The mist in the air perfectly matched the gloomy mood that had been dreading over town ever since another set of videotapes had been spread around. However, the Cooper-Jones-Smith family had no idea about the terrorization of their friends like Archie Andrews, as they were too shaken up by the frightening tape they had received themselves.
It had started with footage of Betty and Jughead sleeping in their bed, something that almost seemed innocent when they saw the next shot of Jellybean peacefully asleep, with a knife being dragged over the delicate skin of her cheek.
Alice's motherly instincts immediately told her to get out of there, in a desperate need to keep her family safe. FP had agreed, instantly thinking of the Five Seasons, a place with security, something that should keep them safe from the auteur for at least this night.
They had barely said a word. Betty and Jughead were trying to connect the dots, but were either whispering, or spoke in a language that only they understood by understanding each other with one simple look. Jellybean herself seemed to be awfully silent, which didn't surprise Alice after seeing herself on a tape.
It was past midnight, and Alice turned around in the hotel bed to find FP's body to cuddle up to, but she found nothing but an empty spot. She shot up immediately, the adrenaline making it easy for her to fully wake-up. However, there was no need to panic. He was still in the room. She could see him standing on the balcony, his hands holding the railing.
Right before they had gone to bed, FP told her he needed a little bit more air before falling asleep and Alice had given him his space. When she looked at the clock on the wall, she could see that it was almost an hour ago. Had he been outside all that time?
She stepped out of bed and quickly put on some socks, before tiptoeing over to the balcony. When she finally stepped outside, her skin covered in goosebumps instantly due to the low temperature of the night. He didn't seem to have heard her.
"You're getting cold..." Alice said quietly, her voice thick with concern. It wasn't until she had spoken that he realized that she had come outside. He didn't look around, but kept staring at an invisible spot in the night sky.
"I'm fine." FP said shortly, too lost in thoughts to give her anything more. The cold didn't bother him at all, not even when he was only dressed in a t-shirt and his sweatpants.
He expected for her to turn around and go back to bed, but to his surprise he felt two arms snaking around his waist from behind him. Her touch was warm, something that was a stark contrast compared to the cold around him. Before laying her head down, she pressed a soft kiss on his back over the cotton of his shirt.
"Alice, you'll get cold too. Go to bed, it's alright." He turned his head a little and placed his hand over hers that were resting on his stomach, trying to give her an encouraging squeeze. She didn't have to stay outside just because he was, he didn't want her to get sick.
"If you can't sleep, I'm staying up with you." She said, her head still pressed against his back.
There were moments where she didn't quite know how to comfort her, or how to read him even, but there was always something she could give him; her warm touch, one that told him that she was there. He squeezed her hand again, this time not to make her go back inside, but to thank her.
"I'm scared, Alice." He confessed, after a few minutes of silence where he let her hold him.
FP was used to dealing with his thoughts on his own, but ever since they had found their way back to each other he slowly came to learn that he could always talk to her, that now he had a listening ear. Sometimes it was easy to forget.
"For Jughead, for Jellybean, for Betty... for you." He added sadly, as she shook his head sadly. Things were getting out of hand and he couldn't help but feel responsible for not being able to protect his family.
Alice lifted her head from his back and placed her fingers on his waist, to softly turn him around with a soft pull. She needed to look into his eyes, to make sure that all she would say, would be believed by him.
"We have one thing the auteur doesn't. We have each other, our family." She said with a hopeful spark in her voice.
For the longest time, Alice had never dared to have hope, not with anything in her life. But if she could find her way back to FP, something that seemed to be a miracle, she wanted to believe they were stronger than anything.
"What if it's not one person? What if they are a group? Who knows how long they will terrorize the town." FP averted his gaze, afraid she would see in his eyes that he had lost faith in both this town and himself.
Alice didn't have an answer. Maybe he was right, maybe there was more than one person. But even then, she wanted to believe that they would win. Instead, she looked down at his hands and his forearms. He was freezing.
"FP, your skin is turning blue. Come inside with me." She tugged on his hands, afraid for the consequences if he would be outside for any longer.
"I'm okay." He didn't move a muscle. As long as he kept spiraling, he knew he wouldn't be able to fall asleep. At least the cold would be a distraction to the nightmare that is the town they grew up in.
"FP, please." Alice pleaded, as she tugged on his hands a little bit more firm this time.
"I'm not coming inside!" He yanked his hands back, his eyes widening of how he had raised his voice towards her.
Alice opened her mouth to say something, but it seemed that the Gods had something else in mind for them. As quickly as the cloud had appeared as quick they broke in a flood of rain, immediately soaking both FP and Alice. Now he had no other choice than to follow her, both of them running inside towards their bed as fast as they could. He sat down on the edge, his teeth clattering. The rainwater on his skin had made him feel how cold he actually had been.
"You're shivering." Alice brushed a lock that was sticking on his forehead back with her hands and he contently leant into her touch. He closed his eyes as he took the blanket that was draped over the chair in their room, to wrap him up in it.
"I'm sorry." He croaked out quietly, ashamed of yelling at her when she was the last person who deserved that. Alice stayed silent, instead she kept on brushing his hair back as the motion seemed to make him feel better.
"I'm supposed to protect this family, and yet that is another thing I suck at." He shook his head disappointed, as the voice in his head kept on blaming himself over and over again.
Alice stopped her hand from moving, making it linger in his hair. Gently, she let it slide to the base of his neck. She had never known that he felt this way.
"I couldn't protect you from Hal because I was a coward for not telling you how I felt, and the same thing happened again with Edgar, I--" FP couldn't finish his sentence, it was too painful. He had her now, but at what cost? How much hurt could he have spared her if things would have been differently?
