"How did you talk us into this again?" Jughead followed Archie up to the attic of the Andrews home as they prepared to spend the afternoon cleaning it out.
"Jug, you can leave," Betty said, "FP and Mom are probably just starting that movie marathon they were talking about."
"I think your dad said something about Scream," Archie smiled over his shoulder.
"God, no, not again," Jughead scoffed, "Those two turn into hormonal teenagers watching those scary movies."
Betty winced in replied as she picked up a box.
"Hey, what do you think you're doing?" Archie's eyes narrowed as he snatched the box out of her hands, "You are not allowed to lift heavy things, doctor's orders."
"Oh, you know darn well she said no such thing," Betty rolled her eyes.
"Archie is right," Cheryl chimed in as she climbed the stairs, followed closely by Toni. "No heavy lifting for the pregnant twins."
"Pregnant twins?" Toni raised an amused eyebrow.
"Holy dust bunnies," Cheryl looked around at the amount of dust and cobwebs covering all surfaces, "It looks like Halloween came early up here. Has this place ever seen a dust rag?"
"Have you ever seen a dust rag, Cherry?" Betty snickered.
"You should have seen my dorm room Freshman year," Cheryl wrinkled her nose. "It took buckets of soap and water to make it livable."
"You cleaned?" Jughead asked.
"Yes," Cheryl nodded.
"She's telling the truth," Toni looked towards one wall, "That may be the ugliest couch I've ever seen."
"But if I remember correctly, it's comfy," Betty settled herself onto it, "Yep. Take a seat, Toni."
"Since we're apparently too delicate to do any real work," Toni followed her to the unnaturally green, lumpy looking couch that had resided in the Andrews living room for most of Betty's childhood.
"Arch, bring me that box," Betty requested, "Set it between me and Toni, so we can go through it."
"Alright," Archie complied and kissed the tip of Betty's nose, causing her to smile.
"I'm opening the windows," Cheryl announced.
"Thanks, Cherry," Archie smiled.
"How are we doing this?" Jughead asked.
"Pick a pile," Archie said, "Any pile. Start going through it. If it's pictures and other family mementos, we're keeping those. If it's schoolbooks, we're tossing those. If it's old clothes, we're donating those."
"If it's cash, I'm pocketing it," Jughead quipped as he surveyed the piles of boxes.
"No time to waste," Archie opened the box nearest him and dove in.
"Man, we should have booked more than an afternoon to tackle this task," Jughead attempted to pick up a box, only to groan and double over again, "What the hell is in the box, bricks?"
"Law books," Archie replied, without even looking up from the box he'd just opened, "Mom didn't want to lug them all the way to Chicago, so she made me haul the damn things up here. Nearly broke my back. I already asked her. She doesn't want them and said we can toss them."
Cheryl had knelt in front of a box next to the window she'd just opened and pulled the lid off. She smiled fondly at what she saw, "I think I've got your grandparents' wedding album, Archie. Wow, was Virginia a knockout."
"Yes, Dad kept a picture of their wedding day on the shelf in the office downstairs," Archie replied, "He loved to tell stories about her. Wish I'd had the chance to build some memories with her."
Cheryl nodded in understanding and lifted the album out to find another one, older looking. She opened it up and smiled at what she saw, "Hey, Archie, have you ever seen pictures of your great-grandparents?"
"Once or twice in old newspaper clippings, why?" Archie looked over at her, "What is that?"
"A photo album from the days of Artie's parents," Cheryl showed him, "I'm guessing that's his dad at about our age."
"Wow, Archie looks just like him," Betty glanced at the picture.
"Those Andrews genes are strong," Toni smiled.
"Speaking of strong genes, Cher, is this Nana?" Betty showed her cousin a photo she'd found.
"Oh, wow, it looks like it," Cheryl snatched up the picture, "She looks like she was a teenager."
"You look a lot like her," Jughead commented.
"She used to tell me that all the time," Cheryl replied, "Did you know she was a twin?"
Her friends shook their heads as Cheryl gazed at the picture.
"You should get a frame for that and hang it up at Thistlehouse," Archie said. "Show the baby what a beauty her great-grandma was."
"You wouldn't mind if I have this?" Cheryl asked.
"She's your grandmother," Archie replied, "You should have it."
"Thanks," Cheryl set it aside.
Toni suddenly burst out in a sneeze.
"T, are you okay?" Cheryl went to her side.
