let's chat!

when i started writing this fic i had just finished season two on netflix, was unaware when season three was coming out. so, i didn't expect to incorporate or consider it as cannon in this fic, now i kinda want to...loosely. meaning i might borrow scenes and dialogue but incorporate it differently. i'll make sure to keep the season three bits ambiguous enough so people who haven't seen the episode won't be able to pick up any spoilers, i know a lot of people are waiting to see season three until it's out on netflix; that said, the CW is streaming it for free!

that was all, enjoy the chapter!

In lieu of the Whyte Wyrm, the Serpents had migrated to the Silver Pig, Veronica's speakeasy she created under Pop's. It wasn't quite the same, given this establishment was still a working bar and not just for the Serpents, but they were adjusting. It some ways it did help their reputation-or at least, it felt like it did. Instead of clustering to one side and getting glared at by the bartender, they've started migrating and interacting with more people in the town. And when drunk men got too rowdy, it was usually a few Serpents who "escorted" them out, something that scored them free drinks from time to time.

Jughead made it a point, just as his father had, to improve the reputation of the Serpents. They weren't the drug dealing, murderous gang people were so inclined to picture, especially on the Northside. Cheryl was helpful in that regard. She was actually pretty likable when she was stable, and she loved to socialize, especially with Toni by her side. Within the Pig the Serpents were both patrons and peacekeepers, when they needed to be. He really was proud of his people, especially since this behavior wasn't new, only the fact that people saw it. In many ways they graduated from low class street rats to semi respectful biker gang. When the sheriffs were called to the bar, they didn't go straight to the Serpents anymore; Sheriff Keller had even thanked them once for helping to keep the peace. Were they prim and proper ladies and gentleman, hell no, but they were respectful when it was called for.

Red sat down beside him at the bar, ordering his usual. The oldest active Serpent, and one of his father's closest friends, the man kept an eye on Jug when he needed it. He was, after all, nineteen and living alone. Which wasn't uncommon for members of the gang-for many, lack of family is what led them to the Serpents in the first place-but Jug had a different circumstance now that separated him from the pack.

"How's your girl doing?"

It wasn't the first question or jeer he received about Betty, and he was getting sick of talking about it. "She's fine."

"They know the due date yet?"

He downed the rest of his drink. "How should I know?"

"Because you are the father," he explained to the boy, like it should've been obvious.

"Look, I'm gonna tell you the same thing I have told every person in this damn bar who at one point of another. I offered to help her, I tried to help her, she doesn't want my help. It is not my prob-"

Red slapped the back of his head so fast, he didn't finish his sentence. He hopped off the bar stool, incredulous, while most of the bar passed their attention to the two.

"Jughead, be a man. Just because she hurt your feelings doesn't mean you get to bail out. She's the mother of your child, and as scared shitless as you are, she has to go through it while growing a fucking baby. She doesn't get to come drink at the bar, she doesn't get to walk away. And neither should you; you're supposed to be a leader, you're supposed to be a role model. Would you want every dad here walking out on their kids? Is that what you want? What would your dad say?"

"I can't leave Riverdale, and she refuses to stay."

"You'll figure it out. But your not going to do it getting drunk in this bar, again, pretending that she isn't there."

"Why not?" he asked, the alcohol well in his system. "I'm doing what she did. The only reason I even found out was from her neighbor. She knew for months and she never told me"

"Hey that isn't fair," Cheryl set down her pool stick, coming towards them. Jughead was suddenly aware of the audience they had obtained. "I was there when Betty took the test. She didn't know much sooner than you, and Archie never should have said anything."

Jughead ran his hands over his face, frustrated at the sudden attack. He knew the Serpents didn't approve of the way he was handling the situation. They all saw him drink himself to sleep every night, either here or in his trailer. They all knew the two were having problems, the same way they knew it was his kid in the first place. He didn't need to tell them, some things were just obvious.

"You could do a lot worse for yourself, kid. Remember that."

