Announcement: Due to feedback, flashbacks will now be bolded & italicized. Hope that makes it less confusing.
Also, question for you all: I'm thinking about putting Kevin in the story somewhere, but of course now I'm wondering who to ship him with. I can't decide between Joaquin (season 1, not season 3, obviously), Moose, or Fangs. Why can't the show just give him one cannon ship lol? Anyway, plz let me know who you guys want to see Kevin with. (If it helps, and in case you guys forgot, the other ships I'm using are Bughead, Varchie, and Choni (and Jason/Polly, before he died) and I'm basically keeping what happened in high school cannon-compliant with the show (except they didn't know Jughead).)
Thank you so much to all of my readers as well as those of you who have favorited and followed. And a special thank you to both Boris Yeltsin and violet1429 for your comments both on the last chapter and all throughout this story.
Hope you all enjoy this chapter!
Disclaimer: I own nothing.
7
Even from the outside of the trailer, Toni could hear the constant crying of 2 children and she almost knew that something was wrong. But maybe it wasn't and the children were just having a bad morning and Jughead's attempts to soothe them just weren't working. She bounded up the steps and knocked on the door, but got no response. She knocked again, but there was still no response.
"Jug?" she called through the door. She was now worrying that she had waited too long to check in on him. In her defense, however, the Serpents had kept her extremely busy the past few days.
"Jug?" she called again, still getting no response. She walked back down the steps the stack of crates with the tacky lawn gnome on top of it, removing the key from the same place it had been when they were kids.
She unlocked the door and stepped inside, which allowed her to hear the crying even louder without the barrier of the trailer's outer walls. There were empty bottles scattered around the trailer, which Toni realized were the bottles that Jug had bought to celebrate Amy's graduation, hoping that she would forgive him and they'd throw some kind of graduation party for her. Toni hadn't been able to pop his bubble by reminding him that the chances of that were low. But she also hadn't expected him to exercise zero self-control and binge drink it himself.
Most of the bottles were in the kitchen, as was Jughead. His eyes were closed and he was sitting against the wall, banging the back of his head into it, over and over again.
"JUG!" She snapped right in front of his face, finally gaining his drunken attention.
"It won't stop!" He cried, continuing to slam the back of his head into the wall. Toni was almost sure that he had given himself at least a minor concussion by now.
"It won't stop!" He cried again, springing Toni into action. She knew that Jughead wasn't the type of man who would ever hurt his children. His wasn't his grandfather, or even his father on his bad days. But she also knew that Jughead didn't have a lot of patience when he was drunk.
She left the man in the kitchen, going into the bedroom of his two children to comfort them. When she had finally succeeded, she re-entered the kitchen to find Jughead no longer banging his head against the wall, although tears were streaming down his own face.
"You're a mess, Jug," Toni seethed, feeling less compassion for him due to his neglect. "I'm taking them back to my place, since you obviously can't take care of them. Call me when you're sober again."
"Who do you think you are?" Jughead seethed as Toni walked back to the bedroom. "They're my kids. You can't take them. I'm their father!"
"Not right now," Toni retorted. "Right now, you're acting just like FP. Is that really who you want to be, Jug?"
He was shocked into silence, the words going into some part of his brain that somehow was sober enough to fully comprehend them. He was still silent as Toni exited out the door of the trailer, taking the two young inhabitants with her. Was he turning into his worst nightmare? Was he becoming FP?
"Hey," Veronica greeted him icily on his lunch break.
"Hey," he responded apprehensively. He had no clue what to expect from Veronica at this moment and that scared him. A lot.
"For some reason, Betty's decided to give you a second chance," she icily began, glaring at him. "In my opinion, you shouldn't even be getting one. But if you hurt her again, I'll make you that you don't get a third chance. And that you suffer a world of pain. Understood?"
"Yep," Jughead gulped nervously. "Understood."
"Good," Veronica said with a fake smile before walking away from him. He knew that Veronica had been deadly serious and that scared him.
"Betty!" Hannah squealed seconds after the door opened for Betty. "You're here! Daddy said that you were coming tonight!"
"Be-ey!" Owen squealed excitedly, seconds behind his sister.
"Hey, you two," Betty greeted as she stepped inside before sinking down to their level, earning her a hug from each of the two children.
"Daddy, can I play with Betty before dinner?" the little girl asked, looking up at Jughead.
"Yeah, there's time before dinner," Jughead responded after trying to read Betty's body for any signs of objection and finding none.
"Yay!" his daughter shouted. Betty shot him a smile over her shoulder, managing to place her container of homemade brownies on the table, as she was dragged into the other room. He returned it before she turned her head away.
