"I didn't do it, Mary," Jughead hears his dad tell Mary Andrews.

Somehow FP Jones has been implicated in the fire that burned down the Twilight, there's nothing but an anonymous tip and the fact that he, like most everyone else in Riverdale, was seen at the Twilight in the week before the fire started.

Jughead knows if he wasn't wearing a Serpent on his back or living on the wrong side of town, this wouldn't be happening. Sheriff Keller must really want to put a Jones in jail because none of the evidence is enough to even hold his dad but that doesn't seem to matter.

Mary looks serious as she responds, "They don't have enough to keep you here, okay? Tom is Sheriff, not God, FP. That he even arrested you based on what he has is a joke and I think he knows it."

Jughead hasn't really moved since they sat, he believed his dad when he said he didn't have anything to do with it. The best and worst part of his dad lying to him so much when he was younger is the fact that he's terrible at it. He's been able to tell when he's being lied to by FP Jones since before he could read properly. He wants so badly to go back before his mom left and took Jellybean, before his dad lost his job, before being from a broken home gave him the most stability he's had in years.

His dad needs this to work in his favor, how many times can he try and get up if the world makes all of your bad choices seem like your only option?

By the time he starts paying attention again, Mary can be heard talking firmly to Sheriff Keller, explaining in detail what circumstantial and probable cause means in case he forgot. If he has enough to arrest FP, she'd be happy to call in Fred to be questioned since he was at the Twilight in the last few weeks. Better yet, how about he go back to pulling teenagers out of school to question them with the same bogus accusations? How about Archie or Betty? Or Kevin for that matter? Kevin was there around the same time.

Both FP and Jughead have smiles creeping up their faces with each new thing she's yelling at the sheriff. They both jump a little when they hear the slam of a door down the hallway from the room they're in and both turn to see Mary come through the door, looking madder than Jughead thinks he's ever seen her and that's including the time he and Archie dared each other to eat as much as possible during a sleepover and neither made it to a bathroom when the consequences of that came back to haunt them.

"Let's go," she tells them, turning back around to leave. "This isn't some sort of totalitarian society, Tom!" she yells as they walk past a closed door.

Jughead can't help but grin at her anger, god but does he love Mary Andrews.

Mary takes them both back to the Andrews house and he's got an armful of Betty Cooper before he's even made it halfway through the living room.

"What happened?" she questions quickly.

He smiles at her, pushing a lock of hair that's come loose from her ponytail behind her ear. "There's no actual evidence."

Betty lets out a sigh of relief. "Thank god. I was so worried when I got your text this morning."

"You baked something, didn't you?" he asks her noticing Archie circling something in the kitchen like a big ginger hungry puppy.

"Maybe, but don't worry, I told them we had to wait for you and Mrs. Andrews."

He leads her into the kitchen, ready to eat what definitely smells like cinnamon rolls, grabbing a plate and slapping Archie's hand away so he can get Betty one. "Ladies first, you heathen." He hands Betty the plate as Fred gets another for Mary.

"Can I eat one now, Jug?" Archie whines at him.

Jughead grabs two, one in each hand before gesturing to Archie he can go ahead. He notices his dad is standing in the corner of the kitchen with a sad look on his face. "Want one, Dad?"

"Sure, Jug," he replies, reaching out for the one Jughead had been offering.

He takes a seat at the island, next to the pan of cinnamon rolls and tugs Betty to his side, having her lean against him as she picks at the pastry on her plate. "Hey, the dragon can't see you through the walls, I promise."

Betty giggles at him and nods as she finally starts eating.

He didn't notice all three adults smiling at the scene with Mary laughing at Jughead's description.

"The dragon, oh that's amazing," Mary whispers lowly to Fred. He and FP can't help but look at each other in agreement, Alice Cooper being described as a dragon is eerily accurate.

"So," FP starts, "what's next, Mary?"

"They have nothing, they need probable cause to arrest you with the very little circumstantial evidence they have and they don't have it. They'd have to arrest half the town."

FP leans back against the counter as he finishes eating. "And what about the anonymous call?"

