Mariah Coleman stared into the man's eyes, her own eyes widened in shock, mouth agape. A small smile made it's way onto his face. "Hi baby," he said quietly. As the words left his mouth, Mariah's shock was quickly replaced with anger.

Patrick Coleman noticed her mood shift and took a step forward. Mariah's grip tightened on the door and she swiftly pushed it forward as she attempted to close it. Her father quickly slammed a hand against the door, stopping it before it could close.

"Come on, Mariah," he said. She glared fiercely at the man who stood in front of her. "What the hell are you doing here? How did you know we were here? How did you find us?" Mariah questioned coldly. "Watch your mouth when you talk to me. I'm still your father," Patrick said. Mariah scoffed out a humorless laugh.

"You are not my father. Not even close. You're the man whose sperm is the reason for my existence. You stopped being my father the day you left," Mariah said lowly. She willed herself to remain calm, finding it extremely hard.

"Mariah, I didn't come here to fight with you," he started. "Why did you come here then?" She snapped. He opened his mouth to answer before closing it. "You know what, I don't even care. Just get out," she said. Footsteps were heard behind Mariah and she turned her head.

"Mariah, what's going on?" Amara Coleman asked as she took small steps toward her daughter. Patrick tried to push the door open further, but Mariah kept a strong grip on it. Amara was stood beside her daughter now, eyes narrowed at the man in front of her. "Hello Amara," Patrick greeted.

Amara took another step forward, gently pushing her daughter away from the door. She pushed the door open further and looked at the man. Amara lifted her hand and slapped him across the face. Mariah's eyes widened. Patrick's head jolted to the side and he placed a hand onto his cheek.

He chuckled slightly, "I can't say I didn't deserve that." Amara glared at the man in disgust. "You deserve a lot more than that. How dare you? How dare you come here?" Amara snarled. "I came to see my daughter," Patrick stated. "After all these years. No calls. No texts. No nothing. And now you just decide that you want to see her?" Amara exclaimed.

"Amara, there are things that we should discuss. All of us," he said. "You need to leave, right now," the woman said. "Amara—" he tried but she cut him off. "No! Leave, right now! Before I call the police," Amara said angrily. "Mari, please," the man pleaded. "Don't call me that," Mariah snapped.

She took a step backward and away from the door, watching as her mother slammed it shut. Mariah released a slow breath, feeling her chest constrict. Unshed tears stung her eyes and she willed herself not to cry.

"I cannot believe the audacity of that man!" Amara exclaimed as she paced the living room. "I mean, what made him think that he could just show up here after three years of nothing?" She continued. "How did he even know where we lived?" Mariah asked the woman who shrugged, her expression incredulous.

"I don't know! I sure as hell didn't tell him. I don't even have his number. Assuming he has a phone," Amara rambled. "Well, do you have any idea who could've told him?" The blonde asked. Amara released a breath and thought for a moment. "No. Maybe he hired a private investigator or something," the woman said.

"Maybe it was grandma?" Mariah proposed but Amara immediately shook her head. "No, she would never do that," the older woman said. Mariah nodded and the room fell silent, both women deep in thought.

The silence was interrupted by the sound of a ringing phone. "That's your phone," Amara said. Mariah nodded and walked back into the kitchen, retrieving the device. She looked at the caller ID and saw that it was a call from Archie. She involuntarily smiled and pressed the green talk button.

"When you said you'd call me later, I didn't think it would be so soon," Mariah joked. "Mariah!" Archie's frantic voice was heard on the other end. He was breathing heavily and Mariah's smile fell from her face.

"Archie? What's wrong?" She asked, growing concerned. "M-my dad." He paused and Mariah could hear his breathing. "What about him? Archie, what happened?" Mariah asked. Amara had her attention on her daughter now, sensing that something was wrong.