"I'm really glad that you came over tonight," Jughead said as he sat next to Betty in the dark living room. He felt a bit silly, a bit insecure, stating a feeling so plainly and unprompted.
"Me too," Betty agreed. "Thank you for inviting me over," she added, the Cooper manners that had been drilled into her since birth kicking in.
"Anytime," he smiled. "I think there'd be a mutiny against me if I didn't have you over again," he joked, trying to shy away from stating anymore real feelings. It made Betty laugh, reminding him why he had kissed her the last time. Reminding him of the feelings that he wasn't ready to have yet.
"They're really sweet kids," she tells them.
"Yeah," he agrees. "They are."
Betty came over the next Friday. And the one after that. It was slowly becoming a tradition, like Sunday nights with Toni. It had been on that third consecutive Friday that Jughead had mentioned his therapist again. Namely, the fact that because of said therapist, he had filed divorced papers earlier that week and that his wife (soon to be ex-wife), wherever she was, would soon be served with them.
Betty had wrapped him in a tight hug, telling him that she was proud of him. For a moment, he had felt silly. He was an adult, being told that someone was proud of him . Proud of him because it was a big step. But it was only for a moment. Wrapped in Betty's arms, being told that she was proud of him, he still felt like his soul was naked. But he didn't feel the instant insecurity and need to cover it this time.
It wasn't until after the fourth consecutive Friday that Betty finally spent time with the Jones family in a place other than the trailer. It was a Saturday morning and Jughead had been getting the little Jones's ready for a trip to the park when Hannah had insisted that her father do her hair like Betty's. After Jughead had managed to successfully secure the girl's hair in a high ponytail, his mind stayed on Betty.
Before he could talk himself out of it, he had pulled out his phone and invited Betty to join them on their park day. He had watched the screen, waiting for a little red "1" to pop up on top of the text icon, before finally sliding it back into his pocket. Maybe Betty was a late sleeper. Maybe her phone was on silent. Maybe it was in another room. Or maybe she was trying to find a way to say no. He was locking the trailer door when his phone had buzzed. And his nerves had finally melted away when the buzz had turned out to be a text from Betty stating that she would love to join them at the park.
Two children had squealed in joy when they had arrived at the park and seen their favorite blond waiting to meet them. They dragged her over to the play equipment before she had a chance to do anything more than spare a glance at their father, Hannah telling her on the way about how her hair was just like Betty's. Jughead was not separated from Betty for long, however. His daughter had instructed Betty to watch her go down the slide, which meant that Betty (for now at least) was stationary by the slide.
"Thanks for coming along today," he said as he reached her side.
"Are you kidding?" She smiled back at him. That magical smile that made her eyes sparkle. "You saved me from a totally boring Saturday."
"Betty!" his daughter called before he could say anything else. Both of their eyes were drawn away from each other and back to the top of the play structure. "Watch me," she insisted again.
"We're watching," Betty promised before Hannah began her descent down the slide. She reached the bottom, laughing with glee, and then announced that she was going to do it again. They both kept their eyes on her, knowing better than to make her demand their attention again, as she climbed up the play structure to go down the slide again. Their eyes only strayed away to glance at her younger brother, who was happily navigating the monkey bars.
"Do you take them here a lot?" Betty asked.
"I try to take them every week," Jughead answered as his daughter began her descent down the slide again. "Doesn't always happen, though."
"You're a really great dad, Jughead," Betty said, repeating a sentence that she had said to him many times before.
"Well obviously. Tell me something I don't know," Jughead joked.
"Well if you're going to be arrogant about it, I take it back," Betty teased, letting her glance flit to him for a second.
"You can't take it back, you already said it," Jughead smirked, Betty catching the mischevious glint in his eyes.
Betty huffed, unable to think of a witty response.
"Is the great Betty Cooper out of words?" Jughead asked, faking shock. "I thought you were a journalist, Betts."
"Oh shush," Betty said, lightly hitting his side with her hand.
"Ouch," Jughead said, extremely exaggerated. "You hit really hard, Cooper."
"That's because I hit like you, Jones," she fired back, making use of her usually quick wit.
"Betty," his daughter said again, unknowingly saving her father from having to think of a comeback. "Come push me on the swings."
"What's the magic word?" Jughead immediately prompted her. He may not have grown up with any manners, but that didn't mean he planned his children growing up the same way.
"Betty," Hannah began again, "will you please come push me on the swings?"
"Yeah," Betty smiled. "Let's go."
"Thanks again for coming today," Jughead told Betty after buckling the two car seats in preparation for the drive back from the northside park.
