Archie and Callie helped their dad into the car as fast as possible, Callie sat in the passenger seat with her dad leaning on her, she was trying her best to stop the bleeding with her hand. Archie got on the driver's side and drove as fast as he can to outrace death. Their dad was groaning really bad.

"Hold on, Dad," Callie encouraged as she tried not to cry. " Hold on."

" Hold on, Dad. We're almost there," Archie added as their dad placed a bloody handprint on the window. " We're almost there. They're gonna fix you up. Stay with us dad, stay with us." When they got to the hospital both kids helped their dad inside.

"Help, please," Callie pleaded. " Help, hey! Someone help us and our dad."

" Gurney!" a nurse shouted rushing towards them with other staff members.

"What happened to him?" a doctor asked.

" He was...He was shot," Archie managed out.

" Sir, can you hear me?" a nurse asked as their dad was placed on the gurney. " Can you tell me your name?"

" His name's Fred Andrews," Callie answered. They started to roll him into the emergency room.

"He's not responding," the nurse said. " Massive blood loss, it looks... Let's go. He's in shock." Both kids tried to go past the door.

" Sir, Ma'am, I'm sorry, I need you to stay here," the doctor told them. They then stood behind the closed door as they watched the medical staff rush into a room, to try to save their father. Callie and Archie both looked at each other, before hugging each other in tears. Both covered in their father's blood.

*****

" Dad take the picture," Callie smiled. Her, Veronica, Archie, Betty, Jughead, and Reggie, all stood with each other in cap and gown. Their dad and mom stood across from them with a phone.

" The ceremony starts in the gym in ten minutes," their mom reminded him.

"Yeah, Dad, what's taking so long?" Archie asked.

" I..." their dad sighed. " Just can't believe we're here, Archie and Callie. We're at your graduation. I..." He begins to laugh. " I didn't think I'd live to see this very day."

"Yeah, except you didn't, Mr. A," Jughead reminded him.

"What?" Fred Andrews asked looking at him.

" You didn't live to see this day," Betty said.

" Don't you remember?" Reggie questioned.

" At Pop's?" Veronica questioned him. There was a bell sound. their dad looked to see the black hood guy look at him from outside, walking inside. 

"Everybody down!" Fred shouted as the man opened the door and the man fired his gun. The two went into the waiting room and made a call to some people. While later their friends showed up. They paced around the room as they waited.

"Arch? Cal?" a familiar voice asked. They looked over to see Betty, her parents, Veronica, her mom, Reggie, his mom, and Jughead.

"God," Veronica breathed as she hugged him, Reggie did the same to Callie. All the kids formed a comforting group hug. Afterward, they all sat down.

"This man entered a shop wearing this black hood," Callie began to explain.

" At pop's, he had a gun, he pointed it at Callie, then at our dad and he fired," Archie added.

" Oh, my God, Archie and Callie," Veronica breathed.

"And then he..." Callie began.

"And then he what?" Reggie asked. 

"And then he bolted," Callie answered.

"Then we were holding our dad, Pop Tate called an ambulance and it didn't come so we drove here and..."Archie added. " And I don't know, maybe we should've waited, maybe we made it worse..."

"No, dude, are you kidding me?" Jughead asked him as he placed a hand on Archie's back. " You two saved your dad's life. First Cheryl for Archie and now your dad for the both of you. If you keep this up Archie, you're gonna need a superhero name. Like Puerheart the Powerful."

" There isn't any information," Mrs.Cooper told them as she walked over with the other parents. " Your dad's in surgery. He's gonna be there for a while.

"Uh, Archie and Callie. Have you spoken to your mother about any of this yet?" Mrs. Lodge asked as she knelt down to him, Ms. Mantle did the same to Callie.

" No. No, we haven't called her," Callie answered.

" I'll call her," Archie volunteered as he got up.

" I'll go with," Callie said as she got up. " I want to talk to her as well." They say on the bench by the doors.

"Hey, Mom, how are you?" Archie asked as the mom the phone was answered. He had the volume up, so they could both hear her respond. " Good, yeah, good. We're, uh...we..."

" Actually, Mom, we're not, we're in trouble here," Callie sniffed. " Dad's in the hospital." They listened to her response. 

" It was a robbery, and, uh, he was shot," Archie told their mother.

" I don't know what's gonna happen, Mom, but I think you should come here as soon as you can, in case..." Callie pleaded with tears streaming down her face. " In case we have to say goodbye." They then went and rejoined their friends, and waited. They soon heard footsteps, looked up and saw Sheriff Keller walking in.

