A/N: Thank you all for your follows and reviews! I was so grateful that everyone seemed to enjoy chapter one. I know this story is going to be a little dark, but I promise it'll be a rewarding read.

Disclaimer: All publicly recognizable characters, settings, etc. are the property of their respective owners. The original characters and plot are the property of the author. The author is in no way associated with the owners, creators, or producers of any media franchise. No copyright infringement is intended.

Once Jughead hung up with the 911 operator, he looked down at Betty, who was trembling from head to toe. "Come here," he murmured, wrapping his arm around her shoulders and putting his head against hers. "Everything is going to be okay, Betts," he continued, struggling to keep his voice from cracking. Though his words were comforting and calm, his heart was hammering against his sternum like it never had before. This was hands-down the most terrified he had ever been in his life.

"You have blood on you," Betty moaned, clearly embarrassed. She gestured to the side of Jughead's thigh before burying her face in her hands. "I'm so sorry."

Jughead glanced down to his hip, where sure enough, there was blood smeared on the side of his boxers and the side of his leg. Under different circumstances, it probably would have bothered him, but at that moment it was a non-issue. "That's the least of my worries right now, Betts," he murmured into her hair.

During the ten-minute wait for the EMS, Jughead remained attached to Betty's side, save for when he sprinted down the stairs to unlock the front door. "She's upstairs," he rushed when the EMTs came in. They moved calmly but swiftly, and as they assessed Betty from her bed, Jughead rushed around putting clothes on and gathering their belongings. Throughout the process, Betty remained white as a ghost, but composed. Jughead felt a strange combination of terrifying dread, as well an overwhelming sense of pride as he watched the love of his life remain stoic in such dire circumstances.

"Where are you parents?" one of the EMTs asked her as they were loading her into the back of the ambulance.

"Out of town," Betty whispered. Jughead noticed her hands were clenched into fists; surely by this point the scars on her palms had been opened once again. "They don't have their phones on them," she added.

This was true. Jughead had tried calling both of their phones once he hung up with the 911 dispatcher, but they had both gone to voicemail. They had apparently been successful in visiting Polly and the twins.

"Jug!" came a voice from behind him. Jughead turned around to see a panicked and shirtless Archie Andrews sprinting towards the flashing ambulance.

"I can't talk now, Arch," Jughead said, climbing into the back of the ambulance. All of the undesirable feelings he had been harboring towards his friend had evaporated. "I'll text you as soon as we know something."

"You'd better." The redhead's brown eyes had concern etched across them. "I'll contact Ronnie for you. Stay with her," he added, nodding towards Betty.

"You know I will."

0o0o0o0

Upon arriving in the hospital, the doctors waiting for the ambulance swept Betty away. Meanwhile, the nurses informed Jughead he would have to sit in the waiting room until they had a room designated for her. For what seemed like hours, he paced back and forth across the emergency department's waiting area. Each time he turned around to change direction, he was surprised to see he hadn't worn a track in the tile floor.

He found himself wracking his brain, doing his best to try to figure out what had caused all of that bleeding. There had been so much blood; he didn't even know the human body contained that much blood to begin with, much less how it could continue to function after losing it. However, truth be told, he was a man of the arts and didn't know much about science, and even less about the science that pertained to… lady parts. As far as he was concerned, he had done his part by wrapping himself up and that was that.

Though he tried his best not to think about it, his mind kept ruminating over the chance that he could have done this to her. They had only had sex twice now; once three days ago, and once earlier this evening. What was the likelihood of her losing her virginity being totally unrelated to this incident? 'Slim,' he caught himself thinking grimly.

"Mr. Jones?"

Jughead whirled around to see a nurse in navy scrubs looking at him. "That's me," he said breathlessly.

"You have a pretty girl asking for you," she said, giving him a soft smile.

Jughead couldn't stop a grin from spreading across his face. This looked like good news. 'Please, please let it be good news,' he prayed to whatever god or deity happened to be listening. He followed the nurse into the labyrinth that was the emergency department to room 16.

Walking into the room, he found an ashen but awake Betty Cooper in a hospital bed. She had an IV in her right arm, was in a hospital gown, and still appeared shaky, but she smiled once he walked into the room. Jughead felt such an overwhelming surge of happiness that his knees almost buckled; as someone who typically prided himself on not experiencing a huge spectrum of human emotion, he was not accustomed to feeling such strong sentiments.

"Hi," he murmured, sitting on the edge of her hospital bed and pulling her into a gentle hug. The familiarity of her body pressed against his was the best feeling in the world. "How are you?"

