Author's Notes: Hello readers! So in this chapter, Betty and Veronica go up to the Lodge lodge up in Shadow Lake, and they have a cute heart to heart! Also, Betty has a surprise for Veronica. Can anyone guess what it is? I can't tell, unfortunately, until it's revealed in the chapter. Alright, onto Chapter 15 of The Bump in the Road!

BETTY'S POV

My hands were rested comfortably on my belly when we pulled up to the Lodge lodge up in Shadow Lake.

Just like back when Jughead was in a coma, Veronica had invited me up to the lake house for a weekend where we could just relax and unwind, something that I had been doing a lot of during my pregnancy, despite the fact that for most of it my boyfriend was in a coma, and now apparently a gang leader is trying to get either me or Jughead killed. Possibly my baby, so… that's calming, right?

"And, we're here!" Veronica announced, opening the door of her limo to let me out politely. "B, get ready for a nice weekend away from boys, and gang leaders, and trailers that are small for a very nice, and relaxing weekend away!"

I chuckled, and took her hand as she helped me out. "Aw, thanks Veronica. You're honestly too sweet."

This was most definitely true. Veronica had made sure I was okay all throughout my pregnancy, in more ways than one. Emotionally, physically… financially at one point.

The Lodge lodge was just as I'd remembered from the last time I was there; the night that Archie informed both me and Veronica that the doctor noticed that Jughead was getting better, and that there was a good chance of him waking up soon. That was the best news I'd ever heard.

"Okay, so. I've hired two professionals to come and give us the full spa treatment, including mani-pedis that are going to make your feet feel better than they have in months!" Veronica gushed, excited at making me feel like a normal human being again.

Of course, she remembered a few days ago when we were planning our Shadow Lake getaway that I'd been complaining about my ridiculously swollen feet. Along with Baby Boy Jones being a big eater, just like his father, pregnancy has also made my feet sore at every chance they can get, and they've gotten so swollen… it's like looking at two lemons right above my feet! (That was a bit of an exaggeration if you couldn't tell)

We entered the very clearly expensive lake house, and I immediately plopped down on the couch, once again complaining about my foot pain.

"Well, we can just chillax and sit and watch trashy reality TV while we wait for the spa ladies to get here!" it was clear that she just wanted me to be comfortable, which was really sweet, and I told her so.

"Seriously Veronica… you've done so much for me, it'll be impossible for me to ever repay you," I thanked my best friend, giving her an awkward hug from where we were sitting on the couch, not wanting to change my position too much.

She rubbed my stomach and said, "B, you've gone through so much already in your life. I mean, your mother's been like… emotionally abusing you since you were really little. Your dad turned out to be a murderer. You've just had so many things going on, and then you get pregnant. Not that I felt like… pity on you or anything, I just felt like I needed to be the best best friend you could have, and do everything I could to get you through that difficult time. And honestly, I'm still trying to do just that."

I smiled at her honesty, to which she smiled back at me. We've been very close ever since we met in sophomore year, when Veronica first moved to Riverdale with her mother after her father was arrested. I didn't really trust her back then. If you had told sophomore year me that in just two years, Veronica would be helping me through a teen pregnancy of my own, I would not have believed you.

But here she is. Supporting me through a teen pregnancy of my own that involved my baby's father being in a coma for the majority of my pregnancy, leaving me alone and pregnant.

"V… can I vent to you for a bit?" I turned my head to her, asking the question.

Veronica nodded eagerly before saying, "Of course! Whatever you need to say, please, say it."

No, it wasn't just Veronica wanting to be supportive on that one. Even though she's tried to suppress New York Veronica, she occasionally comes out when it comes to gossip. No, Veronica would never tell anything I was about to tell her to anyone; on the contrary, she'll take it to her grave unless I tell her it's okay. But she always likes to hear a good piece of gossip, while also listening, and locking the piece of gossip away in a lockbox in her brain.

"I… I don't know if I'm going to be a good mother," I confided in her. "I mean, I'm just so nervous about everything. I feel extremely unprepared, we don't have the nursery even close to finished, and the baby only has a few outfits that will maybe get him through his first month of life. I have no idea what I'm going to do!"

Just saying all my fears out loud already felt like a five thousand pound weight was lifted off my shoulders. I know that Jughead was in a coma for most of my pregnancy, and waking up to find out that his girlfriend's stomach was very swollen was most likely not what he was expecting to find when he woke up, but it was hard on me, too.

I had to worry about his reaction. If he would be mad, sad, happy…. That was hard. I had to make the decision all on my own about what I was going to do with the baby, and while I was happy with my decision, I wasn't sure if Jughead would be. That was the scariest part. And on top of all of that, I didn't have Jughead there with me, to support me, and love me, and tell me that everything was okay.

Yeah, Veronica and Archie were there for me, but neither of them are Jughead. The only person I wanted to be with in all those moments was my boyfriend, the person I love.