Mary sighs with an irritated shake of her head. "They said that it was someone wearing a Serpents jacket. Which could be any number of people, one shaky eye witness account of someone wearing a jacket isn't really solid evidence. Also, it wasn't even on the night of the fire, so really, it means less than nothing."

"So, what's the motive?" Jughead interjects.

"For one, it makes Mr. Jones, and by association, the Serpents look suspicious. If you're trying to turn Sheriff Keller's head while walking by his blind spot, that's a good place to start," Betty tells him with a lift of her shoulders.

Mary is appraising them with an observant eye. "You two would give Keller a run for his money."

"You think so?" Jughead quips as Betty covers a laugh with a cough.

"Come on, Jug, I know it's not something you want to do but I really need the article for the last football game," Betty says, pleading with Jughead. "Just send me what you have and I'll help you finish it up, okay?"

"When you say send you what I have, do you mean the article or do you need the pictures too?" Jughead asks her, looking slightly dubious.

"All of it, I need to get it ready for the layout."

"Fine," he says, turning around quickly. "But do you remember how I said I didn't want to do it? Keep that in mind, okay?"

"Alright," Betty tells him, warily. "Have you talked to your dad since you saw him last weekend?"

"Nope."

Betty can tell he doesn't want to go into it further by the clipped response and she's not going to push him on it, not after the last few weeks he's had. She watches him get up and go over to their crime board and start staring at it.

"Anything jump out at you yet?" she asks, seeing the email attachment he's sent her already popping up. "I think everything is connected to-" she cuts herself off when she opens the pictures of the game. "Jughead."

She can see his shoulders stiffen and hear him take a deep breath as he turns around to look at her.

"Yes, Betty?"

"What part of take pictures of the game wasn't clear?" she questions him.

He's holding his ground. "I totally took pictures of the game-"

"There are two pictures of Archie making faces at you and-" she interrupts.

"-they're just all background pictures of the game?"

"-the rest are pictures of me!" she finishes saying as he starts to look sheepish.

Jughead looks at her with contrition. "If I say it was for a new photo exhibit I was doing, would you believe me? I'm calling it Betty Cooper and the Art of Distraction: A Photo Series."

Trying not to laugh even though she's still a little irritated she knows he can see the smile trying to break through. "You're ridiculous, Jughead."

"I agree, Bettykins, but we have to agree that that was fairly smooth for someone who was seemingly terrified to touch you below the shoulders just a couple of months ago," Veronica adds, walking into the room, setting herself next to Betty.

She can hear Jughead sigh as he looks toward the ceiling in defeat.

Veronica leans back, crossing her legs and fidgeting with the pearl necklace she's wearing. "So we know that my mother forged my signature to get Fred Andrews the contract for construction on the Twilight land, that my father hired the Serpents to lower property values, and that the Blossoms are basically insane but also trafficking drugs, right?"

"All of these things are connected, we know that now. Aside from shady business dealings, do you think your parents are hiding anything else, V?" Betty wonders.

"I don't know, I can keep my ears open, though." Veronica responds to her, checking the time on her phone. "We need to get going or we're going to be late for practice."

"Can you lock up, Jughead?" Betty asks, grabbing her bag and standing up.

"Yeah, of course," he replies as she walks over to him, kissing him goodbye.

Veronica is smirking at the sight of them. "Aw, how cute and domestic. Much cuter than when I caught you with your hand up her sweater. Now, Jughead, since we both know you're going to wait around until after practice so you can walk Betty home, just remember there's no flash photography during Vixen practice in case you feel like being a creeper again."

"And now it lives in infamy," Jughead tells her, kissing her once more before sending her on her way.

"Are you boys still playing video games?" Jughead hears Fred call from the end of the hallway.

"Yeah," Archie calls out in response.

"Dinner in twenty minutes, okay?" Fred yells back and Jughead can hear his footsteps going back down the stairs.

"So, Arch, you ever gonna tell me about what happened with Veronica?"

"What? What do you know?" Archie replies, looking at him warily.

"I didn't know anything until just now," Jughead tells him. "Care to elaborate?"

