Betty let herself into the conference room that they had all sat in the day prior, where she had seen people she had hoped to never see again and listened to how another woman had been snatched off the streets – yet again. Hand holding coffee, her arms were cradling casefiles and she smiled gratefully as Sweet Pea hurried to assist her in setting them down on the table. She only looked at the other people in the room after straightening out her black blazer. Eyes traveling between Alice, FP, and Jughead, she noted they all looked tired, a feeling she was all too accustomed with. Nodding in the general direction of the coffee pot, Sweet Pea got the hint and went to turn it on as she settled herself in the chair across from them once more.
"Glen is handling things with head honcho," she said, tone business-like as her defense mechanisms kicked in and her walls crawled up and into place.Protect everything you have with all you got, Betty."He's given Agent Connor and me full reigns on this case as we're the ones who have been monitoring the trafficking-ring closely." Betty watched as FP opened his mouth and held up a hand so she could continue. "That being said, I feel it's imperative to say we've only been able to monitor what's been happening in our state and other agents have been monitoring what's been happening in theirs'."
"To follow up with what Agent Cooper has said, it begs the question why you haven't gone through the New York agency," Sweet Pea said, tone smooth and controlled as he handed out coffee before laying down a pile of cream and sugar packets. Waving his hand towards them, he inclined his head in their direction as if to say, "help yourselves", before turning his eyes back on the group once more, waiting for their answer.
"We knew Washington would be our best option," Jughead said, eyes never straying from Betty.
"Why?" Betty asked, tone as challenging as the stare he was leveling her with.
"You know why, Betty," Jughead said.
"Well, while Agent Cooper is the best there is, no questions asked, I'm afraid Ialsoget a say as her partner. You'll need to run ideas past me as well before I can just let my partner run off on this mission," Sweet Pea said calmly, staring at Jughead as intently as he was staring at Betty. Jughead eventually turned to look at Sweet Pea.
"Obviously, Agent Connor," he said in a tone to match his and Betty could feel the tension thick in the air. She understood Sweet Pea's tension unquestionably; after all, he did know about what happened. She couldn't understand Jughead's, however. Not in the mood with trying to figure it out, she swiftly moved the topic along.
"Where was she working?" Betty asked, looking at FP. "JB."
"She had picked up shifts at Pops to help save up money for college," FP said, eyes masked in pain and Betty knew a worried father when she saw one. She wasn't speaking from personal experience but had worked with enough of them over the years. Runaways; abductees; the list went on for the fathers she had to work with. Nodding, she jotted down the information.
"Why were you late, Jughead?" Betty asked. "I only ask because I need to know if it was because of something you did or if there was a reason set out to prevent you being late."
Sweet Pea didn't move much but the minute shift in his shoulders told her he too was thinking about the day he had been late. How his car had conveniently gotten a flat tire right before he needed to pick her up from a day of questioning victim's families and he couldn't get to her before the men had gotten to her. Two long, painful months of not knowing what her outcome would be and she had never been more relieved to see her best friend kick in the door of her cell she had been in, wrapping a blanket around her, screaming for a medic, and then begging her in quiet tones to stay with him as he lifted her up and carried her towards the ambulance himself. They had managed to arrest the men in Washington but that was the night they figured out just how far the operation had already spread. Contacting fellow agents throughout the country was all they were able to do at that point.
It seemed as Jughead had clocked the minute movement as much as Betty had because he was ignoring her question in favor of his own. "Is there something you two aren't saying?"
Alice and FP looked between the three of them curiously and Betty blew out a breath between her teeth as she shrugged.
"Don't really seewhyyou're concerned about us," she paused to flick a casual hand between her and Sweet Pea. "When you should be worried about the men who have your sister, but okay, I'll bite." She didn't hesitate to slide her blazer up her elbow, revealing an insignia that had been burned into her skin. "Recognize this?"
Alice paled. "Betty…what thehellis that?"
"I'll ask the questions, Alice," she kept her tone calm, eyes still on Jughead, awaiting his answer.
"You'd be wise to answer, Jones," Sweet Pea said. "If you want all the help possible in finding JB."
He shook his head. "I haven't ever seen that."
Betty studied him before nodding as she lowered her sleeve back down. "Thisis whatthey, the traffickers, brand the women with."
It was deathly silent for a moment before Jughead spoke up, voice shaking.
"You-you were kidnapped?" Jughead asked, shaking his head as if trying to make sense of what she was saying.
Betty shrugged as if to say worse things have happened and Sweet Pea cleared his throat, simultaneously redirecting the conversation and giving Betty a moment to gather her thoughts once more.
"There was a reason Agent Cooper asked if you were late due to your own reasons or if you got held up for something else. A friend that needed something or a random stranger needing help," Sweet Pea said.
Looking at Betty for a moment longer, Jughead eventually met Sweet Pea's look. "A woman was stranded on the side of the road and I waited with her while she made a call for someone to come pick her up. I texted JB saying I was going to be ten minutes late if that. Then the woman got picked up and I went on to go get JB."
