A/N: Reminder that this is an AU fic. Our gang are in their mid-twenties and Cheryl and Toni have a different backstory, which will be slowly explored.

Chapter song: Photograph - Ed Sheeran

Disclaimer: Characters are not mine!

Part II – Next To Your Heartbeat

We keep this love in a photograph
We made these memories for ourselves
Where our eyes are never closing
Hearts are never broken
And time's forever frozen still

Oh, you can fit me
Inside the necklace you got when you were sixteen
Next to your heartbeat where I should be
Keep it deep within your soul

Toni looked up at the building in front of her with a scowl. She had been standing, unmoving, on the sidewalk for at least fifteen minutes, and she was beginning to wonder what had ever possessed her to get out of bed and travel into the city today. Perhaps she had been overly ambitious.

People walked around her, occasionally bumping into her shoulder or hip, just going about their day and their routine, and she was just still. The symbolism wasn't lost on her. She was trying to take F.P.'s advice seriously – to really feel everything that she was feeling about Cheryl dying – but the first step to achieving that was not one that she was ready to face.

She had to clean out their apartment.

She had moved back to Sunnyside Trailer Park because she couldn't bear to live in the home that they had made together, where they had been happy. The memories were just too overwhelming. She had barely even taken anything with her, which meant that a lot of her own belongings were still up in that loft. The temptation of retrieving her things had never outweighed the thought that if she went in there she would see Cheryl's books, and Cheryl's clothes, and everything else that had some connection to something that she would never get back.

"Suit up and show up," she muttered to herself as she took the smallest step forward.

She had left early in the morning so that she could have the time to do this on her own, at her pace. She needed to do this part on her own. The boys would be meeting her soon, as they were travelling in Sweet Pea's old pickup truck, but she needed to do this part by herself.

She took a deep breath and another step forward so that she could open the main door of the building. She kept her head down, avoiding Tom the security guy, who would no doubt look at her with an expression of pity, however good intentioned, and she practically jumped into the stairwell. She took a moment to press her back against the far wall and she took another deep, grounding breath.

The walk up the stairs felt like a trudge, and then she was standing directly in front of her door with her keys weighing heavy in the pocket of her Serpent jacket.

She wasn't about to turn around and back down now. Nobody had ever accused her of being a quitter, but at the same time, she longed to walk into the loft and find it empty.

Toni pursed her lips as she walked into the bare loft with her arms crossed over her chest. She knew better than to vocalize her thoughts, or grin, or have any feelings associated with the space reflected in her body language. She didn't want to get her hopes up because this was the thirteenth apartment that they had seen in three days. The thirteenth.

Somehow she had not seen this coming. She had not anticipated that the maple syrup princess would be picky when choosing an apartment. The girl had grown up in a fucking mansion for God's sake. Cheryl had found something wrong with every single place they had viewed. Whereas Toni was easy to please, hell she had grown up in a trailer park.

So she refused to get excited about the exposed brick walls and large windows that allowed tonnes of natural light. She wasn't imagining hanging Cheryl's favourite artworks and maybe a few of her own photographs along the long, white wall that led to the bedroom. She wasn't charmed by the modern kitchen, and she wasn't eager to fill the modular shelving in the bedroom with Cheryl's books.

She was fully prepared to move along to the next place.

They had spent a solid ten minutes in the space in silence before Toni turned to her girlfriend with an arched eyebrow. "Well?" She asked expectantly.

The redhead practically skipped towards her with a grin. "I love it," she breathed.

Toni's eyes widened in shock. "You do?"

"I do," she nodded. "I think it's perfect."

Toni was still in a state of shock. She wanted to make sure that Cheryl had actually analyzed, and overanalyzed, everything before she held her to her favourable opinion. She quickly questioned her girlfriend on everything that she had disliked about every other apartment they had considered. "You like the location? You don't think it's too small? Will your heels echo too loudly on these floors? Is the bathroom big enough for all our makeup? What about the closet? Did you stretch in the closet to see if you could comfortably change in it?"

