FP and Alice

Part 2

"It doesn't matter FP" she said wiping her eyes "I'm fine. It's fine" and she began to pull away from him but he stopped her by holding her shoulders and forcing her to look at him. "Ali-" God he hadn't called her that in 30 years. "Stop telling me this is ok because we both know it's not. You don't deserve for anyone to hurt you. I'm going to get you some ice"

He walked into the Cooper house kitchen and was met by frequent displays of photos- most of polly and Betty but one of the 4 of them pinned to the fridge/freezer. It killed him. That could have been them, their children, their family. But he could never give her the ticket out of the south side she wanted and needed so he'd let her go. It was the biggest mistake of his life. He pulled out a bag of frozen peas from the freezer and carefully wrapped a cloth around it. He then went back and found Alice and sat on the bottom steps with her and carefully held it to her cheek.

She winced as soon as it touched her skin and she reached for his free hand. He gladly took it and held it tightly. They sat there for a while, eyes locked and hands held tightly until FP deemed the swelling had gone down enough for him to removed the peas. He quickly put them back into the freezer before returning. "Alice I just need to know, who did this to you?"

He places a hand on her un-injured cheek and brushed a tear away. "Hal he.. h" she couldn't get the words out so looked down again. "He did this to you?!" His tone was dangerous and filled with anger Alice grabbed his arms and looked into his eyes.
" FP don't ok? You always told me what he was like and I never listened and for years I've been paying the price but right now there is nothing you can do to fix it. Why do you even care FP, I thought we'd ended this a long time ago"
"This has been going on for years? Alice for God's sake why do you stay with him? Of course I care Alice- we might have ended years ago but I never stopped caring!" He reached his hand out and stroked her hair, his eyes full of tears of unspoken truths.
"FP please, I can't. Not right now."
"He hurts you god dammit and for that I could kill him, but you don't have to stay like this"
"FP stop. I made my choice years ago."
"Alice isn't it time you stop pretending?"
"What am I pretending then since you seem to think you know what I'm thinking?"
"That you ever stopped loving me, because I think we both know that's not true"

She was taken aback at his bold words and her heart had been in her mouth the entire conversation. She knew she couldn't ignore that every time she was with him she felt warm and safe not alone like she felt with Hal but she had to. She was married for gods sake. But he was standing there when Hal walked out. He was the only one who'd cared enough to not give up on her. He was the one who even though she broke his heart would still come to her if she needed him. He was there and her heart rate quickened.
"FP.." she breathed as he stepped closer to her so there faces were barely an inch apart.
"Alice I missed you" he whispered to her their noses touching.
She was nervous but at the same time more sure than she'd ever been. She needed him. She needed to feel something. They shared a heated passionate kiss only breaking to come up for air. He wrapped his arms around her waist and she ran her fingers through his hair. It was a moment they'd both longed for so much time that they made it last.

When they finally pulled apart she stared into his eyes and said "I missed you too" before embracing him. She rested her head on his chest and breathed in his scent of a little cheap cologne, leather and faint alcohol. She held onto him like her life depended on it and they melted into each other - neither wanting to let the other go after so long waiting.