Saving Her

Chapter 48. Emotions

"Shot who, Betty?" FP asked, bringing the crowd of people with him, closer to the corridor.

She shook her head, still crying only because the thought of what she did had finally engulfed her after trying to get over all of the quests and getting to the hospital.

"Her father, Sheriff," Cheryl assured calmly.

"Her father?" FP questioned. "What... What are you guys talking about? When did you see your dad? And I'd really love to know what's with the fancy clothes. Where did you go? I'm so lost," he interrogated.

"Dad, it's better left touched on later because you're just going to get angry," Jughead ensured as he wrapped his girlfriend in a warm and taut embrace. "Just know, we were right about our person of interest. Penelope Blossom---" he paused. "Sorry, Cheryl."

"It's okay," she shrugged. "I've learned to live with the ghastly disappointment that is my mother... She can't hurt me anymore."

"I wanna see me my mom, is she okay?" Betty then complained only because that was the only person she wanted in the moment she was living in.

"She's asleep. A lot of stuff happened during the procedure."

"Is she okay?" she repeated.

"Yes, just recovering. Meantime, do you wanna meet your new baby sister?" he wondered.

"Oh," she paused and wiped her tears. "I have a sister," she kind of giggled at the thought. "Yeah, of course I want to meet her..." she sniffed.

"Okay, let me get the nurse," FP let them go for the moment.

"Betts, you have to calm down," Jughead mentioned to her quietly. "We already have a lot of explaining to do, just because of our clothes... We're filthy also," he paused. "Your mom's gonna ask questions as it is. You cannot be crying right now."

"I want to just tell her the truth. Jughead, I might have killed my dad because he was going to kill me."

"Whatever Penelope set you guys up with," Charles interjected, "it was illegal no matter what. If you shot your dad because he was going to kill you, that is self defense," he explained.

"Of course, and if anything goes further, cousin, I will stand up for you," the young redhead draped her hand on her shoulder and she shared a side hug with her.

She sniffled, "Thanks, Cheryl, but I don't think..." she stopped. "I don't know," she shook her head, just trying to mentally come to terms with the fact that she was in fact the daughter of the Black Hood.

What she did had her sick to her stomach and she didn't know how to react; she didn't know where she shot him, even though she never aimed to kill him. But what really had her going was the fact that she had a choice; to shoot or be shot and she chose to kill rather than be killed. She was really judging her own character.

"I just want my mom," she sobbed.

"You have to let her rest, Betty, she had a blood transfusion last night," Charles stated.

"What?" she turned her head, becoming serious as she looked at her brother. "Why? I wanna know why she had the baby early to begin with," she then switched topics.

It was as though her brain was running itself ragged and she was just totally discombobulated. After being locked up and tied down for days, then being sold to Penelope just for a final round of Gryphons and Gargoyles, having to shoot her father as part of the quest and barely learning that there was something wrong with her mother---she was burnt out. Her mother was the last person she had, it seemed, even if she was surrounded by loved ones and it felt like she was being held back from explaining the truth. One minute, she could cry about her father, the next she wanted her mother and then she would remember the baby that had been born. She was living a nightmare.