Abby, Tessie, and Fred were having breakfast when they heard the door open. They thought it was Sweet Pea coming home from working a night shift at La Bonne Nuit. "Are you going to join us for breakfast or go to sleep?" She yelled from the stove. She was making french toast.
The familiar sound of dog nails on the wood floor filled the room making them look up. At first, they thought he brought over Hot Dog, seeing that Tessie was missing having a dog in the house. "Vegas!" Tessie jumps off the bar stool to hug the lab that was just as excited to see her.
Father and daughter shared a look, seeing as to who the dog was last with. "Archie." They ran to hug him.
"Hey, Dad… Abby." He whines.
"What? What's wrong, son?" They let him go when they realized he was in pain.
"It's a long story. Is that French Toast?" His mouth watered at the smell of his sister's cooking.
"Come on. Come, eat." She pulled him into the kitchen.
"Uncle Archie." Tessie hugs his legs.
"Sorry kiddo, I can't pick you up and spin you right now." He held his ribs.
"It's okay. I'm so happy you're here." She beams up at him.
"Good, because I missed you." He patted her head. Everyone sat down on the kitchen island and got some french toast, bacon, and eggs. Archie told them about a bear attacking him. "I don't remember the rangers finding me. I woke up in the hospital knowing that... I couldn't keep running. It was time to come home, back to a normal life, if that's even possible."
"What about Hiram?" Fred drank his coffee.
Archie scoffs. "I survived a bear attack, Dad. I can't live my life in fear of when he might come after me anymore. To be honest, I'm more worried about him gunning for you." He points his fork at him.
"I survived the Black Hood. Twice. Hiram doesn't scare me. He's not the only one in this town with friends." He held back saying that he never ran from the man, not wanting to insult his son. "What about Veronica? You reach out to her?"
"No, not yet." He shoved a big bite into his mouth to avoid talking about it. He was nervous about seeing her. She had every right to tell him to go to hell after he left her with no notice.
"Everything okay, Archie?" Abby notices the way his face tense up when hearing her name.
"I'm different now. I feel it. I don't know if she'll like the new me." He said his other worry.
"I'm sure everything will work out." He nods. His kids weren't so sure. Abby could see this wasn't the happy-go-lucky Archie she knew. He hardened in his time away. He didn't hum while eating his favorite breakfast. He didn't laugh when Tessie blew bubbles in her milk and it popped in her face. He was there in the room but she couldn't feel his presence.
"I don't know if this is a good idea." Sweet Pea was sitting in a booth at the speakeasy.
"Veronica wants to throw this for him." Abby was next to him.
"I get that, but you saw him. He is not ready for all this attention. The guy spent months in isolation. I know guys who got out after spending time in solitary confinement. None of them were the same." He knew tonight was going to end badly.
"He's coming," Veronica yelled before turning off the lights.
"You don't surprise a guy that just survived a bear attack." He whispers.
"Surprise." Everyone but him yelled when the light came back on.
"What is... what is all this?" He looks around the room. There were people he didn't know in the crowded room.
"Well, it was going to be a study party, but that was before you came back home to us. So now it's a Study/Welcome Home party, Archie, complete with a musical amuse-bouche provided by moi. So take a seat, lover, and let me entertain you." She pointed to the table she reserved for him. After he sat down, she sang Eres Tu.
"Shit, he's freaking out." She watched him put his head in his hands like he was having a headache. He got up and ran out of the room. She yelled his name as she ran after him. He finally turned around when they were in the parking lot.
"I can't go back in there. I know I should be able to be there and talk to everyone. It's not a lot to ask for but I can't." He was panting like he ran a marathon.
"It is a lot to ask. Sweet Pea said it was going to be too much. I should have said something to Veronica. I'm sorry." She wished she would've listened to him. He had told her multiple times today to put a stop to this. But, she thought that Veronica needed it and that Archie could handle it.
"Nothing to be sorry over." He put down the tailgate of their dad's truck and sat down. "I knew it was going to be hard to get back into society, but I didn't think it would be this hard. With the SAT and everyone wanting to talk to me. People I have never seen before but heard my story, making it sound like they know me." He laid down to look at the stars.
She climbed into the bed of the truck to lay down next to him. She never saw him struggle socially. That was her struggle, hiding in the back of the room, hoping no one would notice her. It reminds her of a time when the situation was reversed. "Remember that time, grandma came down for Easter and made us go to church? They took us, kids, out for a child version of the sermon. They called me up to read."
Archie laughed. "Yeah, you got so nervous that you ran off. I never thought you could outrun me but you did. Guess fear does that to you." He frowns as he thinks of what fear did to him.
"I end up getting lost in a fox forest. You found me." She cried with relief when she saw her brother's face still chubby with baby fat.
"You were obsessed with fairies. In most of the book, they lived in trees. So when I saw that hollowed-out tree. I knew you were there." He ran to the tree despite his parents telling him not to because an animal was probably living there.
"I thought I was going to have to get adopted by wolves." She remembers her childhood imagination working in overdrive.
"I thought you were eaten by them." He smiles at the memory that felt like centuries ago.
"You know when I think of Archie Andrew. I don't think of the popular jock or the sensitive musician. I think of the brother who would do anything for me without thinking about the consequences. He went to the tree even though a rabid raccoon could have been there. He ran on the ice to get me out when he could have easily gone under too." She didn't care how much his personality changed. She knew his moral code would always stay the same.
