Another chapter! I even beat any reviews in getting here (unless the site is glitching more than it seems to be - in which case, sorry! I did not receive any notes if you did send them!), so please just accept my thanks for reading along. I appreciate it and I hope you enjoy this chapter!

-Button

00000

Archie stretched, yawning. It was early, but he felt fantastically energized and eager to kick off day two of the tour.

"Gunnar, let's go for a run," Archie suggested, throwing off the covers and then, when he did not receive a response, throwing his pillow at his roommate.

"Ow. But hey, that sounds amazing. You can get mobbed and I can get kidnapped by a crazed fan who will hobble me and-,"

"Ha. Jughead loves that movie. Book? Movie. Maybe both. And no, I meant in the gym here in the hotel, since Brand looked like he's going to have a heart attack if we make any more headlines before tonight's concert." Archie laughed to himself. "He needs a breather or else he's going to spontaneously combust."

"Sure. Give the man a breather." Gunnar's tone was dry. "I will refrain from alerting the media."

"You and Jughead and movies, man," Archie said, grinning when Gunnar glared. "You two would probably get along if you ever talked to each other."

"You and I don't get along and we talk to each other," Gunnar pointed out.

Archie chuckled. "Your jokes are really similar too."

Gunnar sighed longsufferingly and picked up his phone.

"I'm not complaining. He's been my best friend forever; you're in good company." Archie got up and started getting dressed for a run.

Just then there was a knock on their door.

"Boys, you should get dressed and ready to go. We'll have a quick breakfast in the hotel, but then we're leaving," Archie's mother said through the door.

Archie groaned. "I guess I'll have to get a run in at the next place. If we have time."

"Oh, if you want a run, why don't you pack up and then head right down to the gym? I'll pack you a breakfast to eat on the road."

"Really?" Archie lit up.

"Veronica's already down there with Agent Quinn."

That was weird. But cool. "Sure, yeah. I'll go join them. Are you in, Gunnar?"

"Sure. Why not."

"Make sure you're completely packed before you do." They heard his mother move away from the door after that.

"Jughead must be running on fumes," Gunnar said, holding up his phone. "And Davies might have that heart attack after all."

"Wait, the article is out?" Archie cheered up instantly. "Let me see."

There was another knock on the door.

"Archie?"

"Yeah, Mom?"

"I just got a phone call. We need to make some decisions. May I come in?"

Gunnar and Archie exchanged wide-eyed looks.

"Just a second," Archie said and they both scrambled to make the room presentable. "What… uh, what kind of decisions?"

"About adding several concerts to the tour." There was a smile in his mother's voice; it sounded like she both knew Archie's likely answer and supported it.

"Are you serious?" Gunnar yelped. "Yes. No decision necessary; no meeting necessary. Of course the answer is yes."

"Well. Let me explain all the details before we make decisions," Mary said, but now she was laughing. That was a very good sign.

A moment later Archie had the door open. "Do we need to call Dad for this? I'm good with it, but extending the tour might be hard on him."

"That's part of what we need to discuss; we wouldn't be extending the tour. We'd be adding extra concerts in the same number of days. So we do need to think about this, since it would be a lot of work."

"We're already doubling up twice," Gunnar said dismissively, as if that resolved the question. "It's no problem."

"That's actually why I think we should take a few moments to think this through."

Gunnar stopped short. "Oh. Okay. Yeah, I guess that's fair. But we're completely good for it, Mrs. A."

"Now, the contract says you have to, so that's one factor." Mary seemed to ignore Gunnar's assurances. "And this morning Breaking Fast made the decision to go from two additional concerts to three."

"Because of this, yeah?" Gunnar held up his phone. "Jughead rocked it. It's everywhere this morning."

"It had some help, since Veronica – and the tour – has gone viral, but yes. The decision to add a third concert was because the article is already getting a lot of positive attention," Archie's mother confirmed.

"Well, if our contract says we have to do it, then we have to do it." Archie frowned, puzzled. "So what are we discussing?"

"That's just the contract. If altering the tour schedule isn't the right move for everyone, I'll speak to the band and we'll work it out."

