Author's Note: Hey everybody! So in this chapter… something very bad is going to happen to a character. Believe me, no one dies at all. If this event gets… negative feedback, then I'll take the chapter down and rewrite it. But I think this is a good idea, and I did get positive feedback from Boris Yeltsin. Thank you for the feedback on this idea! So… without further ado. Onto Chapter 2 of The Bump in the Road….

BETTY'S POV

Six weeks later…

At Veronica's house

"B, you're going to have to tell him eventually," Veronica said to me as she did her makeup for the day. "Honestly, sooner rather than later. What happens when you tell him you're pregnant, and then tell him you're twelve weeks along?"

I sighed, touching my slight stomach and letting out a breath.

"I know, V," I groaned. "But it's just so hard! A pregnancy is… is… it's a big deal! How's he gonna feel when he knows he got me pregnant? And then what's he gonna say when I tell him I'm keeping it?"

I'd told Archie and Polly about my pregnancy the day I found out. Veronica found out on her own two weeks later, but thankfully only brought it up to me when I came over to her house on a day much like today. They're the only other people who know. Not anyone at school, not my parents, not FP Jones. No one else.

The guilt of Jughead not knowing is eating me up inside, yet I can't bring myself to just tell him! I don't know why.

Veronica finished her lip gloss and stood up, holding my shoulders and looking me in the eye. "Betty, Jughead loves you. Anyone who's around you two can tell that there's so much LOVE between the two of you. Even before you started dating, he was infatuated with you, and still is," Veronica told me reassuringly. "You need to tell him. Today. Or me and Archie will,"

I smiled at my best friend and said, "Okay. I'll tell him today. Thank you!" I called as I rushed out of her apartment, and then out of the Pembrooke building.

My face was just a huge smile, such a contrast to how I'd been feeling lately. I was happy, for the first time since finding out about my pregnancy.

When no one was looking, I touched my stomach, thinking about how in a few months, I'd be a mommy to a beautiful baby.

I had finally agreed to go to a confirmation appointment with Polly two weeks after finding out, and as I suspected, it was true. At the time that I found out through the pregnancy test, I was six weeks along. Two weeks later, at the confirmation appointment, I was eight weeks pregnant. Now, four weeks after that, I'm twelve weeks pregnant, three months pregnant.

I was walking to FP and Jug's trailer, at a slow, steady pace. Ever since getting pregnant, I've been winded easily, which makes sense. But it sucks because I have to walk very slow, just to make sure I don't puke my guts out on the side of the road.

But then it happened.

FP Jones called me, and I figured he was just looking for Jughead. I already had an answer, because I knew for a fact that Jug, Fangs, and Sweet Pea had gone for a ride on their motorcycles to Greendale to check on Penny Peabody. Discreetly, mind you. They've been doing it ever since Jug got out of the hospital, and they haven't got caught yet.

But, what FP said was way worse.

"Betty, you need to get down to the hospital right now," he said urgently, the stress clear in his voice.

Quickly, I turned around and began walking as quick as my pregnant body would allow to the Riverdale hospital, asking FP questions on the way.

"Why?" I asked. "Did something happen to Jughead?"

He sighed and said, "They were riding back from Greendale, and they got into a really bad accident. Fangs and Sweet Pea are fine but…"

I didn't need to hear the 'but.' I needed to get to the hospital as quick as possible.

I quickly hung up the phone and began walking as fast as I could, calling Polly to come pick me up at the Riverdale bus station, which she did. When I got in the car, I instructed her to drive as fast as she could, maybe even speed, to Riverdale General Hospital. She asked why, and all I had to say was, "Something happened to Jughead,"

The hospital was busy, as usual. I ran around, looking for a familiar face. My eyes finally landed on FP and Toni Topaz talking, grave expressions on both of their faces.

"What's going on?" I asked them hurriedly as I approached them.

Both of them looked at me, sad. Toni looked to FP, as if for permission, and then Toni said, "I'm… so sorry, Betty. They declared him dead for two minutes, but they managed to resuscitate him. He's… fallen into a coma, now,"

I just stared at Toni and FP with eyes wide. I was going to tell him today. Tell him about the baby. But… he's in a coma?

"W...what?" I whispered, barely audible over the overwhelming sounds of the hospital.

I began breathing very heavily, my breath hitching as well.

Toni and FP looked at me worriedly, and I heard Toni's faded voice ask me, "Are you okay, Betty?"

