With the sword of Damocles hanging over everyone, the town with pep is worse off than anyone seems to realize. And with Jughead going away for a couples' weekend, and Hiram Lodge breathing down her neck, Amy is worse off than she's able to handle. But as her carefully balanced juggling starts to crumble around her, at least she still has her giraffe, her dog, and her memories of when Archie's priorities were in order.

Chapter title is from The Old Man And The Sea by Ernest Hemmingway

Warnings: references to underage sex, references to the Sisters Of Quiet Mercy, canon-typical violence

Notes at the end

(Cast Not Your Stone At The) Wayward Daughter

I Have Such A Heart Too

In Riverdale High, the world kept spinning. Everything was the same in the Town With Pep, even with the Sword Of Damocles hanging over their heads. In fact, only two people seemed to be aware of how precarious their situation was, try as they might to convince the rest of the town. First, the dark haired boy, beanie shoved low on his head as he tried to convince his father of the risk they faced, then the dark haired girl, eyes like ice as she tried to convince her partners. Had they worked together they may have succeeded, but Amy had been ignoring Jughead since she left him at the Cooper house the night before. She had woken up earlier than usual – though that would suggest that she had been able to sleep in the first place – careful not to wake him as she climbed out of bed, dragging her partners to school so that they could sit in the back of Sweet Pea's jeep until classes began.

Unfortunately, Jughead would have been the only one of her fellow Serpents to take her concerns seriously, and for once Amy found herself looking forward to school if only to get away from their dismissals. She was well aware that she erred on the side of paranoia, that she saw threats around every corner; she was also aware that her gut instinct had never been wrong and that she wasn't wrong this time either.

"Just, try not to worry about it babe," Toni told her. "You and Jughead… you don't like being helpless so you're looking for a conspiracy where there isn't one. Can we just forget about it for a night? You've been going on about Love, Simon coming out, we could go see that?"

Amy's jaw tightened, knowing that Toni was only suggesting that to shut her up, and that none of her partners had ever been interested when she'd brought it up before, but she nodded all the same. "Sure, fine." She shrugged, grabbing her backpack and climbing out of the trunk. She straightened her flannel – a green and black piece she'd stolen from Fangs years before – and pulled up the waistband of her ripped jeans, tossing her ponytail over her shoulder and setting off towards the door.

Considering how much longer his legs were than hers, it was no surprise that Sweet Pea caught up with her before she made it inside, wrapping an arm around her shoulder and pulling her close.

"Come on, Doll," he said softly. "You know Toni didn't mean anything by it. You can be a bit… cautious, you know? She just doesn't want you stressing yourself out over something that isn't a problem."

"Sure, Sweets," Amy said, her voice just as tense as her shoulders, "I get it. You're wrong, but I get it."

Anything Sweet Pea might have had to say was forgotten, as she overheard Kevin talking to Moose a few lockers down.

"—a John Hughesian coming-of-age, coming-out movie," he was saying – inviting Moose to the movies, she would guess.

"Yeah, no, I'm already going," Moose told him. "With Midge. You can come with us, if you want."

Amy watched Kevin's jaw clench, and before she realized what she was doing, she was bouncing down the hallway and grabbing onto his arm, plastering a bright grin on her face.

"Come with us, Kev!" she insisted, bouncing on the balls of her feet. "Toni and I are dragging the boys, it'll be great! Besides," she added, "you're the only other person I know who actually wants to see it – Toni and the boys are just humouring me."

Kevin blinked at her, startled by her sudden appearance and the overly enthusiastic smile. He wasn't sure how close he and Amy actually were, could never tell if she actually trusted him or was just a good enough liar that he thought she trusted him, didn't even know if she would consider him a friend. But still, with the clearly fake smile and empty eyes, and the way she gripped his arm like it was the only thing keeping her from bolting, it was clear that there was something more going on that just wanting to see a movie with him, and he would do what he could to be there for her. Even if that meant acting like everything was fine.

"Don't they always?" he asked lightly, earning a more genuine smile from the girl.

"Of course. But, what do you think?"

"That sounds great," he told her honestly, offering her a soft smile.

Amy beamed up at him, wrapping a hand around his elbow and guiding him away from Moose and Sweet Pea, who were both watching them in silent confusion.

"Walk me to class?" she asked, not waiting for an answer as they left.

"So what was that all about?" Kevin asked, once they were out of earshot.

"You can do so much better than being some asshole's gay experiment while he shoves his girlfriend in your face," she shrugged.

"Sure," he scoffed. "Because there are so many gay men to choose from."

"There are," she nodded. "I know tons of openly queer guys who'd treat you like you deserve, they just aren't Northsiders. Like, look at Fangs. Heart of gold and a gold medal dick, and definitely interested."

"Amy Adams," Kevin gasped playfully, "are you trying to set me up with your boyfriend?"

Amy grinned back, feeling the earlier tension leave her shoulders. "Not my boyfriend, but yes absolutely."

"Wait, he's no—"

Kevin's question was interrupted when they ran into Betty and Jughead, leaving the student lounge. Amy saw Archie behind them, turning the other corner with Veronica – that was fine, she couldn't afford to think about the fact that she was losing her brother to the Lodge brat anyways.

She blinked, pulling her eyes away from the redhead and back to the two in front of them, staring for a moment before tightening her grip on Kevin's arm.

"Hi, bye," she said with a fake smile. "Come on, Kev, we have to talk details for tonight."

Kevin's eyebrows knitted together for a moment but, sensing her rising tension, he smiled indulgently and nodded. "See you guys later," he offered.

"Actually," Jughead started, and Amy froze. "I need to talk to Ame – to Amy."

Kevin looked between the two, but didn't move. He wouldn't, not unless Amy was okay with it.

"And I need to talk to Kevin," She told him sharply.

"Please, Amy," he said softly, her nickname feeling weird in his mouth. "Two minutes? You can time it, if you want."

Amy's hand tightened even more around Kevin's arm but as soon as she – accidentally – met Jughead's pleading gaze, it relaxed.

"Fine," she said after a moment. "But only you. Let's go."

She turned on her heel, navigating the crowded halls with ease. She ignored Cheryl's "Watch it, slut," when she bumped into the redhead, not slowing down until she reached the empty music room, perching on the edge of the piano bench. It was only then that she looked up to see that Jughead had indeed followed her, closing the door behind him as he took a seat opposite her. She had known that he would, of course, knew that he wouldn't so much as glance at his girlfriend, knew that even if he had, he wouldn't have cared about her objections. She had known that he would follow her, no matter how Betty felt about it, about her, but she still felt a weight lift from her chest when the door clicked shut, cutting the two of them off from the rest of the school.

"Two minutes," she reminded him, glancing at the clock.

Jughead smiled fondly, eyes softening.

"How generous," he deadpanned. "Thanks."

"You're wasting time, Jones," she retorted, unable to fight back her own small smile.

"Right." He coughed. "So, um, Veronica invited Betty and I to go up to her parents' lodge for the weekend with she and Archie, a romantic getaway or something."

Amy's breath caught in her throat. She knew – she knew that they were back together, again, but she hadn't expected… she hadn't expected them to be going on so-called romantic getaways together, especially when Hiram Lodge was breathing down their necks. Hiram. Lodge. Who was trying to destroy their home. Who wanted Jughead out of town when he made his next move. Whose next move was — she didn't know. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath. She needed to refocus, needed to find the missing piece of the puzzle. But as her eyes fell shut, she couldn't see the board, couldn't see any next moves or evasive strategies. All she could see was a blonde ponytail, green eyes staring at her in disgust, Jughead's hand falling to rest on the Northsider's waist – the same way he used to hold her. She squeezed her eyes tighter, but she couldn't force the images from the previous night out of her head.

"You're… I take it you and Cooper sorted shit out?" She asked tersely.

Jughead smiled, not noticing the way she folded in on herself as he did.

"Yeah." He said. "We talked. She was upset because she thought that you were the reason I didn't sleep with her the other night."

"And I'm not?" Amy asked, hiding her disappointment under a teasing smirk.

Jughead opened his mouth to – well, she wasn't sure what he would have said, but she was quick to silence him with a sharp look at the clock.

"Time's running out," she reminded him coolly. "And I doubt you dragged me away to talk about fucking the Northsider. I know you know where to put it, so you don't need my help there."

Jughead rolled his eyes, with another soft smile. "Right. So the thing is, this was Hiram's suggestion. Which would be suspicious no matter what, but right after yesterday's meeting?"

"He's up to something," Amy agreed. "So, no getaway?"

"We're still going," he corrected her – and though she knew better than to get her hopes up, his words still hit her like a fist to the gut. "I can try to get answers out of Veronica, and Betty really needs this after last night. I just, I wanted to ask you to keep an eye on the Hiram side of things while I'm away? You know, make sure he isn't using this as a way to get me out of the way while he makes his move?"

"Which it obviously is," she snapped. "I didn't take you for an idiot, Jones, that is very obviously what he's doing." She didn't realize that she had stood, looking towards the door before spinning back around to glare at him. "Don't worry, I'd be keeping my eye on him even if you hadn't asked, so you can go have a good weekend of fucking your Northsider in peace."

"Amethyst?" He asked softly. "What's wrong?"

"Nothing for you to worry about, clearly. Have a good weekend."

She grabbed her back, twisting the doorknob as fast as she could.

"Amethyst," he tried again.

"Your two minutes are up, Jones."

She didn't give him another chance to ask, didn't turn to see his reaction. She knew that if she did it would break her resolve, so she let the door swing into the wall as she stormed out of the room, disappearing into the crowd.

As per her usual luck, she only made it down a few halls before bumping into the last people she wanted to see – aside from Betty, Jughead, and maybe her partners.

"Amy!" Veronica beamed.

Amy nodded in acknowledgement, though her gaze didn't drift from her big brother. She knew that she'd told him they were good, but she was still pissed at him. And seeing him with Veronica, knowing full well that her supposed friend was actively helping her father destroy her home, it brought back all of that hurt. She blinked quickly, trying to ignore the tears burning behind her eyes. She couldn't cry in front of Archie, couldn't show weakness in front of Hiram's devotees.

Veronica looked between the siblings before clapping her hands together, pulling Amy out of her thoughts.

"So Amy," she beamed, "my dad gave me permission to take some friends up to our family lodge for a romantic getaway weekend and–"

"I heard," Amy told her.

"You did? Oh, Jughead, right?" Amy didn't react, but Veronica kept talking. "That makes sense, you guys are friends. But I was thinking, you and Sweet Pea should totally come! You definitely need a few days away from everything, and a couple's weekend is the perfect cure for anything. And daddy is totally okay with you coming, he said it might be a good way for us to get past our differences and repair our friendship."

Amy continued to stare at her blankly, watching the other girl begin to wilt before speaking up.

"Yeah, no, your dad is clearly trying to get Jughead out of town to pull some sketchy bullshit, so I have to keep an eye on him. Besides, me and Sweets aren't dating."

Veronica opened her mouth – no doubt to defend her father – but Archie spoke up before she could.

"You aren't?" He asked, looking at his sister with wide eyes.

"You're not what?" Sweet Pea asked.

Amy whirled around to see her partner approaching from behind, feeling the tension rising in her back like a first around her spine.

"We aren't dating," she told him, gaze remaining carefully blank.

"Of course we aren't," he agreed, looking at the Northsiders. "Did you guys think–"

Amy blinked. She had expected his words, of course, but she hadn't anticipated the way that they would hit her, more painful than Sweet Pea's brass knuckles could ever hope to be.

"Everyone thinks so," Veronica told them.

"Well," Amy said sharply, gripping the strap of her backpack tightly, "everyone is wrong. Now, if you'll excuse me, I have a criminal douchecanoe to stop and an English class to get to."

She pushed past them without waiting for a response, her shoulder connecting briefly with Archie's bicep. For a moment, she wanted nothing more than to let Archie hug her, to hide away in the safety of his arms. But as her boots clacked loudly against linoleum floors, she forced herself to walk by without so much as a glance his way. She was mad at him. He was helping a man who was trying to destroy her home. Maybe he wasn't safe anymore.

She felt Sweet Pea's familiar presence at her shoulder, but didn't look at him either. She couldn't afford to be weak, not ever but especially not now. So she took a deep breath, tossed her long ponytail over her shoulder, and finally, finally, made it to class, grabbing a seat beside Kevin instead of her usual spot with her partners. She ignored Archie's worried looks from where he was sitting with Betty and Veronica, ignored Cheryl's pointed looks in between giggled whispers to her posse, ignored her partners' eyes boring into her from their usual back corner. She stared straight ahead, seeing nothing, only focused on maintaining her composure.

