"Her name is Hope." That's when my world came crashing down.
"Hope?"
"Yes."
"Did you name her?"
"Well, no. I've been fostering her since she was born. I just never adopted her since the parents aren't fully out of her life."
"Oh, so you've met her parents?"
"No. The social worker would take her if we ever met them."
"Oh."
"Yeah. So, remind me, why are you here, Jughead?"
"This is going to seem a little forward but, are you in on my wife's disappearance?"
"I'm sorry?"
"Come on, Donna. I can see by the look on your face. Your guilty. Guilty of my wife's murder? Maybe not. But, definitely something."
"Jughead, get out of my house."
"Oh, so now I'm overstepping?"
"Jughead, you not in riverdale anymore. You don't have your sheriff daddy to protect you. I can and will call the police. And unlike the riverdale sheriff department, they will come and drag your ass out of here."
"Wow. You know what, Donna? You are such a narcissist."
"Really. How?"
"You got pissed when Betty used to say." I'll drag your ass out of here myself." She was silent.
"Look, I'm really sorry about Betty, Jughead. But, I can assure you, I had nothing to do with it."
"Fine. Well, I guess we'll just head on home."
"Who's we?"
"Oh, I brought a friend and her daughter. Oh, and my daughter."
"Wait, you have a daughter, Jughead? I thought you couldn't move on."
"She's Betty's and I's."
"Really?"
"Yeah."
"Well, that's interesting."
"Why?"
"Um.. because I just never heard anything about you having a child."
"Yeah, we'll, I'm gonna go so you don't call the feds."
"Sounds good. Bye, now."
"Bye." I let myself out. As I shut the door, I rolled my eyes and exhaled aggressively. I just missed Betty so much. I began to walk down the hallway in disappointment. Defeat. As I got into the elevator and walked out of the building, I called Hermosa.
"Jughead."
"Hermosa."
"How'd it go?"
"Well, you probably should've mentioned that she had a daughter."
"Well, if there's enough money to go around, everyone's happy."
"Is that your way of saying your withholding information?"
"Yes and no."
"God, Hermosa!" I yelled into the phone. I hung up the phone. I stopped up to the curb where I found a cab and hopped in. After that, I got to the hotel. I walked into the hotel room.
"Jughead? Your really early. I thought this thing was going to take all day." Toni said confused.
"No, she shut me down. But, I did find something." I pulled her into the bathroom to have some privacy.
"Well, what is it?"
"Hope. Save Hope. I know what it means."
"What does it mean?"
"It's a person. I think she might be my daughter, Toni."
"What?!" Toni screamed out. I was sure all of time square heard her.
"Is daddy home?" I heard Julie.
"Yeah, baby I'm here." I picked her up and kissed her cheek. She laughed. Her smile was just like her mother.
"Jughead. I need details."
"Oh, right, right. Sorry." "I put Julie down to go play with Kiara.
"She had green eyes just like Betty. Except with a hint of blue like my eyes. And, she had almost a light brown hair color. I just saw a picture so, I don't know for sure but, I think she's mine."
"Wow. You get a picture?"
"No, but, Hermosa is a really good pi. I'm sure she'll find a picture somewhere."
"Great. Just what riverdale needs. To add to the missing local women missing, there's also an illegitimate child on the loose."
"Yeah. I mean, that's the reality of the situation."
"So, what are you going to do?"
"I don't know yet, Toni. I really don't know."
"I think I need to go back to riverdale."
"Jug, we just got here."
"I know. But, I need to do some digging. And only some of that can be done in riverdale."
"I know what you mean. Just, I was gonna take the girls to park and everything."
"How about this, we spend one more night here, then, we go back to riverdale. Let's just enjoy this while we can."
"Sounds good to me." I nodded and we began to prepare to leave for the park. The rest of the day was pretty slow, we went to the park, out to lunch, sight seeing, then, dinner. The girls had such a good time. They were so worn out. They passed out and I brought Julie to my bed with me. Toni went to bed. I lay there, exhausted yet wide awake. If hope is my daughter, what am I supposed to do? I was so lost. I couldn't think about it right now. When I got home, I would begin to look for chic. Maybe, then, I'd get closer to getting my wife back.
YOU ARE READING
Moving On
Fanfiction~ A Bughead fanfiction ~ In this story, Betty and Jughead are married. They were married at ages 18 and 19, and had a baby at age 20. Juliet. Or, Julie. All is well until Juliet is six months old. Betty became cold, distant. And even a little bit cy...
