Undone

Chapter 3

Archie had no idea how much time had passed since he had left Veronica's that morning. It seemed so long ago that he had had the best night of his young life, a night that had left him with a huge smile on his face and a lightness in his heart. Nothing could have taken that smile off of his face. Not even the text he had received from his dad, asking him to meet up at Pop's diner.

Now, that smile was a long-forgotten memory of a time when almost everything was right again in his life. Yes, his mother and father were still getting a divorce, but they were at least talking like civilized people that had once loved each other very much. Yes, Jughead was still living with a foster family and having to go to school at Southside High, but the family seemed really nice and he actually fit in well with the kids from Southside. Archie figured that his best friend would actually be okay.

Jason Blossom's murder was solved, Betty's family was back together, Veronica's dad was coming home, and things were looking up with his dad's business. All in all, it was beginning to seem like things really were going to be okay.

But now everything was wrong again and Archie felt like nothing would ever be okay. How could it? His father was fighting for his life and Archie was completely unable to help in any way. He had never felt so helpless and useless in his life.

It seemed like an eternity had passed since he first saw his father sitting in that booth at Pop's that morning. Truth be told, he had been a little afraid of his father's reaction to him staying out all night. More like afraid of disappointing his father, at least. Fred Andrews could be pretty strict at times, especially when it came to his son's safety. Knowing this, Archie hadn't really planned on staying over at Veronica's, but he had fallen asleep lying next to her warm body. His first thought upon waking up to the sound of his phone's text alert was that his father was going to kill him. In the figurative sense of the word, of course. Archie could definitely see a long lecture and another stint of being grounded headed his way. The worst part, though, would be seeing the disappointment in his dad's eyes.

Instead, Fred had greeted Archie with an indulgent smile that served to ease his worry a bit. Archie had gone on into the bathroom to wash up, thinking about how lucky he was at the moment. But, then that luck ran out in a spectacular way.

Hearing the sounds of some sort of a skirmish in the diner, Archie walked out of the bathroom. He immediately saw someone wearing a mask standing up on the bar counter and it took him the briefest of time to realize that the man was holding a gun and was pointing it directly at a very scared looking Pop Tate.

Archie glanced over at his father, finding him looking back at him wild-eyed, motioning for him to stay put. Archie would now give anything if he had only listened to his dad. Instead, Archie panicked and impulsively shot forward when the gunman released Pop Tate and brought the gun around, aiming it directly at Fred. The gunman quickly shifted the gun over to where Archie was and seconds later pulled the trigger. All Archie could remember of what happened next was that when he jumped in front of his dad, his dad immediately pushed him out of the way, throwing himself directly into the path of the bullet. His dad had saved him.

Archie knew that he could never forgive himself. It was his fault that they were even having the morning meeting at Pop's. It was his fault that he didn't just stay put like his dad told him to. Why did he always have to think that he could fix everything?! Why was he always so impatient and impulsive?! If he had stayed where he was, maybe the gunman would have just taken his dad's wallet and left the diner. Maybe then, nobody would have been hurt. They could have just gone home together… safely.

Before he could think any more on that, Archie felt his phone vibrating in his pocket. He dug it out and held it for several long seconds before looking down at it. When he finally looked, he was surprised to see several text messages from Veronica, Betty, and Jughead. He had also missed several calls from his mother and Veronica.

Jughead's texts were the first he read because they were the oldest.

Archie, where r u?

And then….

Archie, your dad's looking for u. He sounds mad. Where r u?

Then came Betty's.

Arch? What's going on? Just got a call from your dad. He's looking for you.

Archie? R u there?

Archie hadn't noticed those texts when he got his dad's text, but they were obviously from earlier in the night. He felt a small pang of guilt shoot through him at the thought of worrying his two best friends.

Next, he read Veronica's texts.

I miss u already, Archiekins.

And then…

Ur already ignoring me? You scoundrel. ;)

And finally…

Archie? Call me…

Archie stared at the phone. He wanted desperately to talk to his friends, but he didn't think he had the strength to tell them what had happened. In fact, he didn't think he could even say the words out loud… even to himself. While he was trying to get up the courage to do something, the phone in his hand began ringing loudly. Looking down at it, he saw that it was his mom calling again, and even though he didn't want to, he knew he had to answer it.

"Mom," he said as he accepted the call.

"Archie? Are you okay? Why haven't you been answering my calls?" Mary Andrews' voice was frantic.

"I'm sorry, Mom," Archie answered. "I didn't hear it ring."

"How's dad?"

"He's in surgery, Mom. I haven't heard anything from anyone about how he's doing?"

"Who's there with you, Archie?"

"No one. Sheriff Keller is here somewhere, but I don't know where."

"Where are your friends, Archie? Where's Juggie?"

"I-I haven't told them what happened yet," Archie admitted. "They don't know yet."

"Sweetie, you have to tell them. They'll want to be there for you. And you don't need to be there by yourself."

"When will you be here, Mom?" Archie asked.

"That's why I'm calling, Arch. My car broke down just outside of Chicago. I'm waiting on the tow truck and a rental car, so it's going to be a while before I can get there. I'm going to call Hermione Lodge, okay? And maybe Alice?"

"Okay," Archie answered. "But, please hurry, Mom. Okay?"

"I'll be there as soon as I can, sweetie. I promise."

After hanging up the phone, Archie sent out a group text to Veronica, Betty, and Jughead.

Meet me at the hospital. My dad's been shot.

Betty was the first to arrive, bursting through the surgical waiting room doors like the building was on fire.

