Whatever it Takes

A noise that sounds a lot like someone crying wakes Cheryl up suddenly. She groans as she picks up her phone from her bedside table to check the time as her eyes adjust to the brightness quickly. The numbers three and twenty-eight stare back at her piercingly, causing her to squint.

It is then when the redhead realizes that Toni is no longer in her arms. She pulls the covers back to make sure that her tiny girlfriend didn't get lost in the sheets of their king-sized bed again (which has happened on more than one occasion), but the former Serpent is not there. Cheryl's eyes survey the rest of her room where she notices that the door to the bathroom is slightly ajar, and there's light shining through the cracks surrounding it. She jolts out of her bed, clad in only a red matching bra and panty set and one of Toni's flannels (her usual sleep attire), and approaches the door cautiously.

"Toni?" Cheryl hesitantly asks as she knocks on the door. When all she hears is more muffled crying, the redhead slowly pushes the door open only to find her girlfriend curled up in the bathtub. She's rocking back and forth, and Cheryl's heart breaks into a million pieces.

She doesn't want to scare her, so she slowly inches closer and closer. "T-Toni?" she breathes.

"Cheryl? What are you doing in here?" Toni hoarsely asks as she tries to rub the tears from her eyes. Like Cheryl, she was clad only in a matching bra and panty set, except hers were black laced, and topped off with one of Cheryl's old River Vixens shirts.

"I heard you crying. Did you have another nightmare, baby?" She softly asks as she makes her way over to Toni. Cheryl's held Toni through nightmares several times before, but not once had Toni ever told her what they were about. Cheryl never asked, but it's not like she didn't want to know, it's just that she didn't want to prod. She figured Toni would tell her when she was ready.

"No... I didn't have a nightmare, Cher. I'm fine. Just go back to bed. I'm sorry that I woke you up."

"TT, it's 3:30 in the morning and you're crying in the bathroom. Clearly, you're not fine," Cheryl tiredly says as she climbs into the tub with Toni. Once seated, she takes Toni's small hands in her own as she asks her: "what's wrong, mon petit amour?"

"I don't want to talk about it," she answers while avoiding Cheryl's eyes.

"Why not?" Toni flinches as Cheryl moves to cup her cheek, tugging her head away from her grasp.

"Toni," Cheryl speaks, voice firm, "look at me."

The girl obliges, albeit reluctantly, and looks directly into the concerned eyes of her girlfriend. Toni's own eyes are red and puffy. Cheryl bites her bottom lip, shaking her head as she absorbs the sight before her. She has never seen Toni like this, so broken and vulnerable.

"Why don't you want to talk about it?" Cheryl asks gently, repeating her previous question.

"Because I don't want to make you upset, and I don't want you to break up with me and kick me out again," Toni says through a sniffle.

That took Cheryl aback. "What are you talking about, Toni?"

"It's just... please don't hate me for saying this Cher, but I have to get this all off my chest, or I'm going to lose it," Toni croaks out as she starts to hyperventilate. 

"I could never hate you, Toni. Just breathe for me baby, and tell me what's going on in that pretty little head of yours," Cheryl says tenderly as she slowly strokes Toni's bare arms to try to calm the shorter girl down.

After a few moments, Toni sighs: "okay, let me just start by saying that I love you, Cher, but baby, you don't know how to listen."

"Wh-" Cheryl starts.