A muffled, high-pitched sonance rang out as her vision returned to her and she slowly blinked her blue eyes open. Alice looked up at the plain white ceiling as her hearing soon cleared and the sound of the hospital machines around her added to the pain in her head. She deeply inhaled when she recalled where she was and why she was out in the first place. The sound of her inhale caught FP's attention in the chair beside her hospital bed and he sat up straight.
"Alice? Are you okay?" He wondered, obviously knowing the answer. "How're you feeling?" He reworded.
"I have a migraine strong enough to make the pope drop the 'F' bomb." She closed her eyes, putting a hand to her head, praying it would all just go away.
"Alright. We can let the doctor know when he comes back. Any idea why you may have passed out?"
"Um..." That's right. She fainted. The reason? Oh boy! The reason. How could she tell him? How could she tell anyone? Would she be a terrible person for thinking something so heinous about her own son? Worse! Would she be a terrible person for letting him into her house if her suspicion were true? "I think it might just be this headache." She lied, not wanting to tell Chic's father that she suspected his firstborn son of being the Real Black Hood.
FP reached over, taking her by the hand and he brought it to his lips, kissing it for a long time with a sigh. He let out a soft hum before letting his hand fall to the bed in front of him, still holding hers. "Good thing I was there to catch you." He smiled.
Alice turned to look into his brown eyes finally and she let herself smile through the splitting pain in her head. "Okay, Mr. Prince Charming. Down, boy." She squeezed his hand in her own.
"So...I'm seeing Betty's taking the news well." FP said with sarcasm and a chuckle.
Alice's eyes widened as she searched the empty room. "Where are Chic and Betty?" She asked with a hint of panic in her tone.
"They went to go pick up Jughead. Don't worry. I gave them the 'drive safely' talk." He giggled.
The journalist let out an audible sigh. "I wish you hadn't let them go alone." She rested her head on the pillow behind her as she looked up at the ceiling again, feeling another pounding in her head.
"What? Why?" FP's grin faded. "I'm sure they'll be fine. Chic seems like a responsible kid."
"FP. You don't understand." She almost whispered. "He's-"
"Hello, Mrs. Cooper." The doctor said as he entered the room at the most inconvenient time, a commonality doctors and waiters shared. "Oh!" He mentally hit himself in the forehead. "I'm sorry. Miss Smith." He corrected with a chuckle. "That's gonna take some getting used to. How do you feel?"
"Like someone hit me upside the head with a lamp." The moment she said it, she realized that maybe the night of the murder was the night Chic lured her in deeper to his spell. Not only had he used that lamp against the random mystery drug dealer...but, metaphorically, he had hit HER with it too.
"That must be because you haven't been eating much the past few days." He said when he stopped beside her bed, reading the notes on his clipboard. "This shows that your blood sugar is unusually low for someone your age. Which would only be caused by a lack of nutrition. Am I right?" He watched his patient roll her eyes at him and he smirked. "I thought so....You need to eat, Alice. Especially now that you've got a little one coming."
"I guess I've just gone so long only worrying about my kids and husband eating first, that I'm not used to having to eat much." She let out a light giggle. "I haven't been pregnant in almost 17 years. I'm out of practice." She joked, trying her best to ignore her thoughts about Chic and wondering if Betty were safe alone with him.
"Well...it's a good thing Mr. Jones was there to catch you otherwise we'd probably be having a lot more trouble here than we really are." The doctor sent FP a small grateful grin before returning his focus to Alice. "I'm assuming he's the father?"
"Why would you-"
"Yes, I am." FP accidentally blurted out, immediately receiving a glare from the woman.
"Excellent." The doctor, clearly unaware of the deep drama in this town, continued to read over his paperwork on Alice. He grew up two towns over from Greendale and lived about half an hour out of Riverdale, so he didn't know much about the South side-North side drama, nor did he have a clue about the personal scandals going on around him. What he did know was that his patient of ten years was divorced and pregnant and there was an apparent serial killer on the loose. Again. Although he swore the sheriff had killed the murderer months prior to today, he went on about his business...only worrying about the important thing...his own job. "It says here that you're only a few weeks along, so you got a ways to go before you get to meet the little gal or pal. But...from what I see, you're quite healthy, Alice. You just need to make sure you're eating regularly and start taking those prenatal vitamins now. About your migraine...I'd try some tea first and if that doesn't help...meditation and some light exercise surprisingly work wonders. Make sure you're drinking water and I know you're stubborn...so I'll say it one more time. No skipping meals!" He looked to the other man in the room. "FP, you make sure she's eating."
"Yes, sir!" The Serpent leader said with gusto and a wide grin. He had permission to boss her around. This would be fun. Not that it'll be easy to get her to listen...but he still knew it would be fun.
"Julie will be in in a moment for your ultrasound. When she's done, I told her to get you a snack before you leave to help with that headache. Take it easy, Alice." The doctor smiled down at her before setting a comforting hand on her shoulder and he left.
The moment they were alone again, Alice snapped her head to glare at Forsythe. Without even a word spoken, FP knew what she was thinking. "I know. I know. I'm sorry. It just slipped out." He looked down at her stomach with an ecstatic smile. "Can you blame me?" He stood from his chair, leaning over her torso, looking down at it. "There's a little us in there." He leaned over, kissing her belly before turning his head to look up at her. "And this time...we get to raise it. Together." He moved his face closer to hers, leaning his hands on the bed beside her. "Our little badass prince or princess." FP gave her forehead a small peck kiss. "Come on....Smile for me?"
Almost like a stubborn toddler, Alice pouted with a playful, "No," as FP put his lips centimeters from hers. He refused to kiss her until she smiled.
"Come on..." He egged on again with a grin of his own. "It's not like you and I created a little monster, huh? Come on....smile." He sang until she did. "There she is." He beamed, finally kissing her.
When they halted the embrace, FP sat back in his chair as they were joined by Jughead, Betty, and Chic, walking in with To-Go Milkshakes from Pop's Diner. Alice's smile faded when her eyes befell upon Chic. She hated herself for what she thought, but her mind disobeyed and decided to go there. Maybe she and FP didn't create a little monster...but maybe a big one.
