CHAPTER TWENTY NINE – Reunions
As Jughead's slowly moves closer and closer towards Betty, narrowing in on her lips, she doesn't fight it. She doesn't fight the gravitational pull towards him and she doesn't fight the way her eyes naturally flutter closed. In fact, it's only as she feels the sensation of his warm, intoxicated breath nearing her, with the sensation prickling her skin when her eyes fly open, just before his parting lips are about to gently brush against hers.
"Juggie..." she sighs.
Instead of the natural pull and desire to draw their lips closer together, Betty's word has the adverse effect on both herself and Jughead, with their lips pulling further away rather than closer together.
However, like fighting a magnetic attraction, their distancing is gradual and forced, resisting the natural pull.
Even though it was their lips that had come so close, their foreheads are the parts that finally connect and touch in the intimate moment. Then, although their lips hadn't shared a single kiss, they're both breathless, rasping for air as they look one another deeply in the eyes, working up the strength to pull apart, but not managing to be torn apart or ripped away so easily.
Then, as they slowly back away and pull apart, the panic is written on Jughead's face. His declaration and near-kiss had taken all his courage, even after a few drinks. And, suddenly, the rose-coloured glasses have been ripped off, panicking Jughead as he's left with the debris of his grief-stricken, alcohol-driven actions.
Meanwhile, sitting beside him, Betty's emerald green eyes are wide and glassy when she exhales a deep, heavy breath, not taking her eyes off of him as she utters the words that follow in little more than a whisper.
"Juggie, I can't... Casey."
#
With just two days between the night they went out drinking and their flights home, Jughead spent the time busily, preparing to move back to his hometown of Riverdale, the home of his daughter.
Over his last four years, Jughead had accumulated very few personal belongings and he had laid very few roots in Oklahoma. In fact, the only real roots that Jughead had planted were in a friendship with someone who too had returned to the ground a little over a day ago.
So, in tying up his loose ends in Oklahoma, Jughead resigned from his job at the paper and prepared the home he had shared with Doug to be sold. Although it had been his home for the last four years, Jughead tells himself that it's what Doug would want. After all, Doug had told him all about how after his wife had died, after he too had despair so deep that he couldn't see a way through it, he had sold the house he'd shared with his wife of nearly forty years to just start afresh. Additionally, Doug been an advocate for Jughead being with his three-year-old daughter in Riverdale, even at the great cost to himself personally, putting Bailey having a father above the importance of him having someone to be there for him in his final moments and in his dying days.
So, Jughead did his best to go through the limited personal belongings in the home, before commissioning it to be put on the market and sold.
He didn't care how much he stood to gain, he didn't care what more he could have done to increase his profit by and the salability of the house, he simply cared about a quick sale and returning to Riverdale. After all, it didn't really feel right to be receiving any money that never should have been his in the first place.
Meanwhile, Betty helped Jughead where she could with what he needed to do to pack up his life in Oklahoma. She did her best at finding the balance in trying to keep her distance, while also keeping an eye out on him. After all, while things have grown uncomfortable since their near-kiss on the night of the funeral, Betty didn't want to push Jughead away completely, knowing his vulnerability at present. She didn't want to isolate him or push him any closer to the edge, balancing that with not giving him any wrong impressions.
Finally, just days after the funeral, Jughead's loose ends were tied up and the two parents were on the plane home back to Riverdale, back to their beautiful little girl.
#
Betty has glanced over to Jughead far more times than she'd care to admit, toying with the idea of talking or not when she finally bites the bullet and speaks up as conversationally as she can, hoping to make the awkward silence between them a little more comfortable for the long flight home.
"So, I spoke to Bailey this morning... I can't believe I was worried how she'd go with our parents. Honestly, it sounds like she's having so much fun that I'm not too sure if she wants us to come home yet."
Betty's words bring the smallest of smiles to the corner of Jughead's lips, just at the mention of their little girl.
"Damn, I miss her..." Jughead simply states in response as Betty nods wordlessly, sharing his sentiment which both parents are feeling at the separation from their three-year-old.
After this, the silence returns and both Betty and Jughead return to their previous timewasters that they'd been occupied with during the flight. Jughead's re-reading his well-worn copy of George Orwell's Nineteen-Eighty-Four, while Betty had been trying with a Jodi Picoult but settled for flicking through a magazine she'd picked up just before boarding instead.
