"Jug, I need your help." Archie said leaning forward as soon as Jughead dropped into the booth opposite Archie.

Jughead raised his eyebrows.

"Well, hello to you too Archie."

Archie's face was determined as he spoke.

"I don't know who else can help Jug. I need you to find out something for me."

"What is it? Is it about the Black Hood?"

Archie shook his head, his eyes darkening slightly.

"No it's about," he paused slightly, his face a little hesitant. "It's about Nick St Clair."

Jughead's eyes widened.

"Archie. No. No way." He said fervently shaking his head.

"Jughead." Archie started but Jughead interrupted him.

"What exactly do you want to do? Track him down and do something macho and kick his ass?"

"He can't get away with what he did Jughead!" Archie exclaimed.

"And how do you think Veronica's going to react to this?" demanded Jughead. "Do you think she's going to clap her hands and cheer for you as you slay her sexually assaulting dragon?"

"She's not going to know." Archie said staring at Jughead meaningfully.

Jughead sighed.

"Archie you can't do this. It's not going to end well if you do. And what would be the point of it anyway?"

"Jug, he hurt her. And I didn't even know. For so long. I wanted to hurt him when I found about Cheryl but this is worse. He hurt Ronnie." He said his voice softening slightly at the end.

"I can't just sit back knowing he hurt her and that I didn't do anything about it."

"Archie." Jughead said sighing. "If Veronica was here listening to you right now,"

"She would kick my ass." said Archie, the tiniest of smiles on his face.

"Yeah, she would. And if she finds out that I helped you on your quest to find her almost attacker, she would kill me. And make it look like an accident." He added.

"Jughead come on. I'm your best friend."

"Which is exactly why I don't want you to do this. It's stupid and juvenile and potentially dangerous."

Archie looked at him incredulously.

"How is it dangerous? I'm twice the size of that guy. And he's injured."

"And he's a St Clair. His parents have connections. They're exactly like your girlfriend's parents. They could hurt you just as easily as Hiram hurt Nick."

"I don't care Jughead."

"Besides," Jughead added. "You said it yourself. He's injured. Are you really going to go beat up an injured guy?"

"Look I don't know what I'm going to do Jughead. I just," he ran his fingers through his hair, frustrated. "I just have to see him. I can't just let this go."

He looked at Jughead pleading.

"What if this was Betty? What would you do?"

Jughead sighed.

"Look, I can't deny that this whole thing makes me really mad too. Veronica and I may have only become sharing and caring friends 2 days ago, but all the same. What Nick did was horrible."

Archie nodded in agreement but Jughead went on.

"But it's because I'm friends with her that I can say with confidence that no matter how much she hates Nick, she cares about you a lot more. And she would not want you to put yourself in danger over him.".

Archie just continued to stare at Jughead determinedly, not budging.

"It's a stupid idea Archie."

"I know."

Jughead sighed again. "What do you need from me?"

"I need you to find out where he is. From what Ronnie said, he's not at his house in New York. He implied that when he called her. I doubt he's still in hospital but probably somewhere they're taking care of him."

Jughead nodded. "And they would have figured it was Hiram who called the hit on him. So I'm sure they're trying to keep it quiet where he is."

Archie nodded.

"But how am I supposed to find out where he is?"

"Isn't this what you do? You and Betty?"

Jughead rolled his eyes as Archie went on.

"And, you have the Serpents to help."

Jughead raised his eyebrows at Archie.

"The Serpents aren't a detective gang Archie. We don't go around solving mysteries one town at a time."

"But they know people. They could find out."

"They know people here Archie. Nick St Clair isn't the kind of crowd they're interested in."

"Nick St Clair?" Kevin's voice piped up suddenly from behind Archie and he swung around in alarm but sighed in relief when he saw he was alone.

Kevin slid into the booth next to Jughead.

"What's going on?"

Archie shook his head.

"Nothing."

"Archie's going after Nick." Jughead said dryly causing Kevin's eyes to widen.

"Can you not tell everyone Jughead?" Archie asked through gritted teeth before looking at Kevin. "Don't tell her."

"Oh trust me I won't. I do not want to be there when she finds out about this."

"She won't." said Archie determinedly.

"Oh she will." said Kevin confidently. "Maybe not right away but trust me, she will. You'll probably end up caving and telling her eventually."

Archie looked at him taken aback and opened his mouth to protest.

"Why would I tell her?"

"Because you're you." said Jughead smirking. "All that good seeping out of your pores."

Archie shook his head, annoyed.

"You keep saying that. I'm really not that guy anymore."

"Doesn't matter. You're putty in Veronica's hands." said Kevin, also smirking.

Archie rolled his eyes.

"Look I'll worry about Veronica and her reaction."

"You should." muttered Jughead as Kevin grinned.

Archie went on, ignoring him.

"Just help me and find out where he is Jug."

Jughead sighed, nodding.

"I'll ask around. Maybe I'll enlist Betty's help?" he added quizzically.

Kevin scoffed incredulously.

"Are you kidding? You know Betty's never going to keep this from Veronica if she finds out. Plus I'm sure it's somewhere in the girl code that you don't let your best friend's boyfriend go out on a revenge quest and not tell said best friend."

Jughead snorted.

"Well I'll take your word for it."

"Kevin's right. We can't tell Betty." Archie said, looking at Jughead.

Jughead shrugged.

"Okay I'll just ask Toni or someone for help. I'll let you know what I find."

"And I can maybe try talking to my dad. See if he knows anything about the accident and which hospital they took Nick to." Kevin added.