Archie was surprised; his mother sounded completely confident that the contract would be meaningless in the face of opposition. Huh.

Gunnar shot Archie an impressed look. "I guess this is why we pay her the big bucks."

Archie smiled at that. "I still say we do it. Want me to go get Veronica so we can have a meeting? Kevin's with his dad, right?"

"Kevin's not really part of-," Gunnar started to object, but then saw Mary's face and stopped. When he continued, his tone was subdued, though still mildly sarcastic. "Yeah. Kevin's bunking in with the sheriff."

Archie shot Gunnar a quick look. "Sheriff Keller's cool."

"So says the Northside."

Archie's mother cleared her throat.

"I will be the one to talk to Tom and Kevin. Then, yes, I think the meeting should be just you three." Mary inclined her head to acknowledge Gunnar's point. "Let's meet here in ten minutes."

"Yes ma'am," Gunnar said, this time more meekly. "Let's go get Veronica, Archie."

They made their way straight to the elevators.

00000

Veronica was excited about the news; she was also in the middle of an intense workout with not just Agent Sarah, but also Betty, Alice, and Mrs. Lodge.

"Wow, that's amazing! Of course we should say yes. It's in our contract – and it's a good move for us if they can fill the venues." Veronica was more upbeat than she'd been when they'd all gone to bed the previous evening, which was reassuring to Archie.

She turned to her mother, Betty, and Alice. "You all should finish training with Agent Sarah. I'm the only one who needs to go discuss this."

"Well, I'd also like to hear more details before we sign on for anything," Hermione said soberly. "But yes, this does sound like good news. I'll gather our things while you go find out the details, Veronica."

While Mrs. Lodge collected Veronica's gym bag, Agent Sarah sent the three teens toward the elevators while she met up with Brand and Jughead. They were apparently already packed and leaving for the next venue.

"Does Jon ever sleep?" Veronica asked, carefully using Jughead's tour name since they were walking through the hotel. "The article had to have been written after the concert last night. Which means he wrote it after he got done working security. Even if he wrote it in an hour flat, which I highly doubt, that would mean-,"

Veronica fell silent as they stepped into an elevator car and then turned around to face the lobby that they were leaving.

A tall, familiar figure was exiting another elevator and walking away from them toward the hotel doors. He was carrying what appeared to be an unconscious human.

"Huh. Well, there's your confirmation. I guess he does sleep," Gunnar said with a brief, surprised laugh.

Archie exchanged worried looks with Veronica as the elevator doors closed. "Was that what it looked like?"

"I think we have to assume it is. We let things go once, and then…" Veronica's voice trailed off, but the silence spoke volumes.

"Yeah. No way is this happening a second time. Not on my watch." Archie felt his expression harden. "This isn't even the first thing Brand's pulled that I've seen. Who knows what else is going on."

"What?" Veronica was shocked. "What else happened?"

"He was watching Jughead sleep on his phone." Archie shook his head. "Let's go deal with stuff for the tour. Then I'm talking to my mother about Brand and Jug."

Veronica bit her lip hesitantly, but then she nodded. "Okay. We can start with that. Let me know what she says."

Gunnar raised an eyebrow at Archie and smirked. Apparently he had not yet realized that when Archie 'talked to his mother,' things actually got done.

"Hey," Veronic held her phone up. "Sarah helped me double-check all of my social media accounts last night, and we're going to sit down with your mom to figure out how to manage all of that-,"

Archie and Gunnar nodded; they'd all three been given very similar crash courses after their 'benefit concert' had catapulted them into more fame than they had anticipated.

"-but Max is cool, right? I shouldn't leave him hanging."

"How did you even see his request in all of that mess?" Gunnar asked, peering at her phone. "And yeah, that's him. He and I already connected online."

"I just noticed it last night when we were going over everything. Updating passwords and all." Veronica shrugged one shoulder. "Agent Sarah was curious, so she took a look at his profiles. I think she's a little concerned that Max is online."

"Did she tell us not to talk to Max?" Archie asked, pulling out his own phone and clicking past the tour app that he had taken to leaving open on his phone – it had proven very entertaining so far.