Cheryl took both of her hands and began to playfully swing them as she laughed. "I love it," she repeated. "Doesn't it feel like us?"

Toni looked around the empty space once more and it was almost too easy to imagine them making a life here. As she turned back to her girlfriend, she finally allowed a smile to grace her face. "It really does."

The door slammed loudly behind her as she walked into the loft and took everything in. The rich, warm colours that contrasted with the coolness of the brick. The throw blanket tossed over the back of the sofa. The blue mug sitting on the small kitchen table. The framed, sugary sweet photographs on the windowsills. The tall plant in the corner of the living room. There was a paperback, lying cover up to bookmark a page, on the coffee table.

It was like someone had pressed pause. Within these walls everything was still. A stark juxtaposition to the unbearable speed at which her life was actually moving.

There was an odd feeling palpable as Toni moved through the space. She could almost hear Cheryl calling out to her from the bedroom. She could see the two of them cooking together, and sitting in silence on the sofa, Cheryl's feet in her lap as the redhead idly sketched. She could even hear the echoes of the last fight they had. The apartment was like a living, breathing memory and Toni quickly recalled why she had put off this very task for so long.

It was hard to be here.

There was a knock on the door and Toni breathed a sigh of relief. Her boys had perfect timing.

She opened the door and Jughead, Sweet Pea, Fangs, and Joaquin walked in, armed with coffee, cardboard boxes, packing tape, and other various packing supplies.

"Hey, Tiny," Fangs greeted her with a soft smile. "You okay?"

She merely nodded. "Yeah, I was just…" She trailed off and stared down at her feet as she shuffled them uncomfortably. "I was just thinking about where to start," she lied.

"Why don't we start three piles? Keep, donate, throw away?" Joaquin proposed, ever the practical one. "Then we can move some of the furniture to the truck?"

She nodded, and was thankful that she didn't have to make a decision like that. "Okay." She turned towards the far side of the living room where there was a small desk next to an oak filing cabinet and a record player. "I'm going to start over there." She knew that she wanted to keep their record collection, so that was an easy first decision.

She watched the boys disperse and focus as well. Joaquin began to assemble the boxes, Fangs moved into the kitchen, and Sweet Pea slowly walked towards the long, white wall that had indeed become their own mini art gallery.

"Pea?" She called softly. The tall man that she had known since they had both played in a sandbox turned at the call of his nickname. "Can you carefully wrap up all the art and leave the photos? Just for now?"

He nodded slowly, and she could see his Adam's apple bob shakily. "Yeah, 'course."

She started to sort through the records, and smiled at the blending of two very different musical styles and preferences. She thumbed through albums by the Beatles, Misfits, Adele, Dead Kennedys, Tom Petty, Madonna, The Smiths – the examples of everything pop and punk went on and on.

She turned her head when she felt, more than heard, someone sit down on the floor beside her. Jughead was offering her a takeout cup of coffee and she accepted it with a smile. "Thank you," she mumbled, and they both knew that, once again, she was thanking him for more than simple sustenance.

"What would you like me to do?" He asked thoughtfully.

Toni thoughtfully chewed on her bottom lip. "Can you pack up the books in the bedroom?" She knew that he would take that job very seriously. "I want to keep them." She knew that she didn't have anywhere to put all of them right now, but she was not getting rid of Cheryl's books.

"On it."

Toni finished boxing up the records and raised her head to watch Sweet Pea carefully inspect every frame as he removed it from the wall, and then he would gently wrap it in bubble wrap before he placed it in the cardboard box at his feet. Fangs and Joaquin were occupied with kitchenware, quietly murmuring to each other, but Sweet Pea was certainly more solemn than she was used to seeing. She slowly got to her feet and made her way towards him.

As she had requested, the only frames still hanging on the wall were photographs that she had taken herself. Cheryl had painstakingly picked out all of the original artwork in their home and Toni had placed just as much consideration in choosing which photos she wanted to frame and display. They were mostly landscape shots of places that you would only recognize if you grew up in Riverdale – the bank of Sweetwater River, Sunnyside Trailer Park at dusk, a tree in Pickens Park, the Twilight Drive-In before it was torn down, but there were three photos of Cheryl, two in colour and one in black and white. Candids, her favourite.

