It took a few weeks until the first rent of the apartment had been paid and the small family could move in. So, the first day Betty and Jughead were able to relax by lying on their new bed together, it was the beginning of April, and just a few days past Bea's two-month birthday. The little girl had started to make sounds and gurgle as an answer to Betty and Jughead's speaking. She still hadn't slept peacefully through the entire night, and the two grownups were exhausted. They tried to move, clean the house, pack, unpack, and keep the baby entertained, all at the same time. Even now, Bea was in between them on the bed, and the two were excited and happy to found that she was able to lift her shoulders while on her tummy.
"She looks so much like you," Betty murmured to Jughead, not exactly in a cuddling position, but her head was placed on his biceps and his nose was in her hair, leaving them satisfied, lying in a weird V-position in the bed.
"How so?" the guy asked, amused.
"I don't know... The eyes are still brown sometimes, but they're yours. And her ears are the same as yours. The hair probably too."
Jughead smiled proudly, looking at his daughter between them, living her own life. Even though neither he or Betty had been part of the pregnancy or had gotten to see how she was born, both of them felt weirdly attached to the kid. They loved her unconditionally, after only two months of being together.
"Maybe she ends up having blond hair," he said. "I mean babies change the color in like month five, right?"
"Yeah, maybe... Even though I think it would be adorable for it to turn black like yours. With these curls." She touched the baby's hair with her fingertips and Jughead turned the little girl to sit up against his stomach so that she could see both of them.
"Hey, sweetie," Betty said when the little girl held her eyes on the woman's face. "Are you tired yet?" As it had happened lately, she got a quiet short cooing response, making Betty nod like she had understood something. "Well, then why don't we go take a nap?"
"I'm pretty sure she told you to shut up and mind your own business," Jughead said thoughtfully, making Betty giggle while rolling her eyes. At her happy face, Bea smiled as well, gurgling again. Betty smiled and leaned over to her, giving her a kiss on her forehead.
"You're so cute," she whispered and planted a few more kisses on her cheeks.
"What about me?" Jughead pouted with a frown, obviously acting.
"Aw, you're cute too," Betty said with the same baby voice and kissed his forehead with a grin on her face.
"That's it?" Jughead chuckled. "A kiss on a forehead?"
"That's what she gets when she's adorable," the blonde teased.
"Obviously, if she drools. Do I?" Just as Betty giggled, he kissed her with a smile and afterward nodded, a satisfied look on his face. "Thank you."
"Hey, baby," Jughead smiled when he entered the kitchen and placed the grocery bags on the tiled kitchen floor.
"Hey," Betty smiled, a bit of nervousness lingering in her eyes, and kissed him back when he leaned in. "Got everything?"
"Yep." He leaned over to Beatrix who was seated in her seat on the table, watching the two interact. "Hey, Bea. When did you wake up again?"
"She was hungry, I think," Betty sighed, shaking her head with a teasing smile. "You gotta watch your genes, Jones. I'm gonna run out of money with you two."
"Aw, well that's why I want to marry a rich woman you see," he teased the same way. "I need someone to keep my stomach filled."
Betty giggled and cupped his neck while kissing him. Both of them knew she was still kind of famous from her YouTube days and had thousands of followers on Instagram, but they also knew most of her funds had gone on college, apartments, and traveling. This didn't necessarily mean she didn't have money now, but it also didn't mean she was very rich.
"Oh yeah, I didn't find a good pack of coffee in the store, so I have to go get it from another one."
Betty sighed at that but nodded. "Okay."
He looked at how she started putting the groceries away and started doing the same, handing her things from the bags while she fitted them all in the fridge. "You okay, Betts? You seem kind of... stressed."
"I am."
"Okay or stressed?" he frowned, trying to make sense out of what she was saying.
"Really anxious," she mumbled, not making eye contact with him. "I'm scared to tell them. What if they'll be mad? My dad shut up when I told him we're moving in together, and since I couldn't see his face through the phone, I don't know how she feels about this."
"Alright," Jughead said calmly and carefully closed the door of their fridge, leaning on it and placing his hands on her shoulders. She took a deep breath with him, looking helpless and scared.
