Betty set her cutlery on "five o'clock" on her plate and sighed happily. She gazed at the man on the other side of the table who seemed like he was looking forward to some kind of summary about the dinner he had just cooked for her. Not only had he done an amazing job with the cooking, but Jughead had set the mood by lighting candles around the house and chosen some slow tempo music to play in the background. The young couple didn't go too many dates these days - despite already being married - but every now and then they took time to arrange something like this to break the structure of their hectic life.
"I have to say that I'm really impressed", Betty began talking, laying her hands on her round belly, rubbing it with a pleased smile on her face. "This has got to be the best meal you've ever cooked, Jughead."
"Well I'm happy to know that I've at least improved from cooking basic mac'n'cheese", Jughead chuckled, finishing his glass of wine.
"Hey, there's nothing wrong with your mac'n'cheese", Betty said, jumping to his food's defense. It wasn't special, she knew, but it had been one of the first things Jughead had ever prepared for her almost ten years ago when Alice had been admitted to a hospital and Betty had been too distracted to even realize that she was supposed to eat to keep her strength up, which was why it had a special place in her heart.
"Okay, so next time I'm cooking, it's gonna be mac'n'cheese then", he teased, getting up from his chair and then collecting the plates.
"No matter the food; as long as it's made with love, it's all good", Betty replied. Jughead walked past her, giving her forehead a kiss before he took the plates away. "Thanks for this, Jughead. I really needed it. I know you must be tired after work, yet you still took the time to make this happen..." Her gaze lingered on the man by the sink.
"Anything to my two favorite people", Jughead said, rinsing the dishes under a running water. "How have you been feeling today, by the way?" he chatted.
"I've been good, thanks. The baby's been moving a lot", Betty told him. Almost as if as an instinct, she looked down. "I know it can be hard to believe - since the belly is so big now - but at times I keep forgetting I'm pregnant while I'm working. I can be so focused that everything physical just sort of... disappears. It's not until I feel the little feet drumming against my ribs that I remember that I'm never really alone."
"Wish I could cut down some hours and spend more time with you guys..." Jughead spoke after listening to Betty tell about her day. "But I know we're going to need that money when the baby comes, and then I'll be thankful that I chose to do the things I did, even if it made me exhausted", he said as he cleared the rest of the things from the table.
"I don't like you working so much if all it does is make you tired." Betty worried a little bit over her husband. "It makes me feel like I should do more to make things more equal."
"Oh, don't you dare", Jughead interrupted her before she could come up with some kind of excuse to demand more from herself. "You're already working as it is - and besides, you're not only taking care of yourself now, but you're taking care of our baby too. Trust me, you're doing more than enough."
"Fine", Betty said as she stood up. "Well at least let me help you a little bit." She went around the room, blowing out the candles, as she wanted to help Jughead clean up. Even if she was pregnant, she was still capable of doing things just as long as she kept her and the baby's safety in mind. Betty knew she could be stubborn, but the pregnancy had changed the way she thought of herself; she wasn't just thinking about herself now, she was thinking about the life growing inside her too. "I think I'm going to head to the shower. Are you sure you'll be able to handle the dishes?"
"I promised you that I would take care of the food and the dishes tonight. I'll let you do all of this some other time this week so you don't have to feel guilty about it. Go to shower, I'll be fine", Jughead said. After Betty was assured by him, she walked over to give him a kiss before she went to the bathroom.
After getting undressed, Betty got into the tub and pulled the shower curtain to cover the rest of the bathroom from the water that would soon shoot out from the shower head.
She first adjusted the water temperature and pressure, then letting the water splash all over her as she guided the streams over her naked body with tender caresses as she got to know her body a little bit better every week. Her figure was constantly changing, and as someone who had been very physical all of her life, it had been hard to come to terms with the fact that she could no longer do everything she had been able to do in the past. Bending over and putting her shoes on was a struggle these days, not to mention finding the right size of clothes. If she dropped a pen while editing an article at the Register, she had had to figure out a way to pick it up without planting on her face and if she wanted to sit behind a steering wheel in her car, the seat had to be adjusted to fit both her and the belly.
Like she had mentioned to Jughead after their dinner, it was hard to believe this body was still hers. She had known it was bound to change over these nine months, but she had no idea just how drastically it would happen. Of course she had seen Polly over the course of her pregnancy and heard her complaints about swollen ankles and a sore back, but somehow she had never really thought that that person would someday be her, even if she had always planned to have kids.
But it was one thing to plan it than to live through it.
