Amethyst Adams has been away for a while but when her pseudo father, Fred Andrews, gets shot in Pops' Diner, there's no better time to come back. Walking into the hospital with her Serpents' jacket and a Take No Shit attitude, she doesn't care about how many Northside heads she turns as long as she can protect her own.

AKA my "Riverdale denied me a Hard of Hearing/Ace character so I guess I have to do everything myself" spite fic, basically rewriting Riverdale from S02E01 onwards with more Southside, less bullshit, and actual character development
(currently sticking with all the canon ships and general plotlines just not at the expense of decent storytelling)

Warning: discussion of Ms. Grundy's relationship with Archie happens and she will be called a pedophile and it will be called rape. The writers may have avoided those words and tbh avoided actually talking about all that shit, but it's what happened and I'm not beating around that bush

The main character is asexual and hard of hearing -this is not a self insert or even all the same as my experiences, but I am writing as an asexual and hard of hearing person too- if you have problems with how I am writing any of it, feel free to talk to me, but know that I have some idea of what I'm talking about

(Cast Not Your Stone At The) Wayward Daughter

The Curious Incident

"Hold me closer, tiny dancer…"

Elton John broke through the silent room; Archie Andrews jolted up from where he was sitting in the hospital, jostling Betty and Veronica, who had surrounded him, and each grabbed a hand. Prying his hands away, he pulled out his ringing phone, answering it before his friends could read the name on his screen.

Quickly removing himself from the girls, he retrieved the ringing phone from his pocket, answering it before anyone could inquire about who was calling.

"Hell—"

"Come on, Red, call off your Bulldog!" interrupted a female voice, blearing in Archie's ear.

"Seriously Andrews, do you want these snakes gone?" another voice said over the phone—deeper and masculine. Reggie Mantle; Archie could recognize his voice anywhere. "Because the Bulldogs can take care of it."

Archie sighed. "Let her through, Reg," he said tiredly.

"Who was that?" Jughead asked from his seat beside Betty.

Archie didn't have time to answer before a small girl ran across the waiting room and into his arms. He stood up and caught her on instinct, barely registering the other short girl or the tall boy in leather jackets, or the entire Bulldogs team looking ready to fight. The girl pulled away after a few moments, giving Veronica a chance to seize her up.

Her jeans were ripped in the knees, the same black as her buckled ankle boots. Looking more closely, Veronica could see that the platformed lita heel must have been at least three inches, and that even with the boots, the girl was barely five feet tall. Her teal flannel was mostly covered by a leather jacket which, when she turned to talk to the two teens who had accompanied her, proudly showed off her Southside Serpent patch, which Veronica figured was a pretty solid explanation for the brown leather snake cuff on her right wrist, the snake tooth pendant dangling from a similar coloured cord around her neck, and the silver snake cuff on her left ear. While Veronica herself would never wear such a thing, the multiple piercings and red lips did a very good job of rounding off her Biker Chick Chic aesthetic.

While the Northsiders and Southsiders stared each other down, the girl had wrapped Archie in her arms and taken Veronica's seat, allowing Archie to collapse against her as he played with her dark brown ponytail.

"Are you sure you don't want us to clear out the vermin," Moose asked, still glaring daggers at the tallest- and only- boy in the trio.

"I'd like to see you try—" The boy stepped forward, hands clenched and ready to throw the first punch.

"Stand down, Sweet Pea," the pink haired girl told him, wrapping a hand around his bicep.

"Come on, Toni," he tried to insist.

"Down, Sweets," the shortest girl ordered from her seat. The boy, Sweet Pea, did as he was told, reluctance seeping through every pore.

As the tension, well, didn't quite dissolve, but became less urgent, everyone's attention seemed to turn back to Archie and the mystery girl.

"He was shot," Archie kept repeating, "we were just in Pops, and he was shot. Why would anyone want to shoot him?"

