Running Out of Time

Chapter 22 - Bonding (Not Christmas)

"Eliza, you can't do that," Hamilton heard Laurens joke from the kitchen.

"I think it's a great idea," he could hear the smile in her voice, "it might be good."

"It might be terrible too," Laurens half joked as Hamilton walked back into the room.

He sat in the spot next to Laurens, "what might be terrible?" There was a brief look of confusion as both Laurens and Eliza began to speak at the same time. "Hold up," he made a gesture toward the chair where Peggy had placed herself, "what might be terrible?"

She seemed to think for a moment about how to word things. "Personally, I think mixing mayo, ketchup, and whisky is pretty terrible." Peggy couldn't help have a small smile as Hamilton rolled his eyes. She figured she should explain what was actually going on before on of the other two did. "Eliza thinks you need a father/son day."

"Eliza thinks what," Hamilton turned to face her. He had been somewhat avoiding Philip all this time. There was still some guilt that had never been properly dealt with.

"It could be good for you," Eliza leaned back on the couch.

--

"Are you thinking about it," Laurens rolled over to face Hamilton in the bed.

"A little," Hamilton shifted to face Laurens better. "I don't know what I think."

"Well, I get along with him great," Laurens half smiled.

"You've met him?" This was news to Hamilton. There were times where he wouldn't want to talk about Philip. So far, his son had not been a topic of conversation between the two. Hamilton was the first to know that Philip was around but he hadn't expected Laurens to be the one to seek him out. He almost wished he had been there. He could imagine that the two would make quite the pair, they had both been fond of stories about each other.

"He's great. Alexander, you should do it."

"I'll think about it."

--

Angelica leaned against the door way as she watched Jefferson hang up his coat, "on the bright side, Peggy says Hamilton's doing fine."

He turned to face her, "I never thought that hearing about Hamilton would be the good news."

"I don't think we're in a bad situation," she tried to explain. Jefferson was very much convinced that something close to the end of the world was coming, Angelica wasn't as sure.

"No, we're in an impossible situation," he made his way across the room to her.

"What if it's not?"

"Angelica."

"What if it's something else?"

He leaned against the other side of the doorway, "like what?"

"What if it means this is all over?"

"Angelica."

She cut him off before he could say anything else, "we're all getting tired of this thing. This could be good, it could be a way out for us. Think about it, it's the first time anything like this has ever happened."

"I know," he nodded.

"We have no idea what's going to happen."

"I know"

"Do you?"

Jefferson smiled, "I do. This could be good."