"Pay up, you're in my street." Polly smiled triumphantly, and gestured with her hand to receive the fake Monopoly money.
"Damn, I am going bankrupt." FP sighed and collected the bills he owed her, barely having anything left excepts for a few streets with houses. He was definitely losing.
"She doesn't take mercy, I'd pay if I were you." Sweet Pea warned him, a smirk tugging on his lips.
"And you've got to deal with all that? Tough." FP let out a huff, making Sweet Pea laugh.
"Don act so sly, you're dating her mother. You know what's in the genes." He shot back, grinning at him.
"We Smith women aren't as difficult as we seem." Polly defended her and her mother, as she organized her money with a smug smile on her face. There was no denying that she was winning this game.
"You are, but we're okay with that." FP laughed, and got playfully hit by Polly with one of her cards.
While Sweet Pea rolled the dice when it was his turn, a knock echoed through the room. Someone was at the door.
"I got it, but don't steal my money and don't switch houses for hotels!" FP jumped from his chair and made his way to the door, opening it with one swift move.
He immediately recognized the man across of him, making his blood slowly boil already when they hadn't even exchanged words.
"Excuse me, isn't this the apartment of Alice Cooper and her daughters?" A man asked politely.
It was Hal.
FP breathed in and prepared to send him away.
"No, this is the apartment of Alice Smith and her daughters. You've got the wrong door." He made an attempt to close the door, but Hal held his hand to block him from doing so.
"I came to see my daughter, Polly? Is she there?" He asked, a little bit more firm this time. Apparently this man didn't like him, and the feeling was growing to be mutual, whoever he may be.
FP sighed. In the end, this wasn't his choice to make. He turned his head to the girl to leave it up to her.
"Polly, your Dad is here for you. Can I let him in or should I send him back to where he came from?" He called, a bitter tone in his voice.
Hal was growing impatient and the way this stranger was talking to him wasn't helping.
"Who do you think you are exactly?" He spat out, an angry frown forming on his forehead.
Polly hadn't even had the chance to answer, when FP's head shot back immediately.
"You wanna know who I think I am? I think I am one of the few people who has actually been there for you daughter, which is something you can't say."
He was so ready to shove his ass out and kick him back towards New Jersey himself, but Polly spoke up before her father got the chance to say something in return.
"FP, it's alright. Let him in." The girl said softly, rubbing her growing baby bump.
FP reluctantly took a step aside, making room for Hal to enter the apartment.
"How have you been, Dad?" She asked him softly, giving him a warm smile.
Even when she had a thousand reasons to hate her father, she was the kind of girl to give people a second chance, even if they didn't deserve it. Hal was silent for a bit, until his eyes fell on the Monopoly game on the table.
"Is this what you do on your free time now? Playing boardgames?" He asked, clear judgement in his voice.
Polly shared a nervous look with Sweet Pea, who instinctively had walked over closer to his girlfriend.
"I see you're still pregnant?" Hal eyed her baby bump and shook his head disapprovingly.
FP shot Polly a look as if he was asking her telepathically if this was his cue to shove him out of the door. However, the girl was slowly starting to panic and Hal didn't have an off button. Instead, he kept on talking.
"This is your mother's doing, isn't it? Did she tell you could handle this? That it would all be fine?" He started to scoff as he realized how his ex-wife has handled this.
"Come on Polly, I may have been a little harsh but what I said still stands. Life isn't a fairytale. Why the hell did you through with it? Wasn't hearing the truth once than enough?"
His voice was harsh and full of confidence to convince her once and for all that she did a stupid thing by listening to her mother.
This time FP and Sweet Pea looked at each other, not sure what to do. Both of them wanted him gone, but as long as she didn't give a sign they wouldn't budge. That wasn't their place.
"This is why you came to Riverdale? To tell me again that me keeping my baby is a mistake? Not to apologize?"
Polly's lip started to quiver as she realized even when she believed in the good in people, the good in her Dad who she once was so close with. But he was only here to hurt her even more.
