CHAPTER FIFTY TWO – The Truth Hurts

After having lunch at Betty's apartment with Jughead and the girls, Jellybean made her way over to her father's trailer where he was ready and waiting for her, having made plans to spend the rest of the day with his long-lost daughter.

As soon as she arrived, Jellybean had noticed her father's motorbike out the front. However, she hadn't seen the two helmets on the table in the trailer until FP handed her one.

"Buckle up, kiddo."

#

With his daughter clutching onto him on the back, the Serpent leader drove the two of them out of town to a picnic area that Jellybean remembers vaguely from her childhood, recalling visiting the spot with her family.

While the younger girl is reminiscently looking around the area, her father is standing back, scratching his head sheepishly. After all, Jellybean is oblivious to her father's ulterior motives for their drive, concealing his hidden agenda that he doesn't know how to broach with her.

After securing his bike, the older serpent walks over to his daughter, laying a hand to her shoulder as he guides her over to the nearby bench that overlooks some of the best views surrounding Riverdale.

"We need to talk, Jellybean. You know how when you first arrived I told you that you'd find out more in time? I think the time has come to tell you a little more about what happened while you were gone..."

FP both starts and finishes speaking with a deep sigh, instantly setting off alarm bells for his daughter. However, she doesn't say a word, just watching her father intently from where he is sitting on the seat beside her as he runs a hand through his dark locks with yet another sigh, thinking of all the possible ways that he can say what he needs to say to her, trying to determine which of those ways is best.

"Look, kiddo, things have changed a lot from the town that you and your mother left all those years ago. And, while I would wish that things didn't go the way that they did, in all honesty, your mother made the right decision to leave with you. She kept you safe."

"I don't believe that... I remember you being a fun dad - a good dad. I've seen you with Bailey... Mum was wrong to leave. She just took me away from my brother and father."

There's an indignation and an insistence in the young Jones girl's eyes as her father just sighs painfully.

"I made my mistakes, my girl... I wasn't a good person. I wasn't a good husband. I wasn't a good father... I had to learn my lesson the damn hard way. I had to lose my family to realise just how tightly they need to be held onto... I think your mother and brother shielded you more than you realise."

Looking between her father and the scenic view in front of her, Jellybean just shakes her head almost out of disbelief, struggling to connect her father to the things that he is telling her, the things that she doesn't want to hear, nor believe, about him.

Then, with the moment and timing feeling right as she tries to make sense of the gaping difference between the father that her mother had taken her away from and the mortal man who is confessing to his weaknesses beside her, Jellybean raises the question that has been on her mind for over five years.

It's the question that she's been too afraid to ask.

"Why didn't you come back for me, dad? Why didn't you try?"

"I wanted to. God, Jellybean, I wanted to... So many times I talked about getting the family back together. But, deep down, I couldn't bring myself to. I felt ashamed. I felt like your mother had made the right decision and as much as it killed me to lose the two of you, I felt like I deserved that. I felt like you were better off without me."

FP can't bring himself to look his daughter in her own dark brown eyes. He can't bear to face her, riddled with shame.

Meanwhile, Jellybean cannot tear her own eyes off of him. She can't tear her eyes away for even a moment as she tries to make sense of everything that she's missed and what could have possibly made her father the terrible person that he seems to believe he is.

"What happened, dad? Why did mum leave?"

Another deep breath of air fills FP's lungs before he releases the air in a sigh. After all, it's not easy to admit your own flaws and your own mistakes to someone else and it's even harder to do so to one of the people who is supposed to look up to you more than anyone else in the world.

"It started with my lifestyle... My drinking and the Serpents... Being an alcoholic and a gang leader was no way to be a family man. Your mother put up with a lot from me and I do respect her for what I made her endure. But, she had a breaking point. Like I said, I had to learn my lesson the hardest way and that still wasn't even enough."

FP still can't bear to face his daughter, his little girl, who had hoped would look up to him with admiration and pride in knowing that he is her father. But, instead, there he is unable to look her in the eye as she finally hears of her family's secrets and lies that have been building up over the last five years.

With yet another deep and a heavy breath, FP tries to continue speaking and explaining, giving his daughter the full scope of the life that she had left behind and the life that her mother had tried to shield her from by leaving town with one of her two children.

"Like I said, your mother reached her breaking point when she had taken all that she could from me and my behaviour. Our fights got worse and only became more and more frequent and instead of stepping up for and fighting for our family when I should have, I only drank more and turned to the Serpents. I won't try and make excuses for myself; I'm not proud of the man that I was. Even after you and your mother left, I didn't learn my lesson. I was a terrible father to Jughead... Not only did he lose his family, too, but he had to see me go from bad to worse. It got to the point that your brother chose to be homeless than live with me, just to give you an idea. He lived at a decrepit old cinema, at school for a time and then with Archie and his dad instead of with me."

