Alice spent the next few days keeping a close eye on Chic. She watched his every move and listened intently to his words, trying her hardest to catch another hint that he might be the one in town that she feared most. Was he the mastermind behind the attacks? If so...who was the man behind the mask? Or was it just Chic? And the trauma of Fred being shot had tricked Archie's mind into seeing what he thought was a man in his forties? Chic was capable of murder. She had seen it. She had coddled him for it. Was Betty onto him too? Is that why she seemed so hostile toward him lately?
Alice wanted nothing more than to bring it up everytime they were alone...but they were never alone for long. Chic was always there. Listening. It began to eat away at Alice. So much so that she tried her best to avoid FP, knowing that he would know right away that something was wrong.
She sat behind her desk at The Register, nibbling at some Saltine crackers to get rid of her nausea. Though it always seemed like the crackers heightened it, she ate them anyway as they were her favorite snack even when she wasn't pregnant.
"Hey, Alice." Hal said, coming out of the office bathroom. "Can I talk to you for a sec?"
Rolling her eyes, she sighed, pushing her chair back and standing up to turn around and face him. "What is it, Hal?" She looked down at something he held in his hand and instant panic took over her.
"What the hell is this?" Her ex husband asked, holding up the pregnancy test. "I found this in the trash."
Alice wanted nothing more than to put her face in both of her hands and scream at herself for forgetting to take the bathroom trash out after she took the test. Instead, she maintained her strong-willed composure and pressed her lips together, almost as if she were refusing to speak. She grabbed it from his hand and threw it in the waste bin beside her desk. "That's nothing." She lied.
"It's positive." Hal squinted at her. "Are you pregnant?" Alice cleared her throat and refused to respond as she sat back down in her chair and turned around to continue typing, ignoring him behind her. "You can't be. At your age, you-"
"Oh, God. Hal..." She slouched in her chair, hating that she had to explain this to him, though she wasn't surprised. "It doesn't matter how old I am. If I still get my period, then I can still get pregnant. And I do." She bit her lower lip with annoyance. "But how would you know that? You never paid any attention to me."
It was silent for a moment until Hal looked down with a sigh. "I'm sorry. I just....who's the father?" He awaited her answer, but when she didn't, he closed his eyes and shook his head. "Please tell me it's not him."
"So what if it were?" She continued to type, though she suspected her writing was not the best whilst this distracted. "Please tell ME you weren't really banging Penelope Blossom." She cracked a small smirk, proud of herself for that one. "And while we were married? Seriously, Hal? I don't even wanna hear your criticisms about MY love life, when yours is messier than that ginger concubine's family tree." She giggled. "Oh right....it's your family tree too, isn't it?"
Hal scoffed, slowly walking around her desk to stand in front of her, looking down at her while she worked. "You know...you've been a thorn in my side since our wedding night."
"Oh, me? I have?" She looked up at him with blazing eyes as she gave up on trying to work. With a loud puff of air escaping her nose, she reached up to take her glasses off before she slowly stood from her seat to be at eye level with him. "Let's recall that night, shall we?" She placed a hand on her hip before setting her glasses on the desk with her other one. "Because I think you've forgotten exactly what happened or your pathetic excusable brain has altered it in your own reality so you can tell yourself that you were the victim that night."
"Oh, trust me. I remember it very well." Hal sneered.
"Mhm. Okay. Then tell me." She demanded. "Tell me your version of our wedding night and enlighten me."
"I remember that it was supposed to be the happiest night of our life and you spent it refusing to speak to me or even touch me. When I confronted you about it, you did what you always do...you snapped at me and I ended up with a black eye and sore ribs on our honeymoon."
Alice's jaw dropped as her eyes filled with tears and she couldn't help but laugh. When she finally stopped chuckling, she shook her head and let the tears fall down her cheeks. "You're missing the bigger picture, Hal."
"Yeah? And what's that?"
"The reason I snapped in the first place." She straightened her posture, readying herself for bringing up old wounds. "Do you remember?" She asked him, knowing that he must and he was just making her seem like the bad guy here. "We got to our room in the hotel after the reception and I told you that I wasn't in the mood for sex. You asked me why and I told you that I was still depressed about Chic. You got all defensive and brought up the fact that 'it was our wedding day...I should be happy.' You then proceeded to remind me that getting pregnant in high school was the dumbest thing I could have done and that choosing you over FP was the smartest thing I could've done. Then what happened?"
"Alice."
"No, no." She wiped away a tear. "Then what happened?" She repeated. "You proceeded to unzip my dress and throw me on the bed. So...I responded in the only way I knew how when being attacked."
"I wasn't attacking you." He tried to justify.
"Yes...Yes, you were and you did! So...I defended myself." Alice sniffled, looking away from him. "I'VE been a thorn in YOUR side since that night???" A small chuckle of ridicule escaped her lips. "If that's the case, Hal, then you've been a knife in my back since high school." They both looked away from each other, sighing. "And it didn't stop there." Alice shook her head. "Mm Nm, nope. And when Betty was gracious enough to find Chic for me, you acted like he was the Devil's Spawn." With a deep breath, she wiped away more tears before she finally admitted to him what she knew she couldn't tell anyone else. "And you actually may have been right." She whispered as she angrily closed her eyes the moment she said it.
"What?" He looked up at her with a hint of shock. Was she actually telling HIM that he was right?
"I have a theory about Chic and I haven't told anyone this." She said with both hands on her hips. "But you have to promise this is just between you and me....just until we learn more."
Mr. Cooper slowly nodded, unsure when the last time was that they had a secret from the outside world together. "Okay."
A/N: Hey, readers! We're getting closer to the end of this story. There may be a few more chapters after this one, but soon it'll be over. I hope you've been enjoying it so far and I can't wait to hear your thoughts on it. Make sure you leave some comments and reviews. I love you all and thanks for putting up with me. Haha MWAH!
