Speak To Me

More Secrets

Static filled the air around the Coopers as they listened for an answer from their long lost son and brother. The baby monitor on the coffee table in the living room beeped every now and then, reminding them of its low-running battery, though it was the only sound present for what seemed like an eternity. Betty wondered what the others were thinking in that moment and she longed for the gift to read minds. She looked down at her mother's hand, clenching onto Chic's and she swore, even from far away by the staircase, she could see Alice's body shaking. 

Finally, there was a break in the silence. Chic took in an audible deep breath before slowly letting it out and pivoting just enough to look Alice in the eye. He opened his mouth to speak, but nothing came out. His eyes filled with tears and his free hand grabbed ahold of hers in his other one. He held her hand in both of his for awhile as he looked down at them. He sniffled as he looked back up into her eyes and a painful smile grew on his lips while his tears fell down his face. He nodded once before Alice let out the breath she had been holding in and they both pulled each other in for a long awaited hug. Alice couldn't help but let out a few relieved laughs as she continued to cry, holding him tight to her. "My baby." She whimpered through a small sob, rubbing his back, feeling a weight lift off of her shoulders.

"Alice." Hal began halfway through their embrace, though Chic and Alice never budged. "Alice?" He said once more, still unsuccessful.

Betty brought Jason over to the bassinet, setting him down inside and Polly followed with Gemini, setting her down as well before she stepped over to her mother and brother, hugging them as well. Betty joined in the group hug and eventually, Hal realized he should too.

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*One Week Later*

The Cooper family sat down at the dining room table, flipping through old family albums and telling Chic funny stories about old family camping trips and memories. This was the third time he had come over to visit and, though he seemed very closed off, Alice couldn't help but notice he looked oddly comfortable with them. They all did. The only one who she knew felt uncomfortable was, of course, Hal. They had had fights every night before bed about her "insubordination" to keep his wishes on forgetting about Chic entirely. She began to feel their marriage crumbling even more than before and her fear for the girls' happiness only grew. 

Suddenly, the phone rang. "I got it." Mrs. Cooper smiled, standing from the table and heading over to the phone in the hallway by the stairs. "Hello?" She said, holding the phone to her ear. 

"What's up, Ace?" Came the voice on the other end.

Alice's smile vanished and her stomach was instantly filled with butterflies. "FP." She basically whispered. "Why are you calling me at home?" 

"Well, you refused to give me your cell number, so I had an officer find your home phone in the phonebook." He chuckled. "Can't believe phonebooks still exist."

"What do you want, FP?" She asked, turning her face away from the dining room so Hal wouldn't see her expression.

"I'm getting out tomorrow. Would you maybe come pick me up and give me a ride home?" He wondered on the other end.

"What? No. Why me?" She leaned her shoulder against the wall beside her. "Why not get one of your Serpents to go get you?" She remembered that she had told him about Betty and Jughead's little stake out. "Or have Jughead illegally drive your truck again." 

"Alice. No." He sounded irritated on the other end. "I need you to do it. I'm done with the Serpents when I get out and I want to surprise Jughead when I get home. Will you please just do it? You're the only one I can think of to do this."

Alice stopped to think about it for a while and she turned to look over her shoulder at the family. Her eyes were stuck on Hal and she bit her lower lip, realizing she was officially done with dealing with Hal's possessive crap and she turned back around, speaking into the phone. "Fine."

The next day, Alice was filled with many anxieties. What would happen if she and FP were together without a slab of unbreakable glass between them? What would happen if she told him that she had met with Chic face to face three times now? How could she tell FP that Chic agreed to slowly become a Cooper without the knowledge that he was actually a Jones? She realized things had suddenly gone backwards. When she told FP about Chic being his and about how she was trying to look for him, she felt that they were taking steps forward. But now that she had gone back to secrecy, she realized they were taking steps back again. 

And to top off this emotional day, it was Polly's first day back at school. The girls headed out the door around 7:30 in the morning while Hal stayed back to help Alice get the babies into their carseats in the back of Alice's Buick. 

"I'll see you at the Register." Alice said after he closed the back car door. Hal looked down at her with a sigh before turning to head toward his car, but she grabbed his arm to stop him. "Listen, Hal. I know you're angry with me for what I did, but you should know that I don't regret finding him. Even if it still pisses you off."

"Clearly." He responded, putting his hands into his jeans pockets. 

"Can't you just pretend to be happy that we have our son back? You always wanted a boy in the family." She pointed out.

"Yeah. Alice. My own son. Not FP's." He took a step closer to her, bringing his face inches from hers. "And you know what? We could've had our own. But after Betty was born, you barely even touched me."

"Well, I'm sorry that my postpartum depression cut into your sex life, Hal."

"You know that's not what I'm talking about, Alice." He watched her roll her eyes away from him before he continued. "Even after you got better, you pretended like I wasn't even there. You went around town pretending that we were the perfect couple with the perfect little family and you forgot to actually make that the honest truth by just being there for me every once in awhile." He waited for a response, but when he didn't receive one, he scoffed and turned away, walking down the driveway toward his car. "I'm going to work."

Alice watched him get into the car and drive away before she sighed and got into her own, taking the twins to the day care center down town.

After dropping off the babies, she headed for the prison to pick up FP.

A/N: Hey guys, I was just wondering how you all feel about smut. Would you prefer I left it out of this fic or would you want some smut? Let me know ASAP, please. MWAH!