No one ever said that it would be this hard

Epilogue

♾ Betty ♾

While Jug was asleep, I was really bored. So I texted Veronica and asked if they wanted to come visit. When they finally came — saving me from this agonizing boredom — Veronica was carrying a bouquet of flowers and Archie held two stuffed animals, an elephant and a giraffe. Both animals had a small balloon tied to one of their limbs.

"Oh my God those are so cute!" Archie whisper-yelled, walking over to the little bed where the twins where sleeping in.

"Please be quiet. Jug is still asleep and he hasn't slept in two days. Plus those two over there are really not that heavy sleepers withers. Probably come after their dad" I whispered and Veronica chuckled, walking up to me and hugging me.

"So glad that everything went okay"

"Can I hole them?" Archie whispered.

"When they wake up again, then you can try to hold them" Archie nodded. Because if not, then we might wake them and if we do, they will start crying and that would result in Jughead waking up and I just really wanted him to get some sleep.

"I'm still surprised that they aren't named Romeo and Juliet"

"Well, we had a Juliet, you know? We can't give that name to another person"

"You're probably right"

"Hey, Archie?" Veronica asked and he hummed, turning away from the twins in order to face her "could you please get me a coffee? They might have some in the cafeteria, or you go to that little shop right next to the hospital grounds. You know, the one we passed by"

"Yes, sure"

"Thanks, babe" Veronica said, kissing him on the cheek as he passed by before he left the room.

"That seemed suspicious, what is it that you don't want Archie to hear?" I asked and she sighed.

"Is it so obvious?"

"To me? Yes. But he probably doesn't notice"

"I think that I found out why I- why we... have some problems recently. I think that we've just grown apart. It's weird, isn't it?"

"No, it's not. Totally normal. I mean, we've all gone our separate ways, you know? I mean, Jug and I have twins, you know. You two graduated not long ago, you already know what you will do. Does Archie?"

"Mhm... I don't know... You would tell me if he said something?"

"V, you are my best friend. Of course I would tell you if I knew something. I don't know anything though, sorry"

"It's okay, don't worry... I'm sure that we can figure it out..."

"Betts...?" Jughead mumbled and I turned to face him. He rubbed his eyes, sitting up a bit "wha...?"

"Are you okay?" I asked, chuckling. He looked around the room, his eyes stopping on the baby bed, though then nodded.

"Mhm? Yeah. Yeah" Jug got up and went to the baby bed, carefully picking up Myles. He turned back around to face me.

"Oh. Hey, Veronica. Since when are you here?"

"Archie and I just came by" As if on cue, the door opened and he stepped in. Archie walked over to Veronica and reached her the coffee.

"Hey, Jug"

"Hey, Archie"

"They are so cute" he whispered.

"I think that you can stop whispering now" Jughead said, walking back to the chair and sitting down.

When Archie tried to pick Emilia up, she woke up and then started crying. Veronica tried to shush her to sleep but it wouldn't work, so she looked at me helplessly. I chuckled and then told her to give her to me. Emilia quietened down once I started feeding her.

"Do you guys need some space?"

"No, don't worry. I mean, I don't have a problem with you seeing me feed them. Except if you are uncomfortable..." Though they decided to stay. Archie shifted his weight on his feet before speaking up again.

"So. Parents." He paused "How is that?"

"Uhm... amazing, I'd say"

"They are miracles, you know?" Jughead said, not looking at him and instead just staying focused on Myles. I smiled softly.

He was so cute.

"I love you, Jug"

"I love you too"

"I love you more" he chuckled.

"No fair. You know that I can't disagree with you to today"

"It's already a few hours later and you still let me win?" I asked and smiled.

"In fact, Mrs. Jones, I do. Because you are the mother of my children and because I would do everything to make you happy" He said before leaning over to kiss me. But we got interrupted by Archie clearing his throat.

"Sorry, guys. I completely forgot that you two were here" I said as Jughead sat back down on the chair "hopefully that's not the mom-brain"

"Don't worry, B, it's fine. Though I still think that Archie and I might leave you two alone. You probably need some alone time to adapt to the new situation and Archie still has to clean something, right?" She asked, leaning onto Archie and smirking.

"Uhm... right. We gotta go"

"It was good that we caught up to one another though" I said and they nodded.

"It really was. We surely call us"

"Jug?" I asked, nudging him.

"Mhm? Oh yes, bye Archie, bye Veronica" he said, still focused on Myles. I just chuckled, kissing his cheek before saying goodbye to Archie and Veronica.

"Hey, Betty?" He asked and I hummed "can I sit on your bed? The chair is becoming uncomfortable"

"Why didn't you say something sooner?" I asked, concerned, and he just shrugged.

"It wasn't that bad. Don't worry" He gave me a smile and then got up, only to sit down on the edge of the bed. Though he was careful that he wouldn't hurt me or one of the twins.

"How do you feel, about being a dad?"

"I don't know. Feels okay for now, I guess. I mean, it's not bad — of course not. It's just... new... and a lot of change, you know? I don't know how to deal with that yet"

"Okay. You're doing great though, Jug, don't worry"

"And how are you? Are you okay?" I nodded.

"Yes, I think that I am"

"Just try to not stress too much, okay?" He said and I nodded again.

"I know. I won't. I mean, you are here for me. You make sure that I don't stress too much, don't you? But you have to promise that you try to not stress too much either. I'm here for you too"

"I know. I love you" I smiled, leaning in to kiss him "and our children"

"I love you too, Juggy"

Love is a progress.

A long journey where you can fail, where you can break, where you can hurt yourself or others. Love is a long story, where we fail until we don't anymore.

For now, we've made some progress.

We started as friends, became a dream couple and now we are just two broken lovers, holding their two babies in their arms. In some time, we will learn to love us completely again.

____________________________________

We came to an end.
This book is over.

BUT FEAR NOT for there will be a second book.
...which we'll write at some point
...and then publish... at some point.

We will leave an update when we post it