"What's at Shadow Lake?"

"Wait, let me get this straight," Betty starts, incredulously. "We're cousins?"

"Yes, Cousin Betty. Your great grandfather killed his brother, split from the family, took the name Cooper, and now here we are."

Betty is slightly horrified by the implications of what this means. "I'm a Blossom?" Her face twists in distaste at the thought.

Cheryl shoots her a look of warning. "Yes, you are. It's unfortunate that the murderous part of our family saw fit to breed out the good Blossom genes, leaving you blonde of all things. Tragic."

Betty rolls her eyes at that. They sit quietly for a few minutes before Betty asks, "So, what's at Shadow Lake?"

"You'll see."

Jughead is fidgeting anxiously sitting next to Veronica in the back of her car. "Why would Betty go anywhere with Cheryl?"

"Relax, Jughead, it's not like Cheryl is going to off Betty in some nefarious River Vixen take-down," Veronica tells him. "Well, I assume. It is Cheryl so you never know, I suppose."

He stares at her in slight horror. "That is not helping at all."

She shrugs at him and pulls her phone at to check the screen.

"Are you going to tell me why you were acting so shady at the Blue and Gold earlier or am I supposed to pretend that never happened?"

Veronica raises an eyebrow at him. "If you could just let that go until I have all of the info that would be great. Thanks, Jughead."

He sucks in a breath meant to help calm his stress but it does nothing. "That wasn't supposed to be an actual option. I was leaving it open ended making you aware I know something is up without demanding an answer," he informs her, adjusting the hat on his head for at least the fifth time since they left Riverdale. "It's usually pretty effective."

"I'm sure it is, Jughead, but I think you should hear it from Betty, okay?" she tells him. She stops and considers something with a thoughtful look on her face, crossing her legs and fingering the pearl necklace around her neck. "Or maybe it would be better from me, we do have something in common, you know."

"Aside from Betty?" he questions. "And Archie and Kevin if you want to get technical."

She looks over at him with a sigh. "We both have terrible fathers."

Jughead stiffens. He really doesn't want to talk about his father right now. Not after the last time he spoke to him. "Is that so?"

"Yes," she says, "we do. Mine is in jail, yours is in a gang. Head of said gang if I hear correctly-"

"How do you know that?" he interrupts her, an angry expression coming over his face, then the realization of exactly who would or could know without making a big deal of it hits him.

"Jughead, listen to me, okay? Betty doesn't care about who your dad is. She's not going to judge you for it and besides, she's known for a while."

He slumps back against the car seat. It's a big thing to keep to yourself. Shame burns through him at the fact that his dad is a known gang member on top of everything else he has to deal with simply because he was born a Jones. "How did she find out?"

"Her mom told her ages ago. Some source on some Register article about the increased gang activity lowering property values," Veronica responds.

He knows why Betty would never mention it. Although she has a tendency to go after something with the motivation of a hungry lion she also knows when to hang back and let some things happen naturally. She was waiting for him to tell her, he knows that much.

Veronica pats his knee in sympathy. "Look, Jughead, my dad is in jail and is responsible for ruining families. He's caused people financial, emotional, and physical harm. I don't think your dad can be worse than that."

"Is someone still your dad when they give you away?" he asks her, picking at a thread on the bottom of his shirt.

"Give you away?"

"Yeah," is all he says. He doesn't explain further, he just lays his head back on the seat and closes his eyes, wondering what Cheryl could possibly want with Betty that isn't going to end badly.

"You know, I've been trying to do this thing where I think about all the stuff I have now instead of all the stuff I lost," Veronica says out of nowhere. "Because at the end of the day, I guess it could be worse. So much worse."

He opens his eyes at that and sees the haunted look on her face. "That, Veronica Lodge, is called the Betty Cooper Effect. Everything sucks but you might as well find something to be happy about. She's been doing that to me since we were kids."

She smiles at him. "I was so mean before I came here, Jughead. I would have eaten Cheryl for breakfast, you know? That's not who I want to be, though, I want to be someone who doesn't regret the day before with each new day I wake up."

"You're a good friend to Betty, Veronica, and she needed someone like you," he starts, "I know what you tried to do for Ethel, too. That sort of stuff? It counts."

A sly look crosses her face and he thinks it looks predatory. "I'd like to think I helped you too, Jughead, that my presence helped you get the girl."

He laughs. "True. Though I did skip most of your steps."

"Aren't you adorable? You were never going to get through those steps, believe me. Those were simply to apply pressure to a string that was already close to snapping," she informs him.

He huffs out a breath, thinking about it. "You're diabolical, Veronica." He drops back into his thoughts of where Betty is and what's going on. "Are you going to tell me what's at Shadow Lake or…?"

"Something of my dad's."

