Chapter 33- After Rain Carries In Waves
Rain pours and pours hard onto the windshield. Tiny droplets form into thousands of tears. Fp was still recovering from seeing his father for the first time in years. He never thought he would see him again and now that he had. He wished he hadn't. He knows his dad feels sorry, but it's too late now. Time hasn't healed. Rain still carries in waves. He's not sure where his son could be. All he's sure of was that he's been driving for hours.
He thought now that Clifford, Hiram, Penny, Hal, Polly, Gladys were all gone that his happiness would stay. He never thought his son could be taken. He wants answers and still prays for answers.
He walks into their home at 12 P.M. He earns judgmental looks from Jughead. He knows it looks like he's been drinking. But he hasn't been. Jughead wants to believe his father is still sober. But he's having a hard time believing the lies. Betty and Cheryl know he's adding something, specially about someone named Abby.
An hour later, Fp finds Alice sitting at the dining room table with a teacup pressed to her lips. He sees her eying him with suspicion. He knows that he seems like he's slipping.
"Where have you been? You never came back like you said you were going to." Alice asks in accusing tone.
She doesn't know where he has been. She been grieving all by herself for hours. The kids had gotten home from school hours ago. She doesn't want to come to a conclusion. The first thought was he was cheating on her and the second he was drinking again. Either of the thoughts made her blood run cold.
Fp's eyes blink in surprise. He didn't think she didn't trust him. It hurt that she didn't trust him. But he didn't fault her. He had lied in the past. So why wouldn't she be more cautious. Even his own son questions him without words.
"Nowhere." He lets the lie slip off his lips.
He knows the damage was done and he can't back out now. Alice taps her fingers on the table and scoffs.
"Don't you lie to me, Fp. If you think I don't know you're lying? You have another thing coming." Her voice curls into a threat.
She doesn't want to act like this. But the lies had to stop. He was gone from the time he dropped her off and who knows where he's been. While she was grieving over son. He's cheating— she hopes to god not. Or was he drinking? If that was the reason. She will kick him so hard until he sees daylight savings day.
"I'm not, Baby." He forced out another lie as he goes for the fridge.
"Then look me in the eye."
He turns to her and scoffs," You gotta be kidding me? Alice do you seriously not trust me?" She doesn't answer.
"Where were you?" She demands as her teeth grinded against another. He avoids her gaze again.
Now she's getting tired of the bullshit," Fine sleep in the doghouse for all I care!" She shouts as she stomps upstairs and slams their bedroom door hard.
He sighs as he watches her storm off. He knows he should just tell her but he's afraid. Her fuse has been getting shorter and shorter since Koel's abduction. His fuse was getting shorter too. He can't blame her for getting frosted with the situation. His son was still missing and he needs to find him.
Jughead and Betty witnessed the whole fight. He still can't believe his father was lying again. After all the obstacles they've been through. He's still lying about where his been. Cheryl heard the arguing from inside her room. She already didn't like it. She sat in her bed listening to her new mom cry. It broke her heart. She wanted to slap Fp across the face and knock some sense into him.
Fp sighs as he heads upstairs and knocks on the door. He hates that he can hear sniffling in the background. He caused this and now he feels so stupid. He should've just told her in the first place.
"Go away!" Alice's voice snaps through the wood. His hand on the knob he ignores her protest.
He turns the knob to the right and steps inside. He can feel the coldness from the room strike his insides. He can hear her sobbing in their bed. He feels awful for how he reacted. He slowly approaches her and sits down by her feet. He's careful not to agitate her even more.
"Al…" He pauses as he strokes her back with his hand gently. She almost has to fight the tears again. She hates that he's hiding something from her. It's not fair and she knows he knows that.
"I'm sorry. I didn't drink or cheat on you. I was visiting my father." She quickly stops crying and lifts her head at him.
"What?" She sighs as she adjusted her eyes to the light and looks up at him with soft caring eyes.
