Betty Cooper walked out of the prison with a sigh, talking to her father was exhausting but the insight she was getting from him about the town was invaluable. She rolls her neck as she pulls out her phone to see what she's missed in the last hour and frowns. She has multiple missed calls and messages from Jughead all within the last 10 minutes.
She tries not to panic but it's hard not to since Jughead would never be this persistent unless it was an actual emergency. She speed walks to her car and calls him as soon as the door is shut and locked, tapping her fingers on the steering when anxiously as she waits for him to answer.
"Jug?" she asks in a rush as soon as the call connects.
"Betty, how fast can you get to Greendale?" Jughead asks as a greeting and she frowns, Greendale? He doesn't sound like he's in danger but he does sound worried.
"About 30 minutes, why, what's going on?" she asks, starting up her car as she mentally calculating if there is a shorted route she could take to get there faster.
"I need you to pick me and Archie up, " Jughead tells her impatiently and she knows something else is happening in front of him that he's trying not to react to while he's on the phone with her. "Will you come?"
"Of course I will," she tells him already putting her car into gear and pulling out of the prison parking lot. "What are you and Archie doing in Greendale?"
"I'll explain it when you get here," he says and she can hear the exasperation in his voice, clearly this was not a conversation he wanted to have on the phone, by the tone of his voice, this call was much too long already. "Just get here as fast as you can ... Bring Veronica."
"Vero-" Betty doesn't even get to finish her best friends name before the dial tone is beeping in her ear. "Dammit Jughead, what is going on?"
Betty spends the rest of the drive going through ridiculously small to deadly scenarios that her boyfriend and Archie could have gotten themselves into, she knew that it had to be something Jughead considered serious regarding Archie for him to ask her to bring Veronica with her, especially considering the state of limbo the Varchie relationship was currently in.
Betty honestly hadn't seen either Veronica or Archie since Veronica's father had been shot, it was a quick visit because Betty needed to get back home to speak to her mother. Now she regretted not sticking around for longer or asking questions that could have affected whatever Jughead was dealing with regarding Archie right now. All she knew was that Archie wasn't there like she had expected him to be, as much as he hated the man in black, Veronica meant more to him, and Reggie Mantle was sitting off to the side of the room watching Veronica like he was the boyfriend.
She parks her car outside the diner and sprints inside, greeting Pop's on the way in, not even stopping to check that Veronica was there and hoping her instinct to come here was correct since Hiram was already released and Veronica might be at the Pembrooke with him.
"Oh my," Betty says blocking her eyes from the sight that greeted her as she walked into the room. This confirmed the state of Archie and Veronica's relationship and why Reggie was at the hospital when she went to visit. "Reggie, V," she greeted loudly to get their attention.
"B what are you doing here?" Veronica asked breaking away from Reggie and clearing her throat as she looked at her best friend. "You can take your hands off your eyes."
"Right, urm, Jughead called, there's an emergency in Greendale and he needs us there now," Betty said trying her hardest to convey the urgency over her awkwardness and Veronica furrowed her eyebrows in question. Betty's eyes flitted to Reggie, who was watching the scene with a very unimpressed face, and then back to Veronica and blew out a breath. "I think Archie is in trouble."
"Trouble? What trouble?" Veronica asks narrowing her eyes slightly and Betty shook her head, she had no idea.
"I don't know V, Jughead just said that I need to pick you up and get there now," Betty told her looking down at her watch and already backing up toward the stairs, she had wasted too much time already. "Let's go."
"Wait, no, you cannot just come in here and demand that Veronica go on this road trip to 'save' Archie, who she just broke up with," Reggie said making air quotations for the word save and Betty could feel her patience growing very thin as she watched him turn to Veronica and place his hands on her shoulders. "For all we know, this could just be a ploy for Archie to get you back and his best friend Betty here is the lure."
"Reg," Veronica said, shaking her head at him, already grabbing her bag and coat, this was not a battle he wanted to fight.
"I'm not cupid and Jughead would not make me drive to Greendale for that," Betty assured him taking the stairs already, knowing that Veronica would be right behind her and if she stayed there any longer she would be wasting more time. "I'll see you in the car, V."
