CtD: Chapter 8

It was now 11 pm here in Peach Creek. The news about what happened earlier between the two Eds and Evan hit the entire Cul-De-Sac like a truck. Their neighbors were sitting around in the waiting room, their heads hung low in sadness, with the only ones allowed in Eddy's hospital room were his parents. Everyone else had to wait until it was okay for them to visit Eddy, which included Double D, Ed, and Sophie.

Double D had a ton of bandages around his arms, face, and legs; he even had a big bandage wrapped around his chest that was covered by his shirt. Despite this, Double D was fine for the most part, none of his bones were broken or shattered. He was now wearing his spare set of glasses that were the same frames as his previous ones, seeing that his other pair were now broken beyond repair. Double D also used the opportunity to take a shower before the doctors could bandage him (even if it did sting a little at the time), seeing that both he and his clothes were filthy from what happened, though he had to put on some spare clothes because he had ripped his own to help Eddy; it did help him feel slightly better in the grand scheme of things.

Even though Sophie did not get hurt from what happened, she still latched onto Double D's right arm tightly, scared from the confrontation with Evan earlier, as well as remembering the hazy memories of the accident two years ago. She had been silent since she arrived here, not even speaking once to anyone, not even to Double D, Ed, Eddy's parents, or the police.

Naturally, Double D was the one who had to report to the police what happened, about his encounter with Evan and what he revealed to Double D while he was beating him up; that Evan was the one that was involved in the hit and run accident that killed Sophie's real father. Eddy's parents were also with Double D when he told the police what happened. They were beyond horrified when they heard Double D say that Evan was the one who was responsible for inadvertently harming Sophie two years ago, all because he went drunk driving that night and did not want to get caught by the police. Even when Evan said he felt guilty about what happened that night, there was no sympathy with him when he did not want to take responsibility for what he did, running away from his problems for so long. But now, Evan was dead, and Eddy was in critical condition for a while because of the actions of their oldest son; the worst kind of nightmare for any parent to go through.

After informing the police what he learned, Double D told Eddy's parents that Sophie started calling him her adopted dad, basically cementing the fact that she wanted to stay with him, "I-I do feel a little embarrassed about how sudden this was, but I want her to be happy…" Double D said to them nervously, "Do you think you two can help me with this?"

"Of course," Luis said to him with a nod, "You're about to go to college, after all. You can't expect yourself to be there for her 24/7 when August comes around."

Daisy went over to Double D to give him and Sophie a hug, "Besides, didn't Eddy tell you to look after both her and Ed? That goes for us as well, Eddward, especially after what we learned about with Evan when he took you away."

Double D was silent for a moment before complying with her hug with his own, "I-I know, thank you."

Back to the present, Double D felt a small tug on his shirt sleeve, only to see Sophie looking up at him, "Umm, Father? Can I ask you something?" she said. This was the time she spoke since she got here.

He widened his eyes a little before nodding his head. The two got up from where they sat, walking a little further away so no one could hear them, "What do you want to talk about?" Double D asked.

Sophie seemed a bit hesitant to him about her question, "Back at my old home, Mr. Eddy gave you a kiss before running back upstairs," she bit her bottom lip with both a sad and scared look across her face, "I remember my stepdad saying to me that any two men who do that shouldn't be, umm, alive at all… But, why would he say that? Is that something really bad?"

Double D was silent at her question. This confirmed to him that Sophie's stepdad was homophobic, besides being an awful human being in general. It was not that surprising to him, honestly.

"No, it's not a bad thing at all," Double D began to explain, "There are several misguided people out there that believe certain folks shouldn't be together in a romantic relationship."

Sophie looked at Double D with both confusion and worry, "T-They don't want you two to be happy? That's so mean!"

Double D could feel Sophie start to hug him, "Why are people like that?! It's not fair!"

"Sophie…" Double D stated quietly as she continued to hug him. He reached out to give her a small pat on her head, "There's not much we can do about what others think on the topic, sadly. Some people are too stubborn to change."

He then bent down to her eye level, making sure she was listening to what he said next, "Even so, I want you to know that there's nothing wrong with people of the same gender falling in love with one another, understand? The same goes for people finding out who they truly are on the inside; they ALL have the right to be accepted as who they are. Love is love."

Sophie looked at Double D without trying to look away, noticing how serious he was when he said to her, "Does that mean if you and Mr. Eddy got married, I would have two dads?" Sophie asked.

Double D widened his eyes in shock, blushing at what she said. THAT was certainly a leap in logic, but she was not wrong, "Y-Yes, I suppose so…"

"Oh, Eddward! Sophie, there you are!" called out a familiar voice. The two turned to see Luis McGee rushing over to them, "You two need to follow me. Eddy's woken up, and he asked for you two and Ed to come see him!"

