"I can. I'm not shocked at all."
✿
Mickey is finally getting an early night's sleep. She's thankful she no longer has to deal with her parents' legal affairs. Now, thanks to Archie's program, her free time is broadening. With her and Pop's discretion, a few of the kids from the community center have been hired at the diner, which left Mickey with no shifts. It did leave her with more free time.
Her phone rings.
Or more free time with her boyfriend. It's kind of perfect because she misses him. As she lies her head on her pillow, she presses her phone to her ear.
"I didn't wake you, did I?"
"It's fine," she assures him. "I've missed your voice." Her eyes close, but she's smiling. "How's school?"
"Existential hell," Jughead tells her. "I've got a blank page and I need you."
Those three words have Mickey meeting Jughead at the diner in her comfiest clothes. "I kind of like this impromptu visit."
He's holding hands with her on top of the table, but he seems to be somewhere else—lost in his thoughts, like always.
"Something's bothering you," she observes aloud.
"Yeah, I just can't write. Mr. Chipping gave the class this assignment where we're supposed to write our own version of a Baxter Brothers novel, which should be a dream come true."
"Baxter Brothers? Should I know what or who they are?"
"Oh! They're my favorite books, Mick. They always cheered me up. Instead of being a superhero for Halloween, I wanted to be one of them," he rambles happily. "They're the reason I'm into crime now. As a kid, my dad—well, I just learned it was my grandfather who sent them to me as gifts. I have the entire collection."
"I'll have to check them out."
He pulls his hand out of hers. "For the first time in my life, I'm having writer's block. Why?"
"My advice, just take a break. Okay? Take a walk. Look at some art." Her mouth curves into a smirk. "Kiss your girlfriend."
Jughead's too lost in his thoughts to catch the suggestion. "I keep thinking I should be breaking the Baxter Brothers novels down like, scientifically, or something."
"That could work, but you could also kiss your girlfriend," she repeats the attempt at flirting. Just to make sure it lands this time, she kicks him lightly under the table.
This makes him laugh. He stands up from across her to slide into the seat right next to her. His arm wraps around her shoulders. He kisses her. "I'm sorry."
✿
"Why didn't you wake me?" Jughead asks as he pulls on his pants. Him and Mickey got carried away last night after deciding to sneak into the Pembrooke. He knew he'd miss his first class due to all the cuddling and talking all night, but he didn't expect it to be a full house. Hiram put a hit on him. It's going to be a little more than awkward.
"You needed the sleep," she adjusts her bracelet. "And I had no idea my dad and his secret daughter would show up this morning."
Her father isn't supposed to be in the Pembrooke at all. The apartment is no longer his home. A part of her wishes she could leave with Jughead to avoid whatever the hell is going on in the dining room.
"You have my full approval to skip pleasantries and just walk out." When he's all dressed and ready, she wraps her hand around her door knob. "Ready?"
Jughead nods. He finds himself grabbing her hand as she leads him through the apartment. He can finally breathe when they're at the door. "I'll call you later," he whispers as he leans in to kiss her on the cheek. "Good luck."
Hiram inhales sharply when Mickey joins them in the dining room. "Boys spending the night is forbidden, Mickey."
She waves dismissively at him, pouring herself a glass of orange juice. "Your rules are irrelevant because you don't live here anymore."
"About that," he adjusts his tie. "Now that the trials are over, I think it's time to let bygones be bygones. I want us to move forward. No more secrets, no more lies."
Mickey stands behind her sister and mother, who are both seated across from Hiram and Hermosa.
"Speaking of secrets and lies," Veronica asks, "how many more secret children should we be expecting?"
"Hermosa is your one and only half-sibling," Hiram tells them. "I swear."
Mickey scoffs. "And your word is supposed to just hold up with us?"
Hermione puts her wine glass down, which earns her a judgmental look from Hermosa that she doesn't catch. "If we did decide to move forward together, what exactly would that look like?"
"Well, now that the prison is bringing in a good income, I'd like to return to my true passion."
"Extortion?" Veronica inquires.
Right after that, Mickey guesses as well. "Murder?"
Hermosa isn't amused by her little sisters. "Rum." She places her hand over their father's forearm, "Papi's passion is rum."
Hiram nods, "Rum has been in our family for generations, and Hermosa, who runs our clubs in Miami, will be staying in Riverdale, to establish a rum outpost here. I also thought she could help out at the speakeasy."
