Chapter 01

When Everything Seems Right

Disclaimer: Um… Is this really necessary? OK fine, I do not own the Total Drama Series or any related characters or affiliations; now, onward with the story.

OK, so you know that time early in your life, when you're like 1 year old, and you feel like everything in the world is right. When things are perfect, and you feel like nothing could ever go wrong. Of course, no one can remember everything about when they are a little kid, but I'm sure everyone remembers some great, and not so great, moments, and looks back on them with nostalgia.

And then, of course, you get a little older and you start realizing this, and that, that your parents did this, and your best friend hates you, and your other best friend is a crack addict, and your just like, "what the fuck happened, I thought life was great?"

Well, this is the story about a young girl named Gwen Morrow, whose life started out… pretty typically for a young girl. Things of course, took a turn for the worse shortly after, but for now, let's look at her early life. And what's a better place to start than the day she was born, on 5 May 1992.

Time: 5 May 1992

Emily Grossman-Morrow held her newborn child in her arms. She had recently gone through the intense pain of childbirth along with having to deal with her young baby crying uncontrollably for, well, she didn't time it, but it was a long time. So obviously Emily was exhausted; but she didn't care. After 2 stillbirths, she finally had a healthy newborn baby. She wanted a boy, but a healthy baby girl was good enough for her.

Her recently married husband, Todd Morrow, stood beside her, holding her in his arms. Todd was just 22, 2 years younger than Emily, and was still, in many ways, a kid at heart. He went out clubbing every night, already got 2 DUIs, always ate fast food (McDonalds and Subway were his favourites,) loved rollercoasters, shoplifted from Convenience Stores (mostly lighters,) and was a relatively immature guy in general. But at that moment, he made a promise to Emily, setting high expectations that he never really lived up too.

"Hey, Emily," he said.

"What is it baby?" she asked.

"I would just like to say that I will do anything I can to make sure that you, and our daughter, are as well looked after as possible, and I swear, I will never do anything to deliberately hurt either of you."

"Aw, that's so sweet of you Todd," Emily said seriously, before her expression turned into that of excitement. "I can't believe it, after those first two, I thought we would never… I just can't believe it!"

"Hey, third times the charm, eh?" Todd said before breaking into a light chuckle.

An older gentleman then walked through the doors into the room, with a smile on his face.

"Daddy!" Emily shouted.

"Hey Pops, what's good?" Todd said visibly less excitedly, but still happy.

It was Emily's father, Dave, or as most people who met him called him, "Pops." Despite being an army veteran, most people who met Pops considered him to be one of the kindest men that they had ever met. Despite the difference in personality, and despite the fact that Todd had married Pops' daughter, the two men always had a ton of respect for each other. He and Todd did have one thing in common, though, they were both excellent guitarists!

"I'm fine, best I've been in a while. Of course, you know why I'm here," Pops said, "I came to see the birth of my granddaughter. I see that I came a little bit late."

"Well, yeah, I guess you did." Todd replied.

"Where's mom?" asked Emily.

"Right here!"

In arrived Emily's mother, Rose. Rose was, in many ways, the stereotypical mother, she was an excellent cook, she always put her husband and kids first, and welcomed Todd into the family. However, she did one thing that was rather unusual; she was an excellent bass guitarist and had been part of a band in the 60s. They weren't extraordinarily successful, but they had some good times, and it was how she met Pops, who played lead guitar in the band after leaving the army. Even then, although when no one except Emily and her siblings would watch and listen, Rose would rock out sometimes, with our without Pops helping.

"Isn't she just the cutest thing ever?" Rose said, before turning to Todd, and asking, "What was the name you two decided on?"

"It was… um… was it Mary? No that wasn't it; Lily maybe?"

"Todd, you idiot, I can't believe you forgot our daughter's name! Her name is Gwen!"

"Gwen…" pondered Pops, "Gwen… what a lovely name."

After Emily was cleared to leave the hospital the next day, all her friends and family came to a party in birth of her newborn child. As Emily and Todd lived in a small apartment, they decided to host the party at Pops' house, as there was more room there.

At the party, in addition, to Emily, Ross, Gwen, and Emily's parents, were Emily's 3 siblings. Patrick, 27, and his girlfriend Sasha arrived at the house first. Patrick was a nice guy, and relatively good looking, but was a little bit on the weird side. Julia, Emily's fraternal twin, was much more serious than most of her siblings. Pops said she would make a great mother; Rose disagreed, telling her she needed to calm down a bit. Julia was definitely a Type-A personality, as opposed to Patrick, who was a Type-B. She was always punctual and on-time for everything, she didn't even drink or smoke. Then there was Rob. He was 19 years old, went to college, was a jerk, and nobody was really sure why he decided to show up.

In addition to Emily's siblings, many of her friends and relatives also showed up to celebrate the birth of her first child. Many of Todd's friends decided to show up, but very few of his family members, except his brother, Ross. Everybody was having a good time; however, they were all careful not to drink too much, as this was a baby's party after all. Well, everyone except Todd, and his bro Ross, who was completely passed out drunk. Todd had drunk six bottles of Molson Canadian and was reaching for a seventh when Emily knocked his hand away.

"Baby, I think you've had enough."

"Oh c'mon, girl, this is a party right?"

"Yeah, a party to celebrate the birth of our daughter! It's the beginning of our new era, the new you. You can't start a new era by getting insanely drunk, doing stupid shit and passing out on the sofa, can you?"

"I thought you liked me for who I am!"

"And I do love you, Todd. I love you for whom and what you are. And I'm not saying you can't go to bars and get drunk, I'm not saying there isn't a time and place for getting stupid. Just not now; not today. Please, Todd, for me."

"OK fine," Todd said, although neither was completely convinced.

Todd turned around to go… who knows where? But it didn't happen; he was stopped by Pops, who had an important question to ask him.

"Son," he said, "There's something I have to ask you?"

"What is it?" asked Todd. "He thought that the question was going to be "will you take care of my daughter?" or "how are you going to provide for my grand-daughter?" Instead he said…

"Where are your parents?"

"They don't really like me very much." Todd replied, visibly surprised by the question.

"Oh," the older gentleman replied, "that's disappointing."

In all, the party was not an extraordinary event. People came to celebrate Gwen's birth, but left shortly after. Todd was passed out on the couch, his brother Ross was passed out on the other couch, and everyone else had left. Only Emily, and obviously her parents (this was their house) remained.

"Well, we better start cleaning up." Rose said.

And while her parents were cleaning up, Emily stared at the infant Gwen, asleep in her arms, and said "You're going to be something special, I can tell, you're gonna be something special."

She had no idea how right she was…

Yeah, I know, it's kind of short. Don't worry it'll get longer when things are more interesting to write.