But before I could answer, I felt myself get woozy, and then… I fell to the floor. Everything was black.

Three hours later…

I woke up in a hospital room, in a hospital gown. I looked around, feeling light-headed. Suddenly, the door opened, and a woman wearing a doctor's uniform entered the room, her ID card reading "Dr. Martinez."

"Hello, Ms. Cooper," Dr. Martinez said nicely, closing the door behind her. "I have to discuss something with you,"

I nodded complacently, knowing exactly what this was about. Dr. Martinez sat down in a chair next to my bed, and looked down at her clipboard, and looked up with a slightly sympathetic look on her face.

"Ms. Cooper… are you aware that you're pregnant?" she asked, the sadness and sympathy clear in her voice.

I nodded again, a frown overcoming my face. "Yes, actually. I am fully aware of my pregnancy,"

Dr. Martinez let out a low sigh and said, "Well, you haven't been taking prenatal vitamins, and your blood pressure was very high, and blood pressure is related to stress. Stress isn't good for babies, you know,"

"Yes, I'm aware," I said quickly and curtly. I didn't need this random doctor telling me things I already know. When I decided I was going to keep the baby, I did a bunch of research on babies and pregnancies, and how to keep the baby safe and everything like that.

Dr. Martinez inhaled and said, "If you want to continue the pregnancy, you're going to have to try and keep your stress to a minimum,"

"Sorry I just found out my boyfriend's in a coma!" I yelled. I then took a moment to calm myself down and said, "I'm sorry. It's just… been a very stressful couple of weeks, and now he's… he's in a coma. He was dead for two minutes!"

Dr. Martinez sighed. "I'm sorry, Ms. Cooper. Now, I understand your obstetrician is Dr. Wellsberry?"

I nodded.

"Dr. Wellsberry has requested to see you, but you have a lot of friends waiting to see you," Dr. Martinez said. "We've decided we're going to let your friends in first."

The first people in were Cheryl and Toni, who were both… strangely worried about me. Well, I say strangely, because Cheryl Blossom actually seemed to care.

"Betty, what the heck is going on?" Toni asked nervously. "When you were brought in here, there were like a thousand doctors coming in and out of here doing tests on you. We all thought you were going to die!"

I sighed, deciding to tell them what I had failed to tell my boyfriend. "Guys… there's… well, there's something you should know,"

"Betty…" Cheryl asked, almost as if she were warning me. "What's going on? Seriously,"

"I'm… I'm pregnant!" I said, the hysteria and sadness clear in my voice. "I'm twelve weeks pregnant, and I've known since I was six weeks. I wanted to tell Jughead today but… but…" the tears fell out of my eyes.

Toni leaned down and hugged me. She stood up, and smiled. "You're keeping it, aren't you? That's why you were so nervous to tell Jug,"

"Yeah…" I whispered. "I…" I groaned loudly. "Why didn't I tell him sooner?!"

Cheryl reached down and stroked my hair soothingly. "It's okay, Betty. How were you supposed to know he was going to get into an accident with the bikes?"

"I don't know, Cheryl," I said. "I just… I still feel guilty. What if he never wakes up? What if he wakes up, and I've already had the baby? What's he gonna think?"

Toni frowned and said, "We know just about as much as you do. Fangs and Sweet Pea both have concussions, and they don't even remember how it started. All they remember is the crash happening, not how it started. Or ended, for that matter,"

I sighed. "Other than that, how are Sweet Pea and Fangs?"

"They're doing okay," Toni said, letting out a dark sigh. "They feel really guilty about what happened to Jughead. Sweet Pea says he knows there's something he could've done, but doesn't remember what it was,"

I sighed, touching my belly. "Tell them that they're fine. They've always been loyal to Jughead, and I'm sure they did everything they could to keep him alive, if that was possible."

Frowning, I felt a jolt in my stomach. I saw a trash can on the other side of the room, but there was no way I was going to make it. Nor could I ask Cheryl or Toni to get the trash can for me.

I had no other option but to lurch sideways and puke next to my hospital bed. Toni called a nurse, who asked Cheryl and Toni to leave. They did, and next, in came the most surprising people, I would have thought to still be in hospital beds like mine.

Sweet Pea and Fangs.

Sweet Pea, Fangs, and I haven't had much interaction. Yes, I am now the Serpent Queen, but Sweet Pea especially has always seen me as the Northsider with a mom who came from them, but doesn't accept them.

