SPOILERS! Post-season 2, WITHOUT the arrest of Archie. Because that was absolutely ridiculous, and we all know he was innocent lol.

If you enjoyed this story AT ALL, please drop me a review! I haven't written a story in so long, so any feedback would be great motivation! I'm just so happy to finally get these ideas out of my head and into a story. Hope you enjoy!

The past 48 hours had Jughead reeling with so many emotions.

Sighing in frustration, Judged shifted in the uncomfortable hospital chair so that he leaned forward on his knees, resting his head on the bed in front of him. Betty's bed.

A badly bruised cheek and a split lip indicated that she was recently abused. She was unresponsive to any and all treatment, and wasn't showing signs of waking up.

He clenched his fists angrily, blaming himself. If she hadn't insisted on leaving their hotel room at the Four Seasons, then Betty would be fine. I should have went with her, he thought. He could have prevented all of this.

48 hours ago, they were happy. Jughead had just asked her to be his Serpent Queen, and everything was perfect...for a few moments. Given their luck, they should have known everything was destined to go to shit.

[Flashback—48 hours ago]

"Now that I am Serpent King, I was wondering how you felt about being my Serpent Queen," Jughead said, smiling down at Betty and softly stroking her hair.

She returned his smile. "Are you asking me to join the Serpents, Jug?"

"Sort of…"

"Jug…" Betty sat up quickly and looked at him, realizing the seriousness of his question. Jughead put so much effort into keeping her separate from his Serpent life. She was speechless and overwhelmed with shock and joy.

"You don't have to answer right now. You can take your time, let me know," he said. Feigning to think about it, he added, "Like…tomorrow at lunch, or—"

Betty laughed, jumped into his lap, and interrupted him with a deep kiss that silently screamed YES, of course!

It was a foolish question, asked between two young people in love.

After a few long seconds Betty pulled away and curiously asked, "Why the change of heart?"

Jughead pondered his answer for a few moments before looking at her thoughtfully. "You and I…we're a team—"

"A good team," Betty corrected.

Jughead just grinned at her and agreed. "A great team. We've always been a great team. It doesn't make sense anymore to keep you separated from parts of my life, and...I'm tired of things getting between us. I just want you by my side, Betty." The mood shifted to something more serious as Jughead said quietly, "And although it would be so incredible to have you join the Serpents, I don't know what I would do if something happened to you."

"Oh Juggie..." Betty wrapped her arms around his neck and looked him in the eyes with confidence. "Jug, we've been through all sorts of hell together. And to end up here—at the Four Seasons, of all places? It's surreal. It's proof that nothing can bring us down, Juggie." She kissed him—once, twice, three times—and gently repositioned them so she could rest her head on his chest.

Jughead smiled at her words and held her tightly against him. He was certain that Betty wasn't something he wanted, but something he needed. Moments like these showed him how perfectly well they worked together. When his thoughts started to spiral into a pessimistic void, Betty's optimism and positivity always pulled him back. And whenever the roles reversed, Jughead always did the same for Betty.

They balanced each other, like two sides of the same coin—one incomplete without the other.

After a few moments, Betty mumbled into his chest, "Does this mean I get my own jacket?" He chuckled, and she added, "Don't laugh at me! I'm serious!" She lightly smacked him with her hand but failed to cover her own laughter.

"What kind of king would I be if I made you Serpent Queen without a jacket?" he said with a smirk. "Besides, I've already taken care of it."

Betty was taken by surprise yet again. "What do you mean?" she asked doubtfully.

"I mean…you may or may not have one ready for you back at the Whyte Wyrm."

"Jughead Jones!" she exclaimed, grinning for what was probably the millionth time that evening. "You are just full of surprises tonight, aren't you?"

"I'm not quite finished," he said, sitting up. She looked at him quizzically, and wrapped the bedsheets around her body as she righted herself against the backboard. "After everything we've been through this week—" he paused to sit on the edge of the bed, reaching down to pull out an expensive looking bottle of champagne. "I thought we could make this night a little extra special."

Betty let out an excited laugh. "Did Veronica tell you to pack the bubbly?"

"She may have dropped a few hints," he admitted sheepishly. "And by a few, I mean like a million."

"Naturally," Betty replied with a grin. She made a mental note to thank Veronica for the idea later. Betty moved forward to sit next to him on the edge of the bed, and kissed him swiftly. "How about you sit back and relax while I go grab some ice for the champagne?"