Archie can hear his parents talking when he gets home after practice. It's not something he thought he would ever hear again and it reminds him of before. When he'd come home and his parents would be laughing in the kitchen, talking about their day.

He walks through the doorway to the kitchen and sees them side by side talking like no time has passed. "Hey, what's going on? Where's Jughead?"

"Apparently he and Veronica Lodge took off to Shadow Lake," his mom informs him. "Do you know why he would just take off like that?"

Archie's a little confused but can only think of one reason. "With Veronica? The only reason they would both rush off is Betty."

His dad makes a face like he gets it while his mom looks a little more confused. "Jughead and Betty are dating, finally," his dad tells her.

"Why didn't you tell me earlier?" she demands, a small smile overcoming her face. "About time, I honestly thought we were going to have to lock them in a closet at some point."

Archie laughs. "That was my plan, if by Christmas, he still hadn't done anything."

"Good for them, then," his mom says to him.

He looks at both of his parents and can't but wonder, "What's in Shadow Lake?"

When Cheryl's car stops, she sees a flash of blonde coming out of the door to the cabin.

Is it a cabin if it's more like a rustic mansion? she thinks to herself as she throws open the car door and takes off a run.

"Polly!" Betty yells, running toward her sister. She hasn't seen her in months but she'd recognize her anywhere. Before she can throw her arms around her she stops short, noticing for the first time, the bump under her shirt. "You're pregnant?"

Polly is smiling and nodding, placing her hands on her stomach. They both have tears in their eyes as they finally pull each other into their arms and it's like no time has passed at all. "It's twins!" she tells her excitedly.

Betty pulls back and wipes the tears that have spilled from under her eyes. "What happened? I got home and you were gone and mom and dad won't say a word. I've been looking for you for weeks."

"It's complicated, Betty. Come inside so we can explain it all to you," Polly tells her, pulling her by the hand into the cabin. Seriously, she thinks, is it a cabin or a mansion?

As soon as she steps through the door and looks around she inhales a shocked breath. "Jason?"

"Hey, Betty," Jason Blossom says to her, looking a little uncomfortable.

"What's going on?" Betty questions, looking at Polly, then Jason, and then Cheryl.

"Subterfuge, dear cousin," Cheryl answers with a flip of her hair.

Betty is thrilled to see her sister, to know she's safe but she also needs answers. "Someone start talking, please."

And that's how it starts, Polly tells her the story of her and Jason, how when they discovered she was pregnant, they made plans to run away together knowing how each of their families felt about them being together. Jason was going to leave first and Polly would follow, only their parents had her sent to Sisters of Quiet Mercy and she spent weeks writing letters to Betty and to where she and Jason had planned to go but those had been return to sender, to get either of them to help her escape the Sisters. Finally, after realizing their parents were probably keeping the letters from her, she wrote Cheryl as a risky but last ditch effort.

Cheryl helped Polly escape but by then the plan they had made had completely changed. Clifford Blossom was using the maple syrup business as a drug front and Jason wanted no part of it. Fearing for his and Polly's safety, he reached out Hiram Lodge, overhearing a heated conversation between his parents about him, a man they wanted to put in jail.

Never let it be said that Blossoms aren't opportunists.

The enemy of your enemy is often your friend and Hiram Lodge has proven to be very helpful in keeping both Polly and Jason safe. It's for his own gain, sure, but it's working.

"What about our parents, Polly? Do they know where you are?" Betty asks her sister.

Polly reaches out from where she's sitting next to Jason to take Betty's hand. "Yeah, they know. Jason and I are using the leverage of the Cooper family history to keep them quiet."

"And if that's not enough, Hiram Lodge is holding the fate of the financially unstable Register over their heads. They want to keep their little paper? They keep quiet," Cheryl interjects.

That's a lot for Betty to take in. "The paper is in trouble?"

"Print media needs more than a revival, Betty, you know that. Mom and Dad need to expand their reach to other platforms. Hopefully they do it soon and see an improvement," Polly tells her gently.

"It also helps that your parents hate mine, Cousin Betty."

"Must you remind me that we're distantly related to the mother of my children, Cheryl?" Jason asks her, exasperated.

"Why, yes. I think I do, JJ."

"Wait a minute," Betty cuts in, "where do the Serpents fit into all of this? And why didn't you just tell me where Polly was, Cheryl?"

Cheryl looks at Betty like it should be obvious or in boredom, Betty can never really tell her moods by her face. "Betty, despite my general attitude towards you and your-"

"Cheryl!" Polly shouts.

"Fine," Cheryl continues. "We were, in fact, trying to keep you safe. No one wanted you to end up as the only leverage either my parents, Hiram Lodge, or your very own parents had. But you can't help yourself, you just had to go all Nancy Drew on something you should have left alone."