Archie nodded, standing up.

"Thanks guys. I'll see you later."

Kevin shook his head as Archie made his way to the exit, the bell jangling as he left Pops.

"She's going to kill him."

x-x-x-x

"Archie?"

"Yeah?"

"What's going on?"

Archie looked down at Veronica confused. They were at his house, snuggled up in his bed, watching a movie. Veronica's parents had had to leave town once again for business and courtesy of Fred's assurances that they would sleep in separate rooms and Hermione's unwillingness to leave Veronica alone at the Pembrooke, she had been granted permission to stay over again.

"What do you mean?" he asked tightening his arm around her waist as she turned her head slightly to look at him.

"Well you've been suspiciously quiet tonight and you have that little crease in your forehead which means you're worrying about something." She said turning her body slightly and tapping him on the nose making him grin slightly.

"So what is it? Your dad? Me? The ever present Black Hood?" she said ticking them off on her fingers.

He chuckled, pressing her even closer to him.

"It's nothing Ronnie."

She raised her eyebrows at him, unconvinced. She turned the movie off, turning completely so she was half sitting on him.

"Archiekins."

"Yeah Ronnie?" he asked, slightly apprehensively.

"You know that I trust you right?"

Archie wrinkled his eyebrows in confusion but nodded.

"And I'm assuming you trust me too."

"Yeah of course I do Ronnie." He said, his face softening.

"So I would like to think that we won't have any secrets between us." She said seriously, looking at him searchingly.

Archie just looked at her warily as she went on.

"The last thing I kept a secret from you was Nick and we know how well that turned out." She said, pausing as Archie's face clouded for a second.

"Wait." She said pulling out of his arms slightly. "Nick? Is this about Nick?"

Archie shook his head desperately but her eyes widened in understanding and she pushed away from him.

"Oh my God Archie what did you do?"

"Nothing! Ronnie I swear, I didn't do anything!" he said reaching out to hold her but she swatted his arms away, glaring at him disbelievingly.

"Archie. The truth."

He stared at her, trying to think of a way out of this but he knew the battle was lost. She could see right through him, as usual. He sighed, cursing his inability to hide anything from her.

"I just asked Jughead for help."

She stared at him, arms crossed waiting for him to continue.

"To find out where Nick is."

"And?"

"And that's all I swear Ronnie. I just asked him today and that was it."

She continued to glare at him before shaking her head in frustration.

"Archie you can't do things like this! I thought we were past this Nick thing!"

"We are! I'm not mad at you or anything. I'm mad at him! It's not something I can just let go Ronnie."

"Archie." She said, sighing in defeat. "I don't want to keep doing this. I can't have you going and doing stupid things that could end up hurting you."

"Ronnie." Archie started, reaching out for her again and pulling her towards him. "I'm not going to get hurt."

"You don't know that Archie. You could very likely end up getting hurt! And that's not okay!"

She paused, her face etched with worry. She shook her head, looking down.

"You're all I have right now." she said, her voice so soft it tugged at Archie's heart, and he pulled her against him, gathering her in his arms in a fierce hug.

She pressed her face against his shoulder and Archie kissed the top of her head, holding her tightly. They stayed like that for a while before he spoke again.

"Ronnie I'm sorry." He whispered.

She shook her head, her arms going around his waist.

"I hate Nick." She said softly, pulling back slightly to look him in the eye. Archie felt his blood boil at the sight of the tears in her eyes and he was ready to jump up and track down the asshole and kill him that very second when she spoke again.

"But you can't go after him Archie."

"Why not?" he asked, almost whining causing her to laugh softly.

"He's not worth it. He's not worth any of the trouble." She put a finger to his mouth as he opened it to speak again. "He's not worth you getting hurt Archiekins."

Archie just shook his head.

"I still want to hurt him Ronnie."

She smiled slightly.

"I know. You're Riverdale's unofficial knight in shining armour. But this is one battle you don't have to fight. I don't want you to."

"But he hurt you." He said grumpily, fully aware that he sounded like a stubborn 6 year old and she grinned. "And you just said you hate him."

She nodded, reaching her hand up and playing with his hair.

"I do. I hate Nick." She paused, taking a breath before looking him straight in the eyes.

"But I love you, Archie."

Archie stared at her, speechless, his jaw going slack.

"What?" he asked stupidly making her grin slightly.

"Not exactly the response I was looking for." She said lightly, though Archie could see the nervousness in her eyes.

"Ronnie, did you just?" he shook his head, trying to clear his mind. "Did you just say what I think you said?"

"Why? Should I take it back?" she asked teasing before winding her arms around his neck tightly. "I do. I love you, Archie Andrews."

He smiled at her so widely, his heart felt like it was going to burst.

He leaned forward and kissed her hard, his hands tightening on her waist before pulling back.

"I love you too Ronnie." He whispered, making her eyes light up as she leaned forward to kiss him again and for the first time since Jason Blossom had been killed and everything in Riverdale had changed, Archie felt like he was truly home.

Yay! She said it back! I really really hope you guys like this I'm not a 100% sure about it but I also like it so I don't know. Please let me know what you guys think! I really want to apologize for the long gap between updates. I had gone home for Christmas and I was busy with college stuff and didn't get much time to write. I hope the reciprocated I love you form Veronica makes up for it :p

The hiatus is killing me and I can't wait anymore for the new episode! Did everyone see the new extended promo? Nick is back! I can't actually believe it oh my God I can't wait to see what goes down with him and Archie!

Thank you all so so much for all your reviews please let me know what you think it's what inspires me to keep writing!