"Dani?!" The sound of Sweet Pea's screams echoed through my ears but I was unable to move. I looked down at my hands and they were strapped to some type of medical table along with my legs. I struggled trying to get anything free but as I did so the sickening laugh of my own mother echoed through my ears.
"Oh darling, you didn't think I'd let you leave here with that baby now did you?" I looked down at my stomach, there was blood everywhere that I couldn't even see my own skin. Screaming I tried to set myself free but it was no use.
"LET ME GO! WHERE'S MY BABY?! WHAT HAVE YOU DONE WITH HIM?!" I screamed and screamed as I tried to get off the table.
"There's no need to worry about that daughter, he's gone, just like your fiancé." Looking over at Sweet Pea I saw someone pointing a gun to his head and before I could process anything else they pulled the trigger. All I could hear was my own blood-curdling scream and my parents sadistic laughter.
---
"Dani? Dani wake up!" I was jolted awake by the strong hands of my fiancé shaking me awake.
"Sweet Pea?" I breathed out as I struggled trying to catch my breath, my hands flew down to my stomach as I felt the bump still there my eyes scanned the area and I realised I was still in the tent.
"I'm right here baby. I'm right here." Sweet Pea pulled me close as I sobbed uncontrollably.
"I thought they'd taken you, I thought they'd taken our baby." I couldn't catch my breath as I realised I was having a full blown panic attack. I pushed Sweet Pea away softly so I could look at him and make sure that he was there and that he was alive.
"Who baby? What are you talking about?" Sweet Pea asked and it was then I realised I hadn't actually told anyone about my visit from three weeks ago. I had been having nightmares every night since, the same reoccurring nightmare of them taking my baby and killing Sweet Pea. The nightmares felt so real but I was terrified to say anything because I didn't want anyone to be mad at me for anything. Taking a deep breath in I tried to steady my breathing before looking back up at Sweet Pea and speaking.
"My parents." Confusion was written all over Sweet Pea's face but he grabbed me a bottle of water and waited until I was stable enough to tell him about my little visit.
"You're kidding me right? That son of a bitch!" Sweet Pea knocked a couple of books off of the small table we had out of anger before grabbing ahold of me and pulling me into a tight hug "Why didn't you tell me about this sooner?"
"I was afraid that you'd regret loving me. I was afraid that you'd leave me. I know I'm already a handful and that I act on instinct and emotions before anything, I've almost killed our baby twice now. I thought you would hate me for my mother visiting. I thought maybe you'd change your mind about me." I rambled off to Sweet Pea as I struggled to catch my breath once more, he handed me the bottle of water as I finished it off before looking back up at him.
"Dani none of us are perfect, I know I'm far from it but you're perfect to me. You are not your parents, hell you're the exact opposite. I want to be there to protect you, to hold you, to comfort you for the rest of our lives. I wouldn't have asked you to marry me if I didn't want to spend every second of my life with you. You're my world, if you ever need reminding just look at the ring around your neck." Sweet Pea softly undid my necklace where my ring was sitting due to my swollen pregnancy fingers and showed it to me.
"You're everything to me Sweets, I'm just scared I do more harm than good when I'm around you. The only family I've ever known were murdered by the people who were responsible for creating me, we don't even know if Fangs is my biological brother yet because we're still waiting on the test results to come back. What if the only family of mine who are alive are murderers?" I looked down as tears fell out of my eyes, I was surprised I even had any left after the past week of non-stop crying.
"You're not a monster. You're not evil. You may have been created by two terrible human beings but you were raised by two extraordinary ones. Yeah we don't know if Fangs is your biological brother yet but either way that doesn't change the fact that he's your family, we're all your family. You're the love of my life Danica and I won't let anything change that. You can fight me, yell at me, blame me for everything wrong in your life but I'm not ever going anywhere because you're it for me. You're all I've ever wanted." Sweet Pea leant in and kissed me softly on the lips, it was short and it was sweet but it was exactly what I needed to ground me after my panic attack.
"You're it for me too Sweets." I rested my head on his chest as we both lay back down on our air mattress, we lay there listening to the sounds around us and slowly drifting off to sleep. For the first time since the visit I seemed to actually sleep silently and it was all because of Sweet Pea.
---
"How in the world did Mila and Malachi even get into Tent-City?" FP ran his fingers through his hair as he was processing the information Sweet Pea and I had just given him.
"I have no idea, when you dropped me off from work they were already in my tent." I answered as I played with my fingers anxiously.
"We need to up security around here, build some fences, have one entry and one exit. There's no way we're letting this happen again." Jughead replied, he looked over at his father for advice but all FP did was nod at his son's decision.
"I'll help. There's no way I'm going to sit back and wait for these fences to build themselves whilst my fiancé is still in danger." Sweet Pea spoke protectively as his arms went around me instinctively.
"We can't leave Dani by herself anymore, at all, not until we take the Ghoulies down." Fangs spoke and for once I didn't object to having a somewhat bodyguard. After the visit I felt more helpless than ever, I wasn't going to pass up the opportunity to have that extra protection around me in case my mother decided to visit again.
Everyone's attention turned to the trailer door, we were all on edge as Sweet Pea swept me behind him protectively, Fangs standing next to Sweet Pea when in walked Betty looking as cheerful as ever.
"Good morning Jug-" She stopped as she saw everyone standing on guard. "Wow okay calm down it's just me." She raised her hands like a surrender before pulling the door closed. "What's going on here?"
Everyone instantly relaxed as I sat back down on the couch, FP and Jughead looked at me cautiously almost as if they were asking permission to tell Betty, I simply nodded my head knowing she was going to find out sooner or later.
"Dani and Fang's biological mother payed Dani a little visit along with Malachi three weeks ago. They threatened her and her baby, they said that they had come to kill Dani but now that she's pregnant they had other plans." Jughead spoke up as Betty came rushing over to me and hugging me tightly.
"Oh my gosh Dani I'm so sorry, I had no idea. Why didn't you say anything?" Betty asked cautiously as she held my hand out of sympathy.
"I was terrified that if I said anything they would come after me again, or after any of you guys. I was scared that you would all see me as a burden and just throw me out onto the streets, well more of the streets than we're currently living on anyway." I smiled softly not game to look at anyone's faces as I continued "I just went on with my life, working and visiting the doctors. I tried to pretend like it hadn't happened but every night I'd fall asleep and I'd have a nightmare of their visit or I'd have this nightmare of them taking my baby and killing Sweet Pea. It wasn't until I woke up screaming last night that I told Sweets what had happened."
"You know we could never think of you like that. You're our family. Mine more than anyone's now that we know we are actually biological siblings." Fangs bragged slightly making everyone laugh at his attempt at lightening the mood.
"Yeah yeah we get it Fangs she's your sister but she's my fiancé." Sweet Pea replied as him and Fangs playfully started fighting each other making everyone laugh even more, including myself.
"For real though Dani, we're all a family here, each and every one of us in this room right now is a Serpent. We protect one another and we look after one another. There's nothing that could happen that would change that." Jughead smiled as he pulled me up onto my feet and into a hug, everyone but Betty soon joining in.
"B you know you're a Serpent, get over here." I said as she smiled widely and joined the hug right alongside FP and Jughead. I stood standing in the middle of this group hug surrounded by the people who loved and cared for me the most, in that moment I felt protected and safe. I didn't think it would last long but being a Serpent you learn to appreciate moments more than praying for eternities.