Chapter 37 - Trouble

"Alright, deal. We'll give you a new identity, get you out of here and in return you'll give us that video." Jughead offered, holding out his hand to shake. This was going to be difficult and risky, but if Jughead could pull this off, it would be worth it. Him, Betty and their families – Serpents included – would be safe from the Ghoulies.

She took his hand weakly with a clammy trembling hand, and shook.

"Deal." She confirmed.

The Serpents rode back to their den, Jo riding with Fangs. If Jughead had a maximum deadline of one week, when better to start than right now?

She had agreed, reluctantly, to accompany them back to where they could get started on her new identity. Conveniently Toni had the set up for fake ID's so that was an easy start point.

Most of the group headed back to the Whyte Wyrm but Jughead, Sweet Pea – riding with Toni – and Fangs – riding with Jo – headed back to Toni's Place.

"So, what do you want your new name to be? I wouldn't normally ask, but you're probably going to have this name for a while." Toni asked as she closed her apartment door behind her.

Toni's unit was small, the left hand side of a dark brick duplex. It had two small rooms, a bathroom that double as a laundry and a single open plan living area. The spare bedroom was set up as her 'business' studio. With her photo booth set up beside the desk that held her computer and card printer.

"Uh… I didn't really think about that." Jo said quietly. Now rid of her hood they were finally able to see what she looked like. She had a short black asymmetrical bob, falling to chin length on one side and to her shoulder on the other. She was unnaturally skinny in the face and had large dark circles under her eyes. From experience, Jughead found similarities to those hooked on hard drugs. Her hands shook and her pupils over powered the murky hazel of her iris'.

Toni gave her a minute to think about it, setting her up in the photo booth after booting the outdated computer to life. Snapping several photo's Toni then took a seat at the desk, inserting the camera's memory card and transferring the photo's of Jo to the computer.

Toni opened a page that had an array of blank card templates from different states and countries.

"Alright, where are you going and where do you want to be from?" Toni asked.

"Anywhere and I don't care, as long as it's not here." Jo answered, picking at her fingernails. She kept her head down and answers short.

Jughead was intensely curious as to who Jo was and why she needed to get away from Riverdale. Though it was bad etiquette to ask unless necessary. Sweet Pea seemed to ignore this fact.

"So, why are you running away in the first place?" Sweet Pea asked, leaning forward to rest his elbows on his knees.

"None of your damn business, snake." Jo spat back. Toni quirked an eyebrow.

"Not really the way to speak to the people helpin' you out, now is it." Sweet Pea countered.

"Leave it." Jughead said simply, shooting Sweet Pea a displeased look. Sweet Pea held his hands up in surrender and nestled back in his chair.

Jughead stood behind Toni – almost protectively – as the process continued. Fangs and Sweet Pea had taken a seat on the single green leather couch beside the photo booth, though in the small room that was basically right beside them.

"What about Mexico? No one ever flees to Mexico." Sweet Pea suggested. Jughead was sure he should probably scold him for that comment but kept quiet. That wasn't a bad suggestion, a ticket to Mexico couldn't be too expensive.

"Mexico is fine." Jo agreed curtly. She really didn't seem to care at all where she was going, she just wanted out.

"Mexico it is, we'll just say you're from… Colorado." Toni decided, picking a random template on the screen. "I'll make you a driver's licence for both. I have a hook up that can get it put into the system, so if you get pulled up by the cops you'll show up in the system under your new name. I'm going to need to get the other stuff from them too, passport, visas and such." Toni explained as she typed details into the template. "Age?" Toni asked.

"Twenty four. Just choose whatever name, I'm not really phased." Jo said.

"Okay, you can be… Miss" Toni looked over to Jo, raking her over quickly. "Danielle Rose Lee. Easy enough to remember?" Toni asked. Jo quirked a single brow.

"Sure." She agreed with a shug.

About twenty minutes later 'Danielle Lee' had her two new ID's. Toni said she'd call her hook up to organise the rest.

"From hear on, we'll do everything under Danielle. We'll sort everything else out, if we need you for anything, we'll let you know." Jughead said as they made their way out of the studio room. It was becoming more increasingly clear that Jo did not want to be with them. She had taken to a lot of glaring at Sweet Pea and inpatient huffing. "Got a number?" Jughead asked, pulling out his phone. She typed it in and handed his phone back but lot letting go when he reached for it.

