Jughead had woke early the next day and went to work on the farm, not bothering to wake Betty up. Dakota reluctantly followed Jughead when he called her. They worked that day in the north field, Jughead whacking away at the weeds that covered the area. He thought back to the woman sleeping soundly in his house and the baby the grew inside her. Betty had a doctor's appointment that afternoon that he would drive her to. He imagined this was her from prenatal appointment. He didn't know how far along she was, he didn't have knack for the natural occurrences with pregnancies. Jellybean probably knew right away when she saw her how far along she was. Jellybean was always in tune to motherhood even before she was a mother herself.
Jughead's thoughts lessened as a tune from his childhood popped in his head. He imagined holding a baby wrapped in a blanket while Betty slept next to him on his bed. With the scene vivid in his head, he began to sing.
Caterpillar in the tree,
How you wonder who you'll be
Can't go far but you can always dream
Wish you may and wish you might
Don't you worry hold on tight
I promise you that there will come a day
Butterfly fly away
And yes I still don't understand
It's not anything we planned
Kind of makes you think it's meant to be
I always knew the day would come
You'd stop crawling, start to run
Beautiful as beautiful can be
Dakota sat next to Jughead and began to howl. Jughead stopping singing and looked at her. "Really is it that bad?" Dakota barked at him as if to say yes. Jughead laughed and figured the baby wouldn't mind his bad singing.
Betty woke up to an empty bed and an empty hallway. She had quickly grow accustomed to sharing a bed with Anna and Dakota not being far off in the hallway. But this morning the house was bare and quiet. She went downstairs and poured her a cup of coffee that Jughead had ready in a pot. She sipped on her coffee slowly, the morning sickness not allowing a quicker pace. She had decided the night before she would make herself useful and do some things around the house so she walked around the house trying to find a task. She noticed an extra room in the back of the house that she hadn't seen before. It was unlocked but hard to get inside like something was pressed up against the door. She gave it a harder shove and made her way inside.
There were things scattered all over the room. From clothes to knick knacks, old photo albums, and China sets. Betty decided to start organizing, she didn't know why those things were there or who they belonged to but she decided it could at least be tidy.
A few hours later, the room was still quite disarrayed but she had made slight progress. She sat on the floor organizing one of the boxes when she found an old Polaroid camera. She smiled down at it and snapped a picture of the box to see if the camera still worked. She grinned when a hard copy picture came out the bottom.
A rustling sound came for the kitchen which she assumed was Jughead since it was getting closer to the time of her appointment. She left the room with the camera in hand and entered the kitchen where Jughead was making sandwiches, Dakota laying at his feet.
Dakota perked up at the sight of Betty, who quickly put a finger to her mouth so Dakota would stay quiet. The dog obeyed and sat still on the kitchen floor. Betty put the camera's lens up to her face and took a picture of Jughead's stance. He looked so good from behind, well really he looked good from any angle.
With the sound of the camera clicking, Jughead turned around. "Where did you find that?" He asked when taking in the sight of the camera. "Oh, in that back room, I started cleaning it. Figured I'd make myself useful."
Jughead nodded, "That's my mother's camera. That back room is where all my parents' things are." Betty reminded Jellybean telling her just the day before that their parents had passed away a few years apart. "I'm sorry, Jughead. I'll put it back."
Jughead shook his head. "No, no. Keep it. My mom would like to know it's being used." He said with a small smile. "Now eat up, gotta be healthy for the doctor." He said placing two plates on the table. Betty chuckled and obliged sitting down at the table.
Once they were finished their lunch, they headed off to the doctor's appointment. Like everything else in this town the closest doctor was in "downtown" Lanesboro, if you could even call it downtown. The drive would be 45 minutes and the whole way Betty leg bounced and her head raced.
Jughead noticed her state and looked her way, "Are you okay?" Betty nodded and took a deep breath. "I'm just nervous. I haven't gone to the doctor yet. What if something's wrong with the baby? What if the Doctor figures out the timing is wrong? That the baby's not yours?"
Jughead covered her shaking hand with his, "Relax. It's 2017 the doctor won't care."
Betty scoffed, "yeah that's what I thought too, then my mother happened." She exclaimed shaking her head.
"Your mother is not here. Relax." He said kissing her hand softly, making her blush.
The rest of the car ride went swiftly and they were parked and inside in a flash. Betty sat in the waiting room, Jughead sat next to her. She filled out the various questions about her family history, and her own health. She stopped hesitantly at the part reserved for prenatal patients. Her hand coasted over the line asking for the father's name. She let out a small sigh and scribbled along the line. Jughead Jones. She chuckled and scratched it out replacing it with Forsythe Jones.
"Betty Jones?" The nurse called out making Betty stand and walk towards her. Jughead walked her walk away. Betty stopped abruptly and turned to face Jughead. "Will you come with me?" Jughead's face erupted into a smile as he stood and met her in front of the nurse. Betty smiled and put her hand into his, she needed all the support she could get.
Betty took deep breathes as she laid on the cold examination table. Jughead warm hands were a stark contrast, his thumb rubbing against her hand. The nurse smiled down at her as she applied the ultrasound gel and began the screening process.
Betty gripped tighter to Jughead's hand which was turning white under her grip. He started to hum softly under his breath, a similar tune to the one he had sang in the north field that morning. Betty smiled and closed her eyes focusing on the soft tune he hummed.
"Okay Mrs. Jones, would you like pictures of your ultrasound?" The nurse asked and Betty quickly replied with a yes. The nurse smiled, "Alright, I will go get your pictures and the doctor will come in and explain the results." Betty nodded with a deep breath trying to combat her shallow breaths. She sat up on the table and close her eyes again as Jughead rubbed her back slowly.
"Mrs. Jones, Mr. Jones," The doctor announced as he entered. "You will be very please to know the baby is healthy with no signs of future illness."
Betty grinned ear to ear at the news. "I told you not to worry." Jughead said placing a kiss on her temple, to which she blushed.
"It looks as though you are 4 months along, your morning sickness should lessen." He explained, "There are apps on your phone that can help you keep track of your baby's growth and what symptoms to expect during that month. Now would like to know the sex of the baby?"
Betty looked to Jughead with questioning eyes. He shook his head, "It's your baby." He whispered. She sigh and looked back to the doctor. "Yes, please."
The doctor stood proudly beaming, "It's a girl."
The car ride home consisted of Betty staring at the baby's picture and her softly repeating, "it's a girl." She snapped a quick photo with her phone and sent it to Jellybean explaining that it was a girl. Then she sent an identical message to her sister Polly. While Jellybean's response was ecstatic, Polly's was melancholy. That's great, Betty.
"I wish the baby would look like you." Betty lamented. Jughead smiled to himself, "what does the father look like?" He asked immediately regretting it. "He has dark hair and olive skin, an Asian I would say."
"You didn't know him well?"
Betty scoffed and stared out the window, "No, barely at all." A tear rolled down her face as she thought of the whirlwind weekend that threw away her life. Jughead sighed inaudibly wishing he hadn't said a word to her.
"This weekend, we can go to the store and get supplies to decorate the baby's room if you'd like." Jughead suggested.
Betty smiled softly thinking of what the room would look like. "Maybe purple? Or light blue?"
"I think that would be very pretty." Jughead said with a smile. "How about a city theme like Berkeley?"
Betty shook her head with a smile. "A farm theme, after all that's where she belongs, on a farm with you and me."
They arrived home and they both went their separate ways. Neither were hungry and both exhausted from the day. Once again Dakota took a neutral place in the hallway.