Bullet // Choni One-Shots

Cherry Wine (Part Two)

After the incident at the river, Toni tries to reach out to Cheryl more, and Cheryl pulls back. She calls way less. She doesn't share anything about what's going on in that nightmare of a place she calls a house. It's almost as if the past few weeks never happened, except Toni still thinks of her daily. It's got Sweet Pea and Fangs asking incessantly what exactly has her so distracted during shifts.

Toni knows this act. Knows what it's like to be too scared that love is going to be ripped out from beneath your feet just when you've found stable ground. Knows what it's like to decide to rip it out yourself, just so the world doesn't have the luxury of laughing in your face again. At the river, Cheryl became vulnerable and, in turn, gave Toni some sort of power over her.

She needed to take it back before she got burnt, so she stepped back.

Toni understands what she's doing, but it doesn't make it hurt any less. Doesn't make her want to pull Cheryl away and promise her she'll never let go any less. But she promised herself when she struck up this friendship with the redhead that she would never push - not when the girl has been pushed around all her life, so she lets the girl have the next move.

It takes two weeks for Toni to see her again. Two weeks of radio-silence. Of Toni trying not to assume the worst. (And failing, horribly).

She's walking home from her shift at the Wyrm when she sees a familiar slump on her front steps. A familiar pang of fear strikes up in her chest, followed by a new and ugly emotion. Frustration. That after weeks of silence, Cheryl decides to show up at her doorstep without notice.

However, that emotion quickly dissipates when Cheryl looks up. Toni has never seen her look worse. Her right eye is so swollen Toni wonders if she can see out of it. There's a trickle of blood falling from her nostrils, slow and steady. There are finger shaped bruises on her neck as if she had been choked. Toni's breath cuts out just thinking about what is no doubt hiding under her coat.

Toni sighs, offering Cheryl a hand so she can get up. The redhead stumbles and her eyes shut tight as she makes her way up the steps of Toni's trailer.

"Again?" Toni asks as she opens the door to her trailer.

Cheryl looks down, ashamed, "I'm sorry I always end up here."

"No, Cheryl. Don't be sorry about that, you know I'm always here. It's just... why don't you leave?" Toni walks to the linen closet in her living room, picking up a warm blanket to drape over Cheryl's shoulders. Cheryl sits on the couch, still shaking slightly when Toni drapes it over her.

"I - leave Nick? No - no, I couldn't." Cheryl answers, head vigorously shaking. She pulls the blanket tighter around herself.

"But why not, Cheryl? He's a monster. Look at you. He doesn't deserve you." Toni crouches down on her knees so she's making eye contact with Cheryl, trying not to cry at the way her face is bruised and mangled.

"Can you imagine, Toni? With his family, his power. With the way his family is in cahoots with my mother? I'd be dead before I could say a word against him in court."

Toni knows it's true. She's seen the justice system fail women plenty of times. And men like Nick St. Clair with status and power never face the consequences for the shit they do. They can throw money at any problem to make it disappear. So, despite herself, Toni can't bring herself to tell Cheryl it's not true. (One thing she can't do is lie to her).

Instead, she presses a soft kiss on Cheryl's forehead before heading to the bathroom to get the first aid kit. When she catches her own reflection in the bathroom mirror, she can't help but take a step back. She looks worn. Despite everything, this is really getting to her.