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All Betty Cooper ever wanted to be was a mother. To take part in raising a life that was half her. But, that was all getting flushed down the drain. Yes, she and her husband we’re still only in their mid-twenties but they had been trying for so long. She got married to Jughead Jones straight out of high school, never once doubting her decision to get married so young, she knew they were forever.
They had been trying for almost five years when Betty had started to give up, but Jughead convinced her otherwise. There were so many new ways to get pregnant, she could easily book an appointment with her doctor and find out their options. That led to her diagnosis. Betty was told that she wouldn’t be able to have a child. Everything happened so fast, all of the information the doctor told her was hazed, it was just a mix of sounds clubbed together and wrapped up in a neat bow. That night she had cried for hours in Jughead’s arms, blaming herself for the fact that it was unlikely they were ever going to have children.
----
The next morning the couple went and signed up for IVF treatment. It was going to cost a bomb, but they didn’t care. All they wanted was a child of their own, to love and nurture unconditionally.
So that led them to the day when Betty was going to prepare for her first round of treatment. That morning she had woken up feeling sick to her stomach but brushed it off as the flu. Upon entering the doctors surgery, she was asked to take part in a blood test just to make sure that she wasn’t pregnant already. She laughed at the nurse who took the blood, claiming that it was going to be a miracle if she was.
---
That was when she got the call. The couple had been lying in bed taking a well needed break from life. It was noon when the phone rang; Jughead leaned over his wife in a haze only pausing when he saw the number on the lock screen of her phone. Suddenly alert, he gently shook his Hitchcock blonde awake from her slumber answering the call as he did so. They wouldn’t be calling if everything was okay, something had to be wrong.
Lightly tapping the speaker button on the brightly lit screen, she took in a sharp nervous breath.
“Is this Elizabeth Jones we’re speaking to?” A clinical voice asked from the other end of the call.
“Yes,” she replied her hands shaking in trepidation, eager to get the call over and done with so she could face more bad news.
“Passing you over to your doctor now,” there was a pause before the warm comforting voice of the woman that she has now grown to trust spoke out.
“Hi Betty, its Doctor Fletcher here. We finally got the results back from your blood test you had last week.” Sensing the blondes’ nerves she continued, “This isn’t anything to worry about, even though you may have to in a couple of months but it appears that you’re off the list for the IVF treatment because you’re pregnant, congratulations! From what I can tell, you’re only a month or so gone but I would advise you book in your first appointment with Gina at reception as soon as possible. I hope to be seeing you very soon. Congratulations again.”
When their doctor hung up they didn’t know what to say, do or even think. Two pairs of eyes widened, each welling up with tears threatening spill in sheer, absolute joy. Jughead pulled Betty into his arms, cradling her head and stomach whispering sweet nothings in her ear, both of them unable to take the gleaming smiles off of their faces.
“We did it Juggie. We really did it this time.”
“I’m so proud of you Betts. I’m proud of us.” He replied leaning down and taking her flat stomach into his long calloused hands. The raven haired man left a trio of kisses down the length of her stomach down to her abdomen. Whispering to his unborn child I love you’s.
“Jug?” Betty said, bringing him out of his reverie.
“Hmm?”
“When should I book the appointment for? I know you’ve got all those meetings for the new book and I’ve got work. I presume you want to come along, right?”
“I wouldn’t miss it for the world.” He planted yet another sloppy kiss on her lips.
“Jeez you’re such a sap Mr. Jones.”
“I know I am, and that is why you love me.”
---
They had finally managed to book an appointment with Doctor Fletcher that worked around both of their work schedules and were sitting, waiting on the worn plastic covers of the waiting room chairs. They were both nervous as hell, with one of his knees bobbing up and down as as his foot tapped the linoleum floor and she was wringing her hands together. A habit she picked up whilst she was trying to stop piercing the soft skin of her palms with her sharp nails.
When they were called into the office, Jughead blanched upon hearing that Betty had to be scanned internally, not realising that their child was too small to be seen using the external wand. Then came a sudden thrumming echoing around the room. Their baby was projected onto the small screen, no bigger than one of his thumb nails. The couple looked at each other, a fresh round of tears welling in their eyes, suddenly now everything seemed very real, all the years, all the negative tests, all the bad doctors visits, and it all was worth it. It was so worth it. The infamous duo fell even more in love with the baby, silently swearing that they were going to protect their kid with their lives.
