Resilience | Sweet Pea.

61 - Archie's Return

A few days later I stand in the kitchen with Fred as he pours us a coffee and catch up on our past few days. He'd put some food on so the two of us just chatted while we waited as we normally do.

"I talked to Sweet pea." I tell Fred.

"He's been walking you home a lot." Fred states, raising an eyebrow at me as he sips his coffee.

"Don't think too much into it Fred." I chuckle. "He just... I think he feels bad. After everything that happened, and with Archie being gone-"

"Whether you admit it or not, Nova, you both care about each other." Fred lectures me.

"I know." I sigh.

"Have you told him?" Fred asks, obviously meaning the baby.

"No. Don't you think you'd know by now if I had?" I say.

"I know you will in your own time, sweetheart but he deserves to know." Fred tells me softly.

"Why, though? Me not telling him saves him the heartache. Plus, I don't want him to hate me..." I sigh

"Why would he hate you?" Fred questions, I shrug, not really wanting to talk about it. "Alright, I'll let up. Sorry, Nov."

"He told me his dad called him." I say instead of replying.

"Oh, he did?" Fred says. "How did that go?"

"He's coming back to Riverdale apparently." I tell him.

"Did he say when?" Fred asks, I shake my head. "Well, I guess we prepare for world war 3."

"He asked me if he decides to see his dad if I'd go with him." I say. Fred looks at me, almost a little surprised, yet not surprised at all.

"And what did you say to that?" Fred asks me, again with his brow raised.

"I told him of course." I say. "Broken up or not, that's gonna be a hard thing for Sweet pea and I'm one of the only ones that knows about all that shit."

"You're a good girl, Nova." He chuckles.

"I try to be at least." I sigh.

"More coffee?" Fred offers.

"Yes please."

Just as Fred picks up the coffee pot to pour me some more, Vegas comes running towards him.

"Vegas?" Fred questions, putting down the pot and bending down to inspect the dog. When Archie walks through the door.

"Archie?" Fred and I ask in unison,

"Hey dad, hey Nov." Archie replies, throwing his bag down as the two of us running to hug him tightly, in a big stupid jumble of a family hug which causes a groan from Archie.

"What? What's wrong son?" Fred asks cautiously, scanning over Archie.

"It's a long story." Archie sighs.

"Sit down, Arch, I'll finish cooking and we'll eat together." I say.

"That's kind of you Sweetheart." Fred says. "Thank you."

"Lets do it." I smile, happy to see my brother finally home, despite his still brown hair. Fred and Archie sit down at the table so we can all talk whilst I finish the cooking.

"So, what happened, Arch?" I ask.

"I uh, I found a little cabin in the woods, I was helping the rangers clear the trails and doing maintenance and stuff." Archie tells us.

"Andrews construction, rustic edition?" I joke.

"Damn, should've trademarked that." Archie says as I plate the now finished meals and bring them over to my family, then going to plate my own and chopping up the leftovers for Vegas.