Hamilton One Shots

Mistreated

Requested by: iamabbyleigh
OC: Thea Reynolds

No one ever said marriage could be defined as a nightmare. The happiness of it cloaked over the fact that there was terror in that pledge on a wedding day. But that was because not everyone ended up with a complete asshole.

Thea recalled seeing her sister fall in love. She remembered the head over heels look in her eyes, and the blush that grew on her cheeks when he came around. The moment he'd asked for her hand, she had exclaimed yes.

Only years later would she be finding herself shouting the opposite word, begging for peace.

Several years passed by, with a joyful marriage, and even a child coming from it. Thea had been thrilled to be an aunt. She was even more pleased when she had time to spend with her sister and her husband. Their marriage was what she wanted for her own.

Until the turning point. Thea didn't know when he snapped, when he turned into a devious man, but it came all too quick. Her sister held in the shock for months, only breaking when her sister recognized a mark on her shoulder.

"It's nothing," Maria insisted, flinching at the younger girl's touch. Her eyes clouded over and she shuddered. The air around the two of them suddenly grew frigid and dry.

"You can tell me anything," Thea had answered, nervous energy building up in her heart. Something was really wrong.

"I don't want it to happen to you. If I tell you, it will-" Maria burst into tears, causing her sister to shrink back for a split second. This wasn't the bright, newly wed woman she'd seen before. In fact, it was a whole new character.

Frightened and scared. Of what?

"Tell me," she pleaded, placing a hand on her sister's shoulder. Thea bit her nails on the other hand, knowing it was a terrible habit, but couldn't resist the urge of doing so.

"James, h-he's been touching and abusing me, and I've been trying to sta-" Maria could barely finish the sentence. Her eyes filled up with more tears and she let out a shrill cry. Hands trembling even at the slightest touch on that visible mark, she flinched and sobbed more.

Thea could feel the sudden emptiness in her heart, a place where her father in law once stayed. She had trusted him. Out of all the men her sister got involved with, he had been the one to impress her the most, and seem to be the right fit.

But it was clear that he had been too much of the right fit for her darling sister's comfort.

Fury boiling in her veins, the fourteen year old rose from the couch beside her sister. She could sense the heat in her cheeks turning the paleness of her skin into a deep red, as she began to formulate some sort of response.

"Who does he think he is?! How dare he go against your wishes, how dare he use your body for his own, how da-"

It was at that moment the sound of the scuffing of shoes against the wooden floors came in contact with her ears, and Thea only was able to let out a breathless gasp, when a voice from behind said, "You should think better next time with what you say, dear."

The voice sounded like fingernails on wood, creating splinters and desperation as it passed by. A voice that had long ago been a heavenly one, with a gravely, but gentle sound. Now it only sounded like the arrival of terror.

Moments pass of dead air clinging to her, only before she felt two hands grasp her waist. With a helpless look back at her sister, Thea knew she couldn't fight back. She had no time to scream for help, for mercy, only time to feel the intense pain that began to spread across her unmarked body.

"Please, let go of me," she pleaded through gritted teeth, seeing her sister watch from the corner of her eye. Thea barely caught a glance of her face, when those rough hands guided her jaw towards the face of the one person she thought she knew so well.

James.

Holding her firmly in his arms, he breathed into her ear, "I won't let go of you until you learn how to behave properly." He paused and then looked at Maria. "Don't think you're getting out of this, yours will only be worse."

And then the world faded black around her, as Thea heard the loud cry of her sister shouting her name, and the warmth of hands taking her under control.

Months went by, almost a year, of abuse and mistreatment towards the sisters. If either made one wrong move, they both faced a sinister punishment. Thea tried to imagine what life had been like without this horrible torture to her body, and when it had been carefree and gentle.

Visibly getting angered by her husband's treatment, Maria often became vocal of how she felt of his treatment and pathetic fathering towards their daughter. She refused his affections when they were present and suddenly became very withdrawn from him.

Thea grew suspicious of her sister. She stayed out longer in the evenings and didn't seem quite like herself. In fact, she seemed to be more like the younger Maria, the one that had fallen in love with her future husband.

It didn't make sense, until one particular evening. James had left for some peculiar reason, and wouldn't be home until early the next evening, which put Thea in charge of taking care of the baby.

As she cooed to her niece, swaying her back and forth, the sudden sound of muffled footsteps and whispers came from the front hallway. Thea hushed the child, before going to see what the fuss was about. Her heart shattered at the sight.

Maria, she thought helplessly, watching as her sister melted into the touch of another man. He had already unbuttoned part of her dress, still leaving the both of them gasping against each other's lips. Thea felt shock hit her, and worry, as she hurried to check on the baby.

As she had suspected, James found out. He forced the money out of this man's pocket, telling Maria his plans of how her life would become even more miserable than it was. She begged him to stop, but he only replied on how he wished for her to keep going.

"I don't know what to do," Maria whispered to her baby one late afternoon, cradling the child in her arms. Thea overheard the one sided conversation through the door and paused to listen carefully.

"Whatever happens, mama will be right here with you, darling. I won't let him lay a hand on you, or destroy your life, like he's done with mine. Mama's not going to let that happen. No matter what he does to take this away from me, he ain't touching you at all."

Thea could almost feel her heart sink. The conversation was followed by cooing and then sudden sobs. She pressed her hand against the doorway, almost wanting to say something, but finally deciding not to.

Their lives had already been torn apart enough by a man who had plotted and tricked them all along. Thea knew his lies weren't done yet, nor was this affair, but all she truly could convince herself of deep down was that he wasn't going to ruin them any longer.

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A/N: Thank you iamabbyleigh for requesting this! I very much enjoyed writing more Maria's character and adding in a sister character to the picture. Thank you for being patient for this to be written. Hope you liked it!