CHAPTER TWENTY SIX – Saying Goodbye

As soon as their plane lands in Oklahoma, the group of four make their way out of the airport, almost immediately finding an available taxi which sends them on their way for the hospice centre which they have come all this way for. Then, as soon as they reach their destination, they head straight inside and for the receptionist.

Throughout the entire transit between the airport and the hospice, there's a palpable tension and anxiety in the air. Not only is the mood sombre, but the three adults are acutely aware that it's a race against the clock. In fact, if not for the three-year-old who asks her mum questions and points things out to her grandfather, there would almost certainly be a cloud of sombre silence blanketing the group.

Reaching the receptionist whose eyes narrow as she looks up to the group of four that are approaching her station, Jughead leads the group as he looks to the middle-aged woman a little fearfully, speaking up for the first time since his flight.

"We're here to see Douglas Blake. I'm his housemate, Forsythe Jones."

As the receptionist turns to her computer in front of her, the group are overcome with a sickening silence.

Jughead anxiously fumbles with and adjusts the beanie on his head which his daughter had returned to him earlier that day. Betty bites her lip as she stands back, silently glancing between the man standing in front of her and their daughter standing by her side. Then, with Bailey holding his hand and standing between himself and Betty, FP's free hand brushes his hair back in the silence, with his eyes fixed on watching his firstborn intently, filled with concern.

Then, three Joneses and a Cooper all stand together in the corridor, united, to hear the words that bring Jughead's world crashing down...

"I'm truly sorry. Mr. Blake slipped into a coma shortly before he passed away just over an hour ago. I'm very sorry for your loss."

Just like the older man who had been merely a few rooms away from where they are standing, all air slips out of Jughead. He can't breathe. However, unlike that of one of his closest friends, his breath eventually returns again.

Then, as the receptionist continues to speak, no one really hears the words that she's saying, especially not Jughead. However, she explains to Jughead that as he had been listed as Doug's primary contact person they had been unsuccessfully trying to reach him and inform him of his death, however his phone hadn't been changed from aeroplane mode that it had been set to for their flight.

Then, it's the three-year-old who isn't quite aware of what's going on and the significance of what has just been said who speaks up next, pointing out the jar of jellybeans that are on the counter the receptionist's desk. Hearing his granddaughter's little voice breaking through the silence reminds FP of her presence when his focus had been on his son. Then FP is quick to calmly nod to Bailey in acknowledgement of her remark before quickly picking her up into his arms and carrying her away from the eye of the storm, away from the intensity of the moment as quickly and as effortlessly as possible without causing a scene. The doting grandfather speaks quietly to the little girl, telling her that they'll go for a walk and find something to eat, leaving her two parents standing there.

Meanwhile, trying to process the receptionists words, all colour drains for Jughead's face. Everything moves in slow-motion. While he can see the receptionist's lips moving from in front of him, followed by the woman standing by his side, he can see that movement but he can't hear a thing.

The closest thing that compares to what Jughead is feeling is as though a wave has just come crashing down in his world... Ever so suddenly and without warning, everything is underwater. Everything is moving in slow-motion... Movements and motion are significantly heavier from the pull against water... The little noise that can be heard is just muffled and indistinct... And, it's pulling him under, submerging him...

It's only as he's collapsing into arms that he hadn't even noticed being opened up to him when it's though the crawling effect of slow-motion is switched off and the world returns to normal, bringing the gut-wrenching pain crashing down with it.

Then, for the longest time, they just stand there with Betty holding Jughead, right there in the middle of the corridor at the hospice that they had come all this way for, only to learn that they'd failed in their mission. The clock had beaten them and there is no way that they are able to backtrack and buy an extension of time.

He is completely limp in her arms. There are no tears and there is no outward display of Jughead's crushing grief. Instead, the toll that's being taken on him is internal, swallowing him whole as he feels the pain of his close friend and housemate's death, unable to escape the guilt over the fact that he wasn't there for him. After all, despite everything that Doug had done for him, Jughead wasn't there to return the favour when he needed him more than ever...

Then, after the longest time, and from where he's slumped in her arms, Betty hears slow murmurs coming from the father of her child. He's not necessarily talking to her; he's not necessarily talking to anyone. He's just expressing the guilt that he can longer contain within himself as it bubbles over and pours out of him. In his whispered confessions, the heartbreak can be heard loud and clear in his voice, no matter how softly he's speaking.