"God, she was pretty," she breathed.

Sweet Pea chuckled beside her. "That goes without saying, T. Your girl was gorgeous."

"I wanna keep all of them," she told him quietly.

Sweet Pea had expected that statement. "I'll wrap them all and put them in your car."

She squeezed his arm in thanks before she made her way to the bedroom.

A gasp escaped her when she took the step around the corner and the entire bedroom came into view. Their bedroom was very simplistic and minimalist. Just books, a bed, a drawing table, and a comfortable chair by the window. But the small, practically invisible, personal touches were everywhere, and the scent of Cheryl's perfume still hung in the air.

Jughead must have heard her because he stepped away from the bookshelves attached to the wall and furrowed his brow in concern. "Do you want a minute alone?"

She merely nodded and he quickly granted her the wish.

Once she was alone, she sat down on the edge of the queen-sized bed and ran a hand slowly over the charcoal grey sheets.

"Cheryl!" She bellowed as she ran into the bedroom. She held her phone in her hand and brandished it like she was showcasing incredibly incriminating evidence. "According to Google, your fancy French sheets are almost two thousand dollars a set!"

The redhead just shrugged as she continued to make the bed with sheets that were probably worth more than Toni's entire wardrobe.

"Two thousand dollars!" Toni repeated emphatically.

Cheryl grinned at her over her shoulder. "My treat, babe." And she added a wink for good measure.

"My treat," Toni mumbled to herself in frustration. "Cheryl, you can't just do stuff like this." She took a step towards her girlfriend and started to speak in a more even voice. "You know all this money stuff weirds me out. You already own this entire apartment and I don't pay rent so I live here like some freeloader."

Cheryl, finished with her chore, stood to her full height and fixed her with a serious expression. "You're not some couch surfing drifter. You're my girlfriend."

"Correction. Your poor girlfriend."

The redhead frowned before she placed both of her hands on her hips and bit down on her bottom lip mischievously. "Okay, I have an alternative way of thinking about this."

Toni was at least a teensy bit intrigued. "I'm listening."

Cheryl grabbed one of Toni's hands and guided her to sit on the bed beside her. "Just feel these sheets," Cheryl encouraged.

Toni did, with Cheryl's hand firmly on top of hers, and she couldn't deny that they felt phenomenal. They even felt expensive. "They're okay," she replied nonchalantly.

Her girlfriend rolled her eyes. "Okay, you liar." She kept their hands connected as she leaned in for a kiss. "They're indescribable," she whispered. "And they feel even better on bare, naked skin."

The brunette's breath hitched and her eyes widened. "I'm listening."

Cheryl chuckled and kissed her again. "Our sex is too good for cheap sheets, Toni Topaz. Only the best."

Jughead walked back into the living room so that he could give his friend some privacy. Joaquin and Fangs were still dealing with the kitchen, but the fifth member of their group was nowhere to be seen.

"Where's Sweet Pea?" He asked curiously.

Fangs awkwardly scratched the back of his neck. "He, uh, needed a minute."

Fangs nodded towards the door so Jughead left the apartment to check on his friend. He had seen Sweet Pea looking pensively at the art on the wall.

He didn't have to look very far to find him. Sweet Pea was sitting on the floor next to a door, a familiar, but significant, item of clothing in his lap.

Jughead sat down beside him without a word, fully prepared to sit in silence for as long as Sweet Pea needed.

"Do you remember when she got this?" Sweet Pea asked as he clutched the red leather with both hands.

"Of course," Jughead chuckled. "Giving Cheryl Blossom a Serpent jacket is definitely one of the most surreal moments of my life."

Cheryl hadn't been an official Serpent, just honorary, no Serpent dance or initiation needed, but she had all but demanded a jacket to signify her affiliation. In her signature colour. Toni had been all too overjoyed to help make it happen.

Sweet Pea laughed as well but Jughead could see his grip on the jacket tighten.

