Author's Notes: Hello everyone, and welcome to Chapter 14 of The Bump in the Road! This chapter is in Betty's POV, and it takes place two days later, on a Thursday, meaning that Betty is 24 weeks pregnant! So, what I want to happen in this chapter is a bit more Betty/Jughead fluff and happiness between them, where Betty shares some insecurities this time. I mean, she went through half her pregnancy alone. That wasn't Jughead's fault, it was just how it played out. He was in a coma, so… I personally don't blame him, and neither does Betty, I can tell you that for sure. Anyways, not much else to say about this chapter (that I want to spoil), so everyone enjoy this chapter of The Bump in the Road and please leave a review!

BETTY'S POV

I was putting the dishes away from the dishwasher when my back started to hurt. I let out a long groan, alerting Jughead of my pain. He had been writing on the couch, when he got up to come closer to me.

He wrapped his arms around my body and settled his hands on my stomach, placing a gentle kiss to my neck before whispering, "Are you okay?" quietly in my ear.

I let out a breathy chuckle before replying, "Yeah, I'm okay. Your baby is just making my back hurt,"

Jughead smiled against my ear and pressed a kiss to it. He took the plate I'd been putting away from my hand and said, "Why don't you go finish your history essay on the couch while I finish this up,"

Smiling to him, I gave him a nice kiss on the cheek while I went to sit down on the couch.

I was very close to being done with the history essay, and when I finished, I looked up some more baby names, and came across one that made me smile, and one that I knew would make Jughead smile, too.

"What about Romeo?" I asked my boyfriend.

Jughead looked up and asked, "What?"

"I mean, for his name. What if we named him Romeo?"

"Romeo? You wanna name our son Romeo?" the way he said it made me think he thought I was joking, but I really wasn't.

I stood up (painfully, might I add) and came to stand next to him, where he was now loading the dishwasher, seeing as we were pretty backed up in the dishes department.

Frowning, I replied, "I'm not joking, Juggie! We're like Romeo and Juliet, right? What if we named our son Romeo? I think it would be cute,"

"Let's say it's up for further discussion, how about that?" he said. "I mean, I don't hate it, but I think there are other, possibly better options out there. Okay?"

I felt another pang of pain in my lower back and let out a sad sigh. "My feet hurt, my back hurt, and I look like I've stuffed a basketball under my shirt. Because of you, mister Serpent,"

We both chuckled, Jughead realizing from my tone that I wasn't being serious. In all honesty, because of Jughead, my body was going to be able to give the gift of life to our child, and I couldn't be more grateful for that.

Jughead moved from behind me to in front so I could see him fully.

"Betty Cooper, you are beautiful. Inside and out," he said, fully serious. I felt my face heat up a bit, and he placed one hand on my constantly growing stomach, and the other on my face, caressing it. "And even though your stomach might be bigger than it usually is, I think it's beautiful, too. Because you know what? You are holding my baby inside of you. That is honestly the best gift you could ever give me."

I smiled at my boyfriend, and then my face fell. "I don't know, Jughead… I just feel so… unprepared, I guess, for all of this."

"All of what?" he asked.

"Parenthood!" I let out, exasperated. "Honestly, Jughead, this is terrifying. I'm terrified! I… I want to talk to my mom, or Polly, but they're both so invested in the Farm that I don't even want to go anywhere near either of them!"

I quickly realized that I was venting to Jughead, something that I hadn't intended to do.

"Oh, uh… sorry," I muttered, turning around and heading towards our bedroom, where the book I was reading was. "Didn't mean to vent."

Jughead grabbed my shoulder and forced me to turn around. "Betty, you can vent to me. We're having a child together, there shouldn't be any secrets between us,"

Of course, my insecurities about becoming a mother wouldn't exactly be considered a secret if we really got technical, but I understood Jughead's logic. Parenting consists of a lot of trust, I've learned from my parents. If we don't tell each other everything, we don't trust each other, and then there's a lot of conflicts…. I just don't want my baby growing up with either of the childhoods that me and Jughead had. I'm absolutely sure that Jughead wouldn't touch a drop of alcohol unless he was sure he could handle it, and I was sure as hell not going to be anywhere near as pushy as my mother is.

