The Quiet Kid: (choni)

28: What if...?

CHERYL POV:

"Toni." I pull him into a hug. "Lets get married." He whispers. "Right now. I- I can't wait." He cups my cheeks. "Toni we have 3 days together." I whisper. "Cheryl, I'm going to war, I might die. I'm not dying knowing I wasn't married to the love of my life." He kisses me. "Toni please don't say that." I kiss him again. "Where's- where's Nicole?" I ask quietly. "With Sarah. She doesn't know you're home." I whisper. "Smart." He smiles. "Let's go home than." We laugh and get in our car. We drive up to the house and we go in. "Dad!" Nicole runs over to us as me walk into the house. "Hey sweetheart." He picks Nicole up. "How are you?" He ask quietly. Nicole starts crying. "Ohh." Toni rubs her back. "Come on. We have to go the court." I rub her back. "What?" Nicole looks over at me. "Mom and I are finally getting married." Toni whispers. Nicole looks at us confused. "I thought you were already married?" We both laugh. "No. But we have to go our slot will be closing." Sarah runs in. "Sorry I had to finish cleaning up." She laughs.

Toni rubs my arm and pulls me closer after a long night. We are lying in bed. "Toni, beside for your mom. Why did you do this?" I ask quietly. "For my mom. I thought if I did this I would feel closer to her, now I feel even further from her." He whispers. I rub his chest softly making patterns with my finger. "Are you happy?" I ask quietly. "No. Every night I think about how much I wish I was with you and Nicole." I sit up and look at him. "And I couldn't call you and ask about your day." He rubs my arm. "Well if you were wondering how our days went. We did the same thing but without you, we talked about what was happening with you." I say quietly. "I told our daughter that she was adopted." I confess looking down awkwardly. "Cheryl I thought we were going to sit down and tell her when she was ready." He sits up. "She was asking questions, I had to answer her." I whisper. The door slowly opens. "Mom..." I cover myself. "Sweetheart give us a few minutes and knock. Please?" She walks out and Toni and I get dressed quickly. I quickly get out of my room and go to Nicole's room. "What's up?" I ask quietly sitting down on her bed. "I can't sleep." She whispers. "Ok." We lie down and I hold her for a while.

TONI POV:

"Toni." Cheryl pulls me closer. "I don't want to leave." I whisper. "What you said yesterday..." she pulls away and raps her arm around my neck. "I just panicked for a minute." I tell her. "Toni. I can't lose you." She whispers. "You're the love you my life, I don't know what I would do without you." She starts crying. "Cheryl." I cup her cheeks and make her look up at me. "I'm not leaving you. Even if something happens to me. I'm always in your heart no matter what." I reassure her. "I'll love you forever Cheryl Blossom. Even though technically you're no longer a Blossom I'm still going to call you a Cheryl Blossom." She smiles. "Can I ask you something serious?" She ask quietly. I nod. "Of course." I say quietly. "Have you had a drink since..." I look down, knowing what she's talking about. "Honestly." She whispers. "Not because of that." She looks at me disappointed. "When?" She ask. I refuse to look at her. "When our ship docked for the first time we all went out to for drinks the last night. I promise you, it was one drink and I regretted it immediately. After that I switched to soda I promise." She pulls away from me. "I'm sorry." I whisper. She shakes her head. "Cheryl!" She walks out. "I have to pick our daughter up from school." She leaves, leaving me to ponder over my problems.

"Why are you up set?" Nicole ask quietly. I close the book I just read to her. "I'm not." I lie. "Well you and mom weren't talking earlier and you seam off." She whispers. I take a deep breath. "It's not important. Don't worry." I say quietly. "Why?" She ask sitting up. "Because you're young and don't need to worry." I try to direct her away from it. "Ok, can you never leave again?" She ask sadly. My heart shatters. "I have to. It's my job." She hugs me tightly. I rub her back, trying to hold back tears. "I love you." I whisper. "Than why are you leaving?" She ask quietly. "I don't have a choice." I whisper. "You're leaving tomorrow. I don't want you too." I try to be strong. "I'll call mom and ask her to put you on the phone as soon as I land and get off the plane. Ok?" She nods. "Can we read another story?" She ask quietly. "Yeah." I reach over and grab another book. "How about 'Rainbow Fish'?" She nods. "Ok." I read the story to her and she quickly falls asleep. I kiss the top of her head and leave her room. I close the door. "Cheryl, can we talk?" I ask quietly walking into our room. She turns around to me. "What is there to talk about? You promised you would drink and you drank." She whispers looking up at me. "I don't want to leave on bad note." I say quietly. "I'm not mad, that's the problem." I lock the door as she pulls me into a kiss. Our clothes end up on the floor. I think we both know where this ended. Now we're lying cuddled up next to each other. She kisses my neck as I giggle like a 5 year old girl. "I hate lying to her." I whisper. "We both do."