Chapter 46: Sept. 13th- Horsey

September 13th, 2019

A year had passed on like time had been wrangle with. One year ago today, Their youngest Koel had been born on a faithful, breezy September day. It was also the debate of the decade. Alice and Jughead were sitting on that couch, watching Friends - re-runs on Netflix, having a debate when Koel decided to enter the world earlier than Sept. 21st. Of course his family hadn't been prepared for such a change in the due date, FP had been in Wisconsin for Veronica's licensing to gain permission to open La Bonne Nuit, and Betty had been trying to avoid a whole debate over Friends again.

"Mama!" Cried one year Koel, bouncing on his butt, in his little tot bed.

Alice came into the room to find Koel, laughing and smiling at her. She walked over to the toddler bed and picked him up in her arms and cooed affectionally with a tickle to his tummy.

"Happy birthday, Koel! You are one today!" She announced with a happy smile, written into her face.

After the year they had before, she hoped for better things. She had been married to her husband for seven months now. The kids were exactly a year away from graduating. Actually it was their senior year. The school semester was about to be two weeks in. Her Betty was about to an adult and Jughead's birthday was coming up again.

She made breakfast for her family of seven. Charles was coming into town after a long break in Denver for a case. She was proud of her eldest son for all his accomplishments.

"Morning, hubby." She kissed him as soon as he walked into the kitchen.

FP smiled at his wife and returned the kiss before pulling back and began to read the morning paper. It was his youngest' birthday today. He was excited and relieved. A lot happened that FP wished he could forget. "Mmmh, that smells delicious!" He sniffed the air, eager to sneak a taste.

Alice places a plate in front of her husband and smiled. "Thank you!" FP said, taking his fork and knife and began to cut into the pancake.

Alice sat down next to FP, JB was on the other side of the table, secretly feeding the dog underneath the table. "JB!" She pokes her head up to see Alice staring at her.

"What?" The pre-teen tried to pretend. Alice gave her a look that said,"I know what you did" She sank her back into the chair.

"You were feeding Midnight bacon again?" The wife questioned, JB slowly nodded her head.

"I was.." JB added with a guilty look in her eye. "I'm sorry." The apology was almost barely a whisper, but Alice and FP both heard it.

"Where's Jug at?" Cheryl said as she took a chair that was the window. She always preferred a window seat over any other kind. She guessed her socialist ways hadn't disappeared on her.

"Probably in bed still." Jellybean muttered disgustingly. A part of her didn't know why Jug and Betty were still together. "With Betty." She added, rolling her eyes.

Cheryl and JB shared a glance and broke into a conversation. FP shrugged his shoulders when Alice gave him a look. It wasn't long before both Betty and Sleepy-head Jones came downstairs.

"I knew I smelt something good!" Jughead commented happily and grabbed a piece of bacon off the plate. The family smiled at the raven boy and rolled their eyes.

"Thanks, Jug! I got early and made sure you had a good breakfast before you don't come home no more." Alice joked.

Jughead smiles." Of course, I'll see come home, Mom. You are a great cook and well I have nowhere else to go."

Betty shook her head and smacked his arm." Way to ruin a good moment, Jughead."

Jughead smirked to himself." Besides, I'm sure JB will be begging for me to not move out." JB's mouth fell open.

"Nope. As soon as you move out, I'm turning your room into a closet."

Jughead's mouth fell open and he frowned." A closet? Is that all I'm worth?"

"Yep." JB teased.

Cheryl rubbed a hand over her hand and sighed." It's Koel's birthday, can you two ever get along?" The two siblings glared. "Anyhow... what are we doing today? Monkey Joe's? Oooh, I know! A party!"

Alice saw FP's face when the word party was mentioned." I don't know about a party, Cher." She heard the halt in his breath.

—xxx—

In the end, The Jones family ended up having a few close friends over instead of a party. Excitement filled the room as Koel tries to blow out his number one candle. Fred and Hermione were spotted by the stairs, snapping pictures of the one year old, meanwhile, Alice and FP smirked when Koel's hand went straight for the cake.

"Oh, no!" FP muttered as Koel's face was smeared with icing. "You're going to need a bath by time we get to eat the cake."

Jughead groaned." Why the cake!" FP rolled his eyes at his older son. Jughead can be quite dramatic when he wants to be. Even Alice can be a lot to handle, he hopes that Koel takes after him when it comes to dramatizing.

"C-A-K-E." Betty spells out loud and smiles when Koel smiles back at her.

