Y/N PoV
"Archie and I looked into your fathers case. I went down to the station, and passed myself off as his attorney to try to get as much information as I could." Mary says stiffly.

"How's it looking, Mom?"

She sorts through papers on the fine table swiftly, "Well, unfortunately, between FP's list of priors, the anonymous tip, and the possession of the murder weapon."

"Don't forget that pesky confession." Jughead smiles at her as if nothing has been going wrong, like the world didn't cave in around him...weird.

"Things look pretty bad. I was with him all night, and he never once budged from his story." We all sigh.

Jughead's smile grows, "Well, if nothing else, at least he's an honest murderer."

"Jug." I give him an annoyed glance.

"Right." Mary opens a file, "Oh, also, who is Joaquin DeSantos?"

"Wait, Joaquin? As in Kevin's boyfriend? What's he have to do with anything?" I raise my eyebrows processing all the information.

"He was FP's one phone call." She looks between us three until her eyes find Jug, "Jughead, my advice to you is, go and see your father. Tell him everything you wanna say. Once he's arraigned, things tend to move pretty quickly, and there won't be anything left to do. So this might be your last chance."

Jughead looks down at the table's top, "I'm going to go visit him now."

"Do you want me to come with?" I lay my hand on the rough material of his jacket.

He shakes his head, "I should go alone."

I nod and we leave the restaurant. The station isn't far so Jughead walked while I drive Mary and her son home.

**Time Skip**
   An hour later, Archie calls me after he left the house to see Veronica. He doesn't say why but he needs me to meet him in the garage.

   I leave my room and head to the garage. When I open the door I see Archie, Ronnie, and Kevin standing over Joaquin, "Whats going on?"

   "We know FP used his call from jail to get in touch with Joaquin." Archie tells me. He glances at him, "What did he say?"

   He leans his head on his arm,"It was basically just a warning. Said to lay low."

   "No one used their one call to say "lay low."

   Kevin steps forward towards him, "Joaquin, do you know something? I'm not taking to you as your boyfriend, I'm talking to you as the sheriffs's son."

   "And I'm not talking to you as a fellow Serpent who would help you. Did FP kill Jason?" I cross my arms staring him in the eyes.

   "Yeah. I mean I..I assume."

   "Oh my god!" Kevin whispers.

   "What!?" I yell.

   Veronica sighs, "Did you see him pull the trigger?"

   "No, no. God, no.."

    Archie furrows his eyebrows, "Then why do you think he did it?"

    Joaquin hesitates but continues, "On July 11th, I got a phone call in the middle of the night from FP. Said he needed help with some clean-up job at the Whyte Wyrm."

   "What job?" Kevin's tears brim his eyes.

   "The basement of the Whyte Wyrm is off limits to everyone. That's where I met FP, and that's where I saw," he takes a big pause, "He'd been shot. I never asked FP if he did it. I just I mean I was terrified. I-I just assumed. We stashed the body in the freezer, cleaned up the mess. Got rid of any evidence."

   Kevin shakes his head, "You are a criminal."

  "Do all Serpents do this Y/N? Because if they do you are done with them." Archie says sternly.

   I walk to him, "No, Archie! The only Serpents I know, besides this shithead, wouldn't do anything remotely like this." My friends couldn't be apart of this, "One other thing, Serpents don't shed their skin and I am apart of them for life. I can fight my battles on my own, little brother."

  Veronica gestured for us to stop fighting, "Joaquin, FP has done jobs for my dad, Hiram Lodge, in the past. Do you think killing Jason was one of them?"

   He answers quietly with, "There was one time I overheard a conversation between FP and Mustang."

   "Who's Mustang?"

   I sigh, "He is another Serpent, Archie."

   "Northside is right." Archie cringes at the nickname, "He is the only other guy who knew about the clean-up. The guy who got got into a fight with at the Wyrm. I heard him tell FP something about some rich guy. I don't know who." Joaquin admits.

  V nods, "Where is Mustang?"

   Joaquin shakes his head violently, "No no no no no. You do not want to go see him."

   She crosses her arms angrily, "Yes I do!"

I pace around the room angrily, what am I going to tell Jug? "If you don't take us, then I'll get Toni and Sweet Pea to help us and.."

   "And I'm going to tell my dad about your little clean up job."

   Joaquin purses his lips, "Fine. We leave in 5."