Veronica shakes her head, "No. I don't need any more help at La Bonne Nuit. With the exception of my newest hostess," she reaches for her mother's hand.
Mickey smirks at Hermosa and their father. "And seeing as how this is our house, you two can show yourselves out."
✿
"It's starting to feel like you're either homesick or you're avoiding being at Stonewall." Mickey sits down on Jughead's bed, looking at the box of books in between them.
Jughead sighs deeply. "I think there's a real life mystery in these books. Now, I've gone and re-read the entire series and I noticed something strange. Where there is a hoarse voice and an overall tone, sure, you can tell when a new ghostwriter takes over."
"It's funny that you're talking about this because my English teacher said a writer can't completely suppress their own style. We've been going over examples in class."
Jughead's impressed. "Exactly. The verbiage, the phrasing, these things are like literary fingerprints. And when I went back to read the first book, its fingerprint is unlike any of the rest of them. It's raw, it's real. The characters have tension. There's political commentary woven throughout it. They mention the war, the boys have summer jobs, and none of the rest of them are this grounded."
"Meaning?"
"Well, allegedly, Mr. DuPont wrote the first five books before passing the series off. But after my analysis, the stylistic differences from book one to book two are too distinct to ignore. There's no way that whoever wrote the first novel wrote the following. There's just no way."
"Okay, well, who wrote it then?"
He pauses. "This is gonna sound crazy, okay? What if it was my grandfather?"
She knows she needs to be cautious with her words to not offend him. "Jug, you tend to jump a lot. How do we get from plagiarism to your grandfather writing a novel? Don't you think you're stretching it? You've never even met the guy."
"I know. This is the one missing puzzle piece I have of my grandfather. Think about it, Mick." He holds up one of the novels, "He sent me a first edition, first Baxter Brothers book. And if that's not coincidental enough," he opens it to show a written message from his grandfather, 'he wrote inside, 'Never let them take anything from you.' Does that not imply that something was stolen from him?"
"Implies, yes. Proves, no. You need proof."
"Yeah, you're right. I'll get proof. I know I'm onto something. I know it."
✿
A couple of days later, Mickey comes out of her room when she hears Veronica calling for her. She enters the living room to see Veronica has gone shopping.
Veronica sees the book in her sister's hand. "You've been reading that book for two days. Non-stop."
Mickey glances down at the book in her hand, "It's not the same book. I'm on the fourth one."
"Why?"
"Jug said he likes them," she shrugs. Mickey changes the conversation, "What's in the bag?"
"I've got surprises for you and Mom. Come on."
Hermione's head picks up when her girls enter the dining room. "Girls."
Mickey points to the luggage, "Are those...—"
"Mine," Hiram walks in from the kitchen. "I am moving back in. Your mother and I—"
Mickey cuts him off, "No. I wanna hear it from her." She's been in her room this entire time, but she didn't even hear her father moving back in. She looks down at her mother who is sitting at the dining room table.
Hermione looks between Mickey and Veronica. "Girls, I have invited your father back."
"Why?"
Veronica sinks down into the chair across from their mother, "He's a murderer." The fragility in her voice is out of pure desperation. She needs their mother to hear her and to know who their father is.
Hiram moves to stand behind Hermione. His hand falls onto her shoulder.
Hermione looks up at him before looking back at her daughters, "And what am I?"
"I can't believe you!" Veronica stands abruptly.
Mickey says, "I can. I'm not shocked at all. Mom having to work and her weakness for daddy—it's no surprise." The disappointment and disgust are crystal clear on her face.
"We were done with him."
Hiram gives Veronica a hard stare. "Mija, can we talk about what this is really about? Your sister, Hermosa. But you don't need to worry. Neither of you do," he glances at Mickey momentarily. "You're still my favorites. The apples of my eye. My special little girls. So, rest assured, there is no reason for you to be jealous of her."
"Are you deranged?" Mickey asks him.
Veronica says, "I'm not jealous of her."
"Yes, you are. And it's natural," Hiram tells her.
Mickey notices the tears in her sister's eyes. "Veronica, don't let him try to psychoanalyze you. It's a manipulation tactic and a smoke screen for their seriously screwed up relationship."
Veronica with a broken voice says to her parents, "You two are unbelievable."