"Tell me you wouldn't have searched for Jason, Cheryl, because we both know you would have," Betty states, sitting further back into the soft sofa cushion at her back. "And you, Polly? No emails, no texts, no anything?"

"Mom and Dad took my phone, there was no internet access at the Sisters and we don't have any here, either. Mr. Lodge said not to use anything that could be tracked. I'm sorry, Betty, I really am," Polly says sincerely.

"It's fine," Betty replies. "And the Serpents?"

"Hiram Lodge hired the Serpents to trash some of the Southside so he can buy it at a lower cost. Mommy and Daddy want the Twilight land since it's part of Blossom history but as far as I know no one hired anyone to set it on fire," Cheryl tells Betty.

"So, you're here, Jason, as Hiram Lodge's ace?" Betty questions. "I assume you have proof of your dad's drug business? And that you're the key to revenge on your parents for their role in him going to jail?" Jason gives her a nod of confirmation.

"Archie was right, freshman year was so much easier," Betty exclaims, exhausted from the day.

Jughead sits up straight in the car as they pull into a long driveway leading up to some sort of huge rustic lodge. "So, is this like the Lodge's Lodge or what?"

"It's Daddy's chalet, thank you."

"Oh, so a pretentious word for lodge, I see," Jughead replies with a smirk.

"What does Betty even see in you?" Veronica wants to know.

"Unknown, but you know what they say about gift horses and all that," he tells her, noticing Cheryl's car for the first time sitting in the driveway. The light of the day is fading and the lights on inside the house are lighting up the entrance. "At least Cheryl is here. Hopefully Betty didn't jump out of the car on the way here."

"Why would Betty jump out of a moving car?"

"If my options were certain death or being alone with Cheryl Blossom I know which one I'd pick," Jughead declares as they walk towards the front door. He doesn't know if they're going to knock or barge in but he's impatient to make sure that Betty is fine.

When they reach the door he's waiting to see what Veronica does and he's a little impressed when she throws it open and stalks quickly through the doorway. He can hear the rushing of feet against the floor headed their way but he tunes most of it out when he sees Betty rushing towards him.

"Jug!" Betty shouts, "what are you doing here?" He wraps her up in a hug, pushing his face into her neck, finally relaxing knowing she's fine.

"I can't believe you willingly got into a car with Cheryl Blossom," he admonishes her, lifting his head up to cup her face in his hands and press a kiss to her forehead.

"Oh my god, did that finally happen?!" someone yells and he recognizes it as the voice of Polly Cooper and it startles him into noticing the rest of the people in the room. "Polly is here? And pregnant? With Jason Blossom?" He looks down at Betty then at Veronica who looks shocked as well.

"It's a long story, Juggie."

Jughead nods. "It's a long car ride back home, Betts, you can fill me in."

He's pushed out of the way and all he sees is a blur of black hair and pearls.

"B! I'm so glad you're okay," Veronica exclaims as she pulls Betty into a hug. They're both laughing in the way girls do when they're happy to see each other and he looks at Betty with affection, smiling at her enthusiasm.

"How did you know where I was?" Betty asks.

Veronica puts her arm through Betty's and leads her back to the living room. "When I was looking through-" she starts and pauses at Betty's look, "-okay, snooping through Daddy's things I saw some papers for this place, we came here when I was younger and I had pretty much forgotten about it until you texted Jughead about it. I had to go home to find the address and get Smithers but we were never going to leave you to the mercy of Cheryl Blossom."

"But how did you know I would be here specifically?"

"First, I made sure the Blossoms didn't own any property up here, then after that I assumed with Archie's info from the other day Daddy and the Blossoms were connected so I hoped for the best," Veronica tells Betty as they sit on the sofa facing a fireplace. "And here you are!"

Jughead sits next to Betty, taking her hand and he watches a pregnant Polly sit with Jason Blossom as Cheryl sits in a chair across from them.

"This must be the elusive Polly Cooper?" Veronica asks, gesturing towards Polly.

"She is, Polly this is Veronica Lodge. And Veronica, that's Jason Blossom next to her," Betty introduces them, looking like a weight is lifted off of her shoulders. She leans over and into him and he wraps an arm around her.

"I assume there is a story of how this all came to be?" Jughead whispers to Betty.

She nods at him, putting her head on his shoulder. "It's all very weird but everything is connected, Jug."

"Even the drugs?" he questions.

"Especially the drugs," Cheryl interjects. "Daddy has some sort of pipeline that starts with him and runs through the Southside and then goes to the Northside."

"Your dad is where the drugs are coming from?" Jughead asks in shock. "I knew there was a maple flavored underbelly of crime in Riverdale." He looks almost pleased to be right.

