Dear, Hamilton

The Spy and The Greatest Fighting Frenchman

Lafayette arrives the next morning at The Pastures. He is all grins and smiles as he steps into the house and announces cheerfully to the crowded living room, "The French are gathering up their arms!"

We all leap up from our seats and cheer at the news from where we're gathered around the living room, and Washington even goes as far as to clap the twenty-year-old on the back. "Well done. Have they drawn up an official alliance?" he asks with his typical lip smile. 

Lafayette shakes his head as he replies, "Not yet, but they are sending some guns." 

He offers Washington a grin, his eyes sparkling with mischief. Angelica swooshes forward with a flutter of her long skirt and hugs Lafayette around the middle. 

"Well, I'm glad you're finally with us, Lafayette," she declares with a wide grin. 

Lafayette's twinkling eyes meet mine, and I give him a grin and a small wave of my hand. He walks over to me and, taking my hand and kissing it, asks, "How have you been, mademoiselle?" 

I dip my head and peer up at him demurely as I respond sweetly, "Wonderful. The British have been providing excellent entertainment lately."

His eyebrows shoot up at this, and he asks, "You've been having trouble with them down here, too?"

Peggy steps forward with a groan and says, "You won't believe it, Lafayette," before going into great detail on what conspired the night before. When she's done telling her tale, Lafayette lets out a bark of laughter and exclaims, "He threw an axe at your head? And you laughed?"

Peggy grins wolfishly as she nods. Lafayette simply shakes his head with a smile before turning to Hamilton, who's regarding all of us from a distance at the edge of the group. "My friend, how about you? You've been uncharacteristically quiet over there," Lafayette asks Hamilton with amusement. 

Hamilton smirks as he leans against the wall roughly ten feet away from me. "I've been doing all the dirty work for Washington with you gone." 

Laurens gapes at him before he protests heatedly, "Not true!" 

Lafayette merely chuckles in response and claps Laurens on the shoulder. My mother appears at the doorway right then, and she quickly shepherds us all towards the dining room-- but not before giving Lafayette a quick hug of her own. We all chat and eat at the table for the next hour, sharing news and gossip we've heard. 

After an hour of conversing, though, I excuse myself, stating I need some air. Nobody takes notice of me as I silently slip from the room and swing open the front door, the hinges squeaking a little as it opens. I bring my shawl closer around my body as a sudden cold gust of wind snakes through the air. The hair that had managed to escape my braid blows daintily around my face, and I push a few strands behind my ears as I walk into the front yard. 

I stop at the edge of the yard where it meets the woods and close my eyes against the warm-ish sun. I stand there and just listen to the chirping birds, the rustle of the grass and leaves as the wind blows, and the footsteps approaching me from behind- 

I startle and open my eyes before quickly whipping towards the person approaching me from behind. It's Lafayette. I smile at him as he stops before me with a small smile that looks a little sad. 

"You seem down," he comments. 

I huff a laugh and let out a sigh as I respond despondently, "That would be because I am."

He tilts his head to the side as he asks, "Why? You are surrounded by friends and family, and yet you are sad."

My mouth quirks down at this, and I look down at the ground. "They don't seem like friends to me," I confide, idly dragging a shoe through the grass.