"No. She thought it might even be good for us all to connect, just not get too deep into anything. She said that if anything gets weird, we should talk to her." Veronica's hand hovered over the button to follow Max.

"Yeah, here he is," Archie said, locating Max's profile. "I just confirmed him."

"Well, he's on everything, so you'll have to find all his profiles," Gunnar corrected. "It's basically the same information on each platform, but it looks like he's being thorough."

"Okay. I'll look for him," Archie said. "You should too, V. Jughead isn't online, so we're probably the only people he knows."

Veronica nodded. "It would be nice to help if we can."

Gunnar looked from one to the other, displeased. "Don't do that."

"Do what?" Veronica asked. She clicked on Max's profile to make sure they were now connected online. "We're only saying-,"

"Just… be cool." Gunnar held his hands up, as if to indicate he didn't have anything more to offer. "You know?"

"Not really," Archie said dryly.

"I mean… don't be friends with him just to 'help,'" Gunnar elaborated. "Be friends to be friends."

"Of course," Veronica said quickly. "That's what we're doing. He's a person, not a charity case."

Archie studied Gunnar for a few seconds, though, before he responded. "Yeah, man. I hear you."

Gunnar met Archie's gaze and nodded. "Thanks."

Veronica studied Gunnar, wondering if she was correct in identifying some condescension in his tone. "Archie gets it. More than anyone else, he knows what friendship is, and how to keep that separate from pity or circumstances or-,"

"Whoa." Archie draped his arm around Veronica's shoulders and he squeezed her gently. "I think you might be overpromising. But thanks."

Veronica wound her own arm around Archie's ribcage, for reassurance as much as anything else; seeing Jughead passed out and being spirited out of the hotel by Brand Davies was like a nightmarish flashback to what they'd never witnessed – but now knew had happened right under their noses.

"Definitely overpromising." Gunnar's smile was teasing, and maybe his words were even his twisted way of agreeing, but it didn't matter: Veronica's spine stiffened.

"Why don't you try asking any of the many adults who tried to get through to Jughead after the absolute carnage he'd witnessed, including being tortured, and thinking he'd lost everything and everyone that he cared about forever." Veronica's tone was sharper than she'd known she was capable of achieving. "Archie did what nobody else could. He showed up for his best friend."

Gunnar looked amused.

That made Veronica want to wipe the expression off of his face, once and for all. "You think all of that is funny?"

"Not at all. I think it's what I like best about Andrews." Gunnar's tone was light and still teasing, but his eye contact was suddenly intense. "I'm sorry I tried to tell you how to be friends with someone who's been traumatized. It's obvious, and I mean that sincerely, that you both have that down."

"Aw, don't say that; you're not traumatized," Archie drawled with a grin. This time his arm dropped around Gunnar. "You just needed someone who understood you."

"Ohhh, finally I know what I needed… and let me guess: that someone was you?" Gunnar laughed.

"Of course. Who else has half as much in common with you?" Archie couldn't keep from laughing as well.

Veronica was slightly appeased now that Gunnar had made it clear that he was not attacking Archi, though she could still feel her pulse in her temples. The elevator opened on their floor, and Veronica wondered how on earth Archie could be joking after what they'd just seen–

"Hey! Mom!" Archie was out of the elevator before the doors had fully opened. "I need to talk to you for a minute."

Veronica watched Archie's back as he jogged away down the hall, losing no time in having that conversation with Mrs. A.

Okay, then.

"Man on a mission." Gunnar stepped out of the elevator and waited for Veronica to follow. "Whatever he's doing, he turns it up to eleven."

This time Veronica was pleased to see Gunnar was not even attempting to be humorous.

"He certainly does."

"It's something you two have in common." Gunnar gave Veronica a rakish half smile. "I gotta admit, I'm hoping some of that will rub off on me."

"You-," Veronica caught herself before she reflexively said that Gunnar was also a hard worker. A dedicated musician. She was not sure how true that was. He was talented and must be a hard worker behind closed doors to be as successful a drummer as he was, but Veronica had personally witnessed a lot more of his attitude and impulsive behavior than anything. "You'll get there."

