Summary: Jake has a thought. It's not a good one. E.D.'s the one to pay. Hard. Set before the time of the grand play.


E.D slammed the door, behind herself, glaring at him. Hard.

Jake smirked hotly. "You haven't found it!" he declared, ticking her off at the sound of the smugness in his voice.

"I'll fine it!" she yelled back.

Jake rolled his eyes. "Yeah, right," he muttered before turning back to the computer in front of him.

E.D. could only storm off in anger. But Jake barely took notice, if any.

~0~

"Hey, have you seen E.D anywhere, Destiny?" Zedediah asked the four year old lying on the ground, finger painting.

The young boy look up, confusion all across tiny face. "No. She and Jake got mad at each other."

"Again?"

"Yep!"

"Hm. That's the seventh one yet. And here I thought that they'd, at least, be civiled to each other."

"Whoa, whoa, whoa! Whatdoya mean uncivil," came a certain, new voice. Zedediah turned to see a fuming E.D. standing in the doorway, angry expression clear as day upon her face. "I was civil. That farm animal wasn't! But that'd be an insult to the animals!"

Zedediah repressed the urge to smile at that. "E.D., your mother wanted me to ask you if you'd bring her more ink for the printer."

E.D. nodded. Anything to get away from Jake would be acceptable at the moment.

~0~

Jake stared at the computer screen in front of him. He had been looking up a spangled fritillary to make sure the little brat didn't cheat and say she found one.

He sighed, turning the computer off, finally bored.

He walked into the kitchen, and saw his little buddy on the floor. "Hey, Destiny, where's the killjoy?"

"You mean E.D.?" Destiny asked innocently.

He shrugged. "Yeah, I guess so. So where'd she go?"

"Upstairs to get mommy ink," he answered shortly.

Jake nodded, taking the information in. Suddenly, an idea occurred to him. "Destiny, what's E.D.'s real name?" he asked innocently, as if he wasn't planing on using the information against her.

If the girl had people call her by the letters "E.D.," then surely there was a reason for it- weather from embarrassment or a weak attempt to seem cool- either one would make his life not seem so boring. And yes; there was a reason. A girl like E.D. did not just change her name to LETTERS just for no reason. No, there was a reason. And he, Jake Semple, would find it.

"Oh, Edith," Destiny said, barely paying attention to him anymore.

Jake bite his lips, but only to hide the snarky smirk that wanted to form on his face. If he was to play this right, he'd have to do it in the form of a sneak-attack. Edith would never know what hit her.

~0~

Jake leaned against the door-frame as he heard footsteps descend down the stairs in a fast pace. He raised an eyebrow at the girl who was now getting ambushed by the smug red-head.

"What?" she demanded with rage.

He gave her an innocent look that she knew well. "Oh, nothing... Edith," he spat the last word- her name.

Needless to say, the girl's eyes widened the size of the sky (a weird picture, I know), "W-what?" she stuttered, "H-how do you know that?!"

Jake grinned that terribly smug grin of his. "Thank your brother. He really wanted to tell me," he lied. "Oh, besides, who were you named after?"

His eyes teased her. E.D. just felt like running, but that's exactly the reaction he'd want, "A famous person," she said vaguely, refusing to give him the exact person's name- not that she'd expect him to know who her namesake was.

"Ooh," Jake taunted, "A famous person."

E.D. rolled her eyes at his sarcastic tone. "Shut it, Semple."

"Back atchya, Applewhite."

E.D. couldn't take it anymore. She glared fiercely, stormed from the room with tiny lightning bolts, went to her room, and slammed the door.

Jake was left there, smirking at his obvious win. "Too easy."


It was around 7:00 when Zedediah sent Jake to get E.D. for dinner. He wasn't too happy about the idea, and neither had she been when she saw him.

"E.D., open the door!" he snapped at her.

He heard a small thump. No doubt she'd thrown herself onto her bed. "Go away!" she yelled a second later.

"No. Come out already."

"Go away, Jake. Just leave."

He rolled his eyes at her moment. He knocked again gently on the wooden door. "Hey, E.D., you there?" he whispered. "Come out!"

All he received was a irritated, "No!" from E.D..

He sighed, knocking his head against the door.

Jake heard the sound of small footsteps, and suddenly the door opened. His head shot up to avoid him falling onto of her.

Instead, Jake offered her a hand, "Can't we be friends, at least? We're stuck under the same room, after all. What do you say?" he reasoned.

She stared at his hand hesitantly. Then, slowly, she took it. "Okay," she agreed finally.

"Good. Thank you... Edith."

"Jake!"