Next Episode Theory: FP behaves like an ass in the diner and realizes what he did and shows up at the school play and kisses Alice in front of all those people!

That's probably wishful thinking, but I still want to be able to say I SAID THAT TWO WEEKS AGO :D :D :D

(And, if someone has actually seen that episode already, please, do NOT tell me I'm wrong (or even surprisingly right xD) I wanna see that for myself)

If she's honest with herself, Alice is a little disappointed that Polly had not asked her directly but had gone through Betty. She has not talked to her eldest daughter since FP had gotten arrested and the last she knew is that Polly hates her for sticking with the presumed murderer of her children's father, but still. The girl has her number, she could just as easily send a text to her phone instead of her sister's. Nonetheless, Alice lets Betty text her back with a time and that she is looking forward to see Polly. There's no reply to that and Alice thinks it might have been too much to ask for at the moment.

When she drops Betty and Jughead off in front of the school she has them promise to keep her updated on their respective tasks set for today. Jughead is still grumpy about the social worker meeting, but he has realized that it is only in his best interest. He will be there, he will ask a few questions, he will address moving into his dad's trailer with Alice and if that won't work out, he will find a way to move in there anyway instead of with his foster family. Alice doesn't even try to talk him out off that plan, because she's promised FP and Jughead alike, that the boy can stay with her as long as he likes and if * he * doesn't find a way to convince the social worker, than maybe she could.

Betty has set her mind on talking to the Principal and the Mayor, since she knows the letter is spending a few hours of her time in the former's office recently, to organize the 75th anniversary jubilee Riverdale is having in a few days. That jubilee is also exactly the reason she wants to talk to them. She had been approached a few weeks ago, if she would want to give a speech in representation of the whole school and Betty had not declined, but she had not actually accepted, either. But she knows, for a fact, that there is no one else they have approached yet and recent events had her reconsidering and now she wants to do the speech. She's not so sure though, if she's still expected to come to them with an answer. After all, she's dating Jughead Jones and her mother is involved with the arrested criminal himself. She'll try nonetheless and she'll fight tooth and nails to be able to stand in front of all of Riverdale and say what she has to say.

The drive to the Sheriff's station seems way longer to Alice than it normally does, but she thinks it has something to do with the fact that she's nervous about seeing him. She loves him, that hasn't changed even after all she has learned in the last twelve hours, and she had promised herself not to confront him while he's in jail; to cherish the hour they are allowed to have together a day. She's pretty sure it's the Sheriff not wanting to deal with her that allows her that long a time and as soon as he's transferred to prison, she won't have half as much. That's why she does not want to spend the precious moments fighting with him, but that doesn't mean she does * not * want to tell him exactly what she thinks of his stupid actions and demand an explanation, the sooner the better.

She takes a very long time just sitting in her car on the parking lot of the police station, calming herself down and hoping she will make it through this visit without causing a huge fight. She won't be allowed to see him again today and when she storms out off there in a rage she will have to spend a whole day not knowing if he hates her for saying those things and hating herself for saying those things to him. She'd come back tomorrow, apologize and pray that he forgives her for being a selfish bitch while he's the one behind bars, but she'd rather not have to do this. For a moment she thinks about not showing up at all, but she has promised him a visit every day and, no matter how mad she actually is at him, she really * really * wants to see him, too.

Sine they had gotten back together, they had both spent enough time apart to not get on each other's nerves at each other because of that, but they had also still spent the majority of almost every day together. She doesn't think she will ever get tired of seeing him every day and having him there to even just complain about the customers at Pop's, and that as long and as often as she wants to. And now, she can only see him a maximum of an hour each day and it's not nearly enough and she so desperately needs him to get out of jail and come home and she probably won't let him leave the house or her side for ever.

When she finally has herself in check enough to exit the car she checks her phone one last time for the time and if there has come in an important message she has not noticed while being so deep in thought. Satisfied that she hasn't missed anything vital, she throws the device into the glove compartment and gets out. The weather has cooled down and, where there is now snow, it's till chilly enough that she is, for actually the first time since she changed, glad that she had traded her skirts and designer pants and heels for simple jeans and boots. They * are * just that tad bit warmer when the wind is grazing her legs. Though she's pretty confident she has calmed her nerves good enough to not snap at his every word, she makes her way across the parking lot slowly; she's still afraid she'd act without thinking again and the fear of him finally having enough and leaving her for good is creeping up in her gradually like she hasn't felt it since she was a teenager.

Just like every other day she has to wait another fifteen minutes at least until any one of the officers even acknowledges her presence, because they know why she's here and letting her see her boyfriend is just not priority number one right now – or probably ever. This time, however, she is not even really upset about it. They have all their hands full with the end to an investigation in the murder of a teenage boy, the apparent suicide of said boy's father slash killer and charging FP with, it seems, anything they care to come up with. It also gives her even more time to forestall the inevitable. All the calming down and overthinking it had only brought her to one conclusion. If she wants to or not, she * will * be saying something to upset him or act accordingly or both.

