What We Once Were

Chapter 4.

Betty was deadly quiet as the sounds of her daughter's chatter was mindlessly sucked into the void inside Betty's head. She felt her nails digging into her palms, the warm trickle of blood oozing under her nails and onto her fingertips as she listened to Juliet and Jughead laugh and talk with each other. 

Betty was not a territorial or possessive person in the slightest. But with Juliet, maybe it was the mother's instincts kicking in but she never liked it when Juliet interacted with strangers. Of course that was normal for most parents, but with Betty, her anxieties were already an issue. Especially around strangers or people she's had a history with, she wanted to protect her daughter from everything that was her past, whether it be good or bad. 

"Slide! Slide! Over there, can we please go there Jughead?" Juliet cheered, her tiny fists grabbing hold of Jughead's beanie. 

"Sure thing, have you ever played the game lava monster?" Jughead asked, tilting his head upward to face Juliet. 

She narrowed her eyebrows in confusion, just like Betty does when she's confused, "no. What is it? 

Jughead hoisted her off his shoulders and set her down on the mulch. 

"I'll show you, now go run up on to the play set and I'm going to try and chase you and tag you. Don't let me." 

Her eyes danced, "So it's tag?" 

"Yes, but I can only touch one color." Jughead threw his glance over towards the playset. It was mostly black with some blue, plenty of which he could climb and maneuver his way around the structure. 

"I can only touch blue, you can touch ever color. Just don't let me tag you or else you're it." Jughead simplified the game, Juliet was stoked to play now. 

"Okay, count to ten." Then she scampered off towards the playground, giggling all the way. 

Betty stood there watching them, they looked exactly like a real father and his daughter who'd never been apart. They laughed and played with each other like they weren't perfect strangers. 

Betty had never seen her daughter connect with someone so quickly, she couldn't remember the last time Juliet had ever been that happy with her. 

At the thought of that, she dug her nails further into her flesh, whatever pain she was supposed to be feeling was nonexistent. A part of her wanted to scream and take her daughter away from him. She wanted to erase the memories Juliet had with him so she would be all hers again. She had to protect her daughter from the heartbreak and suffering she went through 5 years ago with him. If Jughead broke her daughter's heart, she'd never forgive him for that. 

Juliet shrieked as Jughead lunged at her and wrapped her tiny body into his arms, Betty jumped up. She couldn't watch this anymore, it was beginning to make Betty question whether or not she made the right decision about not telling Jughead about Juliet and not being honest with her daughter about her father. 

"Careful! Careful, I don't want her getting hurt." Betty intervened, rushing from her standing spot towards the blue bars by the slide. 

"I'm fine mommy. I'm having fun." Juliet said between breathes of laughter. 

"You know I'd never hurt her Betts. I have a little sister." Jughead added with a grin on his face as he held Juliet in his arms and tickled her stomach. 

"Just...taking precautions." Betty lied. 

"I'm hungry. Is it lunchtime yet?" Juliet asked, rubbing her stomach. 

Betty checked her phone, it was 12:30. "You're really that hungry? You had a big breakfast." 

"Yeah but that was so long ago. And I have been running a lot. Please Mommy?" Juliet begged.