Author's Note:

Well about about that? I promised you Sunday and here it is, Sunday, and a new chapter to read. Thanks very much to the people who've left comments so far! It's a great help to keep me motivated! Be warned, things get dirtier from here on out. And now, for the epic conclusion...

XO ForASecondThereWe'dWon

"I feel guilty," Jughead said, smoothing out the wrapper his cheeseburger was nestled into. The paper crinkled invitingly, but Betty couldn't eat either. She stared forlornly at the carton of fries they'd bought to share, sitting between them on the concrete landing outside the trailer's front door.

"I know. I thought it would be fine, but it feels like we're betraying Pop's."

"You're the one who suggested fast food," Jughead reminded her.

"You're the one who's always hungry."

"You could've picked a different place."

"You could've got a salad!"

"Betty, be serious. Finding out my father's going to spend the next two decades in jail is not a salad situation."

She could tell Jughead was joking, but the corners of his mouth turned down all the same. Sighing, Betty set her still-wrapped chicken burger aside and leaned forward, reaching into her bag, which sat on the step below. Jughead lifted his burger to his face and inhaled dreamily, then set it back down.

"What are you doing?" he asked.

"Repenting," Betty replied, pulling out her Pop's rescue mission to-do list. "There's so much I still need to get done. You know," she glanced sideways at Jughead, "I have more respect than ever for how hard you fought for the drive-in. Even with Veronica's help, saving Pop's isn't going to be easy."

Jughead rubbed her back, then gently tugged Betty's hair out of its bun when she bent over her paper, clicking her pen and starring items that she deemed high priority. Her waves curtained her face, blonde-ing out her vision and she shook them back, staring at Jughead.

"Umm, kinda hard to campaign for justice when I can't see."

He smiled at her, calmly, though there were plummy smudges under his eyes that hadn't gone away since his father had been arrested.

"Don't forget why you're doing it, Betts. That's the key."

"I'm doing it because Pop doesn't deserve to have his business defaced and sold. He's been running that place longer than we've been alive, Jughead." Betty shook her head emphatically. "It isn't right for things to end this way. I don't want people's last memory of Pop's to be a crime scene."

"I know how noble you are," Jughead smiled proudly at her, "but I was thinking of the more selfish motivations you mentioned before. About how important the place is to us. To the community, for sure," he shrugged, "but also to Archie and Veronica, you and me."

"I haven't forgotten that," Betty said softly, "but my emotions alone aren't going to finish everything on this list." She glared at the paper in her hand and groaned.

"Take a picture of the list and send it to Veronica. We're all dealing with a lot right now, but I think she's the most eager to avoid her problems rather than confront them. This'll be good for keeping her mind off her parents."

Betty thought about it for a minute, tucking her hair back behind her ears.

"She did volunteer to be my right-hand woman on this, didn't she?" Betty was speaking to convince herself, yet Jughead slipped his hand into her coat pocket and extracted her phone, dangling it in front of her.

"We all know you kick ass, Betts. You could do this all on your own, but you don't have to. Delegate," he suggested.

She grabbed the phone.

"Delegating," Betty said with cheerful resignation, snapping a picture of her to-dos and texting it to Veronica, who replied immediately with a thumbs up. The typing bubble appeared and Betty jammed her phone back into her pocket, unsure if Veronica would attempt to continue their earlier conversation. Betty didn't want to embarrass her friend, herself, or Jughead, by letting him catch a glimpse of something unfit for his eyes to see.

"So." She turned to her boyfriend, willing the cool air to keep the blush in her cheeks to a minimum. "There are a couple more things I'll need to give a once over before I go to sleep tonight, and I'll have to check in with V at some point to make sure she hasn't taken on my stress as well as my tasks, but until then my schedule is clear." Betty slapped her palms down on her thighs. "What do you propose I do with this rare chunk of free time?"

"First of all," Jughead raised one finger commandingly, "don't use the word 'chunk.' You're putting me off my burger."

Betty laughed.

"I thought you weren't going to eat it anyway."

