A/N: Hey, everyone! Looks like we've "finally" (lol) made it to our last 2 chapters. I'm so excited for you guys to read them. I've had this ending planned out since chapter 7! I really really hope you like it and please comment when you finish! Thank you, thank you, thank you a million times over. I love you all so much and I hope you enjoy it!
"There." Alice said as she sweetly guided Elizabeth to her bed. She helped her lay her head on her pillow as she handed her the bag of frozen peas she took with her up the stairs. "Hold that where it hurts most." She watched Betty, feeling a bit uneasy seeing her so confused and out of it. "Maybe I should take you to the hospital."
"What? Mom, no. I'll be fine."
"Betty, sweetie. You lost your memory. And from what Chic said, it sounds as if you may have hit your head really hard. You could have a concussion." Alice rested her hand upon Betty's knee, sitting on the edge of the bed beside her. "How many fingers am I holding up?" Alice held up both her index and middle finger, waiting for a response. When Betty refused to answer, she picked up her cell phone, googling other signs of a concussion.
"Ma, I won't have a concussion. I think I just need some best." The sixteen year old forced some of her words out with difficulty.
"What was that?" Alice asked her to repeat.
"Mm…" Betty held the frozen peas on the right side of her head and closed her eyes.
"Betty! Betty, no!" Alice stood, tapping her daughter on the hip. "Don't go to sleep. I'm taking you to the hospital. Come on!"
Elizabeth groaned. "I just want sleeeep." She whined, slurring her words once again.
"No. Your pupils are dilated and you sound as drunk as Captain Morgan. Let's go." After quickly locking her phone and setting it in her pocket, she carefully took her youngest by the arm and slowly pulled her up in the bed. She guided Betty's arm around her shoulder and led her to the staircase. "I swear to God, that boy is gonna get it." She mumbled to herself when they made it to the top of the stairs, heading down the first step with caution.
"Mom?" Chic's shaky voice sounded when they were halfway down.
"Charles!" The journalist spoke as she held most of Betty's weight, almost to the bottom step. "I don't wanna hear a sob story right now. I'm-"
"Alice…" A familiar voice rang out.
Both Betty and Alice looked up to see it. Him. The man in the black hood. They both stopped moving immediately, leaving themselves on the last step. Frozen as they saw the man whose hand held a gun, pointed at poor Chic, still alone and afraid in his corner. Alice quickly looked to Elizabeth beside her with shock before turning her attention back to the hooded figure. She was wrong. The whole time. She was wrong. Chic wasn't the Black Hood. But she knew. She knew exactly who it was the moment she heard him.
Alice scoffed before letting out a laugh with a shake of her head. "Hal Cooper." She clicked her tongue before she finally stopped shaking her head. "It was you. This whole time. And it was you." She nodded. "I've gotta hand it to you, Harold. I really never thought you'd be the murdering type."
"It's not murder!" He yelled, yanking the hood off his head and letting it fall to the floor. "It's justice!"
"Justice?!" Betty finally spoke up through the massive pain in her head. "Dad, you killed Miss Grundy. You almost killed Mr. Andrews. I thought he was your friend."
"Fred Andrews? My friend?" Hal laughed. "Psh! I don't have any friends."
"Well, at least you're finally admitting it to yourself." Alice sneered. "Why, Hal? Why all of this?"
"It's like I told Betty….I'm trying to make this town safe for her. I'm ridding Riverdale of its scum. And after I pinned everything on Svenson and made sure the investigation was closed, I expected the town to clean up its act, but instead things just got worse. And then he showed up." He turned his head to look at Chic for a brief moment before turning his head again. "I knew that eventually I'd have to pick up the Hood again, I just didn't know it'd be so soon nor did I know that I would find a good reason for Chic to be my first victim for my returning act. But this afternoon when you told me about that little act of murder he committed in here, I realized I finally found his sin." He turned to face Chic once more and he pulled the trigger.
