Chapter Five
Betty didn't talk for two hours after Kevin and Veronica left. Alice had returned home to find the three teenagers still huddled in the kitchen, and it didn't take too much prompting for Betty to admit, tears in her eyes, that the tape her and her mother had searched Stonewall Prep for had made its way onto the internet.
Alice, for once, had remained blissfully silent as Betty sobbed into her shoulder.
At Alice's request, Kevin and Veronica had left shortly after to give the ladies some "family time", with Veronica telling Betty not to worry about coming into Pop's that afternoon. Since then, Betty and Alice had remained on the couch in the living room, Betty leaning against Alice's shoulder, and Alice wrapping her arms around her daughter.
A searing heat, like hell-fire, boiled under Alice's skin. Her very blood burned with anger and hatred. Who did these stuck up, poisonous teenagers think they were, going after her daughter?!
FP, Jughead, Charles and JB found Betty and Alice sitting together when they finally arrived home. Betty was on her feet and in Jughead's arms in an instant, barely letting him get through the doorway before she launched herself at him. She still didn't speak, just held on to him tightly, her face buried in his shoulder. He kept his arms around her, one at her shoulders and one clutching her waist, his cheek on the top of her head.
Having her in his arms, he finally felt safe. Their conversation in the Blue and Gold earlier seemed like a distant memory now, though Jughead knew they'd have to revisit it… and soon.
They didn't break their hold on each other as Jellybean and Charles moved into the living room and sat in the single armchairs. They didn't flinch as Alice asked, venom in her words: "Do you know what those bastards did to our kids, FP?" They remained in their embrace as FP sat beside Alice and brought her up to speed on the situation with Jughead almost being arrested; Charles informed her of the implications of what trouble Betty and Jughead could be in with the video circulating (despite the FBI having the original account it was uploaded from removed from the pornographic website); Jellybean explained more details about the kids in her middle school sharing the video around, which they seemed to have obtained from their siblings or friends at Riverdale High School.
A "Family Meeting" Jellybean had jokingly called it earlier, but this was the most cohesion the Cooper-Jones clan had experienced from both their respective families. Neither Betty nor Jughead had ever seen their own families being this connected, listening to each other's opinions and being supportive of each other's feelings and thoughts. Togetherness, and respect, were something they had with each other that they didn't have with their families before the craziness of the past year thrust them into each other's lives. FP and Alice, Jughead and Betty, and Charles, Jellybean… even Polly – their family made sense, it worked, they worked. And maybe, just maybe, they'd keep working for the long run.
"Are you okay?" Betty's whisper was barely audible to Jughead over the rest of the crew's discussion.
He pulled back a little to put his hand on her cheek. "I can't believe you're worried about me, Betts. I'm so sorry… you don't need this right now – we don't need this." For the first time, Jughead moved his arm around from Betty's waist and placed a palm over her stomach. It was still as flat as ever, but he knew what was growing inside her.
Betty sighed, putting one of her own hands over his. "Yeah well… I'm not the one who just got dragged into the FBI's office."
"I'm okay." Jughead shifted and hugged Betty again, tighter than before, his arms enveloping her once again. "Mrs Andrews… and Charles, sorted it out."
"Speaking of sorting things out." Charles had left the rest of the family to join them in front of the doorway. "Betty, I need to talk to you about some legal matters in private. You can have someone with you… but not Jughead since he is still a suspect."
Betty pondered this. "If it's okay, I would rather Jughead hears whatever it is you need to tell me. I'd ask mom… but I don't really want her to know what was on that video. It concerns Jughead just as much as me, and let's be honest I'm going to tell him anyway so he may as well join us."
"I'm really, really sorry Betty, but I can't allow that… at least for the first part of our conversation. If he so happens to enter the room after a few minutes… well, I guess I can't stop him entering his own room. Provided nobody finds out." Charles raised an eyebrow, daring the two to challenge him.
Betty reluctantly agreed and followed Charles upstairs. Jughead trailed a few feet behind, waiting at the top of the steps when the other two went into Betty's room and shut the door.
Meanwhile, FP and Alice watched the three of them ascend the stairs, presumably to Betty and Jughead's room. A disturbed thought popped into Alice's mind. "Should we be letting them sleep in the same room together?"
FP sighed. "I think trying to save their innocence is a moot point, Alice. They're both adults and have clearly been having sex for a long time. Personally, I'd rather they were doing it in the house–"
"Ew, Dad! I'm still here!" A horrified JB covered her ears and hurried out of the living room, making her way to the kitchen. FP blushed, feeling a slight amount of guilt, and a whole lot of amusement.