✿
"Maybe your dad is manipulating your mom."
Mickey stops pacing by Jughead's window. "No. This is about her codependency on my dad. Veronica gave her a job at the speakeasy, but that probably meant nothing compared to the life my dad can give her."
Jughead asks, "And your mom's okay with Hiram's love child being around?"
"Who knows.Who cares." Another thought pops into her head. "Do you know that he tried to tell Veronica he was jealous of Hermosa? He is unrelenting."
"How about you? How do you feel about her?"
"I don't feel anything about her. I mean, she's siding with my dad, so something must be wrong with her." Mickey sighs deeply. "Then again, he's really good at making you feel like he cares, so maybe she hasn't seen the real side of him—the side that makes my skin crawl. She could be a nice girl for all I know, but she's under the Hiram Lodge trance."
"Mick," he deadpans. He grabs her hand and pulls her to sit down next to him on his bed. "Talk to me."
"It's just so like him, you know? To uncover this huge secret and act like it's no big deal. She's my sister and I have never heard one thing about her. That kind of secret makes me feel like our whole life was a lie."
"I'm sorry. Maybe you can take this chance to get to know her."
"Tell me about the mystery of your grandfather. Take my mind off of this." She knows he's been getting help from Betty to figure all this out.
Jughead tells her, "Betty and I found proof that my grandfather wrote the first Baxter Brother's novel. He wrote at Riverdale High after he left Stonewall. The syntax, the word choice, even the character names are the same."
"You two really know how to dig up evidence."
"Speaking of digging...FP and Charles handled the shady man's body."
The two of them got courtesy calls from Betty about Chic reporting the shady man's death and his burial site. Betty visiting Chic triggered Chic to open his mouth about the man that was killed in the Coopers' home last year. Since Jughead and Mickey were involved, their nerves have been fired up about the whole ordeal.
"Do our lives ever get easier?" Jughead asks. Tiredly, he rests his head on her shoulder.
Mickey rakes her fingers through his hair. "Yeah, when we leave for college."
✿
The next day, Mickey finally has a shift at the diner. Too bad the place is pretty deserted. Regardless, she puts on a fresh pot of coffee.
The bells chime above the door and Hermosa walks in. She remains by the door, waiting.
Mickey has to stop herself from rolling her eyes. "It's open seating. Specials are on the board."
Of course, Hermosa sits on a stool at the counter. She removes her sunglasses. "Actually, I came to have a little chat. Sister to sister.
Mickey places her hand on her hip, "Let me guess. Daddy sent you. One last valiant tactic to get me back into the family fold, which then gets Veronica back in too."
One corner of Hermosa's mouth curves. "You're very smart, Mickey. Papi has told me that about you. But you don't know our father as well as you think you do."
"Unlike you, I've known our father my entire life. There is literally nothing you could tell me about Hiram Lodge that would surprise me."
"My mommy was a singer at one of Papi's Miami clubs, Sala de Oro—where they met. They had a fling."
"Tale as old as time. He took advantage of her, she got pregnant, he left her high and dry."
Hermosa corrects her, "Actually, he took care of her, until she died. And then he took care of me." A moment of silence passes between the two of them. "Papi and your mother are renewing their vows tomorrow, and they'd like for you to come."
"That's the joke of the week."
"Come, or don't. I'm just the messenger." She stands to leave but faces Mickey one more time. "Look, you're entitled to your opinion of him, but the father I know—there's good in him." Then she leaves.
Now, Mickey has the pleasure of telling Veronica about the vow ceremony.
✿
"It was horrific, Mick."
Jughead had an unbelievable day, and not in a good way. The first thing he thought to do was to come back to town to be with Mickey. It's been his go to reaction all week now.
"I just don't understand," Mickey's forehead creases. "You told Mr. Chipping about your grandfather and the first novel and he wanted to help, so why would he kill himself? Why do it in front of all of you?"
"I don't know. Maybe actually being in class with me made it really hit him. All I know is, he was riddled with guilt. He just jumped out the window, and when I told the other to call an ambulance, they just sat there. And now I have to deal with DuPoint as Chipping's replacement after I just accused him of plagiarism."
"What're you gonna do?"
"I don't know," Jughead tells her hopelessly. "This place is as dark as Riverdale, Mick. I feel like it's only gonna get darker."