They both had sad expressions on their faces. Sweet Pea's face was really banged up, accompanied by a broken arm and a leg in a brace. Fangs' face was okay, as well as his legs. His right arm was in a cast and his wrist in a brace. For Jughead being in a coma, they looked fairly unharmed. What happened?

"We're so sorry," Fangs spoke first. "Neither… neither of us remember anything that happened, but I know if we had tried harder-"

"It's okay," I said quickly. "I'm not mad or anything. More… concerned. For Jughead. And… partially for myself, as narcissistic as that sounds."

They noticed the nurse cleaning up my vomit next to my bed, and Sweet Pea nodded to address it. "What's going on? And why are you worried for yourself, did someone threaten you?"

I let out a light laugh and said, "No, no one threatened me." I looked down at the nurse scrubbing the floor and exhaled loudly, eyeing the open door. I gestured for them to come closer, which they did. "I… I never got to tell Jughead,"

"Got to tell him what?" Fangs asked.

I sighed and said, "I never got to tell him about… about the baby…."

They both just looked at me, shocked, at the new discovery. I touched my stomach sadly, letting a tear drop from my eye.

"What..?" Sweet Pea asked. "How… what?"

I exhaled and said, "I was going to tell him today, but then FP called me and…"

Sweet Pea looked at me with alarm and asked, "Are you keeping it?"

"Yeah…" I nodded sheepishly, not really knowing why he was so alarmed. "Is everything okay?"

"No!" he exclaimed, watching Fangs as he closed the door. "Betty, this isn't good,"

I scoffed, "Why not?"

Fangs sucked in a deep breath and said, "We weren't going to say anything until we could talk to Sheriff Jones, but we both remember Penny Peabody being there. And from the state of Jug, and from the state of us, we both have a feeling this was no ordinary motorcycle accident,"

Penny… Peabody? I've heard Jug talk about her, and he apparently really despises her, but I don't exactly know how or why. I just know that, allegedly, she's a really bad person and that she did something really bad to Jughead. According to him, he won't tell me for 'my safety.'

"Who's… who's Penny Peabody?" I asked, slowly and gently, wanting to know but not too much.

Sweet Pea sighed and said, "Penny Peadbody helped Jughead get FP out of jail, and then forced him to deal drugs for her. She was a traitor, and we cut off her Serpent tattoo. Penny Peabody and her Ghoulies are the ones who attacked Jughead a few weeks ago,"

I sucked in a quick and almost silent gasp that made Sweet Pea nod and let on a grave scowl.

"She wanted to kill him, Betty," Fangs said, the fear evident in his voice. "If he doesn't die, she's gonna finish the job,"

Sweet Pea sucked in a breath and said, "You have to tell FP. And we're gonna tell him that we remember Penny Peabody being there,"

"Okay…" I said, placing my hands protectively on my stomach. "Am I… am I going to be okay? Is she after me?"

They both sighed, as Fangs ran a hand through his hair and said, "There's no way to tell,"

I sighed, looking down at my stomach.

"What am I gonna do?" I asked.

Sweet Pea gave me a reassuring look and said, "We're going to make sure you're safe. It's Serpent law. If a Serpent is killed or put in jail, their family will be taken care of. I guess that applies to you… mostly since you're pregnant. Even if Jug's in a coma,"

I exhaled, thinking about the possibilities of what could happen to me. And the baby. Or Jug. Ugh, why is it that just when everything's starting to go right, things like this happen.

Author's Note: Hello everyone! I just wanna say, Jughead is definitely not going to be in a coma for the entire fanfiction. I just… I kinda wanted Jughead to be out of the picture for a bit. Like, I wanted Betty to go through part of her pregnancy alone, but not because Jughead left her. I wanted it to be because one, he didn't even know she was pregnant, and two, because he had to. He had to, because he's in a freaking coma. I'm going to fast forward a few weeks every chapter to get to the point where Jug wakes up, because he DEFINITELY will. That is a PROMISE I can make to you. I hope no one's either too upset, or just I hope no one's upset at all. In the next few chapters, we'll learn how Betty's handling things and shtuff like that. So… I want Sweet Pea, Fangs, and Toni to be very important characters in this fanfiction. They're going to be "taking care" of Betty until Jughead wakes up. I really like them as characters, and I really want to include them in this fic as much as possible. Anyways, before I waste TOO much of your day, I'mma get writing the next chapter. Bai!