Chapter Three! Aaaand another week down! :)

Thanks so much for the review, Skyrider45 - I am really glad that FP's humor landed, and I'm so excited about the upcoming arcs. :-D And Cedar Point is awesome, yes; if people take nothing else from this fic, that will be a valuable nugget indeed. :-D You are so welcome! As the plot thickens, I'll enjoy hearing your thoughts... And I hope you had a good week!

Thank you for the lovely review, Living Lucid Dream! Clark remains super fun to write (I melt over the mental image of Boondoggle too! :), and I'm glad to hear that you're with FP on the training. :) Agent Wilson is likely to be around for a bit, yes, and I'll be interested in seeing how that plays out between her and FP (and Brand and Jughead!). Yay for a productive Archie getting to play at the dance, too! It should be an interesting ride... :)

Enjoy!

-Button

00000

Alice was enjoying being at the center of all of the action; it was exhilarating, and she and Veronica had developed quite a few signals and a lot of shorthand over the last couple of weeks of working so closely together. They felt like a well-oiled machine, and at times it was almost as though they could read one another's minds - and predict the future.

Everything was coming together well, and the dance would officially begin in only thirty minutes. Jughead and Brand had arrived early, along with the FBI intern who looked like he should be a model for some high-end business attire company - and who was reportedly living in the Jones household for the time being, for reasons unknown.

Alice studied the intern for a few moments; he was definitely too old for her, but she'd be willing to dance with him.

Jughead was enthusiastically greeting Betty and seemed particularly energized for some reason.

Alice focused on answering all of the questions that the band leader was asking her, and then relaxed when he headed off to set up. They'd be having Archie 'open' for them, and the band had donated two sets that would add up to ninety minutes total. Alice was thrilled by how effectively that had cut down the DJ'ed portion of the event. This was a fairly legitimate dance now, even by her standards.

"How are you doing, Alice?" A woman paused to greet her warmly, though a little tentatively - which made sense. They didn't really know one another socially.

"I'm fantastic, Agent Quinn," Alice smiled tightly.

There had been a single FBI interview shortly after Alice's mother had sent out her daughter's unedited article to, well, the world. Agent Quinn had overseen the sit-down, and there had been no question in Alice's mind but that the agent had come into the interview feeling angry and intensely protective of Jughead.

Quinn had softened by the time she got the full story, but that was definitely her first (and perhaps lasting) impression: Alice was a loose cannon who had taken reckless aim at Agent Quinn's beloved Jughead.

That wasn't a new feeling, but that didn't mean Alice had to like it.

Jughead bounded over. Ah. Agent Quinn was probably the reason for the excessive energy, then.

"Agent Sarah, Brand's right over there." Jughead's grin was full of mischief. "Nice dress. Uh, both of you." Jughead turned his grin on Alice as well. "Sweet Pea and Gunnar are both coming, right?"

Alice sighed in exasperation, but her smile had a mind of its own and she felt it tug at her expression. "Probably. They both said that they were planning to."

"They're doomed. May the better man-,"

"Shut up, Jonas."

Jughead's grin only widened.

Which was a large part of why Alice did not give him fair warning that Agent Davies had spotted him with Agent Quinn, and that he was closing on them quickly.

Jughead startled violently when hands grabbed his shoulders from behind and yanked him toward an exit - and Alice's eyes widened when Davies blocked what looked like a dangerous countering blow from his godson without batting an eye.

Jughead visibly realized what was happening as he was hauled across the room, and then settled for an elbow thrust into Brand's ribs that the agent didn't even acknowledge.

"Uh, we'll be back before Archie's set." Jughead twisted in Brand's grip to call to Alice and Agent Quinn. "If we're not, call my dad and tell him I'm in mortal danger - and that he should bring the shotgun."

Brand shook him once, which seemed to serve the dual purpose of shutting Jughead up and making him grin as they continued out of the large ballroom that Alice and Veronica had reserved for the Northside-Southside mixer event.

"Those two," Agent Quinn pronounced as though it were a full sentence.

"No kidding," Alice agreed. "I take it Jughead's trying to get you and Agent Davies together?"

