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The night before the big wedding the men took over Charles's apartment, letting the women have the house to themselves.
FP was sitting at the table with a couple of pictures set in front of him. He had been admiring the many memories he had with his soon to be wife and their family. It was an early wedding gift courtesy of his best man, his eldest son.
FP had been so entranced by the sight of his sons getting along in the living room that he didn't notice Archie come up to him. "Is that my dad, Mr. Jones?" Archie had noticed an old photograph of them from when they were younger.
FP looked down at what he was talking about. "Yeah, this was us after we finished working on the Shaggin' Wagon we told you boys about." He let out a chuckle at the thought.
"I remember fixing up the old jalopy in the garage with him before he passed," Archie frowned. He truly missed his father.
"You remind me so much of him, Red."
"I do?"
"Yeah, from your guitar playing skills, which if I may, are way better than his ever were," FP tried to lighten up the mood, but he meant what he was saying. "To the caring and hardworking man he was. That's why I'm happy to have you be a part of my wedding. Having you there in his honor is like not having lost my best friend."
Archie smiled, "I hope I can live up to his legacy."
"You've made your old man very proud. You could never disappoint him."
Archie glanced back at the photographs. He saw the one of him and Alice. "So what made you decide you wanted to marry her?"
"Alice?" FP smiled saying her name. "I love her so much. How could I not?"
"Did you always think you were going to? You know, since you both did end up marrying other people."
"I think I have always thought about it happening one day. Things were complicated between us, but when things started to go our way I knew. I just knew I couldn't let her slip away again." FP shut the photo album to give him his full attention. "With everything that has happened the past two years it made me realize what I wanted. It's so easy to lose someone you love. Take the whole situation with my son," FP referred to Jughead's Stonewall Prep catastrophe. "Both of them actually." The thought of having lost a son before they had even met hurt too.
"Or the many times I could have actually lost her." FP didn't like to think about that, but he had. If he didn't hurt her one too many times she wouldn't have gone to him. The man who caused her so much pain. From practically forcing her to give up their son to nearly killing her himself. Betty told her about the night the Black Hood revealed himself and nearly strangled her to death. Alice didn't like talking about it, so when Betty mentioned it in part of her blessing for him to marry her mother he was heartbroken. It also made him realize that the night he watched her talk to him up on that stage he could have prevented the possibility of her getting hurt. If he had just listened to her simple request he would have been at that performance, not him. He wouldn't have left upon seeing them if he had been there in the first place.