"He tried to kill your father and you're just going to run after him because Nancy Drew and Donnie Darko decides he might be in some sort of trouble?" Reggie asks Veronica and Betty stops at the top of the stairs at that nickname but then what he said just hit her and she frowns. "You don't need to save him anymore."
"Betty and Jughead wouldn't ask me to go with them if it wasn't important," Veronica says and Betty sighs in relief at Veronica's belief in them.
"It's him or me Ronnie, you walk out that door and this good thing that we have going here is over," Reggie says, giving Veronica and ultimatum, Betty bristles at someone else calling Veronica 'Ronnie' but decides she's been listening in on their personal conversation for too long and rushes out of the speakeasy before she hears anymore.
Betty knows that things were tough for Veronica when Archie left, she lost faith in him and their love, but Betty was certain that Veronica and Archie were soul mates, it didn't matter how close Reggie got, Archie and Veronica would always save each other, they were endgame.
"Let's go," Veronica says slamming the passenger door when she gets in making Betty jump as Jughead's voicemail tone played in her ear again, all Betty got from Jughead since he called her was a text with an address and Betty was frustrated with the lack of information. Veronica's eye's were a little red but she kept looking straight ahead as Betty peeled out of the parking lot, there was so many questions Betty wanted to ask but thought better of it.
They were on the highway, almost at the entrance of Greendale when Betty finally asked the question that was bugging her since they had left Riverdale. "What did Reggie mean when he said that Archie tried to kill your father?" Betty asked curiously, glancing over at Veronica's face and gasping at the answer so clearly written on her face. "You think that Archie ..."
"Maybe he wouldn't have been able to before ... but he's different now," Veronica said and Betty shook her head with a deep frown. "He's darker, after everything my father took from him, maybe the incident at the SAT's was the final push he needed to finish the job."
"Not that I would blame him but Archie didn't shoot your father," Betty gritted out, tightening her grip on the steering wheel, she hadn't thought that she could have been so angry with Veronica regarding Archie but here she was. "Archie would never shoot your father, purely because of who he is to you, even if he wanted to, he wouldn't."
"I," Veronica started, her voice hitching slightly like she hadn't thought about it like that and Betty could tell that this was a sore spot for her but Betty wasn't done just yet.
"But you had already decided that he was guilty," Betty said, she was on a roll now, barely noticing the 'Welcome to Greendale' sign that let them know they had arrived. "Did you accuse him of killing your father before or after Reggie put idea's in your head," Betty asked, knowing it was a low blow but she could care less with how frustrated she was right now especially if Veronica accusing Archie of attempted murder somehow contributed to whatever was happening right now.
"Betty," Veronica warned, letting Betty know that she was pushing her too far but Betty couldn't care less, especially since they were on the road that Jughead had texted her earlier and just ahead of them was Jughead's bike and nothing else, from the movement next to her she could tell that Veronica recognised the voice as well. "Where are they?"
"I don't know." Betty said as real panic began to set in, until that moment she believed that she would find them sitting there waiting for her, possibly drunk or passed out, but the lack of Jughead and Archie was making her worry.
The girls got out of the car and began to walk toward the path between the trees where Jughead's bike was parked when Fangs spotted them and called out to Jughead before walking toward them.
"Fang's, what's going on?" Betty asked as she watched the serpent grab his helmet to Jughead's bike, Veronica looked confused, why was she there and where was Archie?
"I'm taking Jug's bike back home," he said in a rush, smiling tightly at Betty before securing the helmet on his head. "See you guys in Riverdale."
"I am fine, you don't need to treat me like a baby," Archie's irritated voice came through the clearing as he walked toward them catching their attentions before Betty could question Fangs further, he caught sight of Veronica and his face lit up, relief flooding his features for a moment before he frowned again, his eyes going cold. "What are you doing here?"
"Seriously Jughead? You make Betty pick me up and drive to Greendale just for Archie to be perfectly fine?" Veronica asked, turning her gaze to the Serpent King with a frustrated look on her face, Archie's tone had just made her already bad mood worse. She had studied Archie's face as soon as she saw him and aside from looking a little paler than usual he looked perfectly fine. "I was a little busy."