He arrived at her house with a white flag in the form of a gallon of orange juice; according to Cheryl, she won't stop drinking it. Cravings and hormones and all that. Besides, if he was bringing something she needed, he was helping her, whether she liked it or not.

She still slept in the same room as she always did. Archie, who had tried several times to trick the future parents into talking, happily lent Jughead a ladder to climb to her bedroom window, just as they had when they were teenagers. Which, they technically still were; something he had tried to ignore ever since he found out they were going to be parents. It was much easier to pretend that turning eighteen last year made them official adults, and they were old souls now.

Alice Cooper had made it clear she wouldn't be returning to Riverdale and didn't care what happened to the house; nonetheless, Betty kept it the same. At least, as far as he could tell from his stalker-window view. Her bed was in the same place it had been, and he could see her flat on top of the blankets while he took one last breath.

Why was this so difficult? It was Betty. The girl who knew him better than anyone, who he knew better than anyone. They needed to talk to each other, probably quite a lot at this point. Given the whole, expectant parent thing. But he was rooted to his perch on the ladder like stone, unable to initiate the conversation he had been dreading for weeks. He kept hoping that somehow this would go away, and that they just wouldn't have to deal with this. But he and Betty knew where they both stood with that long before they even started having sex; that wasn't an option for her. He wasn't sure how he felt about it either. They needed to talk about this. There wasn't anything he would rather do less.

Grow a fucking pair, he scolded himself, before she catches you spying on her.

She jumped about two feet when he tapped on the window.

Her stomach lurched as she pushed up the glass.

"What do you want to talk about?" she asked, returning to her position from moments before. That small amount of moment made her want to hurl; the nausea had been awful lately.

"Well...the weather has been nice today-"

She closed her eyes, folding her hands across her stomach and drowning out his sarcasm she suddenly found much less charming.

"Hey, are you okay?"

"I feel like I'm gonna puke."

He left the room, returning shortly after with a glass of cold water and an ice pack wrapped in a towel, the latter of which he placed under her neck.

"Jellybean always used to get sick after car rides, my mom would wrap something from the freezer in a towel and slide it under her neck. Do you want ginger ale, or toast-"

"No, do not talk about food," she groaned. "I'm fine, I just need to lie on my back for a while."

"Isn't that what got us here in the first place?"

The middle finger of her right hand rose ever so slightly, and she could hear his chuckle.

"So what other symptoms have you been getting?" he asked, settling on the ground beside her bed. She was grateful he didn't try to sit on the mattress; she didn't think she could stomach the motion.

"Just the morning sickness."

"You have morning sickness at eight at night?"

"You can get morning sickness any time of day Jug, it's just more common in the morning," she explained, slightly annoyed he didn't understand something so basic. Well, basic to her at least; she supposed the general pool of nineteen year old boys didn't bother learning much about pregnancy.

"How far are you?"

"Can't you do the math?" she snapped at him, then recanted. "I'm twelve weeks along."

"Have you seen a doctor yet?"

"Obviously," she said. She was trying to veil the hormonal bitchiness, but the unexpected socialization was making her irritable. She just wanted to lie down and not throw up and was about to tell him as much when he spoke up.

"Do you want me to leave you alone?"

That wasn't exactly what she wanted. She wasn't even sure she knew what she did want, but she knew she didn't want him to leave. In her confused, angry, nauseous state, she said nothing rather that begin to attempt to explain what she was thinking for a long while, until finally she told him, "you talk, not me."

Betty fell asleep within the hour. Even he grew bored with his ramblings about the Serpents and their newfound living situation, following the fall of Sunnyside Trailer Park. Most of them, Jughead included, currently lived on the Thornhill grounds with Cheryl's blessing; all but two trailers were ruined in the riots by the Ghoulies, leaving most of the gang displaced and left to find camp among the large estate. It was far from ideal, or permanent, but for the time being it was functional.

Betty couldn't keep living here alone. Betty couldn't keep living here, in general; the burn marks on her lawn were still visible, even after Fred Andrews did his best to trim and water the grass since the event occurred. The word sinner had been written in lawn with kerosene and set ablaze during the night. Sheriff Minetta said it would be impossible to prove who had done it since, in his words, "the whole town had a motive."

