Author's Notes: It's here! It's finally here! What's here, you say? Well, the chapter that Jughead wakes up in, of course! The chapter we've all been waiting for, where Jughead is finally reintroduced to the story! I have a really sweet way of Jughead waking up that I'm really excited to write it, because it's just so sweet! I would just like to say that the coma waking up part of this chapter is definitely not going to be realistic. I've personally never known anyone who's been in a coma, and never been in one myself, so I have no, personal, real-life experience. Anyways, before I ramble too much, let's just get into the chapter.

BETTY'S POV

Twenty weeks pregnant, and I'm just now deciding it's time to tell my father.

Yes, I've had many opportunities before, but honestly, I was afraid. I mean, when he found out that Polly was pregnant, he tried to get her to have an abortion without even asking her. Yes, he's in prison, but according to the guards, when he gets angry, he tries to break out. He does everything he can to get out to hurt somebody (Author: Not in the actual show, just wanted to dramatizice this scene a bit)

The guard showed me to my father's cell, of course, and when he saw me, his expression changed from happy to see me, to absolutely appalled, at the sight of my belly.

"Betty…" he started with a warning sort of tone. "What's going on here?"

I exhaled loudly and said, "There's no beating around the bush here, Dad. I'm pregnant, and keeping it, so there's nothing you can do,"

"THE HELL THERE ISN'T!" he yelled. He then walked up to the clear plastic wall of his cell and began banging on it. He hit and hit and hit until the guards came, when he (wisely) decided it would be best if he cooled off, which he did.

"Dad," I said gently. "I'm not letting you do to me what you did to Mom and Polly. It doesn't matter what you think I should do, it's my body, my baby, my choice,"

He stepped back from the wall, and placed a hand on his forehead. "Betty…"

"What, Dad?" I asked, somewhat hysterically. "Dad, you've ruined my life! Ridding the town of sinners? Being a serial killer? You do realize that that's going to haunt me wherever I go, right? The Cooper name is in the papers, on the news! People know who we are, and are going to know until the day I die. Do you understand that? You don't have a say in things like this,"

Dad looked away, and said simply, "I don't regret what I did. I made a promise to my mother when I was a child, and I intended on keeping it for much longer than I did,"

"How many people were you going to kill, Dad?" I asked, the tears clear in my voice.

He smiled at me evilly and said, "As many as it took,"

As many as it took to cleanse the town. That's what he meant to say. He wanted to get rid of all the sinners in the town, but at least the people he tried to be rid of weren't serial killers!

I placed my hands on my belly, and said, teary-eyed, "I'm leaving, Dad. And I'm never coming back. The only reason I came to visit you today is to tell you,"

"I seriously doubt that, Betty," Dad said, a hint of evillness to his voice. "You're going to be back, I know it,"

"No, I'm not," I said, and then immediately turned to walk away.

Dad called after me. He yelled as loud as he could, but I forced my ears to shut out the noise. I forced myself to not listen to anything he was saying, and smiled gingerly to myself as the guards came to quiet him down. I turned the corner, and closed the door to the section of cells my father was in as I left, glad that I couldn't hear my father's voice any longer.

At home…

Jellybean had officially transferred to Riverdale Middle School, meaning that her and Gladys were going to be staying for quite a while.

Even though I was still living in my childhood home, in my childhood bedroom, I didn't really feel welcome in the house. Not just because I was there with Jughead's mother and sister, two women I didn't know all that well, but I felt like I'd been abandoned. By my mother. And to a much lesser extent, Polly, too.

Of course I'm grateful I have a place to live and everything, but of course, I have to wonder what it would be like if Jughead was here.

The second I walked through the door, Jellybean was on top of me, trying to get a feel of the belly. After learning that she was going to be an aunt, she warmed up to me quickly, always wanting to make sure I was okay, and whenever I needed something and didn't want to get up, I always asked her, because she was always more than happy to get it for me. But in times like these, when I just wanted to hole myself up in my room and be alone for a while, I couldn't help but feel a little annoyed.

"Just really quick, please?" Jellybean pleaded with me.

I finally caved and said, "Alright, but be quick. I have some homework to catch up on upstairs," which wasn't entirely a lie. I did have to write a paper for my history class.

Just as she had promised, Jellybean felt my belly quickly, saying a quick hello to the baby. "Hi baby. It's your Aunt JB again. I really can't wait to meet you, I know your mommy and daddy are going to love you!"