"Give my apologies to Reggie then," Archie snapped with a half bow at her, walking to the car and throwing the door to the backseat open, sitting on the edge and waiting.
"I just ...," Jughead began and then shook his head with a sigh, watching Archie carefully for a moment before looking up at the trail of dust Fang's had left when he sped off and dropped his head to Betty's shoulder. "Can we just go home?"
"Please," Veronica snapped, contemplating stomping to the car right then but then she would be alone with Archie, would a dramatic exit be worth it? "By the way Forsythe, I call shot gun, you get to sit in the back with him."
"Jug, what is happening?" Betty asked, trying not to let the irritation slip through as Veronica stomped her way to the car, staying as far away from where Archie was as she could.
"Something's wrong with Archie," he said pushing his hands through his hair as his eyes found Archie again, the redhead was bent over with his head in his hands, elbows on his knees. "Fangs gave him Jingle Jangle and he just reacted ... differently to it, I thought maybe having Veronica here would help but clearly I was wrong, what exactly is their problem?"
"I wish I knew," Betty said with a sigh, could they even call each other best friends when they were so disconnected from each other's lives? "Different? How different? Archie has had Jingle Jangle before, with no obvious side effect."
"Apparently not this much, he'll be fine after he sleeps it off," Jughead said as they got to the car, he walked over to Archie and touched his shoulder, drawing back when Archie jerked up to look at him. "Scoot inside, we're going home."
"Yeah," Archie mumbled, sounding out of breath but doing as Jughead asked and swinging his legs into the car and letting Jughead get in after him. Betty and Veronica shared a look at the boys subtle interaction, maybe something was wrong.
It was only 10 minutes into the drive that they realized exactly what that was, Archie had finished the bottle of water that Jughead had tossed to him and he opened his window, his breathing was shallow and he was sweating. Veronica watched him as much as she could from the mirrors since he was in the seat directly behind her, telling Betty to keep her eyes on the road when she kept looking into the backseat to see Archie start to fall apart behind them.
"Do you need us to stop?" Jughead asked quietly, in a more gentle tone than Veronica had ever heard from him and Archie shook his head.
"No, keep going," Archie says, his voice a little higher than usual, slouching down in his seat and then sitting up and blowing out a breath, rolling the window back up when he had to keep popping his ears.
"Betty, pull over," Veronica said softly, watching Archie. She didn't care that they were broken up or that she was angry at him or that he probably tried to kill her father, she couldn't sit back and watch him suffer without trying to ease his pain somehow. "Now," she said a little more forcefully when Betty didn't slow down and Archie made a sound like he was in pain.
"Veronica," Jughead chastised from where he was, he was worried about Archie too but he wouldn't allow her to raise her voice to Betty. Even Archie made a noise of protest at her voice, he didn't want them to stop for him.
"It's okay Jug, I just need to find a place to pull over," Betty told all of them, she was panicking herself, since he got back she's seen Archie get more agitated by the day, running out of the speakeasy or the SAT's like he was trying to outrun his own memories, but this was a new level. "Arch?"
"I'm okay Betty you don't have to pull over for me, it's too dangerous just keep going," he told her, clearing his throat but opening the window again at the same time, his voice was cracking and she could hear the fear now, she had to pull over. "Betty don't," he said when she finally did pull over to a curb out of traffic, but Archie's panic was worse now that they were in what he considered a dangerous spot. "It's not safe, I don't want anything to happen to us, just keep going."
"We're totally off the road Archie," Betty said twisting in her seat so that she could reach over to him and squeeze his knee, once the car had stopped, his eyes kept darting outside to the cars passing them and back to her. "It's safe, I promise."
Veronica was out of the passenger seat before the car came to a complete stop and Jughead's door was being ripped open. "Move," she demanded and if Archie was in any other state than what he was Jughead would have said something snarky back and taken his time moving but he just got out of the car and handed her another bottle of water as he let her in before going to sit next to Betty and guide her back onto the road and onto a different route than they had used to come to Greendale.