While FP still can't bring himself to look his daughter in the eye from where she is sitting right beside him, he can sense the way that she seems to physically shiver and tense up at the mention of her mother.

'Why me? Why me and not Jug? How could a mother do that?"

In the silence, FP weighs up his options and not only what he could say next but also what impact that would have from this point on.

After all, the truth of the matter is that FP can neither understand nor respect the fact that his estranged wife had left one of their children behind as she fled with their other. However, despite his view on the matter, FP hadn't been planning to mention that to his daughter, wary of not bad-mouthing and seeming to try and turn away Jellybean from the parent that she had spent the last five years with.

So, torn in his indecision between his truthful view and the respectful option for Gladys, FP tries to find a medium somewhere between the two options, exhaling a sigh as he doesn't condone his wife's behaviour nor does he try to use it as leverage against her with their daughter and the question that she is seeking an honest answer to.

"I don't know, Jellybean... I honestly don't know the answer to that one, my girl. I can't answer that question for your mother."

While the young girl seems to accept her father's answer, she doesn't seem particularly pleased with either of her parents in that moment as she sighs, glancing away from her father before raising another question to him with an eye roll.

"Any other skeletons that I should know about?"

Just when FP thought that his daughter's questions couldn't get any harder or any more invasive, he is proven wrong once again by the determined teenager who is reminding FP of her older brother in that moment.

Once again, FP pauses for a brief moment after her question, considering his options in replying to his daughter. He can choose some menial titbit that would work as an answer to her question or he can be honest and tell her about the other big skeleton in his closet.

FP chooses the latter.

"I did time."

Hearing the three words coming so bluntly from her father even sets Jellybean back a little as she gapes at him momentarily, trying to determine whether or not she had heard right.

"Why? What happened? Why did you do time?"

"Do you remember Jason Blossom? Redhead twin, about Jug's age? He was murdered at The Whyte Worm where the Serpents hang out about four years ago... I found his body. However, because I thought it would incriminate me more, I dealt with it rather than reporting it and then I was found out. Then, Jughead was threatened to blackmail me into confessing."

As if the disbelief in Jellybean's eyes isn't quite enough, FP doesn't stop there, continuing to speak and explain everything that his daughter missed out on and everything that he had been concerned about telling her in regards to the last five years in one big hit, like he's on a roll and he can't stop now.

"Now, jail and me being arrested is another story in itself... You know how I briefly mentioned the fact that Jughead has only just recently found out about Bailey, too? Well, to a degree, that actually comes back to me... You see, originally I was arrested for murder before the charges were dropped to a string of things relating to destruction of evidence, obstructing justice and perjury. But, when Jughead found out and when he heard that I'd been arrested, he left town that day without saying goodbye or even breaking up with Betty. He just left and dropped off the grid completely."

Processing this new information, Jellybean nods slowly over and over again as she listens to what her father is saying and the information he's giving her about his and her brother's last few years.

"And Jughead didn't know that Betty was pregnant with Bailey before he left, did he?"

"No, he didn't, that's right. Neither of them knew, it was too early. So, he left, he changed his number, he went by his real name and he started afresh. No one could track him down, including Betty, despite her best efforts. She spent months trying to find him. So, as a result, Jughead only found out about Bailey when he returned to town of his own accord earlier this year."

Once again, JB nods over and over as she processes the overload of new information. Then, all of a sudden her expression changes as she is filled with a new pang of indignation and hurt as she looks to her father, looking for answers.

"Why wasn't I told about any of this? Jail? Bailey? Jughead leaving? Why wasn't I told about any of it?!"

Running his hands through his dark, slicked back hair, FP doesn't quite know how to answer his daughter and her hurt over five years of secrecy.

"I'm sorry... I never told you about jail because I didn't want to ruin the very little respect you may have had left in me. You should have known about Jughead leaving but your mother and I felt that telling you that he was missing was only going to upset you and leave you concerned, too. But Bailey-"

Growing increasingly angry and hurt, JB quickly cuts FP off and fires more of her own questions to her father regarding her young niece who she had only found out exists during the last few days.

"What about her? What about Bailey, dad? Why didn't you tell me about my own niece? What about mum? Does she even know that she's a grandmother?!"

