CL: Chapter 3

A few minutes passed by after Double D and Eddy came back home after receiving the strange text message from Ed. The three Eds were still sitting with Sophie and Clover in the living room. Sophie was playing with Clover, giving her belly rubs and pets with Zip beside her. Naturally, Clover loved the attention she was getting.

Wendy and Bridget were still in the kitchen before finally coming back into the living room; Bridget had taken some cold medicine to help her feel better, along with making another mug of hot tea to drink and putting the blanket from before back around her shoulders.

"Now then, Bridget…" Wendy began to say once the two sat down in the living room with everyone else, "Did you call the police once you ran away from the man that kidnapped you?"

Bridget shook her head, "N-No, I didn't…" she replied as she gripped the mug she was holding tightly, "It's because I didn't know my address, or even where I ran away from; it was a rural house with tall wooden fences around it that I couldn't jump over. I don't even know his real name; he only told me to call him Father and never mentioned a last name. The letter my mother wrote gave me instructions on which directions to go once I ran away, and that's how I got here."

"… Are you being serious?" Eddy stated with a sad frown, "You didn't know what town or state you were in when you ran away?!"

"That's right," Bridget stated as she sat down the mug of tea she had on the coffee table in front of her, "I've never left the place I was raised in because he kept me there this whole time, s-so…"

Double D gasped aloud in a low tone, "Never left…? Does that mean you've never been to school or even to a doctor? At all?"

Bridget slightly flinched at that question before glancing down to the floor in embarrassment, "… No," she said in a sad tone. She then lifted her head to face her family, "But I know some things, e-even if it's not much! Mot – Uh, I mean… the woman who raised me taught me to read and write! I'm still bad at math though…" Bridget made a small sigh, "She tried her best to help me, even bringing me a lot of books about things for me to read! She used to always take care of me when I became sick…"

"… If you never went to school, does that mean you've never had any friends?"

Everyone widened their eyes as they turned to Sophie, who was paying attention to the conversation despite still playing with Clover. She then began to sit up from where she sat before running over to Bridget to hug her, "T-That's so sad! I can be your friend if you want!"

"S-Sophie…" Bridget stuttered before hugging her back in response, 'Thank you so much.'

Once they were out of their hug, Bridget went to grab the mug of hot tea to take a sip of it. Ed was sitting sort of close to her, looking at her face before glancing down at her appearance and figure… Now that he was paying closer attention, he could see that she was very attractive. Eddy noticed that Ed kept staring at Bridget with a tilt of his head, arching an eyebrow at what was getting his attention.

"Umm… I noticed Mr. Johnson isn't here right now," Bridget stated when she finished the tea she was sipping, "Is he at his job?"

The whole room fell silent at her question. Bridget immediately noticed how sad Wendy looked, now understanding why they went silent, "O-Oh… did he pass away?"

Wendy slowly nodded her head, "Yes, it was in early June this year…"

Bridget looked very sad from what she learned, "I-I'm so sorry, I didn't mean to—"

"It's alright," Double D stated to her, trying to help lift her mood, "You didn't know, so please don't feel bad."

Bridget nodded her head, "I understand, but…" she glanced toward the floor, "It's just now that I'm finally out of Father's sights and reunited with you, I was hoping my real dad would—"

Bridget's sentence was interrupted by a sudden sneeze she made, putting her arm up against her nose to try not to spread the cold she had, along with a 'bless you' from the others around her.

"You must be tired, Bridget," Wendy stated to her as she began to stand up from where she sat, "We don't have a spare room in the house, but we do have a spare bed you can sleep in," she placed her hand on Bridget's shoulder, gesturing her to stand up and follow her, "You can stay here, so please don't hesitate to ask any questions to us if you need anything, okay?"

"T-Thank you so much, Mrs. Johnson!" Bridget replied with a smile of relief.

She knew it was going to take some time not to try and be formal with her real mom, but she was now determined to try and live a normal life, just like her brother and his friends… You know, despite not knowing anything about them.

Bridget sat up to follow Wendy out of the living room and up the staircase, leaving behind the others. Clover decided to follow the two women upstairs to see what they were doing.

"I wanna help too!" Sophie suddenly proclaimed with a small hop in her step as she walked upstairs.

"… Double D."