"Well I still have to look at it." He lowered his eyes, doing just that.

"Nope," Betty said. She reached over and folded his burger back into an approximation of how the fast food joint had wrapped it, slung the strap of her bag over her shoulder, and stood up, collecting her burger off the step as well. "Grab the fries," she nodded in the direction of the carton and Jughead scooped it up, gazing up at her inquiringly. "We're going to put all this in your fridge so we don't have to look at it," she explained, "If we get hungry, we'll eat it later, but then it will be fuel for me getting some more accomplished on this passion project, so it'll cancel out the betrayal."

"That's very pragmatic of you, Betty," said Jughead, rising and letting them into the trailer.

They stowed the food in the fridge, abandoning it to its soggy fate until they were desperate enough to eat it. Jughead slammed the fridge door shut and they shared a look of smug satisfaction as though they'd completed a great task. Betty had just dropped her bag to the floor and was unfastening her coat when she caught Jughead doing the same out of the corner of her eye; she found herself transfixed by the easy way he jerked the buttons free and rolled his shoulders back, shrugging the denim jacket off. Of course, he looked up and saw her watching him, sending Betty's gaze skittering away like a marble, only to land on the kitchen counter. The very same kitchen counter Jughead had lifted her onto the other night. Where he'd pulled off her shirt, touched her bare skin… Betty's cheeks flamed and as she let her coat fall onto her bag, embarrassingly, she felt herself go a little weak in the knees.

She planted her palm on the front of the refrigerator and Jughead's arm was around her in a second. Tight around her. In fact, Betty realized she was backed into the corner of the kitchen this way, Jughead's body obstructing her one escape route. Not that she wanted to escape. She looked up at him, breathless, and patted his upper arm, suddenly absurdly clueless about what to do with her limbs.

"I'm ok, Jug. Just got a little lightheaded or something."

"You're sure?" He continued to hold her, though his grip slackened until his hand was resting unimposingly on the small of her back. "I know this place isn't great, but just standing in the kitchen shouldn't put you at risk of an injury."

In spite of his words, Betty felt at very great risk. Of a heart attack. Because he was close and tall and had a blended autumn-and-coffee smell that woke her body up and set her insides trembling. She laughed weakly, deciding to redirect him with words rather than trust her wobbly legs for another moment or two.

"If it's that dangerous, maybe you should've told me sooner. What should I be watching out for?"

"Well," Jughead shifted from one foot to the other, rubbing his jaw thoughtfully. "There's the bathtub."

"Uh huh?" Betty insubstantially contributed.

"It has this weirdly gradual slope to the walls, so when you're showering, there isn't a lot of space to stand. You could never fit two people in there," he added for further explanation, then met Betty's eyes. His widened. "Not that you'd want to! I mean, I don't know about my dad, but I've certainly never…" His voice trailed off and Betty spoke up to throw him a lifeline.

"Tried it?"

"Right." Jughead's gaze went from Betty's eyes to her mouth, plunging ever so briefly to the dip between her collarbones, exposed by the unfastened top three buttons of her shirt. He unwound his arm from her waist, hooking his thumb under the knotted sleeves of the flannel shirt tied around his hips. Betty slipped past him, nearly tripping over her bag, and retreated a few steps, her eyes on his.

"Well, I don't need to shower while I'm here," she hurried out.

"No, no of course." Jughead turned and took a step towards her. "You look clean. I mean," his forehead crumpled, "you look great. You smell clean."

Betty laughed.

"That's good news. If I have to swing by Pop's later, I won't need to worry about the aroma of fast food incriminating me."

"No." He smiled at her, something in his eyes shifting from awkward to curious.

"Anything else I should be worried about?" Betty stuck her hand out, the realization that she was gripping the cold edge of the counter coming to her slowly. She told herself she could handle it. All she had to do was focus on the conversation, not even think about the counter.

"The bed."

"The bed?" Betty asked, her eyebrows drifting upwards, certain she'd heard him wrong.