"I couldn't believe it, when I first met her, ya know?" He chuckled, but his voice was thick with emotion. "She was so fucking prissy and high-maintenance. So far from the kinda chick I thought Toni would go for. She talked like she was always reading lines from a Shakespeare play, and she didn't know how to keep out of other people's business." He traced the Serpent logo with his fingers as he continued, his eyes never leaving the jacket. "Just before, I got into a fight with some Ghoulies, busted my lip, got a nasty cut over my eye. I called Toni and Ms. Nosy picked up. It didn't matter how many times I demanded to talk to Toni, or told her not to come. It didn't matter. She picked me up and she wouldn't leave me alone until I stopped bleeding. Stayed the whole night."

Jughead saw right through Sweet Pea's framing of the story. Sweet Pea had always liked Cheryl a lot more than he had ever been willing to admit. She did get on his nerves, but she was loyal to the core, and if there was one thing that Sweet Pea valued above all else, it was loyalty. Cheryl also happened to be protective of everyone she considered family, and that had included Sweet Pea.

Jughead watched anxiously as his friend's bottom lip trembled from where it was trapped between his teeth. After careful consideration, he repeated something that Betty had been wise enough to tell him. "She was Toni's person, but she was our family too. We're allowed to miss her," he whispered.

The taller guy buried his face in the red leather jacket and mumbled, "She was so fucking annoying," before his body wracked with sobs.

Jughead squeezed his friend's shoulder; he knew this was a long time coming. He had watched from afar as Sweet Pea had tried so hard to be there for Toni that he hadn't allowed himself to grieve the loss of a friend.

Neither of them were sure how long they sat on the floor. Sweet Pea's cries slowly became silent and he eventually ran a hand over his face with a shake of his head and an embarrassed laugh.

"Christ," he chuckled.

Jughead opened his mouth to offer words of support, but then his attention was drawn to the clanging of the stairwell door. A pair of long legs wearing impeccably tailored pants stepped into the hallway and walked towards them with purposed, even strides.

Tall, handsome, well-dressed. Redhaired and pale. Except for the eyes, Cheryl and Jason had strikingly similar features.

"Jason?" Sweet Pea spoke. "What are you doing here?"

"Jughead invited me," he answered simply.

Jughead shrugged when Sweet Pea turned to him in shock. "We're taking care of his sister's stuff, he deserves to be here."

The three men entered the apartment and Joaquin and Fangs shot Jason questioning looks as well. Not a word was exchanged.

The four Serpents hung back as Jason headed towards the bedroom, towards Toni.

Toni jumped off of the bed and hastily wiped away any remaining tears gathered underneath her eyes. "Jason! What are you doing here?" She hadn't seen Cheryl's twin since the funeral and she had not expected to see him today.

"I came by to get a few things," he answered quietly with his hands in his pockets.

He was wearing a navy blue suit, like he was just taking a break from work, or a photoshoot.

Toni just nodded, honestly too stunned to say much else. She knew what he would want; some of the Blossom family jewellery, the photograph of the twins as kids that sat on the desk in the living room, the t-shirts that Cheryl had stolen from him over the years. She believed that she would have packed it up and brought it to him…eventually.

He took a small box from the living room and slipped through the space like a ghost. Toni could only assume that he was experiencing something similar to what she had when she had stepped inside the apartment this morning. Jason was quiet and respectful as he looked through Cheryl's closet and drawers, and the living room.

She tried not to hover when he was in the bathroom, but there was definitely a tick in her jaw while he rifled through the drawers and haphazardly tossed all of her toiletries and makeup to the side. Toni knew that she was going to throw the majority of it in the trash; practically, Cheryl's colours and shades would never work on her skin, but knowing that didn't make the reality any easier. She had always loved watching her girl do her hair and makeup.

She did laugh to herself when she realized that Cheryl would strangle her brother if she saw the way he was completely disregarding her beauty regimen.

When Jason was finished, he approached Toni with the box under his arm containing exactly what she had predicted and a few extras – a high school yearbook, an autographed baseball that he had given her as a birthday gift, one of the pieces of art that Sweet Pea had taken down, and a photo of Cheryl with her niece and nephew.

