Hello, hello, hello, and welcome to Chapter 4 of Lost in Time! May I begin by just giving a ginormous thanks to everyone who has followed, favorited, and reviewed. I love the sense of community here on ; everyone is so supportive! Anyways on with the story!
2019. The man said that he was from 2019. thought Hamilton as he threw the door open and rushed into the room. Elizabeth Schuyler and Levi Weeks sat on the couch, peacefully sipping tea.
"Eliza?" Alexander squeaked, his eyes wild with fear. "C-can I talk to you about something…" he glanced at, Levi a look of annoyance spread out across on the man's face, "…privately?"
Eliza nodded silently, set down her tea, and quickly rose from the couch, following her husband into their bedroom.
"What is it?" she asked tersely.
Alex frowned slightly at her. "Are you mad at me or something?"
"No," she responded, her temper beginning to flare, "I just had to sit next to that man for ten minutes trying to come up with excuses for why you weren't there."
The lawyer winced with guilt. He had never meant to put his wife in an awkward situation like that.
"Okay," he said, "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to do that to you, but we have more pressing matters to face at the moment. That man, he said his name was Lin, he-he claimed that he was from the year… the year 2019."
Eliza was at a loss for words. "2019?" she eventually managed to say. Alexander just nodded grimly. "Is he mentally ill?"
"I don't know. If it was under any other circumstances I would say so, but he fell from the sky while he was trapped inside of a great white monster, and he looks exactly like me."
Eliza closed her eyes and took a deep breath. This was definitely not turning out to be a very good day.
"Look why don't you go discuss the case with Mr. Weeks, and I'll go check on Lin. If what he says is somehow true, he's probably as confused as we are." She started towards the door but stopped in her tracks at the sound of a shrill high-pitched toddler's scream.
"Where's Phillip?" demanded the concerned father, fearing the worst.
"I-I put him in his crib for a nap about an hour ago," stumbled the flustered wife, "he's supposed to be asleep."
"Obviously he's not!"yelled Alexander, and the two dashed up the stairs to their son's bedroom.
Sure enough, Philip Hamilton was not asleep in his crib; but rather pounding at the bars aggressively, crying and wailing so hard that his face was bright red, and snot oozed out of his nose.
"Let's go get you some lunch, shall we?" asked the boy's mother as she pulled him out of the enclosed bed and brought him down the stairs.
Eliza looked at her husband who was following her closely. "Go talk with Levi. I'll feed Phillip." Alexander nodded and left the mother and son.
She set the baby down on a high-chair and turned around. Alright, what will we have for lunch today? Eliza thought to herself as she rummaged through the pantry. Phillip is being awfully quiet. "Phil, sweetie are you okay?" she asked, but never received an answer. "Philip?" she walked out into the kitchen, and her heart nearly stopped. Her child was nowhere to be seen, but the door to the family room, the room that housed the man, was propped wide open.
Meanwhile Lin lied feebly on the couch, and tears streamed down his tan face. He should be moving into his hotel in Puerto Rico right now, not stuck on some Founding Father's couch in 1783. He had to figure out how to get back, so he could hold Vanessa one more time, or see another one of Sebastian's adorkable smiles.
The composer was so engrossed in his own thoughts that he didn't notice when the door creaked open, and a freckle-faced toddler crawled in.
"Dadda!" the child screamed, his curly hair flopping into his face.
Lin jerked upwards in surprise, and studied the boy. He had a warm complexion, with hazel eyes, and a face full of freckles. Atop his head sat a mop of dark, curly hair. Phillip, thought Lin.
"Dadda!" the boy yelled again, this time throwing up his arms.
"Oh, um…nope, not…Dadda…" Lin replied awkwardly, not entirely sure what to do.
Phillip squinted and confusion flooded his face. "Not Dadda?" His loser lip began to quiver, and his eyes welled with tears.
Damn it! Of course he thinks I'm his father, the two of us look so frickin' alike!
The musician put on his best fake smile and opened his arms wide. "Come here you little tomato, Daddy wants to give you the biggest bear hug in the history of hugs!"
Phillip leapt towards the man, his face filled with glee, only to be met by a frenzy of tickles. He shrieked with delight attempting to pull away from the playful prankster, but had no success. Lin joined in with the laughter too, remembering how he used to play that game with Sebastian.
At that moment Eliza walked through the door, and giggled at the sight.
"Phillip!" she chimed "Come on, it's lunchtime!"
He smiled and jammed his thumb towards Lin. "Dadda!" he exclaimed.
The troubled wife just smiled and shook her head. "That's not Daddy," she said slowly through a sigh. She made a mental note to add explaining the whole situation to Phillip onto her growing list of responsibilities.
"Phillip, we need to go." She took the boy off of Lin's lap and marched him to the kitchen, steeling herself for the battle to come that entailed feeding lunch to her son.
Later that evening, Eliza snuck back into the living room. There he was, sitting on the couch with a maroon colored book open in his palm, his tired eyes feasting on and savoring every word.
"Macbeth?"
Lin suddenly snapped out of his trance. "Um sorry, what did you say?" he answered awkwardly, his face blushing shades of red.
"Oh Macbeth by William Shakespeare, you know, that book you were hungrily devouring a moment ago."
He set the book down quickly. "Ah, yes…"
She nodded, attempting to suppress a smile. "It's one of Angelica's favorites."
"An-Angelica?"
"My sister."
"She likes Shakespeare?"
Eliza snorted with laughter. "Oh yes!" she exclaimed with glee. "The way she used to rant about his plays, you'd thought that she was infatuated with the poor man!"
Lin smiled, looking forward to meeting Angelica.
"Anyways…" she gave the composer a look that was filled with curiosity and exasperation. "Tomato?" she finally managed.
The father frowned, but then recognition dawned his face as he remembered his encounter with Phillip. "That was something I used to call my son, Sebastian. I'd call him tomato, and he'd jump into my arms and then I'd tickle him." He winced at the run-on sentence.
"You're a father?"
"Yes! I have a wonderful wife, Vanessa, she's the most understanding person I know, and a son, Sebastian. He's five years old now, or he will be in 2019." Lin tried not to think too much about the time difference; it made his head spin.
There was another pause before Eliza finally continued. "You look tired. Why don't you go take a bath, have some dinner, and then go to bed. You can sleep in the guest room.
"Ms. Hamilton, you don't have to do that for me, I can just-"
Eliza shook her head. "No. You've been through more in a day than what most men can imagine in a lifetime. The least that we can do is give you a place to stay until everything is figured out. Now go. The washroom's upstairs."
Lin smiled weakly. He would figure out how to get back to his time, but in the meanwhile hanging with the Hamiltons would do.
Yeah, I know, definitely not the most exciting chapter, but Lin is in a completely different world, and I feel like he needs to bond with the people there. As always if you have any questions, requests, or suggestions, please review. I will reply to all member reviews as all reviews, even negative ones, help.