He knew how to handle these situations. In college, Betty had been struggling, and when her boyfriend left her, she was in the worst state Jughead had seen her since her sister's death. He had accompanied her to a few therapy sessions so that she wouldn't have to go alone, and looking back to it, he was happy that he now knew how to deal with her in moods like this.
"Your whole family is coming, baby. I thought you were excited."
"I am. I haven't seen Theo and Jimmy and Hugo in ages. Or my parents for that matter. Just... I don't know how to tell them, Jug. If my dad had that kind of reaction over us moving in together, then what is he going to say if we want to get married?"
"Don't worry about that," the guy said softly. "Did you see your dad's face? No. Is it possible that he just smiled for five minutes during the silence? Yes." Betty giggled at that and he smiled lovingly. "It's okay, Betts. I'm gonna be here with you. I'll tell them if you want."
"Yeah," she said with a breathy voice, nodding.
"Alright. I'll put things away and start making a meal. Go take a nap or a bath or something that relaxes you, okay? You look tired."
Betty smiled a bit and wrapped her arms around his torso. He melted into the hug and held her tightly in his safe arms. "Thank you," she whispered. "I love you."
"I love you, too." He kissed her temple and pulled away a bit, looking into her emerald eyes without letting go. "Need me to do something for the dessert?"
"No, I'll be back by then. A bath sounds nice, but I'll probably fall asleep, so I'll put an alarm to get up and take a shower afterward." Jughead chuckled at her and she kissed his lips softly before letting go. "Thank you."
Nodding warmly to her, he looked at how she walked down the short hallway and into the bathroom. Sighing to himself with a small smile, he checked on their baby and raised his eyebrows, seeing she had her fist in her mouth. "Mine doesn't fit," he told her casually and kept placing the groceries to their right places.
When Betty emerged from their room an hour and a half later, she looked much happier even though her eyes still looked tired. "Hey sleepyhead," Jughead said with a soft smile. She had fallen asleep earlier while waiting for the bath to fill and he had drained it again a few minutes later, laughing to himself.
"I'm sorry," she mumbled with an adorable smile, wrapping her arms around him in a hug. "Thank you." He yawned at her sleepy voice, earning a worried look. "Are you tired? I feel like a jerk for sleeping so long."
"I'm okay," he said and kissed her forehead before letting go. "You've been looking over Bea for a few days, you deserve the break."
"Speaking of... How was your meeting today? I never asked."
"It was nice. Boring as always, but I got a few topics to write about, and they talked about that a lot, so kinda interesting."
Betty smiled softly while starting to take her cake ingredients out of the fridge. "What do you have to write about this time?"
He explained the topics for a while and it turned into a conversation between the two, expressing their thoughts and feelings. Jughead ended up writing most of what she said down, just because her point of view was different from what he had ever imagined and would help him a lot while writing the article.
Nate was the first one to arrive. He had a huge grin on his face when hugging the two, over the moon by the fact that his twin sister lived with his best friend, and that the two were back in a relationship. "I have been waiting for this for years," he stated calmly but seemed to be dying from the inside.
"Oh, we know," Jughead grinned, leaning against a wall, arms crossed.
"This place is beautiful," he breathed when he had taken off his shoes and jacket. Betty smiled when Jughead planted a kiss to her cheek while her brother wasn't watching.
"Bea's asleep in our room, so don't go there right now. It's better if she stays asleep for a few hours," Betty said and Nate nodded in agreement, disappearing into the guest room and the balcony.
"You think we should tell him before?" Betty asked in a hushed tone when she and Jughead were back in the opened kitchen area.
"No," he shook his head with a smirk. "If everyone else is gonna be quiet or shocked, at least he will scream and be happy. That will make me feel better when your dad glares at me."
Betty giggled at him and kissed his lips when she heard the balcony door closing again. When Nate came back to them, Betty was sitting on one of the chairs around the table that was usually small but had been opened earlier to fit their huge family. He eyed Jughead who was finishing up the meal before turning to his sister. "I need to see that baby."
"You've seen her on pictures, Na," Betty smirked. "And you'll see her later. Let her sleep."
"I can entertain her if you're worried about having to look—"
"She's tired. She will keep us up at night if she's under-rested. Just sit."
