betty and jughead were in their house late at night. betty was resting upstairs in their bedroom, just a week shy of her due date, and jughead was downstairs at the kitchen table working on his novel. "why don't you go to sleep, and i'll be up as soon as i finish this thought" jughead had suggested about an hour and a half ago to an obviously exhausted betty. she had been complaining of back pain for the larger part of the day, and he thought that sleep would be the best thing for her. she had been experiencing a few braxton hicks contractions over the week, so the two assumed their firstborn would come any day. jughead sighed and saw the clock switch to 12:00; he wasn't really close to done, but he figured he should go check to see if betty was asleep since he had told her he would be up soon. he closed his laptop and crossed the small living room, feeling for the railing in the dark. just as he started climbing the stairs, the hall light flicked on and he looked up to see betty with one hard across her swollen belly and one hand gripping onto the railing. "jug— oh" she paused looking down at him. he jogged up the rest of the stairs to meet her at the top. "what is it betts?" he asked quickly and added "i was just coming to see if you were asleep yet." she nodded "i was— well kind of but i keep getting these pains in my stomach, and i think they might actually be contractions." she blinked looking down at both hands which had now settled on her stomach and then up to meet jughead's eyes. "oh..." he breathed out not really knowing what else to say. after a few seconds, betty put her hand on his arm. "juggie?" she said almost in a whisper "are you okay?" he shook his head quickly and grabbed her arm "am i— oh. yes. um, yes." he babbled out "should we go to the hospital? how long has this been going on? are YOU okay?" betty giggled at his string of stressed questions "yes, jug, i am okay. they have been pretty regular since around when we got home from dinner. they are maybe twentyish minutes apart? i don't really know; i was trying to ignore them and go to sleep." "okay okay" he stammered "so hospital?" "well my ob told me not to come until the contractions are fifteen minutes apart, so we have time." jughead nodded but didn't really seem like he was registering what his wife was saying. "jug?" "uh huh?" "i am fine" she assured him. "i just want to get— mmmmmmmm" she instinctively stepped back away from jughead and leaned forward wrapping her arms around her middle. "betts??" jug gasped and knelt down to look her in the face although her eyes were squeezed shut. "what—mmm— what time— ahh— is it?" she asked while making a point to try to take deep breaths and act calm. jughead pulled his phone out of his pocket "12:14" he answered quickly. "mmm okay mmm jug—" "betts, it's okay, breathe" she nodded and reached out for his hand which he readily offered her while placing his other one on the side of her head. she let out a large breath "okay" she paused "they are getting longer, but let's see what time the next one comes so we know when to go to the hospital okay?" jughead nodded and stood up as she straightened up. "can... can you come lie on the couch downstairs?" jughead asked obviously nervous "just in case" he added quickly. betty smiles and laughed lightly "sure, jug" and started to make her way downstairs. jughead insisted on holding onto her the whole way down. "jughead, i am fine" she laughed, annoyed but lovingly. after jughead walked her over to the couch and helped her sit down, he jogged upstairs and grabbed the backpack betty had packed with some clothes and brought it down by the front door.