Agent Quinn's expression closed off and she simply shrugged.

Hmmm.

Alice smirked to herself as she checked her cellphone to make sure there were not any new fires that she needed to put out.

"It's good to see you, Alice," Agent Quinn began to move away; she seemed to want to pretend that they'd had a complete conversation. Alice could live with that.

"It's good to see you, too," Alice responded obediently. "I hope you have fun tonight."

Agent Quinn smirked at that as well, raising her eyebrows once - almost as if they were in on a joke together - and then she walked away to greet Betty and Archie.

"Is there more water?" Veronica approached Alice.

"Oh, yeah. Plenty of ice, too," Alice nodded, focusing gratefully on this new subject. "I'll show you where, and then you should go get ready."

It was nearly time to get this party started.

00000

"You invited Sarah." Brand steered Jughead into an empty room for this conversation. "You can't do things like that."

"What are you talking about?" Jughead looked at his godfather like he was crazy. "She came over for dinner, and that was your invitation. And she thought it might be nice to get some closure with the Southside case by coming and being a chaperone tonight, so it's not like I twisted her arm. And I'm not blind. You like her."

Brand sighed heavily, but resigned himself to taking on the conversation he'd hoped to avoid having. "I like talking to her and working with her, and I think she's got a lot on the ball. Too much, honestly."

Jughead's eyes narrowed. "You're rejecting her because she's too smart? That's stupid. Even though it sounds exactly like something you would do."

"No. I'm not putting her in an awkward position, because that's not fair to her," Brand corrected. "Agent Quinn's on a fast track with the FBI, and if anyone thinks she's getting entangled with me - especially if she starts to think that's what's going on - all of that will be screwed up for her."

Jughead crossed his arms, clearly skeptical of Brand's assessment.

"You've heard the term 'foreign national' kicked around the RA?" Brand asked.

"Well, yeah. But you're a dual-,"

"I'm a foreign national, Jones. She'd be barred from certain clearances automatically. That's not worth messing around with."

"Canada doesn't count, Brand."

"Wow. You've crossed the border more than once, so I'm pretty sure you know better than to say that."

"Can't you just… abdicate?"

Brand slapped himself on the forehead at Jughead's wording.

"And leave the throne to Trudeau? Blasphemy. You mean renounce my Canadian citizenship? Or establish my loyalty to the States, however that's done? I don't know, Jones, but the fact of the matter is that I work for a Canadian agency. I'm an international liaison; the FBI isn't signing my paychecks. So no, that's not currently an option."

"Well, maybe it could be if you got serious. And Agent Sarah doesn't seem to care-,"

"Have you noticed her attitude on the subject of you?" Brand smiled sadly, and Jughead felt his stomach clench uncomfortably. "She does care. My guess is she's trying to remind herself of all of my very, very significant issues. The odds would never have been great, even without work-related barriers, Jones. Sarah doesn't want me to raise her kids, and she does want kids."

Jughead blinked. "Whoa. She's mentioned kids already?"

"It goes without saying. She has to think about it while it's biologically an option, or while adoption isn't problematic because of her age. Quinn specializes in working with kidnapping survivors because she's that sort of person: nurturing and all of that. She'd always regret it if she never had a family."

"But if she never actually said any of that, then you're just guessing, Brand. You do that a lot and you're not always right. And besides, you'd be good at raising kids," Jughead said stubbornly. "You learned a lot this year. You're ready."

Brand laughed darkly. "Nobody who has a clue about what went down between me and you is ever going to take that position on the subject. And Sarah knows more than just about anyone, because she's got good instincts and worked so closely with you."

"My dad knows more than she does. And he let you move in with us." Jughead felt vaguely ill and increasingly anxious. "I don't think I said anything in debriefing that would mess things up for you. Not like that. And if I did, then maybe I could-,"

"No, no, no, kid. This is not your fault." Brand suddenly looked as though he felt queasy as well. "That's not what I'm saying at all. I'm saying that it's my fault. There are consequences for my actions, and this is just one of them for me: I can't date FBI agents who know a little too much about my sins. That's me getting off easy. You're still the number one reason why I'm in Riverdale discussing child-rearing and not... being shivved in a Canadian prison."

