Falice 2

Surprise

Slight combination of two similar requests
@flawlessmadchen @ifthestarscouldread
***

Thanksgiving break was coming up and Alice was excited to have Betty come home from college. She had assured her multiple times that she was catching a train ride home to celebrate with her.

It has been awfully quiet in the house without everyone she loved there with her. Alice has missed having them all home. It has been a long four months now, so it meant everything to her that she could at least count on her youngest daughter making her way back home to her. Even if it was only for a couple of days. But little did she know that there was more to it than was lead on.

Alice had spent the days leading up to Betty's arrival preparing for her stay. She wanted the house to feel like it once was. She was going to make the best out of their circumstances. Everything that was left behind was pretty much in its same place. It was her way of feeling everyone's presence.

Betty arrived two days before Thanksgiving day. She was the happiest woman at the train station. Alice greeted her with a tight hug. Four months had felt like ages. "I'm happy to see you, too, mom." Betty chuckled. "I'd like to breathe though."

"Sorry," Alice released her. "I've just missed you so much, Elizabeth."

"I've missed you, too."

"I hope you're in the mood for my pie on Thanksgiving."

"That's what I came home for." Betty joked. "And to be with you, of course. We're going to have a nice Thanksgiving. I promise you that."

"A big family dinner would have been lovely this year since we didn't get the chance to last year. But that's alright. We can still have a nice time. Just the two of us."

"That would have been nice."

"Let's go home."

"Yeah, let's go home," Betty smiled. Alice helped her take her suitcase to the car.

*

Betty had been put in charge of not letting Alice know about what the day would bring. It was hard for her to remain neutral. She was excited to see that spark in her mother's eyes come back. She did her best though. She knew her mother deserved this. They couldn't manage to gather everyone for the occasion, but they did their best to bring together everyone they could.

While her mother was in the shower, Betty took the opportunity to make a call. FP was due to arrive to town within the next few hours with Jughead and Jellybean. Jughead took a flight to Toledo to go home to his family. FP let the kids celebrate a day early with their mother and worked it out with Gladys to take the kids with him to Riverdale for a couple of days. She wasn't happy about it, but she gave in enough to let it happen.

"Hello, Mr. Jones?" Betty asked when the call went through. "Can you hear me?"

"Yes, we can hear you. How are you, Betty?"

"Good, good. It's nice to be home."

"I bet your mother is happy to have you."

"She's made it clear," Betty laughed. "But I know she'll be even happier with a few more visitors."

"I'd hope so. She has no idea, right?" FP had made it sound like he was spending Thanksgiving in Toledo with the kids and Gladys, so expecting the Joneses at her front door was something Alice would least expect.

"Positive," Betty confirmed.

"Alright, thank you, Betty. We'll see you soon. Jughead spoke to Cheryl. She kindly agreed to let us have them for the holiday. Maybe Polly isn't considered ready to come home from the Shady Grove yet, but through the twins maybe it could be like she is present."