Falice 2

Farm 3

Alice stared at the house that held so many emotions, good and bad. Charles glanced over at her. "We don't have to go in if you don't want to." He wasn't sure if she was ready to go in there yet.

"We're going to have to at some point. It's okay to rip the bandage right off. Let's go meet your father."

Charles offered her a warm smile, "Yeah, maybe it's time." Alice placed her hand on his face, smiling back at him. He mimicked his father with his mannerisms. She couldn't help but compare how similar they looked. "Are you sure you want to though? This can wait. It has been a crazy day."

"It has to be today. Like I once said, no more secrets, no more lies."

"Okay," He nodded. "Let's go do this then." He opened the car door and walked her over to the house. She was nervous so he did the honor in knocking.

Jughead opened up. It was a little awkward but that was expected. "Hello, he's uh...upstairs in his room." Jughead stepped aside to let them in.

Alice looked over at her daughters on the couch. Betty smiled at her. She was happy to see her back home. Jellybean came into the room as she looked at the two people that felt like strangers to her. She's met Alice before but Charles was new. "Are you Charles?"

"Yes," He looked at Jughead and Betty. Jughead sheepishly rubbed the back of his neck. Charles knew that if she knew then FP probably knew.

"I'll call him down," Jughead offered and attempted to get to the stairs. "Da-"

"Actually," Alice cut him off. "May I talk to him alone first?"

"I'll join you when you want me to," Charles agreed with her. They needed to have a private discussion first.

Alice felt all the eyes on her. The kids were quiet as they didn't really know what to say. The talk they knew the adults were going to have was obvious and it wasn't hard not to notice the bruise on her face. She hung her head low and walked up the stairs.

She looked at the bedroom door that used to belong to her. It wasn't difficult to picture him in there since she's had him in there before but now that he was sleeping there every night it felt different. She brought her knuckles up to the door, giving it a light tap. She could hear his footsteps and she took the few seconds she had to prepare herself.

The door opened swiftly. His eyes landed on her. She could see the faint redness still in his eyes. He had been crying today. His face softened as he looked at her injured face. She wasn't really sure what kind of reaction she would be getting so when she felt his arms loop around her to hold her she definitely was definitely taken aback.

He slowly let go and stepped back to give her space. "What happened?" He was the first to speak. His voice was soft.

Alice's face grimaced. She didn't know how to start. "It's all over now."

"Who hurt you, Alice?" It wasn't sitting with him well. How can anyone hurt this woman?

"It doesn't matter. He's been taken care of."

"It does matter. Someone hurt you." FP stated, sounding a little offended that she thought it didn't matter. "Who's he that's been taken care of?"

"Edgar has been arrested. It's all handled. Can we just not talk about that right now?"

"Edgar?" He recalled the name from when Betty told him about the engagement. It took him a moment to piece things together. "You weren't really going to marry him, were you?" This must have been that undercover work Polly told him about. "Why didn't you just tell me?" He already understood the fact that he couldn't have been told about anything related to the investigation, but being told that the woman that had his heart wouldn't be marrying another man would have saved him the heartbreak.

"I couldn't," Alice wiped a stray tear. "Besides you broke my heart. Why should I have told you?"

"Because I love you," The words slipped out of his mouth, surprising them both. There was no taking it back, yet he meant it. "I love you, Alice. Maybe it's far too late for me to tell you now, but I do. It's been hard for me to admit how I feel about you, even to myself because it scares me. It scares me knowing that I could easily screw things up. I can easily lose you for being so stupid. Saying those three powerful words that have so much meaning is a challenge. Maybe it was because I didn't know what it meant to feel this way or maybe it was simply because I was a coward. But it's no excuse for hurting you the way I did. I'm sorry. You deserved much better from me."

"I'm supposed to be the one apologizing. I love you so much that it hurts. I lied to you. I kept secrets from you. I've kept Charles away from you two times now." Alice croaked out. Her legs were giving up on her, but he kept her stable by holding onto her. He had his protective arms around her while she dug her face into his chest. His shirt was in her fist as she grabbed him too. "He's here now though, our precious boy. He's so grown up."

"I can't believe he's here," FP flickered his eyes to keep the tears in. This has been long overdue. He was going to meet their son.

"He wants to meet you now. He's been waiting for the right time." She peeked up at him.

"I want to meet him too. Can we?"

"Yes, let's go introduce you to him."

"If it's okay, can we talk about all of this, you, us,  later?" He wanted to know all about this undercover work. He wanted to know more about how she was doing. He wanted to know where they stood.

"I think it's much needed."

"Okay," FP pressed a kiss to the top of her head. He released her again. "Let's go to our boy." He grabbed her hand and led her to the stairs. They stood at the top of the staircase. He looked down with her. He could see the blond young man talking to his other children in the foyer. Betty had joined them too. His back was to him but he can already picture what he looked like. He imagined it being most of Alice's features. That's what he took from the image Alice showed him when she told him about him.

Alice gave him a reassuring squeeze. "Charles, honey." He turned around to face them. "Your father wants to meet you."

A shy FP came walking down the steps alongside Alice. The whole way down he felt anxious. What would he say to him? Would he like him as his father? What would he do? Charles felt similar thoughts. For years he had aching thoughts about being accepted by his parents.

Charles met them by the last step. Their nerves were mutual. An impulse took FP over. He pulled his son into a welcoming hug. "I don't know who you are, but you are my son." He looked him in the eye as his hands held onto his shoulders.

"I might be an agent who has had access to getting to know you all, but it's always felt like you were strangers." Charles began. "And I've always hoped to find my way to my family. I hope that this puts me closer to being a part of it."

"You're always going to be a part of the family."

"He's right." Alice inserted herself into their bonding moment. "You're our son, sweetheart. You've always been a part of this family." She looked at all the kids. "This one complicated family."

"She's right. It's you, me, your mother, your brother, your sisters. We will figure something out. For now let's just focus on welcoming you in."