Chapter 6: Nighthawk's Back
FP and Alice were in the kitchen when Jughead got out of bed. He didn't sleep the best. Waking nightmares kept him from peaceful rest. Alice handed the man his pain medication and a glass of water. Alice gave a careful glance to FP, who shrugged his shoulders.
"Thanks, Alice." Jughead thanked, handing the empty glass back.
Alice took it without a single thought, went over to place it into the sink and smiled. "No problem, Jughead."
FP couldn't stop thinking about the boy's eyes. He could see bluish bags underneath his eyes. The father in him began to worry something was going on. Jughead clearly wasn't sleeping well. Alice told him Jughead might be suffering from PTSD. As much as FP didn't want to admit it… she might be right. He had signs himself after coming back from the army - - all the things he had seen. The people who were innocent risked their lives to protect their country.
"Jughead, would you like us to show you 'round town?"
Jughead politely shakes his head. "No. I'm good. I think I'll do better on my own, but thanks for the offer." He grabbed his crutches, carefully taking each step at a time as they were under his armpits.
It hurt being rejected like that. FP nodded, understanding while Alice kept her eye on FP. She knew that deep down that struck a nerve in him. They watched as he went through the door, adventuring on his own. They both knew that Jughead was trying to escape their harboring eyes, hovering over him like he's broken. FP felt like he was stung by a lot of bees. He's not used to this kind of rejection.
Alice pulled him close and whispered softly." He didn't mean it."
He shook his head." I know… it just hurt."
"Think on the bright side. You can go into work and let him figure out how to connect the dots on his own. We can't tell him what to do. He needs to find out on his own."
—xxx—
He walked up a small diner, rubbing his stomach. He was starving. He went inside, waited to be told where to sit. The waitress told him he could sit anywhere he'd like. He chose the booth three tables away from the door, stared out the window seeing the pretty autumnal colors on the trees. He thought he'd been here before. It all felt so familiar to him like he belonged.
He looked down at the menu, sipping occasionally at the hot coffee in the cup in front of him. A memory flashed in his brain.
Our story is about a town. A small town. And the people who live in the town. From a distance, it presents itself like so many other small towns all over the world. Safe. Decent. Innocent. Get closer though and you start seeing the shadows underneath. The name of our town is Riverdale.
He's typing on his laptop at one of these very booths in this diner. It looked like to him that he was writing about this town. But why? Apparently because he has been here before? It was finally piecing together… slowly but getting there.
And our story begins, I guess, with what the Blossom twins did this summer… On the fourth of July, just after dawn, Jason and Cheryl Blossom drove out to Sweetwater River for an early morning boat-ride. The next thing we know happened for sure is that Dilton Doiley, who was leading Riverdale's Boy Scout Troop on a bird-watching expedition, came upon Cheryl by the river's edge.
Cheryl Blossom? Jason Blossom? Why did those names sound so familiar? And why was he writing about them?
Riverdale Police dragged Sweetwater river for Jason's body, but never found it. So a week later, the Blossom family buried an empty casket, and Jason's death was ruled an accident.
Then the memory stopped, leaving Jughead steering with emotion. He didn't understand what just happened. What isn't he remembering? When his vision finally resumed, Jughead looked up.
"Nighthawk's back!" His head shifted when the name was said. He saw a jolly black man coming up to his booth, smiling. Nighthawk? Is that supposed to be him? The man began to speak," What are you doing back in Riverdale? I thought I'd never see my favorite customer again. Still want your special? It's on the house just old times, and I'll ask Veronica to bring it out to you. I'm sure she'd love to see you again."
He stared at the boy, waiting for a hug. He then noticed the crazy look in his eyes and backed off. The heart of Riverdale; POP's Choc'lit Shopee, Pop Tate noticed right away the confusion on his face. He remembered seeing two casts on the boy's legs and crutches lying on the empty side of the booth.
"Uh...Um may I ask who you are?" Jughead's question was like a low hit to the man's heart.
"You don't know who I am? Jughead, have you been sneaking Jingle Jangle? Your father will have your head if you are." Pop Tate tried to joke off. He seriously thought Jughead was pulling some amnesia prank on the old guy.
"Sir, with all due respect, I don't know who you are." Jughead said.
Pop's heart hurt. The boy that spent most of his time, typing all way on his laptop, eating half the percentage of their food doesn't remember him. He couldn't believe it in his own ears. He thought he was losing his hearing. Pop's was the heart of Riverdale as Jughead Jones always said.
"Uh…"
Jughead interrupted the man." I was in a car accident caused by a drunk driver. I've been suffering with amnesia the only things I can remember is the accident and the day I woke up from a coma. I'm sorry if I don't remember you. I can see this guy… me I guess meant a lot to you."
