Veronica can't believe her ears. If what she's listening to is true, things just got a lot more complicated than her dad buying the Twilight land to build some up and coming development. A development Fred Andrews is going to build, something she apparently signed for and didn't know about. She'll be mad at her mom for forgery later.

She tilts her head to hear better when she picks up the word serpents. Her mom is going to start working with Fred Andrews? And something about serpents? She doesn't know what's going on aside from the concrete proof her dad bought the Twilight but she knows a couple people who probably do.

She shoots Betty a quick text Hey, do you know anything about something called serpents? The serpents? Let me know asap.

Veronica's eyes widen as she reads Betty's response.

Three Days Ago

"Thanks for meeting me, B," Veronica greets Betty as she slides into the Pop's booth across from her.

"No problem. So what's up, Veronica?"

"I need to be a little transparent and I need some advice after that," Veronica responds while picking at the edge of the menu in front of her.

"Okay," Betty says, catching the eye of the waitress to take their orders. "Lay it on me."

"Well, first I'd you to know that as it turns out, those after school specials were correct, drinking large amounts of alcohol does encourage you to make questionable decisions," Veronica starts, then takes a pause when the waitress approaches. Once their orders are taken, she continues. "In the midst of a small but poignant pity party starring one Archie Andrews, I may have kissed him."

Betty stares at her for a few seconds before asking, "Did he not want you to? I mean, other than consent and maybe him being a terrible kisser, I'm not sure I understand the issue."

"He did kiss me back so consent wasn't the issue. My hesitation comes from the fact that he was trying to get Val back for most of the night then we kissed then I slept over-"

"You slept with Archie?" Betty interrupts, surprised.

"No, no. Just stayed there overnight, he was on the floor. Which was on Jughead's bed, by the way, so where, exactly, was Jughead?"

"Oh no, you're not switching the subject on me now, do you not want to date Archie, is that the problem?"

"I would but he dates an awful lot of girls, you know?"

"That's true, he does, I do think he'd be different with you, if that helps. Also, I don't know if you noticed but Archie is still friends with pretty much all of them. He's not a bad guy, V, he loves girls and girls love him. He's not trying to use them, he really likes each and every one he dates and that's not a terrible quality even if the quantity is questionable."

"I just don't know, B. And, for the record, this doesn't bother you, does it? Because I would never put Archie over you, you know that right?"

"It's fine, I'm fine. If you like him and want to date him, then you should. If not, then tell him," Betty remarks. Then she groans at a realization. "Oh god, if you date Archie, Kevin is going to be insufferable in his singleness. Never mind, no dating Archie, the world can't handle an upset and complaining Kevin."

"No Moose?"

"Moose is never going to leave Midge for Kevin. Despite his extracurricular activities that I'm still unclear on whether Midge knows about or not, he really does love her."

"Something to consider then, isn't it?" Veronica tells her as their food arrives. "So, where was Jughead last night, Betty?"

Betty pretends not to hear her.

Three Days Ago

Jughead feels apprehensive as he stands in front of the door to his dad's trailer for the first time in months. He wants to get some things he left behind now that he knows he can keep some stuff at Archie's but he doesn't really want to see his dad.

He knocks twice on the door before he pushes it open. It looks the same, smells the same, like it's locked in time with nothing but a feeing of failure and sadness surrounding it. Before he gets three steps in he can tell his dad is passed out on the couch. Part of him, a small part, was expecting different. Hoping for different.

He should have known better.

The living room is a mess. There are bottles and cans and take out boxes laying around, the TV is on with the sound on low and Jughead already feels the weight of the air on him. This is who he doesn't want to be. He's not the best student, he's not going to get a sports scholarship, the opportunities he gets he will have to fight for but every time he sees his dad in a position like this it reminds him he needs to escape this fate.

If he has to pay off student loans until he's retired or if he has to work two jobs just to pay for school, he's not going to do anyone the favor of proving their assumptions about him right. They look at him and see his dad, expect him to live on in that legacy of failure and revel in the feeling of their low expectations, to think they were right all along about him. He's never going to give any of them the pleasure of that.

He'll ghost this town long before that if he can't get a ticket out on his own. He'll follow Betty wherever she goes if she'll have him. The only weight of expectations he's willing to carry is hers, she thinks he's going to do something great and he's not in this life to willingly let her down.

Standing next to the couch, looking down at his sleeping father, he bites back the disappointment with a sigh and turns to go grab the few things he wanted to take with him. As he passes the kitchen counter he sees some papers that look official. He can see his dad's signature before he sees what they're for as he grabs them to read.

