A lot can change in seven years...

Sweet Pea moves kissing along my neck eagerly. I bite my lip eagerly. Slightly wanting to skip ahead to the good part. His hands move along my sides. His calloused fingers feel great against my smooth skin. It's sexy- it's supposed to be a nice stress reliever. However, Archie's swinging open the door ruins the moment.

but some things will never change.

"Archie!" I shout as I move to pull my shirt back on. He looks at me in disgust.

"Can't you ever lock your door?" He asks at once.

"Can't you knock?!" I shout, "I mean seriously you're lucky that you only caught us making out."

Sweet Pea groans as he moves to lay back across the bed. These last couple of days it's like Archie can sense when we are doing anything and he always manages to barge in and ruin the mood. Frankly, it's driving me insane.

"Please dear good tell you had a good reason to interrupt me," I tell him, "because if it's just to tell us there's a pizza or ask if I think something is a good lesson idea I will strangle you."

"Jughead is plastered and refuses to go to bed," Archie sighs, "can you help?"

I groan loudly. Not bothering to hide my aggravation with the entire situation.

"Fine!" I say at once, "I'll be up in a minute just- give me a second." He nods and heads back upstairs. He slams the door behind him. I look over to Sweet Pea and sigh. "Your place next time."

"Your car is upstairs," He says with a slight smirk, "if we take it up and park it at the school we have a huge empty parking lot... no one will notice."

"Mm I'll meet you there," I say with a big smirk. I move meeting him in a quick kiss before heading upstairs. When I get up there I notice what Archie was talking about. Jughead is slurring his words and stumbling.

"I mean I'm a failed author- and I'm on debt a lot of debt," jug goes on. Betty stands tensely as she wears one of Archie's shirts. Eric looks on wondering what he should do. Jug notices me and a big smile covers his face. "Y/n oh you look so beautiful. You always look so beautiful."

"You're too sweet," I say as I move towards him, "thank you."

"Mm anytime gorgeous," He says brightly. He moves to my side and practically falls into me. I hold onto him carefully. I look to the others and they all make a point to look away.

"Let's get you to bed handsome," I tell him.

"Mm, you planning on joining?" He asks eagerly.

"Maybe when we both are a lot more sober," I tell him. He sighs at the words.

"Yeah I guess that makes sense," he groans. I wave Archie over to help me get Jug up the stairs. The redhead moves to the other side of the man. The two of us help him carefully move along the stairs. When we get him up to his room we help him into the bed. As Archie sets down a water bottle I move to pull his shoes off of him. "You know you're so pretty... and you get me and you always help me. Even when you think I'm full of it."

"It's because you're my best friend," I tell him, "I'd help you with anything."

"Can you help me with this problem?" He asks me.

"What's the problem?" I ask him. I look over to Archie carefully. Wondering what the hell is going to come out of the man's mouth.

"I'm still in love with you," Jug slurs. I freeze. Archie's eyes widen. He quickly laughs awkwardly as he pulls me away from the foot of Jughead's bed.

"Oh wow I just remember that thing," Archie says, "come on N/n." I nod quickly. Archie drags me out of Jug's room. 

When we get outside the room he shuts the door quickly and looks at me.

"Well that was awkward," I say forcing a laugh, "now uh instead of talking about that I'm going to have sex in my car."

"Maybe we should talk about that," Archie says softly, "I mean- he's drunk but that seemed pretty genuine."

"Or," I start, "I could go get my back blown out by this really great guy who doesn't make me carry him to bed every couple of nights- oh wow Y/n that's a great idea!" I move to turn away from him and head downstairs. Archie grabs my wrist keeping me from leaving. I look back at him with a loud sigh. "What?"

"You need to talk about this," Archie says, "if not with me- then maybe Betty."

"Oh, you mean the girl who you are fucking?" I ask him.

"No I mean your best female friend," Archie says, "someone who you trust and know will help you."

"Or," I start again, "I could go have sex. You know like how I planned for my night to go because I'm a woman with needs."

"Ew-"

"Archie I practically had to watch you and Veronica fuck in the hallways when we were in High school," I say at once, "this is nothing." He makes a face of disgust. "Listen since you and Betty at least got to finish- can you babysit the grown man so I can finish what I was doing?" He sighs loudly. "Archie I will talk about my needs again."