Double D looked at Eddy when he spoke, "Tell me that you saw all the bandages around her arms," Eddy said.

"I did see that, yes…" Double D replied before making a worried expression, "I'm sure Mother can help her with that before she goes to sleep tonight."

Ed's mouth slowly turned into a frown before widening his eyes, "OH! I just remembered something!"

Double D and Eddy turned to their friend, "What is it?" Double D asked.

"Right before you both got home, she told Wendy that her fake dad started to hurt her more because his wife had passed away," Ed stated, frowning even more as he did; he seemed to be getting angry, which was a rare thing to see coming from him, "Her fake dad isn't a good guy! W-We gotta help her out!"

"Whoa, geez! Calm down!" Eddy yelped to him, "No need to get angry!"

"B-But—!"

Double D placed his hand on Ed's shoulder, "It's going to be alright! Bridget is safe with us now," Double D said, "We'll all try and help her adapt."

He let go of Ed's shoulder before making a sigh, "I'm sure she'll need to have plenty of appointments in the upcoming days, so I feel that someone should always be around to try and help her. Maybe that can be your role, Ed."

Ed and Eddy stared at Double D in confusion, "Uh, appointments?"

Double D looked at his friends in disbelief, "Did you two not realize that Bridget has never left the place she was living at? That means she's never been to any sort of doctor for a checkup! We need to find out how healthy she is after being stuck in that environment for so long."

Ed scratched his cheek, becoming even more confused, "Bridget looks fine to me, and she said she only has a cold, right?"

Eddy looked at Ed when he said that; Ed's tone of voice sounded slightly flustered.

"No, no, that's not exactly what I meant," Double D stated, not picking up on the tone of voice Ed had, "I'm more so worried about both her long-term physical and mental health as well as her daily cleanliness habits."

Eddy rolled his eyes at Double D's last sentence, 'Of course it's always about how clean things are with him,' he thought.

"Ooo, I see!" Ed replied with a nod.

After a few minutes of talking with each other, Ed eventually left Double D's house to walk back to his house, but not before saying his farewells to the two women upstairs, as well as Sophie and Clover.

"Double D, how did you not notice?"

"Huh?" Double D questioned Eddy, "Notice what?"

Eddy slapped his hand to his forehead in a facepalm, "How Ed was acting just now! Duh!"

Double D stared at him, trying to see exactly what Eddy was talking about, "I'm not sure I follow…"

"Ed kept looking at your sister the whole time she was here!" Eddy started to explain, "He also sounded really off just now when you talked about her health like he was only paying attention to one thing about it; or in this case, two things!"

It took Double D a few seconds to realize what Eddy was trying to say, "… OH!" he gasped as a blush came across his face.

"Yeah, he was checking out her body!" Eddy finished explaining with a snicker before making a little smirk, "Who would have thought she was his type, huh?"

"E-Eddy! Let's not try to be presumptuous here!" Double D shushed Eddy with a bit of a scold.

"What? I think that's a good thing!" Eddy replied with a laugh, "Even between the three of us, he's the one that never went out of his way to find a girlfriend, you know."

"… Well, the two of us were like that too… Sort of."

"Details, details! That wasn't until the beginning of this year!" Eddy teased, "But I think you get what I mean, Sockead!"

Double D sighed before making a small smile, "Yes, I understand perfectly. Ed certainly can try to be Bridget's friend along with Sophie and the rest of us."

Double D sat up from where she was sitting, "Either way, it's my turn to help make dinner with my mother. You can help us if you so wish."

"Ha, of course I'll help!" Eddy replied as he also sat up from where he was sitting, "I'm the only one in this room who knows what they're doing in the kitchen. Maybe you should step down for now and let me handle everything!"

"Huh?! But—"

"Consider it some extra time to talk to Bridget!" Eddy continued, "I'm sure you and your mom would want to know more about her, right? So, leave the cooking to me tonight!"

Double D was silent as Eddy walked past him to go to his kitchen, "V-Very, well then. I'll take you up on your offer for now," Double D replied with a gentle smile.

Author's Note (July 15th, 2024): Finally got a chapter for this done! This is what happens when you try to try and make chapters for multiple stories at the same time; some series speed up, some series slow down a lot... So yeah. Oof.