July 30th, 2018

Hiram's death had been shocking, but people managed to get over it. Or, at least people besides his immediate family. Hiram's death was noble in its final moments. It was easy to put his death to rest in their minds, leaving him wandering around the forests around Lodge Lodge forever.

Smither's death had rocked the entire group, no matter how much Hermione so desperately tried to pretend it hadn't.

It was not only Veronica. The entire troop was rattled and uneasy and there was a sense of wariness about everything. The idea that even a paper cut could lead to sepsis and lead to death and then more than likely lead to coming back to try to kill your friends was...disturbing.

The raids outside ceased. They remained holed up for ten days, just ghosting around each other like ships in the night, quiet and reflective on everything they'd ever done leading up to this moment.

Death always knocked on Veronica's door, even before this. But now it was pounding on everyone else's and asking 'what have you done with your meager existence so far'. And, unfortunately, a lot of people were coming to terms with their greatest and worst hits.

She should have seen Nick's declaration coming. Everyone was offering up apologies for past behavior, trying to cleanse their soul, spurred on by other people.

It started with Archie. He apologized to everyone individually, ending with Nick, asking them to 'bury the hatchet?' Veronica knew he'd beat up Nick, and Nick had beat up him. Nick cautiously took his hand, as though it was a trick, but didn't offer up his own salvation apologies.

Next came Josie, apologizing for having a lot of very bitchy feelings towards Veronica when she first arrived, most that Veronica was unaware of entirely. It was a nice gesture, but part of Veronica wished she would have left it unknown.

Joaquin had a lot to apologize for, and everyone seemed to know that he wore guilt like a heavy blanket, fully feeling shitty for taking part in Jason's death and spending so long trying to derail Veronica and her friends from finding out the truth. He felt guilty for lying to Kevin about how they really first met. His sincerity was well-appreciated by many, and as Archie pointed out.

"You literally saved us that first day dude. You were the only one that knew any shit was going on at all!"

Yes, Veronica shuddered to think what would have happened had Joaquin not been on a mission to find Kevin and if she'd had to deal with all of this totally alone while also trying to spring her boyfriend from jail.

Dilton did his apologies. Then Elio. Nick's parents made amends with Hermione about some long-forgotten squabbles from when Veronica was a child, but it was still the point of it that counted.

Veronica hadn't apologized to anyone yet, not because she didn't think she had to, but because she knew her sins were long and difficult. She was trying to sort them out to apologize to the right people.

So, why the hell was she so surprised when Nick up and did what everyone else was doing?

Oh, yes, because she had been under the impression that Nick had no soul.

It wasn't the way anyone else had done theirs. Everyone had gone individually, quietly, though gossip spread faster than Cannibals finding live humans here. Everyone knew who was accepting responsibility and trying to move forward with who about what. Con of living so close to each other with no other type of entertainment other than kindergarten early-reading books.

They were all in Joaquin's room, drinking through the last of the champagne from Smither's party.

Veronica did not mean to sound ungrateful or stupid, but it really was a task of will and strength to finish it. No one wanted to touch it, not after what when down. But it was about to go bad, so Hermione had handed it to Veronica with a pinched expression.

"Just drink it. Please, we shouldn't waste any resources here."

When was her mother ever going to beg her to drink champagne again? Never. She figured to make the best of it and called everyone in. Well, not Nick specifically, but she couldn't boot him out because she was trying to be a better person. But she was keeping a watchful eye on him.

It didn't go unnoticed.

"If you keep staring at me like that, your beau might get a bit jealous," Nick twittered with nervous laughter, drinking a large mouthful of the alcohol and nodding to Archie.

"I'm just making sure you don't roofie any more drinks," Veronica said with a snarl, "It's hard to tell with you. It seems to be your signature."

Nick's expression hardened and he passed the bottle to Dilton. She couldn't tell if he'd been waiting for an entry or genuinely hadn't planned what he said next.

"Veronica, fuck, I'm sorry."

"Oh great. A rehearsed apology." Veronica rolled her eyes, "You guys don't really believe this, huh?"

"Maybe we should hear him out," Josie whispered quietly, "Everyone else got their chance."

"Thank you," Nick said, nodding to Josie, "I was a little shit. I was a horrible person, I know. I know. I knew even then...but…" Nick threw out his hands in front of him, "I got away with it. And it was easy to be bad than to be good."

