I'M DONE

Ellie is still wearing the smile Reggie gave her when she sets foot on the Lodge's house for the baby shower. The date lighten up her mood, and he even managed to make her laugh, which she believed will be impossible after what happened earlier. Reggie is wihtout a doubt, inside that jackass exterior, a nice and kind guy, and that sure gives him a few points.

"Ellie."

"Veronica," She greets. "I'm not late, am I?"

"No, you're rather early." Veronica smiles, and gestures towards the living room. "But you have to see something."

Ellie's eyes stop on the blonde woman, and she sighs in relief. Ellie's glad to see Alice there, she's so tried of fights and secrets. It actually feels nice to see her Mom actually had the courage to come and be here for Polly, and the baby.

"My Mom." Ellie breathes, and turns to the dark-haired girl. "She came."

"She did." She nods, her voice then becoming more soft than excited. "You know Betty didn't mean any of it, right?"

"I love my family... Yes, they are messed up, but I always tried my best to keep as whole." Ellie says. "It's my family and I'd never do anything to hurt them, and I sure will always forgive them."

"Sometimes I catch myself thinking," Veronica titles her head to the side, and confesses. "is this my second chance? I mean, what did I ever do to deserve to be friends with such a good person?"

"You're good on your own." Ellie makes sure she knows. "You don't need me, or Betty."

"Well," The dark-haired girl sighs, and ask the hard question. "what about Archie?"

"What about him?"

"The things you two said." Veronica reminds her. "What he said about the summer..."

Ellie shakes her head. "It's fine. I –."

"It's not fine. You can't always be nice, Ellie." The dark-haired girl warns her, because she's done watching her get hurt. Yes, she loves the fact that she's good, but boundaries are important. "Wake up, that's how people take advantage of you. Sometimes you have to set boundaries."

"What? So I have to forgive Betty but not Archie?" Ellie frowns. "How is that?"

"You are in love with Archie not with Betty." Veronica shrugs. "Boys break our hearts, not sisters."

"You're wrong about that." Ellie scoffs, and leaves her friend behind.

She wonder around the living room then for a while, until she finally approaches Polly. 

They hug tightly, and when they pull away, Polly receives her sister's present, it's a small pink bag with a pretty lace. "Thanks, Ellie."

"I hope you like it." She smiles, and gestures towards Alice then. "And I see Mom came."

"Yeah, it's amazing." Polly  looks happy, and that makes it all worth it already. "It seems like I'll be able to get through this."

"I told you so." Ellie replies, a small fear pocking her stomach then. The thought of it almost making her sick. "You won't leave us again, right? You won't run away?"

"No, I'm here and Mom and Dad seem to be taking it slowly." She explains. "I'm not leaving here but if I do is just to move back home. I'm not abandoning you."

"Good," Ellie nods, and sighs. "I don't know what I'd do."

Polly caresses her sister's cheek, and mumbles. "I love you."

"I love you too."

Ellie doesn't talk to Betty the entire time, she keeps herself busy wondering around the food and the presents. When the time for opening all of them finally come, everyone gathers around Polly, eyes on the gifts. 

That's when Jughead approaches his best friend. "You don't seem very happy. The date was that bad, uhn?"

Ellie faces him, and tells him. "It was great, actually." And she takes that as a chance to question him about his relationship. "What about you with Betty? You're here, that's something."

"I'd rather not talk about my relationship with your sister with you." Jughead shakes his head. "It's weird." Even though he's not sure why.

"Did you just say relationship?" Ellie mocks him. "My God, you are in a relationship."

"You think you're funny, I see."

"Not my best day and I still managed to be funny?" She chuckles. "I guess I'm just that good..."

"Look," Jughead turns to face her completely, his voice becoming softer. "I'm sorry I didn't say anything sooner back there. I know I'm supposed to protect you, and I know I don't say it enough, if ever, but I –."

They're interrupted by the door opening, and they notice Archie walking in, he quickly looks around. Finally, his eyes find Jughead, just who he's looking for, and he walks right towards them. "You were protecting him. That's why you didn't tell me!"

"Hey," Ellie steps up between the two. "let's keep it quiet."

"What happened?" Jughead frowns in confusion.

Betty notices something's up, and walks up to them. Veronica does the same, clearly drawn by the tension coming from that small group.

Archie now turns to Betty, and questions. "Did you know that Jughead's father is a Serpent?" 

"No." She says quietly.

