The Sun and Her Moon | CHONI |

Forty Seven

When Cheryl watched her mother walk in with her arm wrapped around Toni she couldn't believe it. 'Cheryl your father and I are going to leave so you can get some rest, let Toni know if you need anything and she'll contact us' Penelope kissed her daughters cheek followed by her father, they gave her one more smile before leaving the room. 'Am I dreaming or did my mother have her arm wrapped around you?' Cheryl asked. 'She did, she's been really nice to me actually' Toni said taking a seat. 'I don't understand why. No offence it's just my parents can barely stand me never mind my... well you' Cheryl backtracked on her last few words. 'You scared them, well they were scared for you. We all were'. 'Look Toni I'm fine now, you should go home, be with Tommy' Cheryl said as her eyes drooped with tiredness. 'I'll leave when you fall asleep okay?' Toni agreed. 'Okay then' Cheryl nodded as she struggled to keep her eyes open. 'Oh and Toni' Cheryl whispered. 'Yeah?'. 'Thank you for being there for me'. 'Of course' Toni whispered as the redhead drifted off to sleep.

When Cheryl woke up she turned her head a little to see Toni still sat in the chair fast asleep. The redhead let out a small sigh. She struggled to move any part of her body due to exhaustion, broken bones and a lot of bruising. She dreaded to think what her face looked like right now, it was probably better if she didn't know. Cheryl focused her attention on Toni, the woman looked exhausted. There was no way she was going to allow Toni to spend another night here. Cheryl knew her injuries were going to take a long time to recover and she wouldn't drag Toni into it, she deserved happiness. The redhead hoped Toni would understand her decision, if she didn't want to be with her before the accident she shouldn't be forced into it now. Cheryl looked at Toni's arm, she frowned as she saw the cast, she could ask what happened but she supposed it was none of her business anymore. The medication took the pain away and made her feel pretty drowsy to say the least. She turned her head to the ceiling taking in a breath as she closed her eyes willing sleep to take over her.

When Toni woke up Cheryl was asleep, she stood up and padded to the bathroom. After a few minutes she returned to Cheryl's room to see the redhead awake removing her oxygen mask. 'Toni, why are you still here I thought we agreed?' Cheryl's voice was low due to soreness. 'I know but...' Toni began. 'No. You need to go, I won't allow you to stay here, we're not together anymore, you don't owe me anything' Cheryl sighed. 'Well maybe we can fix that' Toni pleaded. 'No, I won't allow you to be backed into a corner because of this Toni, we aren't together let's leave it that way' it broke Cheryl's heart to say that but she was doing what she thought was best for Toni. 'You don't want to see me?' Toni said sadly. 'You are welcome to visit every now and again but you have to promise me you'll live your life okay?'. A single tear dropped from the redheads eye but she wasn't going to change her mind on this. 'But Cher...' Toni's voice broke. 'Please Toni don't make this any harder than it already is' Cheryl pleaded, in reality she wanted nothing more than to be with Toni but she couldn't. Toni moved closer to the redhead placing a light kiss on her cheek. 'I love you Cher' Toni pulled away looking into her eyes 'always'. Before Cheryl could speak Toni turned and left leaving her alone to release the tears she was holding back.

She didn't want to go home right now, she hadn't seen Tommy in weeks and she wasn't going to let him see her in a state like this. Toni needed to talk to someone and she knew the perfect person, she pulled out her phone and called an Uber to pick her up and take her to her destination. Once she arrived she walked through the gate and rang the doorbell waiting awkwardly for someone to answer. It didn't take long for someone to open the door. 'Toni, what are you doing here? Is everything alright?' Archie asked concern all over his face. 'Is Veronica home?' Toni asked as if on auto pilot. 'Yeah, erm come in' he said moving out of the way of the door. Toni nodded and took a few steps into the house. 'She's upstairs if you want to head up, can I get you anything?' Archie asked. 'No but thank you' she gave him a small smile as she headed upstairs in search of the brunettes bedroom. When she found the room she knocked and waited for an answer before she entered.

