For Once We're At Peace

Chapter 13

Waking up that morning was weird for Esperanza. The night before, she could have sworn she felt her 5th youngest child's hand in hers and she could have sworn she heard his voice. "You okay?" Sasha asked as she and Esper stretched. Esper nodded, glancing in the direction of where she saw a grey waist coat. Her eyes widened and her heart stopped for a brief moment as the smiling face of her 5th youngest child stared back at her. "Esper?"

"William?" Esper's voce trembled as the boy's grin grew, rushing over to his mother and hugging her tightly. "What? How?" William merely hugged her tighter, trying to fight the tears of happiness that threatened to spill over. "Good Lord, I've missed you so much, my little Will."

"I've missed you too, Mother," William whispered, pulling away and chuckling as she wiped away his tears which just kept coming. "They're happy tears, I promise." Esper merely smiled, tucking some stray hair strands behind his ears.

"You look as handsome as the day I last saw you," she murmured with a gentle smile as her son leaned into the hand on his cheek.

"You can finally see them? Or is it just William here?" Anthony asked with a smirk. William bowed, Anthony laughing slightly as he nodded to indicate that he understood. "Ah, okay. Makes sense."

"There's others?" Esper asked, turning to look at Ant who nodded. "How many?"

"A lot," Sasha smiled, hugging Esper around her shoulders causing the girl to squeak in surprise causing William to snort. Esper playfully glared at the boy who sheepishly grinned back.

It was an hour later when she got the surprise of her life, feeling two small children jump on her. Looking down at her lap, tears sprang to her eyes as she saw the beautiful eyes of Alexander and herself looking up at her. "George, Maria!" She exclaimed, hugging her youngest children close to her as they giggled, hugging her back. "You silly billies." William smiled, resting a hand on Esper's shoulder as he ruffled George's hair much to his chagrin.

"Will!" he whined, Esper laughing lightly as she felt another hand on her opposite shoulder to William's. looking up, she saw the smiling face of Pippy.

"Pippy?" Philip II merely nodded, kissing his mother's hair as Maria hugged him around his waist. Pippy picked her up, holding her on his waist as William did the same with George.

"Hello, Mother," Pippy greeted, dipping his head slightly before giving her a one-armed hug. Esper hugged him tightly as another pair of arms wrapped around her middle. Looking, she saw her second youngest daughter, Eliza Hamilton Holly, hugging her with a grin.

"Hello, Ma!" she grinned as more tears tarted to trickle down her cheeks, caressing her daughter's cheek.

"Hi, sweetheart," she whispered, kissing the top of her head, and lingering for a moment before pulling away and noticing a smirking AJ leaning in the doorway. "Alexander Hamilton Jr. My how you look so much like your father." AJ chuckled, waltzing into the room as Lin stopped by, waving at Esper who smiled back at him.

"Oh! That reminds me, Esper. James, the Eddowes kid, he's looking for you. He wants to do a leap competition, whatever that means." Esper smirked, nodding. "Is this dance related?"

"Yep. And I'm gonna beat him, like I did with the pirouettes." Esper smiled, ruffling Eliza's hair before heading down to the stage and seeing James stretching. "You ready to lose again, Eddowes?"

"I won't lose this time, Mrs. Hamilton," James retorted, Esper laughing as she stretched before Thayne also joined them. The kids sat in the audience, excitedly waiting for them to begin. "We're gonna try to leap over the turntable." Nodding, Thayne and Esper got ready, as did James.

"3, 2, 1... go!" Pippy counted. Immediately, Esper leaped into the air, clearing the turntable easily, as did Thayne and James.

"Nice," Thayne commented before suggesting they do turn sequences again to which they both agreed. Esper won that one as well.

"Yeah! Go Mother!" four voices cheered, the trio turning to the left wing to see Lillianna Rachel Hamilton, Angelica Hamilton, James Alexander Hamilton, and John Church Hamilton all stood on the opposite side of the stage with grins on their faces. Noticing their mother could see them, they rushed forward and tackled her in a hug. Soon the others joined in, having a massive group hug. All that was missing was their father, Alexander Hamilton, and their eldest brother, Philip 'Pip' Hamilton.