This one-shot is based as if they met in college in New York. Betty and Jughead will have been together for a year, they haven't met each others parents.
Enjoy!
:::
This was not how Betty saw it happening.
She isn't the type to daydream about meeting parents, extended family members and having a big white wedding and becoming part of the family, but the Jones are a tightly knit bunch. Betty knows that the longer she's with Jughead, the more likely she is to meet the whole family. She hasn't dreamed about it, exactly, but as their relationship crosses the one year mark, she considers the idea with a feeling that tends to bounce between curious anticipation and total panic.
Still, this was not how she saw it happening.
:::
It starts with a phone call from Gladys Jones.
It's the fact that there's any phone call at all that tells Betty there's something wrong. She's met Mr and Mrs Jones, and Mrs Jones insisted on giving Betty her phone number in case she needed anything ( or the woman had conspiratorially added, if she needed anything to blackmail Jughead with), but they don't really talk on the phone. Ever.
The second clue is Gladys' voice, usually she's warm and animated, like her son, when he is with her. Today, her voice is so shaky it takes her twice as long to get her sentences out. Still, as as the words, "I need you to go check on Jughead" leave her mouth, Betty springs to action like she's been given an order and a short time frame to do so.
She doesn't even know what she says to Mrs Jones before ending the call; she barely hears the explanation provided. She's out the door before the call has even finished hanging up.
Betty searches for an hour, shaking down Archie, the scooby gang, and every one of Jughead's acquaintances for any information on where he might be. She gets no where until Joaquin runs up to her and tells her he saw Jughead heading towards the journalism and photography building almost an hour ago.
She finally finds him in a photo practise room, absent mindedly flicking through pictures he has taken (most of the ones he is browsing through are of her). He's completely silent, and if he's noticed she has entered the room, he certainly doesn't show it. It's one of the most unnerving things she's seen, Betty thinks. She's seen Jughead happy, sad, angry, excited and in love- but never just totally blank? It's unnerving. She's never not been able to tell what's going on through his head, and now the only thing she's sure of is that he's breathing.
Betty doesn't know what to say. Should she even say anything? Should she stick around to make sure he's okay? Should she just pretend she were never here and let him figure it out? (The third option seams appealing in the face of her total loss of words, but this is Jughead and she can't just walk away, not when he's like this).
She swallows her apprehension and though she's got nothing to say afterward, she breaks the rooms deafening silence by saying his name.
He whirls around to look at her, furrowing his eyebrows like he can't quite comprehend or believe she's actually there. When he finally speaks, his voice is hoarse. "Betty? What are you doing here?"
"I, uh- I heard what happened", she says softly.
"My mom called you". It's not a question.
"She's worried about you", Betty says. "So am I"
Jughead speaks slowly, like he's weighing each of his words before he says them. "I'm better off alone right now."
"Bullshit", she replies, sitting down next to him and taking his hand in hers.
"You know, things aren't magically going to get better just because you refuse to leave", he snaps.
(But doesn't pull his hand away)
:::
Betty is no stranger to getting screwed over by life. There have been points in her life where it was pretty much her default setting.
The lessons that she's taken away haven't come cheap, but if there is one thing she has been taught over and over, it's that there is never a way to see it coming. All that anyone can know is that it'll come one day and the only way to get past it is to come out fighting.
When Jughead can finally bring himself to talk to her , there's not an ounce of fight left in him. It breaks Betty's heart a little, watching him explain to her that the family member in critical condition was his Grandpa Harry, the very same man who got him into movies, got him his first camera, who never missed one of his presentations in high school. Betty's never met him, but as Jughead starts to regale her with stories, she realizes that her boyfriend's goofiness and sense of humor are inherited, and he must have got it from him.
(He forgot the ring when he proposed to his wife, so he made one for her put of a twisty tie, and then discovered she had kept it in her purse all along).
