Disclaimer: I do not own Riverdale, The Archie's Comics, or anything you might recognize. Riverdale belongs to The CW. I only own the plot.

Archie's POV

Try. Making an effort or an attempt to do something. Now what are the reasons one might try? To gain something? To impress people? To not disappoint people? For me, I guess it's all of the above.

I'd wake up to them fighting. I'd go to school to get picked on. I'd come home to them fighting. And then repeat. It was a continuous cycle for as long as I could remember. My parents were always fighting. It could be about anything: work, money, me, ect. I didn't understand why they always had to fight. If they loved each other, why did they always seem like they hated each other? And if they hated each other, why were they together?

It never made sense to me; at least, at the time.

I think at one time, I asked my dad the same question. But before he could try to answer me, my mom would tell me that I shouldn't be poking into other people's business.

I guess parents can fight sometimes. I know my best friend, Betty's, parents would fight sometimes. But it was different with my parents. It was like they never got along or had anything nice to say to each other; they had even less time for me.

I wanted to try and make it better, but it never seemed to work.

Fred's POV

I sat on the couch in the living room, waiting for Mary to come home. We had another one of our 'fights'—though they seemed to become more like daily conversations—this morning and I haven't seen her since. She didn't even pick up Archie from school like she was supposed to—and also promised to do.

I sighed, slowly as I looked up at the clock on the wall. I wondered how long it would be before she got home. I also wondered what the hell I was going to say to her. I love her, but it seemed our relationship keeps getting worse day by day. It's not getting any better or easier for us, for Archie included. I know we have problems, but Mary and I are going to have to figure out how to make this work better, for Archie's sake. I don't want him to have to go through this for his entire life.

She didn't get home until around eleven.

"Where have you been?" I ask.

"None of your business." Mary replied as she tried to walk past me, but I pulled her back.

"It is my business. You're my wife. My wife that forgot to pick our son from school."

"Oops." Is all she says.

"Is that all you have to say for yourself?" I ask.

"Oh shut up, Fred. I made one mistake. I forgot one thing. You're acting like it's the end of the world." Mary said as she threw her back onto the leather chair. She acted like this was no big deal. I can't believe she could act like forgetting about our son is no big deal; and this wasn't the first time something like this has happened.

"Where were you this whole time?" I asked. I knew she didn't just get out of work.

"After work, a few friends and I went out. We were having so much fun we lost track of time." Mary said and I shook my head, looking down at the floor.

"Meanwhile, our son is sitting on the school steps waiting for his mom to pick him up." I replied, angrily. I was pissed. I don't ask her to do much. She is the one that does the asking around here so it fits in with her ideas and schedule. I ask her pick up our son from school once because I was be busy—I will be busy with work where I won't be able to get to a phone for hours—and she doesn't do it.

"Fred, relax. He's fine, isn't he?"

"Fine?! I didn't pick up the phone until after six! Archie was alone at the school past dark. He didn't know where you were. He was terrified!" I screamed. "Imagine how I felt getting that call about my son never getting picked up from school?"

"It's all about you Fred, isn't it?" Mary replied.

I couldn't believe I was hearing this. I tell her about how her son was waiting for her to show up and all she could do is try to put this on me.

"Mary—"

"NO! I CAN NEVER HAVE FUN WITHOUT YOU JUDGING ME!"

I shook my head. She must be drunk. In a way, I really hope she is drunk.

"This isn't about me. This is about Archie." I told her. How was this any way about me? If it had been any other night, I probably wouldn't have cared. But when it comes to Archie—it's different. That boy is my life and I don't like what Mary's actions and behavior are doing to him.

"Why can't I ever just have a night to myself? Where I can enjoy myself?" Mary complained.

"You go out every weekend. Sometimes it's like every other night and that's not enough for you?" I said and then tried to calm myself down. It was late. I finally got Archie to sleep and I didn't want to wake him. I didn't want him to hear us fight again. "You know what your son said to me when I picked him up? He asked me why his mom always forgets about him? Then he asked if you still love him?"

"Of course I do." Mary replied.

