Sickness, Freckles, and Magenta (ON HIATUS AND SLOW UPDATES)

Chapter 4

When Philip woke, James was nuzzled into his chest and snoring softly. Thomas wasn't in bed, but there was a note on the pillow. The young man was careful not to disturb the sick Congressman and reached across to grab the note.

It explained that Thomas had left for work and it asked Philip to keep an eye on James, because his sicknesses always kicked in on the second day. Thomas continued, saying he left a pot of soup in the kitchen and that they should have a relaxing day.

Philip smiled at the end of the note where Thomas signed:

Affectionately, your dear Jefferson.

He placed the note back on the pillow and looked down at James, who was snuggled close. Philip smiled and kissed his forehead while running a hand through his hair.

James shifted and slowly woke up and shuffled as close as humanly possible to Philip.

"Mornin, darlin...", he said sleepily, Virginian accent thick and voice gravely. Philip thought if he wasn't sick, he would have asked him to take him right there. He thought James sounded so sexy like that.

"Hey Jemmy... So Thomas asked me to take care of you today, that you should have a relaxing day.", the younger man said, running his hand through the sick man's hair.

"Mkay.", James purred and Phillip smiled and gently scratched his scalp with his fingers. The young Hamilton got up, making sure his lover was comfortable on the bed and he left to get some of the soup from the kitchen. He heated it up for a few minutes on the stove before bringing it back to James.

Philip came back to James curled completely under the blankets. He chuckled and set the bowl on the bedside table and pulled back the covers. James whined at the loss and curled further into a ball and refused to uncurl. Philip ended up getting in the bed to physically uncurl James.

James did eventually uncurled, only to curl around Philip tightly. Philip couldn't decide whether to sigh or chuckle at James being clingy.

Meanwhile, Thomas was stuck in the worst job ever. John Adams was rambling on about something that absolutely enraged him. Even the Federalists were reluctant to support him nowadays.

He sighed and put his quill down and rubbed his eyes. All he wanted to do was go home to his lovers. Adams finished speaking and Thomas nodded. The President left, and Thomas hung his head in his hands. He absolutely did not understand how Adams could ignore the effects of the Alien and Sedition Acts. Thomas was also completely done with the Federalist-controlled Congress.

He took a break from work for a moment and took a few deep breaths before composing himself and returning to his desk, thinking of his lovers and smiling.

Back at Monticello, Philip pried himself from James's grip and sat the sick man up. He coaxed his lover to drink some of the hot soup. Madison drank about half the soup before having a coughing fit and curling back around Philip. The young man smiled and put the soup back on the table before cuddling back up with Madison and covering them in the covers again.

When Thomas got home, the entire house could tell he was in a bad mood. Philip jumped when he heard the door slam and James stirred from his light napping, the result of an overwhelming coughing and sneezing fit.

Philip laid James back down and kissed his forehead, before going to see what Thomas was about. The frustrated Vice President was taking his shoes off, albeit, rather violently, when he saw Philip walk slowly and shyly into the room and stop a distance away, so as not to upset him further. Thomas recognized his behavior and stood up.

"Darling, I'm not going to take out my anger on you.", he said gently, reassuring Philip it was ok to approach him. Philip warily approached him, and as soon as he was 5 feet from Thomas, he ran into his arms.

Thomas cradled Philip and kissed him gently, but with emotion, a stray tear running down his face. Philip pulled back to see Thomas's wet eyes. He led him to the couch and made his lover sit down while standing in front of him.

"Oh, sweetheart...", Philip murmured, wiping Jefferson's eyes as Jefferson had once wiped his. Thomas smiled at the affection, which made more tears well up.

"What did I do to deserve you? To deserve James?", Thomas sighed, placing his hand on top of Philip's, where it stroked his cheek gently. The young man's heart broke a little, at Thomas's vulnerable state, at Thomas's doubt of his and James's affections. He straddled Thomas's lap and rested their foreheads together.

"Sweetheart, you did everything. I know I speak for Jemmy too, when I say that you are amazingly talented and stunningly handsome, and that there's no one we'd rather be with. Speaking from me personally, I should be asking what I did to deserve your affections. I'm the son of your political enemy.", Philip said, stroking some curls out of Thomas's face and smiling.

New tears had appeared in Thomas's eyes during Philip's monologue. He pulled the young boy close and nuzzled into his shoulder. Philip smiled and ran his hand through the emotional Vice President's hair. Thomas cried for a while, letting out his pent-up emotions, and Philip murmured sweet nothings in his ear and comforted his lover in anyway possible.

Thomas calmed down slowly and clung to Philip, who smiled as he felt him relax and pressed a kiss to his stressed out lover's forehead.

"You ok now?", Philip murmured. Thomas took a deep breath and nodded.

"Where's Jemmy?", he asked, letting Philip pull back and stand up.

"In bed. He drank half a bowl of soup, by the way.", Philip said. The Virginian nodded and intertwined their hands before walking down the hallway.

"Hey, Jemmy...", Thomas said, kissing his forehead and climbing over James to lay on his right side. Philip watched the two Virginians intertwine their hands and snuggle together, softly speaking to each other, and smiled. Both of them deserved to be in each other's arms right now. Thomas needed to be near James now. He climbed in next to them, wrapping his arms around James and nuzzled into the back of his neck and fell asleep.