Stuck With Me

53 | What's Family?

Just at the moment FP was folding the last piece of laundry, the doorbell rang unexpectedly. Without checking through the window who was standing on the porch he quickly opened the door, looking straight into the eyes of no other than his ex-whife.

"Gladys?" His voice was filled with confusion.

"What the hell are you doing here?" It was anything but inviting, but was he really to blame? She hadn't contacted them in months after practically giving up her rights to her son and now she was standing on their front porch unannounced.

"Came to see you and Jughead, of course." The woman shrugged, as if it was the most obvious thing in the world.

"What do you want from us?" He asked suspiscously, still blocking her entrance to the living room.

"Can I come in or not?" She sounded a little annoyed, masked by a fake smile that she really tried to sell. Even though he wasn't really waiting for her to visit, it was still the mother of his oldest son. So, he stepped aside for her to enter.

"We haven't talked since the divorce. Why are you here? How did you even know this is where I live?" There were a lot of quiestions on her mind that she answered with something simple.

"I asked around, FP. It's a small town." It was all she said while she looked around the living room, trying to hide her impressed expression.

"Still working as a nanny I see?" She smiled a little, remembering on how he had mentioned it at their divorce hearing. By now she had expected him to have found something else.

"Actually, a lot has changed since you left." FP tried to be the bigger man and be kind, but it was hard not to shove her out of the door right there and then. Before Gladys could ask him what exactly had changed, the sound of two crying babies came out of the baby monitor.

"You're taking care of babies now too?" She raised her eye-brow, since she had never seen him as the type to take care of kids. Though, it was also fair to say that she didn't really know him at all even when she'd say that she knew him like the back of her hand.

"They're mine. I'll be right back." FP sprinted up the stairs to see what Charles and Charlotte would need, disappearing out of sight just as Alice came entering the house.

"Honey I'm home—" She stood still the second she saw an unfamiliar woman standing in her living room.

"Who are you?" She asked suspicously as she scanned her up and down.

"You must be the woman he's working for." Gladys crossed her arms and scanned her down the exact same way.

"Answer my question, please. Who are you and what are you doing in my house?" Alice dropped her bags and sat a step forwards, showing her that she wasn't afraid.

"I'm here to visit FP and Jughead, my son." The woman explained shortly, and it was all Alice needed to know who she was.

"You're Gladys." She let out in a faint whisper, suddenly feeling way more insecure than she liked.

"Baby, you're home." FP came down the stairs again, seeing his girlfriend standing there. Before they could greet each other, Gladys had a comment to make.

"You two are together?" She gestured between the couple.

"Yes, we are." FP confirmed, his hand finding place on Alice's lower back.

"Wow, you really took the first woman you could find, haven't you?" Gladys scoffed slightly, a chuckle following quickly.

"If you're here to talk about Alice like that then I'd like for you to leave." He crossed his arms, his eyes spitting fire. Gladys knew she had to stay calm, after all she had more to lose here.