"Alright," said FP Jones, bursting through the trailer door. Jughead flinched, which he could see made his dad sad, but he relaxed when he saw that FP was smiling, and standing straight. He had been sober for almost a week now, but Jug was still worried he would relapse again. He wished he could trust his dad to stay sober, and he tried to, but… this was the fifth time he'd been sober for a week, and none of the other ones had lasted. "I have a surprise for you all. We… are going on a road trip."

"A road trip? Where to, where to?" Jellybean said, jumping up. "Juggie, we're going on a road trip! All together!"

Jug smiled at Jellybean, some of her excitement rubbing off on him. Then he glanced over at his mom, who looked less than pleased at the prospect. "I dunno, honey, I've got a lot of work to do…" she started.

"I got four tickets," FP said, deflating somewhat, but Jughead could feel the tension rising in the room.

"Why don't we invite Archie?" he said, trying to cut through the argument before it could start. It seemed to work; FP considers for a moment, then relaxes.

"Sure, Jug. He's a good friend to you both." Jughead knew that FP's still sore about Archie's dad having fired him, but luckily the feeling hadn't passed on to Archie. Jellybean made a high pitched noise of excitement, and FP smiled at her and lifted her up. "You sure you three kids won't mind spending time with an old man like me?" he asked teasingly.

"Nonono," said Jellybean. Jug could tell she was really excited that FP will be spending time with them. Jughead was a little more reserved about the idea, but Jellybean was still young enough that the idea of spending time together as a family was still a pure one in her brain. It was a little more tainted in Jughead's brain, but he was cautiously optimistic. His dad really did seem to be excited about this outing, and with their mom not coming along there was less chance for a fight to break out. Maybe this really would be a good thing. Spending some time with his currently-sober dad, his sister, and his best friend. A memory to hold onto.

"I'll call Archie," Jughead said, standing up. "Where are we going?"

"It's a surprise," said FP, but he said it a little bit cautiously, as if he was worried about ruining things for Jughead. And it did irritate Jughead and make him a bit anxious - he didn't like surprises, although he knew that Jellybean did.

"It might be hard to get Archie to come if it's a surprise," Jughead said, his arms crossed - not aggressively, but subconsciously closing himself off - with an undertone to his voice that he hoped Jellybean would miss but his father would pick up on. He was trying to give FP a way to tell him where they're going without ruining things for Jellybean. If FP told Archie what their destination was, he knew Archie would tell him.

FP did pick up on it. "Jellybean, you wait here with your mother. I'll invite Archie and let him know what it is but for you," he scruffled her hair a little, "I still want it to be a surprise." Jellybean grinned at him, then climbed into her mother's lap and gave her a hug.

"I'll call him and give you the phone, then," Jughead said, relaxing a little. He walked out of the trailer, wanting a bit of privacy, and dialed Archie's number. He saw FP come out behind him, but FP stayed a little way back, waiting for a signal from Jughead that he was ready.

The phone rang a few times before Archie picked up. "Hey Jug, what's up?" he heard on the other side of the phone; presumably Archie saw who it was on his caller display.

"Hey, Arch," Jughead said. "Still got no plans for today?"

"I am so bored, Jug. Please tell me you have plans you want me to join in on." Jughead can hear the sound of a ball bouncing in the background, and imagines that Archie is lying on his bed bouncing a ball off the wall like he does sometimes. The image makes him grin a little.

"I absolutely do." Jughead lowers his voice a little. "You'll never believe this, Arch. My dad is taking us on a trip."

"A trip?" Jug hears the ball stop bouncing and covers scruffling; Archie has probably sat up in bed. "What, just… out of nowhere?"

"Yep," Jug says. "It's your job to find out what it is and tell me, by the way. He's saying it's a surprise."

"I'm coming?" Archie asks.

"Yep. And I'm going to hand over the phone to my dad so he can tell you where you're coming. Make sure to ask before you say yes."

Archie laughs. "Alright Jug, I get it, I have to be your spy. Message received. Will do."

"I knew I could count on you to have my back," Jughead responds appreciatively, and slightly teasingly. "Alright, I'm giving you to my dad now." He looks over at where his dad is hovering; he's pretty sure that his dad could hear him, but he's also pretty sure that his dad will tell Archie anyway. His dad does things like that a lot - little things behind his back that he probably thinks Jughead won't notice. Jughead does notice. It's what he holds on to during the bad days, his proof that his dad does care about him when his dad's not showing it.

Jughead hands off the phone to his dad and heads back into the trailer. His mom's off doing something in another room by now, so it's just Jellybean waiting for him. She grins at him, and he scruffles her hair. "Hey, Beanie," he says. "You excited?"

"A ROAD TRIP!" she says by way of confirmation. "With TICKETS."

"Yep," Jughead says, glad that at least one of them is excited by the mystery of it. "Any guesses what it is?"

Jellybean shakes her head furiously, and doesn't even make any guesses. She doesn't want to guess what it is; if she was right, then it wouldn't be a surprise anymore. Jughead knows that; he was mostly just teasing her.

