This is my Summer Secret Santa gift for ewisko8. The idea was inspired from Winter-Rae's fic "I'm On Your Side", an awesome in my opinion. I hope you like it, ewisko8.
DISCLAIMER: I don't own Total Drama.
Bridgette sighed. Apparently, Geoff was not listening to her at all. She grabbed Geoff by the ear, dragged him off to the studio, gave him a lecture about what a douche he's become and why this needs to end, and reminded him that those contestants they were interviewing were his friends. This was not helped by the fact that the two guests they've just interviewed were DJ and Gwen, close friends of both.
But Geoff was not listening.
"Relax, Bridge, this is all for ratings!" he insisted. "I don't see the harm in that!"
"So what you're saying is you don't see any harm in endangering Gwen and DJ's lives and creating false evidence against them?!" Bridgette demanded.
"Geez, take a chill pill," Geoff dismissed her argument. "It's only a cartoon."
"That does not give you any free pass to act like Chris!" Bridgette snarled. "This ends now! Those guys are your friends! Especially DJ and Gwen!"
Geoff's ears pricked up. "You're standing up for Gwen?" he chuckled. "I thought you hated her."
"I don't!" Bridgette snapped. "I never did, nor did I ever say I did! I knew all along that Gwen was well within her rights to break up with Trent and that Justin forced her into an awkward position! But I still had to be sympathetic to Trent! The fans would never believe the truth anyway because of how Chris edits the footage! I even informed Gwen about everything before the interviews started so that I wouldn't lose her as a friend like you did, as you may have done with DJ!"
"WHAT?!" Geoff gasped. "No wonder Gwen wasn't as shocked or hurt as I expected! How could you betray me like this?!" he demanded to know.
"Because I have empathy!" Bridgette scowled. "Something you used to have a lot of. Now it's gone!" She turned away. "I'm leaving you!"
"I bet you're actually leaving me for someone else!" Geoff called after her. "Who is he?! I'll kill him if I find out who-!"
"I'm afraid you have already killed him," Bridgette turned to glare.
Geoff was confused. "Who?"
Bridgette turned around once more and huffed. "The man you used to be." She walked off and left the room, leaving a shocked and confused Geoff behind.
Ezekiel was trying to avoid everyone as much as possible. Courtney and Gwen were arguing, Cody was hitting on Gwen, Katie and Sadie were stalking Trent, Noah was mocking Katie and Sadie behind their backs, Izzy was performing dangerous experiments and involving DJ in them against his will, and Tyler was annoying him.
"Yo, Zeke!" Tyler called out, standing on top of a diving board. "Watch my rad diving skills!" The jock jumped and landed on concrete. He fainted.
Ezekiel sighed. He misses the pool every time, eh, he thought to himself. He decided to go inside and find a place to think without any distractions. That was when he found Bridgette crying on the stairwell. Feeling sorry for her, Ezekiel decided to go talk to her.
"Bridgette, wot's wrong?" Ezekiel asked
Bridgette looked up at Ezekiel and wiped tears from her cheeks. "I-I broke up with Geoff," she replied.
"Would ye like to talk aboot it in private?" Ezekiel asked.
Bridgette smiled. "Thank you, I would appreciate it," she told him. She followed Ezekiel to the utility room and Ezekiel closed the door.
"What happened?" he asked Bridgette. "Normally yoo are very cheerful. I have never seen ya this oopset before, eh."
"Well, I today I've finally had enough of Geoff," Bridgette sighed. "I broke up with him. You remember the Aftermath early today, don't you?" she asked.
"I do," Ezekiel nodded. "Did Geoff find oot 'bout yoo an' Gwen?"
"He did."
"How'd he take it?"
"He was angry with me. He felt 'betrayed'. I swear, hosting that aftermath show has turned him into an egomaniacal monster," Bridgette professed. She cried again. Ezekiel grabbed some tissue paper, tore off a few squares and handed them to Bridgette. "Thank you," Bridgette replied, as she took them and blew her nose with them.
