Sorry this took so long and I'm sorry it's short. The next chapter will be long. Thank you all so much for being so patient. I know I'm a frustrating writer.

I'm sorry if there are errors as I edited this myself.

I also want to say that this story isn't a smut fest. It was my intention at first but it took a different direction and this is what happened instead. I know I've Said it before but I thought bring it up one more time so you don't waste any more of your time if that's what you are looking for.

Sorry for all the angst but I hope you enjoy this chapter.

Betty was happy she kept her jacket on so she could rush out of the house without stopping. Jughead was pacing the length of her driveway mumbling to himself. He had a mixture of confusion and anger on his face; his brow furrowed, lips pursed and his jaw clenched. Betty was hit with another wave of familiarity. She realized all these expressions seemed so recognizable was because she had seen them all before on Archie's face.

"You have a type and you don't even know it." Archie's words echoed in her mind. She wanted to know why he had known Jughead was his brother all this time and said nothing to her. She could only assume he wanted as little to do with his half sibling as possible.

"Bets?" Jughead's voice broke her train of thought.

"Yeah?" She looked at him, his hands were shaking.

"Is there anyway for you to drive me home?" He asked. "I need to go home. I need to be far away from here."

"There is no other car. I can call Veronica?" She suggested.

He nodded. "Yeah, yeah, I need to get home. Now." He started walking away from her house.

Betty fumbled with her phone and hit Veronica's name.

"What's up good lookin'?" Veronica sang when she picked up.

"Can you drive towards my house and pick me and Jug up? We need to get to your place quick." Betty struggled to keep up with Jughead.

"What happened? Are you guys okay?" Her tone changed from playful to concerned.

"Um, sort of, can you please come? Drive fast." Betty hung up the phone and ran to catch up to him.

Betty wondered if going to Veronica's was a good idea. Putting Jughead a few meters away from his biological father felt like a recipe for disaster.

"Ron is coming." Betty assured. "Do you want me to tell her what happened if she asks?" Betty inquired knowing Veronica would ask. She didn't want to assume that Jughead would be okay telling people even if that person was his best friend.

He was silent for a few minutes. "I gotta call my mom."

Betty nodded. "That's a smart thing to do, I'm sure you have a lot of questions for her." She was trying to be supportive but had no clue if her support would help him or make things worse. "Veronica is gonna want to know what's wrong. Do you want me to explain or do you want to tell her?"

"You can tell her. And Cheryl. Anyone who's there. It doesn't matter." He shook his head and rubbed his eyes. "Where the hell is Ron?" He reached up to adjust his beanie only to find it wasn't there. "I left my hat at your house." His voice was monotone.

"I'll go back for it tomorrow, can you wait till then?" Betty asked, looking down the street as Veronica's Lexus rounded the corner.

"Yeah, that's fine, whatever." He took a few steps back as the car pulled up between them.

Veronica got out and looked between the two of them. "What happened? Are you hurt?" She asked letting her gaze fall on Jughead.

"I need to go home." He told her bluntly.

"Not until you tell me what happened." Veronica demanded.

"Take me home Ron! Betty will explain later." Jughead tried to get in the car.

"No, you made me drive all the way over here and you won't tell me what happened? That's bullshit, you need-"

"Get in the fucking car Veronica and take me home!" He shouted at her, getting in the passenger side.

Veronica looked over at Betty who shook her head. "Stop prodding, I'll tell you when we get home." Betty could see how shaken Veronica was by Jughead's outburst. It was clear that Jughead never behaved in this way, even under all his snark.

They were silent on the ride back and Jughead was out of the car before Veronica could put it in park. He was already in the house before the girls could close the car doors.

Veronica looked over at Betty with an expression of ambivalence. "What the fuck happened?" She asked walking towards her home.

"Are Cheryl and the boys here?" Betty asked walking into the foyer before Veronica.

"Yeah, we're studying in the kitchen."

"It's easier for me to tell you all together." Betty informed, looking upstairs and straining her ears. She was listening for his movements but all she heard was silence. She followed Veronica into the kitchen.

Cheryl, Kevin and Joaquin all put their pens down and looked up at Betty from the island where they sat. They all knew something was up. Veronica had left too suddenly for there not to be but she was sure none of them expected what was coming.

"So, what's up Cooper?" Veronica leaned forward, a twang of anger in her words.

