"Fresh whites coming in." Fred says. I giggle, sitting on Archies bed with an old shirt of his in hand. He looks around. "What, you changing it up in here a little bit?" He asks his son.

"I was studying at my desk, but it was cluttered with all this crap." Archie says.

Fred chuckles. "Who is this guy?" He holds up a picture of Archie from The Variety Show. "You remember that?"

"Barely, to be honest." I bite my lip at Archies response as he takes the shirt out of my hand, shoving it into the box.

"Are you feeling okay, son?" Fred asks, concerned.

Archie nods. "Yeah, Dad, I'm just..." He looks around. "Restless. It's weird being home, back in this room after all this time. I'm feeling kind of lost." He rambles on.

His dad hums. "Wanna talk about it?" He asks.

"Maybe after the SATs. I better keep studying." He says.

I stand up, picking up the laundry basket. "Thanks, Mr. Andrews." I smile.

"No problem, Emilia." He sighs. "Arch, make sure you and Em fix up Tori's side, I didn't really try to make it nice, just livable." He says before walking out.

The now red head sighs, leaning in his chair. I waltz over, sitting on his lap, facing him. "What's on your mind?" I hum, looking into his eyes.

He shrugs, wrapping his arms around my waist. "I don't know, I'm just, different." He mutters. "And I'm worried I'm going to lose everyone." He says under his breath. "Or that if I do anything the old me would've done, I'm gonna be on the run again."

I click my tongue. "Hey, dont worry." I say. "I'm not going anywhere, Arch. You're my best friend, my daughters other legal guardian, you're literally one of the most important things in my life."

He sighs. "I hate lying to her."

"To Ronnie?" I ask. He nods and I tilt my head to the side. "Then don't."

He stares at me for a second, trying to figure me out before shaking his head. "Let's change up Tori's corner." He says, a small smile on his lips. I let out a squeal as he stands up, making me wrap my legs around his waist. He laughs, letting us fall onto the bed. He tickles my sides and I let out a loud scream, laughing uncontrollably.

This was the most genuine moment from him since he came back.

He leans forwards, pausing the tickles. I breathe heavily, looking up at him. His lips find mine slowly, and I cut his face with my hands. Archie pulls away, a smile on his face before walking to Tori's "corner"

We put the crib in the actual corner, the pretty light pink sheets along with her stuffed elephant from Fred. We hang up a picture of her, Archie, Jughead, Jellybean, Gladys and I from when we went to Toledo. Along with a pregnancy picture of me and some pictures when she was little from Mel and Sam.

There's a picture of Fred holding Tori, probably my favorite. She's wrapped in a red blanket, wrapping her hand around her finger as he sits in a rocking chair, smiling down at her. We put a small dresser by her crib, holding the clothes and other necessities she keeps here. The diaper bag close by as well as a picture when she was first born and I was holding her, crying. Not my best picture, but it was beautiful.

Then, I'm oh so blessed with a phone call. Archie wraps his arms around me, shoving his face in my neck as I answer. "Yes, Juggy?" I ask, giggling as Archie lays small kisses on my neck.

"We found out who the Gargoyle King is." He says. "Meet us at Dilton's bunker."

My eyes widen as I hang up. "They found the King, I have to go." I say, rushing to grab my purse and my serpent jacket.

"Do you want me to come with you?" He asks.

I shake my head, pecking his lips. "No, but I'll see you tomorrow okay?" He sighs, nodding.

I rush in as I see FP punch someone. "We all thought you were dead, Tall Boy."

I shake my head. "Woah, woah, woah, Tall Boy?"

The former serpent turns around, smirking. "Well if it isn't little Northside Princess."

I look up, seeing Sweet Pea. "You're supposed to be with Tori!" I scold

"She's with Toni and Cheryl." He shrugs off. I scoff, hitting Tall Boy instead of Pea. It makes me feel slightly better.

FP takes off his jacket. "Where you been hiding?" He asks his old best friend.

Tall Boy spits out blood. "A small town called Athens." I huff, and Sweet Pea pulls me back. "Gotta say, it's good to be back." He chuckles. "And Alice Cooper, she was looking extra sweet the night me and my boys broke into her house and scared the crap out of her and her bitch daughter." He growls. "That was fun."

Suddenly, Jughead punches him and Tall Boy only laughs. "All right, lets cut to the chase." Jug breathes. "We know you're working for Hiram. You've been dressing up in that little costume, like his mascot."

