Lou's POV
The next morning slowly came around. I slept at my dad's trailer after the Serpents showed up, actually the older Serpents showed up at Jugheads to give him a jacket as well.
After I woke up I slipped on some jeans with holes and a black turtleneck shirt with my usual high heel ankle boots. When I grabbed some coffee I noticed Jughead typing away on his laptop as per usual.
"Are you gonna finish that story anytime?", I chuckled. "I hope, if new stuff happens here in Riverdale then it will continue", he explained and I plopped down next to him. I rested my head on his shoulder while I drank some coffee.
My brother actually had some talent, the way he made the sentences was awesome. "You have talent", I muttered while reading along. "Thanks", he smiled.
"So you and Betty came here after the Jubilee right? Did anything ha-", I asked my brother smirking. "Nope, almost but the Serpents have a crap timing. I did say I love her tho", he smiled.
"Oh my god really?", I asked excitedly. "Yeah and she said it back", "Jughead Jones a sucker for romance", I chuckled.
Jugheads phone rang and he obviously picked it up, the moment the person at the other end said something his face fell.
"Uhm yes she is with me, we will be right there", Jughead muttered and hung up. "What's wrong?", I asked concerned.
"It's Fred, he was shot and is in the surgery right now", Jug explained and my face fell as well. Fred Andrews, a man that was almost like a father to me was shot, clinging to his life at this very moment.
"Come on, Lou. We are going to take the bikes", Jughead said. Our dad and our mom had their motorcycles still behind the trailer. Our dad taught us how to ride the motorcycle pretty early, I think we were about twelve when he taught us.
I nodded and quickly slipped on my leather jacket, not my serpent jacket of course. We both bolted out of the trailer and towards the motorcycles. We immediately began to drive towards the hospital.
When we got there we met Veronica and Betty plus their parents before we all made it to Archie. "Oh my god", Veronica muttered as we all ran up to him.
Archies clothes were covered in Fred's blood and it looked as if he had lost pounds of blood on Archies clothes. We all pulled Archie into a big group hug and he almost collapsed in our arms.
*
After everyone calmed down a little we sat down on the chair in the waiting room, listening to Archie.
"I came out of the bathroom and there was this man, a thief, wearing a black hood with a gun on Pop Tate. He pointed it at my dad and he fired", he explained to all of us. My heart ached from the sadness in his voice and the image of the kindest man in Riverdale being shot.
"Oh my god, Archie", Veronica whispered grabbing her boyfriend's hand. "And then he", Archie began but stopped.
"And then he what?", I asked softly. "And then he bolted and I was holding my dad. Pop Tate called an ambulance, and it didn't come so I drove here. I should have waited, I made it worse", he finished.
"No dude. Are you kidding me? You saved your dad's life. First Cheryl and Lou, now your dad. Keep this up and you'll need a superhero name. Like Pureheart the Powerful", Jughead told him trying to lighten the mood a little.
"There isn't any new information. You dad's in surgery, he'll be there for a while", Alice explained to us. Hermione bent down so she could be on eye to eye with Archie, "Archie, have you spoken to your mother about any of this yet?".
"No, no. I haven't called her. I will be right back", he mumbled and got up to talk to his mom.
After Archie left there was a growing awkwardness coming from my brother and Alice. "What?", Jug asked.
"Mom, do not start this", Betty warned and I could only believe it was about their little rendezvous.
"Start what?", I asked. "Of course, I can't help but wonder if your Southside associates had anything to do with what happened", Alice asked my brother. "Hey, Lou is also invited in the Serpents", Jug said throwing me under the bus with him.
"Jug", "Lou? Really?", Alice asked kinda hurt. "Yeah, I had a rough day", I mumbled. "Still unbelievable. At least you can't accuse our father. He is in jail", Jughead snapped
"oh my god, I can't handle this", Veronica said sitting back in her chair.
*
About an hour passed and we were all sitting together just waiting. I haven't heard anything from Reggie last night and I was really considering a break-up.
"Sherrif", Archie said and we all quickly stood up as the Sheriff walked up to us all. "How's your dad doing?", he asked.
"he's in surgery", Betty answered for Archie. "I know this is a hell of a time for you. Perhaps, we could go somewhere to talk", he smiled at Archie.
"Is it cool if I tag along?", Jughead asked and I mentally slapped him. "If you don't mind-", Sherrif Keller started to insist but was cut off by Archie. "That would be great".
The three went away to talk and I sat down again. Still nothing form Reggie, you might think he would be worried after what happened yesterday but of course, he wasn't.
So I waited for what felt like decades for anything, for a nurse to tell us Fred was fine, for Reggie to at least come here or for Jughead to annoy me.
Soon Jug returned and talked to Kevin and Betty for a while, I wasn't interested in joining in on their conversation so I just stayed in my seat and kept counting the bricks in the wall.
"Lou come on we have business to handle", Jughead said and pulled me up from my seat. "What business?", I asked confused. "Serpent business now come on".
The both of us walked out and behind the hospital, where a man I knew was called Tallboy stood along with a younger Serpent, I remembered from yesterday.
"Got nervous when you said to meet you two at the hospital", Tallboy muttered getting off his motorcycle.
"We were wondering about when you said the Serpents had our backs. Does that extend to a guy who's like my brother? And a man who's like a second father to not only me but to her as well?", Jughead asked.
"What do you need?", the Serpent asked. "Fred, my buddy's dad, was shot during a robbery at Pop's", Jughead explained. "The guy was in a black hood", I went on.
"Serpents don't wear masks", the younger Serpent insisted. "You, I get it. But some Serpents were working for Fred Andrews when he decided to let them go. Maybe someone took it personally? You guys know every hidey-hole in town", I told them.
