Hamilton Road Trip

Again

(Peggy's POV)
"You guys..." I said concerned as I looked at my phone. It was 7 am in the morning, and everyone but the three of us had gone rock climbing an hour ago. Well, except for James and Thomas, they were in the cabin, James sick and Thomas taking care of him.
"Ya?" John said, looking up. We had put Squirt in with Bubbles. For now they had been avoiding each other.
"Umm the internet says that we have to get Squirt to a vet. The most we can do right now is clean his shell to make sure he doesn't get any infections. After that, we need a vet. An actual vet"
John's face paled. "But there's no vet here, and by the time we head back, Squirt might get an infection or something! I mean, today is Tuesday, and were heading back on Saturday. There's a long time in between" He said anxiously
"Maybe I can head back earlier?" I asked hesitantly. They all stared at me. "Ok I know this is spring break and everything but come on, this turtle needs help. I can take one of the cars and drive back by myself today".
John looked down at Squirt, and smiled. "I'll also go back, obviously." Alex immediately agreed to go too.
"Alright. I'm going to find Angelica and tell her, k?" I asked the others, who nodded.
I walked through the forest, trying to find the rock climbing spot Angelica said she would be going to.
"Angelica said it would be somewhere around the river... or was it the lake?" I muttered to myself, looking around the trees. At this point, I couldn't see the river OR the lake.
"Angelica?" I called out, with no answer. Not that I was expecting anyone to answer anyway. There wasn't anything nearby, just trees. Where was I? Maybe I had taken a wrong turn...
I reached into my pocket for my phone, before realizing I had left it back at the cabin. I rolled my eyes. Just my luck.
I could almost hear Angelica saying "Oh poor Peggy, always getting lost" In my head. It wasn't like I tried to get lost, I just somehow always did.
Nervously, I looked around. The forest around me didn't look too threatening, not like bears would pop out of it any moment. But still, I felt a chill run through me, and I decided to walk more closely to the trees, where I was less likely to be spotted.
Sighing, I sat down. I was only going to get myself more lost if I kept going. If I stayed here, someone would find me, like how we found Hercules and Lafayette before.
***
(Hercules's POV) (A/n: POV change for the purpose of this chapter. I won't do this too often)
I laughed at Lafayette as he stumbled around, muttering "never again never again never again"
Apparently Lafayette was scared of heights. Which he probably should have mentioned before they went rock climbing.
"You ok?" I asked him, trying very hard to not laugh.
"Now I'm on the ground, the nice safe sweet ground, I'm ok" Lafayette muttered in his sweet french accent.
I put my arm around him. "It's ok Lafayette" I said to him, "It's perfectly fine that you started screaming after rising five feet off the ground"
He glared at me as I tried, but failed, not to laugh. Again. I loved hanging out with Lafayette. At first, things had been weird for us after the hiking incident, but now it looked like it was back to normal. Just friends normal. Which was sad, but I could deal. It was better than us ignoring each other awkwardly at least.
"Just because you are ok with being thousands of feet above the ground with only a thin rope to support you, doesn't mean everybody else is" Lafayette said jokingly.
We walked back to the cabin, laughing and talking all the way.

