I am honestly so sorry for taking so long!

So a few things happened since I last posted. The first thing is that my grandfather-who I happened to very close to-passed away at the end of April. He had a serious brain tumor, so while expected, it was still rather sudden and I needed time to grieve. This past month was crazy as well because I not only had the funeral to attend, but it was also the first time I had seen my mother and sisters in five years. None of this was very conducive to getting me into the headspace for writing, and everything I tried to write just seemed...off.

My writers' block has now passed and I feel really happy with what I have written for this chapter, which has been difficult for me to say lately (because I am a very harsh critic, especially to myself).

I apologize again for my long absence, but it really couldn't be helped.

TW: Specific mentions of captivity, affects of scent memory, panic attacks, nightmares

As part of her training at the FBI, Betty had learned how to conduct cognitive interviews. These interviews were designed to help agents find locations or suspects by interviewing victims with a primary focus on the five senses-sight, touch, hearing, taste, and smell. That training had taught her that scent memory was an incredibly powerful thing. Even years later, a specific scent could randomly trigger a memory that had been forgotten or repressed. Soldiers from Vietnam could return to the battlefield if they smelled sulfur; the smell of cookies could invoke nostalgic memories of childhood. It was even possible for scent memory to be activated in dreams, which Betty knew firsthand. Her dreams always sent her back to one place: a hole filled with trash, mangled, decaying corpses, and the terror that she would soon be joining them.

After spending two weeks in that damn hole, she had gotten used to the smell; she would even go so far as to say that she was desensitized to it. The ironic part was that, after she was rescued, the smell wouldn't leave her alone. In her dreams, the smell was always the first sign that she was back in that damn cage. Once she woke up, the smell would linger in her nostrils like a bad odor, only it never dissipated after a few unpleasant seconds.

Betty jolted out of bed, gagging as she tried to forget all about the smell of that damn hole-trash, decaying flesh, and whatever else the TBK thought would make her stay even less pleasant than it already was. She ran blindly in the direction of where she knew her en suite bathroom was only to run right into the damn wall. It took several more moments for her panicked brain to realize that she was in Riverdale, at Archie's house, where she had spent the night after they decided to get back together. Readjusting her senses to the different building, she blindly stumbled out of the bedroom and into the hallway to the bathroom, where she promptly emptied the contents of her stomach into the toilet.

A moment later, she felt warm hands hold back her hair as her stomach continued to churn. She sat back after a few more minutes, breathing heavily. Normally, one meeting with the toilet would be enough to get that smell out of her head, but tonight it wasn't. The smell lingered in her senses, making it absolutely impossible for Betty to focus on anything else, including Archie's presence behind her.

This was the first time that someone was witnessing her breakdown, and while Betty would certainly panic about it later, right now she really didn't care.

"You okay?" Archie asked, gently running his hand up and down the back of her sweat-soaked shirt.

Betty gagged again in response.

This process continued for about another twenty minutes before the smell finally disappeared and the accompanying nausea dissipated, leaving her able to finally breathe.

Sitting back on her feet, Betty leaned her head against the rim of the toilet seat, trying her best to take deep breaths, like her therapist suggested. These episodes were far less common now than they were when she was first rescued, but each one was emotionally and physically exhausting in a way that was difficult to describe to someone who did not understand.

And no one did.

Because, during those two weeks, she had been completely alone. She had been forced to sit among the Trash Bag Killer's other victims-the ones the Bureau hadn't found yet-with the knowledge that she would probably be joining them unless her team miraculously found her. It was the perfect method of psychological torture.

Archie helped her shakily stand up and moved her to the sink. He waited until she was stable on her feet before slipping away for a moment to get her a glass of water. When he returned, she still hadn't moved from where he left her.

"Drink this," he softly ordered.

She drained the water quickly and moved to sit against the wall with her eyes closed. Archie grabbed a brand-new washcloth, wet it with cold water, and folded it. Then, he joined Betty on the floor and placed the washcloth behind her neck to help cool her down.