"Oh, dear. I'm so sorry that you can't remember. Yeah.. Uh, you do mean a lot to me and actually this town. You could say yo--" He cut the jolly man off.
"Famous?"
The darker skin man chuckled lightly.
"I guess you could word it that way. You're sure well known here."
"Jughead Jones the Third!" He and the man look around.
He saw a raven woman, slicked hair and carrying a paper bag in her hand. Her eyes blow wide. She looked quite familiar from one of his flashbacks. She came up to them, throwing her arms around him. She pulled out of the hug, probably nothing he didn't hug her.
She punched his arm jokingly. "How dare you get into a car accident and fall into a coma. You had us all scared to death. Jughead, pick your mouth off the ground, I know I'm stunning, look amazing but no need to swallow flies."
"Veronica, you might need to slow down." The man directed toward the woman in front of him.
The woman, Veronica, looked confused." Slow down, why, Pop?" His name is Pop? He had a lot to remember.
—xxx—
There's a knock on the door that broke the ex-serpent king from his thoughts. He peered up, readjusting his glasses on the bridge of his nose. His eyes laid on the man before him, his eldest child. He looked as he felt. He called his son into his office and signaled him to sit down.
"Charles, sit down." The young 31-year-old walked over to the chair and sat down as he was told.
31-year-old Charles sighed quietly to himself, trying to avoid his emotions. He heard Jughead's in town and he wanted to stop by his dad's work to see if he could come visit his younger brother. He knew something had been bothering his dad. Even before Jughead's coma their father seemed off. That night he and JB found their father, he didn't look okay. At first he thought it was the fact his child was hurt, but now Charles came to the conclusion it was much more than that. His dad learned something and just hasn't told anybody about it. Even his mother acted similar to FP.
"Hi, dad." He said briefly. "I just wanted to ask if I could see Jughead." His dad's face gave a creeping feeling down Charles' back. "I know he doesn't remember who we are but I miss my little bro." FP shifted in his office chair.
Uneasiness crept inside, freezing FP into slow-motion. He knew Charles missed Jug. He didn't fault him. He also missed the boy, but introducing newish people may be too much for Jughead to handle right now.
"I don't know, son…"
"Come on, dad. It could help surrounding Jughead with people and things he was around. He stayed with me for a couple months before moving away during college. I think this will help." Charles thought he made a good argument.
"Charles, I know you miss him but we don't want to overdo anything."
The thing about memory: it can be tricky. Trying to pinpoint what happened could take a lot of work. Memory's tricky and that's what Charles and FP were able to learn.
—xxx—
"How's FP doing?" The redhead asked concernedly, arm wrapped around her girlfriend's waist.
Alice casually lifted up her tea, sipping slowly. She didn't honestly want to talk about her home life while being with the girls. She knew Mary and Hermione were only trying to check up on her well-being.
"Well…" She groaned into the tea cup," not good. What do you expect, Mary? Jughead doesn't remember him and on top of that…" She paused and said in a low-whisper."...FP's not the father." She sighed sadly.
Mary reached her hand over the table-top, laying it on top of Alice's. Mary knew that Gladys' secret love-affair really hit the Jones family, but now the middle-child's memory loss seemed to overwhelm everything else. This was the first that the darker haired woman had heard about memory loss and the Paternity reveal. The infamous family wanted to keep under wraps which is understandable.
They all sat in Hermione's Foyer, sipping at the lavish customs in their hands. As of recently she rehired Smithers after her late husband idiotically fired him, moved into a new estate after Veronica moved away for college. Smithers kept a keen eye as he poured their tea into cups.
"Thanks, Smithers." The chauffeur smiled.
"As always, Ms. Gomez." He dismissed himself out of the room.
"Tell FP my condolences, Alice. I can't imagine how he's feeling right now."
"I will, Hermione. Thank you!" Alice muttered, looking away.
—xxx—
Charles walked into the Jones house, heart thumping in his chest. Jughead is home… but he's not really since he cannot remember them. His father told him that Jughead gave the okay for him to visit. He spotted him, his little brother. The slow moving feeling ached at his chest and made his feet move.
"Uh… hi?" Jughead said, confused.
Charles chuckled nervously. "Hi, I'm, uh… Charles, FP and Alice's son."
"FP and Alice mentioned you were stopping by. It's nice to meet you, Charles. I heard you work for the FBI."
Charles smiled.
"Uh, yeah I do. I've been working for some time now."
"I was told I was in school… my fourth year I think?"
Charles walked over to the couch and sat down. His palms were sweaty and he had to try to ignore the pain in his chest. Jughead looked at him like he had no idea who was and it is true.
"Oh?"