"Oh my God B…" Veronica muttered, placing her hand over mine on my stomach. "I had no idea."

I chuckled and shrugged. "It's okay, I didn't want you to notice. I mean, everyone thinks I'm this pink, perfect princess that happens to be pregnant, and I'm even perfect at that, right? But I'm not, and sometimes it's really stressful to try and… keep up the facade that I'm perfect when I'm not. Honestly? I really, really hate that word. But I was raised to be it; and now that my mother is gone, I'm free to be whatever I want. But I can't. I really, really can't."

Veronica's face had morphed from sympathy and slight pity to full on hurt at what I was saying. I wanted to stop, but my brain told me that I would feel better once I said something, which was fully true.

My best friend then leaned over, and gave me a tight hug. "I'm… so sorry, about all of that, Betty. If I have ever contributed to you having to be perfect, ever, I'm so, so, sorry…."

"No, of course not," I lied.

The truth is that Veronica is perfect. Whenever I'm around people that I think are perfect, I feel the need to be perfect, which is wrong in so many ways. But my mother just… implanted this feeling, this idea, in my brain, that if I'm not perfect, I'm not good enough. That, I know, isn't true.

So in a way, yes, Veronica has contributed to that thought, but I would never be mad at her for it. It's not like she's always trying to make me feel like a pregnant mess whenever I stand next to her.

Besides, I'm growing a human inside of my body. Is Veronica doing that right now? No. So you know what? No. Veronica isn't contributing to the thought of me being perfect, because I am. In my own way. You know what I'm contributing to? The population of the earth. I think that's pretty cool, personally. Oh, and no, I don't just say that because I'm gonna be a mom and I'm definitely biased.

XXX

After a relaxing weekend that was most definitely needed, Veronica and I started packing up our stuff.

I had to tell Veronica multiple times that I didn't need to be helped. "Just because I'm having a baby doesn't mean you have to treat me like one!" was the sentence that got her to finally, finally, accept that I can pack my own clothes.

"I just worry that you're over-exerting yourself," Veronica said as we walked out of the Lodge lodge, her holding my backpack along with hers. I mean, she insisted, so why not let her have the benefit of the doubt, right?"

Despite that, I couldn't help but scoff and ask, "By carrying my backpack? Okay, you really need to do some reading up on pregnancies and what actually over-exerts you,"

Veronica was about to respond, but then something bad happened. Bad.

We heard a gunshot, very close by, and a man wearing a gargoyle mask slap his hand to his forehead before running back to the woods, shouting something we couldn't quite hear.

Then the pain set in.

I let out a shout of pain, and started to crumble, looking down to realize that the Gargoyle had shot me in my left thigh, very close to my stomach. Very close.

"BETTY!" Veronica yelled, dropping her things. She dropped down to help, but then realized she should call an ambulance, so she did.

She sat there with me for the entire fifteen minutes that it took for the ambulance to arrive. She tried to staunch the blood with her hands, and then her scarf.

I was panicking. I was yelling, crying, asking Veronica random questions that she would give me random answers to. I started asking about my son, my baby, I asked her if he would be okay.

"I don't know for sure, B, but it looks like he'll be okay," she told me hurriedly. "The bullet didn't touch your belly, I think he's fine,"

While that wasn't a definite answer, it was good enough for me. Panicking, shot, all I wanted was for Jughead to be there. I asked Veronica, and she told me that she wanted to get me in an ambulance before she called him, which I did understand.

It felt like my leg was on fire by the time the ambulance arrived. They asked Veronica questions about what happened, and when they realized that I was pretty pregnant, they had to be extra careful with me.

Veronica was allowed to be in the ambulance, they said, but only if I wanted her with me, which I said was a definite yes, so she was allowed on to ride with me to the hospital.

On the way there, she called Jughead, who was very mad we didn't call him first. While Veronica was trying to mediate the situation with Jughead on the phone, I felt my vision start to blur.

When I closed my eyes, they didn't reopen.

XXX

I woke up to the sound of quiet arguing, and the voices sounded like Jughead's, and… who?

"I told you to keep an eye on them!" Jughead yelled. "She got shot! That is not keeping her safe!"

"I was doing everything I could," oh. Archie's voice. "I'm sorry my dad called and I needed to answer it, okay? I wasn't trying to get her shot!"

Even though I'd opened my eyes, neither of them seemed to notice. Then, as I began to sit up, I heard Jughead say something that made my blood turn to ice.

He let out a long, aggravated sigh and said, "My dad thinks the Gargoyle was aiming for her stomach, which means he was trying to shoot the baby. The Gargoyles teamed up with the Ghoulies, meaning Penny's also probably in charge of the Gargoyles, meaning there is a very large chance that Penny Peabody is now trying to kill Betty!"

"What?" I couldn't help asking. I knew that I should probably have kept my cover unknown for as long as possible, but I couldn't help it. I needed further explanation on that last statement!

