she did it for you

to save you

Six weeks of being undercover and Toni was no closer to a solution than the day she joined. Betty and her had been in touch daily, brainstorming ways to break whatever spell their loved ones were under. She had to admit, she understood the draw. Edgar was an attractive man and an incredibly smooth talker, but the pink haired girl saw right through his facade. Every time he opened his mouth she grew angry thinking of how the con artist managed to deceive so many people, her girl in particular.

Cheryl was still as devoted as ever. Almost nightly they'd lay in bed at Thistlehouse, and Toni would nod along as her girlfriend told her about her most recent conversation with her brother, her dead brother. She hated lying to Cheryl, but she knew if she didn't go along with with the whole "Jason is alive" thing she'd lose her.

The one good thing to come out of the nightmare was watching Cheryl get to spend real time with her niece and nephew. Whenever they were at the Farm they'd stop by Polly's room and visit with Juniper and Dagwood. Toni had never been a fan of babies. In fact, she had often referred to them as useless little shit factories. Yet, watching Cheryl interact with the twins pulled at her heartstrings. Suddenly the girl who never wanted children couldn't help but picture a life, one in the very distant future, where it was their babies the redhead was playing with.

The twins weren't with them now. They were with all the other young children in the Farm's complementary daycare center while the teen and adult members found themselves gathered for the weekly mandatory meeting. Although they weren't technically mandatory, Toni had the strong sense missing one would result in some sort of consequence, ones similar to what happened when she had convinced Cheryl to skip a meeting right before Evelyn's ultimatum.

She pulled her phone out of pocket and huffed as she saw the time. Typically Edgar was the epitome of promptness, but tonight's meeting was already eight minutes behind schedule. "Is this like school where if the teacher is more than fifteen minutes late you can just leave?"

"Funny as always, TT," Cheryl retorted, rolling her eyes dramatically, "but no. The meeting will begin soon I'm sure. Eddie probably just had some important business to attend to, that's all."

Toni inwardly gagged at the nickname. She then turned her attention back to her phone, unlocked it, and began to scroll through Twitter.

"Do you really have to do that now?"

The pink hair girl shrugged, "I'm bored. At least this way I can entertain myself with dumb cat videos."

"You really can be incorrigible sometimes."

Smirking, Toni turned her head to meet her girlfriend's judgemental gaze, "You love me for it."

"Perhaps," Cheryl replies, her lips turning upwards into a subtle grin.

Just as Toni leaned in to say something suggestive, the sound of a door closing drew her attention. Her head turned to see Edgar making his way towards the middle of the raised platform at the front of the room.

"Greetings," he addressed the gathered Farmies. "I am glad so many believers here tonight. This is truly a... special night."

"Cher, do you know what he's talking about?" Toni whispered the question to her girlfriend who was sitting besides her in the front row, attention fixed on the cult leader speaking from the front of the room.

The redhead glanced to her side to shush her girlfriend. "No, but I am trying to listen and find out."

Toni rolled her eyes once Cheryl looked back ahead of them, her attention once again on Edgar. Each passing day had the pinkette growing increasingly annoyed with the hold the Farm had on her girl. She hoped they could find an answer soon so she could get Cheryl and her family as far away from these crazies as possible.