The Other Queen - Book 5 (Riverdale Season 5)

The Homecoming - Part 2

"Where's the rest of your team, Sheriff Keller?" Archie looked around the empty station.

"You're looking at 'em. Mayor Lodge cut my budget to the bone. I got no support staff, Aminity's my only deputy and with the new cut, we can't afford to have us both working on the same days, so we rotate to split the pay. We're covering the whole damn county by ourselves. Unless, of course, you, uh, count Hiram's private security force."

"They're connected to SoDale?"

"No. They work out of SoDale, but they're corrupt as hell. You should know who's running the force. It's Reggie Mantle."

"Well maybe Reggie can help me with my Ghoulie problem. They've invaded my house."

Keller shook his head. "You call him, he'll tip them off. I mean, he's probably getting some kind of a kickback from them." Archie sighed. "You're not gonna get any help from Reggie."

"Well, not knowingly, anyway. You may not have many deputies left, but you still have their old gear, right? Kevlar vests? Batons?" He nodded. "Now you might want to dust them off, Tom. I'm gonna do some recon first, but after that, we're going in." Keller smirked and nodded.

***

"The funding cut sucks, but it's nice to be able to spend a morning in bed," Sweet Pea muttered as he laid shirtless in their bed, Aminity resting in the crook of his arm. She gave a hum, leaning down and giving him a gentle kiss on his chest.

"You've gotta be kidding me," Toni let out from the other room. Sweet Pea and Aminity glanced at each other before quickly getting out of bed. Sweet Pea pulled sweat pants over his boxers and Amity grabbed a pair of shorts to put on so she wasn't just wearing a t-shirt and underwear.

"What's going on?" Aminity asked as she came out of the room with Sweet Pea hot on her heels.

"This," she thrusted over the paper.

"'Local school counselor runs seedy bar and snake dances,'" she read the headline.

"It's a hit piece. Hiram Lodge is trying to ruin my credibility in the eyes of the school board." She took the paper back while grabbing her coat. "I've gotta get over to Alice's and see what damage control she can run."

"Let us know if we can do anything," Aminity offered as the door closed behind Toni.

***

"Alright, thanks to Reggie Mantle, I have enough intel to sweep and clear the site," Archie said as they all gathered around a table in the El Royale."

"How many Ghoulies are in your house?" Fangs asked.

"I counted a dozen in these zones," he pointed to the floorplan of his house. "We hit 'em hard, we hit 'em fast."

"Nice," Sweet Pea smiled. "It's been too long since the Serpents rumbled with the Ghoulies."

"Calm down, Sweet Pea. I don't want anyone dying today, especially not my boyfriend."

"Kevin's right. When we do this, we watch each other's backs and we're smart," Aminity said, making a pointed look at her boyfriend.

"Hopefully they've dropped their guard and we can find some narcotics in the house," Betty said.

"And like Kev said, no one gets killed. None of us and none of them. Wouldn't mind breaking a few bones though."

"Hell yeah!" Sweet Pea cheered which made Aminity roll her eyes while a smile threatened to play on her lips. Aminity passed out the vests and batons from the sheriff's office, slipping on her Serpent jacket overtop. When they got to Archie's house, Aminity, Fangs, and Sweet Pea went around back while Archie, Betty, Kevin, and Keller got ready in the front.

"Hey," Aminity caught Sweet Pea's hand before he got too far. "Don't die."

He smiled. "You too."

"On three," Aminity mouthed, looking at her watch. "One, two, three." Sweet Pea smashed through the door's window from the patio while Fangs kicked the other side open. They met the others inside, working their way through the Ghoulies and knocking them out one by one. Aminity and Sweet Pea ended up working back to back. "Behind," Aminity said, grabbing onto one of his hands and swinging through his legs. Sweet Pea kicked another Ghoulie in the groin while she kicked the knee of the one behind Sweet Pea.

"Been a while since we did that. Reminds me of the good old days," he glanced over at her with a smile.

"That's not what I would call them." When all the Ghoulies were finally down, they cuffed them and sat them on the ground in a line.

"Jingle Jangle," Kevin said as he came back down the stairs and tossed the bag to Archie. "Just like the old days. They've got a lab set up in the bathroom. Will that be enough to put them behind bars, Agent Cooper?"
"Yeah, Kev, that should do it." Sweet Pea and Fangs high fived while Keller patted his son on the back.

"Makes you miss the old times," Sweet Pea looked down at Aminity.

"Yeah, maybe a little," she admitted with a small smile and he smirked, giving her a quick kiss.

***

"Toni, what's up?" Aminity asked, picking up the phone.

"I need you to rally anyone you can to get to the town hall meeting."

"Why? What's going on?"

"I had one of my girls sneak into Hiram's office and she found the secret agenda he has. Not only is he having the vote about the school, he's gonna propose to unincorporate the town."

"What?" she let out, sitting down.

"Alice is going public on the news station, but we need all the help we can get. Just get everyone there okay?"

"Yeah. Yeah, of course."

"You okay?" Sweet Pea asked as he walked into the room and Aminity hung up.

"Hiram's trying to unincorporate Riverdale." She sighed, putting her head in her hands.

"Hey, it's alright. We'll figure it okay. You just gotta have faith in this town," he assured her, kneeling down and putting his hands on her thighs, rubbing soothingly. "What's really going on with you lately?"

"Everything seems like it's falling apart," she admitted, looking up at him. "The town, the school, the department, my family-"

"Hey, I'm your family. Toni and Fangs are your family. We're right here."

"Yeah, but what about my other family? You and Jughead are two of the most important people in the world to me and you can't even be in the same room as each other, let alone have a civil conversation."

"Your brother and I have our differences, but I already promised you I'd try."

"I know, I just... I'm overwhelmed. It's starting to feel like I can't breathe. And don't say-" she tried to stop him.

"I was just gonna say that it would help if they made those pills you take for your breathing for your mind. Get your brain some air."

"They do make them. They're called anxiety meds."

"Maybe we should get you some."

"Not yet. Maybe I just need a night off."

"Well, with your new schedule at work, that's more of a possibility."

"You do realize you're not helping, right?"
He chuckled. "Okay. Tell you what. I won't sign up for any deliveries this weekend and you and I are gonna take a trip."

"I can't take a whole weekend off."

"A night then. Come on. You just said you needed a break. Let me give you one."

"Okay," she gave in."

"Okay." He smiled, giving her a kiss before standing up and holding a hand out. "Come on. We've got a party to get ready for."

This isn't edited, but I hope you all enjoyed! I couldn't help but put some references to season 3 in there.