He turned his head to kiss her forehead. "You'll always be my sister who takes care of everyone. I may come in when the times are hard but you are there every day keeping things running."
The siblings stare at the stars in silence until they fall asleep. Sweet Pea came out and covered them with a blanket before driving them home.
"When can I see him?" She meets Jughead at his locker.
"Soon," He didn't look up from searching for the math textbook.
She stared at the side of his head. Fangs were able to set up a meeting with the Gargoyle King. It turned out to be Tall Boy. Jughead wants to keep it under wraps even within the gang, so Fangs and Sweet Pea have been on guard duty. "When are you going to decide on what to do with Tall Boy?" She was tired of being kept away from her loved ones.
"I don't know. It's not an easy decision to kill a man." He whispers.
"He doesn't seem like a problem that will stay away." He had shown Tall Boy mercy before and he kept coming back to cause problems.
"He is not a mastermind." Jughead didn't see him as much of a threat.
"Well, you can't keep him in the bunker forever." She felt like they got all the information they could out of him, so now they were wasting time and money.
"Tonight, my dad and I will take over guard duty so you can get to see them." He offers.
"Good." She walked away when the bell rang.
Abby was in a good mood. She was going to see her boyfriend and friend. She was making individual chicken pot pies, coleslaw, and street corn. For dessert, she was baking a cookie and cream brownie. Tessie was insisting on tasting everything to make sure it was good. She was sitting on the island counter, licking the mixing bowl. They heard the door opening and a familiar voice filled the house. "Where are the princesses?" They ran to the door to wrap him in a hug.
"Fangs." She lay a big kiss on his cheek.
"Daddy." She giggles when Fangs spin her around. "I've been cooking all day for you." She said after he rested her on his hip.
"Oh, you been?" He raised his eyebrows.
"Yeah, mommy helped some." She put her head on his shoulder.
Abby looked at Sweets in disbelief. He was holding back his laugh as he watched Tessie butter Fangs up in a way only a daddy's girl could do to her father.
After taking the pot pies out and putting the brownies in, they sat down around the table. "So, have you been studying for the SAT?" She asked him.
"Do I need to?" He opened his pie to let it cool down.
"That's what I said." Sweet had studied to compromise, but he didn't see himself going to college.
"It's just for options." She shrugs.
"If it makes you feel better then we can study tonight." He didn't want a fight on his first night back.
"Yes, I made flash cards." She clapped.
Abby was at the Serpent's tent village. They were throwing a large party. "I don't know how this is supposed to work." Fangs wasn't enjoying himself. It was a cover to get Tall Boy's dead body out of the bunker.
She was having a good time, karma came for two horrible people today. Hiram gets shot and then Fangs accidentally kills Tall Boy. She didn't know what Jughead's plan was but he said he had experience. She didn't need to know the details, just that he could get the job done. "Why bring more people here? There is no way, someone is not going to see." Sweet Pea had too much to lose. He had a girlfriend and a kid now.
Jughead came around to check on them. "We're freaking out, dude." Fang didn't need to tell him, he could see that.
"Hey, just keep it together, guys, okay? It was an accident. As far as anyone knows, Tall Boy's been exiled. I exiled him." He hissed. They were going to blow the whole thing. They stutter out in protest. "Relax, okay? Just grab a drink. And party like your lives depend on it. " He hands them each a beer. He climbed onto the hood of a truck. "Serpents... we have a lot to celebrate!" The crowd cheered. "We finally unmasked our foe, the Gargoyle King! Hiram Lodge, the Man in Black, is down for the count!"
"Yeah." Sweet Pea cheered like he normally would.
"Yeah. And tonight, we're welcoming back one of our own... Fangs Fogarty!" He pointed at the teen. Sweets patted his back. Abby hugged him. She reached up to squeeze his cheeks when he wasn't coming out of his panic state.
"Serpents! Serpents! Serpents!" They chant.
A siren wailed and a sheriff's car pulled up. "Oh, God, they know about Tall Boy." Fangs whispers.
"I didn't know they named a new sheriff." She waited to see who was going to come out of the car.
Everyone's jaw dropped. "Dad?" Jugs blink, not believing his eyes.
"Sheriff Jones now, boy." He winks. "Listen up! You're looking at the new law in Riverdale." Fang's cheers were real this time. He knew that FP would never arrest him. Jughead wanted to know why Hermione named him sheriff. While Abby was wondering the same thing, she was going to celebrate tonight.
FP went around the party, greeting everyone. "Making the police uniform look good." She took off his hat to put it on.
"Don't flirt with him. He changed your diapers." Sweet took the hat off to smack her in the back of the head with it.
"I agree, you're looking like a zaddy." Fangs grab the hat to put it on.
"I don't know what that means but thanks." He took the hat back. "Now behave kids, I would hate to have to put you in the back of the squad car." He winks before walking away.
"But, I'd love to be at your mercy in handcuffs." She yelled.
"Oh yeah, bend me over that squad car and pat me down." Fangs hollers.
"Alright." Sweet Pea covers their mouths. "You two have no shame when you're tipsy."
She removed his hand. "Someone jealous that they may not be our main guy anymore."
"Please, the old man couldn't keep up with me." He posed like he was in a bodybuilder competition.
"We have to compare before we know for sure." Fang's spirits were completely lifted.
"Get out of here." Sweets push his face. They began a playful grapple. Abby took bets on who would win.