Chapter Text
After the pizza, Kowalski opens the pie and puts a few candles on top.
Bridget, who only really ate one slice, glazes down at the pie. She hasn’t done this in…so long. It should be easy. You just blow out the candles. That’s it. It’s the easiest thing in the world, a one-year-old can do it…
So why did she feel so nervous as the fatherly penguin placed the last of the candles onto the pie?
Kowalski smiles at her. "Ready?"
“I-I…”
A heartbeat echoes in her body, her hands trembling slightly from the question. Her eyes shut tight from the sudden rising emotions drowning her…despite how much she felt more stuck in shallow waters.
’Fuck me, get a grip of yourself. C’mon not here, not now’
Clenching her hands, the ginger shakes her head. “Y-Yeah… yeah I’m ready.” Her head looks away, attempting to hide her somewhat watering eyes. Watching her carefully, he lights the candles.
"Bridget?" Kowalski asks softly. "The candles are lit."
“…Y-Yeah.” Why does her voice sound like she’s about to cry?
"Bridget?" He waddled over and poked his head around to see her face.
He’s then greeted by Bridget, who’s trying to avoid his face meeting hers. But judging by how a part of her hair covering her red face and watering eyes…doesn’t seem like she’s too joyous.
Kowalski looks concerned. "... Was the candle too much?"
“…N-No no, it’s…” Sniffing a bit, her black eyes meet his periwinkles. “It’s really nice.” Bridget smiles.
Kowalski looks at her softly.
"Candles are starting to drip," Skipper states.
The caretaker turns her head at the pie and candles. “Uh, sorry.” Clearing her throat, she then faces the dessert.
It's a fairly simple pie with lit dripping candles.
And not wanting the pastry to be covered in any more wax, she takes a breath and blows them out.
"Yay!" Private claps with a large smile.
Bridget chuckles a little, rubbing the back of her neck as well as her eyes.
"Do you want to slice it, or do you want Rico to?" Skipper asks.
“Maybe he should do it.” Bridget sheepishly nods.
"You heard the lady." The flat head nods to Rico.
With a grin, Rico has grabbed one of the swords off the display and swings it above his head.
This though does not enthuse the ginger. “WHADDA DOIN?!” She panics with a gasp.
"Cu'n pie." He shrugs, now holding it over the pie.
“T-That’s an Ancient Rome sword display! Don’tcha have somethin sharp in ya that's less… historical?”
"Not like it do'n anyth'n else." He grumbles.
With a huff, Bridget shakes her head at him. “Put it back. I’m cuttin the pie.” Rubbing her eyes, she then pulls out a pocket knife from her bag.
Rico gives her a dumbfounded and disappointed look. "But I 'anna use sword!"
“That’s museum property and you're not gonna stain it with pie juice,” The ginger motions him to put it back as she then starts slicing the pie into pieces herself.
"Not like they'd notice," Skipper mutters. "Swords are meant to cut things, not sit around collecting dust."
“Cuttin is a broad term for purpose. Cuttin pies? No. Cuttin people? Yes.” She then plates each of them a slice of pie. “We don’t know who’s blood on it—Mohawk, ya got whip cream?”
"But that's the fun part." Skipper sighed.
Ignoring the leader’s cries, Rico nods and passes her the canister. Bridget then asks each penguin who wants some whip, before serving them and herself a nice piece of blueberry pie.
Kowalski licks his beak as he watches the pie getting served out, choosing to not get involved in the sword discussion. Once everyone has a pie, they start to chow down on it.
"I know usually cakes are the traditional thing for hatch days but... I was thinking perhaps a pie would have reminded you less of it." Kowalski smiles sheepishly and rubs the back of his neck. "That and, well, we're not entirely certain how to make a cake except with mud."
She takes a bite of her whipped-less cream pie, glancing at the penguin. “I mean… I like pie more anyways. Would’ve preferred it over the… uh, mud cake?”
Kowalski chuckles a little. "Exactly as I thought."