I smile, standing next to my best friend. "So now you are going to help us take him down." I chirp.

"You know what else was fun?" He looks ya dead in the eyes. "Carving that symbol into Joaquin's forehead after I killed him-"

Sweet Pea and Fangs fling themselves forward. "You're dead!" Sweet Pea shouts.

"You son of a bitch!" FP and Jug hold them back as I glare at Tall Boy. "What?" Fangs cries. "He killed Joaquin!"

I turn around, Jughead and FP holding them in place. "What do you think, Tall Boy?" I hum. "Should Juggy-pie let them tear you limb from limb?" I stand behind him, squatting close to his ear. "Or are you gonna help us get to Hiram?"

He looks up at me. "Now why would I help you go after your own father?" He growls back loud enough so only I could hear. I take his chin in my hand, he lets out a loud groan as I make him look up at me.

"I may be his daughter, but nobody touches my friends without getting payback. So help us or you better fucking pray to god I don't break every bone in my body and put my heel through your eye." I growl. "I know you have access to him." I add.

He looks at me, then Jug, "The Man in Black would never agree to meet with me." He says to Jughead. "Not unless I have something that he really wants."

I bite my lip. "What about me and Tori?"

"Emmy, no!" Sweet Pea protests.

"He already has you." He growls. "He has your attention, doesn't he?"

Jughead and I make eye contact, sighing.

"Usual meeting place. Nine o'clock." Tall Boy says.

I look at Archie, wrapping my arms around him. "You're so strong, Arch. You shouldn't have to do this." I whisper. He sighs, rubbing my back.

Then, I realize something.

He didn't know about Hiram being my father.

I suck in a breath, Jug and FP realizing what I realized. I grip Archies wrist, pulling him out of the bunker. "Em, are you okay?" He asks, confused.

"I have to tell you something. You need to know because if we ever continue this, it's going to be different." I say.

"You're scaring me, Emmy." He says, putting his hands in his pockets. My hands shake as I think about the different ways this could go.

He could run away again.

He could "break up" with me.

He could metaphorically kill himself for having feelings for two Lodges.

Though Harchie is the best ship I've yet to see in town.

Or he could for once not care and still love me.

Ha, funny.

I bite my lip, picking at my nails. "You know the story I told you? About Kimberly Smith?"

Archie furrows his brows. "Yeah, she was Hiram's mistress for a while until she died when she was 20." He summarizes.

I grip his hands, looking up at him. "Kimmy didn't die when she was twenty. She actually died about 17 years ago, she was pregnant, with me." I say quietly. "I'm Hiram and Kimmys daughter." I whisper.

Archies hands slip out of mine as he stumbles backwards. "No. It can't be. You're a Blossom, you have the red hair and all-"

"Alice and Kimmys grandmother had red hair," I tell him. "I didn't know, Arch-"

"Is that why he's so obsessed with you? Because you're his daughter? Because Victoria is his granddaughter?" He shouts. "Goddammit, Em!" He kicks a nearby tree, letting out a yell. "I'm not doing this again! I'm not going to go through hell for you just because of this stupid cocaine love story!" He screams.

"Archie, please," I beg, my eyes beginning to water.

"No, Em. You lied to me. Don't you get it? The minute I signed the papers to be Tori's legal guardian I basically signed my death certificate." He snarls. He runs his hand through his hair, panting. "Look, you and I, are through. No more of this stupid sneaking around and trying to play house. It's over. I'll have Tori on the normal schedule, and I'll give her to Pea every other weekend, but besides when we have to talk about her, don't ever speak to me again." He says coldly.

And then he hops into the bunker.

My heart shatters, watching my best friend walk away from me. Why did it have to be like this?

I wipe a tear, sending a text to Jughead I was heading home for a while, walking out of Fox Forest.

Maybe I should just marry Hot Dog.

SATs went by quickly. I was in a Math Class with Cheryl, Toni, Fangs, Josie, Reggie, and Sweet Pea while the others were in the History room. This was quite relieving, as I didn't have to really look to hard into speaking to Veronica about our shared blood.

I also could avoid Archie.

I feel a kick on my seat, and I turn around, Fangs giving me a sly smile. I return the smile, turning back to my test.

Only 6 pages left.