He softly sighed, trying to hide his obvious concern for her. While it was not the first time that she had had a bad reaction to a nightmare, it was the first time that he had seen it this bad. And Archie had a feeling that it had something to do with work.

From the moment that they returned to Riverdale, Archie knew that Betty was keeping something from him. It wasn't unusual for her to purposefully be vague about her work with the FBI; no one could really understand the work she did, so she didn't try to explain. However, she had always been honest with Archie about her work. He had noticed that she had started being vague even around him, but he had simply thought it was because of the distance between them after the break-up. He also knew that the lack of trust wouldn't go away overnight now that they were back together.

Seeing her now had changed his perspective. It was obvious that something traumatic (more traumatic than even a miscarriage) happened to Betty, and Archie was willing to bet that it had something to do with the FBI.

Working in the violent crimes unit at the FBI was no picnic. Betty was regularly exposed to the worst crimes people committed. One of the methods Betty used was to get inside the subject's head, figure out their motivations in order to better understand their crimes. It was an effective tool, yet it also took a toll on Betty. Due to the nature of her work, she wasn't allowed to tell him everything about the case, but she told him enough that he could understand the toll (Archie couldn't share everything with her either because of the classified nature of some of his missions with the Rangers).

Her dreams were most likely connected to her work because Archie knew that little else could affect her as much as it seemed to now.

"You okay?" He asked after several long minutes.

"Not even a little," she answered honestly.

"Anything I can do to help?"

"Not really. Just give me a few more minutes and I'll be fine."

Archie had his doubts about that, but said nothing. He wanted Betty to trust him and that meant waiting until she was comfortable telling him what was going on.

They did not move until the first rays of sunlight began to shine through the window above the shower, a silent signal to them both to begin the day. Betty could feel her muscles protesting as she stood up from the floor, but she really did not care. The nausea had begun to finally fade-just in time for her to start her day without feeling (completely) like crap.

"You okay?"

"I really wish you would stop asking me that," Betty replied, moving slowly back into his bedroom to grab her things. Archie followed on her heels, his head spinning by how defensive Betty had gotten so quickly.

"I'm worried about you. I have never seen you react like that to a nightmare before; let me help you, please."

Betty ran a hand through her messy locks. "This isn't something that I'm ready to talk about...with anyone."

"I get that."

"I don't know if I'll ever be ready to talk about it."

"Are you saying that you don't trust me?" Archie asked.

"You know I trust you."

"Just not when it comes to something that is clearly bothering you."

Archie wasn't stupid. He knew that there were still plenty of unresolved issues between them that wouldn't be resolved overnight. Still, it hurt to realize that there was a part of Betty that didn't fully trust him.

"Look," Betty sighed, stopping her movements to stare Archie in the eyes. "What happened is still pretty fresh and I'm still trying to figure out how to deal with it."

"Let me help you. One of the reasons we broke up was because we were both keeping things from each other. I don't want to repeat past mistakes, Betty. I'm in this for the long haul."

"I don't want to repeat past mistakes, either. But this is something I need to do on my own."

With that said, Betty grabbed her clothes from the night before and hurried out of his room before Archie could catch her. He followed her out the door, not willing to let her go without fighting for her. Not like last time.

"Betty, please!"

"What, Archie?"

"I won't force you to open up to me. That's not how I want us to start back up again; I want you to trust me and feel comfortable telling me what's going on. So, I'll drop it. I won't bring it up again unless you want to talk about it. But I do want you to know that, no matter how bad it is, nothing could change how much I love you, Betty Cooper."

He leaned forward to kiss her forehead, silently telling her that things were different this time. They had let secrets tear them apart before; now, Archie was showing how much he had changed by acknowledging the secret, calling her out on it, but letting her tell him at her own pace.

The sigh that followed told him that Betty was giving in. "Thank you."

"Of course. Now, how about we go get some breakfast?" Archie asked, keeping to his promise of not pushing her to open up to him.