Kevin took one look at her – the bags under her eyes that her concealer couldn't cover, the steel in her spine that seemed to weigh her down instead of lift her up, the dark strands falling out of her usually impeccable ponytail – and raised his hand.

"Mr. Keller?"

The voice jarred Amy back into the present, blinking rapidly as she tried to tune into what Kevin was saying.

"Sorry I just, I'm feeling super lightheaded. Would it be alright for Amy to help me get to the nurse, just in case I faint or anything?"

Their teacher—Amy really should learn his name one day, she decided—nodded, and Kevin was quick to collect his belongings.

Despite her confusion, the Serpent did the same, following him into the hallway and around the corner.

"Kev?" She asked. "What's up?"

"No offence babe but you look like absolute shit–"

"Wow, thanks."

"Okay, you know that objectively you look hot as ever, but you look twenty seconds away from a complete breakdown and I didn't think you'd want to start crying in front of the entire class, so..." He shrugged. "Under the bleachers is the best place to get away from the world for a bit. Want to join me?"

Amy smiled, her first real smile of the day. Tears burned behind her eyes but for once they weren't from pain, but from happiness, from relief. Maybe she still had someone that she could lean on.

"Yeah," she nodded, voice thick with tears. "Yeah, I'd like that."

Kevin grinned back at her, linking their arms together to lead her to the football field she never visited. He brought her around to sneak under the back, sitting down on the damp grass and gesturing for Amy to join him.

She did so, collapsing onto the ground and laying her head in Kevin's lap.

Kevin's hands found their way into her hair, undoing her thick ponytail and carefully combing out the knots that had started to form.

"So, do you want to talk about what's going on?" he asked softly. "Or would you rather talk about Joaquin's dick?"

Amy groaned loudly, unable to hold back a giggle at his words.

"Don't tempt me, Keller," she retorted. "I don't even fucking know, honestly."

"Start small?" he suggested.

"So, not Joaquin's dick?" she teased, before taking a deep breath. "Honestly Kev, I don't even fucking know. I'm pissed at Jughead, I'm pissed at Sweet Pea and Fangs and Toni, I'm pissed at Archie, I'm pissed at Veronica… I'm less pissed at Betty but that's just cause I don't care about her enough to waste the energy… I'm pissed at FP too… I'm just angry and tired and I'm so fucking sick of everyone telling me I'm crazy. I'm not crazy, Kev, I'm not." She sat up suddenly, looking at him with wild eyes. "I swear, I'm not fucking crazy, okay? I know I'm paranoid, I know that I expect the worst, but I'm not crazy. I'm not crazy, I'm not crazy, I'm not crazy, Sister, I'm not–"

Her words merged together, turning into an incoherent string of syllables and frantic breaths, and Kevin was quick to pull her into a hug.

"You're not crazy," he told her firmly. "You're not. And no one thinks you are."

"They won't listen," she retorted. "They won't listen and they think I'm crazy and they're going to send me away and–"

Kevin blinked. Send her away? Why would she think that—oh. Suddenly he remembered, with startling clarity, Amy's previous references to the Sisters of Quiet Mercy. She had mentioned it the very first time they met, but she'd talked about it so casually that he'd never really thought about it again. She treated it like little more than a minor inconvenience, just a blip on her radar, and he had let that brush away his concerns. But, clearly, it was a much bigger deal than she let on. It wasn't just about being gaslit, he realized, it was trauma – and he couldn't help but wonder how many other things he had let her dismiss in the same way.

She didn't respond at all when he shook her shoulder, or when he called her name. As much as he tried to break her out of her thoughts, she didn't seem to be aware of his presence. He tried to remember what little he knew about breaking someone out of a flashback – or was it a panic attack? He wasn't really sure – but the only other thing he could think of was the times he'd seen people get slapped out of them in movies. But whatever it was, it was clearly based in some deep rooted trauma, and if anything he'd heard about the Sisters of Quiet Mercy was true then violence would probably make it even worse.

So, desperate for any solution, he cupped her neck gently and pressed his lips to hers. He felt her breath stop and started to pull away, worried that he had overstepped, but she melted against him as her breathing returned to normal.

"Kev?" she asked, blinking slowly.

"I'm here," he promised. "Sorry about, you know, that… I wasn't sure what to do and you weren't responding at all, but I didn't think you'd want me to text Jughead so…"

"It's fine," she told him immediately. "I don't mind, kissing doesn't really mean anything…"

"So I've heard," he said lightly. "Speaking of which… word on the block says that you and Mr Tall Dark And Handsome aren't dating?"

"People seem so surprised," Amy mused. "Is it really that shocking?"

"Honestly yeah. I mean, you're practically inseparable, he calls you 'doll' and 'his girl' more than your name, you're always making out and sitting on his lap and shit, and he's nearly fought everyone who's so much as looked at you wrong."

Amy nodded slowly, before returning to her previous position with her head in his lap.

"Yeah, that checks out I guess," she agreed. "Have you ever heard of queerplatonic relationships?"

Kevin blinked. "Not often, but yeah. That's… not romantic but more emotional commitment than friendship, right?"

Amy shrugged, an awkward move considering her position.

"Yeah, pretty much. I mean it's more complicated than that but that's the gist. That's, that's what the four of us are."

"All four of you?" Kevin echoed.

"Yeah, poly, you know… Joaquin was too, is, I don't know... Haven't seen him since… July, I guess? End of June?"

"It's not the poly thing that surprised me," Kevin told her, "Joaquin told me he'd been in a poly relationship, I get those, it's just… You and Sweet Pea are different from you four as a group."

"He's my person," Amy said softly. "He was the first person to ever say he loved me, back when we were little. He knew me first, he knows me best, we're just… closer. And he doesn't mind that I'm super fucking needy, you know?"

Kevin chuckled lightly, nodding. "I mean, that's fair. But… where does Jughead fit into it all? You said, well, you implied that you guys had all slept together but he's also dating Betty, and she definitely wouldn't be okay with him also not-dating you guys?"

Amy's eyes fell shut, relaxing as Kevin went back to combing through her hair absentmindedly.

"I don't really know," she confessed. "At first I thought – but then he and Betty got back together and then broke up and then got back together again and broke up again and now things are okay again? And like, whenever they break up, he's one of us and I know where we stand, but then they get back together and it's like, the world revolves around Cooper again? And I just, I don't know, Kev?"

Kevin nodded, before remembering that she couldn't see him with her eyes shut.

"That's fair… I mean, not that Jughead is all hot and cold with you, but that you're confused. Do you want him to be a part of it?"

Amy's eyes snapped open.

"I don't know," she admitted. "I've never thought about that before, you know? I told him that he'd always have a place with us, whether it was for a quick orgasm or an emotional investment, and I meant it, I still mean it… but I… this on and off thing is fucking with my head. I don't know…"

Feeling her tense in his lap, Kevin was quick to pick up on the sensitivity of the subject.

"You don't need to know," he assured her. "I was just curious."

"It's alright," she told him. "I'm just confused and stressed and—and can we move on to Joaquin's dick yet?"

"Nice subject change," he laughed. "Of course we can. But, actually… I know this isn't really my place to ask, but, he told me he was gay? But he slept with you and maybe Toni? Was it experimenting, was he lying to me? Was he figuring things out–"

"None of those, really," she told him, sitting up and leaning her head on his shoulder. "He's gay, and he's never slept with Toni. He and I just… It's complicated, there's a lot of trauma involved in how it all started… but, I was in a bad situation, and he got me out of it, and things sort of spiralled from there. I love him so much, and I would love him just as much if we never had any sex – sex isn't a requirement for any of our relationships either – but it just kind of happened… I… I'm not up for getting into it too much, if that's okay?"

"Yeah, of course it is," he said. "Onto lighter subjects?"

Amy nodded, finding it surprisingly easy to fall into mindless conversation with Kevin. The topics flowed easily: musicals; Love Simon; Joaquin; talking shit about their classmates; favourite movies – anything they happened to think of was fair game. It was nice, she thought, to be able to let her guard down. And even though she knew that the bell would ring, and that she'd have to return to her problems, she could feel herself letting go of all of her real-world problems even if just for a moment.

But all good things come to an end, and soon Kevin was shaking her shoulder, letting her know that the bell had rung – and as much as she hated the idea of returning to class, she couldn't help the warmth that spread through her chest when she realized that Kevin had remembered her hearing loss, that he wanted to make sure that she knew what was happening.

Amy shifted slightly, so that he could crawl out from under the bleachers and offer her a hand to help her escape. She stood slowly, pausing to steady herself before the two took a moment to brush the grass and dirt off of their clothes.

"Once more unto the fray?" Amy asked lightly, holding out an arm.

Kevin linked their elbows together, smiling down at her.

"Once more unto the fray," he agreed.

Forcing her shoulders back, steel slipping back into her spine, Amy took one final breath before heading back to the school, feeling infinitely better with Kevin by her side than she had when she'd arrived that morning.

Of course it was just her luck that the class they'd skipped was the class that everyone shared, and they were swarmed as soon as they made it to the lounge.

Amy noticed the crowd first, locking eyes with Kevin for a moment before turning away. Trusting him to watch her back, she made a show of ignoring them all, of shoving a crumpled bill into the vending machine, of tapping her foot impatiently as she waited for the bottle of red gatorade to fall down for her to grab, of taking her time opening it and taking a long swig before turning around, still ignoring them as she pulled out her phone.

"Kev?" she heard Betty ask. "Are you okay? You were gone the entire hour and didn't send a text or anything."

Amy didn't miss the way the blonde carefully excluded the Serpent from her concern. She didn't particularly care, either, rolling her eyes dramatically and smirking at Kevin's choked laugh.

"I'm fine," Kevin assured her. "Stuff came up."

"You know–"

But whatever Betty was going to say, Amy would never know. Just as she was about to tell the blonde where to shove it, she was surrounded by her fellow Serpents.

"Where were you guys?" Fangs asked, concern practically dripping off of him as he pressed himself against her side, mirrored by Toni on her other side as Sweet Pea leaned over her back, Jughead turning around in his chair to face her.

"It doesn't matter," she said easily, taking another sip of gatorade.

"What do you mean, doesn't matter?" Toni demanded. "You disappear for an hour, after ignoring us, and now you're acting like everything's fine?"

Out of the corner of her eye, Amy saw Archie's head snap up. No doubt he'd heard the rising pitch of Toni's voice, no doubt they all had. She had to get the situation under control fast, or she would lose it completely.

"Like you all ignored my concerns this morning?" she shot back sharply, taking satisfaction in the way the taller girl recoiled. "Kevin is my friend and he asked if I could walk him to the nurse's office, and we talked. That's all anyone needs to know."

"Amy," Jughead tried, voice soft even as he stumbled over the nickname he was so unused to using.

"Juggie," Betty called, voice sharp and calculating and leaving no room for her boyfriend – was he her boyfriend again? Amy wasn't really sure anymore – to finish whatever he was going to say.

The boy sighed, nodding at the blonde.

"I've got to go," he said instead, sounding almost but not quite apologetic. "We've got to pack so that we can head up to the Lodge's."

"Right," Amy said, voice as empty as she felt. "Sex getaway in the middle of war. Love the priorities."

"I–"

"Save it, Jones. Wouldn't want to leave Miss Priss waiting."

She stared at him blankly until he nodded, shuffling over to the Northsiders. With every step away from them, Amy felt the weight in her chest growing, her heart feeling more like lead than anything else.

She stared at her partners with blank eyes, looking but not really seeing them.

"Kev and I decided that tomorrow's seven o'clock showing would be best," she reported. "I've got to get to class, I'll meet you at the Jeep after the last bell?"

She didn't give them a chance to argue, booking it out of the room as fast as she could while still appearing unaffected.

The rest of her day passed in a haze; she didn't remember going to her classes, let alone what they talked about, and before she knew it she was leaning against the passenger door to the Jeep, waiting for her partners.

They arrived in a group, and Amy found herself both comforted and heartbroken to see that they all seemed completely normal, as if she hadn't been avoiding them for the entire day, as if her absence didn't matter.

She felt the telltale click of the doors unlocking, and climbed into the car, staring forward as she waited for someone else to break the unusually uncomfortable silence that covered the car like a suffocating blanket. Sweet Pea shifted the car into gear, taking off down the familiar route to the Wyrm.

"So," Fangs started slowly, carefully, like he was talking to a wounded animal. "What was… all of that about?"

If it had been anyone else, Amy might have lashed out, might have asked them what exactly 'all of that' entailed. But it was Fangs, her best friend, and she knew he was leaving it vague so that she could decide where she wanted to start.

