"Your Honor, all I want is to be able to see my kids and to keep my job. That's all. I don't care about alimony. As long as I have my job, I won't have to worry about money." Alice paused, glaring at her soon-to-be ex husband at the table beside her across the courtroom. "You know what….my job at the Register….THAT'S my alimony." She received a glare from Hal Cooper and she sent one right back to him before looking back to the female judge on the large bench ahead of her.

Judge Sharon Bailey squinted to both journalists below her before looking down at the divorce papers in her hands. She took a while to make her decision as she read up on their plans for the kids and the Cooper's property. With a long awaited sigh, Judge Bailey took off her glasses, setting down the papers. "I want you two to follow this plan to the 'T.' No whining about lack of time with the kids or who gets what from the house. Mr. Cooper, you said you found a new place?"

"Yes, Your Honor." Hal responded, ignoring the fact that he could see Alice in the corner of his eye, watching him. "Moved in last Monday."

"And Mrs. Cooper, you may keep your job at the Register IF….you stop throwing bricks through windows."

"Yes, Your Honor." Alice swore she heard Hal chuckling across from her and she immediately wanted to throw a brick right there.

"You two cooperate with each other and play nice." The judge picked up another sheet of their divorce papers, looking down at it with a shake of her head. "You're not the first divorced couple to come in here who owned a business together. I know how you people work. You work cordially for about a month and then all of a sudden, something sets you off and you're both right back here in my courtroom, begging for a better bargain or for me to allow one of you to be fired." She stared them both down. "I want none of that from you two."

"Yes, Your Honor." Hal said.

"Yes, Your Honor." Alice spoke at the same time as him.

"Good." The judge picked up her gavel hammer, holding it over its coaster. "Congratulations, Mr. Cooper, Miss Smith. You two are now officially divorced." She pounded the gavel and Hal and Alice turned to look at each other with blazing eyes.

"I'm taking Betty to Pop's for a milkshake." Hal demanded the moment they mulled things over with their lawyers.

"That's fine, Hal." Alice responded, grabbing her purse.

"What? No argument about wanting to take her somewhere with Chic or something?" Hal wondered with an attitude.

"No, Hal. Chic is working all day today and Betty IS your daughter, so…"

"You sure about that?" He mumbled, hoping Betty in a courtroom seat near them wouldn't hear.

"Hey, hey, hey, hey, hey." Alice's lawyer spoke up, having heard it himself. "What did the judge just say?" He asked quietly, hoping Judge Bailey couldn't hear the tift. "Play nice." He demanded of Hal and Mr. Cooper squinted at Alice again, who crossed her arms over her chest.

"Goodbye, Hal." Alice said with a tone of 'good riddance' in the back of her throat.

Her, now, ex husband sighed. "See you at the Register on Monday." When Alice nodded with an eye roll, Hal rolled his own eyes and walked over to Betty. "Hey. How'd you like to go to Pop's for a milkshake?"

Alice sighed, watching them walk away from her and she almost didn't hear her lawyer speaking beside her. "You sure you're gonna be okay? You said you've never been alone in that house since the day Polly was born."

"Yeah, I'll be fine." She faked a smile at him and headed for the exit.

Later on that night, Alice stopped by a grocery store, grabbing herself and Chic a TV dinner, too lazy to make a full meal. Chic wouldn't be home until around midnight, so she knew it would just be her anyway. She sighed, missing Polly and longing to meet the twins, but she knew she'd miss Betty as well, never having been away from her before. She always wondered why mothers felt so much more protective over their youngest than the others. And knowing she was extremely protective over Polly and Chic, she measured her protectiveness over Betty to be out of this world.

Sitting at the kitchen table with a glass of wine in her hand and her finished TV dinner on the table in front of her, Alice listened to the silence. She looked around at the empty seats at the table and she broke. Feeling alone was something she was used to. She was alone in her marriage, she barely had any friends, and she spent 20 years keeping the girls' secret brother from them for the sake of Hal's wishes. She was always alone mentally and emotionally. But never physically. The tears fell from her eyes for only a few minutes when she realized she needed to get ahold of herself. She wiped away her tears and stood from the table, throwing her dishes in the sink and not even bothering to wash them like she would if Hal were here.

