Chapter Text
There are things in life that take time to adjust to. Becoming an adult is never an easy feat, but it’s necessary. Veronica knows this, and unlike most, she had grown up fast without much time to get used to it. At twenty-five, she has just finished law-school and is ready to start her miserable life as an intern.
But she still has a week before that, and because of it, she’s catching up on several missed hours of sleep. Her bedroom is cool, and her bed warm – perfect for at least one more hour of rest. But then she feels like someone is looking at her too intently.
“What?” she mumbles sleepily, with eyes closed, her head still on the pillow, and her body curled up on her right side.
“Mommy?” a whisper in a sweet voice calls, and Veronica cannot help but to smile as her eyes open to find a five-year-old in pajamas, clutching a stuffed sloth against her chest. Rosie blinks at her, her dark brown eyes bright.
“What’s wrong?” Veronica wants to be annoyed, but she can’t. She knows she lucked out in the baby lottery, because Rosie is a good child – yes, she knows she has Daddy wrapped around her finger, and sometimes is a bit too outspoken, but she’s smart and independent for her young age. Her imagination is to be envied.
“Where’s Daddy?”
Veronica turns around and finds his side of the bed empty. She sighs noisily while sitting up in bed. Archie texted her he would be home late, and she fell asleep. He’s working writing songs for some artists, and apparently creativity has weird working hours. Unfortunately, they had planned a date night at home to celebrate the little time they had for themselves, and Archie canceled on her.
“Did you check the studio?”
Rosie shakes her head. “The door was closed.”
Oh. Well, she knows Daddy’s studio is off limits if she’s not with him. Archie has expensive equipment there and after the accident of Rosie drawing on his music sheets – with songs – he decided Veronica should give Rosie a stern talk about it.
Veronica gets out of bed, slips on her silk robe. “Let’s go check it,” she offers her hand for Rosie, who takes it firmly and then follows her mom.
Together, they walk down the hall of the apartment they bought only two years before – right after Archie’s sophomore album became a modest success, and Betty and Jughead decided to tie the knot. Veronica doesn’t bother on knocking, and just pushes the door open to find Archie sprawled on the big couch he bought for himself. He’s asleep, without a shirt and covering his body with a blanket.
Rosie’s eyes light up at the sight of her father, so she let goes of Veronica’s hand and dashes towards him. She presses a loud kiss to Archie’s cheek, that makes him stir.
“Hey, how is it that I don’t get greeted like that in the morning?” Veronica complains, and Rosie looks at her sheepishly, but before she can say or do anything, Archie has wrapped his arms around his daughter, making her squeak when he lifts her and hugs her.
“Daddy!”
“Morning, Birdie.” Archie gives Rosie a good snuggle, that has her giggling soon. “Morning, Ronnie,” he gets up, perching Rosie on one hip as he walks to Veronica. He smiles and leans towards her for a peck on the lips. Unlike most children who would pull a face, Rosie smiles happily at her parents, and then decides to press a kiss to Veronica’s cheek.
“Thank you, Mommy. We found Daddy!”
Veronica snorts a laugh, as Archie does, but then she gives him a stern look. “Well, Daddy should’ve let us know where he was going to be, because we had plans for last night. Good plans. Plans that were going to make Mommy and Daddy very happy. Plans that needed a trip to Agent Provocateur for Mommy while she was running errands and buying Rosie’s school supplies.”
Archie’s face twists with guilt. Yes, they had planned a fun night for them, enjoying the last few days of freedom Veronica has.
“Sorry, babe. I swear, I’ll make it up to you. I’ve finished making the arrangements for the songs last night.”
“Well,” Veronica drawls coquettishly but then her eyes show mischief, much like Rosie’s. “You could make chocolate pancakes with dulce de leche for your favorite girls.”
“Pancakes!” Rosie shouts, squirming to free herself from Archie’s embrace. She tugs repeatedly on his pants, “Pancakes, Daddy! Dulce de leche!”
He rolls his eyes, because Veronica is an evil genius. Rosie won’t let it go unless he does exactly what she wants. And who is he to tell his adorable little girl no when she’s bouncing around?
“Okay! Okay!”
“Yay!” Veronica and Rosie squeal at the same time.
…
They like to think they aren’t nervous, but they most definitely are. Particularly Archie. After all, he’s the one who spends most of his time with Rosie – he was the primary caregiver for Rosie while Veronica finished school. And they didn’t want to send her to school when she was so little because they believed it was too much pressure. Plus, they had a great support system, and Rosie speaks both English and Spanish, so it wasn’t like she wasn’t learning anything.
“Mommy? Daddy?” Rosie asks while looking up at them, as they stand in front of the school.
The parents crouch in front of their daughter and smile.
“Are you ready for your first day of school?” asks Veronica, tucking a strand of Rosie’s long hair behind her ear, and then fixing the purple headband. “You’ll meet a few friends and learn new things. Do you like that?”
“Yes,” Rosie replies, staring at Archie, who looks almost terrified.
“Miss Amari will help you with anything you need, okay? You ask her for help or… if you want me to come pick you up.”
“Archie!” Veronica hisses, elbowing him in the ribs. “She’ll be fine. She’s a mature little girl who’ll love school.”
“What’s mature?” Rosie asks, her eyebrows knitted together.
“One of the reasons you need school for: to learn new words. Let’s go!” Veronica grins, and takes Rosie’s hand to lead her into the building, but Rosie also offers her hand to Archie.
“Let’s go, Daddy.”
Archie heaves a long sigh, but complies with Rosie’s wishes. They take her to her classroom where there are other children in different states of distress – some are apparently used to it, and some really dislike the new arrangement in their life.
“Hello. Welcome! I’m Miss Amari,” a woman in her forties with caramel skin and a few strands of white in her hair greets them, paying special attention to Rosie.
“Hello. I’m Rose Andrews, but people call me Rosie,” the little girl introduces herself naively, for the adults’ amusement. “This is my Mommy Veronica, and this is my Daddy Archibald.” She leans closer to her new teacher and conspiratorially whispers, “he doesn’t like to be called Archibald.”
“Okay,” Miss Amari laughs. “Thanks for the tip, Rosie.”
“You’re welcome.”
“You can go meet some friends now and play. We start our first day in a couple of minutes, so tell you parents goodbye.”
“Okay. Bye, Mommy. Bye, Daddy,” Rosie rises on tiptoes and waits to kiss their cheeks before excitedly running off to explore her classroom. She doesn’t even glance back, which stings a little for Archie, but he has to accept his little girl is growing up.
Veronica twines her hand with his and squeezes it.
Yes. Growing up is not only hard for the one doing it, but also for those who witness it.