Kathleen Quinn has moved from home to home since she was ten, years have passed and she is finally able to return to her home town of Riverdale. Yet the struggling photographer and horror film junkie will come across some rough patches when an old f...
Suddenly I'm coughing up water. Jughead kneeling over me, Cheryl there beside me. I sit up pushing towards her. "Cherry..." "Kitty..." She cries pulling me in close. The two of us shivering and quickly getting closer to hypothermia. Suddenly, Jughead's warm body surrounded me. "Kat, I thought I lost you." He whispers in my ear. "I'm not going anywhere Jug..." I move to stand, "Don't, let me." I nod. Jughead wraps his arms around my waist then carries me bridal style behind Archie. "Jug, my family cabin..." He nods breaking off from the group. My eyes again flutter closed against his chest.
I'm stretched out in a warm bubble bath, the bathroom steaming. I'm finally relaxing and warming when there is a knock at the door. "Come in..." I sigh. Jughead walks in holding two cups. He pulls the vanity chair towards the tub. "Hot coco?" I nod taking the cup. "There is a burning fire and I've called Des to let her know you are here." "Thank you Juggy." "I thought I lost you today, I was frozen. Archie almost broke his hand to help you guys and I just stood there." "Hey, I wasn't planning on going under. Cheryl and I were about to head back to you guys when the ice went. I hadn't realized just how weak she had made it." "You were a hero today." "Thank you, but I was far from a hero. I think I'm finally back to regular body temp, I'd still like to try and go to the Jubilee." "Kat, I really don't..." "You are going to visit your dad, and Des is at work. I can't be in this house alone Jug, I just can't." "Okay. I'll leave so you can get dressed..." He gives me a small smile before taking my cup and leaving the room. I climb out of the tub over joyed that I remembered to bring dry clothes into the bathroom with me.
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"Hey Juggy." I walk up behind him in the kitchen. He turns around and embraces me. "Never do anything like that again..." I look up at him "Promise me." "I promise Juggy." "You're wearing a skirt?" He chuckles. "My mom may have been a bad ass but she loved cute winter clothes, She started collecting for me a long time ago. And I figured this would work somewhat well with combat boots and at the Jubilee." "I agree, Come on. I was able to get Des here to pick us up." "The fire?" "Has been put out, and yes I double checked it." I laugh as the two of us leave the lodge. I lock the door behind me.
"For a girl who just nearly died you sure look cute." Des says as the two of us climb into the car. "Hey, you only live once right." they both laugh and we drive towards town.
Jughead and I climb out of Des's truck. "See you two later." Des pulls away as Jughead takes my hand. "Will you visit my dad with me?" "Of course Juggy." "I don't want to be apart from you tonight." He pulls me close wrapping his arm around my waist. We walk all the way to the sheriff's station, into the holding cell like that. "Sheriff Keller tells me that you still haven't given any names. He is hoping that we can convince you otherwise." "I've been sweating it out Jug, and, uh, the only conclusion I've come to is both options suck." "Hey, I wanted to let you know that I..." Jughead pauses looking at me. He holds out his hand, I take it and step closer to the bars. "I'm gonna be okay." He looks at me with a smile before back to his dad "I met the foster family that's taking me in. They're nice." I chuckle "What about Southside High?" FP looks at the two of us with sad eyes. "It's a high school. It's got the jocks, and the burnouts, and the nerds... The like. But I'll survive." "You just might." FP chuckles at his son "Especially with that girl on your arm and in your corner." FP gives me wink that I return before looking up at Juggy. "Jughead, listen to me. I'm more innocent than I am guilty, but I've done some..." He shakes his head trying not to break down "Some stupid things, some bad things, and come what may, I have to answer for my part of it, you understand? I don't know what's gonna happen when this goes to trial, but you need to be there for your mom, for Jellybean, For Kathleen. They might not need you right this second--" "I'll do my best." "Not a doubt in my mind. Go on." Jughead smiles at his dad before the two of us start to walk away. "Quinn, Watch out for him too you hear!" I turn around still walking "Load and clear boss, load and clear." I give him a wink. Jughead and I wrap on arm around each other and make our way back to the town hall. Jughead and I walk in just as Betty is stepping up to the mic. We barely make it in the door, we both decide it would be better to hang out in the back. "But what is Riverdale? It's the people, right? You, me, our friends, our neighbors." She pauses "Riverdale is Archie Andrews." A couple audience members hoot and holler. I lean to Jughead. "I don't like where this is going..." He nods not taking his eyes off of the blonde on stage. "Kevin Keller is Riverdale. Veronica Lodge she's Riverdale. But you know who else is Riverdale?" I grab Jughead's hand tightly before wrapping my other arm around his. "FP Jones, who we were so quick to blame for Jason's murder. Jughead Jones is Riverdale. Along with Kathleen Quinn, the very soul of Riverdale. Without them, we may not have have ever found out what happened to Jason. And yet how do we thank them? By banishing them. Which is what we do when the truth gets too ugly in Riverdale. Truth being that Clifford Blossom was also Riverdale. Riverdale's at a crossroads. If we don't face the reality of who and what we are, if we keep lying to ourselves and keeping secrets from each other, the what happened to Jason could happen again. Or, God forbid, something even worse. Riverdale must do better. We must do better." Betty finishes and awkwardly stands there.Jughead and I nod as we unlatch ourselves from each other and start clapping. Kevin follows by standing up in his chair and slowly but surely the whole room joins in on the applause.
