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Chapter 7

"Hey," Jug whispered, lying back down next to Betty and Willow, placing the plate of waffles on the counter. Betty smiled tiredly and accepted his kiss onto her temple, moving to rest her head against his shoulder affectionately. "How you feeling?"

Betty smiled a bit, moving her eyes from the baby to her boyfriend. "Good... It's been a year and I haven't screwed up as bad as I thought I would be," she beamed, making him laugh. "We haven't screwed up."

Jug smiled sadly. "I just wish I was there from the beginning," he sighed.

"No, Juggie," Betty whined. "Please don't start again."

"It's just not fair," he murmured. "I know I wasn't even supposed to be there with you, but you gave birth to her and had to stay in the hospital with only your sister there. And the pregnancy had to be horrible."

"Stop it," Betty whispered, pulling a shirt back over her head, the baby (or toddler, now) moving to lie down as well, grabbing her feet with a giggle. "You remember how I called you when I was feeling emotional?"

Jug hummed, nodding a bit.

"Or when I was too tired to do my homework for college and you did it for me online?"

He chuckled sadly, holding his eyes on the little girl between them, her green eyes big and staring into his.

"Or a week after I gave birth and wanted to kill myself?"

"Betty," he sighed, looking at her again.

"You weren't in my apartment, but you were there for me," she insisted. "Even my mom didn't know how to help me with my feelings, but you did... Do you remember when Barrel died?" she continued quietly. "I had a two-month-old, but I couldn't make myself move, so you literally bought a plane ticket to come and help me."

"William didn't like that," he murmured with a small smile, making Betty chuckle as well.

"No, he didn't. But he didn't like anything I did... I don't know if I've ever told you, but... He wanted me to get an abortion."

Betty's eyes moved to his face, observing his clenched jaw. "You did tell me... I'd understand abortion if it was your choice. But that jerk shouldn't have a say in it. Especially not after what he did... Also, I have no fucking idea how anybody wouldn't want to be this little butterball's daddy," he said, ticking the little girl and giving her kisses, making her laugh.

Betty chuckled softly, observing them. "Dada," their baby said when he lied back down again normally. She reached for him, turning herself around and crawling to be on his chest where Betty's hands were at, her head on his biceps.

"Dada," Jug sighed quietly with a smile on his face. It's been a whole month since she had started calling him that. It was her third word after mama and ookie which meant cookie. Now there were also dada and ball in her vocabulary.

Betty gave his neck a soft kiss before lifting her head a little, peeking over him. "Did you bring waffles?"

"Oh, how could I forgot," he chuckled, moving one hand from Lolo to the bedside table, grabbing the plate (more like a bowl because of the syrup) and handed it to Betty. "Happy one-year giving birth anniversary, baby."

Betty chuckled. "Thanks."

"Happy birthday to you," they finished singing. "Yaaay," everyone clapped, which made the little girl smile excitedly and clap too.

"Come on, baby, blow the candle off," Betty said, trying to get her to do that. She did try but ended up blowing raspberries into the air. Betty chuckled softly, doing it for her invisibly. They thought she'd start laughing, but instead, she squeezed her eyes together, screaming and crying from the top of her lungs.