"Yeah, just some dust," she rubbed at her abdomen.
"I'm going to schedule you a second day at the spa this week," Cheryl smiled down at her.
"You're so good to me," Toni smiled at her wife.
"Least I can do," Cheryl smiled.
Betty smiled at them before she continued through her pile of pictures.
Archie made a note to get the spa information from Cheryl later so he could make appointment for Betty.
"Holy crap," Toni said a few moments later, "Jug, you have to see this."
"See what?"
Toni turned a photo she'd found towards her friend, "Your dad in a letterman jacket."
"A what?" Jughead came darting over.
"Holy crap," Cheryl giggled, "He looks so preppy in that thing. How in the heck did that even happen?"
"You didn't know your dad played football for Riverdale?" Betty asked.
"He did what?" Jughead asked.
"Really?" Archie looked on in amusement, "FP playing football. I have a hard time picturing it."
"Played football and as my mom told me, ended up in detention for streaking with Fred," Betty said.
Archie hid a smile. FP had had told him about the streaking that day they'd run into him at Fred's grave, but he was pretty sure Jug didn't know.
"Well, the streaking I could actually see," Jughead snorted, "Still can't see him in football pads, running around the field. He doesn't even watch football on the weekends. The only time he's ever gone to any games was when Archie was still playing."
"He looks kind of cute," Cheryl observed, "Not my type, but still cute."
"Cheryl, for my sanity, never find my father cute again. Please," Jughead shook his head.
The girls giggled as Jughead went back to looking at the books he'd unearthed and Archie smirked looking through boxes. He'd found some old clothes, from his baby days and his father's, a box marked 'Oscar' that made him frown, and a box of old business papers from his grandpa's days of running Andrews Construction. A bill from the early days showed his grandpa had laid the foundation for the Five Seasons.
He shook his head as he pulled out a heavier box from the back. Opening it up he nodded, impressed, "Nice."
"What's you find, Arch?" Betty asked.
"Records," he said. "They have to be my grandparents'. I've got Sinatra, Frankie Valli, and The Kinks."
"Back when music was actually music," Betty rose from the couch to look through the records with him, "Are you going to keep them?"
"Yeah, I'll just need to find a player," Archie replied.
"Good thing those things have made something of a comeback," Jughead chimed in.
"Oh, wow," Archie sifted through them to find a drawing his grandfather must have done.
"Is that a train?" Betty asked.
"It's a crib designed like a train," Archie smiled, "He built the crib my dad used. He must have planned something a bit more elaborate, but the business was crazy busy that year. He probably didn't have the time to build it."
"This is some amazing ingenuity," Betty fingered the drawing, "It's got a built in changing table and drawers."
In that moment, Archie knew he had to build this crib for their child.
"Artie was talented," Cheryl took a peek on her way to find another box, "Are you saving report cards?"
"Whose are they?" Jughead asked.
"They start with Archie," Cheryl dug carefully through the old papers, "And end with Robert Andrews?"
"That was Grandpa Artie's grandpa," Archie tucked the drawing away carefully.
"He must have been quite smart," Cheryl noted, "Looks like straight A's."
"Probably copied from the girl sitting next to him," Jughead teased.
"She was probably sweet on him," Toni added slyly.
"Mary did say the Andrews men were players," Betty smiled.
"More like heartbreakers," Cheryl noted as she glanced at the picture, "Yum."
"Really?" Betty raised a brow in her cousin's direction. "Isn't there entirely too much testosterone in those pictures for you?"
"I still appreciate the male form even if I bat for the other team," Cheryl replied.
"Can you ladies stop ogling my ancestors?" Archie shook his head.
"Would you rather we ogle you?" Betty approached him and wrapped her arms around his shoulders.
"Get a room," they heard Jughead cough out, which brought a chorus of laughter as everyone returned to their tasks.
After getting all the boxes sorted, Jughead and Archie brought all the stuff out to the garbage that they were getting rid of, and with each return trip to the attic, they brought up some of the furniture in the guest bedroom so it wouldn't get in the way of the construction project starting the next week. Betty and Archie would continue to live out of his bedroom until all the work was done on the main bedroom, bathroom, and nursery.
After all the work was done for the afternoon, the five of them grilled in the backyard and talked about all the fun they used to have growing up. It was a great way to end the day together, and after everyone left, Betty took it upon herself to massage Archie shoulders and back.