Veronica took Archie's hand in hers and touched his clammy face. "I don't feel right," he told her in a whisper trying to keep it between them, there were unshed tears in his eyes and his hand was twitching in hers, like he was struggling to keep himself from jumping out of the car and just sprinting back to Riverdale. "I don't ..."
"I know, I know, shhh," Veronica said gently, caressing his cheek and his hair. "Why don't you lay down and close your eyes, try to sleep and by the time you wake up the JJ will be gone and you'll feel better."
"No," he gasped shaking his head, his mouth feeling ridiculously dry and he tried to swallow and Veronica searched blindly for the bottle of water Jughead handed her earlier, sighing in relief when she found it and handed it to him. "I can't sleep, it doesn't feel right, I can't."
"Okay, then you don't have to, you can just stay awake with me till we get back to Riverdale," Veronica told him as soothingly as she could trying her best to keep her voice steady. "I'm going to close the window and we'll put the aircon on for air, okay?"
Archie nodded and Veronica reached over to press the button that would roll the window back up as Jughead blasted the aircon so Archie would have cold air hit him directly. "I don't know what's happening to me," he told her, gripping her hand tighter when she moved back and the hand in his almost slipped out. "Don't leave me."
"I'm not going anywhere Archie, I'm right here, I'm not leaving your side," Veronica told him, interlacing their fingers and rubbing her thumb against the back of his hand reassuringly. "You're going to be okay, I promise, the Jingle Jangle just had a bad effect on you, tomorrow it'll be gone and you'll be fine."
Archie didn't say anything, he just tried to focus on breathing and listening to the music that Jughead had put on, counting out the notes to keep his mind distracted. Veronica's fingers flittered over his cheeks wiping away the tears that escaped before her hand fell to his chest and she sucked in a sharp breath at the rate at which his heart was pounding under her fingers.
"Just close your eyes and hold on to me, I'm right here with you, focus on my hand in yours," Veronica told him letting him slump against her and cradling his head to her shoulder, pressing a kiss to the top of his head before closing her eyes and dropping her forehead to it. "I've got you, just breath."
Archie tried, he really did but everything felt wrong, his heart was beating too fast for him to keep up and he was lightheaded and he felt that if he fell asleep he wouldn't wake up but Veronica was right there holding him, she was the only thing anchoring him right now and he was terrified that if she let go, he would be gone.
Veronica hummed out a lullaby, feeling his body calm down but he still wasn't asleep. Betty glanced back worriedly and Veronica shook her head and dropped it down to rest on the side of Archie's, they were sure everything was going to be fine, but all of them couldn't help the worry at seeing him the way he was. Archie gasped suddenly, jerking out of Veronica's arms and opening the window breathing heavily, Veronica reached her free hand out to smooth his hair out of his forehead, squeezing his fingers with her other hand which he still had in a death grip as that tension and panic returned to him.
"You're okay, you're going to be fine," Veronica murmured like a mantra to Archie as she stroked his hair gently, trying to assure him that she was still there and give him space so he didn't feel claustrophobic all at the same time. "You're okay."
"Arch, do you want me to stop?" Betty asked, Jughead had directed her off the main road to a slightly longer route but one that would allow them to stop safely as soon as Archie needed them to.
"No, we're almost there," Archie managed to get out. "Just keep going."
Veronica watched as Archie tried and failed to slow his breathing, he placed his forehead onto the side of the door so he could feel the full force of the wind hitting him. He stayed there for a minute before closing the window again and tightening his grip on her hand.
"I'm sorry," he whispered to her and she slid closer to him, he was so soft that she was struggling to hear him. "I shouldn't have come back."
"No don't say that," she warned him, a hand coming up to his cheek to direct him to look at her. "Don't you ever say that."
"You could have moved on properly," he said, breathing out heavily, looking up to the front of the car where Jughead was pressing a kiss to the back of Betty's hand, engrossed in what she was telling him, he didn't think he would ever get that kind of love back but he knew Veronica deserved that kind of love even if it had to be Reggie who gave it to her. "You wouldn't think that I tried to kill your dad, Reggie wouldn't be so insecure, you would be happy."