A few minutes after Betty's remark about Bailey, Jughead had tried to return the favour and make the silence a little less uncomfortable. Showing Betty the book he is reading, Jughead had reminisced about how way off Archie's remarks about that very novel had been when they'd studied it as a class, before it had been realised that he'd been reading the wrong book entirely. After all, when he went into the library with the brief of 'I need the popular book with a number in the title', he had walked out with a copy of Fifty Shades of Grey, instead... Betty chuckles, biting her lip over the memory.
Another few minutes of silence pass after that before Betty takes a turn at extending another olive branch. This time, she shows Jughead a page of the magazine that she's reading, pointing to an ad for a skincare product with the ad picturing a heavily pregnant woman performing a gentle yoga position. The picture is intended to look ethereal and heavenly, but Betty just chuckles as she points the ad out to Jughead.
"I think this is the furthest thing from a realistic pregnancy. 'Glowing' is just sweat, even in Riverdale where we apparently don't have seasons other than winter."
The raven-haired-man looks between the woman sitting beside him and the ad on the glossy page with a curious look.
"Oh yeah...? What was pregnancy like?" Jughead asks, enquiring about the nine months of Betty's life that resulted in their daughter.
"My pregnancy? Mm, let's just say that it's more affectionately known as 'the-nine-months-of-my-life-I'm-trying-to-erase-from-memory-if-there's-any-chance-of-Bailey-getting-a-sibling-from-me'. Good, good times..."
Jughead winces initially before her words strike him as he reads into what she has just said, taking her words in a way that she hadn't meant it. Hesitantly, Jughead raises another question as his interest strays from his initial query a little.
"Oh... Is a sibling for Bailey on the cards?"
Growing a little uncomfortable from his question, Betty's green eyes grow wider before she glances away, looking away from where his intense eye contact is fixed on her intently.
In the time it takes for Betty to answer, Jughead's stomach plummets, growing fearful of her answer to his question. In the silence, his guilt at attempting to kiss her a couple of nights earlier is only reinforced at his realisation of the seriousness of her new relationship.
"Um... Not in an 'I'm pregnant' kind of way, but a baby is something that Casey and I have spoken about... It's not like we're trying and we don't even have a time-frame, but we have briefly discussed the fact that he wants kids and I wouldn't mind having another."
In that moment, it's hard to tell who feels more uncomfortable.
The feeling that follows reminds Jughead remarkably of being winded, like he's been punched in the gut and the air has been swept out of him unexpectedly. Nodding slowly while trying to show as little emotion on his face as possible, Jughead just exhales a soft, croaky: "Wow..."
Meanwhile, it feels all kinds of wrong for Betty to be answering her exes self-inflicted uncomfortable questions and divulging information about her plans for the future with her new boyfriend to him.
So, trying to rectify the uncomfortable path that the conversation has taken, Betty desperately tries to back-pedal, returning to his initial question before it had taken the awkward diversion.
"So what did you ask anyway? What was my pregnancy like? Rough. Honestly, I don't know where feeling sick from having my heart broken stopped and feeling sick from being pregnant started."
As Betty babbles on honestly, focused on trying to divert the conversation elsewhere from the uncomfortable turn it had taken, it's only when she sees the guilt-ridden cringe on Jughead's face when she realises that it hasn't really helped matters whatsoever. After all, with a frown, Jughead knows all too well that he has to shoulder blame for both factors that are very much his fault.
However, seeing the look on Jughead's face, she knows she has put her foot in it so Betty takes a little step back and expands on her initial remark.
"Don't feel too bad about it, though. I mean there were a couple of other complications, but fortunately the bulk of the morning sickness only lasted a couple of gnarly weeks."
With her further explanation, concern has overruled the look on Jughead's face, taking over from his guilt.
"Really? What complications?"
"I lost a lot of weight really early on in the pregnancy... After you left, I spent about a month not wanting to touch food, then by the time I realised I was pregnant, whatever I did eat didn't stay down. The doctors had to monitor everything closely and it was pretty scary for a while there. I had to be hospitalised after a couple of scares thoughout my pregnancy, too. Then, although it was still awful, thankfully labour went as smoothly as it could."
