CHAPTER TWENTY FIVE – Rewriting History

The news that he'd received not even an hour earlier that his housemate, one of his best friends, is terminally ill, with very little time left, had given Jughead one almighty push towards the edge that he's been gradually teetering closer and closer to for quite some time now. Then, seeing Betty and their daughter forming their own perfect little family without him and with Casey had been the final straw. It was the breaking point that crushed the raven-haired man as he turned around, making the decision to walk away from and leave his town and everyone in that town for good, once again.

After all, he feels like the world is against him. One of his best friends is dying. The mother of his child has moved on. His daughter doesn't need him; she never has. He has abandoned almost everyone he cares about, he hasn't been there and now he's suffering the consequences of letting so many people down when they had needed him most.

Then, it all happens within a moment.

A mere moment had been all it took for Jughead Jones to make up his mind, to make his decision, to turn around, to turn away, to turn his back on his ex-girlfriend and his daughter who he has convinced himself does not need him in her life.

But, a mere moment is also all that it takes for a little blonde girl to catch sight of the grief-stricken expression of one broken young man who just so happens to bear a remarkable resemblance to her. As the couple sitting across from her are distracted and from where she's sitting in the booth of the diner, one certain three-year-old looks out the big, glass windows of Pop's, just as Jughead is turning around and just as he is walking away.

Now, it would be just like last time when the same young man made the same decision, resolving within himself to turn around and walk away from this town and his life in this town...

Except, this time, someone stops it.

"Look! It's my daddy! It's Juggie! He's sad!"

The two adults on the other side of the booth have barely had time to catch sight of what the little three-year-old has seen as she releases a little gasp before darting out of her seat and bolting away as fast as her little legs will carry her, racing away from the table, out of the diner and further away from Pop's.

"Juggie! Daddy!"

When Jughead hears the little voice following after him distantly, he stops on the spot but fails to turn around. Instead, he doesn't move a muscle as he just stays glued there, frozen solid, desperately attempting to regain even a smidgen of composure with little footsteps rapidly approaching him from behind.

"Daddy! It's Bailey!"

The little girl is desperate to reach her father, she's desperate to give him a hug, to make him feel better as she races as fast as her little legs will carry her towards her dad.

So, there, right out the front of Pop's, one broken young man stands there, hearing his daughter approaching him, while the mother of his child and her boyfriend approach them, just steps behind the little girl.

The spectacle is certainly nothing like the last time Jughead resolved to leave town without a trace four years ago. And, like last time, Jughead hadn't expected anyone or anything to take note.

But, ironically, the person that is stopping him from leaving this time is the thing, the one little person, that would have made him stay, last time.

"Juggie!" Bailey exclaims as she grabs at her father's hand to turn him around, almost as though she doesn't know that she has already caught his attention.

"Bailey..." Jughead just croaks. He knows he needs to do or say something, but all that comes out is his daughter's name. As much as he wants to be able to reassure her and tell her he's okay, he just cannot find those words.

Then, with Betty and Casey just steps behind the father and daughter too, all three of them see Jughead's poorly veiled tears that clearly display his distress. In a feeble attempt to brush it off, he swipes at his damp cheeks with his arm roughly.

However, upon seeing his clear distress and upset, Casey quickly springs to actions and takes the distressed young man's daughter who is standing in front of him into his own arms, picking her up and turning away from seeing him, carrying her back towards the diner instead. Casey does it for both Bailey and Jughead's sake, figuring that Bailey shouldn't have to see her father in that state, and that Jughead wouldn't want her to.

After all, Casey has heard of what Jughead Jones had been through...

It was a well-known fact around town that many years Gladys Jones had left with her daughter, abandoning her husband and their young son. Then, it also became common knowledge that Jughead had been homeless for a considerable amount of time, too. Just from the few things he knows about Jughead, Casey can tell that Jughead has been put through the wringer and he safely assumes that he would have had to gain a thick skin, very quick and very young. He can imagine that he is not the type to break easily and he is right in believing that it would take quite a lot to get him to the state that his daughter has just found him in.

So, regretfully acknowledging that his girlfriend -who happens to be the other man's ex- is the best equipped to handle the situation, Casey takes their daughter in order to give Jughead and Betty a few moments of peace and privacy without Bailey having to see her dad in such a state.

"How about we let your mummy and daddy talk to each other for just a minute while we go and check if our food's ready. We should go and order your dad a drink too, hey?"

Both Jughead and Betty can hear their daughter's heartbreaking protests of concern, repeating: 'but my daddy's sad!' over and over again as Casey carries her off. But, they know they'll be able to reassure her just a little later on.

Then, once Casey has carried Bailey off to preoccupy her from within the diner, the former lovers are left alone, right there out the front of Pop's.