"God Archie, no," Veronica said with tears in her eyes as she gripped his hands tightly in hers, he was still trembling but he was gripping her hands just as tightly. "I never should have said what I said the other day, you are not a murderer, it doesn't matter how much you might have changed, that will always be true."
"I could have ... I've been so angry," he told her, shaking his head at everything that had happened since he last saw her, the fights, the alcohol, the Jingle Jangle. "I could have."
"No, no you couldn't," she said, taking her face in her hands to make him see that she wasn't lying, that there was no way she could be happy without him in her life and that there was no way she could believe that he would kill her father, because as Betty reminded her earlier, he would never do that to her. "Archie you're shaking, breath with me."
"I'm trying Ronnie," he whispered taking another deep breath, trying to follow her. When he realized he couldn't even follow her breathing, he pushed himself away from her and leaned back, slouching slightly in his seat. He was still incredibly uncomfortable but Betty was bringing the car to a stop which meant that they were close to wherever they were going. "Where are we?"
"We're going to the bunker, I didn't think you would want your dad to see you this way," Betty said pulling up the handbrake and turning to them as Jughead got out of the car to open the bunker and Archie smiled at her thankfully, he didn't even think about his father and how disappointed this would have made him. "How are you feeling Arch?"
"I'll be fine," he assured her before opening the door and scrambling out of the car toward Jughead, he was still very shaky and pale but he was out in the open not trapped in the confined space of the car so that seemed to make him a little better.
"V?" Betty asked after a moment turning toward her raven haired friend who had her eyes fixed on Archie. "He'll be okay, Jug and I will watch him tonight to make sure, do you want me to drop you off at the Pembrooke?"
"No, I'll stay with him," Veronica told her turning to face Betty. "I'm not leaving him tonight."
"Are you sure?" Betty asked as they got out of the car because before Archie's panic attack really hit, Veronica was hell bent on ignoring him and making Betty drop her off first so she had to deal with him for the least amount of time. "What about Reggie?"
It took Veronica a second to gather her thoughts pausing at the entrance to the bunker before she turned to Betty with shake of her head and shrugged. "It's Archie," she said as if it should be obvious that no-one else came before him.
Jughead very reluctantly left with Betty after he let Archie and Veronica into the bunker, his eyes kept darting to Archie as if he were going to have another panic attack and sprint from them at any second. "I'll be back first thing in the morning," Jughead promised letting Betty drag him out, it had been a long day and they all just needed sleep.
"Hey," Veronica said coming to sit next to Archie who was perched on the edge of the bed, watching her. "Do you think you can sleep now?"
Archie nodded looking down at the floor. "Yeah, I think so."
"You should take off your jeans and your shirt, you'll be more comfortable in your boxers," Veronica mumbled turning away from him and pulling back the sheets from the bed, she knew that Betty and Jughead stayed over there sometimes so she was confident that everything was clean. "Archie?"
"Can we get out of here?" he asked after he had undressed, looking up at the ladder that led to the door out of the bunker and Veronica followed his eyes up, walking over to take his hand in hers and lead him to the bed.
"Yes, Jug didn't lock it, we can leave whenever you need to," she said and Archie nodded lying down and then getting back up again, needing to be in an upright position. Veronica didn't think asking him if he was okay was going to do anything else but irritate him so she got up onto the bed next to him turning him toward the wall and laying him down so she could rub his back.
"I don't want to close my eyes, I don't want to sleep yet," he whispered turning his face up to hers and she nodded kicking off her shoes and making herself a little more comfortable. She could see the same fear in his eyes as she did the first time he told her he was scared of falling asleep, he was terrified of not waking up, this would need to be done without him thinking about it.
"Tell me about today, what happened Archie?" she asked hoping that as he spoke, the exhaustion of the last few hours would catch up with him and he would fall asleep.
"I picked a fight with one of the serpents, I can't even remember why," Archie said as Veronica pushed herself to her elbow so she had enough height to run her fingers through his hair as he spoke. "But Fangs stepped in before anything happened and asked me to do a Jingle Jangle run with him, so I went."