"That's why he tried to stop me from going to the bar, so I wouldn't find out." Archie accuses. "After everything my Dad has done for you..."

"Archie, I can explain, ok?" Jughead tries.

Ellie has known for a long time now, but she never asked Jughead for explanation, she knows FP Jones probably since she can walk so she knows he's not the worst Serpent out there, neither is Joaquin but no one seems to care, ever, cause everything that breathes on the South Side had to be an evil snake or it isn't real.

"But not right now." Veronica warns. "This is Polly's day, so you two need to check yourselves. I mean it."

jughead calls for him. "Archie..."

"No, save it." Archie scoffs, and turns his back on them.

"Let's go." Ellie rushes to his side, and places one hand on his arm. "Outside."

Veronica walks with them to her front door, and opens the door so they can leave. 

Ellie stays slightly behind, letting Archie walk out first. She turns over to her dark-haired friend, and promises her. "I got this, it's ok. Polly will stay happy."

"Give him space." Veronica advises. "He just needs to cool down."

"I know." Ellie nods. "I'll be back in a few."

So Ellie follows the red-haired boy outside, she knows she should probably stay away and let him go, but unlike what Betty seems to think of her, Ellie's not selfish.  "Archie!"

He stops, and turns around to face her. "What is it?"

"Do you even think before opening your mouth?" She lectures him "I know you're angry but twice today you said some horrible things to people that want nothing but your well-being."

"Did you know?" Archie dares to ask, but he's clearly afraid of the answer. "Did you know that his Dad's a Serpent?"

"Yes." Ellie doesn't lie, there's no reason why she should. "But you should let him explain. Jug deserves that much."

"He's protecting a Serpent, he's protecting the people who might have done that to Moose!"

"It's his Dad, don't we all protect our family even tho they do bad things?" She tries to make him understand. "Instead of yelling at him, you could have asked him if it was easy to be in his skin."

"They hit Moose!" He argues.

"You don't know that! It could have been them, but there's also a possibility that it wasn't!" Ellie sighs then, lowering her voice. "Jughead is your best friend, our best friend, and he's always there for us."

"Are we done here?" Archie scoffs, disregarding her words. "Don't you have a date to go to?"

"What the hell is wrong with you?!" Ellie pushes him, slamming her hands against his chest. "Pull yourself together!"

They stand there, looking at each other like they're speaking through their minds, but they aren't. In fact, it seems like there's a big cliff between them in that moment, and they wanna cross it, but the bridge is gone.

"I give up, it's over." Ellie drops her hands to her side, and shakes her head. "I'm done." And she turns around, ready to walk away for good.

That's when Archie's voice echoes, his words full of jealously and anger. "Who was it?"

"What?" She turns back, and frowns.

"Your date." 

Ellie lets out a fake laugh, and scoffs. "Reggie, not that it concerns you. You moved on with Valerie, don't tell me you expected me to not do the same."

"So you're a thing now, uhn?" Archie wonders.

"Really?" She snaps. "You say all those horrible things to me, how much you regret this summer, and now you have the courage to ask me that. What the hell, Archie?!"

"I didn't mean it and you know it, El." His voice softens as he steps closer, he regrets it more than anything. "I was just –."

"Do I know?" Ellie shakes her head, and she looks around them as if she's looking for an answer. "We're both messed up now, that's all I know right in this second. I have the right to move on just like you –."

"I didn't move on." Archie blurts out.

"No, no. Stop that." She points her finger at him, accusing. "You always do that."

"Just give me a chance to be there for you." He pleads.

"I did, more than one, remember?" Ellie tells me. "Cause I sure do."

"El –."

"Really, what is it that you want? How is it fair for you to choose which days we are friends or lovers or strangers? You lead me on but why? So you can come and go?" She takes a deep breath, and gives him her ultimatium. "Next time you go don't come back, Archie."

"It's not like that." Archie tries to reach her.

Ellie steps away, and warns him before walking away. "Just talk to your best friend. Jughead deserves more than that."

. . .

The baby shower is over, and Ellie later discovers Polly's happiness didn't last long after she followed Archie outside. The only ones left standing in the living room are the Coopers.

"Polly, I'm sorry. It's just that woman –."

"Didn't send me away." Polly accuses. "You did. And if you hadn't, I would've met up with Jason, and he still might be alive."

Alice sits down next to her. "Or you might've gotten hurt or worse."

"I was alone there. In that place."

"I never wanted you to feel alone, or unwanted, or unloved." She reaches for her daughter's hand. "Hunny, come home. I promise you will never feel that way again."

