A/N: So yeah, this is the chapter you've all been desperately waiting for. And I truly have appreciated your patience
"Mom?! I can't find Dad anywhere." Betty called innocently as she stepped down the stairs the following morning.
Pausing from reading her magazine, Alice darted her eyes up towards her daughter, a slight wave of guilt hitting her upon seeing the girls puzzled face. She had yet to tell Betty and Polly that she had kicked Brody out, not quite preparing what to say seeing as it was a bombshell she'd have to drop onto them and she'd need to be delicate.
"Uhm-" Alice begins softly, closing her magazine and placing it onto the table in front of her. "He's not here." She tells her firmly, ripping the band aid off.
"Well, where is he?" Betty questioned once more, her face twisting in curiosity. Her Mother was clearly hiding something.
Alice's eyes clenched shut as she sighed in preparation, reluctant to reveal the truth. She had been up all night pondering over this but she knew she had to deal with it sooner or later.
"Honey, he's gone." Alice admitted in a stern but sympathetic tone, knowing this was going to hurt Betty. "He's not coming back."
Betty held an unrelenting stare on her face, puzzled by what her mother meant. "What do you mean he's not coming back?"
"I mean he's done what he always does and bailed out on us, okay?" Alice impulsively snapped, her face forming into one of regret as soon as she finished.
Betty's expression tightens, a wave of disbelief over her fathers disappearance crossing her face. "No- no way. He wouldn't just leave." She argues, running her hand through her messy blonde looks, furrowing her brows in confusion.
"He said he was sticking around, he promised!" She rambled frantically. "There's gotta be more to this, right?"
Alice doesn't answer, darting her slightly widened eyes from her daughter to the seat opposite while the teen watched them flash with guilt.
Betty had seen that look on her mothers face before, the look of suspicion and blatant toy hiding something from her and her sister, one too many times and come to think of it, her mother seemed a little more calm compared to the other times Brody had left them. Something wasn't adding up.
"Mom, answer me!"
"Fine, I kicked him out, okay?" Alice finally reveals, her expression softening upon seeing the heartbreak in her daughters face. "I told him to go, he was bringing trouble to our door, literally, and I wasn't going to have that with you, Tyler and your sister under this roof, so I had to."
Betty tears up at her mothers revelation, scrunching her face and clenching her jaw tightly in frustration. "Why would you do that?!" She questioned, wanting to understand why her mother would do something she considered so stupid.
Regret crossed Alice's features as she slowly approached her daughter, wanting to explain things to her thoroughly with the hope that she'd understand. "Honey-" She rests her hand on the girls shoulder for extra comfort. "I'm so sorry, but it was for the best."
Betty's small lips fell into a straight line, averting her angry gaze back at her mother. "Best for who?!" She rhetorically questions before removing herself out of her grasp.
"Betty?!"
Ignoring her mothers call for her, she stormed into her bedroom, slamming the door shut to let Alice know just how pissed off she was with her.
She pulled her cell phone out of her back pocket, desperately dialling her Dad's number, the least he could do was give her an explanation or a proper goodbye. She listened to the dial tone. No answer, just a straight to voicemail.
Yes her father was a little on the problematic side and had a lot to make up for, and yes he had abandoned them from time to time, but she was used to that, she had settled with that. This time around however was different, this wasn't a case of him leaving on his own free selfish will, her mother had actively kicked him out. Out of their home and out of her life, and now she'd probably never get to reconcile with him, that was the part that hurt the most.
•••
She can barely focus on work, especially as her brief argument with Betty is all that had been running through her mind her entire shift.
The teens broken face flashed through her mind as she aimlessly stacked used glasses into the crate she held. She certainly hadn't been expecting a warm response from Betty upon telling her about Brody's disappearance, but she certainly wasn't expecting the teen to practically hate her.
As she briskly mover the glasses from the table to her crate, she lost focus, slipping it out of her hands and watching it smash onto the ground.
Great, she thought. This day couldn't get any worse. She slowly lowered herself to collect the pieces from for the ground, and unfortunately cutting her hand deeply in the process.
