Hey guys :) So this is my last update of the year. I've got quite a lengthy A/N below, but in case you guys don't want to read my droning on and on, then I want to wish you guys a safe and a happy holidays and I will be back next year xxx

Also, I have posted several new stories, including a werewolf one called Put Your Heart On Mine, and a biker one, Wrong Side Of A Parallel Universe. I definitely have my favourite AU's. Haha. So check those out :)

"You know," Betty began with a wry smile. "I had a go at Cheryl just the other week for fooling around on this couch when there's a bedroom right upstairs," she let out a laugh and then her eyes widened in horror. "Oh gross," she muttered. "I hope her and Josie cleaned it up. Or we're, like, mixing with all their fluids and shit." Jughead let out a laugh and he couldn't help but cuddle Betty's body closer to his.

"A bit late to worry about it now, since we slept here last night," he noted.

After they had both come down from their sex high, Jughead had cleaned himself off and tossed away the condom, and then had come back to where Betty was still sitting on the bench and picked her up. His eyes had been hesitant as he had watched her, as though waiting for her to flip, to storm off, maybe to repeat her spiel about how this was a mistake and she had just got caught up in the moment.

Betty's heart hurt a little at that.

She hadn't been fair.

She still didn't know what she was doing, but she had a strong feeling that she wasn't going to be leaving Riverdale anytime soon.

And her high school boyfriend was a big part of her reason to stay.

He had carried her into the lounge, and then left her there to go upstairs and grab a duvet off her bed. They had both fallen asleep, and woken up in the early hours of the morning. They had been woken by the sun coming up in through the windows, since they hadn't shut the curtains. It was nearly an hour later now, and they were still cuddled together on the couch, the sun was slowly sinking in the sky and the room was bathed in the soft light of the evening sun, oranges and yellows painting the walls and furniture. Jughead was wearing his briefs, which he had put back on last night, and Betty had her underwear and a shirt on.

It didn't escape her notice that his thumb kept rubbing over that tattoo on her hip, almost subconsciously, as though he was reassuring himself that it was still there.

"I'm glad those two found each other," Jughead said quietly, and Betty made a small questioning noise. "Cheryl and Josie?"

"Oh, right," Betty smiled and nodded. "Yeah, me too. Cheryl had been completely obsessed with Josie when we were back in high school, and she had always taken it hard that they never had a chance when they were younger. I think it's cool that they've come back together," she went quiet and she shifted slightly. There were definitely similarities in what she had just said about Cheryl and Josie and then herself and Jughead. Jughead didn't comment for a moment, one of his hands lifted to stroke through her blonde hair.

"I remember them kissing a few times," he commented, his voice soft. "I remember them together that time we went to that house party just down the block from Mr Weatherbee's place." Betty's eyes widened as she remembered the night that he was talking about, and she laughed. Their principal had always been an asshole, and when someone had decided that it was a good idea to break into their principal's backyard and party in his pool given he was away for the weekend. There had been nearly twenty students that had climbed over the fence of Mr Weatherbee's backyard and invaded his pool. The place had ended up completely trashed, and it had never been pinned down who it was that had made the place such a mess, so there had been no arrests for breaking and entering, which had been lucky.

There had only been a few things that Betty remembered clearly from that night, given how drunk she had been. One of those things had been Cheryl and Josie, practically mounting each other in the pool, a bottle of vodka in Cheryl's hand, holding it above the water, and biting at Josie's neck. The other thing had happened later on, back at her place. Her parents had been out, and so she and Jughead had ended up in the spa.

"You thinking about what happened later that night?" Jughead asked quietly, and Betty couldn't help but let out a laugh.

"Maybe," she answered, but the twinkle in her eyes answered that question. They had been kissing in the spa, and then they had ended up having sex—the first time they had ever had sex, Betty loosing her virginity to him. "It was so romantic, having sex for the first time in my mum and dad's spa," she teased him, and Jughead let out a light laugh, but there was something that sounded off about the laugh, and Betty twisted her head back to look up at him. The smile was gone from his face, and he swallowed hard, his eyes shifting to look away from her.

"I didn't know what to do, Bets," he told her, his voice hoarse, and Betty pursed her lips together as she realized where his mind was. "I was young—we were young—and I was just...I was taken by surprise."

"Juggie..." Betty began, although she didn't know what she was going to say.

"I was so in love with you," Jughead continued, complete conviction in his voice, and Betty's stomach squeezed. "And I—I wanted us to have the baby. I don't know—I mean, I knew we weren't ready. Shit, and I was so scared at the time—sometimes now I still get scared, thinking back to that afternoon...When you told me. But I just...I got so wrapped up in how much I loved you, how much I had imagined us being together as we got older—and I just thought that we would be okay. It was a stupid idea, and more time that went by, the more I realized that, but at the time...I kind of just—just liked the idea of us having a family together." Betty could feel tears in her eyes and she let out a shaky breath through her nose.

"I know I was...I was hard on you," Betty said quietly, and she felt Jugheads hands tighten around her. "I didn't..." she took in another deep breath. "I didn't mean to be." Jughead licked his lips and his voice was even quieter as he continued.

"I just always felt...I always felt like maybe you blamed me," he murmured, and Betty's heart thudded in her chest, feeling that awful, heavy feeling of guilt settling over her. She knew that he had probably felt that way, she had just been so caught up in her own feelings at the time that she couldn't talk through it with him.

"It wasn't that, Juggie," Betty said quietly, squeezing his arm that was wrapped around her. "I just...I wasn't ready. Neither of us were, you know? Like—shit. A baby? Us, as parents? Fuck, I couldn't even comprehend the magnitude of that, you know? I mean, even know...With Veronica being pregnant? Archie going to be a dad? That still just feels so crazy. We could never have managed," she paused to take in another deep breath, and she was glad that Jughead was looking at her again, his arms tightening even more around her body. "And then with my dad suddenly getting sick, and finals, and applying for colleges, and—" she broke off as she remembered waking up in the middle of the night, feeling sticky between her legs.