Alice ran her hands through her hair in frustration. "I need to do something about this. I'm just full of this rage, and I don't want to take it out on the kids. They both tried so hard to stop that video from being released."
FP put his arm around her shoulder. "We'll figure out who did this to them. Charles is already working on questioning Brett, and tomorrow myself and some members of the FBI are going to the high school and middle school to explain why keeping copies of any 'intimate' videos of their classmates is very illegal."
Alice leaned further into FP. "Jughead and Betty are smart, they're not going to let this go. They'll figure out who it was and bring them to justice."
FP nodded. "I agree… they are smart." He stiffened and sat up straighter. "My boy had better be being smart with your girl… maybe talking to them about their 'sleeping arrangements' isn't such a bad idea. They're both going to college soon, I don't think either of them need any… surprises, so to speak."
Alice laughed in spite of her own stress. "Feel free to give Jughead any 'manly' pep talks you think are necessary, FP. But… I'm not proud of it, but I sort of lost it at Betty a few months ago when I found her birth control pills. They are being very smart. I wouldn't worry too much about any more Jones/Smith-teen-pregnancy scandals. My Elizabeth is well prepared in that department."
FP cringed a little. "Well… that's good. Nothing like the two of us were at that age." He teasingly elbowed her in the ribs. She playfully shoved him back.
How ironic it was, that although Betty's mother and my father thought the world of their children and believed them to be the better versions of themselves, little did they know we weren't so different from them after all.
Charles got the formalities out of the way and pulled out a folder. He explained to Betty that she was featured in four child pornography videos, one of which had been posted online. One of the videos was particularly concerning because there was evidence that she had been coerced into filming it. Another was concerning because she appeared to be physically assaulted by 'the adult' in the film.
"Before we continue, Betty, I need to ask… has Jughead ever pressured you into performing sexually with him? Have you ever been too scared to refuse his advances?" Charles' face was difficult to read.
Betty crossed her arms. "Charles… do you really think so badly of Jughead?"
"It's not what I think, Betty. It's just what I have to ask by law. But in any case," he hesitated. "I don't want you to feel like you have to protect him if he did pressure you into anything. Just because he's my brother, that doesn't mean I won't protect you from him if he hurts you. I helped him out earlier and stopped his arrest. That was me being there for him. Now I'm trying to be there for you, Betty. So if you do have anything you don't want him to know, or if there's anything you're too scared to say in front of him, then now's your chance."
Betty, while feeling slightly frustrated with her half-brother, couldn't help but feel something that resembled warmth when she realised how protective he was of her. It was a feeling she missed, not having felt that protected, younger sibling feeling that she used to receive from Polly when the Vixens would tease her in her Freshman year. Or when their dad would yell at them for some minor inconvenience they had caused and Polly would take the blame.
"I promise, Charles. Jughead has never, ever made me feel unsafe, or forced me to do anything with him… sexually or otherwise. To be perfectly honest with you, we take consent very seriously – we even have safe words anytime we try something… new." Betty found it odd that it was only slightly awkward telling Charles the details of her and Jughead's sex life. For a brief moment (which she promptly shut down) it reminded her of when Chic had introduced her to the webcamming world…
She made a mental note to make sure none of that was still present online.
"That's good to hear, Betty." Charles opened the folder in his lap, then called out louder. "Jughead, you can stop lurking out there and come in now." Almost immediately a slightly red face Jughead entered the room. "Just a reminder that you're not here."
Jughead nodded and sat next to Betty on their bed. They faced Charles, who was seated on the chair that normally occupied the vanity. Jughead had spent many hours the past few months watching Betty on that very chair, applying her perfectly picked out makeup, tying up her hair into that ponytail that always exposed the enticing curve of her neck…
He shook away the dirty thoughts that threatened to enter his mind. Now is so not the time, Jones, keep it in your pants, he thought.
"I have some screen stills of the four videos we have in evidence." Charles began. "Can you confirm whether the girl in these photographs is you?"
The first photo was a print out of the video Kevin had shown her. It was a still moment of a part of the video she hadn't seen yet: she was naked, sitting on top of Jughead whose face was hidden as he had his lips on her chest… her face was turned towards her left, looking down, smiling. She wasn't looking at the camera but she was faced towards it – easily identified.
"Yes, that's me."