"Thanks." Gunnar pretended to tip a hat at her. "Now let's go commit to upholding the contract we already signed, shall we?"

"Let's." Veronica nodded agreeably. "After Archie's had a minute to talk to Mrs. Andrews."

"But of course."

00000

"Brandon talked to me. He made the decision to take Jughead to the next hotel early so that he could sleep in the car and hopefully get a little more rest overall. It's entirely possible that Jughead isn't feeling well."

"Or he was drugged." Archie made a frustrated gesture with his hands. "Did you talk to Jug this morning? Directly?"

"No, but we'll see him early this afternoon. I can talk to him then if you like." Archie's mother regarded him with more than a little concern. "How are you doing? You seem awfully ready to think the worst, especially considering how well you've gotten to know Special Agent Davies this year."

Archie didn't think that was fair at all.

"This is not about thinking the worst, Mom. It's about making sure everything's okay. You weren't around when we missed everything happening last fall. We should have known, but at the same time… it wasn't super obvious."

Archie's mother sat down on the bed and patted the mattress beside her. Archie obediently sat beside her and, when she wrapped an arm around him, he leaned in gratefully.

"That sounds tricky." Mary's voice was sympathetic. "Let me make sure I understand. There was enough going on that you feel guilty for missing it, but it was subtle enough that you worry you could miss it again?"

Archie shook his head, but he was not entirely sure how to disagree with that assessment.

"No. I think it… sometimes something is obvious, but people still don't do anything. I mean, Brand walked through the hotel carrying Jughead, who was completely passed out. I mean, that's not subtle. And just because Brand isn't trying to hide it, that doesn't mean everything's okay."

This time his mother nodded, and it seemed like she was seriously considering Archie's words.

"That is sadly true; it sounds like you mean the bystander effect. And you're right that the most brazen lies can sometimes be the most effective."

Archie made a face.

"But even so, in this case, it still sounds to me like you don't really think Brandon would do anything." Mary held up a hand when Archie made a sound of protest. "That's just what it sounds like. I also understand that you don't want to be a person who ignores something troubling."

Archie shrugged, frustrated. "I mean, last time it was Brand and Jughead. And it did kind of look like this. Not that we ever saw him drug Jughead, or watch him sleep on his phone, or-,"

"So… maybe it's not exactly like last time?"

Archie sighed, but the silence that followed was thoughtful.

"You know," Mary said carefully, "it would be really foolish of Special Agent Davies to have Jughead stay up really late, then drug him, then literally carry him through the hotel where everyone's having breakfast."

Mary was studying Archie closely. "A brazen lie can be effective, it's true, but all of that sounds unnecessary and risky. Even at his worst, I don't see Brandon being that careless."

That made sense. A lot of sense.

Archie felt a small smile of relief creeping over his face. "Yeah, I guess that does seem kind of dumb, even for him. I guess… I saw something bizarre, and I haven't been thinking clearly."

"It makes sense. What you saw is troubling," Mary quickly reassured him. "And I'm not saying don't talk to Jughead about it. It sounds like he's exhausted and he might really be doing poorly if he wasn't able to walk to the car."

Now that Archie's mother was not talking him down on the subject of Davies, she looked worried too.

"We-ell… Brand does haul him around from time to time, usually when they're training or goofing off or whatever," Archie admitted. "Also, Jug can be a sound sleeper. And he was probably up crazy late writing that article."

"Well, there you go." Mary smiled gently. "But I still think you should tell him you were worried. That will let you clear the air; he can probably tell you exactly what happened, which would be good for you to hear. And it might be nice for him to hear that both you and Veronica are looking out for him."

"And FP, and Agent Sarah," Archie added pointedly.

"Ye-es, them too. And a lot of other people." Mary looked confused by Archie singling them out.

"No, I mean, FP and Agent Sarah were both there in the lobby this morning. They both saw what was going on, and they were talking to Brand."

"Oh. Well." This time Mary's smile was relieved – and knowing. "Then my guess is we don't need to worry about the bystander effect. You probably won't even be the first person to talk to Jughead about this, will you?"

