New Beginnings

Stuck

It may have been a new day, but the events of the prior night were as ripe as the fresh fruits sat firmly on the table that Hermione had been blankly glaring at since she had sat down at the table, drowning out the noise of tapping cutlery and vigorous chewing.

"Where's the rug?" Veronica randomly questioned, noticing the absence of her mother's beige piece of furniture that usually sat in the middle of the living room.

"Upholstery service." Fred lies immediately with a tight face, shifting his guilty gaze from the curious girl.

"V? Pass the milk?" Archie asked, gesturing for his sister to pass the carton over the table.

"It's closer to Mom." The teen argued with a sharp eye roll before bringing her glass of orange juice to her lips and taking a sip. "Mom?"

"Huh, what?!" Hermione faltered, snapping out of her distracted daze, her cocoa brown orbs dilating slightly as her lips part ways.

"The milk?" Veronica reiterated softly with an arched brow. "Could you pass it to Archie?"

"Oh. Sure." She mumbled, nonchalantly shoving the carton his way.

Hermione's deadpanned expression she had donned from the early morning hadn't gone unnoticed by the family, and some more than others were rightfully beginning to worry.

"Mom, are you okay?" Veronica asked with caution, her head tilting to the side as she awaited Hermione's response.

"Of course she is sweetheart." Fred rashly answered for her, not wanting Hermione to be too shaken up or respond the wrong way. The added pressure of the kids having no idea what had happened the night before was eating them both up, and he wanted to do every thing he could to make things easier for her. It didn't take a genius to know she was handling this the worst.

"It's just, I heard you throwing up this morning." Veronica revealed.

"I was just feeling, under the weather." Hermione lied in a shaky breath. "Actually, I think I'm gonna go upstairs and lay down." She declared under her shallow breath, rising from the table in a hurry and making her way to the staircase, only to be stopped at the bannister by Fred gently tugging on her arm.

"Honey-"

"No please!" Hermione gasped out, ripping her arm from his grasp. "I can't do this right now, okay?" She implored through a build up of tears, before racing up the wooden steps.

•••

"Damn it!" Alice spat in frustration as a glass bottle slipped out of her jittery hand, watching as the few Wyrm customers glared around at the sound of the commotion.

Despite everything that had happened, Alice was still insistent on dabbling into every distraction possible. Even if it involved working and tolerating sleaze-balls at the bar.

FP rushed out from the stockroom upon hearing the smash and Alice's plea's, finding her flustered and stressed and running a hand through her hair as she attempted to tidy the mess.

He softly approached her, tenderly placing his hand on her back and beginning to usher her out of the room away from prying eyes.

"Baby, I told you, you didn't have to come in today."

"No, I did." She refuted, storming up the stairs towards his office as he followed her behind. "Like you said, if we don't open up and carry on as normal, it looks suspicious."

"I meant that for me." He stressed as he closed the door, watching her slouch back into the couch and hold her trembling hands over her face.

"Well I needed the distraction. The girls took Tyler to the zoo for the day, and I was going crazy inside on my own." She stressed, followed by an exasperating sigh.

"Come here." FP sombrely spoke as he sat down next to her, immediately pulling her into his warm and loving embrace before relaxing back into the couch.

The sound of his evenly paced heartbeat as she rested her head against his sweater covered chest and the scent of his cologne and his tender strokes through her dark hair and up and down the curve up her back slowly began to soothe her, giving her the comfort he knew she needed in that moment.

"Talk to me." He encouraged in a tender tone. He hated seeing her in such a flustered and distressed state and just wanted to make things better the best way he could.

"I couldn't stop seeing his face." Alice whispered against his clothes, holding her gaze onto the wall as she recalled her horrifying dreams from the night before. "And as bad as it sounds, I'm fucking glad he's out of my life and all those months of looking over my shoulder are over." She revealed with a little fierce satisfaction, making FP giggle.

"But...." FP promoted, knowing there was more. He could already read her like a book.

"But I'm scared. That's what. And I still feel guilty about it." She confessed, wiping a tear from her cheek as she made a sniffle.

FP gently took her by the shoulders, coaxing her to lift her head off his chest look deep into his honest chestnut brown orbs. "That's because you've got a big heart." He praised as he brushed her cheek, his heart fluttering as a glint of a smile appeared on her previous saddened face.

It wasn't a lie. Alice was honestly one of the most kind hearted, compassionate and considerate people he knew. And her consideration for others knew no bounds. It was just one of the many reasons he fell in love with her.

"I know we're stuck in a shitty situation right now, and I know you're scared, but I promise you I will never let anything happen to you, so you don't need to worry." He professed with conviction before taking a hold of her soft porcelain hand and interlocking their fingers.

"It's going to be fine. We'll get through this together, hand in hand, okay?"

"What would I do without you?" Alice rhetorically gushed in a lovestruck daze. She was really head over heels for this man, and as long as she had him, she never had to worry about anything.