"I don't know, Red," the girl admitted, tightening her arms around him, "I don't know, but whoever it was is going to pay."

"I can't lose him, Ames, I can't."

"You won't," the girl vowed.

"So Archiekins," Veronica cut in, "care to introduce us?"

"Oh, right. So, Ames, these are-"

"The Prodigal Son, Girl Next Door, and… Holly Golightly?" She interrupted, nodding to Jughead, Betty, and Veronica respectively. "Then there's Mantle the Moronic, the Furry, and some other insignificant sets of muscle?" She added, looking to Reggie, Moose, and the rest of the bulldogs, "and oh, who could forget Joaquin's Prep," she finished, with a smile towards Kevin.

"It's Veronica, actually," Veronica corrected.

"Lodge, yes, I know. Isn't that what I said?"

"Play nice, Ames," Archie sighed fondly.

"Alright, fine. I'm Amy. Adams. These are Toni and Sweet Pea."

"And what are a bunch of Serpents doing at the hospital?" Jughead asked tersely.

"What were a bunch of Bulldogs doing at the Wyrm? Especially when someone knew full well that I wouldn't be there," Amy retorted, looking directly at Archie.

Ignoring her look, Archie tried to change the subject, "did Mom call you?"

"Of course she did. And it's a good thing, too! Could this place not even be bothered to give you a clean cast? And why are you even in a cast?" Not giving him a chance to answer, Amy flagged down a nurse. "My friend here needs a clean cast and an update on Fred Andrews," she demanded.

"I'll get a doctor for the cast, but we can only give updates to family," the nurse told her.

"Archie is his family. Check his files, we should be listed as his emergency contacts if his wife, Mary Andrews, is unavailable, and she is—" she checked her phone— "currently trying to book herself on the next plane here. So, if you could please do your job, that would be much appreciated," she added with a dismissive smile.

"Ames, I'm fine," Archie tried to insist.

"I hate to agree with her, but you're far from fine," Jughead cut in.

Thankfully any argument was stopped by a doctor joining the group, "I'm here for an Archie Andrews?"

Archie stood up, with Amy close behind. "Family only, Miss," the doctor told her.

"Well, Doctor- McCray?" She asked, reading his nametag. He nodded. "Alright. You see, Doctor McCray, his mother is currently in Chicago booking a flight and his father is presumably in the hospital somewhere- although he could have been checked out by now for all we've been told, so that makes me the closest thing he's got to family. And given that he's clearly got a lot on his mind right now, he won't be going anywhere alone. Now, where to?" Her smile was as fake as the one she gave the nurse, though this one was more threatening. She turned to Archie, allowing the doctor to see the serpent adorning her jacket, "don't think you're getting out of telling me why your hand is in a cast though." He grinned fondly for a moment before the doctor sighed.

"Very well, Miss. Come along." Amy followed instantly, wrapping a protective arm around Archie.

The remaining Serpents stood to the side, both typing rapidly while exchanging the occasional glance and ignoring the Northsiders.

"Do you know her, Juggie?" Betty asked immediately.

"We've met. Never ends well," he said.

"How does she know Andrews?" Reggie demanded.

"Or any of us, for that matter," Kevin added.

"You'd have to ask her, or Archie, I guess, about how she knows him. As for the rest of you? My guess is from the other Serpents. Probably Joaquin."

While Jughead tried to avoid the onslaught of questions, Archie and Amy were led into a separate room, where Archie's cast was removed and quickly replaced with a clean one.

"If you'll wait here, I'll send someone to update you on Fred Andrews," the doctor assured them.

As soon as they were alone, Amy rounded on Archie.

"Seriously, Archibald? Going to the Wyrm is bad enough but in your Varsity jacket? I mean, congrats on making varsity but seriously? And while you knew I was in rehab? What were you thinking?"

"Well, Amethyst—" Amy rolled her eyes— "I was thinking that someone trashed Dad's equipment and jumped Moose, and that it might have been the Serpents."

