Betty was stood in the Blue and Gold office when Jughead, Archie and Veronica all walked in.

"Hey you." She smiled as Jughead approached her with his usual greeting. "How are you doing after last night?"

"Not so bad, my mum had a small break down after you left but she sees it as a good thing that Polly is there now." She felt his arm tighten around her waist.

"I'm glad I don't have to go back in there." Archie's voice came from near the doorway.

"We did warn you it was going to be bad for you in there." Veronica's statement made Archie chuckle lightly. He knew it was true, he should have listened to his friends a long time ago.

The first class was about to start and so the group made their way to their respective lockers quickly. Veronica was pulling a book out of her locker when Kevin rushed to her side clearly agitiated by whatever piece of gossip he had picked up.

"Have you heard?" He sounded out of breath as he asked her.

"No one knows anything before you do Kevin." Her chuckle was caught short when she was the look on his face. "What's wrong, Kev?"

"It's Ethel, you know you were really worried about her after that poem?"

"No, she didn't?" The first thought in her head, the return of the thought she had when she heard that poem, that she was suicidal. It hit her like a truck, a pain right through her chest at the thought, Ethel couldn't have.

"No, not Ethel, her dad." She felt herself go cold and her world tilt, this couldn't be happening, not because of her dad. She hardly heard the assurance coming from Kevin that he was going to be ok, that the attempt hadn't worked, she was too far seperated from the world around her now.

She felt like she was going to be sick, she tried to take a step towards a toilet she saw a few feet away from her but her legs felt heaver than usual and saw the ground coming to meet her. Suddenly there was something warm on her hand, it steadied her, she decided it was a hand, a friend. She looked up a joined eyes with Jughead, the sadness in them was too much to take, she spurred into motion again. This time making it to the sink in the girls toilet and bending over it. Looking in the mirror she saw the tears flowing freely, she hadn't even noticed she was crying. She saw the band of bright white pearls around her neck, the ones her dad had gotten her all those years ago, she had always treasured them so much. She felt them under her fingers and thought about all the horrible things he had done, how many families had been ripped apart, how many people had lost everything. And now Ethel, poor Ethel and her dad. Rage came then, it bubbled up until she couldn't take it anymore, she pulled hard on the necklace until she heard a small pop and suddenly pulled the string from away her neck. She heard the small pings as the pearls hit the floor and bounced only to hit again and again. It all moved in slow motion for her, she could see and hear it all. She could feel herself falling again, see the ground getting closer. Suddenly arms were around her again and she was nestled on the ground with someone, they had caught her in time to stop her getting hurt. She looked up to see Betty was the one holding her close. Everything caught up to real speed then, and the emotions hit her hard, the tears came with sobbing this time, sounding as if they were being ripped from her very soul.

Betty wasn't sure how long she sat there for, just holding Veronica tightly, letting her get all the tears out. She was lucky she got in the room when she did, she saw Veronica start collapsing as she rushed towards her. She didn't know how to comfort her, she stroked her back and held her close, hoping she was going to be ok. Eventually she was and they stood up together, no more tears to be shed for either of them. There were no words as they hugged again and splashed cold water on their faces, a light touch up to their make up and they were able to face the world again.

As they came out of the toilet Jughead was still stood outside waiting for them, he instantly engulfed Betty into a hug. He could tell she had been crying and he hated seeing her like that. He pulled away and searched her face, she gave him a small smile and nod before he turned his attention to Veronica.

"I'm not much of a hugger, but you've got a one time offer?" He put one of his arms wide, welcoming her in for a hug should she want one. She shook her head slightly. "Ok, I've spoken to Weatherby, both of you have today off. Ethel is still at the hospital with hre parents, if you wanted to visit him. If not you are both free to go home, relax and just take some time before coming back tomorrow."

"We shouldn't-" He cut Betty off before she could continue.

"No, you should, both of you need this and me and Archie will make sure you have everything you need. I promise." She nodded then and relaxed into him.

"I think I just want to go home." Betty moved back towards Veronica at the hollow sound of her voice, still raw from the sobbing.

"Of course, I'll take you home." Veronica nodded lightly at them.

"That offer still up for the hug?" He nodded as he moved towards her and wrapped his arms tightly around her back, it wasn't long before they seperated again. "Wow, that was more awkward than I imagined."

"Yeah it really was." He was happy that got a small chuckle from her.

"Thank you though."

"Anytime. Now get home and I'll talk to you both later." He kissed Betty lightly and watched them both leave the building.


