Betty's pov
Over the next few months, a lot changed. Charles and Allie had the twins, a boy and a girl, named Lincoln Gage and Brooklyn Claire. Juju loved her new cousins, always asking if we could go and have dinner with them. We adjusted to having a quickly growing baby and Juju was now begging for a sister.
"Mama, can you have a baby girl now?" she asked as we ate dinner.
"A few years, Jules, and then we'll have another baby... can't promise a girl though," I tell her.
"Why not?" she asks.
"It's just not how it works, girlie," I tell her, putting my hand on her shoulder.
She huffs, setting her fork on her plate. "Can I go play? When will Grayson be old enough to play with me?" she asks.
"He can play now, just not in the way you want him to. And no, finish your broccoli first," Jughead says.
Juju slumps, poking at her broccoli with a fork.
I hear my phone ring. "Hold on, I'll go get that," I say, standing up to get my phone from the living room. I see it's Veronica, and pick up.
"Hey V, what's going on? How are you?" I ask.
"I'm fine. How're you?" she responds.
"I'm good. Tired, with Grayson and all, but good," I reply.
"Great, that's good. I mean, not that you're tired but... oh, well, you get what I mean," Veronica says.
I laugh. "Yeah, V, I understand," I tell her.
"Anyways, I'm coming back to visit for five days in two weeks," Veronica says.
I resist the urge to scream. "Really?! I haven't seen you in two years, and that was for a weekend! You can't be serious!" I cry.
"I'm serious. I'm going in two weeks," she says.
"Oh my god, V, I can't wait to see you! Oh, you're gonna have so much fun with Juju and Gray, and we're gone have the best time... I can't wait, this'll be so amazing!" I say.
"I know. I'm so excited to meet Gray. And Juju was almost three the last time I saw her, she's five now. Wow, time sure passes quickly," Veronica comments.
"Very quickly yet very slowly at the same time," I say.
"For sure," Veronica agrees.
"Okay, I will literally start planning activities now, this will be amazing, I can't wait. Maybe you can even meet Charles and Allie's kids, Lincoln and Brooklyn. Those kids are adorable," I say.
"I can't wait for whatever you plan. It'll be so amazing, I just know it" Veronica says excitedly.
"I know it will," I agree, smirking.
Veronica chuckles. "Nice. Well, I'll let you get back to whatever you were doing, I just wanted to tell you. Bye," she says.
"See you soon. Bye, V," I say.
The next few weeks, we prepared for Veronica to come. We convinced her to stay at our house, and we had planned a bunch of fun activities.
Finally, the day arrived to get Veronica from the airport. I had Juju and Grayson both dressed in overalls, but Juju's were light pink with a pale yellow shirt underneath, and Grayson's were dark green with a white shirt decorated with tiny navy dinosaurs underneath.
After waiting at the airport for a little while, Veronica came out.
"Veronica!" I cry, running over to her.
"Betty," she says happily, wrapping her arms around me as we collide.
We hug for a long time.
"Where's Juju and Grayson?" she asks once we finally pull away.
"Over here," I say, pointing to where Jughead has kept the kids.
We run over together, and I pick up Juju and spin her around. "Julie, do you remember Auntie V?" I ask her.
Juju moves back in my arms, and a faint smile appears on her face. "Hi," she says softly.
"Hi, Juju," Veronica smiles.
"You've seen her on FaceTime, and now you can see her in real life! Isn't that cool?" I ask her.
"Yeah," Juju nods, surveying Veronica.
"Oh, is this Grayson?" Veronica asks, pointing to the car seat we have him in.
"Yes, this is him," I say, smiling. Jughead kneels down and gets Grayson out, and then hands him to Veronica.
"Aw, he's just adorable!" she says. "Hi, Grayson!"
Grayson looks at her, and then slowly breaks into a smile. He babbles something.
"Oh my god, I'm in love," Veronica tells me.
"He is pretty dang cute, isn't he?" Jughead asks.
"He really is," Veronica agrees.
"Hey, I'm cute too!" Juju says, pouting.
"Yes, Julie, you're cute too," I say, smiling.
"Thank you," she says haughtily, crossing her arms and making all of us laugh.
"Okay, let's get going home. We have so many things to do. Tomorrow we're gonna go to a water park, and Wednesday we'll have dinner with Allie and Charles. Today I was thinking just stay in and swim in our pool," I say as we walk out of the airport together.
"That sounds amazing. I can't wait. It's been too long since I've last been here," Veronica says. "And I can't wait to see Lincoln and Brooklyn."
"Oh, you'll love them. They're two months younger than Grayson, so two months old," I say.
"Okay, but it's still crazy how close together they are! And Juju must love them, don't you, Juju?" Veronica asks
"They're nice. I want a sister. Mommy said no to taking Brookie home," Juju said, twisting the end of her braid around her finger.
Veronica laughs. "So, she's begging for a sister, now, is she?" she questions.
"Constantly," Jughead says, putting Grayson in the car.
"Sounds nice," Veronica giggles.
"Absolutely splendid," I reply sarcastically, rolling my eyes.
The next day, we headed out for Water World. Although Juju was too small for most of the rides, she could do a few things, and we could trade off who watched her and Grayson while the other two went on rides.