Whatever annoyance I felt toward Jellybean instantly washed away once she did this. The doctors told me pretty early on in the pregnancy that yes, babies can hear voices from the womb. They recognize their parents' voices, and others, if the mother has been around them for a particularly long amount of time during the pregnancy, but always recognized the parents' voices.

I smiled at Jughead's younger sister, and then wide-leggedly dominated the stairs. Nowadays, I always feel very proud of myself whenever I successfully get up the stairs without having to take a break to catch my breath. Not that I'm not in shape, I was, it's just the fact that I've got a belly now, which makes just basic travelling up and down stairs ten times more complicated.

When I got up, Gladys was preparing to walk down. She smiled, gave me a confident thumbs-up, and said, "Nice job, Betty! I remember when I was pregnant with Jellybean, I couldn't even walk up the three steps it took to get into the trailer," she then laughed at her own memory, and breezed down the stairs.

I let out an irritated huff at the memory of that.

In my bedroom, I got to working on the history paper that I had due for the next day. Annoyed at myself for procrastinating for so long, I made mistakes at every turn, my backspace bar getting used a lot more than it usually does.

Me making mistakes might also have to do with the fact that because Jughead can't write, I have a hard time doing it.

Let me explain: Jughead, my boyfriend and baby daddy, is a write through and through. He loves it. It's his passion, and I'm extremely confident in him that he's going to make it into a career one day. Because he's in a coma, he physically can't write, and I feel somewhat guilty because I can. The guilt of that couple with the guilt that I never found the actual courage to tell him about the baby is making me insane.

After about an hour and getting basically no work done, I finally concluded that I was getting nowhere with this. I decided that I was going to negotiate with my teacher to get a little more time on it, maybe another week or so, maybe less, because I was for sure not going to finish it today.

Just then, I got a text from Fangs to meet him at the hospital.

FANGS: Betty, get down to Riverdale General right now.

BETTY: Is Jughead okay?

FANGS: Yes, but we found something out about Penny, and the usual private-spaces we use to talk about stuff with the Serpents doesn't really seem… safe right now? Every Serpent knows them, including Penny, so we don't want to go there right now.

BETTY: Okay, I'll be right down.

FANGS: Alright, see you in a little bit.

I stuffed my phone in my back pocket and rushed to the car that Gladys had told me I could use whenever I wanted.

Gladys and Jellybean had fixed up cars at their old place in Toledo (I've never been, but Jughead's told me about it), and they apparently took an extra car that they didn't end up needing with them to get down here. Apparently, Gladys prefers motorcycles, and Jellybean usually rides with her, or with FP in the sheriff's cruiser.

So, the car is basically mine.

I drove as quickly as the law would allow to Riverdale General Hospital, and upon getting there, found Fangs standing in next to the front doors, waiting for me.

"Are we sure Jug's hospital room is a safe place to talk about stuff like this?" I whispered to him as we walked down the hallway and entered it.

He shrugged and said, "Well, it's been pretty secure so far, so it's the best we can get right now," he closed the door behind us.

Sweet Pea and Toni were there, both sitting in the chairs under the window, everyone reserving the seat next to Jughead for me.

I sat in my usual spot, taking Jughead's hand, just like I have since the day he fell into a coma.

"We got some intel that Penny's going to try and kill Jughead tonight," Fangs said, leaning up against the wall with a hard stare.

Shocked, I just stared at them. "What?!" I yelled.

Toni gave me a sympathetic look and said, "Don't worry, Betty. We've informed hospital security, and they said that they're going to be extra high on the lookout, and they're even going to put extra guards near this room,"

This eased my fears a little bit, but not enough. "Are you serious? How do you guys know? Who even told you?"

"That doesn't matter," Sweet Pea said, with the same hard stare that Fangs held on his face. "What matters is that we're going to make sure he's safe. He's going to wake up, Betty,"

Anxious, I put Jughead's hand on my belly. There hadn't been any kicks for the past few weeks, as I've mentioned, but just feeling Jughead touch me, even if it wasn't consciously, made me feel better. Not much, but enough.

I rubbed my enlarged stomach with my own hands, and suddenly, I saw Jug's hand bob up ever so slightly.

I let out a gasp, which surprised everyone in the room.