Betty's phone buzzing in her hand interrupted the moment. She quickly glanced down at the screen before asking, "How do you feel about a table for three?"

"Sorry for crashing your breakfast," Cheryl said, stirring some creamer into her coffee. Archie and Betty sat across from her, each of them nursing their own cups of coffee.

She had taken a day to seriously consider her cousin's proposal and its ramifications. Cheryl had to move a few assets around, but she had decided to donate the needed amount to save the high school from being shut down.

Betty was right; it was an opportunity for her to begin changing the way that people perceived what it meant to be a Blossom. For so long, the Blossom name was synonymous with greed, corruption, murder, and so much death. Riverdale had long memories and the crimes of the Blossom family were difficult to forget. But Hiram Lodge's crimes were far more numerous and much more present in the minds of the people, making the Blossom family appear as saints in comparison. It was an opportunity that Cheryl knew might never come again.

"It's not a problem, Cheryl," Betty replied. "We were happy to hear from you. In fact, Archie came up with the idea to save Riverdale High."

"Well then, I suppose you will both be pleased to hear that I have decided to donate the money you need to turn Riverdale High private. Betty, you were right-about everything," Cheryl said, taking care to keep the details of her previous conversation with her cousin private.

As much as Cheryl liked Archie (and she did like him in a brotherly sort of way), Betty was family and some conversations were just meant to remain between family. Betty nodded with a glint in her eye that Cheryl understood meant that she had kept their conversation private. Not for the first time, she appreciated her cousin's discretion.

"I'm glad to hear that, Cheryl. We'll handle the minor details from here."

"I just have one condition."

"Name it," Archie chimed in, leaning forward in his seat.

"For now, keep my name out of it. Perhaps later I would like the Blossom name attached to the saving of Riverdale High, but for now, my main focus is staying out of Hiram Lodge's way when he finds out. I'd like to remain anonymous for as long as possible."

"I know a few lawyers who work white collar cases. They can help us keep your name out of everything," Betty offered.

"Before you say anything, Cheryl, yes. Betty knows somebody who can help us out with pretty much anything. And if she doesn't, then she knows someone who knows someone."

"Perks of working for the government; you meet a lot of people."

"Good to know," Cheryl replied. "Since we have finished our business talk, Archie...I need a moment to discuss something with my cousin alone."

Cheryl had taken the surprise opportunity in front of her to observe her cousin and the boy-next-door. For years, she had watched these two secretly pine for each other while they claimed to be happy dating other people (Cheryl had secretly always rooted for the two of them). She had watched as they briefly gave into those feelings senior year, which ended up fracturing their group for the next seven years.

All of that would cause a lingering awkwardness between two people, especially when they hadn't seen each other in seven years. But there was no awkwardness between Betty and Archie. If anything, they appeared to be more at ease with each other. So, either they had both moved faster than Cheryl ever thought to be possible or the two of them hadn't gone their separate ways after high school. Cheryl was willing to bet Thornehill that her latter theory was correct.

Archie quickly slid out of the booth and moved to the counter to get a refill of coffee. Once Cheryl felt he was out of earshot, she leaned forward to get closer to her cousin and said, "How long has that been going on?"

"How long has what been going on, Cheryl?"

"Don't play coy with me, Elizabeth. You and Archie are clearly dating!"

Betty narrowed her eyes. "Who told you?"

"You and Archie did just now. You two appear very cozy for two people who haven't seen each other in seven years."

Unlike when Archie told Veronica, Betty did not feel any fear or tension about people knowing them, at least people in their hometown. This time, she actually felt overjoyed to have someone else know about them. Maybe it was because their relationship had never had secure footing in Riverdale while their relationship had been practically unbreakable outside of it. More likely, Betty mused that it was because they had grown up.

In high school, all their relationships were heavily focused on drama. Friendships and relationships fizzled out and rekindled before she could blink, and it was usually about the same issues. For Betty, Jughead didn't trust her around Archie because he feared that she still had feelings for him (which was admittedly true). They had addressed the issue, but the fear still lingered and Betty had done little, if anything, to help him get rid of that fear.

