"So, when are you planning on getting an ultrasound? I'd like to come if that's okay." FP asked in the passenger seat of Alice's newly oil-changed car.
"I, um....I wasn't planning on going right away." Alice responded as she turned down the street, heading back into Riverdale.
"Why not?" He asked, placing his hand on her thigh.
"Because this has to be kept a secret for as long as possible. Not only have we committed adultery, but now we've conceived a child in an unwed relationship. The Black Hood is going to-"
"You're gonna get big. Eventually it'll be obvious that you're pregnant, Alice. What are you gonna tell everyone then?" He moved his hand to rest on the back of the driver's seat.
Her voice slowed and she spoke hesitantly and quietly. "I was thinking.....I would tell people that it was Hal's." FP's arm dropped from the back of her seat. And Alice tried her best to back track. "Just for right now! And then when things calm down, we'll-"
"What if things never calm down, Alice? You're just gonna go ahead and let everyone think that my kid is his? AGAIN?" She didn't respond, causing a ridiculous chortle to escape FP's throat. He turned to look out of the car window, placing his hand under his chin. "You're something else, you know that, Alice?" He pressed his lips together not wanting to say what he was about to, but it poured out of his mouth anyway when he turned to look at her again. "You have no morals!"
"I-What?" She said in between his words. "Excuse me!"
"All you care about is what other people think of you!"
"That's not what this is, FP!" Alice felt a spell of morning sickness approaching, at the worst time.
"You left me in the fear that people would judge you for being with the town drunk's son. You convinced your parents to transfer you to the Northside so everyone could see how prim and proper you were becoming. Hell, you only married Hal to keep up with appearances."
"I'm trying to protect us, FP!" She shouted. "All I care about is appearances? For real? Do you have any idea what happened to me while you were in prison?" She waited for him to respond while she turned down another street. He was silent. "The Black Hood threatened my daughter! He sent me several threatening letters." She began to cry angry tears as she continued. "He called Betty every night, torturing my little girl and forcing her to end things with Jughead....with her best friend...With me!" She sniffled. "He sent her an old newspaper about my arrest back when things went down with the Serpents and forced poor Elizabeth to publish it in the school newspaper and plaster it all over town. Everyone on the Northside became well aware of my stint with the Southside after that and do you know what happened? Do you know what I did? Hal begged me not to show my face in public ever again because HE was so embarrassed with his ball and chain. HE was the one obsessed with appearances. I ignored him and I showed up to every town event after that without a care in the world 'what people think.' Don't give me that, Forsythe. I left you because you were in a bad place. I left the Southside because I was looking at major colleges and I needed a real education. I stayed with Hal, because he was my only friend on the Northside." She shook her head with a scoff as they turned down her street. "I don't care what people think. I care about my family and I care about you and I care about what the Black Hood might do if he finds out about us! I'm trying to keep everyone I love safe! And that includes you. So you better watch your tone with me, FP Jones. And enough with this shaming me for becoming a Northsider crap!"
She made it into her driveway, putting the car in park as they sat there, immovable, in complete silence. Alice stared ahead at her closed garage door while FP stared down at the dashboard in front of him. He rubbed the facial hair on his chin, anxiously bouncing his right leg as he did so. Alice's hands tightly gripped the steering wheel ahead of her and she forced herself to stop crying. He turned his head to look at her and he sighed, opening his mouth to speak. "Alice, I-"
