Living Next Door To Alice

26/ Home

"You consider this your home?" There tugged a smile on FP's face.

"More than I do Toledo." He confessed.

"That means so much to me, Jug." FP hugged his son tightly, as he had to fight some happy tears from escaping. However, it wasn't enough for FP to stop worrying completely.

"What about your Mom? Can she be alone with Jellybean?" It was safe to say that neither Gladys or FP really trusted one another, and the thought of his fourteen year old daughter being alone with her wasn't too appealing to him.

"Yeah, she can. Jellybean practically pushed me towards the train station so I'd get here. She's feisty, she doesn't take her bullshit anymore. Mom knows, she behaves now."

Jughead grinned as he thought back of his little sister convincing him to stop by Riverdale, even when he had trouble leaving her alone. Only difference was, he trusted his Mom with her.

"Alright... still makes me feel a bit uneasy but I guess I need to trust Gladys." FP calmed down a bit as he tried to think of all the moments she had been taken care of them when he wasn't able to.

Maybe it wasn't fair of him not to trust her, but after hearing how much she had tried to set his kids up against him it was hard to live up to that.

"I know you two are everything but fond of each other, but I promise you she has been taken good care of us. That won't change." Jughead assured him.

It wasn't a surprise to him that his parents could barely be around each other (that became even more clear when his dad moved back for those two weeks), and though he could understand why his father was worried, he never had to complain about the way his mom cared for them.

"Okay. That's good to know." FP smiled a little more relaxed this time.

Suddenly, he remembered something that he forgot to say when he saw his son coming in. He couldn't stick around today and therefore had to disappoint Jughead.

"Hey, Fred and I have to work today. Would have taken a day off if I knew you were coming but on such short notice we can't. Do you mind hanging out here today? We'll have Pop's tonight to make it up to you." FP promised, squeezing his son's shoulder.

"Yeah, don't worry. You've got a TV, right?" Jughead smirked. As long as he could watch movies today he would entertain himself.

FP shook his head laughing and grabbed his bag and jacket to take off.

"Have fun at work, honey." Alice took his face into her tiny hands and kissed him sweetly.

"Thanks babe, I'll see you tonight." He winked at her and waved at Jughead before he closed the door behind him.

"You got him whipped." Jughead smiled brightly as his Dad's girlfriend made her way back to the kitchen island.

"You think so?" She questioned, her cheeks flushing a little as she poured the boy another cup of coffee.

"No doubt about it, he can't keep those heart eyes to himself." He stated as if it was obvious. Which it was, only it was something Alice couldn't notice the way everyone around them did.

She blushed a little and handed him the mug. They sat in silence for a little bit while she studied him munching on the leftovers French toast until Alice decided to share what had been on her mind ever since FP came back to Riverdale.

"Hey, Jughead... can I ask you something?" She started out carefully.

"Yeah, anything."

"Do you blame me? For breaking up your family?" There it was. The thing that sometimes kept her up at night.