Falice 2

Kids

"I really miss when he was that small," FP watched as a young Jughead laid on the floor with a Baxter Brothers book open right in front of him. He could hear his higher pitched voice reading it back to him for the camera. "We would do everything together. He even got jealous when Jellybean came along." He chuckled. "He didn't like sharing me one bit with his sister." His smile turned back into a frown. "Now he's off in New Hampshire with Betty all grown up."

"At least we still have Jellybean here at home."

"She's a teenager in high school. She's not going to want to hang out with her old man." Alice stroked her fingers through his curls. He was sad thinking about how fast the kids have grown. "I actually miss her calling me daddy. It made me forget that she wasn't my little girl anymore. She's growing up fast too."

"She's always going to be your little girl, baby." Alice tried to cheer him up. "But I know how you feel. I feel old. I'm already a grandmother for God's sake. I love my grand babies though. It's nice to have them around. It's nice to feel needed. With Charles almost hitting thirty and off somewhere around the country working, Polly still recovering from her trauma at a secure facility, and Betty off at college, they don't need me like they used to."

"Yeah, I would love to have the kids back home. All of them, at least for one day."

"Me too," Alice shared his feeling of an empty nest.

Jellybean overheard everything and felt sad for them. She never really thought about they must have felt with all the kids gone and her usually not at home nowadays. She quietly backed herself up the stairs. She pulled her phone out to make a call. "Hey, Charlie, how are you doing? You think you can do me a small favor?"

•••

Charles parked and had his siblings file out of his car. "Man, I could get used to those private planes. I didn't know you had access to one," Jughead stepped out.

"Well don't. They're not toys."

"Perks of having you as a big brother though," Betty slid out after Jughead.

"Yeah because you and your boyfriend have the same brother," Polly climbed out of the front seat herself.

Betty narrowed her eyes at her. "Yeah well you had our cousin's kids."

Polly gaped. "I didn't know."

"We didn't either, so can we please just forget about all of that?" Jughead added to the argument.

"And you three weirdos are all my siblings," Charles shook his head.

"Shut up," The three glared at him.

"Okay, but be quiet, JB said our parents don't know we're here." Charles hushed them. He lead them to the door and shot Jellybean a quick text about them being outside.

Jellybean came down the stairs quietly to let them in. She smiled upon seeing them. She immediately hugged her brothers and greeted the other girls. "They're knocked out right now." She pointed to the living room. "I might have fed the twins some candy to tire them out big time."

"Cruel," Charles chuckled.

"Well somebody has to wake them up," Jughead looked over at his father sprawled on the couch with Alice tucked into his side. One twin was clutching onto their legs and the other laid across his chest with a tiny hand plaster on his face. Charles took a picture with his phone.

"My babies look so precious," Polly was in awe with her twins. "Help me get them." She picked up the one on FP's chest. Charles helped her with the other one.