"I'm okay," Betty replied. Her voice was small and quiet, but somehow was still able to convey her resilience.

"What did the doctors say?" Jughead reached down and put Betty's left hand in his. It was freezing to the touch.

"They haven't said much yet. They were focused on getting the bleeding to stop at first." A flush of color appeared on her cheeks. "I'm really sorry, Jug. I'm so embarrassed."

"Don't be ridiculous," Jughead scolded gently. "Betty, I have never been that terrified in my life. And it had nothing to do with the blood. I just want to make sure you're okay. That's what's most important here."

At that moment, a doctor walked into the small room with the same nurse that ushered Jughead from the waiting room. He was a tall, balding man that wore rimless glasses.

"Ms. Cooper," he said, looking up from her file. "I'm Dr. Lloyd. We met earlier, but under less pleasant circumstances. How are you feeling?"

"Better," Betty replied, smiling. "Thank you."

"No need to thank me. I'm just glad we didn't have to give you a transfusion," Dr. Lloyd replied, returning Betty's smile. He glanced at Jughead. "We have some medically relevant questions we need to ask you. Would you prefer that you were alone for that?"

Jughead's eyes darted from the doctor to Betty's face. It would take more than a few questions about the female anatomy to get him to leave her in that moment. As if sensing his resistance to leave, Betty glanced at him, making quick reassuring eye contact. She shook her head. "He can hear whatever I have to say. Thank you for asking though."

"Of course," Lloyd responded. He sat on the stool next to her bed, paper and pen in hand. "I assume you have never had that kind of menstrual bleeding before, correct?"

"Never," Betty replied with emphasis. "I honestly didn't know anything like that was even possible."

Dr. Lloyd scribbled notes along with Betty's responses. "It's very unusual. Have you had any irregularities in your last few cycles? Anything out of the ordinary?"

Jughead found himself pondering what in the world could be irregular about a cycle that happened every single month, but refrained from making any comment. Some things were best left unknown.

"Nothing at all." Betty shrugged, shaking her head. "Everything has been normal."

"Is there a chance that you could have been pregnant?"

For the first time, Jughead regretted staying in the room. Of course, this would happen days after they had sex the first time. Nothing about their relationship had been normal before, so why start now? He felt a warm blush creeping up his cheeks but forced his face to remain impassive.

"Not really, no." Betty's pallid face turned a light pink. At the confused expression from the doctor she added, "I just had sex for the first time three days ago, and we used protection."

"Ah," Dr. Lloyd replied, writing more notes. "So, this wouldn't have been a miscarriage then." He paused, looking her up and down analytically. "This is such a rare occurrence that it has us a little stumped. My team is going to take some blood and run some basic tests, just to cover our bases. We're going to keep you here for the day on observation, and that way we can load you up with fluids and electrolytes. It's possible that this was just an incredibly heavy cycle."

"That could have just been a period?" Betty asked in disbelief.

"Like I said, we are going to run some tests," the doctor replied, "but it is possible. I do have to ask one more question. It is a little sensitive."

"Go ahead." Betty looked confounded.

"During our physical examination earlier, my colleagues and I saw bruising on your ribs and hips. We are legally obligated to ask: have you been sustaining any abuse?" His eyes flitted to Jughead for a fraction of a second.

Jughead's stomach dropped. Surely there was no way this man thought that he could lay a hand on Betty. He shook his head fiercely and opened his mouth, but not before Betty put her hand on his arm.

"Of course not," Betty rushed. She smiled up at Jughead. "He would never."

"Oh, I hope you don't think I'm being accusatory," the doctor replied, raising his hands. "I meant from anywhere, not only domestically."

"Nothing like that at all," Betty assured him calmly. She shook her head. "Jughead was asking me about those bruises yesterday, weren't you, Jug? I have no idea where they came from."

The doctor frowned and scribbled a few more notes. "We are going to draw some blood from you and run a CBC, which is a complete blood count, as well as a few other tests, just to rule out some options by process of elimination."

"Do whatever you need," said Betty softly. Her eyes appeared heavy to Jughead. He imagined losing that much blood would exhaust anyone, and he wrapped his arm around her protectively.

The doctor excused himself from the room, and the nurse stepped forward. She briefly unhooked Betty's IV line and used the port in her arm to draw five vials of blood. Once she left the room, Betty curled up in the bed, looking small and frail.

"You must be exhausted," Jughead murmured. He laid down on the side of the small bed Betty wasn't using and turned to face her. Reaching his hand out, Jughead gently stroked her face and Betty shut her eyes.

"I am pretty tired," Betty responded quietly. "You must be too, though."

