Izzy had spent the last two days battling with her emotions and trying to get some sleep, but nightmares were nightmares, the watch was a watch and Cheryl was…. Well she was persona non grata who was to be ignored and avoided at all cost.
It had only been two days since her bust up with Cheryl and it was sending her into an emotional tail spin; on one hand she knew what Cheryl was doing, she was lashing out and causing someone else's pain just like she was going through.
Izzy knew that but it didn't help her let go of the anger and hurt she felt.
'You may not care when someone kills your mum' is that what Cheryl thought, is that what everyone thought, that she didn't care that her mum was dead.
She didn't have a mum to talk to about boys or even to complain about to her friends and while Mrs. McCoy had helped raise her and gave her the sex and period talk alongside Josie she still wasn't her mum.
Izzy cared and it wasn't just because she was missing out on mother-daughter experiences, it was because she remembered some things, little things like how soft her skin was and the way she sang under her breathe when cooking or the fact that Izzy would always find her mum reading a book on a lazy Saturday afternoon and how she never failed to tell her she loved Izzy, every single day she would say it, at random times even.
One of Izzy's first memories was of her mum just saying she loved her, no reason just a simple "I love you" followed by a flurry of kisses over her face.
Of course she cared that her mum was dead.
She never knew who had killed her, heck she didn't even know who her dad was and she cared about him, and even though she had Pop and loved him and he was in every way a dad to her she still cared about this imaginary picture of the perfect father that she had created in her head.
Izzy could feel the tears running down her cheek but made no move to stop them, she was feeling too raw and emotional and slight sleep deprived to make the effort.
Even though she could go to either Pop, Jughead, Josie, Valerie, Mel even Mrs. McCoy or anyone working in the diner would more than likely be there for her; she obviously had enough people in her life to talk to but she didn't want to, for one it was in the middle of the night and more importantly her mum wasn't a topic conversation she ever talked about with anyone.
Maybe that's why Cheryl thought she didn't care because Izzy never talks about her mum.
Izzy was pulled from her thoughts by the sound of her phone ringing and flashing Reggie's name across the screen, she wondered what he wanted, since they had broken up they only ever talked to each other at parties and such.
x.x.x.x
For the second time in under a month the residents of Riverdale were being woken up to news of a shooting; this time the target had been a son of Riverdale; a young boy full of promise and potential was now battling for his life.
Reggie had once again been dragged out of sleep to the news of a shooting one, in his sleep addled brain he had thought that the was being told about Mr. Andrews shooting again until he had heard his best friend's name.
He wasn't sure why his next step was to hang up and call Izzy Tate to deliver the news himself but he knew that as soon as she was told the girl would be making her way to the hospital just because he needed her.
x.x.x.x
Ever since she had walked into the hospital it felt as if everyone was looking at her, watching what she did, coming to her for advice… well all the students anyways, the adults were in a corner of their own consoling Mr. and Mrs. Mason and waiting for more news while their kids gathered around Izzy and Midge as if they were some type of de facto leaders of this sad vigil.
Izzy herself had gotten to the hospital just after two am having woken Pop up to drive her to the hospital.
She had been the one to console Midge as they waited for her parents a to arrive, from what she could gather the same person who shot Fred two weeks ago had shot Moose yesterday night.
Either that or there were two shooters in town talking about sinners paying for their crimes.
x.x.
As the day wore on more and more people made their way to the hospital, and at six in the morning the entire room was packed with people waiting for news on how Moose was doing.
Izzy absently wondered if there even should be this amount of students there. It was a Wednesday morning and most people should be asleep or getting ready for school.
There was no way everyone here knew or even liked Moose to be here at this ungodly hour, maybe it was a way for them to skip school for the day or Moose was more popular than Izzy had thought.
But considering what was going on Izzy won't have been surprised if school had ended up being cancelled for the day, mainly due to the shooting, partly due to the number of kids who won't turn up that day.
Either way there was way too many people here and Izzy just wanted peace and quiet.
She didn't want to console another teenager or try to manage their fear or thoughts of death and a mad man with a gun roaming around their town.
She had her own problems and thoughts to deal let alone trying to offer comfort to others.
The questions just kept circling in her head, over and over again;
Why Fred?
Why Moose and Midge?
What sins had they committed?
Was it the same thing that cause the man to shoot at them or was it something different.
Was this man using the ten commandments as a guideline or was he punishing people based on the seven deadly sins?
Where was Jughead when you need him -Izzy absently thought- she was sure he could help her out with this, who would go from shooting a man in a diner to targeting a some teenagers in the woods a couple of weeks later in the dead of the night; it didn't make sense.
"Hey you" Reggie greeted finally making his way over to sit with her after hours of talking to a bunch of Bulldogs and cheer leaders; he appreciated her coming to show support even though she was clearly struggling to be here.
Maybe calling her hadn't been such a good idea considering what she had been going through the last time she was in the hospital.