Archie shrugs and keeps playing the game. "She kissed me at your birthday party. Nothing came of it, she's avoiding talking to me about it."

Jughead relaxed back into the bed he was on. "I wonder why."

"I don't know. I like her but I can't make her like me back."

He tosses the controller to the ground after being blown up again by Archie. "Very adult thinking of you, man."

"I bet Betty knows somethi-"

"Oh no. No, no, no," Jughead interrupts with a glare. "Do not pull Betty into this. Either she already knows something and is keeping it quiet because Veronica asked her to or you'll end up getting her involved and she'll feel guilty if doesn't end the way you want." He thinks about it for a second to consider Archie's options. "You know, if you really want to figure it out, I bet Kevin knows everything. If it ends well, he'll be happy for you and it if you go down in flames he'll be even happier for the drama it'll bring."

"That's true," Archie says, getting up and turning the game and TV off. "Is this where I'm supposed to ask about you and Betty?"

Jughead just stares at him. "Do you want to ask about Betty?"

"Do you want me to ask about Betty?" Archie shoots back at him, looking at him intently.

"Do you want me to want you to ask about Betty?" Jughead questions with a lift of his eyebrow.

"Do you want me to want you to want me to ask about Betty?"

Still staring at him, Jughead is confused. "I feel like you have something to say but you want me to want to hear it."

Sighing, Archie sits back on his bed and looks at him. "I'm happy for you, Jug, that you and Betty are together."

"But?"

"It's just-," Archie starts, "-okay, it's just, I don't know how to say it, man."

"You know, there's this thing I've heard about called talking. You could, I don't know, just say it," Jughead says a little sharply. Anxiety building, he's standing with his arms crossed expecting the worst. Thoughts keep shooting across his brain, each one worse than the last.

Does he not think I'm good enough for Betty?

Has he finally woke up and sees Betty the way I see her?

Did Betty say something to him and he's going to verbally destroy me when I think everything is going fine? Because that would suck.

Archie just keeps looking at him. Like he wants to say something and doesn't know how to get the words to come out of his mouth.

Jughead can't take it anymore. "Just spit it out, Arch!"

Archie looks up at him, resigned about what he's going to say. "I've thought about it for a while now, Jughead, and man, I have to be totally honest with you-"

"Dude-" Jughead interrupts him with a look of building anger and irritation. He can feel his blood pressure climbing and his heart pounding and the edges of his vision are going fuzzy with anxiety.

"And I've finally come to the conclusion that I just don't know which one of you I'm supposed to give the 'don't break their heart' speech to," Archie tells him with pitiful eyes. "Is it you because Betty is like my sister? Is it Betty because you're basically my brother? Do I get both of you together and tell you both?"

Jughead huffs out a breath. "You, Archie Andrews, are an asshole."

"Wait, what? Why?"

"I'm going to dinner."

Walking down the stairs after narrowly avoiding a heart attack, he heads into the dinning room where Mary and Fred are talking.

"How was your day, Jughead?" Mary asks him, handing him plates so he can help set the table.

"It was good," he replies, setting the plates in front of their respective places.

Fred eyes him a little bit. "You didn't come home with Archie, Jug, working late on the paper?"

Jughead holds in a sigh and wishes there were a way to roll his eyes internally. "Yes and no. I worked on the paper until Betty got out of practice then we walked home."

Mary is smiling at him, a beaming one if he were describe it. "Are you ever going to tell us how that happened?"

"Or, I could stab myself in the eye," Jughead says to her with a serious face.

Archie, bounding through the doorway smirks and offers to help out. "Don't worry, Mom. I saw it so I can tell you."

Jughead slumps and closes his eyes, waiting for death. "Et tu, Brute?"

Confused, Archie looks at him. "Is that, like, Spanish or something?"

"It's something, alright," is the clipped response he gets from Jughead in return.

Mary distracts him with the food she's setting down. "So, tell me, Archie. I've been waiting for this since all of you were kids. Your dad tells me he even won sixty-dollars in a bet you guys had going on."

"Yeah, Kevin was a really sore loser on that one for sure," Archie says. "Anyway, I was in my room and I saw Jug kiss Betty."

