A/N Sorry for the long delay, i've felt a little at sea with this story for the last few chapters. I feel a bit more on track now. Please let me know what you think, i could use some feedback right now.

One reviewer (kisses to her for the helpful feedback) felt Betty's kidnap turned her into a Mary Sue which was not my intention at all. Note she was free by the time Hal was waving a gun around and I do intend to visit that in flash backs because one thing i never think of Betty as is a little girl in need of saving. That rolling pin move she pulled on Chic in the episode before last was badass :-)

Anyway some bughead because that's what this story was supposed to be right and maybe some smut (definitely some smut)

Veronica comes to her door the next morning looking more unsure than she's ever seen her. "Hey B, can we talk?" an awkward shuffle and she holds up a bag from Pop's. "I brought breakfast."

Part of her, the same part that is still seething with anger and jealousy. The dark threatened part of herself that had driven to try and jump Jughead in his trailer the day before wants to slam the door in Veronica's beautiful face.

But with everything that's happened over the last forty-eight hours she's just not ready for anymore drama, so she gives a small nod and leads the way to the kitchen where they settle opposite each other and Veronica starts unloading coffee and pancakes. "So, Archie told me where you're at with your mom, I hope that's ok, I swear I won't tell anyone"

"It's fine," she sighs and pours the syrup distractedly over the tepid pancakes. "Honestly I'm just trying to block out all the Cooper crazy right now and get on with my life"

"I get that," Veronica cradles her coffee, nervously tapping long painted nails against the cup. "You're ok though, like physically and everything"

The depth of Veronica's concern swirls in her dark eyes making her friend's gaze appear endless. She nods. "Yeah, I'm ok," relief washes visibly over Veronica at her words and she continues in a soft sincere voice. "Thanks, V, for coming to find me. Even in the middle of this huge fight you risked so much to come save me. You all did. So, thank you"

Veronica shakes her head a small line pinched between her eye brows as she reaches over the counter to squeeze Betty's hand. "Fires of hell girl, you know that"

And she does. All of them - Jughead after she'd yelled at him in the cafeteria, Archie fresh from their break up, and Veronica despite the tension between them - they'd all run unquestioningly into actual mortal danger for her.

She remembers the basement, when the hood - she still doesn't want to think about it being her father - had first dragged her, blindfolded, to the chair and tied her hands. He'd left and she'd desperately tried to get her phone to call someone, whispering 'ok google' urgently at it as loud as she dared. How desperate she'd felt, how impotently angry, when the damn thing had refused to understand her panicked command for it to 'call Jughead'. She'd tried 'call Veronica' next and then eventually, louder than she should have risked and only seconds before her captor returned, "call Archie, god please call Archie"

She'd believed herself to be in the hands of a murderous psychopath and those were the names she'd cried out. Her best friends, her private army.

"I know," she nods, forces a wan smile, and takes a forkful of pancake and a slug of coffee just so she can avoid speaking for a few moments. Veronica mirrors the action, delicately dipping a finger in the syrup. Betty watches her sensuous lips as she sucks the sweetness from her fingertip and wonder's if she'll ever stop picturing those lips on Jughead's skin.

As if suddenly telepathic Veronica takes a quick harsh breath and speaks. "Look Betty, I know I've said this already but I am so sorry about everything that happened with Jughead"

She gives a series of slow deliberate nods as she gathers her thoughts. "So much has happened these last few weeks. There's so much to process with you and Jug and Archie. There's literally weeks of working through it and needing space and healing and, God, I don't want to go through that. Not with all this family drama brewing too"

Veronica's eyes fill and the dark girl presses her lips together and nods in defeat. She looks ready to bolt when Betty reaches across and joins their hands again. "What I mean is can't we skip it? Can't we just be ok? All four of us, do you think we could just be ok?"

Veronica nods urgently. "Yes, God yes. I want that. We can totally do that"

She gives her friend an amused close-lipped smile at the determination in her voice. "Do we have to consult the guys."

"Hell no," Veronica's smiling too, the two of them suddenly buoyant and hopeful. "They'll just have to get with the programme"

They laugh. It's short and weak but it's genuine and for the first time in weeks Betty feels approximately normal.

Archie and Jughead look surprised when the two girls enter Pop's together later that day looking every inch the B and V power couple they once were.

"Hi," Veronica chirps and Betty smiles at the confused look the two boys share.

"Er, hi, you," Jughead tilts his head questioningly. "Two?"

They order shakes and she feels that old familiar feeling of belonging, of safety, that accompanies the four of them, together, in a booth at Pop's.

Veronica does the explaining. "We figure we're all going to forgive each other eventually, right? So why no fast forward through all the histrionics and cut straight to the end"

Archie smiles. He's perhaps the most wronged out of the four of them and yet of course he's the one most happy to take the easy road to reconciliation. "That make's sense, sure. What you say Jug?"

"I say, that sounds incredibly unhealthy and potentially disastrous" His words might be damning but his tone is warm and his arm has found its way around her middle. "But sure, why not? I'm in"

"Perfect," Veronica raises her glass. "To not being patient"

That night it feels like maybe it could be that easy. Jughead's arm doesn't leave her waist and she doesn't once think of him with Veronica even when her friend gives him a withering look that sparkles beneath its surface with and undercurrent of undeniable affection or when he snags a handful of Veronica's fries without asking.