Archie snorted as another thought occurred to him. "No. That'll probably be Dad."

It came out sarcastically. Maybe it even sounded bitter. Archie didn't like that he sounded that way, but he didn't try to walk his statement back either: it was legitimately getting annoying how much Jughead heard from Fred while Archie was trying to make it through the biggest tour of his career so far – with just brief facetime conversations here and there, all of which seemed to take place immediately after a scheduled conversation with Jug.

Archie knew that his tone might bother his mother; his mother suddenly looked far too worried, though.

"Wait, what's wrong? Is something the matter with Dad?" Archie demanded.

"No. I mean… not really. Well, he's had a setback. A minor one." Mary spoke quickly when she saw the look on Archie's face. "It doesn't sound bad at all, Archie. He was walking the dogs, and he thinks he stepped wrong."

"Vegas and Never?" Archie felt sick. "Why? Neither of them needs walks. He can just let them out in the backyard. That was the whole reason why-,"

"Apparently Jughead thought Never might benefit from stepping up her training."

Archie inhaled sharply through his nose.

"Your father makes his own decisions, Arch," Mary said gently. "And he described it as just a bad step. It doesn't sound serious, but he's in a lot of pain."

Archie let out a gusty exhale.

"Well, I guess that's fine. It's all good, isn't it? I mean, just as long as Never is getting her training stepped up."

As Archie watched his mother's expression harden, he could hear the echo of his own tone. It was sarcastic. It was bitter. It would hurt his mother to hear him talk that way.

Only this time Archie could not bring himself to care. Instead, he gave voice to the other words bubbling up inside of himself: "It's not like anyone else is doing what they're supposed to be doing. Not as long as Jughead needs or wants something, right? Is Brand even here, doing his job? Oh yeah, that's right, he's-,"

"Archie." Mary's voice was steely. "You are only here on tour because Brandon Davies agreed to come. Your father-,"

Archie heard the scoff come out of his own mouth, even though he knew it was a terrible idea.

"Your father and I," Mary repeated herself – and finished the phrase – pointedly before continuing, "both thought he would be helpful, and since you are a minor we are the ones employing him."

Archie glowered but kept his mouth shut. He knew from experience that anything he said right now could (and would) be used against him.

"Who is Sarah Masterson?" Mary asked suddenly. "Do you know?"

"Uh… I'm not sure?" Archie was thrown by the question. "Is she part of the tour security team?"

"No." Archie's mother was watching him closely, maybe even with some concern. "She took a photo when you were jogging yesterday."

"Oh." Archie made an unimpressed face. "Is this where you tell me that Brand is way on top of tour security, even though-,"

"She created a website where she posts real time information about your location."

Archie froze. "She does?"

"It was not random that she was there, although I imagine she was shocked when you went running outdoors, alone." Now there was no mistaking the worry in Mary's voice. "Brandon's been giving me written reports on that and other factors I asked him to share as they arise."

"What other factors?" Archie demanded. "What does Brand know about the tour that he's not telling the band?"

"He, Sarah, and Jughead are investigating several disturbing trends that they've personally observed or been alerted to," Archie's mother explained vaguely, but then her eyes narrowed with a warning. "They already have a disturbing folder of comments made about Veronica in the last fourteen hours."

Archie reached out unthinkingly, but then let his hand drop; of course it was not a physical folder. These would be digital documents that had been shared among the adults. "Forward me all of it."

Mary laughed wryly. "Absolutely not. It's overwhelming even for me; I'm actually planning to ask them to send me a much briefer report each day now that I understand what I asked them for. Sarah tried to warn me, and she was right. It's a lot of noise and very little of it is worth thinking about."

"Let me be the judge of-,"

"No. We hired Brandon to be the judge of that, along with his team. They are the professionals." Mary shook her head firmly. "You need to trust your teams, Archie."

Archie took a deep breath and let it out slowly. "How can I trust them when you tell me all of this is going on?"

The tour suddenly seemed like a gauntlet, full of unseen dangers. Archie felt a surge of anger that he'd been made to see it that way; this was his dream, and it was supposed to be an amazing experience in every way.