"You guys want the long or short story?" Betty asked leaning against the counter.

"Start with the short story and we'll let you know if we need the long version." Joaquin informed diplomatically when no one answered.

Betty sighed and rubbed her eye, clearing sleep out of her tear duct. She didn't want to say what she had to say. It all seemed so surreal and once she said it out loud she couldn't take it back. It would be out there and everything would be different.

"Fred Andrews is Jughead's biological father." She finally decided on. It seemed like the easiest way to start.

The four of them were silent as they let her words sink in.

"Fuck off." Cheryl finally said which prompted an avalanche of questions.

"I probably should have gone with the long version." Betty said to herself. "Okay! Okay!" She shouted quieting the group.

She delved into the story. She decided to leave out everything that happened at the library and why the went to her house in the first place. That was a conversation for a different day.

"How is that possible?" Kevin asked.

Joaquin placed his hand over his boyfriends. "Do you not know how babies are made, Kev?" He asked with a smirk.

Kevin rolled his eyes and smacked Joaquin in this chest.

"They don't look alike." Veronica said. "But Jughead never looked like FP either."

"Look at Charlie Sheen and Emilio Estevez, they are full brothers and I don't think they look anything alike. I don't think looking like someone means anything." Cheryl pointed out. "I mean, Archie and I could be siblings if we are going by looks."

"Jughead does look a lot like his mom." Veronica informed.

"And Archie looks a lot like his mom." Betty said.

"Maybe Fred Andrews has really weak genes." Cheryl giggled.

"I noticed when I was looking at pictures of Jughead as a baby he had reddish hair but I didn't think anything of it. My hair was stark white when I was little." Betty said. "Hair changes."

"How could Jughead have red hair? Mary Andrews is the reason Archie has red hair." Veronica said.

"For Archie to have red hair Fred has to carry the recessive red hair gene. If Jughead's mother carries it then that's why he had reddish hair as a baby." Joaquin said.

They all looked over at him and he shrugged. "I go to biology class from time to time."

"Is Jughead okay?" Kevin asked, the level of concern on his face was something Betty had never seen.

She shook her head. "No, I don't think he is."

Cheryl smiled and wiggled her shoulders in excitement. "Out of everyone in Riverdale, who would have thought Jughead Jones would give us our juiciest gossip?"

Kevin scoffed. "Can you have some fucking tact, Cheryl? I know you're used to treating him like shit but if this is true," he began shaking his head. "There is only so much one person can take." He wasn't shouting but his tone was so authoritative the redhead looked down at her hands.

She began twiddling her thumbs. "I'm sorry." She whispered. "I'm not good at handling stuff like this. I usually use sarcasm or bitchiness to cover up my feelings." Her cheeks flushed.

In all the time that Betty had known Cheryl she had never blushed.

Just then the front door slammed and Betty and Veronica's eyes met. "Shit." They said in unison as they ran to the foyer together.

Betty was sure Jughead was going to confront Fred and she didn't want him to make that mistake. Instead, when she looked out the window she saw him pacing the space between Kevin's car and Veronica's. His phone was pressed to his ear and his mouth set into a hard line.

"He said he needed to call his mom." Betty informed.

"Man, that is going to be one awkward phone call." Veronica watched with her.

"Do you think everything is going to be okay?" Betty asked.

Veronica didn't say anything for a while as they watched Jughead as he yelled into his phone. "Kevin was right in what he said, a person can only take so much and that boy has been threw a lot."

Betty nodded and looked away from who she was beginning to consider her new best friend. There was a knot in her stomach as she watched the man she loved unravel. She wondered if she could put him back together or if this was the straw that broke the camels back.

Jughead was pacing his driveway with his phone to his ear. His chest felt hot, his breathing was short and none of his thoughts made sense. Nothing made sense. FP was lying, he had to be.

His mom, Gladys, picked up on this third ring. "Juggie? Is everything all right?" Her soft innocent sounding voice asked.

Her tone sent a new wave of anger through him he hadn't expected.

"No mom, it's not." He spat at her.

"What happened? Please don't tell me someone died." She begged.

"Is Fred Andrews my father?" His tone was tight as he got straight to the point.

She was silent for so long Jughead had to look at his phone to make sure she hadn't hung up.

"Mom?" He finally said.

"Yes… he is."

