I'm never gonna give up on you.

34. Make your wish

It was on July 27th. For everyone in town, it was a day like all the others but for the Coopers and the Joneses, it was the first July 27th they were about to spend on celebrating their long lost son and brother's birthday.

The girls spent the whole morning making cupcakes and birthday cake for Charles. Even though everyone tried her best not to show their real feelings, deep down they were thinking about how hard it must've been for Charles to be all alone not only on his birthday but also every other day of the year.

FP was leaning his back onto the kitchen counter while watching the kids decorating the garden. Looking at them, he remembered himself the moment Jellybean and Jughead were born. It was the happiest day of his life. The moment he saw their little hands and carried them for the very first time in his arms he realized how precious gift the children are to their parents.

Jughead was one of the quietest infants in the Riverdale, while Jellybean was crying all the time and nothing and no one could calm her down, except for her father's soft voice and touch, but he had always loved them equally. The one thing they had in common from the very beginning was that they loved to eat.

Suddenly his smile faded as he started to brood about what happened next. After losing his job, he became an alcoholic, and Gladys took JB away from him. She left the town without Jughead, who wanted to stay with his old man. She left them, but the most important thing was she left her son.

She left him because she wanted to and it was her decision while Alice Smith had been forced to give her son away. With the tears in streaming down her cheeks and screams filling the room, he had been taken away from her warm embrace for too long. Alice would've given anything to keep his son close to her while Gladys just abandoned him. She made her decision and gave up on them.

FP closed his eyes when he felt they are filling with tears. He had been blind back then and forgotten about the main thing that had always been the most important to him. He had forgotten that his family is his strength and he needed to fight for them. But how could've he fought for his family when Gladys abandoned them and taken his precious little girl away?

He slowly opened his eyes and glanced through the window once again. Jughead was chasing his younger sister who was laughing and running as fast as she could before he finally caught her and hold her in his arms for a while. The whole scene made FP laugh out loud. He had always been proud of them being such great siblings to each other.

There was one more thought that couldn't stop bothering him and deep down, FP knew that it would be bothering him till the end of his days. It was Charles. Even though he wasn't mad at Alice, not anymore, and understood, that she had been forced to give him up despite all of her adjurations, he was constantly thinking how many moments they had missed.

He couldn't have seen him taking his first steps, saying his first words, smiling for the very first time. He could've never sung him a lullaby, read a book, showed him how to ride a bike or how to swim. He couldn't have even been with Alice when she was in labor. He knew that giving Charles up for adoption was the biggest regret of her life but he wished Alice could've told him sooner so that they could search for him.

He was ripped out of his thoughts by Alice, who came closer to him to watch their kids together and wrapped his protective arm around her shoulder. She placed a soft kiss on his cheeks right before she looked outside the kitchen window and smiled seeing the kids getting along with each other so well.

Polly just arrived with the twins and JB was more than happy to help her with her little kids. She had always wanted to have younger siblings so that she wouldn't be the youngest in the whole family. Juniper and Dagwood were more than just Polly's kids for her, they were her family and she was grateful to have a bigger family than she could've ever imagined.

"I wish I hadn't fucked it up with Charles as much as I had," Alice confessed quietly and felt that FP pulled her even closer to his warm body just to show her how much he supports her and is there for her. He was a God's gift for her after everything she had been through and having both him and Charles close at hand was the main reason that every single day, she was waking up happier than ever before.

FP slowly leaned down and kissed her softly. Alice was stroking his beard gently with her thumbs when their lips were bonded. He broke the connection slowly and let her cuddled up into his chest. He knew, she just needed to feel him close today after spending the whole 27 years alone, with no one to understand her or to trust with her secret.

Alice wanted to make everything she could up to Charles. She wanted him to have his 28th birthday the best he ever had. She knew that it would be hard for all of them, the most for Charles, to find themselves into this new situation, but even though from the very beginning she had been just a woman who gave birth to him, she wanted to be a mother for him now and she was afraid, that this is too late.

"Dad, Ms. Smith... Charles will be there in five minutes so we need to hurry up if we want to prepare everything right on time." Jellybean said annoyed a little bit, that the adults are just standing and doing nothing while all of the kids were doing their bests to prepare the birthday party for their brother. Without saying anything else, she rushed outside the house after grabbing the cupcakes with her.

"I can't believe she is becoming more like you," FP said with disbelief, making Alice laugh slightly before placing another quick kiss on her lips. He grabbed the trace with the glasses filled with lemonade and joined the kids outside leaving Alice all alone in the kitchen for a while.

She opened the fridge and carefully pulled the birthday cake out of it. She spent nearly the whole morning on making the cake, but she knew Charles was worth spending this amount of time on making it. She had to admit that JB and Betty helped her a lot and decorated the cake most beautifully. She was more than sure that Charles will love it.

She walked out of the house with a huge grin of her face once she saw Charles coming into the garden as well. He froze once he saw his whole family standing right in front of him, singing 'Happy Birthday' to him. They were all there, his parents and siblings, just for him not because they needed to, but because they wanted to.

He couldn't believe his eyes. It was like everything he had been craving the most came true in that one particular moment. He couldn't help but let the tears of joy streaming down his cheeks while they were finishing singing.

"Make your wish honey," Alice whispered with her eyes filled with tears. He looked upon the cake to see his family once again and with the huge smile on his face he closed his eyes and blew out the candles. Everyone started to laugh and came closer to wish him all the best.

Only Alice and FP were waiting to be the last ones. They came closer to their son and with the tears streaming down Alice's cheeks she couldn't help but just hugged her baby boy right before FP did the same. Charles grabbed his mother's face into his hands and softly wiped the tears away with his thumbs. Smiling at her like a fool.

"I don't know what to say. I'm so grateful that all my wishes about being part of a real family came true and I can spend my 28th birthday with all of you." Charles confessed right before grabbing Juniper out of Polly's arms and she gladly let her brother hold his niece. Betty started to cut the cake and all of the kids were waiting to eat a piece, except for Charles, who was just looking around impressed with the work everyone must've done to prepare his birthday party.

"I promised your dad when I confessed that he is your father, no more secrets, no more lies. I just want you to feel at home while you are thinking about us and I'm sorry that I couldn't give it to you sooner." Alice grabbed Charles's free palm into hers and squeeze it gently while FP poked his back playfully.

"Is everything alright, son?" FP asked curiously while seeing Charles's smile faded for a while. He wanted to believe, that it is connected with something else, but couldn't help and thought that he is hiding something from them.

"No, no, I just need to make a phone call. Can you hold her for a while mom? If it's okay if I call you mom and dad." He whispered shyly, but immediately grinned again when Alice nodded with her eyes wet because of tears again. He smiled at them and went away just for a few seconds.

It was something strange about his, that FP noticed while observing his oldest son while he was nervously speaking with someone. Now, he was sure, that Charles is hiding something from them, but the main question was what and why?