"We need to leave soon, B, if we want to get home before all of our parents go nuclear wondering where we all are," Veronica tells Betty. "You should text your mom if you haven't already, god knows she'll probably freak out if she doesn't hear from you soon."

Betty looks sad and resigned as she agrees with Veronica. She heads straight for her sister and hugs her tight as she says goodbye.

"You can't let our parents know you know, okay?" he hears Polly tell her in a soft voice. Betty nods her agreement and says a final goodbye to her as Jughead leads her out of the house with a hand on the small of her back.

He can hear Veronica saying something as they walk away. "I have no idea what's going on and as far as anyone knows, I never did. We were never here, I have no idea who you are, okay? My father doesn't need to know I was here."

Once they're back in the car where Smithers was waiting, he turns to Betty and says, "Lay it on us, Betts. What do you know?"

Archie gets a text from Jughead after he and his parents had eaten dinner. On our way back. Betty is with us.

"Jughead is on his way home," he tells his mom and dad. They both look a little relieved and a little nervous. "What's going on?"

"I had planned to talk to Jughead about this first, but you need to know. FP signed temporary custody of Jughead over to me, Arch. He needs a stable place to stay and FP can't give him that."

"Can't Jug's mom come home from visiting Toledo?"

"Gladys isn't visiting Toledo. She took Jellybean and left, she's not coming back," his mom answers, looking angry.

"Jug's mom left him?" Archie asks.

"Yeah, she just packed up one night and left FP and Jug behind," his dad explains. "So, Jug's going to stay here for a while, that's not a problem is it?"

"Of course not," Archie says to him. "I can't believe his mom just took off like that."

He wonders why Jughead didn't tell him the whole story but he knows how Jug gets when things get too personal or emotional.

"That sucks for Jug," he tells his parents.

"Yeah, it does," his mom agrees.

Jughead is overwhelmed by the time Betty's done talking. "Alright what I'm hearing is that the Blossoms and Lodge's have bad blood between them. With payments from the Blossoms to the Lodges and Clifford Blossom getting your dad, Veronica, put into jail." He stops for a second then continues. "Hiram Lodge hired the Serpents to lower the value of the Twilight land to buy it and did so anonymously as to not tip off the Blossoms and start a war, am I right so far?"

"Yes," Betty confirms.

"Then, your mom, Veronica, forged your signature so Fred Andrews can get the contract for the new construction going on the land. Except a fire destroyed the land so that's on hold until further notice?"

Veronica nods at him in agreement.

"At the beginning of the summer, though, Jason and Polly made plans to run away because she was pregnant, with twins no less, and Jason discovered his dad's drug business. Jason overhears his parents talking about Hiram Lodge so he offers himself and the evidence he collected of his dad's illegal activities as insurance to keep himself and Polly safe. Only, Polly gets sent away before they can meet up to leave town," he says feeling exhausted just by thinking about it. "So then Polly writes to you, only you never get the letters. She then reaches out to Cheryl who knows what's going on and helps Polly escape and takes her to Jason."

He takes a deep breath. "Your parents, Betty, are being kept quiet with both financial and a murderous family history that now has vaguely weird incest-y implications as blackmail." He squeezes Betty's hand in support. "And everyone thought it would be best if you didn't know so you can't be used as leverage on anyone's side?"

"Yeah."

"Does Fred know he's supposed to start working for the Lodge's?" Jughead questions. "And the project is delayed because of the fire investigation so we have time to worry about that later, I hope."

Both Betty and Veronica look a little relieved to be able to put one thing aside for the moment.

"And to finish it off, my dad basically admitted to everything dealing with the Serpents but denies starting the fire," Jughead finishes. "I want to believe him, Betty. I really do, but I think it's still possible he helped."

She looks at him sadly. "I'm sorry, Jug, about your dad."

He pulls her closer and relaxes against her. "I know."

When they pull up outside of Betty's house after saying goodbye to Veronica Jughead looks at Betty with remorse. "I'm sorry I didn't tell you about my dad being a Serpent, Betts."

"Jughead, I'm not worried about that, okay? I wish you had told me but I get why you didn't want to. There's a lot about my own mother I don't want the world to know," she says softly, pulling him into a hug and laying her forehead on his chest. "Some things feel like they have more power over you once they're given attention and I get not wanting to deal with that."

"I don't want to be ashamed of him, Betty," he whispers into the top of her head, placing a kiss there before continuing. "But it's like every time I turn around he's given me a reason to resent him."

"I understand, Jug, I do."

"I know you do."

He kisses her goodnight and walks her to her door before heading to the Andrews house. He'd had a long day and all he wanted now was to fall asleep and not think anymore.

Man, what I wouldn't give for a day of playing video games, Pop's, listening to Archie complain about music, and kissing Betty. Especially kissing Betty, he thinks as he goes inside.