The Serpent of Love

Epilogue

June 16, 2028

"Jug? You home?" I call out.
"In the kitchen!" I hear his voice. I smile, drop my bag and go there. He smiles, seeing me and pulls me against him, hands on my waist. "How did it go?"
"I'm pretty sure I'll get published," I say with a small excited smile.
His eyes get extremely proud, doesn't matter that he has already published three poetry books and is working on a narrative crime mystery. "I'm so so so proud of you," he says, kissing my face.
I giggle. "I know, you've told it to me like million times."
"And I'll tell it to you again and again and again until I die. Get used to it," he whispers just before I press my lips on his. When he pulls away, his hands go onto my belly and he kisses my cheek. "How are you feeling today?"
"We're great," I say with a small smile as he kneels down in front of me and raises my shirt a little.
"Hey baby girl," he says in front of my belly and kisses it, hands on my skin. He looks up at me. "Can you feel her?"
"At the moment?" He nods. "No," I chuckle. "She likes to sleep while I'm awake."
He grins at that, knowing it's true. I can't sleep normally, because she keeps moving and hitting me. "When she's born, I can finally help you with that," he says.
I smile at the sweetness. "I have to feed her, idiot. I have to wake up anyways."
He chuckles, gives our baby another kiss on my belly and then stands up again, dropping my shirt down. He kisses my cheke softly.
"Are you hungry?"
"Mhmm, you could say that," I grin.
"And what would my girls like?"
I giggle at him. "Uhm, do we have any ice cream?"
"Still craving that?" he asks excitedly, taking out two tubs; vanilla and chocolate.
"Lucky for you, I am."
"Lucky for me," he agrees, sitting down next to me.

June 18, 2028

"You think it'll be okay?" I ask nervously as he parks the car in front of my childhood home and our new one.
"It's your home. The keys are under the doormat, I'm sure it looks just fine," he says, letting go of my hand for a moment to pull the break on. Then he looks at me. "Ready to get to our new home?"
"I hope so," I sigh. We lived in San Francisco after we finished college. But we made a promise to everyone and to ourselves a few years ago that we'll raise our kids up here. Here we are, 8 months pregnant, all the stuff in our trunk.
He kisses my lips softly. "It'll be okay. Come on." We unbuckle and get out of the car. At first we leave everything into the car and I take his hand, walking into my home. Our home.
I take a sharp breathe in shock and look around. This place looks exactly the same. A smile appears on my face and he can probably see that, because he gives my hand a squeeze.
"Tell you what," he says, standing in front of me now. "Go take a nap, you were tired before. I'll get the stuff inside."
"You sure?" I ask.
"Yes, you can't carry anything anyways," he says. I smile a little and kiss him.
"I love you."
"I love you too, hon," he says, kissing my forehead now.

June 24, 2028

"Stop worrying you too. I already have one worth for ten," I say to FP with a slight eyeroll.
"Stop. I'm not that bad," Jughead insists.
"Yes you are," I chuckle.
Gladys nods in agreement. "You're the worst. Betty, when's your mom coming?"
"Tomorrow." She smiles and they keep talking, Jug's arm around my shoulders, in every few seconds his eyes moving back on me to make sure I'm fine. I've been having cramps in my stomach ever since the morning and he's worried.
"Juggie," I say quietly in a few minutes. He looks at me and his face grows even more worried when he sees the tears swelling up in my eyes. "I don't feel good."
"Is it worse?" he asks. I told him that he can take me to the hospital if it gets worse (he wanted to do it in the morning).
"I don't know. But it hurts." I start breathing faster.
"Okay, honey, I agree with them. Let's go to the hospital," Gladys says. I nod, trusting her more than the guys, because she's experienced this two times already. Jug helps me to stand up and just as his arms snake around my huge waist, something pops and water flows down my legs.
"Fuck," I curse, looking down and then drop my head onto my nape.
"Fuck," he breathes out.
"Where's your bag?" FP asks me, looking excited.
"Next to our bed," I sigh, embarrassed. Jug kisses my cheek and helps me to the car.

