Dust motes glittered in the still hotel room air as they passed through the pale afternoon winter sun that peeked through the gap in the curtain. Jughead lay perfectly still on his back so as not to disturb the sleeping woman that still lay curled tightly to his chest, sound asleep despite the late hour. So relaxed and full of wonder, was he, at the perfect fit of their bodies that he had not wanted to wake her and end the experience.

The peace of the morning had given him time to reflect on the last 24 hours and now in the quiet of the early evening moment the anger that he had quashed down the night before as Olivia had sobbed all of her fear out in his lap began to simmer at the edges of his consciousness.

Jughead had long been aware of the darkness that slumbered just below the surface of his mind, it had been one of the only things his father had successfully passed on to him and he spent a good part of his early adolescence learning to squash it down and when that hadn't worked, finding a way to channel it through his writing. But in this moment, with Olivias body, so small compared to his lanky form, pressed up against him, the bruises scattered so casually over her arms stark in the late morning glow, the darkness rumbled to life, he was furious and he was battling to keep that under control.

The things Jughead loved had a way of being ripped away from him, unceremoniously and without hesitation; his mom and Jellybean, his dad, his home and the drive-in, and now Olivia….. In the privacy of his own mind he could admit to himself that he loved her, in a way that he hadn't thought himself capable of, and to come so close to losing her….

She stirred in his arms, shifting closer to him in her sleep. He realized that he had been starting to crush her to him as his anger had begun to consume him, he relaxed his grip and gazed at her face which she had turned up to face him as she moved. In her sleep her face was free from the worry and stress of the night before, she was peaceful and secure in bed with him and his heart swelled almost painfully as he realized that it was the fact that he made her feel safe that allowed her to sleep so soundly, allowed her to be so vulnerable in a foreign place, so soon after such a stressful ordeal. He leaned down and pressed a kiss to her forehead, unable to stop himself as a wave of affection washed over him.

Her eyelashes fluttered in response, she stretched like a cat against him and her eyes finally opened, focusing immediately on him, her soft mouth spreading into a sleepy smile.

"Good morning sleeping beauty." He murmured to her, his voice still rough from sleep and a day of disuse, "Or should I say good evening" his voice was woven with sarcastic humour as he beheld her. Olivias only response was to reach up and press a sweet kiss to his lips, her hand lazily sliding over his chest and onto his neck. Jughead was suddenly acutely aware of the nudity of his bedmate, her breasts sliding teasingly over his chest under the covers as she leaned over him. He felt his cheeks burn as well as the sudden urgency of other parts of his body, he knew she had noticed as her smile turned distinctly feline.

"Don't we wake up eager" She purred, dropping a soft kiss to his chest and chuckling at the soft gasp that slipped from Jugheads lips.

"Olivia, I…" Sensing the stress in Jugheads tone she looked back up at him, her eyes softening as she noticed his unfocused eyes and hurried breath.

"Don't worry Jonesy, I'm not ready either, I'm just teasing" Laughter laced her voice and Jughead relaxed, pulling her back to his chest and trailing his fingers down her back, as low as he dared.

"I'm not saying I don't want to" he began, the huskiness of his voice now present for an altogether different reason. "But the hotel room your mom paid for, the night after…. I don't want this to be the memory we have"

Warmth spread over Olivia, helped along by Jugheads soft fingers wandering further down the curve of her spine, she pressed a kiss to his throat and allowed herself to be soothed by his touch. Laying in Jugheads arms, his chest bare beneath her cheek and his broad hands stroking soothing touches over her exposed flesh, she was completely at peace, worlds away from the dank cell she had occupied less than 24 hours earlier. She knew that logically she should still be haunted by her ordeal, shouldn't have slept in this foreign place so soon after she had been snatched right off of the street, this peace shouldn't be possible, but it was, because of the man who had held her all night long.

They lay still together, content for the moment to be silent and absorb the moment. The smoky cologne of Jugheads skin was everywhere, and Olivia knew she would be content to breathe nothing but that scent for the rest of her life. Having spent a good portion of her life with her nose buried in books about dashing heroes and fairytales she had thought she had known everything there was to know about matters of the heart. She had been positive of what her life would look like, what the love she would eventually find would be. She has imagined finishing her high schooling in her prim, expensive upstate New York school, she would get perfect grades and take her pick of colleges filled to bursting with excellent writing programs, award-winning history and science curriculums, and globally sought after fashion slates that would be laid out before her for her to take her pick when she finally decided what it was she would do with the rest of her life, she would take a place in an exchange program to somewhere exotic like Australia or Italy or Prague and it would be there that a handsome foreigner would sweep her off of her feet.

What she hadn't expected was for her life to bring her to a small town like Riverdale, hadn't expected to catch her eye on a mysterious, moody, goofy, handsome writer in a painfully American diner, but she had, and there wasn't a single part of her that regretted it, that questioned it. If her favourite books had taught her anything it was that love was the most unexpected of forces, and she was sure now that that was what she was feeling.