"Gross gross fine," he says at once, "go do whatever- but you need to talk to him about what he said when he's sober."

"Sure whatever," I say as I hurry back down the stairs. The second I get down there I see Sweet Pea chatting with Eric. I don't give him any warning I just grab ahold of his arm and drag him off to my room. He doesn't complain. Instead, he seems more than eager for this to be happening. The second we get down there I shut the door behind us. Making sure to lock it before I pull him into a deep hungry kiss. He melts immediately. He breaks it after a minute.

"Mm god you're so hot," he says softly.

"Shut up," I say as I toss my shirt aside.

"I'm shutting up trust me," He says eagerly.

The second we both finish I move to grab the pack of cigarettes from my purse. Lighting one immediately. Sweet Pea smirks slightly as he moves his arms behind his head. His eyes resting on me worries me.

"What?" I ask him as I wave the collection of smoke out of my face. 

"Nothing," He starts. It's completely unconvincing. He's a terrible liar.

"What?" I ask again, "why are you acting like such a freak?"

"I'm not," He laughs, "if anything you are- I mean you're in a weird mood. You've never been this eager to get away from me after we hook up." I sigh lightly. Taking a long drag of the cigarette. He nods. "You're gonna ignore that aren't you?"

"Am I supposed to have something to say to that?" I ask him. It's not angry but it's definitely confrontation. Baiting him slightly. Knowing an argument will surely start depending on how he responds.

"I guess not," He replies. He didn't take the bait. At least he knows better in that regard. "Jones alright?" I tense slightly. Sweet Pea immediately notices. He sits up at once. "What happened?"

"Nothing-"

"Liar," Pea says at once, "you're lying- you can't lie to me."

"I can lie to you," I say harshly, "okay you asshole. You know what I don't want to talk about this so can we just-"

"What happened?" Pea asks. His brown eyes watching me carefully. I sigh loudly.

"Jughead said he still loves me," I say softly, "and I know he's drunk and it probably means nothing but who does he think he is to tell me he still loves me?" Pea nods along. "and- we almost slept together before Reggie tried to burn the house together... I just- don't know what's going on between him and me."

"How so?"

"He still might love me and I barely have the emotional bandwidth to exist let alone have a relationship or deal with starting one," I sigh, "and I know just because he might still be into me doesn't mean I have to get back together with him but I just- I don't know."

"You do know," Pea says, "so explain it."

"I don't wanna hurt him," I start, "I like having him back in my life. Frankly, I missed him- and everyone else over the years. You guys all were my family back then... Jug's always been in my life and him not being in it sucked. I missed him all the time. I don't wanna ruin how things are now because I'm fucked up and can't imagine being with someone." 

"You aren't fucked up you just broke off an engagement," Pea points out, "you were planning a life with Ally and that very suddenly not being there anymore is gonna take an emotional toll. You're allowed to want to be single for a while... You're also allowed to not be interested in starting a relationship with your ex." I bite my lip slightly. "Think about it this way. You and Jug dated for almost all of our high school careers then you guys broke up in college and not that long after you started dating Ally and then you guys got engaged... You haven't been alone for any significant amount of time since before you came back to Riverdale- if not longer." 

"You're so wise," I say smiling lightly. Pea beams.

"I know," He says brightly. I smack his arm playfully. He only laughs. I move to put the cigarette out in the ashtray then I lay back sinking slightly into the mattress. "There is a reason why you choose to sleep with me."

"I picked you because I know you don't have an STD," I admit. He laughs loudly as I pull the blanket up. I hear stomping from upstairs, meaning Archie wants us to shut up. The two of us decide to head to bed.

When I get up in the morning Sweet Pea is already gone. Meaning he probably had a drive he had to make. I move to get myself ready before heading upstairs to meet the others. Jug is whispering to the other two men but stops the second he sees me.

"Morning," I tell them as I move to the coffee pot. 

"Morning," Eric says brightly, "you look great." I smile lightly.

"Thank you," I say brightly.

"Do you have plans today?" Archie asks. 