"You're going to be sore tomorrow," Betty straddled his back as she pressed her hands into his upper shoulder.
"Yeah, probably," he groaned as she found a pretty stubborn knot, "I'm glad it's done though. Mom and I have been meaning to go through all that stuff since just after Dad died. We just never forced ourselves to do it."
"There were a lot of mementos of your dad's. Are you worried you might have some bad dreams about him tonight?" Betty's hands moved to one of his shoulders.
"Yeah, maybe," Archie sighed, "A lot of what I found today though was of happy memories, so maybe I'll be able to dream about those happy times."
"I hope so," Betty leaned down to kiss his spine, "I really want you to have only positive thoughts of him."
"It's getting better," he admitted, "I mean, the anniversary was pretty rough, but the other times…"
"You still can't sleep in his bedroom," Betty reminded him.
"That's why we're doing the renovation," he twisted a bit so he could look at her, "Exorcise some of those demons."
"I hope that's enough," she leaned forward and kissed his cheek.
"I do too," he carefully twisted himself until he was on his back and Betty was hovering over him, her hands on his chest to brace herself.
"I love you," she laid herself out on top of him.
"I love you," he brushed some hair that had fallen in her face. He studied her features for a long time and not a word was passed between them. What might have felt awkward for another couple, felt perfectly natural for Betty and Archie.
"We should get some sleep," she shifted slightly so only part of her weight was on him, "It's been a busy day. Lots of heavy lifting."
"Says the woman that barely had to lift a finger all day," he teased as he trailed his hand down her shoulder to her hip and then her leg.
"Hey, you don't call this heavy lifting," she rubbed at her belly, "I'll have you know that it's a lot of hard work forming this baby inside me."
"And you're doing an amazing job," he rolled them slightly so she was on her back and he was hovering above her, "I'll never be able to truly repay you for everything you're doing for me and Frederick."
"Your mom must be giving you tips on how to defuse my hormone induced moods," Betty smiled.
"I've been getting tips from anyone in town that knows of your pregnancy," he chuckled, "I've wisely soaked them all up like a sponge."
"I guess that Penn State education was good for something," she teased.
"And you think your fancy Northwestern education was any better?" he teased right back.
"Do you ever wish we went to the same college?" she curled up against him.
"Honestly, I think it's good we went to separate schools. We needed to figure out who we were as individuals. That might be part of the reason why we never fit in high school. We were always Archie and Betty, best friends. The transition to more needed a bit of a push," he smiled.
"Did you think of me much when you were at college?" she asked.
"All the time," he admitted, "My mom came to my dorm one day after a boxing match in sophomore year and saw the picture of you and me that I had next to my bed. She said I should put it away. She knew I wasn't taking much time for a social life. She thought the picture was the reason why, maybe not perhaps the picture itself, but the feelings I still had for you. I did tuck it away for a while. I made more of an effort to date, but no one measured up."
"I know the feeling," Betty smiled, "I didn't have a picture of you next to my bed. I didn't dare after I started dating Louis, but I always compared everyone I dated to you."
"Did you date much before Louis?" Archie asked.
"I went on a few dates," Betty shrugged, "There was no spark, no chemistry. Honestly, there was no sparks with Louis either, but he was really attentive and sweet at first. It felt good to be wanted, desired. When he flipped the switch, I was so startled. It was such an abrupt change."
"Let's not go down that road again," he caressed her cheek.
"You're right," she smiled, "I've learned the error of my ways."
"I hope you know there is no switch that will flip with me," he tried to reassure her.
"I know," she caressed his cheek reverently, "I know who you are, Archie. I always have. You have your demons just like I do, but you know right from wrong. You'd never hurt someone who doesn't deserve it. Even when they do, you're able to restrain yourself. Louis deserved the worst punishment you could hand out, but when you swung, it was one punch. When he was down, you held back."
"I did bait him to get back up so I could take another shot," Archie reminded her.
"Yeah, but a lesser man would continue to wail on someone even after they'd gone down," Betty smiled.
"Someday I'll probably regret not using the moment to my advantage," he shrugged, "But I can't regret it at the moment because I would be in jail. Louis would see to it, and I want nothing keeping me away from you."
"Further proof that you're an amazing man," she tugged him down to her as she sought out a kiss.
"I love you, Betty Cooper," he whispered in her ear, "So much."
"I love you, Archie Andrews," she returned with a breathtaking smile.
TBC…