Author's Note: Hi again! This is another one-shot; and because I'm living in denial about last week's Bughead breakup, I'm just going to pretend this was the ending of last week's episode instead :)
Disclaimer: I don't own Riverdale or any of its characters.
Betty crept into the poorly lit trailer park, making sure to avoid the rays of light emitted from the sparsely placed streetlights. Her breathing hitched when she saw Jughead's trailer; it was something that seemed so familiar, and yet at this point, also so foreign. Would he listen to her explanation, or would he send her packing without hearing a word she said? She prayed he would give her a chance.
She owed him this explanation; Jughead knew nothing but a lifetime of pain and disappointment. Betty could not allow herself to contribute to this, even if it meant risking getting caught. If her earlier conversation with the Black Hood told her anything, it was that he was not opposed to negotiation. She had saved Polly through giving him Nick's name; if she had to, she would come up with another. The blonde did not allow herself to think too deeply into what these negotiations meant; it was far too painful, and it went against everything she typically stood for. She knew she was thinking with her heart rather than her head, but these were extenuating circumstances that could not be helped.
She tiptoed up the wooden steps to Jughead's trailer and raised her hand to knock on the door. However, before her knuckles could make contact, the scene she could see through the narrow window made the world stop spinning. Toni Topaz was leaning across the dining room table and kissing her ex-boyfriend on the lips. Betty's mouth dropped open and she found herself unable to move. They had only been broken up for a few hours. Had this been happening before today? She had trusted him with every fiber of her being, there was no way he had been cheating on her…was there? Her mind flickered over all of the instances of the past few weeks: Jughead lying to her about sitting with the Serpents at lunch, and choosing to crack the Hood's codes with Toni before Betty suggested they did it together. Betty's stomach lurched.
Suddenly, she knew she had to run. This had been a huge risk to take to begin with, and now she had to run back home before the Black Hood, or her parents for that matter, realized she had gone. As she turned to leave, her mind was so clouded she missed a step exiting the trailer's porch. Gasping and attempting to catch herself, Betty flailed, and was unable to prevent her impending tumble. During the fall, her right ankle caught the edge of the second stair and crumpled underneath her bodyweight. Betty felt a sickening pop, followed by intense pain, and she unintentionally fell against the side of the trailer, causing an unfortunate amount of noise.
"Shit!" Betty moaned grasping her ankle momentarily before scrambling to her feet. She had to get out of the open; anytime she was outside she was at risk of being watched.
"Betty?" said an incredulous voice from behind her.
The blonde froze, partially out of shock, and partially due to the fact that any sort of movement was unbearably painful. She slowly turned around, unable to put any amount of weight on her injured leg without it shaking dangerously beneath her. A bewildered Jughead Jones and Toni Topaz were standing on the porch looking down at her.
"Hey, Jug," Betty said, looking anywhere but at her ex and his whatever-she-was. At this point, tears were streaming down her face and her right tennis shoe was feeling uncomfortably tight. She really needed to sit down and examine the damage.
"Hey," Jughead said. He appeared colder than usual, but was unable to keep a small glint of concern out of his blue eyes. "What exactly are you doing here? Didn't you hear? There's a serial killer on the loose."
"Yeah, I may have heard something about that," Betty replied lamely. "I actually came here to talk to you about it, but saw that you were-uh-busy, so I decided to come back another time, or maybe never, and that's when I fell down your stairs, and I think I might actually be really hurt." Even in the most painful, awkward circumstances, their banter somehow healed a fraction of the emotional anguish she had experienced that day.
"Here, let me help you," Jughead said, walking down his stairs. He slipped Betty's right arm over his shoulders and placed his arm around her waist for support.
"Hey, Jughead, I'm going to get going," Toni said, her brown eyes assessing the situation shrewdly. "I'll talk to you later."
Before Jughead had a chance to respond, the purple-haired home wrecker disappeared into the shadows of the trailer park.
Jughead slowly and painfully helped Betty up the stairs the trailer, pausing when Betty needed a moment to collect herself from the agonizing throbbing that was radiating up from her ankle. Despite the physical discomfort Betty was experiencing, her mind could not stop ruminating over what she had just seen. When tears began spilling silently down her cheeks again, she didn't bother wiping them off.
