Part 3: A Christmas Miracle

It is 8 months later and Betty's belly was much bigger. Archie and Betty still hadn't thought of a name for the new baby. They wanted it to be a surprise as for the gender. Betty decided that when she saw her new baby, she would know the name. Archie trusted her instincts, but not his own. If it were up to Archie, the baby would probably have to grow up with the name Eugene. Betty wanted Archie to help her think of a name, she wanted them to be a team. Tomorrow is Chloe's 1st birthday, December 3rd. Every inch of the Andrews' (Archie and Betty Andrews) house was covered in Christmas decorations. Archie and Betty always reminded each other about how beautifully decorated their home was.

"Don't you just adore the Christmas tree?" Betty's favourite decoration was always the tree. Each little ornament had its own personality and story. She pointed to a small glass heart ornament. "I got that one from my boyfriend in grade 9. Alex Cabot." Archie scowled, he hated it when Betty spoke about her ex-boyfriends. Then a look of confusion found its way across his face.

"Whatever happened to him and 'Josie and The Pussycats'? Is he still their manager?" Betty just shrugged; she didn't care about him anymore. To show this, she wrapped her arms around Archie as they both spent a few minutes just marveling over the Christmas tree while in each others arms. Archie broke the silence when he felt it was his turn to explain what his favourite decoration was.

"I love the Christmas lights on the front of the house outside." Archie had a look of pride on his face, Betty knew why.

"Is this because you used your super enormous muscles to put them up?" Archie blushed, but then held up his arms and flexed. Betty remembered how scrawny Archie was in high school. Now, Betty realized that he was actually really muscular. Betty felt his biceps and they were rock hard. Betty looked at Archie in a giddy, excited way which made him raise an eyebrow.

"Come here, sexy man!" She grabbed his tush and yanked him towards her. Betty ran her fingers through his red hair while passing the small piece of candy cane Betty had in her mouth back and forth. Archie suddenly pulled away. He swallowed the piece of candy cane before he began to talk.

"It kicked! The baby…I felt it kick!" Archie was very excited. He rushed towards Betty and placed his hand on her stomach. He felt it again. "The baby kicked again!" Archie was as excited as a little boy. Only he had a pregnant wife and chest hair. Betty could only smile as she watched Archie being the perfect father.

As night grew closer, Betty and Archie wrapped Chloe's birthday presents as she slept. They also made the last arrangements for the birthday party tomorrow. They had invited their family. Betty's parents had died when she was 22 in a car crash. The Andrews family would attend as well as Betty's older sister Polly. Chloe's Uncle Jughead would be there too. He wasn't really her uncle, but he was Archie's best friend and Chloe's godfather.

As Betty and Archie lay in their bed, Archie thought about his little girl growing up and becoming a teenager. But he knew that it wouldn't happen for a while. That night, Archie had a terrible dream.

Chloe was 17 and in grade 12. It was 11 o'clock at night and Archie was awoken by a loud noise. It was coming from Chloe's bedroom. He opened the door and saw his worst nightmare before him. She was in her bed naked with a boy. She was letting him feel her all over. He had witnessed his little girl having sex, unprotected. Suddenly, the scene switches to ten years later. Chloe storms into the door and is smoking. She's come to collect her allowance which her parents still gave her because she never got a job until that year. Chloe had become a prostitute on the streets of New York. The scene switched to a funeral. Chloe had died at age 32. She was shot by one of her costumers. Then Betty and Archie died knowing that they were failures as parents.

Archie woke up screaming which woke up Betty. Sweat was pouring down Archie's face as he sprung out of bed and ran out into the hallway. Betty rubbed her eyes in confusion. Archie burst into Chloe's room and leaned over her crib. She was still a baby. He sighed in relief. He wiped his forehead and left quietly, when he entered his room again, Betty was very worried.

"Honey, what's wrong! Where did you go?" Archie calmed her down by stroking her face.

"I just had a nightmare about Chloe; I had to check if she was okay." Archie smiled and that melted all of Betty's worries away. They drifted back to sleep, and Archie's horrible dream didn't return.

Archie woke and immediately turned his head to see if Betty was there, this became a morning routine. She was not there; he got dressed and went into the kitchen. He saw Betty holding Chloe, who was wearing a party hat. Betty heard Archie stirring so her head jolted up. She seemed alarmed, but then she smiled.

"Good morning." Archie kissed her on the cheek. Then Archie kissed Chloe on the cheek.

"Good morning to you too, sweet pea. Is it your birthday today? I think it is! Happy birthday, cutie." He tapped her nose with his finger while saying this, Chloe laughed. Adults love it when babies laughed, and Archie was glowing, which made Betty giggle a little…but Archie didn't notice.

"Everyone will be here in an hour." Betty announced as Archie drank his coffee, it seemed like he had only taken one sip when the hour zoomed by and the doorbell rang. Archie opened the door. It was Jughead. Archie flung out the door into Jughead and hugged him.

"I haven't seen you in ages!" He hadn't seen him since the Riverdale High reunion. Archie looked past Jughead and saw Polly getting out of her car. Archie smiled because he couldn't wait to see Betty's reaction. "Honey, Polly is here!" He yelled so that she could hear. He could hear Betty's footsteps pounding into the floor fast as she ran past Archie outside. She dared not jump onto Polly because she would either hurt the baby or Polly. Instead, she just gave her an enormous hug.