Both Betty and Alice screamed at the sound of the gunshot and Betty looked away as Alice's eyes were squeezed shut. When she opened them, she was more than relieved to see Chic still standing, though he held tightly to his left shoulder as blood poured from it. "Hal! What the fuck is wrong with you?!" She cried.
"Dad?" Betty finally turned to see that her brother lived and she pulled her arm off of her mother's shoulder. She leaned against the railing of the staircase to hold herself up. "Why are you doing this?" Elizabeth let the tears fall.
"Because Betty. Isn't this what you wanted? A better town? A better life? With better people in it? As your father, that's my duty." He sighed. "And if that means that I have to get rid of Chic and your mother too, then so be it." He turned his body, pointing the gun at Alice.
"No, no, Dad! Don't shoot!" Betty put one arm in front of her mother, wanting desperately to step in front of her, though she lacked the balance and stability at the moment. "Mom hasn't done anything wrong." She cried.
"See? I thought the same thing myself. When she came home earlier, I left without touching Chic because I realized she would catch me and I'd have to kill her...which I didn't want to do because I couldn't think of 'anything wrong' that she had ever done. So, instead of risking getting caught, I decided to leave and come back for Chic some other time, but then I remembered…"
"Remembered what?" His daughter wondered from the staircase.
"A little detail I learned about your mother at work today." He smiled smugly.
"And what's that?" Betty asked, clenching her teeth with anger and a feeling of betrayal.
"She's pregnant. Now, I did the math and if she was able to take a test already...that means she's at least more than a few weeks pregnant. Which means she'd have gotten pregnant before we were even divorced. And, if I'm correct on who the father is….then he's still married as well. Or he was at the time."
"Hal, I didn't sleep with him until AFTER we divorced." Alice interrupted.
"Oh." Hal nodded. "So it really is FP." He laughed with a shake of his head. "I mean….I knew it earlier, but you didn't really give me a straight answer and now you just confirmed it. So you still committed adultery anyway, because of Gladys." He briefly lowered his gun. "How many times are you gonna make a mistake with that Southside scum?" Hal looked down and blew disappointed air out of his nose. When he inhaled again, he looked back up to his ex wife and aimed the gun at her once more. "Looks like I'm gonna have to rid you of that mistake first."
"No!" Betty shouted, stepping in front of Alice. She wobbled with dizziness as her eyes rolled to the back of her head and she fell off the bottom step and onto the floor beneath Alice.
"Betty!" Alice screamed, attempting to lean over to tend to her.
"Ah, ah! You stay right where you are." Hal demanded.
"Just let me see if she's okay! Please?" She begged. "Hal, this is our baby." Her voice cracked as they stared at each other for a second.
"Alright, fine. But you're staying right beside her." He warned.
Alice rolled her eyes and made her way down the last step to kneel beside her youngest. "Betty? Betty, can you hear me? Wake up! Come on, baby."
"Is-is she breathing?" Hal wondered from across the room.
Alice checked her pulse and watched her chest slowly rise and fall. "Just barely." She looked up to Hal. "We have to get her to a hospital. Is this what you wanted, Hal? Is this how you plan to keep Betty safe?" She asked from the floor. "You bash her head into our fridge? Give her a concussion?"
"I didn't want to do that, but I thought she'd be with Jughead tonight. I wasn't planning on her being here when I tried to….I didn't know I hit her that hard."
"Yeah, well...none of that matters. And all that does matter is keeping her safe. Keeping all of my children safe. And you already ruined that for me with Polly."
Hal let his head fall with annoyance and he scoffed. "Enough talking. I'm taking Betty to the hospital myself, but not until I kill you, your baby, and your precious son."
"I don't think you're gonna wanna do that." A new voice sounded from the front door and they all slowly turned their heads to see Forsythe Pendleton Jones the Second, accompanied by his son, both holding guns of their own.