The next video still she recognised as being from the same day. It was earlier though, when she'd first entered his dorm room. She'd told him to save the chapter he was working on, and then straddled him on his desk chair. The still depicted her sitting on him, but with her back against his chest so she was facing the door (which is where the camera must have been stationed), her eyes closed as she leaned back against him. Thankfully, she was still clothed – though Jughead's left hand was clearly inside the front of her jeans as his mouth attacked her neck.
She let out a breath. "That's me too… I'm glad I decided not to bring mom up here." She joked. Jughead reached over to squeeze her hand.
The next still, Betty knew came from a few weeks earlier, the same day she'd competed in the Quiz Show against Sweetwater High. In this still she was wearing no shirt, though her blue lacy bra was still on. She was kneeling in front of Jughead, looking up at him as he smirked down at her – her face was visible, though at an angle. Jughead was leaning back, presumably against his dorm room door, and a memory stuck out in her mind – of Jughead declaring that he needed to put a tie on the door handle shortly after she'd come to visit him that morning before school. Realisation crossed her face.
"Yes that's me. Is this the video that is making the FBI think Jughead 'forced' me to do things to him?"
Charles raised his eyebrows. "It's one of them. Do you have something to say about that?"
Betty blushed, then straightened her back. "He was taking control that morning… but he was only messing around. He jokingly told me to 'get naked' or something like that, and I decided to play along. We were… it was completely consensual; I can assure you."
Jughead stiffened and realised this is what Agent Johnston had referred to earlier… "Unless you mean to tell me that you have never demanded that Elizabeth "take off her shirt and get on her knees"?" is what the agent had said. Jughead whispered "Crap" and put his face in his hands as he groaned. He had said that to her, in a moment of teasing, when they were both so turned on that he had to quickly put his tie on the door to honour Stonewall's unspoken agreement to stay out of the dorm rooms when someone had a 'special friend' inside. He'd been worried Brett would return early from his work out and walk in on them, and knew that the tie would be all the information his roommate needed to come back later. He'd certainly had to oblige Brett's tie on the handle several times during his time at Stonewall.
Jughead had no idea that it didn't matter how many ties he put on their door handle, his roommate would still be able to watch him having sex with his girlfriend…
Charles didn't dwell on the details. "For the next video we have two photos… I'm not meant to show you the second photo, in case it triggers any traumatic experiences for you." He passed the first photo to Betty, and left the next one on top of his lap, still resting in the open folder.
Jughead could still see the image, however – and knew what it would be a fraction of a second before his eyes could process what he was seeing. The two of them, this time on the floor of the dorm room. Her back pressed against the floor. Him with his hands around her neck. It had been a rare night, back when she was suspended from Riverdale High and had snuck out of their house and into his dorm room. Brett wasn't in the room at the time, apparently meeting up with the football team for a party in the woods.
It had been Betty's idea. She'd heard that choking during sex could give one stronger orgasms… and he'd been a little hesitant oblige. The Agent's word once again came back to haunt him… you've never choked her until she nearly passed out?
In fact, for a second there during their coupling, he thought she had passed out. Her eyes had rolled back into her head as she convulsed for a full minute. He'd shaken her back into consciousness, desperately trying not to panic, when she'd regained her sanity and immediately pulled him closer, kissing him harder. Later she'd thanked him for indulging her, for trying it out without judging, and then explained that while she enjoyed the experience, it would maybe be better if they waited until they were older and more experienced to try choking again.
Betty looked up from the photo Charles had handed her, and said: "Yeah, that's me again. In all of the videos you have, I was completely aware of, and consenting to, the sexual experiences me and Jughead were engaged in. That's something I would testify to under oath. I wanted everything in the videos to happen. In fact, I instigated some of them. The "adult" in the videos is the boyfriend I've been with since the age of fifteen. Who I believe had no knowledge of the videos and is just as much a victim as I am."
Jughead shifted closer to Betty, putting both his arms around her.
Charles reassembled the photos into a pile and returned them to the folder. "Thank you, Betty. Your co-operation has made this run smoothly." He stood up. "That's all I really need from you. I'm going to go and file my notes before the station closes… am I right in assuming you're not going to press charges against Mr Forsythe Jones III?"
Betty just stared at him in response.
Charles smiled at them. "I'll see you both later tonight. I'm really sorry, to both of you. But I have to admit, you're both handling this a lot better than I would have at your age." He gave Jughead a little pat on the shoulder then left the room, shutting the door behind him.
And then finally, heavenly, Jughead and Betty were alone.