"Don't suppose you'd feel like putting me up for the night?" Jo asked with the slightest hint of a seductive grin.

"If you need a place to stay, Toni might be able to help you out?" Jughead suggested, looking back at Toni. Who scrunched up her features in distaste, tilted her head she mouthed a silent 'really?' from behind Jo.

"I got other places I could go…" Jo said, taking a step closer to Jughead. "Just wouldn't mind a tour of your place." She commented, her hand reached up to stroke down his chest.

His hand whipped up from his side, grabbing her wrist and trusting it back towards her.

"Spoken for." He replied curtly.

She pursed her lips and quirked a brow. "Hey, you're the one that asked for my number." She said affronted by his rejection.

"Because I needed it, not because I wanted it." Jughead clarified.

She rolled her eyes. "Your loss…" She commented, stepping around him and heading for the door. She opened it and poked her hand back in before disappearing. "Call me if you change your mind. I wont even charge you." She told him with a wink that admittedly made his skin crawl, and she was gone.

Toni made a disgusted sound heading over to her kitchen and reaching into her fridge and grabbing a beer.

"Hookers tryin' to give ya freebies." Sweet Pea chuckled. "You bloody hunk."

Fangs laughed, Jughead did not. He just glared at Sweet Pea.

"Need anything else, Boss?" Fangs asked, pulling his keys out of his pocket.

"Not tonight. Head home, we'll sort more out tomorrow." Jughead told him.

"Welcome to hang if you'd like." Toni offered looking into her fridge. "Only got one beer left though."

"All good, I'm gonna head out." Sweet Pea said, following Fangs to the door.

"Yeah same, just let me know what you need to get the papers." Jughead told Toni.

"Will do. I'll find myself my own company." Toni said casually pulling out her phone and winking at the boys as they left.

"Meet at the Wyrm tomorrow at ten, sort some more of this shit out. I want to get that video and get rid of her as soon as possible." Jughead said to Sweet Pea and Fangs as they all mounted their respective bikes. He knew Toni was working tomorrow morning, so she didn't need telling. Sweet Pea saluted.

"Sure thing." Fangs replied, pulling his helmet over his head.

They sped off in their respective directions of 'home'.

Betty stayed with Veronica all Saturday watching movies in bed and eating copious amounts of carbs and sugar. They didn't speak about Veronica's newly discovered predicament. Betty didn't want to raise the issue, though she still had so many questions, she shouldn't pry. She was going to wait until Veronica brought it up.

She never did, they seemed to talked about everything else other than the situation Veronica found herself in. It slipped into night and Betty stared out to the stars from Veronica's bay window seat.

"She's the man or What a girl wants?" Veronica asked.

"In an Amanda Bynes mood, are you?" Betty asked with a smile. Checking her phone, she had a text from her mother asking what she was up to.

"Certainly am." Veronica replied with a wink.

"She's the man." Betty chose. Veronica had certainly perked up after their afternoon of rom' com's and high school movies. Betty didn't want to kill her mood, but the questions were starting to weigh on her. "Hey, V?" Betty asked.

"Yes, my dear?" Veronica asked as she looked for the movie in the menu.

"Do you… do you think you'll keep it?" Betty asked in a meek whisper. Though in the otherwise silent room, she knew she was heard. There was no reply for a while and Betty turned back towards Veronica. She was staring at the TV, sitting on the title of the movie but not pressing play.

"I don't know." She finally replied, her gaze sinking to her lap. Betty stood up and made her way back to the bed. "I… I don't think I could get an a-" She took a deep breath, squeezing her eyes closed.

"It would be hard…" Betty said, taking a seat beside her.

"Any path out of this is going to be hard…" Veronica countered. Betty wanted to disagree, tell Veronica it was all going to be fine. Unfortunately, it probably wasn't going to be. Whatever Veronica's future held was going to be difficult.

"We should go to the clinic after school Monday." Betty suggested.

"You'll come with me?" Veronica asked, finally looking up to Betty.

"Of course I will, V. I will be there in whatever way you need me to be." Betty assured her with a smile. Veronica's eyes welled with tears but she returned the smile.

