Veronica Lodge promised herself that she would not cry, this was supposed to be a light and fun day and God knows that Archie needed something light and fun after his summer. She adjusted her sunglasses and stretched a hand out to rest on the back of Archie's neck as he drove them out to a lake that he, Betty and Jughead used to go to back when they were children. Archie tilted his head back, pushing against her fingers and smiling to himself but keeping his eyes on the road, Veronica let her eyes linger on his face for a little longer before she turned back to look out at the scenery.
"I wonder if that swinging rope your dad tied to the tree is still there," Betty said to Archie, as she snuggled into Jughead's side and Archie's face seemed to light up at the memory forming in his mind, not for the first time Veronica wished that she was a part of their childhood, that she could remember things that they did.
"It should be," Archie said loudly over the wind so Betty could hear him. Archie glanced over at Veronica who shrugged slightly, Jughead and Betty were laughing about memories at the lake involving the rope and Veronica was listening but she didn't get the humour, she just had to be there she thought. "I'll explain later," Archie promised when he caught the look on the face.
Veronica smiled at him, pushing out of her seat to press a kiss to his cheek and grinned to herself as his cheeks turned red, they'd been together for so long and done so much, yet sometimes she would catch him off guard with the most innocent kiss or touch and Archie's cheeks would flush in the most adorable way. She almost waited for moments to catch him off guard just to see that look of disbelief that she was really his on his face, it always warmed her heart that she could be that certain that he loved her as much as she loved him.
It was almost half an hour before Archie finally brought the car to a stop, sighing happily as he switched the car off and jumped out, rushing to the other side to open Veronica's door for her and help her out. Next to them she saw Jughead picking Betty up by the waist to help her jump over the door before she crashed into him sending them both toppling over to a laughing pile on the ground.
"The weather is amazing," Archie said grabbing their picnic stuff out of the car and looking out toward the lake, it looked so peaceful, there was no-one else in sight, to be honest there wasn't even that many cars on the road toward the end of their trip. "It's been so long since we've been up here."
"How did you find this place?" Veronica asked taking her sunglasses off and placing them on the top of her head.
"Our parents brought us out here a lot when we were kids, our dad's were pretty close and it was one of their old hangouts," Archie said and Veronica nodded taking the blankets when he handed them to her. "As we grew up and our parents grew apart we had less of these trips and more of our own trips in town."
"Sound's fun," Veronica said softly walking with him to where Betty and Jughead already were and throwing them the supplies to start setting up. Veronica tried to remember places her parents took her when she was a child, there were multiple business trips to the best shopping destinations she could ask for, her mother accompanied her on as many trips as she could but there was a difference to the trips that Archie was describing where the point was to have fun, there were no other reasons to be there but to be together, she never had that.
"Let's go," Jughead said snapping Veronica out of her thoughts after they set up their little picnic area for when they were done swimming, by the time Jughead had turned back Betty was already sprinting toward the edge of the hill. "Hey wait for me."
"Watch her," Archie whispered, a hand on Veronica's back guiding her toward the running couple. Veronica gasped as Betty jumped grabbing a rope Veronica didn't even see which swung her out away from the hill and rocks before she let go and went splashing into the water.
"I was going to do that," Jughead complained when Betty's head popped out of the water and she grinned at him before kicking her legs out and pushing herself backward in the water with her eyes closed. Jughead took a moment to watch her before grabbing the rope and pulling it back as far as he could before running to the edge like Betty did and crashing into the water next to her.
"What did he scream?" Veronica asked, chuckling at how high the pitch of his voice went.
"It's Jughead, probably something about food," Archie laughed glancing into the water to see his best friends splashing water at each other like they did when they were kids. "Your turn," he said tugging at the throw-over she had on.
"What?" Veronica asked turning to face him to make sure she was hearing him right. "Why don't you jump in first so I can watch how you do it," Veronica said dragging a finger down Archie's bare chest seductively and Archie gave her a look that told her he knew exactly what she was trying to do.
"Hmmm," Archie grunted to himself and gently curled his fingers around her wrists pulling her hands off his chest and then shook his head at her. "Nope, you gotta do the jump first."
"Come on V, it's the best feeling ever," Betty called from the water, smiling up at her encouragingly.
"You aren't scared are you?" Jughead asking wiggling his eyebrows and Veronica frowned at him, she knew he was joking but it still made her want to prove him wrong, so she made a show off taking off the throw over and turning to grab the rope when she froze at the thought of jumping of the edge of the hill.
