Chapter 02: Richmond

After summoning up every ounce of courage that flowed through her veins, Judy finally told her parents about the accident.

It didn't go well.

"ARE YOU KIDDING ME!? DO YOU HAVE ANY IDEA HOW STUPID YOU ARE!?", Her father yelled as he shook her, spewing quite a bit of his saliva onto his daughter's face. "I-I-I'm sorry, Dad! I didn't mean for that to happen! I promise! It's just..." "WHAT, JUDITH!? JUST WHAT!?" "I-I wanted some peace after our fight...I just wanted some time away from"-YOU GOTTA BE SHITTING ON MY FACE! I gave a perfectly reasonable speech to you that night on how you needed to get better at handing Reality, and YOUR take-away from it was, 'I'm so horny and depressed I'm gonna bang the worst possible choice in Pittsburgh without protection! Surely nothing bad will come outta that, right?!' YOU HAVE GOT TO BE KIDDING, JUDY!"

Judy stood, shaking, "I...I...ah..." "I, I, AH!", Her father cruely mocked her. As usual, her mother merely stood in the back, watching this debacle unfold as though she were watching a mediocre, uninteresting movie. "...You know what!? SCREW IT!", He yelled. With that, he viciously grabbed her hair and started yanking her towards the front door of the house. Judy yelped at the pain. "What-what are you doing?!", she sobbed out. "I'VE GIVEN YOU PLENTY A' CHANCES!", he yelled as he quickly pulled the door open. "THIS IS THE LAST STRAW! YOU'VE EMBARRASSED ME FOR THE LAST TIME, YOU DUMBASS!" With that, he violently threw his own child down the stairs leading up to the front door, and into the freezing-cold winter air.

In an incredible stroke of luck, Judy didn't sustain any cranial damage when she hit the stairs, but she bashed her elbow and knees against them quite hard on the way down. "YOU WANNA BE A WHORE? BE A WHORE! YOU AND THAT NEUTRON FAG WERE MADE FOR EACH OTHER!" With that, her father slammed the door shut.

Judy slowly stood up, wincing at the pain in her knees and elbow. Tears rolled down her cheeks as she realized that she was potentially homeless. She had nothing on her except the clothes on her back, and she knew trying to get her phone as well as her other aminities and utilities was pointless as she knew her horrible excuse for a father wouldn't let her back in for anything.

As far as he was concerned, his daughter was dead to him, and Judy knew it. Her only hope of refuge from the blizzard now was Hugh, who still wasn't aware of his impending fatherhood.

With a glimmer of hope in her heart, she began to walk towards Hugh's house, slowly to ensure she didn't slip and fall on the icy sidewalk and roads. She really didn't need to get any more damaged right now.

Upon hearing the doorbell ring, Hugh power walked towards the front door to greet the guest. Judy stood directly outside, extremely nervous. If Hugh kicked her out, she would most likely starve and/or freeze to death with the rest of the homeless population in Pittsburgh, and the baby along with her.

Finally, fifteen seconds after the freezing pregnant girl rang the doorbell, though it felt much longer, the door finally flew open. "Well hey Suger Booger! You-" Hugh then noticed that she was shivering, somewhat underdressed, had scrapes on her knees and one of her elbows, and was very clearly emotionally unwell. "Oh, Judy, what's wrong? Where's your jacket? Come inside, quick!"

Judy said nothing, but quickly power-walked inside, and plopped herself down on the couch they had sex on weeks ago. Hugh wasted no time as he ran towards the nearby coat rack and returned with a thick jacket to cover his girlfriend with. "Here,", Hugh said in a soft voice as he handed the jacket to the shivering girl. As she felt the warmth of the jacket, a smile temporarily covered her face as her stress was eased by a small amount. "...Hugh, I"- "Hold that thought, I'll be right back, Sugar-Booger!", Hugh said as he ran to the kitchen.

Judy once again smiled, but she felt the urge to cry yet again as she realized it was fairly possible that Hugh wouldn't wanna be with her anymore after what she knew she had to tell him. Finally, Hugh returned with two chocolate beverages. This time, Hot Chocolate. the perfect reverse-oasis to combat the unrelenting cold of Winter.

"...Thanks, Hugh.", She said in a quiet voice as she sipped carefully on the hot drink. Hugh sat down next to her. "Now...what's wrong, Honey? You look horrified!" Judy sat with tears in her eyes and a lump in her throat. What would happen in the next five minutes would determine whether or not she was going to live or die. She knew she didn't stand a chance on the streets. "Did someone attack you?", Hugh asked, pointing to the injuries on her knees and elbow. "...Not exactly. But...My dad...kicked me out. Permanently. "Wha-WHY?!", Hugh asked.