"I'm mad at Jughead for fucking off to go on some romantic trip with his Northsider when he knows that Hiram Lodge is up to something," she started calmly. "I'm mad that he knows that Hiram is trying to get out of town and is actually doing it. I'm mad at Veronica for acting like we're still friends when she's actively working with her dad to destroy our home. I'm pissed at Archie for ignoring my concerns because he cares more about his girlfriend's dad's opinion of him is more important than his little sister's. And I'm mad at you guys for dismissing me and treating me like I'm fucking crazy instead of at least hearing me out. I've had more than enough of that in my life, thanks. And I'm mad that you guys got mad at me spending time with Kevin when he's the only person in this entire town who seems to actually care about my thoughts and feelings."

Silence fell over the group once more, tense as Amy waited for her partners to process what she had laid out.

"Amy–" Fangs started, but she interrupted him softly.

"Can we… just not yet, please?" she asked, more hesitant than they were used to. "I'll try to stop being such a major bitch but… I think we need to think a bit before having this conversation?"

Toni sighed loudly, clearly not happy about it, but nodded sharply.

"Alright," she said. "So anyways, Cheryl told Jughead about Betty and Archie kissing – I overheard her on the phone with him in the bathroom."

"So what?" Amy scoffed, jaw tightening at the thought of the redhead bitch. "I told him about that ages ago, it's not exactly news."

Toni's eyes narrowed. "She's hurting," she insisted. "I don't know what's wrong, but something is clearly upsetting her for her to lash out."

"Jesus fuck, Topaz," Amy spat back, "are you and Jones starting an 'in love with Northside brats' club or something?"

"Well considering that she told me to get my 'Sapphic Serpent hands off her body', probably not."

"All that says is that you would if she were interested."

The boys had fallen silent, neither wanting to get caught in the nuclear blast that was a fight between the two girls, but they exchanged wide eyed looks through the mirror.

"Maybe she isn't as awful as you think," Toni said. "You sympathized when her dad died, remember? You offered to kill Nick St. Clair."

"Yeah I did, and she's done nothing but treat us like garbage in return. Cheryl fucking Blossom thinks that she runs the world and expects the rest of us to bow down and kiss her feet and thank her for deigning to let us exist on her planet. She's a selfish fucking bitch who doesn't care about who she hurts as long as she gets what she wants, and the world would be better without her. She's pissed that they're going to some fancy ass cottage without her so she's trying to ruin their trip by upsetting Jughead, that's it. It's not some deep tragic bullshit or whatever you're thinking, sometimes people are just assholes. And for fuck's sake, Toni, I thought you knew that an explanation isn't the same as an excuse."

Amy unbuckled her seatbelt as she spoke, looking around at the perfect Northside houses that surrounded them.

"Pull over," she told Sweet Pea, cutting off whatever defence Toni was going to come up with next.

"Doll?"

"Fred's house is only three blocks away," she told him, trying desperately to force on her mask of neutrality. "I'm going there. Let me know where you guys are going to crash tonight and I'll find someplace else."

"Doll–"

"Pull over, Sweets. Please."

Sweet Pea did so, not bothering to hide his reluctance.

"Text me when you get there?" he asked.

"Of course," she agreed, offering him a small smile and twisting around to squeeze the hand that Fangs had placed on her shoulder sometime in her rant.

She slid out of the jeep, grabbing her backpack and shutting the door harder than necessary before setting off down the street. She saw the dirty looks she was getting from the Northsiders, saw the way parents crossed the street when they saw her, saw most of the blinds closing up and down the street – and the ones that didn't flew open, as suburban moms peered at her through their windows, whether it was to gawk or to make sure that she didn't rob people, Amy wasn't sure – but she forced herself to ignore it, holding her head high all the way to the Andrews' house.

She dug the key out of her pocket, knowing that Fred would still be at work, and let herself in. Thankfully Archie was already gone, so after dumping her backpack by the door, she didn't hesitate in closing the front curtains and collapsing onto the couch, shaking with badly suppressed sobs.

What happened!? she wanted to scream. When did everything go to hell? She wanted to tell herself that she hadn't seen it coming, but she knew that wasn't true. She had seen it, but there hadn't been anything she could do. She had been a deer in the headlights, frozen as she watched everything fall apart around her. She knew that she had been juggling a lot, even by her own standards, but she thought she could handle it. She never expected that she would fumble, or that one tiny misstep would bring everything crumbling down like a house of cards.

She wasn't sure when she had fallen asleep, really. Sometime after the first hour of sobs, she'd guess, but she didn't remember when she went from crying, gasping desperately for air, to sound asleep and trembling silently. She knew she had, though, because she woke up to Fred's hand on her shoulder, a warm and steady weight as he shook her gently.

She moved slowly, rubbing at her eyes and trying to wipe away the dried tears that stuck to her cheeks and eyelashes. She had never been an overly snotty crier, for which she was grateful, but she still took the offered tissues to attempt to clean herself up.

"Hey sweetheart," Fred said quietly, "what's the matter?"

He opened his arms to her, and Amy dove in immediately. She felt safer with his arms wrapped around her, shielding her from the rest of the world. Truth be told, there was never anywhere she'd rather be than right here, head tucked into her adoptive father's shoulder with one of his hands brushing through her hair, just as Kevin had done that morning.

Vegas left his preferred napping space in front of the window to join them, laying across the couch to rest his face on Amy's lap. She carded one hand into his fur, taking comfort in his presence.

"Everything is ruined," she whispered, feeling more burning tears pricking the back of her eyes.

Fred didn't say anything, only hummed in acknowledgement.

"I… I ruined everything," she added. "I've been a total bitch to Jughead because I'm tired of him playing all hot and cold with me and I want him to make a decision already, but I really just pushed him away… I'm not wrong about Hiram but Archie has chosen Veronica so I'm going to lose him too…"

Another time, Fred might have rushed to assure her that she wasn't going to lose Archie, but he knew that Amy needed to get this off her chest, and that if he spoke she might never finish.

"Toni is pissed at me because I called Cheryl a bitch and pointed out how horribly she treats us, and I've been pushing Fangs and Sweets away all day and they're definitely pissed at me for it too… I didn't mean to fuck everything up…"

"I know you didn't, sweetheart," he assured her. "And I'm sure that the others know too. I know you guys are all so stressed about Sunnyside right now, everyone must be really on edge. I'm sure once you've all taken a breather it will all work out."

Amy eyed him doubtfully, with a suspicious pout that he hadn't seen since she was much younger. His heart swelled, remembering the way the tiny nine year old used to hide behind Archie with that exact same expression when he or Mary would bring up any activities that she was unfamiliar with, or suggest anything that she wasn't sure about.

"And Archie will come around," he promised. "Right now, Hiram's approval seems like the most important thing to him because he's so infatuated with Veronica and is still worried about ruining their relationship. He's always put family first, and I'm sure that once he gets out of the honeymoon phase here he'll remember that. But you're his sister, okay? That's the most important thing, you're the most important thing in his life. You always have been, since the day we told him that he would be getting a little sister. He's a teenage boy, and teenage boys can be idiots, but he'll figure out his priorities. And maybe this weekend will give him time to think about that without Hiram's looming."

Amy nodded weakly, not really believing him but still hopeful that he might be right.

"Hey," Fred said, soft as ever. "How about we head to Pop's tonight? Just us, like we used to."

Amy froze, before breaking into a bright smile. Her entire face lit up with excitement, eyes going wide as she nodded.

"Can I wash my face first?" she asked, knowing that her makeup must have her looking like a drowned racoon.

"Of course, sweetheart. Take your time."

Amy offered him another flash of that same blinding smile, bounding up the stairs to the larger of the two bathrooms in the house. She scrubbed the smudged mascara and eyeliner from her cheeks, finding one of the pencils she'd stolen from the Wyrm in a drawer and reapplying the sharp lines.

She was back downstairs in under five minutes, pulling her jacket out from the bottom of her backpack, where she kept it folded during school hours, and quickly shoving her most important belongings into the pockets.

"Ready?" Fred asked, once she had zipped up both pockets.

She nodded, shoving her feet into her boots while Fred grabbed the keys to the truck. She followed him outside, hoisting herself into the passenger's seat.

"Why can't anybody have a short car?" she asked, getting a laugh and wordless shrug from the man.

They drove to Pop's in a comfortable silence, claiming a corner booth so that Amy could watch the door with narrowed eyes. They got a few questioning looks – and a few outright stares – as people noticed Amy, but Pop greeted them with a bright smile.

"Hey there Fred," he said. "Haven't seen a father-daughter dinner in a while."

Amy smiled fondly at the memory of the very first time Fred had brought her to Pop's, how he'd introduced her to the man as his daughter, and how it had been a monthly tradition for years, until the summer that ruined everything.

"Well, you know how crazy things have been," Fred chuckled.

"That I do, that I do… Will it be the usual for you both?"

Fred looked at Amy, waiting for her to decide. She nodded quickly, not wanting to think about food if she could help it.

"The usual would be great," Fred answered, before Pop disappeared back behind the counter.

It was only a couple of minutes later that the two milkshakes – vanilla for Amy and chocolate for Fred – and they accepted them with matching smiles.

Amy sipped at hers slowly, unable to stop her eyes from darting back to the door every few seconds. Try as she might, she couldn't focus on what Fred was saying, responding in little more than light hums.

Their food arrived soon, and Amy busied herself with pushing everything around on the plate. She took a few bites here and there, always when Fred was watching, but the majority of her food remained uneaten.

Truth be told, by the time Fred had paid and they were returning to the truck, Amy could barely remember any of the meal. She had tried as best as she could to pay attention, but her mind was racing with more worries than she could actually process. Before she knew it, they were getting back in the truck. The press of the cold window against her cheek was the only thing keeping her awake on the way home, her many sleepless nights finally catching up to her.

She stumbled out of the car, blinking slowly as she shut the door. As soon as they were inside, shoes and coats discarded on the front bench, Fred looked at her with the same soft eyes he always reserved for his kids.

"You're dead on your feet, sweetheart," he told her. "Why don't you head upstairs? Archie's not here so you can take his room, or you can take your–"

"I can sleep in the other room," she told him, not yet – not ever – ready to call it her own.

He nodded, giving her a tight hug and a kiss to the forehead before she grabbed her backpack and stumbled upstairs, Vegas close on her heels.

It had been a while since she had slept in the room they reserved for her, but nothing had changed. The dark wood floors and cream walls – she had never let them be painted, had never let it become personal – were the same, as was the soft green carpet that covered most of the floor and molded around her feet when she stepped on it. The desk, a dark oak piece that Fred had built years before she'd met him, still stood against the side wall, the bulletin board above it covered in photos, memorabilia, and notes that always made her smile. The bed, the same dark oak as the desk, was still across from the door, centered on the wall, perfectly aligned with the window above it. It was still made, green plaid sheets tucked in crisp hospital corners with the dark green duvet folded over neatly. And right in the middle, leaning against the pillows, was her copy of Le Petit Prince, with a white bookmark sticking out where she knew she had left it the last time she'd gone back to her favourite book.

She dug through the dresser, on the wall across from the desk, pulling out an old pair of sweatpants – they had once been Sweet Pea's, she thought – and an old t-shirt of Archie's. She padded into the bathroom to wash off her makeup and braid her hair, looking years younger than when she'd left the trailer that morning, and finally returned to the room, where Vegas sat patiently at the foot of the bed.

She knew, had always known, that it was silly not to call it her own. It was her room, and had been for the better part of a decade. It held valued possessions, had been decorated to her tastes, and she had spent many nights curled up in that very bed with Archie after her nightmares would wake him up. But still, she couldn't help but worry. She ruined everything she touched, she lost everything she cared about – maybe if she pretended that it wasn't her room, that she was just a guest passing through, this would be the one thing she could keep.

She picked up her book, setting it on the nightstand beside the bed, and moved to pull back the blankets. Before she could, a small lump under the duvet caught her attention.

She reached to pull out the mystery item, tears welling in her eyes when she saw the worn out giraffe that had been so carefully tucked in. Fifi. She picked her up, holding her close to her chest and pressing her nose to the top of her head. She had always been soft, but years of holding her had left her almost impossibly so, fitting into her grasp like she was meant to.

She tried to swallow the lump in her throat, but to no avail, and the tears began to drip down her cheeks. Fifi. Archie had given the giraffe to her the very first time they met. Fred had driven her home from the Sisters Of Quiet Mercy on what would forever be referred to as Adoption Day, the day she had celebrated as her birthday ever since. She had been nervous, terrified, really, to meet her new brother. She had been so afraid that Archie would hate her and that Fred would send her back, and by the time they got to the house it was taking all of her efforts to keep breathing.

