Alex was incredibly full of glee until the moment that he was about to knock on John's door. He was ready to burst through and tell him everything, but suddenly there was a crushing weight on his shoulders. What if John said no? What if it was all for nothing?

His smile fell a little bit as he knocked on the door and worry filled his mind. John looked surprise when he answered the door and saw Alex standing in its frame. "Alexander," he said.

"I know that I said I would call," Alex replied. "But I wanted to do this here."

John looked at his feet for a moment, expecting the worst. "Come in," he said quietly, stepping to the side to allow Alex to walk through. He watched Alex take his coat off and was sort of surprised to see him do so. He didn't think this was going to take very long.

"I talked to the kids," Alex breathed, trying to let out his nerves.

"Okay…" John said hesitantly.

"It was a long talk. There was a lot of unspoken feelings from the past that were brought up and it was really difficult," Alex said running his hand through his hair. "I want to be honest with you. I'm tired of being dishonest."

"That's good," John said, confused.

"So I'm going to tell you why they were mad," Alex began.

"Alex, you don't have to-" John cut in.

"No, I really do." He took a breath. "When I was married to Eliza, I had an affair with a woman named Maria Reynolds. It was released to the public because I couldn't pay to have it hidden anymore and it was all over the news for a week. My kids were there when my wife found out, because I didn't have a chance to tell her before the paparazzi did. My family went through hell because of the mistake I made."

John opened his mouth as if he was going to say something, but Alex cut him off again. "I don't want any secrets. I tried to keep you a secret from my kids and it made everything worse. They're only just forgiving me for the affair."

"A lot of things in my life are uncertain. My job with George Washington is gone as soon as he's out of office. My kids are growing up and I don't know how to raise them. I do know one thing for sure. I like you a lot. Maybe it's love, I don't know. My kids are okay with it. I want to do this with you."

John leaned against the counter and sighed. "That was a lot to take in."

"I know, and you can take all the time you want to process and all of that," Alex insisted. "When you get me, you get all of me and I just needed you to know that."

"I'm glad you told me, Alexander," John replied, looking at his shoes. A million thoughts swam through his head as he tried to put everything together. He remembered reading the Reynold's Articles. They were all over the news. He hadn't put two and two together.

Alex swallowed. "It wasn't easy, but I feel like there's something here."

John looked up at him. "I think we're doing this."

"We are?"

"If you're absolutely sure."

"I'm sure."

It had been such a long day that when Philip went to bed, he checked his phone for the first time since the morning. He had three missed texts from Theodosia. The first one said, 'good morning' with a little heart next to it. Philip smiled. The second one said 'Philip?' She sent it around twenty minutes after her first text. Then, the third one said 'I'm sorry, did I do something?' She sent that one two hours after and then hadn't sent one since.

"Fuck," Philip muttered to himself as he hurriedly texted her back. 'No!' He sent. 'I'm sorry, some stuff went on with my family and I couldn't be on my phone.'

Thirty minutes went by and she still hadn't texted him back. He couldn't be mad, of course, after not replying to her for seven hours. However, that didn't stop him from bursting through Angie's door to get her advice.

"What does this mean," He said, emphasizing the word 'this' and throwing his phone in her direction.

She picked the phone off her bed and read through the couple of messages. "Oh man you fucked up," she told him.

"How could I have fucked up? I couldn't be on my phone all day because I was comforting you!" Philip exclaimed, collapsing on Angie's bed.

"Yeah, that's fine! But what you sent her was such a line. If I read that, I would think the guy was lying to me just to cover something up. No wonder she hasn't responded."

Philip thought through her words. "Well, shit. What should I have done?"
"I don't know, called her maybe?" Angie suggested.

"Think I can still do that?" He groaned, putting his hands over his eyes and completely lying down on her bed.

"It's worth a shot," Angie shrugged. She picked up her own phone and rapidly sent out a text. She had been doing so when he walked in too.