"I am not going to apologize for being the only one with a sane mind." Hal reasoned with her. He didn't even try to see her side of the story and how why she chose to do this.
It was the tears in his girlfriend's eyes that was the last straw for Sweet Pea. To him, this was the sign.
"Cut it out! Why the hell is it so hard for you to be supportive of your daughter, huh? She is brave for choosing to keep our baby and we're going to do perfectly fine with or without your support." He exclaimed loudly, his nostrils flaring.
It was the first time Hal even paid attention to the boy, as if he suddenly realized he was there. Coming eye to eye with the one that impregnated his daughter infuriated him even more.
"You are the father of her child?! You're the one that knocked her up?!"
Hal made a leap to come at his throat, but FP was quicker and grabbed his arms from behind, keeping him a tight grip that made it impossible for him to move.
"Hey! Are you fucking crazy?!" Sweet Pea yelled loudly, now wanting nothing more than to have a real physical fight with him, knowing that without a doubt, he'd beat him to pieces.
Hal squinted in FP's hold, just as Alice walked into the hallway on her way to her home. As the door was open, she noticed the group of people people close to the trespassing.
"What is going on here?" She asked confused, looking at the bunch of people in her living room.
"Alice, great, you can join this pleasant meeting. Tell this freak to let me go, now." Hal squinted, hoping to get back-up from his ex-wife.
"This freak you're talking about is the man I am dating." She snapped, giving him an icy look.
"You know what I am going to keep my comments to myself on that one." Hal mumbled unpleasantly as FP slowly let go of his arms while watching him like a hawk.
Alice had noticed her daughter, who was being shushed by her boyfriend as sob after sob escaped her mouth.
"Polly, honey... what is happening? Can you tell me?" Alice said softly, grabbing both her hands.
However, she was in such a state of panic that she couldn't get one word out. It was too much for her. Even her mother being here and the comforting embrace of Sweet Pea couldn't help her calm down.
But then, FP spoke up. He would explain what had been going down not long ago.
"I can fill you in. Your lovely ex-husband stopped by to check if Polly was still pregnant and wanted to attack Noah when he found out that she still was." FP glared at Hal as he took a step closer into Alice's direction, mainly to form a protective front for Polly.
"Or would you say something different, huh?" He raised his eyebrow as he challenged him.
Hal wasn't even going to disagree. He thought he knew the Alice he once married would agree with him and the way he viewed this pregnancy, but boy he was wrong.
"Are you the one who told her such nonsense? Come on, Alice. I expected better from you." Hal said disapprovingly, clearly disappointed to find out that she had been feeding Polly some kind of fairytale story.
"Get out." Alice hissed.
Suddenly, the room was thick with tension. Even Hal seemed to notice this was serious.
"What?" He let out, a little bewildered.
"You heard me. Get out. I don't want to see you around Polly anymore. Ever." She raised her voice at him and took a step closer, her heel clicking on the wooden floor.
"You can't decide that." He scoffed, not making any attempt to leave.
Something in Alice snapped. For such a long time it felt like part of her needed this one tiny nudge for her aversion towards her ex-husband to fully break, and finally it did. She had put up with this for far too long. When she found out what he had said to Polly she knew she had to drive up to New Jersey to tell him off, and though she regretted not taking that chance, she wasn't going to let it slip away now. This was over, once and for all.
"You've got the guts to tell your pregnant daughter who confided in you that she made a mistake and commanded her to get rid of it, but no, the fact that she came back and told me crying what you had done to her wasn't enough for you to take the hint? You thought it'd be a good idea to see if she took your great advice after not talking to her for months?"
Nobody dared to say a word as Alice rambled, barely giving Hal room to breath as the steam came out of her ears.
"If you don't understand that this is her body and her choice than I don't want you to even contact her from across the ocean." She spat out, looking him directly into his eyes as he listened.
There was a hint of overwhelming in his eyes. He had never seen her like this before. Even in their marriage she never dared to speak to him like this.