"That was your backup plan?"

Brand ignored the joke, and instead clapped a hand over Jughead's left shoulder and made careful eye contact. "I don't blame you for my mistakes - or their consequences -, and I never will. You got that?"

"I mean... I guess it would be kind of twisted if you did," Jughead acknowledged, ducking his head. The tight feeling in his stomach began to ease up slightly. "But maybe Agent Quinn is just trying to sort out the fact that she does want to be with you, in spite of... you."

"You've been with Betty for too long." Brand shook his head with a small smile. "Leave Quinn alone. We're friends, we work well together, and that's more than I have any right to expect. I'm very happy with that. You can't be Parent Trapping us, okay?"

"I can't be… identical twins trying to reunite my divorced parents?" Jughead gave Brand a teasing look.

"I think you know what I mean."

"On one condition." Jughead studied Brand.

"What's that?"

"If it turns out that Agent Sarah wants to date you, then you have to respect that and let her make that decision for herself. You have to go out with her."

"That would not be legally enforceable in a contract, Jones." Brand rubbed the back of his neck.

"Good thing I'm not a contracts lawyer, then." Jughead smiled brightly. "Yes or no? I can probably come up with some really great ideas for getting you two alone togeth-,"

"Deal. You've got a deal. Now knock it off, and let's try to remember what professionalism looks like, eh? And riddle me this, killer: why the sudden obsession with pairing me off? You never tried anything like this in Toronto."

Jughead's eyes widened and he gave Brand an incredulous look. "What, you mean why didn't I try to fix you up with Roy? You literally never let me anywhere near a woman while we were living together there. It was like I was in one of those monasteries for fighter monks."

Brand paused to absorb that. He'd never thought about it, but it was probably true that Alice Carter was Jones' only female companion during those months. Although that still didn't answer his question. He waited expectantly.

"And Brand, you're still… adjusting to Riverdale. According to Kevin, you literally went out for a beer with Sheriff Keller last week and didn't have a beer. He mentioned it because it was so weird."

"There is nothing weird about that. It's not respectful to drink when I'm living with your father."

"When Dad isn't around? That doesn't even make sense. And you drink, Brand. I've seen you drink."

"Have you seen me drink since Jameson?" Brand raised his eyebrows significantly.

"No. But we were apart for a while, and then the only times I saw you were with my dad or when you were living with us."

"Well, I haven't done anything that would lower my inhibitions since the Toronto 'bust.' Do we need to have this conversation more fully? You're underage, so I've let it slide, and the painkillers we've already discussed-,"

"Oh." Jughead processed all of that. Brand didn't drink because he didn't want any chance of accidentally saying something that could get them in trouble with Rose. "No. Uh, I get it. We have to be extra careful. But you have to admit you've gotten kind of… grouchy."

"You think that's because I'm not drinking?"

"I think it's because my dad is basically your best friend now, and your favorite activity is arguing. For the record, Clark says it's not healthy for me to be exposed to constant conflict in the home."

"Clark is going to get himself shot."

"That's not funny, Brand. He just got a death threat - and we haven't even told him what we know about it."

"It's not meant to be funny. He's living in my bedroom and criticizing me? He'd better watch himself." Brand folded his arms. "Anyway, I'm making friends. It takes time, and don't forget that I just uprooted everything I had going for me two weeks ago." Brand saw Jughead's face fall slightly.

"Hey, that wasn't a knock on you. I traded up, kid. I have no regrets about being closer to you and FP, my - ahem - 'best friend.' I'm just pointing out that it's still stressful. And it's not your job to fix that. I'm getting a place, I invited Sarah to a game night, and I'll probably have another non-beer-drinking date with Tom Keller in the near future." Brand sighed theatrically. "I might even be able to complain a little less."

Jughead gave him a small smile.

"But you can do me a favor, too, and tell Clark that you like it when I argue with your father, since that's not likely to change - and don't think I haven't noticed you playing us off of each other like a pro."