"Who are you texting?" Philip asked.

"You're stalling," Angie quickly replied.

Philip narrowed his eyes. "Who are you texting?" He asked again.

"Lay. Off," she basically spit. Philip put up his hands as if to surrender and then picked up his phone to call Theodosia.

"I'm going to stay in here to call her, alright? So you can motion to me if I say something stupid?" Philip asked. Angie nodded, but inside she was surprised that her brother actually looked nervous. He was usually pretty smooth when it came to stuff like that.

The phone rang and rang for a seemingly endless period of time. He thought that she was going to let it go to voicemail, until on the very last ring Theodosia picked up.

"Hi," she said in a small voice. Thanks to caller ID, she knew exactly whom it was that was calling her.

"Hey, listen, I'm really sorry about earlier. The family thing wasn't just a line; it was a hundred percent true. My sister can even vouch for me-" Angie vigoriously shook her head. She did not want to get into the middle of that.

"No, no that's okay," Theodosia insisted. "I'm actually sort of glad it happened. I got to thinking about our relationship." Philip held his breath. "I don't know if this is a good idea, Philip."

"What are you tryin' to say?" Philip asked, biting his lip. Angie looked up from her phone.

"It has nothing to do with you not replying. Our parents hate each other. Do you really want to start that?"

"My dad would be okay with it if it was what we wanted," Philip stated, thinking of the other events of the day. "We don't have to tell them right away."

"My father…" Theodosia said, trailing off.

"Theo please don't give up," he begged. "I've waited for this for so long."

"I'm not giving up Philip," she said. She sounded like she was holding back tears.
"I'm coming over."

"Philip, wait-"

"What?"

"Sneak up the side. There's a tree." Then, she hung up the phone. Angie looked at Philip with wide eyes, waiting for an explanation.

"What's wrong?" She asked.

"She's worried about our parents." Angie gave him a sad smile. She wasn't really surprised. "Cover for me?"

"Always."

"Love you." Philip kissed her forehead and ran out the door.

"This feels… wrong," Angelica whispered as she lied in bed. "I'm always telling him to be truthful, yet here I lie with you, hiding the truth from him." She had left the Hamilton house about two hours ago, leaving Philip to watch the kids. She wouldn't have done that, but they didn't have much time.

"Darling, you know what life would be like if he knew," he breathed into her ear.

"I know, which is exactly why I haven't told him," she sighed, snuggling up against him. "I wish you didn't have to leave so soon. Everything has been so crazy lately."

"I wish I didn't have to leave either, Ang. The only time I'm at peace is when I'm with you," he replied, kissing the top of her head.

"So don't go."

"You know I have to. It's an election year. We're taking all the publicity we can get," he sighed.

She looked up at him. "Just, come home as soon as you can, alright?"

"I'll be on the first flight out."

"I love you, Thomas."

"I love you too, Ang."

Alex came home with his heart full of love and his head full of thoughts. Seeing no one in the kitchen, he went up the stairs to Angie's room and knocked on the door.

"Where's your aunt?" He asked.

She looked up from her phone and said, "She said she needed to run some errands and that you would be home soon."

Alex had asked Angelica to watch the kids, so he was a bit confused. But, he was sure that she had a good reason for leaving. "Is your brother in his room?"

"My younger brother is asleep. You're welcome," she laughed. "Philip, being the idiot that he is, had to run over to a classmate's house to borrow a text book to finish some homework."

"He's suspended tomorrow," Alex stated, confused at why he would need to rush over to someone's house for homework when he wasn't even going to school the next day.

"Oh uh, I think he had to turn it in electronically. Yeah, that sounds right," Angie stuttered.

"Okay," Alex replied. He still wasn't completely convinced but he would let it slide.

"How did it go with John?" Angie asked.

"Really well," Alex smiled. "I'd tell you the details but…"

"That's okay, I don't really want to know," Angie chuckled. "A bit too soon."

"Agreed."