"Don't you ever listen to authority, Alice?" Tom Keller asked from behind the journalist who stood, still staring at the dangling corpse and the bloody words.
"Hm? What?" She blinked out of it, turning around to finally face him.
"You didn't hear me calling 'Alice Cooper! Alice Cooper!?'" Sheriff Keller mocked his own voice.
"Oh." She shook her head, responding with a snarky remark, as usual. "See...I'm Alice Smith now...I didn't realize you were talkin' to me." She sent him a conniving smile before patting him on the stomach and turning to head out of the building again.
"Oh, sure!" Tom yelled down the hall from behind her. "No one just forgets the last name they went by for almost twenty years, Alice! Especially not you!" His voice grew louder the farther away Alice got from him.
She smiled to herself as she made her way down the halls and out of the school. She sighed, saddened by the terrible news that the Black Hood was still amongst them and she immediately grew panicked at the confirmation of her suspicion. Walking toward her vehicle, a sudden heat arose in her nervous, suddenly shaking body as she remembered what this might mean.
Later on that night, Hal dropped Betty and Jughead off at Alice's house and they started a game of "Life" after dinner. Alice worked on the dishes as she waited for news about another kill in town. She looked over at the kids, saying a silent prayer to herself, hoping none of them would be the next ones hurt. She watched Betty and Jughead, missing the days that she was like that with FP out in the open. The secret relationship was fun, but also a little sad. When she saw other parents in town, they'd look at her with either shame or pity for having been divorced. Most blame her for the split and judge her for it. Others feel bad for her and she can see it in their eyes. She doesn't want them to feel bad for her. She has more than they know. Only they can't know.
With a sigh, she dried her hands after turning on the dishwasher and she headed into the living room to sit in her chair with her favorite book, but there was a knock on the door. With caution, she looked through the peephole, hoping not to see a masked man. Instead, it was another man entirely. Her man. Her secret man.
But what was he doing here? No. He couldn't be seen at her house. Not by anyone. She couldn't trust anyone nor could she trust that she weren't being spied on by the Black Hood. She internally panicked, not wanting to open the door, but knowing that she must.
"FP." She whispered, opening the door.
"Hey, Dad!" Jughead said with a smile when he saw him.
"Hey, Jug." He smiled. "Will you kids be good here alone for a while?"
"Mhm." Betty smiled, making her next move.
"Why?" Chic wondered.
"Your mom and I have something we need to take care of." FP responded with his hands on his hips.
"What would you two need to take care of?" Jughead asked with a hint of shock in his tone.
"I need to take Alice to get a new part for her car. She thinks the brakes have been going and she'll be able to tell Dave more about what's been going on then I will since I've never been in her car before." He chuckled, looking to Alice who stared at him, suddenly impressed with his fake story.
"Are you sure we can't go when the kids are at school, FP?" She asked, squinting at him. "I'm not sure I'm comfortable leaving them alone here."
"If we wait any longer, Alice, your brakes may have completely gone and killed you." He did his best to send her a look to get her to agree. "No. I'm not waiting any longer. It better be as soon as possible. And that's right now."
"It's okay, Mrs. Cooper." Chic said as he made his next move on the game board. "We'll keep all the windows and doors locked and we won't let ANYONE in."
Alice looked at him with fear. "You promise?" She basically whined.
"Yes, we promise." Betty replied with a nod and a small chuckle. "Go on."
Alice sadly looked to FP who was still smiling at her and she hesitated to go, but with a sigh, she found herself following him out the door. "Please call us if you need anything." She begged Elizabeth who nodded again before the front door to the house was closed.
They were silent walking down the stairs to FP's truck and silent as he pulled away. "Good cover story, huh?" FP smiled at her from the driver's seat.
"FP, I don't think we should still be doing this?" Alice finally spoke up.
"Doing what?"
"This sneaking around. It's getting too dangerous. Especially now that the Black Hood is back." She admitted.
"Wait, he's back for real? I thought that was just a rumor going around town."
"No, really. I was there. I saw it."
"Saw what?"
"The corpse that the Black Hood left dangling in one of our children's classrooms today. I saw it with my own eyes, FP. He's back." She shook her head with disappointment looking down into her lap. "He never left."
They pulled into FP's trailer park and he shut off the truck, turning to look at her in the passenger seat. She was staring out the window with pensive eyes and a hand over her mouth as she pondered what they should do. She knew the safest thing would be to end it, but she knew how much more painful it would be the second time around. She felt his hand on her knee and she turned to look at him. Faking a weak smile, she sighed, putting her hand on the door handle to open it and they both got out, looking around to make sure no one followed them and they rushed inside. When they stepped in and locked the door, FP placed a comforting hand on her lower back.
"Alice..." He began and she turned to look up into his eyes. "....I know you're worried. But as far as we know...we've been pretty careful. No one knows about us."
"You don't know that."
"I know that Jughead and Betty know nothing. And they live with us." He chuckled. "And Chic hasn't told anyone."
"As far as we know." She tilted her head.
"Yes...as far as we know." He put both hands around her, pulling her body close to his. "Let's not panic until we're certain other people know, okay?"
"No." She pulled away from him, raising her voice. "It's not okay, FP. None of this is okay! What if-" She stopped and her horrified eyes gazed into his worried ones.
"What if what, Alice?"
Her eyes welled up with tears and her lip quivered as she fought back tears. She avoided eye contact with him as she looked to the floor, continuing. She whispered. "What if he finds out about what Chic did?" Her hands fell to her hips and she kicked at the floor. "What WE did? Hiding the body?" She finally looked back up at him and a tear fell. "That's probably one of the worst sins...Murder? What if Chic is the next target? What if Betty or Jughead are?"
"Hey, hey, hey, hey." FP stepped closer to her, holding her in his arms. "Sh!" He ran his fingers through her hair to calm her down and she deeply inhaled.
"I can't do this anymore, FP. I can't. It's all too much." She pulled out of the hug. "You and I have to stop." She shook her head. "We can't keep doing this." She took in a deep breath, closed her eyes, and ripped off the bandaid. "It's over, FP. For good this time."
When she opened her eyes, she broke, feeling her heart shatter by the pained look in his eyes. "We-" FP felt a lump in his throat, his eyes filling with tears of his own. "Well, I can't do that."
"We have to."
"No." He shook his head with intense refusal. "No."
"Yes, we-"
"I CAN'T!" He shouted.
"AND WHY NOT!?" She shouted back, more tears falling.
"Because I-" He stopped, taking a moment to watch the tears roll down her face and he felt his own fall. What he said next came out with immense speed and she almost didn't understand him. "Because I love you too fucking much!" With that, she rushed over to her, taking her face in his hands and giving her one of the most passionate kisses she'd ever received. Both sobbed behind the kiss and Alice whimpered with sorrow as she realized, so did she.
