Good evening. You've seen it. Jefferson and Alice. If you haven't fallen in love already, just you wait. Now the whole time-travel thing I like to stay away from, for the most part, so that'll be swift and painless, I promise. It's what comes next that makes this chapter important to me. Tell me what you think about the peculiar pair that is the third president and a three year old.
Next, I've been working on something new, a different story, involving Lafayette, and I'm wondering if anyone would be interested in that story. Considering publishing it.
Anyway, I'll let you get to the story. Enjoy!
~The Cursed One
I woke up in a hospital bed.
A modern hospital.
I sat upright, startled, and a nurse had to tell me to calm down. She started talking slowly, asking me my name and how I'd been injured.
"C-Constance." I stammered, disoriented, "I-I need… I... " I was having a panic attack, I realized as I hyperventilated.
"I'll take it from here." The Doctor said, waiting until the nurse left to put a hand on my good shoulder, waiting until I caught my breath.
I slapped him.
"Good to see you too."
"You left me stranded." I spat, "And you…" I was dizzy, he made me lie back down.
"You're still ill."
"Take me back." I whispered.
"What?" He asked, "I thought you were angry about being in that era." I angrily stuck my hand up at him, showing him the ring, the beautifully inscribed ring that Alex had gotten me with what little money he had. That ring.
"I'm married, I have a child." I informed him furiously, "Take me back!"
"Oh, dear."
"I love my family, I love my life, I need to go back…"
"What about you family here?"
"They already think I'm dead, thanks to you. And…" I gave a small gasp, "Oh, my family's dead." Right here, right now, they were all... My baby Alice, my precious Alex, my friends, Jefferson... I started crying. "Take me back, doctor, take me back."
"I can't, for the same reason I was unable to come sooner. Those years are too… important. The TARDIS has difficulty approaching them, when I read that you died, I just…"
"I'd rather die!" I cried, "Take me back! Right now! You get that stupid machine of yours working and take me back! They're waiting for me. My husband's all alone with my daughter and I can't… I can't leave them. This is worse than dying!"
"If you would let me help you…"
"You have! Now take me back!" He paused, clearly indecisive.
"We have a window." he admitted at last, "But it closes tonight, and you're not completely better."
"I don't care."
"You might die."
"I don't care."
"You've already made history."
"It's not about making history, Doctor." It was never about that, not from the moment I signed up for the war. "Frankly, I know them a lot better than I know you. So get me home." With a small groan, he sneaked me out of the hospital, to his box.
"This is extremely dangerous." He told me, "You may die. Now, if you want to get better, even in those conditions, take that green medicine on the dashboard. It won't taste good, and the side effects…" I swallowed them without hesitation. "Okay, then. Your chances went from one percent to ten. Congratulations. Now hold on."
The TARDIS shuddered in protest as the Doctor tried to get me close.
"I can't get any closer!" I ran to the door and opened it to see a Virginian shore, the same one I'd come back to France to.
"A little closer!" I yelled and ship shuddered, dipping a little, but bouncing away from the land. The ocean was only a couple of feet below me…
I felt faint.
Good thing I planned on jumping because my body fell forward.
The freezing cold water definitely woke me up. I swam to shore, shivering, knowing this could not be good for my condition. I approached a carriage.
"C-Can you take me to Monticello?" I requested.
"You're wet." The man complained, "And isn't that the president's home?"
"Um…"
"You have any money?" Not on me. "Get lost!"
But I was cold, wet, and in desperate need of help. I began walking the way, managing to convince a kind woman in a carriage to give me a ride closer to my destination.
I arrived at Monticello, coughing and still dripping wet. The guards didn't want to let me in but I told them to tell Thomas it was Constance.
I was allowed in.
Jefferson opened the door himself, eyebrows shooting up when he saw me.
"Help me." I said hoarsely, then everything went dark.
"At least you know how to make an entrance." I winced at my headache and opened my eyes. Jefferson stood at the door of the room where I lay, looking at me with a hint of resignation.
