"Talking"

'Thoughts'

Dreams

Flashbacks

~_~_~_~_~_~_~_~_~

"If you look to your left, you will see a small mountain town, most likely bustling with citizens who are trying to finish their bust morning routines before lunch." A redheaded man quickly peered out of his small window, but, to his relief, it was not South Park he was looking at.

"Mr. Broflovski?" A voice came from right beside him and he jumped, flicking his gaze over to the female flight attendant.

"Yes?"

"Are you okay? You look a little green...." She trailed off worriedly, but he did not humor her question with an answer. He did not even want to think about the reason he left South Park all those years ago and why he felt sick when he thought about the little town.

"Mr. Broflovski?"

Of course, he wanted to see his family again, and that was exactly the reason he was on this plane in the first place. A couple of weeks ago he received a letter from his younger brother Ike, informing him that their mother had fallen ill and the South Park doctors feared they found cancer in their father.

"Mr. Broflovski." The man jumped again as the attendant placed her hand lightly on his shoulder. Her smiled weakly at her in hopes that she would leave him alone.

"Yes, I'm fine."

She returned his smile a little unsurely, but moved on to an elderly woman who seemed about to faint.

Mr. Broflovski settled back into his seat and tried to enjoy the rest of the flight, trying not to think about the man he had left in the Colorado mountains.

~?~?~?~?~?~?~?~?~

The town was grayer than when he left, and he wondered if the Broflovski house was still where it was supposed to be. He wandered through the streets, reveling in the giant tranformations the town had undergone in sixteen years. It was almost as if the townspeople had waited until he was gone before helping the small town progress. Mind you, the mountain town was still small, but it was a lot bigger than it used to be. Mr. Broflovski's hope died as he remembered that his former flame had said he wanted to stay in South Park as long as they kept progressing.

"I have to ensure my children have a better education than I did, while still reenforcing those small town values." He had said after their high school graduation ceremony.

The man did not take long to find his old house and stood on the sidewalk at the edge of the property. He looked up at the building that occupied his former residence. Where there was once green paint, a dull violet took control of the house, crawling up and wrapping around the old boards. There was also daisies dotted along the edge of the house, framing it rather nicely.

Mr. Broflovski hated daisies. He considered walking up to the door and knocking to see if anyone was home, but a voice broke off his thoughts.

"Kyle, is that you?"

No.

Stan?

He turned and saw his childhood friend, Stan Marsh, standing a few feet up the sidewalk, staring at him with an odd smile that said he was not sure if he was happy to see him.

But Kyle knew how he felt about Stan.

He turned away from the man and started toward his house. Knocking quietly, he tried to ignore the man calling his name behind him...that is, until there was no answer to the door. He sighed and faced the man he hoped he would never see again.

"What do you want?" He asked wearily. Stan looked at him with concern and Kyle fought down a dirty look. He knew Stan did not really care about him.

"Do you want to wait at my house while your brother's out? He won't be back for a while."

Like that would happen.

~?~?~?~?~?~?~?~?~

"So, this is the bathroom, in case you need to use it sometime." Stan said lightly, gesturing to a room to the left of the front door. Kyle simply glanced at the room before grabbing Stan by the arm.

"Where's Wendy?" He asked with a hint of bitterness in his voice.

Stan looked away from Kyle's eyes. "Oh, she's-"

A little girl, probably no more than seven years old, ran into the living room with a look sheer terror in her crystalline eyes. She shoved her raven bangs out of her face as she addressed Stan. "Daddy, Daddy! There's a woman in the backyard who says she wants to speak to you. She says she close to talking us away." She looked at her father with quizzical blue orbs, but Stan did not supply an answer to her unspoken question.

He did not even give Kyle a glance as he charged through the house to the backyard. Kyle looked at the child for only a moment before following, stopping short at the back door. He saw a woman he had never seen in South Park before, facing Stan and seemingly pinning him to where he stood with a mean glare.

"I hear you have a kid with a fever." She said pointedly, clutching an official-looking clipboard to her chest. "Who's taking care of him? You wife died several months back and as far as I know, you have no one to help you take care of your children." Kyle's eyes went wide. Wendy was dead? He had never heard of this.

"I had help, but she quit about month ago because she didn't want to handle cleaning up after all of us everyday."

"Yes, when you signed up Miss Stevens to be your housekeper, did you inform her that she would be keeping track of the messes of thirteen kids and their father?" She asked skeptically.

"Yes, I told her, but she already knew. She used to be best friends with Wendy."

