Growing Together

Chapter 4

"Hi! Anybody here yet?!" I call out when me and Jug get inside our home in Riverdale. After we graduated and Jellybean two years after that, FP moved back to their trailer with my dog, Hot Dog. They are still sometimes here, checking on everything and sometimes when the winter gets cold like last year, they come here for a few weeks. He just felt weird living here without any kids. Plus the trailer is closer to the police station he works at.

"Coming!" we hear Jellybean's voice shouting from upstairs just as I get another wave of nausea. I run to the downstairs bathroom and puke everything out, wishing to die. The doctor told us that this and the next week will be the worst ones with the vomiting. The week just started yesterday and I fucking have enough of it already. I need to puke or pee in every ten minutes. It's purely annoying.

Jug keeps holding my hair while I rinse my mouth once again and wash my hands and face, drying them off in a towel. He smiles sweetly but worriedly at me as I look at him with a sigh. "Come on," I murmur and take his hand, leading him back to the hallway to our bags. Jelly just gets downstairs with a big smile plastered on her face as she hugs the both of us.

"You okay?" she asks us, looking at our faces.

"Yeah, we're fine," I smile. "Is anyone else here? Where's your dad?"

"He should be in a store and then he'll pick up Hot Dog and come... And yes, Jake and Ava are upstairs sleeping in the guest room."

"Sleeping already?" Jug asks with a slight chuckle.

"I wanna sleep too," I murmur.

Jelly raises her eyebrows at me, knowing something is going on, but Jughead just nods. "Let's get the bags there and you can sleep until everyone else gets here or something."

I smile a little and take one of the bags, climbing up the stairs. We enter my room and I frown, opening the window immediately, even though it's snowing outside. We finally take off our coats and I strip down to my panties and his T-shirt I'm wearing, climbing under the fresh covers.

Jug smiles at me sweetly, sitting down next to me, and starts stroking my hair when I close my eyes with a relaxed sigh. I feel his other hand under the covers and my shirt, on my small bump for a moment and smirk, but let him touch it. I fall asleep with seconds.

My eyes slowly open in the darkness. It takes me a few seconds to realize why I actually woke up, which is when I press my hand onto my mouth, quickly but smoothly get up and run into the bathroom. Ugh Juggie where are you when I need you.

When I'm done, I clean myself up and turn the light on in the bedroom. I slide my sweatpants on while listening to people talking something downstairs. They must all be here by now... I mean it's dark and it's like 7 p.m.

I manage to brush my long blond hair quickly after loosening the hurting bun. I know I look pretty tired and worn out from all of it, but it's not nearly as bad as I looked like when I was younger, so I guess it's fine.

I walk downstairs slowly and enter the living room with a sigh. Literally all of them are here, so it's a bit overwhelming, but they all smile at me sweetly and get up to hug me. The kids —Charlotte and Noah— are faster though and both hug my legs. I squat down with a quiet chuckle and give both of them kisses. "Hey you two."

"Hi," Charlotte giggles, wrapping her arms around my neck. Much to Jughead's disappointment, I pick her up (he doesn't want me to lift weights or anything similar). I move on to hugging Matt first, his daughter still on my lap.

"Hey," I say quietly, my arm wrapped around him tightly.

"Hey baby," he whispers. I smile, pecking his cheek and then let go of him. He takes the small girl from me so that I could hug all the others. Once I've hugged all my brothers and their partners, I get to hug FP and then all our friend group. This living room is full of people, I'm surprised the kids aren't overwhelmed yet.

I sit on the ground next to Jug and Hot Dog places herself to sit in front of me so that I could give her a thorough petting. I kiss her cold nose and she licks my face as I start ruffling her fur, the kids coming here as well, partly because I'm their favorite and partly to annoy the dog.

"Have you eaten already?" I ask Jug as everyone is kind of waiting for us to talk.

"There are a few bowls of chips in the kitchen and ice cream and stuff, but we decided we're only eating popcorn and junk tonight," he smiles. I nod with a smile and look back at my dog, everyone else keeping quiet.

"Baby?" Jug chuckles. I meet his eyes as his flicker onto my stomach for a moment and then back onto my face. I gulp and look up at the others. Veronica and Toni are smirking as Cheryl, Matt and especially FP are looking at my really mini belly in alert. Of course they're not saying anything, not wanting to be rude if I'm gaining weight instead or something.

I sigh quietly and meet Matt's eyes. "We're having a baby," I say in a whisper, nodding to him a bit.

There's a brief moment of silence before Kevin gets up excitedly. "Bughead babies!" he exclaims, making all of us laugh as he rushes over to us and hugs Jug, because I'm already busy hugging Nick again.

Time for round two... Sigh.

"Can I go get some food now?" I chuckle after Jellybeans pulls away from the hug. She nods with a big smile, wiping away her tears. I roll my eyes at her with a smirk before moving to the kitchen.

"Betty?" Charlotte asks adorably, following me there.

"Yeah?" I chuckle, looking at her while popping a potato chip into my mouth. She points at the food with a big smile, making me laugh. "Are you allowed to eat that?" I ask.

"Yeah," she says, nodding.

"Really?" I ask, narrowing my eyes at her playfully.

"Yes," she giggles. I give her one and look at how she eats it, chewing on the same one for a few seconds before looking back at me, wanting more.

"Come on," I chuckle and push her towards the living room gently, taking the full bowl of sour cream and onion ones.

"Nine weeks and neither of you have told me?" Sweets asks as we walk there, sounding offended.

"We got to know a week ago, relax," I chuckle and sit back down next to Jug. Hot Dog raises her head to look at my food and shuffles herself a bit closer, giving me her puppy eyes and the face like she hasn't eaten anything for a month. "No," I say, but at the same time Noah giver her one. "Noah," I say.

He giggles and eats one himself. "Why do kids love her more than they love me?" Kev asks casually.

"Because I'm a relative and you never see them anyways," I grin at his pout.

"Do you think it's a boy or a girl?" Cheryl asks, looking curious.

I chuckle. "We listened to the heartbeat and the doctor though that since it was slower, it's a boy."

"Yes, but the morning sickness and cravings say it's a girl," Jug argues.

"I know you want a girl, baby, but what are you actually going to do if it's a boy?" I smirk.

He eats a potato chip and then smiles at me big. "Hope he's trans."

I know he's joking, but he annoys me. "You're horrible."

"I know," he laughs and kisses my cheek before getting another chip.

"I for one wait for a boy," Veronica beams. "So whenever Jug gets tired, call me over."

"Aren't you going to be busy planning your wedding?" I ask. Everyone's heads are whipped there immediately as she gives me a look, Toni giggling next to her.

"I wanted it to be special, B," Ronnie whines.

"And I want some attention off of me. Let me live."

Kevin exclaims a, "OMG!" before hurrying over to the girls and hugging them both at once, Fangs just a foot behind him.

"Wedding?" Noah asks. I nod with a smile. "Mommy and daddy wedding too."

My eyes grow big as I look at my brother and Sarah. "Noah," they both sigh in unison.

"You're getting married?" Jake asks in shock.

"Yeah," Nick sighs with a small smile. We're back on our feet immediately.