"FP, it's okay." Alice whispered, the hand in his neck softly stroking his skin.
"No, it's not. There is always someone trying to hurt us and our family." He finally looked up at her, his eyes glossy. At some point, things weren't okay anymore. Every single time they thought there was finally peace, something else kept on chasing them as if it was the universe's goal to break them.
"The videotapes aren't your fault, FP. None of what happened to you is. You know that, don't you?" She needed to wake him up out of the nightmare he created himself, where all the bad things that were happening to them, to the town, wasn't on him. However, FP found that hard to believe.
"That knife on Jellybean's face... I can't even make sure she is safe in our own home. I finally have her back and now her life is in danger." He let out a sad scoff as he looked into her eyes, part of him hoping to find the perfect answer to all their problems. Truth was, nobody knew what to do. Not even Alice.
"I've pretty much screwed up both my sons' childhoods, but I can't let the same thing happen to Jellybean. She's my baby girl, it's my only duty to keep her safe."
If he could turn back time, he would have been there for Jughead, he would have made amends sooner with Alice and look for their son together. It was too late for that, but there was one kid, one daughter, he could maybe right his wrong with.
Alice understood where he came from. He had always beaten himself up for not being the Dad Jughead needed and deserved, or for playing a part in the reason his first born had been in a foster home his whole life. He wished he could protect Jellybean, the one kid he had that still had some precious teenage years that he wanted to cherish.
"Honey, that's not on you. It's this town. You are a great father, but sometimes it's hard to be stronger than the darkness of this place." She placed her hand on his cheek, her fingers softly stroking his stubble, a facial feature of his that she couldn't imagine him without anymore.
"Maybe you're right. Maybe Riverdale isn't a place to raise a teenager." FP thought out loud, his eyebrow knitted together in a thoughtful frown. Could he ever do right by her by staying in a town that would always keep chasing them with the next disaster?
"I don't want the darkness of this town coming into her head, Alice." His words were something between a plead and a realization as if he finally came to learn how toxic Riverdale always had been. Maybe they were so deep in that it took for his daughter to get terrorized for his eyes to open to something that had always been there.
If only he knew that the child he so desperately wanted to protect from the darkness crawling into her brain, wasn't as innocent and pure as she seemed.
"Us? We don't know any better. We learned to live all that has been handed us, but an innocent child shouldn't live that way." He shook his head sadly and bit the inside of his cheeks to stop his tears from gathering in his eyes.
His heart broke thinking of how much both of them had been through both apart and together, as if they were constantly being punished. It had become their normal, something that was always there. Even Jughead and Betty didn't seem to function without having a mystery to wrap their heads around. But it was not too late for Jellybean, was it? A
Alice rested her head against his shoulder, a motion that made him wrap his arm around her. They might not be broken, not all might be lost, but both the physical and mental scars they had gotten throughout the decades had nearly killed them.
"I hope Charles, Betty and Jughead quickly catch whoever is doing this." Alice sighed as she settled against his chest. She was still cold from the rain too, and the arm around her instantly warmed her up.
"They're smart. I am sure they will." It was the first time that night that he felt a little bit of hope. Maybe it was the woman close to his chest, maybe it was because he knew to have faith in the kids that had already dealt with so much.
"You always know exactly what to say, don't you?" FP whispered softly, his eyes twinkling with his love for her. Alice lifted up her head to look at him, her hand coming to rest on his heart.
"I hate seeing you upset." She confessed silently. He could see that her eyes had glossed over too.
"I have to find a way to protect Jellybean." He rested his forehead against hers, his mind spiraling about anything he could do to keep his daughter safe. However, he wasn't sure that the solution would be in the town that he wanted to protect her from. Alice leant back a little and placed one hand on his cheek, a gesture that made him look deep into her eyes.
"I've said this to you before, and I'll tell you again... I support you, FP. In whatever decision you will make. Always." She gave him a sweet smile, but he couldn't help but see the flash of hurt in her eyes. Maybe, she understood the weight of his words and maybe she had already seen the solution that he was yet afraid to face.
"I love you, Alice." HIs love declaration came from somewhere deeply rooted in him, as if he didn't know he even said it out loud until he heard his own voice.
"I love you too." She beamed happily, before leaning in to kiss him softly. His lips were warm, and she hoped that they would forever be her escape for when she was cold.
They climbed under the sheets after finally having dried a little from the rain and cuddled up close to one another to make sure they could keep the other warm throughout the night. Besides, holding each other close was also a way of making sure they couldn't get hurt.
"Do you remember when we were their age? We had some shitty things to deal with, but not... this." FP mumbled, his arms tightly wrapped around her as her head was nuzzled in the crook of his neck.
"Betty and Jughead haven't gotten the teenage years they deserve. Their only worry should be if they passed their finals or not, not serial killer fathers, or organ harvesting cults..." Alice sighed silently, as she could sum up all that the young adults had been through in the short span of their life.
"...or a drug trading mother and classmates that want to kill you." FP added as he swallowed. His son had never deserved any of the injustice that has ever happened to him. He turned on his side to be able to look at Alice and she looked back at him with her eyes soft.
"It makes me realize that through all of that, we managed to find our way back to each other. That's crazy, isn't it?" He smiled a little, his fingers stroking up and down her bare arm. If one thing all these decades of hurt had proven, it was that they could survive anything together.
"Sometimes love is stronger than darkness." Alice whispered with a smile, her piercing blue eyes linked with his soft brown ones.
"No matter what is written for us in the future... you'll always be my light, Alice." He said sweetly, before leaning in and pressing a soft kiss on her forehead.
It wouldn't matter where they would be, together or apart, she would always be the thing to give him hope, to remind him that not all is lost.