Hey, guys! So, including this chapter, there are just five chapters left of this story! We're on the home straight now :)

Polly and Betty stayed at the hospital for another four hours, and it was...Weird. It was good, but weird. Betty had never had a great relationship with her mother—even when she was doing everything that Alice wanted; as a child, as a teenager—they had never got on well. At first Betty had been quiet, taken aback by how interested Alice seemed in her life. When she had told Polly initially about her job and her course at the University, she had said that she didn't want her to tell their parents. Polly had said that Betty should be the one to do it, and she respected her choice.

It had been a week or so ago, when Polly had left her laptop open at the shop where the Coopers ran their local newspaper out of. Hal had been out getting lunch, while Alice was still at the office. Alice—and the nosiness that was ingrained into her bones—couldn't help but glance over at Polly's laptop, and saw one of the photo's that Betty was tagged in, probably by Kevin or even more likely, Veronica. Both Polly and Betty exchanged looks, guessing that Alice probably opened up Polly's internet and went to Facebook, rather than it just being conveniently open for her, but they didn't say anything. Alice had seen a photo of Betty and Jughead tagged in a photo together, and she had seen pictures of them with Jugheads bike in the photo, including the photo that Betty loved so much.

She had been worried, and had begged Polly to tell her that Betty was okay, and that she hadn't just gone off the rails and was living life with some biker and slowly getting every inch of her body tattooed. So Polly had broken down and told her that Betty was doing absolutely fine, that she had a job and she had even signed herself up for courses at the University. Polly was going to tell Betty, give her a heads up in case Alice called her, but she hadn't gotten around to it, and then the accident had happened.

Before the sisters left the hospital, Alice insisted on Betty booking her flight back to Los Angeles and seeing the receipt for it on her phone to confirm that she had actually done it. She had also asked for more details about Jughead, which Betty hadn't felt too comfortable on, but she had talked about how he had been the one to help her find a job, and the blush on her cheeks and stutter in her voice were enough to give away how much she liked him. Alice hugged Betty tight before she left—still looking fragile and delicate in the hospital bed, despite the colour that was now showing in her cheeks—and told her to make sure she called when she landed back in Los Angeles.

"So," Polly began with a twist of her mouth as the pair sat in the front seat of her car, blankly staring ahead in the cars parked in front of them. "That was..."

"Unexpected?" Betty offered weakly. Polly was quiet for a moment, just nodding her head, not to sure what she was meant to say. But then a small smile crossed her face, and reached across the center console of the car and squeeze Betty's hand.

"She's right, you know?" Polly said quietly. "Everything that she said? She's right." Betty wasn't sure what to say, still processing everything that her mother had said to her. It was so completely unlike Alice, that she was actually wondering if perhaps her mother had hit her head harder than the doctors had thought. Polly started the car, as though understanding that it was a lot for Betty to take in, and she started the drive home. Betty's flight was leaving at nine in the morning tomorrow, and it was now just after lunch. The girls were going to head home, and Hal was apparently heading back to the hospital, so hopefully Betty wasn't going to have to see him for too long. Not that she didn't want to see her father, per se, but she really didn't want to have another confrontation. Polly was going to take Betty back to hospital to see their mother once more before heading to the airport so that she could make her flight.

"So, he's home," Betty mumbled as Polly pulled the car into the driveway, next to Hal's station wagon, the same one that he had taught both his daughters to drive in.

"It's okay, Betty," Polly assured her. "I've got your back."

"Just like you always have," Betty smiled over at her sister, reaching over to squeeze her arm lightly. They got out of the car, both of the sisters feeling apprehensive as they walked toward the front door. Just was Polly was about to reach for the door, it opened, and Hal was standing there, looking as though he was on his way out. He stopped short when he saw them, eyes flickering between the two blondes in front of him.

"I'm heading back to the hospital," he muttered. "I'll probably spend the night with your mother again." He stepped past them, eyes on his keys that were in his hands. Betty bit down on her lip nervously, curling her fingernails into her palms as she wondered if she should call out after her father. It was the last time that she would probably seem him for ww ehile, if he was spending the night with her mother, and she was leaving in the morning.

"Hey, dad?" Betty called out after Hal, and he stopped walking, although he didn't turn around to face her. "I'm flying back to LA in the morning...So I'm not sure if I'll see you before I leave."

"You're just going to leave?" Hal arched an eyebrow at his youngest daughter. "While your mothers in hospital?" Because of you, Betty finished in the sentence in her head, able to read the accusation in her fathers eyes. But Polly moved so that she was standing directly behind Betty, and her warmth gave Betty strength.

"Mum told me to go home," she continued. "She told me to go back to LA, because she knows how happy I am there." Hal frowned at her, and looked as though he was going to interrupt, but Betty kept talking, not allowing him to speak. "You can't keep me in a box anymore, dad, I'm not a little girl anymore," she swallowed hard, feeling uncomfortable but proud for sticking up for herself. "I know that you wanted me to be a lawyer, I know that you wanted me to follow in Polly's footsteps, because you believe that it would provide me with a stable career, steady income and a good future, but I'm not Polly. I'm Elizabeth." Hal blinked at her. "And I don't want you to think that I don't appreciate everything that you've done for me, but it's time for me to do what I want and what makes me happy, not you, and not mum." Hal didn't look as though he was going to say anything anymore, his eyes were wide and his mouth was open in surprise. "I'm sorry that I can't be the perfect daughter that you wanted, but you've already got that. You've got Polly. She likes being a lawyer, and she likes Riverdale. Now I need to find what I like, and where I want to be." She didn't really know what else to say, that had been emotional enough to blurt out.