(When Jughead's dad went on his first date with Gladys and didn't tell Harry, he somehow found out, "ran into them" at the pizza place they'd gone to, playing dumb and refusing to leave until his son fessed up)
(When Jughead was younger and used to tell him that his pot plant outside was a "smartie tree" and everytime he visited there would be packeted smartie chocolates in the branches and on the floor of the pot- she could imagine that very scene in her head and wanted a relationship between grandparent and child for their kids)
The stories that he tells her make her laugh, but it's bittersweet because she knows he;s resigned himself to never seeing this man again. Jughead doesn't see a point in fighting the inevitability of it all, but watching him like this makes Betty think that she has to do something for him.
"Where does he live?"she asks Jughead abruptly, interrupting a story about the little league team Harry used to coach.
"What?"
"Harry. Where does he live? I mean like, right now, where is he?"
Jughead looks confused, but answers anyway. "North Carolina- they've got a house near Chapel Hill."
Betty pulls out her phone, calculates the time and nods her head in approval of her own plan. "Get you stuff together" she tells him. "We leave in an hour".
When she pulls up to Jughead's dorm building, he is waiting for her out front bag in hand, but he still seemed quite hesitant. "Betty you don't have to do this" he tells her as he walks with her to the boot of the car. "I can drive myself there".
"Yeah, I know. But I just want you to get there safely" Betty says, but she pauses for a second, then adds, "I know it's a family thing, but Jug I want us to always have each other as a constant".
Jughead and Betty climb into the car and Jughead glances over at his girlfriend while she puts the car into drive- "Thanks Betts" and with that he puts his hand on her thigh and they're off.
Barring Jughead's call to his mother and the instructions of the GPS, the car ride is mostly silent. Betty has no clue what to say- if she should say anything, so she says nothing at all. Jughead spends most of the ride staring out the window. She doesn't blame him.
They stop once, so Betty can fill her car and she can get herself a cup of coffee and something to eat. Jughead declines the offer on food, but she gets him a burger anyway. As far as she knows, he hasn't eaten anything since that morning, and passing out from hunger would be the cherry on top of his really shitty day.
When Betty comes back with the food, she sees that Jughead has stepped out of the car to stretch his legs. She stops, letting him have a moment before walking over to him his food in hand and gives him a hole heartedly hug. They stay like that for a good couple of minutes before she pulls away and looks at him. The look on his face is so defeated it makes Betty feel hopeless. He smiles weakly when she passes him the bag containing his food. He doesn't look the same to the Jughead he was yesterday- she still finds that he is still his rather handsome self and she'll love him to the end of the earth.
They get back on the road and it's dark soon after that. Jughead falls asleep at some point, succumbing to the exhaustion he has been fighting all 's dying for something to break the monotony- music, conversation, even a completely uninteresting radio show- but Jughead looks more peaceful than he has this entire day, and she doesn't want to wake him up until sheabsolutely has to. Unsuprisingly, not many cars are on the interstate at 9pm on a Thursday night, so her company now is the quiet hum of the car and the light tapping of rain on the roof.
(She sort of wishes she wasn't driving, so she could race the rain drops on the window like she used to when she was little. Did Jughead know she did that? She made a mental note that she would tell him. It would make him smile.)
It occurs to her that, in a less-than-stunning turn of events, Betty doesn't have a clue what she is going to do when she gets to Jughead's grandparents house. The Jones' might like her, but grief and tragedy are two private things. No one needs a stranger intruding on those moments. It would be ridiculous to turn around and go back to NYU, but she can't just force herself on them.
Betty works her brain, trying to remember if she knows anyone in the area. It crosses her mind that her older cousin Courtney is getting her masters degree at Duke. She is one of her family members Betty is still close with, and all it takes is a small phone call to confirm that Courtney is to sweet to turn her away after the day she's had.
Its a half an hour later that Jughead gets "woken up" by a boom of thunder that could have shook the car. The truth is he has been awake for a while; he's just pretended to be asleep because he doesn't know how to act around Betty. What she's doing for him means the world, but he doesn't know how to tell her that without completely losing it, and that would just scare her away.
He opened his eyes and slowly looked around. Betty had her eyes fully on the road, although she's irritably muttering things to herself, "Yeah, because what this day needed was a fucking torrential downpour".
He pretend to be less conscious than he actually is, as he blearily says, "Betty?".