Jughead set the bottle aside and leaned back into her. In between soft kisses, he said, "Okay...but hurry back. We have some unfinished business here."

She giggled softly and kissed him in response, deepening the kiss only for a few extra moments. His tongue slid sweetly over hers, but Betty forced herself to break away, causing an unhappy growl from Jughead. "Sorry," she said with an apologetic smile, "but if I don't go now, I won't be able to stop."

"Then don't stop," he replied simply, "I think we have time for round two." He placed his hand on the back of her neck, ready to pull her in for another kiss.

As tempting as round two sounded, Betty stopped him again, this time gently pushing a hand against his chest. Laughing at his persistence, she said, "Juggie, this will literally only take me two minutes. The ice machine is just down the hall. Can you wait two small minutes for me?"

With a long sigh, he picked up her hand and brought it to his lips for a sweet little kiss. "I'll always wait for you, Betts," he said to her quietly, and she smiled when he gently squeezed her hand.

She grabbed Jughead's t-shirt off the floor—the black one with his signature S—and her pair of shorts she found thrown across the room. After picking up her bra and underwear from one of the lampshades, Betty dressed herself and silently laughed, recalling the crazy events that happened earlier in this hotel room.

"That blush you're wearing suggests anything but innocent thoughts, Cooper," Jughead called out cheekily.

Betty tried to suppress her grin, but didn't deny the truth. Sex with Jughead was far from innocent. No doubt in her mind that her face was as red as a firetruck right now. Nevertheless, she stood in front of where he sat on the bed. "Oh, Jughead," she said with a rather amused expression, "After the wild night we just had, what makes you think I'll ever have innocent thoughts about you ever again?"

Jughead smirked. "Touché. I could say the same, you know."

"I know," Betty said with a wink, slipping on her flip flops and grabbing the ice bucket.

"Oh, and Betty?" She had just cracked the door open when Jughead called her name.

"Yeah?" she asked, stopped in the doorway.

"You look great in my shirt."

She rolled her eyes and laughed. "Thanks, I'll wear it more," she replied sarcastically.

"Wait, really?!" Jughead called hopefully, but she had already disappeared into the hallway. He sighed and fell back onto the bed, closing his eyes. "I'm so damn lucky," he said to himself. Betty Cooper, the most beautiful girl in the world, was all his. And in this moment, all they had to worry about…was nothing. For once in a long time, everything was okay. He and Betty could just focus on themselves. They could just…be. Together.

His phone rang from the bedside table and he saw Toni's name flash on the screen. "Hey Toni," Jughead greeted.

"So?! How'd it go?!" Toni asked excitedly. "What did she say? Did she say yes?"

"Yeah, she actually agreed," Jughead replied, and he laughed at how perfect this situation was. "She's in."

"YES! I KNEW IT!" Toni's shrieks of delight were joined by someone else's voice in the background.

"I don't know why you took so long to ask her to join, Jughead," Cheryl mused. "I mean it's not a proposal, right?"

"And hello to you too, Cheryl," Jughead said sarcastically.

Cheryl ignored Jughead's greeting completely. "Now, about her jacket. And yes, I saw it—did you really think you could hide it from me? Are you sure you want to give it to her like this?"

Jughead frowned. "What's wrong with it?"

"What's wrong?" she screeched, and Jughead immediately pulled the phone about a foot away from his ear. "This thing is a crime against fashion, you hobo!"

"Cheryl, what—"

"What Cheryl is trying to say," Toni cut in, "is that maybe Betty's jacket should be a little more…special? You know, maybe instead of sticking with classic black leather, we could make it more colorful. Like Cheryl's."

"But not red," Cheryl interrupted, with a scoff. "She definitely can't pull off red like moi."

"What's her favorite color, Jug?" Toni asked. "Cheryl and I can take care of it for you."

"Uh…" Jughead actually didn't know. Betty looked good in everything.

"You know what, it's fine. Put Betty on the phone. We'll figure this out," Toni said confidently.

At this, Jughead quickly dropped the phone into his lap and glanced around. He just realized he had been on the phone for nearly ten minutes. Definitely over two minutes.

"Jughead? You still there?" Toni's voice sounded from his cell. He picked it back up.

"Something's not right. Betty isn't back yet," Jughead mumbled, jumping out of bed. He switched it to speakerphone and threw on some sweats and one of his other S t-shirts.

"It's the Four Seasons, Jughead, why are the two of you even out of bed?" Cheryl asked with a laugh.

"She went to get ice from down the hall almost ten minutes ago. I'm going to check on her," he said.