But she saw a flash of red jumping down from the window, and when they opened the door, Archie was already standing there with Vegas, still a puppy at the time, bouncing at their feet and trying to jump up to lick Amy. He was taller than her back then too, albeit not quite as significant of a height as they shared as teenagers, and was quick to pull her into a hug, talking at a mile a minute as he introduced himself. He stopped to breathe, and Amy quietly introduced herself, letting herself believe that maybe everything would be okay. But as Archie's silence went on, and he started to shift on his feet, wringing his hands in front of him, Amy knew that the worst had happened. Archie hated her. He was going to tell Fred that he didn't want a sister – that he didn't want Amy – and she would be sent right back to the orphanage.

But just as she opened her mouth to apologize, to beg for them not to send her back, Archie's face lit up again.

"Wait here," he had told her, disappearing back into the living room and returning with a box in his hand, and Mary watching from the hallway. "I got you something."

He had passed her a gift bag, terribly wrapped but clearly his own handiwork. Amy had opened it slowly, feeling uncomfortable being the centre of attention, and had pulled out a stuffed giraffe. She could still remember her confusion, how she had looked between the giraffe and Archie with scrunched eyebrows, until Archie finally offered an explanation.

"Whenever my mommy comes home, daddy gets her flowers," he had explained, sounding very serious for being only nine and talking about a giraffe. "And you're coming home now, right?"

He had looked at her, and then at his parents, so sternly, as if daring them to correct him. As if he had already decided that this would be Amy's home, and that he wouldn't let any of them change that, not ever; that if they tried they would have to deal with him.

"But flowers die. But it's okay because mommy leaves again and then she comes back and she gets more flowers. But you're here forever now, just like me, so I needed to get you something that would last forever. And the giraffe was the softest, and everyone likes soft things."

He nodded, then. She could still picture it so clearly, as if it had only happened days ago rather than years. It had been such a serious nod, so self-assured and certain that he was right. That Amy was going to be with them forever, and that his new sister deserved the softest stuffed animal he could find; that she deserved a home and a family of her own.

Amy hugged Fifi even tighter, ignoring the way her tears soaked the fabric. She climbed into bed, laughing wetly when Vegas hopped up after her, curling up next to her head like a pillow. She curled in on herself, using one hand to pull the duvet up over her shoulders while the other continued to cling to Fifi as she cried. She wasn't sure, really, if they were tears of sadness, or of happiness, or if she was just overwhelmed by the memories, but for the second time that day, Amy fell asleep in tears.

Hey, teachers, leave them kids alone!

Amy jerked awake, scrambling to grab her phone from the bedside table and silence the ringing. She knew it was important, those were the only calls that rang audibly, but she didn't want to disturb Fred or Vegas.

"FP?" She said quickly, bringing the phone to her ear. She didn't bother checking the caller ID, she had set custom ringtones for all of her primary contacts.

"Hey, kiddo," she heard, scratchy and barely understandable.

"Sorry, just, one sec."

She grabbed her hearing aids from the table, pulling the remote around her neck and switching her phone to bluetooth, so that she would hear everything through the aids instead.

"Sorry, had to switch over," she explained. "What's up?"

"How fast can you get to the trailer?" he asked. "It's not an emergency but I want to get everyone together."

She paused for a moment, taking in the unmistakable scent of Fred's french toast.

"Give me an hour?" she asked. "I promised Fred that I'd stick around a bit."

"Yeah of course," he chuckled. "You guys have a good time."

She said a quick goodbye and hung up, grabbing a soft grey sweater and Fifi, and padded carefully down the stairs with Vegas at her heels. The closer she got to the kitchen, the more the mouthwatering aroma hit her, making her realize just how hungry she really was. The growing scent of bacon only added to that, and she couldn't help but run a mental tally on how long it had been since her last actual meal. Long enough, for sure. She could allow herself to indulge for a change.

As soon as Fred noticed her in the doorway he flipped the pieces of french toast and stepped away from the stove, pulling her into a tight hug. It only lasted for a moment before he had to get back to cooking, but Amy smiled softly, grabbing maple syrup and cutlery for the table before lifting herself onto one of the chairs.

"Sleep well?" Fred asked, dividing the food onto two plates and setting one in front of her, and the other across from her where he took his own seat.

Amy nodded, still smiling. "Better than I have in… I dunno, since like last spring, I guess? I think I got like five-ish hours of sleep in total?"

Fred looked up from his plate, eyes wide and eyebrows knit together.

"Only five?" He repeated.

She shrugged, her smile dropping slightly. "I mean, that's more than usual? I think three or four hours a night is my average?"

"Sweetheart, that's… that's really dangerous. And," he added, before she could interrupt him, "I know your life is dangerous. Remember, FP has been my best friend since we were your age. I know that being a Serpent is dangerous, and I wouldn't ask you to leave them, but sleep deprivation is a different kind of dangerous, and makes everything else you get up to more dangerous too."

No matter how many times Amy found herself on the receiving end of a Fred Andrews Dad Lecture (trademark pending) she always found herself more than a little surprised by how concerned he would get over her.

"I… I know," she said quietly, pushing a forkful of french toast around on her plate. "But it's hard, you know? With… with the nightmares and everything…"

"I know sweetheart," he assured her, reaching across the table to squeeze her hands in his. "I just worry about you."

Amy could only offer him a wobbly smile, averting her eyes before she pulled her hands back to pick up her fork

"I know," she repeated, voice steadying even though she could no longer make eye contact.

Fred smiled back, pulling his hands away to continue eating.

Amy finished her plate – a rare occurrence in and of itself – faster than she had anticipated.

She looked down at her plate, hands twisting together as she tried to figure out what to say next.

"What's up, sweetheart?" Fred asked.

"It's just… FP called a Serpent meeting at the trailer. I know that I need to be there, and I want to be there, but…"

"But you're not sure you're ready to face your friends?"

Amy nodded, her voice catching in her throat prevented her from giving him a verbal response.

"I'm sure it will be okay," he told her. "You've all had a chance to clear your heads and sleep on it, and I'm sure they've thought about everything you said as much as you've been thinking about what they said. Avoiding it will only make it harder to face each other, and I'm sure they're all worried about you."

Amy nodded again, taking a deep breath and rolling her shoulders back.

"You're right," she said. "I need to face them today. Whatever will happen, will happen, and putting it off is just delaying the inevitable – whatever the inevitable might be."

Fred blinked rapidly. He had seen his daughter in Serpent Queen mode before, but he had never witnessed the transformation. With her shoulders back and head up, spine straight as could be, eyes narrowed as she clearly made a game plan in her head, she already looked like a different person and she hadn't even added the makeup and leather that defined that particular piece of her identity.

"Go get dressed," he told her, "I'll clean up down here."

Amy gave him a bright smile, kissing him on the cheek before disappearing up the stairs. When she returned, it was clear that she had fully transitioned back into the Serpent Princess that she was. Her eyes were framed with dark eyeliner and mascara, her lips were their signature blood red, and her long hair was tied in its usual ponytail. The sweatpants and oversized t-shirt had been traded for skin tight black jeans that seemed to have more holes than fabric, layered over a pair of black fishnets and a strappy leotard, with only her jacket to fight off the winter chill. She wore some sort of belt around her waist, which connected to a pouch on her thigh, and he didn't want to think about what kind of weapons his daughter was no doubt carrying.

She slid her feet into her usual boots, spine seeming to straighten even more with the extra half a foot – well, he thought it might be half a foot – before bouncing back into the kitchen to hug him.

"Thank you," she mumbled into his chest. "Love you."

"Love you too, sweetheart," he told her, pressing a kiss to the top of her head. "Do you need a ride?"

Amy shook her head, pulling her phone out of her pocket and quickly scanning the message on the screen. "Lottie's picking me up."

Fred nodded, giving her another squeeze before she pulled away, looking out the window to see a leather-clad figure parking a motorcycle in the driveway. Amy waved at him over her shoulder as she left, and he heard the tell-tale click of the lock moments before the motorcycle revved and took off down the road.

Amy clung tightly to Lottie until they reached FP's trailer. Only once the bike was fully parked did Amy get off, tightening her ponytail and giving the other girl back her spare helmet.

Lottie pulled a compact mirror out of her jacket pocket, eyeing herself critically before pulling out a tube of mascara and reapplying it. Once she was done, she offered the mirror to Amy, knowing that the princess would be even more concerned about her makeup than she was. Amy smiled appreciatively, grabbing her lipstick from the side pocket of her backpack. She fixed it quickly before shoving the lipstick back into her pocket and returning the mirror to Lottie.

"Thanks, Lottie."

"Anytime, you know that."

And Amy did know it. While they had never been as close as she and Toni, Lottie was one of Amy's closest friends in the gang. The blonde had joined only a year after Amy herself, and they'd been friendly even before that. She was Amy's favourite person to sit with in the classes that she didn't share with her partners, and they'd spent many a night drinking and dancing together in the Wyrm, or applying makeup in the dim lighting of the bar's bathroom before any official gang business. She might not have been Toni, or Fangs or Sweet Pea or even Jughead, but she was a friend, and Amy reckoned that she'd been more than a little neglectful of her friends since returning to Riverdale.

She linked their elbows together, offering the blonde a final, conspiratorial, smirk, before the two climbed up the stairs to FP's trailer. Amy didn't bother knocking – anyone else would have been expected to, but she never had, twisting the doorknob and letting them into the trailer, where about half of the gang had already gathered. She scanned the room quickly, noticing Byrdie in FP's usual chair, and her partners on the couch across from her. She knew that she needed to talk to them – she would talk to them, but not before FP's announcement, not in front of the rest of the Serpents. Instead she offered them a small smile, feeling a weight lift from her chest when all three smiled back.

She continued to look around, memorizing where everyone was, until she finally saw FP standing by the doorway to the kitchen. Not letting go of Lottie, Amy crossed the trailer, immediately lifting herself onto the counter to sit beside him, while Lottie leaned against the counter on her other side.

"So," Amy said, voice cutting through the various conversations around the room. "FP, what's going on?"

FP waited until all eyes were on him before raising a beer bottle.

"We're safe!"

"What do you mean?" Amy demanded, grabbing the bottle from him. Despite her angle, it was easy to open it against the countertop, and she took a long drink.

FP rolled his eyes at her, but the wide smile didn't leave his face.

"No more eviction notices, no more back rent. It's all paid off. We're here to stay!"

The trailer filled with cheers, but Amy could only stare incredulously.

"By who?"

"Does it matter, kiddo?" FP asked. "We're all staying, isn't that what's important?"

Amy's stare hardened, eyes narrowing as she watched him. "Tell me, FP," she insisted. "Who the fuck paid it off?"

Her words went unnoticed by the rest of the gang, lost underneath the fanfare, but she knew that FP could hear her. She knew the answer already, there was no doubt in her mind, but somehow she still found herself surprised when the man answered her.

"Hiram."

"Are you fucking kidding me?" she snapped. "God, is this why Veronica wanted to get Jughead out of town? He's off fucking his little Northside Princess meanwhile Hiram Lodge is buying our fucking home"

"Adams–"

"Don't you fucking 'Adams' me, FP. I told you all that he was up to something and you all told me I was going crazy. Hiram fucking owns Sunnyside now, you do realize that, right? You think he did that out of the goodness of his heart?"

"Amy–"

"Fuck this," she spat, downing the rest of the beer. "I'll tell Jughead and have a word with Holly fucking Golightly."

She didn't wait for his approval, or any response at all, before she was storming out of the trailer. She paused for just a moment to text Fangs, asking him to let the other two know that she was heading up to Shadow Lake, before grabbing her helmet and climbing onto her bike, still at the trailer from the night before.

The ride was longer than she would have liked, and the sun was starting to go down in the late afternoon sky by the time she got there. She had pulled over in the town, stopping to grab a cup of coffee and to decide what to say, when suddenly her phone beeped in her pocket.

She pulled it out, surprised to see that it was Jughead who had texted her – had one of the others already told him about what happened?

Princeling: SOS! Armed robbers at the cottage, not sure what to do

Amy blinked. She wasn't sure what she expected, but it certainly wasn't an armed robbery. She took a steadying breath, typing out a quick reply and hoping desperately that she wouldn't be too late. No, she couldn't think that way. She wouldn't be too late, it wasn't an option. She hit send with one hand, shifting her bike back into gear with the other.

Princess: stay put and stay calm, I'll be there in two minutes

She shoved her phone back into her pocket, taking off down the winding road towards the cottage, finding herself grateful that she'd insisted on Jughead sending her directions in case of an emergency.

Just as she pulled into the massive driveaway, she saw figures running out of the cottage and a flash of red following behind – Archie, no doubt.