Her tone of voice softens immediately after she sees that he's awake. "Hi" she answers back to him, voice barely above a whisper. "Sorry you couldn't sleep longer babe".
"Where are we?" he asks curiously.
Betty sighs. "Just about an hour away".
"Do you need me to take over?"
"Oh, no, I'm fine. Thanks though", she says with a small smile. He wonders if he shpuld resign himself to never seeing one of he teasing grins again- just to see her smile genuinely is enough to make him fall head over heals.
It's silent again. Jughead tries to content himself with watching as the flashes of purple light produced by the storm, telling himself that the thunder is making enough noise to cover the both of them, but he can't do it.
"Hey Betty?" he asks cautiously.
"Yeah Jug?" Her eyes still on the road, but he knows her well enough to tell that he has most of her attention now.
"I uh- I was awake a little while ago. I heard you talking to your cousin" Betty stiffens at that, but doesn't say anything, so Jughead presses on, "Are you really going to drop me off and the go to Durham?"
He's aware- painfully aware- that he sounds like a needy little kid and this is just the brand of clingy that would chase Betty away for good, but he just doesn't have the energy to keep a lid on his feelings at the moment.
"Jughead, this is between you and your family. The last thing any of you would need right now is some random girl muscling in on your grief"
"Betty, you're not some random, you're my girlfriend- one of the most important people in my life", he says honestly.
Betty presses her lips together in a tight thin line. "And you're one of the most important people in mine. But your family doesn't know me Jug, and this doesn't feel like a great time for introductions. I'd be an imposition"
"You wouldn't be an imposition".
She sighs loudly. "But I would! I can't do anything to help, I can't do anything to make peoples life easier- I wouldn't know what to say to them. Jug, I don't even know what to say to you".
Silence falls through the car, and in the full minute it takes Jughead to speak, Betty convinces herself that she's ruined everything. Why does she even engage with anyone? When all it does is just blow up in her face?
"Betty", Jughead begins, "I don't need you to say anything- just knowing you're here and are doing this for me is enough, you know that right?"
Betty is quiet for a moment before speaking up, "Do you want me to stay?"
Jughead looks down at his shoes, nodding, "Yeah I do"
"Okay,then".
"Okay".
It's nearly six when they arrive in front of the Jones house. Gladys must have been watching from the window, waiting for them to arrive, because as soon as Betty pulls out the keys from the ignition, the front door swings open, to reveal her standing there waiting.
Jughead immediately undoes his seatbelt, but he hesitates to leave the car when he sees Betty still sitting there.
"I'm coming", she assures him, "I just have to call my cousin Courtney first."
He seems satisified with her answer because he grabs their bags and is on his way to the front porch of the house. Dropping the bags to give his mother a hug once she is within arm reach.
Betty is waiting for the call to pickup when she hears Mrs Jones ask Jughead "Where's Betty?" and it makes her the slightest bit less nervous to think that at least one person is expecting her. she lets Courtney know she got there safely and that it was a false alarm but to definitely visit soon. Once that's done with she takes a moment in her car to steel herself for what is about to happen, repeating Jughead's words in her head- "It's just enough knowing you're here"- and hoping to any deity that is listening that it's true.
Betty gets out of the car, keys and phone in hand, and sprints to open the front door, trying not to get drenched. As soon as she crosses the house's threshold she is engulfed in a hug by Gladys Jones. Betty hesitantly hugs back and when she's finally released, she's steered into what looks like the living room. Jughead is in the corner, speaking seriously to someone who must be his grandmother.
Gladys clears her throat and they both turn to look in her direction. "Norah, this is Betty. She's Jughead's girlfriend. They've been together for..."Gladys trails off looking between her son and his girlfriend for an answer.
In unison, they say, "A year and a half"
There's still sadness in her eyes, but Jughead's grandmother smiles as soon as she catches sight of Betty. "Oh, my", Norah says, walking up to her. "aren't you just stunning? When Jughead said you were the most gorgeous girl he had ever laid his eyes on, I thought he was exaggerating"
Betty blushes at the comment and her reflex is the self-deprecating humor that she is good at. "He was," she says with a smile, "but everyone looks good after running through rain; it's one of the laws of nature".
