Theodosia was sure she was going crazy. She hadn't seen Philip in nearly a fortnight, and the worry was driving her out of her mind. He couldn't have gotten himself killed, surely…

She had been tempted to go over to his house and see him, whether his parents had something to say about it or not. She probably would have if her father hadn't been keeping her busy. Being the oldest, the most work had always been on her.

She tried to keep her thoughts off of him. It was difficult, though. Every time his face appeared in her mind, her throat would clog itself with concern.

Her hands were on autopilot as she cleaned the dishes, scrubbing every last crumb of food off of them. As her father appeared around the corner, she glanced at him. This wasn't good; he could read her so well.

"Are you okay?" Aaron asked, crossing his arms over his chest casually. "You've seemed… off, lately."

Theodosia only nodded, not looking at him. As she felt an arm wrap around her shoulders, she bit the inside of her lip nervously.

"You do know you can talk to me, right?" Her father's soft voice reached her ears, and she gave another brusque nod.

As he hugged her, she had to stop herself from choking. She wanted to tell him, talk to him, confess everything. But she didn't. She couldn't.

"How was work?" That was all she could think to do at the moment. Getting her father off topic proved to be an easy task.

"Same as always, I suppose. Jefferson has some new ideas to 'improve the economy.' He's a madman if you ask me."

Theodosia let him talk as she finished up the dishes. She had heard it all before, but anything that kept her from being the subject of discussion was fine with her.

She counted down the minutes of pointless small talk before her father had to leave for work. After he was out of the house, leaving her with only her siblings, she kept herself busy.

She couldn't take it anymore. The constant concern was eating at her from the inside out. Slipping on her coat, she stepped outside. She was pretty sure she knew where Richard lived… She didn't want to bother him, but she didn't have much of a choice if she wanted to focus on anything else anytime soon.

She walked through the streets, pulling her coat around her tightly. When she came across a familiar house, she hesitated for a second before softly knocking on the door. It wasn't long before the door opened, and she saw Richard standing on the other side of the doorway.

She had met Richard a couple of times, when she hung out with Philip, but it had never been just the two of them. It was a little bit awkward, to say the least.

"Do you know if Philip is all right? Did he get hurt?" Her voice nearly broke as she questioned the man, expecting the worst.

"He got shot, but he's okay now. I tried to visit him early this morning, but he was gone. His parents think he left for work early, so he must be fine," Richard explained, watching the expression on Theodosia's face relax.

"... They think?" She pondered that last part for moment, hoping that his parents thought correctly.

"They think. All they said was that he was gone when they woke up. But apparently he's done that before, so they're not too worried. He's old enough to take care of himself. I'm sure he's fine."

"But they don't know-"

"Theodosia, calm down. Philip will kill me if I let you worry yourself to death."

Too late.

"If you're so worried, go to his house. Ask his parents."

"You know I can't do that."

With a sigh, Richard thought for a second before offering, "I'll go with you. I'll pretend to be with you. We can make it seem like I am the one worried about him. Alexander won't recognize you, will he?"

Theodosia shook her head. "He shouldn't. We have never met face-to-face."

"Well, then, why not?"

Theodosia nodded, having to admit it was a pretty decent plan. She was thankful Philip had such helpful friends.

After a quick chat, a polite refusal to stay for dinner, and almost too many close calls for slip-ups, they were gone. Theodosia had relaxed slightly, but she was still worried in the back of her mind. She'd always been told she worried too much.

"Thank you, Richard." Theodosia said truthfully as she got ready to head back home. Really, she couldn't trust a fourteen year-old to be left in charge much longer and her father was expected to be home in an hour.

"Anytime, Theodosia." The man gave her a bit of a smile before shutting the door softly. She walked home slowly, reaching the door of her house twenty minutes later.

The place wasn't in ruins and nobody seemed to be dead, so she considered this sneaking out a success. Nobody needed to know where she'd been.

Aaron came home almost exactly at the expected time. He was happy his daughter seemed to be feeling better, but he didn't have much time to spend with his kids that night. He ended up staying just long enough for dinner before wishing them a good night and going back to work.

"I'm sorry, Theo." He whispered softly as he kissed her forehead. "I know you like me to be home. I would be if I could. This is only temporary, I promise."

"I know, dad." Theodosia hugged him, missing when her father wasn't the vice president. His schedule had been a lot more set-in-stone and predictable then. Now, she couldn't tell if he would be home at 4 PM or 4 AM until the morning of.

With Aaron gone, she could risk sneaking back out. She didn't want to, though. What would she do? Surely she couldn't go back to the Hamiltons' place and ask if Philip was home. That would be too suspicious.

She ended up just retiring to bed early. Her head was pounding from the stress she knew she couldn't handle well. She was out like a light. And she was a heavy enough sleeper to miss the unmistakable crash from downstairs.

A/N: Do you like fatherly Burr? I do. He gets so much crap from other fanfics. And I'm sorry for yet another cliffhanger. I don't know how else to end chapters.