"H-h-he got s-shot." He was crying. Mariah's eyes widened in shock. "What?" She questioned. "I-I didn't k-know what to do. It all h-happened so f-fast. Oh my God!" Archie rushed out. Mariah made eye contact with her mother, whose eyebrows were raised. "Are you at the hospital? I'm on my way," Mariah rushed.

"Yeah, Riverdale General," he gasped out. "All right, I'll be there as soon as I can, okay?" She asked him, rushing up to her room to get her shoes. "O-okay," he stuttered. Mariah hung up the phone. She grabbed a random pair of shoes and put them on before running back down the stairs.

"Mariah, what's going on?" Amara said, her car keys in hand. "Mr. Andrews is in the hospital. He got shot," Mariah rushed. "Oh my God," the older woman said. "Mom, we gotta go," the blonde rushed. The woman nodded and grabbed her purse.

The two quickly left the home and began the drive to the hospital.

····

When the two Colemans arrived at the hospital, Mariah began searching for Archie. As they quickly walked through the front doors and down the hallways, Mariah ran into Betty, quite literally. Betty grabbed onto Mariah's upper arms to steady her. Once she was steady, though, Betty didn't let go.

Neither girl said anything as they continued through the hospital corridors. Ms. Coleman fell into step with Alice and Hal Cooper. The two girls met up with Veronica who's eyes held fright before meeting up with Jughead.

Once they reached the waiting area, they saw Archie pacing back and forth. He was covered in blood and Mariah's breathing hitched. "Arch?" Veronica said softly. The boy stopped pacing and Mariah was able to get a good look at him. The sight of the boy in so much distress made her heart ache.

She quickly rushed forward and engulfed him in a hug, not caring if he got blood on her. He immediately wrapped his arms around her and held her tightly. Not long after, she felt multiple sets of arms wrap around her and she assumed that it was Betty, Veronica, and Jughead.

After they all pulled away from the hug, the group of friends sat down in the waiting room. Archie began to explain to them all what happened. " I came out of the bathroom and there was this man, thief, wearing this hood, with a gun on Pop Tate, and then he pointed it at my dad and he fired," Archie said.

He had a tight grip on one of Mariah's hands, and kept his eyes trained on their intertwined fingers. "Oh my God, Archie," Veronica whispered. "And then he..." Archie trailed off. Mariah's green eyes pierced into the side of his face. "And then he what?" She questioned softly.

"And then he bolted," he answered, loosening his hold on her hand but not letting go. "Then I was holding my dad, Pop Tate called an ambulance and it didn't come so I drove here and... and I don't know, maybe I should've waited, maybe I made it worse," he continued.

Jughead was quick to interject as he placed a hand on the redhead's back. "No, dude, are you kidding me? You saved your dad's life. First Mariah, and now your dad. If you keep this up, you're gonna need a superhero name. Like Pureheart the Powerful," the dark haired boy said.

"He's right, if you had waited, your dad probably wouldn't have made it," Mariah added. She then thought over her words and sighed. "That probably wasn't the best thing to say," she muttered. Archie gave her hand a small squeeze in response, a tiny, appreciative smile on his face.

"There isn't any new information. Your dad's in surgery. He's gonna be there for a while," Alice said as she, Amara, Hal, and Hermione walked over to the teens. "Archie, have you spoken to your mother about any of this yet?" Hermione asked as she squatted in front of him.

"No. No, I haven't called her. I'll be right back," he replied, releasing Mariah's hand, standing up and walking away. Mariah leaned back in her chair and closed her eyes. Alice then began accusing the Serpents for Fred's shooting. Mariah released a tired breath and looked up at the woman in annoyance.

She opened her mouth to respond but one look from her mother made her shut it again.

····

When Sheriff Keller arrived, Mariah let out a relieved breath. The five friends stood up as the sheriff approached. "Sheriff," the redhead said. "How's your dad doing?" Sheriff Keller asked Archie after taking off his hat. "He's still in surgery," Betty answered for him.

