This was said at Rivercon and I just knew I had to write something for it so enjoy!
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FP and Alice had been sneaking around behind their children's backs ever since her poor excuse of a husband got put in jail. Not that their feelings for each other really died, that was crystal clear when she showed up at his trailer door, her intentions obvious.
It was easier to hide over the summer when both kids were off with their friends for hours at a time. But now that school is back in session it's much harder.
When his shift was done at Pop's he was all ready to go home but the thought of sleeping next to Alice and holding her close all night sounded so much more appealing. So, he made the short drive to the Cooper household and got out of his truck when he pulled in.
He scanned the outside of the house, trying to guess which window led into Alice's bedroom. Sure he had been in her bedroom and had snuck out of it before but he's so tired from his shift that he really can't remember.
He finally decides on a window and starts climbing the tree to reach it. He holds onto the tree with one arm and with the other he pushes open the window.
When he has it open enough he climbs through, landing on the floor with a thud. That's strange, he thinks, doesn't Alice have a bench there? He turns and closes the window and that's when his heart damn near falls out of his chest. "FP?" Betty's tired voice asks. "What are you doing?"
He jumps. "You're not Fred."
"What? No, I'm not. What are you doing in my bedroom?"
"It's so dark out I thought this was Fred's."
"It's twelve- thirty AM, why were you going to Mr. Andrews at all?"
"I had a late shift at Pop's, was gonna crash there for the night."
"You do know you have a trailer you live in right?"
She's got him there. "Well, yes, but on nights when I work late I'm usually so tired I don't wanna drive all the way back to the Southside so Fred lets me stay on the couch and I go back to my place in the morning."
"So you climbing through windows is a natural occurrence?"
"Well, not a usual occurrence, he usually leaves the key under the mat but it wasn't there so I was just gonna crawl in the window." He explains, pretty proud of himself from just coming up with that on the spot. "Anyway, you have school in the morning and I've already made this an extremely weird night, so I'm gonna go now. Night."
"Goodnight." She says before rolling over to go back to sleep.
He comes back down to the ground and curses himself for getting the window wrong. He sees the other window and he knows he can't really go wrong with that one, it's either Alice's or it's Polly's and she's not home to question him so he figures he's safe either way.
He climbs up to the window and pushes it open, climbing in when it's open enough to fit through. He lets out a sigh of relief when his knees hit the bench underneath the window, he's in the right room this time.
He smiles when he sees Alice sound asleep in her bed. He pulls off his Pop's uniform, draping it over the chair in her room. He strips down to his boxers and pulls back the covers to get in bed with her. She stirs a bit and opens her eyes, smiling when she sees him. "Well this is a nice surprise." She says as she snuggles up to him.
He runs his fingers through her hair and kisses her forehead. "Well it wasn't exactly an easy surprise."
"Hm, what do you mean?" She sleepily hums out.
"Well I couldn't remember which window was yours so I accidentally climbed into Betty's room."
Her head lifts up off his chest and she gasps. "No."
"Afraid so."
"Please tell me she didn't wake up."
"Oh she woke up and she asked me a million questions. She'll be a great journalist one day."
"What did you tell her?"
"I said that sometimes I crash at Fred's when I have a late shift and that he moved the key so I was going to climb through the window and got confused on which house I was at."
"Oh my God." she breathes out as her head falls into her hands. "You told her you crash at Fred's?"
"Would you have rather I told her I sneak in here and sleep with you instead?" He challenges. "Besides, I think it was a pretty good cover story for coming up with it on the spot."
"Anything's better than telling her the real reason you were sneaking in." She lays back down beside him and he rolls onto his side to wrap his arms around her. "And how did you get the window wrong? You've been in my bedroom plenty of times, and you've snuck out my window quite a few times as well, how did you not remember?"
"It's dark and I'm tired, I was more focused on getting into bed with you. I like sleeping next to you. Your snoring is cute."
"I don't snore!"
"Sure you don't."
"I do not. I would know if I did."
"How? You're asleep."
"I... whatever. Just go to sleep Forsythe." She rolls over away from him and he laughs.
"Night, Al." He leans over and pecks a kiss to her cheek. He can feel the smile on her cheeks against his lips and he can't help but smile himself as he wraps his arms around her and drifts off to sleep.