"Okay, the Moose thing I get- he and the Keller kid have some weird tension and Joaquin is possessive as they come, but the equipment? You know your family is untouchable to most Serpents! FP and I made sure of it!"

"I know," he told her softly, "but I had to do something."

"I know, Arch, I know. I shouldn't have yelled at you. I would have done the same thing. And the hand?"

"Punching through ice on Sweetwater River to save Cheryl Blossom from dying."

"Classic golden boy," she teased, "that's even less surprising. Although Cheryl-"

Archie grinned at her- a small, watery grin, but a grin nonetheless. "Cheryl is alright. I know she stayed with Ronnie for a couple of days before going back home but I think that finding out about her dad killing Jason, and then his suicide… it was just too much for her."

Amy nodded sympathetically. She might not know or care for the Blossom girl, but Archie did, and she was all too familiar with how hard it was to find your parent's body, no matter how much you hated them.

A doctor returned shortly, informing them that Fred was still in surgery but had made it through the worst of it. Amy watched as the weight seemed to leave Archie's shoulders, and led him carefully back to the group.

"He should be okay," Archie told them, sitting back down and slumping against Amy once again.

"It was a Serpent, I'm telling you," Reggie insisted, earning twin glares from Toni and Sweet Pea.

"The Andrews' are untouchable by Serpent law," Amy informed him coolly. "I will, however, find out if anyone knows something."

Archie watched her pull out her phone, typing quickly before copying the message and sending it to two more chats.

"Really, Doll? Were the threats really necessary?" Sweet Pea asked from his corner of the room.

"Always, Sweets, always!"

"Who did you message?" Archie asked.

"The teen Serpents group chat, the whole gang's chat, and my cheer squad. Told them what happened and that if any of them heard anything, to let me know."

"And some creative threats about what would happen to anyone who kept anything from her or was in any way involved," Toni reminded her.

"Not to mention delegating very specific tasks with strict time limits," Sweet Pea added.

"It's effective," the smaller girl argued.

Archie tuned out the conversation, falling into a daze until being roughly shaken awake.

"I love you, Red, but I think it's time you change into something less bloody," Amy told him gently.

"But my dad-"

"Will be fine while you shower and change. I'll stand guard in his room to make sure he's safe and doesn't wake up alone. Seeing you covered in blood would only stress him out. Holly Golightly-"

"I'll go with him, make sure he looks presentable before we return—" Veronica smiled. Apparently the two girls had come to some sort of truce while Archie was distracted. He allowed his girlfriend to guide him to the car, vaguely aware of Toni following them and grabbing a bag from a motorcycle seat.

Electing not to ask, Veronica led Archie to Smithers' waiting car.

"You and Amy haven't tried to kill each other yet?" Archie said, more of a question than a statement.

"I offered to finance her threats and she promised she wasn't trying to steal my boyfriend. And it turns out we like a lot of the same books and movies, so we talked about that for a while."

"You thought—" Archie laughed— "you thought Amy was into me?"

"Strange girl shows up out of nowhere, my boyfriend is all over her, she's dismissive towards all of his friends? Of course I thought so."

"I promise, Ronnie, Amy is not interested. Like, at all."

Back in the hospital, Amy had convinced a nurse to tell her which room was Fred's, and the rest of the teens followed her there. She pulled the chair out of its corner so that she could sit closer to Fred, typing quickly into her phone.

Almost immediately after she put her phone down, Sweet Pea pulled his out, nodding at her slightly and ducking out of the room.

"Hold on, did you just text him?" Jughead asked incredulously.

Amy rolled her eyes, ignoring his question entirely, and greeted Toni as she came back into the room and tossed Amy a black satchel, which she immediately strapped around her waist and right leg.

"Saw Sweet Pea on my way out- how did you convince him to leave you alone with this lot?"

Amy grinned, tossing the taller girl her phone, "I have my ways."