She climbed off of her bike, grabbing the gun from her pouch as she took off after her brother. She saw Archie tackling a hooded figure, raising his fist. She was just about to reveal her position when another figure stepped out from between the trees – Andre, the Lodge's chauffeur. She watched as he spoke to Archie, watched as Archie stepped away from the body and back towards the cottage. But before she could follow him, she noticed Andre pulling out a gun. She was quick to pull out her phone, knowing in her gut that she would one day need this recorded – a bargaining chip against Hiram Lodge, most likely, a way to get her home back.

She didn't flinch when the gunshot rang out, when the bullet passed straight through his skull, splattering blood everywhere. Her hand remained as steady as her eyes, filming until Andre had turned and disappeared back into the forest, leaving the body to rot.

Only once he was completely out of sight did she put away her phone, heading back towards the cottage.

She could see Archie heading inside just as she exited the forest, and debated momentarily whether or not she should approach. Eventually she admitted to herself that she really had no choice, she had told Jughead that she would be there, after all. So she quickly sent off the video of Andre – best to have multiple copies and all that – to her partners and to the phone that she knew Malachai kept hidden in the House Of The Dead, and crossed the driveway, pressing down on the doorbell until someone unlocked the door.

Oh.

She hadn't expected it to be Archie, despite knowing that he had only just entered the house himself, and she wasn't prepared for the way her chest tightened upon seeing him. But it wasn't anger, exactly. At least not the same anger that she'd felt the day before. It was… she wasn't sure exactly what it was, but something like longing, deep and all consuming and slowly squeezing the air out of her lungs.

"Ames? What are you doing here?"

"Jughead sends an SOS, I show up," she shrugged.

And it was true, she realized. No matter where they stood, no matter how hot and cold Jughead played, Amy couldn't stop herself from being there when he asked her. Even before he joined the Serpents, even before the Ghoulies had beat him up, ever since he stepped foot into Southside High; if Jughead needed her, Amy was there. Even when it hurt. Even when seeing him was the very last thing she wanted, something in her made it impossible not to show up when he called.

Almost as if summoned, or maybe having heard his name, Jughead appeared over Archie's shoulder only a moment later, with the two girls close behind.

"Amy?" Jughead asked, still stumbling over the nickname but knowing that she would hate for him to use her full name around either girl. "What are you doing here?"

"I got your SOS," she said. "It's handled. I watched Veronica's driver kill the boy."

She thought momentarily about mentioning the footage, about reminding Veronica exactly who held the cards, but she didn't. There was someone she needed to talk to before she would do anything about it, someone who she knew would never dismiss her concerns or call her crazy, someone who would know exactly what she needed to do.

"He… he killed him?" Betty asked, eyes wide.

Amy rolled her eyes, rolling back her shoulders and straightening her spine for good measure.

"Shot him through the skull," she explained. "A bit messy for my taste, and totally unnecessary, but hey," she shot a sharp glance at her brother. "Is anyone surprised by a Lodge minion being a criminal?"

She ignored his wide eyed stare and Veronica's sputtering, focusing only on the twitch of Jughead's lips, the way she knew he wanted to agree with her but had to hold back.

"Still," he said slowly, "how did you get here so fast? We're hours away from Riverdale."

"Oh, right," she forced a small chuckle. "I was already on my way. We need to talk."

"What's –"

"Not you, Red," she insisted, and she could feel that vice like grip on her heart once more. Her body trembled from all the effort it took to keep her spine perfectly straight. She had really thought that her night at Fred's, a full five hours of sleep, and all of the crying, would have been a reset button on her emotions, but seeing the boys, it was like none of it had ever happened.

God, she was exhausted. Could none of them see it? Toni noticed Cheryl's supposed pain in seconds – really though, the Blossom was just a bitch with a victim complex and Toni was falling for it – but never seemed to realize just how tired her supposed best friend was. She wished that she could stop, wished that she could drop the steel from her spine, the ice from her veins, the venom from her tongue, but she couldn't.

She knew they didn't get it, knew that they all thought she was crazy, but she was fighting a war, and she couldn't afford to slip up for even a moment. Not even when her brother was looking at her with the same worry that had been carved into his bones after her very first nightmare at the Andrews' house, the very first night she'd spent there.

She wanted nothing more than to tell him, to curl up with him and tell him everything that was going on in her life, but the lines had been drawn in the sand already, and they weren't on the same side anymore. So she dug her nails into the palm of her hand, taking a small, calculated breath, and narrowed her eyes.

"I know exactly where you and your girlfriend stand, and as long as you side with Hiram, you are a threat to me and mine. A threat to my safety, a threat to my life. I cannot and will not trust either of you while that asshole owns you. And I know full well that Cooper is against me no matter what the sides are, even–" she glanced back at Jughead, at the almost imperceivable shake of his head. "Even after I disposed of a body for her and her bitch of a mother. I might not trust Jones either, I know he'll always put her first, but he has every right to know and the rest of you don't."

She could pinpoint the exact moment that Archie's heart shattered, could see the nausea that filled Betty at having her secret revealed, could even see the calculations behind Veronica's eyes, of how to fix everything in a way that benefited her. But Amy wasn't going to be Hiram Lodge's pawn, not ever, and she wasn't going to give Veronica a chance to play wannabe-mob-princess.

No, she was done with the little games. She was at war, and everyone except for Jughead had proven themselves more than willing to fight against her. She would always love Archie, more than she'd ever loved anyone else, but he wasn't the same boy who'd given her a stuffed giraffe all those years ago. Gibson and the Black Hood and Veronica had changed him, and her certainty that he would always put her, his little sister in all but name, above anything was gone.

It hurt her to think about it, to imagine going back to a life without Archie. She would miss him – she already missed him, and he was standing right in front of her. She missed the feeling of security that used to come with his presence, the knowledge that he would never let anything bad happen to her. She would miss making breakfast together, dancing around the kitchen as they cooked. She would miss their sleepovers, climbing into his bed after a nightmare or staying up all night catching up on their lives, until she was too tired to return to the other room. More than anything, though, she would miss having a big brother.

She would even miss her tentative friendship with Veronica, the evenings spent playing dress up with her and Kevin, the group chat they'd shared. She remembered the SoDale Open House, how Veronica had trusted her, and only her, to protect her from Nick St Clair. She remembered the Matchelorette party, and the games of Secrets And Sins, even the outfits that still lived in the back of Jughead's closet. She had thought that maybe she could be friends with the heiress, but Veronica had actively and enthusiastically assisted her father, and Amy could no longer be sure if their friendship had ever been genuine, or if she had always been laying the groundwork for Hiram.

She wouldn't miss Betty, though. Would never miss the judgemental stares and holier-than-thou hypocrisy. She wouldn't miss the way the blonde thought that a single speech made up for a lifetime of derision towards the Southside, wouldn't miss the way she talked about Amy or her partners.

But she would miss Jughead, if he chose the blonde. She would miss everything about the boy, from his beanie to his literary references to the way he always pushed his plate closer to her when she wasn't eating. She would miss the flirting and how easily he blushed and the way he fit so perfectly with them, as if they were always meant to be five – or six, once Joaquin was back with them. She would miss the way he defended her to the other Serpents, even before they had become friends, and the way that he always seemed to know what she needed to hear. She would miss being on the same wavelength as him, working as a perfect team without needing to talk about it. She would miss –

Her train of thought was interrupted by Jughead catching her eye, watching her with obvious concern, and Amy realized something. He hadn't chosen, yet. She hadn't lost him, and maybe she wouldn't. Trying to force those thoughts out of her head, Amy raised an eyebrow at him and he immediately stepped forward, following her outside.

"What's wrong?" he asked immediately, leading her around a corner to a stretch of trees that kept them out of sight of the cottage – lodge – mansion – whatever it was.

Amy laughed, bordering on hysteria as she paced around the small clearing.

"Well, I'm paranoid and crazy and right," she ranted. "Everyone hates me and I can't trust Archie anymore and I should be talking to the others but they're just going to ignore me again and–" she forced herself to take a deep breath and stand still, rolling back her shoulders and finally meeting Jughead's gaze fully. "Hiram Lodge just bought Sunnyside. Paid all the back rent. And everyone is fucking celebrating."

Jughead could only blink, taking a moment to process everything she had said and to decide on what order to address it in.

Taking a deep breath of his own, he took her hands gently and led her over to sit with him on a tree stump.

"You're not crazy," he told her, "or paranoid. You're cautious and you don't trust easily but you know what they say – it's not paranoia if they're really out to get you."

He got a teary laugh for his efforts, and couldn't help but smile at the sound.

"Right? Besides, you said Hiram bought Sunnyside, that's proof that you were right. Okay?"

Amy nodded weakly, offering him as much of a smile as she could muster.

"But Hiram owns Sunnyside," Amy reminded him. "That's why he wanted you out here. That's why he suggested that Veronica invite me and Sweets, too… if he had any good intentions, he wouldn't have needed to force us out of town."

"I shouldn't have left. I'm sorry, Amethyst, I never should have left you to fight a war alone. Do you want to talk shit or strategy? Or… would you rather talk to the others?"

Amy blinked, taken aback by the sudden hesitation.

"No way," she said firmly. "Juggie, listen to me. Am I mad that you left? Honestly, yeah, I am. But as long as we're on the same team, there's no one I'd rather talk strategy with."

"Well," he corrected, with a playful grin, clearly relieved by her words.

"Well," she agreed, grinning back.

"And we are, for the record," he added. "On the same team. Always."

Amy could only stare at him, feeling all of her previous anger dissipating.

"So," Jughead coughed, after a long moment. "Knowing you, you have concrete proof of Andre killing the guy?"

"Of course. I texted it to the others, just in case an accident happened – I didn't want to send it to you in case one of the others saw your phone, but I can send it now?"

Even though it had been phrased as a question, she was already pulling out her phone while she spoke, sending it as he nodded. She had to give him credit for how far he'd come since his early days as a Serpent, watching him load the video. He barely flinched as the bullet pierced the boy's skull, waiting until the video was done and his phone was back in his pocket before dropping the stoic mask he'd forced himself to wear.

Amy took his hand in hers, rubbing her thumb over his.

"You good?" she asked softly. "Or would you rather table this?"

"No. I'm fine, we have work to do."

"Welcome back, Princeling," Amy teased, and Jughead could only roll his eyes fondly.

"Glad to be here, Princess," he retorted. "So, the video? I'm guessing you aren't planning to use it yet?"

"Not yet. I thought about it, but I need to get a bit of advice first… That's going to be my first mission tomorrow, I think."

"Not tonight?"

"Got a movie date with Kevin tonight, and I'm already pushing it for time."

Jughead nodded, checking the time on his phone.

"I guess you probably want to head back now, then?"

Amy shrugged.

"Want to? Not really. Should? Yeah, I probably should. Rain check on the strategizing?"

"Of course. We're heading back tonight, so I'll stay with them to make sure Veronica doesn't get too suspicious, then we can meet at the trailer?"

"Yeah, works for me."

Jughead stood first, offering a hand to pull Amy up after him. She brushed off the back of her jeans, tightening her ponytail out of habit, and followed him back to the house.

As soon as he crossed the threshold, Betty was grabbing Jughead by the arm, shooting a pathetically weak glare towards Amy.

"Come on, Juggie," she said, though she didn't stop looking at Amy. "Let's go back to the bedroom."

It was only then that Amy noticed the state they were in – Jughead with a flannel shirt that had been buttoned up incorrectly, and Betty in just a bathrobe, and her mind went blank. Of course she could count on Jughead to promise that they were on the same team, right after he had been fucking the Northsider.

"You guys have fun," she said, voice tight. "Don't worry about that raincheck, Jones, focus on your priorities."

She didn't wait for him to answer, or to give Archie another chance to talk to her. Instead she turned away quickly and climbed back onto her bike, strapping on her helmet and taking off faster than she knew she should be going.

She made it to the Bijou just in time to see her partners turning the corner, and Kevin getting out of the Sheriff's car. Amy forced down the rush of anxiety that came with seeing the cruiser, pasting a bright smile on her face and waving at her friend.

She made her way over to him, feeling her shoulders loosen when the Sheriff drived away. Kevin wrapped an arm around her shoulder, and the two watched as the other Serpents parked their bikes. They started off towards the duo, but Toni stopped in her tracks. They had some sort of rushed conversation – too quiet for Amy to hear – before Toni was turning and walking away from them towards – Oh. Towards Cheryl Blossom's obnoxious convertible.

Amy could only watch and blink, feeling tears burning at the back of her eyes. Toni glanced over her shoulder towards the shorter girl and Amy forced herself to take another breath, and another, and another, and refused to look away until Toni did.

She felt Kevin's grip on her shoulder tighten, turning her away and leading her towards the theatre.