"Hugh, I...I'm pregnant.", Judy quietly said through tears, finally revealing the information that would seal both their fates.

Hugh just sat there, eyes wide and jaw hanging open. Judy continued, "I...I'm so sorry, it's all my fault! I was the one who...instigated things. You warned me, and I didn't listen. I understand if you...If you don't wanna...don't wanna be together anymore"- "What, are you insane!? There's no way I'm abandoning you, now!"

"...What?", Judy thought, stunned. "Judy, I didn't say it back when you did, but...I love you, too. You're the only person I know who...genuinely loves me just for who I am. And now we're gonna have a baby together? I'd rather plunge my face back into that unflushed toilet than abandon you!"

The lump in Judy's throat intensified, this time, from overwhelming joy. "I...Oh my God!", Judy said crying uncontrollably. She couldn't believe her luck and how much Hugh loved her. He truly did love her just as much as she loved him, and he proved it, today.

"Come here, Sugar-Booger.", Hugh said softly as he reached out for his girlfriend. Judy immediately leaned fully into the hug and sobbed like a little child as he rubbed her back.

"You'll never know how happy I am to have met you, Judith Wilkes."

Judy smiled. "How about...Judy Neutron?"

Hugh's eyes widened once again. "Uhhh...OH! Shit! Sorry, I guess it's supposed to be you saying that, huh?", Judy said, blushing. hugh replied, "Well, I...don't exactly have a ring to propose with...", said Hugh, rubbing the back of his neck, sheepishly. Judy rolled her eyes. "...Well, what do you have?", Judy asked as she playfully rolled her eyes at him.

"Uhhh...OH! I got it!", Hugh said as he turned around and ran to his mom's room. After about two minutes of waiting, Hugh returned with something hidden behind his back. Judy had a confused look on her face, but her question about his item of choice was hilariously answered when Hugh got down on one knee...

...And revealed a small Hello-Kitty watch.

Judy errupted with laughter, but Hugh remained determined.

"Judy, will you marry me?"

Judy was still laughing and crying like crazy. Over the last two hours, she had cried tears of sorrow, fear, joy, and humor all in such a short span of time.

"Hell yeah, I'll marry you!", she exclaimed proudly.

She happily grabbed the watch from Hugh, and tried to put it on, only to discover that the watch was too small for her wrist. "Ah, to hell with it! I'm getting married!", Judy yelled as she threw the watch aside and then threw herself into her fiance's arms.

Hugh then said, "I can't wait till my parents get home! They really like you! They'll be thrilled!"

The two now-engaged young adults spent the rest of the day waiting at Hugh's house for his parents to come home so they could tell them about the situation. Hugh considered texting them, but Judy convinced him that life-altering information such as this was to be told to them directly rather than over a text. Hugh and Judy passed the time primarily eating some leftover pizza and watching movies.

Hugh managed to convince Judy to watch Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen with him. He had actually tried to get her to watch it before a couple of times, but now that they were bonded for life, she felt a bit more compelled to do more things with him. By the time the credits rolled, Hugh asked her what she thought of it, to which she answered, "Yeah, it was...a movie." She actually thought it was one of the worst movies ever made, but she didn't want to hurt her new fiance's feelings.

"Awesome! Next up is Transformers: Dark of the Moon, which came out eariler this year!" "Ohhh, fun...", replied Judy. If this movie was gonna be anything like it's predecessor, she was in for a long night, indeed.

About halfway through the film, Hugh said, "I'm kinda worried." "About what? We both know Shia Labeouf is gonna be fine." Hugh chuckled. "No. Not that, I'm saying that...It's dark out, now. They're usually home by now. My parents." Judy reassured him, "Ah, it's probably just bad traffic. That's one thing I'm NOT looking forward to when I eventually get my own car." Hugh sighed, he knew it probably was just something like that.

Fifteen minutes later, the doorbell rang. "Oh! I'll get it!", Hugh said, happy that his parents were finally home.

Instead, what he saw when he opened the door was two police officers, prompting confusion from Hugh. "Umm, good evening, Officers. Is something wrong?" "Actually, I'm afraid so, son. Is your name Hubert James Neutron?". Hugh nodded.

"There's no easy way to break this to you, so I'll just say it; you're parents were both in a wreck. They're gone."

Hugh was horrified when he saw what was left of his parent's mangled bodies as he went down to the morgue so that he saw with his own eyes that his parents were indeed dead. "Oh God, that's them!", Hugh cried as he covered his face with one hand. Judy held onto him from his side. "I'm very sorry for you son, it's a hell of a thing.", one of the hospital staff members said to him in a voice that sounded genuine, but also like the man had become accustomed to saying that to people for decades.

