capsize me and douse me in your bay

chapter twenty

Fingers were raking slowly through Toni's hair, twirling the bubblegum pink ends. She was warm, nestled comfortably under the blankets with the weight on her chest that she'd grown to miss so much. She hadn't realized how much she missed it until she had it back. All that time without Cheryl by her side, she had been trying to convince herself to stop missing her and move on, not wanting to hold get her hopes up that the redhead would return. But now she was back, safe and sound in bed with her. And Toni wasn't letting her go again.

Opening her eyes slowly, her lips curled into a smile when she was immediately met with the sight of Cheryl staring back at her, smiling warmly as she kept her fingers running through her hair.

"I love you, Toni," she hummed contentedly, leaning in to kiss her like it was just second nature.

"Good morning to you, too," the pinkette chuckled against her lips before kissing her again and wrapping an arm comfortably around her middle. Everything about this just felt right, like they should have been doing it all along. From the innocent touches and kisses, to the way they kept their foreheads together after pulling back from the tender kiss. "How'd you sleep?"

"On my side, with you," the redhead answered with a dreamy smile, making Toni laugh out loud with her response. Typical Cheryl.

"No, I meant, like...did you sleep okay? No more nightmares or anything bothering you? Were you comfortable and warm enough?" she smiled, elaborating on her question through a few giggles and kissed her again.

"Oh. Yes, I slept very okay. I was comfortable and warm. And I was with you."

Toni felt the butterflies in her stomach start flying around faster. She wondered if Cheryl knew what the things she said did to her. She'd never met anyone so blunt, but so charming at the same time.

"How did you sleep, Toni?"

"I slept all right," she shrugged, not really wanting to tell her that she was up every hour, checking to see that Cheryl was still sleeping peacefully. She knew she had the tendency to be a heavy sleeper, especially when she hadn't been sleeping well like she had lately. And she didn't want Cheryl to wake up from another nightmare alone. But each time she woke up, the redhead was sleeping soundly by her side. Not as peacefully as she had seen in the past, but she didn't seem to be plagued with night terrors.

The redhead smiled softly with a bit of guilt behind her eyes as she ran her palm up and down Toni's arm. "I am sorry you were waiting so long," she whispered, her smile starting to dissolve into a frown.

"Hey, don't be sorry, it wasn't your fault," she shook her head, bringing her hand up to grip her chin gently, "I love you, okay? I'm just...glad you're okay."

She cringed inwardly. Yeah, she was glad that Cheryl was okay and back with her, but she had been practically held captive by her parents, banished from her home, and stripped of her tail, left with nothing but memories and a painful looking scar. If Toni had been through all that, she probably wouldn't even have the motivation to smile. Hell, just this month, she'd lost Cheryl and her job and she didn't leave her room for nearly two weeks straight. She couldn't even imagine taking on Cheryl's hardships. But the redhead seemed fine. She seemed happy enough, considering what she went through. A part of Toni was a little relieved that she wasn't more upset. She could hardly handle her own emotions, let alone someone else's. But she knew that if it came down to it, she would do her best to be there through any emotional downfall Cheryl may have in the future.

"Rise and shine, sleeping bea-" Betty's chipper voice rang through the room over the sound of her knocking on the door as she opened it. Though, the blonde stopped in her tracks at the sight of the redhead who was occupying half of her best friend's bed. "Cheryl?" her eyes widened as she stepped further into the room, sitting on the edge of the bed beside them, "I thought you'd never come back!"