Glory- A Riverdale Sequel (Sweet Pea)

1. Beautiful Tragedy

A/N- This is the sequel to Guts- A Riverdale Story. Enjoy, and as always, thank you for reading!

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Five years. We had gone five years without an emergency. Sure, we had been to Riverdale to visit. But something about the Serpents tapping both Sweet Pea and me at the same time was terrifying. Usually, they'd only call Sweet Pea for help with the gauntlet- and even then, that was a rare occurrence. We sat in our room after a sleepless night with the shop phone in our hand, trying to decide which of our part timers we could trust with our keys and whether to leave Bella here or bring her with us.

"I mean, I know Zeke knows how to run things. I mean hell, we give him the keys every time we go on vacation and never have an issue. I even trust him to housesit for us. But I don't want anyone watching our little girl but us," Sweet Pea sighed and dragged his hand through his hair, "You know she gets anxious when we have to leave her for even an hour. We don't know how long we're gonna be gone for, Cat."

"But that doesn't mean she needs to come with us. This isn't a family reunion, Sweets. This is Serpent business. We don't know what we're going into here, and if it's dangerous enough you know we're just bringing her right back here. Bella loves Uncle Z and Auntie Bee," I used the names Isabella gave Zeke and Abby, our two employees that had become family to us in Seaside, "Yeah, we'd have to call and Facetime her every night so she knows we didn't abandon her, but I would rather her be here- where enemies we still have to contend with don't know where she is."

Sweets bit his lip and looked at me, and I could truly see he was torn. After a second he sighed and said, "I see your point, but what if these people already know where we live? FP is in Hiram Lodge's prison, Ally. And the people who put him there put Jug in the hospital. Tell me this isn't your twisted uncle calling you out of hiding. He has his ways, Cat. And if anything happened to Zeke and Abby because they were babysitting our girl... Or if anything happened to her. I'd feel better if she was with us. Her presence would also maybe throw our scent off, so this doesn't look like Serpent business at first."

I sighed and leaned back against the headboard, "Either way, we have to call them. If we're really leaving this morning, they need all of our keys and we needed to start getting loaded up like an hour ago. I still think Isabella should stay here, where we know she's safe and she doesn't distract either of us from what we're doing."

Sweet Pea and I stared each other down. This was the closest thing we'd had to a fight in years, and one of the only arguments we'd had since we took over the shop. After a few moments of searching my face for any sign that I was backing down, he relented.

"You're right. We need to leave Bella here. She's going to be mad, but better her angry at us and safe than in the middle of something potentially awful. Call Zeke and Abby. I'm going to start getting our things packed."

With that said, I called our two most reliable employees. They know about our past with the Serpents because Sweets likes to tell old stories when he drinks, but I decide to simply say it was a potentially long-term family emergency and that we needed them to look after the store, our house and Isabella. Within minutes, they were at our door.

Abby sat at the table with Zeke and Sweets as I made breakfast and coffee for everyone. Sweet Pea was going over the usual rules given to them when they housesit for us (the most important to him being, we wash our sheets before letting you sleep where we have sex. I expect the same damn courtesy- and that's just about a direct quote) and making sure they knew both of our cell numbers by heart. He was trying to keep it light, but the worry was all over his face.

Zeke looked at Sweets and then at me and frowned, "Boss, is everything ok? You're both way more tense than usual. I mean if it's Serpent business, you could tell us..." Zeke trailed off when Abby kicked him under the table and gave him a look that clearly said, "mind your business".

"We don't know what's going on yet," I sighed as I started making plates, "We won't know what we're walking into until we get there, truth be told. But I will tell you this. There is a shotgun, already loaded in our closet and hand guns in our night stand, linen closet and pantry. Those are loaded, too. If you're not expecting company, be ready to shoot when you answer that door. Sweets, baby, go wake up Bella. I've got her breakfast ready."

Abby sat back with wide eyes and looked up at me with a nervous smile, "You guys really do have some enemies, huh?"

I shook my head and patted her back reassuringly, "We really don't expect it to come to that, honey. I'm just telling you where the weapons are in case it does. She's not coming with us this time because it's just not safe for her. Don't worry. We trust you and Zeke with literally everything that's important to us. It's just, the less you know, the better."

Abby simply nodded as Isabella charged into the kitchen shouting, "AUNTIE BEE!! UNCLE Z!!!" and grabbing them both in one of those hugs she does that displays her freakish strength, "Daddy says I get to stay here with you while him and Mama go to Uncle Jug's house for a while. He says my Uncle Eff-Pee is sick."

Sweets stepped back and put his arm around my shoulders and chuckled at how Bella over pronounced FP's name. As Zeke and Abby got her settled into her morning routine, Sweets and I set back to packing and then loading the truck.

When it came time for us to leave, Bella grabbed Sweets around the neck and whimpered, "When are you coming back? Will you call me to read stories every night? Why is Mama going too this time?"

Sweets sighed sadly and picked her up as he said, "Mom has to come too because Uncle FP is sick and Uncle Juggie needs our help, baby. We don't know how long we're going to be gone, but I pinkie promise you," he held out his pinkie as he sat her down and got on his knee to be on her level, "We will call you every night and read you a bedtime story. What happens if I break a pinkie promise?" Sweets asked her, making her giggle.

"I get to break your pinkie," Bella looped her pinkie with his and giggled more, "So no breaking your promise, Daddy. You can't unload heavy stuff if you break your pinkie."

We gave one last round of hugs before getting on Sweet Pea's bike and taking off toward our past, and all of the ghosts that had finally found a way to drag us back for revenge.