After soaking herself under the shower for a while, Betty heard Jughead enter the bathroom. She figured he would just come to brush his teeth or something, but instead Betty heard him unbuckle his belt and eventually put his clothes in the laundry basket.
"What are you doing...?" Betty asked, tilting her head back so the sound of the water wouldn't drown the answer.
But before she could get a reply, Jughead opened the curtain and got into the tub as well. "What do you think I'm doing?" he replied, smiling from ear to ear.
They did have showers together every now and then, and it wasn't something Betty usually minded, but now that she was still adjusting to this new situation with her body and trying to get comfortable with the way she looked, she had not been so keen on asking Jughead to join her.
"Hmm, the water feels nice", Jughead commented as he was helping Betty rinse the shampoo that was slowly draining down her back.
Betty covered herself, almost like making herself as small as she could. She herself realized it was strange, because since getting intimate with Jughead years ago, she had never felt this shy about her own body. Since the first time, it had become very clear to Betty that Jughead would not care about the parts she called "imperfections" and they were all in her head, but now that her body was almost like a new one, she had to go through that awkward phase again. In a way this wasn't the body Jughead had become accustomed to in the first place. It was one thing to see her body covered with layers of clothing than to see it naked.
"Do you want me to soap you up?" Jughead asked, already reaching out for Betty's bottle of shower gel from the shelf. He sounded like he was more than happy to do it, but Betty was quick to stop him.
"No, it's fine. I can do it", she said, turning around and gently removing the bottle from his hand. "Thanks, though."
Jughead looked a little abashed as this was usually something Betty enjoyed very much, so it didn't take long for him to realize something was off.
"What's going on? Did I do something?" he asked, figuring he would just cut to the chase.
If Jughead had learned anything now that they were finally living together, it was that it helped to just ask directly if something made his scratch his head instead of trying to guess what was going on. That way the situation could be resolved as quickly as possible and there wasn't going to be any weird tension in the air.
"Nothing's going on. I just figured since you did all that with the food and the dishes... you deserve a break", Betty explained.
"Well yeah, maybe, but helping you with the soap is hardly a task", Jughead said as his smile turned into a grin again. "It's actually like a reward after a long day at work."
He leaned in to give Betty a kiss so he could subtly lead her on and then take over, but even though she did smile, Betty still didn't act like she was sold to the idea.
"Yeah, but still. I can do it."
"Okay..." Jughead said, but couldn't stay away. "But I guess I can still help a little. Four hands is always better than two, right?" He placed his hands on Betty's hips before he started rubbing them gently. It made Betty shiver and look anguished. Jughead noticed it quickly, resulting him pulling his hands away. "Betty... what's going on?"
Betty looked down, feeling already embarrassed, as if she knew what Jughead would think about her thoughts. But it didn't help just assuming that, she still felt strange about the changes in her body, the stretch marks that surrounded her swollen belly, knowing it wasn't one of the "good changes" people usually listed when they talked about the things they liked about their changing bodies during pregnancy.
"It's just... I don't want you to see me this way..." Betty finally admitted.
"What way?" Jughead asked, genuinely confused.
Betty was still looking down, afraid to face Jughead's compassionate eyes.
"All swollen and strange."
"What are you talking about?" Jughead sounded shocked, then trying to ease up a bit. "Maybe you are a little bigger, but that is to be expected, right? I mean, I'm not dumb, I know what's happening. I don't mind that, the thought that someone would even makes me shake my head. - And you're not strange to me. You're my Betty", he replied, hoping to touch her but keeping his hands to himself till he was sure she would be okay with it too. "I don't just love you in some phases of your life or when you're in a certain way. I love you all of you, all the time. I've been with you on this ride from the beginning and I would like to see it through with you. So, I hope you don't push me away and make yourself strange to me, because I prefer to know you and keep you close like this..."
Bet Jughead was having a hard time believing it could be true. "You're just saying that..."
"If I didn't mean what I just said and I wouldn't be interested in touching you, would I have offered to help with the soap?" Jughead asked, and Betty realized he had a point.
She looked at the shower gel in her hand and eventually handed it to Jughead as a gesture of trust. He took it with a gentle smile on his face and realized this was a big deal for Betty. Even if he could never understand the ins and outs of the pressures pregnancy could bring along, he was trying his best to support Betty throughout the whole thing and become a more understanding man for her and for other women in the world.
"Thank you", Jughead said, giving Betty a kiss. It helped her relax and she finally let her arms fall from over her chest so Jughead could begin.
"No - thank you for understanding", Betty replied, smiling as well.