Hamilton Continued [DISCONTINUED]

Chapter 8

   Philip went through the door of his house only to be greeted by Angelica. She looked at him and put on her usual condescending smile. He was used to this, so it didn't really bother him.

    "Hello, Dr. Hamilton PhD." she said with a playful tone in her voice. Philip put on an annoyed scowl, though he knew she was only joking.

   "Yeah, don't call me that." He went into the kitchen, pouring himself a cup of coffee and then sitting on the couch in the living room. "So, what happened while I was gone? Anything interesting?"

   "Oh, yeah. Dad lived longer than two years."

   "Tell me something I don't know."

   "Alright, well... I finally learned how to not burn dinner every time I make it." Philip made a look of mock surprise, though he said nothing and let his sister finish. "Aunt Angelica is here in D.C. for a couple months. She's coming over next weekend."

   "Anything else?" he asked, generally intrigued at the news he was getting. He took a sip of his coffee as he got a bit more relaxed.

   "Well, Dad also won the presidential election last week." Philip spit out the coffee he previously had in his mouth, sitting up in surprise.

   "Wait, WHAT!?" His eyes widened from shock. Angelica grabbed a towel to clean up the coffee her older brother spat out onto the wooden floor. "Why did no one tell me sooner!?"

   "Well, we sort of assumed you actually read the newspaper, but apparently not."

   "We don't get access to that in college. I told you that. You couldn't have just, oh I don't know, written me about it!?"

   "Jeez, calm down, bro. You haven't changed a bit, haven't you?"

   Alex Jr. came into the room, most likely hearing his brother's screams. John and Eliza Jr. came down as well, having wide grins on their faces. Alex, on the other hand, had just a sideways smile that nearly reached the rim of his round glasses.

   "Looks like the tiny versions of our parents are here to say 'Hi'." Angelica teased. Though Alex and Eliza did look like younger versions of their parents if their hair colors swapped. Alex had his mother's hair pigment, while Eliza had her father's. That was one of the only things that separated the two from their parents.

   "Please don't call us that, sister." Alex said, forever and always done with Angelica's childish nature. Eliza and John ran over to their oldest brother, hugging him so tight he could almost feel his rib cage cracking. Their mother came in from upstairs holding the now five-year old Philip Jr. in her arms as he squirmed around to free himself from her grasp.

   "Hello, Philip! How was college?" she asked, setting the small child down as he ran to his namesake, joining the hug-Philip-to-death brigade. Philip tried to hide the fact that he felt his ribs would break into pieces with a smile towards his mother.

   "It was fine, Mother. I graduated, expectedly. And apparently no one told me that Father had become president recently." He glared at Angelica with narrowed eyes.

   "Oh, I'm sorry, sweetheart. We thought you would get the news from your university. Did Angelica tell you?"

   "Yes. And, well, let's just say it was not subtle in the slightest." he said, continuing to glare at his sister. Angelica just chuckled as she noticed the hug-Philip-to-death brigade squeeze his chest even tighter, causing a slight wheeze to be forced out of him. His mother also seemed to find this amusing, for she let out a small giggle at her eldest son's expense.

   "Mom, not you, too." he whined, his voice hoarse from the pain of three small yet extremely strong children nearly breaking his ribs in half.

   "Alright you guys, that's enough. Let go of him before you break something." The brigade split apart, letting their eldest brother actually breath. They faced him with a look of we will be back before they ran back upstairs.

   "They must have been pretty excited to see you." the eldest Eliza said to her son as he tried to catch his breath after it being choked, or rather, hugged out of him. He just nodded in agreement.

   "Oh, and that James Madison guy is Vice President now. Just thought I'd let you know." Angelica said, no warning whatsoever. Philip then fainted from either surprise or lack of air.

   "What, too soon?"