"Archie! Oh my God! What happened?"

Archie looked at the girl who had been his best friend since kindergarten and immediately broke down. Betty quickly made her way over to him and pulled him into a hug. She could feel his body trembling and his chest heaving as he tried to take in enough air to fill his lungs. She could also tell that his legs weren't going to be supporting him for too much longer.

"Arch, let's sit down, okay? Right over here." Leading him over to a small set of chairs by the window, she guided him down as she looked him over. She could see the traces of tears on his cheeks and even a few smudges of blood on his forehead, probably from him carding his blood-stained hands through his hair repeatedly. He always does that when he was anxious about something, she thought.

Taking in the sight of his blood-stained skin and clothing, she suddenly wondered if he himself was physically okay. "Are you okay, Archie? You're not hurt anywhere, are you?"

"I-I'm okay," Archie stuttered.

"What happened? Is your dad okay?"

"I-I don't know," Archie answered. "He's in surgery. He was shot, Betty! There was so much blood everywhere."

"Who shot him?"

Just as he was about to answer, the door opened again and an obviously agitated Jughead walked in.

"What happened?" he asked immediately, looking from Archie to Betty. Once he really stopped to look at Archie, he was surprised to see the state of his best friend. Other than the fact that the boy was covered in blood, Jughead was surprised by what he saw. He had never seen Archie looking so….lost? He looked as if he had no idea what was going on around him, really. "Archie? Are you okay?"

Archie didn't answer. Instead, he just looked around him like he was trying to figure out what was going on. Betty was clasping both of his hands between hers, a task made harder by the bulky cast on Archie's right hand. She was whispering something softly into Archie's ear, trying to calm him down.

"Betty?" Jughead hoped that maybe his girlfriend could shed some light on what had happened.

"I don't know, Jug. All I know is that Mr. Andrews was shot and that he's in surgery."

"Who shot him?!" Jughead asked.

"I don't know," Betty answered. "Juggie, I think Archie may be in shock. I think he needs help."

"I'm okay, Betty," Archie said softly. "I'm okay."

"I don't think you are, Arch."

"I am," Archie said in a slightly louder voice. "I just need to know how my dad's doing."

"I'll see if I can find out, Archie," Jughead said determinedly.

Archie and Betty watched as Jughead left the room to try to find someone to give them an update. Betty slowly dropped Archie's hands and walked over to the small refrigerator in the corner of the room. After she pulled out a bottle of water, she grabbed some paper towels and ran them under the water from the small sink in the corner. Going back over to Archie, she picked up his hands again and gently started washing off the dried blood. Archie watched the process, drawn in by the way the once white paper towels were now streaked with red.

Once Betty had cleaned up his hands, arms, and face as best she could, she opened up the bottle of water and encouraged him to take a drink. Archie took several large gulps of the cold water, but then jumped up and ran over to the nearest trash can. Betty looked on helplessly as Archie threw up what little he had in his stomach. A few minutes later, he stopped retching and slid bonelessly down to the floor. He was still sitting there moments later when the door opened again and Veronica Lodge walked in.

Veronica woke up that morning to find Archie silently getting dressed. For a single second, she was shocked to remember what had happened the night before, but then a warmness overflowed within her. Her first thought when he turned around to look at her was that it should be impossible for someone to be so sexy and adorable at the same time. The smile on his face sent shivers down her spine and she couldn't do anything but smile back.

Later, when she tried to call him, she was surprised when he didn't pick up. She knew that he wasn't purposefully ignoring her, so she didn't put a lot of thought into it at first, figuring that maybe he was still talking things out with his dad. When he didn't answer her second call or her first text message, she started to worry that maybe Fred Andrews was really upset with his son and that Archie was actually in a lot of trouble. By the third text without an answer, she was starting to worry that something more was going on. Just as she was about to get dressed and make her way over to the Andrews house, her mom knocked on the door and walked in without waiting for an answer.

"Ronnie, there's been an accident," Hermione said nervously.

"Oh my God, is it Archie? Is he okay? I knew something was wrong!" Veronica felt a desperate panic overwhelm her at the thought that something had happened to Archie.

"It's not Archie," Hermione answered. "It's Fred. He's been shot."

"He's been shot? How? Where? Is he okay?" Veronica jumped off her bed and started grabbing clothes out of her closet. She had to get to Archie right away.

"I don't know, Ronnie. I just got a call from Mary Andrews. She said that Fred's in surgery and that Archie is at the hospital all alone. She asked us to go be with him."

Just at that moment, Veronica's text alert sounded. Grabbing her phone, she quickly read the message that had come from Archie. Without any hesitation, she typed out a quick message, grabbed her shoes and purse, and moved past her mother through the door. "Let's go," she said.

Now, standing in the doorway of the waiting room, Veronica looked anxiously at Archie, who was still slumped over on the floor next to the trash can. Betty was sitting next to him, gently rubbing his back.

"Ronnie, you're here," Archie said weakly, his voice breaking on the last word.

"Of course, I'm here," Veronica answered as she made her way over to him. "I'll always be here for you, Archie."

Author's note: Still no word on how Fred is doing. I'm getting a little nervous, aren't you? ;)

Anyway, I thought I'd try to whip out another chapter before I have to go back to work so I hope you guys enjoyed this one. I really wanted to get Jughead, Betty, and Veronica into it, so here you go. Thank you so much for reading and for the follows/favorites/reviews. I would really love to hear your thoughts as the story goes along. Thanks, Classified Director 101 for reviewing both chapters. I'm looking forward to your thoughts on this one.