"So what, now that you can't get away with it, now you repent?" Veronica said, still not believing any of it.

"No!" Nick's cheeks were flushed, anger rising up inside of him, "That's not...damn, you just want to see me as the villain, huh? I've just been thinking of shit. I'm sorry about all of it! I'm sorry I hurt Archie. I'm sorry I tried to kiss you when you told me no. I'm sorry I made your life a living hell for a few months. I'm sorry I acted so much better. And if Cheryl was here, I would tell her how sorry I am that I tried to roofie her, and how incredibly fucked up I know it is now. And how I hate myself for it so much."

You should hate yourself, Veronica was about to say, but Dilton stood up and went to give Nick a handshake. Looking around, it was clear Veronica was in the minority, if not the only one who didn't believe that whole little thespian speech.

"Are you really sorry?" Joaquin asked, narrowing his eyes, "Why should we believe you?"

"Because I'm a kid! And I know I need to take responsibility because I had a choice and I chose the shitty one. But I'm learning. And I think, no, I know, that that's no way to treat anyone." Nick stared at his socked feet, scowling, "I just needed control so bad. I don't get any, you know, at home, or I didn't. It made me feel powerful to have girls just fall over me, quick as a snap of a finger. I was the one calling the shots. I was the one in control. I guess everyone here has Daddy Issues, though, huh?" He asked with a rickety laugh.

"I actually really love my dad," Archie said.

"Mommy issues?" Dilton wondered out loud, in response, and no one missed Archie's wince.

"I'm just saying that mine isn't that," Archie mumbled.

"And love fucks you up even worse sometimes, even if they mean right," Nick replied back, "I don't expect anyone's forgiveness right away. I know I have to earn it. I know it takes time to build trust…" He looked around, "But there are so few others I can trust besides you, and one day, I hope you can do the same for me."

"Just show us," Josie said with a sigh, "Actions speed louder than words. Cheesy as hell, sure, but also very good advice."

"I will. I plan to. Absolutely," Nick nodded rapidly, and Veronica had the feeling idea that maybe he had given this thought more than just trying to bamboozle them all into thinking he was having a redemption arc.

She would hate that though.

She hated seeing Nick come out on top for anything.

Sourly, she spun on her heels and stalked out of the room, ignoring Archie's concerned calls behind her.

"Let her go," She heard Elio say, "You know Frankie," Elio added, using the nickname that he'd used for her back when they were friends in elementary school, which seemed like eons ago.

"Yeah. I do know Ronnie," Archie snapped, "She's my girlfriend, bro."

Whatever the end of that conversation was, and frankly Veronica didn't have the mental bandwidth to worry about it, she didn't hear.

She shoved open the doors to the back playground, fighting back frustration and tears, and fury until she was safely out of range of anyone who might still have come looking for her.

On one hand, Elio did know her, that sometimes she just needed a moment to cool down, and she'd snap at anyone who came after her.

But on the other, she wanted Archie to follow. She would probably snark if he did, and it wasn't fair to hold something against him that he couldn't possibly know when all her actions said otherwise, but fuck that. Archie should be chasing after her, offering her apologies to never speak to Nick or treat him like a reformed human again.

The sun was nearly setting and the swings had a perfect view of the day slipping away. She hadn't realized that before. She'd barely come out here, finding the playground incredibly childish. Which was fair, since it was made for children, but hell, Veronica was nearly an adult. She didn't have time to swing on monkey bars or throw herself down slides. She'd caught glimpse of some of the boys using it on occasion, and boys will be boys, she figured.

But now as she started to push herself on the swing set, a weird feeling bubbled within her, a sense she hadn't felt in years. Not since she was very, very young.

It was rusty. It squeaked when she pushed her feet into the woodchips to careen herself higher and higher and part of her worried it would come down completely. Then she'd just be the bitch that broke the swing set.

Maybe she should!

She pushed off a bit harder, willing the old metal to crack under her weight.

"You okay?"

Someone had come.

It was her mother.

Great.

"I'm fine," She mumbled in one word, "Just swinging."

"Veronica, I have known you all your life. I can tell when something's bothering you."

Veronica slowed her swinging to a quiet sway. She thought about telling her mother about her feelings toward Nick. Some violent part of her hoped that if she admitted his villainous ways, he'd be kicked out of camp, and left for dead.