The constant urge to cry was overbearing and she wondered what might prevent that. Leaning her back up against the sink, she looked around the whole downstairs. Her eyes fell upon the stereo over in the corner and a small smirk grew upon her face.

Not moments later, she was listening to her favorite CD. She always thought of the late 80's to late 90's as the best music era of all time. Her jam in high school was "That Thing" by Lauryn Hill and the moment it began to play, Alice felt nostalgic and suddenly it hit her. She was single again. She no longer had to answer to Hal. She no longer had to fear disappointing him or screaming matches breaking out for the little things. She was finally free of his manipulations and his looks of disappointment directed toward her. She was free.

The chorus to her favorite song started and she smiled so wide, slightly bopping her head along as she sang with the CD. Soon enough, she was full on dancing in the kitchen and around the dining room. The next few songs played and she moved her dance party to the living room. It wasn't long before one of Betty's favorite songs began to play and she remembered dancing with her six and seven year old daughters back in the day and she stopped, looking around at the empty house again. A few more tears fell from her eyes and she sighed, angrily wiping them away.

Her thoughts were quickly interrupted by a knock on the door and she sniffled, heading over to it with a fake peppy attitude. Opening the door, she was surprised to see the man that stood on her doorstep. "Hey, Alice."

"Oh, uh...hey." She immediately felt self- conscious and silly in front of him. "What are you doing here?" She didn't mean to sound rude, but she was a bit out of breath from dancing and she was, frankly, a bit caught off guard by the random visitation.

FP heard the music inside and he chuckled, noticing her heavy breathing. "Were you just dancing?"

"What? No." She said with a ridiculous tone.

"You were, weren't you?" His smile only grew.

"What are you doing here, FP?" She asked with annoyance, as she held tighter to the doorknob.

"Is Jughead here? He said he was meeting up with Betty later and-"

"Oh. Betty went out with her father. I'm not sure where Jughead is. Maybe he went with them, but I'm not sure." She was finally able to breathe regularly and the thought of her house being so empty, caused her internal sadness again.

FP's smile faded when he felt something was off. "Are you okay?" He could see the wetness in her eyes, but she refused to acknowledge it.

"Oh, yeah. Yeah. I just, um...it's my first night alone in the house since Polly was born." She immediately kicked herself for being so honest all of a sudden.

"Oh." He answered. "How is Polly?"

"I, uh…." She thought of a fake response, but decided to tell the truth anyway. "...I honestly don't know...She won't talk to me." She shook her head. "And Chic's working pretty much all night, so…"

"Oh." FP nodded. "How's he doing after the-" He began to whisper about the killing and the murder cover up.

"Oh, uh...he's been fine." She whispered, looking over FP's shoulder as if she were paranoid someone were behind him, listening in.

"And you? How have you been?" He averted his eyes from hers for a moment as he remembered how sadly broken she was that day in the diner after he finished his difficult task for her.

"I, um...I don't really wanna talk about it." She admitted, looking down at the floor beneath her.

"Okay…" He broke at the sight of her in such a confused state, but he knew not to push it with her, so he sighed. "...well, I'm gonna go and get something to eat and figure out if Jug's with Betty and Hal." He took one step back. "Take care, Alice."

"Wait, FP!" She didn't know why she stopped him. "I can, um...I can fix you something to eat if you'd like."

"No, no. I'll just-" He pointed behind him.

"No, no. Really. You're probably gonna go get some god awful fast food anyway. Don't you miss my cooking?" She smirked when he seemed shocked she'd know that. "I know you." She tilted her head to the side and chuckled. "Come on." She waved, moving aside to let him in. "I don't bite." She grinned.

FP reluctantly stepped in, gazing down at her. "You bite sometimes." He teased.

"Yes, but I'm not venomous." She joked and they both laughed as he stepped in.