Chapter Two - Like a Soldier

The smell of aged leather, men's deodorant, and whiskey overpowered my senses. I didn't mind though. It was an all too familiar smell and it made me feel safe. Protected. When I opened my eyes, I found myself in a hospital bed with an IV in the back of my hand, wires attached to my chest, and steri-strips on the wounds I'd suffered not 48 hours before my arrival in Riverdale.

I sat up and looked around the room. The afternoon sun shone through the window on my left and by the window was FP. He had changed out of his uniform and into his iconic flannel and Henley tee. How long had he been there? All night? No, he wouldn't stay around for me.

Once he noticed me, he promptly left his chair and came to my side. It was then that I realised why I smelled leather. FP had covered me up with his jacket, his Southside Serpents jacket. He picked up the jacket and wrapped it around my shoulders like a cape. "You wanna explain to me how you got all of these?" He gestured to the x-rays on the light board. There were many places where my bones weren't shaped the right way. The remodelling was more than evident. Anyone, with or without any knowledge of the human skeletal system, could see how broken I was.

"Not really…" I grumbled. And I really didn't. I didn't want to talk about any of it. I wanted to come to Riverdale and pretend like nothing happened, but I couldn't do that now. I don't know why I ever thought I could. Something dragged me back here. Maybe it was memories, maybe it was the thought of something familiar, or maybe it was me running back to the one place that I felt loved.

He took my hand in his, trying to tell me without words that he was here for me, that he was by my side no matter what. "Artemis, you've gotta tell me. Please."

I pulled my hand back and turned the other way. "I'm clumsy." I took pause and looked back at him. I saw in his eyes that he knew I was lying. He was, by no means, clueless. "Just go, FP! Get out of here and forget you ever saw me! It'll only cause more trouble if you stay!"

"No. You have to tell me what you're running from and why. I can help you. You've got family here and we'll protect you. The Serpents will protect you. I just need you to tell me why you came back. You said you were leaving this place for good."

"Yeah, well, the place that I was in 2 days ago was worse than here. And besides, I thought you said the same thing and now look, you're the damn sheriff!"

"I tried to stay away but that didn't work out too well."

I scoffed. Whatever he went through couldn't hold a candle to what I'd suffered. I went through hell. I was married to the devil. My life was in shambles because I was too cowardly to run at the first red flags. "You wanna know why I'm back here? It's because I'm scared. I am running from something that you could never begin to fathom." I didn't mean for everything that I was saying to sound hostile, but I was getting aggravated. He was winning and I hated it.

"Try me. You'd be surprised."

Grabbing my IV pole for stability, and as to not pull my line out, I walked over to the light board on the opposite wall with the leather jacket still over my shoulders. "This one," I took an Expo Marker and circled remodelled areas on my left radius and ulna. "He threw me down the stairs because he was hungry and drunk, but it was midnight, so I wasn't going to cook anything. I was too tired from cleaning all day." I circled three ribs on my right side. "Here, he shoved me into the granite countertops in our house because he dropped something on the floor that I'd just cleaned. It didn't matter that he dropped something, it was still my fault somehow." I circled yet another spot on my right zygomatic but this one was different. This was a fresh fracture. "And you wanna know what happened here? This was from last week when I asked him if I could go back to work because he made me quit my job 8 years ago."

There were more but by the look in FP's eyes, I could tell that I'd gotten my point across. "So, you wanna know why I'm back? I'm back because I'm trying to get as far away from that horrible man I married! I'm back because I'm scared that he's going to kill me!" I capped the marker and threw it at him, hitting him in the chest. His jacket fell off of my shoulders and hit the floor by my IV pole. "So now you know Jones! You know that I married a man who turned out to be the devil in disguise! That I was an idiot for leaving Riverdale because this is where it got me, beaten and abused!"

The horror in his eyes made me suddenly burst into tears. I'd finally told someone what was happening, correction, what happened to me, and it was a weight off my shoulders, but it also brought new anxieties. I'd just made FP Jones a target and he didn't even know it yet. I didn't just have to fear for my own safety. I had to fear for the safety of his family as well.

FP was at my side placing his jacket around me again and helping me back to my bed. He sat with me and held me close as I just cried. Everything that I'd been suppressing for nearly 12 years was just now surfacing. I pulled that leather jacket tighter around me as if it would protect me from everything in the world.

"What is his name?" FP asked coldly as he pushed my short bangs out of my eyes.

I just shook my head and cried harder. When he asked again, I found myself answering before my brain had time to stop my mouth. "Drew. His name is Andrew Glasser."

He just nodded and moved me over in the bed so that he could lay beside me. My head was on his chest and his arms were wrapped tightly around me as I continued to cry. It would be a long time before I'd stop, only because I'd wear myself out again and fall asleep. He knew that but he didn't care. He was angry and I could feel it. He was also worried. I could feel that too. But another thought that crossed his mind briefly was murder. If he had the opportunity to kill Drew Glasser, his best friend's abuser, the man who destroyed the already fractured soul of the girl he once loved, he would. But the thought went away as quickly as it came. There were better options. Options that didn't involve more jail time for FP.