"Oh my god! Polly, you look amazing…and I've missed you!" Their hug lasted a good minute before she let go. "Let's go inside shall we?" They both sped past Archie inside to see the birthday girl. One more car pulled into the driveway and Archie grinned and waved. His father, Fred, got out of the car and waved once. Then his mother, Mary, exited the vehicle and was flailing her arms and smiling from ear to ear. His mother reached him first and almost squeezed him to death. Then he and his father shared a firm handshake, but Archie gave up and hugged him…they both were trying to be manly, but Betty always told Archie that a man who expresses his emotion is manly. So, of course, Archie was willing to take Betty's word for it.

As they all sat down at the table, Chloe, being a baby, didn't realize how lucky she was. She was spending time with her mom, dad, aunt, uncle, grandpa and grandma all at the same time. Plus, they all had a gift for her to show that they loved her. Chloe struggled to blow out her candles, but her Uncle Jughead helped a little. He only blew out one of the, err…one candles. When Chloe was opening her presents, she and everyone else had a grin permanently glued to their face. Just seeing Chloe so happy made everyone else just as excited. There was one gift that Chloe especially liked. It was a stuffed dog. It looked exactly like Jughead's old dog, Hotdog. It almost looked as if he were about to cry when Chloe opened it and hugged it. Jughead loved that dog. Archie knew that, and he was forever thankful for that gift. Jughead must have had a hard time giving it up…but he loved Chloe, and that's the kind of thing you do for a person you love.

After Mary and Fred left and Chloe had gone to bed, Jughead and Polly began to drink and may have drunk too much. Polly and Jughead were holding hands and occasionally peck each other's cheeks. Archie and Betty rolled their eyes because they wouldn't even remember their attraction to each other the next day. Betty suddenly stopped and held her stomach. She began to moan in pain. Archie's eyes dashed to her and sped towards her. He held her face with both hands to see what was wrong.

"Contractions…it's time." Betty managed to spurt that out before she started to cry in pain again. Archie, being muscular, picked Betty up and placed her in the back seat of his car. He then motioned for Jughead and Polly to follow. They realized the seriousness of the situation and quickly hopped into the vehicle. Archie raced to the hospital, going 30 kilometers above the speed limit the entire way.

He burst into the hospital and immediately got everyone's attention. "Lady with a baby, coming through!" The other patients practically bounded out of the way of Archie's path which he was galloping through. When he finally reached the reception desk, he was out of breath. "Wife…having baby!" The receptionist bounced out of her chair and called a doctor and directed them to a room. Betty entered, but Archie was not permitted. As Archie waited in the waiting room which seems to be almost a day, actually it was just an hour, but Archie was shaking. He thought that if it were a girl, he'd want to name it Jill, and if it were a boy, it would be Warren. Archie smiled at this thought then snapped back into reality. His wife was in labour! His head would have popped if the nurse hadn't approached him then and there.

"You may see your wife now." She said calmly with a smile. Archie nodded and pranced in a very ungraceful way into the room Betty was about to have her new baby in. Archie entered and she was in dreadful pain and sweating furiously. He just held her hand until it was time. When it was, he felt as if his hand were about to fall off.

"It's crowning." This comment from the doctor made Betty and Archie smile. Betty continued to scream her head off as she cut off the circulation in Archie's hand. Archie had watched the whole thing, and the baby was out. Archie glanced over at his new…son!

"It's a boy, Betty! It's a boy!" She attempted to make a huge smile, but it came out more as just showing her teeth for no reason. Suddenly, Archie glanced in the direction of Betty's opening and saw a little hand sticking out. Archie gasped and fainted. When Betty heard the thump she yelped in shock. The doctor then spoke.

"Oh yes, did I mention there are two babies?" The doctor seemed as if it was no big deal, but Betty flipped.

"TWINS?" The doctor immediately calmed her down, he didn't want her to over tire herself. As Archie got back on his feet and shook his head. He saw that Betty had fainted.

"Betty! Is she okay?" Archie was very concerned, but once again, the doctor was completely calm.

"It is just as well anyways. We have to open her stomach to take the baby out. We can only take it out regularly if its head comes out first." Archie nodded. He was shooed out of the room and was left to wait once again. He was so tired of being worried and being nervous that he drifted off to sleep.

Archie felt someone tapping his shoulder and he instantly shot up out of his chair. It was the doctor; he was being his regular calm self.

"Betty has successfully delivered twin boys, you may see her now." Archie dashed into the room and saw Betty holding one baby. Archie frantically searched the room and saw the other boy in an incubator.

"What happened? What's wrong?" Archie grabbed the doctor's shirt and his veins appeared to be popping out.

"Nothing is wrong! We must put any baby who is less than 6 pounds in an incubator!" The doctor wasn't calm now, he was frightened by Archie. He slowly released the doctor and sighed.

"Oh…okay. Sorry." He strode towards Betty and she was holding a baby boy. "Have you named them?"

"This one is Jack." Betty smiled. "Since we have twins, you can name the other." Archie looked shocked at first.

"But…I'll give it a horrible name!" Betty rolled her eyes and shook her head. "Okay…um…I'd really like to name him Warren." Betty smiled, and Archie sighed in relief.

"I approve, that is an excellent name." Archie leaned in and kissed Betty. Then he leaned over the incubator looking down at his little Christmas miracle, Warren.

"Merry Christmas, Archie. This is the best Christmas gift I could ever receive." Betty was crying as she said this.

"Just wait until December 25th when you get even more presents!" Then his smile dropped. "This means we have to buy even more presents for two more members of the family!" Betty laughed and Archie followed.

They both looked down at their new born baby boys and new that this was the beginning of another new family. A married couple and three children. It almost seemed to good to be true. But at that moment, Betty and Archie weren't thinking anything negative. They were thinking that anything was possible.

The End