"Yeah," Jughead said, running his thumb across his mouth. Betty tracked it like a cat to a laser beam. When his thumb finished its path, the corner of his lips quirked up. She wondered if it was time to be suspicious. "If I move around on it too much, it makes this weird noise. Not, like, an odd squeak or something," he added, as though Betty had expressed doubt, "No, it sounds like the thing's going to collapse and fall right through the floor."

"I guess you'd always be awake in time for school."

"Definitely. No need to set an alarm." Jughead stepped closer to Betty, smoothing his hand along the edge of the counter until his fingers bumped into hers.

"So maybe…" her eyes flitted around his face, "…maybe you should try to sleep very still."

Jughead's gaze darted sideways, eyeing the counter.

"I could make an attempt." His hand snuck up over hers, his cool fingers following the narrow bones of her hand like a road to her wrist, then up her forearm. "It'll be harder when I'm not sleeping though. If I'm just on my bed doing something else, I might shift around on instinct." Jughead cupped Betty's elbow, stepping decidedly into her space.

"Well," she said slowly, glancing down to his chest and doing her best to keep her voice steady, "you can watch TV, read, do homework, all that stuff," Betty summarized vaguely, "in the living room. No need to put yourself at risk." He was very close and she could feel the heat coming off his body, seeking hers.

"And if I'm not watching TV, reading, doing homework, or any other mundane activity we could comfortably and impenitently classify as 'stuff'?"

"There's always…" Betty looked up into his eyes, pausing to chew her bottom lip. Jughead jutted his chin out slightly, urging her on. "…the floor?"

Finally, inevitably, the upward flick of his lips pulled up into a full-on smirk.

"Some things work best on a bed," he declared, lowering his mouth to hers.

The kiss was heavy and closemouthed. Betty felt her heart thump and the muscles between her legs give a keen squeeze. Apparently, her body had decided to treat their conversation as foreplay, because she could tell she was already getting wet. When Jughead drew his face back minutely, Betty breathed shakily then wrapped her arms around him insistently, bringing him back to her with both hands on the nape of his neck. His hands went straight for her butt, rotating and hoisting her up onto the counter. Betty couldn't help grinning into the kiss, though her smile melted when Jughead nudged his hips between her thighs and she felt him stiffening in the front of his jeans.

It hadn't been like this the last time. When they were here before, he'd been more cautious, shier. He'd fumbled her pink sweater off while almost trying not to look at her, which had made Betty even shier in return. Now, maybe because of the way life was pulling their attention in so many different directions, it was obvious that he was savouring every bit of this encounter. Jughead's hands moved quickly to her chest and he was unafraid to let his palms stroke over her breasts as he began unbuttoning her shirt. Betty inhaled sharply, then settled into shallow breaths, when Jughead bent his head to follow his fingers with his mouth, tracing his lips down her chest. She pulled his ever-present hat off and tossed it onto the counter beside her, tunneling her fingers into his thick, dark hair and getting a good grip when―her shirt hanging open―Jughead cupped her breast out of her bra and ran his tongue across her nipple.

Betty sighed loudly and reached for Jughead's hips while he continued, grasping the knot of his flannel shirt and yanking him into her. His hot breath on her skin had her heartrate increasing and he raised his head, looking her self-assuredly in the eye as his fingers slipped up her spine to unhook her bra. Betty felt the freed weight of her breasts and sat up straighter, releasing the knot of his shirt so that it swished to the ground. As she popped the button of his jeans open, Jughead laid a hand on each of her shoulders, smoothing his palms down to her upper arms and taking the straps of her bra with them. This time, Jughead's gaze lingered, even when Betty unzipped his jeans. He peeled off his dark t-shirt, then his hands caressed up her ribcage and Betty plucked the discarded bra from her lap, pressing her torso forward into Jughead as she threw the item in the direction of her coat.