They had ordered multiple copies of their sonogram after the scan was complete. Betty was determined to keep a record of all the milestones in her first pregnancy, including all the scans. Jughead tucked one in his wallet, so he could keep it with him at all times. Two were for Betty’s parents and Polly. Then the last two were for FP and Jellybean. He didn’t want his mother as a part of his child’s life, he still hadn’t forgiven her for when she walked out on him and FP when he was eleven. He still hadn’t forgiven her for when she denied him coming to Toledo. He still hadn’t forgiven her for when she refused custody of him when he was 16 and FP had been hauled to prison for 10 years for tampering with evidence and obstruction of justice. Thankfully FP had got out earlier than expected for good behaviour. At least one of his parents still showed that he loved him to some degree.
“Juggie?” He was pulled out of his reverie by that melodic voice of his wife and just smiled. He smiled because now they were finally getting everything they wanted.
---
Everything was plain sailing from then on; Jughead had decided to take a picture of Betty every day until she gives birth, much to her disliking and calling herself fat, which he immediately shuts down reassuring her that she’s only gaining weight from their child and it was the greatest gift she could ever give him.
That was until she was halfway through her pregnancy. Jughead was forced into yet another book signing for his new novel. He loved his fans, but all he wanted was to be at home with Betty and The Bump, a nickname that Betty was not too keen on to begin with, but he managed to sway her.
He got a call from Betty half way through the signing. He immediately knew it was bad, she would never call him when he was doing a signing or an interview so it had to be bad news.
“Betts? What’s wrong?” He said as soon as he accepted the call, halting the queue for his fans and leaving the room.
“Juggie I’m bleeding and it’s bad.” She said between sobs that echoed down the phone line causing him to freeze, going into full on panic.
“Don’t worry Betts I’m coming. Where are you?”
“I’m at Ronnie and Archie’s place. I’m in their bathroom and she’s literally trying to bang the door down. Please hurry Jug.”
“I am. I love you, okay. And Bug.”
“I love you too.” She sobbed again disconnecting the call.
Reentering the room which held his signing, he begrudgingly told everyone that he had to end the signing, apologising with promises to reschedule.
As soon as he left the bookstore he was in he ran. He couldn’t rely on the taxi drivers and traffic of New York City. He was close to Archie’s apartment anyway.
He heard shouting from down the hallway of their floor, knowing who it was he ran faster. He almost broke the apartment’s door with his need to get in there to his wife.
She was a state. When he picked her up and held her she just crumbled even more saying that she was never meant to be a mother and she had failed him yet again.
The redhead tossed the raven haired man a glance knowing what to do immediately. Jughead picked up his blonde as Archie ran ahead, opening doors and unlocking his car in time for him to gently lay Betty in as soon as he got to it
.
“Go Arch!” Jughead practically shouted as he took Betty in his arms once more, stroking her hair and whispering sweet nothings in her ear in an attempt to reassure her, even though he was crumbling too.
It took ten minutes to get to the hospital. In those ten minutes the trio in the car were all in tears one way or another. Betty was sobbing, Archie’s eyes had glazed over and releasing one or two tears and Jughead had a singular tear, rolling down his left cheek slowly in fear. He couldn’t lose another person he loved. Not again. They had tried so many times in the past, either never conceiving, or there was miscarriage after miscarriage. They were so close on this one. He knew he shouldn’t have built up so much hope, but he did.
---
Betty was taken into immediate care when they rushed into the reception of the hospital, whisking her away in a wheelchair and leaving Jughead alone to break down into almost nothing. When Betty was no longer in sight, he fell to his knees and sobbed. His black leather wallet he had received as a graduation gift from his father was battered with use because of a simple picture of his little Bug. He kept it in his wallet since he had got it. He traced the outline of his child with his thumb as he cried even more. He often thought that the conversation with his mother in a small phone booth in the small town of Riverdale when he was sixteen was the worst moment of his life. This moment outdid that and any of the other parts of his shitty childhood.
He was drawing attention to himself and he knew it. But in that moment he didn’t care. He got up, finding his strength and asked where Betty would be.
The doctors were still running tests as he approached the room his wife was in but he was allowed in since they weren’t invasive.
“Mr Jones!” Doctor Fletcher called him over wanting to discuss Betty.
“How is she? What’s wrong? Is the baby okay?” He started to bombard the doctor with questions about his family’s health.
“Betty and the baby are both fine.” She started, letting Jughead to take in a breath of relief. “Betty does have Placental Previa, however. Her placenta is lying very low in her uterus lining which caused the bleeding. She’s going to have to be on permanent bed rest for the remainder of her pregnancy and I would like to keep her in overnight for regular observations.”
“Thank you Doctor Fletcher.”
When he returned to Betty’s hospital room, he told her the news, generating a fresh round of tears but this time they were out of happiness.