I look over to Josie, who's rapping her pencil to a beat, Sweet Pea next to her attempting to do a math question. Toni is on the fourth page, while Cheryl and Reggie are on the page before that. Suddenly, we all hear a loud bang, and see an angry Archie Andrews storming by. Toni looks back at me, and all I can do is shrug.

After about an hour and a half, I'm filling in my last bubble.

Standing up, I waltz to the front of my class, handing my teacher the test. "Thank you Em-" She's cut off by the phone ringing, she answers it. "Hello? Yes. She just finished her test. What? Yes. Okay. Thank you." She hangs up, sighing as she taps her fingers on the desk. "Your father is in the hospital, he's been shot." She tells me.

I raise a brow. "Hiram?" I ask quietly. She nods and I suck in a shaky breath, running out the door.

After picking up Tori, Hermione and Veronica stand just outside the hospital doors. Hermione turns around. "Emilia." She rushes over, hugging me tightly. "I'm so sorry that after just finding out this happens." She says softly, petting my red hair.

"Mom?" Veronica asks. "What do you mean by just finding out?"

Hermione looks between us. "Let's sit down." She says calmly. She leads us to the chairs, taking Tori out of her stroller and into her lap. "Your father, Veronica, has an affair with Alice Cooper's sister 17 years ago. Kimberly Smith. They were so in love, it was stupid I didn't see it, as it was the only time he ever seemed to truly have emotions." She laughs to herself. "However, Kimberly was pregnant with a little girl, and died in a car accident."

"The baby was a miracle, basically growing and developing in the hospital, being nearly 6 months premature." Hermione turns to me. "She was adopted by the Blossoms, and her name is Emilia." She looks back at Veronica, who's eyes are wide in shock.

Veroncia opens and closes her mouth a few times. "So...I have a sister...and a niece?" Is all she can manage to say.

"It's new to me too, Vee." I say.

"But I think the three of us Lodge woman, as well as Victoria, can figure this out, and get through this hard time together." Hermione says. She holds both of our hands, and Veronica and I make eye contact.

This was going to be weird.

After a while, Hermione goes back
into the room, while V leans on my shoulder, Tori sleeping in the stroller. "I can't believe this." Veronica whispers. "We kissed."

I laugh, holding her hand. "Trust me, if I knew there was even a chance we'd be related I would not have done that." I smile. "Besides, I don't look anything like a Lodge, so you can't expect us to know." I add.

Suddenly we hear a voice.

"Excuse me, room 260. Lodge" We hear loud foot steps and Archie comes into view. "Ronnie." Veronica stands up, but I stay down, "I'm sorry I missed your calls."

"Where have you been?" She asks.

"I came as soon as I heard." He tells her, he looks into the room. "How is he?"

She looks up at him. "We don't know." She admits. "He just got out of surgery." She turns around, walking back towards me.

"What the hell happened?"

She slows down, facing the red head again. "He was shot," She begins, "sometime after you ran out of the SATs." I raise an eyebrow, she really thinks Archie could do this? He's not that dumb. Or smart.

Archie pauses whatever statement he's about to make. "Wait. You don't think that I-"

She shrugs. "Did you?"

"No." He says, shocked. "But the fact that you could even ask me that..." She doesn't say a thing, just crosses her arms. "It's over, isnt it?"

When Veronica still says nothing he nods. "Emmy, McCoy set up the meeting later tonight." Is all he says before walking out.

I sigh, Veronica walking over with tears eyes. "Hey," I sigh, wrapping my arms around her. "Reggie's gonna come over, okay? I'm gonna go stop by Peas and get the Tori thing figured out, and then get us some Pops." I tell her.

She nods, wiping a tear. "Thanks, Em. For everything." She says

I grip Tori's stroller, shaking my head. "Don't thank me."

I meet with Jug and head to the bunker after dropping of Tori at Freds, when we get in however, we hear crying. "Fangs? Sweet Pea?" I call out. I look down seeing a bloody Tall Boy. "Oh my god." My voice wavers in the air as Jughead rushes forward from behind me.

"What happened?" Jug asks his friends.

"Don't touch him." Sweet Pea snaps.

"What happened?" Jug shouts. He looks down seeing Tall Boy. He freezes as he looks up at me, my shoes just inches away from the body.

Fangs begins to stutter. "Tall Boy was just trying to escape! I-I dont know! It was an accident!" He cries.

"You gotta believe us!" Pea shouts. He looks at me with wide eyes before back at Jug. "What are we gonna do, Jug? Look at him!"

