AN/ Hola, amigos. Thanks for sticking with this story, especially seeing as though this has been attacked by a bot last week. Thankfully, having spoken to a member of Critics United, I can confirm that there was nothing in my fic violating the Ts & Cs of the site, so we are okay to continue. How are we all? I feel like it's been forever since we've all talked and I've told a story.

I've finally got back into writing, and - at the minute - I'm finding it pretty liberating. It's that escape I've been searching for these last few weeks and I'm so glad I've made my way back here. Maybe things falling apart slightly isn't as bad as I thought it would be, because I know how to put myself back together again. That means a lot of writing, so hooray!

(To EB, I doubt you're even reading this, but on the off chance you are, I love you so fucking much, and I miss you. Message me. Please. I need to talk to you, and I have so much to tell you.)

Anyway, I hope everyone is well, and here is the next chapter of our story...

True to Betty's words, Toni Topaz's heart shattered the second she saw that ever so familiar flash of red hair. Standing at the counter in Pop's Diner, she thought she was hearing things when she heard the faint clicking of heels against the floor behind her. Those heels, that rhythmic clicking sound, that was just a sound of the ghost haunting her.

Cheryl Blossom had haunted Toni since the day of Rosanne Blossom's funeral. The redhead had stormed out of the wake, bundled herself into a taxi, and vanished without a trace. Endless text messages and phone calls followed, none of which Cheryl would reply to. Toni made a few trips out to New York, and had returned having lost all hope that she would find and reconcile with Cheryl.

Then a phone call came to Betty two years later. The first contact from Cheryl since the day she'd left. A phone call to announce she was pregnant, and engaged to some French guy. Toni hadn't sobbed that hard since the night Cheryl left.

After that, all efforts to contact Cheryl Blossom were abandoned. Unlike Toni, Cheryl had clearly moved on, to the extent that she was prepared to marry and have a baby with someone else. Toni would have been lying if she said it didn't hurt her.

"Mummmm," Jason groaned dramatically, "I'm hungryyy…."

"Jasonnnnn," Cheryl mimicked, "you'll have to wait for some food to get cooked." She took a glance around the diner, grab that booth over there while I go order."

"Fine," he replied, rolling his eyes and sauntering over to the booth his mum had pointed towards.

Cheryl watched her son walk off and felt the nostalgia overwhelm her as she approached the counter, effortlessly swinging onto one of the stools and placing her elbows on the counter.

Like the rest of Riverdale, Pop Tate's Choclit' Shoppe remained miraculously unchanged. All of the records on the walls were the same, all still dusty, all still barely stuck to the wall. The jukebox was still crackling out the sounds of the 1950s, and it was still far too quiet to be heard over the din of the teenagers of Riverdale.

Glancing upwards, it sent slight shivers down Cheryl's spine to see that the neon lights were just as gaudy as they used to be, still humming in the same way they had twelve years ago. It was almost like that night after she'd been to see 'Love Simon.'

Trapped in her thoughts, Cheryl didn't notice who she was sat next to, not until Pop Tate came over to take her order.

"My, my," the ageing man gushed, "if my eyes aren't deceiving me, I'd say that's a grown-up Cheryl Blossom sitting in my diner."

The woman sitting beside Cheryl stirred then, knocking over her drink when she heard the words 'Cheryl Blossom' leave the old man's mouth. She immediately turned her gaze to the seat next to her and felt the breath in her lungs threaten to choke her.

Sneaking a glance at the redhead woman next to her, who still spoke to Pop in the tone of Riverdale High's most renowned HBIC as she placed an order for two cheeseburgers and fries, Toni felt her blood run cold.

A quick glance at the woman beside her was enough to make Toni Topaz hurtle back through time to twelve years ago, back to a night in a busy diner with a redhead. A redhead who, despite not being in Riverdale for what felt like forever, appeared to look the same as the day she left.

"Cheryl?" Toni gasped, and kicked herself for not saying it under her breath when the girl in question looked straight at her.

"Toni?" Cheryl asked, her voice cracking, completely at a loss. What was the Serpent doing here? Why? Why when she'd been back in Riverdale for all of two hours was she already being confronted with her ex?

"Hi," Toni said nervously, running her hand through her hair as she thought of something to say before everything got too awkward. "So… you're back?"

"I'm back." Cheryl reiterated, her voice showing her thoughtlessness. She wasn't thinking about her answer. She was too busy taking in every detail of Toni Topaz's face.

Those eyes that still looked like melted chocolate. Those lips, those soft, full lips that were undeniably smooth, and Cheryl knew without having to put her own against them that they would still taste of cherry cola and candy. Those cheekbones, those perfectly sculpted cheekbones that reminded Cheryl of the way sculptors could define marble. Unlike a statue, there was no coldness to the face of Toni Topaz. Much the opposite, really; the woman just radiated warmth. The woman before her still had those candyfloss pink highlights running through her hair, which was still held up in the same punky Avril Lavigne style Toni had always favoured all those years ago. Oh, how Cheryl longed to reach out and touch it.

As Cheryl focused on the sharp jawline of Toni Topaz, she let her eyes wander just slightly down to that defined collarbone, then just slightly further, until she began to take in the other woman's whole body. That figure, that perfect figure, lean and just ever so toned hidden under that leather jacket. That timeless leather jacket that, from experience, Cheryl knew concealed the Serpent tattoo on Antoinette Topaz's upper arm. The last twelve years had been just as kind to Toni Topaz as they had been to Cheryl Blossom. That much was clear as Cheryl observed every inch of Toni, drinking in every little detail of the girl she loved all that time ago.