Soon it was time for presents. JB went first, she gave Koel a toy singing Dino that hugged in his arms when the little kid gave it a kiss. Koel squealed loudly, causing the whole room to giggling and chuckle along with him. Next went, Jug and Betty, they decided to team up on a gift this year. They got him a small tite basket ball hoop for when he was a little older. And lastly, FP and Alice gave their son something very special.

"HORSEY!" The little boy screeched as he bounced excitedly on Cheryl's lap with his feet.

Cheryl smile down at the kid and said." That's right, that's a horsey!"

FP and Alice spent all yesterday trying to find the hottest hit item at Toys "R" Us after going to three different locations - a few of them were quite aways from Riverdale. After finding the dang horse that was a few sizes bigger than both parents expected, and logged all the way to FP's pickup. The parents finally made back home and by then the whole house was asleep and Fred laughed at him when he carried the thing down to the basement.

"Neighhhhhh!"

Koel made the sound like a horse makes and Cheryl pulled out her phone to Snapchat the moment - she couldn't resist. Betty kneels on her knees and gave him a big kiss on his temple and sighs at the cute squeals. FP smirked himself and watched his baby, latch his little arms around the horse's back and rub his face against the soft furry material.

"Koely, what's the horsey's name, bud?"

The tot didn't respond other than giggling again. He was too mesmerized by the cute stuffed horse didn't even hear his dada's voice. Alice captured the adorable moment on her video camera.

"Does Horsey have a name?" Koel looked away from the horse and stuck out his tongue over his six baby teeth.

"HORSEY!" Koel squeezed the stuffed animal with his mighty arms and added," Mama Horsey!" Alice notices that her son is pointing at her and she hands over the camera to her husband and picks the baby boy up and into her arms.

"Can I gave him?" The kid shakes his head.

"My horsey."

Alice can't stop smiling as she gave her baby a kiss to his soft cheek. "Okay, no horsey for mama."

—xxx—

Before they knew it was October again. It happened to be a month into the school year, FP and Alice spent their day's trying to come up with an idea for Jughead's birthday.

"FP!"

FP rolled out of bed and headed downstairs where he found Alice at the table, typing away. Usually he'd expect to see his boy writing at the kitchen table, but today it happened to be his wife.

"Yes?"

"Did you think of an idea?" He sighed.

"Not yet." He heard her sigh as she shuts her laptop screen.

This year for Jug's birthday FP gave his son a chance to meet his favorite writer at a meet greet section - He and Alice collaborated on the idea together, but FP thinks he came up with idea and Alice doubts that. The night happened to be a very good day and Jughead loved all his gifts.

—xxxx—

Three Months Later - December, 10th, 2019 - Friday, Afternoon

The tale of missing Horsey. It all started one day when Alice was cooking in the kitchen and then there was high-pitched scream. Alice rushes into the living room to find her one-and-half year old screaming with tiny droplets, falling onto his cheeks.

She went over to the gate that blocked the stairs to the upper level of their house. She pinched the lock on the side of toddler gate, sliding it to the left and unlocked the latch.

After their son started walking, FP and Alice were quick to learn that Koel had tendencies of often getting into trouble. You could say FP and Alice got a son just like them - a troublemaker.

It started off with knocking over Alice's books that Koel had used a chair by scooting it across the room and climbing onto to it and was able reach the shelf that held Alice's old college writes. Not long after, Koel had found his way downstairs and spilled over Cheryl's makeup bin. Cheryl wasn't happy and basically demanded for new makeup - which Alice had taken away her phone for a week.

And a week later, FP came home during his lunch break to Alice cleaning up the room and said," It's time for a baby gate. He's gotten into the doggy food container in the panty - it's everywhere, FP. I mean how did he get the door unlocked." FP could see the disbelief on his wife's face and sighs.

"He is our son." Alice shot him a glare and crossed her arms over her chest. FP choked back a laugh and brushed a hand down his small of her back and said," I'll get one after work today and I'll make sure it works."

Alice walked over to the corner her son was balling his eyes out at and kneeled down in front of the upset child.

"What's wrong, baby? How can mama make you feel better?" Her voice was soft and calming as the child continued to scream on top of his lungs. Alice was surprised he hasn't lost his voice from all the screaming he's been doing.

"H-H-Horsey!" Koel cried loudly as he threw himself into Alice's warmth.

Uh-oh... Alice looked around and noticed that the toddler threw his toys all over the place. She held back a gasp and tamed the extremely upset one-year-old. This wasn't good. Koel slept, ate, played and brought that horse everywhere with him. She knew her son wouldn't stop being upset until she found it.

"Okay... okay, settle, we'll find Horsey." Oh, she really they did. "I promise."