"I'll talk you through it, it just looks scary," Archie said into her ear, she shivered at how close he suddenly was to her, he reached up next to her and grabbed a hold of the rope pulling it back and pulling her with it before placing it into her hands and placing his hands over hers. "Just run straight to the edge and jump, as soon as you're in the air let go of the rope and you're in the water."
"I..." Veronica could feel her heart pounding in her chest as she leaned back more heavily against Archie's chest, he was solid and stable. She was never a daredevil, this was something she would watch the boys do while she and her friends lounged in the sun encouraging them to be a little more adventurous.
"You're over thinking it, you'll be fine, I promise," Archie told her and Veronica could hear the smile in his voice, the childish joy that she wanted him to keep for as long as he could. She tightened her grip on the rope and took a calming breath in. "I'll be in right behind you."
Veronica felt her legs turn to jelly even as she started running, she closed her eyes as she jumped only vaguely recognizing Archie's voice telling her to let go of the rope, as if her arms could hold on for longer than that and then she was in the water, her legs automatically kicking to propel her body up. "That was terrifying," she gasped when her head popped out of the water.
"You loved it," Betty laughed, looking up and cheering as Archie did some sort of weird half flip in the air landing in the water with the biggest splash.
"Maybe just a little," Veronica allowed and Betty smiled satisfied with the answer. Veronica squeaked when hands grabbed her waist and suddenly Archie was right there behind her picking her up. "Archikins!" she scolded giggling.
"Do you know what I love the most about this place?" Jughead asked floating on his back next to them with his eyes closed and a smile on his face. "No-one else knows about it."
"You're so antisocial," Betty teased splashing him with water. Jughead gasped and stood up straight to retaliate sending a wave of water her way and getting Veronica and Archie as well which turned in to an all our water war until eventually Jughead got out of the water and made his way too their picnic area.
"That's enough water in my eyes for now," he said plopping down on a towel. Betty was trying to convince him to get back in when Archie noticed his girlfriend was very quiet.
"Hey," Archie said swimming up to her and she smiled gently at him wrapping her arms around his neck and her legs around his waist, keeping as close to him as she could get herself.
"Hey yourself," she said running her fingers through his hair, her eyes following the movement of her hand as he watched her.
"What's going on Ronnie," he asked and Veronica glanced back to Betty and Jughead who were immersed in their own conversation before she looked back at Archie and smiled, shaking her head slightly. "Tell me."
"I love you," Veronica said after a moment, smiling at his smile and pressing kisses to his eyelids and then his nose and his cheeks until eventually he got tired of her kissing the rest of his face and tilted his face so that he could press his lips to hers.
"I love this costume," Archie said between kisses reaching between them to hook his finger into it at the top of her leg before dragging his knuckle slowly against the edge of the material toward her centre until she gasped, pushing herself closer to him and Archie grinned removing his hand to hold around her waist again. Veronica frowned, giving him her most unimpressed look but before she could say or do anything else, he spun them around in the water making her giggle and throw her head back. "Distracted enough?"
"Maybe too much," Veronica laughed, this moment was not the moment to wallow in her fear and worries, she knew that he knew where her mind was and she knew how badly he wanted to forget, she wished she was as good at outwardly pretending everything was perfect as Archie, Betty and Jughead seemed to be.
"I love you too," Archie said to her earlier confession and Veronica bumped his nose with hers before kissing him again, until Jughead called for them to cut it out and to get out of the water and eat before he and Betty finished off all the food. Veronica glared at him for disturbing her perfect moment with Archie before letting the redhead move her onto his back and carry her out of the lake to their other friends.
After lunch the couples got back into the water, the girls managed to set up their floating beds and sunbathed while the boys swam around them, telling each other stories and bringing up memories to reminisce over.
There was one point where Betty was telling Veronica a story about the twins when Veronica caught Archie's tense posture as he spoke to Jughead, she knew what they were talking about, Serpent protection in prison. She hated that Jughead brought it up today of all days but they were out of time, there was no other day for them to decide what to do.
Archie looked up when he felt her staring and locked eyes with her, his entire posture relaxing as he smiled tightly tilting his head p as if to ask if she were ok and Veronica just narrowed her eyes in response. Archie said something to Jughead before diving into the water and popping up right at her side, Veronica smiled sadly as Archie pressed a kiss to her thigh, his wordless way off telling her it was ok.
"Should we light a fire?" Betty called out to them and Veronica turned to see her friends already wading their way out of the water, talking softly to each other.