"Done staring, Bombshell?" Toni asked, smirking slightly at the way Cheryl's eyes went wide.

"Bombshell?" Cheryl repeated.

"I'm Cheryl Bombshell," Toni declared, her voice high pitched and mocking, "feel free to tremble."

"Oh," Cheryl replied, her voice hollow. Thinking quickly, she retorted, "I never sounded like that!"

"You really did," Toni shrugged, smiling slightly. "That wasn't even the worst you've sounded."

"Please," Cheryl groaned, rolling her eyes, "I know for a fact you said worse."

"I wouldn't be surprised," Toni deadpanned, allowing her own gaze to flicker over the redhead, and mentally kicking herself for still finding Cheryl Blossom adorable.

Cheryl felt herself smirk at how Toni was staring at her. "See something you like, Topaz?"

Tearing her gaze away from the redhead, Toni felt her cheeks burn. "Yeah," she mumbled, taking a breath of relief when Pop Tate approached her with a brown paper bag. "That would be my lunch."

"Of course," Cheryl said as Toni all but jumped off her stool to grab her food. "Always got your eye on the prize."

Taking the bag from Pop, Toni smiled. "Always thinking about the food Cheryl. Anyway, I better get going. Lunch doesn't last forever."

"Lunch?"

"I'm photographer for the Register these days. Can't spend all my time in Pop's anymore."

"Oh, Jughead never mentioned that. Nor did Betty."

"Well they never mentioned you were returning to Riverdale. Turns out they miss out a lot in conversation."

"To be fair I asked them to keep it quiet."

"Why?"

"Well my mother is back in Thornhill isn't she? I'm not letting her know of JJ's existence if I can help it."

"JJ?" Toni asked, suddenly curious.

"Jason," Cheryl corrected, gesturing to the redheaded boy sat solemnly in the both by the jukebox. "My son."

"You had a son?"

"Yeah," Cheryl replied, smiling softly as she watched her son.

"He looks like you."

"He's inherited the best of the Blossom genes I must admit," Cheryl agreed distractedly. "Anyway, I won't keep you. You have things to be getting on with."

"That I do. But maybe we could meet up sometime? Unless that would be weird with Jason's dad…"

"I doubt John-Phillipe would care if I'm honest," Cheryl mumbled, desperately wanting this moment to be over. "He's too busy fucking that blonde in Paris."

"That blonde?"

"Yeah. I found him in bed with her just over a year ago and well, that's the end of that. He ran off to Paris I guess to escape and to stop me hounding him for money for Jason."

"Oh my, Cheryl, I'm so sorry."

"I'm not. He was a dick. Turns out he'd been seeing that woman since JJ was six. So I'm glad I found him and it's all over."

"Still, that's awful."

"Yeah."

"So, is that what brought you back here?"

"Yeah, New York is too expensive if you're going alone, and I can't afford to have Jason there. It's just going to be a mare I guess."

"If you ever need a hand with babysitting or anything, I'm happy to help."

"Thanks, but that won't be necessary."

"Okay," Toni shrugged, noticing from the way Cheryl was sat how embarrassing the whole affair was for the redhead. "Still, maybe we could meet up again. It's nice seeing you, Cheryl."

"You too, Topaz," Cheryl replied, her eyes lingering on Toni as the Serpent turned to leave. "And Toni," she added as the other woman took a step away. "I'd be delighted to meet up."

"How about six?" Toni asked. "Unless that's too forward…"

"No, that's fine." Cheryl reassured. "I'll give Jughead a ring. Where are we going?"

"Drinks?" Toni suggested, "Veronica has a pretty cool cocktail bar downtown."

"Sounds good."

Toni nodded, and decided to make her exit. "I'll see you then. You'll be at Thistlehouse right?"

"Of course. Where else would I be?"

Toni shrugged her shoulders. "I don't know. I'll pick you up from there."

"Cool."

Awkwardness started to seep into Cheryl's veins and she nodded at the other woman. "I better go join JJ before he thinks I've abandoned him."

Toni chuckled softly at that. "Who'd have thought Cheryl Blossom would turn out to be mumsy?"

"Not me," Cheryl admitted. "Definitely not me. But I wouldn't change it for the world. See you later Toni."

There was a moment between the two where both girls had a million questions to ask but both just stood, watching the other, waiting for them to make the first move.

"Uhm, Miss Topaz," Pop Tate interrupted. "If you don't get a move on, that food of yours will go cold, and I know what Jughead Jones is like when his food arrives cold."

"Thanks Pop," Toni stammered, and she lifted the paper bag slightly. "Bye Cheryl."

"Bye Toni," Cheryl replied, tapping her fingers against the counter.

The Serpent walked away, and Cheryl turned to walk towards Jason, peering just once over her shoulder to watch Toni Topaz's retreating form. Arriving at the booth, she slipped into the side opposite her son.

"You took forever mum," Jason groaned. "And you look like you've seen a ghost."

Cheryl was far too distracted by the brown haired beauty climbing onto the motorbike outside to hear her son's words.

But if she had, she'd have had no choice but to agree. Jason Blossom was 100% right.

Cheryl Blossom was sat in Pop's diner, once again haunted by the ghosts of her past…

Haunted specifically by Toni Topaz.

AN/ As always, thank you for reading this chapter, and I hope you're all enjoying it. Please drop a review and tell me how I'm doing, and what you'd all like to see. Seven reviews, and I'll post the next chapter.