"Fine," I let out a long sigh. "I'm… really, really, really nervous about becoming a mom. I don't know if I'm going to be able to handle it, or if I'll even be a good mother."

Jughead scoffed and asked me, "Betty, you're seriously wondering if you're going to be a good mom?"

"Yeah..?" I replied. "Is that bad?"

"No, it's not bad," Jughead's words comforted me, as he rubbed his hand up and down on my arm, the other at his side. "I just think it's ridiculous. I mean, if anyone in this entire town is going to make an amazing mother, even at such a young age, I'm one hundred percent sure it's going to be you. I mean, let's be real, you're the most responsible student at Riverdale High."

I chuckled and replied, "That honestly can't be true,"

"Maybe not out of all the students, but definitely at least in our grade," Jug corrected himself. He then moved forward, placing a gentle, loving kiss on my forehead, and wrapped me in the tightest hug he could get, with my belly in the way. "Betty Cooper, I love you and our baby more than anything in the world, and I don't think that I would be able to forgive myself if anything happened to either of you. You're going to be an amazing mother to our son, no matter what his name is. I can assure you that,"

Something about dating a writer is that he's always better at getting and writing in cards. Whenever it's either Archie or Veronica's birthday, he writes in it what it's going to say. Mostly because Jughead just has a way with words… he can manipulate them into doing whatever he wants, and just by reading one of his pieces, you know that he's intelligent, and that he's broken inside, and needs mending.

Honestly, I think our son is going to be the magic that heals his soul.

I haven't even met our baby boy yet, and I already know that he's mended mine.

Everyone in the town has mixed opinions on our baby, and especially on our decision to move to the Southside. I mean, Jughead is the Serpent King, and I'm his queen. Our baby boy is going to be the Serpent prince… and whatever the Northside thinks, we're both fully aware that the Serpents will always have our back. No matter what.

We hugged for a few minutes before my back began to hurt again, and I decided that it was time for me to sit back down, get back on my laptop, and start looking at baby names again.

After all, we can't have a nameless baby.

XXX

Later that day, at about three in the afternoon, I got the first text from my mother in at least a month.

Alice: Hi honey. I know we haven't talked in a while, and I'm fully aware that you're not very happy with me, but I want to talk. The Farm has relocated to the old building that The Sisters of Quiet Mercy operated in, and Edgar, Polly, and I think that it would be a good opportunity for us to sort out our differences tonight. You can even bring Jughead if you want!

Honestly, I had no idea what to respond to that message. Say okay? Say no? I decided to talk it over with Jughead. I know for a fact that he's always just wanted my mother to approve of him, even though she's always said that she likes him, my mother's never been a very good liar.

"What do you think we should do?" I asked him after reading out the text.

My baby's father just shrugged and replied, "I mean, we could go. I don't want you to be under stress of any kind, so we should only do it if you want to."

I thought about it for a total of twenty minutes, and then replied.

Betty: Okay Mom. We'll come down to the Farm HQ and talk, but as long as it has nothing to do with us moving to the Southside, and you don't make any snarky remarks towards Jughead. You get three strikes, and then we're leaving. And no, I won't tell you when you've lost a strike.

After my mother agreed to my terms, we agreed that we would be over at five.

XXX

I was wearing my nicest maternity dress; a black dress that fell down to my knees, flats (because I can't wear anything else with my swollen feet), stockings, a white sweater, and I had decided to wear my hair down, curling it slightly.

Jughead had opted for a full-on tuxedo. Even though I told him that when my mother was as brain-washed as she is, she wouldn't make a single comment on his outfit, he told me that he just wanted to be safe, in case my mother was going to try and make a snarky comment towards him, something that I assured wouldn't happen, even though with Alice Cooper, you really never can tell, can you?

We arrived at the previous facility for The Sisters of Quiet Mercy, that was now the HQ for the Farm ten minutes early, knowing that even though my mother was brainwashed by the Farm, she would still say something about punctuality, even if we were right on time.

