fierce ↠ sweet pea [1] [✔]

|| THIRTY-NINE ||

"Hey, wait!" Lauryn called after Jughead, finding herself somewhat out of breath as she picked up the pace. He thankfully stopped after hearing her voice and looked undeniably less aggravated when he turned around. 

 "What?"

"I just wanted to say thanks," she said, catching her breath. "For defending us."

"Yeah, well," he began, swallowing the lump of fire in his throat. "I kind of owed you after the stunt I pulled with the Ghoulies, didn't I? It was reckless and I'm--"

"Jones, it's fine," she stopped him, a half-smile appearing on her cheek as she pointed down. "Baby's still in there, isn't it?"

"Thank God," he laughed, and she reached for a hug. She stood and watched as he skidded off, but as she turned around to make her way back into the Wyrm, she found FP standing in front of her.

Her arms fell at her sides as she realised that this was the moment where she was going to have to tell him the truth, and he slowly walked over to her. She hesitantly looked him in the eyes as his neutral expression unsettled her.

"What's the matter, Doll?" he asked her softly. "You look sick."

"I..." she trailed off, looking down at the gritty tarmac below her feet. Tears burned in her eyes as the secret grew too much for her to handle. "I'm sorry."

He placed his hands on her shoulders, hoping she'd look at him. "You been avoiding me?"

She shook her head, biting her lip as she tried harder than anything not to cry. "No."

"Hey, what's goin' on?" he questioned, leaning downwards a tad to see her reddening face. "Talk to me."

"I messed up, FP," she admitted, looking up at him as the tears escaped her eyes, and he started to seriously worry about her. "I messed up and everything has gone to shit ever since."

"If it's about that girl Skye, Jug already told me."

Lauryn shook her head as her face crumbled further. "No, it's not that."

"Then, what?"

Lauryn looked into his eyes, and she could see that he was waiting patiently for her to give a response. "I'm pregnant, FP."

His eyes widened further, and he took a step backwards to process what she'd said as he drew a hand to his chin. "You..."

"Please don't be mad at me," she begged, her voice cracking at the end of her sentence. "I'm sorry."

"No," he said, wrapping his arms around her. "You don't gotta be sorry. It's okay."

"I've been scared to tell you ever since you got back," she confessed. "But things are getting bad at school and I can't take it anymore."

"It's okay," he soothed, kissing her hair lightly. "I'm glad you told me. Sweet Pea's the dad, right?"

She nodded against his shirt. "Yeah."

"That's good," he told her. "Hey, you didn't need to be scared. I promised your dad a long time ago that I'd always look out for you, Doll."

"I didn't want to disappoint you."

FP pulled away to look at her briskly. "Hey. Look at me."

Lauryn couldn't bring herself to do it as she sobbed, and he shook her by the shoulders gently.

"Look at me," he repeated firmly until she lifted her head up. "The last thing you could do is disappoint me, all right? You're gonna be a great mom, and you've got me and the rest of the Serpents to keep you safe."