Us [bughead]

Chapter 7

~Her~

They always say that we would do anything for the people we love. But is that really true? Would you really take a bullet for them? Would you trust someone who accused the person you love of something so horrible that it made your blood freeze? Or would you look past it?

***

Betty walked inside the small room, she gave Gladys a slight smile and handed the cup of coffee.

"It's black." She hesitantly said. Gladys gave her a look that said thank you and turned back to the man in front of her.

If Betty wouldn't have known that it was Leonard in front of her she probably wouldn't have known it was him. She had only met him once, briefly, but right now he was lying stiffly in a small hospital bed. His eyes closed and millions of tubes all over his body. Betty looked at him and wondered if it really had been an accident or if Hiram and Jughead had something to do with it.

Leonard looked pale and as if he was sleeping. Betty wondered if Gladys pretended that he was just asleep, asleep with tubes. She sat down beside Gladys and just looked at the man in front of her.

Gladys had said that she wanted to wait until Carla, Leonard's sister, could come and say goodbye. Then they would unplug him and donate his organs.

The room smelled clean and boring. Betty felt trapped inside of it. It was as if the walls kept moving closer and closer to her. She knew they didn't, that they couldn't, but it still felt like it. It was pretty much empty, with only a bed, three chairs, a small table, and a few machines. The machines that kept Leonard alive.

"I knew he was special," Gladys whispered. Betty looked up at her face, filled with pain and suffering. She looked tired. As if she just wanted to go to sleep and not talk to anyone ever again. "I knew he said and did things that raised suspicion," Gladys said and Betty nodded. "I knew he...he had..." Gladys tried to find the right words to explain the situation but failed.

"I didn't think he would hurt her." She finally said and Betty noticed the tears leaving her eyes. "I thought that...that he would do that to her." She wiped away her tears. "I thought that he would leave her alone. And I loved him so much. I love him so much, Betty. Does it make me a bad mother?" Betty looked at her. She wanted to yell at her. Wanted to tell her that yes, yes it does. Choosing anyone who behaved like that over your kids makes you a bad mother.

"I think...I think that you made a mistake. A horrible, terrible mistake, that will affect Jellybean forever. I think that you made a mistake that damaged your relationship with your son and your daughter." Betty truthfully told her. Because it was true. She was almost entirely sure that Jughead wouldn't ever forgive his mom for choosing Leonard in front of Jellybean.

"What if it would have been you? If Jughead would have acted like this. Would you just leave him?" Betty stared at her.

"You're asking me if I would leave Jughead if he ever did what Leonard did?" Gladys nodded. "Yes, one hundred percent. But I would make sure that he got help as well." Betty looked at Leonard and then back at Gladys. "But then again, Jughead would never do that. His dad might've been an asshole but he at least knows how to treat children, and what is right and wrong." Gladys hid her face in her hands and sighed.

"This is such a mess." She said and Betty nodded in agreement. It really was a mess.

***

"Want ice cream?" Betty said and Jellybean nodded. She took Betty's hand as they walked to the little store to the right of the entrance. Jughead was in the room with Gladys and Betty was pretty sure that they were talking about where Jellybean was going to live.