   I go back inside to get my Serpent jacket for Ronnie. In the Southside, she could get attacked by anyone for no reason at all. The jacket will stop them. Archie and Kevin can take care of themselves better, probably.

   "Y/N! It's time to go!" I hear from outside.

   I run out and place the jacket in her hands, "Ronnie please wear this. It would be safer for you."

  She hands it back to me, "No, Y/N. It's your jacket and what about your safety?"

  "I'll be fine. All the Serpents know me because of my nickname, it's like a joke to them. I don't want my best friend getting hurt." I help her put it on so she won't continue denying me.

  Veronica smiles big when it's o!, "Aww! I'm your best friend?"

  "Of course you are. You have been super amazing since I've met you. Thank you for wearing it."

  She nods as the boys yell at us to get in the truck, "We're coming."

  We get into the silent truck. Nobody talks until Archie does, "Y/N? Why did Joaquin call you Northside?"

   I groan, "It's my joke of a Serpent nickname. A lot of people have them."

  "Really?" Kevin sounds surprised.

  "Yup. There is Sweet Pea and people call Toni, Topaz a lot. I've also heard about Fangs and I've met a jerk named Tall Boy. He gave me the nickname." I look out the window sadly and we find ourselves at a scary looking apartment building.

Everyone leaves the car and makes their way to the building. We climb stairs full of trash. Joaquin leads us to a green door with the numbers 226 stamped on the door, "He's in here." He knocks, "Mustang? You here?"

No one answers us, we walk in anyways. It's a big mess with empty liquor bottles laying everywhere. "Mustang?"

Our group spreads out to look for him, I'm walking into the bathroom until I see the man that attacked my brother laying in the tub, dead. His eyes are still open with a needle poked into his skin.

I gasp at the sight, "Oh god. Guys?! We have a huge problem!" They come to the bathroom.

No one says anything, except for staring at the dead man a couple feet away from us, it's horrifying.

"I can't, I can't be here." Joaquin leaves the apartment in a rush.

"Shit! Uh Kevin call your dad. Ronnie give me the jacket, your not getting in trouble for wearing that." She hands it to me and I put it on quickly, "Don't touch anything in here."

Kevin is already on his phone with his dad. He hangs up after talking with him for minutes, "My dad's on his way. All he said was to go outside and wait for them."

Ronnie leads us outside as the cops pull in, high speed, into the parking lot. Everyone regroups downstairs next to the cars.

They search his room while Veronica talks with her mom that got here minutes ago.

Fred pulls up in a panic, "Son! Y/N!"

"It's fine. I'm are okay, we both are." Archie shoves his hands into his pockets.

The Sheriff comes over to us, "What were you doing here in the first place?"

"We knew Mustang was a Serpent," I sigh at the word 'was' that left my mouth without thinking, "We just wanted to talk to him, to see if he knew anything about FP."

Hermione turns to Ronnie and starts a fight with her as Fred finds out more information. Sheriff Keller turns back to us, "How did you know he lives here?"

Archie and Veronica look at each other in a panic. I speak up, "I asked a couple of my..people."

"Sheriff!" A Deputy walks towards us carrying a fancy bag. She slips under the tape and opens it up, "Found it under his bed." Stacks and stacks of money is inside. The bag closes with a snap and a tag with the initials H.L. is on it.

"Hermione Lodge? Mind explaining to me why your initials are on this bad?"

Veronica shakes her head, "Not Hermione Lodge, Sheriff. Hiram Lodge. My dad. He was doing business with the Serpents!"

Her mom grabs onto Ronnie's arm in a tight grip, "And that's all we're saying until there is an attorney present."

No one says anything more. It stays quiet while Fred leads me and Archie to the car. It stays quiet until we get into the car, "This is exactly what I didn't want to happen. If both of you stay on this path, you guys will end up dead. Just like Jason Blossom. You gotta believe me. Okay? When I tell you I'm trying to protect you. That is my job! It's the only one that counts. Do you got that?"

Archie plays with his hands quietly, "Yes." He wipes away a tear that is ready to spill.

"Y/N? Do you understand?"

"Yes Fred. I'm sorry."

Fred sighs and starts the car up. He drives us back to our home. The tension between us is awful.

**Time Skip**
"My dad's been lying to me his whole life, but he's never been any good at it. I saw it in his eyes," Jughead leans next to me on a desk. "He didn't do it."