Adulthood, or maybe it was just the unconditional love she shared for Archie Andrews, had taught her that, if a relationship was to ever be successful, problems had to be addressed in order to move on. Slapping a band-aid on it would never be the trick; it was only a matter of time before the band-aid fell off, after all. Betty knew that they (she especially) still had work to do on that front, but they were making progress. This morning's events were a sign of that.

Archie had called her out on shutting him out, but also gave her the emotional space she needed to get to the point where she could share what happened with him. In fact, she had felt comfortable enough to get breakfast with him, knowing that he would leave the topic of this morning until another time.

Either way, the knowledge that they were working on their issues together made Betty feel secure enough in their relationship to begin the process of sharing the good news with everyone.

"You've already figured it out, so just ask me what you want to ask," Betty replied.

"How long have you two been together?"

"We started dating two years ago and broke up for...reasons. We just got back together last night."

"So I interrupted you in your morning after bliss? You should have told me; I would've happily rescheduled our meeting for lunch. But since I am here, why did you break up?"

Betty could understand what her cousin was insinuating. In Riverdale, couples seemed to have a habit of breaking up and getting back together all the time like some teenage drama show. Cheryl wanted to make sure that they weren't repeating those habits.

"We broke up for some pretty serious and traumatic reasons." Betty took a deep breath and looked at her cousin, knowing that she could trust her with anything. "I had a miscarriage."

"Oh my goodness…" Cheryl breathed out with a hand to her face.

"It was Archie's, obviously. Neither of us even knew I was pregnant before it happened, so you can imagine the shock that followed. We both had an extremely difficult time processing the trauma and it caused our relationship to fracture. But a year apart actually was helpful for us both."

"How so?"

"Well, for one, we both started regularly attending therapy and working on getting ourselves into a better place."

On the flip side, Betty was grateful for that year off. They had both grown as people, due to experience and a deeper understanding of their own emotions. While therapy was certainly never easy, Betty had come to realize that she couldn't care for or understand others if she couldn't do the same thing for herself. The therapy was working if Betty was now able to admit to someone besides Archie that she had suffered a miscarriage.

"And before you say anything else, we still have plenty of issues to work through, but at this point, I'm confident that we can do it together."

Cheryl felt her heart break and be put back together simultaneously as her cousin spoke. She wished that she had been there for her cousin during the past year, but the past could not be rewritten and she was overjoyed to see the love reflected in her eyes despite everything she and Archie had gone through.

They had both grown up in the past seven years-that much was obvious. They had both gone through an incredible trauma, and instead of continuing to pretend like it never happened, they sought out professional help and put in the work to make themselves better. Their reconciliation and rekindled relationship was proof of the work they did and their determination to be better for each other.

"In that case, I have one more question. Does being with him make you happy?"

"Being with Archie makes me feel safe, at peace, and yes, happy. And if you knew what my life has been like the past seven years, you would know that those three things are extremely difficult to find."

"I'm glad to hear it. I expect you to come over later this week for a long overdue girls' night where we will talk more. Until then, tell your boyfriend that he has the cousin/sister stamp of approval." With that said, Cheryl slipped out of the booth and exited Pop's with a proud grin on her face.

"Good news," Betty said as Archie slipped into the booth beside her. "Cheryl approves."

"As happy as I am to have her approval, I thought you might hold off on wanting to tell people about us."

She hummed slightly and entangled her fingers with his on top of the table. "Our conversation made me realize something. When I returned to Riverdale, I was afraid that old habits would come back. Habits where we would break up, get together with other people, break up, and then get back together, and repeat the same cycle over and over again. I was afraid, which is partially why I kept you at arms' length. If we never told people we were together, then maybe the cycle wouldn't happen. But you showed me today that you weren't willing to give up on me at the first sign of trouble."