"Look Bridge," Ezekiel put his hand on Bridgette's forehead. "The show may've got'n to his head."
"That doesn't excuse how he treated Gwen and DJ!" Bridgette insisted. "I mean, he tried to ruin DJ's reputation, managed to ruin Gwen's reputation even further and create a rift between her and my other friend Courtney, and he almost got Gwen killed!"
"I knoo," said Ezekiel. "Bu' it felt so out of character for him."
"Unfortunately, I don't think the Geoff I fell in love with will be coming back," Bridgette sobbed, hiding her face behind her hands and crying again. Ezekiel took her hands away and said:
"It will be okay, Bridgette," Ezekiel assured her. "You've now broken up with Geoff, eh. Things'll get better for ya. You just have to make 'em happen. People change, there's no doubt 'boot it, eh. But people who turn a full 180 and b'come sociopaths as a result o' that, they are far an' few in between. Ya still have yer friends, ya still have yer dignity, and ya still have yer human compassion, eh. Try not to forget that."
Bridgette hugged Ezekiel. "Thank you, Ezekiel," she smiled. "You have no idea how much better you've made me feel."
"No worries, eh," Ezekiel smiled. "Is there anything y'need right now?" he asked.
"No, I'm okay for now," Bridgette sighed. But Ezekiel did not believe her.
"You need a distraction," said Ezekiel. "If you want to hang oot, yer more'an welcome. But if you need some moor time alone to let it all out, I'll understand. We all need time to adjust. If ya anything, y'know where to find me, eh."
"Again, thank you," Bridgette smiled.
After their talk, Bridgette headed for her room to recompose herself while Ezekiel went to the rec room to play the Xbox with Cody. An hour later, Bridgette decided to leave her room. She needed to talk to someone, or do something with someone. Ezekiel was right. A distraction was what she needed. She entered the rec room and Ezekiel noticed her.
"Hey Bridge," he greeted her. "Cody and I are just finishin' oop this round. Ya wanna play after this?"
"Sure," Bridgette smiled. She sat next to Ezekiel on the couch and she joined Cody and Ezekiel in a death-match on Call of Duty: Modern Warfare. Their session was interrupted by three people arguing outside the rec room. At first, Zeke, Bridge and Cody tried to ignore it, but after a few minutes, it was apparent that the row was not going to end anytime soon unless somebody intervened. Ezekiel paused the game, stood up, and went outside to see what was going on. Courtney, Gwen and Trent were roaring at one another.
"Whoa, y'all need to calm down, eh!" Ezekiel barked.
"No, Gwen needs to stay away from Duncan!" Courtney snapped.
"Courtney needs to realise that Duncan and I are just friends!" Gwen snapped.
"Oh really?" Trent snickered.
"Right, that's enough ya three!" Ezekiel raised his voice, silencing the others. "Trent, Gwen broke up with you cos ya were throwing challenges for her, making her feel like she was weaker than she really is. Not to mention, yer number nine obsession was creepin' her oot, eh."
"It's my lucky number!" Trent protested. "I was relying on luck because I was afraid of losing her!"
"Yeah, but why didn't cha tell Gwen how nine became yer lucky number, eh?" Ezekiel demanded. "She was your girlfriend; there was no reason not to tell her. It just came oot ran'omly and she mistakenly believed it was you being obsessed about her b'yond the point of insanity."
"That was Duncan's fault!" Trent snapped.
"He was misinformed, and so was Harold, eh," Ezekiel pointed out. "Harold assumed the wrong as well. Ya need to be able to trust who yer dating." Then Ezekiel turned to Gwen. "But I could not blame Trent for not trusting you, eh," he admitted.
Gwen was offended. "Excuse me?"
"You were spending more time with Duncan than ya were with Trent," Ezekiel reminded Gwen. "You didn't even seem to be bothered whenever Duncan mocked Trent durin/ that alien episode, when most girlfriends would give out to Duncan in such a situation. Duncan even excluded Bridgette and Geoff, yer friends, but ya did nothin' 'boot that, which also speaks volumes. Trent was your boyfriend, you should've done more things together with him and without Duncan involved at all. You should've also talked to Trent about throwing the challenges and his sudden number nine obsession rather than jumping to conclusions."