She knew what it was straight away, she knew what had happened. She had tried not to panic, and had gotten out of bed, despite that ache in her lower half of the body, and had woken up Polly. Her mother was medicated and deep asleep, just like she had been ever since her father had passed away, and Polly had wanted to wake her, had wanted to call an ambulance, but Betty had convinced her to just drive her to the hospital instead.

"My body just wasn't ready," Betty managed to say, her voice choked. "And then...And then I just felt like I had let you down."

"No," Jughead told her firmly, and he pressed a kiss to the back of her neck. She knew that he was right, but that didn't change the way she felt. Just like how she felt guilty about leaving Jughead all those years ago, even though she knew that she had just been a scared girl, acting like many others would. Just how Jughead felt like she blamed him, and maybe he partly blamed himself as well.

"I don't know," Betty sniffed and tried to steady her voice, lifting her chin. "Being back here just brings everything back, you know? I needed to get away from it all, I needed to have some space—grow into my own person, away from everything and everyone."

"Except Cheryl," Jughead stated with a slight purse of his lips.

"That wasn't intentional," Betty sighed. "She just showed up after a year and never left. You ever tried to tell Cheryl 'no'?" Jughead snorted, and even though it wasn't a smile, she was glad that he seemed to be loosening slightly.

"What about now?" Jughead asked, his eyes staring at her intently. "You can have the job that you love here, at our garage—you know that the guys like having you there. "And you're surrounded by people who fucking love you. There's Polly, and Veronica, and Archie, and there's me. Have you thought about staying?"

"Of course I have," Betty began. "I just...I haven't made up my mind yet." Jughead nodded slowly, one of his hands sliding up and down her bare arm. The sensation of his fingers gliding over her skin sent shivers through her body, and even though it made her nerves spark, it was also a soothing feeling.

A familiar one.

"What's there to decide?" Jughead raised an eyebrow at her. "I don't understand—" the intimate moment was broken by a scream outside, and Betty and Jughead both jerked up where they were sitting. Jughead grabbed for his phone, which was on the small table beside the couch. "It's just after seven—who the fuck is up right now?" Betty was scrambling to get off couch and grab for her pants, which they had brought in the from the kitchen and left on an arm chair.

"That sounded like Cheryl," Betty explained quickly as she almost tripped over, trying to pull on her pants. Jughead was up quickly at that comment as well, and then they were both walking toward the front door. It swung open before they reached it, and Cheryl was standing there with wide eyes.

"Oh great," her voice was a lot more high pitched than usual. "You're here," she waved her hand at Jughead and then gulped in a deep breath. "You need to see this," she said to both of them, flinging the door wide open and stalking back outside. She didn't look anywhere near as put together as she usually did, but that wasn't surprising, given she had come from a sleepover at Josie's place and it was in the early hours of the morning. Jughead and Betty followed her outside, until they were standing in front of the house.

Their eyes widened as they looked toward where Cheryl was pointing.

So usually this is the point where I tell you guys some movies and songs that I'm super into. Since this is my last post, I had some other things I wanted to say. But I did see the new Halloween movie, and The House With A Clock In Its Walls and Venom, and they were all good, although Venom was a bit of a let down. Also, anyone else a GallaVich supporter? I stopped watching Shameless a few seasons ago, when it started spiraling, but holy shit, tumblr when crazy with the reunion, and that totally made my day. It was amaaaazing. These two boys deserve each other, and I'm so glad they got a very...fitting send off :)

Right, well...

This year has been hard. I feel this year has been bad for everyone. There have been the numerous mass shootings, it feels as though there is just one natural disaster after another and there is the continual, completely legitimate distrust of authorities who are meant to be the ones protecting us. There are so many things that I could write in here and specifically comment on, but I don't want to make this a political statement, just a statement that wherever we are in the world, we are all struggling. There are so many people struggling at the moment, but today, my heart goes out to the people of Brazil, all people in the Jewish community and to the beautiful LGBTQA members of the world, especially the transgender community, and specifically those in America.

There have been good things as well, though! The rescue of the boys in Thailand, the proud, unapologetic statement that Colin Kaepernick's Nike campaign made, the decriminalization of homosexuality in India, the incredible organisation and unity in the March For Our Lives and the utter love and support shown by so many people in this world toward one another. This was just demonstrated yet again in the past few days with the non profit Muslim organisations who set up the online funding for those in the Jewish community affected by this one of the most recent horrific attacks.

This year has also been hard for myself personally, as I'm sure some of you are aware from my posts. My mental health is probably the worst it's ever been, I'm dealing with some relationship issues with my husband, I lost the friendship of someone that I considered very close after a betrayal that left me spinning and over the past few months, it's been the one year anniversary of the deaths of three people, who all died within a month of each other. I consider myself pretty open with you guys about my problems, and a big reason for that is because I know how lonely this huge world can feel sometimes. I just hope that with me putting myself out there, if you guys are dealing with something similar, then hopefully you know you're not alone. While I don't always have the best words, if any of you ever want to PM me just to get things off your chest, I'm here. I don't always know what to say, but sometimes just putting your problems into words can help, and I am more than happy to be that person for any of you xx

Alright.

Well.

That was all very intense, but I felt it was necessary. I'm sorry if it felt as though I was crossing a line with any of it, but that's why I said at the top that if you didn't want to read all of this, just read by first authors note!

Anyway.

I hope every single one of you has a safe and incredible and happy holidays with the people you love the most, and I will be back next year, probably early February. Here's to a better next year xx