Chapter 10- Change of plans.

The house was quiet when she led Jughead back inside, she was glad her dad hadn't made it back and she was fully expecting to get a message from him in the next couple of hours saying he wouldn't be back at all tonight.

"Make yourself comfortable." she nodded towards the living room as she made her way to the kitchen to grab drinks for them, she laughed lightly when she returned to see him still stood awkwardly in the doorway.

He turned to the sound of her laugh and realised how he must of looked, waiting for her to return before going in to the living room.

"I'm serious, sit anywhere." he nodded to her then and made his way to the couch and sat down on one end, he heard a scoff and looked up again to see her shaking her lightly as if to dispel the thoughts in her head.

He watched as she went into action, first passing him a can of soda and then turning to sort out the picnic basket they had taken. They had eaten most of the food in there but she handed him the box of flapjacks that still had a few left in, he look them and put them on the couch next to him.

"Here, find something good." she passed him the remote control as she went back to the kitchen to empty out the rest of it.

He busied himself looking through the tv guide as he heard her rustling around putting things away. She returned after a few minutes and bent passed the chair to return the basket to its place. She looked up to the screen to see he was still looking for something. She sat heavily on the other end of the couch to him and curled her feet up beneath her.

"We have Netflix too." she gestured for the remote which he passed over willingly and she flicked it over to Netflix and passed it back. "We should have about half an hour or so until Emma's back and she's probably been eating junk food all day at the party so we can wait for a while before doing dinner?" She had phrased it as a question and was hoping for a response but Jughead seemed to be in a world of his own. "Jughead?"

"I'm sorry, I was a little out of it." he looked over at her with a small smile after shaking his head lightly, out of whatever thoughts he was in.

"It's alright, everything ok?" He was already nodding in reassurance.

"Yeah, of course." he turned his attention back to the tv and found a sitcom on the continue watching page, one that he had seen a few episodes of and had enjoyed, he looked over to Robyn to get confirmation and saw her frowning slightly at him. His gaze seemed to make her realise she was staring and looked to the screen.

"Yeah sure." she watched as he set up the next episode of the show he'd picked and was glad to see him sit and back and relax a little more. "Is something wrong, you seem... uncomfortable?"

Jughead smiled over her then, saw a look of slight concern on her face as she struggled to find the word to describe how he was acting.

"Sorry." he attempted to find the words to describe what was going on in his head. "I'm not usually one to be invited around anyones house, except Archie and Betty a little when we were growing up, and that's different, I've known them for years." He looked back up to see a look a confusion on her face.

"I'm not well versed on social etiquette, should I have waited longer before the dinner invite?" he could hear the humour in her voice but also the real question behind it.

"I'm not the one to ask that question to." he answered with his own tone of humour before becoming more serious. "But I'm glad you did." They smiled at each other briefly then and he felt himself relax a little more.

"So opinions on dinner, you ok to wait a little, I'm not sure how much junk food Emma would have been eating all day?" He realised this must have been the question he missed earlier when he'd been lost in his own thoughts.

"Yeah, that's fine. We've been snacking most of the afternoon anyway."

She nodded in response and reached to the open the flapjacks on the couch and offer one to him, he took one without hesitation and saw she took one for herself, leaving one in the box, he assumed for Emma when she returned.

They watched the rest of the program in relative silence, laughing occassionally and at one point he shared a small anecdote which the show had reminded him of, he smiled when it made her laugh brightly. He turned to her when her phone started ringing, he could tell she was expecting by how quickly she picked up.

"Hey." there was a pause as the other person spoke. "I can't tonight, I'm with my sister." by the frown on her face he could see this wasn't the phone she had been expecting. "No, I'll come by when I can, not sure time that will be. Just make sure no one goes up there." she sent a small glance his way as if looking for a reaction in him, there was only confusion as he couldn't work out the conversation. "Yeah, fine." she hung up then but kept the phone on her lap.

"Everything ok?" she looked at him with an odd expression before sighing lightly.

"Yeah everything is fine, just work." He nodded lightly at that.

"Do you need to go?" he still couldn't work out the look on her face.

"At some point, but they can wait for now." she looked away from him then as of not wanting to continue to conversation.

"You can go, I can wait here for Emma to get back." he wasn't sure what had made him say the words but he realised they made sense, Robyn was looking in shock at him when he met her gaze. "You'll enjoy the evening better if it's out of the way and I really don't mind."

He could see she was wrestling with the idea when her phone rang again, this tine she smiled at the caller ID before answering.

"Hey Em." there was a pause again as Emma spoke. "Yeah, I'm at home now but work just called." another pause and something that made Robyn laugh lightly. "Jughead is actually here, I brought him over for dinner." this time he scoffed at whatever the response was and cast a glance his way. "How would you feel if I left for a few minutes and Jughead was here when you got back, I won't be long and can do dinner when I get back." another response that made her laugh and nod to herself. "Put on Mrs Davies for me?" He watched as Robyn took a deep breath as if steeling herself for something. "Hello, Mrs Davies." a small pause. "Yes I'm well thank you, I just wanted to let you know I wouldn't be in when you dropped Emma off but a friend of mine will be here. His name is Jughead and he's a friend from school, I won't be out long and Emma has met him before, she fine to be left with him." there was another pause as Mrs Davies responded to that. "Yes that's fine. Another thing, just quickly, I was hoping to do this in person but I think I'll miss you." Robyn took a deep breath before continuing. "You know that I have no issue with you taking Emma out with you during her visits but I need to know when they happen, coming across her this morning, at a crime scene when I had no knowledge she was even out of your house, that isn't something that should be happening." there was a pause as Mrs Davies spoke. "And I understand that but you can see where it could be cause for concern. Look, I trust you to look after my sister and that hasn't changed but if a parent of one of those other children had seen them out there, they would have caused a much bigger issue about this." another small pause. "In future I'd like to know if she leaves the house, she's under your care when I leave her there but I need to know where she is." there was another pause and this time she was nodding her head lightly. "Thank you, tell Emma I'll see her soon." He watched as she hung up the phone and exhaled heavily as if the conversation had been hard to get through.

"I didn't realise you were so upset about Emma being there this morning." he could feel the confused look on his face as he looked at her, she turned to make eye contact with him and smiled lightly.

"I'm not really, it's more the principle of it, if I leave my sister with someone and expect her to be in one place for the time with them then I expect to be told if there's a change." He was reminded how much more like a parent than a sibling Robyn was to her sister "As I told her, there are a lot of strict parents out there who would have been a lot worse about it had they seen."

He saw her logic and nodded to her.

"I didn't say you were wrong, I just wasn't expecting it." She smiled at him now.

"Are you sure you don't mind taking her in?" He laughed lightly.

"After that tirade I'm not sure I'm up to the job." She heard the humour in his voice but looked at him questioningly.

"I can stay if you'd rather." He rolled his eyes at her now.

"God, I was kidding. Go, I'm fine. Promise."

She nodded to him as she got up from her seat.

" I won't be long." She called out as she headed to thr door, she turned to him nodding and smiling at her, she returned the smile and left the house, the smile falling from her lips at the thought of where she was going.