The two start rambling as Jug and I look at each other and at the body. "Shut up!" I shout.

"Let me think!" Jug scolds. Fangs and Pea quiet down and I walk over to them, wrapping them both in my arms. I shush them soothingly as Fangs sobs in my arms.

"I can't go to jail, man." Pea says. "I got T to take care of." He tells me, his voice shaky.

Suddenly Jughead looks at us. "We're gonna throw a party." I raise an eyebrow in confusion as Pea and Fangs share a look.

"Okay." Fangs whispers.

I walk over to Tall Boys body. "He should've died the first time around, would have saved us a lot of trouble."

Sweet Pea and I sit next to each other, Archie on the opposite couch as Mrs. McCoy sits in a chair between us. "So, you want to split custody with Mr. Andrews?" She says.

"Sweet Pea and I live together, so that is not a problem, but Archie is also a legal guardian of Tori, and wants to see her as well." I explain. Archie bounces his leg, not looking at us.

"Alright, so I believe having joint physical custody would work best for now, we can talk about legal in the future." McCoy says.

"What if he just stops being the legal guardian?" Pea asks, glaring at Archie.

Archie furrows his brows. "I'm the only guy here that can give Victoria a stable life."

"That's debatable." I mumble.

"We could organize that too." McCoy adds.

"No." Archie says. "Joint Physical is fine." He says.

Sweet Pea and I share a look, nodding. So, after lots of paper work the schedule is that Archie has Tori on Tuesday nights, and every other weekend. Aside from when Fred baby sits. And Pea and I have her the rest of the time.

Sweet Pea and I stand next to each other, Fangs also close by as they look around nervously. I bounce tori in my arms. "Probably not the smartest idea to bring a 6 month old to a party." I laugh. Sweet Pea doesn't reply, and I bite my lip as Jughead walks over.

Sweet Pea grabs Jug. "We're freaking out, Dude." He says.

"Hey, just keep it together, guys, okay?" Jughead tells them. "It was an accident. As far as anyone knows, Tall Boys been exiled. I exiled him." Sweet Pea goes to say something but is cut off. "Relax, okay, just grab a drink." He hands Fangs a can. "And party like your life depends on it." Jughead walks way and Sweet Pea sighs, wrapping his shoulder around me loosely.

I give him and odd stare. "What are you doing?"

He looks down. "Nothin."

"Serpents." Jughead calls out, who's now on the truck. "We have a lot to celebrate!" The crowd whoops. "We finally unmasked our foe, the Gargoyle King!" Sweet Pea cheers and takes a drink. "Hiram Lodge, the Man in Black, is down for the count!" I shift on my feet. "And tonight, we're welcoming back one of our own, Fangs Fogarty." We all cheer and I pat Fangs back.

Everyone begins to chant serpents, Victoria, who's in a serpent jacket, is held in Peas arms as he raises one of her small arms up, as if she's cheering with us. However, it doesn't last long when we hear sirens wailing. A cop car comes to a halt, and I step forward, making Pea stay put. Jughead hops off the car, coming to my side.

The cop keeps his head down as he walks toward, Sweet Pea holding Tori tightly. But then FP Jones looks up. "Dad?" Jughead asks, shocked.

"Sheriff Jones now, Boy." FP grins. He shoots a wink and I let out a sigh of relief. "Listen up! You're looking at the new law in Riverdale." The crowd cheers, and Jughead looks more confused than anyone. Sweet Pea hands Tori to Fangs, and wraps me in his arms, making me squeal.

Maybe life will be better after all.

_________________
i didn't feel like splitting it into three, but i totally could've!

i'm kinda mad at myself for this whole archie emmy parenting story line, but i think i can make it work.

and we had a few swemmy moments which i think we all missed

maybe they will overcome everything and be together again

or is he completely head over heals for josie who knows

BUT

if i really want to; should Emmy be Veronica Sawyer for the play in the musical episode instead of Josie? I think that would be very interesting! but it would depend on how the plot of that episode was to go of course soooo no promises!

maybe i can have some cheryl and emmy beef in the time of that episode if needed😱

also

in 3x11, hiram has a mistress (played by jelly ripa) and i was thinking of her being kimberly instead of whoever she is in the episode but like still being whoever? idk man i got so many ideas

okay okay that's all comment ideas you got and stuff i'll see ya later