In a surprising turn of events, Mary Andrews was able to sway the jury in her favor. She fought tooth and nail to get them to understand that Evernever was an absolute atrocious monster and soon enough, they were off deliberating on how they wanted to proceed. Jughead knew Betty was nervous; knew she had had a trying time when being pitted against Alice.

Alice had surprised Jughead by breaking down on the stand completely. She admitted her part in the cult; admitted that she knew Evernever wasn't all he seemed to be. She had tried for the sympathy tactic when explaining that she never meant for Betty to get her but all it did was make Jughead's blood boil. He wasn't fooled by her apparent remorse. Not one bit.

By the time the jury shuffled back into the courtroom, everyone was waiting on pins and needles.

"Has the jury reached a verdict?" The judged asked.

"We have, your Honor," a woman replied.

"And, how do you find Mr. Edgar Evernever?" The judged asked.

"We find the defendant guilty on all charges," the woman replied, and Jughead felt like the weight that had been wrapped around his heart and squeezing impossibly tight lessened significantly. He looked at Betty, who was sitting shell-shocked, and smiled at her.

"It's over," he mouthed, and she nodded, tears gathered in her eyes. Jughead watched as Mary smirked in Claire Matthew's general direction before turning her back on her completely in order to congratulate Betty.

"You did it, honey," Mary grinned.

Betty smiled. "I couldn't have done it without you or your help, Mary."

"We did make a pretty good team, didn't we?" Mary asked with a chuckle, and Betty nodded. Jughead watched as she seemed to physically relax from all the stress that had been placed on her shoulders. He knew she could finally breathe properly.

XXX

In the coming weeks, Jughead watched as Betty got healthy and happy once more. He encouraged her to reach out to a therapist, one that specialized in self-harm. He knew that it was a big step for her, to trust someone other than him to see her deepest, darkest secrets, but she was doing better than she gave herself credit for. Just like he knew she would.

It was one evening after her therapy session that found them laying in bed.

"How does it feel, baby?" Jughead asked softly, fingertips trailing up and down her bare arms.

"Hmm?" Betty hummed sleepily, and he chuckled.

"How does it feel to have this nightmare finally behind us?" Jughead asked quietly, and Betty sighed happily.

"It feels amazing. You know what feels even more amazing, Jug?" Betty asked.

He stole a kiss. "What?"

"You. Being here through all of it. Not giving up on me even though I gave you many opportunities to. I love you. More than I can express," she murmured.

Jughead stared at her with adoration filled eyes. "And, I love you too, my Betts."

Then, like it always should have been, they molded together into one, filling the empty spots in each other with their gentle touches and caresses alone. Everything was as it should be. And that was good enough.

Fin.

Author's note: I hope you all enjoyed this story as much I as enjoyed writing it. (HOLY SHIT YOU GUYS, SECOND BUGHEAD FANFIC FINISHED!)

Now, I've still got other stories to get to, but I really wanted to finish this one. Leave me some love and have a great day. Xxx