having morning sickness. I didn't wanna be there when I took the test."

"Well, tomorrow we'll go up to Unplanned Pregnancy to confirm it."

"What?" Damien's voice drifted in from the short entrance hall in front of the door. He stomped over to where the girls were sitting on the couch. "What the hell has Nicolai done to you?" Nicolai and Piper had been dating for a year, and already had the misfortune of having Damien walking in on them. (Piper thought her boyfriend was going to be brutally murdered.)

"No, no, no!" Piper stood and waved her hands in front of herself frantically. "Not me, not me!"

"Then it's…?" Damien looked at Kali with wide eyes. "Do your parents know?"

Kali shook her head. "I just now found out."

Pip walked into the living room with a deep sigh. "Dear, I know you've missed Piper, but I really need help unloading our luggage." He spotted the pregnancy test on the end table and picked it up, his eyes widening. "W-W-What?"

"It's mine," Kali said quickly before Pip could react like Damien had.

"Kali? You're…?"

"Probably."

"Have you told your parents yet?" Pip asked as he sat down on the floor next to Damien. Piper sat back down on the couch.

"No, but I was gonna wait until I knew for sure."

"You might wanna tell them sooner than that."

Damien nodded in agreement. "If you tell them now and it turns out that you're not, then you can all be relieved, but if you don't and you are…"

Kali made a face. She knew they were right, that she had to tell them. But, what about Thane, her boyfriend? "What about Thane?"

"Well," Pip made a face, "Stan might make him informed of it."

She sighed and rested her head on her best friend's shoulder. "Crap."

Piper rested her arm around Kali's waist and held her there. She could tell Kali wanted to stay there instead of going home or back to Thane. "Can she stay tonight?"

Pip smiled. "But of course."

"You're going home to tell Stan and Kyle first thing though," Damien said sternly.

Kali sighed again. Normally she hated being treated like a child still, but she didn't mind it now. She was confused and scared; she didn't want to be pregnant. "Fine," she muttered.

…

Taking a deep breath, Kali opened the apartment door. She spotted the clock on the wall near the kitchen, it was eight. Stan wouldn't be at work yet, and since Kyle still didn't work, she didn't have to worry about him being gone. When she heard her mother's voice from the kitchen, Kali bit her bottom lip and walked into the kitchen.

Kyle looked up at her and smiled from where he was sitting at the table with a mug of coffee. "Hey there. You scared Thane, Kenny, and Butters last night when you didn't show up. Where'd you go?"

"I went over to see Piper," she said calmly as she sat down across from the redhead. She folded her hands in her lap as she felt the weight of the same pregnancy test she'd shown to Piper in her pocket.

"Oh. When are Damien and Pip coming home?"

"They got back last night."

"That's good." Kyle smiled again. "I know Piper's been missing them."

Kali nodded. "Yeah. …Is dad still home?"

He nodded. "He doesn't have to leave for another ten minutes."

"Good, because there's something I need to talk to you both about."

"What?"

"Well…it's about Thane."

Kyle cocked his eyebrow curiously. The last time Kali had asked them about advice with Thane, she asked him to date her. "Kali, its one thing to ask a boy to date you, but it's another thing entirely to ask him to marry you."

"Oh, uh, no," she shook her head, "no…but it might come up later…"

"What're you talking…?" His eyes widened and his mouth dropped open in shock as he realized what was trying to be told to him. "Y-You're not… You can't be…" When he saw how his daughter's face dropped, he knew it was true. "You're pregnant."

Stan suddenly slammed open the door to him and Kyle's bedroom in only a pair of torn blue jeans and a toothbrush hanging from the corner of his mouth. "What?"

Kali jumped and turned to her father. "Dad, you scared me!"

He took the toothbrush out of his mouth and sent a hard glare at her. "You're pregnant?"

Her mouth tightened into a thin line as she dug the pregnancy test from her pocket. "Y…Yeah…"

Stan snatched the test and then dropped his toothbrush to the floor as he fell into a chair next to Kyle, who now had tears swimming in his eyes. He pinched the bridge of his nose and placed the plastic strip on the table. "Dammit!"

Seeing the torment and agony in her parents' faces, Kali hung her head to stare at her lap. It didn't matter that she was eighteen, she was still young and unmarried, and she felt like she'd disappointed her parents by getting pregnant.

Stan suddenly stood up and slammed his hand down on the table in a blind rage. "I'll kill that son-of-a-bitch!" He stomped out to the Blazer, pausing long enough only to grab his brown jacket. In his rage, he pushed the vehicle as fast as it could go the short distance to the apartment Kenny, Butters, and Thane still lived at. He grabbed the K-Bar he kept in the glove box as he stepped out of the Blazer and stomped over to the door, kicking it open with one swift kick.

When the door flew open, Butters was so startled that he threw the bowl of cereal he'd been eating at Stan. When he saw his friend standing there with a K-Bar, he stood up and looked at him with wide eyes. "S-S-Stan? What're you d-doing?"