"Wheres Peggy?" Lafayette asked as soon as we came inside. I sighed, ignoring the disappointment in my stomach.
"She isn't with you?" John asked, alarmed. He was standing over Squirt, trying to feed him a strawberry. Next to him, Alex was braiding John's hair. He quickly stopped and pretended to be reading a book as soon as Eliza came in. I snickered, and he glared at me.
"No... is she supposed to be?" Angelica asked, sighing.
"Ya, she went out to tell you we were going to go back today. She left about ten minutes ago"
"You guys are going back?" Eliza asked sadly. Alex nodded, probably trying to look sad as well, but failing. It certainly didn't help that his arm was still around John's waist.
"Peggy probably got lost again" Angelica sighed, rolling her eyes.
"I'll go find her!" Lafayette said quickly, walking toward the door.
"I'll come with you" I said, running after him. He paused, looking at me.
"Really?"
"Ya, I mean, she's my friend" I said quickly. Actually, I was hoping to spend more time with Lafayette.
"Ok, come on, let go" Lafayette said, and we exited the cabin.
As we walked, I tried to make conversation with Lafayette, but he was way to distracted with trying to find Peggy. Finally, I gave up, and just tried to be content with walking beside him. My stomach was a mix of sadness and anger, but I tried to ignore it. Just pretend it was a stone in a river. Make the emotions sink down and stay there, far away from the surface.
"Peggy? Peggy!" Lafayette called desperately. Trying to be helpful, I called out "Peggy! Peggy!" as well.
"Over here!" A voice came, and Lafayette perked up instantly.
'Peggy?!"
"OVER HEREEEE!" Peggy called back, and I saw her running toward Lafayette.
I stood there awkwardly as the two hugged.
"I was worried about you!" Lafayette said, beaming at her.
"I knew you'd find me" Peggy said, smiling shyly as she stared into his eyes.
I rolled my eyes, feeling jealousy bubbling up hotly in me.
"I was so, so worried though! Never ever scare me like that again. I love you Peggy" Lafayette said, and my stomach dropped.
He loved her. He loved HER.
"How could I be so stupid" I muttered to myself, watching them. For some reason, I had always though maybe, just maybe, Lafayette had always liked me back. And maybe he also dreamed about me. And maybe we were destined to be together. I was so STUPID.
I backed up, trying to get away from Lafayette and Peggy. Trying to get away from my dreams shattering right in front of me.
Before I knew it, I was running full speed, tears streaming down my face. He had said it. He had said he loved her. I was done.
I ran until my legs were on fire, my chest burning, my breaths coming out in gasps. After I could not run another step, I flopped down, leaning against a random tree.
I stayed there. I didn't want to move ever again. I just wanted to stay right there, against this random tree, in this random part of the forest, where no one could ever find me.

"Hercules! Hercules? Hercules!" I woke up with a start, looking around. Where was I? All of a sudden the memories came rushing back. Peggy. Lafayette. Running.
I groaned as I slid back against the tree, adjusting my beanie.
"Hercules!" I realized there was someone calling me. Probably Angelica. The whole group was probably worried. Well, not the whole group. Not Lafayette.
"Herc- there you are!" I looked up, and Lafayette was standing there. Just Lafayette. No Peggy. He was looking at me. My breath caught in my throat.
He ran at me and gave me a huge hug. I hugged him back, despite my anger. Lafayette was still my friend no matter what. Plus, he was here. Without Peggy. Just here. He had come searching. For me.
"Why did you run off?" Lafayette finally said, as we broke apart.
"I... I...." My mind was whirling to come up with an excuse, but I couldn't think up anything.
"Was it because of me and Peggy?" Lafayette asked softly, looking straight into my eyes. I looked away.
"Because if it was, I... your still my friend Hercules. Nothing should change that" He said, and I looked back at him. God, those eyes. Soft beautiful brown eyes.
"I want to be more than friends" I whispered.
I leaned into him. We were inches, centimeters away from each other...

And then his mouth was on mine, and I was grabbing at it with my lips. Oh god. I wanted to take more, and more, and more. I wanted to mash my face into his forever. I kissed him everywhere I could. Oh god.
We broke away from each other, both realizing what we had done.
I wanted to do it again so badly, but Lafayette was shaking.
"What am I going to tell Peggy?" He whispered. "How am I going to go back to her, after this?"
"I.... It didn't happen" I whispered, looking away. "It didn't happen. Nothing happened. Just like before" It broke my heart to say this, I couldn't face seeing the other's faces if Lafayette told them what he had done. What would they think of me? I had kissed Lafayette. He had a girlfriend. It was awful. And unlike before, however, we had actually done something this time. We had kissed. And it was... perfect. But we had to keep it a secret.
"This isn't going to happen again" Lafayette said shakily, refusing to look at me. "Not again. This was the last time. I REFUSE to let it happen again"
I nodded, and we stood up, standing away from each other.
"Let's head back" I finally said, breaking the awkward silence.
He nodded, and we started walking back to the cabin.
Unaware that, from behind one of the trees, Peggy was watching, her cheeks wet with tears.

A/n: thank so much for all the reads!!! Im aware that my chapters keep getting worse and worse, I'm trying to make them better! But for now, I hope you enjoyed this lafayette/peggy/hercules chapter. (Sorry this was kinda a repeat of chapter 6, I tried to make it as different as I could tho)
Also, thanks so much James_Madisxn for giving me the idea for this chapter!!!