When You Were Mine | Falice

Visitation

Alice stays with FP for a couple days, making sure he doesn't do anything stupid due to how he's feeling. She knows he's bound to do something. He's been bottling up his feeling since the night his dad got arrested. He cried to her about it and then never spoke of it again. She knows he needs to talk about it, knows he needs to see his dad, visit him but FP refuses.

"Baby, I was thinking, we don't have anything to do today so why don't we go visit your dad?"

"Nice try, Al, but I don't want to."

"I think you need to though. I think you need the closure."

"I'll see him eventually but not now."

"So what's eventually to you?"

"I don't know, Alice!" He snaps. "But what I do know is that I can't handle seeing him in jail right now and knowing it's all my fault he's in there again. So please, don't make me go."

"Okay... okay. You don't have to do anything until you're ready to." They sit in silence for a few minutes and then she think of her own little plan. "Hey, I'm just gonna go visit my parents for a bit, will you be okay here?"

"Yeah, I'll be fine. You don't need to babysit me." He tells her making them both smile. "I love you."

"I love you too. I'll be back later!" She kisses him before walking out of the trailer.

She borrows the car from her parents and then leaves again. She has other plans than visiting her parents.

She drives further into the town of Riverdale until she comes to the Sheriff Station. When she walks inside she sees Sheriff Johnson sitting there. "Can I help you, miss?" He questions as she walks over to him.

"Um yes, I'm looking to visit Forsythe Pendleton Jones?"

"You are?"

She nods. "I'm here on behalf of his son."

"Ah, I see." He gestured for her to follow him as he speaks. "Lots of time the children of the inmate have a hard time coming here to visit."

"Yeah, he's definitely having a hard time."

He radios to a prison guard and explains that she's here for a visitation and to bring out Forsythe Sr. They wait there for a minute or so until a guard comes to the door.

He leads her through the visitation area and her heart breaks as she looks at all the people. Some are crying, some are yelling, some aren't saying anything at all, they're just staring at the person on the other side of the glass.

The guard points to a chair in front of a glass pane and tells her Forsythe will be right out. While she waits she looks around the room some more, there's a young boy who looks to be about 5 years old sitting on a woman's lap with the phone to his ear. He has the biggest smile on his face and her heart aches at the sight.

A knocking on the glass brings her back to reality and she looks to see Forsythe Sr. sitting in front of her. She picks up the phone and he smiles.

"Didn't expect to see you here, when they told me I had a visitor I thought it was FP." He tells her.

"He's too scared to come and see you." She admits.

"Oh. Well, I can't blame him. He never liked coming here the first time around."

"He's just... he's having a hard time."

"He is?" She nods and he lets his head fall into his hand. "Shit. I was scared he would do this." He looks at her through the glass and sighs into the phone. "Some of the Serpents visited me the first time I was in here and told me FP was distancing himself from people, even Fred, if you can believe that. I don't want him to do that this time. He needs to not shut people out but he won't let people in, doesn't want to seem weak."

"How can I help? I'll do anything. I hate seeing him so upset."

"Make him talk to you. I can almost guarantee that you're the only one that boy will let his guard down around. You're the only one that he is going to talk to." He tells her. "Sit down with him and ask him to talk to you. Don't take no for an answer. Let him know it's okay to cry, and hold him if he does. Let him know it's okay to be angry, be angry with him. Just let him know you're there. He needs you now, Alice... more than ever."

"I've tried it, he cried the night it all happened and now he refuses to acknowledge it."

"Don't give up on him. Please, Alice, don't give up on my boy." He turns his head to discreetly wipe a tear from his cheek.

"I'll never give up on him... I promise."

He smiles at her. "That boy is head over heels in love with you, kid. Trust me when I say that you're the only person he'll trust to talk about this."

"I'll do my best." She assures him, giving him a smile.

"That's all I ask."

_

After the visit she goes back to FP's trailer and sees him sitting on the couch with a bowl of chips on his lap, a cold beer in his hand and his eyes glued to the television.

"Hi baby." He greets as she walks through the door. She smiles in response but doesn't say another word as she takes the beer from his hand and sets it on the coffee table along with the chip bowl. She turns off the TV and he looks at her confused. "Al, what are you-" she presses her finger to his lips to shush him, effectively stopping him from finishing his sentence.

"We need to talk." She says as she sits down beside him on the couch.

A worried expression comes over his face. "Are you breaking up with me?" He asks her, the fear clear in his voice.

"No, God no." She reassures him. "I went to visit your dad today. I know you haven't been able to go yourself so I wanted to be able to tell you myself that he's okay."

"And he is?"

"He is."

"That's good."

"Talk to me." She tells him and he raises an eyebrow at her in confusion. "Talk to me about your dad, about everything that happened. You've been so bottled up since it happened and I'm starting to worry about you. Please baby, I'm begging you, talk to me... I'm a judgement free zone, you know that."

He opens his mouth to speak but then his bottom lip quivers and his eyes fill with tears. "FP," She whispers her heart breaking at the sight of him crumbling in front of her. "come here." He wraps his arms around her, burying his face into her chest as he starts to cry. She hugs him tight, letting her hands run up and down his back as she holds him. She'll hold him all night if it helps him, if that's what he needs. She's not going anywhere.