"Someone has to have heard about what went down", Jughead finished. "All right. We'll knock some heads, let you know", Tallboy said and pattened Jugheads shoulder and gave me a smile.
*
We got back from our little meeting and sat down with Betty and Kevin again. When I looked up from my seat I saw a girl dressed in a white dress with long red hair. "Oh my god", I muttered and quickly got off my seat with Kevin following me.
"Cheryl?", I asked as we approached her. "What's going on? Is that your mom? What happened", I asked.
"Oh. Haven't you heard? There was a terrible fire at Thornhill last night. I might've perished if not for Mommy's heroics", Cheryl muttered.
"Oh my god, is this the apocalypse?", Kevin said.
"After Lou's and mine, uhm, ordeal at Sweetwater River, I was asleep when the fire started. They think it was a breezed knocking over a lit candle which caught a curtain. Mommy got home and rushed headlong into the blaze, risking her life to save mine. She suffered third-degree burns and acute smoke inhalation", Cheryl explained.
"Oh my god, are you okay?", I asked which she answered with a nod. "Is there anything left of my stuff?", I asked realizing I still had almost everything at Thornhill.
"I think the majority of your clothes and stuff survived just like mine did, the fire was in the left part luckily not the right", Cheryl explained.
"And what are you two doing here?", she asked.
*
"Archie's where?", Betty asked Veronica after she returned from the Andrew's house where she was supposed to be with Archie.
"At the station, doing lineup. He asked me to be here with Fred", Veronica explained.
"That's gonna be traumatizing, we should go there", Betty suggested. "Can you do me a favor? Mister Andrew's wallet is missing. We are thinking it might be at Pop's. That, or the guy who shot Fred might have it", Vee muttered.
"If it's just some random robbing Pop's, he probably took the money and got rid of it. Unless it wasn't some random. Unless it was premeditated", Jughead muttered.
"What? Is that an actual theory?", I asked. "Not according to Sheriff Keller. But if you ask me, people have grudges, people have enemies. Think of where we live. Father's are killing their sons. It's conceivable this was a hit", Jughead explained further.
"Okay. Or the wallet's just at Pop's so, we'll check it out, Vee", Betty smiled. "Oh not me I have something to discuss", I said pointing over to my boyfriend.
I walked up to Reggie who didn't even notice me. "Reggie?", I asked my voice cracking for an unknown reason.
"Lou? How are you?", he asked. "Good, great", I lied with a fake smile. "I know you are not, you tried committing suicide yesterday", he scoffed.
"Aren't you any worried about me?", I asked. "I am but that was just stupid", he muttered. "Wow thanks for caring", I scoffed and was about to walk away but he caught my wrist.
"What did you do last night?", he asked out of the blue. "Oh, I was still at my friends when a couple of Serpents showed up and said that I was family and they had my back, they even gave me one of those jackets", I explained.
"What? Are you serious? So you not only are a Southsider now you are also a Serpent?", he asked. "I wasn't actually planning on joining them but if it's that hard for you, just end it", I scoffed actually not caring.
"Lou you know I love you so I won't break up with you", he explained pulling in a much-needed hug. As soon as his arms slung around me I could feel the weight being lifted off my shoulders.
"I'm so sorry that I was a dickhead, I swear it won't happen again", he promised. "Whatever you say", I muttered against his chest.
*
"Who's hungry?", my brother asked loudly. He walked into the waiting room with Pop Tate and Betty behind him, holding up bags of food from Pop's.
"We've got burgers, fries and onion rings", Juggie finished. Everyone started cheering, "Oh nice, Jones", Reggie commented.
I went up to Jughead and smirked at him, "Saved you a burger and some onion rings for you", he said winking at me. "Well aren't you just the best brother", I laughed.
We all got our food and started eating while Jughead, Veronica, Betty, and Archie went to the cafeteria.
I decided to stay with the Pussycats and Bulldogs, most particularly Reggie. We haven't had enough time together lately and even though he seemed like an asshole he wasn't one and still my very first love.
*
"Okay bye Babe", I smiled at Reggie placing yet another kiss on his lips. "Don't forget to call me, biker girl", he muttered while looking at mine and Jug's bikes.
"Oh shut up", I laughed. "Come here", he whispered and pulled me in for another kiss. He placed both of his hands on my face and placed his lips softly on mine.
Just when we finished Betty and Jughead did as well. "Ready to drive?", Jug asked putting his helmet on. "Ready as always", I chuckled putting my helmet on as well.
We both sped down the streets of Riverdale and soon stopped in front of our trailer, driving the bike of my mom was something I desperately enjoyed.
Jug and I laughed when we walked into the trailer, the foster family allowed us to keep living in. When we walked into the living room, we saw a man tied up on a chair badly beating. Tallboy and the younger Serpent who I will call Ron stood beside him.
"What the hell guys? What is this?", Jughead asked as shocked as me. "Went out like you asked. Guy was holding court at the Whyte Wyrm. Talking about how if Andrews was gonna let Hiram Lodge's bitch run the show, fire his crew, it's good he was gutshot", Tallboy explained.
"We thought we might press him. See if it was just talk", Ron explained, I noticed the bloody knuckle ring on his hand that made me flinch.
"And?", I asked. "And after a lengthy cross-examination, yeah, we've concluded he was just being a loudmouth", Tallboy shrugged.
"What did you bring him here for? If he didn't do anything?", Jughead asked almost angry.
"So you two could see we done what you asked. So you could tell your old man, that's important to us. With or without the jacket, you two are Serpents", Tallboy smiled at me.
I glanced over at the leather jacket with the snake symbol on the back, that fit me like a glove. I had to smile a little myself, maybe this could be the family we never had.