Was she hearing right? Did he just say he was seeing his father? She hasn't heard him mention his father in days. Or let alone see him. She rubbed her eyelids and touched his cheek softly.
"I needed to know if he took Koel. I can't keep waiting here and hoping our son will magically show up, Al." She could hear his heart-break in his voice and all the pain that was brought with it.
A long hard sigh escapes her lips and slides off her tongue. She wants to find him too. More than anything." Fp…" She starts, holding her hand to his cheek. Fp's jaw went slack and his nerves fire up. "We will find him. And we won't stop until we find him and find out who took him." Her tone was soft, filled with hatred.
They both knew there was a possibility. That they would never see or lay eyes on their baby boy. As heartbreaking as it sounded; it was far more devastating to think about it. It was a bitter thought. Koel is only three-months and the lack of time we be stolen from them made everything around the couple implode.
Day four turned into a week. The investigation was still ongoing. The longer it took the more the Jones Family's heart gave out. Every morning looking at the empty chair where their son or brother once sat giggling.
"Mom." Could heard across the backyard, Alice sat by a freshly covered grass with a light snow.
It just started getting colder in Riverdale. Alice was looking forward to taking Koel out for his first snow day. She looked to her right and sighed. Cheryl and Betty were calling from the back deck. She didn't want to get up but she had to.
"Yes." An pained sigh left her lips as she got off the ground and walked over to the girls.
Cheryl looked sad as she usually did. Her new family was supposed to be happy and now it's far from that. Fp and her were supposed to go to the Archery range a week ago but Koel went missing. It saddened her that Fp spent more days at work than at home. She was looking forward to a happy family. Turns out— no family was happy.
"Ginger wants to go to mall." The redhead smirked," Can I borrow your car for a couple hours. I'll take Betty if you would like." Alice smiled and nodded her head.
"Go ahead, I'll be fine." She told Cheryl before walking passed the squealing teens.
Was she that happy to go to mall? No she never enjoyed malls. She was more like the girl that would hang at the Wrym and drink until she got wasted. That wasn't what she wanted her daughters to get into. Fp and Her agreed that neither wanted them to drink. Fp with his addiction. He didn't want Jug or any of his kids to get involved with that kind of stuff. He already didn't like the fact all three of the teens were in the southside Serpents.
An hour later, Alice was folding laundry when the doorbell rings. She sets down the towel she was folding and walked down the hall. She missed the little giggles she would hear all over the house and now that he was gone. There was no little giggles.
She pulls on the handle and smiles lightly. Adam stood in front her holding a note. Maybe it was closure. She could only hope. She can't take anymore pain and suffering. Koel was still missing and as long as he was gone. She couldn't be happy.
"Ms. Smith, I was informed by Sheriff Keller you live here." Adam says as he looks around the house and sees a small smile appear on her lips.
Alice was quite surprised to see Adam. Let alone he was in her doorway. She steps aside and asks,"Why don't you come in." She offers as she let him inside.
Adam nods his head and follows Alice to the kitchen. As they make their way to her kitchen. Adam finds the home very comforting and meant for children. He sits down at the table in the far left of the room. He takes this bag off his shoulder and sets his bag on the table. Alice comes back with a cup of tea and he looks up at her. She looks very tired and he can't blame her. She just lost her son and has no clue where he could be taken.
"Thank you." He shyly says as he sips his tea. He can't imagine what it's like to have a child taken from him. He's never experienced that and hopefully never will. "This tea is amazing, Ms.Smith." He compliments as he watches her lips quirk into a slight smile.
Alice's frown turns into a smile and she takes a seat next to Adam. "Thank you, Adam. It's green tea mixed with a little honey." She added with a little confidence.
"How are you feeling?" He decided to change the subject. Alice started to feel blinded. She wasn't expecting that type of question.
She sighs and forced a smile." I'm good." But he could tell she wasn't good. He eyes her softly and she starts to crack." Alright. I'm not good. I'm miserable. My son's still missing and it's been a week, Detective Adam Smith." Her voice starts cracking and he can't stand watching her cry.