Jughead exhales a heavy sigh as he listens to Betty reminisce. Even without her saying a thing about it and without him knowing anymore details, Jughead can almost conclusively tell that her issues throughout her pregnancy had been stress-related, and he knows that he was the reason for that stress. So, thanks to the stress induced by him and his poor decisions, it had put not only Betty, but also their daughter, in danger.
Looking to the seat beside her, Betty watches Jughead, sensing his guilt. So, she continues speaking, trying to lessen the blow that had unintentionally been made on him.
"But, it wasn't all bad, Jug... I mean, I really loved being able to feel her moving, though. That was something special. Not to mention, the end result of it all was a little someone who is pretty amazing."
Despite her effort otherwise, it isn't enough to diminish Jughead's self-inflicted guilt as he looks to her sheepishly with his apologetic words. He's learning the very definition of 'don't ask a question if you're not ready to hear the answer'.
Continuing in her attempts to try and put him at ease, Betty volunteers a little more light-hearted information for his sake.
"Another upside was that I think I watched more TV during my pregnancy than I ever have before in my life... Honestly, I spent my every waking moment for nine months living off of Gilmore Girls when I wasn't at school or doing homework. Seriously, we came very close to having a 'Rory' instead of a 'Bailey' because of that. But, I don't know, I guess I felt like I was preparing for what I thought was going to be my future..."
The distraction seems to work for a moment as a smile curls on the corner of Jughead's lips as he is shown a little more of the life that he had left Betty in, learning more about the subsequent months of her life after he had left. However, it's not enough to remove the weight of his building guilt as he eventually releases a heavy sigh before speaking up.
"I'm sorry, Betty... I'm sorry I wasn't there to care for you. I'm sorry that everything I inflicted on you made you so stressed. I feel terrible that I put both you and Bailey at risk."
Betty just gives him a sad smile. She appreciates his apology, but they both know that it's impossible to go back and change the past. No matter how sorry he is, it won't change the fact that she was alone through the months that she carried their daughter who she'd been forced to raise as a single-mum and it won't change the fact that what he'd falsely believed was 'best' for her had only resulted in a devastating situation.
However, she still appreciates his apology and she knows that he would go back and change things if he could.
The conversation that dwindled to heartbreak slowly brings a silence between them. However, the discussion stays close to mind for Jughead as he thinks over everything she's just told him, still riddled with guilt. Then, after his mind had returned to the uncomfortable conversation that resulted in him hearing about just how serious she and Casey are, learning their plans for the future, Jughead's gaze returns to her as he speaks up softly.
"Betts? I don't want to screw things up for you with Casey. You deserve a good guy and you deserve to be happy. I don't want to screw that up for you."
Betty looks at her daughter's father a little strangely before he inhales a deep breath and continues speaking, explaining further. Mere nights ago, he was declaring that they could be together...
"Look, when we get back, I'm going to tell Casey about the other night. Even though nothing happened, I'll tell him it that it was completely my fault and it was just one-sided. I'll make sure I tell him you pulled back. I just don't want you to have to keep a secret from him that was completely my doing."
He's right... It was Jughead's doing. He had been grieving, their discussion had gotten deep and he was the one who initiated their near-kiss.
He's right... She did pull back.
But, he's wrong... It wasn't just one-sided.
As much as Betty has tried to convince herself otherwise, she cannot ignore the fact that deep within, there was reciprocation on a deeper, emotional level as they talked about the past, about their daughter who they share as the mood slowly grew deeper.
Then, as much as she's tried to tell herself otherwise, there was a part of Betty that had to force herself to stop what had nearly come to be. There was a part of her that had forced that answer and that loyalty to her boyfriend as she felt the gentle brush of another pair of familiar lips coming so close to hers for the first time in so long.
Betty doesn't know what to say to that, so she just says one, simple word.
"Thanks."
However, there's an air of resignation. Unlike his declaration just days ago, professing that he would be there for her, for their daughter and they could be the family that they were supposed to be, he's resigning himself for her sake, for the life that she's made for herself with the man who isn't him. And, she resigns herself to the fact that he's resigning himself, giving up the fight...
