A couple of days passed. Jughead gave Betty all the time she needed to get acclimated into her new life. He knew that as his victim, she didn't trust him. And, how he hated to think of an innocent girl as his victim. It didn't sit right with him. He watched her over the couple of days that passed. He took in her body language. She sat stoically in his bed, ankle tied to the bedpost, and she didn't move. Of course, she asked to go to the bathroom and things like that, but she didn't eat. Just drank the coffee he brought her. Buttering the toast he was making, he plated it up, and carried it to his room. Tapping on his door, he let himself in. "I brought you some food."

"I'm not hungry," she replied stiffly.

"Betty…its been two days. You're most likely starving," he said gently, going to hand her the toast. "Just a bite of toast, please."

Betty expelled a soft sigh past petal lips, digits reaching out for the toast. She pulled it into her fingers, crumbs smearing the plate. Taking a small bite, she chewed in a way that could only be described as methodically, and Jughead tried not to stare too much. He failed. "Thank you." Her tone had softened around the edges somewhat; she was thawing out.

He walked over to his desk, grabbing his chair and pulling it up to the side of the bed. Sitting down, he looked at her. "is there anything I can do to make you more comfortable?"

She shook her head, taking another bite of the toast. "I'm okay."

He didn't expect that to be the complete truth, and he tried not to gently chastise her. He just accepted that answer with a quirk of his brow, not saying anything, and she shrugged a sheepish shoulder. "I don't know what you want from me."

"I know."

And, he did know. He hated the fact that she was so tense; so scared. He hadn't signed up to the Serpents with the idea of scaring innocent women in his mind. She looked at him. "Have you guys sent out a ransom yet?"

Just as he opened his mouth to reply, there was a knock at his door and he changed what he was going to say. "It's open."

FP stepped into his apartment, Sweet Pea, and Toni came in too. Betty fell silent, pushing the toast away from her, and Jughead frowned as he watched the other people enter his room. FP looked at Betty. "I sent out the ransom to your parents."

Betty batted her eyes down. "Good luck trying to get them to pay it." This was a mutter underneath her breath and Jughead's heart hurt. He wanted to fix it but he didn't know how. And it wasn't like Betty was giving him a chance to be her friend. She made it abundantly clear that she wanted nothing to do with him. He should respect that. He definitely should respect that. But he didn't want to. He wanted to get to know her; to tell her not to be afraid. He had already told her countless times that he wasn't going to hurt her; he wanted her to believe it.

FP sighed. "If they don't pay it, we'll let you go back home."

This was news to Jughead. His dad had been hellbent on Hal Cooper paying the ransom demand. Perhaps his father had learned that holding young women hostage was not the way to go. He looked at Betty, offering her a tentative smile. "See? You won't be here too long."

Toni spoke up. "Do you want or need anything?"

Betty sighed. "You guys are the weirdest kidnappers. I swear, if you hadn't tied me to a bed, I would think I was visiting friends."

Jughead's stomach squirmed uncomfortably. "I didn't even want to tie you down in the first place."

Betty scoffed, before looking at FP. "Who knows, maybe you'll get lucky. Maybe I'll finally mean something to my parents."

Sweet Pea cleared his throat. "I'm really sorry about what's happened, darlin'."

Her eyes flickered to him and away again. It was clear she wasn't going to say anything else, and Jughead was herding them into the living room, closing the door behind him softly as he did so.

FP spoke up. "She's pissed."

"I can't blame her," Toni replied. She turned to look at Jughead. "Why was her ankle wrapped?"

"She tripped and fell, twisting it," he replied, shaking out his hair the next moment. "She hurt it pretty badly and I'm just keeping an eye on it."

"Fuck," Toni groaned. "Not only did we kidnap someone, but she got hurt on our watch. Tell me how that's right."

"It's not, T," Sweet Pea sighed. He looked towards the closed door. "I'll make a hamburger or something for her."

"We can't buy her friendship," Jughead replied, though he desperately wanted her to feel comfortable with him. Sweet Pea shrugged.

"Can't hurt to try and get on her good side," the taller replied.

"We kidnapped her," Toni commented, tone incredulous. "We're not ending up in her good graces at all."

Jughead knew just how true that statement was. He looked at his dad, who bore a contemplative look. "We'll give Hal till the end of the month, like we originally planned. If he doesn't pay, I'll have to figure out something else to do. But we won't keep her past a month."

Jughead breathed a sigh of relief. He could handle that. Whatever his dad felt like doling out as a punishment to Hal, however, wasn't his business. He'd let his dad decide that one. He nodded his head, and the rest of the group left. Staring at the door to his bedroom for a moment, he hesitantly went and pushed it open after knocking. Betty was asleep, ankle propped up on the pillow. She looked peaceful in her sleep, as if she wasn't mad at the world. Jughead smiled slightly and tucked the blankets around her. "Rest well, Betty."