Betty was sat on the couch in the Lodge apartment, Veronica was laying down with her head in her lap. She kept running her hand over her hair, trying to give some measure of comfort, she wasn't sure how well it was working because Veronica just remained silent as she had been for the last couple of hours. She sat up suddenly, knocking her hand off her head.

"I want to go to the hospital, go and see Ethel." Betty nodded, she expected that at some point today.

"I think you need to eat first." She saw Veroncia start to shake her head. "No, Veronica, you need to eat. You haven't all day and you need to, please." Eventually she got a small nod and went to the kitchen to prepare something.

She rustling around the kitchen for a few minutes before returning to Veronica's side with sandwiches for both of them. She waited in silence for Veronica to eat, she just picked at it for a while but eventually made her way all the thr"ough it.

"Let's go now." Betty nodded to then, happier now she had eaten.

It was only a short walk to the hospital but it seemed to perk up Veronica to be out in the cold air. They past a small flower shop on the way and they picked up an orchid to give to Mrs Muggs.

The hospital was quiet when they turned up, they asked where Mr Muggs was and were pointed in the right direction. Ethel saw them before they saw her.

"Veronica, Betty. Hi." She seemed slightly confused to see them there but pleased nontheless. "Mum, these are by friends, Betty and Veronica." She gestured to them, introducing her to the woman beside her.

"Hello, Mrs Muggs." Betty went forward to shake the womens hand, Veronica seemed to be frozen in place.

"We heard what happened, we wanted to bring these flowers to you." Veronica was jogged out of the thoughts she was having by the sound of Bett's voice.

"They're lovely, thank you." There was a small smile as she looked at the flowers and two girls.

"Please...Don't thank me." Veronica felt Betty touch her arm at the confused look that donned Mrs Muggs face.

"We're just so glad Mr Muggs is going to be ok." Betty was pulling stronger at her arm now, and she was turning her away. "We will see you at school, Ethel." She started walking away with Betty at her side, but she stopped before leaving the room.

"You don't need to do this, V." Betty seemed to understand her thought process and also knew there would be no stopping her now she had thought oof it. She heard her sigh quietly as she turned back to Ethel and her mum.

"Ethel? Mrs Muggs?" They both turned back around to face her. "There's something I need to tell you. My name is Veronica Lodge, my father-"

"Hiram Lodge." She saw the recognition in Mrs Muggs eyes at the name and nodded her head as she looked for confirmation. "And you show your face here?" Her voice was acid and she asked the question.

"Mum, she's my friend." Ethel was quick to defend ehr without knowing the full story.

"She's not your friend. Her father is a criminal and the reason your dad is in here." Ethel went pale at the statement had just made and turned to face her.

"Ronnie, is this true?" She nodded her head slowly.

"It is, and I am so sorry." She could feel tears coming back into her eyes.

"Sorry isn't good enough, you want to do something? Tell the truth. Your father ruins lives and deserves to spend the rest of his miserable behind bars."

"V, come one. Let's get out of here." She heard Betty's voice and felt her arm tug at her but couldn't stop staring at the spot Mrs Muggs had dragged Ethel through a door to get away from her. "Veronica!" The harsh tone from Betty brought her out of her trance, her cheeks felt wet from the falling tears again as she followed Betty out of the hospital and back into the cold air.


Betty smiled when she walked into her bedroom to see Jughead sat on her bed, she stood up to hug her in greeting.

"How's Veronica?" He asked the question into the hair at the top of her head.

"I left her with her mum, she's still a little out of it. We went to go and see Ethel, she told them who her dad was."

"I can't imagine that going well." He felt her shake her head against his chest, he rubbed her back slowly.

"What did I miss today?" He shook his head lightly.

"Not much, we got you notes but most of it you already know." He pulled away from her slightly and moved so they sat on the bed next to each other.

"So what aren't you telling me?" He sighed heavily, knowing he couldn't keep anything from her for long.

"I was going to tell you later, when you had less on your mind." She just nodded but looked at him expectedly. "Archie heard something else at the Blossoms. Mr and Mrs Blossom were talking and he heard part of their conversation. To him it sounded like they were saying Mr Blossom was the reason Veronica's dad is in jail."

"Oh my god." He could tell she was as shocked by the information as he was.

"I was thinking, if Mr Blossom was the cause of him going to jail, taking his life away, tearing his family apart. Then he has motive to do the same, to take away his family, his legacy." He saw Betty nod her head slowly at the realisation.

"Jason." Her voice was small as she connected the dots the same way as he had. "But he's in jail."

"He has a long reach, we know that already. There's no saying he couldn't do this from inside." She knew he was right, they had one more suspect to add to their list, Hiram Lodge.