He slips his hand into his pocket and pulls out a tissue. She takes the tissue from his hand and blots her eyes dry. She doesn't like crying in front of strangers. It makes her seem weak and Fragile.
"Shh. It's okay. We will find him." She loves how calm he is acting. She doesn't know how he's so calm. She's frantic and not calm. She wants to be calmer but she just doesn't know how.
"Thanks." She mutters from his shoulder. There's something familiar with him. She just can't put her mind to it yet. She wipes her eyes with the tissue and sniffles. "I really mean thank you. That's very kind of you, Adam." She thanks him as she smiles.
He starts pulling out the lists of suspects he's gathered over the week. He came up with three. Alice's breathing increased and her heart rate went up. There were so many enemies that her and Fp have. It could any one of them. Which made fighting the perpetrator much harder and nearly impossible. Alice watches him as he flips to next page and her eyes bugged out. She can't believe there was a picture of her son from a few days prior to the kidnapping.
Her stomach rolls and her eyes well up with tears. Her son was there in her arms three days before he was kidnapped. None of this was making sense. "I looked further in these photos and I saw this." He pauses and flips to next page.
She leans in closer and squeezes her eyes tightly to keep her eyes focused on the image. It was taken on October fithiteenth three weeks before Chery was officially adopted. Her first thoughts were how did they find these?
"Uh… how did you get those?" She looks over at Adam with suspicion in her eyes.
A small sigh escaped his lips," I was looking through the city cameras and found them. I hope you don't feel too pressured by the how fast I found them." He stammers out and doesn't give himself enough time to think before he was blubbering.
She places a hand on his shoulder and gently squeeze for reassurance." Adam. It's okay. I'm just grateful how fast you're working on my son's case."
A few Minutes go by everything grows silent as they look through more suspect lists and over the new DNA evidence. "We got new results and it looks like the the kidnapper was wearing a wig. More specifically a red-ginger wig." Alice's head was ringing with the news.
Her baby's kidnapper was wearing a wig. They were getting closer and closer. She could just feel it. They were a step closer to finding who took Koel and once they did. She will have fun with a thing called revenge. And a thing about revenge. It can be sweet and deadly at the same time.
Fp was on his own studying. That's what he calls it. He stands at the Wyrm in front of the Serpents. Cheryl and Betty actually were going to a secret serpent meeting. They didn't want to worry Alice by telling so they lied instead. Jughead watched as his father tried to keep his tears at bay. He could see his father state slowly falling apart. He knows his father wants to stay strong and keep up his facade. But he also was aware that the longer his brother was gone. The more and more His Dad and Alice will shatter.
"We gather here for a special meeting." Fp says into the microphone as he stands on that stage.
"What's that king?" Bridie asks as holds up her glass in her left hand.
Fp rolls his eyes and leans forward." Bridie you know my son is king now. I'm just trying to gather us all together and keep our fronts united." He growls at her and she rolls her eyes at him.
"Oh come on, Fp. We know that you were planning on coming back but just don't what to blondie." She digs her words deeper into his throat.
As much as he wants to come back. He knows his son deserves a chance at being king and Betty as the queen. He still dreams as him and Alice ruling the Serpents together like has planned when they were teens. But things change and life keeps on going.
"She's right." Another serpent adds and earns a scowl from Fp.
"Enough!" He shouts to the crowd. "My son is your king and that's final!" Everyone shuts their mouths and seals their lips. Then he faces his son, who looks confused. "I need you guys to help me find Koel. I know Tom is trying. But he's failed a lot for this time. I also know he's trying to make amends for his mistakes and wrong doings."
"He's failed too many times. We need a new sheriff, Jones." The group yells at once.
"Enough! Listen to the man up there! A man who's a father and now my father! I would like you to show the man with respect and stop being assholes!" Cheryl growls as she points her eyes directly at Brydie.