"To do a 'Jingle Jangle run'?" Veronica asked.
"I don't know what I'm doing anymore Veronica, I have so much anger and pent up energy that I needed to do something, especially if its something stupid and reckless, so when Fangs offered ...," he said trailing off, Veronica frowned deeply but kept her fingers going through his hair. "We took a bus to Greendale, Fangs didn't want bikes attracting attention and neither of us has a car that we could use without someone asking us questions."
"Then what happened?" Veronica said, feeling the effects of the drugs wearing off him, he wasn't shaking anymore and he had stopped sweating, all she needed to do was let him get to a calm enough state for him to fall off to sleep.
"We got high," Archie told her as if it was a normal thing for him to be doing. "I didn't feel anything for a while, Fangs was giggling about something so I was just waiting for it to take effect on me, one of the other Serpents must have tipped Jug off because suddenly he was there screaming at Fangs for being so stupid when it hit and I probably looked really bad because Jug took one look at me and called Betty."
"You just looked irritated and pale when we got to you," Veronica said gently letting her fingers slip to his arm, tracing the muscle there.
"I started to have a panic attack, I think, Jughead was hovering and I couldn't take it anymore," Archie said turning over to he was on his side facing her. "Ronnie, I never meant for any of this to happen, they weren't supposed to call you, you were never supposed to know or see this."
"I'm glad they did Archie, you have to know that I would still do anything for you," she told him and he nodded closing his eyes and leaning his cheek into her hand when she brought it up to touch his face, not trusting himself to say anything. "Besides I can't imagine you holding onto Jughead's hand the way you held onto mine."
"Me neither," he laughed, holding his arm out as an invitation for her to slot herself into his arms, which she did, the front of her body pressed up against his and her head tucked under his chin, feeling him solid and stable against her. "Will you sing for me?"
"Of course," she whispered, she was tearing up and she couldn't understand why but she cleared her throat and started to sing, the song that she tried to sing to him at his welcome home party. She only got half way through when his breathing finally evened out and his body relaxed completely against hers.
Veronica tilted her face up and pressed a kiss to the underside of his jaw before closing her eyes, she knew it was going to be a restless night, even if he slept through it, she would wake up to make sure he was still breathing, to make sure his heart was still beating, to make sure he was still with her.
The next morning the sun would rise and Jughead and Betty would climb down the stairs to find the two ex-lovers wrapped up in each others arms as if no time had passed. Jughead would grumble that he was worried for nothing and all they needed to do was throw Veronica at Archie and everything would be perfect again, Betty would scold him for being such a grinch but she would smile at the couple and tell Jughead to give them a few more hours before they had to face the world.
When they woke up Archie would be groggy but he'd be back to normal again, swearing up and down that he will never trust Fangs or do drugs ever again because he honestly thought he was going to die and Veronica, well she had some things to figure out but the one thing she was absolutely certain about was that Archie Andrews was her soul mate and she was his and that would never fade.
A/N: So this story was basically a brain dump, me trying to deal with irl nonsense and Archie's panic attacks from 3x09 , I also decided to make the core four a little more involved with each other than they probably will be in the show and have Betty scold Veronica for asking Archie if he killed her father, it wasn't supposed to be posted but with tomorrows episode looming, I needed to write something
I watched the promo for the new episode and Veggie sex already? I don't know, I still can't see it, I miss the asshole Reggie weird as that sounds, I think Veggie is going to be the couple they focus on this season, one of the writers already kinda said get over it they're definitely a proper couple but if that's so they really should have spent more time on developing them instead of having everything happen at once
I don't know, it's Riverdale, I still have all the hope for Veronica and Archie that hug in the hospital after he saved her father had more in it than the Veggie kiss, maybe I'm just bitter lol I will be holding on to any Varchie moment, even if it's just a look, they will return to me I just need to wait
Also I know nothing about how long it takes to get between towns in America, I could be greatly over or underestimating those little details and I also hadn't paid as much attention to Betty in the last few episodes as I should have so just bear with me
Please review and let me know what you think or even if you just want to vent
Until next time (^^,)