"Nothing set in stone," I tell him, "that doesn't mean sign me up for anything tho." Archie laughs. "I think I'll ask Betty if she wants to go get drinks tonight- or maybe we can hang out with her mom- Alice is going through a lot." I turn to look at him. Archie's eyes however are on Jug. "You boys okay?"

"Yeah," Jug answers, "Archie is just- annoying." Archie rolls his eyes harshly. Eric just chuckles. "I'm meeting that Dr. about the thing." I nod lightly. "You coming?"

"Wouldn't miss it for the world," I smile lightly. He smiles.

"Good thats- great," He says, "I'm ready whenever you are? She's meeting us and Tabitha at Pops." 

"Perfect," I tell him, "I'm ready to go now." He nods. I look to the other two men and smile. "We'll be back later then. You two boys don't do anything stupid now."

"Yes ma'am," Eric says with a big grin.

"Eric you keep that attitude up and you're gonna have to buy me a drink sometime," I say with a slight smirk.

"Maybe that's what I want," He says. I roll my eyes before waving to them. Jug leads us out. He's quiet for the car ride... But I don't help any truthfully. The whole thing from last night makes me wonder what I can even say to him? 

Thankfully when we get to Pop's we have Tabitha as a buffer. She smiles lightly as the two of us walk through the door. 

"Just the people I wanted to see," She says as she hands us each a cup of coffee. I take mine gratefully as she leads us over to one of the back booths. I slide in closet to the wall. Jug moves to sit beside me. "Dr. Whitley is on her way. She called to let us know."

"Perfect," Jug says as I move to pour sugar into my coffee, "I just hope she hears us out about all of this. I mean- it's gonna be hard to explain."

"She researches aliens I'm sure she can buy this," I say laughing lightly, "I mean have you seen her website-"

"You said you'd keep an open mind," Jug says at once. I sigh loudly. Knowing he's right. He looks over to Tabitha. Who simply shakes her head before moving to check on her tables. "Do you not belive in any of this?"

"Jug it's mothman- it's kinda hard to believe," I tell him, "but I'm- trying. My logical brain is having a hard time understanding all of this." He sighs. "I'm sure I'll figure it out." We watch as a women pushes open the door to the diner. She's clearly not from her. Jug stands to move towards her. 

"Dr. Whitley?" He asks. She nods. "It's great to meet you my name is Jughead we spoke on the phone." She takes his hand eagerly.

"It's great to meet you," She says cheerfully. He smiles. Then looks back to me. I move standing from the table to move towards them. 

"This is my- uh friend Y/n," Jug tells her.

"It's nice to meet you Dr. Whitley," I say as I offer her my hand, "I'm sure you can make sense of all of this." She laughs lightly.

"I'll try," She says. 

"Well then let's sit down and talk about all of this," Jug says. He leads us back to the table. After a minute tabitha moves to sit down beside him. "Uh this is Tabitha." 

"Hi," Tabithia says.

"Hello Tabtiha," Dr. Whitley says. 

"Thanks for coming to meet us, Dr. Whitley," Jug says.

"You mentioned having a specimen that needed examining," She says eagerly as she moves her glasses to her face, "May I see it?"

"Um..." Jug starts as he looks over to me then to Tabtiha. Wondering if he was going to have to be the one to explain all of this. He realizes that it's up to him and looks back to the woman, "it's the damnedest thing, Doc. Someone stole it."

"Uh-huh," She says unconvinced. She moves pulling her glasses from her face. I can tell she clearly isn't amused by all of this. I can't say I blame here we made her drive out here for pretty much nothing.

"I was babysitting it, and then..." Jug sighs loudly, "Suddenly, this blinding light appeared in the sky, and the last thing I remember, I was looking up at it. But then I lost several hours. - Next thing I knew, the Mothmen mummy..."

"The specimen?" She corrects.

"The specimen was gone," Jug tells her. She nods.

"Hmm." She starts. Then looks up locking her eyes on Jughead. A certain level on concern in her eyes. "Mr. Jones, I'm an anthropologist with an interest in extraterrestrial phenomena, not a psychologist." He raises a brow at the comment. Wondering what the hell she could be talking about. Tabitha and I exchange a knowing look. Both of us realizing she clearly thinks he's lost it. Frankly we can't blame her. If we hadn't seen the damn thing we would of thought it was all a joke. And well both of us are having a hard time understanding the whole bright lights alien encounter thing. "But in the majority of cases like you're describing, when a person claims to have had a close encounter, they are, in fact, often repressing a traumatic experience."

