The next morning, Alex found himself in one of the most awkward moments he had ever faced. Sure, he had been through some rough stuff, most more recently than he would have liked. But that stuff was only hard on him personally and he didn't have to talk about it with anyone if he really didn't want to. This, however, he had to explain to his foster parents the moment he walked out of his bedroom.
Alex groaned as he rolled over and saw Eliza's sleeping, peaceful face on his bedroom floor. It wasn't all a dream, like he had been wishing. He just thanked whoever was out there watching out for him that she wasn't in his bed instead. Explaining that to John would be even harder. This was managable, though slightly uncomfortable. After all, he didn't ask her to come over, and what kind of dick would kick a crying girl out that late at night? Plus, Eliza wasn't just some random girl, she was… Eliza.
Silently, Alex slipped out of bed as to not wake the girl on his floor. He was able to carefully open and close his door and quickly make his way down the hallway where he found Lin sipping coffee at the counter and Vanessa feeding Sebastian at the kitchen table.
When they noticed him, Lin gave Alex a cheery, "Good morning," but was then taken aback by the stressed out look on the boy's face and asked, "What's wrong?"
"Um, well, this is sort of difficult to explain." Alex shut his eyes tight for a moment. He was a messed up kid. Messed up kids deserved to be punished. He kept screwing everything good in his life up. If he could only behave, then things would be okay. James always told him behave, but he never could, and now James was dead.
"Well, just do your best," Lin encouraged.
"I'm bisexual," Alex blurted out. He almost covered his mouth when he said it. He hadn't been planning on saying that to them, he had only planned on explaining the Eliza situation, but when he said the words they just felt right. Not only had he never come out officially to John or any of his close friends, he hadn't been extremely sure about his sexuality himself. But when he told Lin, he just knew, and it felt like a small weight had been lifted off of his shoulders.
Vanessa and Lin both looked up in some sort of shock. They both looked like they were about to say something, but Alex wouldn't let them start. "I'm dating John Laurens and I'm completely faithful to him. There's a girl- Eliza- sleeping on my bedroom floor right now. We didn't do anything, I swear. She came over at an incredibly late hour last night and ended up staying the night because her dad didn't want her to come back home. She was crying and I didn't know what to do. Please don't be mad; please. If you have to punish me, I understand. I can take it."
Alex's sentences were short and choppy, like he was trying to get a lot of information out at once but didn't quite know how to explain it. He looked to his feet, waiting for the screaming match that was most likely about to ensue or the blow to his stomach that he probably deserved.
Lin gave a quick look to Vanessa to be clear that they were on the same page. "Kiddo, we're not mad. How could we be mad when you did all you could to help a friend in need? Plus, it was brave of you to come out here and tell us all of that. If it makes you feel any better, we already knew about John," Lin explained.
"You did?" Alex asked, looking up. "But how…"
"George told us the morning he asked if we would foster you. He explained that was why he couldn't take you in himself," Vanessa interjected. "Besides, the way you look at him is unmistakable anyway." Alex immediately blushed.
"So what happened with Eliza?" Lin asked. Alex took a seat at the counter next to him, trying not to flashback to the night before. He didn't want to get too emotional in front of his foster parents and he didn't want to get too worked up over Eliza, but there was just something about her that kept drawing him in.
Slowly, Alex started to explain the events of Christmas night. After standing in the doorway with the girl wrapped around him, sobbing into his chest for a few moments, he was eventually able to get her to speak.
"I- I'm sorry," she stuttered between tears. "I- I didn't know where else to go." Alex didn't break their connection and kept his hands wrapped around hers.
"Eliza, what happened?" Alex asked, trying to get her to look him in the eye.
"It's stupid," she said, shaking her head.
"Obviously it's not stupid," he said with a gentle smile. Then, he took his thumb and wiped her tears just like he did the morning after he was taken from James's house. Except those tears were ones of joy, these tears seemed frightened and utterly sad. "Let's go to my room okay?"
Eliza nodded her head as Alex led her into his bedroom and took his place next to her on the bed. "You're here, you're safe, now please tell me what happened." She paused for a moment; taking in a shaky breath then gave him her left hand, where he noticed a beautiful silver band around her finger. "What is this?" He asked, placing a finger on the ring.
"It's a promise ring," she whispered. "Sam gave it to me for Christmas."
Confused, Alex asked, "What does that mean?"
"It means that someday we are going to get married. I am his and he is mine and there will be no other," she whispered once again, tears brimming the edges of her eyes while they were still locked on the ring. Neither of them could look away from its silvery shine.