It was silent as Betty and Sweet Pea looked at each other and it was only when FP spoke up did they focus their attention once more on the other three in the room.
"You guys aren't telling me that this woman was apart of what happened?" FP asked, tone filled with pure disbelief.
"It's not…unheard of for a woman to be the means of distraction in cases like these," Betty said.
"I got a flat tire the day I needed to pick Betty up," Sweet Pea said, tone calm but there was an underlining tension he still held about the whole ordeal. "Turned out, that was the way they worked to get her on her own."
"How hasnobodypicked up on this happening?" Alice demanded, tone quivering but Betty didn't know if it was JB's safety that was in question or for what happened to Betty. Or both.
"It's a messy world, the seedy underground of trafficking, Ms. Cooper," Sweet Pea said. "We've been working on tracking down as many victims as we can and getting them returned home safely."
"And, if you can't find JB?" Jughead asked, and Betty fought a wince at how desperate he sounded. She may not care for him as far as she was concerned, but she knew he loved his sister fiercely. She respected that.
"We'll find her," she said, looking at him directly. "You guys obviously trusted your gut instinct enough to reach out to us here instead of the agents in New York. I need you to extend that trust a bit more and have faith that Agent Connor and I will doeverythingin our power to make sure we get her home."
Sweet Pea tapped his knuckles on the table, eyeing Jughead for a moment. "Jones – I ran the streets at one point. Agent Cooper was the one that got me off them. Bare that in mind. I know how to fight in two ways: FBI training and street smarts."
She watched as some of the tension rolled off both Jughead and FP's shoulders as the two men nodded. "Thanks, Agent Connor."
Jughead didn't seem thrilled to be thanking him but he did so, regardless, and again, Betty was curious just exactly what his issue with him was. She knew Sweet Pea's, but Jughead didn't have any reason to have an issue with him. She took the final sip of her coffee before opening one of the files on the table at last.
"This man, John Garcia, his name sound familiar?" Betty asked, looking at FP, then Alice, and finally Jughead, watching as they all looked at the picture.
"I've never seen him," FP said, shaking his head. "He run this operation?"
"He has someone he answers to but yes, he's the man who calls the main shots," Betty said. Her mind strayed to when the man in question had been on top of her, grinning a ruthless grin as her drug addled brain told her to fight but her limbs were too weak to follow through with that order. As if sensing her thoughts, Sweet Pea looked at her, a brief question flickering through his eyes, and she nodded.
"Was, he, uh, was he involved with your…kidnapping?" Alice asked, voice stumbling over the words as if she herself was still trying to understand what happened. Then – "Betty, I wish you had called me."
"Haven't talked in ten years, Alice," Betty said indifferently. "There was no reason to call. And, yeah, he played a part. No, I will not go into details because, to be quite frank, it's no one's business but mine. He's currently sitting in a cell, waiting his sentencing. But, we're trying to pump him for more information – figure out who he answered to. He wants to make a deal with the DA and we're trying to avoid that. Though, I think we'll need to rearrange how we handle that now JB is gone." This was added as she looked at Sweet Pea, who clenched his jaw. He was the one who knew what John did.
"Fuck," he sighed, rubbing a hand over his face before nodding. "Yeah, alright. I'll schedule a meeting with Annie. But, fucker isnotgetting the option of parole with good behavior. He'll get a life sentence instead of two and he'll be grateful."
Betty hummed her approval before looking down at the file once more, shutting it a moment later and looking at FP. "You guys decide if you're staying in Washington?"
"Yeah, we're not leaving until we get JB back," FP said, and she cautiously held up a hand, a warning rising to the surface.
"FP, just because you guys were smart enough to seek us out, does not mean JB is in Washington," she said. "I'm sorry, but you need to be prepared to know that she could be anywhere in the country. With that being said, we've already reached out to contacts in other states. They, along with some members of different police departments, have been informed with this new case."
FP exhaled slowly, hands shaking. "I understand. Just, please Betty, find my baby girl."
Her heart clenched and she nodded. "I will, you have my word."
They wrapped things up shortly after, agreeing to meet up later that evening and as everyone was getting ready to head out, Alice paused, turning to face Betty.
"Betty?" Alice asked, hand raising as if to cup her cheek, but she stopped her movement and slowly lowered her arm back to her side. "I'm sorry I didn't know that my own baby girl was missing. And, I-I hope you feel comfortable enough one day to share what happened."
Betty shrugged. "Long story, old wounds. We'll find JB though."
With that, she walked out of the room, Sweet Pea following her as the others left, the air filled with a certain heaviness that hadn't permeated it since the day before yesterday.
"Come on, Betty," Sweet Pea said softly. "Let's go get something to eat."
She nodded, eyes glistening as she watched the people she would have once died for leave the building. Not knowing how to make sense of her emotions and what she was feeling, she did what she did best, and pushed them down, turning to catch Sweet Pea's concerned look. "Yeah, food sounds good." Nothing more needed to be said as he understood that shecouldn'tsay anything. Instead, he just led her out of Headquarters and down the street to a deli they frequented, both knowing it was going to be a long night of going over casefiles.
Author's note:Enjoy!