FP and Alice finally slowed their breathing as they lay there on the couch, FP hovering over Alice while they kissed. Her hands slowly caressed his back, holding him tightly to her.
"We did it again." She whispered when she eventually caught her breath.
"Did what?" He smiled down at her, pushing one of her stray hairs behind her ear.
She pursed her lips together for a moment before she let out a small laugh. "We didn't use a condom." She whispered again.
"Oh. Oops!" He sat up, pulling her up with him, but they stayed eerily close to each other. Their noses almost touched and he gazed lovingly into her breathtaking blue eyes, his thumb rubbing circles on her cheek. "Alice?" His other hand held onto hers in his lap while he fiddled with her tiny fingers. "Do you think you could do me a favor?" He softly whispered before nervously swallowing.
Alice, who had been staring down at his lips, put her free hand in his hair. "Hmm?"
"Be my wife?"
The moment he said it, her eyes shot up to look into his scared brown ones and she felt electricity in her stomach moving up into her chest to give her heart a jumpstart. "What?" She nervously swallowed as well.
His eyes closed as he slightly shook his head. "I love you, Ali. I fucking love you so much it hurts. You've always been my woman." He finally opened his eyes and he found it hard to read hers. "I don't want to upset you, but I think you need to know."
"Need to know what?" She wondered.
"Everytime someone would ask me about my wife, Gladys....my mind went straight to you. Ever since we were thirteen, the word 'wife' meant you. I need that to be true. I need you. Would you marry me, Alice? Could you make this dream be real?" He continued to caress her cheek with his thumb as his eyes wandered to every inch of her face, taking in her beauty.
It grew painfully silent and they just sat there. Alice looked down at their hands, fingers intertwined and unwilling to let go. She felt a lump in her throat and she swallowed one more time, taking in a deep breath as if to absorb his courage. She let go of his hand and placed both on each side of his face while she gazed into his tender eyes. She moved in just a bit closer, letting their noses touch and her eyes closed before she barely brushed his lips with her own.
"Please say something." He begged with a nervous giggle.
"FP Jones." She hummed with her eyes still closed. "You were once my rock, my good place, MY dream." She opened her eyes, seeing the terror and hope in his. Her right hand slid down his cheek to hold his neck. She sighed and FP's heart sunk. "Things are so complicated right now. You're still married and now the Black Hood is back and we've got the kids to think about. You've got your wife...your REAL wife to think about. And though I was always in love with you....I did just get out of a long and difficult, to say the least, marriage. I'm not ready for another one." She sadly looked down, not wanting to see the heartbreak in his face.
FP disappointedly looked down as well with a scoff. "You said 'was.'" He felt tears welling up in his eyes.
"Hm?" She watched his hand fiddle with her skirt.
"You said 'I WAS always in love with you.'"
The sorrow in his voice almost broke her and she gasped. "No, FP. No." She lifted his chin, forcing him to look at her weak smile. "I am MORE than in love with you still." He raised his eyebrows for a second before looking away from her again, still feeling her rejection. "This is not my final answer, FP. This is just my answer now. Will I ever be your wife? Yes." He looked back into her eyes with a dash of more hope. "Can it be right now? No." She reached down, taking hold of his left hand and in her right one and she guided it to her hip, holding it there for a second. "Ask me again when the time is right. You'll get the answer you want. I promise you." She slid her hand down his forearm and up to his bicep, letting it slither underneath his short sleeve to feel his bare shoulder. "You're my man, FP." She said with no doubt in her mind. "And I can't wait to call you my husband."
When FP saw the large grin that grew upon Alice's face, he couldn't help but send her one as well and he pulled her into his lap with a kiss as she straddled him. She hummed into his mouth as he held her tightly to him. "Do you have to go home?" He whined when they broke the kiss.
Alice sighed. "Yes, I do. I don't trust the kids alone with the Black Hood being back. You know how they love investigating and putting themselves in danger."
"Yeah. We need to talk to them about that." He smiled up at her. "They seem to think they're invincible or something. I don't know what it is."
"Oh, really?" She laughed. "You don't?" She leaned back, placing her hands on her hips. "Do you remember us in high school? We thought that we could take on the world, just the two of us."
"We could've if we wanted to." He put his arms through hers, wrapping his hands around her back.
"We really could have." She agreed with a bright smile before giggling. She moved her hands from her hips to hold his face again. "I really love you, Forsythe Pendleton."
They kissed.
"And I love you, Alice Susanna Smith."
A/N: Hey, guys. I know that this chapter was quite short, but I thought it ended perfectly. The next chapter should be up soon to make up for it. I love you all so much. MWAH!
