Running Out of Time

Chapter 16 - Sit Back, Don't Relax

"Where is he," Hamilton asked for the twenty-fourth time. He had only been awake for about three hours and had already proven to be one-hundred percent himself.

"Hamilton, relax," Lafayette continued to insist as he gently laid the man back down.

--

Peggy had gone to find Eliza which was proving to be a much harder task than anyone anticipated. Eliza had to be something important to not be answering her phone. Peggy couldn't deny that it didn't feel great to leave both Hamilton and Laurens by themselves. She knew Hamilton had Lafayette along with Angelica and Jefferson but she couldn't help but worry about Laurens. Sure, he had Mulligan and she knew he was more than capable but the possibility of something happening was still there.

As she was making her to the doors in further search of Eliza, she finally found her.

"Eliza," Peggy finally caught up to her sister. "You have to come with me," she tugged on Eliza's arm.

"What is it," Eliza couldn't help but laugh. She loved when Peggy did little things like that.

"Hamilton woke up," Peggy explained.

--

"Okay," Eliza made her way into the room. She watched as Hamilton sat up once he noticed her, "just lay back down." She made her way to the open chair next to his bed.

"Eliza," Hamilton looked at her calmly before trying to sit up again, "we have to go see him. We have to find him."

"Alexander," Eliza gently pushed him back down, " you have to get some rest. I know you're excited-"

"We have to go," Hamilton rested his hand on tops of the one she left on his chest, "he's our son. He's probably scared."

"Philip?"

Eliza hadn't known about this. In fact, no one had known about it, this was the first time Hamilton had given any real information to them. They all knew that he had been trying to get coherent things across but he was a little too fast for his tired brain. His words just weren't working with him as well as he would have wanted.

Hamilton nodded in response, "he's here," he looked around, "somewhere."

"Okay," Eliza nodded slowly. She was trying her best not to seem to rattled by the idea of her son being here. "We'll go find him as long as you promise to rest."

She watched as Hamilton took a moment to really consider her suggestion. Finally, he nodded and everyone made their way into the hall to discuss what had just happened.

"Okay," Lafayette clapped his hands together to lead the conversation but was quickly overtaken by Eliza.

"Here's what we're doing: Peggy, you're going to stay with Alexander until Angelica comes back and you can fill her in on all of this and Lafayette, you're going to tell Laurens and Mulligan that he's awake and okay but don't tell Laurens about Philip."

"Why not," Lafayette raised an eyebrow.

"Well," Eliza thought for a moment about how to properly explain things, "Laurens never really got the chance to meet him so there's really no telling how he'll react. Also, we can't be sure that Hamilton's actually telling anything."

"What do you mean," Peggy titled her head.

"He just woke up from a coma, its possible that he could be blurring different lives together."

Peggy nodded, "you're right." She hadn't really considered that idea before. She figured she would have to try to sort that out with Hamilton herself. It could prove to work out well, she already had something in mind.

"What about you," Lafayette looked over at Eliza.

"I'm going to see if he's right," Eliza turned and made her way down the hall.

Peggy nodded as she watched Eliza disappear behind the corner. "Alright, so you can go do what she told you to and I'll do something else," she smiled at Lafayette and walked back into Hamilton's room.

--

"Hamilton, I want you to be serious right now," Peggy leaned against the table that was placed beside his bed. She knew they didn't have long, Jefferson would be back soon to check on him.

"Pegs, I'm all," Hamilton's words stoped and he pouted for a second before trying again, "I'm all... all..." Peggy watched him make a small circle movement with his hand. Clearly, he was stuck on the word.

"Always?"

"Serious."

She could tell by the look on his face that he was bothered by getting tripped up on words. She was aware that he knew it wouldn't last, it was because he just woke up. Peggy still understood why it would frustrate him. She had already learned that he would either get stuck on certain words or the idea he was trying to express. She would do her best to be there for him, it's what they had been trying to do for each other all along.

Peggy rummaged in her pocket for the bullet she had taken from Laurens. Her way of figuring this out was much faster than Eliza's. she twisted it around in her hand for a moment, there was no way to know if this was really a good idea or not but it had to be worth some kind of shot.

"Is this yours," she held it out to him.

He took a minute to inspect, "no." He shook his head. She could tell he was thinking again, "it's ... it's Philip's." She saw the quick smile on his face as he got the words out fade away as he realized what was happening.

"You don't want him to see you, you just want to know he's okay," Peggy knew she was right about this. Hamilton's nod confirmed it. She listened as he began to make "l" sounds but stopped him before he got too flustered. "Laurens too, I got it."

Hamilton smiled. He was glad she understood what he was trying to say. He wished that he could be better at this but he also knew that would come in time. He had a fairly decent understanding of how this would all go. Hamilton knew how he was, he would hate every minute of recovery.

--

Peggy had left to go get some snacks while Jefferson checked up on Hamilton. Neither of them liked it but it was required. Hamilton could at least think about the fact that it wasn't Burr. 

"I am oh," Hamilton did his best not to stutter as Jefferson adjusted the various things he was hooked up to, "okay."

"You can say that all you want," Jefferson looked at him, "but we both know you're lying a little bit."

"I would n-n-never. That is ridi-," Hamilton paused to try and remember how the rest of the words went.

"Ridiculous?"

"Yeah, what reason would I have for umm," he took another second but this time he remembered before he could be corrected, "for lying?"

"Listen kid," Jefferson finished up what he was doing, "I don't make the rules. You have to stay here, rest, and shut up for maybe five minutes."

"What if I-I don't want to," Hamilton tried to look somewhat intimidating to Jefferson but given both his position and size, it wasn't easy.

"You won't get any extra pudding cups," Jefferson turned to leave the room but stopped before he left, "I still don't like you."

"I don't like you either," Hamilton watched as the man disappeared down the hall.