Silhouetted Sins

a sense of belonging

A/n: the end of this chapter makes me ✨sad✨ and so does this song 🥺

toni's pov

today is a rainy day and sophie was sad she couldn't go outside so i invited cheryl over to spend time with us.

"soph do you wanna see some old pictures of you when you were a baby?" i ask her. "yea sure." she says and sits in the middle of me and cheryl on the bed. "you have an album?" she asks. "yea. i've been taking pictures of you since you were a baby." i tell her. "oh ok." she says.

i place the book on her lap and she opens to the first page.

"how old was i here?" she asks and points to the picture. "i think you were one and a half. "aww you were sleeping." cheryl says. "she loved napping." i say. "i did?" sophie asks. "you did. you got really tired easily." i say. "not anymore." she states. "no?" i ask. "nope." she says and me and cher laugh.

"this ones cute." cheryl says. "what am i wearing around my neck?" sophie asks. "it was a necklace you made. we found some stuff lying around and made it into an art project." i say. "oh i think i remember that but not too well." she says.

"oh my god sophie your face!" cheryl says and laughs. "she's a pouter." i say. "hey no i'm not!" sophie says. "really? that picture says otherwise." i laugh. "i was just posing for the camera." sophie says. "ok whatever you say soph." i say and she giggles.

"how old was i in this one?" sophie asks. "that was actually pretty recent. you were probably either 4 or 5." i tell her. "i love your curls." cheryl says. "thanks." sophie says and shows a soft smile.

"you're so beautiful." i say and she smiles brighter. "i know." she says. "oh you know?" i say and chuckle. "of course i know. you tell me pretty often." she says. "that's because it's true." i say. "well you're pretty too. and cheryl." she says. "aw thank you." cheryl says.

without hesitation sophie leans over and hugs cheryl. if only eyes could capture photos because this sight was precious.

i hear small sobs coming from soph and my expression automatically turns to concern. "sophie why are you crying?" i ask and rub her back.

"please don't leave. cheryl please." she whispers. "of course not. never. i'm not going anywhere." cheryl says with her arms wrapped around sophie.

"promise?" she asks. "i promise. i'm not going anywhere. i missed 6 years of your life but i swear i'm not missing anymore. i love your mom and...i love you too." cheryl says and i can see she's starting to tear up. "you're the only person whose ever stayed for me and my mom. i just want to have a family." sophie says and my heart aches.

i've never actually seen sophie break down like this before. especially not in front of people. she has a really tough exterior which i think she picked up from moonee because both of them are very stubborn.

i never really noticed how much not having a dad or another mom could of affected sophie. i guess now i know. and i feel terrible.

"hey soph it's okay. cheryl is our family now. and you've got the serpents too. everyone who came here from riverdale is our family now." i say. "i love you mommy." sophie says and looks at me with tears streaming down her face. "i love you sweetie." i say.

"can we be a family? with cheryl? like the 3 of us?" sophie asks. "would you like that?" i ask and she nods. "of course we can be." cheryl says and sophie smiles through her tears.

hardly anything in my life is warm and fuzzy. it's a lot of anger, emotions, and fucked up shit i probably shouldn't be doing. but this right here, this moment, is the warmest and fuzziest it gets.

A/n: hey guys i just wanna explain something real quick that has to do with my book. so basically sophie's reaction was very random, i know, but it was 100% something a 6 year old like her would do in that situation. sophie  has only had one person in her life who has said she loved her and that was toni. she spent her entire life knowing she didn't have a real family so when she finally starts feeling closer and closer to cheryl she doesn't want her to leave her since she's never a constant person in her life besides her mom. the whole situation is really sad to think about but i decided i should write about it because there are so many kids who grow up with a single parent and start to lose the meaning behind what a family is supposed to be. so yeaaa anyway thanks for reading and i love u guys! 💗