CHERYL POV:
"Hi! Are you Antoinette Topaz's wife?" The surgeon asks walking into my room at the ER. "Yes! I'm her wife! Is she ok?" I ask concerned. "She's alive! But there was a lot of damage done... she may never walk again." He explains. "Oh my god." I whisper. "Can I see her? Does she know?" He nods. "She knows and you can see her."
I look at Toni. "What happened?" She asks me. "We were in a car accident!" She looks at me. "Your side got hit. That's why I ended up with a broken arm and- and you... you may never walk properly again." I tell her. Her face turns face turn white. "The surgeon said he told you." She nods. "It's worse coming from you." She tells me. I nod. "Do you want to do all the therapies?" I ask her. "I don't want to make any decisions yet." I nod. She looks at me. "You're keeping something from me." She whispers. I hesitate. "You've been through enough today." I tell her. "Cheryl, we agreed on honesty." She whispers. I still don't say anything. "Cher." She whispers. "Toni, your dad called." She looks at me. "I'm sorry Toni, your mom, she died. It was peaceful, she died in her sleep." I tell her. "Oh!" She whispers going pale. Her breathing gets shaky. "Was it from the Cancer?" I shrug. "I don't know! He's getting an autopsy for her." She nods. "Does he know I'm here?" She asks me. "I didn't tell him, he specifically called me because he wanted me to tell you in person." I explain. "Is he ok?" I nod. "Fangs is heading down to Connecticut as we speak." She nods. "When do I get to leave?" She asks. "I don't know yet."
I look at Toni as she gets in the wheelchair. "This is my life now." I nod. "I'm sorry babe." She looks at me. "Are we going to my parent's house from the hospital?" She asks me. I take a deep breath. "Yeah." I nod. "Does my dad know?" She asks me. I nod. "Yes." I whisper. "He's got a ramp up to the house." She nods. "What about our place?" She asks me. "I don't know yet, I have been here and work." I tells me. She nods. "I asked Archie to go and get everything ready for when we get back." She smiles a little bit. "Thanks." I nod. "Want me to wheel you out or do you want to go yourself?" I ask her. "I got it!" I nod. "Ok!" I smile.
I look over at Toni. "You okay?" I ask her looking back at the road. "How are we going to have sex?" She asks me. I shrug. "I don't know. Do you know if you feel anything down there?" I ask her. "I don't know." I nod. "Ok. We'll just have to figure it out as we go and that's ok!" I tell her. "Don't pity me." She whispers. "Is that you just saying that in general? Or did you think I was pitying you?" I ask her. "Both?" She says confused. "I'm not trying to be!" I tell her. "And if you felt like I was I do apologize." I explain. "I was trying to rationalize the fact that we're going to have to figure out how sex is going to be and that it might be different for now on." I explain. She nods. "Ok, that makes more sense honestly." She tells me. "Sorry for getting mad, I'm just not ok." She tells me. "Want to stop for food?" I ask her. "Yeah!" She says perking up a bit.
TONI POV:
I look at Cheryl as she gets into bed, in my childhood bedroom which is kinda weird. "You ok?" She asks me. I nod. "I mean, for a person who can't walk and whose mother died." I say quietly. "So you're not ok." I nod. "Ok." She says quietly. "I'm happy that it's a small thing because I don't know if I can see people from my childhood with me like this." I tell her. She nods. "I get it. There's nothing to be ashamed of though." She tells me. "I know! But I'm just not really ready, I haven't fully processed it." I tell her. She nods. "Me too." She says looking at me. "Can I ask you something?" I ask her. "Yeah." She says smiling. "The sex thing? When do you think we should explore that?" I ask her. "Whenever you're ready." She tells me. "Are you?" She asks me. I nod. "Yeah." I whisper. "Not in your childhood bedroom with your dad down the hall." She says. We both laugh a bit. "It'll be life we're in High School again." I joke. "Can we talk about it at least?" I ask her. "I think it's best we wait to get back to our therapist." She tells me. "I think we're the only people who see a couples therapist because we don't want to have anything bad happen in our relationship and not when it's beyond repair." I say quietly. "Wanna go to a bar or something? We're lying in bed like we're going to sleep, it's not enough 9 yet." I ask her. "I thought it was later. We can go! Need help?" She asks me. "Yeah!" She nods.