This quips Jughead's first smile of the day, a little grin aimed at the floor. "Betty's about as bad at accepting compliments as she is beautiful, Grandma", he says, making his way over to them and putting his arms around her waist. "We're working on that."
"Well, you'd better make it work fast because Harry is going to be full of compliments when he sees her", Norah states matter-of-factly.
Betty's about to backpedal and say she couldn't possibly intrude on family visiting hours, but after glancing up at Jughead who was so thrilled that Norah liked her, and looking at Gladys who were looking at the young couple with such fondness, under the horrible circumstances- she couldn't say no to them, not to this family. So she just smiles and doesn't say anything at all.
Norah makes some comment on how icy cold their hands must be from being out in the cold- and leans over to grasp the younger two's hands and motions for them to follow her into the kitchen through the crowded living room, Betty was about to follow when Gladys kindly stops her.
"Betty", she says, "I just want you to know how grateful I am for you. Not just because you brought him here, I mean I'm thankful that you're part of his life, I don't know what he's do without you."
"You know, I'm not really sure what I'd do without him either", Betty replies honestly and this time, Mrs Jones actually starts to tear up.
:::
Jughead is right. Harry is one of the funniest people she has ever met.
The man is aware that he is dying, and yet he spends his time cracking jokes like he's just in for a check-up. For some reason, Betty is the least uncomfortable when they're sitting by his bed.
He recognizes her when she walks in the room. (It can't be that hard, obviously, the others present are his wife, son, daughter-in-law and his grandson, but still. It makes her feel special in a way.)
The grin that spreads across his face is one Betty knows well enough- she's seen it on Jughead when it were just the two of them. He gives them all once overs- takes time to mock his son,("That's a terrible shirt, Who brought it for you?" "I'm pretty sure you did". "Well that figures. Why would you ever wear a shirt I got you?") and then notices the petite blonde sitting on his grandson's lap.
"You must be Betty. And don't bother saying yes , because I know it's true. He's got a picture of you in his wallet," Harry says with a smile, gesturing to his grandson, he turns to Jughead. "What are you sixty? You can't keep her picture in your phone?"
Betty muffles a laugh and it earns her another trademark Jones grin from Harry. "See? She thinks I'm funny. That's good; I like that. Makes up for the fact that you aren't a big movie fan."
Betty turns to look at her boyfriend incredulously. "Seriously, Jughead?"
"What, He asked me" he replies with a smirk.
When betty turns her head to get confirmation from Harry, he shakes his head. "Now that's not entirely true. The question I asked was 'How's college?' he came back to me with 'Gramps, I'm in love with a girl who doesn't like movies"
This time, everyone laughs, but then a nurse comes in to yell at them for having to many people in the one room and Harry is only aloud one visitor.
Betty gets up from Jughead's lap thinking that he was going to stick around to talk to his grandfather when Harry calls her name and asks her to stick around. Her complete surprise must have been clear on her face because he then explained he had something to talk to her about. Jughead was the last to leave the room and he slipped his arms around her waist and pressed a sweet kiss to her temple.
"So tell me", Harry says once Betty is seated, "how does a goofball like my grandson end up with a girl like you?"
She lets out a laugh. "He was like the perfect guy from all those books- and he threw a juice pouch at me one too many times, I got used to it"
"Sounds about right" Harry laughs.
The nurse from before comes in, pretending to look for something. But in reality just to make sure te room had cleared out.
"See", Harry says, shooting her a charming smile, "One visitor now".
"Is she family?" the nurse asks snappily, "She has to be family or she isn't allowed in here."
Betty doesn't remember that rule applying to hospitals, but Harry is quick to jump on. "Of course she's family. She is my granddaughter-in-law." He states easily.
The nurse looks skeptically at Betty. "Oh, really?"
Betty comes up with the first believable comeback. "It's true" she says, placing a hand on her stomach, "Shotgun wedding."
The nurse leaves after giving both of the two in question a glance and a roll of the eyes then she was out again, and Betty can't help but laugh.