It does work, mostly. The four of them fall back into rhythm together. In the school cafeteria, in Pop's, on the bleachers when the sun shines and spring finally starts pressing a little warmth into the chilled air. They are together, laughing, talking, pretending so perfectly that everything is fine that most days she feels like everything actually is.

Except that Archie sometimes, rarely because he's not bitter by nature, let's out a snide comment about her and Jughead. Except that sometimes when Veronica gilds one of her stories with a particularly clever literary reference, Jughead catches the latina's eye and smiles without the use of his lips. Except that when she sees them speak with their eyes that way, rarely because their gazes don't often linger, she still gets the strong urge to drag her boyfriend away to the nearest lockable room and screw every memory he has of Veronica out of him.

They haven't slept together in the few weeks since they got back together. Jughead seems determined to fall back into their old rhythm of long talks and long kisses. Hands above the waist and clothes barely disturbed.

Sure, he was right that day in the trailer when she'd jumped him in primal attempt to stake her claim. She's still a little embarrassed by the way she'd behaved that day, she thinks wryly sometimes that she may as well have just peed on him so Neanderthal was her desire to mark him as her territory.

He was right then. But she's starting to think he's less right now. She feels him when they're together, hard in his jeans, wanting her as much as she's been wanting him. His hands through her sweater are possessive, pulling her close, mapping her curves hungrily and she can't imagine what he's still waiting for.

He walks her home one night after Pop's to an empty house and they find their way to her bedroom where she kisses him until he's breathless. "I should go," he mumbles between kisses. He keeps half pulling back but just the slightest tug of her hands can pull him back in like she has him on a piece of elastic.

"Stay," she breathes into the air when he trails kisses down her throat. It's barely audible so softly does she speak, but her voice is a command. He pauses for a moment, lips stilling on her neck, hands tightening on her sides. Then she thinks she hears him whisper 'fuck it' into her skin, or maybe she simply fills in the sentiment of his body as he pulls her hard against his and finds her mouth again with a kiss so deep his tongue traces her back teeth and she moans and sucks on it making him groan in response.

Then it's happening and all she can think is finally! He opens her blouse, fingers sure and deft with the tiny heart shaped buttons, and fondles her breast through her bra.

"God, Jug" she presses her chest against his hands, silently demanding more contact. He groans and pushes the cups aside so he can lavish the attentions of his mouth on her hardened nipples.

She's aware she's not really doing anything as he trails wet kisses over her chest and neck and up to her ear where he catches the lobe lightly between his teeth and whispers her name gruffly against her skin. She's just sort of clinging to him, her hands hooked over his shoulders head tipped back to allow him all the access he wants, body trembling in nervous expectation.

She wants to take some shred of control, she knows her boldness in the trailer when they'd just reunited, however misguided, had turned him on and she'd love to flip him onto his back, strip off her shirt and watch his eyes darken with desire. But she's only done this once and she's paralysed by nerves. He's not. His hands move boldly under her top mapping her skin a making her tingle with desire.

Her clothes come off under his hands, falling away like wilting petals scattered on the floor. He's still fully dressed when he runs his fingers around the waistband of her polka dotted cotton panties and whispers, "God you're beautiful" into her mouth.

She tugs haphazardly at his t-shirt in a clumsy silent demand for it to be gone and he reaches over his shoulder and pulls it off one-handed in a move so utterly James Dean sexy that she actually whimpers in response. This is not how she imagined their first time.

She'd imagined a crack in his voice and a tremble in his hands. She'd imagined herself smiling bashfully, lovingly, at him, serene and welcoming. Telling him in the sweetest whisper that she loves him and not to be nervous.

He's not nervous and she's far from serene. The trembling in her body that started out as apprehension has morphed into arousal and the paralysis into frenzied action. She's tugging at him, his hair, his shoulders, his belt. "Christ Betty" he gasps when she manages to get a hand down the front of his low-slung jeans.

Jughead undoes his belt himself and she uses her foot to help divest him of his jeans and boxers in one move as his fingers find their way beneath her knickers and into the warm wetness beneath. She makes a gasping choking sound when he pushes his fingers into her, it's a noise so strange that he pulls back suddenly. "You ok?"

"Yes," she drags his mouth back to hers for a quick hard kiss. "Yes. God don't stop"

She's vaguely aware of him retrieving his wallet from his jacket on the chair beside her bed. But with his tongue massaging hers and his fingers palm deep in her pussy she's not exactly paying attention until her pulls his mouth away from hers to tear open the condom wrapper with his teeth.

"You sure Betts" he asks before he rolls it on, although her consent is hardly ambiguous. She's all grasping greedy hands and urgent moans as she undulates her body beneath his.

"Yes, God yes. Please Jug"

He's at her entrance, she can feel the tip of him nudging her achingly empty centre. "Say that again" he rumbles in her ear arousal making his voice deep and gravelly.

"Please" she repeats and he lets out a guttural moan and slides smoothly inside her slick body.