"Because they didn't miss it," Mary said simply. "They are doing their jobs so that you can do yours."

Archie's thoughts returned to his father, set back on his recovery due to walking the dogs that he'd been left home alone with. His hard feelings suddenly melted; maybe his father had just felt the need to have a job of his own in a more meaningful way. "Can I call Dad?"

"Let's have that band meeting first," Mary suggested. "But then, yes, I think he'd like to hear from you and talk to you. I think he's lonely and a little bored."

"Thus the ill-fated walk," Archie supplied.

Mary smiled tightly. "I think so."

Archie nodded, privately resolving to stop blaming Jughead for what other people were doing and choosing.

It was actually kind of weird how ready he was to blame Jug, Archie reflected uncomfortably, but he shook off the thought - his friend was just in the middle of everything.

"I'll go get Veronica and Gunnar."

00000

Jughead couldn't contain his grin any longer as they walked through the hospital gift shop.

"Well. We obviously need to talk," Brand said firmly. "But let's wait for Penn to get here, huh?"

"There's not much to talk about, actually. He can take over for now," Jughead said blithely, reaching for a particularly soft-looking teddy bear.

Brand snorted, giving Jughead an incredulous look.

"I'm serious. I handled things." Jughead turned back toward Brand. "I'll fill you in later. Right now I need to talk to Penn, though, and you're going to get sick of hanging around with me here. Besides, security problem much?"

Jughead motioned with the bear between himself, Brand, and Agent Sarah.

"Well, then, it's a good thing that we're just backup security and the entire band is secure in the hotel. You're sure that you aren't hurt?" Brand made a grab for Jughead so he could make a personal inspection of his godson. "That's not the only factor, either. For instance, do I need to go deal with Dax? You need to rewrap your wrists, too-,"

"Brand, let go of me. Like I said, I've got it under control. And we shouldn't all be here, even if we are the backup security team." Jughead tried to make a shooing motion, which would have been more effective were he not still holding a teddy bear while struggling in Brand's grasp. His godfather was making his usual checks – head, still intact. Neck, still there. "I'm fine. All you need to know is this: twenty-seven points."

Brand frowned, thinking about that number, and his hands stilled on Jughead's shoulders. "There are multiple possible-,"

"That's a five and a nine." Jughead smirked before continuing: "And a thirteen."

Brand cocked his head to one side, eyes narrowing, but he nodded slowly and let go of his godson.

Agent Sarah looked from Brand to Jughead and back again, clearly mystified and maybe also a little horrified. "What are you talking about?"

"Okay," Brand said reluctantly, ignoring Agent Sarah. "You're right that's all I need to know right now; we can discuss details later. But we're not leaving until-,"

"Hi Penn!" Jughead waved to the figure behind Brand and Agent Sarah.

It would have been more of a relief to see his dad arrive had FP not looked like he was prepared to rip someone limb from limb.

"Why are we in a gift shop?" It sounds a whole lot like FP was stopping himself from saying more, no doubt some variation on 'instead of beating someone to a pulp?'

"Stand down; apparently everything's fine. He'll explain. Twenty-seven points, huh?" Brand finally seemed able to relax enough to crack a smile. "The debrief on that is gonna be good."

"It's gonna be great," Jughead corrected his godfather. He turned to Agent Sarah, dropping his voice low. "I'll explain later."

"You'd better. I'm getting tired of being told that and then never getting the full story." Agent Sarah's words should have seemed irritated. Her tone was mild, though, and even though she had looked bewildered and concerned since they'd met up inside the venue, she seemed to be making an effort to relax – and to bite her tongue. That was helpful; she wasn't going to blow their cover by asking a million questions in public.

It also made Jughead feel a little bad.

Nevertheless, he had one more request for her. He tipped his head toward Brand: "You'll keep him safe for me, right?"

Sarah's expression relaxed and she smiled affectionately. "I'll make you a deal if you can promise to do the same." Sarah motioned to FP.

Jughead nodded, returning the smile and avoiding looking at Brand. His godfather got weird when Agent Sarah talked about FP. "You got it. Now, both of you should probably go do your job. Jobs."

