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•••
"What are you doing?" Betty asked FP as she walked into the kitchen. FP had all the cupboards open. He was stacking all of the items on the lower shelves onto the highest.
"Forcing your mom to talk to me. She's going to need me to get these down for her at some point."
"What if she grabs a stool?" Betty chuckled. She thought it was a stupid plan but a bit adorable.
"That's where these come in handy," FP reached into his pocket to grab a set of keys. He jiggled them in front of her. "I'm locking anything she can step on down in the basement."
"Petty move," Betty grabbed an apple then walked back to her room. FP took all the chairs in the dining room down to the basement and locked the door. When he was done he went to the living room and turned the tv on.
"FP Pendleton Jones! Where are all my chairs?" Alice stormed into the living room. FP shrugged and kept looking at the television. Alice blocked the screen so he would move his head around her. She grabbed the remote and turned it off. "Hey I was watching that!"
"Care to explain why my furniture is missing?"
"It's nice talking to you too."
"I'm still mad at you," She crossed her arms and glared at him.
"I said I was sorry," FP stood up. Alice shoved him back down. "I just wanted you to talk to me."
"I'm not talking to you," She walked away from him. He was tired of the silent treatment she had been giving him prior to the chair incident. "Fine I'll just go," FP propped himself up.
"Go then."
"Fine," FP tossed his keys on the coffee table.
"I'm going for a walk maybe then you'll get over it." FP and Alice have been in the middle of an argument since last night. This conversation was the first they have had in hours. "I said I was sorry already. What else do you want from me?"
"Just go. Leave me alone," Alice pointed to the door. She was too tired to be fighting. She wanted peace and quiet. FP, to her behest, walked out the door. He, like he had said, went for a walk.
•••
A few hours went by and FP hasn't been back from his walk. Jughead looked out the window to see if he was out there yet. Betty joined his side. "He's not back yet," Jughead dropped his hand off of the blinds.
"I'm sure he's just enjoying a nice walk."
"A walk all day?" Jughead arched an eyebrow.
"He couldn't have gone far. His keys are still on the table."
The phone rang and Alice went to go answer it. "Hello?" She picked up the phone. Betty and Jughead turned to look at her.
"Alice," Hog Eye was calling her in regards to FP.
"Hog Eye?"
"FP is here and-"
"Unbelievable," Alice scoffed. "He really went to the bar after our argument. I don't want to talk to him. Thanks Hog Eye but he's a big boy now. He doesn't need me to monitor his drinking." With that she hung up. Another phone went off a few seconds later. It was Jughead's. He took his phone out of his pocket and saw that it was Hog Eye so he answered.
"Hello?" Jughead said into the phone. "Yeah," Jughead extended his arm towards her with his phone. "It's for you. I believe it's urgent."
"Yes?" She sighed.
"Look Alice I really need you to come down here. FP's leaking blood and he refuses everyone here's help. Can you come talk sense into him? Before he bleeds himself inside out."
"What happened?" Alice's change in her voice showed her concern. "How bad is it?"
"I told you not to call her!" Alice could hear FP yell in the background.
"Just get here before more blood seeps out." Hog Eye hung up. Alice returned the phone to Jughead and grabbed her car keys.
"Where are you going?" Betty asked.
"What happened to my dad?" Jughead added a follow up question.
"Don't worry. I'm going to go handle it. Everything is going to be okay," Alice said calmly but deep down she was panicking. She left before she was bombarded with questions. She sped to the Whyte Wyrm. The many laws she could have broken did not come to mind. All she could think of was FP.
After crossing the train tracks she went directly to the bar. She knew his stubborn ass would not leave. She walked in and scanned the room for him. He was sitting on a barstool against the counter. There was a pocketknife shanked into his leg and what looked like a good swing to his face. "What happened?" Alice was very worried for him. FP didn't say anything. His focus was on holding in the blood. "Now is not the time for the silent treatment. We need to get this out and cover you up."
FP nodded and repositioned his leg. He winced at the rapid movement. Hog Eye brought them a couple of rags. "What happened?" Alice asked. She grabbed onto the knife. She knew how to carefully get if out without hurting him too much. "Who did this?"
"I was walking when a couple of idiots thought it would be funny to mug me." FP bit down on one of the rags as Alice pulled the knife out. Alice quickly wrapped up the stab wound.
"How dare they hurt my man," Alice rubbed her thumb across his cheekbone. It was bruising up. "This is going to leave a mark for a while."
"Can I go take down those plates for you?"
"That's really what you're thinking about right now?" Alice chuckled.
"I hate it when we fight," FP confessed. "I just want us to be happy."
"But we are happy," Alice assured him. "We are going to fight sometimes but it's okay. You know why?"
"Because we love each other."
"Because we love each other," Alice nodded. "Now let's get you home. I don't think the stab was deep enough to be needing medical attention."
"Your attention is all I need, Al."
"You're already sappy enough, FP." Hog Eye pointed to his leg. "We don't need any more."
"Don't listen to him, baby." Alice helped him up. She wrapped an arm around his middle to hold him straight up.
"Wasn't planning to," FP limped his way out. "I love you, Al. I was starting to think you would never talk to me again."
"I could never," Alice assured him. "I love you too much, Jonesy, to ignore you for too long."