"Sure. I'll try to convince him that it's male bonding or whatever." Jughead gave his godfather a mischievous look. "Bu-ut even if your grouchiness is just you adjusting after moving to a new country, Agent Sarah did come to the dance tonight knowing that you'd be here. It would be rude if you didn't dance with her even once. Unprofessional, even."

Brand tousled Jughead's hair as they turned to make their way back to the ballroom. "You could be right about that. We'll have to see how it goes. Oh, and one more thing. Are you the one who recruited Alice Cooper to chaperone?"

"Nope. I know better than to let her anywhere near you."

"Just checking." Brand gave Jughead a tight smile as they entered the large room reserved for the dance. "That should make this a fun evening."

Agent Quinn, Clark, Betty, and Mrs. Cooper were standing in a group, talking and laughing.

"You should at least rescue Clark. His life is already in danger without getting on Mrs. Cooper's bad list, and he wasn't really criticizing you. He's just… a low-conflict person. I think he's having a hard time getting used to the wolf pack."

"That's fair; we can be intense. And I like Clark. I care about his safety." Brand looked over at Alice Cooper once more. "But sometimes, Jones, it's every man for himself."

00000

After talking Brand down about Agent Sarah's presence at the mixer, Jughead was fully prepared to support Archie - and he understood that part of that meant taking up space on the dance floor, somewhere in the relative vicinity of the stage.

When Archie plugged in and playfully threw a few riffs at the crowd, though, Jughead found himself reacting to the volume of the amps and looking around nervously at the highschoolers who had pressed up behind him more enthusiastically than he'd expected.

Veronica was making her way onto the stage still, and she gave Archie an exaggerated frown that drew a laugh from the crowd as she got into position. Melody tapped a warning at him on the edge of one of her drums, too, and Archie waved an over-the-top apology to them before taking them both by surprise by launching straight into their first song.

It began with a long guitar riff that sounded far more powerful here than it had on an acoustic guitar earlier in the day. Apparently the drums only kicked in after a few measures, and Veronica was obviously startled but then relaxed - which made sense, since she didn't seem to have any vocals right away either.

Jughead smiled when Archie caught his eye and winked.

Archie had stage presence, that was for sure.

And the crowd was reacting. Wow. Jughead wasn't sure he should lean too heavily against the stage itself, but it might be the most self-protective move he could make as the crush of bodies made his instincts hum dangerously.

"Jonas," Alice was suddenly in his ear, "come dance. I'm not going to get a lot of time for fun tonight, so please don't make me work for it."

Jughead turned around, and was surprised to see that Alice was somehow managing to preserve a small amount of the dance floor around them both. She grabbed his hands and suddenly Jughead had his first clear idea of what 'leading' meant in a dancing context.

Even though he was pretty sure that he was supposed to be the one leading in this scenario.

"Loosen up, but keep your arms a little stiffer," Alice directed him. "There you go - you're doing it!"

Jughead couldn't help but laugh, knowing that he couldn't possibly be doing anything approaching the dance moves Alice was attempting to lead him through, but he could also feel his feet finding their place under him - and it seemed like this might be another activity for which his training might be an advantage.

"Betty!" Alice drew Betty into their dancing space, and suddenly Jughead was abandoned as the two girls began to dance together.

Pressing his back against the stage, Jughead relaxed and enjoyed watching Betty's expression of happy abandon as she danced gracefully with Alice.

"Can I cut in?" Gunnar had arrived and spoke into Jughead's ear.

"It's not up to me," Jughead answered. "Cut in at your own risk."

Gunnar took up position next to Jughead for a few moments to watch the girls, and just when Jughead assumed that would be the extent of his attempt, Gunnar moved smoothly between Betty and Alice and caught Alice's hands with a move that looked practiced - and perhaps like it might even be a real dance move.

Huh.

Jughead didn't have time to process his surprise before Betty had pivoted and pulled him back onto the dance floor. The song was crashing to an end, but when a second one started almost immediately, Jughead tried to replicate some of the movements that Alice had been leading him through.

Betty laughed with surprise, and they collided almost instantly, but some of the appeal of that was obvious when the crowd of teenagers did not afford them enough space to fully separate.