Toni smirked as she read, tossing the phone back after a moment, "so how long do you think you have til he texts Fangs to confirm your story?"

"Hopefully long enough for Fangs to be done at the Wyrm and to get over here—" Amy shrugged— "he's more likely to text sooner since he doesn't trust any of these preps, but he won't text if he thinks Fangs is still on his bike."

"You should thank FP for the lectures on safe driving," Toni said with a smirk.

"You know I will- and that's on Fangs' to do list before he gets here."

"You're sending someone to visit jail to thank my dad for making you drive safely?" Jughead asked, incredulous.

"No, I'm going to thank our king later when I go visit him, which I do every day. Fangs is going to fill FP in on what happened, see if he knows anyone who might want to hurt him by targeting Fred, and will probably make some joke about the safe driving lectures, because that's what we do. You might not get this, but we love your father. And speaking of loving your father—" Amy turned to look at the doorway, where Hal and Alice Cooper were standing, Hermione Lodge right behind them.

"I didn't know Fred had any Southside acquaintances who aren't in prison," Alice said, forgoing a greeting altogether.

"Come on Mrs. Cooper, you know that rehab and jail aren't the same thing," Amy taunted.

"Rehab?" Kevin mouthed to Betty, who shrugged.

"Audacious as ever, Amethyst," Alice replied, lips pursing as she finished speaking.

"Wait, you've… met?" Betty asked.

"We have," Amy told her curtly, turning back to her phone with no further explanation.

"You thought you could go free, but the system is done for-"

"Amy here," Amy greeted. Betty watched curiously- she was still typing away on her phone, and didn't have any headphones on, but she was definitely talking on her phone.

She watched as Amy fiddled with some sort of – was it a remote? – around her neck, listening to whoever was on the other end of the call.

"Dammit, he wasn't supposed to call yet," the girl complained. "You know what? Just tell him you're on your way-" she paused, having clearly been interrupted by the mystery speaker. "It's not technically a lie," she argued, "you are on your way! Come on, Fangs, he doesn't need to know that you just got there! Tell him you had pulled over when you saw the text but that you're on your way and you'll see him here. Please?"

She tilted her head, still typing as she listened, "yes, fine, whatever you want! Thanks, love you, see you!"

Toni, having apparently seen some secret cue, smirked at Amy, "what did he ask for this time?"

"Nothing appropriate for this company, that's for sure." Both girls smirked, turning simultaneously to their phones.

"Do you know how incredibly impolite it is to be texting while in a room with other people?" Alice asked, voice sharp.

"Oh, no, I had no idea," Amy said dryly, eyes still on her phone, "how am I ever supposed to survive knowing how terribly rude I'm being."

Toni snorted quietly while Alice rolled her eyes.

"So," Jughead started, hoping to avoid an Alice Cooper freak out, "Betty and I are going to go to Pop's, see if we can find anything, talk to Pop, maybe bring back some food."

They left before anyone had a chance to object, and Toni watched as Amy visibly relaxed.

"The rest of you can go too, you know. Toni and I have this covered til Red gets back," Amy offered.

"I'm not leaving when there's two snakes in here," Reggie growled.

"Chill, Reggie. I can't leave until my dad is done anyways, I'll stay with them," Kevin said.

Reggie paused, considering the offer. "Fine. If anything happens, it's on your head," he warned Amy, before the Bulldogs left.

"You can leave too," Amy told Alice and Hermione.

"Excuse me?" Alice demanded.

"Sorry, was I not clear? Leave." Alice gaped at her, before huffing loudly and storming out, Hal and Hermione following closely.

"Alright, good riddance," Amy smiled at Kevin, "so, Keller, you and Joaquin?"

Kevin smiled, "he was sweet and fun, and hot as hell, but I think it's good that it ended when it did."

"Not down with the covering up a murder thing?" Amy asked.

"Not down with the keeping it from me thing," he countered.

"Oh, yeah, that's fair. But 'hot as hell,' you said?" Toni smirked, watching the Northsider.

