Summary: Jughead is shocked when his sister turns up on his doorstep. But not everything is as it used to be.
A/N: Please let me know if you want a part four!
WARNINGS: alluding to abuse, alluding to sexual abuse, swearing
Part One
Part Two
It had been two weeks since Jellybean had confirmed any big brother’s worst nightmare. He hadn’t protected her like he should have. He hadn’t been there for her. He hadn’t stopped him. Jellybean had barely left his side since that night. When Jughead was in the trailer, Jellybean was just about able to be in a different room to him, but when they went out, Jellybean stuck to her brother’s side like a conjoined twin.
Jughead didn't mind. He liked to have her close, to know that she was safe at that moment; at least physically. It was her mind that he worried about. Jellybean was still eating like she was a bird and barely sleeping. The night that she had opened up to Jughead, the little that she had opened up, she had woken up four times screaming and trembling, covered in a sheen of cold sweat. Jughead bundled her in the duvet and held her shaking body in his arms, letting her fall asleep as he sat against the headboard with scenarios rushing through his mind.
Jellybean hadn’t been forthcoming with information, and he hadn’t asked questions, but sometimes not knowing exactly what had happened was harder, it allowed his imagination to run wild. It also stopped him from being able to do anything. He wanted to jump on a bus to Toledo and hunt this guy down, but he realised that he didn’t even know his mom's address.
After two weeks of sleepless nights, Jughead decided that he had to know. He looked down at her sleeping body, her facial expression was peaceful, serene, and she looked so innocent. All of a sudden, her eyes screwed shut tighter and her lips pursed, cheeks reddening. Jughead steadied himself and wrapped his hands around his sister’s tiny arms, ready to wake her. Her mouth opened, ready to scream, and her legs began to kick out in panic. He shook her body steadily, continuing until her eyes shot open. They flew wildly around the room until they landed on his face. Tears began to pool in her eyes and her arms flung up and around his neck, burying her face in his chest as he bent down to cuddle her, muffling her sobs.
“Jelly... I know you haven’t wanted to talk about it, and if you still don’t want to talk about it, that's okay... for now... but you know you need to talk about this... to someone...” he fell silent, waiting for Jellybean’s sobs to calm down.
“When he first started coming around, I thought he was great...” she whispered, “he used to take me to the cinema when mom was at work.” Jughead absentmindedly stroked his hand up and down her spine, feeling each bone strain against her pale skin. “Once, I thought I saw a shadow under the bathroom door when I was showering... I didn’t even notice it until it moved away, and then I realised it had been a person... I guess he was looking through the crack in the door... but that’s a big thing to assume about someone...” Jughead’s hand stopped moving, resting on her upper arm, and pulling her into him tighter. He didn’t want to interrupt, this was the most she had spoken about it since she got here and he didn’t want to spook her.
“The next night, the same thing happened, and I just knew it was him.... I stopped showering at home after that. I showered at school during the week... and on the weekends I went to the local swimming pool to shower... or I just didn’t...” Jughead let his head fall back against the wall. The sick fucker had watched his little sister through a crack in the bathroom door. She was only a kid! He felt sick, but he didn’t move, he needed to hear her and she needed to be heard.
“One time, mom was at work, she had started a new job at the supermarket... she was working late... I got home from school and he was there... I started to go up to my room but he - he followed me... when I was nearly at my door he pushed me forward and I fell through the door and hit my arm on the door handle. That was the first time he ra- attacked me...” Jellybean shuddered, she had never used that word before, and the way that her brother’s arms had tensed around her made her panic. The word was too much, it meant too much.. it meant it was real. But it was real, and she knew it. she just couldn’t speak it, not yet.
“How many times?” Jughead’s voice was low and raspy against the side of her head.
“I- well- I don’t really know...” she whispered, tears beginning to spill silently down her cheeks again.
“What do you mean you don’t know?” he gently asked, stroking her hair out of her face. Jellybean went silent, her body so still that he would be forgiven for thinking she had fallen asleep.
After what felt like an eternity, she whispered, so quietly that he might have missed it if he wasn’t so close to her; “I lost count”
