The Sun and Her Moon | CHONI |

Sixty Nine

'Maybe we could drive by my parents house?' Cheryl asked as Toni buckled Tommy into his seat after they had said goodbye to everyone else and they had left to go home. 'Do you think they'll mind?' Toni asked tickling Tommy a little before taking her seat next to the redhead. 'I'm not sure but if they are willing to try then even after everything so am I' Cheryl shrugged but Toni could see the nervousness in her eyes. 'Okay babe, whatever you want' Toni smiled putting on her seatbelt. Cheryl nodded as she reversed the car out of the parking space and drove towards her parents house. Toni noticed that the redhead was more quiet than usual but she understood, Cheryl's relationship with her parents was complicated and would take more than a few friendly visits to fix. 'Wow these houses look pretty old' Toni said as she looked out of the window at the large buildings they were passing by. 'Yeah, everything is pretty old around here' Cheryl nodded as she kept her eyes on the road. 'Well this is it' she said pulling onto the driveway of the house she grew up in but hadn't visited in a long time. 'Wow, it's pretty uh... gothic?' Toni tried to find the words to describe the building in front of her but not insult her girlfriend. 'It's no better on the inside but this is where I grew up' Cheryl said taking a breath before climbing out of the car followed by Toni who helped Tommy out of his seat.

Cheryl linked her hand with Toni's as she rang the doorbell and taking a step back as she waited for someone to answer. Clifford was the one who opened the door and to say he looked surprised would be an understatement. 'Cheryl, what are you doing here? It's great to see you' he said pulling her in for a hug which caught the younger redhead off guard but she accepted it. 'Toni, Tommy it's great to see you both too. Please come in' he smiled as he made room for them to enter the old mansion. He led them to the lounge before calling down his wife. 'Can I get you anything?' Clifford asked. 'A water please' Cheryl smiled a little. 'I'll have the same please' Toni nodded. Clifford's eyes landed on the little boy next who moved to stand next to him. 'Can I see what you have? I can help you' Tommy said sweetly and gave Cheryl's father a smile when he agreed. 'He's so cheeky' Toni smiled to Cheryl as she shook her head. 'What is it Clifford?' Penelope asked before her eyes landed on the couple sat on the couch. 'Oh Cheryl, Toni what a surprise, it's great to see you both' she smiled bringing them both in for separate hugs. 'We just thought we'd drop by for a visit, I hope that's not an issue' Cheryl said unsure. 'Of course not you are always welcome here. Where's little Thomas?' she asked. 'He's gone with Daddy to get some drinks' Cheryl nodded. 'How sweet' Penelope smiled as she took a seat on the opposite couch. It was still really strange for Cheryl to experience the kindness her parents were offering her and her partner, who was a woman nonetheless but she wasn't about to complain. She didn't think her relationship with her parents would ever be the best but she wouldn't mind being at least civil with them.

Tommy followed Clifford back through to the lounge carefully holding two glasses of water and handing them to his mothers before taking his juice from Clifford. The older redheaded man handed a mug of tea to Penelope before sitting down next to her with his own. 'What happened to your lip dear?' Clifford asked looking at the healing cut on her lip. 'Lukas did it' Tommy said before Cheryl or Toni could speak. 'Lukas?' Clifford said with a raised eyebrow. 'That's my ex, Tommy's father' Toni spoke up. 'Not anymore' Tommy reminded as he climbed up between the women. 'What does that mean?' Penelope asked. 'I took Lukas to court to have his parental rights removed, as you can see by Cheryl's lip he's not capable of being a parent, luckily the judge agreed and he's no longer Tommy's legal parent' Toni said with a small smile, it still seemed a little unreal to her. 'Wow well congratulations' Penelope smiled. 'I hope you'll be pressing charges' Clifford said. 'No, now Toni and Tommy don't have to deal with him again there's no need for me to keep him in their lives' Cheryl stated 'plus it wasn't as bad as it looks'. Thankfully Clifford dropped the subject after that and they chatted about less loaded things like the trip they're taking to Florida and how Tommy was hoping they'd spend one of the days at Disneyland since he loved the movies and he wanted to show Cheryl all of the characters since she still hadn't seen them all.

