Toni's POV
"Cher, come on. The chat is gonna start soon!"
"Alright I'm coming!" her wife called from upstairs, probably still changing after her shower.
"Hope I hear a lot of that pretty soon," she mumbled under her breath, still extremely nervous for the chat. They were about to speak to Veronica Lodge for the first time, which was beyond nerve wracking. They already got through the hardest part, which was just the sign up and agreeing to have their sex life analyzed and controlled by someone else. She heard Cheryl come downstairs and felt her kiss her cheek before plopping onto the couch next to her. The clock said 4:59, which meant that in one minute their lives could forever be changed. As the familiar Skype ringtone played quietly in the room, Toni took a deep breath. Cheryl looked over and Toni could tell she was excited, trying to let some of that enthusiasm rub off onto her too.
"Ready?"
"Yeah, I'm ready." Toni took a deep breath and tried not to look terrified as Cheryl pressed answer and the smiling face of Veronica Lodge appeared on the screen in front of them. She put on a convincing smile and attempted to relax a little while the woman on the other side of the call and her wife chatted excitedly. All she could think was, "How the hell did she get me to agree with this?"
TWO WEEKS BEFORE
"Hey Betty, how are you?" The pink haired girl happily greeted her old friend after a few weeks without seeing each other.
"I'm doing great. Really great. How about you?"
"I'm good. How's Archie?"
"He's at home with the baby now. I felt bad about leaving them alone so soon but I needed a break," she said laughing quietly. "But I love being a mother, it's great."
"That's good to hear. You seem really happy."
"I am. When do I get to see you as a mom," she joked, but Toni knew she was being serious. Toni and Cheryl were the only ones in their group of friends without a baby and it made Toni slightly nervous. They were 27 and 26, respectively, they had been married for four years, but together since the beginning of high school, and they were both doing great at their jobs. There really wasn't a reason for them to not have children, but Toni was still nervous about it.
She was scared for several reasons. The main one being that she was afraid of ruining someone's life. She had no idea what being a mother entailed, and the thought that she could mess up and ruin that child's life haunted her thoughts. Her second fear, admittedly selfish, was that a child could ruin their marriage. What if it forced them to argue all the time, or stop having sex? Well, even less than they already do. That was the biggest issue in their relationship. Her wife wouldn't ever admit it, but she knew that their sex life had seriously hit a wall. From being together for so long, they lost the passion. It just became about getting each other off, if they even could, and was no longer romantic or holding a serious connection the way it used to. And the worst part was that Toni had no idea how to fix it.
"Oh come on Betty, not this again."
"What Toni? You guys have been together forever and we all thought that you'd be the first to have kids. You guys are so in love, it's annoying. Don't you think a baby would make that so much better?"
Toni shrugged indifferently. Maybe it would, or maybe it wouldn't. To her, she would rather fix their other issue before bringing someone else into the picture. Maybe she'd talk to Cheryl about it. If she could even get the words out. Cheryl would never bring something like that up on her own because she knew Toni got uncomfortable with the subject, but if Toni asked her first, she'd have no choice but to spill every thought she had on the matter. It was part of the reason they worked so well together, they could talk about any and everything. Well apparently everything but sex. She dismissed the topic from Betty and instead asked her more about her newborn. She was happy to listen and forget about her own issues for the time being.