When they finally acknowledge her waiting more patiently than before in the hall, there's an exchange of short looks between them, Alice notices but decides not to comment on. Despite her thoughts, she still wants to see him and picking a fight with the police officers was a sure way to get kicked out without seeing him today – or the next few days probably, too. She's shown to Sheriff Keller's office immediately after being greeted and it's just that bit suspicious, she thinks. She'd been talking to Tom every other day, too, getting permission to get into the holding cells, but normally this was done in passing. When one of the officers takes her down to see FP, because really there is no permission they need to get but they still like to show that they could forbid her that one hour she has with him, Sheriff Keller is generally waiting somewhere in the hall for just that exact moment. With a quick nod and a polite greeting, he let's them pass and that's normally all the interaction she has with Tom in those situations.

But ten minutes later, she knows exactly what she had been send to Sheriff Keller's office for, and she also knows way more about the crime and FP's involvement in it than she had ever since he had been arrested. She had begged and pleaded and threatened and tried to bribe every single police officer for the last days to just tell her * something * because she was his family and has a right to be informed of such things. Nobody ever really told her anything though. Until they were desperate enough to need her help.

Another five minutes later, and she's led the familiar path down the hall to the holding cells. She had been informed, that he would be transferred out off here pretty soon. The officer unlock the outer door for her, waits until she has it firmly in her hand so it won't shut and lock again, then he turns and leaves her alone. His post is a few paces down the hall, far enough to give people a tiny bit of privacy but still near enough to be in hearing range should any visitor want to leave earlier than he is instructed to let them out again.

FP gets up from the cot against the far wall when he sees the door open and wraps his hands around the metal bars. He has a smile on his face, because he just knows exactly who is on the other side of that door, but it gradually vanishes when the door stays ajar but nobody enters. First the smile morphs into an expression of fear; did Clifford Blossom go back on his promise just before he hung himself?! But then it changed into a frown, it's Alice alright, and she's making sure she's not saying or doing anything she'll regret after leaving. And, ironically, that thought brings the smile back onto his face.

At least until she finally steps into the room. "Hi" He says cheerfully, incredibly glad to see her. One hour a day is not nearly enough with her.

"Hi" She replies, but that's all she does. She's not coming nearer, not ignoring all the clear instructions * not * to approach him, even though he's not a murder suspect anymore. All she does is stay exactly where she is, arms crossed over her chest.

"Judging from your face, you have seen the video" Sheriff Keller had told him there was video evidence of him not shooting Jason Blossom and, that an anonymous source has come forward with it. Jughead had told him last night, that the 'anonymous source' was Betty and that they both knew what exactly was on the tape.

This time she doesn't even bother replying. A look and a raised eyebrow is all her gets. * Go on *

"And you probably have heard the other part from Jughead, too" Of course she did.

"I have" It's short and clipped and almost cold and he heaved a sigh. He had hoped her calming techniques outside the holding cells would have worked. She had had the same hope, and she had been pretty sure they did, until she'd seen him and the anger had come flooding back. They are in love with each other. You don't do that to people you love.

"Look, Alice, I'm sorry..." But he doesn't get any further and he's honestly not sure what he would have said right this moment other than * I'm sorry *

"No, I have every right to be mad right now" She shifts her weight from one heeled boot to the other, uncrossing her arms and playing with the hem of her leather jacket. Her left one is fisted into the material deep enough to prevent her fingernails from hurting her palms (it's been years since she had to do this), and her right one is absently tracing the pink thread she'd sewn into the fabric twenty years earlier. "What the hell were you thinking confessing to a murder you did not do and being involved in the clean up of said murder?!"

He tries to interrupt her, to tell her that he has no idea what he had been thinking. At least not with the second part. And she knows exactly what he had been thinking about the first. But she doesn't let him get a word in.

"And you know what the worst part is?" She looks at him challengingly, but he has enough experience and sense of self preservation, that he knows when to keep his mouth shut. "That you did not even trust me enough to take care of our family. That you had to make that deal with Clifford Blossom to know the kids will all be safe!"

"That's not true, and you damn well know it, too." He might know when to keep his mouth shut, but that doesn't mean he will just let her say things that could not be farther form the truth – especially when he knows she's aware of that, too, but she's too stubborn and into this to see it. "I love you, and I trust you with my life and my son's life in a heartbeat and in every regard. But I did not want to drag you – any of you – further into this mess than I already have. I wanted you to be able to live a normal life and not worry about Clifford Blossom all the time"

"I..." She's still trying to argue, he can hear it in her voice. So, this time it's him who interrupts her.

