Bughead One-shots | Riverdale

Nightmares

TW: Gun mention, violence, and nightmares.

"You have until the count of three."

She was stood in the woods with her father again. The gun in her hands was cold and heavy, and it didn't help that her hands were shaking as she stared back at him, her dad. Betty's chest felt tight as she stared at him, her breathing irregular as tears slipped down her cheeks. She didn't want to be here. Not again. It was too much.

"Shoot me or I'll shoot you."

Betty swallowed harshly, willing to yell out at him to stop. He was her father, he was meant to protect her. Instead he was a serial killer, who had killed multiple people and hurt even more. Her dad was a monster.

"One."

Betty whimpered, squeezing her eyes shut as she shook her head. She didn't want to look at him, but closing her eyes did nothing to drown out his voice.

"Two."

She heard the click of his gun and held the one in her hands even tighter. The metal was growing warmer from her warm and sweaty palms, almost losing grip on it. Her shaking got worse and she willed everything she had to just be somewhere else and be away from him. 

"Thr-"

The sound of a gunshot blasting through her mind was enough for her eyes to snap open and for her body to lunge forwards so she was sitting up. Betty's breathing was almost erratic as she scanned where she was with panicked eyes, and instead of the forest she'd been in almost a year ago, now, she was in her bedroom with Jughead in the bed beside her.

Her hands, empty and not holding a gun, raised to cover her face as tears fell down her cheeks and cries bubbled up her throat. The memory ran in a loop over and over, her father's voice ringing in her ears in one moment and in the next all she could see was Penelope Blossom shooting him in the head.

"Betty, hey, come here what's wrong?"

It took a few minutes of crying before she heard Jughead's voice, a little gravelly with sleep, and felt his arms around her to pull her close to him. She couldn't say anything in response, too worked up to try, so she let him pull her into his lap so he could hold her properly.

"He's a monster." Betty sobbed into his neck and she heard Jughead sigh in response, because of course he knew what she was on about.

This wasn't the first time Betty had cried about what had happened in the forest that night, although it had been a while. It took weeks before she could sleep properly after what had happened, and Jughead had been there through all of it. Sometimes she felt guilty that he had to take care of her; she was now a senior in high school and he had to help her with bad dreams.

"I'm sorry, love." Jughead pressed his lips against her temple and held her tightly against himself as he started rocking them to try and comfort her.

It took Betty a good ten minutes before she could calm down. Her chest hurt and her eyes were sore but eventually she quietened down her cries until she was just sniffling into the material of his t-shirt, her hands clutching onto him like he was her lifeline, and in a way he was. She felt his hand moving through her loose hair and closed her eyes, hiccuping occasionally from the crying.

"Are you okay?" Jughead whispered into her hair, and Betty let out a long breath.

"Yeah," She whispered and nodded. "I'm okay. I'm sorry I woke you. It's just been a while since I had a dream about it."

"You don't need to apologise, it's okay." He said softly and continued moving his fingers through her hair to relax her. "I'm here. I'll always be here."

Betty nodded her head as she completely relaxed against him, emotionally and physically exhausted. "I love you." She whispered.

"I love you too." Jughead whispered into her hair and gently kissed her forehead, continuing to gently rock her until Betty eventually lulled back into a much calmer sleep.