Jughead took the liberty of knocking on the big front door, and it immediately swung open, revealing a familiar red-headed young girl that I remembered from before Jughead and I turned to homeschooling. Her name was Evelyn Evernever.

"Betty! Jughead! Come on in," Evelyn said, stepping back so we could enter. She quickly noted my enlarged belly and gestured towards it, whispering, "Congratulations," before leading us farther into the belly of the beast.

I turned to Jughead and whispered, "I'm having flashbacks of the day that we visited Polly here…." then a happy smile spread across my face as I said, "That was the day we had our first kiss. Remember?"

Both of us silently smiling, reminiscing about the kindling of our relationship, Evelyn didn't notice, and if she did, she didn't say anything about it. She just silently led us to a room where Mom, Polly, and Edgar Evernever were sitting, chatting, drinking wine.

I knew immediately where my place at the table was, simply because the liquid in the glass had been water, the replacement of the red wine that was being served all around the table.

"Elizabeth! Jughead! We're so glad you could come," Edgar Evernever greeted us. I'm one thousand percent sure him calling me Elizabeth is due to my mother's excessiveness of using my first full name.

I just smiled at Edgar and said, "We're happy to be here," note I didn't say glad, because neither of us were.

Evelyn sat down next to Polly, and the two began talking, as if they had been instructed to keep themselves busy while Edgar and my mother 'entertained' me and Jughead. Now this… this was most definitely going to be interesting. Good interesting or bad interesting? I really don't know.

"First of all, Betty, Jughead, on behalf of both me and Evelyn, I'd like to congratulate you on the little bundle of joy you're set to become parents to," as Edgar congratulated us, I couldn't help but notice how complicated he made the sentence.

This time, it was Jughead's turn to smile and nod, and say, "Thank you, Mr. Evernever. We know it wasn't exactly expected, but we're both very excited about it,"

Edgar let out a friendly scoff, and swiped a hand in the air, saying, "Oh please, don't call me Mr. Evernever. It's Edgar, to all,"

"Um, okay… Edgar," I seemed to have satisfied the older man. He was holding hands with my mother on the table, not looking even in the direction of Polly and Evelyn, as they discussed something about the beautiful flowers in the garden that made Polly happy when she was pregnant here, and my mother sent her. "So… what's for dinner? I'm starving,"

After a quick look in Jughead's direction, I realized that he too was very hungry. It was clear that his son inherited his stomach which, while I think it is really cute, there are going to have to be weekly grocery store trips, and since I'm the sole person feeding his baby right now, it's kinda torture. I never usually got this hungry!

Edgar chuckled, "Ah, I can imagine so. We're having steak and potatoes,"

"That sounds delicious," Jughead piped up, a big smile on his face as he adjusted his beanie.

After drawing attention to the beanie, Mom made a face that Edgar caught. He gave her a look, and she looked alarmed for a second before pointing blatantly to Jug's beanie. I tried to say, "Mom…" warningly, but she took no notice, and seemed to continue silently communicating with Edgar just how much she hates my boyfriend.

"That is… a very nice hat you have there, Jughead," Edgar said, the same face my mother had been making plastered onto his own. "Where did you get it?"

Confused, Jughead replied, "I uh… I've had it since I was a kid, I don't really remember. All I know is that my mom gave it to me for my birthday."

"Your mother? She abandoned you with your father, taking your sister, is that correct?" Edgar interrogated.

At the mention of the series of events that had caused Jughead so many insecurities in becoming the father to his own little man, a shocked expression spread across his face, and understandably so. I was absolutely appalled that my mother would even say anything about the subject; she knows absolutely nothing about what happened that day. Jughead doesn't even know exactly, he hadn't been home when his mother left. It was FP, and it was a subject that the junior Forsythe Pendleton Jones refused to speak about.

"Uh… yeah. My mom left me and my dad," Jughead confirmed in an awkward mutter. I reached my hand across the gap that was between us, and took his hands in mine, and I already saw the comfort on his face. While my left hand was on Jug's lap, the other was resting on my stomach.

