Making Up For Lost Time

The Call

Alice went back and forth debating on if she should call him. His name was already selected on her phone from her contact list, all she had to do was press call. But what if it was weird? What if he didn't want to speak to her?

After the events unfolded last night during the twins birthday party, she needed someone to talk to about it. She figured he deserved to know what had happened to their son before he saw it on the news. It had almost been 7 years since they've talked, why would she even bother now, especially since she was the one to cut him off a few months after he left for Toledo.

After the auteur fiasco where FP decided to move back to Toledo with Jellybean, they had talked every day. They called, texted, facetimed, but after time went on, Alice knew he wouldn't be back and that they couldn't keep this going. Through a lot of tears, she had officially ended things with him. Why stay together when he wasn't planning on coming back any time soon? It's not like they wanted to be with anyone else, but the pain of not seeing each other everyday was taking a toll on their relationship. It made Alice almost angry that he didn't consider another possibility of figuring things out with Jellybean. How could he just leave her like this when they were finally happy together?

FP wasn't on the same page as Alice, he didn't want things to end like this. But there wasn't much he could do once Alice wouldn't return his phone calls or texts, hell, he even tried sending her a letter. Months went by with no contact, and those months turned into years. Neither of them got the closure they needed, but they had to keep on moving.

She continued to stare at her phone, why was this so hard for her to do? Alice hated that her and FP had become strangers again. This wasn't how things were supposed to be.

She wondered if she should text him instead. But also this wasn't something you just text about like "Hey our serial killer son almost died, just wanted to let you know!"

Alice stopped pacing and decided she would make the decision after a glass or two of wine. Maybe subconsciously, she'd been waiting for a moment like this to arise where she would have a reason to talk to him instead of a random call 7 years later to ask how he was doing. It's not like she had any other way of knowing what he was up to, FP rarely used social media and with Betty and Jughead not together anymore she couldn't ask Jughead how he was doing. It was all a mystery to her, she went from knowing everything about FP Jones to not knowing him at all.

But regardless, they had a son together and it was her duty to let him know what happened. Charles had even once told her that FP called him about 2 years to talk, it gave Alice a sense of hope that he still cared.

Her phone battery was slowly declining as she kept the screen on FP's contact information. She knew she needed to make a decision now. Alice sighed and sat her glass of white wine on the kitchen island, closing her eyes as she pressed call. She put the phone up to her ear and listened to the ringing, maybe he wouldn't even pick up.

It kept ringing and ringing and right when she was about to hang up, she heard a voice on the other line.

"Alice?", FP sounded confused, Alice started regretting everything, wishing she could go back to 30 seconds ago.

"Hi, I um, I didn't even know if you had the same number", she'd never been so nervous talking to the love of her life before, she took another sip of wine to kill the nerves.

"Everything okay? It's been awhile", he let out a little chuckle with a hint of worry in his voice. Of course he'd be nervous, they haven't spoken in 7 years, why was she calling him now?

"I know, but um I just wanted to let you know about the incident at Shankshaw Prison if you were worried about Charles", Alice was pacing at this point.

"What incident? Is Charles okay?", FP seemed concerned, he barely knew what was going on in Riverdale since Jughead had lived in New York most of the time he'd been gone.

Alice explained to FP about the explosion at the prison, Charles and Chic coming to visit them and her accidentally shooting Charles when she was trying to get the gun away from him.

"Jesus fucking christ Alice", FP was floored what Alice was telling him, Riverdale hadn't changed one bit. "Are /you/ okay?"

"I'm", she paused, no one ever asked her if she was okay, she hadn't even mentioned to FP that Polly was missing. She had so much to unload but she knew she couldn't do that to him. "I'm surviving."

There was a silence between them for a moment.

"I miss you", they both said in almost perfect unison. Then they shared a laugh.

"Hey uh listen, Jughead told me he's back in Riverdale for a little while, I was thinking about coming to visit him", FP said almost nervously, as if he was asking someone he hadn't known his entire life on a date. "Maybe we could go to Pop's? Catch up?"

"Yeah, yeah let's do that", he couldn't see it but she was smiling bigger than she had in years.

"Sounds great, I'll talk to you later Alice", FP hung up the phone, feeling a mix of emotions after that call.

"Bye FP", she hung up and plopped down on the couch.

Alice couldn't believe she was going to see FP for the first time in 7 years.