"She's right, Nate," Jughead chuckled. "Really. It's exhausting when you can't sleep."
"Fine," he sighed and sat down next to Betty. "Tell me how you two came up with the amazing idea to get back together."
Both of them laughed quietly and Betty rolled her eyes while doing so. "You don't just get back together. He asked me out and I couldn't say no this time, so I went."
"You slept together on your second first date?" Nate arched his eyebrows.
"What? No," Betty frowned, having practiced that story so many times already that she herself was starting to believe this was how they had gotten back together. The doorbell rang and she smiled, getting up.
"What's that?" Ricky asked, pointing at one of the dishes Jughead had made. He was nineteen and studying at Brooklyn College as Betty had.
"Oh," the blonde smiled. "That's kind of lasagna, but with meatballs and a lot of cheese. It's like the best thing I've ever eaten."
The guy smirked while filling his plate, making Betty chuckle when she got up to check on the French chocolate cake in the oven. "You have chicken, meatballs, and everything else at one night?" she heard Jimmy asking Jughead. "Mom, you gotta take tips from Jughead."
They all laughed at Alice's narrowed eyes. "Do I now?"
"Yes. Sometimes all I get is chicken soup. Jug, please come make dinner sometime soon."
The guy chuckled. "Your mom's chicken soup is amazing. I love it."
"See? Thank you," Alice smiled.
"Fine, but still... Betty's a baker and you're a cook. That's so unfair. I wanna know how to do that."
"We usually just eat takeout," Jughead grinned and Betty nodded while sitting back down next to him. "Tonight's special, so enjoy it while it lasts."
"So, you usually eat pizza?" Hugo frowned.
"Or Chinese. Or Mexican. Or he just buys a bunch of chips," Betty explained.
"So why is tonight so special?" Charles questioned, his eyes fixed on his sister's face.
"Because you're all here?" she offered, holding her breath. She didn't want to tell them before dessert or before they had at least all met Beatrix (who was still asleep).
"Well..." Jughead started, exchanging a look with Betty. The girl met her father's happy face reluctantly, scared of his reaction. "We're getting married."
The apartment was in silence for a moment, before everybody jumped up, eyes wide, and Nate hugged Charles, shaking him from his shoulders, the oldest boy not understanding what was happening.
Surprisingly, her dad didn't stand at first, but smiled big and made brief eye contact with Betty before she was pulled into her brother's arms. So many questions followed, and when everyone started to calm down again, she finally had the chance to hug her dad again. "You're not mad?" she asked carefully.
"I knew about this before you did, honey," he chuckled. "Jughead asked me for permission."
Betty raised her eyebrows in shock and looked at Jughead who was hugging her mom at the moment, a smile on his face. Her heart jumped at the sigh and she wanted to cry when smiling to herself. "Really?" she breathed.
"Yeah. I didn't know if you knew or not when you called us about moving in together, so I didn't quite know what to say. I'm sorry if I made you nervous."
"I was terrified," she said, nodding.
Hal chuckled at her, not able to wipe the smile off his face. "So... Does that mean I'm a... Grandpa?"
Betty smiled softly at the expression in his eyes. "I guess so."
Just as on cue, the little girl started crying in their room. Everyone seemed to shut up excitedly as Betty and Jughead shared a look, nodding to each other. The guy went to the bedroom and came back with Bea in his arms when she had calmed down and the whole family was eating again.
"Let me guess," Betty said when Jughead had given the girl to Alice to hold. "She's hungry?"
"I think so," Jughead grinned, walking up to her in the kitchen. It wasn't a private spot and everybody could still see them, but they were a bit further away than before. Betty filled a bottle with milk and put it into the baby bottle heater or whatever it was called and then turned to face Jughead who was standing behind her.
She leaned against the counter with a small smile and met his eyes. "You asked my dad?" She spoke quietly so that her family wouldn't hear.
"I did," Jughead smiled sheepishly. "I know I had already asked you in the court, but... I just wanted real permission before giving you the ring and actually asking you. I wanted to do this right," he explained with a soft voice.
Betty smiled and cupped his face, thumbs caressing his cheeks for a moment before pressing her lips on his, only pulling apart when both Theo and Charles blew a whistle at them.