Jughead wrapped his arms closer around Betty as they danced and laughed, and they both seemed to be on the same page when that song ended: they moved together to get out of the crush and enjoy the third and final song of Archie's set from more of a distance.

"Hey, Sweet Pea's here." Betty pointed unnecessarily to the tall Serpent as he weaved through the crowd toward where Gunnar was leading Alice through an elaborate set of mirror-image steps that reversed and crossed dizzyingly to the fast tempo set by Archie, Melody, and Veronica.

"Where's Kevin?" Jughead craned his neck and was rewarded when he saw Kevin almost vibrating with excitement and trying to get their attention to direct it to Sweet Pea's progress on the dance floor. "Oh good; he's already seeing this."

"What are the odds that Sweet Pea knows how to dance like that?" Betty sounded deeply impressed by Gunnar and Alice.

"I'll go with zero." Jughead shrugged. "This should be interesting."

Alice and Gunnar had smoothly transitioned back into more traditional dance steps by the time Sweet Pea made it to their portion of the dance floor, so it was simple work for Sweet Pea to tap Gunnar and - to Jughead's surprise - Gunnar nodded agreeably and bowed out to let the Serpent take his place.

And Sweet Pea did, albeit clearly with only a novice grasp of the steps he led Alice through.

"He practiced. Sweet Pea learned to dance for Alice," Betty breathed.

"That is so romantic." Kevin's voice was unexpectedly close to them; he'd made swift progress through the crowded room. "Joaquin couldn't make it tonight. Even with Brand and my dad here-," Sheriff Keller had come along to supervise the event as well, and was currently standing with Brand and Mr. Andrews off to one side of the room, "-it would be too hard to keep him safe at an event like this. But I bet he would have learned some basics if he could have come."

Kevin had become incredibly protective of his 'friend' ("We're still working back up to 'boyfriend,'" Kevin liked to explain to anyone who inquired) and he spoke of Joaquin being in imminent danger with an unmistakable note of pride in his voice.

Kevin's version of events had started to sound a lot more like Joaquin had been central to a sting operation than embarking on a misguided attempt to make money - but, all things considered, Jughead figured that was probably a fine way of looking at things. After all, Joaquin was more than paying the price that many of the agents were in resolving the case, and he had certainly been instrumental in almost all of the arrests that had been made in relation to the bombing of Southside High.

In fact, the Serpents were looking somewhat ragged in their remnant form. Jughead wasn't sure what that meant - whether they were more dangerous, like a cornered animal, or if the changes meant that they would be less of a factor in local doings - but it was a relief knowing that his father was less likely to be brought in as an asset on anything dangerous.

It was also nice that his dad had not been fired yet. Jughead was immensely proud that FP had been instrumental in a bust, and that he'd been a valuable member of the team; his dad had also shared - very confidentially - that he'd been paid well enough that they could breathe easy about paying the bills for a good long while, especially since he continued working for Andrews Construction.

However, Jughead also would not mind seeing his father's FBI-related work lapse into a sinecure, if only because that course of events would mean the least possible threat to his safety.

All the same, it was very handy that FP still had the position for the time being and could come to the upcoming 'teambuilding' outing to the amusement park that Brand had set up for the resident agency - after his first pitch for working on the issues in the RA ('red teaming' exercises, which still sounded sketchy - if not dangerous - to Jughead) had been shot down.

Jughead was really looking forward to the day out with Betty and Archie and Veronica. The teens had all gotten tickets to go on the same day as the RA, and Mr. Andrews had been enthusiastic about finally taking a break from his insane schedule and spending the day with Archie and Jughead, and - most of all - with FP; they'd apparently loved visiting the park as teenagers.

The only challenge that Jughead could see at this point was Brand's insistence that Jughead would have to make it an early night because it was late October, and the Halloween events would be in full swing. Apparently the amusement park had a reputation for having one of the most intense haunted experiences in the country, and actors in costume roamed aggressively over much of the park's property once dusk fell.

Jughead knew that he could probably get his dad on his side by arguing that a few actors in costume would be no big deal after everything Jughead had experience with, and Brand was not wrong: the wolf pack had definitely slipped into their previous pattern of Brand being somewhat controlling and FP pushing back against him to give Jughead more autonomy - and Jughead really was getting better at playing them off of each other.