"No thanks necessary," Betty replied. "I had a lot of fun today." She took a moment to stare down at ground below her before opening her mouth to speak again. "Is it too bold of me to invite myself for next week?" She nervously asked.
"No," he smiled back. "I'd love that. And you know that they wouldn't mind."
"I'd love that too," Betty smiled back.
Betty knocked on the door of Jughead's trailer for the 6th Friday in a row, but this time it didn't swing open. She waited for a minute before she knocked again, louder this time. She heard feet making their way towards the door before it swung open with Jughead behind it, still in his work clothes and looking startled.
"Betty," he said, trying to sound excited. "Sorry. I forgot you were coming."
"Did-did something happen?" She asked as she stepped inside. "Are you okay?"
"Yeah, I'm fine," Jughead quickly responded, walking a few steps before letting out a sigh. "Actually, no. I'm... I'm not okay," he admitted.
"What happened?" Betty asked softly, following him as he sank down onto the couch.
"I-I got the divorce papers back today. She signed them," he signed. Betty waited for him to say more. But when he didn't, she did.
"I thought that was a good thing?" She asked.
"I thought it was too." He sighed again. "But I- Just- Just getting them... It feels different."
"How?" Betty prompted. "How do you feel Jughead?"
"Sad," he admitted. "Angry." A single tear escaped his right eye. "I-I always thought that-" he sighed again. "I know that she left, but I always thought that maybe she was coming back one day. I know that I screwed up, but I-I'm not the only one here. I thought that she'd come back one day. For Hannah and for Owen. She-she's their mom, Betts." More tears left his eyes and Betty rubbed large circles on his back. "But she-she doesn't want custody. She just- she just signed it away!" He had leaped up from the couch, his anger becoming his predominant emotion.
"Juggie," Betty said softly, trying to comfort him.
"How- how could she just give up?" Jughead yelled. "How could she not want them?" He questioned, thankfully having the sense to do it quietly. "I don't- I don't understand it, Betts." He collapsed back onto the couch, laying his head down on the blond's lap and letting his tears fall onto her cream-colored skirt. His anger turned to sadness as he though about his own mother. Why hadn't she wanted him?
"It'll be okay, Jug," Betty comforted as she ran her hands through his dark hair. "You are more than enough and everything is going to be okay."
Jughead walked through the door just like he had every other day that week: in a better mood after a good day at the Riverdale Times. Things hadn't been going well between him and Amy lately, but he knew that they were just going through a particularly rough patch. The kitchen and living room were both empty and trailer was silent. He poked his head into their bedroom (although he hadn't been sleeping there lately), but his wife wasn't in there. He checked their daughter's room next, but there was only one person in there and it was a sleeping 23 month-old. The bathroom was empty. His wife was nowhere in the trailer.
She was probably out with friends. She knew that he hated when she left their daughter alone, even if she was asleep. But it wasn't the first time that it had happened. He pulled out his phone, beginning to grow angry at her as he navigated to her contact and hit the call button. He didn't want to have another fight about this. He would remind her how he hated leaving their daughter alone, she would complain how he was always gone, he would yell back that he was always gone because he was supporting their family, she would complain that she never had any free time because he was always gone, he would yell back that he didn't have any either, she would retreat to their bedroom and slam the door behind her and he would lay on the couch regretting that they had gotten into yet another fight.
He didn't want to fight with her again, but he was angry at her for leaving their daughter alone. Her phone went to voicemail and he left his message, asking her where she was, telling her how she had left their daughter alone again, demanding to know how she though she was going to take care of a second kid if she couldn't even take care of one. He hung up knowing that he would regret how harsh his message was later when he had calmed down. But he wasn't calm enough to care right now.
His eyes caught a post-it note taped on the fridge. The brightly colored paper that hadn't been there that morning was covered in his wife's writing.
Jug,
I can't do this anymore. I'm staying with Toni. Please don't come by or try to call me. I'll call you when I have the baby.
-Amy
He crumpled the note and let it drop to the floor. This wasn't the first time that she had decided to stay at her sister's place. But did she really think that she'd be there till January? Jughead knew that their rough patch wouldn't last that long. He just hoped that she would come to her senses soon.
So, mostly filler, but really rough at the end for Jug, bringing up the past feelings with his mom. But he's got Betty and he's working through things.
I hope you guys liked! Thank you so much for reading! Comments appreciated and please let me know who you ship Kevin with and if putting the flashbacks in bold and italicized helped. And for those of you wondering: Yes, Toni and Betty will meet soon (given that my crazy brain doesn't decide hey let's do something totally different like this chapter lol). Thanks again for reading and have a wonderful day!