Both of them whipped around to see me, wide awake. "Betty?" Jughead's voice was worried, and then, after realizing that he wasn't dreaming, he rushed towards me and threw his arms around me.

I realized that my leg was in a cast that was lifted off the bed, so I couldn't place it down. I mean, I could've moved it, but I was still in so much pain, I couldn't do it even if I wanted to.

Jughead threw his arms around me, and began not only hugging me, but either kissing me intently on the lips, or kissing me around my face.

By the time I managed to push him away, the smile on his face was so wide. "Betty, I thought you were going to die!"

"No," I chuckled. "Not yet. Not while we've got this little guy to care for," I placed my hands gently on my belly, which then had to be removed, due to the fact that Jughead was also very grateful he didn't lose his unborn son. "So… care to elaborate on that comment about Penny Peabody trying to kill me?"

I had very clearly dampened the mood, but I could not care less. At the moment, I'm apparently in grave danger, I'd like to talk about that. Is there a way to prevent it? Make it so that Penny Peabody like… can't see me, or something? I've never met this girl, okay? I don't know if she's like… a succubus, or a demon snake or whatever.

"It's… just a theory, but we think that Penny's trying to get to you," Jughead told me. "So Dad's thinking about maybe taking the two of us to Seaside, or a town farther, so that she can't find us."

Witness protection. But is that really necessary? I know that I was shot, but we don't know for sure that it was Penny that told that Gargoyle to shoot me; he could have done it of his own accord.

Jughead's expression relaxed as he gave me a smile. "I can see your face, Betts. Even if Penny wasn't the one who told that one Gargoyle to shoot you, we don't know for sure that she isn't the one! Okay? I'm just trying to do what's best for you and our son, okay? I love you." he then leaned down and gave me a kiss, before moving down to kiss my belly.

"I love you too," I returned with a smile, pulling his face down for another kiss before deciding that I was yet again pregnancy tired, so I turned my face to face away from Jughead (silently telling him and Archie to go argue out in the hallway), and fell asleep almost immediately,

XXX

Veronica came in about half an hour after I woke up, wanting to see how I was.

"So… how are you holding up?" Veronica asked me. "Jughead told me that it was just a flesh wound, and that you're fine physically, but what about emotionally? I mean, you got shot!"

I chuckled solemnly and said, "Yeah, it sucked. But, now I can say I've been shot. That's… cool-ish, right?"

"Yeah," she laughed. "Hey… I hope our weekend away was still good, I mean, if you don't factor in the… you getting shot part,"

"Of course it was!" I insisted, touching her arm. "V, the only thing that went wrong with this weekend was when I got shot, and that had nothing to do with you, the lake house, or your planning. Okay?"

We smiled at each other. Then, I remembered something that Jughead and I had talked about just about a week earlier when we were talking about Penny Peabody, and how we were both in danger.

I took her hands in mine, and looked up at her. "V? Me and Jughead have been talking… and we want to ask you something."

"Really?" Veronica's eyes visibly lit up at the ideas and possibilities of what it could be. "What is it?"

Smiling, I said, "Me and Jughead have both come to the agreement that we want you to be our son's godmother. And Archie his godfather, but Jughead wants to tell him, so don't say anything,"

"Really!?"

Veronica seemed shocked that I would even consider making her the godmother of my son, even though she's honestly the only person I would ever consider to be my son's godmother; and Archie his godfather.

She held my hand with a happy smile on her face, and thanked me more times than I could count.

At that moment, I wondered what Archie's reaction was going to be.

Author's Notes: Okay, and that is the end of the chapter! So… what did you all think of Betty getting shot by a Gargoyle? Do you think Penny Peabody told the Gargoyle to shoot her, or do you think he did it of his own accord? There's so many ways that this could go! I promise, they're going to find out who did it an why. Well… the why is pretty obvious. The person who shot her was trying to shoot her in the stomach… where her and Jug's son is! If she was shot in the stomach, there's almost a ninety nine percent chance that the baby would die, and there's no way I'm letting that happen. I felt like everything was getting just a bit too happy, and I needed something dramatic to happen. What do you all think of Veronica and Archie being Baby Boy Jones' godparents? I mean, let's be real. If anything were to happen to Jughead and Betty, the only people they would want to take care of their son would be Veronica and Archie. What about Juggie and Betty going into witness protection? I don't want them to like, change their names or anything, so I don't think that'll work. But what if Betty has like… a cousin who lives out of state? Maybe we could explore that, because it's clear that Betty's in danger, and I don't think that Jughead would want her and his son in danger like that. He cares about them both so much… I hope I'm conveying that properly in the way I'm writing.

Alright, that is the end of this chapter. Thank you all so much for reading, please leave a review, favorite, and follow. Thank you SO MUCH to Boris Yeltsin and Descendants123ABCLove for leaving a review on the last chapter, you are both my most loyal reviewers at the moment, you are the best! Okay, bye!