Ellie steps forward in antecipation, this is what she has been waiting for in days, if not months. They can finally be all back home, together, like it should always have been.

"You want me to come home?" Polly asks.

"More than anything, hunny."

"Yeah, but what about Dad?" She wonders. 

Alice wipes her tears away, and sniffs. "Your father..."

"Is gonna have no choice." Ellie speaks up, because she's not gonna miss this chance to have her sister back home. "We all want you back."

"Dad's just gonna have to get over it." Betty shrugs.

"Are you sure he's not gonna try and make another appointment for me?" Polly worries.

Alice frowns at her words. "What are you talking about? What appointment?"

"Before you sent me away, Dad made an appointment for me to see a doctor." She explains, and it's clear to her that neither of them knows about that. "Said that he would be more than happy to pay for it. That I shouldn't have to live with my mistake."

"Oh my god..." Betty gasps.

"What...?" Ellie breathes, and faces her Mom. "How could Dad do that?"

"He didn't even ask me what I wanted." Polly mumbles.

Ellie doesn't know exactly what she's supposed to think, right in this second she's numb, probably because she's still processing it. But she can feel her body crumbling and Ellie does the best she can to hold on, at least until she can crash down on her bed, close her eyes and sleep everything away.

"Hey." Jughead approaches her from behind, and she turns to face him. "Did you manage to calm him down?"

"Yeah, and I guess you can expect an apology."

"Did you get one?" He wonders.

"Something like that." Ellie replies, and she looks down. "He told me he never moved on."

"Archie may be in love with you, he probably is. Archie probably thinks about you all the time too." Jughead doens't know where this comes from, but he needs to her. He steps closer to her before continuing. "But, Ellie, what does it matter? He's doing nothing about that except dating other girls. You're both my best friends but I must tell you, you shouldn't do anything either."

"I'm an idiot, I know." She rolls her eyes.

"He is the idiot."

"No, no." Ellie shakes her head with a sigh. "I think the fact that I'm still standing by the guy who breaks my heart says a lot more about me than it does about him."

"You're just too good." Jughead tells her.

She gives him a small smile, before speaking up. "will you talk to your Dad?"

"Yes, with Betty." He answers, and explains. "She thinks he may know something about Jason."

"That's... nice, I guess." Ellie nods, and bites down on her lip after. "I should go."

"Are you going home?" Jughead asks her, before she turn away. "Betty just told me about your Dad..."

"Where else would I go?" 

It breaks his heart to hear her say that, because what it really means is I'm alone. And if there is someone who understands that feeling better than anyone else that's Jughead, and yet he allows Ellie to walk out the door, because the truth is he has no home of his own to take her to, so he thinks it's better to let her go.

When Ellie walks into her house, she finds her own home shattered. Alice Cooper, also known as the unbreakable woman - she sure got that from her mother – is crying on the couch. 

It doesn't take Ellie long for her to rush to her side. "Mom? What happened?" And she takes a look around in confusion. "Where's Dad?"

"I sent him away."

"Because of Polly?" She asks.

Alice faces her, the tears still falling down. "I want your sister to come home."

"Me too, Mom." Ellie pulls Alice down to her lap, and caresses her blonde hair. "Polly will come home to us, I know she will."

"I'm so sorry, hunny." She cries. "You were right."

"It's ok, Mom." 

"I thought I was doing what was best for our family. I wasn't."

Ellie feels her own tears starting to fall down too, like they are all the words she wants to say but can't bring herself to. Some of them are happy ones, because she realizes that there is someone who will always love her more – or at least equally to her sisters – someone who will always pick her and put her first, and that's her parents. 

Ellie sleeps with her Mom tonight, they don't do that since she turned seven and stopped being afraid monsters would crawl from under her bed. And tonight, Ellie goes back to her Mom's bed because she realizes the demons may have been inside herself all along.

. . .

The morning comes with the sun and everything, and it feels like it could be a good day. But when Betty walks into the Cooper's house and makes her way to the living room, where Ellie's sitting down with her Mom at the dinner table, they know something's about to crash them.

"I'm sorry, Mom. I tried."

Ellie's not just hurt, she's disappointment. Polly promised her she would come home, that she wouldn't leave them again, and her big sister never broke her promises until this morning, taking all Ellie's hope for a fresh start, and leaving her alone to look for it somewhere else. But Ellie wonders if it isn't just pointless to be hopeful for anything at all.