A Falice Story

5. Sick

It's a little after midnight when I wake up to an overwhelming feeling of nausea. I jump out of bed and head straight to the bathroom, making it just in time. FP comes in shortly after me and picks up a hair tie off the counter and pulls my hair back. "Ugghhh I feel awful," I cry. "It's okay Ali, I'm right here." He gently rubs my back and sits down with his back against the tub. I crawl into his arms lethargically, "I forgot how much this part of pregnancy sucks." He wraps his arms around me and kisses my head, "It won't last too much longer though." I look up at him, slightly annoyed, "It can too! Sometimes it lasts most of the pregnancy!" I whine.

"I sure hope it doesn't," FP says while continuing to play with my hair. I feel my emotions change to being upset with him, "Wait, are you already sick of taking care of me? Is that what you mean? You are partly responsible for this too!" I feel the tears surface. "No, no, Ali! That's not what I meant at all. I just know how tough it is on you and I want you to feel better as soon as possible, that's all." I wipe the tears off my cheeks, "Are you sure?" He kisses my forehead, "Yes. I am positive." 

I now feel stupid for saying that. "I'm sorry, honey. I didn't mean to snap at you. My hormones are already running wild--and you're too good to me and--and I don't deserve you--" I wail. FP stops me, "Alice, I don't deserve you." I sniffle, "You're just saying that." He continues stroking my hair, "No, I'm not. Everyday I wake up next to you, I think 'why on earth is this beautiful woman with me?'" 

I turn to face him, "Don't ever think that. I should have chosen you--23 years ago to be exact." He smiles and kisses my cheek, "It's okay. We're together now and that's the important part." I smile and close my eyes resting my head on his chest. "Do you want to go back to bed?" I sit up quickly, "Not done yet..." God I hate throwing up. He just rubs my back and tells me everything will be okay. Easy for him to say--his body isn't having to go through all of the changes. I finally sit up and he hands me mouthwash, "What, you don't want to kiss me in my current condition?" I say sarcastically. He smirks, "Just to prove you wrong--" and before I know it, his lips are crashing into mine.

"Oh, God FP! That's disgusting!" I whine. He just laughs, "See how much I love you?" I just roll my eyes and take some mouthwash. After I finish, he picks me up bridal style, carries me back to bed, and places the bathroom trash can on the floor near my nightstand. "Goodnight, Ali. I love you." He pulls me gently into him, wrapping his arm around me. "I love you too."

*

The next morning was a lot better. I was a little nauseous, but not at all like the night before. Betty and Jughead surprisingly hadn't caught on to our little secret, but I knew we needed to tell them soon. I was in the middle of making breakfast, when the doorbell rang. I was confused over who would be at the door so early in the morning, but I check and see it is Sheriff Minetta. I roll my eyes and open the door, "Yes?" I say, with a hint of annoyance. 

"Mrs. Cooper--" I cut him off with a little, 'ahem,' and he pauses, "My apologies--Miss Smith, we checked into the note that you and Mr. Andrews received, and considering you were the only two people in town that got them, I can assure you that it is the work of someone who is just trying to pull a prank." I toss my blonde curls over my shoulder, "You can assure me, huh? Let me ask you something Sheriff--how did you even know that Fred and I received notes?" He looks a bit uncomfortable, "I happened to overhear your kids talking about it. I took the liberty of checking it out for you."

"Well, thank you. But for mine and Fred's safety, and the safety of our families, I feel it needs to be looked into further," I place a hand on my hip and raise my brows. He runs a hand through his hair and sucks in his breathe, "I--can see what I can do." I give him an irritated smile, "Thanks. Have a good day, Sheriff." I shut the door and let out an angry sigh. I know he's working with someone. Why the hell does he still have the sheriff's position anyways?! I turn to go back to the kitchen and I didn't notice that Betty had come down the stairs shortly before Minetta had left. 

"Mom? What was that about?" I jumped at the sound of her voice. "Oh, Betty! I didn't know you were down here. Sheriff Minetta stopped by, to tell me that the notes we received were just the work of pranksters," I roll my eyes, "Did you kids talk about us getting these notes anywhere that he could have overheard you?" She shakes her head, "No. I don't think so. Jughead might have brought it up at Pop's, but I'm pretty sure the Sheriff wasn't there." 

"What did I bring up at Pop's?" Jughead asked as he came into the kitchen. "About the note my mom and Fred got?" He looks at me, "I know we talked about it--but we kept our voices down and I know for a fact Minetta wasn't in there." I shake my head, "I can't believe he's still trying to act so innocent--as if he's not working with Hiram." 

"Probably conspiring to bust that son of a bitch out of there," Jughead mutters while opening the maple syrup and pouring it on his waffles. I catch a whiff of the syrup and the smell makes me gag. Pre-pregnancy I loved the smell of maple syrup, but now it is absolutely disgusting to me. "Mom? Are you okay?" I turn to my daughter, "Yeah, honey. I'm fine--" I thought I could hold it in, but a few seconds later I'm up and running for our downstairs bathroom. 

Betty knocks on the door shortly after, "Mom?! Are you sure you're okay?" I wipe my mouth, "I'm fine, Betty!" FP comes down the stairs and notices Betty by the door, "Is your mom okay?" She shrugs, "I think so. All of a sudden she got up from the table and rushed in here." He nods, knowing exactly what's wrong. "I'll take it from here," he says and knocks on the bathroom door. "Ali, it's me." I open it quickly letting him in. "Sick again?" 

"Sssshh! Keep your voice down," I sit on the edge of the tub, "When Jughead opened the maple syrup, the smell of it triggered it," I whine, rolling my eyes. FP laughs, rubbing my back, "You can blame Jug for this one then." I manage to laugh and he pulls me into his arms. "Do you want me to stay home with you today?" I immediately shut it down, "No, FP, I have to go to work before my appointment today." He tips my chin up and our eyes meet, "You can take the day off." I sigh, "No, I can't." 

"You know you'll feel better if you stay home and take it easy." I roll my eyes, I know he's right, and I don't even have a real reason to go in to work today, I just wanted something to take my mind off of my appointment. "Okay. I'll stay home," I agree, and FP kisses my cheek. "Good. I'll call Fred and tell him I'm staying home to take care of you." We both exit the bathroom with Betty and Jughead giving us strange looks. 

"Is there something going on that you two aren't telling us?" Betty looks at me with concern. FP pours himself a cup of coffee, "Everything's fine. Your mom just isn't feeling the best today, so she's going to take the day off to rest up." I sit back down at the table, "Trust me. I'll be just fine." Both kids still look at us suspiciously, but they grab their bags and head out the door for school without any further questioning. 

FP scoops me into his arms and carries me bridal-style upstairs, "Let's get your day-off started properly," he says with a smirk, gently setting me down on the bed. "Uh-uh buddy. If that's the only reason you insisted on staying home with me you got it all wrong," I say as I give him a gentle kiss. "I'm kidding, I'm kidding," he says, crawling into bed next to me. I roll over and lay my head on his chest. "FP?" 

"Yeah?" I pause, "I'm really scared to go to the doctor." He strokes my hair, "Everything's going to be okay, Ali--" "How can you be so sure?" I cut him off. "It will be," FP kisses me softly before I can say anything else and pulls me closer into him. I sigh and shut my eyes, hoping to make up for the hours of sleep I lost last night, "I hope you're right."