Heidi blames what happened on her client and her client only. The asshole decided not to show up to court, apparently prioritizing who knows what else, and Heidi was trying to get a hold of the guy - mostly to yell at him for being stupid and telling him just how much this little rebellion would cost him, but on top of not showing, he was also not picking up the phone. So Heidi was focusing on the phone and being pissed and annoyed and cursing to herself and she didn’t watch where she stepped outside of the courthouse and managed to step on a bigger branch, and in a snap her heels broke and she almost stumbled head first onto the pavement. She thankfully managed to keep her balance, but she couldn’t help the loud curse leaving her lips, “Scheisse!” It was her newest heel, it was supposed to be good quality and long-lasting. And now she was standing there looking like an idiot. Great. Just great.
“Emmett James!” the brunette replied, trying to resolve the confusion that the other was facing. A bright smile appeared on his face once the other recognized him, and he outstretched his arms offering up a hug. Emmett was definitely a hugger but he had learned to offer up a hug rather than just going in for it since it made for some awkward encounters in the past when people didn’t appreciate hugs as much as he did. “Long time no see for sure! I didn’t realize you were back in Wellcliff! How are things?”
Heidi was standing there, flabbergasted. Emmett was standing in front of her, opening his arms to... offer a hug? Her 13 years old self would have died of happiness and probably wouldn’t have been able to stop the squeaking and would have embarrassed herself for sure, while Heidi now just stood there, awkwardly, not moving because she was not a hugger at all. She couldn’t even remember the last time when she hugged somebody (and Erika didn’t count here, of course was hugging her sister on the regular).
“Yeah, I’ve been back for a while now, actually.” She wasn’t even sure if she wanted to elaborate on that, what if he would be telling Axel all about it? She didn’t care, she moved on at this point, but she would have still liked to stay In her happy bubble of not seeing him. “Guess it’s a big enough town that we just kept missing each other. Things have been good, you could say that. What about you? What have you been up to in the last... what was it? At least fifteen years, right?”
he stopped in his tracks, looking down at his sandwich guiltily. “oh, is that right?” tejay asked, a bit tempted to get the bread back from the bird. when he looked at the spot, the animal had gobbled up every last crumb. “looks like it’s… too late.” he held up his hands, “in my defense, i didn’t know that it was harmful. it’s all i’ve seen the elders at ainsworth park feeding the ducks in the pond. i thought it would be okay for this little bird,” he sighs deeply. “i hope he’ll be okay… one tiny piece can’t hurt, right?”
Tejay actually looked remorseful, which... was probably the proper reaction to something like this, but it also didn’t feel like anyone would have ever looked remorseful about giving a bird some bread, even if they were just informed that it was bad for them. Most people would have probably just shrugged and went on with their lives. But Tejay wasn’t most people. “To be fair, the elders sometimes tend to stubbornly do things their way because they’re convinced that it’s the right way, even if it’s just old tradition or something. But no, one tiny piece won’t hurt them, but if you think of it like this, just imagine how many more people think just one tiny piece won’t hurt them, right? Maybe that should be your next project for city hall - putting out some ‘don’t feed the bird’ signs.”
stacy recognized the woman in a heartbeat, they’d sat in a courtroom not so long ago. it wasn’t like stacy was some huge criminal mastermind; she had accidentally broken into some property that she wasn’t supposed to be on. she was just being stupid at the time, and didn’t even think that trespassing could have serious charges. thankfully, her mom had presented a large sum of money to heidi to help get the case cleared and to keep stacy’s record clean. they were still trying to pay off the bills completely. “maybe i should have gotten a different type of bike, something that would stand out in a beach town,” she smiles gently. she can’t let this get her down too much. “no morning is bad, it’s all just the start to a new adventure,” she adds, and it’s her true feelings. stacy doesn’t like labelling things “good” or “bad,” she likes to see everything as an opportunity. “and this next adventure that fate has offered me seems to start with filing a report at the police station.”
“Maybe, or maybe you could just add something original to the already existing one - if you get it back, that is. Like, I don’t know, a bow maybe?” A bow? How was that anything original or helpful? One could get rid of a bow so easily. “Or some extreme stickers, maybe some fun coloring that not everyone would do. Say a rainbow-colored bike would certainly stand out.” There, that was a better idea. Not that she really knew too much about bikes and what made them stand out, especially since she couldn’t even ride.
“A new adventure...” she echoed Stacy’s words. “A new adventure in my book is travelling to a new and exciting place, but I guess to each their own. To some people... it starts with a report at the police station. Sure.” She managed to stay silent for exactly two seconds before she added, “Are you being serious right now? Or are you forcing yourself to be positive? Because the latter I can understand, a little too much but that at least makes sense.”