"I'm too late... I should have been there for him... I let him down... I've let him down, too."

#

After a while and after communicating with Betty to check how his son was coping, FP brings Bailey back to the hospice with a rainbow ice-cream in hand.

Then, FP and Betty almost trade places in a silent swap. FP moves to support his pale, shell-shocked son who hasn't spoken beyond his murmured words to Betty just after learning his housemate had succumb to his terminal illness. Meanwhile, Betty turns her attention to her daughter, showing an interest in Bailey's ice-cream. She says that she is a lucky little girl to get the treat from her grandfather who is always more than happy to spoil her, before checking that her daughter had thanked him for it. Betty just tries to keep her interaction with her three-year-old as normal as possible, trying to avoid raising alarm bells to Bailey as her father's world is crumbling down beside them.

Then, it's after he gains just a slither of cognizance to his surroundings and the fact that they are just standing there outside a hospice, when Jughead offers to take his family back to the residence that he is now the sole occupant of.

After another short trip back to the small home, Jughead unlocks the front door and enters the house for the first time in almost a month.

He feels like there's a blank that needs to be filled in the silence. He feels like he needs to make some clichéd remark about his home in Oklahoma; the home he shared with the man who has just lost his fight for life. But, the words just don't come out. Betty and FP understand.

However, the little three-year-old in their presence is oblivious to the sombre tone and the sensitivity of the moment, racing into the home after her mother had discreetly informed her that 'this is daddy's house, Bailey' in a whisper as they walked towards the front door just moments ago.

"Daddy's house!" Bailey exclaims with a squeal of excitement as she runs through the unfamiliar home, racing past her parents and her grandfather to do a little twirl in the open space of the living area.

"Bailey!" Betty exclaims, racing after her daughter and picking her up as quickly as she can. After all, she can't possibly imagine how it must feel for Jughead to be returning to the home that he had shared with his friend who has just passed away. But, seeing their daughter use that home for her own rendition of 'The Nutcracker' is hardly the most sensitive thing.

However, the smallest of smiles quirks on the corner of Jughead's lips at seeing his daughter's joy and her innocence as she makes herself right at home. Then, he speaks up to whoever is listening, if anyone is listening, as he quietly muses to himself.

"I wish he had a chance to meet her... He was pretty gruff on the outside, but really he was just a big old softy. He probably would have spoiled her rotten, but I think he would have loved knowing her..."

#

Later that night and after putting Bailey to bed, Betty wanders around the unfamiliar home quietly, looking to check on the father of her child before she too heads to bed.

Peering through the open doorway, Betty catches sight of the raven-haired-man sitting on a pile of blankets, leaning back against the nearby wall, looking out onto nothing. His blue-eyes look absent.

As she gently knocks on the wooden doorframe of the open room, Betty jolts Jughead from his silent thoughts. Looking over to her, Jughead doesn't say a word but he does make some sort of noise or grunt and Betty takes it as permission being granted for her to enter the room. So, Betty slowly steps into the room and takes a seat at the desk that is right beside the entrance of the small room, Jughead's study, where he does the majority of his work and writing from.

Walking into the room, Betty is overcome by the feeling of how temporary it is; much like his bedroom that she and Bailey are staying in. It's like, although he continued living, he never really made a life. He just got up in the morning and went about his day, before returning home, going to bed and starting all over again...

Honestly, after spending so many years agonizing over where Jughead was and whether he was okay, peering into the little glimpses that she's been given of his life for the last four years has been overwhelming for Betty, too.

But, despite the enormity of pain that Jughead had brought upon Betty, she just hopes that he was happy for those four years that she spent carrying and then raising their child solo...

Shaking herself from her own thoughts as she looks around the room, Betty's bright emerald eyes lock to him in order to display her wholehearted concern as she asks Jughead a gentle question.

"How are you doing, Jug?"

Jughead just shrugs. He can't find the words to answer Betty's question. He's not sure if there even are any words to answer it. That's if there even is an answer to her question right now. Betty simply nods in response before posing another gentle question.

"Do you want to talk?"

Again, he gives her another simple gesture, this time in answer to her offer.

She too once again gives him an understanding nod, not pushing it, or him, further. Then, it's just as she glances away to reduce the intensity of her worried gaze towards Jughead when Betty spots something on the desk that she's sitting at out of the corner of her eye, grabbing her attention.

