A/N: I'm sorry this took so long for me to upload, I'm working on creating a regular updating schedule. There's actually a fic idea that I've been sitting on for a few weeks now that won't seem to leave me alone until it's written so look forward to that ;) Anyways! This chapter kinda wrote itself and refused to listen to me but I hope you all enjoy and appreciate this! Friendly reminder to y'all to comment, like, subscribe, follow me on tumblr and message me :) I love when y'all interact with me, it brightens my day.

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A glass clinked against the bar counter ringing the ears of those close enough to the man that stunk of bourbon, cigarettes, and god only knows what else. "Jerrr-y, a-ano-th-err one" he managed to slur out, fingers desperately grasping at the edge of the counter to maintain his position in the stool. It was obvious he had had one too many… scratch that, ten too many. He was quite literally staggering in his seat, Jerry wasn't even sure how that was possible.

"Uh, Mr. Jones, I'm afraid we're going to have to cut you off sir, I could call you a cab if you'd like?" Jerry uttered, unsure of how to handle the situation. He was fairly new to this bartending thing and his manager left him in charge with the promise that morning drunks were a rarity in this bar. Yet, here he was at 11am with a man who could barely remember his own name. In retrospect, he realized it would've been smart to cut him off after the first 3 or 5 drinks… or maybe when he walked in smelling like he slept in a bathtub filled with whiskey. The man stumbled out of his chair and leaned against the counter mumbling something to Jerry. The bartender managed to make some semblance of an address out from what the man was saying.

Jerry called a taxi for and helped him into it, throwing a few bills at the driver to get him where he needs to go. As the taxi drove away with the young man in tow, Jerry hoped he was able to rid himself of whatever demons he was carrying.

.

Veronica Lodge walked into FP's trailer on a mission. "Jughead Jones! Where the hell have you been?!" It's been two days since she'd seen him and she was scared he went on another drinking binge. It's been two months since Betty left and Jughead had become a shell of his former self, drinking himself into oblivion. She'd been keeping an eye on him, doing the best she could to keep him out of trouble.

She opened his bedroom door and her nose burned with the strong scent of alcohol. She found him in his bed- fully clothed, sprawled out with his head twisted in an odd position. "Jughead, get up!" She walked over to the small window in the corner of his room and opened it up, allowing sunlight and fresh air to fill the room. She walked over to Jughead, nudging him lightly to wake him. "C'mon Jug, wake up." Her nudges became more rough and frantic as she realized he wasn't responding to her.

At first, she figured he was a deep sleeper but without even a slight stir from him, she began to panic. She felt a lump rise in her throat as she called the police, choking out the trailer address. She sat next to Jughead, fidgeting with her pearls. She glanced over at him every so often to check if his chest was still rising. A few tears slipped down her cheeks as she picked up her phone to call Archie.

.

Archie was greeted by the sound of heels clinking against the waiting room floor. Veronica was pacing the room terrified for her friend. Archie called out to his girlfriend, the dread hitting him as he took in the porcelain white walls of the waiting room. Veronica wrapped her arms around him tightly, "I'm scared for him, Archiekins. What if I hadn't found Jughead? What would've happened to him?" The redheaded boy allowed a few tears to fall as he allowed the thoughts to consume him. His best friend, his brother was drowning his problems in alcohol and he had no clue how to help him.

A doctor approached the waiting room, "Ehm, Forsythe Jones?" Archie and Veronica approached him speedily. "What's wrong? Is he going to be okay?" The words came tumbling out of her mouth before she could even think about it.

"His BAC was .41 when he arrived. He has suffered from acute respiratory failure and acute alcohol intoxication. We've pumped his stomach contents to remove whatever alcohol remained. He is currently in an alcohol-induced coma. Right now, it's up to him to wake. We won't be able to tell if any damage has been done until he's out of a coma."

Veronica choked back a sob, the words ringing through her mind- Alcohol poisoning. .41 BAC. Coma.

She was almost convinced that he was drinking to kill himself. She had nursed him before during one of his previously drinking stunts and he opened up to her more that night than the entire time that they knew each other. He cried about how morbidly fucked up his life was- between his father being locked up and the loss of every woman he's ever loved (the number capped at 3 but does it really matter?). Jughead Jones' life was a series of unfortunate mishappenings that he couldn't control even if he gave up on his strange fixation with a certain crown-shaped beanie. He was spiraling and Veronica wasn't sure if she was capable of removing him from this rut but she'd be damned if she gave up on him without a fight.

.

48 hours later.

Jughead's fingers twitched slightly as a low grunt escaped his lips. His head shifted as he realized a herd of elephants had found refuge running wild in his brain. He attempted to open his eyes but failed, noting that the elephants had shifted their weight to his eyelids. Regardless, he forced them open- he took in the pale blue walls that matched the johnny that he was wearing, the numerous tubes connected to various parts of his body, and lastly his eyes landed on a small figure curled into a chair in the corner of the room. Inky black hair spilled against the deep purple shirt she wore that fit her just tight enough for Jughead to see the steady rise and fall of her chest. He took note of this, keeping his grunts to a minimum to avoid waking her.

He was trying to piece together how he ended up in the emergency room. He vaguely remembered drinking at the Whyte Wyrm and another place that he couldn't quite make out. He was confused as to where else he would go to drink, he usually kept that reserved for the Whyte Wyrm where he could drink without judgemental eyes lingering on him without putting a dent in his bank account. His train of thoughts went offtrack and he groaned loudly as the pain hit him. Yup, definitely enough thinking for today.

The figure in the corner of the room began to shift. "Jughead?" she said softly.

"I'm okay Ron" he hissed out, not quite sounding as reassuring as he had hoped for.