What stopped her was that when she asked herself if this is what she really wanted, to shove out three of the remaining humans in civilization (his parents would go with him, no doubt), what came back was a rasped, hungry, resounding 'yes'.

And this part of her scared her, so she kept quiet.

"I miss Dad."

She wasn't sure where that came from, or how truthful it was, not until it was said. And maybe these two issues were not two separate islands, but one big landmass of fuckery that Veronica wasn't sure how to untangle. She'd kill for a good shrink right now, but she doubted there were many still alive and for sure none here.

She missed so much about him. She'd tried to shove it away, feel nothing, but that just made it worse. It made her anguish come out at midnight and she had to sob into her pillow to keep quiet.

She missed how proud her father was when she did even stupidly simple things. He had always been enchanted by anything she did. She missed their discussions on anything; politics, philosophy, The Kardashians, books, opera...they found avenues of discussion that she didn't talk about with anyone else. She missed her father pouring her a good red wine with a wink and a 'don't tell your mother' sort of smile as he helped her refine her wine palette.

In trying to forget him entirely, it's as though her brain was erasing the bad parts of him. And there were very bad parts. But still, at the end of the day, one singular fact remained and perhaps always would.

"I really, really miss him."

Hermione gave her daughter a sad, knowing smile.

"If you don't think that I don't think of him every day, well…" Hermione gave a quiet laugh, "I miss him too."

"But it was complicated, wasn't it? With you and Fred and Daddy in jail…" She trailed off.

"Of course it was. Finding out he was getting arrested and everything was taken away was one of the darkest days of my life. And I was so angry at him for so long. I had a crush back in high school on Fred Andrews. I think that was part of your father's anger towards Archie. He saw so much of one of my earliest high school crushes in him."

"But you and Daddy were high school sweethearts, weren't you?" Veronica asked, wanting to be sure she got her facts correct. Her mother had never talked so openly. Usually, Veronica felt she was just picking up crumbs, unable to piece the picture fully with what little either of her parents offered about anything too early for Veronica to remember or be around for.

"Near the end of my senior year, and his. But we fought off and on all the time. And whenever we got into a fight, I went and flirted with Fred." She gave a dry, angry laugh, "Shows you that I never really learned, huh? I guess I did the exact same thing when your dad was arrested." She sat on a swing next to Veronica, as though contemplating this for the first time herself.

"But I always loved him. You have to know that hate and love are so strong emotions. If you hate someone so much, you must also love them enough to have them get you so worked up, I think."

Veronica raised a dubious eyebrow at that. She hated Nick with the passion of a thousand suns, and that was the whole story. No affection. No love.

But perhaps once there had been. Or, at least, once they'd been friends. But he'd ruined any chance of getting that back.

But then she thought of Archie. He drove her crazy, but she only was driven crazy because she adored him entirely and completely. All her other boyfriends, when they blew her off or didn't do something right, she just shrugged and let it roll off her shoulders. Her friends had 'oohed' at the self-restraint she had when an ex messed with her, but frankly, she had never liked anyone enough to care that they treated her like that.

"Yeah, maybe," Veronica agreed slowly.

"I just don't want you to get it twisted. Two things are true; your father and I always loved each other, even when we wanted to kill one another, and he loved you more than anything. As do I." She reached over, almost flinching away from taking her daughter's hand, but grasped it tightly. The contact, when her mother had been so withholding of affection lately, caused Veronica to stifle tears.

"Why does it sound like this is goodbye?"

"It's not. It's just a reminder. Especially after Smithers," Hermione glanced over to the sunset, "No one says it enough anymore. And I want to make sure that you know, without question, how special you are to me."

"Thanks, mom," Veronica said with an edge, trying to sound sarcastic, but this actually was sincerely squeezing her heart and making her feel loved, safe, and comforted for a moment. Even just her mother's light touch seemed to banish away the growing fears that had taken hold in the last few days and banish it, at least for a few moments.

"Is that all?"

Veronica gnawed on her lip, "How do you forgive?"

It was veiled enough that maybe her mother thought she was referring to her father. Or, maybe her mother already knew, since she had eyes like a hawk and seemed to have eyes in the back of her head.

