Choni One Shots pt: 2

293: The One With The Missing Person

TONI POV:

I hear the door open and Cheryl come in a few seconds later. "Hey babe." I say smiling. She look at me and storms upstairs. I nod. I go upstairs and see Cheryl lying in bed. "Bad day?" She nods. "Ok. Do you want to talk? Or do you want to take a minute to calm down then get some ice cream?" I ask her. She doesn't respond. "Come down when you're ready. I'll probably be in the studio editing." I tell her. "Come down and tell me what you want to do when you're ready." I whisper before kissing the side of her head. I go downstairs and go into the studio to finish editing. I hear a knock on the door about an hour later. I turn around and see Cheryl. I look at her. "Feeling better?" I ask quietly. She nods. "Do you want to talk or get ice cream?" I ask her. "Can we go to Pop's instead? I want to burger." I nod. "Now?" I ask her. She nods. "Ok, let me just finish one thing and I'll be up in a minute."

I look at Cheryl. "What happened?" I ask her. "SAT's." I nod. "I forgot about that." She nods. "Stressful?" I ask her. "Definitely." I nod. "I don't want to talk about it right now." She whispers. "Yeah, they aren't fun to take." I whisper. "You took them?" She ask quietly. "Yeah?" I say confused. "But you dropped out of school." She says quietly. "Ok, I took the PSAT's." I say quietly. She smiles. "Still wasn't fun though." She nods. "How was work?" She ask quietly. "It was ok, finished the video." I say quietly. "Your mom called." I whisper. "Good or bad?" She ask quietly. "Do you want to know now or later?" I ask her. "Just tell me Nana Rose is ok." She whispers. I nod. "She's fine." I whisper. "Jason?" I nod. "He's fine too." She nods. "I'm not gonna be home, when you get home tomorrow. I have an appointment." I tell her. "Ok!" She nods. "You think that's what you need right now?" She ask quietly. "I need to start talking about it with someone that isn't you, before it eats me alive." She nods. "Totally get it."

"What did my mom call about?" Cheryl ask quietly as she gets into bed. "Oh! Jason broke his arm." I say not looking up from my book. "What? I thought you said he was fine!" She says pissed. "He is! I didn't think it was earth shattering! Jason slipped on some ice and he broke his arm trying to break his fall! It's better then him hitting his head and almost dying!" I explain. "Oh. Well, now that you say it like that!" I nod. "He's perfectly fine, just a few cuts and bruises and a broken arm. He'll be fine in about 6 weeks." I tell her. She nods. "No need to worry. It happened a few days ago." I whisper. "He's ok." I say quietly. "So we don't need to go up and see them?" I shake my head. "No, they're coming down in a few weeks so you'll see Jason then." She nods. "Ok?" I nod. "Go to sleep. You have to get up early tomorrow." I whisper. She turns off the light and lies into me. "Tv?" I ask quietly. "Go ahead." I nod and turn on the tv to whatever looks good enough to fall asleep to. I lie down more and slowly fall asleep.

I walk to the door and open it. "Betty?" I ask confused. "I need your help." She says almost out of breath. "Come in." I say quietly. I let her in. "Is Cheryl home?" She ask quietly. "No, she went to get something to eat with a friend. Why?" I ask confused. "What are you holding?" I ask thinking it's a dog or something. She shows me a sleeping baby. "She's Jason's and Polly's." I nod. "Oh! Ok! And why are you here?" I ask her. "Well, Jason's not here right now and I can't find Polly anywhere." I look at her confused. "How did you end up with the kid then?" I ask confused. "He was dropped off at my house." I nod. "I know Jason left some baby stuff here." She says quietly. "I don't know where." I whisper. "It was all in my office but we took it call out to turn it into my office/studio." She nods. "I can check Cheryl's grandmother's old room." I say quietly.

I look at the kid. "What's his name?" I ask quietly. "Nathan." I nod. "Thanks for taking him in so minute." She whispers. "Oh! We still have to run it by Cheryl, but she'll be the one to talk Jason off a ledge about it." The front door opens and Cheryl walks into the house. "Hey!" She says confused. "Is Polly here?" She ask quietly. "No." I whisper. "Oh! Baby sitting?" She ask confused. "No." I say quietly. "What happened?" She ask concerned. "I can't find Polly, I was home and he was at the front door." Betty explains. "Does Jason know?" Cheryl ask walking over. "We were hoping you'd call him." I say quietly. She nods.

"You don't have to stay." Cheryl says quietly. I look at her. "Why wouldn't I?" I ask her. "Because this isn't your problem" She whispers. I look at her. "I'm with you through this, your problems are mine now." I smile. "You sure?" I nod. "You can't take care of this kid by yourself." She looks at me. "Well, for the week until Jason can come down and get him." I say quietly. "Do you not trust me?" She ask quietly. "You tired to give him pizza Cheryl!" She shrugs. "He's a year old!" She shrugs again. "Ok? I read that babies start eating solids by now." She says quietly. "Yeah, like baby food and bananas and yogurt!" She nods. "Damn." I nod.

I wake up to knocking on the door and a baby crying. "I'll get it." I whisper. I get up and get the door. I look and see Jason. "You're here!" He nods. "I came as soon as I could, where is he?" He ask quietly. I turn around and see Cheryl holding Nathan. Jason goes over and takes him. "Hey, kiddo." He sighs in relief. "Do you guys know what happened?" We shake our heads. "Not really. Betty dropped him off because we actually had the ability to take care of him." I explain. He nods. "Any idea of where she could be?" I ask quietly. "Ah! No." He whispers. I look at Cheryl. "Betty might know." She says quietly. "Let's go." Jason says quietly. "I can watch Nathan while you guys go on this wild goose hunt." I tell them. Jason hands Nathan to me. "He has a stuffed bear, it doesn't have a name so that can be a bonding moment." I nod as he hands me a bag. They leave so I go into the living room, sit down on the floor and place him on his play mat. I smile and hand him a bear that's the same size of him. "Does he have a name?" I ask quietly. "No?" I smile. "How about Mr. Snuffles?" He giggles. "Yeah?" I smile. I look at Nathan. "Mama!" I take a deep breath. "You probably miss your mommy right?" I ask knowing he's not gonna respond. "Yeah. I get it. My mommy left me when I was about 7. She's dead now. Not your mom! Mine! Shortly after we finally got back in touch, she died. She had cancer and just needed money and she found out I was with your auntie and came and found me. You don't need to hear that." I whisper. I take a deep breath. "You'll be ok." I tell him. "She'll be ok." I whisper.

I look at Cheryl. "What happened?" I ask quietly. "We found Polly in a motel, unconscious. The funeral is on Saturday." She explains. I look at her. "What's gonna happen with Nathan?" I ask her. "Um... I don't know yet. Jason can't stay here and can't bring him to school. So between us, Betty and Jason coming home every weekend he'll be taken care of." I nod. "Ok, one thing, I never agreed to any of this! But no one agreed on Polly dropping off Nathan and almost dying, so there's that!" I say quietly. "What about your parents?" I ask quietly. "They'll help when Jason comes down." She says quietly. I nod. "What about Alice?" I ask her. "She'll be around throughout the week to help at all times." She explains. "Ok." I nod.

I sit down next to Jason who's sitting with Nathan. "Cheryl explained to me what we're gonna do." I tell him. "He's gonna be ok." I whisper. He looks at me. "I didn't get to finish High School and it's probably the biggest regret I've ever made. Finish high school!" I explain. "I don't know if I can." He whispers. "You have 4 more months of it, we'll take care of Nathan while you finish high school." He nods. "Yeah! You're right!" He whispers.