"Betty, is everything okay?" Toni asked cautiously.

Looking up at them, I nodded happily. "The baby's kicking," I said in a hushed voice, tears stinging my eyes. "The baby's kicking for its daddy,"

I stared down at my belly for a bit longer, smiling happily to myself. The first kick in weeks. It was almost as if the baby was waiting for Jughead's touch… waiting for the feeling of its father. And when he or she was finally given that, they were happy.

Although Gladys was right; baby kicks do hurt. Not much, but they do. At least the baby was kicking though, right?

We all sat there in silence for a few more minutes. Jughead's hand was still resting on my swollen stomach,

I laid my head back, somewhat uncomfortably, and was shocked when I felt Jughead's hand shift a bit.

My eyes darted up to his face, and I quickly realized that his eyes were open. He looked groggy, and his eyes were darting around the room, looking for something.

"Juggy?" I asked softly.

"Betty?" he replied hoarsely.

Fangs, Sweet Pea, and Toni had all realized what was happening by this point.

Jughead was awake.

Quickly, I began laughing hysterically, excited. "Juggy!" I exclaimed, leaning down to kiss him, which he gratefully accepted.

"Hey, Cooper," he said, his voice still hoarse from not using it at all for the best part of two months.

EVeryone else in the room was silent, and Fangs quickly left to get a nurse.

I cupped his face in my hand and said, "Oh, Juggy…" as I kissed him again.

He reached his hand up to touch my face, and then… his eyes fell down to my stomach. His face fell, as though the realization of the state I was in was most definitely shocking, which was expected.

Jughead then took his hand away from my face, and touched my stomach. "Betty…" he whispered. "You're..?"

"Pregnant, Juggy," I said nervously. "I… I'm sorry I didn't tell you. I was going to tell you the day it all happened… and then-"

"It's okay, Betty," he said quietly. He motioned for me to bring my face down to his, and he quickly gave me a kiss on the lips. "I love you.

Confused, I asked, "You're not mad?"

He let out a hoarse chuckle that made my heart hurt as he said, with a grin on his face, "It's a surprise, for sure. But… I don't think I could've woken up to a better one."

Two hours later…

It had taken the doctors and nurses two hours to get all the tests done on Jughead. They weren't all like, drawing blood tests. A lot of them were responsive tests. Like, they would ask him a question, and he would have to respond.

Thankfully, there's no permanent brain damage to him, which is probably some of the best news I've heard in a while. That, and that he can come home in two days.

By now, everybody's come in to visit and talk with him briefly. Everybody being FP, Gladys, Jellybean, and the three that were here when he woke up, of course.

I was sitting next to Jughead's bed the same way I have for months, but this time it was different. A different feeling, because he was awake. He could actually talk to me, and respond when I asked him, or told him something.

"I have to ask," Jughead began, looking at me. His voice had emerged from the hoarse whisper that he had when he first woke up. "Why didn't you tell me?"

Jughead had opted to still touch my belly for a bit longer, as he said that it made him feel happy, the same way it made me feel safe.

"I… honestly don't know," I admitted truthfully. "I was going to tell you the day… it all happened, but then I never got the chance. I was just… so… afraid that you were going to tell me you wanted to break up, or tell me that you wanted nothing to do with the baby,"

He smiled at me and asked, "So you're keeping it?"

"Yeah…" I replied with a huge smile.

"Do you know if it's a boy or a girl yet?" he asked, rubbing around a bit on my stomach.

I shook my head. "I… wanted to, but… it felt wrong, if that makes sense. You didn't even know I was pregnant at the time, I just… I wanted us to find out together, I guess,"

He looked confused for a moment before saying, "I heard you. When you would talk to me while I was asleep. I could hear you, but I definitely didn't process anything you were saying,"

"Really?" I asked. "So you heard me when I told you,"

He nodded. "Mhm." then, took his hand away, and said, "But I didn't really… understand, if that makes sense. And the memory of it washed away really quick, I'm only really just… remembering now, I guess,"

"I'm glad you're awake, Jug," I said happily, happy tears in my eyes.

"Me too," he replied.

I stayed with Jughead the entire day. Sometimes we wouldn't be talking, but would just be sitting in each other's presence. I would be on my phone, Jughead reading a book (one of the things that the doctors said would help stimulate his brain in a productive way). We would just bask in the fact that we were both conscious, in the same room.