"Where are her sketchbooks?" He asked.

Toni instantly bristled. "Why?"

"Because I would like to have them," he stated matter-of-factly.

"No," she responded immediately. She crossed her arms over her chest and jutted out her hip in a stance ready for confrontation. "Definitely not."

"I have the very first drawing Cheryl gave me framed in my office." He paused dramatically before he added, "We were four."

Toni knew that Cheryl and Jason were exceptionally close, there was no arguing or disputing that, and Jason had loved and supported her long before she had even met Toni. And yet, Toni could not imagine giving him her sketchbooks – that big piece of Cheryl.

Toni smiled as she slowly approached Cheryl sitting cross-legged in the chair by the window with her sketchbook in her lap. She always loved watching Cheryl take the time out of her day to draw. She always looked so relaxed and at ease, peaceful.

She quietly crept up behind her and placed a kiss in fiery, red hair. "What ya working on?" She whispered.

Cheryl quickly pressed the sketchbook to her chest and flushed. "Don't peek," she murmured shyly. "It's not done."

Toni laughed as she crawled into her girlfriend's lap and nuzzled against her neck. "I don't even get a VIP preview pass?"

The redhead tossed her sketchbook to the floor and wrapped both of her arms around the tinier girl's waist. "They always look sloppy and bizarre when they're in progress. I can barely stand to look at them."

"That's not true," Toni quickly chastised. "They're beautiful in every stage. You're so talented, Cher." She knew that her annoyingly talented, but painfully insecure, girlfriend would be rolling her eyes right about now, so she raised her head and joined their mouths. "I mean that." They kissed again before she said, "You know what I love the most about your drawings?"

"What?" Cheryl asked in a whisper.

"That they're just for you. You don't do it to seek anyone's approval or praise. Makes them honest."

Cheryl smiled, but it was faint. "I didn't draw for a really long time, but I do now," she stated meaningfully.

"You can't have them," Toni continued defiantly.

Joaquin tentatively stepped forward, willing to acknowledge the growing tension in the room. "Is everything okay?"

"Yeah," Jason answered, not a hint of anger or frustration was present in his voice. "I was just leaving." He walked towards the door and held the doorknob as he voiced one last thought. "They're just things, Toni."

Toni sighed and stared at the floor as she listened to the door open and close. He was right; they were just things, but they were Cheryl's things.

"You good?" Sweet Pea asked after a moment.

She quickly nodded. "Yeah, let's just finish up and get out of here."

They packed up and cleaned what they could, using Joaquin's three pile system, and the boys volunteered to bring the furniture and other large items to a storage locker. She dropped the bulk of Cheryl's beautiful clothing off at a shelter a block from the loft, and then she headed back to Riverdale.

She returned to her trailer with a suitcase full of her own stuff, her records, a box of books, and the framed pieces that Sweet Pea had caringly packed for her. She also had the last sketchbook that Cheryl had used, those stupidly expensive bedsheets, a tube of red lipstick, and the only red Serpent jacket in existence.

She changed into more comfortable clothes for the night. Knowing that tonight she needed comfort, she chose clothes that she had taken from the loft. She wore a pair of sweat pants and a ratty, grey long sleeve that Cheryl had consistently tried to commandeer as her own. She stood next to her bed and hesitantly brought the collar of the shirt to her nose.

Three months and it still smelled undeniably like Cheryl. Toni couldn't help but grin.

As she was hanging a hooded sweater in the closet, something fell with a thud to the floor. She bent over with a furrowed brow to pick up the Ziploc bag. It was the bag that housed the possessions that had been on Cheryl when she had…

Kneeling on the floor in front of the closet, she opened the bag and dumped the contents. A wallet. A phone. A pair of sunglasses. Some jewellery. Toni quickly snatched up the wedding band and slipped it onto the long chain that she wore around her neck. It hung between her breasts, and she held it in her fist and pressed it to her skin.

A/N: Please leave a review! :)