'Archie why are you knocking?' Veronica asked as the door opened 'oh Toni, is everything alright?'. Toni just allowed the tears to fall from her eyes. 'Toni' Veronica said gently 'what's going on? Come, sit down'. Toni did as she was told, she took a seat on Veronicas bed. 'What's going on Toni?' Veronica pushed. 'It's Cheryl, she doesn't want me, it's too late for us'. 'What are you talking about? Cheryl loves you' Veronica asked confused. 'She thinks she will be backing me into a corner or forcing me into a relationship because of the...'. 'Accident' Veronica finished. 'Yeah' Toni said sadly. 'Look T, a lot is going on right now but don't take it to heart. It's hard at the moment for Cheryl but just give her some time okay? Did she tell you to leave?'. 'Yeah' Toni sighed 'she said I could visit every now and again but I think that was just to get me to leave'. 'I'm sorry Toni but you guys will get through it, you love each other' Veronica gave her a small smile. 'Yeah well maybe love alone isn't enough' Toni frowned.

Archie gave Toni a ride home after a few hours of chatting and getting things off her chest. As she climbed the stairs to her apartment she hoped that Tommy and her brothers were home, she had missed her son enormously. She slid her key into the door unlocking it and pushing it open. When she stepped through she was glad to see her family sat on the couch watching tv. 'Mommy!' Tommy squealed as he turned around, jumping off the couch and running towards her. He ran into her arms and she used her none broken arm to pick up her son placing a kiss on his cheek as he giggled. 'I've missed you' he pouted. 'Well I've missed you more' she squeezed him again before putting him back down on the ground. 'What are you guys watching?' she asked looking over to the tv. 'A new movie, do you want to watch it with us?' he asked excitedly. 'I'd love to' she smiled as Tommy reached for her hand and practically dragged her to the couch. She took a seat in between her brothers as Tommy climbed onto her lap. 'You good T?' Sweet Pea asked. 'Later' she said simply not wanting to talk about things with Cheryl in front of her son. Sweet Pea nodded in understanding as they turned their attention back to the tv.

Toni had spent the rest of her day with Tommy, Sweet Pea and Fangs, they had watched movies, done some baking and played video games together. It took her mind off a certain redhead at least while she was busy. She laid down next to her son as she read him a bedtime story, she missed this, she read until Tommy's eyes shut and small snores were falling from his mouth. Toni turned onto her side taking in her sweet boy, even though her life felt messy right now she knew she could be strong because of him. She placed a light kiss on his head and tucked him in before quietly getting off the bed and heading back to watch tv with her brothers. She took a seat in the middle of them both feeling all eyes on her.

'So, not that we're not glad to see you home T but we didn't really expect it yet' Fangs said trying to gage what was happening. 'Cheryl wanted me to leave' Toni said bluntly trying not to get too emotional. 'She did? Why?' her brother asked. 'Well technically we're not together so she thanked me but she wanted me to leave and 'live my life' her words' Toni shrugged. 'But I thought you guys would be back together now because you know, you love each other' Sweet Pea chimed in. 'She said she doesn't want to trap me because of her accident, I said I wanted to fix things between us but she refused, I don't know what else I can do'. 'You guys will sort it out T, you've both been through a lot lately even before the accident, just give it time' Fangs gave her a small smile as he squeezed her shoulder. 'Fangs is right Toni, you and Red will be fine trust me' Sweet Pea added. 'I'll guess we will see' Toni said turning to face the tv not wanting to carry on the conversation.

Earlier that day Archie had taken Veronica to see Cheryl so they could have alone time to chat without anyone there. When Archie left the room Veronica took the sleeping redheads hand in her own and gave it a little squeeze. Cheryl opened her eyes and turned her head slightly as she removed her mask. 'Oh my god girl it's so good to see you awake, you nearly gave us all a heart attack, how are you?' Veronica gave her a small smile. 'I've been better but I'm alive' Cheryl joked in a low voice. 'Yeah, where's Toni, it's weird not seeing her sat by your bed?' Veronica asked wanting to find out from Cheryl what was going on between the two of them. 'I don't want to talk about Toni right now' the redhead sighed. 'Why not?' Veronica asked as she frowned. 'I'm just not feeling up to it'. 'Has she left?' Veronica pushed. 'Come on V, drop it'. 'I will when you tell me where she is'. 'Fine, I told her to go home and be with Tommy' Cheryl shrugged. 'Oh good, are you guys... back together?' Veronica questioned. 'No, why would we be? Look please V can we leave it? I can't deal with this right now' Cheryl said frustrated. 'Okay fine' Veronica put her hands up in surrender. 'Thank you' Cheryl said facing back towards the ceiling trying to push Toni from her mind.