They're guardianship papers to give Fred Andrews temporary custody of Jughead. Signed, dated, they only need to be filed. He doesn't know how or what to feel about this, on one hand, it makes his life so much easier and on the other, it feels like his dad is giving up on him.

"I was going to tell you about those, Jug," he hears his dad say to him in a weary tone.

"You're just handing me over to Fred? Like a dog or something?" he asks him, turning to look at where he's standing.

"You know that's not how it is. Your mom took off with Jellybean months ago, I hear they've got a sweet set up in Toledo. Maybe once I get myself handled we can-"

"No. If you sign me over to Fred, you let it stay that way, don't jerk me around anymore, Dad. You want me to, what? Wait for you to fix yourself just so I can leave everyone I've ever known because Mom might let us stay with her and Jellybean? If she wanted us there, she'd have told us. She didn't just leave you, she left me too," Jughead furiously tells him.

"Boy, this could be good for us. A fresh start."

He thinks of Archie and playing video games and talking about nothing and everything, listening to him write his terrible songs and pretending to love them. Eating at Pop's and the way Archie defends him from the likes of Reggie Mantle despite being part of their circle. He thinks of Kevin and though he's not truly that close to him he knows Kevin would help him if he needed it. He thinks of Veronica and how she came and shook up their world and how much she loves Betty and that translates into caring about him.

Then he thinks of Betty. When they were little and she held his hand and went down the slide with him when he was scared to by himself. And now that they're older and she charges through his life, his staunch defender at every turn. The way she throws herself into his orbit, the way he thinks that Veronica was right, the world doesn't revolve around him but his might revolve around Betty, even if it shouldn't. And the laughter of her finding frosting stuck in his eyebrow the night before. Theoretically, he knows he could leave. He could try and start over, with his mom and little sister in another state where no one knows who he is or where he comes from.

But what's the point of starting over when you feel like your life is finally starting?

"No, Dad, I don't need a fresh start, your mistakes are not going to be my legacy. I don't need to start over, I'm finally happy for the first time in a long time and I think you owe me enough to let me stay that way," Jughead says. "Go ahead and file these, it might be the best thing you ever do for me, okay?"

His dad nods, looking down and resigned. "It was meant to be temporary, Jug. Just until I get back on my feet."

Jughead considers him thoughtfully. "I'd believe you, Dad. I would. Except I walked in here and found you flat on your back, I think it's going to take you a while to stand back up." He hands the papers to his dad and walks back to the bedroom to grab the stuff he came for.

"If you change your mind-" his dad starts.

"No. I'm not leaving Betty."

Betty puts a chain of events together rather quickly after Veronica's text. Serpents. She knows Mr. Jones is a Serpent, and not from Jughead, but from her mother and her whispered warnings of those Jones men. The Register had done a story on increased gang related activity causing property values to drop. She had known the Twilight had been a target of such activity but she had to think that Jughead's dad wouldn't help put him out of a job. There is nothing easy about Jughead's life, the world pushing him down while all he's trying to do is stand up and she has to believe that his dad is better than that.

She's knocking insistently on the door of the Jones trailer when the door finally opens and a bleary eyed FP looks at her in confusion.

"Betty? What are you doing here? Where's Jug?"

"Probably still at the school, Mr. Jones," she answers, pushing herself through the door. "What I need to know is where you were the night of the Twilight fire."

He stiffens at the accusation. "You don't think I burned that down, do you?"

"I don't want to think so, I want to believe that you didn't go out of your way to make sure the Twilight got sold to the right person, knowing your son worked there. Did you know he was sleeping there? Until maybe three or four days before it burnt down? Tell me, Mr. Jones, that you did not help burn down your son's source of income and temporary home," Betty begs him.

"You're a lot like your mother, Betty. The tenacity isn't a Cooper trait that's for sure."

"Mr. Jones, tell me you're not complicit in not only drug related gang activity but arson as well. Along with making Jughead's life harder. Again. Tell me I'm wrong, tell me I have no idea what I'm talking about. That Hiram Lodge didn't hire the Serpents to bring property values down so he could buy the land cheap," she implores. "That you had no idea it was going to be burnt down and that your son could have died had he not been sleeping somewhere else."

"Betty, I-"

"No! The only right answer is no you didn't do any of it. Why do you do this to him?" Betty demands angrily. "God, Mr. Jones, all he wants is someone to love him. He doesn't care about how much money you have or where you live or what your job is, he just wants to know that he means more to you than alcohol!"

"Look, Betty, I didn't have anything to do with that fire, okay? Small time dealing and taking money where we can get it? Sure, the Serpents will do that sort of thing. Arson? That's too heavy to take the fall for."