There, on Jughead's untouched desk, is the note that Doug had left him; the note that Jughead had read as he drank his coffee on the morning that he got on a bus and returned to Riverdale... The same day that marked the very last time he saw one of his dearest friends alive.

'Get on that bus. Go face those demons... Mind you, I can hardly imagine that your pretty blonde girl could be considered that. I'm proud of you, Forsythe... Life's already too short as it is. Remember that.'

Reading the messy scrawl of the small, hand-written note, the smallest of smiles begins to quirk on the corner of Betty's lips. Although she doesn't say a single word about it, the small note warms Betty's heart. After all, despite the fact that Betty knows that Jughead did his upmost to leave his life in Riverdale behind, she realises that he must have at least mentioned her. Not to sound presumptuous at all, but she realises that surely she is the subject of the note that is being alluded to; the 'demon' to be faced back in Riverdale.

So, suppressing the smile on her lips in order to be considerate of and sensitive towards Jughead, Betty pushes the note to the back of her mind as she gets up and moves across the room to where Jughead is sitting up against the wall, looking out on the room distantly. Walking over to him, Betty crouches down beside him, watching him intently, with her concern etched on her face.

"Is there anything that I can do for you?"

Betty's question results in just another headshake.

"Okay... Now, Juggie, I'm heading to bed. But, if you want to talk, or if there's absolutely anything you need or if there's just anything that I can do for you, it doesn't matter what time it is, just wake me. Okay?"

This time, the very smallest of smiles and two small words accompany Jughead's initial gesture and nod as he acknowledges her.

"Thanks Betts."

#

Despite the influx of visitors that have been brought home to the small house in Oklahoma, it is like an unwritten rule between them to keep Doug's room untouched.

Consequently, Jughead had offered his bedroom to Betty and Bailey, while his father was assigned to the lounge with Jughead just finding a bunch of pillows and spare blankets to make something that resembles a bed on the floor of his study.

Unsurprisingly, Jughead doesn't sleep well that night and it has absolutely nothing to do with his uncomfortable makeshift bed.

Later that night, it's just passed midnight when FP trails out of the living room where he's crashing on the lounge for the duration of his stay at his sons place. It's almost as though he can sense Jughead's is wide awake and all alone in the small apartment. But, then again, it doesn't exactly take a genius to realise that he's grieving tonight of all nights.

So, as he walks out of the lounge room and into the kitchen, FP immediately spots Jughead's sitting there in the darkened room with just one lamp on the other side of the room to illuminate the entire area.

"How are you doing, mate?" FP asks, speaking softly into the night as he takes a seat at the breakfast bar beside his son.

At his father's presence beside him, Jughead quickly glances beside him before he exhales a deep sigh.

"I should have been there... He was there for me."

At his son's guilt-ridden words, FP doesn't say a thing, remaining silent.

After all, he doesn't quite know what his son's relationship with his roommate was like who he has never personally met. FP doesn't know if they are just two unlikely friends or if it is more like a father-son bond. So, because he doesn't know what to do or say that is going to bring Jughead the comfort he so desperately needs, he doesn't even try.

FP doesn't try to understand his grief and he doesn't try to understand the bond between Jughead and Doug. Instead, he just focuses on being there for him. He just makes sure that –unlike most of his son's life- Jughead knows that he is there for him, now that Doug is not.

Then, FP doesn't need to probe his son with any further questions and he doesn't need to speak again before Jughead breaks through the silence, offering up more cryptic words of his own accord.

"I owed him my life, dad. Yet I couldn't even be there for him when his was coming to an end..."

FP looks at his son a little curiously. His eyebrows are knitted with confusion at Jughead's remark, not knowing the reason he's referring to as to why his son owes his deceased housemate his life, feeling as though there's an imperative piece of the puzzle that is missing.

After the day he has had, leaving him feeling emotionally and mentally wrecked, Jughead's loose lips keep moving. There's no filter and Jughead couldn't care less about divulging the truth to his father about the real reason behind his guilt and his bond with the friend whom he lost today, as the words just about slip out.

"You know I left Riverdale the night you were arrested... I just got on the bus that was going somewhere, anywhere and I just left... It didn't matter where I was going. All that mattered to me was what I was going to be doing."