"Wait, Jughead—"

"Ice shouldn't take ten minutes," Jughead insisted.

"I agree, but just keep us on the line, okay? Until you find her. And don't stress, she's probably just having a hard time with the machine or something," Toni explained. She was trying to comfort her friend, but in reality Toni shared a uneasy look with Cheryl.

Jughead just replied with a mumbled "Uh huh" and stepped outside of their hotel room.

The hallway was quiet. Empty. He proceeded carefully down the hall and then brought his cell up to his ear. "I don't see or hear anything."

"Jughead, do you want us to come over?" Toni asked hesitantly, but Jughead couldn't reply. He was definitely concerned now, seeing no sign of Betty. He approached the ice room door, and every possible bad scenario started to play in his head.

Placing his phone in his pocket and muffling the voices of Toni and Cheryl, he pulled out his pocketknife and mentally tried to prepare himself. Jughead paused at the entrance to the ice room and pressed his ear to the door. Nothing. Not a single sound.

He turned the knob quietly.

He pushed the door open slowly…

And shit hit the fan.

A deafening BOOM! resonated through Jughead's entire body, sending him flying down the hall and crashing to the floor. His head hit the ground painfully and things went black for a few seconds.

Toni and Cheryl's panicked voices echoed slightly in the air, but all Jughead could do was moan from the excruciating pain. He had a hard time focusing on anything; his ears were ringing, his body was aching, and a heavy throbbing came from his head. Something warm flowed down the side of his face and he winced. Blood.

When he opened his eyes moments later, Jughead was thoroughly disoriented. He registered the bright lights flashing from the fire alarms, along with huge flames and black smoke that billowed out from the ice room. That's when he remembered—Betty.

He quickly forced himself to his feet, stumbling into the wall a few times. Other hotel guests began emptying into the hallway, frantically pushing past him and moving towards the stairs at the end of the hall. He struggled to focus his blurry vision on the faces rushing past him, searching for one face. "Betty!" he shouted, fighting to move against the crowd; but the blaring fire alarms and screams from the other people drowned out his voice. "BETTY!" he tried again, to no avail.

Panic consumed him. He reached into his pocket for his phone, but realized when it wasn't there that he probably lost it in the explosion.

Jughead coughed violently from the smoke and tried yelling Betty's name again. Definitely a mistake, he regretfully thought, after more smoke painfully entered his lungs.

Stumbling back closer to the ice room, he felt his foot hit something on the floor. He saw it was his phone and picked it up, answering Toni's incoming call. "Toni," he shouted, over the noise. "There was an explosion, and—Betty—I can't—I can't find Betty," he said with a strained voice. His breathing was ragged, and the smoke was getting heavier in the air. It was hard to see anything at this point, and he could feel himself running out of oxygen.

"Jug—I can't hear you over the alarms, Jug, but we're almost there, okay? Get out of there. I'm sure Betty just got lost in the crowd," Toni said. "We'll find you guys, Jughead. We're coming."

Toni hung up and Jughead immediately dialed Betty. Please pick up, Betts. Pick up the phone. Pick up.

And as if by miracle, Jughead heard her phone ring. He whirled around to face the sound; somehow, through all this chaos, he recognized Betty's ringtone. He followed the sound back down the hall, and the ringing got louder…louder…

Stunned, he stopped at their hotel room door. It was open. "Hi!" Betty's sweet voice said.

But a devastated Jughead stepped inside an empty room. "This is Betty, sorry I missed your call." He spotted her phone tucked neatly into her purse and scowled at the device like it was the devil. "Leave me a message and I'll get back to you!"

Voicemail. No Betty. She had left her phone in the room, and now Jughead had no way of finding her.

The smoke had reached their room now, surging in from the hall. He started to feel dizzy and he coughed, leaning on the wall for support. The lack of oxygen was winning, and Jughead collapsed against his will. His last thought was 'Betty.'

Jughead awoke to the sound of yelling.

"We can't fit him on the back of the bike, there's hardly room for two of us!"

"Well, what do you suggest we do? Leave him here?!" Toni's was shouting, likely at Cheryl.

A loud voice replied. "I suggest you wake him up so we can find out what the hell happened!" Yup, that was Cheryl.

He heard Toni huff in frustration. "Fine. Just try calling FP again, and get Archie to come with his truck."

"FP is already on his way, and I texted Veronica, who texted Archie, who texted Kevin, who is already here with his dad," he heard Cheryl reply.

