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.
"So now that you're in a chair, do I get rides?" Cheryl asks pushing me to the bar. "I'll think about it, everything still hurts right now." I tell her. "You can take your meds!" She tells me. "I'm afraid too." I say quietly. "That's fair." We get to the door of the bar and Cheryl gets to the door to open it and I go in. "Thanks babe." I say smiling. that's one thing that never changed, Cheryl always gets the door for me. "That could be one way we do it!" Cheryl says to me. "Does it have to be in the wheelchair?" I ask. "No! I was just saying. I sit on you-." I stop her. "We aren't talking about this in public! Write it down babe." She smiles and kisses me. We go over to a table, Cheryl moves a chair out of the way for me to put my chair in its place. She sits down in front of me. "What do you want to drink, I can go up and get it?" She asks. "Ah... can you get me a soda, anything as long as it's not diet." She nods. "I know the drill." She smiles. I don't drink, I don't do well under the influence, I'm not an alcoholic, I just prefer being sober. I just get headaches and wicked handovers so I don't drink. A minute later Cheryl comes over with either Sprite or Ginger Ale and whatever she's drinking. "What did you get?" I ask her. "Manhattan as usual." She tells me. "That's Sprite!" She tells me. "Thanks babe." I smile. "This is the most i've seem you smile in a while." She tells me. "The anti depressants are starting to work!" I tell her honestly. She nods. "The light in your eyes is starting to come back." She whispers taking my hand. "Can we talk about literally anything else?" I ask her. She nods. "I heard back from the woman who might be my mother's sister." She tells me. "And?" I ask her. "She is! Um... I have 2 cousins on her side. They're a little bit younger than us. They're in their early twenties. Not twins! And that runs on my dad's side, I know that now!" She explains to me. "Did your mom's parents keep her?" I ask her. "Yeah! My mom's older though." I rub my thumb on her hand. "I don't know if her parents just couldn't have my mom when they did or not." She tells me. "Probably. You said her parents would have been 16 when they had her." I say quietly. "True." She says quietly. "This is a lot." I tell her. She nods. "I've been hesitant to ask, but why are you on this mission?" I ask her. "Is it because of the issues we had last year?" I add. She nods. "Cher, do you still want children?" I ask concerned. "A little bit. I know that we probably shouldn't right now! But in the future, I would!" She tells me. I nod. "I know we said we were done trying! But that doesn't mean I don't still want at least one." She says holding back tears. "I know! How about in a year, once we get our lives back to a new normal and a comfortable routine, we revisit this conversation?" I ask her. She looks at me. "You'd do that?" I nod. "I want to have a kid too! But right now with everything going on it's not a great time!" I say quietly. She smiles. "I love you babe." She whispers. "I love you Cher." She smiles. "Can we not have one year of peace?" She asks. We both start laughing. "No! Sorry! It's against the rules of marriage." I tell her. "Yeah! I guess so." She smiles. "At least we are in this shit show together."
I look out at the water as the sunrises above it. I hear the sliding door open and then close. "I honestly thought you fell on the floor, then I woke up and realized your wheelchair was also gone." Cheryl says pulling a chair up and sitting next to me. "You ok?" She asks me. "Yeah! Actually I am! I usually watch the sun rise and I was able to get myself up and out of bed today by myself so I did so." I explain. "That's good." I look at her. "I'm not pitying! Genuinely happy about that, because I don't know how I was able to get you in and out of bed! Especially with my arm still in a cast it's hard." I chuckle a little bit. "I can pick you up no problem." I tell her. "You lift weights, I do yoga and run on a treadmill." She says quietly. I look at her. I smile. "I love watching you do yoga." I tell her. "You like staring at my ass!" She says smiling. "Yeah!" I say laughing a bit. "Is that your dad?" She asks as a small fishing boat comes into view. I nod. "Oh yeah!" I say exhaling. "He probably just caught dinner!" I say smiling. "I don't eat fish he knows that right?" She asks. "Yes! There's a chicken parmesan with your name on it, literally, my dad has it ready in the freezer and he labeled it so he wouldn't be tempted to eat it." I explain. "That's good, I don't feel like going back to the hospital today." She says. "How is your dad so ok?" She asks me. "My mom had been really sick for a long time and they're in their 80's. I think when she died he already said goodbye. And honestly I think they knew she wasn't waking up." I explain. "Like when our dog died, my parents wish he'd just die in his sleep so they didn't have to actually put the dog down. I think my parents didn't want her to die in a hospital or need to go to the hospital and end up spending the rest of her life there." I explain. "You had a dog?" She asks me. "You're not gonna believe me when I tell you what I'm about to tell you." I say quietly. "What?" She asks. "It was one of the many iterations of Hot Dog. I had him because it was my turn to watch him and my uncle and I came up here with him and he never left and I had to go get a new hot dog." I explain to her. She starts laughing. "Of course that happens to you." I nod. "You know, we've known each other for almost 15 years and you still have never told me why you moved to Riverdale with your uncle." She says quietly. "Um... I went to a school of maybe 100 kids. Through elementary and up until high school. I got bullied because I was one of... 5 black kids in my grade. So my parents suggested that we move to Riverdale since my parents did meet and grow up there, but because of my both of their jobs they couldn't go! So I went and was driven here every weekend and any breaks I was here." I explain to her. "Why didn't you tell me?" I look at her. "I have, like 10 years ago and we never talked about it again because it doesn't matter now. I got therapy for everything that's happened, and I met you so it makes it worth it." I tell her. "Why did Fangs go to then?" She asks. "Cheryl, what's my last name?" I ask her. "Topaz." I nod. "And what is Fangs' last name?" I ask her. "Fogarty." I nod. "Fangs is my cousin! He's from my mom's side!" I say quietly. "Oh! I knew! I was just testing you." She says. I smile. My dad walks up to the porch. "Good morning ladies." He says quietly. "I caught dinner! Don't worry Cheryl, I have already made chicken parmesan for you and anyone else who wants some." He tells Cheryl. "Oh thanks." She says smile. "I love your father!" She tells me. I smile.