"If you must die, sweetheart
Die knowing your life was my life's best part" You by Keaton Henson.
… …. … ….
Jughead curled around Betty's form, her soft whimpers shaking her tiny body. He couldn't help but smirk.
"Don't laugh at me!" Betty moaned.
"Baby, it's a cartoon." He smoothed a hand over her calf.
"It's a sad cartoon," she protested, her bottom lip wobbling as a fresh round of tears threatening to spill over.
"I-it's not Bambi. It's Tangled, you know Flynn Rider comes back to -"
"She was his new dream, Jughead." She whimpered.
"Shh, it's okay. I've got you." Jughead sat up and pulled Betty into his lap. "I won't let anything bad happen, Bets."
They watched the rest of the movie intertwined, a smile now plastered on Betty's face.
"Do you know what today is?" Jughead murmured as the credits rolled on the small TV screen in front of them.
"Of course I do," Betty turned to face Jughead, a soft hand palming his cheek. "Three months today you moved in with me. Best three months of my life." She smiled and leaned in for a kiss.
"Shouldn't we go out to celebrate?"
"Okay, yeah," Betty smiled again. "I'd like that. Just let me change."
Betty scooted off the bed and stood in front of the closet, weighing her options. She knew how much Jughead liked the silk blush minidress that hung before her, but he'd seen it so many times.
"You know what I was thinking earlier?" Jughead stripped off his worn S t-shirt and tossed it on the bed, pulling a dark grey Henley over his head.
"Mm?" Betty decided on the blush dress and pulled it out of the closet.
"I think Hot Dog needs a friend."
Betty burst out laughing as she stripped. "Jug we can barely handle him. We can't handle a puppy, too."
Jughead padded over, hunger in his eyes as he took in her naked form. "You start walking around like that and maybe we'll make it a tiny human friend instead," He murmured, his hand splaying over her abdomen.
"In due time, Juggie, in due time." Betty smiled and kissed him slowly. She broke away and slipped the delicate fabric over her head. "Zip me up?"
"You know, I think I changed my mind about dinner. We could stay in and I could eat -"
"Down, boy." Betty smirked. "We'll have plenty of time for that later."
Jughead smiled and zipped the back of Betty's dress to the top.
"Thank you," She placed a kiss on his cheek and padded out of the room.
Betty studied herself in the mirror, smoothing the light pink dress over her stomach. She leaned in closer, dragging the kohl liner across her eyelids gently before adding a coat of mascara.
"Ready to go?"
Betty smiled and took Jughead's hand, patted Hot Dog on the head, then grabbed her keys and headed out of the apartment.
They were seated in the restaurant thirty minutes later, a glass of wine in front of each of them.
"Have I ever told you how beautiful you are?" Jughead murmured, leaning in to hold Betty's hand.
Betty smiled and nodded. "You tell me that every day, Jug."
"I don't want you to ever forget." Jughead smiled and cleared his throat.
"I love you," Betty smiled and reached for her wine glass, holding it up across from her. "To the start of the rest of our lives." She waited for Jughead to raise his glass, but a look of terror flooded his face instead.
Betty's eyebrows knit in confusion. "Jug?" She murmured.
Jughead coughed suddenly, his eyes welling with tears. He stood, clutching at his throat, knocking his chair over behind him.
"Jug?" Panic rose in Betty's voice.
He coughed violently, blood and saliva spilling over onto his bottom lip, spraying the white tablecloth as he fell to the ground, his face stricken with fear.
"Somebody help!" Betty screamed as she pushed back her chair, kneeling down to where Jughead lay, blood and spit sticking to his lips.
He tried to speak, but it came out garbled, his lungs filling with fluid, blood, anything but air. Tears were spilling over, streaking his skin, sticking heavily to his lashes. Betty brushed the hair back from his face as she placed a delicate kiss on his temple, hands shaking as she wiped a tear off his cheek.
"Jughead, please stay with me." She sobbed, pulling his head onto her lap. "Jug?"
He choked again, coughing, spraying blood from his lips as he struggled to breathe. He looked terrified.
Short, rasping breaths filled her ears as Jughead's lips pressed together in a 'B', over and over they pressed together until finally, through gasps he choked "B-Betty." His hand found hers and he squeezed.
"Baby?" The word clung to her lips as people clad in white rushed to their sides, pulling Jughead delicately onto a gurney, separating them momentarily.
Someone had called an ambulance. How long had they been on the ground?
Betty followed closely, stepping into the back of the ambulance, finding Jughead's hand. She gripped with all her might as they hooked him up to a machine.
She felt his grip loosen as he coughed again loudly, sputtering, choking.
"Jughead?" Betty screamed as she stared at his closed eyelids. "No…" She breathed.
She unlocked her apartment door with shaking hands. The sun was coming up now. How long had she been gone? They kept telling her, the doctors and nurses, to go home and get some rest. How was she supposed to get some rest? When she closed her eyes, all she saw was Jughead. Blood. Gasping for air. The terrible noise of his last gasping breath.
She dropped the keys on the counter top numbly and took a deep breath. Hot Dog came bounding out of the bedroom, paws slapping the laminate as he charged at Betty. He panted, waiting for the treat that was always handed to him when they came home.
Betty patted his head and stumbled into the living room, catching sight of herself in the mirror. There was blood on her dress - his favorite dress - and blood in her tangled hair. She felt the bile rise in her throat, her body reacting to the sight of blood - Jughead's blood - staining her dress, her hair, her skin. She ran to the bathroom and got sick in the toilet.
She stripped the dress off her clammy skin and stepped into the shower, thankful for the built-in seat she could rest on. She didn't trust her legs would hold her up much longer.
She wept as the water poured over her skin, light pink water swirling down the drain, erasing any trace of Jughead on her body.
As Betty faltered out of the bathroom, Jughead's silver laptop glinted in the daylight sun, catching her eye. She picked it up and pressed it to her nude body, bringing it to the bedroom with her.
Jughead's disheveled S t-shirt was still on the bed where he had changed out of it hours earlier. She pulled it on over her head and curled up on the bed beside Hot Dog, opening Jughead's laptop.
She opened a search engine, then typed in 'Pulmonary Embolism'.
She felt the tears stream down her face, reading the symptoms, then exited out of the page. She looked through his files, through his finished novel - his half finished novel, his second work. Then, she found a folder named HER.
'Like a summer storm - bold and enthralling and magical. Awe-inspiring. Beautiful. Powerful and like nothing else in the world.'
'The very definition of ethereal.'
'If not for her, I wouldn't know of love. Wouldn't believe it exists. But she taught me, not only does it exist, but it is the most powerful thing on earth.'
Betty didn't realize she was shaking until Hot Dog stuck his cold nose under her arm and whimpered. He cocked his head to the side, questioning.
Betty slowly closed the laptop and placed it beside her, then wrapped her arm around the dog, tears dropping onto his fur.
Eventually, after her eyes started to burn but still sleep would not come, she flicked on the TV - the menu for Tangled was still up, the PLAY prompt in bold.
While Flynn was singing about his dream, Betty drifted off into a fitful, dreamless sleep.