"Death, take me now," Jughead whispers to the potatoes he's been shoveling in his mouth. He straightens in his chair to look over at his ex-best friend. "Didn't know you were such a voyeur, Archie."

"You were in front of the window! With open curtains, by the way."

"It's not like I planned it!" is Jughead's heated response.

Mary's soft laugh distracts him for a second. He looks up at her and she and Fred are grinning at him.

"You never told me why you were over there, you know," Archie continues, a little too happily.

The revenge he was plotting for Archie is getting worse and worse in his head. Little Archies with x's over their eyes are all over his imagination and he's distracted and forgets to filter himself. "Twenty-four hour Alice Cooper rule."

"What?" Fred asks him.

He's buried himself. He has to answer now. You just wait, Archie, he thinks. "It's pretty much what it sounds like, if no one hears from Betty within twenty-four hours after her mom starts yelling, someone checks on her."

Fred snorts a laugh. "I'd love to say how you shouldn't do that but Alice Cooper is...something else."

"Precisely."

Thankfully the subject changes to Archie's music and football games, how their homework was coming along, and other mundane chatter Jughead supposes is natural at a family dinner table. His ears perk up when he hears Fred start talking about the contract for the Twilight land.

"-and they're calling it SoDale," he hears as he catches the end of Fred's sentence.

"When do you start?" Jughead asks.

"Soon, real soon. It's bringing in a lot of jobs, which is good. I know how much you loved the Twilight, Jug, I'm sorry it's gone."

Jughead lets his gaze fall to the table. He's still upset about it but there's nothing he can do now except figure out who started the fire.

"Do you think Veronica figured out why her dad bought the land anonymously, Jughead?" Archie blurts out.

Jughead's eyes go wide. He's looking at Fred's surprised face and Mary's calculating one. He takes a deep breath. Oh, Archie, he thinks, this is why people don't tell you secrets.

Fred sets his fork down and looks seriously at Archie. "You're telling me that Hiram Lodge bought the Twilight?"

Jughead has her pushed against one of the walls of the school after the football game that week. He'd been fired from reporting the games after the last time so Betty had ended up begging Ethel to help out. At least she could be trusted to actually take pictures of the games unlike some people she knew.

His hands are in her hair and he's kissing her, deepening it until she can feel the soft slide of his tongue on hers. As her arms go around his neck, his hands go to the back of her bare thighs, picking her up and pushing her harder into the wall. She lets out a moan as she wraps her legs around his hips. He pushes firmly against her in response and moves to trail kisses down her neck and she hears him curse softly at the high neck of her Vixen uniform and she giggles at him for it.

"Betty, this is cruel," he says lowly in her ear, tugging her earlobe gently between his teeth.

She shivers and grabs a handful of his hair at the back of his head. "I don't make the uniforms, Jug."

He pulls her up slightly to adjust her thighs higher on his waist. Her legs tighten as he does it, the feel of his hands on the bare part of her upper thigh reminds her of the time they spent together on the night of the Homecoming Dance. Betty arches her back slightly at the pressure the tips of his fingers put on the inside of her thighs.

Bringing her face back to his, she kisses him again, biting his lower lip softly and pulling it into her mouth to lightly suck on it and he jolts against her, knocking his hips into her a little harder than he usually would. She can feel him pressed up against her and the groan he lets out makes her forget where she is for the moment.

Eventually Jughead has the good sense to think about the ramifications of being caught like they are. Betty tries not to let her disappointment show but he looks just as let down as she does. He sets her back down on the ground, letting her adjust her skirt.

"We're supposed to meet Archie, Veronica, and Kevin for Pop's, remember?" he says as he fixes what he did to the collar of her uniform.

"Yeah, I wonder where they are?"

She's checking her phone for messages when she hears Jughead start coughing a little. "What?"

He just hands her his phone silently. Betty takes it to look at the screen. A text from Veronica? Betty looks over him with a confused face and he jerks his chin a little in the direction of the phone in her hand so she looks down again to read the message.

Went to meet you after the game, Jug, but it looks like you were already eating.