"Shit!" She hisses in pain as a glass cuts right through her palm, feeling totally drained and defeated in that moment. She didn't need this right now.
"Hey, you okay?" FP questions with concern in his voice as he approaches her. He watches as her face dulls into a rather unimpressed and exhausted expression, almost as if something that was just too overwhelming had been plaguing her all day.
She averts her slightly saddened gaze towards him, waving her hand in the air and showing him the damage.
He winces upon seeing the deep blood seeping slit in her palm, immediately reaching under the bar for the first aid kit.
"Come on, I'll patch you up." He tells her as he approaches her space, holding his hand out for her uninjured one to take and help her up, which she gladly accepts with a smile.
He leads her to the barstools near them, pulling out her chair like the true gentleman he was, which she found very charming and flattering, before taking his seat and resting the first aid box on the counter.
He grunts slightly upon getting a closer look, before taking out a antiseptic wipe, as well as a plaster to fix things.
"You seem a little distant." He speaks softly as he takes her hands and applies the wipe, tenderly cleansing the injury. "If you don't mind me saying. Everything okay?"
She pauses, darting her glistening sapphire blues eyes with his warm and inviting chestnut ones, before allowing the first tear to fall, much to her disappointment.
"What's the matter." FP badgers her, his voice now laced with concern and he removes her falling dark locks out of her pained face.
Her cries subsided as she raised her head up to lock eyes with him. Damn his eyes were so warm and inviting she thought to herself. She brought her free uninjured hand to her face, holding it to her mouth as she clenched her eyes shut, preparing to reveal to FP the reason behind her minor breakdown.
"Brody left, because I made him, and now Betty's heartbroken and won't even talk to me, all because of something I did." She reveals sadly, shaking her head in self disappointment.
He's oddly baffled, combined with a slight feeling of pleasure at hearing that Brody had left them, but that didn't take away from the fact that there was clearly a deeper underlying reason behind her hurt and making him leave in the first place.
"What happened between the two of you?" He kindly asked.
"You hear about the stolen laptops at the school?" Alice mentions before he nods in agreement. "Brody took 'em." She nonchalantly reveals before scoffing in shame. Just saying it out loud made her skin crawl.
FP eyes gaped in horror and disgust. He figured someone would have to be really low to steal from a school. "Are you serious?!"
She nods briefly in confirmation before shaking her head disapprovingly. "To pay off some drug and gang runners he'd got into some trouble with, and I wasn't going to have him bring that drama to my door, so I threw his ass out, but I didn't think Betty would be this upset." Alice rambled as another tear fell down her cheek.
"Did you tell her why?" FP wondered as he continued to patch her up.
"No, how could I?" She rhetorically questions. "We were all finally happy, for once! The girls were settled and getting used to having two parents around like they deserved and of course, I had to fuck it up all over again! I know it's messed up but I'm starting to regret it now because of that. If only, if only I had made better decisions in life, the girls wouldn't be suffering because of it. God! Why did I make him go? She's never gonna speak to me again-" Alice cried frustratedly, gripping her dark locks with her free hand.
FP takes note of her heartbreaking distress, softly clasping her hand in his own, and she feels a warm feeling rush down her spine as he does.
"By the sounds of it, you did the right thing, you have nothing to feel sorry or guilty for Alice." He assures her softly, his eyes gleaming with support and understanding as Alice gazed deeply into them.
Her breathe hitches in her throat as she remains focused on him. "But I do." She pities, shaking and dropping her head slightly before continuing. "I fuck everything up, that's what I do best, ever since I was born, and here I am depriving her of a father, I mean who am I to judge? It's nothing worse than what I've done."
"Hey, hey, that's different." He firmly interrupts, taking his free hand to her chin and lifting her head back up to look her in her saddened eyes, those very ocean blue eyes that had rendered him weak from the first moment her saw her. "You did what you did to keep a roof over their heads. You were just a kid. He did what he did to pay back drug dealers for trouble that HE, selfishly got himself into, and you and your girls were almost dragged into the middle of it." He finished sternly. No way was he going to have her doubts or blame herself for Brody's mistakes and fuck ups. He refused to listen to it as well.