"You said in the majority of cases," Tabitha says perking up slightly, "What about the other ones?"

"The other cases, I believe they're telling the truth," Dr. Whitley says, "If you'd like, I can perhaps help you determine what you're dealing with here. Truth or repression." Jughead takes a deep breath. Clearly trying to hide his growing anger. I move taking his hand in mine. Hoping that it would help him relax the tiniest bit. "There's a support group I lead..."

"We're so sorry for making you drive all the way from your university, Doctor," Jughead says at once, "But I don't need a support group. If I am repressing something, I think I prefer to keep it repressed, you know?" She nods lightly.

"Should you decide otherwise, here's my card," She says as she sets it down in front of Jug. He rolls his eyes harshly. "Just in case. You take care." She nods to us two girls then stands from the booth. Heading out at once. Tabitha moves to slide into the other side of the booth. Looking at Jug carefully. 

"Jones- I'm sure that she's just trying to help," Tabitha starts.

"I don't need her help," Jug says at once, "because I'm fine. It's not repression... It actually happened and I really don't want to have to spend all of my time convincing you so if you don't believe me then maybe I should work on this myself."

"Hey hey," I say softly, "don't get defensive we both are here because we want answers for you... Okay? We believe you."

"Yeah Jones," Tabthia says, "we just want to make sure that you're okay. This is a lot that's happening and frankly it's hard to understand." 

"We need to get to work," Jug says as he looks over to me. I nod. Giving a sypatheitc smile to Tabitha before I climb from the booth and follow Jug as he marches out of the diner. Practically stomping to my car. 

After another drive thankfully we are split up to go to our own classrooms. The calm environment of my students painting while I play music is enough to make the awkwardness of all of that Dr. Whitley stuff melt away. 

Besides the energy here helps me work on the new pages I have to have submitted by tonight. With all of this craziness with Jug I've had a hard time keeping up. 

"So whatcha working on?" 

I look up to see Soph standing in front of me. I raise a brow.

"You don't take art," I tell her, "why are you here? Please don't tell me you're skipping Jughead's class to sit in my room because I can't keep hiding his students in here he's going to get mad."

"No I have a free period," She explains, "I wanted to see my favorite cousin." I look at her skeptically. She sighs knowing that I didn't buy that. "I want a minute to myself... Study hall kinda sucks when you're the pregnant girl. Everyone likes to talk about you but pretend they aren't." 

I shove the other chair towards her. She takes a seat. 

"So what are you working on?"

"My pages for the new edition," I explain, "it's another vampire plotline." She nods. "Uh a band that is suspiocusly familiar snags the gig from Nina and the others- it's about a vampire rock band."

"I'd watch that movie," Soph laughs. I shake my head lightly. "Are you ever going to end Nina and the Roses?"

"I actually have the ending picked out already," I tell her, "it's gonna be like five or six more books before it ends." She nods. "But it's gonna be a sweet ending. I'm sure that twitter will love it." 

"What is it?"

"Not telling you," I say as I finish the last panel, "I don't want it to get out and then I have to write a whole new ending. It'll ruin the entire build up I've been working on for years... So uh- hows the baby thing going?"

"Fine," She says, "it's going fine... Mom is stressing out."

"Lily has to feed another mouth I can get that," I tell her, "Riverdale isn't exactly the best place to be right now. She's doing fine but it's not exactly easy to make a living here." 

"Yeah I know," She says, "the 7 years you were gone I was here." I nod lightly. Noticing the aggression in her words.

"I was always going to leave," I tell her, "the plan was never to make being here permant. The plan was I stay here until I got myself together. Then make something of myself that my mom would have been proud of. I know it feels like I left you guys but truthfully I was never actually meant to be here as long as I was."

"What do you mean?"

"I mean Lily wasn't originally gonna have me stay in riverdale for the rest of my highschool career but when I started making a life here I kinda got stuck," I explain, "she didn't want me in riverdale because she didn't want me to get stuck here. I think that's why she's being so weird with you about the baby thing."