A moment later FP comes in, holding out Jughead's phone. "He says he'll come," he says, as Jughead takes the phone back. "You should go pick him up." Unsaid in that statement is that FP doesn't want to go to the Andrews house. He might not have hard feelings towards Archie, but the house is still a painful place for him to be. Too many memories.

"Alright, Dad," Jughead says, and he smiles a bit, getting hopeful in spite of himself. "Should I meet you back here?"

"How about we meet at Pops," FP replies instead, suddenly inspired. The place is between their trailer and the Andrews household anyway. "We'll get some milkshakes for the road."

"Sounds good, Dad," says Jug, while in the background Jellybean makes another high-pitched noise of excitement. Jughead rubs his ears a little. "If I have hearing loss when I'm older, it's gonna be your fault," he teases Jellybean, who sticks her tongue out at him.

"Hurry hurry!" Jellybean says. "I want to goooo." She pushes Jughead towards the door. Jughead lets himself be pushed, even though she's so much smaller than him that he could easily have resisted. Once he's outside, he walks towards Archie's house more quickly than his usual casual amble. In spite of himself, he finds that he's excited too.

Once he's out of the trailer park, Jughead messages Archie. There isn't really any reason for him to walk all the way over to Archie's house; they can meet halfway and still have plenty of time to discuss whatever Jughead's dad told Archie before getting to Pops.

Archie texts back right away and they meet at their usual midpoint. Jughead slows down when Archie's in sight; he doesn't want Archie to get used to him walking quickly, after all. Archie might get expectations. He waves and goes back to his usual amble, hands in his pockets, and Archie walks towards him. "So," Jughead says when he gets within speaking distance. "Spill the beans. What's the surprise?"

"The state fair," says Archie. "Your dad says he saw an advertisement for it while he was out on a job, and took a detour to buy you all tickets."

"The state fair, huh," says Jughead, musing. "I've never been. What's it like?"

Archie shrugs. "Rides, games, cotton candy… It's fun, Jug. I'll show you around." Archie's been with his family a few times, but he knows that Jughead's has been in a tougher financial situation than his. He's a bit surprised that FP could afford for them to go now, but he's happy, too. The fair might not be exactly up Jughead's alley, but Archie has a hard time imagining anyone having a bad time at the fair. "It'll be great for Jellybean," he adds, knowing that will help Jughead feel positively about it.

"Good wholesome American family fun," Jughead says, a quirk in his smile showing that he's mostly joking with his sarcasm. "An important part of your standard American family."

Archie laughs. "Come on, Jug, it's not that bad. It's standard for a reason - most people think it's great."

"You should know by now that I'm not most people, Archie," Jughead says goodnaturedly.

"Well, I am," Archie retorts, "in this sense at least. And I'm not normally most people. You might surprise yourself."

"We'll see about that," Jughead says, with a joking challenge in his voice.

"You're on," Archie jokes back. "We'll just see if I can't get you to have fun."

"Challenge accepted," says Jughead.

"Wait, does this mean you're going to actively try not to have fun?"

"Yep," Jughead says, grinning. "You just shot your whole theory in the foot."

"Aww…."

When they get to Pops, FP is leaning against the car, holding a tray with three milkshakes and one empty spot. Jellybean is sitting on his shoulders, holding the fourth milkshake in her hands and sipping it slowly. "Ready to go, boys?" he asks as they approach.

"Ready when you are, dad," Jughead says. He might have joked with Archie about trying to be miserable during this trip, but he really does want it to be a good time. It's been a long time since he's seen his dad looking this excited and this put-together at the same time. It's been a long time since him and his dad have spent any time together. A long time since they've smiled at each other like this. Jughead feels something building inside him that feels suspiciously like happiness. "One of those mine?"

"You betcha," FP says. "Strawberry or chocolate? I wasn't sure which you were in the mood for today. And there's a strawberry for you, Archie," he says, handing Archie the strawberry one.

"I think today's a strawberry day," Jughead says, a smile sneaking onto his face. He's surprised that his dad knows his favourite milkshake flavours. But when his dad's in a good place like this, he often surprises Jughead with how much he knows.

"Chocolate for me, then," FP says, handing Jughead the other strawberry milkshake. Jellybean has a strawberry one too. "I guess Chocolate's the 'adult' flavour," he says, smiling.

"Today, anyway. Not when I drink it," Jughead says back, the smile fully settling onto his face. This is the father he loves, the one he hopes for, the one he wishes was around always. He can already tell that today is going to be a day to hold on to. There's still that shred of doubt - it never goes away, it's been proven right one too many times - but today feels real. Even now, it doesn't feel like they're pretending. It feels like today, maybe, this can be real.

It's not until much, much later that Jughead realized that it was exactly one week before his birthday, and wondered if that was something his father had done on purpose. Trying to give him a birthday party that wasn't on his birthday. Trying to give him a positive memory around this time of year for once.

And although he would never ask his dad, or know for sure, that was exactly what FP was trying to do.