"Well it's hard to tell. You barely pay attention to him and then you forget to pick him up from school. The only time you talk to him is when you are either yelling at him or telling him to leave the room." I said. And not to mention that, Archie always had to hear us fight.

"Maybe if he did what he is told and wasn't so hyper all the time, I wouldn't have to yell at him."

"He's an eight year old boy!" I said, getting really frustrated. Now she was trying to blame Archie for these problems? God, I think she has sunk to a whole new low.

"Daddy?" I looked over and saw Archie standing in the doorway. I sighed; once again he had to listen to us fight.

"Archie, go back to bed. Mommy and daddy are talking." Mary said.

"But—" Archie tried to speak, but Mary wouldn't let him.

"GO!"

Archie ran out of the room.

"See what I mean." I said.

"He shouldn't be listening in. It's none of his business." Mary crossed her arms. "Anyways, Maria and I are going out for drinks tomorrow so I can't pick him up. Is that what you need to hear?"

Unbelievable.

"I can't take it anymore!" I screamed out in frustration.

"What do you mean?" Mary shook her head in disbelief as she laughed.

"I want you out." I said. "I'm not doing this anymore, Mary. I want you to go. This hasn't been working for a long time. You being here—it's not good for you, me, and especially not for Archie."

I wasn't going to let Archie suffer anymore.

"You can't do this, Fred." Mary said.

"Yes, I can. I'll call a lawyer, if I have to." I said.

"He's my son."

"Suddenly you care about him." I shook my head. I honestly can't even think clearly when it came to this woman. One minute she is screaming about never having time to herself. I tell her to leave so she can have it and now she is screaming about how I can't keep her from her son.

This is crazy. This marriage was crazy.

"Take this as a good thing. Now you can have fun and do whatever the hell you want. You won't have to worry about us." I told her before leaving the room; soon she'd realize I was right.

I went upstairs to make sure Archie was okay. He was sitting in bed, clutching the sheets of his bed in his hands. I sat next to him on the edge of the bed, putting my hand down first making sure, I didn't accidently sit on his hand.

"Hey champ." I say.

"Is mommy mad at me?" Archie asks.

"No, she isn't. She just drank too much." I use the oldest excuse as I can't come up with anything better to tell him.

"Again?" Archie asks and I nodded.

"I'm sorry that we woke you again." I told him.

"Why do you and mommy always fight?" Archie asks.

"It's complicated Archie." I said, not sure how to explain all our problems; I'm not even sure we had the time to figure out them all; there were too many to count.

"Is it because of me? Mommy always says I'm a problem."

"No, it's not you. It's not your fault." I said as I tucked Archie in under the covers. I stroked his hair back. "…and you're not a problem. You're the opposite."

Archie grinned a bit.

"Look, I'm sorry you have to hear us fighting all the time. But I promise, things will change around here." I tell him. I wasn't going to let Mary stay around and hurt Archie anymore. This wasn't about either of us. It was about him; he is what's important.

"Now get some sleep, okay?" I told him as he turned over onto his side, which is how he always slept. "I love you. I always will."

"Love you, daddy." Archie mumbles, sleepily before I cautiously get off his bed. I turned the lights off and then leave the room. I go to bed after handing Mary a bag full of her things.

In the morning I woke up and Mary was gone with most of her things. I don't know why I am surprised. She was always gone. But I guess this time she really isn't going to come back.

But that's a good thing.

I did love her, but Archie is my son. I have to do what's best for him. And his mom being here, isn't good for him. I know he'll understand, if not today, someday; I think at least not hearing fighting all the time will be an improvement.

After making some coffee, I went to wake Archie for school, but I found that he wasn't in bed.

"Archie?" I called, but there was no answer. He wasn't here. But where did he go? Where is my son? Soon, I noticed a bunch of his clothes were missing along with a few other things of his. It didn't take a detective to tell me what happened while I slept.

Mary took Archie.

Mary took my son.

A/N: So I was looking through the Riverdale stories on here and I couldn't find an Archie centric one. So I decided to write something revolving around my favorite character. So this is obviously an AU. Fred and Mary never had a good marriage and finally Fred had enough so he told her to leave. When he woke up, Mary and Archie were gone.

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