Koel mumbles into her shirt," Promsie?"

"Yes, I promise. How about you hold Uni?" She tried suggesting.

Koel threw the stuffed unicorn over the child-proofed gate. "Noooo! I Horsey!"

Alice ducked her head out of the way and gasped. She really did have a child with her anger problems. She sat there cursing herself silently in her head, while Koel Mason screeched and her ears felt like they were in a war zone.

When FP finally got off work. He walked into the house to see his wife in distress. Then he got a quick glance over the house and let out a gasp as his face lit up in shock.

"W-What happened in here? Did we get hit by a tornado while I was gone?" His tone was stretching with utter confusion.

"Koel Mason did that to our living room - so I had no choice to put him in his playpen until I found Horsey and I still can't find it!" There's a tear rolling down her cheek that he sees and slowly walks over to her.

He wrapped his arms around her and kissed her softly on the cheek. "Shh, it's going to be okay. We'll find it."

Alice shakes her head." You don't get it, FP. I've torn apart this house three times and I can't find it! It's not in this house!" She cried. "He don't stop crying, I've tried turning on his favorite songs, gave him another stuffed animal and he knew it over the gate. I-I..." She's speaking so fast that she starts to lose her breath.

"I'm sure it's around here somehow."

"I tried the backyard by the sandbox - it wasn't there!"

"How about Fred's?" Alice looked up at her husband and shakes her head. "I'll call him and see if --" The doorbell rang interrupting what FP's about to say, causing Midnight to bark, Koel's cries to get louder.

FP headed over to the door and sure enough Fred Andrews is standing there with Horsey tucked under his armpit. Alice joined him and literally cried as a release on relieved she felt.

"I figured you were about to call and if Koel left over at my place." Fred said and then he saw the mess." Good thing I did!" He let out a soft amused laugh.

"H-- How did you know? I was just about to call." FP asked, not hiding his shock.

Fred chuckled." I was cleaning after Vegas and I found him pawing and barking at the thing. You are lucky I found when I did." Alice's hand went over her heart and she breathed a sigh.

"Thank you!" Alice cried as she threw herself into Fred's arms. "I've been dealing with Koel throwing a fit all day. I didn't even get to go to work. I ended up calling in, and I knew FP, you had a huge case I didn't want to bother you about it."

Fred caught his arms and chuckled out of shock." Whoa-- you are welcome." And He gave her a hug seeing how stressed she had been. "I like this hug." Alice muttered against his chest.

"Ahem! I'm still here." Alice and Fred could hear the jealousy in his tone. They rolled their eyes at the same time and pulled away. "Uh-Uh, knock it off and you could always join us." Alice teased jokingly.

"Ha, Ha! Very funny, Al!"

Fred smirked." Chill, Hermione would kill me if I ever crossed that line, Forsythe." He added it just to annoy his friend even more.

"Fredrick..."

"Again." Alice blushes. She smacks Fred on the chest with her hand. "Ow!"

She saw FP's face and decided to calm them - because one - she didn't want another Fred-FP fight and two; Koel's screaming was driving her nuts.

"Not funny, Fredrick." She turned to her husband and kissed his cheek, hoping to calm him as she said," Don't worry, Baby. You're all I need and besides I don't think Fred is as good in bed as you are." FP blushed bright red as a grin passed through his lips.

"Hey, I take offense to that - Hermione says I'm the best sex she's ever had!" Fred butted in to rush and defended himself.

Alice bursted out laughing," That's because Mione only had sex with you and Hiram."

Fred followed Alice and FP into the house, down the hallway which led right to Koel's playroom. Alice carefully unlatched the gate and the two males walked by, she reattached the door by to latch and she heard a click.

Fred walked over to the small child and Koel screeched as soon as Fred placed the stuffed animal - Horsey into his lap.

"HORSEY! I LUV!" Fred laughed at the adorable sounds that came out of the Tod's mouth. Koel gave it a big squeeze and the dropped when he saw his uncle. "UNC FRY!"

Alice couldn't believe all it took was Uncle Fry - that's all Koel can say - to come over and the little boy was all happy again.

"Yeah, I'm back, Koel! You missed me, huh?"

Koel leaped into Uncle Freddie's arms and gave him a big wet kiss on his face. "Unc I Me Horsey!"

"Yes, I did." Then Fred turned to send a grin to the two parents who stared at him in both shock and amusement. "See I'm his good luck charm."

"Whatever you say, Fred."

—-xxxx—

I know that toys "R" Us has been out of business and it's forever gone - No! I'll blame Hiram Lodge for that! See all it took was Uncle Freddie to come and save the day!