It was true. Jughead's body felt heavy and sleep deprived, but that wasn't something Betty needed to worry herself with at that time. "I'm fine," he replied. "Just worried about you. How are you feeling?"

"I'm okay. I have a headache and feel really weak, but I think that's to be expected right now," his girlfriend murmured. Her eyes were still closed and she appeared to be falling asleep.

Jughead sat up quietly. "Get some sleep, Betts," he whispered, leaving a kiss on her forehead.

He tiptoed out the door and shut the door behind him quietly. He walked down the hallway a short way and pulled out his phone. It was six-thirty in the morning, but he knew Archie would be awake and expecting a call from him. He pressed his friend's name on his phone screen, and sure enough, a wide-awake Archie Andrews answered just one ring later.

"What's up, Juggie?"

"Hey, man, sorry I couldn't talk long earlier. Things have been pretty intense on this end," Jughead replied. He leaned against the wall, feeling his exhaustion in every part of his body. As he spoke, he kept an eye on Betty's room. He wanted to be there once the results of the blood tests came in.

"It's totally fine," Archie responded. The concern in his voice was evident. "What's going on?"

"Betty had a bit of an episode last night," Jughead began, but then paused. He felt tears prick the back of his eyes, and all of his emotions that he had been suppressing welled up all at once. Jughead took a deep breath; this was not over and he couldn't break now. Swallowing hard, he continued, "She started bleeding- having girl bleeding- but really bad. Blood was everywhere, Arch. Everywhere. I didn't know what to do so I called 911."

"Oh my God," Archie replied quietly. "What do they think caused it?"

"They don't know. They ran some tests and said they should be back within an hour. But Archie-" Jughead broke off, sighing loudly.

"What is it, Jug?" his redheaded best friend asked, "what's wrong?"

"I think this might be my fault," Jughead said flatly. He forced himself not to show any more emotion, wiping a tear off his face quickly and glancing around to make sure nobody in the hallway could hear or see him.

"What do you mean?" Archie asked, clearly confused.

"Betty and I had sex for the first time three days ago," Jughead whispered, blushing a deep red. He and Archie may be best friends, but they had never discussed their respective intimate lives with one another, especially considering the piece of information Archie bestowed upon him the night before. "And then again yesterday. Archie, what if I did this to her?"

There was a brief pause on the line. "Jug, I don't think that's the case at all," Archie said slowly. "That sort of thing doesn't happen."

"You're sure?" Jughead moaned. He rubbed his face with his hand; though he hated bringing it up, Archie definitely had more experience with this type of thing than he did.

"Yeah, I'm pretty sure," Archie replied. There was another pause before, "Congrats, man. I thought that would've happened a while ago."

Jughead snorted. "Things have been busy I guess."

The friends stayed on the phone for another twenty minutes. Archie promised he would be by to visit later if Betty had not been discharged yet. Once Jughead hung up, he wandered to the vending machine and grabbed a couple Pop Tarts; he had been starving since arriving at the hospital, but had been too nervous to eat anything. He walked back to Betty's room and found her still asleep. He played a few games of Tetris on his phone, and then took to pacing the room. Though he was exhausted, he was strangely wired and knew he wouldn't be able to fall asleep until they had the results of the blood test.

An hour later, Dr. Lloyd knocked on the door and walked into the room. The noise woke Betty and she sat up in the bed, rubbing her eyes. Jughead grabbed her hand and sat in the chair next to the bed.

"We have your preliminary test results," Dr. Lloyd told the pair, sitting down on the rolling stool next to the computer. His face gave absolutely nothing away. "Do you mind if I share the results in front of your boyfriend or would you rather be alone?"

"It's fine," Betty replied, shaking her head. "I don't mind."

"Well, I ran the tests. All cultures came back negative for infection, and your electrolytes indicated you were slightly dehydrated, but your saline drip should have fixed that by now," the doctor began. "Your CBC results are where my concern comes in."

"What's wrong with it?" Jughead asked. He could feel his heart racing again and he had to make a conscious effort to keep his hands from shaking. Something in the doctor's tone told him this wasn't going to be good news.

"Well, Betty, your white blood cell counts are abnormally high. The end of the upper range for females is usually around 11,000 and yours is at 75,000," Dr. Lloyd read from his sheet. "And because your blood cultures came back negative for infection, that has some negative implications."

"So, what are you thinking it is?" Betty asked slowly. She glanced down to Jughead and back to the doctor. Her tired green eyes were wide and fearful.

Doctor Lloyd frowned. "Well, we will have to run some more tests to make sure, but the preliminary results suggest you have cancer."

A/N: Reviews are much appreciated. :)