She waited for her period to return. At least 5 days had gone by. Still no sign of it. She did her best to conceal her concerns, but her uneasy mood became more transparent as each day passed.

Betty sat across from Jughead at Pop's, and absent mindedly pushed food around on her plate. Her boyfriend was offering suggestions on where to discreetly place her future serpent tattoo in between bites of his burger.

"Cheryl placed her's on the nape of her neck. Maybe yours could go somewhere like your shoulder? Small, of course…." He took another bite of his burger. Jughead could see that the girl in front of him was unusually quiet and unresponsive, as she looked lost in her own little world. "Betts...Betts…? Betty!"

"Yeah!" Betty was jolted away from her thoughts. "Yeah, I heard you. Cheryl got her tattoo. You know Jug maybe I should hold off on getting mine...for a while…."

"Um, okay. Yeah no rush. Can I ask what's on your mind though? Last week you were ready to immerse yourself in Serpent culture…. Now you've got this ominous aura surrounding you. Seems like you've been giving off my signature 'doom and gloom' vibe. So what's up."

"Nothing's up! Okay?", its came out sounding more defensive than she would have liked. "I'm just-I've been really exhausted lately. Haven't been sleeping well. I'll do the Serpent thing on my own time. I don't need you breathing down my neck about all of the 'official' things I need to do to become the 'official' fucking Serpent Queen! Geez!" The words that slipped out of Betty's mouth surprised even her. Sounds like a hormonal mess if I've ever heard one…. Betty thought to herself.

Jug raised his brows and posed a concerned look towards Betty.

"Uhhhhhhhh. Okay. Well." He had no idea how to respond to her. He had never seen such an attitude on his sweet, loving girlfriend. They normally had no trouble communicating and were generally very understanding and empathetic of the other person's feelings. Jug wanted to be as supportive as possible, while still making sure she knew that there was a better way to express her emotions that didn't involve nearly biting his head off. "Betts. I get that you've been under a lot of stress lately; I won't push the Serpent stuff anymore right now. -You know I'm here for you right? I'm not against you. Talk to me instead of snapping at me." Betty's cheeks flushed with red at her boyfriend's reasonable response. I can't push him away. She thought to herself. Especially now, especially if- The last thought she swatted away before it could completely manifest itself in her mind.

"Sorry," Betty knew that she probably just needed to be alone, considering all of the wild notions running through her mind. "...Could you take me home Juggie?" Betty asked as sweetly as she could manage in that moment, "I just need to try and sleep. I don't want to take out my stress and anxiety on you." Jughead nodded slowly, before sliding out of the booth, planting a kiss on top of Betty's head, and finding Pop Tate so that he could pay their bill. She really felt so lucky to have him.

The couple walked outside hand in hand towards the black bike parked in front of the diner. Jug handed Betty the helmet, which she secured before hopping on the back of the bike and holding tight onto Jughead. The bike roared before launching them in the direction of Betty's home. Her mother hadn't been holding such a tight grip on Betty these days since her husband had been arrested for his string of murders. In fact, Alice Cooper was a mess. The only thing keeping her grounded lately had been her two sweet grandbabies. Though she wasn't the biggest fan of Polly's choice of 'hippy dippy' names; Dagwood and Juniper. Alice loved them nonetheless, and kept herself busy and distracted with them as often as she could. This left little time for Alice to hover over Betty's every move. Anyway, Alice had developed a trust and even a liking for her daughter's miscreant boyfriend.

After arriving at her home, and saying a long goodbye to Jughead, Betty carefully creeped into her house through the front door. It wasn't out of fear of being caught by her mother, but rather fear of waking her niece and nephew. Sure enough as she tiptoed into the living room, Betty found her mother passed out on the couch, looking a mess, complete with used burp rag on her shoulder. The twins were asleep near her in their individual bassinets.

"You're home late." Betty jumped a bit at the unexpected comment from her sister, Polly, who was sitting behind a laptop at their kitchen table.

"God! You scared me! What are you doing?" Betty asked, ignoring her sister's initial statement.

"I was just catching up on some reality TV." Polly replies as she pulls the lone earbud from her ear and closes the laptop. She gestures for Betty to sit with her and talk for at least a few moments. Betty obliges and they chat for a while before she inquires about something that had been weighing heavy on her mind.

"Hey Polly… I wanted to ask you something…."

"Sure!" Polly chirps with a smile. "What do you need to know?"

"How- Uh. What do you think were your first signs that you were pregnant?" Polly's eyes grow wide and they wander down to Betty's belly briefly.