"And that isn't what you want, is it?" Alex whispered, but it wasn't really a question. He already knew the answer. Eliza may have pretended to be happy with the teenager that beat her friends and treated her like property, but everyone knew she wasn't. Who would be?
Eliza shook her head and began to cry once again. She couldn't help herself. She could see her future all the way to the horizon and it looked incredibly bleak. Sam wanted her for her body and her submissive nature that she adopted when she was around him; not for who she was. She knew that she was supposed to be more than a boring housewife.
Alex let Eliza cry into him again for a moment, but then had to ask, "Does anyone know you're here?"
Eliza nodded. "My sisters," she answered. "They were going to try to talk to my Dad, but he had a few drinks and, well, there's no talking to him when he's like that. They didn't want me to be in the house, so they sent me here."
"Do you want to stay the night?" Alex quickly asked. He didn't want that girl going anywhere, especially home. "I can set up a bed for you on the floor. I'm sure it'll be better than going home."
"Yes please," Eliza responded giving him a small smile.
Once again, he wiped her tears and said, "It's all going to get better soon. You helped me, now I'm going to help you, okay?"
"Okay," Eliza whispered.
For Alex, explaining the whole situation with Eliza was more than hard, it was near impossible. He and Eliza weren't dating, not by any means, but they were closer than most. At the end of his story, he let out a breath and hoped for the best.
"Alex, I'm sorry, I'm just trying to understand. Why is Eliza still dating this boy if she's so afraid of being with him? That's not what love is," Lin said carefully. He didn't want to offend the boy with his accusation, but the situation didn't make a whole lot of sense.
Alex frowned. "Truth be told, I don't really know. She and her sister's haven't officially told us anything about the nature of their relationship. I think it has something to do with their parents, but I'm not really sure."
"Alex, I want to make it very clear that it is not your obligation to fix this girl's problems just because she helped you. You should do whatever you can to help her, but I don't want you feeling guilty over something you can't change," Vanessa warned. "Some things we just have to figure out on our own or within our own families."
Suddenly, a small voice said from the hallway, "You're right."
"Eliza-" Alex started.
"No, Alex, this is something I have to fix on my own. Thank you Mr. and Mrs. Miranda for letting me stay the night. I really appreciate it, whether you knew about it or not," Eliza said with a smile on her face, but Alex knew right away that it wasn't real.
Before anyone could say a word, Eliza was out the door. Alex didn't even ask before following right behind her. In the hallway that led to their building's elevator, Alex called out, "Hold on, Eliza! Stop! Eliza!" Finally, she stopped, but Alex knew in the back of his mind that she was only stopping to wait for the elevator.
"Alex, I have to do this on my own. Please, just let me go," Eliza said, her voice cracking. He could tell she was trying not to cry again. He wanted her to stay here with him and not go home to a house that didn't love her as much as he did, but he knew he had to let her go, just like she said.
But, he couldn't stop himself when he asked, "Are you going to break up with him?"
Eliza looked at the ground and bit her lip. She knew her answer, but she wasn't looking forward to saying it to Alex. She didn't want to let him down, but she knew what she had to do. "I- I can't," she stuttered.
"Why not?" He snapped. "Eliza! This guy is no good for you! You can't keep that ring on your finger!"
"I have to," Eliza said more calmly this time. She didn't want to tell Alex everything. She didn't want to tell him what her father was doing to her. She tried to keep her composure and plaster a smile on her face like she always did, because that was what she was expected to do.
"Why?" Alex asked, completely bewildered. He knew there was more to the story than she was letting on.
"It's the right thing to do," she sighed.
Almost completely ignoring what she said, Alex said, "Eliza, what are you afraid of? Who are you afraid of?"
She looked up to him like the boy had eyes that shined like there were a thousand stars hidden in them. She wanted to tell him the truth so badly, but then he would probably think of her differently. The Schuylers had been hiding their secret at school for so long that Eliza couldn't imagine anyone, even Alex, knowing the truth. The truth meant she was going to make her Dad happy, no matter what the cost. It was the way it had to be. Eliza was the good one. She had always been the good one. She had been fighting for so long and now she was just… tired.
"I'm not afraid of anyone, Hamilton," she smiled. "I'm okay, I swear. Sam might be my forever, but that's nothing I can't handle." The boy she was once more worried about than anything now looked at her like she was going to break if he even touched her.
Alex pulled her into a hug and kissed her on the forehead. For a moment, they just stayed there together. Alex knew there was nothing he could do except make sure Eliza was happy. In his mind, he vowed to do just that.
Eliza, on the other hand, had only one thought in her head. She loved him.