Heidi was in a rush, tapping her fingers on her phone as she waited for her coffee to finally be done. The poor barista wasn’t at fault, the line was just too long and Heidi wasn’t in a good mood to begin with, so she quickly got annoyed with waiting. “Finally,” she muttered loud enough for it could be just heard when her name was called and quickly took her coffee. As she turned, she didn’t realize somebody was standing behind her, though, and she walked right into them. Out of reflex, she jumped back and pushed her coffee cup forward to make sure it didn’t spill - unfortunately, it meant the cup connected right against the person’s chest and since the cup seemed to have been placed loosely on the top of the cup, the coffee spilled - but not on her, on the person she bumped against. “Mein Gott, a little distance, please! And then maybe half of my coffee order isn’t landing on you.”
Most people would say Heidi’s music taste was... less than stellar, to say the least. Extremely pretentious or dated are also words some people used. She called it having a taste, have these seen all these new music people made lately? Most of them were just loud and pointless. Thalia loved listening to music loud enough for Heidi and Erika to hear from time to time, though, and sometimes she didn’t mind them too much. Mostly it felt like they were proving her own point, but whatever Thalia was listening to now, it was working for Heidi. So she figured she might as well ask, this barely happened, headed over and knocked on the door. “Hey. What are you listening?”
Heidi was punching one of the boxing bags to the side, feeling more relaxed she could in most situation, not that it was anything new at this point, when she noticed Jeremy coming in from the corner of her eyes. She finished her set, focusing on her technique and her breathing before properly turned towards the guy. “Nice of you to finally show up! Or did you change your mind about today’s sparring? Realized you couldn’t possibly kick my ass after all?”
Heidi wasn’t really the going out to bars type of person, she spent most of her time either at her office or at the gym, but going to the bar for their usual complaining with Bash was fun and it was something she wouldn’t have actually missed. She was sipping some really shitty red wine when he arrived and she nodded at him as greeting. “Hey, you missed a guy who got so shitfaced he got up onto the table and tried to serenade with Itsy bitsy spider.”
It was a day that both Erika and Heidi remembered to forget. Neither of them felt like celebrating and now that they were back in Wellcliff away from their mother, there was a weight lifted off their shoulders. Heidi had a great idea to spend the entire day not even addressing the fact that it was their mother’s birthday, freeing themselves of giving that demon woman any attention like they were guilted into doing every year. They bought some alcohol and ordered Chinese food and they would just enjoy their night without Tabitha looming over them.
Erika decided to be the one to grab the food when it arrived, using both hands to carry the bag which resulted in her using her foot to knock on the door so that Heidi could let her back in. “Please don’t already be getting drunk in there without me! If you are I’m eating all the fortune cookies!” she called out through the door.
It was finally the easiest thing to just ignore what today was supposed to be and make sure Erika and Heidi did anything but contact Tabitha because of her birthday. Finally they lived far enough from her she didn’t just barge in on them, demanding attention if they didn't call early enough. Today they could just ignore her, get drunk and eat some good food.
She was setting up the tv for Mean Girls and she was setting up the alcohol on their desk in front of their couch when she heard Erika knocking on the door and calling for her. She went and let her sister in. “No stealing of the fortune cookies, I am going to fight you for mine.” They headed back to the living room and while they were setting up, she pulled up her phone. “Okay, I found a good drinking game for us. This would get us sufficiently drunk. And at least buzzed for the jingle bells dance, which you’re so dancing with me, I hope you know that. I am not accepting any objections.”
Waiting in line at the coffeeshop, Emmett lazily scrolled through his phone. There wasn’t much to see, but it was taking up time and making him look like he had important things going on, so it was fine. Once he approached the front of the line, he placed his order with a smile and shuffled off to the side to wait for his coffee. He hadn’t realized the person standing beside him until he heard the barista call their name. It felt like a lightbulb went off in his head as it clicked. “Heidi?” Emmett quietly asked, taking a step towards the woman. “Hey, it’s Emmett.”
Heidi was scrolling through her phone while she was standing to the side, waiting for her coffee order to be done, holding the muffin in a small bag in her free hand, not really paying much attention to her surroundings. She usually scrolled threw the news, mostly reading just the headlines to catch up on things so she could jump into her work once she got into the office.
When her name was called, she went over and got the drink and was planning on heading out right away when somebody stepped forward and greeted her as if she actually knew who she was. “Emmett who?” she couldn’t help asking because... well, he looked familiar, but she was also sure she didn’t have him as a client and it’s not like she knew too many people in this... and then it hit her, as if a light was turned on in her head. “Emmett! Wow! Long time no see! Did think I would be running into you this morning,” she said, her voice a bit high pitched and full of reservation and even though she knew that just because he was friends of her brother so many years ago didn’t mean Axel had to automatically be here, she couldn’t help looking around, just to make sure.
tejay is in between meetings and admiring the nature just outside of town hall. with a peanut butter jelly sandwich in hand and a grin on his face he feels like a winner. something catches his eye, the sight of a little bird pecking at the ground, he takes pity by tearing off a bit of bread and tossing it to the bird. “here you go, little guy. try not to go too crazy,” he whispers, whipping his head around to make sure nobody saw this small moment of softness.
