Running Out of Time

Chapter 11 - Congratulations

"So," Laurens clasped his hands together, "what you're saying is that I might be on my deathbed."

"No," Peggy interjected, "technically there's still a chance that nothing will happen."

Hamilton was pacing circles around the table, he seemed to be the most nervous. "Peggy, he's freaking out. This was a bad idea. What if he has a heart attack from this? Oh god, he thinks he's going to die now. Peggy, we made a mistake."

Peggy gave Hamilton a small glare. He wasn't being as helpful as he thought he was with this particular situation. "Laurens, it'll be fine."

Laurens nodded. He had a lot to take in. Not only did Peggy just tell him that there was a possibility that he could die very, very soon, but she also told him that Hamilton was here. He didn't fully understand how Hamilton could be here but it was clear that Peggy had her fair share of things going on, he didn't want to question her too much. He knew better than to thinking she was just trying to scare him. Since they were always the first ones to die, they took rough estimates seriously.

"I know," Laurens leaned back in the chair and let out a small laugh, "I guess now we know why we couldn't find him?"

"He's doing that thing again, Peggy," Hamilton stopped pacing right behind her, "he's going to sit there and make really sad jokes to pretend he isn't sad." Hamilton knew most of the things Laurens' did. He could read Laurens almost better than Peggy could. In this situation neither of them knew exactly how to cheer him up, he had been hit some pretty big stuff, it would take time to sink in. They all knew that much, they didn't know how much time or how long they had. It was something they couldn't think too hard about just yet.

--

Peggy paced around the living room. It had also been her job to explain everything to Angelica and Eliza. Usually they didn't have conversations like this until after Laurens' was dead but things were different now. She could force herself to look at the fact that she had to explain finding Hamilton to them but she knew that wouldn't be an easy task.

Nothing was easy anymore, Peggy was realizing this. Nothing was easy and everything was different. She had spent days trying to wrap her head around why this was but she couldn't come up with any good answer. She was still accepting that there may never be an answer. It has been the craziest week of any life she lived, she almost couldn't believe that it was coming to an end. One way or another, things were about to change and she would never forget it. She was still hoping the change would be as simple as Hamilton waking up.

Peggy stopped dead in her tracks as the door opened. "Just be cool," Hamilton told her, "it can't go that bad." Usually she would trust him but she could tell he was only saying it to settle her. This was the more nerve racking thing that she had to do. She hadn't been worried about Laurens too much, she knew he could handle it. For once, she had no idea how her sisters would react especially to something like this.

Angelica stood in the doorway and tilted her head slightly, "okay, what's wrong?"

"What's wrong? Well," Peggy was trying to stall for words, "you see... there's this thing, right?"

"Peggy, just tell her," Hamilton sighed. He anticipated that she would need someone to be her hype man, he took the position despite him being a terribly hype man.

Peggy gave the smallest possible nod followed by a fairly deep breath, "Well, Angelica, for the last week or so I've had Hamilton's ghost following me around giving me the absolute time of my life. Except it's not his ghost because he isn't dead and, now, we know that for certain because we found his body. He's in the hospital but the problem is that he might be about to die because hospitals cost money and there's none of that. Now, you see, that's a problem because, if he turns out to only have a few days left, Laurens and I have die really quickly and, quite honestly, I don't want to die just yet, I'm pretty hot this time. Of course, there's also the chance that none of that will happen because we might get his ghost being to go back inside his body and he could wake up from his coma so no one dies and it'll all be good but we have a short timeline and no idea what we're doing. Either way, it's been a great time." She did a little bounce and smiled. Peggy didn't think she had ever talked so fast in her life but at least it was out there.

There was a short moment for her to breathe while Angelica processed everything that had just been said. "Okay, wait," she put a hand up, "so, let me get this straight. Hamilton basically has the power to determine whether you live for a while or not?"

Peggy hadn't exactly thought of it that way and Hamilton's protest showed that he hadn't either, "I can't do that. Tell her I can't do that."

"Not exactly," Peggy explained, "we already tried to get him back in his body but it didn't work. Trust me, he really wants to be there but it just isn't happening for some reason."

Angelica wasn't about to question how Peggy actually knew any of this. There were a few other things that she would have to go over before they got to that. "So, what? It's just some sort of waiting game?"

"I guess so," Peggy nodded. It was all they could really do, wait and see what would happen. In the morning they would have Mulligan try a few things but until then they just had to wait. None of them liked it but it had to go that way. Waiting wasn't easy. especially with Hamilton around. Waiting for anything bored him, most things did this.

"So, we have a ghost on our hands," Eliza appeared in the doorway. "Hm, have you tried exercising him?"

"He's very against it," Peggy explained, "he thinks it'll kill him."

"Hold up a minute," Angelica chimed back in, "I'm not buying the ghost part. You have me with everything else except that."

"What does she want me to do? Prove it," Hamilton put his hands on his hips and thought for a moment. "Oh my god, okay," he looked at Peggy, "do you know she's sleeping with Jefferson?"

"You're sleeping with Jefferson?" Peggy looked at Angelica and pretended to be more shocked than she actually was for dramatic effect. Peggy watched as Eliza's mouth dropped open, clearly no one knew about this.

Angelica crossed her arms, "that damn boy better wake up just so I can beat him."