"Fire shut the hell up! You haven't been a serpent very long and you don't know shut!" Brydie mocks and Fp's eyes grow red.
Cheryl hissed at Fp to stay and he obeyed. If he had to admit that Cheryl sorta scares him. "I don't care what you think of me. I'm just asking! No demanding you show this man respect and for his son. You show my brother the damn respect a king desires and needs as his people." Jughead and Fp's eyes grew wide.
The crowd erupts with cheers and whistles as Cheryl walked over to her girlfriend and smirked. Toni was quite impressed by how great she handled the cristsim from Brydie. Byrdie's always been a bitch and stuck to the same old rules.
"You remember Abby." Fp's voice rings out through the crowd and the whole room goes still as a board.
"I went to see her grave and kept hoping that my son wasn't there yet. When my oldest died. I thought I lost my world. I didn't even know him. And now I'll never know him. But I can't lose Koel too. When Jughead sacrificed himself to the Ghoulies. I thought I failed as a father and leader. The hell he deserves this spot." His voice starts to crumble.
"Dad, you don't need to defend me." Jughead tries to persuade his father to stop crusading for him.
"No." He raises his hand."I'm not stopping. You haven't given my son the respect and Cheryl's right. He's your king now and he deserves the same respect as I once had myself." He adds before stepping off the stage and disappearing into the hall.
Jughead and Betty both sighed. They knew Fp liked to drink when things got hard. And now was one of those times. Cheryl slowly slipped away from Toni's grip and headed the way Fp went.
She finds him downstairs. Her blood grows cold when she realizes that Jay-Jay was murdered by her father in this very basement. She rolls her shoulders and continues her search. She tries her best to ignore the blood stained floor and aches when she spots him.
"Dad…" Her voice is calm and strong. Fp doesn't lift his head. He keeps staring at the floor with his eyes. He doesn't want to be down here but he feels compelled to. He doesn't know why. He does needs to be there. He sees Cheryl's hand on his shoulder. But he can't lift his head. "It's okay. Let it out." He can feel her eyes in his back.
He wants to cry and give up. But he can't. He has to find Koel and won't stop until he finds him. Without lifting his head," Just go back upstairs, Cheryl. You shouldn't be down here."
She groans and rolls her eyes," Why? Because my brother was killed down here?!" She watched him bob his head. "That's not going to stop me. I won't be stopped. You can't keep this in. It's not good to keep in. I did that and I…" She pauses briefly collecting her thoughts and holding her eyes from releasing the tears.
"You think I'm going to kill myself. Wow that's very rich, Cheryl." He spats as he glares at the stone floor.
She doesn't flinch. She's unaffected by his raw words. She's heard everything from her real mother. That she was a spiteful, starving anorexic. This wasn't bothering her. Sure it would've a year before but now she can handle it.
"No."
"No?" He wrinkled his brow at her.
"I mean no. When I said that I'm part of you. I meant as your half. I got over the fact you dumped my brother but I get why. You were blackmailed to do it and I'm sorry for being a bitch." She apologizes as she pulled him into a hug.
He starts breaking down. He hates that she's right and he knows that she's right. He can feel himself slipping away and he hates it. He never liked getting emotional in front of people. Jughead and Betty find them and join the hug. Jughead knew his dad rarely got emotional in front of anybody. It's always rare and unexpected when he gets emotional with anyone.
"He's gone…" Fp's voice cracked tremendously. His throat tightens and his eyes feel dimmer. "It's been a week. Sheriff Keller hasn't found him and neither has this new guy he called to help."
His tone cut deep into Jughead and Cheryl's heart. They knew he was falling apart. It broke their hearts into two. It wasn't fair and as A family they needed to stick together.
"Why don't we go home? It's been a long day." Jughead stated as helped his father off the ground.
Fp took his hand and slightly bobbed his head before he and the girls left the basement. His head hung low and his shoulder stayed tense. All he wanted at that moment was Alice. He knew that should hold him until he was ready.