The warm feeling that had surged through her spine had somehow reached her face, as her lips curled into a soft but faint smile upon hearing his words of support. It was probably the first time in her life she had been told that her dire circumstances and problematic situations she had found herself in for years weren't her fault, or made out to be self serving and selfish. She didn't realise it until then, but she could've done with someone supporting her regardless rather than criticise her. Someone to tell her she was doing the best with what she had, and that it was okay and nothing to be ashamed of. She couldn't help but think how different things would be if she had met someone like FP years ago.
"I know he was a piece of shit, but he was still Betty's dad, and he loved Polly like his own. It's not her fault I bedded a two bit criminal, I could've married well but nope, I stick with him because of the thrill." Alice self criticises reminiscing on back when she had met him in the first place.
"I knew what he was when I met him. I always go for the assholes, and look where it's got me. That asshole jock who lead me on, knocked me up and ditched me! Brody, a fucking drug dealer who's been in and out of jail his whole life, Hiram, a damn crime lord, oh, and pimp, who I willingly let use me just because the cash was worth it, Hal, who was fucking married." She listed before chuckling in shame, throwing her hand up for added affect before leaning back into her chair, reminiscing on her failed conquests over the years.
FP's heart breaks for her as she lists the many men who have screwed her over throughout her life. God this poor woman needed a break, he thought to himself. He didn't have a clue what Alice had gone through in detail, but it made him admire her even more hearing her determination and strength and hardships.
"You know, Betty said the other day, that we're finally normal and I said who wants to be that? But deep down, it made me happy as shit hearing that from her, but I don't even know what normal is anymore." Alice sniffles with a devastating crack in her usually strong voice, absentmindedly staring out towards the bar in deep thought.
She really thought she had finally achieved the what she had been dreaming for since she was a little girl; A loving family and stable happy home. She had always thought she was enough for Betty and Polly but life had continued to prove her wrong time and again and she was sick of it.
"I guess some of us just aren't cut out for it, you know? The normal life." She adds, wiping away the last tear. "And some of us just aren't cut out to be mothers either-"
"You are normal enough, Alice." FP states sternly, his soft chestnut eyes shining with encouragement as he strokes his fingers against her whitened knuckles. "And you're a damn good mother too, one of the best I've met. I've never met anyone more supportive and ride or die for her kids as you. You've been dealt a rough hand, but look at how you've thrived and strived and turned your life around all for Polly and Betty. You're worth ten of Brody, and I truly mean that."
Alice's eyes shift back to him, her pupils calmly dilating upon hearing his meaningful words. She hadn't felt this warm inside since, well she didn't actually know, and as FP's fingers tenderly caressed her hand, she knew the tingling sensation she felt bubble up under her already heated skin was mutual.
FP's eyes fell innocent as his mouth went dry, feeling his stomach fill with butterflies as her gazed longingly in Alice's direction, feeling a combination of lust and love wash over him.
He wasn't sure what had gotten into him, and the same applied with her as the two of them became very aware of the strong passion filled romantic tension that had suddenly flood the room.
They ignore their racing heartbeats, anxiously closed fists and vulnerable uncertain eyes and before they both knew it, their heads were lowly coming in closer together, leaning into each other with puckered and open lips, sharing a tender but spark filled kiss. It's brief, but boy is it powerful as their eyes remain shut tight and their face muscles finally relax.
The two confused lovebirds peck once again, but not FP slowly draws his lips away from hers, but not far enough to separate their touching foreheads, shaking his head and holding his hands up to halt her. "This is wrong." He quietly breathes out, his eyes darting down towards her mouth before his large hand comes up and rests upon her right cheek, still contemplating going any further.
She misses the taste of mint and whisky on his lips already, feeling his breath on her skin as glares down at his chest. "Then why does it feel so right?"
He pulls back slightly, gazing into her eyes for confirmation and stroking her cheek softly. Her eyes were gleaming with certainty, telling him that it was okay, this was okay.