"Yeah?"

"She doesn't want you to get stuck here, she wants you to get a life outside of all of this. No serpents, no having to save the town, no murders dads or mystery parents. Just a normal life."

She looks to the ground.

"What if that's not what I want?"

I look up from my drawing and look over to her. Her eyes are still fixed to the ground. Clearly she doesn't want me to push too far into that statement. 

"What if I don't want a normal life? What if I just wanna roll with the punches? Deal with the hand that life gave me."

"I think that it's up to you," I start, "but your mom wanted better for you. Obviously it's your choice but I think I can understand where she's coming from. I mean our family isn't exactly a success story. Most of them ended up dead. The ones that didn't were dead beats or they bust their ass to barely scrape by."

"My moms fine."

"Now," I tell her, "it took her forever to get that way." 

"You're fine."

"I'm fine because I left," I tell her, "I went away and made something of myself. I did everything I could to make sure that it out of all of this." She sighs. "Soph I think you will make the right choice for you. Not for anyone else. If you want to keep the baby great I will support you however I can. If you don't okay and I will support you however I can that way as well. It's not my place to tell you what to do."

"You're just about the only one to think that," She sighs.

"Everyone thinks they get an opinion in your life," I tell her, "that never goes away."

"Great."

"I know," I laugh, "but you learn how to tell them to fuck off."

She laughs lightly. The bell rings loudly interrupting the conversation.

"I have to go to lunch but if you need to talk still we can," I tell her, "just say the words."

"I'm gonna go to lunch," She says, "I think I'll be fine." I nod. "If not I know where to find you."

"Yes you do," I tell her. She moves off with the crowd of students leaving the classroom. After a minute I move heading over to the teachers longue. I see Betty, Archie, Jug, and Veronica there when I get there. "Wow I got a sudden flashback to highschool right there." 

They all laugh at the comment. 

"Whats this?" I ask as I look at the blueprints spread out along the table.

"She's changing the Pembrooke," Betty shares.

"Ooo exciting," I tell her, "oo you should let me paint a mural or something. Or just let me paint you something for your livingroom."

"I think I'll take you up on that offer actually," Veronica says, "I mean the art work in the penthouse is severely lacking."

"Well perfect," I tell her, "give me color schemes and I'll get you something that'll just bring everything together." 

"This is why I love you," She says brightly. I chuckle lightly.

"The Five Musketeers," Cheryl says as she joins us clearly not caring for our presence, "Pray tell, why for have we been summoned?"

"It's the teachers lounge at lunch," I point out, "were we asked to meet here or something?"

"Kevin texted all of us," Betty shares. I grab my phone to see that she's right.

"Well glad I was coming here anyways," I say softly. Jug laughs. 

"Hey, guys!" Kevin says eagerly as he, Fangs, and Toni move towards the group eagerly, "Thanks for gathering on such short notice." I look over to Jug. He moves offering me his bag of chips. I take one as the group shifts awkwardly. "Um, Fangs and I have announcement to make."

"We're engaged!" Fangs shares. Most of the group reacts happily. Jug has a clear look of, well frankly he looks like he doesn't care. Which tracks because Fangs mostly hates him and well Kevin barely talks to him. Not really exciting if the people don't exactly like you. 

"Oh, my God!" Betty says, "That's such good news."

"I'm so happy for you guys!" I say excitedly.

"But wait, there is more," Fangs says.

"Yeah. We're having a baby," Kevin announces. Everyone seems shocked and excited by the news.

"Guys, that's great!" Archie says. 

"Wait, Archie, there's still more," Kevin says.

"How is there more?!" I say eagerly, "what else is there?"

"We're having the baby," Kevin says as he points to Toni's baby bump.

"With me," Toni says eagerly. A huge smile covers my face. "I'm having our baby."

"We're planning on raising this child together," Fangs says, "Just the three of us."

"Just one big, happy, nontraditional family," Toni says.

"Oh my gosh guys that's amazing!" I say brightly, "that's so great! I'm so happy for you guys."

"What in the actual fuck?" Cheryl asks harshly. We all look to see that she's far from excited with the news. Toni starts to say something but the redhead stomps off before she gets the chance.