"And can we maybe fight about this some other time? When I'm not so incredibly happy to see your gorgeous face and have you here with me despite everything I did?" He even uses the smile she can't resist; hasn't been able to ever since she'd first met him. And, six year old FP Jones had been acutely aware of that back then, too.

"Damn" She breathes, untangling her fingers from her leather jacket. "Even with you behind bars I can't stay mad at you" She finally makes her way over to him, stops just right in front of the metal bars separating them and raises her hands to lace her fingers through his. This is what she wanted from the start, she had told herself she would not be fighting with him today, that the inevitable conversation can be put off just a bit longer and she's so glad to have found someone who just gets her and knows what to do or say to calm her down before she takes it too far – mostly. "And when do you believe is a good time to fight about this?" As far as she's concerned, he's always happy to see her. "And never is not an acceptable answer" She adds on a slight laugh.

"When I'm out off jail?" He playfully avoids her eyes. There is no way she will put off that talk for the next twenty years and he thinks it's probably not healthy to do so anyway, but he also thinks it was worth a try. Especially when he hears her really laugh at it.

"I hear this could be sooner than we all think?" She purposefully phrases it to sound like a question while she's playing with one set of their joined hands. He's lightly brushing the thumb of his other hand over the back of hers.

"I'm not doing it" There's also no question here that he means what he says.

"Didn't think so"

"So Sheriff Keller did not ask you to convince me to change my mind?" He doesn't believe that. Tom Keller has been paying him a visit twice every hour since he had informed him of the new developments in the case and had pressured him into giving up his Serpents involved in Clifford's drug trafficking in exchange for a way lighter sentence than he's facing now. His answer had been no from the start and he had not changed it yet and he had no intention to either.

"Oh yes, he did! But I knew you wouldn't and I will not talk you into betraying our own" She leans forward to kiss him then and he wastes no time reciprocating, because he has missed her. By the way she's kissing him, he can only imagine that she did miss him, too. Very, very much, that is.

They kiss for a long while, only breaking momentarily when they need to take a breath and it's exactly what she needs to forget that her head wants to be mad at him. She awkwardly threats her arms through the bars and rises up on her tiptoes to rake her fingers through his short hair and he's holding her as close to his as he can with his arms just as awkwardly wound around her waist. She's pressed into the hard metal bars between them, but she doesn't care. As long as she can be near him and kiss him right now, she doesn't care about anything.

"So, tell me what has been happening outside these walls?" He asks when they finally part for good. She stays just as close though and he doesn't even think about taking his hands back.

"Your son has his meeting with the social worker after school and I think he won't like what he'll hear" A slight shrug of the shoulder accompanies the statement and she doesn't meet his eyes. She's promised to take care of Jughead.

"He's a smart kid, I'm sure he has already figured out, that they will not officially let him stay with you" She looks back up at him when she takes her chin in his hand and lifts her gaze. He's not disappointed like she had expected him to be for breaking her promise. "Don't underestimate him though, he'll find a way to move in. And then you'll wish he had been staying with the foster family" It's a joke and it gets the intended result. She's smiling at him again.

"I have been raising two teenagers, too, you know"

"I hate to break it to you baby, but one of them is pregnant and the other one is dating my son" The meaningful and stern look he tries to pair with the statement falls completely flat when she laughs right in his face. "And you had a whole lot more space than a tiny trailer"

"That's true" She admits, still laughing. And then she suddenly stops and turns serious again, at least more serious than she'd just been. "Speaking of, apparently my eldest daughter and her father are acting crazy" He doesn't ask in words, but the question is so apparent in his eyes, that she answers it before he has to voice it. "They're playing the perfect family, acting like everything is normal, like nothing has even happened"

"It could be the shock" He says, dropping a light kiss onto her lips again. "I mean, Polly * had * just found out that her future father-in-law had killed her fiancee." It's the only explanation he is able to come up with, unless... But he's not worried about that, because even if Polly is trying to use this denial tactic to get her mother to break up with him and move back home, there are two important things the girl's not factoring in. Alice has no intention of leaving him, and Hal has no intention of taking her back.

"Betty is trying to get the speech at the jubilee, but again, she's, too, will not like what she'll hear" Alice tries to change the subject again, and FP is just as ready to leave her husband behind.

"If they take the task from the most qualified student at that school, just because she or her mother are associated with me and the Serpents, than it's their loss. And, quite honestly, they should be ashamed of themselves." And again, he knows exactly what is going on in her mind and what she wanted to say.

They talk for another twenty minutes, before the officer shows up again to escort her outside. This time, Sheriff Keller is waiting in front of the door, in the process of entering and interrogate FP once again, and at his questioning look all Alice does is smirk. Did he really think she'll be so quick to betray her own?! Just before the door closes behind her she can hear FP let out a short laugh and she'd swear Tom letting out a sigh.

Then she's off to meet her daughter.