'Mother do you mind if I use the bathroom for a moment?' Cheryl asked standing up. 'Of course dear, you don't need to ask' Penelope smiled as she continued her conversation with Toni. The redhead climbed the familiar staircase and couldn't resist heading to her old room. To her surprise it was just as she had left it when she moved out. Everything that she either didn't have the time to collect or want was still here. She half expected her parents to have gotten rid of everything but they hadn't. Granted she spent a lot of her youth at boarding school but she had spent the rest of her time in this room. She took it all in, proud of herself for how far she had come from a teenager to an adult. She had everything now that she didn't imagine possible. She moved over to her old vanity looking at the photos surrounding the mirror, laughing at one of her and Veronica as preteens pouting at the camera. She smiled at the photo of her and her late nana, a woman she truly loved and the only family member that actually cared about her as she was growing up. She slid a few things into her pocket including the photographs and moved to the bathroom before heading back downstairs.

'Toni was just telling us about Tommy's biking lessons' Clifford said to Cheryl as she took her seat back next to Toni linking their fingers 'maybe sometime we could come along'. 'I mean it's fine with me' Cheryl said looking at her girlfriend. 'Yeah it's good with me' Toni smiled taking a sip of her water 'we'll let you know when he has his next lesson if you want?'. 'Great, we have a lot of land here too if he ever needs somewhere to practice' Clifford smiled and Cheryl was taken back a little at that. 'Yeah I'm sure he'll like that' Cheryl nodded. 'I would' Tommy smiled 'Mama gets scared when I fall off though'. 'I'm sure she does' Penelope smiled looking at Toni. 'Oh no, not me, he means Cheryl' Toni said looking from Penelope to her girlfriend. 'Oh, I thought I heard him him call you that at his birthday but you didn't mention it and I didn't want to presume' Penelope said looking at her daughter. 'Yeah he's been calling me mama for a while, he just said it one day and it stuck' Cheryl smiled at the little boy who smiled back at her. 'That's because you are my mama silly' Tommy laughed. Penelope smiled at them all, after everything she was genuinely happy for her daughter, she wished it didn't take so long for her and Clifford to realise that all that should matter was Cheryl's happiness but she hoped it was better late than never.

Tommy had started to get tired and it wasn't long before he fell asleep on the couch between his mothers. 'We should probably get him home' Cheryl said motioning towards the sleeping boy. 'Of course' Clifford nodded with with a smile. 'It's been great to see you all, thank you for stopping by' Penelope smiled standing up at the same time as her daughter. 'It's been good to see you both too' Cheryl gave her parents a small smile as Toni picked up Tommy. 'Wow he's really starting to get heavy' she laughed quietly 'thank you for having us'. Clifford and Penelope showed the small family out and told them to make sure to keep in touch and enjoy their weekend away. Once they got to the car Cheryl helped Toni get Tommy into his seat, he didn't even stir as they buckled him in. 'Are you glad we came to see your parents babe?' Toni asked as she got in the car. 'I am, it's nice to know at least they're trying' Cheryl nodded as she started the engine and headed home.

The next day after the couple had taken Tommy to school Cheryl told Toni that she was going out to meet up with Veronica since they hadn't spent too much time together lately. Toni agreed happily telling the redhead she was going to spend the day picking out some clothes for their weekend away and catching up with some things around the house. Cheryl took her car leaving the house after kissing Toni goodbye, she felt awful for lying to her girlfriend but in her mind she had a good reason to, she just hoped that Veronica wouldn't reach out to Toni while she was out. She pulled her car over when she had reached her destination waiting for the person she had arranged to meet with to get into the car. 'Toni can't know about this' Cheryl said as she pulled off back into the moving traffic.