I'm never gonna give up on you.

31. As a family

It was Saturday morning in the house on Elm Street and everybody was still lying in their beds. FP was holding his girlfriend in his arms, gently stroking her arm. His touch had always been making magic on her, but now, she needed him even more than ever.

Alice got the list of her medications and had been taking them for some time now. It was hard for her to take them because she wasn't feeling well after taking them, but Dr. Ross assured her, that the afflictions will pass after the first month. She couldn't do anything else, just taking the medications and hoped that everything will be better.

Even though it was hard to feel hopeless about her condition both Alice and FP were doing their bests to overcome the illness together. He was trying to be close at hand always when she needed his help and she was grateful that he cared about her health.

He was the only one who knew about her illness and she was grateful for everything he was doing for her, but also wanted to act as normal as she could to hide the fact, that she is sick, from the whole world. She didn't want people to feel too much compassion or to use the fact that she is weaker.

There was still one more obstacle to cope with. The kids had no idea about Alice's condition. Once she found out about her illness, she made her choice to hide it the kids as long as she can and FP decided to respect it. They both knew that sooner or later they would need to tell them the truth, but it was still too early to discuss Alice's illness.

She was lying with her head on his shoulder with her eyes closed. The feeling of FP's fingers running up and down her soft skin was helping to distract her. Although she would rather stay in bed with him like this forever, enjoying the time they could spend together, she needed to get up and make breakfast.

Before Alice stood up from the bed, FP pulled her even closer into a soft kiss. She smiled at him once they broke their connection and placed another soft peck on his lips. She turned around on her side of the bed and slowly stood up.

Suddenly, she felt nausea right after she made a few steps towards the door and immediately ran into the bathroom. FP jumped out of the bed and ran into the bathroom as well and grabbed her hair with his one hand, while she was throwing up when his other palm was softly rubbing her back.

"It's the third time this week." She murmured tiredly looking at FP, who was kneeling next to her when she finished puking and lean her back on the nearest wall. He looked at her hopelessly and stroked her cheek gently.

It didn't take long before she felt like she was going to puke again and once he noticed her face is turning pale again, he reached for her hair. The hardest thing for him was to look at her while she was suffering.

"Go back to bed, I will make breakfast for you." He whispered and helped her stand up from the floor after he made sure, that she wouldn't be throwing up anymore. She gave him a thankful look and carefully snugged herself into the sheets.

FP didn't want to leave her alone and would rather lie down with her, but instead of following his need he gladly went downstairs to see if the kids need anything. It was his priority to help Alice with her usual housework as much as he was able to replace her by doing something more for their family.

He wasn't surprised when he saw Betty standing in the kitchen, making a huge plate of blueberry pancakes. He had used to see her cooking while they had been living together and he had to admit, that she was as good at cooking as her mother, or even better.

"I've missed your blueberry pancakes more than you could even imagine, but don't tell your mother about it." Betty chuckled a little when she saw him pointing a finger towards her while mentioning her mother.

It was obvious for her, that Alice was the dominant one every relationship and he was playing with fire, but there was something different about them, Alice had always liked to be the dominant one, but with FP by his side she was even softer than before and Betty liked that fact a lot.

"Speaking of your mother, she was throwing up for the past hour, so I will make some tea for her." He murmured enough loud for Betty to hear his words. Her eyes went wider once she heard about her mother puking all morning and connected some facts.

First of all, it wasn't hard to realize, that she had been sleeping with FP for some time now and the beaming smile on her face could tell the girl, that they hadn't been just sleeping next to each other, but also sleeping with each other.

Secondly, Alice had been acting weird for the past few weeks. Betty noticed, that her mother was avoiding talking about more serious topics and was paying more attention to behave more carefully. She was also sleeping a lot during the day and was more tired after going back home from work than she had been earlier.

And the last fact was, that she was throwing up all morning. When she took all of the things into consideration, she couldn't believe her thoughts. It was nearly impossible. Her mother couldn't be pregnant.

"Are you alright, Betty?" FP ripped her out of her thoughts when he saw she is turning pale just like Alice. Betty raised her sight and nodded confused a little bit. She watched him leave the kitchen, going upstairs with a tea for her mother.

Betty thought there could be nothing more fucked up than sharing a half-brother with her boyfriend already and their parents dating again, but she was wrong. Having another brother or sister, that would be a child of her mother and her boyfriend's dad would be a disaster. The one thing she was sure about was that they need to explain to the kids what's happening in that house, right the hell now.

***

After a few hours of lying in bed with FP after he assured her, that Betty was making breakfast, Alice finally decided to get up and check if everything is fine. She put her baggy clothes on and washed her face before going she left their bedroom.

Once both Alice and FP went downstairs, they saw Betty, Jughead, Jellybean, and Charles sitting into the living room with serious looks on their faces. Betty was the one who decided to broke the silence as she saw the confusion on her mother's and FP's face.

"I just want to make everything clear. We all noticed you two acing strange lately, especially you, mom. Just tell us that you are pregnant." She rolled her eyes while looking at her mother, who closed her eyes nervously. FP grabbed her waist firmly to assured her, that he is right by her side.

"I'm not pregnant. But it's the time for you to know that..." Everyone's eyes grew wider and Betty slowly sat back onto the couch with a worried expression. Alice took a deep breath and looked at FP, who smiled softly. It was a gesture which assured her, that she is making the right decision.

"I have heart disease, cardiac dysrhythmia." She breathed out while seeing her daughter's eyes were filled with tears. Betty immediately came closer to her mother and wrapped her arms around her letting herself cry into her chest.

"I'm taking medications, which are working pretty good because the pain isn't as strong as it was anymore. Nausea or tiredness was caused by them." She assured looking at Charles and Jughead, whose eyes were filled with fear just like Betty's and JB's. She didn't want to tell them just because she wanted to miss the part of them worrying about her state.

"I'm sorry mom." She whispered while Alice was stroking her back gently, trying to do her best to stay strong. Jellybean couldn't help but ran towards the girls and snuggled into the hug to feel Alice's warm just for a little while. She kissed the girl's heads and pulled them as close to her as she could.

"Hey, I'm not dying, stop acting like this is our last day together." She laughed wanting them to stop worrying about her. FP came closer to his sons and put his hands on their backs to show them, that she will be fine, but they should all support Alice no matter what.

"Can we just spend some time together today? You know, as a family." Jughead asked quietly looking at Charles, who simply nodded. It was hard for Jughead to cope with the news because Alice was like a second mother not only for him but especially for JB.

"That sounds like a plan." Alice smiled widely, wiping the tears away from JB's and Betty's faces. It was the time to forget about everything bad that was happening to them and just enjoy the moments they could spend together. As a family.