"Betts" he whispers when he's deep inside her. "God, you feel so good."

He sets a deep slow rhythm that makes her whimper and push her hips up against his. Part of her wants him rushed, as desperate as she feels. She wants him surging into her gasping her name into her skin helpless with need for her.

Jughead it seems couldn't be further from that image of urgent male weakness. He takes his time, gliding in and out of her with agonising tenderness that makes her melt, as sweet and sticky as ice cream, in his hands. It's wonderful and it's all consuming but it's not enough and she fears his patience will be inexhaustible where hers is not. So, she pushes at his chest and he lets her roll them so she's above him looking down at him looking up at her with so much love in his eyes she almost can't bear the perfection of it.

He's beautiful she thinks as she begins to move. He's all sharp hip bones between her thighs and wiry muscle under her hands where they press against his chest. He's wild dark hair against her pastel pillow and full parted lips whispering her name. "God, jug" she gasps, feeling the buzz of sensation in her lower belly as she rides him harder bouncing up and down on his cock, a little jerkily, whimpering in frustration when she can't find her rhythm.

"Hey," he sits up and takes her in a strong uncompromising hold, one hand on her shoulder the other on her hip. He guides her body as he sucks on her nipples, grinding her clit against him on every thrust making her breath come in short sharp gasps.

She makes an indistinct noise of approval as he starts to thrust up to meet her, increasing the friction on her clit and hitting her somewhere deep inside that makes her belly coil with pleasure.

Her orgasm builds quickly, her body tensing and relaxing rhythmically as they move together. She hopes for a second he'll come with her then she's gone. He's holding her hips still and thrusting hard up into her and she's coming in a hot wet rush all over him with his name stamped across her mouth. As she comes down she realises she has no idea if he came or not and his thrusts had steadied to a lazy roll as he kisses her neck tenderly. "Ok?" he mumbles and she nods.

"Yes, wow, I- Did you-?"

He nips her skin lightly enough that she won't need to hide a bruise form her mother. "Not yet"

"Sorr-"

"Betts," he doesn't let her apologise, he's giving her the most adoring smile she's ever seen and cradling her jaw in one hand as he asks huskily. "Will you let me make you come again?"

"Oh, uh, I," she chokes a little, feeling bashful at his directness. "Ok"

He has her on her back before she's finished forming the words, hooking her leg over his hips and slipping a hand under her arse to change the angle so that he's hitting he in all the right places as he attacks her mouth with wet messy kisses that seem to connect her tongue directly to a place low in her belly just above where their bodies are joined.

His hands take possession of her, squeezing her breasts, stroking her waist, adjusting her pliant body until he has her in the exact position he wants and she's building again, ripping her mouth away from his just so she can release some of the almost unbearable pressure inside.

She gasps as he moves seamlessly to gently kissing and sucking the column of her throat and murmuring how beautiful she is, how much good she feels, against her skin. "God Betts," he murmurs in a voice like the taking of an oath. "I love you"

"I love you too"

He physically shudders at her words, the delicious rhythm faltering, then he's giving her what she wanted two weeks ago in the trailer. He's thrusting fiercely into her and pledging himself against her skin. "Yours Betty, only yours"

The words bring her to the brink of release and she's gasping in time with his thrusts as she repeats the words against her ear, into her hair, across the soft mound of her breast. She's close, chanting out a litany of 'please' and 'yes', and 'oh god', when he takes her arse I both hands and lifts her backside of the mattress as he drives into her.

"Jughead," she keens as she falls headlong into her second orgasm knowing he's right there with her this time grunting in her ear as she swears creatively into his.

They go still together, his body heavy and sated on hers. He doesn't spare her his weight, she thinks he knows she can take it. Then he chuckles in her ear and for a horrible second, which if she thought about rationally she'd know was ludicrous, she thinks she did something wrong.

"Where did you learn to curse like that Betty Cooper?" He asks with a grin as he lifts up on one elbow to look into her face. "Do you have a secret navy past I should know about?"

She shoves him lightly and ducks her head with a giggle. "I've got layers" she declares decorating this perfect moment in delicate nostalgia.

"That you do my love," he rolls off her and she mourns the loss of connection as he slips out of her body and moves away to her bathroom to divest himself of the condom. He walks back in, naked and confident. She hadn't expected him to be so at ease with his own nudity as he comes back to the bed running a hand through his tangled hair as he approaches.

She pushes down hard on the thought that this confidence comes from experience. That being naked with another person is not as strange to him as it is to her. That he has walked this way before under Veronica's dark appreciative gaze.

He doesn't mention her unease as he wraps her up in his arms again, hooking his heel over the back of her calf to draw her leg in between his. But she thinks he must have sensed it because he kisses her shoulder and tells her that this was wonderful, that she was amazing.

"I love you" he says at last and the tension, she hadn't realised had turned her shoulders to stone, dissipates, leaving her boneless and content in the afterglow.

"I love you," she replies snuggling closer into the warm circle of his arms welcoming the warmth of his body and the lullaby cadence of his heartbeat under her ear as she falls asleep.

A/N did i mention reviewing? Oh i did? well no harm mentioning it again i guess ;-P