The ginger chuckles slightly back. “Although if ya wanna, I can help ya with bakin cakes?”
Private smiles. "I wouldn't mind learning some more! I know the basics and the icing, though we don't usually have all the right materials for it."
“Any flavors ya wanna learn in particular?”
"All of them!" His tail wags.
Bridget chuckles again at his enthusiasm, rubbing the back of her head. “I’ll look inta bakin books for ya.” She nods.
"Really?" His baby blue eyes sparkle excitedly.
Completely off guard by his adorable demeanor, Bridget blinks at him before clearing her throat. “I… Yeah. Course.”
’Fuckin damnit it kid, calm down those cute eyes of yours. You’re about ta give me a sweet-heart attack’
Skipper then pats his head. "At ease, soldier." He smiles, shaking his head.
The ginger sighs in relief before going in for another bite of pie. A few minutes of silence before she pauses in pondering.
“…Ya fellas… also consume eggs?”
"An egg is only full of nutrition to feed a developing embryo if there was one. However, a store-bought set of eggs are unfertilized, meaning embryo-free. There's no chicken in that egg."
Kowalski nods. "It's much like how placenta is sometimes fed to human mothers after giving birth to reduce postpartum depression symptoms."
“…A h,” She suddenly regrets being more chatty than usual. “But that makes more… sense.” And back to silently eating she goes.
The other penguins give Kowalski a look.
"What?" He looks confused.
Once finishing her pie, Bridget clears her throat and bites her lip skittishly. “Uh… thanks for the birthday and all… this isn’t actually so bad.” She rubs her neck.
Kowalski smiles. "It's technically not over yet." He takes out the little present.
“… Ya got me somethin?” Her brows furrow.
"Got is a strong word. More put together." He awkwardly chuckles and rubs the back of his neck. "Short time notice and all."
“Y-Ya didn’t have ta get me one.” She bites her lip.
"But it's what friends do." He smiles at her softly.
Bridget for a moment stares at him in uncertainty. Gradually, her hand then reaches out for the gift despite the uncomfortable expression.
“Uh r-right… friends.” Taking the gift, the caretaker gingerly opens it. Inside was a little waterproof notepad, a fresh pencil, and a little friendship bracelet.
“… O h. This is… this is so… sweet,” She lightly smiles with a few short laughs, biting her lips hard to pull back the tears she suddenly felt back again in her eyes.
The next thing she'd notice would be two little penguin hugs. Oh man are they trying to make her cry? “Whadda doin?” Bridget squawks nervously.
"Hugging?"
Private then clears his throat and gives Skipper and Rico a look.
Rico comes over and joins the hug. Skipper raises a brow. "You know I'm not much of a—" However, the look on Private's face leads him to sigh and waddle over, too for the hug.
“No wait please—“
And now they’re all hugging her. Bunch of dumbasses, hugging the caretaker who’s on the verge of sobbing her eyes out.
While the penguins were occupied, Bridget bites her lips, taking a deep breath to not let anything fall out from her eyes. Her arms awkwardly lifted up to not really touch them back.
’Ah shit, Whadda do? This is so awkward uhhhhhh—‘
Her eyes then start scattering around for an answer…before it lays back at the penguins themselves. And that’s all it really took for her to calm herself.
The four of them were all around her, hugging her in their own respective ways of affection. Taking another deep sigh, her arms calm down, gently placing themselves around the small birds.
Gently smiling down at them, she no longer cared if a few streaks of tears rolled down her freckled cheeks. She was too happy to ruin this mo—
Hey is there something moving her in pants?
Bridget suddenly felt a swooshing in her lower back, similar to that itchiness in her pants, riding up against her jeans uncomfortably. She realized that it was her tail but… what was it doing? Since when did her tail move around?
Subtly, her head leans back to take a glance at what’s going on… only to find her feathery orange tail to be wagging.
Her tail is wagging…. Her tail is wagging.
Twisting her head back with a flush redden face, the caretaker loudly clears her throat. “O-KAY, W-We can stop the huggin.”