#
Seeing as Casey was due to arrive home from his work trip in Seattle an hour and a half earlier than Jughead and Betty's plane from Oklahoma landed, he had coordinated it with Betty for them to meet up. Casey told her he'd just hang around the airport and wait for the two of them to join him in order for them to be able to travel back from the airport together, with quite a drive between the small town and the nearest airport.
As the exes walk through the terminal together in silence, Jughead trails a little behind Betty as she blazes on ahead with her focus firmly fixed on locating someone in particular, looking for a face in the crowd once they've collected their baggage from the trip.
Catching sight of the man in his early thirties who is standing idly on the other side of the vast whiteness of the airport, Betty picks up her pace and rushes over to him.
Meanwhile, as he trails further behind his ex, Jughead doesn't alter his pace at all, just trying to force himself to look away upon seeing the other man's face light up as he throws his arms out and open towards Betty who rushes into them without hesitation.
The scene leaves Jughead desperately trying to look away from their public embrace as their bodies aren't the only thing that connect. Because, unlike the last time that Betty's lips had approach someone else's -namely his- there's no 'nearly' and there's no 'almost' as the couple lock lips passionately in the middle of the airport after the days spent apart.
By the time that the couple have pulled away, Jughead is just approaching them from where he'd been trailing behind. He approaches them just as Casey is pulling a box out from behind his back, revealing a box of six or so doughnuts which he hands to his girlfriend as her face lights up at the gesture before her lips quickly return to his.
When they pull away once again, Casey is still beaming radiantly as he greets Jughead, just receiving eye contact and a little grunt of acknowledgement from the raven-haired-man. Then, after they stand there for a few seconds, Casey offers out a box similar to Betty's towards Jughead, a little less comfortably than he had done so with Betty.
"I thought you and Bailey could share some together, too, Jughead..." Casey begins before making light after Betty's reaction to the similar gift.
"And don't worry, a thank-you kiss isn't necessary."
#
Upon reaching her childhood home, the car has barely been brought to a standstill before Betty is racing out of the car and then up the steps. She doesn't even bother knocking, just opening the front door of her parents home to race through and find her daughter as fast as possible.
Hearing the joyful voice of a certain little girl, Betty flies through the home to reach the dining room where her mother is carefully supervising Bailey as she plays with play-doh on the dining table. Meanwhile, the two men who are accompanying Betty trail behind a little more slowly before reaching the same destination as she does, right in time to catch the reunion between mother and daughter as she rushes over to her three-year-old, swooping her up lovingly.
"Oh, my baby..." Betty exclaims with a shaky voice, failing to hold back the moist tears that begin to flood her cheeks. The young mum holds her daughter in her arms, holding her close and tight, peppering kisses all over her cheeks and hair while Betty holds Bailey in her arms.
Bailey returns her mum's hug with her little arms locked around Betty's neck, squeezing her with as much force as her little body can manage.
Then, fighting back a sniffle, Betty whispers into Bailey's ear as she strokes her hair, holding her close.
"Were you a good girl? Did you have lots and lots of fun? I missed you so much, Bailey-girl. Mummy loves you so, so much..."
As Betty holds Bailey in her arms, almost refusing to let go, the two whisper back and forth to each other in a quiet exchange. This lasts until Betty remembers the boys who are watching on, with Jughead waiting in the uncomfortable silence as her mother makes animated discussion with Casey.
Then, with a final kiss to the top of her golden locks, Betty places Bailey down on the ground as she goes to initiate the next greeting in the reunion.
"Daddy! Casey! You're back!" Bailey exclaims with a squeal of excitement.
Then, in the moment before Bailey races over to her father, Casey takes a small step back, knowing his place and knowing that Jughead pulls rank over him in the race for the affections of the same little girl.
So, Bailey races into her father's arms as he crouches down in front of her while the two share a long, lasting hug too, just like Betty had as she held the same little girl just moments earlier. Jughead relishes in the feeling -the peace- that comes with holding his little girl in his arms as she hugs him back lovingly.
Standing back and watching the moment before her, Betty can't help the flutter in her stomach and the swell in her heart as she watches her daughter's reunion with her father.
Then, all too soon, the hug ends as Bailey races towards the final man in the line, showing just as much excitement at seeing her mother's boyfriend, the same man who has just observed the coy smile and the warmth on his girlfriend's face as she watched the moment between Jughead and Bailey...
