Enjoy, reviews are nice, I own nothing.
Cartman went back to the hospital right after school. Again, he just sat next to Butters, but after an hour he was asked to leave by the doctor. They needed to run some tests, so Eric stepped out into the waiting room and sat down next to a vending machine. He pulled his knees to his chest and buried his face in his lap.
"Cartman?"
Eric looked up to see Stan, Kyle, and Kenny standing over him.
"What are you doing here?" Kyle asked.
"The doctors were running tests and I needed to leave the room," he answered dully.
"Dude, didn't you come here straight from school? You've been here a long time." Stan said.
Cartman didn't respond to that.
"I think the room's clear, we should go," Kenny said, looking down the hall.
The three made to leave but Kyle turned back and saw Eric bury his face into his lap again.
"Don't you want to go back in?" He asked Eric.
"I'll go back when you guys leave," Cartman answered without lifting his head.
Kyle let it go and went to see his friend.
. . . . .
The rest of the month went on like that. Everyday after school Eric drove straight to the hospital and stayed by Butters side until midnight; other friends would come and go and he would step out accordingly. This schedule worked out well, he and Butters' parents were able to rest with this switch off. Linda had sworn to Eric that she would tell him if Butters woke up while she was watching him, and Cartman swore the same to her. On weekends they would just keep with their schedule. Cartman would sleep in late on weekends so he woke closer to when he had to leave to see Butters, waking up early and waiting the time to pass would be unbearable otherwise.
Liane was worried for her son. She hardly saw him and when she did he didn't speak. She would occasionally work herself up in the evening and be determined to forbid Eric from staying at the hospital for so long, but every night when her son would come home, the look on his face kept her mouth shut. Instead, Liane would pack Eric dinner as well as a lunch so he could eat at the hospital, and if that wasn't possible she would give him extra money to buy a meal.
Surprisingly, Eric's grades were showing some improvement during this month. There wasn't much he could do, or rather wanted to do, at the hospital aside from homework. And when he had reading assignments he read out loud, maybe Butters would hear him.
Butters' oxygen tube was removed after the second week, and his head bandages after the third. These achievements kept Cartman vigilant, Butters' body was healing.