Jughead groaned from the pain and tried to move, but everything hurt. It felt like his body stopped working.

"Jug?! Jughead?!" Toni shouted, concerned. He felt her shake his shoulder, and he opened his eyes a crack to look at her. "Jughead! Thank God, can you sit up?"

Jughead winced and coughed hard, but was capable of righting himself into a sitting position. He frowned and looked around, noticing that he was sitting in the middle of the sidewalk. Confused and disoriented, he looked at Toni and asked, "What happened?"

She looked back at him with wide eyes. "Jug, you don't remember? There was an explosion…and Betty…"

Betty.

At the sound of her name, his memories came flooding back to him. He panicked and got to his feet, but Toni grabbed his arm firmly before he could run off. "Let me go, Toni—" he argued, "I have to go find her!"

"Jughead, look!" she cried in reply, pointing to the building next to them. Following her gaze, he looked up and recognized the Four Seasons hotel, surrounded by police cars and firetrucks. Black smoke was pouring out of a window. "That window was your room, Jughead. The entire floor is closed off now—it's a miracle we were able to get to you before they sealed off the building."

"FP said he was around the corner," Cheryl said quietly, coming over to stand with them.

Jughead ignored her. "So then Betty…she has to be out here…right?" He looked at Toni, silently pleading that she would agree with him and say something like, Yeah, we found her earlier! She's okay!

But Toni looked at him helplessly. "Jug, you don't understand…they evacuated everyone. No one is left in that building."

Jughead felt confused. His breathing increased rapidly with his rising panic and disbelief. "No—that's not possible. Betty has to be in there—"

A loud roar of a motorcycle interrupted him, indicating that FP had arrived. "JUGHEAD!" his dad yelled, running up to him and pulling him into a tight hug. "You okay, son? What happened? Are you alright?"

"I'm fine dad," Jughead said, pulling away from FP. "But Betty—"

Screeching tires interrupted him for a second time, and they glanced up to see Fred Andrews arriving in his truck with a frantic Alice Cooper, Veronica, and Archie. They all started talking at the same time.

"Jughead!"

"Are you okay!?"

"What happened?!"

"WHERE IS MY DAUGHTER?!" Alice Cooper's panic-stricken voice rose above all of the rest.

"That's what I'm trying to get to!" Jughead shouted, frustrated. He looked at Alice, and then to Archie and Veronica. "She's gone—I don't know where she went. She left our room to get ice and then—the next thing I know, the ice room is on fire and everyone is evacuating." He ran a hand over his face from exasperation and exhaustion.

Alice was crying hysterically. "What do you mean gone?!"

"They evacuated everyone out of the building," Toni answered, looking frantically between Alice and Jughead.

"I'm telling you they're wrong," Jughead insisted angrily, "because if they evacuated 'everyone' then Betty would be here!"

At this point, everyone started to argue. Archie and Veronica stood by Jughead on wanting to go back inside the building and look for Betty; FP was trying to calm Alice down and keep her from running off. Toni was desperately trying to stop everyone from going back into the hotel.

"Everyone shut the hell up!" Cheryl finally yelled, throwing her hands up in the air. She coldly stared everyone down until they were silent. "For some reason, Toni's words aren't registering with your tiny little brains," she said angrily, "so get it through your thick skulls: The police already closed everything off. No one can get back into that building." She looked sternly at Archie, Jughead, and Veronica, who were tempted to charge the building in search for Betty. Cheryl's little speech, however, actually knocked some sense into their heads.

"Cheryl and I were barely able to get in and out without suffocating on the smoke," Toni added. "Jughead was hardly breathing when we found him."

Amidst their conversation, Kevin Keller had run up to the group. "Cheryl and Toni are right. I just checked with my dad. He says everything is sealed off and that all guests have been moved out of the building." He turned to Alice and said, "I just ran around checking the survivors that were pulled out of the smoke, and…I'm sorry Mrs. Cooper, but I didn't see Betty." Alice was sobbing uncontrollably at this point, and FP whispered hushed things while pulling her into an embrace.

Jughead's heart dropped and he tuned everyone out. He stepped away from the group to stare up at the smoke erupting from his hotel room. Betts, he thought grimly, I really hope you're not in there.

He felt Archie approach him, placing a hand on Jughead's shoulder. "Jug…I know this isn't making sense. But we'll find her. Or she'll find us," Archie said, trying to be optimistic. "Betty's a smart girl, Jug. She'll show up."

