Falice

Grief 2

Betty turned to look at her mother. "How did you two know each other?" She asked curious to know what she just saw.

"Not now, Elizabeth. It's not the time."

"What was that? How do you two know each other?" Jughead stopped his father from walking away any further. He was just as curious.

"It's complicated, son. Let's just leave it at that."

"Did you two have a thing?" Jughead asked.

"We did but that was back then."

"What happened?"

"Did you and Jughead's dad date?" Betty wondered.

"We did but that was years ago."

"What happened?"

FP stared back at the house. Alice looked at the door. "We loved each other but something happened that changed who we were completely."

"What?" Jughead asked.

"What was it?" Betty asked.

"Come on. It's easier if I just show you." FP walked to the truck and a confused Jughead trailed behind. "Where are we going?"

Alice walked up to the door and spotted the men driving away. Betty joined her. Alice sighed and looked at her daughter. "Polly isn't my firstborn."

"She's not?"

Alice shook her head. "I had a little boy. We named him Charles."

"You and him?"

"Yes, we were young and foolishly in love. Charles was our pride and joy."

"Was? Where is he?"

"Why are we here?" Jughead saw him pull into the cemetery. FP didn't answer. He kept driving to the gravestone he wanted to show him. Once they arrived he stepped out the truck and looked down at the name on the grave. Jughead took a look. "Charles Jones?"

"That's your brother in there."

"I have a brother?" Jughead was shocked. He knelt down and ran his fingers across the engraved words. He read the dates. It was only a child. "I assume Betty's mom is the mother." FP nodded yes. "We were recklessly in love. As a result we got our little boy," FP smiled. He loved his son. "But we lost him. We were never the same after that."

"We lost him years ago. He was a fighter but in the end he wasn't strong enough." Alice let a tear roll down her cheek. "Cancer beat him."

"I'm so sorry," Betty hugged her. Her eyes began to water too. "After our loss we weren't the same people anymore."

"I started to drink heavily every night and Alice didn't like that. I knew it but I just couldn't stop. I'm not proud of it but I did it. She would get even more worried when I was the drug mule but I couldn't help it. I had to get money to support the hospital bills and help us out."

"I was always working. Day and night. Distracting myself from our misery. I rarely got to see FP and when I did we were both broken. We couldn't help each other through it. It came to the point where we had to split ways."

"What happened to him? My brother." Jughead cautiously asked.

"Poor kid got cancer. We tried years of treatment but it beat him in the end." FP let the melancholia take over. He wasn't hiding his true emotions anymore.

"If he had lived how different would things be now?"

"I'd love my boy too death. Appreciate every given moment. Cherish it." FP took a deep breath. "Yet I couldn't give up the chances of having you or your sister. You mean just as much to me as he did."

"Do you ever wish you had Charles back?" Betty asked her mother to break the silence.

"I do," Alice nodded. "But then I wouldn't be able to live without you and your sister."

"So what about Alice?" Jughead took a quick glance of his father.

"What about her?"

"Do you still feel the same way towards her you did years ago?"

"She was always a special woman." FP rubbed his eye. "But I don't know. It's been a long time and we both moved on after that."

"You're both different people now. Don't you think it'd be different now? Like give it another try?"

"Are you sure about that? What about you and her daughter?"

"There's clearly a void that needs to be filled and the only one that can do that are you two. I'm sure Betty would understand. It won't affect us. It's not like it'll be incest or anything."

"Would you ever consider figuring things out with him again?" Betty questioned her mother.

"What?"

"Things are different now. It sounds like you two figuring things out wouldn't be such a bad idea."

"Are you being serious? You want me to do that?"

"Yes," Betty assured her. "It's the least you two deserve. I don't doubt that Jughead would agree. This about you two not us. It won't affect us anyway. We know how we feel about each other."

FP looked at his son in the eyes. He pulled him close and hugged him. Alice held Betty close. They were both grateful for their kids. The adults ultimately agreed to figure it out. FP drove himself and his son back to Alice's house to see them. Alice and Betty gladly let them in. The dinner commenced as planned and the older pair sat down to have a talk after all. From that moment further they were who they were once before, themselves.