"I want to believe you. I do. I just don't know-"

"You can't tell Jughead this, okay? He doesn't need to bear any more of my sins, Betty. Don't put this on him too, he's already carrying too much."

"Now you want me to lie to Jughead? I'm supposed to look him in the eye and lie to him about what I know?" Betty asks with derision. "Seems to me, Mr. Jones, that lying to Jughead is your job."

"He doesn't need this-"

"No, he doesn't. He needs a father and since he doesn't have one, he should at least have the truth."

"Please think about what you'll be doing to him before you tell him," FP pleads.

"Mr. Jones, I think the first person you should start telling the truth to is yourself. Then tell Jug. He deserves to know." Betty wraps her arms around herself, walking out of the trailer and down the steps into the cool air of the day.

Three Days Ago

Archie looks up from the sofa he's sitting on with Vegas, assuming his dad is finally home from Chicago.

He doesn't expect his mom to also walk through the door.

"Hi, honey," his mom tells him and he didn't know until that moment how much he missed her.

"Mom?"

Jughead is supposed to meet Betty in the Blue and Gold office after school that day and she's late which is unusual. He's trying to concentrate on articles he's behind on for the next edition while looking at his phone every few minutes. He sighs in relief when he hears the door open and turns to greet Betty but is surprised to see it's Veronica instead.

"Hey, Jughead. Have you seen Betty?" she asks him.

He's trying not to be ridiculous and overthink the fact that she's over half an hour late and no text and no calls. "No, I haven't seen her since lunch, we were supposed to meet here and she's late."

"Dammit. I need to talk to her about what I heard yesterday," she tells him, leaning against a desk, looking over their board with new scrutiny.

"What did you hear?" he asks her, stretching his arms up and over his head before settling back into his chair.

She looks uncomfortable, like she doesn't want to share but has no real reason not to. "I overheard some stuff between my mom and dad on the phone," she hedges without meeting his eye. "It has to do with the Twilight land and a new construction deal I know Archie's dad is going to build."

She's acting shifty and he wants to call her on it but doesn't know what she could be trying to hide. "Okay, what's the problem-" he's interrupted by his phone notification going off. He sees Betty's name on the screen. "It's Betty," he tells Veronica. He sees it's a string of texts that pops up, like someone sent them when they were out of range and then they all hit at once.

Running late, be there asap.

Cheryl wants to talk to me, will be later than planned. Sorry.

Something's come up, I'll call you when I can.

Shadow Lake.

"What the fu-"

"What's going on, where's Betty?" Veronica interrupts hurriedly, walking over to him. She grabs his phone to look at the texts. "What is this?"

"I don't know, what could Cheryl want to talk to her about that isn't going to end badly for Betty is the real question," he replies. "What's in Shadow Lake?"

"I have no idea, but it sounds familiar," she tells him. "Meet me in front of Archie's in an hour if you don't hear from her, okay? I need to get Smithers."

"Yeah, okay," he responds distractedly. Betty going with Cheryl is probably not a good thing. Not that he truly believes Cheryl is a demon. It's more that he wouldn't be surprised if she were. He only stays long enough to clean and lock up before leaving.

He half jogs all the way to Archie's and with twenty five minute before he supposed to meet Veronica he gets a text from her. Have you heard from Betty?

He responds immediately. No, not yet.

Her response puts him on edge right away. I know what's in Shadow Lake. Be ready, we're leaving in 20.

Betty is walking back towards the school after her confrontation with FP when she hears a car pull up next to her. She looks over and sees it's Cheryl in her cherry red convertible.

"Can I help you, Cheryl?" she asks, stopping to turn towards the car.

Cheryl eyes her from the top of her sunglasses. "Yes, you can. Before you cause any more chaos, I'm going to need you to come with me."

"Go with you where?"

"Does the destination matter so much?" she questions Betty. "Or is it the journey along the way?"

Betty rolls her eyes. "I didn't realize you had gone philosophical, Cheryl."

Cheryl looks impatient. "Get in the car, Betty. I'm not going to kill you or anything, I don't have the patience to deal with your ever persistent hobo of a boyfriend if I did."

Sighing, Betty reaches for the door handle. Once she gets in she shoots Jughead a quick text.

"So, where are we going? I'm already late for something."

Cheryl keeps her eyes straight ahead. "Better cancel then, you're not going to make it."

Betty sends another text to Jughead. "So, where are we going, Cheryl?"

"Shadow Lake."

Betty sends one more text while Cheryl's attention is focused on driving.

Jughead is waiting for Veronica, reminiscing about the night of his birthday in the old treehouse. He thinks after the fighting and the bad memories and the bad feelings it might be one of his favorites so far.