His arms came around her and he buried his nose in her neck, his breath shaky as he spread his fingers against her back, holding her to him. Betty's hands slid from his shoulders to grip his biceps, tensed beneath her fingers. Jughead drew back a little, kissing along her throat, and she wedged her hands between them, exploring his chest and lower, over his abs. She hit the waist of his underwear, bared by his unfastened jeans, and tucked her fingers just under the band between the elastic and the taut skin of his abdomen. Jughead sighed in deep contentment, bringing his hands around to generously grope her breasts and pushing his hips harder against hers. Running her lips over his cheek, Betty tempted him into another kiss and Jughead surprised her, first by winding his tongue into her mouth and second by hauling her forward into his arms, stepping back from the counter.

As Jughead carried her down the hall, halting briefly to kick out of his shoes, Betty held tight to him, compressing her breasts against his chest. His fingers inched up into her hair and he stopped on the threshold of his bedroom, resting Betty's back against the doorway as he kissed her deeply. She rocked her hips into his, linking her ankles behind him and pushing her shoes off one at a time. Jughead groaned and pitched his hips forward, causing the muscles between Betty's legs to contract of their own volition. It was impossible not to arch her upper body, pressing herself as close to him as she could, feeling his hand slip beneath the waist of her jeans to seize her hip. He bucked against her steadily, and Betty, who'd only had Jughead's hands on her―and only over her clothes―was struck by an urge to broaden her experiences.

She wiggled down out of his grip, her balance feeling less than reliable for the second time since they'd entered the trailer. Looking dazed and lustful, Jughead backed into the opposite side of the doorframe, licking his reddened bottom lip. Betty couldn't help smiling as she looked him square in the eye and unfastened her jeans. The noise of the zipper drew Jughead's gaze and Betty hooked her thumbs into her jeans, shuffling them down her hips. Her underwear weren't very exciting, being white with lace edges, but she could imagine how they were making Jughead's heart pound based on the way his chest was rising and falling. She reached down, dragging her jeans off and taking her socks with them, then straightened, assessing her boyfriend, who seemed to be glued to his side of the doorway.

"Wow," he said softly, staring at her.

Tentatively, Betty came close to him, intentionally letting her hips tilt into his. His erection was rigid and decidedly bigger than that glue stick. Jughead kept his hands to himself, doing all of his exploring with his eyes, which moved gradually from her face to her hips. Summoning her courage, Betty rolled her fingers against her palms, some part of her mind telling her to warm them, though she could feel her entire body experiencing an oven-like flush of heat. She lifted her hand, dropped it, and lifted it again, her eyes dancing with Jughead's. Taking a deep breath, Betty stuffed her hands into the gaping sides of Jughead's jeans, already unfastened, and shoved them down. Unlike her own, which were tight to the ankle, Jughead's put up zero resistance, collapsing into a denim puddle which he shook his feet out of. Betty pressed both palms flat to Jughead's abdomen, his dick straining the material just below, and his hands disappeared behind his back to grip the edges of the doorframe. Resting her hands on his hips, Betty leaned against Jughead, stretching up on her toes to kiss him as she tugged his boxers down blindly.

Jughead's sweaty palms landed on her back, then tore her underwear down her legs, any self-consciousness vanishing with them. Flicking her fingers through the ends of his hair, Betty held to the back of Jughead's neck, kissing him hastily as he backed her into his bedroom. She tumbled back onto his comforter, Jughead climbing greedily on top of her and trailing her with a smirk as she scampered backwards towards the head of the bed, pushing the covers away as she went. Betty started to sit up as her shoulders touched the wall, but Jughead caught her by her ankles and pulled her flat under him, his gaze running unhurriedly down her body. Impatiently, Betty threw her arms around him, pulling him onto her and Jughead's palm smoothed down her back to grab her ass, rolling them both sideways.

His dick was denting her abdomen, but it was his fingers that first made contact between her legs. Jughead gave her a long stare, pressing his fingers to her wetness. Nervously, Betty hitched her top leg over Jughead's hip, feeling a little shameless, but instantly thankful when he moved his fingers with ease, spreading her arousal over her clit. Betty gave a visceral jerk that she felt in her abdominal muscles, gripping Jughead's bicep forcefully. He looked in her eyes and she nodded so minutely yet rapidly that it felt as though her skull were vibrating. Jughead slicked his fingers through her arousal and curled two of them up inside her. Betty angled her hips towards him, gasping, and scratching her nails down his arm. Frantically, Jughead found her mouth with his, then repeated the probing motion of his fingers, tucking them in a little more abruptly and certainly deeper.