But 24 hours went by and there was still no sign of her. Sheriff Keller declared it a kidnapping, and had an APB ("All-Points-Bulletin") out for Betty.

Archie, Veronica, Kevin and Jughead skipped school to try and look for her, but they ran around all morning and afternoon without any success. By evening, the four of them ended up at Pop's—exhausted, demoralized, and fresh out of ideas.

Kevin broke the long silence first. "Guys…I know that it feels like we've looked everywhere, but my dad's still out there and he's even got his deputies looking for Betty. He won't stop til' he finds her."

Veronica just looked at him sadly. Archie tried to keep up with the positive trend that Kevin started. "Let's think of the positives. She can't just disappear. She's out there," he said, "and either we're gonna find her, or she's gonna find us." Or her kidnapper is going to kill her…or he's already killed her…or maybe we're gonna find her in the river just like Jason Blossom. Those were a few of the many thoughts running through Jughead's mind.

He didn't bother chiming in. Instead, he stared outside the window as it began to rain. To his friends, he appeared stone-faced and emotionless; but inside, he was a train wreck.

Kevin's cell rang, and he excused himself to take the call outside of Pop's.

"Jug…did anything else strange happen back at the hotel?" Archie asked.

"Other than my girlfriend's seemingly-impossible disappearance?" Jughead snapped bitterly, but instantly regretted it. Archie just sat back and said nothing.

Veronica scowled at Jughead. "Look, you're not the only one hurting here."

"V, stop," Archie tried.

"No," she said sharply. "We lost her too, Jughead. Don't take it out on Archie."

Jughead stared at the table, not meeting their eyes. "V's right. I'm sorry Arch. I just feel so guilty."

Veronica softened her gaze. "Jug, none of this is your fault."

Jughead sighed loudly and placed his head in his hands. "I don't understand how any of this happened. One minute, we're celebrating her joining the Serpents—" A surprised Veronica and Archie glanced at each other, but didn't interrupt. "—and the next thing I know, Betty's kidnapped and the ice machine suddenly decides to dish out fire," he said sarcastically.

Archie looked at him with a frown. "I've been thinking…that ice room was obviously rigged, right? So why didn't it blow up on Betty?" Archie voiced his thoughts aloud. "I mean, she went ahead of you—so shouldn't she have tripped the explosion?"

Jughead had thought of that earlier, but didn't have an answer. Archie was right—someone definitely rigged the room, but the timing of the explosion was puzzling.

"Maybe whoever set it up didn't want Betty to get hurt, so they stopped her from going in" Veronica guessed. "Or else, she would have been the one to open that door. Not you, Jughead." The thought of that happening to Betty scared him.

To counter Veronica's guess, Jughead ventured his own. "Or…Betty did get end up getting ice, and the son-of-a-bitch who kidnapped her rigged the room after he took her, knowing someone like me would come looking for her."

Veronica sat up, eyes wide. "Or maybe it was someone trying to hurt you?"

"With the bomb? Or by taking Betty?" Archie asked.

"Either…both?" Veronica sat up straighter, and Jughead could see the wheels turning in her head. He felt a pain in his heart, recognizing that same expression on Betty's face when they were solving the mystery of the Black Hood. "It doesn't matter. Someone could be trying to hurt you, Jug, by going after Betty."

"Or maybe someone was just trying to kill Jughead with that bomb," Archie suggested.

"No…that explosion was painful as hell, but it definitely wasn't strong enough to kill me," Jughead muttered.

"Did you piss off anyone recently, Jug?" Archie joked light-heartedly, and Jughead scoffed.

"Arch, I just became leader of the Southside Serpents. It could be anyone—someone who doesn't like the Serpents, someone who doesn't like me, maybe even someone who doesn't like my dad."

"What if we're looking at this all wrong—what if this is all directed at Betty, or Mrs. Cooper?" Archie thought. "I mean—Hal just admitted to being the Black Hood. We should expect some sort of backlash; there could be a lot of people out for Cooper blood." That was an interesting guess, too. Targeting Betty could easily be someone's way of revenge against the Cooper family.

The three of them were just starting to discuss Archie's theory when Kevin came bursting through Pop's doors. "Hospital—" he shouted, "We have to go—NOW."

"Kevin," Veronica started. "Slow down—"

Kevin waved her off and just stated, "It's Betty."

That was all the explanation they needed.

[Present]

It took the first 24 hours to track down Betty, only to find her in an unresponsive state for another 24 hours.

