Chapter 11- Bonding.

Jughead had been alone for close to 10 minutes when he heard a car outside, he had been sat idling through his phone as he wasn't sure how long the wait was going to be. He listened as the car stopped and stood up, assuming it would be Robyn's sister returning, he made his way to the door and reached it just as a hand knocked. He opened it to see the young girl he had seen early that morning and a woman he assumed was Mrs Davies.

"Hi, Mrs Davies?" the woman nodded lightly to him, an odd look in her eye. "I'm Jughead, Robyn said to expect me here instead of her?" he hadn't meant it to come out as a question, he knew she had told her because he was sat behind her when she had.

"Yes she did." the odd look was still there, as if unsure it was the best idea to leave the child with him, he felt his anger slowly rising and she still made no move to let Emma come in.

"Hey Jughead." Emma just smiled brightly, and made to come into the house, a hand on her shoilder stopped her moving any more, he noticed the confused look on Emma's face as Mrs Davies stopped her.

"Maybe I should come in with you, until your sister is home." it wasn't a question as much as a statement but he noticed Emma's eyes suddenly flashed in anger of her own.

"That's fine Mrs Davies, he's a friend of my sisters and she said I was ok to wait with him." he could hear her voice had a forced brightness to it but something about it made Mrs Davies back off.

"Very well, if you're sure." she cast one more skeptical look towards Jughead. "Tell your sister I said hello."

Emma just nodded before walking inside the house and passed Jughead, standing behind him as if to make a point.

"Bye Mrs Davies." and with that she closed the door.

"Well she certainly doesn't like me." he heard Emma's light laugh, she was already walking away from him towards the kitchen.

"She doesn't like anybody and you don't exactly look like you run in the same circles as her." suddenly she flinched slightly and turned to him with a small blush on her cheeks. "No offense."

"Very much none taken." he had to laugh at the expression on her face and how relieved she looked when he responded.

"Drink?" she continued on her way to the kitchen and opened the fridge, looked over her shoulder back at him, it struck him just how much she looked like her sister as she did that.

"Got, thanks." He walked back into the living room and sat on the couch as he had before.

"So...-" he turned as Emma sat heavily on the other end of the couch and curled her feet up underneath herself, the exact way Robyn did not long before, it made him smile again to see the similarity. "You and my sister?"

"Hmm?" he wasn't entirely sure where this conversation was going. She raised her eyebrows at him as of expecting on him to expand. "She seems great, we are becoming pretty good friends, I think." Emma chuckled lightly at his response.

"Yeah she plays her cards pretty close to her chest, but she brought you here which means she likes you." she smiled at him then. "And if she likes you then that's good enough for me."

He wasn't really sure how to respond to that but it made him smile.

"She's been through a lot though, especially lately." her eyes turned harder as she looked away from him. "Everything with Chuck..."

"Yeah she mentioned." she turned and looked at him with an expression of complete shock on her face.

"She told you about him?" he shook his head lightly.

"Not everything, said it was a complicated break up though." that earned a scoff for Emma.

"Not the word I'd use." she had said the words quietly but he'd managed to catch them.

"What word would you use?" he couldn't help but ask the question.

"Awful." there was a pause and then she turned to look at him. "I've seen Robyn in pain but not more than the day they ended, not that I remember anyway."

"What happened?" he hadn't wanted to ask but it came out anyway.

"That isn't my story to tell, she will tell you when she wants you to know, if she wants you to know." he nodded, expecting the answer. "Just know that she's been through a lot, I don't want her to get hurt again." he suddenly saw where she was going with this.

"Oh, me and Robyn are friends, but thats it." she raised an eyebrow to him again.

"Sure you are." she gave him a small smile before continuing. "I wasn't actually talking about that but it's interesting you thought so." she took a deep breath before continuing. "Look, she isn't one for bringing friends over, for even really having friends. Don't get me wrong, I'm glad you and her are becoming friends, but if you hurt her in any way, shape or form, I will come for you and will hurt you. I may look small but I'm stronger than I look and I know how take down someone twice my size."

He waited to see of there was any more to come from her but she seemed to have run out of steam now that her message was given.

"I'm not going to hurt her." his voice was quiet but she turned nodded to him, the smile back on her face. "And I believe you, that you're stronger than you look."

That got the response he wanted a she laughed brightly at him.

After that he passed the remote control to her and watched as she carried on the sitcom from earlier. She was more talkative that her sister and he felt himself relax in her company, she helped herself to the remaining flapjack in the box while watching.

"I see Robyn was stressed last night?" she had asked the question as she'd finished the flapjack, he wasn't entirely sure how to respond to it and just looked at her slightly confused, gaining a light laugh from her. "She bakes when she's stressed." the memory of her telling him that cane back to him then.

"Oh yeah, she said. Didn't say what about though, just that she couldn't sleep and baking helps when she stressed or anxious about something." Emma nodded to him before shaking her head lightly.

"Probably just that I was away, she always says she worries about me when I'm not here." he smiled as he saw her lips turn into a bright smile at talking about her sister.

"She looks after you a lot?" he already knew the answer but was interested to see how she talked about the situation.

"Yeah, its basically always just been me and her. My dad pops in and out and I love spending time with him, but he doesn't look after me like she does. It's been this way for years though, I can't remember a time that it was different." she turned to smile at him then, the kind of smile that could light up a room.

"You don't remember anything before your mum left?" she thought about for minute before answering.

"Bits and pieces I guess, I can remember her face and her hair. Robyn looks so much like her. I can remember her voice, the way she'd shout, I remember her sleeping a lot. Well, then I thought just sleeping, now I know it was more passed out from the drinking. I remember Robyn protecting me, getting hurt but making sure I never did." there was a sad smile on her face now. "She's always been protecting me really."

He placed a hand gently on her arm as a way of comfort and smiled when she squeezed it with her other hand. She shook her head lightly and turned to face him fully.

"So, how exactly did you guys start talking?"

After that the conversation was lighter as they talked about school and friends, movies they liked and music they listened to.