Come Hell or High Water

Chapter 25

1 week later

Betty and baby James are now home with Jughead and the twins. Betty has been advised to be on bed rest for 2 weeks, so Josie and Sweet Pea are staying to help Jughead with the twins. Archie found out last night that Veronica has moved back to NYC leaving him, Kevin and the kids behind in Riverdale. Jellybean is becoming fed up with her pregnancy and wants the last 4 months to hurry up and pass. F.P is still trying to get to the bottom of the mystery of the masked person who is assaulting the residents of Riverdale and Greendale. Edgar Evernever was found shot dead just outside of Greendale so now a lot of the members of The Farm are under psychiatric evaluation. Fangs bought an apartment in the Pembrook with help from Cheryl. Toni and Cheryl have noticed that Nana Rose's health appears to be deteriorating.

Sweet Pea and Josie have taken Ally and Freddie across the road to see Archie and his kids. Jughead is currently napping in bed with betty while James is asleep because he knows he won't stay asleep for long. Archie isn't fairing much better with Peter where sleep is concerned. Natalia isn't old enough to understand that Peter needs more attention now, so Archie is trying to make sure she still gets her share of attention. Mary and Robert have been helping him a lot as well.

Hermione Lodge arrives home to the Pembrook to find the apartment abandoned and Veronica's belongings gone. Hermione heads to Fred and Archie's old house to see if she was staying with Archie. She is very surprised when Jughead opens the front door very frazzled. "Mrs. Lodge?" Jughead asks in surprise. "Mr. Jones? Is Archie home or do you know where Veronica is?" Hermione asks. "Did no one tell you?" Jughead asks which confuses Hermione. "Tell me what Jughead?" Hermione demands. "Archie lives in the house opposite this one now and Veronica left Riverdale and went back to NYC after she cheated on Archie with Kevin and had twins that turned out to be Archie and Kevin's. Archie and Veronica also have a 16-month-old daughter together." Jughead says. "So, Veronica went back to NYC with 3 young children?" Hermione asks confused. "No. She left Archie's kids with him and Kevin has his daughter. You have 2 granddaughters and a grandson Mrs. Lodge." Jughead explains and then crying can be heard from upstairs. Jughead gives Hermione an apologetic smile and closes the door as she runs across the road to Archie's house.

Jughead runs upstairs to James' nursery to see what he needs. Once he has sorted James out, he checks in on Betty and then heads downstairs to watch a movie until Josie and Sweet Pea return with the twins. When Josie and Sweet Pea return, they find Jughead asleep on the sofa with Rebel without a Cause playing on the TV. Sweet Pea turns the movie off and nudges Jughead awake. "Jones why don't you go and lie down with your wife. Josie and I will look after James too. You need the break." Sweet Pea says. Jughead nods and makes his way upstairs and wonders what he would do if he didn't have his friends.

When Hermione arrived at Archie's she felt like she was intruding because Josie, Sweet Pea, Ally, Freddie, Mary and Zoey were already visiting. Archie had told her that she wasn't. Archie didn't blame Hermione for Hiram and Veronica's actions. When Sweet Pea and Josie left to take the twins home Archie went upstairs to check on Nat and Pete. "Do you want to come with me and meet your grandkids?" Archie asked as he looked over the banister. "I would love to Archie." Hermione says and follows Archie upstairs.

Archie opens the door to the nursery wider and walks in silently. Hermione follows cautiously and looks around the room. "Mrs. Lodge this is your granddaughter Natalia," Archie says gesturing towards Natalia's crib. Just then Peter started fussing. "This is your grandson Peter." Archie says picking him up and passing him to Hermione to hold. "You also have another grandchild. Kevin is her dad though, so she is with him. He named her Danielle." Archie explains. "I can't understand why she would take off and leave these precious little humans behind." Hermione says. "She wasn't coping with being a parent to Nat and then she started sleeping with Kevin and me at the same time and found herself pregnant yet again." Archie says. Hermione isn't sure how to respond to that. Instead she and Archie head downstairs and he allows her to feed Peter.

The Next Day

Jughead wakes up feeling refreshed and heads downstairs to see Josie making breakfast for him, Josie, Betty and Sweet Pea. He sees the twins sat in their highchairs eating a slice of toast each. Sweet Pea is feeding James. "Morning!" Jughead greets. "Daddy!" Freddie and Ally greet upon seeing Jughead. "How are my three babies this morning?" Jughead asks to no one in particular. "James is a little fussy. Freddie has been told off for not sharing and Ally has been steered away from the stairs 3 times." Sweet Pea says. "Freddie is going through his 'Mine' phase right now, so he doesn't share well at the moment. You need eyes in the back of your head as well because if either Freddie or Ally can they will escape. As for James I've been expecting him to be a bit fussy to be honest." Jughead says. Jughead takes Betty's breakfast from Josie and James from Sweet Pea and carries them both carefully upstairs to their bedroom.

Betty sits up when she sees Jughead enter the room and holds her hands out for James. "He was being fussy so I thought he could use some cuddles with Mommy." Jughead says as he hands James to Betty. "I promise not to do anything too straining but I want to join you downstairs." Betty says. "If you feel up to this then I see no problem with that." Jughead says. "It'll be nice to spend time with you and the kids and also catch up with Josie and Sweets." Betty says. "You have to promise that you will confine yourself to the sofa though." Jughead says. Betty nods and passes James to Jughead before slowly getting out of bed.

Later, Betty, Jughead, Josie and Sweet Pea are sat watching Spider-Man Far From Home when Sweet Pea's phone rings and he leaves to answer the call. When he returns the look on his face is like he has seen a ghost. "Guys we have a problem." Sweet Pea says. Betty, Josie and Jughead exchange looks wondering what has Sweets so rattled.