"Oh my god yes."

"God Toni, get to the point! How was the sex?"

Even as he turned red, Kevin's grin grew to match the girls'. "So good. His mouth is sinful," he sighed.

"If his kissing is anything to go by, damn you're a lucky son of a bitch," Amy agreed.

"You've kissed him?" Kevin asked, eyes wide.

"Of course I have. Last Saint Patrick's, I was wasted as can be, he drove me to his place to crash for the night, we made out a few times, kissed him in the morning to say thanks, and we've made out a few times since. Like you said, his mouth is sinful."

"Does he always do that jaw thing?" Kevin asked, not ready to question his gay ex-boyfriend having apparently, repeatedly, made out with his very female friend.

"Which one? The clenching his jaw thing or the hand on your jaw thing?"

"Well, both?" Kevin clarified.

"He does!"

"What are the jaw things?" Toni asked, the only person to have not made out with Joaquin multiple times.

"Well, you've seen the way he clenches his jaw, right?" Amy asked. Toni nodded, every Serpent knew that look. "Thought so. He does that right before he goes in for a kiss. The other one is basically just that when he kisses you he puts one hand on your jaw and the other in your hair – or maybe that's just because I have long hair, I dunno – to move your head however he wants. It's pretty domineering but like, pleasantly so?"

"The hair thing isn't just you," Kevin confirmed. "And it's not just with kissing."

"Damn, Keller!" Amy crowed.

"Sounds like I should have made out with him sometime," Toni chuckled.

"I'd have given my life to see that," Amy agreed, "maybe he'd finally let someone else take control."

"Think we can ever make that happen?" Kevin asked, matching Amy's smirk with one of his own.

"Oh absolutely, especially if the request comes from you." Kevin blushed at Toni's words, shaking his head slightly.

"Okay, so, anyways! Amy, what did you mean about rehab?" He asked suddenly.

"Tell you what- I'll tell you that whole mess if you fill me in on everything that's been going on in Riverdale, and with Archie, since July?"

"Deal."

Amy took a deep breath and started talking. "Okay so, the first thing you need to know is what I was mostly crashing in the basement of the Wyrm before the whole Jason Blossom thing—"

"—and yeah, I got back about a week ago and I've been crashing with Sweets since FP got arrested," she concluded, maybe fifteen minutes later.

"Not that she's actually crashed yet, or slept," a new voice countered.

The trio turned towards the door, and Amy beamed, "Fangs! Oh thank god you actually did get back before Sweets. And I can't afford to sleep, I need to get FP out of prison!"

Fangs laughed, "of course, babe, of course. Oh, and who's this?" He asked, giving Kevin a thorough onceover.

"Kevin Keller, Joaquin's ex," Amy told him. "Kevin, this is Fangs Fogarty."

"Joaquin's always had good taste," Fangs told Kevin, "so, did I miss the whole tragic backstory?"

Amy rolled her eyes, "I'd hardly call it tragic, and you already know it all. I agreed to tell him about the whole rehab stint if he filled me in on all the Northside shit I've missed."

"I didn't miss that, did I?"

"Just in time," Toni assured him.

"Technically it started on the Fourth of July, but really it started with Clifford Blossom telling Jason the truth about the family business—"

It was close to an hour later, and Kevin had just finished telling them about Clifford's suicide, when the door opened again. Archie walked into the room, sinking into the chair next to Amy's.

"Ronnie's gone to get coffee," he told them, "any updates on dad?"

"He was under some pretty heavy anesthesia for the surgery, so he probably won't wake up for a while still, but he's safely through the worst of it and as long as he follows their instructions, his recovery should be smooth," Amy recited.

Archie nodded, quiet, and sunk further into his chair. A moment later, the door opened again, and Sweet Pea entered. He didn't say anything, simply pulled out his phone and started to type. As he put his phone away, Fangs pulled his out and nodded at Sweet Pea.