Heidi had some papers to drop off at the town hall and with them in her hands she was heading towards the building when she noticed a familiar figure tossing some bread to a bird and she couldn’t help but stop and cross her arms as she watched the scene. Her eyebrows rose and she gave a ‘caught you’ look to Tejay when he looked around and noticed her. “You do realize bread is extremely bad for birds, right?”
stacy stands in the beach parking lot, sopping wet with her hair sticking to her neck, shivering with her mouth agape. it’s the first time she’s gone out on the waves all summer and of course something unlucky happened to her, she should have read her cards this morning and known to stay away from surfing. her bike lock was broken by some bolt cutters, and the bike itself is now missing. stacy let’s out a calm deep breath before looking around for the nearest beachgoer, “did you, like, see anyone take a teal cruiser bike?”
Most of the time Heidi took the fastest route possible to her work, but from time to time she liked taking her time - either to just chill and wake up before she got to her office, or because it gave her the perfect opportunity to think through the case she was working on at the moment. It was the second that morning, so she was wrapped up in her thoughts so much she barely even registered somebody was talking to her. “Wha-- what? Oh, I’ve seen at least three cruiser bikes pass me in the last minute alone, not sure if any of them were teal, though.” She finally noticed the broken lock and the bolt cutter. “Bad morning?”
[ rachael taylor, cis woman, she/her ] have you seen HEIDI BERGEN hanging around? the 30 year old often hangs around WELLCLIFF GYM when they’re not being a CRIMINAL LAWYER. i’ve been told they’re HARDWORKING but QUICK TO ANGER and when i look at them, i see SHARP SUITS, BOXING GLOVES, PEN TAPPING AGAINST THE TABLE, HEELS CLICKING AGAINST THE SIDEWALK. wellcliff wouldn’t be the same without ‘em!
Grew up in Wellcliff for her first couple of years with her parents and her siblings. She is the middle child, Erika is younger and the two of them have an older brother.
She was 13 when the divorce happened and her mother took her sister and her to New York. It was a huge fight and the parents basically divided the children on who they liked better and the dad never reached out again, while they quickly lost contact with their brother too and haven’t talked since.
The mother wanted to go to New York to revive her Broadway carrier which was not successful to begin with), which quickly left Heidi to take care of things and mostly raise her sister as well. On top of this Tabitha found the perfect ways to take down the two girls, making them feel miserable and unloved and unwanted, so it quickly became the two of them against the world.
Because of all of this, she became a really angry teenager who lashed out at everyone and everything around herself (except her sister). She constantly got in trouble in school over it until one of the teachers recognized what was the problem and started helping out, showing her other way to channel her anger - which was boxing. It quickly became the one thing she did whenever she had the chance because she could actually put all of her anger and pent up aggression into something and it actually helped her deal with her issues. She still has no patience for most people and tells people to fuck themselves if she doesn’t like them, but she can at least pretend to be a functioning human being.
She has strong abandonment issues, she barely lets people close, and if she does, she clings to them like crazy, always trying to make sure they won’t leave her like so many people did in her past. Unfortunately her track record is really bad on this front, somehow she always finds those people who are wrong for her and sooner or later they leave, making the wall around herself even stronger.
Because of this she got into a pretty unhealthy relationship a couple of years ago - she was so wrapped up in the fact that the guy wanted her, she didn’t even realize she was in an unhealthy and abusive relationship until she was way too deep into it. It was a struggle to get out, but after she did, to get a clean slate, she moved back to Welcliff. This was one and a half years ago.
Currently she is living with her sister and working as a criminal defense lawyer. She opened her practice recently, in the last couple of months and is growing in size pretty nicely.
headcanons
She hates the theater and stays clear of anyone who works there, really, mainly because her brain immediately associates those people with her mother, even if there is no connection or any similarities at all.
She is fluent in German partly due to her father being German, and partly because the language annoyed Tabitha completely, so of course she had to perfect it and make sure to talk in German as much as she could in front of her mother. Erika and her would just switch to German whenever they were done with the woman, which happened a lot, and it drove Tabitha insane.
She is pansexual and panromantic, though she hasn’t been with anyone since she came to Wellcliff.
Mostly lives for her job. Now that Erika is here, she sometimes lets her drag her out, but most of the time she is either in the office or in the gym.
Doesn’t listen to any music from this century, is really into classical music as well.
wanted connections
people she knew and grew up with in Wellcliff before she had to leave
clients
boxing buddies
an assistant
literally anything we can come up with together, i’m down for anything really
