Running Out of Time

Chapter 29 - Not The Best Idea (But I've Had Worse)

"Alexander, sit down," Maria looked up at him. He had been pacing for a while now, it was just a little annoying for her.

"I'm okay," he brushed her off.

Peggy leaned against the doorway, "sit down."

"I'm okay," he continued to pace as Peggy made her way over to him. He finally stopped pacing when she stood in his path. "I'll sit down," he took a spot on the couch.

"Listen, Alexander," Maria started but was cut off by Peggy.

"This is our last shot to live a normal life before the end of the world," Peggy waited to see his response.

Hamilton just stared at her for a moment. This made some sense to him. Maybe the dream where him and Jefferson were almost friendly wasn't a dream. That wasn't an idea he liked but if he had to take it he had to take it. "So what do we do?"

Peggy hadn't expected him to accept it as quickly as he did. He had been thinking about it all for sometime now. His dreams had to be more than just dreams. That was an awful thing for him to think but he couldn't explain it any other way. "I don't know. We don't even know if it's a bunch of weird dreams or if it's real." All of this was clearly freaking Peggy out a little, it wasn't what she signed up for.

No one was sure what they were going to do with the information they had. "Okay," Hamilton started. He wasn't sure where he was going but he figured now was the time to use the little understanding he had. "So, these dreams are basically anyone that had a connection with me when I was not exactly a person, right?"

They nodded in confirmation. Neither one of them knew where Hamilton was going with this but it seemed that he had some sort of idea. Even he wasn't sure if it was good or bad but it was an idea. Hamilton didn't think he wanted to say much else, he hadn't exactly considered this to be one of his options until now.

--

Hamilton very quietly slid the kitchen doors shut. The Schuyler sisters had never even used the doors, Eliza was worried someone would bump into them.

Jefferson raised an eyebrow but didn't move from his spot at the table, "what are you doing?"

"We have to talk." Hamilton was becoming more and more sure that this was not the best idea.

"We do?"

"This is going to sound a little strange but just hear me out."

Jefferson was almost concerned. This was already strange enough but he figured that it couldn't hurt to at least hear what he had to say.

"Peggy is worried about you," Hamilton started with a lie. Peggy had no idea what he was doing, she didn't even know that Hamilton knew about the kitchen doors.

"She is?"

"Yeah. She doesn't want to tell Angelica because she doesn't want to stress her out so, for some reason I was her next option," Hamilton shrugged.

"Why doesn't she tell me herself?" Jefferson was only somewhat suspicious at this point. Peggy had never shied away from saying anything to him before and no one would willingly put him and Hamilton alone in a room together.

Hamilton ignored his question, "she's worried that you're not sleeping enough and she wanted me to find out what your sleeping habits have been like and also find out if you've been having any strange sort of dreams." Hamilton had confidence that this would work. He didn't think that Jefferson would see through any of this, it was a solid plan.

Jefferson blinked a few times. Something was going on and he knew it. Hamilton was up to something but it was almost too bizarre for Jefferson to place his finger on. "What?"

"She thinks that you haven't really been at the top of your game lately, that's all. She thinks that sleep might have something to do with it," Hamilton gave a little shrug, "he sooner you tell me about your dreams the sooner I can leave."

"Well," Jefferson just wanted this to end, "it's all been normal so, you can tell her that I'm fine." Part of him really wanted to believe that Peggy had sent Hamilton to do this.

"Okay," Hamilton nodded and walked away. There was more to his plan than just straight up asking Jefferson but the rest of it involved the others and careful explanations.

Jefferson was left somewhat confused as Hamilton left. Clearly something was going on but he wasn't sure he wanted to get involved. He didn't think that his minor lie would play any factor, he just brushed it off. Still, it was a little bizarre that Hamilton would ask about his dreams just as the were beginning to get weird. Jefferson forced himself to believe that it was a coincidence in order to get it out of his head.

--

"Jefferson hates you, why did you think that would work," Maria knew that sometimes Hamilton wasn't as bright as he thought he was.

"I don't know, I thought I could catch him off guard," Hamilton tried to find an explanation.

"Alright," Lafayette interjected before anything got too far off topic, "so you want us to tell him everything? And you think he'll believe it."

"Yeah, pretty much."

"And that's it, that's your whole plan," Maria raised an eyebrow.

"Yeah," Hamilton nodded, "its how we find out if he knows anything we don't."

"I'm not sure we need to know anything else," Peggy spoke up. "We know that the end of the world happens and we all die, what else is there?"

"There could be a bright side, who knows," Hamilton tried to cheer her up a little. "I heard him before I knew he was a person so even that little bit of interaction could mean something."

"Yeah, but if that were the case then don't you think that," Peggy stopped in the middle of her sentence. "If Jefferson knows anything it won't be much, it would hardly be anything."

"How do you know that," Maria asked.

"Think about it, you didn't really do a whole lot with him and you had a pretty normal dream in comparison to the rest of us, and you," she turned to look at Lafayette, "you had more but it still wasn't a ton."

"You think that how much contact there was has something to do with how much we know?" Lafayette just wanted to make sure he was understanding her. It would make sense. Peggy had spent the most time with him and her dream had been worse than she let on.

"So we should ask Eliza too, she heard me at least that one time," Hamilton pointed out.

Maria shook her head, "she doesn't know anything."

They all nodded.

"Oh shit," Hamilton spoke quietly while looking at the floor, "Laurens..."

"We just have to wait and see if he knows anything," Peggy didn't like it but she knew that was the case. No one likes it.

--

Eliza leaned on the kitchen counter, "what's wrong with you?"

"It's nothing," Jefferson leaned back on his chair. "Do you ever think the world is about to end?"

"Sometimes I do," she nodded.

"Okay," he sighed a little, "I thought it was just me for a minute."

"Did you have a weird dream too?"

"Yeah."