Edgar nodded with a smile, seemingly happy with his interrogation. "Now… Alice and I hear you two moved to the Southside?" there was a somewhat hard expression on his face. "Why is that?"

"Because," I started, preventing Jughead from answering, knowing full well that they would turn it into an interrogation if it was him. "Juggie and I decided that we wanted to be closer to the Serpents, and we wanted to be closer to FP as well. Besides, Sunnyside Trailer Park is a sweet little community that I personally would like to be apart of,"

The big smile on Jughead's face told me that I'd said all the right words, even if not in my mother and Edgar's book. I had perfectly described the place that my boyfriend grew up, in the perfect way. Yes, there were Serpents. Yes, sometimes they could be a bit scary. But honestly… I've completely gotten over my "fear" of Serpents. They took care of me during my pregnancy when Juggie was in a coma and couldn't. They made sure that I was as safe as possible during the time that Jughead couldn't protect me, and I will forever be in their debt because of that.

The condescending smile on my mother's face told me that I'd said all the wrong words, starting with the announcement of our move in the first place. As a mother who always taught me that the Southside was wrong, and bad, she sure didn't have a problem being a Southsider as a teenager.

Honestly, I can't speak for my mom. But if I was my mom, I would never have left, and I would have raised my baby, maybe not as a Serpent, but as a Southsider. Because the Southside is a community when the Northside can't be. When everything around the Northside is imploding, the Southside sticks together, learning from the opposite's mistakes.

"Yeah. The Southside may have a bad reputation, but they're more of a community than the Northside will ever be," I added truthfully.

Jughead squeezed my hand. "We're not going to force our son to become a Serpent, but I'm fairly sure that we've agreed we are going to raise him as a Southsider. We want him to make his own decisions, of course, and we'll support him on his. All we want to do is steer him in the right direction, in everything,"

"Really?" behind the brainwashing, Mom's usual low blows were starting to shine through, and I was starting to panic. "Because I thought you just wanted to add to the Southside population."

I chuckled softly and said, "You know, Mom, when Jughead was in a coma, the Serpents were there for me when he couldn't me," I looked to him and added, "I'm not blaming you, of course. But Mom… I feel like you should say thank you to them. Because if not, there's a pretty good chance I wouldn't be sitting here right now."

After that, everyone at the table went silent, excluding Mom and Edgar. They continued talking, to us too (even though we didn't respond) and acted like nothing had just happened. They acted like my mother hadn't just insulted my boyfriend and baby's father, and then just moved on with their lives. It was quite ridiculous, actually.

When the steak and potatoes came out, Mom and Edgar continued to talk between bites, but Evelyn and Polly also resumed their conversation.

Really, the whole dinner was quite strange.

Author's Notes: Okay, I know I said we were going to get into Betty's insecurities about the pregnancy, and I kind of did, but we're going to touch on it more in the next Betty chapter. Now… what do you all think of the name Romeo? Like, they make a lot of Romeo and Juliet references between them, and I just had the idea the other day like… maybe they should name their son Romeo! Because I have like… zero other name ideas. I mean, Romeo could be a middle name, but I really don't know and it's kind of killing me…. I just want to be able to call the baby something! I don't know if they would wait until birth to give their son a name, you know, like… wait until they knew he looked like a Romeo or whatever the name they decided to choose… I'm not quite sure. Please, do NOT judge me on whatever name I pick, this is my story. If you want a specific name for the story, please, leave a review! Follow me and the story! I can see who does! In fact….

Thank you so much to Boris Yeltsin, GlitterMakesMeHappy2102, LittleHappyOtaku, edge15684, , and titechoune76 for following the story, and thank you to Boris Yeltsin, GlitterMakesMeHappy2102, , and titechoune76 for favoriting!

I think you all are great and amazing just for reading my story. So thank you all! And thank you to Boris Yeltsin only for reviewing the last chapter. Thanks everyone, and goodnight (even though it's morning right now for me)!