"I…" A coughing fit kept me from talking.
"Do I want to know why you were soaked?" He asked, "And clearly, you're sick." He was silent a couple of beats, "I heard rumors that Burr shot you."
"I got in the way." I told him, sitting dizzily, "There was a… duel."
"You realize you're not supposed to do that."
"My husband's alive, so I don't care." He gave a big sigh at that.
"Ah, yes. Hamilton. Who, once again, seems to have misplaced you." He rubbed his temples, "I've already written a letter."
"Just put me on a carriage…" I stood, but nausea hit me and Jefferson gave me a gentle push back into bed as I breathed unsteadily.
"You're in no condition to be moving." He told me, "You'll stay in Monticello until you recover. I have no doubt Hamilton will try and storm the place, so I'll have some fun with it. I don't usually host people." I could already imagine the guards, under Jefferson's orders, refusing to let my husband in as the president watched his increasing frustration with increasing amusement.
"I know, I'm sorry…"
"Well as long as you don't die." He said with distaste, "I can live with it." He sighed again and gave a small laugh, "You realize I'm the president of the United States."
"…yes?"
"I'm busy." He told me, "So I'll be going, but…" He had to show his obvious reluctance before finishing this sentence, "You're welcome to stay, I suppose. Keep that child away from anything sharp."
"Oh, Alice wouldn't…"
"I wasn't talking about Alice." I laughed, then coughed again and the nurse came to me, looking over my wounds and giving me something to drink.
"Where is she?" Uh-oh. A crash and an oomph later, the door slammed open and Hamilton was embracing me tightly. Words couldn't describe how relieved I was to be in his arms, smell him, feel him, see his shining eyes. I felt so at home.
"Hey there." I offered weakly.
"He was supposed to cure you." He took my temperature, warm hand laying on my forehead as I smiled up at him.
"I'm better." I told him, "I'll be fine, I just have to finish getting better."
"You can't be moved." He said worriedly, "The cold air… your wounds…"
"Jefferson said I could stay as long as I needed."
"Okay, good, if nothing else, I know he hires good doctors…" If nothing else. I pursed my lips to stop a grin. Good to know my dear Hamilton hadn't changed.
"I want to kiss you." I whispered, stopping him when he tried, "But I'm not letting you get sick." He kissed my cheek instead, then sat beside the bed and began to talk, a mile a minute, just what I needed to hear, actually. My husband ranting. It was music to my ears.
Meanwhile…
The patter of Alice's footsteps could be heard as she explored the huge place, fascinated. She was lost, her dad had run way ahead of her when he heard about her mom being here.
...
Jefferson twisted his wrists, cracking his knuckles and stretching his fingers. Damn, he was busy…
When he looked up to stretch his neck, he blinked at what was in front of his desk.
Alice blinked back.
"Of course." He scoffed quietly, then raised his voice a little, "You lost, Alice?" She took a step back to get a better look of him and looked behind her, like she was expecting her mother. She looked back at Jefferson and gave a little wave.
"Hi, Thomas."
"Hey, Alice." He said dryly, "If you ask one of the… what are you doing?" She dashed around the desk and climbed onto his lap, standing and looking down at the letters he was writing. "Don't touch that, it's important…" But she suddenly pointed at one he'd put to the side.
"Story."
"That's nothing for…"
"Letters!" She said cheerfully, "Daddy doesn't let me write letters."
"That so?" He asked, resigned, half glad to have a break. He leaned back in his chair. "I think you're a too young to be writing letters."
"Nu-uh!" She reached forward to a blank piece of parchment and grabbed the big quill in her hand, "To daddy." Jefferson took advantage of the distraction to lean back his head and close his eyes, until it occurred to him that he didn't want the kid ruining his other letters with splotches. When he opened his eyes, he blinked, surprised.