Double D and Sophie widened their eyes. The two quickly followed Eddy's dad to his son's hospital room, hoping that everything was okay. Once they arrived, they could see Ed and Eddy's mom standing outside the room; Daisy made a smile when she saw them approaching. Double D opened the door with Sophie to see Eddy. Eddy's parents decided to stay outside now, so their son could be properly reunited with his partner. Ed did the same, despite also being called to see Eddy; he could always catch up with the details later once Double D was done. Besides, he had a feeling that things were okay.

Double D and Sophie could see that Eddy was sitting up in his hospital bed, slowly moving around a little to reach out and interact with things. Eddy was awake, responsive, and a lot better now; he survived.

"Eddy!" Double D gasped to himself in a whisper of relief as he and Sophie came to his bedside.

Eddy turned to see his partner beside him, alongside Sophie, "Are you guys okay now?" he asked.

"I-I should be the one asking YOU that question!" Double D said to Eddy, a small bit of anger laced in his voice before making a frown. He almost wanted to slap him or even punch him in the face, but refrained from doing so, "Why? Why did you have to face your brother like that?!" Double D asked in anger as he closed his eyes, remembering Eddy's condition a few hours ago; there was so much blood around the two brothers when he reached him. He never wanted to see anything like it again, "You could have been killed! YOU ALMOST DIED!"

"I thought it was obvious, Sockhead."

Double D's eyes snapped open at Eddy's straightforward response, looking at him in disbelief, "When I ran back to him, I told Evan that I would stop him from hurting you two ever again," Eddy explained, gripping the blanket he was underneath tightly with his hands as he lowered his head, "That's when Evan started laughing like he had lost his mind, telling me that both of us were not going to leave the building alive."

Eddy then looked up at Double D with a serious expression, "I'd wish there had been another way to stop him. Trust me, I would have loved to see him stay and rot in jail for what he did to us!" he continued to explain, "But then, when he said he that he would kill me and then himself, I… I just kinda accepted there wasn't a way out of it, thinking that if I took that hit, that he would be truthful and offed himself afterward… A-And he did."

Eddy's face went from serious to sad, "I TOOK that gamble for you, Double D! To save both you AND Sophie! For you two to be okay, e-even if I…!"

Double D stood there in complete silence; his face went from being angry to being stunned.

That was when Sophie hopped a little to Eddy from where she stood to give him a hug on his bed; he hissed slightly from her sudden action because she touched his right shoulder by accident, "Please don't do it!" she cried to Eddy, "I don't want to lose anyone again! PLEASE DON'T DIE!"

Double D and Eddy both widened their eyes, "S-Sophie! Everything's okay now!" Double D said to her, placing his hand on her left shoulder to calm her down, "Yeah, I'll feel better in no time!" Eddy replied to her with a big smile and a thumbs up.

Sophie sniffled a little as she looked up at Eddy, "A-Are you sure, Dad?"

"Yep!" Eddy said back, almost like a default response, before both he and Double D processed what she said, "Wait a moment… W-What did you say…?" Double D asked.

Sophie lets Eddy out of her hug before sitting on the edge of the bed, looking at the two Eds, "I-It's because, umm… Aren't you two gonna get married? That means I'll have both a Father and a Dad, right?"

Double D and Eddy looked at Sophie before widening their eyes once more, even bigger than last time. It looked like she was calling Double D 'Father' and Eddy 'Dad' because there was no mother in this picture, she did not know what to call them except that. But also…

"… Married…?" Double D muttered out in nervousness.

"No, we're only partners!" Eddy yelped.

Sophie's face turned from confused to sad, "Partners?" she asked, "Is that something different?"

Double D and Eddy glanced at each other for a second, "I-I can try to explain it to you another time, okay?" Double D replied, trying to get over the shock. He gestured to Sophie to hold his hand, "Come now, we should try and head home for the night so we can come back tomorrow. Eddy needs to rest."

"Okay," Sophie replied as she and Double D left the room.

Eddy looked on as they both left the room, still stunned at Sophie's words.

'She thinks I'm her Dad now? And Double D's her Father?' Eddy thought in disbelief before thinking about the other thing she said, '… Marriage huh.'

Author's Note (January 15th, 2024): New chapter, who dis?

Not sure if the next chapter will be the final one or not. I'll just have to wait and see what I feel about that.

Also, trans rights are human rights. Just felt like pointing that out, since it was passively mentioned in this chapter.