What We Once Were

Chapter 6.

Jughead returned home early that night, for the first time in a long time, he actually had a good day at work and was looking forward to going back tomorrow. 

Geller have them the files they needed to start their investigation about the murders that had occurred two weeks ago in Fox Forest. Three sixteen year old girls were found bruised, beaten and marked. What was strange about them however, was the fact that they hadn't been raped or anything. Just bruised and marked with a triangular symbol. 

Jughead entered his dark and silent townhouse. Newspapers of the recent murders cluttered the kitchen table, and by his couch was his new in-home murder board. Red tacks and red string linking the papers and post it notes connects various dates and times. There were so many holes, so many things that didn't make sense about this unknown criminal, no one even knows what he or she looks like. Jughead had his suspicions that whoever this was, was definitely connected to the Fourth of July shooting. He'd have to run it by Betty tomorrow and see what she thought. 

In the mean time, Jughead had a case to crack of his own. He cleared the wooden table where he usually sat at night and tried to write a book, but inspiration and motivation to write had been hard to come by since Betty left. 

Instead Jughead placed a cube of sticky notes beside his laptop and did some social media stalking...well more like investigating on Betty and Juliet Cooper. 

He first checked to see if Betty had a Facebook page, sure enough she did. Of course, Betty was a private person so there wasn't to much stuff on her page. Most of it was pictures of Juliet either on her birthday or if it was some kind of milestone in her life. 

As Jughead scrolled through her page, he saw pictures and videos of Juliet riding her bike, blowing out candles, her on the beach and many others. Betty was a proud mom and was not afraid to show that side of her. 

As Jughead saw pictures of Juliet on the day she was born, he stopped for a second and stared. He could hardly believe that, that little girl with the bubbly personality and endless energy was that small and helpless at one time in her life. She needed so much love and help in order to grow up and become the delightful and happy girl she is now, and Jughead missed all of it. He missed bringing  her out of the hospital and home for the first time. He missed her first steps, her first time riding a bike, her first day of preschool and teaching her how to read. 

Jughead knew just from the newborn and every picture after that one, that Juliet Cooper was his daughter. She wasn't born prematurely, she looked healthy in her newborn pictures and on the outside, she looked exactly like him. Juliet looked nothing like Betty, and Jughead had to confront her about this. He'd already missed out on the first four and half years of her life and he wasn't planning on missing another day. 

He thought back to that day 5 years ago, with them down at the lake...

"How many times do you have to learn this lesson Jughead? I love you, I want to be with you. Why can't that be enough for you? How many times do we have to push each other away?" She'd said with tears in her glassy eyes, Jughead vaguely remembered that she'd laid her hand across her stomach. 

"Until it sticks, we are done Betty. Good luck at N.Y.U., you'll fit right in there." He'd turned to face the lake, his posture was tall and rigid, he crossed his arms and didn't turn around. 

He heard her let out a whimper, then heard the rustling sound of her feet sprinting into the woods as fast as she could. 

Jughead snapped back into reality, she'd put her hand on her stomach! She had been wanting to tell him something all day and of course since she was so modest, she would let him say what he'd wanted to first. How had he been so stupid? How could he have been so careless? 

That was why, almost a week after they'd broken up he heard that she'd already left for New York. He drove her away, if he'd known she was pregnant all that bullshit he's said about them not loving each other while she was away would've evaporated instantaneously. 

He'd said all that stuff because at the time he'd feared that he wasn't good enough for her. That he would hold her back from reaching her full potential, when in reality, he had prevented her from doing so. That is why Alice didn't help her for the first 6 months, she's never liked him so that would give her a motive to not help support her daughter. 

Jughead slammed his fist on the table in anger. The earsplitting thud echoed throughout the silent house. He aggressively shut the laptop and kicked the chair. How could he have done this to her? He let Betty slip away from him and broke his promise that he'd always be there for her and protect her. Jughead knew that, that was what she was searching for. Her happy exterior was only a mask, she was trying to figure out the missing piece of herself and Jughead was it. 

He was going to take baby steps in order to win her back. The first would be confronting her about Juliet tomorrow when they would go to the autopsy room. He was going to get the truth out of her, but he had to be gentle and cautious, he could see that Betty was extremely protective and possessive over her daughter so he had to make all the right moves in order to gain her trust with Juliet. 

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Betty kissed Juliet goodbye that next morning before she left for work. She and Jughead decided yesterday that they would meet at the autopsy room at 9:00. Then afterwords, when they'd gotten the report they'd return to the office and begin their murder board, timelines, suspects, and possible motives. 

As crazy as it may sound, Betty was actually really excited to get to the bottom of this. She loved solving mysteries and putting the pieces together like this, on top of that, her partner had real experience with this. Unlike all the sad saps in New York who did it because yes they enjoyed it, but they loved the attention they received for cracking a case. Betty's first partner for two cases was Batty Tadashi who was the most annoying human being Betty had ever worked with. He was so careless about the clues and the facts, he wanted to rush through the case and be the face of the whole investigation. He only did it for the fame and press, Betty couldn't count on her hands the amount of late night extra hours she'd put in without his help to actually solve the case on top of having a newborn baby at home.  

Then her next partner Carrie was actually not that bad, they'd worked together for about 2 years before she was transferred. Like Betty, she didn't want all the attention either. Carrie just wanted to give justice to those who were involved in the case. Betty loved working with her, Carrie created balance between her work and personal life very easily. 

Thankfully with Jughead, she knew how he operated--she knew that like herself, he didn't want the press and glory. He just wanted to solve the case and get all the answers good or bad and then afterwards, he'd move on and begin the cycle again. He was passionate and meticulous, he never let anything get past him before he closed the case. 

Betty was the same way. 

Betty pushed open  the door to the office and the bell rang, returning her to reality as she struggled to maneuver her way around the newsroom with a box in her grasp filled with stuff for her temporary workspace. 

Betty's desk was adjacent to Jughead's at the end of the hall. The old wooden walls and dusty glass windows greeted her as she plopped down in her swivel chair and began to move in. She plugged in her laptop, set her pencils, paper, stapler, pencil sharpener, a paperweight Juliet had made for her and finally set a picture of Juliet on her desk. Betty loved this picture, she'd taken it last winter on the first day it snowed. Juliet was grinning in her grey and pink snow jacket with her baby pink colored hat as the white snowflakes fell around her. 

That was Betty's favorite picture of her daughter, she looked so happy and full of life. It reminded Betty that she'd always have something to smile about. "Morning Betty, you're here early." Jughead's voice interrupted the peaceful silence of the newsroom. 

Betty flinched a little, "Hey Jug, I could say the same to you. You really to get started?" Betty clapped her hands together, standing up from her chair. 

Jughead gave her a crooked grin, he was relieved to see that this part of her hadn't changed in the slightest. "Seeing as you're already settled into your new desk, let's begin. I have some theories already."