Another sigh passes through FP's lips as he weighs up his options in telling his daughter the truth of the matter or giving her the option to let sleeping dogs lie for her own sake.

"Don't worry. Just leave it, Jellybean."

However, almost as soon as the words have departed from his lips, the strong-willed young girl is firing back.

"Leave it?! Leave it for more secrets and lies to accumulate?! Just leave it to keep me in the dark even more?!"

For the umpteenth time throughout their conversation, FP sighs as he finally lays eyes on his daughter, seeing all of her anger at having been kept in the dark over so much, along with her hurt that comes as a result of that.

However, if after everything that she's been told today, JB is still looking for the truth rather than what she wants to hear, FP figures that she deserves that over protecting his estranged wife from her own decisions.

"Look, a few months into the pregnancy Betty told me and then she told your mother that she was pregnant with Jughead's child... Betty wanted you to know that you were welcome to be involved in Bailey's life."

FP's words come as a new revelation to the young girl whose face is filled with even more shock, being followed closely behind by the sting of hurt that follows it as she clarifies the detail that has taken her by the greatest surprise so far today.

"Mum knew? She never told me... Why didn't she tell me?"

Jellybean's dark brown eyes slowly begin to fill with tears as she is hazed with hurt.

FP can't give his daughter the reason that she's seeking; he can't answer that question on Gladys's behalf because he doesn't know the answer to Jellybean's question either.

However, what FP does know is that he can see the impact that the truth is having on her. So, he opens his arms out to his only daughter, lovingly pulling her into him in order to try to support Jellybean in a different way seeing as he can't give her the answers she's looking for.

However, with a sniffle that she tries to conceal, Jellybean pulls out of and away from her father's arms, turning away from the comfort that he's trying to provide for her.

Then, feeling hurt and confused by both her parents along with the lies that they've told and the secrets they've kept, Jellybean gains a sudden streak of confidence, snapping at FP.

"No. Don't. You lied too, dad... I just want to get away from here and away from you. We are leaving right now and you are going to drop me off at the first cafe or bar or grocery store. I don't want to see you right now."

#

Despite FP's hesitations, he eventually abided by his daughter's angered demands to drop her off at the nearest shop or establishment to allow her to cool down and come to terms with everything that he had finally told her after he had taken her out to the spot by the lake; an excursion that had only resulted in even more hurt and confusion for Jellybean.

Upon realising that he couldn't fight his daughter's indignation, FP had surrendered and dropped her off at a cafe. However, while it might have seemed like the closest on their way home yet the local had intentionally passed several other spots within a few streets from the ride home. After all, while FP might have realised that he couldn't fight what JB had made up her mind about, he could control where he dropped her off.

So, FP had dropped her off at a reputable cafe in a safer area of town, only a twenty minute walk from Betty's apartment where JB's been staying, giving her very detailed instructions on how to walk to Betty's from the cafe, along with checking that she had his, Jughead's and Betty's numbers to reach them if needed before he left her sulking.

FP also gave Jughead and Betty a heads up about what he and JB had discussed and the fact that she had insisted on being dropped off to get away from him. Betty had returned his text with the reassurance that she would send him a quick message to let him know when JB arrived back to her apartment for his own peace of mind.

That time came at ten thirty that night, not long after Jughead had left his girlfriend's, headed for the trailer he shares with his dad after spending the evening alone with Betty seeing as Bailey had already been well and truly asleep for a good few hours.

When Jellybean snuck inside quietly, she hadn't anticipated that anyone would still be up. So, when the young girl is met with a "Hey JB" coming from the lounge room as she's ever-so quietly closing the front door, the teenager just about jumps in fright only to see Betty where she had been watching a movie on her own with a punnet of cookies-and-cream ice cream in her lap.

"Betty" JB gasps in fright, clutching her hand over her heart. "I didn't know whether you'd still be up and I didn't want to wake you."

"All good. Care to join me? I've got a spare spoon..."

With a little grin, Jellybean takes up Betty's offer as she holds a spare spoon out to her, patting the seat on the lounge beside her.

Sensing that her brother's sister may need to unwind and talk through what FP had informed her of earlier, Betty had planned to try and see if JB felt like having a chat to debrief, in addition to staying up to make sure that she had made it home safely.

"So how are you doing?"

"I'm okay... Dad had a bit of a chat to me - I'm sure you've already heard all about it. Anyway, things picked up a bit after that..."

"Oh yeah?" Betty smiles as she takes a spoonful of ice-cream, watching her sister-in-law intently to catch the gossip. "Why do you say that?"