"I won't ever give up on you, Betty. I'm physically incapable," Archie replied, gently squeezing her hand.

"And I'm not either. But I was letting my fear guide me, which was a mistake, especially when I know that I feel safest when I'm with you."

"I'm loving what you are saying, but the message is still a little unclear."

"I'm saying that I'm done being afraid."

She gently kissed him on the lips, somehow telling him everything she couldn't with words. Telling him how scared she was that their relationship would be just tumultuous as it was in high school until he showed her that things were different this time.

"Should've rescheduled Cheryl for lunch," Betty muttered after they broke apart.

"Definitely."

"Because we now have a lot of work to do."

"Does this work involve a bed?"

"It will if we get everything worked out with Toni and the school early enough."

Archie slid out of the booth immediately. He held his hand out for Betty, helping her out of the booth before slapping a few bills on the table and rushing out to her car.

With Cheryl's donation secure, the rest of Archie's plan came together. They had already convinced Veronica and Jughead to work as teachers (Economics and English, respectively). Archie was confirmed as the ROTC instructor and Betty the shop class instructor.

"Alright, all we need to do is finalize your schedules. Do either of you have any conflicts with the Army or FBI?"

"I'm in the Reserves, but they could pull me back into active duty at any time. If that happens, I'll give you a heads-up," Archie replied.

"Betty?" Toni asked, looking at the blonde.

"My boss had a whole host of demands for me, especially if I want to remain an active field agent. For the most part, everything worked out, but I will have to fly out to Virginia a few times a month to work cases to maintain that active status."

"Do you have a list of those occasions?"

"I can have it for you by tonight," Betty replied.

Archie sighed as he realized his chances of getting laid tonight were growing slimmer with each passing moment. He was the only one who was aware of how many strings she had to pull and favors she had to call in to get her boss to agree to this arrangement. On top of her school work, Betty was also required to work case files for the unit during the week and work out of the Greendale field office during weekends and holidays.

Still, he appreciated all she was doing to help him save Riverdale. This excursion was likely to stall her career with the FBI, which was something he knew she hated doing.

"Great. Anything else?"

"There may also be some days where I'm called into Greendale or even Virginia because of an emergency."

Toni waved her off. "We'll deal with that when it comes up. At this point, I'm so desperate for teachers that I won't even call your boss to renegotiate his absurd terms. But are you sure that you can handle this, Betty? You'll be the only one here working two very demanding careers."

"I'm teaching shop and gym. It's not like I'm teaching a class where they write essays all the time. And if it becomes a problem, I'll let you know."

"This is fantastic, guys. While not a permanent fix for Riverdale, this is a start."

"It's only step one, Toni," Archie assured her. "We'll get Hiram Lodge out of the mayor's office and into prison before the end of the year."

"You'd better. Because I'll be honest with you...we might not even make it to the end of the year, even with RIverdale High turning private."

So, I had three goals with this chapter.

I wanted to address Betty's trauma with the Black Hood once again since I felt like it had been too long since I mentioned it. This chapter goes a little deeper into it. This won't be the last time that its addressed either. The purpose of bringing it up in this specific chapter was that I wanted to demonstrate how Betty and Archie were working to solve their issues. Naturally, Betty's first reaction is to run away, but Archie changes his approach to show her that he will support her, no matter what. In response, Betty allows Archie to silently support her.

The second goal was to address why Betty was hesitant to tell people that they were even together. I hope that I addressed this in a way that makes sense and does justice to the character.

The third goal was to move the plot along. I should warn you...I watched some clips of an episode of Riverdale a while ago and was super surprised to see Charles and Chic come back and get married. Like...WTF? That was super sketch and I have no idea what the writers were doing with that scene. After watching that scene, I decide to boycott the show. I will not even be watching clips from new episodes and from now on, I will be choosing the plot based on my thoughts, not the show.

Sorry for ranting, but I just wanted to explain a few things. Thank you all for reading and sticking with me during this month's hiatus.