The irony was lost on no one, least of all Betty, the fact that the Coopers were likely the most (publicly known, at least) sinful family in Riverdale, even excluding Hal Cooper's murderous rampage. Since the discovery that he had been the Black Hood all along, the rumors and gossip of the once perfect Cooper family were quick to circulate.

Polly Cooper had premarital sex with her second cousin Jason, and gave birth to incestuous twins.

Hal Cooper had an affair with Penelope Blossom, his cousin's widow.

Alice Cooper had a reputable crime history from her time in a gang.

And then there was Betty Cooper. Just like her mother, she became a member of a gang before even leaving high school; just after she found out about her father's sins. Like her sister, she engaged in premarital sex and got pregnant out of wedlock.

Those were just the rumors that were true, not that anyone would know the difference. There were rumors that Alice Cooper was Jughead's real mother, and that he and Betty were half siblings. There were rumors that Alice and FP were having an affair while she was still married to Hal; technically, Alice and Hal were still married, another sticking point for many people.

It was likely the fact that the Coopers had been so revered within the town that made the revelation so shocking, and made the backlash so sticking. They were the perfect family next door. Two sweet, beautiful, honor roll daughters. Two working class adults, married and in business together; how sweet. Sure, there had been talk after an unfortunate sleepover that Alice coerced a doctor into prescribing Betty with Ritalin, but that aside there wasn't much said about the simple suburban household.

Until now at least.

Betty woke up to Jughead sleeping beside her. He had grabbed a blanket from the couch downstairs and draped it across from them, and was now snoring softly on the pillow beside her. His body was turned towards hers, his breath tickling her hair. At first she was angry and the audacity of him crawling into bed with her, but told herself she was being irrational because of the damn hormones. Besides, a small part of her liked the domestic feel of Jughead sleeping beside her, especially now.

There wasn't a day that went by since Cheryl arrived with the bag from CVS that she didn't imagine what this whole mess would be like in an ideal world. Not because she thought it was possible, but because it was a nice thing to picture while she fell asleep; she'd lie there and for a minute or two, or often times more, imagine Jughead across from her, not unlike he was now. Except in her imagination, his arm was snaked under her neck with another draped across her side, with a hand cupping her belly. In her imagination, they could be the suburban household her family pretended to be. They could love each other, and love the life they created together. They could raise their child to be the best at everything, and shut up all of the jeers about their unplanned pregnancy and how they'd ruin their kid.

She understood her mother's desire to keep up appearances so much better now.

She wiggled herself closer to Jughead, burying her face into his body. This action woke him-he never was a heavy sleeper-and he readjusted himself, unsure.

"Are you spending the night?" she questioned into her

"Do you want me to?"

Yet again she resented her answer. She didn't want to say yes, but also didn't want him to leave. So instead she pressed her palm into his shoulder, rocking him onto his back and resting her cheek on his shoulder.

If a million impossible things were to happen, and if they did get together again...would it be because they loved each other? Or would Jughead just be doing the right thing? Would Betty just be keeping up appearances? That was the real question she struggled with. Would they be together at this moment if she wasn't pregnant? The thing that killed her was that she knew they wouldn't be.

"If I hadn't gotten pregnant, would we have ever gotten back together?" she asked aloud, not even sure if Jug was awake.

"Probably not."

Her heart sank, until he started speaking again.

"So maybe it's a sign."

"You don't believe in God."

"You do."

They fell asleep while Betty pondered his last sentence. Did she still believe in God, in Heaven? Believing in Heaven meant she had to believe in Hell, and she wasn't sure which she was going to be sent to after everything she had done.

hope you guys don't mind the shorter chapter length, i'm liking the 2,500ish words for this story. i usually don't stress word lengths like that, i just stop chapters when i've finished what i needed to accomplish in the story, at the same time these are much shorter than i'm used to, and of course everything looks shorter on fanfiction/net. dunno, lemme know what you think!

thank you for reading!