"Way to make it about her," I say softly. I move towards Toni, Kevin, and Fangs. "I'm very happy for you three. This is great! I mean who better to have a baby then you guys- can I be the favorite wine aunt?"

"Absolutely," Kevin says, "I wouldn't expect anything else."

"Amazing," I say as I move to grab one of my energy drinks from the fridge. Everyone starts to move to do their own things. I sit beside Veronica. Starting on the topic about the art but quickly it warps into us just talking about whatever. "I think I want kids."

"Yeah?" Veronica says, "really?"

"Yeah," I tell her, "I mean- I always thought I would get married and have a family some day but why wait."

"Don't be rash about this," Veronica says, "I mean- this shouldn't be an impulse decision."

"I know I know trust me," I tell her, "I'll sleep on it... But like I kinda like the idea of being a mom." She nods. "I mean I know I'm not exactly the first person you'd picture having kids but I mean I've always kinda wanted them... And when Ally and I started talking about kids I got all excited."

"So would you go the donor route?" 

"I guess it's something to think about," I tell her. She moves looking to her watch. 

"I have to go to get things ready for construction," She tells me, "but table this- and let's talk about this tonight? I'll facetime you? Or I can come over and we can open a bottle of wine and talk about it?"

"Sounds amazing," I tell her, "see you then." She nods before leaving. 

"So a baby," Jug says as he moves to jump into the empty spot on the couch beside me, "I mean- Kevin, Fangs, and Toni have always been nontraditional... But I didn't see this coming." He looks over at me and smiles. "I can't wait to teach this kid about good movies." I laugh loudly at the comment. He beams. "I love when you laugh like that."

"Like what?"

"Like I'm the funniest person you've ever met," He says brightly, "it makes my whole day when I hear that." I tense slightly. "Did that come out weird?"

"No," I say at once, "just uh- I need to get back to class." He nods. "I have to set up for the music class. We are trying to work on this new song with the entire group. It's a lot but they love it." He nods. "I'll see you after classes tho."

"Yeah okay," He says awkwardly as I hurry from the teachers lounge. All but running to my classroom. 

Maybe I could of handled that better... But frankly I'm okay with handling things like the shit show I am.

~~~

I sit boredly at the kitchen island as I input grades. Jug on the other hand is frantically flipping through his student's essays. Clearly not impressed by any of their writing.

"Not everyone is you," I point out, "some people actually struggle with writing out their opinion."

"Struggling with writing is one thing- but some of these kids clearly didn't read the book," He groans, "I mean- this essay was supposed to be about Catcher in The Rye this kid wrote about baseball."

"He wrote about a catcher I guess," I laugh lightly. He sighs.

"I just wish they took it seriously," He groans.

"It's highschool Juggie they don't need to take everything so seriously all the time," I point out, "they do dumb shit. We used to do dumbshit when we were their age."

He doesn't seem convinced. However he does look over at me. 

"Why are you acting so weird around me today?" Jug asks.

"I'm not," I tell him.

"You are," He says at once, "Archie told me this morning that something happened last night- I know I came home wasted but did I do something?" I shake my head. Trying to lie my way through this.

"No," I say softly, "you just rambled like any of us do. I mean you thanked me a lot and called me pretty... Tried to get me to sleep with you."

"Sounds about right," He sighs, "anything else?" I look at him carefully. Trying to decide if I should tell him. Try to talk about it and everything. Thankfully I'm saved by fate. My phone dings loudly. Then so does his. I look at it carefully to see a message from Cheryl. "Is yours from Cheryl?"

"Yeah," I tell him, "I guess we are gathering for drinks at the Whyte Wyrm." 

"Great," He says.

"Well then we better get ready, knowing Cheryl I'm sure we both are going to regret going."

I stand from the table to head downstairs to change into something a little nicer. Grateful to Cheryl and the universe in General for giving me this perfect out to a what will probably be a very uncomfortable and unpleasant conversation. 

---------

Sorry I didn't update for a bit there. Finals kicked my ass. But hey the semester is like two days away from being over so that's fun. I hope you all enjoy this chapter I know it isn't a lot but it's you know something. 

Any ideas for chapters during the gap between episodes? Like do we want stories from the 7 year gap? Or just random domestic/casual things?