"How could you not tell me?" Jughead asked feeling the ground beneath him was splitting in two.

"I didn't think you'd ever find out." Gladys admitted.

"That doesn't matter! I have the right to know who my real parents are!"

"Jug-" She started before he cut her off.

"How could you let him treat me like that all those years? Let him treat you like that? Do you realize what that did to me, Mom? I know you were scared of him but you should have taken us out of that home before I was old enough to choose to stay. I loved a man who treated me like garbage and isn't even my father. I don't know how many hours of therapy I'm going to need to rectify this." He rubbed his eyes.

"I'm so sorry, Forsythe." Gladys only called him by his real name if he was in trouble or if the situation was serious.

"Is that why you started calling me Jughead?" He inquired. "What is it too much for him to take? To share his name with me?"

When he was five Jughead made a knight helmet out of a milk jug that somehow got stuck on his head. He needed to be cut out it and from that moment on his parents called him Jughead.

"Yes, if I ever tried to call you by your real name he would become furious with me." Gladys told him.

"Why would you do this, Mom? There had to be a better way."

"I needed to protect Fred, you don't understand Jughead, I was madly in love with him." She pleaded.

"Him?" Jughead was trying in vain to keep his voice steady. "What about me?" He questioned.

"To be honest, I wasn't even thinking about you then, I was trying so hard to make Fred leave his wife. I thought I could use you to make him stay."

"So I was nothing but a bargaining chip?" He asked.

"In the beginning, yes." She admitted and then sighed heavily. "You're young, haven't you every made a mistake, Juggie?"

"No, your shitty choices made sure I couldn't." He spat at her. "And I'm a mistake then? That's what you're saying?"

"No! That's not what I meant. The mistake was not telling you." She admitted. "You are one of the best things that has ever happened to me."

"That's why it was so easy for you to leave?" He sighed and he could hear her replicate the sound. "Did you ever love da- FP?" He asked.

"No, I tried but he isn't the type of man you love." His mom told him.

Jughead scoffed and ran his hand through his hair. He had thought the same about himself until recently. He looked up at the house and saw Betty's worried face looking out at him.

He sighed in defeat for what felt like the millionth time that day. This had to be the longest day of his life.

"Also, thanks for telling me you guys finalized the divorce." Jughead was tagging on whatever he could to instil as much guilt as he could.

"I didn't want to upset you."

"Parents need to understand that not telling your children things hurts them so much more in the end. FYI, FP is marring Alice Cooper,. I'll see you at Christmas, I guess." He shrugged and moved the phone away from his ear.

"Jug-" He could hear her say as he hung up.

He plopped down on the stone steps and hung his head. He waited for Betty to come out and comfort him but she didn't. He supposed it was for the best, talking about it now would make him more confused. He needed to calm down and review the situation. Jughead couldn't decide if he was going to let this effect him.

What did it really change? He wasn't going to have a happy home life no matter what. He was going to New York in 3 months, he didn't need to acknowledge Archie or Fred.

His brother and father.

The thought caused him to choke on his breath. He thought how amazing it was that these were always the facts. Archie had always been his brother. When they read comics, watched cartoons, played tag at school and slowly grew apart. Archie had beat him up and assaulted him any chance he could get and through it all he was always his brother.

Jughead's hands shook at he idea of Fred watching them play together as children, his children. Encouraging their friendship so he could keep an eye on him with none of the responsibility. They all knew and no one thought to tell him as he suffered at the hands of everyone around him.

His shaking hands curled into fists and he knew no amount of time would make this okay. He knew this was going to be the event, the thing to make him finally spiral. He could feel it in his bones. He was terrified because he had no idea what that would entail and what else he would lose in the process.

Jughead sat outside for a while, for hours possibly, before going inside. The house was dark and he headed straight upstairs. Betty was already in his bed, her back to him and he peeled off his clothes down to his boxers and climbed into bed with her.

He mimicked the position of her body, spooning her but not actually touching her. He pressed his nose against her bare back.

"Do you want to talk about it?" She asked.

"No." Jughead responded, his hot breath spreading over her bare back causing her to shiver.

"Are you okay?"

"No." He answered honestly.

"I love you." She whispered after a few moments.

He wrapped his arms around her waist and pulled her towards him so they were flush against each other. They laid like that until their breathing steadied and sleep took them ending a day that should have gone a very differently.

Reviews are appreciated.