FP folded his arms and regarded Jughead with concern while the two FBI agents left. "Why am I here?"

"You're here for insurance purposes. I got injured; you're the person who can most easily reach my mother."

Jughead figured his flip tone and specific wording should make it obvious that the whole thing was an elaborate extension of their cover story.

"How long are we needed at the hospital?" FP asked.

Jughead was pleased; his father was clearly following all of this without difficulty.

"I'll ask Brand." Jughead texted Brand that he hoped to be back at the venue within two hours.

Brand snappily texted back that he'd be shocked if it took fewer than four.

"Four hours," Jughead informed FP. "Give or take."

"Huh." FP flared his nostrils but then shrugged with an air of resignation. "Alrighty."

"Oh, here. You've got some texts from someone. It sounds important." Jughead handed his phone to his father and then placed the teddy bear back on the shelf before he began looking around the gift shop once more while FP scrolled through the device. "I need a favor from you, too. One you can't tell Brand about."

"Done." FP's reply was so immediate and matter of fact that Jughead wondered if he's misheard him.

"I need you to, um, promise," Jughead said slowly.

"Done," FP repeated, looking up from the phone to give Jughead a serious look. "You and Brandon have suddenly got some sort of points system, a new incident involving four hours in a hospital, and God only knows what else that you've arranged with him and not told me about – since we're apparently not going to discuss this morning in the hotel."

Jughead blanched; he wasn't sure what had happened in the hotel, beyond him having no memory of how he'd gotten to the car and Brand's assurances that he'd explained to FP. Which now seemed like they may or may not have been the truth.

"Simmer down. It's fine." FP's voice softened. "It's probably good. My point is, if you two can do all of that without reading me in, then I can do you a favor without telling him."

That should have been good news, but the note of jealousy in his father's voice gave Jughead a vicious jolt of guilt. "I didn't mean to-,"

"Jon. I've come to trust Brandon, at least as far as I can drop kick him. I'm trying very hard to trust the insane dynamic when the two of you are together, even though that's where you both tend to spin out." FP rested a hand on Jughead's shoulder and looked down at him seriously. "It's fine."

When Jughead presumably looked unconvinced, FP lowered his voice still further and continued.

"I'm not an idiot. We're in need-to-know territory, and things are changing quickly on the ground. You need to act fast to keep your cover intact. And, for the record, I can roll with a whole lot more than you two have come up with so far." There was pride and maybe even a challenge in FP's voice this time.

Jughead blinked. "Well… Okay. Uh, that's good."

"So… What's the favor?"

"Well," Jughead motioned to the phone that was still open to his text messages, "I need to get out from under the Eye. Just for one thing, though, don't worry."

FP's eyebrows lowered, but he merely waited for Jughead to explain further.

"So I need to buy…" Jughead spotted what he'd been looking for and grabbed the nearest sheaf. "Aha. Here we go."

"Stationery? With Mickey Mouse on it?" FP frowned.

"Maybe not that one," Jughead looked down at the paper he'd picked up at random. "But yeah, stationery. And envelopes. And I'll need you to deliver the letters without reading them."

FP nodded somberly, holding up Jughead's phone. "Because of all this. You want me making deliveries to a certain blonde."

Jughead smiled. "Yes. To a certain blonde."

"It's a good workaround. And it's romantic," FP observed, reaching toward the stationery display and its myriad colors and designs. "Classy."

"Feel free to rip off my idea," Jughead joked as he turned toward the options himself and considered which ones Betty would most appreciate.

"Maybe I will."

Jughead looked up at his father in surprise.

"I've got a few hours to kill. Might as well do something different with them," FP said casually. "Try something new."

Jughead grinned as they both turned their attention to the fancy paper and envelopes.

00000

Sarah was alert as they left the hospital, watching as always for any sign of someone following Davies or watching him a little too closely.

She couldn't help but feel a little lighter, though. Something about the situation with Jughead had made it clear that Davies had a plan. He'd obviously coached Jughead, who was moving through bizarre, rapidly shifting circumstances with a brand-new attitude that suggested that the teen had been fully prepared, trained, and equipped before being sent out into the field.