Jughead would occasionally ask questions about the baby. Like, "What does the baby look like?" and I thankfully had a printed out picture that I kept in my purse to confidently show off to people at this point. Or other questions along those lines.

We decided that we did want to find out the gender, so we set up an appointment for the day Jughead was being released, the next day. Jughead wanted to find out as soon as possible, and get a look at the baby on the screen.

It was definitely a relief that Jughead was okay that I'd decided to keep the baby. The entire time he was in a coma, I was afraid that he was going to book it once he found out about my pregnancy, among other fears.

But now, he was more than happy to talk to me about baby stuff.

"So… do you want a girl or a boy?" I asked him. I didn't have a preference, I just didn't see the appeal in getting your hopes up on whether you were going to have a girl or a boy, and then have it possibly be the opposite of what you wanted.

Jughead thought about it for a second and said, "I don't… really know. I guess I haven't had that much time to process it, let alone decide if I want a girl or a boy. Does that make sense?"

Nodding vigorously, I said, "Yeah, yeah, of course!"

"We're not… having twins, are we?" he asked, somewhat nervously. I thought about how much my sister struggled with having twin babies, and even though she managed it like a boss, I don't think I could manage it as easy as she does.

I laughed chuckled lightly and said, "No, Juggy, we're not having twins. It's just one baby, they confirmed that a while ago,"

"Thank God," he said quietly. "I don't think I could handle twins coming out of a coma," then he said, "That reminds me. How… how far along are you?"

Rubbing my belly fondly, I said, "Twenty weeks yesterday. So, five months pregnant,"

"Damn…" he whispered. "I was gone a long time,"

I rubbed his arm and said, "It's okay, Jug. Um… can I ask. Do you remember anything about the day of the accident?"

He looked confused for a second, almost as though he was organizing his thoughts. "Not really… but it's coming back to me. Like… like deja vu or something."

"Weird…" I said. "Fangs and Sweet Pea remember Penny Peabody being there. Do you remember anything about Penny Peabody?"

He wracked his brain for a second before saying, "I mean, I remember she wasn't at her house like she usually is when we checked on her. Her car was in, but her bike was out. We were getting back to Riverdale as fast as possible to see if anyone had seen here there. Truthfully, I was getting back to you… to make sure you were safe,"

I sucked in a deep breath and said, "Juggy… Fangs heard from another Serpent that Penny Peabody was planning on killing you tonight. Finishing the job, were his exact words,"

Jughead let out a hoarse chuckle. "Let her try. I know that nobody's leaving tonight, so why not? See what she thinks can actually kill me,"

"If what we think is right, she put you in a coma, Jug," I said, the slight feeling of worry washing over me. "I don't want to be apart from you for another long period of time, let alone lose you!"

Jughead grasped my hand, holding it tight. "Betty, I promise I won't die on you. I'm not going to leave you alone,"

Leave you alone with the baby. He may not have said that directly, but that's what he meant… directly. Jughead's always been a protector. Even before we started dating, he was overprotective of me. He always wants me to be safe, which is really sweet.

But last year, when he was joining the Serpents, I wanted to be there for him. I wanted it to be my turn to protect him, and he wouldn't let me.

He fell into a coma rushing back to Riverdale, to protect me. Somehow, I can't help but feel that a lot of his pain was caused by me. His need to protect me. If I didn't get myself into such sticky situations all the time, maybe he wouldn've been awake the past two months. Maybe he would have learned about the baby earlier on in my pregnancy, instead of being surprised right as he woke up.

If only I could go back and change a few things. Then maybe everything would be different.

Author's Notes: Hey everyone! Holy cow this is a long chapter! Around 3600 words at the time I checked five seconds ago. Now, anyone else excited that Jug's awake? I know I am! The next chapter will start exactly where this one left off, I just felt the need to sort of end it here. You know, draw out the events a bit. Now that Jughead's awake, I'm going to severely slow down the speed that this fic was going at. And, to make up for lost time, once the baby's born, I'm going to write well into it's childhood. Till it's around two or three… maybe four, even! I've decided the baby's gender, which they're going to find out in the next chapter, which is exciting! What do you think they'll have? Even though I have decided, I'm still open to suggestions. And NAME IDEAS! I need those, pleas! And remember, to review, review, review! Alright, I'mma go. Love y'all! Bye!