New Beginnings

Trouble Ahead

"If there's no body, there's no crime." FP sternly reminded them domineeringly, subconsciously taking a lead position in the discussion, due to his previous similar circumstances. "All they have on any of us, is past relationships, nothing linking us to his disappearance. For now, we just lay low and act natural. As far as their concerned, he's missing, not dead, we've just gotta lead them elsewhere."

"And how do we do that?" Hermione nervously implored, sharing an equal look of fret with Alice sat opposite her.

FP took note of the fear they both displayed, and it was just the kick up the backside he needed to finally step up and take charge, properly. He refused to live in fear and constantly watching over his shoulders, especially with Alice being pregnant. If he wanted that sort of high tense chaos and dramatics in his life, he'd just return to his gang life. However, his days of roaming with Southsides finest had had its perks, and he realised he would have to use some of his ex contacts and gang traits to get them out of this the best way he could.

"Leave it with me."

•••

"You seemed pretty in charged earlier." Alice carefully promoted as she and FP quietly cleared the coffee table of dining ware, and proceeded to the kitchen to wash the dishes.

FP's mouth fell slightly dry, and he suddenly felt the urge to loosen his neckline on his shirt. He couldn't just disclose the dark parts of his past gang escapades so easily, even to this day, in fact most of it he had blocked and erased from his mind. They weren't stories to be retold to just anybody.

However, Alice wasn't just anybody, she was his loving girlfriend and soon to be mother of his children, and FP understood how important honesty and trust was to her, so with this knowledge, he figured it was best to just lay all the details of his checkered past on the table as best as he could without alarming her. She deserved that at least.

"Let's just say, I picked up on a lot of screwed up stuff I saw as a Serpent, mostly against my own will." FP morbidly reveals with a hint of shame on tone. "Stuff that's, still ripe up here. I'm not proud of some of the things I saw or covered up-"

Just as he was about to dig further into his tales, he felt Alice's comforting hand rub over his taut shoulders, gently massaging into his back and drawing his attention to her innocent and trusting eyes, almost as if to tell him that no matter what he was about to reveal to her, she'd still stick by his side regardless.

"You don't have to share it with me." Alice sweetly insists, giving him a heart warming smile in the process. "Not if it's too rough."

With that, FP tenderly took a hold of her wrist and brought her jewellery covered hand to his lips, planting an intimate kiss right by her knuckles.

"I will, one day." He assured her, and it wasn't a lie. He really wanted to, they built their relationship on being 100% open with anout her. This brief moment was just another beautiful developmental step in their relationship and building up the trust. FP swore he was falling deeper and deeper in love with this woman day by day.

They finish up the dishes and walked hand in hand back to the kitchen island.

"Do you mind going to the store and getting me some Oreos?" Alice adorably pleads, childish pouting her lips and fluttering her eyelashes to soften him up.

FP glides his hands around her now slightly bigger waist, feeling a sense of pride and excitement knowing he was part of the reason for the increase and the fact that she was carrying his babies inside of her. "Is this what it's gonna be like the entire pregnancy? You treating me like your personal maid?" He joked, titling his head down and softly stroking his nose against hers as she embraced it.

"Hey, what the babies want, they get." She confidently announced. "Besides, I missed out on the wonderful pregnancy perk of having a husband or boyfriend wait on me and hand and foot with Polly and Betty's Dad's so I'm going to take full advantage of this one." Alice snidely grinned as she looked up at him, giving his playful but pleasing kiss before jumping out of his embrace and returning to the couch to put her feet up.

FP just laughed at how much she knew she had him wrapped around his finger, and he didn't even mind, nor did he care, she was worth every bit of it.

He strolled over to the coat rack, collecting his jacket and exiting the house to make his way to the store.

"Love you!" She playfully declares as he leaves, returning to her comfortable position on the couch to try and soak in some much needed tranquility while he was gone.

Clearly the lack of sleep the prior night had finally caught up with her as she found herself beginning to drift off into dreamland. She was gracefully falling in and out of sleep, switching between succumbing to her exhaustion and just resting her eyes for a brief moment, before an unfamiliar sound coming from her kitchen jolted her fully awake.

She was suddenly rather attentive, bulging her blue orbs wide open as she carefully scanned the room around her from the couch, before a chilling breeze ran up her spine, leading her to discover the back door was open.

Alice scurried towards the large glass doors, pulling it closed shut with all her strength before drawing the curtains neatly, releasing a sigh of relief at the idea of finally feeling some semblance of safety.

Unfortunately, as Alice spun around on her heel, that satisfying relief turned to pure terror, as she set her ocean blues on a masked intruder dressed in leather and spikes, stood on the other side of her island, still as a statue.

Before she even had time to process and express her fear, the intruder was making a messily executed scurry towards the cellphone rested on the counter, their natural reaction to noticing Alice's gaze briefly drifting in that direction, no doubt to call the police.

Alice made a fearful hasty move after him, managing to grab a frantic hold of the phone before he did and beginning to dial, only for the intruder to get the upper hand and strongly rip the phone out her grip, causing a pain to spring and Alice losing her footing.

She slipped backwards onto the cold tile floor, the small table breaking her fall as she held onto it mid collapse, as she watched the masked mad man escape in a hurry, leaving the door wide open, and her crouched down onto the ground with an injured hand.