The man sighed, "Archie, I know this is a hell of a time for you, but perhaps we could go somewhere and talk about what happened." Jughead spoke up, "Is it cool if I tag along?" The sheriff went to interject but Archie interrupted him. "Yeah, that'd be great, Jug," the redhead said.

The three walked to another part of the hospital. Mariah sat back down and Veronica placed a hand on hers. "Today is officially the worst day of my life," Mariah said. "Yeah," Betty sighed. "You know, there are certain things no one does better than Veronica Lodge. Makeovers, party planning, dance-offs, dropping vintage bon mots as if they were bonbons," Veronica began and Betty chuckled.

"Conversely, there are things that I'm not good at. Grief, bedside vigils, comforting friends," she continued. "Yeah, me neither. And he's not only my friend, he's also my boyfriend and I don't know what to say without sounding like an idiot," Mariah muttered.

"Okay, well, that's the old Veronica talking. And Mariah, Archie would be losing his cool if it weren't for you being here," Betty said. "Archie doesn't have any cool to lose," Mariah said. Veronica smacked her arm and gave her a look. "You see what I mean?" The green eyed girl said. Veronica turned her attention back to Betty. "Old Veronica would've bolted by now. But new Veronica doesn't want to let any of her friends down," Veronica said.

"And you won't," Betty assured. She then turned her attention to Mariah who was fiddling with her fingers. "You know I've always wondered if you were anything like the old Veronica," she admitted. Mariah looked up at her with raised eyebrows. "You mean was I a bitch?" Mariah asked. Betty nodded, "And a bully."

"Bitch? Yes. Bully? No," she replied. "And I was only really a bitch to my friends," Mariah added. "I can attest to that," Veronica said, raising her hand. "Oh shut up," Mariah mumbled. Veronica's attention went behind the two blondes and they turned to see Archie and Jughead reentering the waiting room.

Mariah turned back around and faced Veronica and Betty. She was about to begin speaking but a loud voice spoke before she could. "Archie Andrews? I'm Steven Masters. I'm your father's doctor," a man said, walking over to Archie. The three girls, along with their parents, stood and slowly made their way over to them.

"How is he?" Archie questioned immediately. "Well, we got the bullet out. And we've stopped the internal bleeding. But what's most worrisome is, he's not breathing on his own yet," Dr. Masters said. "I need to see him," Archie said. "And you will. As soon as we've got him set in a room, you'll be able to sit with him. Should be an hour or two at the most," the doctor responded.

"And until then what am I supposed to do, nothing?" The boy asked. "Maybe. Maybe you should go home and get changed," Veronica suggested. "No, I'm not leaving," he said. "Veronica's right. You should go home, take a shower," Mariah said. "Here are your dad's clothes and personal belongings. Everything he had on him," the nurse, stood beside, Dr. Masters said.

"Okay, well, yet another reason to go. You can get your dad a change of clothes," Betty said. "Mariah will go with you," the blonde added. Mariah nodded her head quickly. "We'll hold the fort down here. Archie, try not to worry. Your dad is strong stock. He's a fighter. Fred Andrews isn't one to leave unfinished business behind," Alice said.

Archie nodded reluctantly and Mariah gently grabbed his arm, pulling him toward the exit. Amara Coleman stopped her daughter and pulled the girl next to her. "Take care of him, all right?" She said. Mariah nodded her head and Amara released her arm.

Archie and Mariah walked to the exit of the hospital and began their drive to Archie's home.

°°°°

Hello all! I hope you guys enjoyed this chapter. It's pretty much the same as when I originally posted it, so not too many differences. Please point out any grammatical mistakes that I may have made so that I can fix them. Do not, I repeat, DO NOT comment on this book telling me to update. I don't want to see, "please update" "update" "update plz" or anything like that. I've said so many times that it's annoying and RUDE. Because I have a life, I'm a freshman in college, and I'm extremely busy. Other than that, I hope you all enjoyed this chapter. Have a good day.