"We're going to stop by the hospital in the morning before I take Betty to the airport," Polly said softly from behind her sister. "We need to be at the airport just after eight, so we'll be at the hospital around seven thirty. We'll see you then?" Hal was still staring at Betty, and Betty couldn't blame him.

She had never stood up for herself to either of her parents before.

"Y-yeah," Hal managed to jerk his head in a nod, responding to Polly's question but still looking at Betty. After another tense moment passed, Hal turned on his heel and stalked to his car. Betty let out a long, heavy breath, and looked back at her sister, who was smiling at her.

"Good on you, Bets," Polly murmured, wrapping an arm around her shoulders and encouraging her forward, into the house. They were quiet as they walked back inside, going into the lounge which only had one difference to when Betty was growing up, and that was the family photo that was hanging above the piano in the corner, of Polly at her graduation and the family around her, big, cookie cutter smiles on their faces. Everything else was exactly the same, and it was kind of claustrophobic. Polly spoke to break the silence after a few minutes. "You know...You've kind of got dad's hopes up there."

"Huh?" Betty asked in confusion.

"Well, now he thinks that I'm the perfect daughter. Imagine how he's gonna react when he realizes that I'm dating Jason, one of the men who aren't on his approved list," Polly snorted with a shake of her head. Betty shrugged and smiled.

"At least you didn't drop out of University after wasting a couple of years of your life and racking up a ton of loans that you're never actually going to have any use for," Betty squinted. "Oh, and then moving half way across the country, getting into bed with the first guy who paid attention to you in a bar, then falling for him and his motorcycle." Polly just stared at Betty for a long moment, both eyebrows raised.

"And his name is Jughead," she supplied.

"And his name is Jughead," Betty confirmed with a nod.

Both sisters dissolved into fits of laughter.

Hal didn't come home from the hospital that night, but neither of the sisters were expecting him to. Polly rang his cellphone, and asked to speak with Alice, and both of the girls said goodnight. Apparently she was going to be discharged tomorrow afternoon, they just wanted to keep her for one more night for observation. She sounded a lot more alert than she had when they had been in to see her, and she even snapped at one of the nurses to tie her laces, and Betty could barely contain her snort.

Alice sounded as though she was definitely back.

Before going to bed, Betty rang Kevin, to arrange for him to pick her up when her flight landed the next day, as well as Jughead, to let him know that her trip was going to be a bit shorter than expected. Jughead still wanted to know what had sent her into hysterics this morning, and they ended up talking until close to midnight.

Polly took Betty out for an early breakfast in the morning, and then they stopped by the hospital, saying one last goodbye to Alice and Hal. Alice was sitting up, and Hal must have brought in some clothes and make up for her, because even though she was confined to the bed, her make up was impeccably done and she was wearing one of her blouses. Hal was quiet as they said goodbye, so obviously she had had a word with him, but when Betty gave him a hesitant hug goodbye, he gave her a tight squeeze and pressed a kiss against the side of her head, which felt good, like he had calmed down, and wasn't blaming her anymore.

And then an hour later, she was on a plane, flying back to Los Angeles.

Okay! Now in TV series news...I woke up last Friday morning and was absolutely devastated that Brooklyn Nine-Nine was cancelled. Then it got picked up by NBC and thank god! But Designated Survivor and Lucifer being cancelled...Shit, man. I'm pretty behind on Lucifer but I adore Designated Survivor and so I'm pretty upset about that. I'm glad we've got another season of Gotham, The 100, SVU and Criminal Minds coming up, so that eases my soul. And has everyone seen the trailer for the Sense8 finale? I still can't believe it's cancelled, it was such an amazing show! It was diverse and held incredible themes and amazing action and emotion. Shit, man. It was honestly one of the most beautiful shows and it changed my whole life and it made me cry so much, out of happiness and sadness. Excuse me while I got cry again about it being almost over...

Songs that I'm currently in love with; Young Love by Eli Lieb, So Far Away by David Guetta featuring Martin Garrix, Breathe In. Breathe Out by Hilary Duff—I will never not be in love with her, she's a symbol of my childhood!—Over and Over by Madeline Merlo and Fade Away by Breaking Benjamin. I haven't listened to Breaking Benjamin in ages and everytime I get back into their music I'm like why haven't I listened to this for so long? Oh, also. Weirdly enough—Delicate by Taylor Swift. I'm in no way a fan of Taylor Swift, loved her old stuff but over the past five years I just find her annoying, but I actually really liked this one.

As usual; recommend your favourite songs, TV series, movies and fanfics to me! I love to hear them from you! Leave a review and let me know what you think of the chapter, and let me know if you want a preview xxx