Now, it didn't change the fact that Jughead should not be anywhere near "the field," or anything else remotely dangerous, but it gave Sarah a helpful insight and encouraging revelation: Brand had an uncanny ability to equip Jughead for situations. The man had a way of coaching the teen that brought poise and an almost preternatural readiness to the gangly, still-far-too-thin highschooler.

And something about the way Brand had reacted when the lights went out, sprinting immediately to where he apparently knew Jughead would be found, – and then his attitude after they had Jughead outside of the venue –, suggested strongly to Sarah that Davies did not want Jughead in the field either. The man was doing everything in his power to keep Jughead safe from any threats, and he seemed like he might even start considering bubble wrap in the very near future if any more 'incidents' arose on this tour.

Sarah wasn't sure how this all squared up, but she was increasingly convinced that Brand was extremely concerned about Jughead's safety. Sending the teenager into the machinations of the tour and forcing him to navigate such a grueling workload seemed profoundly unwise – Jughead was clearly not completely recovered yet – but perhaps the alternative meant Davies would have less supervision of the teen, or perhaps Jughead would be more visible outside of the strict confines of his role as embedded journalist on tour.

Maybe Brand thought there was more risk if Jughead was not at ground zero of the tour, because there was another – more dangerous – ground zero where the teenager could end up.

That was a chilling thought, if not a frankly paranoid one. Rose was gone, but Sarah couldn't help being reminded of the realities that she'd gradually and grudgingly had to face as she'd learned more and more details after the fact:

Brand had not bent over backwards to protect Jughead from Rose; no, Davies' maneuvers had been more reminiscent of a cirque du soleil-level contortionist as he fought to keep his godson safe from Rose.

Sarah didn't want that knowledge to influence her perspective on what Brand was doing now. Shady behavior should not indicate that some new threat to Jughead – one that was conveniently mysterious and hidden – existed.

But… she could not unsee all of that history when she saw some of the same behaviors.

Sarah didn't want to call it trust, but it was something like that. At the very least, she was finding it more and more difficult to distrust Davies by default.

It also felt significant that Jughead had seemed so at ease today. He'd appeared to be far more confident, happier, and more settled. In fact, he'd been almost gleeful about earning his "points," whatever that had meant.

It was particularly striking because Jughead had resembled a walking corpse the night before. Sarah had been concerned that he might even collapse, and that was before he had reportedly stayed up for hours writing and revising his article about the band and the tour.

That overnight turning of the tides was a miracle, and it was down to Davies. Brand had made Jughead get some sleep. He'd apparently created a game.

And, just like that, Brand had turned it all on its head; Jughead was back to being a survivor instead of a victim. He was recovering instead of injured. Everything about their dynamic abruptly accentuated the light instead of the shadows.

Davies had a touch, that was for sure.

Sarah was interrupted from her musings when she noticed a figure moving much too swiftly toward them on the crowded sidewalk. She reached for her sidearm and stepped between Brand and the approaching figure.

"Davies!" The figure waved. "Where's Jon?"

"Kent?" Brand waved back, confused but already smiling. "Hey, come with me. He's okay; I'll fill you in. And I'd really like to compare notes."

Sarah was relieved to recognize Clark. Her fingers dropped from her sidearm.

She also felt Brand's eyes skitter over her once – and then twice.

Davies might be making sure she'd let go of her gun, indicating that she no longer saw a potential threat.

But Sarah had a feeling he was also looking to see what her reaction was to seeing Clark.

Davies had also studied Sarah thoughtfully after she'd admonished Jughead to watch out for FP, apparently not realizing she was stealing moves from his playbook – giving Jughead responsibility and a positive focus for his energy.

Davies might be a genius when it came to Jughead, and a lucky fool when it came to his chosen line of work… but he could be a complete bumbling idiot when it came to Sarah Quinn.

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The site may be glitching (it appears to be glitching), so it looks like literally nobody is reading along. But I suspect you might be there, quietly reading anyway, for which you have my thanks. I hope you enjoyed! I will particularly love hearing any and all notes since it does feel like I'm in a void at the moment. :)

-Button