"Casey!" Bailey grins, throwing her arms around the blonde man's neck.
As he asks her a handful of questions, the three-year-olds parents share a silent glance from either side of the room as they watch their daughter who they have both just been reunited with.
However, Betty is filled with guilt at knowing she came very, very close to kissing a man in that room just a few days earlier, the man is not her boyfriend who is currently hugging her daughter. Jughead too is guilt-ridden and still in disbelief that he'd tried to initiate a near-kiss that would have been unfaithful to the man who deserves it the least.
So, standing there, both Betty and Jughead feel the weight of what they are hiding, what they had felt and what they continue to conceal over what had almost happened that night in Oklahoma...
#
After collecting Bailey from the Coopers, the trio had stayed around for the uncomfortable coffee and chat that Alice had insisted on.
Then, after dropping Jughead off at FP's trailer on the way, Casey took Betty and Bailey home, staying for dinner until finally the couple have a little alone time once Betty finally put her three-year-old to sleep.
This brings the two of them to settle on the lounge where they are entangled and cuddled up to one another. Betty is curled up against Casey's chest with him running his hands through her loose, blonde locks as they snuggle together, each holding a glass of red wine.
Nestling her head into his chest, Betty inhales a huge, deep breath as she slowly manoeuvres herself up in order to lean against him as she looks him in the eye. In the silence, Betty's guilt has been suffocating her to the point that she can't contain the truth any longer. She knows that Jughead had mentioned that he would say something to her boyfriend regarding the fact that he had tried to initiate their almost-kiss while they were away, but a guilty conscious over what she's holding back gets to Betty and she can't wait for him to find out through Jughead.
"Case? There's something you need to know."
She doesn't know what he's going to say and she doesn't know how he's going to react. All that Betty knows is that her boyfriend needs to know...
However, the timing is almost comical as Casey's phone begins vibrating madly from where it's been placed on the arm of Betty's lounge that the two of them are snuggled up on together.
"It's your mum..." Casey remarks, shooting her a looks as his face scrunches up with confusion before Betty checks her own phone, noting that she definitely has no missed calls and no messages and certainly no attempts to be contacted by her mother.
It's almost as though Alice Cooper knows that her daughter is about to admit to the very thing that could threaten her relationship with her boyfriend, the man that Alice has made no secret of adoring. In fact, Betty wouldn't put it past her mother.
"Hi Mrs. Cooper" Casey answers with an air of uncertainty at the unexpected call. There's a pause as he listens to the other side of the line. "Sorry, Alice... Yeah, she's here with me right now. Is everything okay?"
Shuffling a little further up Casey's chest, Betty squints, listening intently for any clue as to what reason or why her mother has called her boyfriend. However, she's only met with mumbled words coming from the familiar voice as Casey occasionally replies with the odd word of confirmation throughout the conversation. This lasts for a few minutes until the call draws to an end, with Casey clearly able to see that Betty is waiting expectantly for the second that the phone call draws to an end, before he instantly fills her in.
"Your parents are inviting us and Jughead over to dinner in a couple of days time. Bailey too, of course. Your mum was just checking a date to make sure I'm not away with work."
"Oh... Us, sharing a meal with my family, my ex and our three-year-old...? Oh, great... Gee, doesn't that sound delightful?"
Honestly, don't see the fact that they didn't kiss as a step back. Because, to me, no matter how strongly Betty feels about Jughead (which is still unclear), I honestly don't think that she would have kissed him in that situation. In my mind, I cannot see Betty cheating on Jughead, or with Jughead. However, the impact of their deep-and-meaningful as well as Jughead's profession about them being a family won't just fade away. Hang in there because the slow burn will be burning faster and faster over the next few chapters...
Big thank you to Saki, violet1429, Isilme'sStar, Guest x3, JugBet, CallMeGigi, Marie King, Bughead4Life, hopelessromantic618 and krdurin for leaving a review on the last chapter. Thank you for your support and feedback! I'd love to know what you think of this one!
Next chapter: Jughead and FP discuss what happened in Oklahoma. Confused over her family situation, Bailey asks Betty some uncomfortable questions. Then, Jughead tells Casey about what happened between him and Betty.