“When the nurses were hooking me up to all these wires they said they can do another ultrasound scan if we want it. And we could find out the gender.”
“Let’s have the scan. I don’t really want to find out what Bug is, but it’s up to you. You’re the one who’s pregnant.”
“Jughead Jones, I was going to say exactly the same thing.”
---
Betty was bored, like she was most days. She hated being confined to her bed and not being able to run or go shopping or taking the subway to work. All her life included was sleeping, waking up, eating, watching her TV, eating again, washing and then the cycle repeated. She had watched everything on Netflix, read everything in her library and her kindle.
She had had enough though. She had fought with Jughead for no reason apart from her hormones driving her crazy. It felt like he wouldn’t let her do anything for herself anymore.
The blonde was now seven months into pregnancy and felt like a whale. Her fitness routine was abruptly forgotten on the day of the accident so she felt like she was gaining weight instead of being on course to lose it once she had given birth. Thankfully, she was allowed to get up because she had another check up with Doctor Fletcher.
The couple finally got to the hospital after being stuck in traffic for what seemed like hours. They followed their usual routine, only to find out that Doctor Fletcher was ill and unable to work so a replacement ran the scans for them.
They feeling of seeing their child would never change and with each check-up it was more incredible as the last. Months ago, they had been able to detect their facial features but this time was different.
“She has lovely eyes,” their replacement said in passing. The couple’s eyes widened and locked onto each other with tears gathering in their lids.
“We’re having a girl,” the father-to-be whispered to his wife.
“We’re having a girl.” Betty echoed with more enthusiasm.
Jughead pressed his lips lightly on the blonde’s forehead with so much pride and love. He wanted this moment to stop forever, his feeling of bliss overwhelming his senses.
“Have you felt any movement other than kicking Mrs Jones?” Their replacement doctor asked.
“Not really, but she does kick a lot. Why, may I ask?”
“It looks like she hasn’t started moving her head to face the cervix; still you have plenty of time before she arrives.”
---
That night, Betty woke up with a sharp pain in her abdomen and wet bedsheets. She shook Jughead awake knowing that it was time. He woke up in a daze, only snapping to life when he saw the same panicked look on Betty’s face as there was four months ago.
Grabbing the hospital bag that had been situated by their front door for over a month and lifting Betty into his arms, he made his short journey to his car and then to the hospital.
The mother-to-be was whisked away in a wheelchair with Jughead following quickly behind them. He only caught a few words but it didn’t sound good.
The doctors on call were going to have to perform an emergency Caesarean section so their daughter would be able to survive.
It was the longest fifteen minutes of his life, not being able to be with Betty. A nurse soon exited the room, passing him sterile clothing and asked him to sterilise his hand before entering the operating theatre.
Betty was so out of it, he let out a small laugh at the sight. He held her hand throughout the procedure only letting go when he heard the soft cry of a new born baby.
The nurses took her to a station to clean her up slightly before handing the new born to her waiting parents. Betty held her first, her bright giddy smile reaching her eyes. Jughead wished he had a camera to capture this moment because it truly was a beautiful scene.
Jughead finally got to hold his daughter when the doctors needed to stitch Betty up. She was so tiny; he could hold her entire head in his large calloused hands. Her fingers were so delicate they would only just be able to wrap around his smallest finger.
He had only once felt such love for a person before and that was when he and Betty confessed their love to one another for the first time. The second was now, gazing on the sleeping features of his daughters face and knowing that he could love no other person the way he would love her, not even Betty.
“Hey little one, I know you’re sleeping right now but I love you so much already and you were only born a couple of minutes ago. I promise to protect you from now until the day I die and no boys until you’re at least 25 because we can’t have anything happen to you can we? We’ve wanted you for so long and you’re finally here. Isn’t that amazing? I love you little one, so so much.“
After mere minutes of holding her, the nurses had taken their daughter away to do some tests on her, making sure she was healthy due to Betty giving birth prematurely.
---
The family of three were finally in Betty’s hospital room waiting for her to wake up from surgery. The new father was sat in the large chair beside Betty holding his daughter who was sprawled out against his bare chest, going skin to skin.
Archie and Veronica had messaged him saying that they were only a few minutes away from the hospital however the rest of their friends and family would be arriving the next day.
Betty’s tanned hand reached out to stroke the soft head of the sleeping baby girl as soon as she woke up, craving contact with her daughter.
“What are we going to call you, Little Bug?” The blonde cooed as Jughead passed the now awake new born into her mother’s waiting arms.
“What about Juliet?”
“Hello Juliet,” Betty spoke to their daughter, gently rubbing her thumb across her belly. “Mummy and Daddy love you so much. Never Forget that Little Bug.”