Shadows of Your Dreams

Chapter 16

The Jones family was once again on their way to Riverdale. Most of Betty's brothers were coming with their partners, including Nate who was again back together with Kevin. The problem was, these two had adopted a five-year-old cat from a shelter and had nowhere to leave him. After arguing with Betty's mother, the cat had been allowed in the house, just as Bubbles.

When Betty parked the car in front of her home, she kissed Jughead's cheek on the passenger's seat and shook him awake gently. "Babe, wake up. We're here." The guy's eyes drooped open slowly and he looked around in confusion, face still a bit pale. "Feeling better?" the blonde asked him, tenderly brushing her palm against his forehead.

"I'm fine, baby," he breathed and peeked towards the backseat where Bubbles had started barking and Bea was giggling with the dog, babbling something in her own made-up language. "What's the time?" he sighed.

"It's almost five. My mom will have the dinner ready in no time..." She managed to make him smile with that and smirked with him. "I swear, you're the only person who will ever be hungry while sick."

He hummed. "Maybe Bea, too. She's my daughter after all." He winked at her, and Betty sniggered while unbuckling her seatbelt, he out of the car already. Jughead let Bubbles run around the front yard while Betty took Bea out of her seat.

"Mama, I'm hungry," she told her when resting her head against the blonde's shoulder.

Betty smiled and kissed her baby's cheek. It was one of the easiest sentences for the little girl to say, because she heard it all the time, and used it almost as much. "Grandma's making dinner."

"Nuggies."

"No, baby, I don't think she's making nuggies for you," she chuckled, eyes moving to Jughead who was grabbing their bags while grinning to himself.

"Dada nuggies."

"Daddy's not making chicken nuggets for you either, baby," Jughead said and kissed her head. "Here, you wanna help daddy with this?"

Bea smiled big, taking her favorite stuffed animal from his arms and holding it in her arms. "You got those?" Betty asked, balancing the kid on one arm, a duffel bag thrown over her other shoulder.

"Yeah, baby, take her inside."

"Sure?"

"I'm fine," Jughead insisted. "Go. I'll be there in a sec."

"Hey, how's Jughead?" Alice asked when Betty joined her in the kitchen, hoping to help her mother clean up rather than be with all the guys in the living room. Theo had a new girl with him as always, Nate was staying with Kevin's family (since it was a lot quieter) but were here for the night, and Chic had his pregnant girlfriend there as well. Which meant a lot of noise, lots of old Just Dance to being with. She was thankful they were looking after her baby.

"He's better. He took a medicine so he should be down for the night."

The older woman sighed and let Betty start putting the dirty plates into the dishwasher. "What a shame he had to get sick for Thanksgiving. You think he'll be better soon?"

"Honestly, I think he'll be okay tomorrow. He didn't have any fever today... And also I wasn't surprised. The doctor said it was contagious, and he said he'd take care of me even if he would be sick himself, so..."

Betty had a gentle smile lingering on her lips, making Alice do the same. "He's a really sweet guy, Elizabeth. I'm happy you decided to get together again when you did."