Sorry about the huuuuuuuuuge delay! Jeysus, I'm slack! Here's chapter 5! It's really short but I'm just about to post chapter 6 in a couple of hours so you won't have long to wait!

Chapter 5

The time had come. She knew what she had to do; just how exactly she was going to do it was the problem.

"Karen?"

She winced. He was home. "Up here, Stan"

"What's going on?" He asked as he entered the darkened room, feeling uneasy by the silence that greeted him.

Karen opened her mouth, but words failed her. She just couldn't phrase it the way she wanted and needed to.

Stan looked at her, trying to understand what was going on. Karen was acting so strangely.

"Kare, tell me. What's happened?"

He sat down on the bed tentatively, not sure just what Karen needed from him. What she did need was a hug, someone to tell her it would be ok, someone to reassure her that she wouldn't fail as a mother, that all the fears running round in her head were rubbish and she wouldn't be a failure. Unfortunately, as seemed to be the way lately, Karen's silent prayers were not answered and Stan just sat looking awkward, waiting for her to talk.

She sighed, deciding to get it over with.

"Stan. I'm pregnant."

As soon as the words were said, she rose and strode over to her drinks cabinet, reaching for her bottle of vodka.

"You're…hang on…you're pregnant?"

"Yes. We're going to have a baby." Karen showed no emotion through her words, she didn't want to seem to excited or too disappointed incase Stan didn't feel the same. The bottle of vodka was still in her grasp but she stopped before pouring, remembering she couldn't drink the liquid she so desperately needed to help her escape.

There was a long silence.

"Say something, damn it." She tried to hold back her tears. The silence had told her more than she wanted to know. It would have been better if he had shouted, cried, rejoiced, at least then she would have known how to react. Anything would have been better than this deadly silence.

"Karen…I don't know…I don't know what to say."

Another pause.

"Are you keeping it?"

Her head spun round sharply. "What? Of course I am!" She dared not tell him of her moment of reservation. "Please, Stan. Talk to me."

"This isn't…I can't…" He rose from the bed and mumbled something as he went out of the door.

Karen flung the bottle against the wall and collapsed onto her bed in tears. All the emotion she had been carrying for the past few days was suddenly released. Stan's last words to her kept ringing in her head. "I can't do this."

Neither could she.

Ach, it's so short! I don't think it's very good. It was really hard to judge Stan's reaction cos we see, and know, so little of him in the show. I tried my best! Review please! I love reading your comments, they're so encouraging:-)