They release her with a mix of relieved and curious expressions.
"Is something wrong?" Kowalski tilts his head.
“Yep, I’m good,” She looks away.
’Stop waggin stop waggin stop waggin holy shit how do I stop it FUCK—‘
He doesn't look convinced but appears to let it drop.
"Well, I think that's all he had planned now." Skipper crosses his flippers.
“Ah, uh-huh.” But Bridget pays no mind to him, too focused on her wanting her shaking body part to stop… well, shaking.
’STOP, YOU’RE A PART OF ME. I WANT YA TA STOP’
But the tail, as if it has a mind of its own, continues to happily wag with pride.
This however results in the redhead taking matters into her own hands, and after cautiously observing to see if no one will notice. As it seems they’re preoccupied with cleaning everything up, sneakily she puts her hand behind her and hits it with a fist.
The good news is, it stops wagging. The bad news is;
“SQUAWK!” Bridget yelps and winces in pain.
‘SWEET JESUS THAT HURTS, MOTHER FUC—‘
This causes all four, who were starting to clean up, to jump in surprise
"Are you okay?!" Kowalski drops the pizza box, looking at her with widened eyes. "What hurt?"
“N-Nope. I’m fine. Peachy.” Bridget bares her teeth and squints her eyes. “I’m fine I just uh…”
Her black eyes search around for a good excuse, before laying on her leg. Despite her wanting to say no… maybe…
Maybe it was time.
“I uh… thought since well, ya fellas have been sharin shit with me, I could share… stuff too.” She then sheepishly glances away.
"Like what?" Skipper looks at her, now with some more interest.
“Well…” She rubs her neck. Biting her lips, her eyes quietly stare at her leg before sighing, and then grabbing the bottom of her right pant leggings.
As if she couldn’t look less of a mess, her hands tremble a bit, unsure if what she’s doing is really wise. But fighting her feelings and going with her gut, Bridget takes a breath, and pulls up her pant leg, revealing…’it’.
And ‘it’ is a metal prosthetic leg, crafted and built by the woman herself.
"Nice craftsmanship." Kowalski nods, looking it over and taking a step closer.
However, the leg flinches back from his approach, not by purpose but out of instinct. He stops, seeing this reflex, and looks at her. "Are we getting to learn more about what happened?"
Bridget just stares at him cautiously, biting her lips while her eyes examine the metal leg.
“… It was today when I… got amputated.”
"…O h." All four wince.
Kowalski looks away sheepishly. "My apologizes."
She rubs her neck. “How would’ve ya know if I didn’t tell ya?”
He nods and sighs. "I should have guessed something traumatic happened from your reactions and wanting to forget your birthday." He rubs his flippers over his face.
“Yes, we’re sorry.” Private peeps up, patting her knee while Skipper and Rico listen to the conversation awkwardly yet sympathetically.
Bridget gently looks at them and pats their heads. “Aye, ya meant well. If I’m bein honest, this is probably one of the best birthdays I’ve had.”
They smile a little, especially Kowalski. "Then at least we were still successful." He nods.
She smiles at him and then conceals her leg again via pants with a sigh of relief. That’s enough spotlight on her—
"Ey! Tail c'ooked." Rico then points out from behind.
Oh, that made her heart drop. Her skin became paler yet the rest of her face bright red. Like a frozen deer in headlights.
“… Bridget— ?”
“WELL, look at the time,” She glances at her silver watch. “It’s gettin late, we should head back ta the zoo— I’ll go grab that silver while y’all packin things up.”
With an invisible strong lift up, Bridget attempts to run away. Again. Like a coward.
"Hold on! If your tail is off, then you'll have less balance!" Kowalski squawks after her in concern.
Nope, too late. She’s skating away to the gift shop faster. Course there’s a few stumbles and off-balancing skating but that's not stopping her.
With sighs all around, the penguins get their things and follow her. A coward indeed, but she’s their coward.