Gwen sighed and bowed her head with guilt. Courtney smirked at this with glee.
"And I haven't forgot'n aboot you, eh," Ezekiel turned to her. "You need to trust Duncan if you want to continue datin' him. That video of him and Gwen was obviously manipulated by Geoff. You have a right to be worried, but if yer gonna 'cuse Duncan of infidelity and regulate who he's allowed to hang oot with, then yoo're gonna lose him. He's not a possession, he's a human bein'. And let's not forget that Gwen has had enough on her plate already." Ezekiel took a deep breath.
"Excuse me, you don't have a right to talk to me like that!" Courtney snapped.
"You talk to other people like that too, eh," Ezekiel retorted.
"Well this is none of your business! Stay the fuck out of it!"
"It is too me business if the whole cast has to listen to all that shit!" Ezekiel countered. "This ends now! Y'guys are gettin' nowhere with this fightin' and you need to find a resolution to this as soon as possible."
Bridgette stood at the door, watching all of this. She was astonished. This was the exact opposite of how Geoff handled this. Soon enough, the apologies were exchanged.
"I'm sorry for not trusting you, Gwen," Trent told her. "I should've had faith in you. And because nine is important to me, probably to an unhealthy level, but important nonetheless, I should've shared that bit about me with you when our relationship was still strong."
"And I'm sorry for being cold and distance towards you," Gwen replied. "You were my boyfriend, you were more important to me than Duncan and I did not realise it. I also should've been more interested in your hobbies as well, and warned Duncan not to give you a hard time over you not being very familiar with the type of movies I like to watch."
"And I'm sorry Gwen, for being a bitch," Courtney added. "It's just that, Duncan was the best thing to have happened to me, and I don't want to lose him. I should've talked to him about it rather than jump to conclusions and blame you on anything. I'm still suspicious, but…"
"That's okay," Gwen assured Courtney. "Duncan is your boyfriend. I know we're just friends, but I should know how much he means to you and that I had Trent."
Eventually, Courtney, Gwen and Trent reconciled. Courtney was still going to sue her way into the competition, but not to give out to Duncan, but because she needed him. Plus, she was still pissed over how she got cheated out of the competition last season and that for this reason she should be allowed to participate on Total Drama Action.
"Ezekiel, that was amazing what you did for Gwen, Trent and Courtney," Bridgette smiled at Geoff when the aforementioned trio left.
"They needed a push, eh," Ezekiel replied. "I hope things get better for them."
"You're a good person, Ezekiel," Bridgette smiled at the prairie kid. Then they went back inside and continued their gaming session with Cody. Noah joined in as well later on.
Over the next few weeks, Bridgette and Ezekiel grew closer and it was not long before they were dating. Trent and Gwen finally reconciled and got back together, much to the chagrin of Katie, Sadie and Trent's obsessive fan, but Eva made sure that Gwen and Trent were left alone. Courtney was allowed on Total Drama Action, where she talked things out with Duncan and they built more trust amongst themselves, helping to solidify their relationship further. Additionally, Duncan also went back to being the jerk with a heart of gold he was earlier on, and got along with more of his fellow cast mates.
Geoff on the other hand became a bitter man, but that was only temporary. Heather took over as host of the Aftermath after he crashed and burned on stage. A few weeks of therapy later, he was back to normal and ended up dating Beth. They met in their therapy sessions and had a connection (no need to explain why Beth needed those sessions, but good came out of it). In the end, the only few who were unhappy were the interns, because Izzy molests them.
A happy ending for everyone… well, except for the interns. Not sure if my Ezekiel dialogue was good enough, but I hope it is. Oh well. Merry Summer, ewisko8 (that phrase sounded a lot less childish in my head)!
Until next time!