"Hey Reggie" Izzy greeted with a tired smile in her lips, she felt awful thinking it but she didn't want to be sat here waiting to see if Moose pulled through, she didn't want to be the one consoling Midge because being witness to one shooting apparently made her an expert in all shooting.
"Thanks for coming, I know Moose will really appreciate it once he wakes up. Do you want to go get some coffee" Reggie asked wanting to give Izzy a break, hell he needed a break himself, it had been over four hours and there was no new information.
"Yeah, sure… but I don't think the hospital cafeteria is opened just yet" it had only gone past seven in the morning and she knew the cafeteria wouldn't open till at least nine am as she had made a quick excuse of getting people something to eat only to find it closed, she did manage to drag out twenty minutes of alone time with that fruitless endeavour so she really couldn't complain.
"How about Pop's, you guys are opened twenty four hours, we can do a quick coffee and food round for everyone" Reggie offered getting up and handing Izzy her jacket.
x.x.x.x
The drive over to the diner had been in complete silence apart from the time Izzy had called to place their massive order so it could be started before the reached to the Chock'litt Shoppe.
She also drooped Jughead a quick text about the shooting asking him to either call her or come over seeing as she wasn't planning on going to school that day.
Once they arrived Izzy simply walked over to the corner booth and slumped down enjoying the few minutes of peace she had while Reggie went to the counter to pay for the order using his dad's credit card.
"What if he.. what if he doesn't wake up" Reggie whispered as soon as he sat down reaching across the table to hold Izzy's hands. "I've known him since we were kids, my actual first memory was of him pushing me over, we, we've done everything together, we can't… he can't die"
"He's going to be fine, if Fred can survive so can Moose" Izzy stated somewhat dispassionately, it wasn't that she didn't want to be there for Reggie especially since he had called her for support but she was tired.
She had spent the last five hours saying the same thing, offering support to one person or another convincing them that Moose would be alright as if she had some sort of crystal ball into the future when all along she didn't even believe it.
She wasn't sure if Moose would survive.
In fact Moose could die but people still wanted assurance that everything would be okay and for some reason they had chosen her as the person to give that assurance.
Didn't they see the way she was struggling herself?
Maybe they didn't know about the nightmares or the insomnia or the panic attack but they sure as hell saw that she was struggling, the could see the bags under her eyes and how she passed through the days like a half dead zombie so why did they come to her?
Did helping Fred get to the hospital some how make her superwoman or was it because of the series of articles Mrs. Cooper had wrote about how 'her bravery' during Fred's shooting help save his life that made people think she was in anyway qualified to speak on things she had no business talking about that reassured them.
Someone had gone and shot a teenage boy for some unknown reason and according to Midge there was a high probability of the shooter being the same one who had shot Fred two weeks earlier.
"Thanks for talking to me, I know I've been a dick since we broke up but I really do appreciate you coming" Reggie said breaking the silence after a while.
Izzy wasn't sure what to say, she could remind Reggie about a lot of things but here and now didn't seem like the time nor the place and to be honest she was over most of the things he had done "…. water under the bridge" she replied relaxing back into the booth silently debating whether she should pull her hands away from his or to just leave it be.
"I can get the food back to the hospital if you want to go home" he offered knowing Izzy might even be more exhausted than he was with the amount of Agony aunt-ing that she had been doing at the hospital.
She had only gone as a favour to him but ended up being an actual shoulder to cry on for a number of people on multiple occasions; sure she would have probably turned up to see how Moose and Midge were but it won't have been at two in the morning and she wouldn't have been there to take on such a active duty.
x.x.x.x
Reggie hadn't cared that it had been a Tuesday night -technically Wednesday morning- when he had called but he wanted Izzy to be there, he didn't know how or why but Izzy always had a way of making the scariest situation seem okay-ish: maybe Reggie thought that she was an actual force of nature trapped in a sixteen year old body and she wouldn't let anything stand in her way.
Sitting in 'their' booth waiting for their order to be ready with the sun just raising up Reggie knew the real reason he had dragged Izzy out of bed wasn't because he thought she should be there or that the news couldn't wait till a more appropriate time in the morning, it was probably because he felt like he could face anything with her by his side.
The simple truth was Reggie wanted her back.
x.x.x.x.x
Authors Note: This chapter got away from me a bit especially Reggie actually liking Izzy still after all the cheating he did but what do you know seems like we have an Offset on our hands (where you cheat get dumped than want your gf/wife back) although Reggie is a lot nicer and sweeter than OffCheat.
We have a second shooting people and the town is still looking at our Izzy to hold it together and be there for them even though she is clearly struggling.
Last but not least the Cheryl situation; i am going to have her earn Izzy's forgiveness but i am not sure how to go about it so if anyone has any ideas please let me know.
And once again comment, reviews and messages are all appreciated. Most of next chapter had been written but it needs a few tweaks, see you soon.