Betty curved her whole body into his, her calf muscle tensing where her leg was thrown over his hip. She turned her face into Jughead's pillow, but he didn't grant her even a moment to grow accustomed, curling his fingers into her again. She moaned into the pillow, then turned her head enough to peek at his expression as he extracted his fingers, smearing their slickness over her clit. His cheeks were pink, his lips parted, as he seemed to be watching his hand give her a sensation she'd never had before. Gripping the back of his neck, Betty pulled him into a kiss, winding her arms around his neck. She felt highly alert and strong, like she could climb a tree or shimmy up a flagpole. Jughead groaned against her mouth and adjusted his hand so his fingers were digging into the front of her thigh while his thumb jostled her clit into tingly oblivion.

Her breathing getting fast and rough, Betty broke the kiss. Her hand chafed up and down his ribcage as she muttered words of encouragement:

"Juggy, yes! There… and a little… mhmm faster… oh God…" Betty shook her hair back from her face, raising her hand from Jughead's side to swipe at stubborn strands. Jughead squirmed against her, then she felt his other hand at her opening, pressing his fingers inside while the thumb from the first hand switched to an unyielding rub on her clit. "Oh man, oh God… Juggy!" Her hips were not so much rocking now as twitching. "Yes! Theretherethere!" she mumbled, throwing her head to the side, though she couldn't open her eyes to stare at the ceiling.

"Come on, Betty," Jughead whispered, his lips brushing over her ear.

Betty's back arched as overwhelming relief and joy jolted her from the inside out. Jughead removed his hands and held her possessively to him, kissing the side of her head. Opening her eyes, Betty's gaze locked with his and she let her shoulders rise and fall in a dramatic sigh, then began to giggle hysterically. Jughead smirked at her then his expression suddenly altered. When Betty felt his erection pulse against her abdomen, she realized her laughter must have been vibrating her against him; her giggles petered out as understanding passed through their shared look.

Jughead planted a fist on the mattress behind Betty's back and rolled her over simply by pressing his body fully to hers. On her back, Betty began to straighten out her bent knee, but Jughead's fingers wrapped around the underside of her thigh, drawing the leg back up. He eased himself backwards down her body, kissing her collarbone, then sucking at each of her nipples, lining the curve of her breasts with his tongue. As he returned to hover over her, Jughead aligned his cock and pushed into her, sending Betty grasping for bunches of bedsheet to hang onto.

The stretch had her legs parting further, widening her hips as Jughead pressed deeper. He was breathing irregularly and all Betty could manage, still overcome by sensation herself, was scraping the hair back from his forehead. It was a continuous, pointless job, what with him positioned over her, but it gave Betty something to do with her hands while she let her lower half lay still, getting used to the size of something longer and thicker than a couple of Jughead's fingers. Veronica's antics with the glue stick came back to her and Betty almost wanted to laugh. However, the next moment, Jughead slid impossibly deeper, letting out a very masculine, very sexual grunt and biting down on his lip.

Betty exhaled, the muscles enclosing Jughead's dick pulsing as they determined whether they wanted this obstruction removed or brought further in. She decided for them, tilting her hips up into his so that he had her utterly filled. Jughead forced his hands under Betty's back, feeling out her shoulder blades as he dragged slowly out, then thrust back in.

A tear slipped away into Betty's hair as her emotions went haywire; she scrubbed at its track with the back of her hand, then threw her arm around Jughead's shoulders. He lifted himself off of her slightly, moving his hips unhurriedly, though the effort in his face told Betty he wanted more. The feeling of it sweetened into a pleasurable friction and by the time Betty let out a whimper of profound enjoyment, Jughead was speeding up. Suddenly, he was a man on a mission, knowing exactly where he wanted to go and how to get there. Though he held Betty lovingly, Jughead's expression became dreamy and lost and Betty wrapped her legs around him and smoothed her hand up his neck, focusing him.