It still meant that Jughead needed to develop and implement a plan, though. He would have to start brainstorming.

When Archie finished the short set, Jughead joined Betty and Kevin - and a surprisingly vocal crowd - in cheering him.

"Thanks for coming out!" Archie waved to the group generally, and then pointed to his dad with a face-splitting grin. Mr. Andrews matched his grin and raised his hands so that Archie could see him clapping enthusiastically.

"He's really good," Betty yelled over the cheers. "Those songs are fantastic!"

"Totally. I'm really glad he's back to playing and songwriting." Jughead had tried not to take on too much guilt over everything that had happened in his absence, but he knew that Archie's hiatus from songwriting and playing had much to do with Jughead's disappearance the previous fall.

It was a relief to see one more thing go back to normal.

00000

Archie felt like he was still flying high from his brief performance hours earlier, and he could tell that Veronica was feeling much the same sort of adrenaline. What was strange was that Brand seemed to be feeling it, too, at least if the relative volume of the tables at Pop's was an accurate basis for judging.

"Dude, is that embarrassing?" Archie leaned across the table to address Jughead, who was curled contentedly around Betty (who was exulting with Veronica over the evening's success) while he talked to Alice - who was crowded into the booth on Betty's other side - about dancing.

"Is what embarrassing?" Jughead took the opportunity to disengage from his rapid back-and-forth with Alice, who seemed suspiciously like she might be avoiding talking solely to Gunnar (who had pulled up a chair at the end of their table, and had limited competition for Alice's attention since Sweet Pea had left the mixer surprisingly early), and he shoved several fries into his mouth.

"Uh, the fact that we have three full tables of teenagers and only, like, a table and a half of adults, but Brand is still the loudest person in the place?"

Jughead shook his head, opting not to answer aloud as he polished off a few more fries, and for some reason he even seemed pleased when he shot a glance over his shoulder toward the adults. They were sitting a discreet few tables away from the highschoolers, and Brand was telling a story and gesturing dramatically while Sheriff Keller interjected loud comments and they both periodically howled with laughter.

It looked like Clark was alternating between watching those two with stark envy - and taking advantage of the situation to entertain both Agent Quinn and Mrs. Cooper with (much) quieter stories of his own.

And Archie's dad was sitting right in the middle of all the action, shifting smoothly from one conversation to the other, but he caught Archie's eye and winked. Archie winked back, his grin feeling like it might well be permanent at this point.

When Agent Quinn got up and approached the jukebox, though, Jughead's expression changed to be a little more apprehensive. And then, when Agent Quinn extracted Brand from the booth where he was still cracking up with Tom Keller, and then Brand twirled her into a low dip, Archie had to laugh at Jughead's look of pure horror.

"Okay. I take it back. This is completely embarrassing." Jughead slipped down a little lower in the booth.

"Uh, yeah," Kevin leaned over from one of other booths they had commandeered for their post-dance diner outing. "I'd be embarrassed too if I had to have constant comparisons drawn between me and Brand. He actually knows how to dance."

Jughead gave Kevin a scathing look but then buried his face in his hands. "Not what I meant. Although yeah, that doesn't help."

Archie figured Jughead would probably survive even this severe level of mortification, so instead of trying to reassure him he turned to Veronica. "Do you want to dance too?"

"Um, I don't think there's really enough space-,"

Archie motioned impatiently when Clark got up as well and pulled Mrs. Cooper after him with a gallant flourish. "Come on. If Clark and Betty's mom can manage to dance, then we definitely can."

Veronica shook her head again, laughing when Betty's body language suddenly echoed Jughead's, but then she pushed Archie's shoulder to signal her acquiescence and to urge him to get up from the booth.

Excellent.

"Don't even think about it," Jughead muttered to Betty from behind his hands.

"Don't worry; I wasn't," Betty replied in the same darkly horrified tone.

But Gunnar and Alice were already following, so Archie figured it would only be another minute or two before Jughead and Betty were up and dancing too. It was just that kind of a night.

