"Arch, Rory?" I look up from having my head buried in my hands to see all of our friends running into the hospital "oh my god" Veronica runs up to Archie and hugs him
"Rory are you ok?" Jughead walks up to me touching the blood that's on my shirt "are you hurt?"
"No, it's errm it's dads I'm ok" Jughead hugs me, then pulls Archie into the hug. Veronica and Betty join us and I now notice Betty's parents and Veronicas mom are here. We all sit down on the chairs, Archie in the middle of Jug and I and the girls sitting opposite us.
"A man came in and pointed a gun at pop. Dad tried... but the man... my ears" I struggle to form a sentence and I start to cry
"I came out of the bathroom and there was this man. A thief, wearing this hood with a gun on Pop Tate. Then he pointed it at my dad and he fired"
"Oh god Archie" Veronica sighs
"And then he...." I try to say but words don't want to form
"He bolted. I was holding my dad. Pop called an ambulance and it didn't come so I drove here. Rory was putting pressure on the wound. Maybe I should have waited maybe I made it worse"
"No dude are you kidding me?" Jughead places a hand on Archie's shoulder
"I just stood there. I couldn't do anything but watch. I should have done something"
"There's was nothing you could have done. You both did the right thing ok" Betty says trying to make both Archie and I feel a bit better
"You saved your dads life. Archie if you keep this up you'll need a superhero name, like pureheart the powerful" Jug sit back in his chair as Alice walks over us
"There isn't any new information. Your dads in surgery, he'll be there for a while" I sniff then wipe some tears that have escaped my eyes
"Rory, Archie, have you spoken to your mother about this yet?" Hermione asks kneeling down next to me. I shake my head
"No"
"No I haven't called her, I'll be right back" Archie stands up
"I'll come with you" I also stand up and follow Archie out.
Archie and I sit down on some chairs by the entrance to the hospital. Archie dials moms number and puts her on loud speaker
"Hey mom, how are you?" Archie asks
"I'm good. How are you and Rory?"
"We're both good" I say with a sniffle
"What's wrong?" mom asks with concern
"It's errr, it's dad" I start crying unable to tell her what's happened
"Dads in the hospital. There was a robbery, and errr he was shot. I don't know what's gonna happen, but you should come here as soon as you can, in case..." Archie trails off
"In case we have to say goodbye" I finish the sentence for Archie.
After the phone call Archie goes back to sit with the others as I ring Sweet Pea who answers almost immediately
"Missing me already?" he jokes
"Pea it's bad" I crock out
"Ror whats going on?"
"It's dad, he errm he was shot" I hear him breath out on the other side of the phone muttering something "I'm at the hospital now with Arch"
"I'll be there as soon as I can" before I can protest he puts the phone down and I make my way to the others.
We all look up to the sound of boots walking towards us, it's Sheriff Keller, he takes off his hat and asks
"How's your dad doing?"
"He's still in surgery" Betty replies for us
"Archie, Aurora, I know this is a hell of a time for you both, but perhaps we could go somewhere and talk?"
"I errm didn't see him really, just that he was in a mask and wearing black clothes"
"Archie?" Sheriff Keller looks from me to my brother
"I'll come with you" Jughead says walking over to the Sheriff and Archie. They then walk off somewhere quite. Not long later I hear someone shout my name, I look up and see Sweet Pea running towards me. I get up off my chair and run to him, his arms immediately wrapping around me. He pulls back from the hug and places his hands on my face
"Are you ok? Are you hurt?"
"No I'm not hurt, dads still in surgery" I place my right hand on his hand that's placed on my left cheek. He rubs his thumb on my cheek trying to sooth me "thank you for coming"
"I had to. I just needed to make sure that you were ok and weren't hurt" he kisses my forehead as I then take his hand and lead him over to my friends, well Veronica and Betty who look to have been chatting
"So are you going to introduce us?" Veronica asks
"Veronica, Betty this is Sweet Pea"
"Pea these are my friends"
"So your the tall handsome Serpent who stole my besties heart"
"Veronica" I scold
"Look like Archie has finished talking to Keller" Veronica says looks passed me and Pea. They stop before they get to us quickly talking about something. Jughead hugs Archie then walks off
"Archie and Aurora Andrews?" A doctor walks towards us. Archie and I nod out heads "I'm Steven Masters, your father's doctor"
"How is he?" Archie asks, Sweet Pea squeezes my hand
"Well, we got the bullet out and we stopped the internal bleeding" by now everyone who was at the hospital for us is stood around the doctor "what's most worrisome is he's not breathing on his own yet"
"Oh god" I cup my mouth with my left hand and I turn into Sweet Peas body. He wraps his arms around me as I cry
"I need to see him" Archie says
"You will. As soon as we've got him set in a room you will be able to sit with him. Should be an hour or two at most"
"And until then what are Rory and I supposed to do? Nothing?" Archie gets annoyed
"Maybe you and Rory should go home and get changed? Maybe take a nap?" Veronica walks over to Archie
"No, I'm not leaving"
"Archie wait, Veronicas right"
"Here's your dads clothes and belongings. Everything he had on him"
"See you have another reason to go. You can get your dad a change of clothes as well. Veronica and Pea will go with you right?" Betty says
"We'll hold the fort down here" Alice refers to herself, Hal and Hermione "try not to worry, your dad is stock. He's a fighter. Fred Andrews isn't one to leave unfinished business behind"