Defining Factors

Chapter 18: James' Return

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Warnings: None

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"Thomas, come on. It's been over a week and you haven't said a word to me. At least look at me."

Thomas spun on his heel and faced him. "What do you want, Hamilton? To apologize? Again? My forgiveness? No. If we ever see James again, you ought to drop to your knees and beg his forgiveness."

"Thomas, you know I'm sorry. I'll gladly tell James too, but I'm not dropping to my knees and begging. He shouldn't have kept such a secret from us."

"Oh yeah, because I'm sure him telling you when he wasn't your friend would've ended with you braiding each other's hair and baking cakes."

"Thomas, you're being ridiculous."

"You almost killed my friend."

"I said I'm sorry! What more do you want? I can't change the past! Okay? I would if I had that option, but I don't, so sorry is all I've got."

Thomas stared at him. "Alright, fine. I'll give you a chance. Find James and bring him home. Then we'll talk."

It was better than nothing, Hamilton will admit that much. "Okay," he said. Turn on the heel and march away, down the hallways, to his room, and a bag got tossed onto the bed. Find James. That should be easy. Just needed to track down a teleporter that had kept off their radar for years that's apparently buddy buddy with a time travel. Really narrows down the search, doesn't it?

Hamilton sigh, stuffing item into his back. This was impossible.

A soft knock on the open door announced the arrival of someone. Hamilton looked over his shoulder. "Ben, I didn't expect you."

"I know. I heard you're leaving?" Tallmadge asked.

There was no point in lying to someone that could magically tell if you were or not. "Yeah. I'm going looking for James. How'd you know?"

"I'm the head of intelligence. It's my job to know these things."

"Yeah, yeah, I know. I used to be on your team."

Tallmadge smiled. "Washington always did favor you in those days."

"In those days? Bitch, he still does," Hamilton smirked. "So, you going to stop me?"

"On the contrary, I want to help."

"What?"

"Isn't it your entire team's job to be hunting James? Why are you going off alone?"

"Because it's my fault he left and I have to remedy that."

Tallmadge nodded. "Understandable, but it wasn't just you, was it? It was Laurens and Angelica as well. Shouldn't they also be held accountable then too?"

"I'm better off alone."

"Okay, well, have fun with that." He turned to leave but paused. "Tell me how, exactly, you plan on tracking him?" Hamilton didn't have an answer for that. "Right. Sounds like you need someone that knows how to track people down."

"And you're just the man for the job," Hamilton guessed. "No. You're not coming."

"I didn't say anything about coming. Do you really think I can leave at a time like this? No, I was just going to send you reports and sighting that you could track down."

"...That would be useful."

"On the condition you take at least one other person."

"No."