He brought his free hand to the other side of her face before leaning in again, passionately kissing her as her hands tenderly wrapped themselves around his broad forearms from the back, taking advantage of his rough lips coming into contact with hers after all these months, deepening the lip lock and opening their mouths all the way to allow their tongues to battle for dominance.
The two are so caught up in the moment they forget to breathe, pausing briefly and releasing each other at the lips as their foreheads touch once more, their hands remaining in the same positions.
FP briefly pecks her lips once more, softly rubbing his thumb across her face. "I don't wanna take advantage of you Al, you're upset. I don't want you to wake up in the morning and regret-"
"I'm not gonna regret it." She confirms firmly, her face flashing with certainty, more than he had seen from her before. "Trust me, I know pending regret, but this isn't one of those times, look me in the eye and tell me this thing between us hasn't been building up? That this wasn't going to happen sooner or later?"
He ponders for a second, fixing his eyes upon her pleading face, and he honestly can't, he can't tell her this hasn't been building up inside him, something had been happening between them and growing from the minute they met each other, it had just taken a little while to simmer.
"I can't. I really can't." He whispers, before sliding his right hand down to her slim black cotton covered waist, pulling her into him as close as he can as she grips onto his shoulders.
His head leaned in once more, but this time with so much more fire and passion than she had seen him display before, fully embracing him as he caught her lips for the third time, pushing his tongue past her lips and connecting his with hers passionately.
He pulled his head back one last time, stroking the side of her hair before turning the both of them around. "God, you're beautiful." He whispers in awe before moving to her neck, pressing light and tender kisses to her jawline and neck as she ran her hands through his gelled back dark locks. Her skin tingling and on fire as her sent waves of pleasure down her spine before he took ahold of her waist and lifted her own the pool table behind her.
Her arms impulsively found their way to his neck once more, pulling him, needing him as close to her as possible and widening her legs as she did, and already feeling a pool grow between her legs.
His kisses were carnivous, her breath releasing in pants as he was leaving mild hickeys along her neck and shoulder. His hands gripped around her back, his fingertips pressing under her top, reaching up and drawing gentle circles against that small strip of bare skin underneath her lace bra.
"As much as I love where this is going-" She breathed out. "We should take this to your office." Alice added in a seductive tone, searching his eyes for assurance.
He halted, looking at her as his eyes gleamed with mischief. He didn't need to be told twice. Taking her by the hand, he pulled her off the pool table and lead her up the wooden steps towards the room where all the magic happened.
As soon as they get to the room, he slams the door shut, tenderly pushing her up against the wall, their kisses impulsively growing more tender as he brushes his hands over her chest and past her breasts.
She reaches for the buckle of his belt, slowly unlocking it as he pulled her shirt off of her body, revealing her black lace bra and taking him by surprise.
She softly smiles up at him as he seems star struck at the sight of her half clothed, giving him one last look of certainty before reaching her tightly placed shirt and pulling it off of his chest with his help and immediately noticing his tattoos and the scar that sat in right in the middle.
She lightly guided her fingers along before he took her hand in his, bringing her knuckles to his lips and placing a tender kiss on them, making her melt instantly.
She realises in that moment alone that this feels completely natural, and she wouldn't have it any other way.
He cups the small of her back with his free hand and slowly creeps his hand up her spine, coming to the back of her bra and unhooking it, surprisingly quite easily, and watching as the piece of lace falls to the floor.
Slowly but surely, the two of them are left completely bare in front of each other, lying across his comfy leather couch, silently telling each other they were both fully aroused, and eventually becoming one.
Taking all of her past conquests into consideration, this was probably the one time Alice felt totally relaxed and at peace with herself. She didn't have a protective guard up, she didn't have to worry about her safety or feel under any pressure or uncertainty. There had always been something about FP that allowed to be herself fully and allow herself to be vulnerable, especially around him.
Throughout her sexual escapades, she had always felt guilty, dirty or uncomfortable with herself deep down, but with FP, everything feels right, everything feels perfect, and for the first time in her life, she felt loved and admired unconditionally.
A/N: I'm saving a better smut filled chapter for later