"You either choose to right away, and stick with it, or you don't, and you let them prove it to you. I think your father would have spent the rest of his time trying to prove to us that he was sorry. I really do. I think he would have come around to Archie. I think he would have bonded more with Dilton. I think, despite the fact your father only ever wanted one child, he would have ended up 'adopting' a handful more," She said with a wry smile.

"Is that how you feel? Like you adopted Josie? Or Dilton? Or Joaquin?"

"Yes, and Elio, and Archie, and even Nick. It started out with just responsibility. I have to keep you all safe. But I always wanted many more children. And I just couldn't get pregnant after you." She looked to the sky, "I think I still got my wish. God comes to us in strange ways."

Some part of Veronica was relieved to hear her mother felt this way, especially because she was looking at everyone (besides Nick) as family. After all they went through? They were now bonded for life.

"Dilton accidentally called you 'Mom' the other day," Veronica said with a laugh at the memory, "he was so embarrassed, and it just slipped out."

She liked to watch her mother's face brighten at this, "He's a smart kiddo. My little brainiac of the bunch." She said with a teasing wink.

Their conversation lapsed into stupid things, but important things. Important in the sense that they just talked until it was dark and too dangerous to really be outside. She felt closer to her mother than perhaps she ever had.

And, as they walked in, Hermione threw her arm over Veronica's shoulders and said, "You know you'll always be my favorite biological child," With a wicked, mischievous grin, Veronica felt like perhaps whatever bridge that they'd both burned with each other had been rebuilt.

And Veronica was almost fine with the fact that Archie never came to check up on her, nor was waiting in her room to see if she was okay.

August 4th, 2018

"So…how about that house?"

Veronica looked up from the window of the car with a half-hearted sigh. She put her head back down, refusing to look at Archie.

"Jesus, are you going to fucking talk to me?" He said, slamming on the breaks. Veronica jolted forward to see him pause at a stop sign.

"You can just go, Archibald!" Veronica sputtered, furious over the smallest of things, "There are no other cars out here!"

"Knee-jerk reaction. Sorry I was raised how to drive a car properly," Archie muttered back, but she could see his face flush bright red at his slip-up, "So what, you're only going to yell at me, then?"

"Are you going to disavow Nick?"

"No! We've talked about this, V. He apologized. He seems genuine."

"And you're just gullible," She said before she could stop herself. Archie's face darkened.

"Hell, just tell me how you really feel," He hissed, eyes narrowing as he drove the car down a side road.

"I did," She said, not wanting to hurt him more, but also wanting to dig this one in a bit, "Nick is a con artist. He has been forever. He's saying exactly what he thinks you all want to hear and it's fucking working."

"Elio seems convinced. And wouldn't he know?"

"Elio is going through trauma. His head's not on straight," Veronica said weakly but realized Archie had a good point there, one that undermined her entire position.

"Why can't you just admit that you might have been wrong about him? Or that maybe a really big life-altering event actually changed someone for good?" Archie gave a long, tired sigh, looking at Veronica like this fight had already been going on for too long. Veronica thought not long enough, but that was another argument for another day.

"Because-," Veronica stopped herself and then shook her head. She wasn't going to admit that she hated being wrong, even if Archie likely already knew. She also just hated Nick on sheer principle and if the apocalypse didn't make you stick to your guns, what did?

"What about this one?" Archie asked, pointing to a cute little renovated barn house that looked cleaner than most.

Veronica gave a 'whatever' shrug. She knew that this had been her mother's version of an olive branch. She didn't know about the inner drama revolving around Nick, so she had no idea that Veronica and Archie were fighting. She'd offered for the pair to go on a raid alone, likely thinking that this was a gift from god. And, if they were in a good place, it would have been. To be trusted alone, out from under the ever-seeing eyes of Hermione Lodge, where they could maybe find a place for a quickie (or three) and they could get first eyes on the good shit.

But Veronica was pissed at Archie and wasn't even sure why she agreed. Cabin fever, perhaps, a bit.

"I'm going in," Archie said, grabbing the machete knife from the backseat, "Are you coming?" He asked in a dull, annoyed tone.

"Go, leave," Veronica dismissed, slouching further down into the seat.

Archie pressed his lips together and then placed a gun on her lap, "Don't be stupid," He muttered, kissing her crown as he went into the house. The fact that he could put aside his frustration to worry and give her a kiss annoyed her even more. How dare he be the bigger person in this argument?