"I want my mom!" I scream in pain twelve hours later
"She'll be here in about 10 minutes," Gladys calms me down. My contraction ends, so I breathe out and start taking deep breaths now. "Knowing FP, they'll et here in 3."
I smile a little and Jug wipes my tears away, kissing my forehead. "You're doing great."
"Fucking twelve hours."
"It's okay, Betty. Everyone has their own time," Gladys calms me down.
"You're doing great," the doctor says as well. "You need to push next time, okay? In about 3 minutes."
"Okay," I breathe out. "As long as it'll be over then."
"Hold on, you might want another one," Gladys smirks.
"I don't know about that, you're in pain," Jug says softly.
"You will. Both of you. Believe me," the doctor says with a smile. And four minutes later I'm pushing her out. Not that she'd come, but Jug's ready, wearing the gloves already that he had to wear if we wanted him to welcome our baby.
Suddenly the door goes open and my mom runs in, FP behind her.
"Hi honey," she breathes out and gives my hair a kiss, sitting down where Gladys was before. They hug for a spare second, but that's until the doctor tells me to push harder and I scream while doing it. Also I squeeze my mom's hand pretty hard.
"They can stay, they can say," I say rapidly between my breathes and cries as FP and Gladys are supposed to leave.
"Betty, I can see the head," Jug almost cries, all of it coming out as a huge breath.
"He's right, she's almost here. One more push. The strongest you can," the doctor demands. Jughead breathes with me as I breathe in big and then scream while pushing, giving all of myself. I get her out pretty fast after that, all of us crying and Jug places her into my arms. She's red, bloody and screaming so hard, but she's the most beautiful girl I've ever seen, dark hair on her head.

October 15th, 2031

"Mama," Violet says quietly. I turn around  on my seat and look back at her. She's in a rear-facing seat, so I can't see her good.
"Hey baby," I say softly. "We're there soon, I'll get you out of the seat, okay? Stay on the place."
"Potty," she whines shuffling around, trying to get to see me at least.
"Stop the car?" Jug asks quietly. I give him a nod and he pulls the car up next to the huge road. I get out of the car and so does Jug.
"Hi," I say as she smiles when she sees me. I get her out of the seat and lift her up onto my lap. "Did you have a good nap?"
"Yeah," she says quietly, still tired. "Dada," she sas with a small smile as Jug kisses her forehead. I give her to him and he kisses the top of my head, walking into the woods a little to let her pee.
I open the trunk, take out a botle of water from the small  and lean on the car, waiting for them to come back. We're camping. Last year we went in October too, Violet enjoyed herself even though we had to carry her all the way. This year not so much.
Rhey come back, she's giggling at something he says and then they both look at me.
"Are we there already?" Violet asks.
"No," I chuckle. "Soon."
"When's that?" she asks, looking between us two.
"When mommy learns how to read a map," Jug says. I hit his shoulder softly.
"Shut up," I giggle. "You're the one go sn't read it."
"Yeah well, I like reading, but not this shit."
"Shit," Violet giggles.
"No," we both say in unison and she pouts.
"But dada can say it," she whines, her hand on his cheek now.
"Yeah well, dada's stupid," Jug says about himself. "You're not stupid, if you say bad words, you get a time out."
"Unfair," she says quietly. Jelly teached her that word.
"Do you wanna eat something?" I ask her instead.
"Yes," Jug answers, giving me his goofy grin. I roll my eyes and kiss his cheek, opening the tunk again. I hand Violet a pack of chips and she smiles at that, both of them taking one.
"Don't get too much in the car," Jug says, placing her back into the seat, though we both know that with her abilities she'll get half of it all around the car somehow.
"Okay dada," she giggles as he gives her a kiss.
"Okay," he says, closing the door. I smile at him and he raises his eyebrows at me with a small smile, but I just shake my head and want to get into the car. He wraps his arms around me though and doesn't let me move. I giggle and press my lips on his. When we pull away, his hand is on my cheek. "I love you," he says softly.
"I know you do, goof, just start driving," I say. He grins at that and is about to let go of me when I feel the need to answer him. "I love you too." He smiles as if he'd known I'll say that and pulls me into another passionate kiss.

The end.