I'm not sure there's any way to write "and then the baby died" and be less sad.
#2 would walk the line between "wacky roadtrip hijinks" and "everyone else is devastated that Stephen has gone missing." With an ongoing plot thread in which Charlene starts encountering the other alters. In this version, all memories of there being a baby at all have been blocked from Tyrone so that he can function, and Stephen is either catatonic or shattered completely. But the rest of the trauma still calls to be dealt with.
#5 is indeed the hope-for-the-future salve, with Jon and Tracey as the adoptive parents. Jon agreed to be George's backup legal guardian when Stephen originally asked him to be godfather.
Ah, there's more than enough tragedy in State of Grace without killing off the main characters. (...So much for comfort.)
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#2 would walk the line between "wacky roadtrip hijinks" and "everyone else is devastated that Stephen has gone missing." With an ongoing plot thread in which Charlene starts encountering the other alters. In this version, all memories of there being a baby at all have been blocked from Tyrone so that he can function, and Stephen is either catatonic or shattered completely. But the rest of the trauma still calls to be dealt with.
#5 is indeed the hope-for-the-future salve, with Jon and Tracey as the adoptive parents. Jon agreed to be George's backup legal guardian when Stephen originally asked him to be godfather.
Ah, there's more than enough tragedy in State of Grace without killing off the main characters. (...So much for comfort.)