New Beginnings

Taking the Leap

"Was anything taken?" Sheriff Keller enquires as he carefully strolls around the Smith kitchen, imagining the incident and how it took place as best as he can while a shaken Alice was being comforted firmly with FP by her side tenderly rubbing her shoulders after nursing her wrist.

"No. I don't think so." Alice practically mumbled, running her unharmed hand through her dark tresses nervously. "Uhm, unless- I haven't really checked properly-"

"Baby, baby?" FP softly began, trying to pull his highly strung girlfriend back down into the seat she had tried to rise up from. "We'll check later alright? Just relax for a second. Please?"

Alice could see in his innocent brown orbs that he was vulnerably pleading at this rate, and she hadn't seen that glimmer of fear and worry in his eyes before. He was obviously fearing for her and he had every reason to be.

With his kind encouragement, Alice allowed herself to settle calmly, inhaling deep breaths and exhaling relaxingly despite still being shaken up by the incident. The stress wasn't good for the babies, and right now they were her main priority.

"Was there anything, distinctive? Anything about how they looked that you'd remember?"

"They were around, 6ft, I didn't catch their face, so there's not a lot to go on there." Alice sighed before deeply revisiting the incident, trying to gather as much useful information about the intruder to tell Tom. "He had a spiked leather jacket, a ski mask. That's all I can recall right now."

Panic glowed in FP's eyes and his jaw went slack as it slowly parted upon hearing the heart stopping mention of a spiked jacket. His mouth fell dry as the Sahara and he subconsciously began to loosen his collar.

"Well, okay. Well canvas the area, the area, check for witnesses, tell people to keep an eye out for anything suspicious." Tom informed them with the sincerest tone, but Alice was all too familiar with the way the police operated in these circumstances.

"We'll be in touch."

"I'm sure you will." Alice sarcastically replied with a tight grin donning her face.

She knew this was a dead end and she'd had been better off with Father Christmas on the case, but regardless of that wisdom, she simply nodded acceptingly, expressed her gratitude, and watched FP escort him to the door.

•••

"How's your hand?" FP sweetly worried, gently taking her injured wrist in his hand and tenderly massaging it, being careful not to hurt her any further.

"A little sore, but nothing I can't handle." Alice assured him bravely with a smile, calmly rubbing her harmed area.

Guilt surged through FP as he watched her suppress the hurt she was feeling and the growing anxiety rushing within her over the incident. By now, he could read her like a book, all of her pages, all of her broken down chapters, all of the words that jumped out onto the page and all of the hidden implications within the text. He could sift through it all and process and understand all that was provided to him by her with no effort whatsoever.

"I should've been here!" He furiously hissed, pounding his fist into the table, the thought of Alice being hurt infuriating him further.

"Hey, hey!" Alice calmed, settling his shaking hands and clenching fists. "I said I was okay, didn't I? We all are." She tenderly assures him, referring to the twins she's carrying as she rubbed circles along her stomach. "It's not your fault what happened."

"You sure about that?" FP mumbled below his breath, his head bowed in slight shame as he fiddled around with his hands.

FP's shifty response sparked a concern in Alice, forcing her to dart her eyes in a suspecting manner. It wasn't like him to hide things from her, and the nature of his behaviour here had her suddenly worrying. Was there something he knew about her intruder that she didn't? Did he have a hand in the attack? What was happening here?

"What do you mean, FP?" Alice inquired fearfully, snatching her hand out of his shortly after and sending him a narrowing glare.

"I think-" He began to stammer, running his newly his free hand through his dark hair. "It might've been a ghoulie." He disclosed in a shaky tone.

Alice bulged her crystal blue eyes wide, her heart practically dropping at the mention of the retched gang before rising from her seat and internalising the information properly, removing herself from FP's vicinity to give herself to space to do so. "Well, what do they want with me? Because I'm you're girlfriend?" What if they come in and hurt the kids? What if-"

"Alright. Calm down-"

"FP, two things you never tell a pregnant woman is anything about their feet, and to calm down!" She expressively spat before pacing up and down, and she was sure this rage wasn't good for the babies. "And here was me thinking it was one of Hiram's goons. Thank God for that."

"I'm sorry." FP apologised, the regret and shame outing out through his tone, before widening his arms out and calmly strolling towards her, preparing to pull her into his warm embrace, which she gladly accepted, happily sinking into his comfort as he stroked her back up and down, his soothing breaths above her head as he rested his chin in her dark locks sending a tingling and tranquil sensation down her spine. She had begun to cherish these moments recently and found it easier to just be vulnerable around him.

"I know you are." She states. "I know you'd never intentionally do anything to put me in danger, but what if he comes back? What are we gonna do then?"

"I guess this just puts everything into perspective, doesn't it?"

Alice lifted her head up from his chest to glare into his eyes for a better understanding of his rather deep statement. "What do you mean?"

"About, me and the kids moving in here? Us being a proper family-" He further explains, placing his tender hand on her bump. "I think it's for the best baby."

FP had been drifting back and forth between his choice on whether to move in with Alice or not. Just weighing up the pros and cons daily with the intention of doing what was best for not only Alice, but his and her kids too.

They had all been through enough chaos for the past few years between them, some more than others, and more change to the lives they've accustomed to wouldn't be ideal, but this incident, made him realise he wasn't thinking about all of his children to begin with, and it gave him all the motive to prompt him into taking the leap. Who knows what could've happened if he hadn't come back when he did. Things could've been a lot worse and he would've lost not only Alice, but the twins growing in her stomach too.

"No." Alice immediately rejected, a hint of fear in her tone as she attempted to back out of his arms. "I don't want you to move in because you feel you have to-"

FP instantly pulled her back, trying to his best to settle her. "Al, please. I've been thinking about it all week and you were right. We need to be together, and close. And if anything, this break in is clear of that."

"You really, wanna do this?" Alice double checked softly, her eyes sparkling with joy as she awaited his confirmation.

"Yeah, really." FP pulled her arms around, prompting her to wrap them around his waist as she returned firmly into his embrace, looking up at him with such pride and admiration. "I love you. There's nothing more that I could want."

"I love you too." She declared lovingly, her heart thumping to the heat of Cupid's drum as she leaned her lips close into his, soaking up his taste as he pulled her in tighter and they smiled into their smooch.

"I guess we gotta tell the kids for sure now huh?" He grinned against her lips, watching the smirk of embarrassment danced over her face.

"That's gonna go down well."