With his gaze fixed firmly on his son, FP nods silently, hoping it's enough to prompt Jughead to continue speaking. But, nothing could prepare the man for the words that he is about to hear.

"I was suicidal, dad... I left town to take my own life. And, if it wasn't for Doug, I would have done it."

Then, as his own words take him all the way back to four years ago, it only intensifies his guilt over failing his friend and Jughead finally breaks...

Furling over in his seat at the bench, Jughead curls into himself as he collapses. He's unable to hold himself up and keep himself upright any longer.

Meanwhile, as he focuses on comforting his son, FP's brown eyes widen, looking to the younger man after his shocking admission. FP too is guilt ridden at the thought of the years of trauma and family troubles that he's put his son through, along with the tipping point that his wrongful arrest had induced.

Then, leaving his own seat at the bench, FP stands up and steps closer to his son, standing over top of him as he pulls his arms over Jughead, holding his collapsed body from beneath his as the younger man's body quakes with his grief-stricken cries.

"Oh, my boy... I'm sorry... I am so sorry for everything I've done wrong. I'm so glad that he was here for you. You have no idea how thankful I am that you're still here."

Between his trembles and cries, Jughead continues speaking, his guilt-ridden words escaping him without a filter.

"He saw me that day... He realised what I was going to do. He stopped me. He saved my life. And, I wasn't even there for the end of his. I should have been there for him... I shouldn't have let him die alone."

There's absolutely nothing that FP can say to remedy Jughead's guilt over failing to be there for yet another person in his life.

So, FP just keeps a steady hand on Jughead's shoulder as he holds him, putting his own reeling shock to the side to be there for his son. He still has no idea what the right words to say are, nor does he know what he can do to bring his son any comfort whatsoever. But, he just focuses his attention on staying there and being there, something which he has failed his son abysmally on for most of his twenty-one years.

Then, the father and son just stay there, sharing the silence of the room for most of the long night as FP comforts his distraught son.

#

While FP had been planning to stay for the entire trip, he unexpectedly needed to cut his trip short after learning that his request for time off was denied and he was due for work the following day. With his record, not many job opportunities come his way. So, with his job being threatened if he failed to show up for work tomorrow with bereavement leave not extending to someone that FP had never met, FP couldn't afford the risk of staying on.

However, with FP leaving Oklahoma, it left the dilemma of Betty and Bailey.

Betty doesn't want to leave Jughead. She knows the care and sensitivity of his current situation and she knows the need to tread lightly with him at present. She knows that he needs someone to be there for him right now. She couldn't leave him on his own. Betty cannot even take a chance on it with the possibility of Jughead teetering off the unstable edge that he is nearing, shrouded in his raw grief...

But, with his father needing to return to Riverdale, one of his friend's on the other side of the country and his other set to be buried within the following days, Betty knows that she needs to be the one to be there for him. She can't leave him alone, not knowing all that she knows and not knowing the state that he's been thrown into all over again with Doug's death.

However, knowing that she needs to be there for Jughead is the easy part... It's determining how to juggle their daughter which complicates matters.

After all, in the wake of Doug's death, Betty has no idea how Jughead will take it or in what way he'll need to grieve in order to move forward. But, she doesn't want their three-year-old to have to see that side of her father, nor does she want Jughead to have to try to bottle it up for staying strong in front of Bailey.

So, after much discussion and debate between Jughead and Betty, their parents and her boyfriend it was decided that FP would take Bailey (with a lot of colouring books, a lot of toys and a lot of treats as bribery) back to Riverdale on the next flight home. Then, until Bailey's parents return home from Oklahoma she will stay with her other grandparents, with Alice coordinating to work from home in order to take care of her youngest grandchild.

Consequently, this brings the group of four to the airport, where Jughead and Betty have continued as far as they can before they have to say goodbye to their daughter and his father.

Crouched by Bailey's side, Betty is doing everything that she can to keep it together and fight back her stream of tears that are being held back by the floodgates. Even though it's just six months away, Betty can't quite fathom how she's going to be able to bring herself to send her daughter to preschool, having to say goodbye to her every day.

"Oh, my baby, I love you so, so much... Be good, okay? You are going to have so much fun with Nanna and Grandad, but daddy and I will be back home really, really soon."

