Living Next Door To Alice

25/ Baby Shower

At the same time, Sweet Pea came out of the bedroom, as he had grabbed a blanket for his girlfriend, who was shivering.

"There is the father to be! Come here." FP opened his arms, and with a big grin they embraced one another.

He had congratulated him before, but seeing him here today so present to support Polly was a wonderful thing to see.

"Is he taking care of you? Otherwise I'll have a word with him." FP had his arm wrapped around Sweet Pea's shoulder as he looked at Polly, teasing the both of them.

"He's been an angel." Polly said with a genuine smile, and kissed him softly when he wrapped the cosy blanket around her.

**

After a little while, Betty, Archie, Polly and Sweet Pea were busy playing a board game that Polly was winning by a long shot. Fred, Alice and FP watched them from the kitchen with content smiles on their faces. In a way, all four of them had a tough year, but having such good friends was making it all a little bit better.

"Hey you, how are you feeling?" FP stood behind Alice, one hand on her waist as he nudged his nose in the side of her hair.

"She's growing up so fast. My own baby is having a baby, how crazy is that?" Alice looked behind her to face her boyfriend with a twinkle in her eyes. Even though there was a lot of things all of them had to get used to, she knew in her heart that it was all going to be fine.

It's crazy how a thing as moving away could change so many things. When they bought the apartment around the holidays, she had never expected that eight months later she'd be here.

Alice was determinded to focus on her job and her family when they first moved, and though she did both those things, she was also dating the man of her dreams.

Being in a relationship was the last thing she wanted to focus on when she signed those divorce papers. Betty had always said she didn't want to focus on boys, dating, or teenage life for that matter. She was a dreamer who worked her ass off to get where she wanted to go. And yet, she was head over heels in love with the redheaded boy from next door and went out more nights than Alice could count. She still worked as hard as before, but finally found the freedom to enjoy her young life.

And Polly? Polly had always been to herself. She had a lot of friends, but she preferred her time alone either reading or drawing in her room. One thing was for sure, with her baby on the way she was never going to be alone ever again.

"You can be proud of her." Fred gave a her a warm smile.

"Believe me, I am beyond proud." Alice beamed, as she turned back to her daughter who was laughing in a way she hadn't done in a very long time.

Her happy trail of thoughts was being interrupted by a knock on the door.

"Can someone get the door?" Polly asked, her eyes still glued to the game. Alice immediately got to it and opened up. She was met by two familiar women on the other side.

"Hermione, Veronica. What a pleasure!" Alice beamed brightly. She hadn't expected for them to stop by.

"Betty invited us, I hope that is alright?" Hermione smiled kindly.

"Sure, the more the merrier." Alice gestured for them to come further. Polly began to smile even brighter when she noticed that the Gomez women had stopped by as well.

"Time for presents!" Alice announced, now it looked like the club was complete.

**

When FP, Polly and Archie and Veronica were wrapped up in a conversation just as Betty, Sweet Pea and Alice were, Hermione decided to approach Fred— the man she felt a connection to.

"You organized something beautiful." She complimented him, when she stood next to Fred in the kitchen to help him prepare another round of snacks.

"That was mainly Alice, we just helped decorate. And FP made an attempt to bake a cake." The man chuckled a little, even when he had to admit that the cake tasted better than expected.

"Well, Polly is very lucky to have such a big support system." Hermione said softly.

"We all got her back, no matter what." Fred looked at the girl for a second and smiled to himself. In a way Betty and Polly had grown to be family too, and he would always try to support them.

When he looked back at Hermione, he could read a certain admiration in her eyes. And though his nerves always won, this time he wanted to take the risk. Not just because he had promised FP, but mostly because he didn't want to be scared anymore.

"Hey, I was wondering... since you're new in town, I could show you around a bit? I was born and raised here, I know all the good places." He proposed sweetly and as casually as possible. Since she had just divorced her ex-husband, he didn't want to put any pressure on it.

"That sounds lovely, Fred. We're still getting to know it around here." Hermione blushed slightly. She was truly grateful for his offer.

"If you're up for it I can cook for you some time?" He decided to throw more confidently than he thought he would come across.

"You'd do that? Why thank you. I'd love to have dinner with you."

"Yeah, absolutely. It'd be my pleasure."

The couple shared a knowing look for a bit, telling the other what was going on without any words. They were interested in each other and finally planned their first date.

**

"Hey, casanova. Did you just ask her out?" FP wrapped his arm around Fred's shoulder and grinned brightly.

He had witnessed the little moment between them and didn't need to know what they had been talking about to be sure that he had taken his shot.

"I did, we had a deal remember? I won't break a promise." Fred shrugged, as if it wasn't a big deal, when in fact it had been decades since he had last asked someone on a date. The last time was when he had taken Mary out, before they were an official couple.

"Sure, you did it only because you owed me. No self interest whatsoever." FP shook his head with a smile.

"What kind of deal?" Alice asked curiously, as she joined the boys.

"I took you out to the carnival, remember? Fred kind of convinced me to do it." FP bumped his friends shoulder. If it wasn't for him, FP would probably never found the courage to ask her on a date.

"So you're the one I should actually thank?" Alice grinned as she cuddled up close to FP's side.

"What can I say? I am a construction man at day, Cupid by night." Fred bragged, making the couple laugh.