"So, why lie? Who is he protecting?" I ask.

"I don't know but it's a Serpent."

I hold his hand, "I can snoop around the Wyrm and ask around too see if anyone knows anything."

"No. I don't want you getting hurt."

"I'll be fine, Juggie. Okay, so who can we rule out?"

"Betty's dad. We know why he was acting so shady." Jughead takes down the picture of Hal Cooper.

"Oh and Hermione." I take her picture down. "Veronica says hers guilty of plenty, but not murder. Plus, she has an alibi. She was in New York."

"So, that just leaves Hiram Lodge and Clifford and Penelope Blossom."

I shift my feet around nervously, "Jug? I've had a thought."

Jughead turns towards me,"What is it?"

"What if my dad play a part in.." I gesture to the murder board with a frown, "all of whatever this is."

"If my dad is guilty then-,"

"Don't say that." I whisper.

"What I'm saying is, if my dad really did it and I miss read him then more people may have helped. Y/N, our parents were best friends. What if they would do anything for each other?" He pulls me into a hug.

I sigh and wrap my arms around him sadly, "My dad might be a murderer." The thought makes me tear up, "Did I live with a murderer for years?"

Jughead gives my forehead a kiss, "Hey, it's okay."

"No it's not! My dad is a drunk and quite possibly a murderer. How is that fine?" One tear slips down my cheek.

He sighs and Alice walks into the room, "Well, what do we have here? You two just can't leave well enough alone, can you?"

He wipes my tear away, "Alice, we know what your going to say."

She takes her coat off with a weird smile,"The police found another dead body."

"Okay maybe not that." Jughead starts to get curious.

Alice walks towards the murder board, "A Southside Serpent and Sheriff clueless is convinced that he was working with your father. He allegedly-"

I interrupt her, "Committed suicide by overdose."

Alice nods,"She's right and there was a bag of money on-site that links him to Hiram Lodge. Everything is tied up into a nice little bow. Too tidy, if you ask me."

"How did you kn-" Jughead is interrupted by my phone.

"Hold that thought," I pick up my phone, "What do you want Betty?" She tells me to meet her at the Maple sign in ten minutes, Jughead knows where it is, "Okay. We'll meet you there. Bye." I hang up.

"Where are we going now?" He asks.

"The that old Maple sign you and Betty went to a couple of weeks ago. It's important apparently so bye Alice!" I drag Jug out of the room and to the parking lot where I drive us too our meeting spot.

Betty and Kevin are already there.

  "What are we doing here?" I ask.

Kevin points his flashlight at the ground, "We are looking for something. Whatever it is we're looking for, Joaquin didn't know if it would help your dad, or make things worse."

   "I guess we're going to find out." Betty gives Jughead a couple of glances over and over, she still likes him I know it. "And why did he wait so long to tell us?"

  "FP called him from jail. Told him to forget about their plan, some contingency plan. He said it was too dangerous."

  Jughead stares at the Maple sign, "Deja vu." He looms down at the ground, "Hey, right here!"

  I help him grab a heavy duffle bad full of god knows what. Jughead immediately opens it and finds Jason's leather man jacket. We sigh, "This isn't good." I whisper.

  "It obviously isn't, Y/N!" Betty huffs, "Call Archie and V and tell them to meet at the Andrew's garage."

  We beeline to the car as Kevin calls them both. I drive us to the garage quickly. Everyone jumps out and gets into the garage. Jughead lays the jacket out in front of us. Archie and Veronica are clueless so we fill them in on everything.

  Archie points to the jacket, "Wait. This is meant to help FP?"

  "I don't know. Looks like more incriminating evidence to me."

   "It just confirms that my dad torched Jason's getaway car." Jughead rocks a chair back and forth.

  "And that his confession is true." I don't want this to be true. I don't want it to be real.

  "Why would FP say Jason's varsity jacket is dangerous?" Betty asks, "What could that mean?"

  "I can ask my father. He would know, considering we found concrete proof that he hired the Serpents to kill Jason." Veronica looks sympathetically towards FP's son, "Which means that your dad pulled the trigger, Jughead. I'm sorry."

  Betty glimpses as all of us especially Jug, "No. No! No, I'm my giving up yet!" She grabs the jacket and holds it out to Archie, "Put this on!"

  Archie doesn't move, "What?"

