Falice One Shots by falicewins

First Steps

''My mom just texted that they will be here in a few minutes.'' Betty said with a noticeable nervous tone in her voice, which didn't go unnoticed by her boyfriend. 

He walked over to her and placed his hand on her shoulders and slowly rubbed them to make her relax some more.

''Everything will be fine, Betty. Polly is finally ready to come home.'' He assured her, but he knew that there had changed so much since the last time she had been in this home and that it was going to be a lot different to face it in real life then to hear the stories. 

She wasn't focussed on the home situation she was going to get back to, she had been fixated on her recovery. Everyone questioned whether she was going to be okay with this or that hell was going to break loose. 

Charles was sitting on the couch with the two toddlers on his lap who had been living with the Cooper-Jones-Smith family for almost a year now. They had no clue about their mom returning today, which maybe was for the best. He looked at their innocent faces and realised they had been through a lot of trauma for kids who could barely even walk on their own.

''Should I go before she comes home? I don't want to overwhelm her.'' Charles asked his half siblings who now looked his way. 

The couple shared a look, but both of them knew that letting him go home now would not only be a knife into his back, but in Polly's too. Alice had told her about Charles not that long ago and even when she had trouble showing emotions, Polly had told her Mom that she wanted to meet her brother for real this time.

The first time she had stood eye to eye with him was when she had that bomb around her waist and had stormed into the FBI's office under Edgar's control. It was going to be hard to see that same person in a total new circumstance when she only linked him to one of her trauma's.

''You should stay. Alice said she could handle it.'' Jughead answered when Betty stayed awfully silent. 

She nodded along with him a few seconds later, confirming his words. If she could choose, she would protect her big sister from every piece of pain that was yet to come, but she knew that was an impossible task. Even when she was declared mentally stable now, that wouldn't mean there wasn't a big part of the healing process still waiting for her.

''We don't need to underestimate her. They won't let her go if she can't handle everything that is yet to come. That includes our current family dynamic. Things will be fine. She is a Smith girl after all.'' 

FP tried to ease the worry that was written over the three faces and it seemed to work just a little. Betty smiled gratefully at his words as if she needed to be reminded that her sister was a strong woman.

Before any of them could say anything else they heard the front door get unlocked and they saw Alice stepping into the house first, followed by Polly who looked like a baby duck who saw the world for the very first time.

Four pair of eyes were staring at her and suddenly the confidence she had when she left the pshyciatric asylum was completely gone. Was she really ready to come back into this family after all her trauma's? Was she really steady enough to take care of her own kids? Was she really okay enough to finish high school? But most importantly; Was she ready to be part of this new family?

''Polly...'' Betty said quietly, her eyes stinging as she looked at the scared face of her big sister.

 The girl she once knew had been completely gone, but somewhere in her eyes she could see a bit of the spark that reminded her of the big sister she had looked up to so much.

''Hey, Betty.'' She smiled, as she felt her Mom stroking her back and gave her an encouraging push towards her sister.

It took them just a second to fall into each other arms and hold on tight. Polly felt her tears winning the battle and so her cheeks slowly became wet. There were no words in the world to describe how much she had missed her sister so all she could do is squeeze her body gently against her own.