00000

It was getting late, and FP was realizing that there had been more flaws in his plan than the one that Brandon had pointed out. For one thing, the house was definitely going to look like he'd thrown a get-together - if not a party -, because there was no way he'd have enough time to clean everything up before Jughead got home with Clark.

It was going well, though, so there was that.

"FP, what's second tiebreaker on this game? Fangs and I tied on the first tiebreaker, and the rules don't say anything about how to resolve that."

"Oooh, FP, can we spar downstairs? That's a sweet setup you've got."

"Where are the dog treats? I can't resist this little beggar for one more minute, and I don't want to feed him chips and get him sick."

FP looked up rules on his phone while he pulled out a few dog treats for Toni to feed to Trigger. "We can do some sparring another time. Let's keep it upstairs for tonight. The basement's nice, though, huh? One of the best things about the place. Um, who was first player? They lose second tiebreaker."

Fangs groaned loudly and Sweet Pea slapped him on the shoulder; he'd arrived late and overdressed, so FP assumed that he'd put in an appearance at the dance mixer thingy that Jughead was at.

Which was probably getting over soon.

"Hey, let's start thinking about wrapping it up," FP had to raise his voice over the immediate groans and protests. "We can do a longer night next time. Give me a week or two to figure it out, but you can count on it."

"You need a pool table, FP," Sweet Pea suggested. "I'll keep an eye out for a good one for you."

"We'll see," FP replied skeptically.

"Seriously, I think-,"

Sweet Pea's pitch was abruptly cut off when the house's front windows exploded in a series of sharp bangs and shattering glass.

FP had Sweet Pea down on the floor before his brain had fully caught up with what he knew from unfortunate experience:

"Get down! It's a drive-by. Everyone on the floor now!"

It was suddenly eerily quiet in the house, and FP let out a long, grateful breath. If anyone had been hit, there would surely be noise. He'd still confirm, though. "Is everyone okay? Don't get up yet. Just make sure nobody around you is hurt."

Responses came from around the room.

"We're fine, FP."

"I'm okay."

"I don't think anyone was hit. Sorry for bringing this here."

FP frowned at Fangs' words. "Bringing what here?"

Everyone was silent once more.

"Is something going on with the Serpents? If you know anything about what just-,"

"No, FP." Sweet Pea moved under his shielding arm. "It's just - a bunch of Serpents are here, and someone shoots out your windows. It's simple logic."

"No, it's not," FP countered. This was not common among the Serpents; in fact, he could not immediately recall the last time he'd even heard of a drive-by shooting occurring anywhere in Riverdale, aside from the isolated Southside High incident that Fred had related. It had been years.

FP could hear movement beginning around the room. "Don't get up yet. Let's give them a minute to get around the block if they're going to try for a second pass. I've got my phone; I'll call the sheriff. Everyone stay down."

There was a collective gasp in the room when a car did pull up, and headlights raked over the front of the house.

FP cursed and started to move - and found himself fighting off Sweet Pea when the teen tackled him back to the floor. Jughead, Clark, and Brandon must be home earlier than anticipated. They were walking up to the house without a second thought, totally exposed, and-

"Get down, kid." Brandon's voice suddenly rang out and the door slammed open. Jughead lost his footing as Brandon shoved him, and he landed heavily on Toni. He scrambled off of her and was looking around at the crowded room in shock, but at least he stayed on the floor. Trigger rushed to greet him, and Jughead immediately grabbed his fur to keep him from going outside to investigate.

"What's going on? Brand?" Jughead looked back and forth - from where Brandon was shoving Clark after Jughead and pulling out his sidearm, to where his father was lying on the floor of the living room, attempting to pry Sweet Pea off of his legs. "Dad? What-,"

"Your front windows are gone, Jones. Did this just happen, FP?" Brandon was now surveying the room since there did not seem to be an immediate threat outside of the house.

"Just now, yeah. You have impeccable timing, Brandon," FP said dryly. Sweet Pea let go of him and slid a few feet away on the wood floor.

"Huh. Call Keller, then. He might not even be back to his place yet. Let's get everyone home and start figuring this out. Are the Serpents warring with anyone?"