"Thank you." She said, blinking the tears from her eyes and wrapping Betty into a hug.

"I'm always here for you, just like you are for me. We're in this together." Betty said, squeezing her shoulders reassuringly.

"Alright," Veronica said, pulling back and wiping her tears away. "Let's get our Channing Tatum fix."

Betty pulled up her phone to snap a selfie, Veronica wrapped her arms around Betty waist and broke out a big toothy smile where her eyes squeezed shut. Betty sent the photo to her mother.

Elizabeth: Girls night in, mother darling.

They both laughed and settled back to watch the fourth movie of the day.

Toni had managed to get in touch with her contact early Sunday morning. She was able to get everything they were going to need. But now she had to tell Jughead the price… she was seriously dreading that. She'd knew the ransom on Alice had already set him back. She was pacing in the downstairs bar waiting for Jughead to make an appearance.

"You're going to wear a path into the floor boards." Sweet Pea commented, throwing a handful of spiced peanuts into his mouth.

"Oh, shut it." Toni said, glaring at him.

"Everyone is so touchy lately." He murmured, looking away from her harsh gaze.

"There is a lot of stressful shit going on." Toni defended.

"I noticed." He replied casually. "Once this is over we'll have what we need to keep the Ghoulies in their cage and everything will go back to all fun and games." Sweet Pea reasoned.

"I hope so…" Toni said, continuing to wear a worry line into the floor.

Toni heard the familiar heavy steps coming down the stairs echoing through the quiet bar, she turned to face Jughead and he came over to the bar.

"Morning, JJ." Toni greeted cautiously. His face sunk at her tone.

"How much?" He asked simply.

Jughead wiped his hands on the front of his jeans as he sat down in front of the glass window, picking up the phone hung up to the side.

FP did the same.

"Hey Jughead." FP greeted with a tame smile.

"Hey dad, how you doing?" Jughead asked.

"Same ole', same ole'." He replied casually, before his expression turned a bit more serious. "You?"

FP hadn't been expecting Jughead this morning. Though he was always happy to see his son, it was usually not for a good reason.

"I'm fine, I –v"

"Are you healing okay?" FP asked quickly, interrupting.

"Yeah, really well. Hardly even notice it anymore." Jughead replied. It was not quiet the truth. Mostly it didn't bother him though it did still flare up at times, especially when aggravated with strenuous activity. Which he found happening very often when Betty was around, but it was incredibly worth it. FP nodded his head.

"Good, good. Glad to hear." He said, continuing to nod.

"So, there's a situation." Jughead said, eyeing the guard standing behind his father. Jughead knew these phones were recorded, the less detail the better. "You know how you said you if I found myself in some trouble…" Jughead hinted, FP easily caught on.

"How much trouble?"

"About four and a half thousand worth of trouble." Jughead said reluctantly, retelling the number Toni had given him earlier that day. FP sighed, wiping his hand over his face. He knew better than to ask too many questions.

"When by?" He asked only the vital ones.

"As soon as possible. Thursday at the latest." Jughead answered.

"This isn't another situation like the two k one a few days ago is it?" FP asked. He couldn't let Jughead just continue giving into Blackmail.

"No. Opposite of. It's to stop that ever being a possibility again. Get the upper hand between us for good." Jughead explained, easing FP's tensions.

"Okay, I can make that happen." FP said, confident in his ability to do so. FP had also liked to deal in favors.

"Thanks…" Jughead said, feeling a bit defeated in having to come 'running to daddy for money'.

"You're doing a good job, Jug. I'm proud of you, you know?" FP assured him. In FP's absence Jughead had managed to make wise decisions, lead the gang well and better the Serpents situation if anything.

Jughead simply nodded with a smile.

"How'd everything play out with you and you're girl?" FP asked, face lightening at the topic change.

"We're fine. The situation with us and Alice is really the issue… though it seems okay. Alice doesn't despise me as much as I expected." Jughead chuckled.

"She'd a sucker for the Jones charm, that one." FP told him with a wink.

"I don't know if I'd take it as far as to say she likes me, but she seems to be tolerating me. Betty said she'd taking it a lot better than she had expected too." Jughead admitted.