Harry is looking at her amusedly and even though she knows what is going to happen to him soon, Betty hopes beyond that's the case. She wants Harry to pull through; She wants him to see them graduate; She wants him to go to their wedding and to pull the same smartie tree tricks on their kids- like he did with Jughead when he was younger. She knows it'll never happen, and her heart breaks at the thought.
She snaps out of it and looks up at Harry shooting him a smile, "Sorry, you said you wanted to ask me something?"
"Oh, I did. I just- I wanted to ask you, does Jughead make you happy?"
The question takes her by surprise but the smile on her face at the sound of Jughead's name is enough for Harry, "Yeah, yeah he does" she smiles.
There's a pause before his next question, "Do you love him?"
There's no hesitant in her voice with her answer, "Completely and utterly."
"Good. That's good", Harry says, looking like a weight had been lifted of his shoulders, "Now, I won't make you stay here and waste your day with an occasionally funny old senior. You can go; just if you could send Jughead in when you see him?"
"Harry?", The man in question looks over to her. "I'm really glad I got to meet you", she says standing up.
"Likewise Betty."
She leaves the room and immediately excuses herself to got to thebathroom, she splashes water at her face, because that is the best way to mask away her tears that have unaccountably decided to fall. (What right does she have to cry about his death anyway? She's known him for all of ten minutes. Jughead has known him for twenty years and he is holding it together better than she is).
When it's Jughead's turn to see Harry, he expects a conversation to open with small talk- how's college, the weather, his photography or how the trip was. Instead, as soon as he sits down, his grandfather says, "That is one hell of a dame".
Jughead shakes his head and laughs, "You like her Gramps?"
"I do. She's what we'd call a firecracker back in the day."
"I think firecracker is an understatement really",Jughead says, and the smile on his face is one of the ones Archie categorizes as 'Betty-induced'.
(Archie's not a stalker; he swears. It's just that identifying those smiles is a pretty good way of knowing if Betty is on her way to their dorm, or if she's just left, or if she is currently hiding under the bed in state of undress. And while that has only happened once or twice, he maintains it's a useful tool to have in his pocket.)
Harry laughs at that. Then he completely throws off his grandson, by asking, "You wanna marry her, don't you?"
Jughead's eyes widen. "What? Me and Betty? Married? I didn't say anything about-"
"No, no, not now", Harry says exasperatedly. "I mean the way you look at her- you want to marry her someday, right?"
Blushing profusely, Jughead speaks to the ground rather than his grandfather. "Yeah, someday."
"Good. You'll make each other happy."
And the conversation turns to other things- movies and writing, how Jughead's classes are going. Jughead thinks that if he closed his eyes and blurred out all the beeping of the monitors, it would be like he and Harry were having a regular conversation at home- like he wasn't sick at all. Harry doesn't even seem that sick, and he's always been a fighter. Something about seeing him like this gives Jughead hope.
Later that day, when they're laying in bed, her head on his bare chest- his wrapped around her tiny waist, Betty's heart sinks as he says to her, "I don't know Betts. I can't help but think like he's maybe going to make it."
:::
Harry doesn't make it.
Betty doesn't know how long she's been staring at the floor.
When they get the new from Norah, Gladys lets out a strangled cry and her knees give way, Jughead's eye widen in horror, but doesn't say anything. Mr Jones sinks into the sofa, head in his hands. Betty feels a little bit like someone punched her in the stomach, but she knows it's nothing compared to how the others feel. That outsider feeling creeps back again, and she quietly makes her way up to their room, leaving the Jones to be a family without spectators.
She's chosen to wedge herself between the bed and the bedside table, because tragedy had always given her the urge to hide. And although she's still staring at the wooden floors- she stopped seeing it a while ago.
The knock at the door startles her, and she gets up to open it, thinking it could be Gladys wanting her to do something for someone. What she doesn't expect is Jughead, who as soon as he steps into the room his lips are on hers.
They stumble back and his arms go around her to keep her from falling. They eventually fall back onto the bed behind them, it's not a sweet kiss or a romantic one or even a tragic one; it's hard and desperate and Betty knows that this is more about trying to feel something other than pain than it is about love. When they break apart, Jughead is clinging to her like she's the only thing keeping his feet on the ground, all Betty can do is hold him.