"We'll be right there," Archie said taking a hold of Veronica's floatable bed and swimming backward toward Betty and Jughead, pulling her with him. "It would be so easy to tip you over right now," he grinned.
"You wouldn't dare," she gasped, she was dry, even her hair was close to being completely dry, she was in no mood to get wet again, especially not with the sun setting in the distance.
"I would but then you might murder me in my sleep and I feel like I have a couple good years left in me before that happens," he laughed and Veronica glared, letting him pull her right to land and help her out of the water with minimal water touching her.
The rest of the afternoon was spent relaxing at the edge of the lake with a fire between them, talking about everything but what was waiting for them when they got back to Riverdale. Veronica felt lazy as she lay back in Archie's arms, being lulled to sleep by the rumble of his voice and the warmth of the fire as he spoke to his two best friends and pigged out on the junk food left over from lunch.
"Ronnie," Archie said nudging her, Veronica tilted her head up and blinked sleepily at his amused face. "Come on we're going back."
"No," Veronica complained as he hooked his arm under her legs, preparing to stand up with her. "Let me down, I'll walk."
"You sure?" Archie asked and Veronica made a face the amusement in his voice before stretching her arms up as they stood and gasping at how dark the sky had gotten and then looking at the same darkness reflecting in her boyfriend's eyes.
"I don't want today to end," Veronica told him reaching up to cup his cheek and Archie nodded leaning into her hand.
"Me neither," he said turning his head to press a kiss to her palm before walking them back to the car, his arm around her shoulder and her arms tight around his waist. Jughead and Betty were already in the backseat half asleep themselves, well, Jughead was fast asleep, his head resting against the window and his arm wrapped securely around Betty who was sprawled across the seat with her head on his chest watching them as Archie helped Veronica into the front seat.
"Are you going to be ok to drive Arch?" she asked pushing herself up slightly, Archie nodded motioning for her to get comfortable again and she yawned, tucking her head back onto Jughead's chest and closing her eyes. "Wake me up if V falls asleep," she mumbled.
"B," Veronica whispered loudly, reaching back to poke her friend and giggling when she found the blonde already asleep. "That was quick."
"It was the same when we were kids," Archie told Veronica as he jumped into the driver's seat. "Betty and Jughead would be asleep before the car even started but I could never sleep, I didn't want to miss anything, I wanted the day to last as long as I could make it last."
"Didn't the movement of the car make you sleep?" Veronica asked stretching her arms up as Archie started the car and started to manoeuvre them out of the woody area.
"My parents always spoke the entire way back home, telling each other stories," Archie said smiling wistfully to himself, he missed those days when he was a child and everything was easy and his mom was always there and his dad wasn't stressed or sad. "It's going to be a quiet drive."
"I'll be awake with you," Veronica assured him even as he looked at her sceptically. "I promise, don't give me that look."
"Says the girl that always falls asleep when I drive you home, and that's like a 5 minute drive," Archie said with a laugh, reaching over to hold onto Veronica's hand after they were on the main road back to Riverdale and he didn't need to change gears again for a while. She rolled her eyes and stopped fiddling with the radio to find something to listen to, choosing to just switch it off because there was nothing on and the couple in the back seat were fast asleep in each other's arms and she didn't want to wake them. Veronica smiled at Archie and flipped her hand over so she could thread her fingers through his, squeezing slightly. "Are you staying with me tonight?"
"Of course I am, where else would I stay," she said twisting her body to face him and wiggling herself closer to him to rest her cheek on his shoulder, bringing both her legs up to tuck underneath her. "Your mom might hate it but she's not going to kick me out tonight."
"She won't try," Archie said with a roll of his eyes, his mother had not had the best impression of Veronica in her last few visits to Riverdale and all of that was because of one Hiram Lodge and his manipulation of the Andrews men, his mother needed someone to blame and Veronica became that someone but she took it all in her stride, ignoring Mary's jabs and staying positive for Archie. "Especially not when tomorrow might be my last day as a free man."
Veronica made a strangled sound deep in her throat and gripped his arm tighter. "The trial will probably last longer than just a day, there's no direct evidence linking you to his death, it's all just speculation," she listed off, rambling about the trail and all the things they had heard from his mother and Sheriff Keller who were helping Archie prepare for the trial until she noticed the smile tugging at her boyfriends lips. "What are you smiling at?"
"Nothing ... you," Archie said after a moment, he didn't even realize that he was smiling until she pointed it out to him. Squeezing the hand that was still linked with his, he glanced over at her still looking confused and wished he wasn't driving so he could keep his eyes on her. "Just at how much you know and how much you're doing for me, I don't deserve you Ronnie."