This was a newly developed neighborhood. On one side were houses that had been built recently, new trees popping up in yards. On the other side was just flat land, as far as the eye could see. When this had been nothing, and no road underneath them, the little red barn in the distance was likely under the ownership of the farmhouse Archie had vanished into.

Something out of the corner of her eye made Veronica slowly lift her head from the window.

Something darting around the edge of the barn, something fluffy and black.

Veronica was opening the car door before she knew what she was doing. She had a pause of something like sirens going off in her brain, but her curiosity won her over. She tucked a secondary knife into her bag just in case and darted across the street.

Her eyes had not deceived her. Running around the barn's edge was a slick black cat, carrying a mouse back.

"Kitty!" Veronica coo'd, realizing that these cats had likely been feral barn cats before and were even more so now. The cat ran away with its catch, leaving Veronica feeling dejected.

Just as she was turning to get back into the car, the cat came bounding up, purring and wrapping around her legs in a figure-eight.

"Oh, hey there," Veronica said, leaning down to pet it. As she brushed over the cat's head and pelt, her fingers caught on a collar, "Hmm, did your humans vanish? I'm sorry," She said. She read the name out loud: "Maize." She laughed, yeah, that was for sure a barn-cat name. This had most likely been a semi-outdoor cat.

It was a concept that until Riverdale she hadn't even considered. In New York City, cats were strictly indoor pets. It wasn't until she arrived here and early on she'd found a cat wandering near the Pembrooke with a collar. It had belonged to Nancy Patel, she was pretty sure. She'd brought the cat back home, expecting tears and thank you's, but Nancy had just shrugged, "Yeah, that's a bit out of her range, but she would have eventually come home." Apparently, it was not unusual for the Patel's cat to leave for several days and return home at will.

She went to pick Maize up but the cat leaped from her arms. She pouted. She supposed she shouldn't have gotten too excited.

She looked back at the house and at the barn.

She really, really wanted someone else to talk to that was non-human. She'd begged her mom for a dog for ages. And sure, this wasn't a dog, but this was a pretty cute cat.

"Maize?" She called opening the barn door. It had been fairly well closed; no Cannibals to be seen. The smell of manure was overwhelming, but not surprising. Veronica adjusted to the dimness of the barn and let out a sound halfway between a cry and a laugh.

"Oh, you're fucking kidding me."

There was a meow at her feet and Maize was back, twirling around her legs. She seemed to be herding Veronica towards something; a pen in the back where Veronica understood.

"Babies!" She said, looking at the tiny squirming balls of fuzz, "Actual kittens! Of course, we're not leaving them," Veronica said, scratching under Maize's chin. She counted once and then twice and thrice.

Seven kittens. The exact number of teens holed up at the school. It seemed like it was meant to be, she figured. A kitten for each. She wondered if others would enjoy having a cat to talk to as well.

She found a box in the hayloft and carefully loaded it with soft hay. Maize let out confused meows as Veronica carefully transferred the kittens, probably about a month old, into the box, but seemed to understand that Veronica was not going to hurt them.

By the time Veronica got to the car, Archie was frantically whispering her name as loud as he could, for shouting it loudly could draw unwanted attention.

"Archie!" She said proudly. Archie spun around, relief painting his face. He rushed over, grasping her.

"Don't scare me like that! God, I thought you were dead, V," He said, and for a second, even she forgot they were fighting. He was so relieved she wasn't dead that it took him a few moments to register what she was holding.

"Kittens?" He asked, his whole face lighting up.

"And a mama. Look at them!" She squealed, "I would die for all of them already." She said jokingly, but also semi-seriously.

"Wow, what a find!" Archie blinked, "I guess that mice are just having a field day here, so yeah, a cat probably eats fairly well."

"That's not all I found." Veronica settled the mom and kittens into the car, "I think we might need a bigger car, though."

"Why?" Archie asked as he reluctantly left the kittens to follow Veronica.

She led him to the barn and proudly pointed inside.

"Somehow, all these buddies have survived too. Who knows? They might be the last ones left." She said with a tall smile.

Archie let out a string of shocked swear words as he stared into the bleating faces of two horses, four goats, three pigs, and a handful of chickens.