"Well…. I don't know. I didn't have the crazy morning sickness like you always see in the movies. I was definitely moody though, and tired, like so tired. Like all of the time. Oh and my boobs were seriously aching." Polly paused her reminiscing to be a bit more straightforward with Betty. "Why do you ask…? Are you…?" She doesn't say the word.

"What? No! No...no…." Polly is unsure of who Betty is truly trying to convince. "I just-I just look at those beautiful little babies over there and wonder what all you went through in order to bring them into the world."

"Oh." Polly is still suspicious. "Are you sure you're not..? You would tell me right?"

"Yes! I would tell you! But...I'm not so…" Betty wasn't sure of anything at this point and claimed exhaustion in order to get away from the conversation she initiated. Telling Polly how exhausted she was definitely didn't help her story, but she needed to break away. She couldn't discuss it further.

The blonde girl walked upstairs to her room. She began wiping her face with a makeup remover as she checked her phone. She had one text.

Juggie 3: Just got home.. hope you feel better tomorrow. Sweet dreams. Love you.

Betty smiled to herself but didn't bother replying, assuming Jug was already asleep. She laid in bed and for the first time placed a hand on her flat abdomen, as if looking for a definitive sign that something more was taking shape inside of her body. After a moment she felt silly and moved her hand, after all, her period had come late before… Even before she was ever sexually active. Though, she couldn't help but feel like she wasn't imagining things.

A few weeks later

Jughead had just returned to the trailer where he lived with his dad, after dropping Betty off at home. FP was picking up after a meeting with the Serpents, when his son walked in.

"You get her home alright?"

"Yeah, I did. Sorry Dad. I know I shouldn't have left early, but she really wasn't feeling that great and I needed to get her home."

"Hm." FP chuckled to himself. "So you got something to tell me, boy?" He shot a knowing look towards his son.

Jughead was confused. "Um. No? Is there something I'm supposed to tell you?"

"About your girl? C'mon. I know the signs when I see 'em Jug. I went through it with your mom, twice!" The gears started turning in Jughead's mind as he started to piece together the idea that his father was suggesting.

"Dad… do you…are you insinuating that Betty is pregnant?"

FP gave Jughead an incredulous look and a small slightly amused smile. "Holy shit. You really don't know, huh?" FP shook his head slightly. "You haven't even picked up on any of it? She comes over here and basically falls asleep sitting up. She's got this crabby attitude-that's what really tipped me off! Sounded just like your mother. Even her chest has gotten a little...uh...fuller. Not that I'm keeping a close eye on that." FP searches his son's blank face for some sort of understanding or comprehension. "Hell, even the past few times she's stayed the night, she will eat almost as much as you do for breakfast the next morning…" The last line from his dad sent a chill of realization down his spine.

"I'm going to bed early." Jughead declared, quickly getting up from his spot on the couch and darting to his room. He laid down on his bed, and stared at the ceiling for some time while contemplating what his dad had said to him. Jug was wracking his brain for any other explanation, when he heard a quick knock at his bedroom door followed by his dad poking his head in.

"Listen Jug, maybe I don't know what I'm talking about. Maybe I'm just getting old and senile." He chuckled a bit. "Either way it couldn't hurt to talk to her. Sorry to freak you out. Get some sleep." Jughead couldn't sleep though. His mind just raced with possibilities. What if she is pregnant? Has she known for long? She has to have known. Why hasn't she told him yet? What was she afraid of? Besides the obvious…

Finally around 5:30 am, Jughead decided he couldn't just lay in bed anymore. He rolled out of bed, grabbed his backpack for school and left on his bike without bothering to even grab a bite of breakfast. His stomach was in knots and for the first time in his life it seemed, he wasn't hungry. It wasn't school that Jug was in a rush to get to either, it was a small 24hr pharmacy on the Southside. He made his way in, with his head down until he found himself standing in the aisle that carried both condoms and pregnancy tests. Ironic. He thought to himself. Unsure of how to shop for the correct pregnancy test (was there a correct pregnancy test?) Jughead didn't want to linger there, so he grabbed two tests of different brands and made his way to the register. He was careful to avoid eye contact from the man at the counter. Though he definitely got a strange look from the man. Especially after remembering that he was wearing his Serpents jacket. Jughead supposed it wasn't everyday that a teen gang leader came in alone at nearly 6 am to purchase home pregnancy tests….

Before hopping back on his bike, he shoved the bag from the pharmacy down to the bottom of his backpack. Intending to keep it there until he had a moment alone with Betty to talk to her.