"And you know what? Their baby is going to get more love than you could even imagine. It won't be missing out on yours." She ended her rant, now stepping fully in front of her daughter, who was still closely being held by Sweet Pea.
FP stood next to her, making sure that Hal would know they were a team. He had looked at her in utter confusion, as this kind of protective side of her was new to him. It only made him love her even more.
"You're overreacting, I am just being practical. Why do you always have to get so emotional over everything?" Hal tried his best to act unimpressed, even when in a way her words had made impact.
Although, not in the way they should have. To him it only confirmed that everyone was crazy— except for him.
"I've listened years to you telling me I was too emotional, Hal. I am done now. I want you out of her life unless she decides differently." Alice added, crossing her arms. She was ready to send him away once and for all.
"Don't come begging for money when it all seems tougher than you thought it would." Hal turned around with a scoff, and made his way out of the building. That afternoon he didn't only leave Riverdale, he left his daughters life— for good.
Alice immediately turned around, and hugged her daughter closely.
"Come here baby, he can't hurt you anymore." She shushed softly, her own tears streaming down her cheeks now too.
Sweet Pea was already joined in the hug as he he had been comforting his girl, but when FP joined and embraced them all together, she was slowly calmed down, knowing that she had so many wonderful people she could count on.
**
FP had been watching Alice the rest of the day, but had been to hesitated to ask about the events of the afternoon. However, when they were finally alone just before they were about to change for bed, he decided to open the conversation.
"Babe, are you alright?" He asked her carefully, as he walked over to her to rest his hands on her hips.
Alice sighed quietly, but shot him a warm smile.
"I guess so. Today has been hard on Polly. I hope she is doing okay now."
Polly had been quiet all day, which nobody blamed her for, but it made it hard to read if she was somehow doing alright. FP smiled sadly as one hand combed through her blonde locks.
"You did a good job protecting her. That was amazing." He said proudly, making her grin.
"Betty and Polly are my everything. I had to." She said, and got on her tip-toes to softly kiss him.
A knock on her bedroom door was what made them break apart from their kiss.
"Mom?"
It was Polly, she poked her head inside.
"Yes, sweetheart?" Alice turned around and gestured for her to come in.
"My belly hurts, I am afraid something is wrong." Her voice trembled.
Sweet Pea was right behind her, giving her all the support he could give her. His face was paler than usual.
"Should we take her to the hospital?" He asked Alice, hoping that she had the right advice.
"Yes, bring her to the car. We got to make sure that everything is fine." Alice was just being practical, but part of her was growing concerned too.
"Should I be worried?" Polly asked afraid, her voice shaking as one hand held the one of her boyfriend while the other hand held her bump.
"I don't know honey, but let's just check." Alice quickly stroke her cheek and both she and FP followed them out of the building.
**
Polly was nervously waiting for the doctor to read her sonogram, but even anxiously looking at any change on her face didn't seem to be working. By now she clutched her boyfriend's hand so tightly, that the blood started to disappear out of it.
"All seems fine, Mrs. Cooper. Your blood pressure was a little high so you need to take it easy, alright?" The doctor shot her a smile and Polly let out a cry of relief. Sweet Pea immediately kissed her in this moment of happiness.
"Here are the scans of your sonogram." She handed them the pictures, and the couple looked at it with tears in their eyes.
"Your little girl is fine." The doctor smiled, when she noticed the happy twinkle as they looked at their baby.
Polly and Sweet Pea's eyes immediately shot up.
"We're having a girl?" She asked quietly, her voice still trembling.
In that moment the doctor realized that she had slipped her tongue, which she hadn't meant to do. But then she looked at the couple who were anxiously waiting for an answer, and she relaxed.
"Yes, you're expecting a girl." She confirmed.
"We're having a baby girl." Sweet Pea whispered, a happy tear rolling down from the corner of his eye towards his chin.
Alice embraced FP even tighter as she watched her daughter in this moment of pure bliss.
"I wish I could make her smile like that every single day." She mumbled, and felt FP pressing a kiss on her hairline.