Speak To Me

He Should Know

 That morning, Hal and Alice rode to work in their separate cars, as usual. Though when they both arrived, Hal went in before her as she sat in her car for awhile, wondering where things had gone so wrong. She sighed before looking at herself in the mirror, realizing she had forgotten to do her makeup entirely. She shrugged it off and went inside to work.

Later that afternoon, FP came storming into the Register with the little box containing Alice's fountain pen in his hand.

Upon FP's arrival, Hal stood, walking up to him to somewhat greet him. But the moment Mr. Cooper opened his mouth, FP spoke, walking right by him. "Hi, Hal." He said in an off-putting tone. He brushed by Hal, heading straight for Alice's desk. She looked up, taking off her glasses before standing upon his presence. She, too, opened her mouth to speak, but was instantly interrupted. "You forgot your fucking pen." FP said just before slamming the box down on the desk beside him, causing Alice to jump.

"FP." She began, ready to ask him where his anger had stemmed from.

"I know about Chic!" There was her answer. "You didn't tell me?!"

"I-" She started, but he interrupted.

"Are you trying to keep my son from me?" He moved closer to her, bringing himself face to face with the reporter. "Again?!" He turned to point at Hal. "Was this all his fucking idea? Huh?"

"FP, listen..." Hal tried to jump in.

"No, no! YOU listen! Alright! You tried to keep the truth from me back in high school! That that baby was MINE the whole time? And you tried making her get an abortion? Then you give him up for adoption without my permission!" He looked back to Alice for a brief moment before returning his glare back to Hal. "You two really ARE the couple from Hell, aren't ya?"

"FP, no. Listen." Alice spoke quite softly.

"NO!" He shouted, pointing back at her. "Fuck you, Alice!"

"HEY! You watch the way you speak to her." Hal demanded from in front of his desk. "Alright? We did what was best for Chic back then and we're only trying to do that now."

"No...YOU! You did what was best for YOU!" FP yelled. "You didn't even do what was best for Alice!" He stepped away from her and moved closer to Hal, getting in his face.

"Everything I have done has been what was best for her." Mr. Cooper spoke with a conniving hiss in his tone.

"Oh, really?" FP said in the middle of Hal's statement.

"To protect her." Hal continued.

"Oh, to protect her?" FP backed away from him, standing in between the both of them. He raised his eyebrows. "To...to protec-Okay! Well...did she ever tell you about the night of graduation?"

Tears began to stream down Alice's face now and she raised her voice as well, shouting at FP. "Shut your fucking mouth!"

"NO!" FP yelled back to her. "He should know!"

"Know...what?!" Hal wondered, looking back and forth between the other two.

FP spoke over Alice's sobs. "That night when you were out drinking and partying with your bros...you were too much of a big head to even realize that Alice had been picked up by some guy who raped her. So she called me to go and get her."

"FP!" Alice shouted at him, hitting her chair and unintentionally knocking it over.

Hal rested his hands on his hips, looking to his crying wife. "Wh....Why didn't you tell me?"

"Because she thought that you weren't gonna believe her." FP paused for a second before continuing. "She expected you to slut shame her. So, the first person she thought to call....was me......'To protect her?'" He scoffed, walking around in a circle before getting up in Hal's face once more. "Her life went to shit after meeting you!"

"No. Her life went to shit after being knocked up by YOU and becoming a Serpent!" Hal snapped back.

"Would you both just please!?" Alice forced her tears to stop and she walked over to FP, pulling him away from Hal. "He's my husband, FP. I'm not gonna sit here and listen to your testosterone competition over how MY life turned out."

"Oh." FP angrily chuckled. "He's your husband now? Hmm...what about yesterday? You wouldn't have considered him your husband at my trailer, huh? Should I tell him about that? Or should we let Betty?"

"What the hell happened yesterday...Alice?" Hal asked with authority.

"Would you like to tell him or shall I?" Forsythe the Second stared down at her, inches from him. When she refused to say another word, he did. "She kissed me."

"You kissed him?!" Hal looked at her with menacing eyes.

"Yeah...and she would've done a lot more had it not been for Betty walking in on us."

"Are you fucking kidding me, FP!?" Alice started to cry again, only this time out of anger, and she pushed him.

"Are YOU fucking kidding?" Hal asked his wife.

"I wanna see my son. And I want him to know the truth." FP commanded, walking toward Alice. She moved backward, almost bumping into the large printer behind her as he bent down to look into her eyes. "I'm fucking done with you." He put his arms up as he walked backwards and turned to leave the Register. They watched him through the glass windows hop into his truck and speed away. Alice's sobs continued while she saw him leave and she put a hand up to her forehead.

"Was everything he just said true?" Hal calmly asked after a moment of silence. She didn't answer right away, so he repeated himself, only this time...with a shout. "Was everything he just said...true?!"

"Hal, listen-" She began through broken sobs.

"You thought I would slut shame you after being raped?" He walked closer to her. "Seriously, Alice? You must not think very highly of me....And then to top it all off, you called HIM? And you told him about Chic being his son after I specifically said that-" He inhaled, covering his mouth. "Now look what you've done." He pointed out the window, gesturing to the man who just left. "You've now linked him to our family for the rest of our lives by telling him, Alice!"

"He deserved to know the truth, alright? It was eating away at me and I just...I caved. Keeping it a secret from him was never my intention anyway." She admitted.

"Oh. Just like keeping it in your pants wasn't either?" The moment he said it, Alice's hand went right across his face. Her slap was followed by a few hard shoves and Hal grabbed both of her arms, pushing her back into the wall near the copy machine. "What is it with you, Alice? Huh? All I've ever done was love you and you continued to defy me." He loosened his grip so as not to hurt her, but he wouldn't let go. He dropped his head, crying for a short period of time before looking back up into her already wet eyes. "You want a divorce? Is that it?"

"No, Hal. No." She shook her head, moving her hands up to hold his face. "I don't want a divorce."

He pushed himself away from her, taking a step back. "That's too bad." He reached for his wedding ring around his finger. "Because you just got one." He pulled the ring off and slammed it against the wall beside her, causing her to jump before he turned away, heading for the door as well. He waited until he got to the door before he spoke again. "I'm going for a walk...When I get back, I want you gone." He sniffled and left the building.

Alice's hand reached up to cover her mouth as she slowly slid down the wall, crying some more.

A/N: Okay. Wow. My Falice AND Halice shipper heart just died. Wowowow! I was not expecting this chapter to turn out the way it did but whew! I'm glad I finished it. I know this was probably such a HUGE roller coaster ride of emotions for you guys, but I still hope you liked it(?). Please leave some comments! And have a MERRY CHRISTMAS! HAPPY HANUKKAH! JOYOUS KWANZAA! HAPPY HOLIDAYS! All that good stuff! MWAH!