one-shots || bughead + sprousehart

"i'm your emergency contact." - bughead

He watched her as she slept. Her breaths coming slow and soothing, her chest rising and falling along with it.

He tried to focus on that, instead of the bruises that littered her body or the bones sticking out.

The machine beside her was beeping on a steady pace, along with the beat of her heart.

It had been six years since he'd seen her last, but here he was.

That morning he'd gotten a call, a nurse from the Grace Hospital telling him that Betty Cooper had been admitted with urgent care and apparently he had been her emergency contact. After six years, he was still her emergency contact.

He hadn't hesitated to drop everything and drive over there as quick as he could. His brain had been pondering with what could've happened to her through the entire way and it made him sick to his stomach.

When he had finally arrived there was a small group of people from the FBI already there. They led him in the room and the initial shock of seeing her like this was overwhelming. Attached to wires and wrapped in bandages with a face so pale she might as well have been dead.

He didn't hear anything for a while. His gaze set on her so strictly as he traced every line of her body. She'd gotten so thin, so thin it seemed unhealthy. Bones were sticking out and her skin was filled with bruises and cuts.

"So.." He had eventually started, turning to the people from the FBI. "what exactly happened to her?"

They'd proceeded to tell him everything. Starting when Betty was assigned to the case of this mysterious serial killer up to where she decided to infiltrate the home of the serial killer by herself and got herself kidnapped. They'd told him that she's been tortured, starved and abused for about 2 weeks and Jughead had felt his heart clench.

Now, staring at her as she slept, he finally regained a sense of calmness. She was here and she was safe.

Carefully he placed his hand atop of hers, afraid to overstep, but desperate for the feel of her skin. "Betty, hon," he whispered, his hand now moving up to trace her hair, "if you can hear me at all, please wake up. I know you've been through hell and back, but if you have any strength left, please wake up." He could feel the tears pool in his eyes, gazing at her fragile being.

—

He'd sat by her bedside for hours. The doctors had made her friends from the FBI leave but he was allowed to stay.

The clock ticked on midnight and Jughead was exhausted, but he wanted to be up when she would awaken. Doctors came by every so often, checking the little machines and making sure she was alright.

She seemed to finally be stable now. Her vitals normal, her heart beating at a calm rhythm. It wouldn't be long for her eyes to open.

He wanted to be there when that happened. Wanted to tell her she was safe, that he was here now. Wanted to take her in his arms and promise to stay by her side if she needed him to.

But exhaustion took over, and with his head on her legs and his fingers laced so the hers, he fell into a slumber.

She awakened an hour later, her eyes falling open only to find herself surrounded by white walls. Her breathing rose to her chest, but when she looked down to see a raven haired boy asleep on her legs, a calmness came over her.

"Jug.." She whimpered, and the boy whipped his head up from his position, staring the blonde straight in the eyes.

"Betty," He gasped, his eyes wide but a smile crossing his lips, "hi."