He's laughing as Betty tries to wipe the frosting off of her face. He keeps making it worse and stealing kisses each time and she's trying to smear more of it onto him but he has the upper hand and they can't stop laughing.

Once they've calmed down, she looks at him seriously and asks, "Why do you think I want you to be Archie?"

He closes his eyes and wishes he never said that. "Betty, I don't-"

"Don't you dare say you don't know, Jughead. 'I don't know' is for when someone asks you what you want to eat, it's not for when your boyfriend accuses you of wishing he was someone else."

"Betts, I watched you pine for Archie for a really long time, okay? Long enough to make me insecure that you're still waiting for him to notice you," Jughead tells her, tilting his head back onto the wall of the treehouse.

He feels Betty's hands on his face, pulling it towards her. "Look at me, Juggie," she says and he opens his eyes to look at her. "I did want him to notice me. And in doing that I totally ignored that you were there, already seeing who I was."

He's staring at her, considering what she said to him, feeling terrible for what he had said to her earlier that night. "I'm sorry, Betts. I was being insecure and I was mad about the party and I took it out on you while you were just trying to do something nice for me."

"I know," she tells him. "Still, it was a dick move."

He grins at her, leaning up to take her mouth with his. He pulls her up and over onto his lap as he wraps a hand around the back of her neck, chasing her lips when she pulls back. She's smiling his favorite smile at him, the one that tells him she's genuinely happy.

She leans forward pressing her lips to his and he feels her hands go up and into his hair, pushing his hat off and lets it fall to the floor as he brings both hands around her back, hugging her tighter to him. He feels her press her hips against him and everything gets a little more urgent and he's not sure how but soon he's got his hands under the edge of her shirt, running his fingers across the skin above where her jeans sit. He can feel himself harden at an embarrassing rate of speed but he's too enthralled to care.

Her skin is soft and he can smell the sweet scent of her hair and when her nails scrape against his scalp just right he lets a out a little moan and shivers under her. It spurs her on further and she's running her hands down the front of him to pull the bottom of his shirt up so she can trace her fingers along his sides.

He laughs softly into her mouth at the feeling of goosebumps covering him from her touch. She teases his lip with her tongue and he deepens the kiss, tasting the cake they shared on her as he brings his hands further up her shirt, stopping at her shoulder blades and rubbing small circles on them, making her shudder and groan into his mouth. Jughead wonders if she's aware she's rolling her hips into his, hitting the right spot on him with each pass. Before he realizes it, his hands are on her hips, helping her move on him. Her arms are wrapped around his shoulders and she's breathing quickly into his mouth, little moans escaping with each pass.

He can feel the heat building in him, each thrust of her hips sending him a little higher each time and he wants her there with him. He's helping her move faster and faster basing the motion off of the volume and frequency of her whimpers. She pulls her face away from his and tucks her head into the crook of his shoulder and he can feel the warmth of her breath on his neck, her panting coming quicker than before. He's ready to go over the edge when she hugs him tighter to herself and lets out a loud moan punctuated by a whispered, "Oh god, Jug."

Even if he wanted to he can't stop himself from joining her, a muffled groan into her neck as he lightly bites down on her collarbone.

It takes a few moments before they catch their breath. He speaks first. "Well, that's not at all what I expected but if that's how you surprise me on my birthday, I can get on board with it."

She's laughing at him, looking a little embarrassed and avoiding eye contact. He takes her chin with his fingers and moves her face gently to look at him. Jughead sees the flush on her face in the moonlight coming through the window of the treehouse. "You're beautiful, Betty."

With a shy smile, she meets his eyes and starts laughing again.

"What?" he asks her, confused.

Betty reaches up and rubs her thumb across his face. "You've got frosting in your eyebrow, Jug."

The sound of a car horn pulls him out of his thoughts. He gets up and walks over to where Veronica is waiting in her car with Smithers.

"Get in loser, we're going to get Betty."

"Really, Veronica?" he questions. "That's not outdated to you yet?"

"I've just always wanted to say it. Anyway, come on. Let's go, it's gonna take a bit to get there," she tells him. "Have you seen Archie? Is he coming?"

"He's still at practice, I left a note for him and his parents though." Jughead slips into the car and they set off and he lasts all of ten seconds before he asks, "What's at Shadow Lake?"

It feels like they've been driving for forever and Betty is getting a little more anxious with each mile.

"Are you going to tell me what this is all about, Cheryl?"

"I suppose you're going to find out soon enough so let me tell you a story, Betty. Or, should I say, Cousin Betty?"