"What…" he panted, "…what can I do, Betts?" He freed one hand from under her back and grasped her breast. Betty moved her hips with his, the bliss building with the desire.

"Could you touch me like―like before?"

Her eyes dropped shyly from his, though she knew it was a ridiculous situation in which to be bashful. Jughead just grinned his confident grin at her and ran his hand from her chest down her stomach, raising himself up on his opposite elbow so he had room to position his hand. As soon as he skimmed over her clit, Betty felt her teeth chatter together, her chin tipping up as the back of her head pressed into the pillow. Jughead moved his lips to her throat, tugging at her skin gently with his teeth and sucking just beneath her jaw. His fingers went for speed rather than creativity, but Betty was hungry for her second orgasm and found she was quickly beginning to feel the way the expression on Jughead's face looked when he lifted his head to meet her eyes.

They released together, Jughead freeing both hands to grab Betty's shoulders and ram himself into her. Betty felt her hips leave the surface of the bed, following Jughead's like a magnet as his thrusts shallowed. When he eased himself off of her, falling gracelessly to her side, Betty's legs felt like dead weight, except for the spastically rippling muscles of her inner thighs; clenching Jughead's hips as he'd gone to work on her had exercised parts of Betty she'd never been aware of. They sighed deeply in perfect synchronisation, then burst into giddy laughter, Jughead squeezing Betty in tight to his side. She wound her leg around his, feeling his heart slamming inside his chest. He laid his hand over it as though that could calm it down, then laid it over hers, which was beating just as hard. As far as they'd just gone together, it still gave her a thrill to know how close his hand was to her breast.

"Man," he groaned happily, nuzzling his face into her hair. "I thought the best part of today was going to be that cheeseburger."

Betty's giggle shook her and she wrapped her arm around Jughead. Her hand was also trembling until she flattened it against his skin.

"I thought it was going to be the satisfaction of crossing stuff off my list."

Jughead's laugh was muffled but present and he raised his head, propping it up with his hand to stare down at her.

"True or false," he asked her, "Veronica's stunt with the glue stick was about my dick."

"What would ever make you guess that?!" Betty exclaimed.

"True or false!"

She rolled her eyes, touching her toes to Jughead's ankle.

"Ok, true, but I don't know how you knew. Veronica has an excellent poker face."

Jughead's smile crept up on her and Betty found herself smiling too, though she was still trying to be incredulous.

"Because I wasn't looking at Veronica's face, I was looking at yours. Which was pink," he added.

"Well that just doesn't seem fair."

Jughead shrugged.

"Ok, ok," Betty rallied herself, "I have a question for you."

His eyebrows rose inquiringly.

"True or false, is there really something severely wrong with this bed? Not that I was totally focused on it," she blushed, "but I didn't hear it make a noise, let alone sound like it was going to cave in underneath us."

"Oh, that was a total exaggeration," Jughead said, grinning. "I only said it because I saw how you reacted to my accidental implications about the shower."

"Juggy, that's not an exaggeration, that's a lie."

"Will you forgive me?"

"You don't need forgiveness; I'm not at all upset about what you did." Betty smiled then sat up to haul the blankets over them. She snuggled into his side, letting Jughead maneuver his arm under her neck so they could lay wrapped up together.

"You still feeling ok about handing off some of your workload to Veronica?"

Everything she still needed to get done in her campaign to save Pop's came rushing to mind, but Betty firmly pushed it aside.

"Yeah." She looked at him slyly. "The difference between what you and I did and the tasks I left with her is that this actually was a two-person job."

"I hope that's not the only difference."

"You don't have any glitter, do you?" she asked innocently. Jughead narrowed his eyes at her.

"Very funny."

Betty grinned, pressing a kiss to his mouth until she felt his lips turning up. It didn't take long.