Falice

Infirmary

If FP was actually beatened in prison like Penny told Jughead this is how I think it could have gone if Alice knew.

•••

Jughead sat in a booth alone after Penny dropped the news on him. Everything was drowned out.

Betty walked into the diner with her mother. She noticed Jughead in the far corner. The beanie had stood out to her. "Oh, Jughead's here. I'm gonna go say hi."

"Jug!" Betty made her way to him. Alice followed behind. Jughead didn't move. "Jug?" She looked at the look on his face. "You look like you've seen a ghost. What happened?"

Jughead shifted his head to look at her. "It's my dad." His face remained serious.

"What happened to him?" Alice asked. She felt her heart stop at the mention of FP.

"Is he alright?" Betty followed up with her own question.

"I don't know. He went...he was sent to the infirmary. A couple of Ghoulies attacked him in the prison showers."

"Oh my God," Betty was left speechless. She couldn't imagine what was going through his mind.

"I'm worried about him in there. If he's caught alone anything could happen to him."

"Betty, I've... I've got to go but you stay here with Jughead. Talk it out."

"Okay," Betty thought it was weird she suddenly had to leave but she didn't think about it much. Her mind was focused on Jughead.

Alice walked out to her car and drove away. She stopped at the sheriff's station. She bursted in and looked around for Tom. She ran into him outside of his office. "Alice?"

"I had evidence that proved he was innocent. It was all on that drive I gave you and now he's in prison, a very unsafe environment." Alice ranted to the man as he moved her into his office so they could talk.

"It's out of my jurisdiction, Alice. I had no power over his sentence. I just transferred the evidence over." Tom shut the door. "He didn't kill Jason Blossom but he was involved. He still would have been charged with something. I'm sorry."

"It's not fair," Alice paced around, trying to remain sane. "It's not fair."

"He's a Southside Serpent," Tom carefully said. He didn't want to provoke her. "You out of all people should understand how that goes."

"He's no killer," Alice shook her head. "He's a good man."

"I know that but I can't do anything about it."

"They could kill him in there. Don't let them hurt him even more, please." She practically begged for him to help her.

Tom sympathized with her feelings. He knew this hit a soft spot for her. "I'm sorry, Alice." He genuinely meant it. He just couldn't do anything about his sentence.

Alice's eyes drooped from sorrow. She looked away. "Can you at least help me see him? He's in the infirmary as we speak."

"I can do that," Tom nodded. "I'll give you a ride."

•••

Tom was able to grant Alice access into the infirmary. She walked in and looked around until she found him. She was very nervous to see him. She wasn't sure what to expect.

She found him resting on the other side of the room. His eye was swollen, his lip was busted, and he looked fragile. His bones were aching as he recovered. She couldn't look away even though it hurt her to see him like this. She spent a couple minutes taking it all in. It was difficult. She hated the idea of him going through this.

"Alice?" FP asked confused. He couldn't quite register if she was really there. Was she a figment of his imagination? Was he still asleep? Alice couldn't get words out. She wanted to tell him she was here. "What are you doing here?"

"I heard what happened and had to come see you. I can't believe they did this to you."

"Everything hurts," FP tried not to move around much.

"I know," Alice nodded. She got closer. She dropped a hand onto the bed and used the other to touch his face. He winced. "I'm so sorry. Did I hurt you?" She felt guilty.

"It's fine. It's okay. You didn't mean to." FP assured her. She looked into his eyes. "But what are you really doing here, Al?"

She felt something hearing that old nickname of his for her. "I needed to know if you were okay. If I have to be honest with you then I'll admit it, I got scared thinking about you in here."

"You thought of me?" He softly asked. He broke eye contact. "Does Hal know you're here?" Afraid of her answer. Afraid she would just go back to Hal and forget about him.

"I don't care," Alice truly couldn't give a damn right now. "I want to be here with you."

"If we're going to be honest with each other then I better tell you I couldn't stop thinking about you after that dinner at your house. I'm sorry for stepping out of line. Hal just fuels me. It hurts to see you two together, happily married and all."

"I'm not happy," She shook her head. "He doesn't make me happy."

"Then why did you marry him?"

"I felt like I had to. Things just worked out that way."

FP was silent for a few seconds. "I'm not happy either."

"Who would if they were this broken?" Alice knew what he meant but she tried to avoid talking about what was coming.

"I'm not talking about laying here." He said. "I wasn't happy with her." He slowly moved a hand down to hers. "We weren't happy. She even left and took our daughter with her."

"I'm married," Alice pulled her hand back. She felt wrong about this but another part deep inside felt right about it. "And you're still technically married."

"But we're not happy. We both know that," FP pointed out. "Can we honestly say we feel the way we did when we were seeing each other all those years ago?"

"I care about you deeply, FP, I do, but we can't."

"I'm already very broken. Don't try to break my heart too." His words made her knees weak. She grabbed onto the bed to keep herself up. "If a part of you loves me please tell me. I know I never got the chance to tell you then but I loved you and I still do."

"You love me?" Her face softened.

"Yes, I love you, Alice."

Alice worked up the courage to say it back. She already knew how she felt about him. "I love you too, FP." She pecked a kiss on his hand, not wanting to injure him. "I'm waiting for the day I get you out of here. I'm sorry I wasn't much help stopping them from putting you in here."

"I heard what you did for me. Thank you," FP adored this woman and her determination. "I'll be waiting for the day I set foot out of here. Maybe by then we found our way to happiness."

"Please stay safe in here. I don't know what I'd do if I found you worse than this."

"I'm not going anywhere," FP assured her. "You've got me."