"So, Arch," Amy started softly, Jennifer Gibson?"

"How did you-"

"I know everything, Arch. But seriously, what she did to you wasn't okay—" Archie opened his mouth, but Amy cut him off, "No, Red. I know what you're going to say; you love her, you wanted it, it was fine. But it wasn't. You're fifteen, Red. Legally, you're too young to consent, legally, she raped you."

"No one's called it rape before," he confessed.

Amy grabbed his hand tightly in hers, looking over her shoulder, "Sweets, put out a hit for me, will ya? I want her head on a pike."

"Ames, no," Archie pleaded, wrapping his other hand around hers. "Please. Just… can we pretend this never happened?"

Amy sighed, "alright, no hit. I don't know if we can pretend it never happened, but I can leave it for now?" Archie nodded slightly, knowing that that was the best he could get from her.

"I've got coffee," Veronica called out, pushing the door open with her hip, holding two full trays of coffee. Amy moved to help her, but saw that Kevin had already grabbed one of the trays, and was passing them around. She accepted the black coffee that he handed her, taking a long sip and immediately wincing as it burned her throat.

"So where did B and Jughead get to?" Veronica asked, looking around the room.

"They went to Pops, supposedly to look for anything that the police might've missed and to get food, but I'm pretty sure they were just running away from an Alice Cooper Nuclear Blowout, trademark pending."

They all laughed, sitting in peaceful silence until Betty and Jughead returned with food. As soon as they walked through the door, the atmosphere, and Amy herself, got significantly more tense.

Jughead didn't offer her any food, and Amy didn't ask, but Betty handed everyone a cheeseburger and she stole some fries from Archie, so she figured it wasn't worth starting a fight over. Instead, she took another long gulp of -now lukewarm- coffee, and grabbed another fry.

After a while, Archie broke the silence that had settled over the room. *"Guys, there's something I haven't told you, cause I'm so- I'm so ashamed. After the guy fired, I should've rushed to my dad straight away. Or I should've tackled the guy, but I was paralyzed. I didn't move, not even when the guy walked up to me, and he held his gun to my head. And I just closed my eyes, I don't know how long. Long enough for the guy to have taken my dad's wallet, I guess. But I didn't open them until I heard the bell – Pop's bell – which meant he was gone."

"There was nothing else you could've done," Betty told him.

"That's not true, Betty. I could've done anything to comfort my dad; to get the gun away from the guy. I was a coward—" Amy opened her mouth to interrupt, but Archie plowed on— "and now me and my dad were witnesses, Pop Tate too. This guy may have my dad's wallet, all his information. What if he comes back?"*

"Then we stop him," Amy said simply. "We make sure he can't hurt anyone else ever again."
"How do we do that?" Archie asked quietly.

"Well we—" She gestured to herself and the other Serpents— "are always armed, Kevin's dad is the Sheriff, your mom is a kickass lawyer, and you guys are pretty much the real world Scooby Doo Gang. I don't know exactly what's going to happen next with this guy, if he's got other targets or if you were just in the wrong place at the wrong time, but he's not touching your father ever again."

"Find table spaces, say your social graces—" As another ringtone blasted through the room, Amy once again glanced at her phone before fiddling with the remote around her neck.

"Talk to me Tall Boy," she demanded. As she started to pace, listening to the man on the phone, Sweet Pea reached out and unhooked the satchel from her waist.

"Tall Boy is FP's left hand- or, his second, I guess," Sweet Pea explained, "he hates Amy and he never uses the phone. So if he's actually calling her it means he found something, and none of us want her armed for that."

"So? Was it something or was he just running his mouth?" Amy demanded, before anyone could ask what Sweet Pea meant by armed. "Okay, good. Well, make him remind everyone that I won't be tolerating any of that bullshit- have Ricky snap me proof," she instructed. "Yeah, I'll tell FP. Thanks, Tall Boy."