She moved towards his bed settling down near his legs. "You had us scared for a minute there" He pondered for a second about who 'us' exactly was. Veronica usually went hand-in-hand with a certain blonde who he refused to acknowledge. But he knew it couldn't be her. He realized quickly that she meant Archie and that his friend was nowhere to be found at the moment. "Where's Archie?"

"He went home to shower and sleep for a bit. I couldn't bring myself to leave you all alone in this place. I had Smithers bring a blue Mexican blanket in for you with some cupcakes and Oreo cheesecake from Martha's. I had them brought down from New York, I promise you'll love them! They're absolutely heavenly." She looked pleased with herself for a split second then it turned to slight frustration. "Well, you'll have to wait until you get out to get those. The hospital plain out refused to allow me to bring them in, something about a well-balanced diet." She rolled her eyes at this obviously thinking of his ridiculous eating habits.

He smiled at this. He knew that dealing with him right now wasn't easy for his friends but he appreciated Veronica for trying. She was really starting to grow on him.

"Oh! Kevin just texted. He said Joaquin will be here soon to see you" Jughead stiffened slightly. He knew that he had to have done something stupid at the Whyte Wyrm to end up at another bar. He hoped Joaquin would help him fill in the blanks and that he wasn't just coming to bear bad news.

He felt Veronica clamp her hands around his. "I'm sorry Jug, I'm no good at this but I'm trying. I want to help you through this but I can't do much if you aren't trying also. It's only been a month and I know some people's patience is wearing thin with you but I understand that you need time. I'll always be here ready to help. I just, I need you to want to help yourself. You literally almost drunk yourself to death, Jughead. I found you barely conscious in the trailer. I can't imagine what would've happened if I hadn't come looking for you." He saw the unshed tears in her eyes but he still didn't believe she could understand. He doubted anything she just said would still ring true if he told the truth about the break-up. "Anyways, I'm gonna call the doctor to tell him that you're up. He's going to need to give you a check-up and explain to you what happened."

.

Two days. He's been in a coma for two days. The doctor said he seemed to have some memory loss from his drinking spree but other than that everything was okay. She had shown him a few pamphlets for facilities and programs for alcoholics but he didn't need them. He almost snorted when she first brought them out. He didn't have a problem. Sure, this time he definitely went over his limit but he'd be more careful next time. He was fine.

He was just wondering when Joaquin would stop by when the door opened and the leather-clad boy walked in with a cup of ice. Once the truth about Jason Blossoms' murder case had been closed, he had returned to the small town. He returned to the Serpents which was such an odd juxtaposition to his relationship with the Sheriff's son. Him and Kevin have been slowly rebuilding their relationship since he came back.

"Fancy seeing you here, come here often?" Joaquin grinned. Jug rolled his eyes. They've became friends over the past few months and Jughead almost found his humor endearing but right now, he was worried about other things.

"So, why exactly did I leave the Whyte Wyrm? I can't exactly remember." Joaquin snorted.

"Nice Jug, I don't think they'll be particularly happy to see you anytime soon." He groaned. What could he have done?

"You seriously don't remember, do you? You spent the entire night drinking by the bar. It was early morning when Dingo saw you and made some comment about Betty Cooper. I don't know what he said but it sure as hell ticked you off. Clocked him right in the nose. Didn't know you had it in ya." Dingo was some dickhead Serpent that Jughead kept himself away from. He loved making nasty little comments under his breath and Jughead's blood began to boil, only imagining the comments he could've made about Betty.

"Anyways, long story short- you pretty much got kicked out of the bar. I doubt the other Serpents give two shits about what happened, I'd suggest letting Dingo cool off for a few days before you show your face. You know how he is with his ego."

"You said I was there the entire night… How long exactly?"

"You came down from the office and went straight to the bar. Stayed there 'til around 9 in the morning. You were shit-faced, dude. From what I've heard, you found your way to another bar after that." Joaquin's face was starting to form worry lines and Jughead cut him off before his thoughts could sink in any further.

"I'm alright Joaquin. It was a one time thing, won't happen again." He held his hands up almost defensively.

Joaquin stared at him for a minute. He was debating whether or not to trust him on this. He knew Jughead hadn't been handling the break-up well but he also knew Jughead. His life was a mess but he always managed to keep himself together and push through. He knew that someone that was fine wouldn't almost drink himself to death, he knew that this wasn't okay. He was certain Jughead could manage this but he decided that he would still keep a lookout for him. He could tell that Jughead needed someone to be there for him.

"Yeah, man. Just know that I'm here for you alright? You need anything, I got you."

And just like that they were back to bantering like nothing happened.

.

It was almost midnight and Jughead couldn't force himself to sleep in this uncomfortable hospital bed. He was forced to stay here for 24 hours so that they could monitor him, he never knew that he could miss the trailer this much. As time crept up on him, he found thoughts of Betty flooding his brain.

Somedays, Jughead swore he could hear her candy-coated voice or that he could smell the vanilla and brown sugar bodywash that he used to find himself intoxicated off of. He missed her. The way that her head fit perfectly in the crock of his neck and the warmth of her skin left him in a daze. Her body always found a way to mold perfectly against his as if they were made to be one and they were trying to fit the pieces together.

He felt hot tears scorching a trail down his cheeks. He had fucked up. Big time. He had lost the love of his life and he had no one to blame but himself. He was ashamed that he had hurt her, he knew that he had ruined her. Betty Cooper deserved so much better than him and he knew that but he was selfish when it came to her. He wanted her all to himself but he knew that he'd only hold her back. He doesn't think that he would ever be able to explain to her or even himself what had possessed him to do the things he did a few months ago. He found himself asking why almost every night and he had yet to find a proper answer.

At this point, Jughead found himself curled in a ball sobbing over Betty Cooper, the one he pushed away- and man, did he need a drink.