He had text Betty last night when he got home last night, he hadn't expected a reply when he sent it after midnight, but had gotten one. She told him that she'd spoken to her mum and it had gone significantly better than she'd expected. Her mother hadn't banned her from seeing him or anything like that, though she did not approve of their 'sleepovers'.

He knew that she'd spent the rest of the day with Veronica dealing with an issue she was having, apparently it was 'intense' but she couldn't talk about it. Jughead had told her that he'd also had an 'intense' night he couldn't talk about. He did let her know that soon the Ghoulies would not be an issue anymore.

"I really hope everything works out well for you two. You get this glint in your eye when you talk about her." FP said with a smile.

"You got to meet her. She'd really amazing, and pretty easy on the eyes." Jughead replied with a chuckle.

"I don't doubt it, can't wait to meet her. Hopefully soon we'll be able to sort my shit out and I can come back home and meet her." FP said with a hopeful expression.

"Yep, Penny's working on it. Messages me every so often, things still seem on track. Haven't caught up with her recently might do it next week."

"Just an excuse to come see me again." FP said with a wink.

"We will." Jughead promised.

"Well, I will get your trouble sorted and I'll see you then." FP told him.

"Thanks again." Jughead repeated.

"Of course." FP waved it off. "You stay safe, alright." He added, seriously.

"I will. You too." FP smiled reassuringly and nodded. "Well, I'll see you again soon."

"You will, see ya then Jughead." FP said. They hung up their phones and he stood up, making his way back to the door leading to his cell. A cell Jughead desperately wanted him to be rid of.

It was late afternoon when Jughead was heading back to the Whyte Wyrm. As he sped down the road he spotted something on the side of the curb that caught his eye. He noticed when he rode past that it moved. Even at the speed he was going it seemed that the black plastic bag didn't seem to move with the wind around it, it seemed to move on it own.

That struck Jughead and he slowed, whipping his bike back in it's direction.

He pulled up on the side of the road opposite the attention-grabbing bag, shutting off his bike he made his way over to it.

As he came closer he very clearly saw the bag move from within.

"What the…" Jughead mumbled as he squatted beside the bag, like a child, he gently poked the bag. He was alarmed by the weak barking sound that replied to his touch. He didn't bother with the tie of the bag, gripping the thin plastic in his fingers and ripping it apart.

Inside he was met with two sets of large brown eyes that sunk a weight in his chest. Abandoned on the side of the road, left for dead, were two small puppies.

They couldn't have been more than a month old. Their short fur, black with a few brown markings, was damp from the moisture and their waste in the bag. One of their ears seemed a bit misshapen and the other had a scar that ran down over its eye, it seemed difficult for it to open that one.

"Oh my god…" Jughead gasped. The little one with the funky ear stepped forward sniffing Jughead's knee, it seemed unsteady on its legs, it had probably only just learnt to walk. He ran a single finger over it's head. "Hey buddy…" Jughead whispered as the other stepped forward too.

An engine sound from behind him reminded him that he was beside the road. "Let's not let you guys get run over, yeah?" Jughead suggested to the puppies. He inspected the bag finding nothing else in there besides the mess the puppies had made… how long have they been in here?

He carefully scooped the puppies up, one in each hand. After the car drove past he crossed the street back to his bike. He pulled his backpack off his back unzipping it. All it held was a change of clothes from his trip to the gym that morning. He lined the bag with his gym shirt and placed both puppies inside. He zipped it back up leaving a small gap at the top to let air in, even though it was made of breathable material, but so the puppies couldn't jump out if they tried.

Jughead: We know a vet, right?

Sweet Pea: Yeah, Paul's missus is a vet, why's that.

Jughead: Get her to come to the Wyrm. Be back in 10.

He pocketed his phone and pushed his arms through the straps of the bag, pulling it over his shoulders. He started up his bike and one of the puppies let out a yelp at the sound.

"Sorry it's loud, guys." Jughead apologised, pulling his helmet on. "Let's get you home and cleaned up." He only dwelled mildly on the fact that it was a bit odd that he was talking to these dogs.

He pulled back onto the road and continued back to the Whyte Wyrm.

Do you love puppies as much as I do? I hope so! Jughead saving puppies... oh bless you, you sexy little saint.

I always want to know what you think! SO, lets get real basic here...

Review question: What did you think of this chapter? Favourite part?

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- Kayla