"Are you okay?" he asked quietly. "Do you want to leave?"

Amy sighed, leaning into his hold.

"I mean, yes, but also, fuck no. We're the ones who actually wanted to see this movie, she only even considered coming so that I would shut up. So yeah, I kind of want to curl up in a ball and pretend that this weekend never happened, but I won't let Cheryl fucking Blossom keep me from seeing the movie."

Kevin opened his mouth, but shut it again as he noticed the two Serpents approaching them.

"Hey doll," Sweet Pea said, pulling her away from Kevin and into a tight hug, before passing her over to Fangs so that he could hug her too. "Everything okay? You disappeared after the meeting and went totally AWOL – other than that video–"

"I'm fine," Amy told him quickly, glancing around the room for potential evesdroppers. "I had to talk to Jones, and it was a longer trip than I expected. We can talk about the rest tonight, yeah? I just… honestly I just really need some mindless movie watching?"

Sweet Pea nodded immediately, pulling her back towards him and bending over to drop a kiss to her forehead.

"You got it," he promised her.

The four made their way through the lobby towards the theatre, but found themselves freezing when they heard a loud voice.

"Kevin!"

They all turned, seeing Moose and Midge standing together, the former waving a hand.

"I thought you were joining us?" Moose prompted, and Amy made a show of rolling her eyes.

Kevin turned to look at Amy, raising an eyebrow at her.

"Go ahead," she told him with a soft smile – she may have hated the jock, but if Kevin wanted to try and build a friendship there then, well, that was his choice to make.

"You sure?" he asked. "I don't want to ditch you or anything."

The "like Toni" went unsaid, but Amy heard it clear as day, and felt her heart swelling at his concern.

"Seriously, Kev," she assured him. "You have fun, and text me all of your thoughts afterwards, yeah?"

Seeing that he still looked unsure, Amy offered him a conspiratorial smirk.

"Besides," she said, loud enough for him, her boys, and the two Northsiders to hear. "It just means I don't have to feel bad about getting these two off in the back of the theatre."

Kevin laughed, hugging her quickly and promising to text her his thoughts at the end of the movie, and the three Serpents finally made it into the theatre, claiming three seats in the back corner. First it was Fangs, right up against the wall, then Amy in the middle where she could reach both of her boys, and Sweet Pea on her other side, a wall between his partners and any potential threat. Usually Toni would be between Amy and Fangs but well – Amy didn't particularly want to think about why the other girl wasn't in her usual spot.

"Do you want me to get you one of those captioning things?" Sweet Pea asked, and Amy blinked at him.

"I… yeah, actually, might as well, if you don't mind?"

"I never mind, doll," he promised her, standing and making his way back to the lobby.

He returned shortly with the device, passing it to Amy for her to set up. It had been a long while since she'd used one – a long while since she'd seen a movie in theatres, really – but it was with an easy familiarity that she set it up, angling it so that she would be able to read the captions and watch the screen at the same time.

She could see Toni and Cheryl up near the front of the theatre, and Kevin with Moose and Midge towards the middle. Before she could look to see if she recognized anyone else, the room went dark and the screen lit up.

Amy enjoyed the movie, she really did, but she hadn't expected it to hit quite so close to home.

She listened, and read, as Simon got outed, feeling something clench in her chest as he declared that it was supposed to be his choice, that he was supposed to decide who to tell and when. She felt tears burn in her eyes, remembering how little control she'd had over her own secrets over the years, how often someone else was deciding when to share her private information, and her heart ached for Simon.

And then, when his mother was talking – god, Amy was almost surprised that she hadn't broken Fangs or Sweet Pea's hands with how tightly she was holding them, or that they hadn't broken hers with the force they were using to squeeze back.

She might not have had a mother, ever, but she had FP, and Sweet Pea, and she knew that they'd both watched as she went from a carefree little girl running wild around the Wyrm to a traumatized shell, always holding her breath and waiting for the other shoe to drop, always ready for war. But unlike Simon, she knew that little girl was gone, that she had died the moment she found her father's lifeless body in the living room of their trailer.

She could feel hot tears running down her cheeks, but couldn't bring herself to let go of either boy to wipe them away, instead waiting until the credits to do so, hoping that her makeup hadn't gotten ruined in the process.

"You look gorgeous, babe," Fangs whispered to her, and she couldn't help but smile, letting him pull her up so that they could follow Sweet Pea back to their bikes.

The two boys exchanged a look over her head, one she couldn't decipher but trusted nonetheless. She might have asked, even, but her attention shifted when she noticed Toni walk past them, past the bikes, over towards Cheryl's car.

"Come on," Fangs said suddenly, and Amy knew without turning that he was watching the exact same thing as she was. "Let's go to Pop's."

"I – what?"

"Let's go to Pop's," Sweet Pea repeated. "It was our plan before, and we shouldn't let Cheryl fucking Blossom make us change it, right?"

He did have a point, and it would piss Cheryl off to see Southside Scum on her sacred Northside, so Amy nodded, climbing onto her bike and the trio took off.

They parked in clear view of the windows – no need to make themselves easy targets for vandalism – and entered the diner. The first thing Amy noticed when they walked in was that Kevin was still with Moose and Midge, looking more than a little bit uncomfortable as they spoke.

She nodded towards an empty table for the boys to claim, making her own detour towards Kevin just in case he needed to be rescued.

"–No, we need to find you someone!" she heard Midge insist, and relaxed minutely. "What about one of those new Southside guys? I hear one of them is gay."

"If it's Fangs Fogarty," Kevin told her, "I don't think I could date someone named Fangs."

Amy couldn't hold back her laugh at that, and quickly slid into the space next to him.

"Thank you, Midge," she said. "I've been trying to convince him to let me set him up with someone for like, months, and he keeps turning me down. I could really use a partner in crime on that mission, and I bet if we teamed up he'd actually let us."

"Your idea of trying to set me up is offering to let me have sex with your boyfriends," Kevin reminded her.

"Because I know first hand that they'll treat you right," she retorted. "And they're not my boyfriends."

"They sure act like they are. And I don't think Fangs is int–"

"Fangs is interested if you're interested," Amy assured him. "But he doesn't want to push and make you freak out because he thinks it's more important that I have friends or something." She turned back to Midge, rolling her eyes fondly. "See what I have to deal with?"

Midge laughed, seeming not entirely sure of what to make of Amy, but nodded.

"I can see why you need an assist," she agreed. "I'll work on Kev, but you should get back to those two before they think we've kidnapped you."

Amy looked over at her partners, who were indeed watching the conversation suspiciously.

"You may be onto something there. Kev can give you my number, text me whenever – I'm pretty much always on my phone so I don't usually take too long to answer, and we can do some scheming."

With a final wave – as usual, she didn't wait for a response – Amy stood, making her way back over to the boys.

Sweet Pea stood so that she could slide into the corner seat, wrapping his arm around her once he had settled back in. Amy wasn't surprised to find that they had already ordered, but was grateful for the fact that they'd only ordered her a milkshake and, by the looks of it, placed some of their own fries onto a plate for her, with a bowl of gravy beside it.

She wasn't sure how much she would actually be able to eat, but she took a slow sip of the vanilla milkshake, absentmindedly scanning the diner.

"So, what was that all about?" Sweet Pea asked.

"Oh." Amy blinked, and then smirked. "Midge and I are trying to get Fangs and Kevin to hook up."

"Babe–" Fangs sputtered, while Sweet Pea burst into loud laughter.

"Come on, babe," Amy shrugged, "you so want to fuck him, and he's totally into you."

Since he couldn't deny her statement, Fangs tried to fight off his rising blush with a grin. "Guess I should send Midge a thank you card, then."

"What about me?" Amy pouted playfully.

"Well, you're just a brat," he retorted, and Amy kicked him under the table.

Sweet Pea cut off the inevitable kicking war with a sharp glance.

"Finish this later," he told them. "Doll, you need to actually eat."

Amy rolled her eyes, pointedly biting into a fry.

Sweet Pea only raised an eyebrow, and Amy huffed, but ate another fry, and the three fell into easy conversation, the boys finishing their meals and all three of them sipping at their milkshakes. Amy was surprised by how much she was enjoying herself, by how okay she felt.

And then she looked up. And right over Fangs' shoulder, she saw Toni. More accurately, she saw Toni and Cheryl, and she saw Toni grabbing Cheryl's hand.

"Let's go," she said sharply.

She watched as both boys followed her gaze, and felt Sweet Pea tensing beside her.

"Let's go," Fangs echoed.

The three stood, making their way over to the counter to pay. Sweet Pea parted from them without a word, and Amy watched nervously as he approached the missing member of their quartet. They were too far for her to hear what he was saying, but she had no doubts that it would be an unpleasant conversation.

She would have liked to watch, and she knew that Fangs wanted the same, but their attention was quickly pulled away as they had to pay, making polite small talk with Pop Tate until Sweet Pea rejoined them.

The trio started to make their way outside but were blocked at the door by the arrival of – of course, and wasn't that just Amy's luck – Jughead, Archie, Betty, and Veronica.

Amy froze, eyes wide as she stared at the group. Out of the corner of her eye she saw Kevin turn to look at them, and, as much as she appreciated his concern, it was too much. It was all too much. First it was Cheryl and Toni, who were still behind her and undoubtedly watching. Then the group of Northsiders across from her – the concern on Jughead and Archie's faces was impossible to ignore, as was the annoyance on Betty and Veronica's. And Kevin to the side – she trusted him, she did, but he had been Betty's friend long before they ever met, and she wasn't sure what to make of Midge yet.

It was too much. So Amy did the only thing she really could do, rolling back her shoulders and locked her gaze on some point beyond Archie's shoulder. She pushed past them, not bothering to apologize or even to look at them, staring straight ahead until she made it outside and to her bike.

She put on her helmet, sitting in silence until the two boys joined her.

"So, just us tonight?" she asked quietly.

"Jug decided to stay with the Northsiders," Fangs reported.

"And Toni is staying with Blossom." As upset as she was, Amy could still appreciate the venom with which Sweet Pea spat out the Northsider's name.

"Well," Amy said sharply, refusing to look back towards the diner, "nice to know where we stand. Jeep night?"

Sweet Pea nodded silently, exchanging a worried look with Fangs, and the three set off. They made it to the trailer park in – not record breaking but certainly less than legal – time, parking beside the Jones' trailer and climbing into the Jeep.

Fangs dragged Amy to sit with him in the back, letting her lean against him and relax as they drove out of town. After almost an hour, Sweet Pea pulled into an isolated clearing, parking in the shade of a small cluster of trees.

Converting the trunk into a bed was really just muscle memory, and they had it finished in a matter of minutes. They changed into pyjamas quickly, all of them relieved that they hadn't removed their spares from the car despite having taken to spending almost every night in the trailer. Climbing into the trunk felt like coming home, and Amy found herself sandwiched between the two boys, passing her contact lenses and hearing aids to Sweet Pea so that he could put them into their cases for her.

Once both were safely put away, Fangs snuggled in towards Amy, reaching across her to pull Sweet Pea closer.

"This is nice," he said quietly, not wanting to disrupt the blanket of calm that had settled over the Jeep. "Getting away from all the bullshit, just us… like it used to be."

"Toni used to be with us," Amy countered, voice soft and thick with tears.

"Babe…" Fangs murmured, pressing a soft kiss to her forehead.

"What's going on with that?" Sweet Pea asked, after a moment of silence. "I know you guys fought about Blossom but usually the two of you bounce right back…"

"If Toni prefers the classist bitch to, I don't know, her best friends and partners of several years then honestly, that's her business and her fuckup. But I'm also not going to pretend that I'm okay with it," she said, shrugging as best as she could while laying down.

"What about Jug?" Fangs prompted. "On our way out of Pop's, he was asking why you're mad at him."

"Not mad," she said tersely. "Just figured he wouldn't want me around after I interrupted he and Cooper fucking – well, the robbery interrupted them, but you know what I mean…"

"Honestly? Not really," he told her. "I feel like I'm missing something here."

"Look, maybe I just don't get why they're sucking up to those Northsiders, okay?"

"You disappeared on us yesterday with no warning to go hang out with Keller," Sweet Pea argued.

"Yeah, because you guys kept calling me crazy! Besides, Kevin is just a friend."

"What makes him any different?"

"He asked if I was okay."

"Sorry, what?" Fangs interrupted.

"He asked if I was okay," Amy repeated. "Betty and Cheryl, they don't give a shit about any of us unless it benefits them somehow. I mean, fuck, Cheryl treats us like dirt constantly, you both know that, and Betty just doesn't give a singular shit about us – remember when she tried to throw the Serpent Dance in mine and Toni's faces even though she literally tried to do it herself?