"What did I just see, Jug?" Betty asked, peering up at her ex-boyfriend from the couch where he had placed her.
"Betty, let's get your ankle checked out first, then we can talk about whatever you came to talk to me about, but we aren't going to talk about what you saw with Toni. You broke up with me, so that takes away any right you have to my business in the female department," Jughead said, kneeling down before her. Now that he was at eye level with her, Betty could now see the amount of hurt in Jughead's expression, and any irrational fear she had of his cheating on her with Toni disappeared.
"What if the two are related?" Betty asked slowly, watching Jughead's eyes move up to meet her own. Once his blue eyes connected with her green, she felt a surge of emotion and knew she had made the right choice coming here. The unyielding love between the two teens was undeniable, and between the two of them, they could conquer the direst of circumstances.
Jughead narrowed his eyes. "Okay, I'm interested," he said, "but first, we have to get your shoe off before paramedics have to come cut it off."
"Oh no," Betty said quickly. "No, no. Please don't touch it."
"Betty, I have to," Jughead replied, rolling up her pant leg. Her ankle was already so swollen that it was indistinguishable from her calf.
"Please don't," Betty whimpered. She let out half a sob as Jughead gingerly began to untie the laces of her shoe to make the removal somewhat more bearable. This pain was unlike anything Betty had ever experienced.
"I'm sorry," Jughead said, grasping the heel of the shoe. He slowly slid it off Betty's heel, and then off the rest of her foot. "I'm sorry, I know this really hurts."
Betty groaned through gritted teeth. This was hands-down the worst day of her life.
"Holy shit, Betts," Jughead said, peeling her sock off. "This looks really bad."
Betty looked down and her ankle was swollen to the size of a softball, and was already starting to turn a deep purple.
"I cannot deal with this right now," Betty moaned. "I can't handle anything else."
"Here," Jughead said. He stood up and gingerly moved Betty to where she was lying on the couch and propped her ankle up on a pillow. "I'm going to get you some ice."
"First can I explain myself?" Betty implored. She couldn't stand another moment without letting Jughead know that she didn't have a choice in their breakup, that she still loved him.
"Ice first, then explanation," Jughead said firmly. He trotted off to the kitchen and quickly returned with a baggie of ice. He placed it on Betty's ankle and sat down next to the couch on the floor. "I'm all ears."
Through tears, Betty explained her situation to him. She told him how the Black Hood had forced her out of her friendship with Veronica, and out of their relationship, in order to save their lives. "I'm still in love with you, Jug. Nothing has changed. I was trying to protect you, but now that I see you've moved on-" she stifled a sob and found herself incapable of finishing the sentence she started.
"Betty, stop, I haven't moved on," Jughead said, wincing. "What you saw, that was nothing. Toni is my friend. I- I don't know why she kissed me. I didn't kiss her back or anything."
"You didn't push her off either, Jug," Betty sniffed, wiping her tear-stricken face. She had never cried so much in a twenty-four hour period. "I saw what happened."
"No," Jughead admitted. "I didn't push her off. But I also don't have feelings for her. You have to understand, a girl I was head over heels for had just dumped me. My world turned upside down, Betty."
"You're not the only one," Betty sniffed. "And now I'm going to have to deal with the consequences of telling you. Jughead, we cannot be apart until the Black Hood is caught."
"Oh darn," Jughead sighed. "What a horrific consequence."
"I'm being serious Jug," Betty said, giving a small smile. Her face felt stiff from dried tears. "This part of our lives cannot be over soon enough."
"You're telling me," Jughead replied. He shifted on the floor next to the couch uncomfortably.
"Come up here with me," Betty said, shifting sideways. She had almost forgotten about her predicament and cried out when her foot slipped off the pillow and bumped into the seat of the couch.
"Betty, we need to get you to the hospital," Jughead said worriedly. He glanced at her ankle, which was now a definitive black and blue mess. "Your ankle is definitely broken."
"Do you think it's safe there?" Betty whispered. She blinked and fresh tears started falling down her face.
"As long as you're with me, you're safe," Jughead replied. He leaned down and gave her a chaste kiss. "I'll never let anything happen to you."
Author's Note: Thanks for reading! Would love to get some reviews :)