The Yearly 365 Challenge

Prompt #89 (Word) Smile

Betty smiled down at her nephew and niece. "Hey there Dagwood and Junpier." She softly spoke as she lightly tickled each baby underneath the chin.

Each baby giggled and googled looking up into the soft eyes of their aunt. Dagwood sighed as he closed his eyes to fall asleep once more. Junpier just kept her eyes on her aunt.

Polly laughed gently. "These two do this all the time. Seriously they may be twins. But they don't take their naps together. It's mostly Dag whom falls asleep before Pier. But sometimes Pier allows herself to fall asleep first." She smiled down at her awake daughter. "Not often. But sometimes."

Betty hummed as she gently patted her nephew and niece's stomachs before moving away. She leaned back against the couch as she silently watched her sister cooing over her babies.

Polly moved away from her children just as her daughter's eyes slipped closed. She turned to look into her sister's tired eyes. "I'm the one raising two babies on my own Bets. I'm the one whom should be more dead tired than you." She lightly quipped as she reached over and touched her sister's arm on the back of the couch. "You need to get more rest sister." She spoke in low worried tone.

Betty shrugged. "I get plenty of rest."

Polly raised a eye brow.

Betty grimaced.

"How's Chic handling being home again?" Polly sighed as she realized her baby sister wasn't going to easily open up to her. She hated that there was this distance between them now. Perhaps if she had just confided in Betty when she and Jason started seeing each other … then this distance wouldn't be here. That way Betty would have expected Polly being kicked out of the house once their parents learned of the pregnancy through Jason.

"Mom is happy having him home again." Betty tightly spoke.

"What about you?" Polly asked.

"I'm glad he's home." Betty spoke in an uncommitted tone.

'Have you two been talking one on one?" Polly questioned. She all ready knew the answer to that. Chic had told her that Betty was very distant with him. It was like Betty had placed a wall against him that almost resembled the wall she created for their mother against her soul.

Betty's blue green eyes looked into her sister's in private knowing. "I'm not ready to talk about it Pol." She simply said as she looked back over at the two bassinets. "Do you regret being with Jason?" She turned her eyes to meet her sister's once more.

Sadness covered Polly's blue eyes. "No." She husked out. She looked over at her sleeping twins. "No I don't. I will never regret the time Jay and I had together." She breathed in deeply. "We were going to be a family Betty. We were going to leave Riverdale behind. Get married. Have our baby(s) and raise them." She turned her eyes back to her sister. "I would have kept in contact with you of course Betty. But we would have found a way to keep mom and dad away from us. Also the Blossoms. When the baby(s) were old enough to be strong enough to understand the tension … then we would have come back to Riverdale to introduce them to the families."

"Why didn't you trust me Pol?" Betty frowned in confusion. "You knew I would never ever tell mom or dad that you fell for the enemy." She sighed. "I mean even through Cheryl and I will never ever be friends …. I respected Jason. Even when I knew he was dealing drugs." She thought of Jason Blossom whom was tragedy killed the previous year. "You should have trusted me." She looked at her sister with sadness.

Polly sighed. "I didn't want to add any more burden onto your shoulders Betty. I knew mom was more over bearing with you than she ever was with either Chic and I. But I knew falling for a Blossom would have riled mom up to no degree. If she knew that you knew all ready … then I was just afraid she would add even more pressure onto you." Shaking her head. "I didn't want you being even more shackled by mom … by my choices on my own life."

Betty drew inward into herself.

Polly hated watching her sister crawl inside herself.

Veronica walked into the room and found the two sisters on the couch. She frowned in concerned at Betty trying to make herself small as possible. She made her way over to the couch and gently sat behind Betty. Wrapping her arms around her waist she pulled the slightly taller blonde against her blonde. Resting her chin on Betty's right shoulder. "Hey." She softly spoke in Betty's ear,

Betty hummed.

Polly watched as Betty relaxed in Veronica's arms. "It's my turn to ask; do you regret it?" She softly spoke in the silence.

Betty met her sisters eyes. "Never." She allowed her lover to gently nuzzle into her neck. "Only difference Pol … is that I confided in you about my feelings for Ronnie." She sighed. "But I get why you didn't with me. Truly I get it." She smiled sadly at her sister. "I'm sorry that you felt that you needed to protect me from mom. Thinking that I wasn't strong enough to handle the fall out."

Polly's eyes lowered. She thought of when Betty told her how she felt when she came home from her month long internship to learn that she was kicked out of the house. That their parents refused to answer any of Betty's questions on her whereabouts. How her name wasn't even allowed to be spoken in the Cooper home.

"Pol?" Betty's slightly fearful voice spoke in the silence. She felt Veronica's arms squeeze a little tighter against her body.

Polly lifted her eyes to meet her sister's. "The only thing I regret is not having the faith you needed from me in how truly strong you truly are." She whispered.