"You should be ashamed of yourself."
This was not, of course the first thing Alexander wanted to hear when he walked into Angelica's office to pick up some paperwork. He turned his head to the right, abandoning the folders on top of the file cabinet.
"I'm sorry, what?" He inquired, looking Angelica in the eyes. Her brow furrowed harshly, and a scowl began to form on her normally soft face.
" You know exactly what I'm talking about, Alex. You're married, you shouldn't be doing what you're doing. It's disgraceful!" Angelica was standing, now, her hands placed fiercely on her desk. Alex glanced at her quickly paling knuckles, praying silently that they wouldn't be on his face in a painful manner. "What would your wife say if she found out!?"
"My wife?" Alex responded, confused.
" Yes, your wife! What would she say if she knew what you were doing with Burr!"
"Angelica…"
"Congratulations Alexander, I hope you're happy. You'd better break it off with him soon, or else someone might slip into Washington's office and tell him that a certain married employee of his has been doing… improper things."
"Angelica…"
" Grab the damn files and get out of my office."
"Angelica…"
"What the fuck did I just say?"
Alex ducked his head, slightly blushing, and took the files in hand, speed-walking out of Angelica's office. He kept his head down the entire time he traveled up the stairs and through the hallway to his office, pretending not to notice when the people in the break room said his name.
Slamming the yellow-tinted glass door to his office, he leaned against it, sighing. Aaron would be… Alex wasn't sure. Tapping a quick text out on his phone and sending it, he sat at his desk, trying to sort through the files. He soon heard Aaron's quick, light footsteps going up the stairs from his own office to Alexander's.
A quick series of four knocks on the glass of the door proved to Alex that it really was Aaron- nobody else in the law firm knocked four times.
Standing up quickly, he opened the door, only to be greeted with Aaron's mouth on his. Being thrown onto the ground by Aaron's sudden weight, although pleasant, was not exactly what he had expected, nor what he had asked Aaron to his office. Pushing him off, with some effort, Alex smiled softly and straightened his suit out.
They both stood up, laughing softly, and Aaron sat on Alex's desk as the shorter man closed the door, locking it.
" So what's this all about?" Aaron asked, holding up his phone. " Your text said that this was an urgent matter, but when there's an urgent matter with you, Eliza usually has to explain something to the police."
" It was just a tree!"
"That you set on fire! In a county park!"
" It was for an experiment! I needed to examine tree ash! IT WAS A LEGAL MATTER!"
" Alexander… not now. So, why did you need me in here, again?"
"Angelica thinks I'm cheating on my wife."
"What?"
"With you."
"What?"
"I tried to tell her, but she wouldn't even let me explain. Said she'd go to Washington if I kept seeing you." Aaron looked at Alexander, trying to tell if he was lying about Angelica.
" Alexander… do you mean to tell me that Angelica Schuyler, the sweetest, most selfless person in the office believes us to be having an affair?"
"I mean… yeah."
"Alexander, we have to tell her the truth. What would George do if Angelica told him? We're some of the most famous lawyers in the country! You would get fired, and your political career would be over! You'd be ruined!"
"Relax Aaron, I'll do something about it. Just… don't say anything about this to anyone yet, okay?"
Aaron gave Alex a soft smile, kissed him on the cheek, and walked out of the office. Alex really did have a plan, and it would have been a great one, phenomenal, even, had Miss Maria Reynolds not stepped into his life.
It was a day that felt too cold to be spring, and Alexander was in a small coffee shop not too far down the road from the local park. It was not his first interview, and was moderately prepared for it.
Maria waltzed into the shop, easily recognizable by her long, dark tresses of hair covering one of her eyes. She smiled at him and sat down at the table. The interview itself was not particularly remarkable on its own, and would have remained that way if Miss Reynolds hadn't asked about his love life.
" So, Mr. Hamilton, are you romantically involved with anyone at the moment?"
" Yes, I'm married."
" Ooh, must be a lucky girl. Now, since you're married what do you say in response to the allegations that you and Aaron Burr, your co-worker, are… how do you say… in the midst of a heated affair?"
"Excuse me?" Hamilton said, flustered and taken aback.
" You heard me. We have it on good authority that you and are together behind your spouse's back. Not to mention that he's married, too. I wonder what the press will think. The republicans won't even talk to you anymore, and no democrats would even think about hiring an adulterer."
"This interview is over."
" Fine, but I have all I need to make the headlines, all thanks to a certain lawyer who can't keep it in his pants." She stalked out of the shop, Hamilton's face still red, and her own still caught up in a cocky smirk.
Alex knew what he had to do.
"What did I tell you? Hm, Alex? Did I not tell you to break it off with Burr? Did I not tell you to stop cheating on your wife? Hm?" Angelica said, not even looking up from her work.
" Angelica, you idiot! Do you know why I didn't break it off with Burr when you said to, huh? You want to know why?! Because I DON'T HAVE A WIFE!"
"Alex, why would you have a wedding ring on if you didn't have a wife?"
"Because I'm gay Angelica! I am gay and I am married to Aaron Burr!"
Angelica dropped her pen that she had been grasping in her left hand. A look of shame washed over her face, and she covered her mouth with her hand.
"Alex… I… I'm so sorry. I shouldn't have… done that."
"You should be, Angelica. Now, if you're done trying to ruin other people's lives, I have a problem that needs fixing."
Alex stormed out of the office and into his own, signing on to his work account and creating a new document, which he would submit to the very same paper Maria worked for. He knew he would have to publish it the day after Maria's article came out, but it would be worth it.
He titled it, ' The Reynolds Pamphlet'.
' [...] The allegations against me are that of cheating on my wife, and while has indeed been correct and showing that I am married, she has overlooked one crucial detail. I am a homosexual. I have no wife, but a husband, who I have never in my life even considered cheating on.
One may call my romantic connections with Aaron Burr an affair, but these people must not know that I am, in fact, married to , and have been for approximately two and a half years. [...]'
Aaron had approved, of course, and had managed to shorten it into only a single page, as opposed to the original draft of twelve. Alex and Aaron had decided to take vacation days between the publishing day of the allegations, and the Reynolds Pamphlet, as well as the day after.
When they came back to the office, holding hands, they were ushered into the break room, where Angelica took a cake out of a box that said ' Sorry for accusing you of cheating on your wife with your husband'.
And life in the office went back to normal. Until Alex found some fireworks.