Sweet Pea continued to stare at her until he saw her posture loosen. "So?"

"Some douche was holding court at the Wyrm talking about how Fred deserves this for letting Mrs. Lodge run shit and fire the Serpents from the construction crew. Turns out he was just a loudmouth and not the shooter, but this'll send a message."

"Good—" The taller boy nodded, reaching out to grab her by the waist and pull her close until she was straddling him— "you'll have to show me Ricky's proof though, got it?" Amy nodded, resting her head in the crook of his neck and letting the various conversations in the room wash over her.

"It might be a good thing that Fred is unconscious, or he'd fly off the handle seeing this," a new voice teased, startling an almost asleep Amy.

"Mary!" "Mom!" Amy and Archie both yelled, running to hug the redhead woman.

"You made it! But, let's be real, this is far from the worst thing Fred's seen me do," Amy pointed out.

"There was a flight just about to board when I got there, and I managed to get a ticket after explaining what had happened," Mary told them.

Keeping one arm around each kid, Mary led them back over to the chairs. "Alright kiddos, the doctor said that Fred should be waking up soon and then they'll just have to ask some basic questions to make sure everything is good and then he'll be able to come home."

"I need to go visit FP," Amy said suddenly.

"No, you don't," Fangs corrected her, pushing her back into her chair. "When I was there he told me, and I quote, 'tell Adams not to come by, I'd rather she keeps an eye on Freddie and Red.'"

"He used Adams?" When he nodded, Amy sighed, "yeah, guess I have no choice then."

"What's it matter?" Kevin asked.

"If he calls me Adams it means he's not talking to me as FP Jones, he's giving an order as the Serpent King. If I disobey he'll have me on dish duty at the Wyrm for at least a month. But," she turned to Mary nervously, "is it okay if I stay over?"

"Of course it is, Sweetheart, you know you never have to ask. Frankly I don't think either Archie or I would have let you go anywhere else as it is," the woman reassured her, running a gentle hand through the dark hair, long since freed from its usual ponytail.

"Come here," Sweet Pea whispered, pulling her back into his lap. "Are you going to be okay if we go to update FP?"

"I'll be fine, Sweets," she whispered back, "None of the Northsiders will touch me as long as Mary and Red are here, and I think that Keller might even be cool with me now."

"I know you'll be safe, doll, I meant emotionally. Given your dad… You're my family, doll, and I don't want to leave you alone if you're going to break down the moment we leave. You can lean on us, you know you can."

"I know Sweets, but Archie needs me right now, my own feelings can go on the backburner until he's okay—" Sweet Pea opened his mouth to argue, but she cut him off before he could get a word in— "tell you what. Pick me up in the morning and we can skip first period with Toni and take your car to the Riverbank, and I'll talk then, okay?" He nodded reluctantly and, exchanging subtle glances, the four Serpents stood and went into the hallway.

"Alright guys, I'm staying with the Andrews' tonight, so I need you guys to update FP and check in with Ricky about the loudmouth, make sure Tall Boy told the whole truth, alright? I'll see you all at school," she promised. The other three all nodded, and they shared quick goodbye hugs before Amy returned to the room.

The Northsiders left soon after, and not long after that, Fred woke up. The doctors asked him some questions before clearing him to go home with very strict instructions for his recovery, which Amy committed to memory even as she pretended not to listen. Archie and Mary loaded Fred into the car while Amy hopped on her bike, beating them to the house and letting herself in with her key, immediately setting to work on implementing the doctor's instructions. As soon as they got home, Mary was helping Fred to bed, and Amy joined Archie on the stairs, preparing herself for a long night.

Fic title is from Wayward Daughter by Brown Bird, chapter title is from The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night Time

I will try to update regularly but I make no promises. I have things fairly planned out but they may change as Season 3 airs, but I'm always open to ideas and suggestions of what you would like to see, especially elements that you'd like to see handled differently than in canon

(any content between ** is quoted directly from canon)