Feeling the threatening tears that are growing that little bit closer to flooding her face, Betty gives her daughter one big, final squeeze and a kiss to her cheek before allowing Jughead to do the same and say goodbye to their little girl. He proceeds to crouch down in front of her, brushing away a curl that is dangling in front of Bailey's face before he gently clasps the side of her face in his hand, gently stroking her cheek with his thumb. Doing so, he looks her in the eyes earnestly as her beautiful, bright, blue eyes melt his heart.

"Bye sweetie. I'm really sorry I haven't been very much fun lately. But, Bailey, please don't ever forget that daddy loves you, okay?"

Then, it takes all of Jughead's willpower to put on a strong front for his daughter as he gives her a cuddle and ruffles her golden locks as they pull away. Her eyes light up happily from the way he plays with her hair.

Looking to Bailey after they pull back from their hug goodbye, Jughead realises that he needs to learn from his grief and he needs to learn from his guilt over failing to be there for Doug when he needed him most of all too. It's much like Jughead's other deep scar from the guilt of knowing that he'd failed to be there for the little girl standing right in front of him, and her mother.

So, learning from his grief and his plaguing guilt, Jughead realises that he needs to make sure he never, ever abandons that little girl that's standing in front of him; his little girl. He needs to make damned sure that he's there for her for everything, big and small, easy and hard. And, he needs to make sure that she knows that he's there for her in every part of her life...

Then, after the final, difficult goodbyes, the two parents watch on as their little girl slowly fades from their sight as she walks hand-in-hand with her grandfather through the boarding gates and onto their plane back to Riverdale.

As soon as her little girl that she'd been staying strong for is out of view, Betty releases an audible sob as her tears stream down her face. As much as she tries to continue to contain it, once Bailey is out of sight, Betty no longer has strength to do so.

It's barely even begun, yet the goodbye and the separation-anxiety kills Betty as she has to watch their daughter leave them, with her enormous, pink backpack on her little back, looking far too little to be without her parents. Yet, Bailey is far stronger than both of them as she follows her grandfather on the plane without a fuss and a single tear.

Then, after she has been the one by his side supporting him over the last day, the tables suddenly turn as Jughead wraps a comforting arm around Betty's shoulders to console her while her head collapses against his shoulder at his familiar, calming touch.

"It's not too late, Betts. You can go back now, too. You might just be able to fluke a ticket on the same flight. Or, at worst, you can grab a seat on the next one headed for Riverdale. I can see that it's killing you having to leave Bailey just for my sake."

Betty just swipes the tears from her eyes as she shakes her head at Jughead's suggestion.

"No. I'll be okay. I'm not leaving you alone right now. Besides, you saw our big, brave girl just then... Right now, Bailey's dad needs me more than she does."

Jughead doesn't say a word, he just gives her the smallest of smiles as he glances back towards her as she swipes at her damp cheeks, with her words that follow consoling herself as much as him.

"After all, we're a team, Jughead Jones. From being two amateur sleuths working together searching creepy hospitals and reviving newspapers to being parents... We always have been a team."

With a smile followed by silence, the two of them stand there in the middle of the airport, looking out of the big, glass windows and out onto the airstrip in front of them as they wave goodbye to their daughter and his father.

Then, after the plane has ascended out of sight and with their arms still slung around each other's backs supportively, Betty gently raises another concerned question to him, looking up and looking deep into his baby-blue-eyes that she's so thankful that their daughter inherited.

"Now, are you ready to say goodbye?"

200 reviews guys! Thank you, thank you, thank you to everyone of you who has contributed to that number and especially those of you that have so loyally read and reviewed every chapter. I hope you all continue to enjoy the journey with Betty, Jughead, Bailey, and co. I appreciate the support from you all immensely and the feedback has been so inspiring. Thank you.

Anyway, quite a lot of angst in that chapter. Although I was so tempted to keep Doug alive that little bit longer to be able to meet Jughead's girls and say a proper goodbye, time runs out far too quick in life and you don't always get the perfect goodbye, or even just closure. But, thankfully poor Jughead has his dad, Betty and Bailey to support him through it and brighten his life at the moment.

Next chapter: The emotions of the funeral stirs up history as Betty supports Jughead through Doug's funeral. Then, Jughead is held accountable for the fact that he had been planning to leave Riverdale -and Bailey- once again.

Also, keep an eye out on tumblr (riverheadCF) because I'm hoping that a little sneak peek for the following chapter will be going up over the next few days...