"What are gonna do, now?", Hugh asked Judy. After pondering on it for a moment, Judy said, "...Let's just leave. Get outta Dodge." "What?", Hugh asked. "Let's leave! There's nothing left for us here, now! And honestly, I never really liked Pittsburgh, anyway." Hugh then asked, "But, where would we go? Where would we stop? We gotta stop somewhere, Judy! We can run for a while, but...Judy, if we're really gonna be our own family, you me and this baby, then we BOTH need to get jobs and we're gonna have to work our ASSES off if we're gonna have a decent roof over our heads and food in our stomachs!"

"Yeah, I know,", Judy began to reply. "You're right! I agree. We just need to pick a good place to stop at. You're inheritance money will be pretty much all we have until you and I get jobs at our new town, so...we really shouldn't go too far, and we're gonna have to go hungry most of the day to save money on food." Hugh then replied, "Yeah, and we're gonna have to shower every once in a while so that we don't stink too bad, otherwise no diner will let us in! So, we should pick the cheapest hotels we can come across during our travels."

Judy reluctantly agreed, it made sense finacially, but those cheap motor inns around the U.S. were infamous for having sketchy people like Criminals and severe Drug-Addicts infesting them. Not exactly safe, but then again, neither was wasting money needlessly. It was a tough decision to make, for regardless of whether or not they were to choose to spend extra money on nicer hotels, their own lives as well as their unborn child's life was at risk.

They were about to embark on a dangerous little adventure.

"Are you sure about this?", Hugh asked Judy.

"No...Let's do it.", Judy answered.

Over the next three weeks, Hugh and Judy Neutron left Pittsburgh behind, and wandered south, trying their absolute best to be as careful and frugal as possible with their limited money that Hugh had as inheritance from his parents passing. As painful as it was, they ultimately managed to succeed in their goal to only eat one meal a day during the evening at diners at whatever town they happened to be in at the time. They didn't need that much food anyway, due to the fact that they spent most of their days in Hugh's crappy car.

They were extremely grateful that Gasoline wasn't that expensive, and they hoped that it would stay that way in America forever.

They only stopped at motel's to shower once every four days, which meant that although they often smelled somewhat, and felt very gross, they would still not quite be disgusting enough to be kicked out of public places, and as things were then, that was all that mattered.

Finally, the two found themselves in Richmond, Virginia. They were finally far enough away from Pittsburgh that it felt like the time had finally arrived for them to start their new lives in a new town, in a new state.

Around the same time they moved into a small, cheap apartment, they quickly applied for jobs around town. They still had a small amount of money left, but that wouldn't last long.

Thankfully, it didn't take the two long for the two of them to get jobs. Judy became an employee at a nearby McSpankies, famous for their tasty cheeseburgers. Hugh managed to get a job as a driver for a nearby Sopranos Pizza joint. Neither of these jobs paid all that well, of course. But with their aquired frugality skills, as well as their combined paychecks, they could live sustainable lives.

They couldn't afford much; no video games, no excess food, no going to the movies, no top-of-the-line iPhones. They had to give up many of the things they were once able to enjoy back when they had others to provide for them.

But they had each other, and they would soon have their baby, and that was all that they truly wanted when all was said and done.

One night, Judy came home from a long, particularly excruciating shift at McSpankies. Hugh still wouldn't be home from his shift at Sopranos for another hour, so she decided to go take a relaxing, warm post-work shower. It was a Friday night, so he intended to take home a pizza just for the two of them. They may not have been able to afford much food, but they deserved a little treat from time to time.

As she undressed, she decided to take a good, long look at her body for the first time since the two of them left Pittsburgh. She had only been pregnant for about seven weeks, so no baby bump was visible quite just yet. She realized that her body fat levels had never been lower. Although she was still not quite underweight enough for it to be a cause for concern.

In other words, she was in the best shape of her life. "Huh, if my Dad could see me now...he might actually think better of me.", The girl thought, as a slight lump entered her throat. Her father was not a good man, but she still longed for the days when she was a little girl and they had a somewhat better relationship. Even occasional outright good moments.

She was determined to be better than her parents. Much better.

A few weeks after that, Judy and Hugh went to the Doctor's Office on the subject of her baby. The ultrasound revealed a shocking truth:

There were two heartbeats. Judy was carrying twins. A baby girl...and a baby boy.

Their feelings were in a muddle; they were excited at the thought of getting two children to love, but also upset at the thought of having to work much harder than they already were at their jobs in order to feed, bathe, and clothe these children.

Little did they know, these two children would ensure that they never had to worry about their financial security again. Ever.