"Where the fuck is Thane?" Stan demanded.

Kenny, now with a pencil thin moustache that he had grown against Butters' wishes, walked into the living room from the kitchen. "What the hell are you doing?"

"Thane got Kali knocked up!"

The tall blonde pointed in the kitchen. "He's in there."

Stan ran into the kitchen, where Thane was pressed against the far wall with his hands in front of him defensively. "You fuck!"

"Wait! W-W-What'd I do?" Thane screamed. He did not like his girlfriend's father pointing a K-Bar threateningly at him.

Stan held Thane against the wall with one hand and pointed the tip of the large knife at the eighteen-year-old's throat. "You got my daughter pregnant!"

Thane's eyes widened and he froze. "What? K-Kali's…pregnant?"

"That's right you little bastard!"

His mouth dropped. "I…I'm sorry, I never would've thought this would happen!"

Before Stan could do or say anything else, Kali ran into the kitchen. "Dad, stop! I need him!"

Stan sighed and backed away from Thane. "Whatever…" He stepped aside as Thane moved slowly towards Kali.

"Babe…is it true?"

She nodded and fell into his arms when he held them out for her. His arms instantly encompassed her. "It is. But…I haven't gone to the Unplanned Parenthood center yet to confirm it. I was kinda hoping you'd go with me."

Biting his bottom lip, Thane nodded and tightened his arms around Kali. "I will."

Stan sighed again and ran one hand through his hair. "Well, get into the Blazer. I'll drive you there."

Thane and Kali nodded and followed Stan out to the Blazer. He drove them to Unplanned Parenthood, where it was said that Kali was not pregnant and the test was faulty. When she asked why she had morning sickness and missed her monthly, they told her she had a stomach virus and the changing seasons has effected her menstrual cycle. When she told this to Thane, he seemed relieved but still promised her he'd be sure that situation would never happen again.

Thane got down on one knee with Kali's hand in his own. "Kali, I've been meaning to ask you this for sometime, but the time seems just right now." He pulled a small velvet box out of his pocket and opened it to reveal a thin gold band graced with three small diamonds. "Kali Violet Marsh, will you be my wife?"

A wide smile suddenly crossed Kali's face as she threw her arms around Thane's neck. "Yes, yes, I'll marry you!" She began laughing as Thane slipped the engagement ring onto her left ring finger.

Stan cleared his throat, interrupting the moment. He crossed his arms over his chest as they stood. "Were you planning on asking my approval?"

"Oh, uh," Thane scratched the back of his head, "Mr. Marsh, may I have your blessing to marry Kali?"

Stan chuckled and shook his head, temporarily disappointing both Thane and Kali, but instead he said, "Of course. I'd be proud to call you my son."

The three laughed in celebration as they walked back out to the Blazer to go home. Kali couldn't wait to tell Kyle and Piper, they'd both be so excited! In her head, she began planning the wedding, what she'd wear, where it would be. She couldn't wait to be Mrs. Kali McCormick. It was like a dream coming true!

Nineteen Years…

Kali slammed the trunk of her Dodge Neon closed and turned back to Stan and Kyle with a smile. She hugged them both and grabbed onto Thane's, her husband of two weeks, hand. They made their way back to the Neon and climbed in.

Three months ago, Kali and Thane both got an acceptance letter from California State University and were planning on moving to California in order to attend. They wanted to attend as a married couple so that they could room in the same dorm, so they had a quick wedding a few weeks ago so they could. In a strange moment for everyone around, Piper and Nicolai were married as soon as Thane and Kali finished their vows - Damien and Pip were still reeling from the suddenness.

Stan and Kyle stood there in the parking lot of the apartment building with their arms around each other watching as their daughter and son-in-law drove down the road towards the interstate.

"S-Stan," Kyle blubbered out as tears fell down his face, "she's gone. Our baby…she's g-grown up!"

Stan sniffed quickly batted tears away as they surfaced, but couldn't keep up with them before tears just began streaming endlessly down his face. "We knew this day would come," he said, his voice strained with the beginnings of a sob.

Kyle nodded and rested his head on Stan's shoulder. His own shoulders began heaving up and down with heavy sobs. "I'm not ready to let her go Stan!"

Stan bit his bottom lip, but a sob of his own still got through. He held his husband tightly to his chest and began sobbing along with him. "I'm not ready for this either! Dammit Kyle, I don't want her to go!"

"I know Stan, I know." He grabbed Stan's hand and led him back into their apartment.

They laid down on the couch, Kyle on top of Stan, and cried themselves to sleep in the unusual, uneasy silence that accompanied their daughter moving away.

…

Wow, I can't believe I typed all this out with one hand! O.O

Oh yes, my awesome, faithful readers/reviewers, there is still an epilogue after this chapter. ^.^