With a coy smile on her face, JB looks between the friendly blonde beside her and the carpet beneath her feet.

"Well, I was getting coffee on my own and then I, uh, I think I met someone... One coffee turned into another and then that turned into dinner."

With a grin filling her face as she nudges the younger girl beside her with a gentle elbow jab, Betty is quickly swept up with the gossip her boyfriend's sister is giving her.

"Wow, that's exciting! Who is it? What's their name? I might know them..."

Jellybean looks to Betty beside her with a coy wince as she nips at her lip uncomfortably.

"I don't want to say anything just yet. I mean this has all transpired in one day. It might just have been a nice day..."

While Betty can't argue with the younger girl's reasoning, she does attempt to push the boundaries just a little as she nods in acknowledgment.

"Not even a name?"

However, despite her attempts, she is quickly shot down nicely before JB tries to change the subject and move away from Betty pushing her for details about her last few hours.

"Not even a name. Anyway, I'm sorry if I'm getting home too late for you."

Betty is quick to send a complacent wave of her hand in the younger girl's direction.

"Don't worry about it. I probably would have still been up, anyway. But, I will say that Bailey was so upset that she had to go to sleep without saying goodnight to 'aunty Jeeb' first."

A little flicker of pride spreads across the eighteen-year-olds face at the mention of her niece whom she has only recently learnt even exists.

"That girl is such a sweetie..." JB begins, trailing off with a grin before she remembers something from earlier that day. "By the way, Betty, my dad told me that you told mum about Bailey and that you had tried to tell me way back, too... Thank you."

Putting her spoon into the punnet of ice-cream, Betty quickly reaches over to squeeze the younger girl's hand warmly.

"That's okay... You're Bailey's aunty. You had a right to know about her and to be a part of her life."

Despite Betty's kindness that she's extending and has attempted to extend to her across almost five years, JB is overcome by the reminder of her mother, sparking the bitterness that she's tried to escape from.

"Don't get me started on that... I'm irate with my mother. We had a big fight just before I left and things between us didn't end on a good note."

While JB had initially been overcome with negativity and focus on her mother and their fractured relationship, she is quick to try and move past that and steer back on track in her conversation with Betty.

"Even though I didn't know about her, I really appreciate that you tried to tell me, anyway. I wish I did know... I would have loved to have been a more involved aunty for Bailey. My mum had no right to make that decision on my behalf."

With a sad smile, Betty just nods in agreement. She too doesn't have the best view of Gladys Jones after abandoning her son, choosing to ignore her granddaughter's existence and then deciding not to tell her daughter about her own niece. After all, Betty wants her daughter to grow up feeling loved and wanted by as many people as possible, including her aunty.

"I'm sorry you missed out JB, but from here on, you're more than welcome to spend time with her whenever you want."

Turning to the marginally older woman beside her, Jellybean gives Betty an appreciative smile.

"Thanks Betty. You are a really good mother..." JB says with a small smile.

However, as Jellybean trails off she pauses momentarily before changing the course of the conversation just a little to raise another question that's playing on her mind.

"Do you regret it at all? Having Bailey at your age? You were so young... Do you ever regret giving up your life for someone else?"

Between scoops of cookies-and-cream ice-cream, Betty pauses for several seconds longer than what she needs to as she considers JB's question. Then, with greater conviction she gives her a definitive answer that she really didn't need to ponder over.

"Don't get me wrong, every now and then I feel a little bit sad when I see my former classmates, my friends or other people who are my age and when I see what's happening in their lives with their careers or their studies. But, I absolutely do not regret having Bailey instead. Seeing as motherhood did happen for me when it did, I have never, ever wished that I went to college or whatever instead of having her. It's a feeling that's hard to describe, but Bailey and my relationship with her is just far more valuable to me. She's my little best friend. Don't get me wrong, there are some impossibly difficult days, but I honestly believe that Bailey is the best thing that ever happened to me."

As the younger girl listens to and considers everything that her brother's girlfriend is telling her, JB nods over and over again before she looks over to her with a bright expression and an honest thought.

"Well, I think you're both the best things that have ever happened to my brother."


So JB finally knows the whole story. Over the next few chapters she will fill in more of the smaller blanks and hear more things from Jug, FP and Betty. But her mother?

Hope you're all enjoying Jellybean so far. I was so apprehensive about adding her to the story but I have had so much fun writing her character.

Thank you so much to everyone who took the time to read and review the last chapter of the story. I'm so grateful for you all and your support.

Next chapter: Betty unwittingly pushes Jughead away when Bailey gets sick. Spoiler alert: he doesn't let her.