"But Kev… he's never treated us like shit, despite his dad being kind of the worst, and… fuck, look… I was completely falling apart yesterday, okay? By the time we reached first period I didn't think I'd make it through the hour without having a complete meltdown, and none of you noticed. You were all busy calling me paranoid, which I wasn't, and making me feel even worse. But Kevin noticed. And he did something about it. He got me out of class and got me somewhere safe so that I could fall apart and put myself back together, that's like… the complete antithesis of the other two."

She paused, giving the boys a chance to process everything she had said, before she took a breath and continued.

"Besides, he's Joaquin's boy. God, I haven't seen Joaquin in almost a year, okay? Like, sue me for being a bit desperate to feel some sort of connection to him."

The boys looked at each other over her head, their wordless conversation – filled with concern and confusion – went unnoticed by Amy, whose eyes had lit up and who was quickly rising to her knees and turning around to face them.

"But fuck that, right?" She said with a wild grin. "They're not here. Not Joaquin, not Toni, not Jug, not the Northsiders. It's just us. It's never just us anymore, we should take advantage of it."

The grin never left her face, bright and carefree and a little bit too manic for either boy's comfort. She leaned forward, reaching for Fangs' waistband, but Sweet Pea stopped her with a firm hand on her wrist.

"Not tonight," he told her.

Amy blinked, smile dropping at his harsh rejection.

"Why not?" Amy asked, turning to glare at him, eyes watering.

"Because something is bothering you and you aren't telling us. I love you, Doll, we both love you, but you can't use sex to get out of talking about why you're upset"

"Well maybe I don't know why I'm so upset, Sweets," she spat, pulling her hand out of his grasp to curl in on herself.

"Hey," Fangs said softly, hoping to stop the fight before it began. "It's okay, babe. You don't need to know, okay? We just want you to know that we'll be here when you're ready to talk. But, Sweets is right; you're upset and when you're upset like this you won't actually enjoy anything we do, and it's not fun for us if you aren't having a good time too, okay? So how about we take a raincheck, get some quality cuddles in, and try to sleep?"

Amy sighed, but let him pull her back down until her back was pressed right up against his chest, her head tucked into the crook of Sweet Pea's neck with his arm flung across her to hold Fangs.

She hadn't expected to fall asleep so easily, or to sleep for nearly as long as she had, but when she opened her eyes, she was greeted by the orange and pink hues of the early morning sky, not the starry darkness of the night. Despite getting a good night's sleep at the Andrews' house the night before, she was still unused to waking up naturally instead of from an alarm, her phone, or a nightmare, and she let herself snuggle back into Fangs and close her eyes again – for once, she had no immediate crisis to solve. For once, she was allowed to relax.

She didn't realize that she had fallen back asleep, but the next thing that she knew, she could feel the two boys shifting on either side of her, exchanging low whispers that she wouldn't have been able to hear even with her hearing aids in. As tempting as it was to keep her eyes closed and try to catch up on some much needed sleep, she forced herself to open them.

Much to her relief, it didn't appear that there was anything urgent going on. It was clear that the movement she had felt was simply the boys repositioning, sitting upright and leaning back against the front seats of the car, Amy's head no longer against Sweet Pea's neck but nestled by his hip. She blinked slowly, a small smile gracing her face as she watched them.

"Good morning, Sleeping Beauty," Fangs teased, smiling down at her.

"Mornin," she drawled, making grabby hands towards Sweet Pea until he passed her her hearing aids and contacts.

"Thanks," she mumbled, equipping herself with practiced ease. "Did I miss anything?"

Fangs shook his head. "Nothing yet. But you can check too."

He passed her her phone, and as soon as it was in her hand, she found herself remembering the video from the day before.

"Shit," she hissed. "I really want to stay here all day but, can we head back to Sunnyside? I need to get changed and go to the jail."

"Yeah, for sure. Everything okay?" Sweet Pea asked.

Amy shrugged, pushing herself up on her elbows. "I mean, relatively speaking. I just need to talk to someone."

"Right," he nodded. "About the video?"

Amy nodded back, waiting for him to open the trunk so that they could climb out and change back into their clothes from the day before. They had the makeshift bed converted back into a trunk in no time, and soon found themselves parking beside the Jones trailer.

She had hoped to get some clean clothes before heading off, but when she saw Jughead's bike parked outside, she resigned herself to a third day in the same ripped jeans and leotard. Sighing quietly, she flipped down the car mirror, carefully fixing up her eyeliner and reapplying her lipstick before she tightened her ponytail and hopped out of the car.

"Meet you at the Wyrm later?" She asked, grabbing her helmet from her bike.

Fangs nodded, and tossed her her usual belt holster, which she strapped on with ease. She rolled back her shoulders and offered them a two fingered salute before climbing on her bike and taking off towards the jail.

She got there quickly, checking in and letting herself be guided to a seat, tapping her fingers on the counter while she waited.

"Princess."

Amy felt a weight lift off of her shoulders at the familiar drawl. After the weekend – after the past several weeks – she had really needed this; had needed the comfort of the one person she could always rely on, the pragmatic advice of the only person as calculating as she was, the steady self-assuredness of the only person who truly understood the stakes that Amy held in everything.

"Mal," she whispered, voice cracking. She coughed. "Mal," she repeated steadily.

"Long time so see," he said, kicking his feet up and leaning back in his chair.

"Yeah well, take the king off the board and everything falls to shit," Amy countered. "Haven't had time."

"Then fill me in," he told her.

Amy took a deep breath, tightening her ponytail – a habit more than a necessity – and straightened her spine as much as she could.

Once she started talking, it was impossible to stop. She told him everything – from how they'd gotten rid of Penny to the truth about Penny and Fangs to Nick St Clair to her to confusion about her relationship with Jughead to Toni's new interest in Cheryl Blossom, finally wrapping it up with everything that she knew about Hiram Lodge and his schemes. Her eyes were damp by the time she finished, her chest heaving. She reached up absent-mindedly, wiping away a few stray tears with her sleeve, and quickly examining her eyeliner in the phone's reflection.

She took a few shaky breaths, fighting the urge to slump back in her chair.

"I don't know what to do, Mal," she whispered. "Everyone is counting on me, and I have no idea how to fix this. I thought I could handle it, I did, but I can't. I can't see the full picture, and no one even believes me that he's up to something bigger, and I just… I'm used to knowing what to expect from people, I'm used to holding all the cards, but with him I've got nothing."

"You don't have nothing," Malachai corrected her, dropping his feet to the ground and leaning his elbows on his knees. "You have a trump card."

"You think I should use the video?" Amy asked.

"You ever seen Pirates Of The Caribbean?"

Amy blinked, but nodded.

"Wait for the opportune moment," he advised. "Keep it safe until you can see the big picture, until you know exactly what he wants. Then you figure out exactly what you want, and that's when you strike. What is it that your king says about high grass?"

"A snake never sheds its skin, we lay low in tall grass," she parrotted.

"That's it. That's what you've gotta do, Princess. Lay low, keep an eye on him, and steal the cards out from under him. By the time you strike, he won't realize that you're holding all the cards. You get me?"

Amy nodded, smiling softly. "I got you. Thanks, Mal."

"Anything for my favourite princess. Now, what else can I solve for you?"

"I don't think you can fix all of my relationships," she chuckled wryly.

"You might be surprised," he retorted.

"Yeah? Give it your best shot."

Amy's eyes were bright, her smile wild, and Malachai couldn't help but grin back.

"Well, first you need to stop letting them jerk you around," he told her bluntly. "You said yourself that even when the princeling is fucking around with the Northsider, you show up when he needs you. You can't do that, Princess. You don't deserve that bullshit, but as long as you keep showing up he'll keep thinking that it's okay. Same thing for your brother. If he's gonna fuck you over to suck up to Hiram Lodge, that's his choice. But he doesn't get to do that and pretend that he's still on your side, and get whiny when you don't forgive him for shit that he's not sorry for. You bend over backwards to accommodate everyone's bullshit all the time, Princess, and that's not healthy. I know that you're scared of pushing back and losing them, but if you let them walk all over you then you'll lose yourself."

Amy found herself nodding along, listening intently as he spoke.

"I… I hear you," she said carefully.

"But you don't believe me?"

"No, it's not that. It's just… How do I know that I'm not the one being an unreasonable bitch? Like, we both know that I overreact to literally everything, how can I be sure that I'm not the one fucking up?"

"Well first of all, you stop invalidating your feelings." Amy blinked, pulling backwards with wide eyes. "I know you, Princess, better than practically anyone. You try not to feel anything because you think it makes you vulnerable, but you actually feel everything so strongly that you don't know how to handle it, so you tell yourself that you're being unreasonable because admitting that you can't cope with everything terrifies you."

"What the actual fuck, Mal? I didn't come here for therapy," Amy told him, crossing her arms tightly and folding in on herself.

"You can't fix your relationships until you face your own issues," he said, crossing his own arms. "Your snakes are being shitty, true, but they can't actually read your mind, and if you don't talk to them about shit then they can't know that they're hurting you, you hear me?"

Amy sighed, looking down. "I hear you, Mal."

"Hey," he said softly, "look at me, Princess."

Amy looked up hesitantly, relaxing slightly when Malachai gave her a soft smile.

"You're the toughest person I know, Princess, you got this. And if they keep acting like idiots and you need to vent, you know where I'll be."

Amy giggled wetly, smiling at the older man.

"Thanks, Mal."

"Anytime. Now get out of here and go kick some entitled asses."

Amy giggled again, looking at the Ghoulie with bright, adoring eyes.

"I miss you, Mal," Amy said softly.

"I miss you too, Princess," he told her. "But I'll be out of here soon enough and drinks will be on me."

"Behave so they let you out early?"

"Oh princess, I always behave," he teased with a smirk.

Amy rolled her eyes at him, still smiling as he hung up and was escorted away. She waited until he was out of sight before hanging up her own phone and making her way back outside where, much to her surprise, Sweet Pea was waiting for her.

"You forgot your phone," he told her, seeing her raised eyebrow. "Meeting at the Jones trailer."

He elected not to mention Jughead's text, how he had apologized profusely for not joining them the night before, how he had explained that he was afraid of upsetting Amy and had wanted her to have a chance to relax, how he had all but begged Sweet Pea to get her to the trailer. He knew that Jughead and Amy were in a fight – although it didn't seem like Jughead knew what their fight was about – but he had developed a soft spot for the shorter boy and couldn't deny him a chance to fix things. Instead, he simply tossed Amy her phone, waiting for her to shove it into her holster and mount her own bike, and the two took off towards Sunnyside.

He was confused when Amy made her way to the Wyrm instead of to the trailer, but followed her inside all the same.

"Pit stop," she explained, ignoring the early morning occupants. She made her way to the bar, holding up three fingers to Hog Eye, who nodded and turned around. "If I have to deal with whatever bullshit has come up this time, no way am I doing it sober."

Hog Eye passed her three double shots of tequila, which she downed quickly. She accepted the offered slice of lime, biting into it and relishing the familiar burn of alcohol. She squeezed her eyes shut for a moment before opening them and offering Hog Eye a blinding smile.

"Thanks," she said, tossing the lime wedge into a nearby trash can.

She pushed the cups back towards him and stood, holding up a single finger to Sweet Pea and making her way towards the bathroom. She found one of the sections of the mirror that wasn't covered in graffiti and set about fixing up her makeup, tightening her ponytail and forcing a confident smirk onto her face before exiting, grabbing Sweet Pea's wrist once she reached him and leading him outside without stopping to talk to any of the other Serpents.

FP's lectures on drunk driving had long since settled into her subconscious, so she grabbed her helmet and climbed onto the back of Sweet Pea's bike. She certainly wasn't too drunk to function – possibly the only advantage of her biological father's parenting was her high alcohol tolerance, and she would easily give that up in exchange for a better childhood – but she knew that her reaction times were already too impaired for her bike.

She noticed that there were only three other bikes outside – Fangs', Jughead's, and FP's – and shot her partner a suspicious glare.

"So Sweets," she asked, with a dangerously sweet smile, "who did you say was coming to this meeting?"

"Hear him out, Doll," he told her. "He has no idea why you two are fighting but he wants to fix things."

Amy sighed, Malachai's words echoing through her head. She couldn't fix anything if she didn't talk to him. Okay, she could try.

"Fine," she said, following him up to the door and into the trailer.

She tensed slightly when she saw Jughead, but forced herself to stay calm as she made her way over to perch on the armrest of FP's usual chair, which Fangs had claimed for his own. Sweet Pea joined Jughead on the couch, and it appeared that he was about to say something when the door flew open again, and Toni made her way inside.

"I got your text, Pea, what's the meeting about?"