"No, you deserve so much better than me," Veronica whispered, her voice catching in her throat as she fought of her tears. "This shouldn't be happening to you."
"This shouldn't be happening to anyone," Archie said taking a deep breath. "But it is and we just need to figure out what's going to happen if they find me guilty."
"They're not," Veronica said sharply and Archie shook his head to let her know that he didn't want her sugar-coating anything for him.
"Ronnie, please," he begged, wanting her to just be honest with him. She clenched her teeth, this was not the direction she expected the conversation to go when she told him that she would stay up with him, she wanted to be as far away from this topic as possible, to keep this day as perfect as possible for him, in case everything really did fall apart, he needed this memory.
"I'm not going to stop trying to prove that you're innocent, you are not a killer and you're not going to be incarcerated because my father wants revenge, I'm going to find proof even if I have to fabricate the evidence like he did to get you into this mess," she said shaking with rage that she hadn't yet had the time or courage to release.
Archie tugged on her hand and Veronica shook her head to let him know that this was not the conversation to be having right now so he let her be. Veronica steered the conversation onto lighter topics, even going as far as to wake up Betty and Jughead for the remainder of the trip back to the Andrews house to help keep her mind and Archie's on something else for a while to end this day as carefree as they intended it to be. Waking up the other couple worked because Jughead complained so much there was no room for any other thoughts or conversation.
When they finally reached the Andrews house, Jughead and Betty both hugged Archie tighter and even though they made it seem like this was just another day and they would see Archie the next day and everything would be normal, they would just be getting ready for the next school year they couldn't pull it off quite as effortlessly as they hoped. Archie graciously let them pretend to keep the easiness of the day.
They entered the house as quietly as they could but Mary and Fred were sitting in the dining room still awake pouring over her notes for court the next day, the Andrew parents acknowledged Archie and Veronica's entrance and let them go up to Archie's room without another word.
"The worst thing about swimming is washing my hair after," Veronica complained when she came into Archie's room after having a bath and drying her hair. Archie was perched on the edge of his bed in his boxers waiting for her to close the door and go to him. "Are you ok?"
"Yeah, just waiting for you," he said as she came to sit next to him throwing her legs over his thighs grinning at him when he leaned back onto his hands and their position took her back to another night when emotions were high and she was cleaning up the wounds from a serpent fight she wasn't sure he would come back from. "You take so long."
"I have a long night time routine to keep this looking like this," Veronica said, her hand circling her face to show him what she was talking about, before her hand fell to his stomach to trace the hard muscle. "Just like your ridiculous workout routine with Reggie to keep this perfect."
"How else would I keep you interested?" he laughed and Veronica made a face at the implication that she was that vain. "Luckily for me, prison has a gym so I can keep these and then you won't leave me."
Veronica's hand paused and her eyes stayed on his abs, she couldn't look up at him just yet, she had too many emotions circling inside her chest.
"That was a joke," Archie whispered gently, covering the hand that was on his stomach and tugging on it for her to look up at him. "Ronnie I have to joke about it, if I don't then I don't know what I'll do."
Veronica didn't say anything, she just pushed herself forward to wrap her arms around his neck and press her lips to his in a bruising, desperate kiss that she hoped didn't feel like a goodbye to him the way it did to her. All of his talk about the next day not going the way she prayed it would was breaking her down more and more the closer it got to the start of the trail. "I can't," she whispered against his lips when they broke apart, her knees now on either side of his hips straddling him.
"Ok," he said softly, his hand coming up to push her hair back and wipe the tears that had managed to escape her control before kissing her again, softer, lazier, like they had all the world. "Better?"
"No," Veronica said laughing through her tears and shaking her head, the spell was broken, the feelings she tried to pause in the car on the trip back from the lake were out again and she couldn't control the fear that she felt for him, for everything going wrong no matter how prepared they were and how innocent he was. "It won't be better until this is over and you're back here with me and I can hold you without the fear that I won't be able to hold you like this tomorrow."
"We have tonight," Archie said tilting his head to the side and hooking a finger under her chin to bring her eyes back up to his when she looked away from him again. "Even if tomorrow goes horribly wrong, we have tonight."
Veronica nodded and leaned in to kiss him again, she knew that if she said anything she would start crying and she would ruin this night for him even more than she probably did with her fear.
"Ronnie," Archie says when they break apart. "I need you."
"You have me," she whispers breathlessly kissing him again and grinding her hips against his to show him that she's all his. Without any warning her back is pressed against the bed and Archie is hovering above her kissing down her neck and across her collarbone.