Later we are all sitting at Pop's, Betty has a chair pulled up on the end of the table. Each of us have our own milkshake. "To Archie Andrews who saved not only a cheerleader, but our friend and the town." Veronica looks at him proudly "You know what, actually, I think it was Betty's speech." Archie smiles "Here, her to Betty Cooper." We all clink our glasses together. "Cheers" We all giggle together.
We all had many milkshakes that night, and we all felt that as dangerous as the world around us had become, here, at least in this booth, we were safe. ~Jughead Jones
*******
Later, all high on sugar Jughead and I made our way to his father's trailer. "Wow, it looks great in here." I shake my head. "I cleaned it up after Sheriff Keller trashed it. Just in case my dad..." Jughead throws his stuff onto the couch. "Until he gets out, I'm not giving up, Jug." I walked further into the room, my back to him. "I know. Me either. That is why I love you, Kat." We had said it before but tonight felt like the first time all over again. I turned around seeing that he had taken his beanie off. I smiled walking over towards him. "I love you more than life itself Jughead Jones." I wrap my arms around his neck, he places his around my waist. "Kiss me..." "With pleasure." He leans in and starts out slow and gentle. I quickly pull him closer with my arms, my fingers tangling into his hair. He picks me up and carries me to the kitchenette, we end up practically falling on to the counter. I struggle with the bottom of my sweater pulling it up over my head with. Revealing a black lace bra, Jughead cups my face with both of his hands before kissing me again. After that I pull his shirt up quickly, I lightly run my fingers over his chest. He starts to kiss at my neck, I wrap my legs around his waist scratching at his back. Suddenly there is a knock on the door. "Oh, My god." I gasp "Is that Des?" I shrug. I jump off the counter picking up my sweater pulling it on quickly. I follow Jug to the door, the knocking continued. Jughead slowly stepped outside. I heard a bark of a dog so I walked out there with him. I see standing on his front yard area a large portion of the Serpents. "Easy, Hot Dog. They're family." I stand beside Jug, my hand on his back. "Hey." "Heard your dad could have named names but didn't. Serpents take care of their own. We wanted you to know, no matter what happens to him, however long he's gone, we've got your back." the man lifts up a leather Serpent Jacket. "And if you're willing Quinn, its time for you to take on the badge yourself." I look at Jughead with a smile. "This is yours, if you want it." Jughead takes the Jacket. He smiles before pulling it over his shoulders. "Fits like a glove. Desiree!" I call out. The woman makes her way through the group handing me up my mother's old jacket that I pull on. I look proudly to Jughead as we stand their on the porch. The Serpents applaud before making their way from the trailer. Once inside Jughead looks at me. "Are you sure you want to do this?" I chuckle pulling off my jacket and my sweater. "Well, we were going to get back to that." He laughs going to pull of his jacket. "No, Jug. We can in a minute but first." I extend my arm revealing the tattoo. "What, when?" "Homecoming. When you came here then the bus station before heading to Pops, I decided that I needed a family that would support me and take care of me." "Why didn't you tell me?" "When did I have the time, between fights and hero duty we've barely spoken two kind words." I step towards him cupping his face. "I wanted to make sure that if you decided to join it was by your own choice, not because I was already a Serpent." "You knew I'd join?" "I knew they would come if we couldn't free your dad." He kisses me hard "I love you." "I love you" I smile then kiss him again. "Now where were we?" He laughs picking me up, this time carrying me all the way to the back room of the trailer.
That night we showed that no matter what civil war was going on outside our door we were better together than we ever would be apart.
The next morning I pull one of Jughead's flannel's on over my shoulders before making my way out the the kitchenette. I turn on the stove cracking some eggs when I hear Jughead shuffling down the hall. He only had a pair of losing fitting sweatpants on. "Good morning beautiful." He kisses my neck behind me his hands wrapped around my waist. "Good morning handsome. Coffee is ready and toast should be done-" The toaster popped "Now." We laughed. He buttered the toast and made our cups of coffee. He carried those to the table as I put eggs on our plates. We didn't talk while we were eating, we didn't have to. We sat there enjoying each other's company.
That was until Jughead's phone rang. He answered it, I glanced up to see all the color drained from his face. He dropped the phone "Get dressed now, something's happened!"
For a split second peace had fallen on the crime fighters of Riverdale. But that moment passed and a new evil took root, one that none of us were prepared for.