"Jug needs to talk to us."

"Really? At, what, nine in the morning?"

"Aww, poor Toni," Amy drawled, "having to leave the mansion. Tell me, did you have fun with the Blossom bitch? You spend the night waiting on her while she talked about how horrible and underachieving and inferior we Southsiders are?"

"Give her a break, babe," Toni told her sharply, "her parents –"

"I had a piece of shit neglectful alcoholic for a father, Toni," Amy spat. "We all have shitty parents. We didn't all turn out to be self centred, classist, arrogant bullies who treat everyone else like dirt. I don't know why you're so far up her ass but you can't honestly tell me that you've forgotten about how horribly she's been treating us, since even before we transferred to her school."

She wasn't sure exactly when she had stood up, but she took a deep breath and let Fangs guide her down to sit on his lap.

"I've tried to be nice to Cheryl," Amy reminded her. "I've been trying since the day that I met her, but she has never made an effort to treat me – to treat any of us – like anything other than dirt under her shoe. She's been mocking Jughead's living situation since the day she found out that he was homeless, she's been treating us like garbage since the day we met, I mean, god, Toni, do you not remember the day we transferred?"

"You know, I thought you of all people would understand having terrible parents," Toni retorted, and Amy exhaled sharply, feeling those words like a fist to her stomach.

"I do understand having terrible parents," Amy reminded her coldly. "I understand toxic households and abusive parents and all of the shit that comes with it. But I make a fucking effort to be better than that. I made an effort to befriend Veronica fucking Lodge, despite everything that her dad has pulled since she and her mom moved here."

Huh, maybe Malachai was right about telling people what she really thought, she could feel the invisible weight lifting from her chest with every word.

"I made an effort to befriend Kevin despite the fact that his dad let his deputies break my fucking ribs. Fuck, I'm pretty sure that I befriended Midge Klump yesterday, for no other reason than the fact that she also wants Kevin to be happy and find a good boyfriend. I made a fucking effort with Cheryl Blossom, and all she's done in turn is throw our situation, something outside of any of our control, back in my face time and time again."

"Amy—" Toni tried.

"I had to blackmail her into letting me join the River Vixens even though we both knew that I was better than any of her Northside girls, just because she couldn't consider letting a Serpent onto her precious cheerleading squad. Maybe having shitty parents explains why she's such a raging bitch all the time, but an explanation is not an excuse, and I think it's bullshit that you're acting like she's some flawless tragic saint and not a grownass human being capable of making her own decisions—"

"Okay," Fangs interrupted. "Clearly there's a lot going on here but babe, why don't you give Toni a chance to think about your point of view, while you consider why she might be interested in Blossom. But Jug asked us to come here because he needed to talk to us, not to watch you two fight, so why don't we all calm down and listen to what he has to say?"

Amy took a deep breath, exhaling slowly and leaning back against him.

"I can do that," she promised, continuing to breathe slowly as she felt her heart begin to settle.

"So can I," Toni agreed, taking a seat at the kitchen table, turning her chair around to face them.

"Alright, Jug?" Sweet Pea prompted.

"I kissed Veronica," he told them quickly. "Or well, she kissed me. It was her idea, and Betty and Archie both know, and I didn't exactly want to but I was hoping that if I just went along with her ridiculous crap for the weekend then maybe I'd be able to get some sort of intel on her dad's schemes, but well, clearly that didn't work. I had to use her freaking portmanteaus even, but no luck. I just, I don't know, I felt like I had to tell you guys, you know?"

He had started running his hands through his hair, tugging harshly as he spoke. Sweet Pea reached over to pull his hands away, rubbing a comforting thumb over his knuckles.

"It's okay, Jug," he said. "We get it. She's… pushy, and you thought that it would help all of us in the long run, we're not mad."

"At you," Fangs added. "We're not mad at you."

"We are pissed at her for pushing it, though," Amy told him. "That's decidedly not okay of her. And Jug? You never need to apologize for being forced into a situation like that, okay? It's not your fault, and none of us would ever blame you for that. You hear me?"

"I hear you," he said softly. "Toni?"

Toni smiled softly. "I'm with them," she assured him. "They covered all of it, but I'm with them one hundred percent."

Jughead took a shaky breath, smiling back.

"Was there something else?" Sweet Pea asked, watching him carefully.

"I… yeah, there was. It's… I mean…"

"Hey, take your time," the taller boy told him softly. "We've got all the time in the world."

Jughead gave him another small smile, leaning into the taller boy's side. It took a couple of minutes before he took another deep breath, relaxing slightly as Sweet Pea ran a hand up and down his arm.

"Betty and I almost had sex yesterday. We didn't—" he hurried to add, "but I think that if the robbery hadn't happened then we probably would have… and I'm just… I don't know. I mean, I wanted to – I think I wanted to – but then I thought about you guys and… I don't know if this is cheating on her or if that was cheating on you guys, I just… I'm not really sure what anything is anymore. And I felt guilty, I don't want to be cheating on anyone, but I don't know what's going on, and then Amethyst… you were so pissed, and I didn't understand why and then I saw myself in a mirror and I figured that it was probably because of that but you were pissed on Friday too so I'm not sure anymore, and—"

"Breathe," Sweet Pea told him gently.

Jughead nodded obediently, forcing himself to take a few deep breaths.

"And I'm just really confused about what's going on," he finished.

"So, what?" Amy spat, alcohol burning like a fire in her veins. "You want to brag about scoring the Northsider? Or do you need advice on discussing BDSM with Little Miss Perfect? Not sure how to tell her that you like it when Sweets pins your wrists and tells you how good you're being?"

"Amy–" Fangs said, but Amy ignored him.

"Was I thrown off by the fact that you and Cooper looked like you'd just fucked? Yeah, I was. But that's not why I'm pissed. I'm just… God, Juggy, I'm fucking sick of the hot and cold bullshit, okay? When you're not with Cooper, you seem like you really like being with us – and I don't just mean in bed. You seem like you like hanging out at the Wyrm and the sleepovers and the movie nights and all that, like you want to be around us. But then the second that Cooper gives you the time of day, you're all over her and it's like we don't mean shit to you anymore."

"Amethyst?"

"I told you once that you'd always have a place with us. That whether you wanted a quick orgasm or an emotional investment, we'd be here. And I meant it, I did. I do. But this isn't working. And I hate her, you know that, but I don't actually want to force you to choose between us – I'm not deluded enough to think you'd choose us anyways, and it wouldn't be fair to you. But when I made that offer, I didn't think that it would be this. That we'd go from a team, that occasionally gets each other off, to people who can't exchange more than two words without your girlfriend throwing a hissy fit. I'm losing my mind here, Jug, okay? I genuinely feel like I'm going crazy. I have no idea where I stand with you, and I'm terrified of showing up to school not knowing what response I'm going to get on any given day."

"Amethyst—" Jughead tried again.

"It's not healthy, Jug, not for either of us. I'm not going to tell you that you can't date her and be with us, in whatever way, but I can't keep going the way that things are. Look I… I want – no, I don't want to have this conversation, but I know that we have to. But I'm exhausted and I'm drunk, and I've been wearing the same underwear for three days and I just, I can't deal with this right now."

Amy stood quickly, feeling the world spinning slightly as she adjusted to the change. She exited the trailer quickly, holding her necklace tightly in her left hand. She heard the door slam shut behind her, taking a shaky breath and heading towards the bikes. Wait. Her bike was still at the Wyrm. She cursed loudly, kicking a rock.

Suddenly she remembered why she was there, and that there were still four people right inside that trailer who were no doubt in the middle of deciding which one of them would talk to her and, well, she wasn't ready for that.

With one more curse, she tightened her ponytail again and took off sprinting down the street. Despite her admittedly short legs, and the height of her boots, she was still a fast runner – no one grew up on the Southside without becoming fast, it would be a death wish. She was panting by the time she reached the Wyrm, but she forced herself to slow her breathing and pasted her usual cocky smirk onto her face. She straightened her spine until it hurt, pushing open the door to the bar and strutting inside. The bar was still relatively empty, so Amy made her way back to the bar.

"Back already, kid?" Hog Eye asked. "I might need to cut you off."

"You never cut me off," she retorted, "but I'm not here to drink. Could use a water, if you don't mind, but I'm actually just gonna head to the back for a while – you mind keeping everybody out?"

"I've got you," he assured her, sliding her a glass of water.

Amy's smile softened into something less sharp, more genuine, as she took the drink. Hog Eye was no FP, but he'd always done his best to look out for her.

"Thanks," she said quietly, finishing off the glass. She slid it back to him before standing, quickly making her way to the back room.

She wished the door had a lock, she always had, but she trusted that Hog Eye would keep an eye out – and most Serpents didn't even know that it was there.

She kicked off her boots and unstrapped her holster, sitting down on the edge of the mattress. She let her hair down from its ponytail and was about to tie it into a bun when she saw the doorknob twist.

She tensed, reaching for the knife in her holster, but relaxed when she saw that it was Fangs.

"I come in peace," he told her, raising his hands playfully. "And I come alone."

"Funny," she deadpanned, "I came here to be alone in peace."

"Them's the breaks," he retorted, and Amy couldn't help but smile. "That was quite the speech you made, both of them."

Amy sighed loudly. "I don't want to talk about it," she told him.

"Too bad," he said easily, kicking off his boots and shedding his jacket. "This has clearly been weighing on you for days, if not weeks. I'm not oblivious babe, you've been upset for way longer than a weekend, and you need to talk about it."

He crossed the room, sitting beside her on the mattress. He pushed at her shoulders until her back was to him, pulling the elastic off of her wrist and carefully twisting her thick hair into a braid.

"That's what Mal said, too," she admitted.

"Well, he's always been pretty good at getting through to you," Fangs said. "Maybe you should give it a shot."

"Isn't that what I just did?"

"Not really," he shrugged. "You vented – which is fair, obviously you really needed to get that off your chest – but you haven't done much in the way of really talking."

He finished the braid, tying it off with practiced ease, and pulled her down until they were both lying on the mattress, her head on his chest and his arm wrapped around her protectively.

"What's the difference?"

"Well, you explained a lot of things that were upsetting you," he acknowledged, squeezing her slightly, "but we, as a group, still need to actually talk everything through until we're all back on the same page, you know? It's us against the world, it's always us against the world, but that doesn't work unless we all know what's going on. And as glad as I am to know what's got you upset – and I really am – you haven't talked as much about why it's upsetting you so much, especially the Toni and Cheryl crap. I mean, you definitely did a bit more of that with Jug, but I think they're all still kind of confused. I know this has been building, but it kind of came out of nowhere today and none of us are really sure why."

"Well maybe I don't know, Fangs," Amy shot back, "have you ever thought about that? Maybe I'm just sick of you all acting like I'm going crazy for being suspicious of Hiram Lodge, even though my so-called paranoia has never been wrong before, maybe I'm just sick of feeling like I'm going crazy when Jughead plays so hot and cold that I'm ready to call him Katy Perry. Maybe I think it's bullshit that Toni decided to bail on us when she's the one who decided we were going to see the movie in the first place."

She took another deep breath, sighing contentedly when Fangs moved his hand to her shoulders, massaging them gently. She could feel the tension seeping out, and after how much of a mess the past few days had been, she felt like she might cry from relief. She nuzzled closer into his chest, finding comfort in the familiar smell of soap, grease, and leather. If everything else was going to fall apart, it was a comfort to know that there were still some things that didn't – wouldn't– change.

"Maybe I also think it's bullshit that Toni only suggested that we go to see the movie so that I would shut up, not because you all knew that I've been wanting to see it for months. Maybe I'm pretty fucking pissed that she didn't just bail on us but that she bailed on us to see it with the girl who's been treating us like dirt for, well, ever. Or maybe… You know what, Fangs? Maybe I just don't fucking know why I'm so upset."

XxXx FIN xXxX

Once again, I am so sorry about how long it's been since the last update! I got really focused on a few other fics, fell into a very severe depressive spiral, started this chapter, went into quarantine, had a very difficult time with online schooling bc it's so ableist and I'm too deaf for that, and then finally got back into this! When I first started this chapter, I expected to maybe churn out a couple thousand words that would only feel partially forced as I try to get to a specific arc, but instead here we are with a 21k chapter that I am beyond proud of, and a now 100k long fic, which is insane if you ask me!

I will be organizing some sort of reader celebration event on my tumblr (randomestfandoms-ocs) if any of you want to come check that out, and I promise that I create a lot more for Amy over there if you're tired of waiting so long for updates haha! I know that I always say I'll try to update frequently and then I don't, so I won't make any promises like that, but I really am hoping to not take like 9 months to update anymore!

Love you all, and thank you for sticking with me on this journey!