Archie's hands skimmed up her thighs pushing the slip she was wearing up as his hands moved, over her stomach, over her breasts, he picked up his head for the second it took to get the it over her head and fling the night dress to the other side of the room before his lips had descended back to hers, his tongue slipping past her parted lips and her hands pulling him closer as her knees pressed into the sides of his hips.
"Archie," Veronica gasped at the friction over the material of her lingerie. Archie stood up for a moment dragging her panties down her legs and getting rid of his boxers and slip a condom on, giving Veronica a moment to admire him.
"What?" he asked when he noticed the intensity in her eyes as she took in his body, Archie moved back over her positioning himself and waiting for her answer before anything else happened.
"Just taking in the abs you work so hard for to keep me interested," she teased and Archie snorted, his breath getting caught in his throat when her hand wrapped around him, pumping a few times before guiding him inside her.
And for a moment everything fades away, it's just them, Archie and Veronica, and nothing else. Her eyes slip shut and it's Archie's turn to admire her, watching the emotion play across her face as she adjusts to him before her eyes flutter open again.
"Move, babe," she reminds him rolling her body and Archie does, slowly, like he's savouring every second and the slower he goes the longer he can drag it out. "More," she moans and Archie dips his head to kiss her as he speeds up his movements, her back arching against him in the most delicious way.
He isn't even sure who comes first, but whoever it is takes the other with them and they're both left gasping for air, their bodies pressed so close together their erratic heartbeats feel like one.
"Hey," he whispered pressing a kiss to her cheek before moving to her lips when he finally caught his breath. "I love you."
"Don't move," she gasped when he made to roll off her, her fingers digging into his arms because she was gripping it so hard. "Not yet."
Archie closed his eyes and dropped his forehead to hers giving her a few moments before rolling onto his back, getting rid of the condom and pulling her up against his body. As much as he wanted to do what she wanted, he would have crushed her if he stayed where he was any longer, he didn't trust his shaky arms to keep his weight off her.
"The speakeasy is going to be a big hit," he whispered and she nodded into his chest, one of her hands coming up to trace patterns on his chest and the other going across her body to hold onto the fingers of his hand on her shoulder as if the more contact she had with him right now the better. "Everyone is going to love it."
"You will too," she said wiggling herself slightly so that she was more comfortable and he tightened his arms around her, tangling their legs together. "It's inspired by you."
"I already love it," Archie joked looking down to see her eyes closed. "Go to sleep, I'll be here when you wake up I promise."
"Hmm," Veronica mumbled already drifting off, Archie buried his nose into her hair, inhaling deeply, trying to commit the distinct smell of Veronica Lodge to memory, he didn't have the optimism that she had about his trial, he knew there was more than enough circumstantial evidence that Hiram could find that would make damn sure that Archie looked guilty. "Archie," Veronica said softly and Archie looked down when she pushed herself closer to him, smiling when he realized she was fast asleep.
In the midst of all this chaos, she was his anchor. The last year and a half had been dark for him but she made it better, she made everything better, he wouldn't have gotten through any of it if it wasn't for her. So he memorized her features, staying awake for as long as he could to commit her to memory because after he was gone he wasn't going to see her again, he wouldn't want her anywhere near a prison, not where actual criminals would see her, he wouldn't trust any of Hiram's contacts in the prison to look at her and not see her as an easy way to get to her father or even to Archie, no-one would hurt her, no-one would have the chance, not for as long as he could help it.
A/N: Well, well, well look who's back with a brand new story, which will hopefully be 3 parts, I have outlines for the next 2 chapters, I cannot promise speedy posts
Its been too long since I've attempted writing and this story just happened to be the only thing that I've managed to finish in a while, I kind of forced myself to finish it because the season premier is so soon and this is a pre- season 3 story that if I didn't post now, I would see what happens in season 3 and just never post it
As for the smut, well I tried, still not the easiest thing to write for me but I'm testing it out a little bit more, hopefully I get to a point where I can write it as easily as I write fluff
Anyway, the title is from the song 'Come What May' from Moulin Rouge, it just gave me so many Varchie feels especially the lyrics "Storm clouds may gather and stars may collide, but I love you, until the end of time"
I hope that you guys enjoy this little story, please please review and let me know what you think, I apologize for not responding to reviews and messages, I see them, I just truly am so busy but know that I love you guys and I'm so glad that you took your time to read what I wrote and tell me how much you love it
Until Next Time (^^,)