The tears start at some point; she can't remember when. They're punctuated by the stream of questions that he mumbles into her hair. ("Why did this have to happen? Why him? Why didn't he get more time? Why didn't we get more time? Why out of everyone did it have to fucking be him, Betty?")
And there are tears in her eyes, too, but she just rubs his back and murmurs comforting things until the sobs have wracked his body. ("Shh, it's okay. I'm here . I'm here. I promise I won't leave you. Everything's going to be okay.")
When neither one of the can cry anymore, they sit on the end of their bed in silence. Jughead's arms still around her body, like he's scared she'll disappear if he let's go.
"You'll get through this, okay?", Betty says finally, sounding more confident than she feels. "I know it seems impossible now, Jug, but you'll get through this."
Jughead nods dumbly. He's not sure why, but some part of him just can't help but believe her.
:::
This was not how Betty saw this coming.
She felt like she knew every member of his family, but she couldn't tell you their names or how they're part of the family or even what they look like. Her mind is still stuck on Harry- wonderful, funny, Harry who was awake and making everyone laugh with his jokes a few hours before and now he's gone forever. Betty isn't good with words, (Not as good as her boyfriend anyway), so instead she does anything and everything to make the day a slightest but less awful for Norah and the rest of the family. She deals with the inevitable barrage of casseroles from the neighbours, answers all the condolence calls when no one else can deal with it, and forces all the people in the house to eat something before they faint.
Betty doesn't expect thank-yous from anyone, but she gets them anyway; a grateful nod from Mr Jones when she saves him from a phone call, a hug from Gladys after she answered the door and collected another baked food for the hundredth time in the hour, the kiss Jughead pulls her in for when she brings Norah a cup of tea and gets her to sit down for a few minutes. She's still comvinced she could be doing more for them, though, until she goes to put the third lasagne in the fridge and hears Norah talking to one of the neighbours at the front door.
"Heaven couldn't send us a miracle. They were out of those," she's saying. "So they sent us that girl instead, because I guess they figured we could use an angel."
"What was her name again?", the neighbour asks.
"Betty."
Tears spring to Betty's eyes, and she blinks them back as best she can, then moves around and asks if anyone needs anything. (Betty has always been more of a doer, not a talker.) She tries to keep herself going the whole time, partly because she wants to help, but also, as long as she's doing other things, she doesn't have to think about how fucking unfair this all is.
There's nothing really left to do in the house, so Betty figures she could clear her head with the fresh air outside. No sooner she has stepped outside onto the porch, she notices Jughead, sitting on the steps of the front yard, he doesn't look up, but he somehow knows it's her."
"Hey, Betts", he mumbles.
"Hi", she says quietly, taking a seat next to him.
Jughead instinctively puts his arms around her and she leans into him. They stay like that for a good couple of minutes, until Betty reaches for his hand, interlacing their fingers.
"I'm never going to see him", Jughead says after a few moments.
Betty doesn't know what to say, so she gives his hand a squeeze.
"But I got to say goodbye", Jughead continues, "And I have you to thank for that."
She shakes her head. "You would have came Jug. I just forced you to let me drive you."
"Betts, if you hadn't been here, I don't think I'd have been able to make it to the hospital. You- actually, I have no idea what you do to me. But whatever it is, it makes me braver, makes me fall in love with you over and over, but the fact that you came here with me? The fact you stayed for all of this when you would have gone and stayed with your cousin? That means the world to me."
And because he's Jughead Jones and he just says things with so much conviction, she finds herself with tears in her eyes. (again, good God, can she not last two seconds in this family's presence without being an emotional wreck?), but she blinks them back and looks up at him skeptically.
"Right, because there was an actual chance I was going to let you go through this alone", Betty says drily. "You mean a lot to me, okay? But you don't have to go through this alone- no one should, but especially not you; not as long as I have a say in it".
Jughead presses a kiss to her temple, before murmuring, "Thanks, Betts."
Betty doesn't say anything- just nods her head and keeps holding him. Hoping that it's enough.
(In the end it is).