What Could Be *oneshots

better love story pt 2

The relief was evident in the waiting room when Doctor Masters informed the teens that Toni was going to be okay.

Sure they couldn't see her just yet because the anesthetic was still wearing off but just knowing that they wouldn't be losing her was enough.

Cheryl played with the snake ring on her finger that Toni gave her after they'd become official and her mind wandered to their happier moments.

"Hey!" Cheryl gasps after Toni hits her in the face with a pillow and the serpent's usually olive colored skin went pale as a ghost.

Big mistake.

"Cher...before you-" she didn't even get to finish her sentence when a pillow meets the side of her head and now the gloves were off.

Toni dropped the cushion in her hand and tackled the redhead onto the soft rug of her bedroom.

"Toni! Get off me!" She whines as Toni straddles her body, pinning her arms above her head.

"Do you really want me to?" She asks seductively and Cheryl noticed their compromising position.

"I'm not sure if I should answer that honestly" The ginger replies and Toni laughs before leaning down and placing a soft kiss against her lips.

There was no rush, no need for things to go any further, it was just simple and loving.

The shorter girl pulls up and hovers just above the redheads face.

"I love you" it slips off her tongue so easily that she doesn't even think twice until Cheryl's eyes widen like a deer in headlights and Toni thinks twice about saying those three little words.

Cheryl notices Toni's smile falter and puts her hand on the girl's cheek, keeping their eyes locked.

"I love you more"

"Cheryl?" Sweet Pea interrupts her reminiscent memory and she glances up at the boy who still has remnants of blood on his shirt.
"She's asking for you"

Without a second thought she jumps up and follows the boy down the hall of the hospital and into Toni's room.

She looks so small compared to the large white bed and she never wants to see this sight again.

Toni's warm brown eyes fall on her and the ever so bright smile causes a matching one to appear on Cheryl's face.

"I'll leave you two alone" Sweet Pea excuses himself and Cheryl approaches her girlfriend.

"You scared me, Topaz"

Toni looks down at her hands playing with the blanket laid across her body and sighs

"I'm sorry I wasn't...thinking I just-"

"Wanted to protect your friends I know" Cheryl interrupts

"A serpent never stands alone"

Cheryl knew the laws. Hell she was an honorary member but Toni tried to keep her out of all the ruckus that comes with the serpent title.

"You know I have no issue with you standing with them okay? I just...why is it always you? You get kidnapped. You get jumped. You get...stabbed" her words die out on their own because she's still having trouble wrapping her head around the fact that this actually happened.

Someone hurt Toni. Her Toni.

She could've lost her tonight.

"Bad luck?" Toni tries to joke but Cheryl is not in the mood for a laugh.

"I'm serious, TT" she gets closer to Toni, sitting on the edge of the hospital bed and reaching for her hand.
"This could've been so much worse"

"But it wasn't" Toni brings Cheryl's hands to her lips as she always does and there's a look of content at the action.

The simple action makes her feel so much better.

"I love you" the short girl says quietly and Cheryl leans close enough to kiss her lips.

"I love you more" she whispers back and now the fear starts to dissipate.

The nerves in her stomach fade and she no longer feels suffocated by her own worries.

"So...in an alternate universe we fall in love at the beach right? No serpents. No pain. Just two young people who cross paths and realize they are so beautifully perfect" Toni reiterates their little distracting conversation from earlier and Cheryl nods her head.

"Just an artist and a photographer who find themselves in a position for an amazing love story"

Toni glances over at the serpent jacket draped over a chair just where the nurse said she'd left it and looks back at her beautiful girlfriend

"As amazing as that would be, I like our love story. There will always be the mentality of how things could've gone better but...meeting you, getting to know you and falling in love with all of your broken pieces that's...that's just something I'll always treasure"

Toni's words struck something in Cheryl.

Sure they weren't perfect but what couple is?

This idea that they could have a love as simple as two strangers crossing paths at the beach of all places is like a distant fairy tale compared to what their real love is like.

In that story there's no days like today.

There's no late night gang fights that turn deadly.

There's no crazy family darkness.

Just like Toni said, there's no pain.

Only, the thing that makes them so unique is having the pain and still being able to overcome it.

Just like today.

Yes Toni is laying in a hospital bed and yes she was on the brink of death today but she's here and she's happy and she loves Cheryl and that's what matters.

"I'll always treasure you" Cheryl cups Toni's cheeks and kisses her one more time just because she never gets tired of the feeling.

It's like her whole body responds to the smallest contact with the shorter girl.

They rest their heads together not wanting to be away from each other just yet.

"You know you are most certainly not off the hook for any of this right?" She says and Toni giggles a little before answering

"I was already imagining what I was going to have to do to get back into your good graces, bombshell"

Hope you guys likes this short little two-part one shot ❤️

-yaya