Author: SkyTate19

Title: How to Raise a Child When You're a Single Father

Summary: After the love of his life died after childbirth, Bridge Carson found himself alone raising a child. With the help of his newfound friends, he will be able to get on with his life.

Disclaimer: Characters belong to their creators. Other things are mine.

Chapter 2

The journey was longer than he expected but, at dawn, he finally entered Traverse Town, the small country city that would have been his home from now on.

Wherever he looked he saw nothing that would have reminded him of his old town: huge sky creepers where replaced by small country houses, the university was replaced by a small primary school and, all sorts of entertainment where, well, they still weren't anywhere in sight.

He finally parked in front of the only apartment complex of the town and sighed at his view: the front garden was a mess, with yellow grass and two trees without any trace of leaves. And it was mid spring. What took Bridge's attention was the little playground on the side of the building, and it seemed recently used by the look of it.

The man smiled at it: that probably meant there was another child living there. He looked in the rearview mirror and saw his little son sleeping like a rock. He then got out of the car and started unloading the car, but suddenly stopped: he couldn't leave his son alone out there while he took all his things in the house. So there was only one solution: he had to take his son along with him while he did is work.

Then, with the boy sleeping in one arm and a bag in the other, he started walking to his apartment on the second floor. During his trip he had the chance to get a better view of the inside: the first floor had only two apartments and they were connected to the second floor by a small wood stair. The second floor hosted three apartments, smaller then the two downstairs, and the hall was dark with a small light and covered with dust and spider webs.

If the man was disgusted by the outside, now he really wanted to puke. Fighting with the feeling, he rushed to the last door and opened it slowly.

The inside was a little bit different then what he thought it would be: the first thing he saw was a small living room on his left connected with the cutest kitchen he ever saw. There was a corridor that probably brought to the bedroom and the bathroom. It surely was cleaned and nothing seemed was falling apart. At least he didn't have to clean the place.

When he turned to close the door, he came face to face with a blonde small woman who was grinning from ear to ear "Hi! You must be the one who had to move here! I'm Sydney and I live next door."

"Hey… I'm Bridge and well, this is Conner" he said pointing to the sleeping boy in his arm

Sid's eyes grow bigger at the sight of the boy "Can I hold him?"

Bridge wasn't sure at first, but the woman seemed to be ok so he handed the boy to her "Oh my god! He is so cute… hey! If you need somebody to hold him while you set your home up I can help you. I was going out for jogging but it can help"

"Thank you so much! I will be faster than I can!" Bridge said rushing out the door while Sid set down on the small sofa in the corner

Half an hour later, Bridge finished with the last bag and finally closed the front door. He looked around once again and smiled: at least he didn't have to buy any furniture.

He headed to the living room and saw Sid playing with a now wake Conner "I don't know how to thank you for your help. It would have takes hours for unloading the car"

The woman slimed kindly at him "No worry. We help each other a lot around here. Well not everybody is a ray of sunshine when it comes to help the others, but you will get use to it."

Bridge looked confused at the woman and set near hr on the sofa "What do you mean with that?"

Sid sighed and looked at him "There are four people living here including me: all of us haven't got the happy past everyone has. Downstairs live Jack and Elizabeth, but you can call her Z. Jack was a businessman in Las Vegas before moving here, but things happened and he lost everything so he moved here. He works at the small shop downtown. Z was a doctor in Los Angeles but had to move here because of a huge scandal that happened there. So she now works at the clinic here but as a nurse"

She couldn't tell him more than that. It wasn't her duty telling about the other's past "me and Sky had almost the same past: we both tried to work in the music business but we failed. However, while I just lost my opportunity, Sky lost also somebody else…"

The man nodded silently. That seemed to be the perfect place to break from his past "Sky still hasn't pass on his lost, so almost every time stay by his own, or he's working at the –Black Light – downtown"

"The - Black Light - ?"

"Yeah, is a pub downtown where he is a bartender and usually plays with his band"

"Cool" Bridge said at that. He wasn't a fan of pubs, but he hasn't problems with them "listen, I have moneys for just one month so I need to find a job. Do you know where I can find one?"

The girl thought about it for a moment then shook her head "No I'm sorry… I think you should ask Sky if he knows something. After all he works in a crowded place he might have heard something"

It seemed that he had to come face to face with this Sky and, by the way Sid pictured him, he wasn't going to give him a fun time "Witch is his apartment?"

"Actually he lives on the same floor as us: he lives in the one on the right coming from the stairs"

He smiled at the woman who was still playing with the son. The child liked her very much: he was laughing hard at her "I will go to him and see what I can do…"

"Sure! Go ahead! I will take care of him"

He made his way out of his apartment and went to Sky's one walking slowly. He reached the door and knocked softly on it. After a moment, a sleepy and angry man opened it "What??"

Bridge gulped and looked down at his feet. There wasn't a start at all "Ehm… hi… I'm Bridge and I just moved next door. Sydney told me you can help me with…"

"I don't give a damn of who you are! And I'm sure I can't help you! So, bye!" with that, he slammed the door in Bridge's face.

The man stood there in his spot for a moment, shocked by his reaction.

That didn't go good. It was a completely huge disaster…

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OK! Bridge has met Sydney and the grumpy Sky. Is he really come in the right place for him? What's about the other's past? Will Bridge have another chance to talk with Sky? And will he be able to take care of little Conner? Stay tune to find out all the answers!