Instantly, one of Betty's hands flies up to Jughead's cheek as the other clutches at his shoulder. Her supportive gesture is enhanced as she looks up at him with deep concern, looking him squarely in his blue orbs that are glassy and reddened at the present moment.

"Juggie? What's wrong? Has something happened? Is there something I can do? Talk to me..." Betty's voice is so soft and so gentle; it's filled with concern for the man standing in front of her.

However, the raven-haired man just stands there for a long, long time before an uncontrollable sniffle surfaces, forcing Jughead to speak.

"He's dying, Betty."

The three words alone fill Jughead's reddened eyes with fresh tears all over again. While they threaten to fall, the glassy tears stay pooling within Jughead's blue eyes as Betty's own stomach plummets, prompting her to take a step closer to her daughter's father as she places both her hands on his shoulders, either side of his neck.

"Who? Who's dying?" Betty asks in little more than a whisper. She feels utterly terrified in the maddening silence, left to be tormented by all the potential answers that her mind conjures up.

"Doug. My housemate in Oklahoma... One of my best friends... He said he doesn't have long left and I didn't even know he was sick."

While Betty has never met the man that Jughead is talking about, she knows of him and she is aware of the profound impact that he has had on Jughead's life.

After all, she knows that Doug was one of Jughead's only friends in Oklahoma and she knows that they have lived together almost the entire four years that Jughead was gone. But, she also knows that Doug was the one who was there for him... When Jughead left Riverdale with ending his own life in mind, Doug had been the one who brought the broken teenager back from the brink. He'd helped him out, he'd helped him to keep on fighting through the bad days and he helped to get him settled and back on his feet in the new city.

Although he has done so much more than that for the younger man over the years, ultimately Doug had helped Jughead to see the light at the end of a very dark tunnel. Without him, the father of Betty's daughter wouldn't be standing in front of her today.

So, from where her hands are placed on his shoulders and on either side of Jughead's neck, after hearing the revelation coming from the raven-haired-man standing before her, Betty's hands lower and move towards his back, pulling him in for a hug. She can only imagine how he's feeling.

"Oh, Juggie... I'm so sorry."

After she opens her arms out to her ex-boyfriend, the two stay there, right out the front of Pop's, standing in the lingering embrace of their hug as Betty allows Jughead to absorb as much strength as he needs from her in that moment.

Then, Jughead eventually pulls away, covering his red eyes and damp, blotchy skin with his hands that clasp over his face.

"I've got to go to Oklahoma. I'm sorry. I've got to leave. It's the least I can do for him. I owe that -and so much more- to Doug."

Jughead isn't sure quite what he's expecting. Anger, perhaps? Maybe disappointment... He assumes that the worse case scenario is Betty relinquishing his right to be in their daughter's life after ruining his last chance, but he doesn't know exactly what to expect and he doesn't know what's coming next.

However, he certainly doesn't expect the response that he does get...

"We're coming with you. If you're going back to Oklahoma, then Bailey and I are coming too."

Through his red, bleary eyes, Jughead gives Betty a look that is riddled with disbelief from her words.

"Betty, no... You can't afford it. You don't have to haul our daughter halfway across the country for my sake."

"I can't let you go alone. Not in this state. Not now that I know the reason why you left Riverdale for Oklahoma the first time. I won't let you feel that alone again."

One of Betty's hands raises to Jughead's cheek tenderly, comfortingly. Although she speaks in little more than a whisper, Betty's concern and deep care for the father of her child speaks volumes at the painful reminder of the fact that he'd left her -he'd left them- in order to end his own life all those years ago, when a broken boy lost his final bit of hope for life.

"We're here for you, Jug. Me, our little girl, we're here for you..."

#

After Betty announced that she and her daughter would be joining Jughead on his trip back over to Oklahoma the plans quickly came to fruition, knowing that they are in a race against the clock.

Initially they'd decided to catch the next bus over seeing as neither Jughead or Betty could afford plane fares, especially at the amount that they'd need to fork out for the last-minute trip.

However, upon learning of their plans, Casey had intervened. While he himself had a work trip to Seattle that he couldn't reschedule, Casey had quickly spoken up after hearing that Betty and Jughead were catching the bus over with their daughter, just desperately hoping that the far slower trip will leave them with enough time in the race against the clock, hoping that Jughead would reach his friend before he passed away. Explaining that he had more than enough frequent flier points accrued, Casey offered to send Betty, Jughead and Bailey over to Oklahoma by plane, rather than bus.

Despite Jughead's repeated attempts to turn Betty's boyfriend's offer down, Casey insisted that you can't put a price on the value of someone's life and the opportunity to see someone for the very last time. He was also reminded that the difference in travel time between a flight and a bus trip could be the difference in making it in time or not. So, detailing that with no payback, no favours and no repayment, Casey insisted on getting Jughead over to Oklahoma with Betty and Bailey, as quickly as they can in the race against the clock.