Jughead smiled slightly. "Yeah… I guess one of the people at Pop's told me. Her name is Veronica, I believe."
A fond smile marked his lips. "She seems nice and very pretty." Jughead blushed slightly.
"She's the mayor's daughter, Jughead." He spotted the blush on his cheeks. "You think she's pretty?"
"Well… uh… yeah I do." The younger brother stuttered with a hint of blushed cheeks.
It was odd because Jughead and Betty got back together but now he doesn't remember her. He hoped things would start to get better.
—xxx—
Charles walked into the kitchen, finding his mom washing the dishes in the wash tub. He goes over there and taps on her shoulder. Alice looked away from the soapy water and hummed a sweet tone.
"Hi, Sweetie!" Alice welcomed, shaking the soap bubbles off her hands and grabbed a kitchen towel. "How is your talk with Jug going?" She noticed the way Charles' shoulders tensed up and the sigh that failed to not be heard as it passed his lips.
He leaned against the kitchen counter." It's hard, Mom." It was a whisper but Alice heard the pain reaching in his voice.
She knew that Jughead's memory loss had been very hard on both FP and Charles. Over the years, the boys grew closer and even helped one another when the time was needed. The fact this was happening was heartbreaking. She had seen Jughead go through hell for the last few days. The return to Riverdale seemed to be beneficial but at the same time difficult. She knew that Jughead was having a hard time with not letting his frustrations take over him. This morning she found him throwing his hands up in the hair, screaming as he chucked one of his crutches at the wall. She came into the room, calmly approached him and let the man cry on her shoulder as she smoothly spoke to him.
Her eyes scrunch up in sympathy." I know, baby it's hard." She cupped both of his cheeks in her hands and said," it's going to get better, Charlie. It will. We just got be patient."
Charles nodded. He knew his mom was right. As Charles helped with dishes Alice listened to him explain his feelings. He told her about the break-down at work and Caleb was being such a sweet guy. Alice's heart snagged when she heard about Charles' breakdown or the fact he thought about narcotics. She would tell him to ask his father about his struggle and maybe the two can help each other out.
"I would, but Dad's going through so much with Jughead… I-I don't want to push him too much. He already has enough on his plate to deal with. He doesn't need my drug urges to bother him." Charles mentioned strongly against the idea.
"Charles… don't disregard what your father can or can't handle." She tried to push the subject.
Charles started scrubbing at the dish madly." I said no, Mom."
Alice shook her head, denying her son. "I'm serious, Charles." She grabbed her son's hands and removed them from the dish tub. "I know you are worried for your father's wellbeing but you also have to understand that so is he. He knows how much this is all effecting you and he told me the other day he hates seeing that look on your face you have on right now."
Charles' pouty face stayed. "I never knew."
"He didn't want to make you feel bad. He loves you and Jughead so much. And to be honest, I'm worried about all of my Jones men." He winced.
"I'm sorry." He tried to apologize.
She waved him off. "Don't it's a mother's job to worry about her children."
As time passed between the mother and son it felt like a weight had been lifted from Charles' body. He had been holding that in for too long. It felt great to finally tell someone.
—-xxx—
One Week Passed
Over the course of a week Jughead and the rest of the family fell into a routine. Alice would take him to all his doctors appointments on Friday's and FP picked up his prescriptions during his lunch breaks. Betty stopped by making sure Jughead had his assignments that their teacher gave them over fall break. Thanksgiving was coming up and then soon it would be Christmas time again.
The doorbell rang causing Jughead to get off the couch and head over to the door. With his hand turning the knob, Jughead smiled kindly when Betty's figure appeared in front of him. The two had slowly start talking since Jughead returned to Riverdale one week ago.
"I brought over some of your missing assignments." Betty said as Jughead let her pass him. "Mrs. Ellen explained that you have a Biology PowerPoint to hand in by December 1st. I told her that you weren't going to be able to finish it by then, so she gave you an extension."
"How long?" Jughead questioned.
"Until December 15th that's as far as I could get you."
Jughead smiled. "Thanks, Betty, that means a lot to me."
Betty shrugged it off with a bright smile. "It was no problem." It was kinda odd with the fact they were dating but Jughead didn't remember. She had heard from JB's eavesdropping that Veronica was back into town.
Uneasiness hit her stomach at the knowledge. Veronica hadn't reacted well to the news of her kissing Archie. She didn't think she would. And now the fact she's back in town after their five year departure didn't settle well for Betty. She knew that Veronica had been very busy in her successful career. She hoped someday Vee would forgive her. It is not easy when you betray your best friend by kissing their boyfriend.
She wanted to kiss him so badly but she knew his memory didn't recall their re-engagement. She helped Jughead back over to the couch as he used his crutches.