Olivia opened her mouth and drew in a soft breath, on the verge of pouring her heart out for him, when his stomach gurgled loudly in her ear. She huffed a laugh and sat up, drawing the sheet over her chest as she sat up and reached for the menu on her bedside table, exposing her back and the curve of her right buttock to Jugheads gaze as she did so.

"Hungry?" Her voice caused Jugheads eyes to snap up to meet hers slightly guiltily as she gazed at him over her shoulder and waved the menu at him. His face split into an easy grin as he realized what she was referring to.

"Always"

The light from outside had faded away as they waited for the hotel staff to fill their order and in the warm glow of the vintage lamps Jughead and Olivia laughed together. They were surrounded by food, every item the Five Seasons offered on its room service menu, too much for the little table so they had spread it out on the floor like they had once done at the drive-in and they were engaged in a playful debate about what Jughead referred to as 'foreign food' as he waved a cannoli at her when his phone vibrated on the dresser.

"Cheese or no cheese, nothing this sweet could be considered not a dessert Jonesy" She giggled as she bit into her own pastry.

"I'm not arguing that it's not a dessert, I'm just questioning who eats cheese and thinks to themselves 'what this could really use is sugar'" He quipped back as he stood and unplugged his phone from where it had been charging. Olivia started to argue back but paused as a frown creased between Jugheads brows.

"What is it? Is everything okay?" She started to stand and Jughead met her halfway, taking her hand and pulling her up to stand before him.

"Everything's fine" He replied with a sigh, smiling down at her a little wistfully. "It's your mom, she says everything has been sorted, she wants you home." Olivia relaxed and leaned her chin onto his chest.

"Then why all the frowning and the sighing?"

"Nothing, I just…" She peeked up at him and he momentarily lost his train of thought.

"You just…?"

"I just kinda liked getting to have you all to myself for a moment. Liked getting to kiss you when I feel like it, touch you and not have to worry about who sees." He gave her a sad smile and Olivia wrapped her arms around him, tugging him close to her. Her heart broke in that moment, she had assumed that the decision to keep their blossoming romance had been a mutual decision, but she realized he had just been following her lead, must have assumed she was worried about what people would think, might have thought she was ashamed of being seen with him. Nothing could be further from the truth.

"Jonesy, you know I've been hiding this for a reason, it's not…"

"No, I get it!" He cut her off, offering her an apologetic smile, "You're practically royalty and I'm, well, not" He laughed and the sadness of the sound was palpable even though he tried to hide it.

Olivia's heart cracked then, he really believed that, really thought he was somehow less than her, he couldn't possibly understand that she had only been trying to protect him. She pulled him onto the bed and sat opposite him, taking his hands in hers.

"When everything went down with my dad, there was media attention, so, so much media attention. Not just on us, our friends, Ronnies boyfriend at the time, even our housekeeper. My instincts, even now are to hide everything, just my dumb way of trying to protect you I guess." She trailed off and stroked her hand up Jugheads arms, she could see that he wanted to believe her but that he was cautious.

"You don't have to lie if it's not the truth Liv, I don't fit in, I get that, I don't fit your narrative, I'll just enjoy every moment until they run out, I'm okay with that." Anger flared in Olivia at these words, not at Jughead, how could she possibly be angry with him? No, anger at every person that had ever made him believe those things, made him believe that he was in any way lacking, in any way not enough.

"You listen to me Jughead Jones. I don't want to be a part of any narrative that doesn't have you in it, you may not be normal but who the hell is?! I don't care what anyone thinks, I don't want to pretend anymore. And I sure as hell don't want any other girls thinking they stand a chance. You are entirely mine, and I am entirely yours. It's about time everyone got with the program." She grinned at him sassily and giggled loudly as he tackled her onto the pillows. He kissed her, long and sweet and then pulled away to smile at her.

"We better get you packed up and into Smithers car"

Jughead couldn't remember a time when he was happier, he may have been preparing to say goodbye to Olivia for now but the way they had left things after their stay in the Five Seasons he couldn't remember feeling more hopeful. He walked Olivia all the way to the door of her apartment and was thrilled that the second Smithers disappeared she pulled his face to hers and kissed him hungrily, he had his hands full of her bags but that didn't stop him from using his body to press her against the wall beside her door, unfortunately before they could get carried away the door swung open to reveal Hermione Lodges harried face who quickly took in their state and then seemed to shake it off.

"Olivia! Oh Mija thank god you're ok! Jughead, I can never thankyou enough, I'll see that Smithers gets you home safely."

Jughead and Olivia didn't get a chance to do anything more than say goodbye before Hermione ushered her in the door.

Jughead settled himself back into the town car, aware that he should have been on cloud nine, but it was hard to pretend that his blood wasn't icy in his veins after hearing the words that Hermione had hissed at him as she closed the door:

"Don't get me wrong Jughead, I am very grateful that you have returned my daughter to me, but you have until exactly graduation to enjoy having my daughter slum it with you, I will not have you ruin her future."

Olivia had just promised him the opposite of that, but could he really expect her to stick to that when her mother was so sure of herself. Jughead wasn't sure he was ready to find out.