We spent the whole day there, all having an amazing time. Sometimes Jughead watched the kids while Veronica and I went on the water slides together, and sometimes Veronica watched them while Jughead and I went together. Once, I watched them while Veronica and Jughead went on a water slide because I didn't want to go.
Finally, at four, we decided it was time to go home. We had dinner, then watched a movie while eating ice cream.
The next day, we swam in the pool for a while, and then went to Charles and Allie's house at two so the kids could play before having dinner.
"Are you sureeee we can't take Brookie home with us?" Juju asked as she played with her.
I look up at Allie, who's folding some clothes. "What d'you think, Alls? Can we have one?" I ask her.
She smiles softly. "I'll have to say no for now, sorry, Jules," she says.
Juju frowns, but resumes trying to teach Brooklyn how to dress the baby doll she's holding.
As Jughead is putting Juju in the car, Allie approaches me and Veronica. "Has she asked for Brooklyn before? Does she ask for a little sister?" she asks kindly.
Veronica's mouth twitches. "I've been here three days and it's come up at least twice every three hours," she says.
"Asking for a sister. Only once a day does she request Brooklyn," I clarify, smiling as I finish.
Allie chuckles. "Sounds like the time of your life," she says, and pauses before speaking again. "Do you think you'll have another?" she asks hesitantly.
"Most likely. In a few years, of course, once Grays is older, but not too much older. I don't want as much of an age gap between Gray and the next one as there is between him and Julianne," I say.
"Yeah, makes sense," Allie agrees, and Veronica nods.
"How about you? You two planning on more kids?" I ask Allie.
She shakes her head. "Probably not. We always talked about having three kids, but... I don't know, our family feels complete with the twins, like it's exactly how it should be and adding anything would ruin it," Allie says. "Not saying that if I did get pregnant again we'd hate the kid, just that... having only the twins feels right, and we're most likely going to keep it that way," she adds on hastily.
'No, I understand," I say comfortingly.
"Veronica? Do you want kids, in the future?" Allie asks.
"Yeah, one or two. But not for a while, like ten years or so. We are only twenty-three, at least Betty and I are, so we've got loads of time. Besides, I'm single right now. I want to meet the right guy, then get married and have a baby," Veronica says.
"Sounds like a fairytale," I joke.
"I wish it could be," Veronica agrees.
"You guys coming?" Jug calls from the car.
"Yeah, be patient!" I call back.
"Alright, I'll see you soon, Allie. Bye," I say as Veronica and I start to walk to the car.
"Bye, girls!" she calls back.
Veronica waves, and then we get in the car and head home.
The next day, Veronica, Juju and I went out, leaving the boys at home while we went shopping downtown.
"I remember all the trips we made down here in high school, whenever we got a paycheck we'd run down as soon as possible and buy whatever we thought was cute," Veronica reminisced.
I chuckle. "Good times," I say, smiling.
"They really were," Veronica agrees.
"Oh, Mama, can we go in there?" Juju asks, pointing to a shop across the street.
"Sure, honey, that should be fine..." I say, and we walk to the store.
We spent all day shopping, buying new clothes for the three of us, plus Jughead, Grayson, and Veronica's mom, who she was visiting when she left us.
The next few days were spent doing many different activities, such as going mini golfing or to the beach or having Juju's friend Callie over for a sleepover in which we had a movie night and pool party and gave the girls many sugary treats, resulting in them staying up until midnight when their usual bedtimes were four hours earlier.
Finally, it was the day Veronica was leaving. I was helping her pack, and she seemed distant, which I pointed out.
"Hey, V, what's wrong?" I ask her.
"It's just... Betty, I'm moving to London to film this new show, which means, if it's successful, I'll probably see you even less," Veronica admits sadly.
I take a breath quickly, surprised. "You're- you're moving to London?" I ask.
Veronica grimaces, nodding. "I know, it's really far, but... I really think this show will be good, maybe be my real big break," she admits.
"Veronica... wow. And the time difference... but we'll make it work. We can FaceTime on the weekends, and maybe we could even come up there sometime, that might be fun!" I say with false enthusiasm.
Veronica chews her lip. "Yeah, I guess... I'm sorry I waited so long to tell you, but I just didn't want to ruin our time together," she says.
"It's fine, V," I say. There's silence for a moment as she shuts her now fully packed suitcase, and we both stare at the ground. I finally check my watch. "Oh, V, we'd better be leaving soon, other ways we might not make it on time for you to go through security and everything," I say, and pull her suitcase off the bed.
"Oh, yeah. Here, I've got this." She takes her suitcase and we head for the door.
We make it to the airport earlier since traffic was light, and I stop Veronica before she walks inside. "I'm gonna miss you so much, V," I say as I hug her.
"I'll miss you too, B. I'll call you as soon as I can," she says, and I can tell from her voice that she's trying not to cry.
"I'll be waiting," I say thickly, holding back tears myself.
We could probably hug forever, but Jughead stops us after a minute. "As sweet as this is" he says, "If you don't leave now, you might be late to your flight."
"Right," Veronica mutters, pulling away and wiping a tear from her face. "Bye, B. I love you," she says.
"Bye V. I love you too," I reply, biting my lips together to stop from spilling tears.
Veronica looks at us for another few seconds, then turns and leaves without another word.