"No, Davies," Sweet Pea responded immediately. "No more than usual. Maybe even less than usual these days."

"All right; you can all get up." FP stood and brushed himself off. "Go straight home and let me know if you run into any trouble or if you hear anything at all about this."

"Sure thing, FP," Fangs seemed to answer for the group.

Jughead watched curiously as four or five other gang members slapped FP on the shoulder in acknowledgement - with respect - as they gathered their belongings and filed down the stairs to leave through the basement door.

In moments the Serpents were gone and FP was on the phone, explaining tersely to Sheriff Keller what had just occurred.

"I'm so sorry. This is because of me, isn't it?" Clark was still sitting on the floor next to Jughead, where Brand had shoved them into the house, and everyone turned to look at him. His expression was stricken as he took in the broken glass strewn across the hardwood floor. "Because of the threat?"

FP locked eyes with Brandon, who shrugged.

"I don't know, Clark. Maybe." Brandon offered Clark a hand up while FP did the same for Jughead. "Sheriff Keller will get the investigation started, and he knows all about the note. Let's not assume anything for now. You weren't even here, so it's possible that this had absolutely nothing to do with you. We're bringing the FBI in on this, too, so hang in there."

"You're still safe here." Jughead dropped a hand on Clark's shoulder. "Brand and my dad are apparently holding secret gang meetings right under our noses-," Jughead gave FP a deeply concerned look and then glared at Brand in response to his godfather's conspicuous lack of surprise over finding the Serpents in the house, "-but they're still a crack team, and you know I've got your back. Sheriff Keller's great, too, and Trig will make sure nobody gets anywhere near us without a whole lot of warning."

Clark nodded gratefully. "I know. I really appreciate all of that, especially if there's still FBI work being done with the Southside Serpents. It can't be convenient having me here with all that going on. And I don't mean to be narcissistic or anything. It just seems like too much of a coincidence."

"It's fine that you're here." FP frowned. "We're going to look into it, Clark. Why don't you two go to Jughead's room until Keller gets here. Brandon and I can clean up the glass and figure out what to do to patch things up in here for the night."

Jughead's glare disappeared and he gave Brand an uneasy look, recognizing that his father was sending him and Clark where they would not be easy targets for a second round of bullets.

"Go, kid. I'll keep an eye on your dad. I don't think anybody's coming back at this point, and you two need to take a few deep breaths. We'll come get you once Keller's here."

"Okay." Jughead nodded slowly, only partially satisfied by his godfather's reassurances. "Come on, Clark. I'll show you some photos I took of Dad and Brand training."

"Hey, I told you to delete-," Brand stopped when the two disappeared into Jughead's room, and he couldn't help but smile. "Of course he's got backup files. Punk." Brand turned to FP. "Well, that ought to distract them and give you time to come up with what you want to tell Trip about the Serpents. For the record, I took those two out to the diner for a late-night meal and milkshakes after the dance, so I thought you had plenty of time to finish up here. This was not the time for you to hold a Risk marathon."

FP merely shrugged, figuring that explaining he'd lost track of time was not going to add anything to the conversation.

"You'll probably be mostly off the hook once he fully processes that someone was shooting at you. But if you tell the kid that the Serpents were here because of FBI business, be warned: I'd give it at least fifty-fifty odds that he finds out the truth at work, and then you'll be in for a world of Jones angst that not even I can bail you out of." FP nodded this time, massaging his forehead, so Brand softened his tone. "Where'd the bullets end up? I lost an oven door once, so hopefully you're luckier than that."

"I don't know," FP answered before changing the subject back. "They might have been aiming at the Serpents. Maybe me. I just don't know."

"Clark's not wrong about the timing and his threat," Brand offered. "But you and I know two things: that threat was coming from Donn, and this isn't Donn's style."

"Which leaves us with…?"

"Keller might have some guesses." Brand shrugged. "I've got nothing."

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Simple stories are a thing of the past... I hope you enjoyed! I also hope that you have a wonderful weekend. :) As always, while I start weaving all of these plotlines together, notes are loved and appreciated. :-D

Thank you for reading!

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