Betty and Jughead then went their separate ways for Betty to quickly pack a few essentials for herself and her daughter, while Jughead quickly flew past his father's trailer to collect his wallet that he needed and a couple of other necessaries. When FP had caught wind of Jughead's travels plans and his housemate's impending demise, he too insisted on joining his son, his granddaughter and the girl who is like a daughter to him on their trip, too. After all, FP wanted the opportunity to thank the man that had been there for his son when he needed it, when he wasn't. He wanted to thank him for helping Jughead to become the man that he has become, with Doug being such a positive influence on FP's son at such an impressionable age.

Consequently, within hours there are four individuals all aboard the same flight. The two young parents are sharing an aisle with their daughter, while FP sits on the end seat of the row beside the trio.

While Betty was a little terrified of how her daughter would go flying for the very first time, Bailey had taken it like a pro, grumbling about her sore ears for just a few minutes after take-off, before conking out within the first half an hour of the flight.

Giving Jughead the window seat, Betty had seated herself in the middle of the cluster of seats, sitting between him and their daughter. After all, Betty figured it was the best position to be able to be there for them both, able to care for Bailey as needed, keep her preoccupied with food, listen to her jabbers and answer the millions of 'are we there yet?' while still being able to offer support to Jughead, without him having so many interruptions from their three-year-old and avoiding Bailey having to see her father in his shell-shocked, grief-stricken state.

A short while into the flight, just after the air hostesses have brought the first round of refreshments around, Betty asks Jughead a whispered question after she has spent the last few minutes watching him intently, riddled with concern.

"Jug? How are you doing?" Betty gently asks the beanie-clad man who is sitting to her left.

Turning from where he'd been looking out the small window of the plane and watching the stark white and light blue hues, Jughead looks to Betty after she's raised the question to him.

"I'm trying to wrap my head around it. I just can't believe it... Before I left, he was fine. He seemed so healthy. And now-"

Betty can hear the croak of the lump in his throat in Jughead's voice as he trails off, unable to finish his sentence. Then, as she sees the despair, the heartbreak in his eyes, she can't stop herself from comforting him, doing anything she can to shoulder his burden, to take away even just a little bit of his pain.

So, looking to where his arm is on the arm-rest between them, Betty's hand swoops in and takes her hand into his, clutching it tightly with a squeeze of reassurance. He looks down to their intertwined hands before his gaze flies up to her as Jughead gives Betty an appreciative look and just the very smallest of smiles.

For a good few moments they share that look as the care on her face is returned with his own little smile of gratitude. However, it is over all too soon, fading away gradually before Betty glances over to their daughter as she shifts on the seat beside her just a little while Jughead's gaze returns to looking out of the planes window once again. However, even after the look that they had shared has drawn to a close, their hands stay in place. The truth of the matter is that it is far too easy to fall back into old habits under the premise of support.

A few minutes pass before Jughead looks to the blonde sitting beside him who is on her phone, appearing to be typing something in her notes before he speaks up.

"Betty?"

With her attention captured, the blonde looks back to the father of her child who's sitting to her left, expectantly waiting for him to continue speaking after uttering her name, abandoning the note that she'd been halfway through typing.

"Thank you for coming."

Betty just gives Jughead a kind smile. She doesn't tell him 'that's okay' or 'it's no trouble at all', because Betty wouldn't have it any other way.

Across the aisle, FP Jones notes the hand-hold between the former lovers, as their daughter sleeps peacefully on the seat beside her mother. The older man sees the look that they share. Betty's eyes are filled with concern for his son, while Jughead's walls don't fly up. He lets her see him like this and he doesn't bother trying to hide his pain or conceal his grief in front of her.

It's raw... Her care and his vulnerability.

The silent exchange is such a beautifully raw moment between the two parents.

There's so much care, there's so much concern and there's so much love between the two who have such a long, heartbreaking and deep history with each other.

However, that deep love and mutual care is only evident to the bystander, to the third party watching on in the background, observing the two, utterly oblivious youths.

So, despite poor Jughead's crumbling world, I hope you liked the way that that played out. I told you to trust me, didn't I? Thankfully the most Bughead chapter that this story has seen yet came when the fandom needs it more than ever. Anyway, don't forget to let me know what you thought of the chapter and the way things have unfolded in what certainly made for a bit of a game changer!

Biggest of thank you's to everyone who left feedback on the last chapter. Thank you, thank you, thank you!

Next chapter: It's a race against the clock. Have they made it in time? Then, Jughead's loved ones rally around him in support.