  "Put. It. On."

  "Betty, this is weird!" He says.

  She starts to search the jacket, looking in the pockets until she stops at one, "There's a hole in the pocket."

  I roll my eyes, "Now we're just grasping at straws!"

  "Okay no! I don't know about you guys, but whenever I have a hole in my jacket pocket, I always lose my chapstick in the lining."

  "Or my Montblanc?" Veronica suggests.

  "Hold on," Betty keeps playing with the jacket. In the end, she pulls out a silver flash drive.

  My eyes widen, "What the hell?"

  Kevin smiles, "Nancy Drew strikes again."

  Archie takes it from her then grabs Jughead's computer. We gather around Betty as she plugs it in. A video starts to play on the screen.

  I bite my lip when Jason, tied up in a basement, shows up. Mustang walks down and questions him. He beats Jason up giving him many bruises.

  Mustang leaves then another Serpent comes down later.

  My dad.

  I shake my head as tears fall heavily down my cheeks. Jughead pulls me towards him and lets me cry into his shoulder. The video continues on and I look back at the screen.

  My dad opens a door and lets Clifford Blossom in. He doesn't leave as he watches Clifford talk with Jason.

  Blossom grabs a ring out of his pocket. He turns around like he is going to leave but he doesn't. The next thing I know, Clifford shot his son in the head.

  Everyone gasps. Tears are falling out of everybody's eyes, with mine being the heaviest. My dad watched him die, he helped them! His smile is smug, watching Jason lay died on the ground. The darkness in his eyes is unbearable.

  Betty shuts the laptop and gets up. She pulls out her phone to call someone. I don't hear any of the conversation or the sobs of Veronica. I only see the image of my father helping Clifford relaying in my mind over and over.

  Jughead pulls me onto his lap, I don't notice. "Y/N?"

  I can't breathe anymore. It won't stop, I want my dad out of my head! Nothing is okay anymore.

  "N/N?" He lifts my chin up, "Look at me Y/N. Just look right at me."

  "I-I..." My lungs don't want to work in this moment. I look at him.

  Jughead notices my struggle to get air in. "Take some deep breathes with me." He breathes in deep and I follow him.

  My breathing becomes normal and the images in my head begin to fade, "Whats going to happen now?"

  "Betty went to give her mom the flash drive. Alice is going to take it to the station."

  "What about..my dad?" I ask quietly.

  "I can't answer that yet, Y/N. I'm so sorry baby."

  "It's not your fault." I take a glance around the room. My best friends and brother are no where to be found, "Where is Ronnie and Kevin? And Archie?"

  "Archie and Kevin are trying to calm down Veronica in the house." He inhales sadly, "Y/N, they don't know that was your dad."

  I bite my lip, "What am I going to tell them?"

   Jughead tucks my hair behind my ear, "You should tell them the truth. Veronica isn't handling this very well. She needs her best friend."

  "Lets go tell them." I answer.

  Jughead stands up with me, holding my hand, and we go inside. The boys and Ronnie are sitting on the couch.

Veronica's eyes are red and her mascara is running down her cheeks. She does see me until I tap on her shoulder, "Ronnie?"

She sees me and practically pounces on me. Her hug is tight, like mines. "Y/N! That was so horrible to watch! What if something like that happens to one of us? I don't want to lose you..or Archie or Kevin or even Jughead."

  "It won't. I won't let it happen." I bite my lip and her sobs become quieter, "I need to tell you guys something."

  "What's wrong, Y/N?" Archie asks.

  I take a deep breathe and open my mouth. No words come out, I can't say it. It can't be true, it just can't. Tears start again.

  V lets go of me once I hesitate, "You can tell us anything."

  Jughead puts an arm on my shoulder, "This is hard for her to say. Do you want me to tell them?"

  I nod.

  "The man in the room with Mr.Blossom was her um dad." He pulls me back into his embrace.

  Veronica and Kevin gasp. They hug me and Jughead making this a group hug, with one person missing, "Archie?"

   He shakes his head, "I'm sorry, but how is that possible? My amazing sister related to that jerk?"

   I laugh for the first time in forever, "I don't choose my dad, dumbass."

  Archie gives a small smile, but it fades, "How are you taking this?"

  "I'm...I don't know right now but you guys are here so better than I would alone." I say. Everyone tightens their grip on me and Archie joins us making it a true group hug.