"They're saying she's in a coma," Jughead explained meekly to Archie and Veronica, who sat with him next to Betty's bed. "According to the nurses, Betty found the hospital last night. She stumbled straight into the emergency room all alone, bloodied and bruised, and collapsed. She hasn't woken up since." His mind wandered back to the hotel, to the moment just before she left. "I'll always wait for you, Betts," he had told her. Little did he know he would be waiting for her to come out of a coma.

An angry Alice Cooper could be heard from down the hall, where she was yelling at the nurses' station. "I don't care if the doctor is with another patient—I want to speak to him, NOW!" she barked. Archie and Veronica cringed at Alice's short-temper, but it didn't affect Jughead. Nothing could faze him, anymore. He felt numb.

"Jughead, how about we go get some food, huh?" Archie suggested, nudging his friend.

"Not hungry," he mumbled. He stared blankly at Betty's sheets. If he was hungry, he couldn't feel it.

Veronica sighed and placed an arm over Jughead's shoulders. "Starving yourself isn't going to wake her up, Jug. You need to eat." When he didn't respond, she looked at Archie helplessly.

"Let's go to Pop's and bring back some food," Archie suggested to her. "How does a shake and a burger sound?" he asked Jughead. He nodded just to appease them, uttering a quiet "Sure" before they left.

Now alone in the room, he scooted closer to Betty's bed. Jughead's heart physically hurt when he saw the wounds on her face. One cheek was black and blue, and her lip was split. There were some small stitches on the side of her head.

He placed his hand over hers. "Hi Betts" he said hesitantly. Normally, he would feel stupid talking to a sleeping person—but this was Betty. "The nurses told me I should talk to you, that maybe you could hear me, but...it might be a boring conversation, seeing as I'm the only one speaking." Jughead was joking, but it felt less funny with no one responding. He gulped hard and looked down at the bed. "I gotta admit, I'm pretty scared. I don't think I've ever been more scared in my life."

With his other hand, he reached up to tuck a strand of her hair behind her ear. He gently stroked her cheek once before dropping his hand back down. "I don't know what to do, Betty. I really need you right now. We all need you."

"What do you mean, 'he can't see me right now'?" An angrier Alice Cooper roared, still yelling at the nurses and interrupting his moment with Betty. "My daughter is in a coma, for Christ's sake—and so help me God, if you do not get that doctor down here in the next two minutes, I will tear every inch of this hospital apart until I find him MYSELF!"

Jughead looked back at Betty. "How you lived with your mother for so long, I'll never know," he chuckled dryly. "I think I should go and try to save the nice nurses from the wrath that is your mother," he stated.

Jughead leaned over to gently kiss Betty's forehead. "I love you, Betty," he said softly. "Please wake up soon."

With that, he squeezed her hand one last time and stood. But just as he reached the door, he heard her heart monitor spike. Stunned, he whirled around, glancing between Betty and the heart monitor. "Betts?" She hadn't moved, but the sound of her heartbeat was quickly leaping into a faster rhythm. She was waking up, he realized.

Jughead immediately jumped to her bedside and pushed the red button for assistance. As if on cue, a loud gasp came from Betty. She jerked up in bed, startling Jughead, and looked around with wide-eyes.

"Betty?" he asked, shocked.

She finally registered his presence and turned to look at him with a confused expression, as if she didn't understand what he said. She let out a dry sob, and said to him, "Where am I? What's going on?"

Jughead let out a long breath he didn't know he was holding and smiled at her. "It's okay, Betty," he said, "We're at the hospital, but you're okay now. Everything's going to be okay."

Intending to comfort her, Jughead reached out to stroke her hair, but she slapped his hand away. "What the hell do you think you're doing?" she shouted, scooting as far away as she could from him.

He looked at her, confused. "Betts—" he tried again, reaching instead for her hand, but she recoiled and pulled both her hands close to her chest.

"Stop!" she insisted. Her breathing suddenly increased as she panicked harder. Then, she looked at him with a bewildered expression and asked the one question that made Jughead's heart stop:

"Who the hell are you?"

Wow, this took FOREVER. This is more like two chapters squished into one.

Please let me know how you liked it (or didn't!) in the reviews, I would appreciate feedback soooooo much! I realize now that I haven't written a fanfiction story in about ten years…so I'm a bit rusty, but at least my writing is more mature than it used to be!

If enough people enjoyed this story so far, I'll definitely continue and hopefully have the next chapter up very soon!

PLEASE LET ME KNOW! Thanks a billion! xx