She jotted something down on her clipboard. "And after she left, did you begin to search for a replacement?"

"I've been trying to look for a new housekeeper or nanny, but I've a little busy lately."

She nodded as if she understood, but her violet eyes were ice. "You've been too busy with your kids then?" Kyle felt a little sorry for Stan, but did not want to step in. First, this was none of his business, and second, he was not sure he wanted to help the man who said himself that he did not feel anything for the Jewish redhead.

"I assure you, I have time for my kids. When I need to go to work or run a quick errand, I have Steven watch his younger siblings for me while I'm gone."

"And when you aren't working or running errands?" Raised eyebrows, practically daring Stan to answer.

"I'm here," he replied, gesturing to the house beside them. Kyle looked between the two, noticing the subtle and not-so-subtle glares they were giving each other. The woman did not have to back off yet, but Stan needed to watch himself if he did not want anything to go wrong. One bad move or wrong word and the woman he was talking to could easily take away the kids.

"Do you realize you could soon be facing charges of negligence toward your children? Your former housekeeper has claimed that you were not and are not trying to find a permanent mother figure for the kids."

"I've been busy." Stan insisted through gritted teeth.

"No, you just didn't care." The social worker concluded, giving the raven man a satisfied smirk. "Until I see a mother figure, I'm afraid I'm going to have to assume that you aren't being the responsible parent these kids need." She smiled at the three children that were currently in the backyard, but they all shrank away from her, scared and confused. Kyle felt like he should not be a part of this, but he was not sure how to leave without seeming rude. At that moment, the girl who had told Stan of the woman's presence chose to appear behind the redhead.

"Do you have a signif-eecant other?" She whispered seriously.

"No, I don't." He replied quietly, thoroughly confused.

"What's your name?"

"Kyle."

She looked him up and down with her hand on her chin. Finally she gave a decisive nod and grabbed by the hand, leading him outside to the two now arguing adults.

"If Daddy found someone to help him with us, you'll leave him alone, right?"

The woman looked at Kyle suspiciously, forcing a smile to her flawless face. "Of course."

"Well, this is Kyle. He's our new mother." Kyle was too speechless at the child's authoritative tone to care that the woman was now glaring at Stan skeptically.

"This is your new mother figure for the children? He's a man."

Stan could not help the smile that formed on his face. "You don't know Kyle. He acts like a woman." He put his arm around Kyle-who tried not to flinch-and they both looked at Kyle.

"Yeah, I...yeah." Kyle finished lamely, blushing.

"He's shy," Stan supplied without needing to. The woman looked between the two men, then at the children staring back at her with innocent hope in their eyes. She sniffed and placed the clipboard at her side, holding out her hand to Kyle.

"So you two are getting married?" She asked, clearly disappointed by the defeat. Kyle smiled warmly, a feat that surprised him, and shook the offered hand.

"Well, I certainly hope the state will allow it, but in the meantime, we're just happy spending time with each other."

The social worker nodded slowly. "Make sure he spends time with those kids. Especially the sick one." Kyle started to make a mental note of that before remembering he was not really engaged to Stan, but if there was any sign of internal conflict on his face, the social worker did not see it.

"I'll be back soon to check in."

After she left, Stan unhooked his arm and turned to Kyle, fixing him with an apologetic stare.

"Sorry you had to get dragged into that."

I'm sorry too.

He could not say those three simple words with Stan's kids around though. Everyone began heading inside, except for Kyle. He hung back, not sure whether or not he could leave now. On one hand, it seemed rather rude to disappear, but he also wanted to see his family again....

"Kyle?" The Jewish man turned toward the back door where Stan was standing. "Are you coming in for lunch?" Kyle looked like he was about to protest so Stan quickly cut him off. "It's the least can do after dragging you into my problems. Besides, I want to explain myself for what happened between us."

I thought you did a pretty good job of explaining yourself.

Once again, he spared Stan the harsh words but this time it was only out of jet lag and shock over the past events. He nodded to Stan and started to follow him in the house, but he could not help the thoughts that entered his mind. How long would he be in this situation? What would happen if that social worker ever found out he and Stan were lying to her the entire time?

'What have I gotten myself into?'

~_~_~_~_~_~_~_~_~

A/N: Well, there it is! There was originally more to it, but I decided to cut it off here.

And don't think I've forgotten about my other stories! There are updates floating around somewhere on the site, but they won't be up until they're read by my beta. They're coming though!

Anyway, I hope anyone who is on their Fall Break is enjoying it as much as I enjoy mine! XD

~theflawintheplan