" Sheriff," Archie greeted as they all stood up.

"How's your dad doing?" Sheriff Keller asked.

"He's still in surgery," Betty answered.

" Archie and Callie, I know this is a hell of a time for you two, but...perhaps we can go somewhere and talk about what happened," Sheriff Keller said. 

"Is it cool if I tag along?" Jughead asked.

" Actually, if you don't mind.." Sheriff Keller began.

" Yeah, that'd be great, Jug," Archie cut him off.

" Maybe one of you should go," Mrs. Mantle suggested. " As one of you goes home and cleans up."

" I don't want to leave," Callie stated.

" You are covered in your father's blood, go get cleaned up," Mrs. Cooper advised her.

" I'll take her," Reggie volunteered as he placed a hand on his girlfriend's back. " We will not be too long." They left the place and drove in complete silence. After Callie freshened up, she sat at the kitchen table crying. Vegas had his head in her lap, trying to comfort her, as Reggie next to her.

" Am I going to have to put a bell on you or something?"  Reggie asked.

"What?" Callie asked she looked at him.

"In the past 48 hours or so, you have been kidnapped, had a gun pointed at you, and then the man shot your dad," Reggie explained.

"No," Callie denied. " Let's just get back to the hospital." When they got to the hospital, Archie explained to Callie that they got the bullet out of their dad, they have stopped the internal bleeding. Then Archie left with Veronica as Callie was the one to stay behind this time.

*******

Behind the hospital was Jughead meeting with a couple of Serpents, including Sweet Pea. 

"Was nervous when you said to meet you at the hospital," Tall guy admitted as he got off the bike.

" I was wondering about when you said the Serpents had my back. Does that courtesy extend to a guy and girl who's like my brother and sister, and a man who's like a second father to me?" Jughead asked.

"What do you need?" Tall guy asked.

" Fred Andrews, my buddy's dad, was just shot, during a robbery at Pop's," Jughead asked. " The guy was in a black hood."

" Serpents don't wear masks," a guy said. 

" Yeah, I get it," Jughead responded. " But some of those Serpents were working for Fred Andrews when, for reasons of his own, he decided to let them, go. Maybe someone took it personally and went rogue. You guys know every hidey-hole in town. Someone has to have heard something about what went down at Pop's."

"All right," Tall guy stated. " We'll knock some heads. Let you know." Tall guy gave him a playful slug in the chest before beginning to leave with the others.

"Jughead," Sweet Pea breathed walking over to him. " Does that northside girl think she can just not call me, does she think I'm not worth being friends with cause if-"

"Who are you talking about?" Jughead asked interrupting him.

" Callie," Sweet Pea responded. " I want to keep an eye on her, just in case she goes looking for trouble again."

" Sweet Pea, she's been kidnapped, and her dad has just been shot. The last time I saw her, Reggie Mantle was taking her home so she can get cleaned up from being covered in her dad's blood," Jughead explained.

"Reggie?" Sweet Pea asked.

"Her boyfriend," Jughead stated, with that Sweet Pea did not respond and walked away. Inside the hospital, Callie sat Reggie and greeted the vixens and bulldogs that all came by. Then she saw Cheryl walk in, she glanced back at Betty and Kevin. The three of them got up and followed Cheryl.

"Where are you going?" Reggie asked as he grabbed the back of her shirt.

" To talk to Cheryl," Callie answered, Reggie then let her go and she caught up with Betty and Kevin.

" Cheryl, what's going on?" Callie asked. " Is that your om? What happened?"

"Oh, haven't you heard?" Cheryl asked the three. " There was a terrible fire at Thornhill last night. I've might've perished if not for Mommy's heroics."

"Oh, my God, is this the apocalypse?" Kevin asked.

"After my ordeal at Sweetwater River, I was asleep when the fire started. They think it was a breeze knocking over a lit candle, catching the curtains. Mommy got home from the Jubilee and rushed headlong into the blaze, risking her life to save mine. Unfortunately, she suffered third-degree burns and acute smoke inhalation," Cheryl explained. " What are you three doing here?"

" My...uh...my dad got shot," Callie managed out. Cheryl's eyes grew wide.

"Is he alright?" Cheryl asked as she hugged Callie. " How? When?"

" The doctors say he is going into a room soon, I think he is going to be fine, hopefully. We were at Pop's when this guy is this black hood showed up, he tried to rib Pop Tate, pointed a gun at me, then pointed it at dad and shot him." Cheryl hugged Callie tighter and rubbed her back.