"You can write?" The girl had written 'Dear Alexander," already and was reaching to dip the quill. "Careful." Of course their kid could write already. He helped her, giving her the words she didn't know and correcting her spelling and grammar when necessary. When she'd finished writing, she decorated the parchment with floral doodles, then Thomas folded it and gave her an envelope, which she addressed to her dad.
"I did it!"
"Yep." But she seemed ecstatic, bouncing and grinning from ear to ear, "Jeffson, I wrote a letter."
"You sure did." She started ranting unintelligibly, excited.
"Mommy! I…" Her smile faded, and she started to sniffle.
"Aw, no…"
"Is m-mommy going to…" Jefferson snapped into action she tears began rolling down her cheeks.
"Hey." He said, "There's no need to cry, she's right…" But it was too late. With a big sigh, he stood, carrying her with one arm, "Your mother is right down the hall." Alice gave a teary nod. "She's still sick, though, so you're gonna have to be strong for her. Can you do that, Alice?" She nodded quickly, wiping her face with her hands, then burying her face in his chest when some people approached him to ask him what was wrong and he waved them off.
When they stood at the door, he moved to let her down but she clung to him.
"I wanna go in with you."
"I'm busy." She sniffled and said nothing, so with a reluctant look at the kid and at the door, he pushed it open.
Inside, Alexander sat, holding Constance's hand tightly.
Alex was just whispering words of comfort when the door opened again, and I saw the last thing I expected.
Jefferson stood with a resigned expression, half holding my daughter as she clung to him tightly.
"You lost something?" Alice saw me and all but jumped off of Jefferson, climbing onto her father's lap, then onto my bed, hugging me tightly as she let some tears slip and furiously wiped them away. I hugged her back, and soon she'd fallen asleep in my arms.
Jefferson turned away wordlessly.
"Thomas." I'd rarely called him by his first name, so he turned with a raised eyebrow, "What would you say to being Alice's godfather?"
"Whaaaaaat?" Jefferson wasn't the only surprised one, Hamilton shot me a confused look.
"She adores you." I told him, "And if anything were to happen to Alex and me… we both had close calls recently, and I wouldn't want her to end up alone or with some stranger…" I turned to Alex, "Don't you agree?"
"Well…"
"Absolutely not." Jefferson said.
"Think about it." I urged. "You never know." He scoffed.
"Yeah. I'll see you later, Constance." With that, he left. I turned to Alex to better explain myself.
"When he came to the house during the elections," I explained, "He really hit it off with Alice. He found her brought her here… I can tell she's been crying, probably because she was lost, he must have comforted her…"
"We're not going to die." He told me. Somehow, Alex always saw right through me, and now I was the one holding back tears, squeezing his hand and hugging Alice closer.
"We don't know that." I whispered, "I'm still sick and you're so reckless…"
"You're one to talk."
"I know you hate him." I said, "I'm just saying, Alice doesn't." Speaking of, she stirred, yawning and sitting up. Hamilton put a hand on her back before she could tip off the bed.
"Mommy." She said, looking at me, "Are you okay?"
"Yes, sweetie." She took something she had in her dress pocket, holding it to me as she gave a suspicious look at he rather before whispering,
"I wrote a letter."
"You did?" I asked, surprised. She turned around and held out the envelope to Hamilton, who blinked, surprised.
"What's this? He asked.
"I wrote you a letter, daddy." She said, "Read it, read it." He took his hesitantly and delicately opened it, reading and smiling. I insisted I wanted to see and took it from him, reading while he turned back to Alice, bewildered.
"That was incredible!" She blushed, clearly pleased. She took her father's praise very highly. "When did you write that?"
"Right now." She told him, "With Jeffson." Hamilton and I shared a look. I was amused, he was resigned.
"Jefferson?"
"He helped me."
"Really?"
"He let me write at his desk." She said proudly. "Daddy, will you let me write at your desk?"
"Yes, sweetheart." The resignation was loud and clear in his voice now, but so was the pride as he held the letter our daughter had written for him like a valuable jewel, irreplaceable, which, I guessed, it was, wasn't it.
"You have a visitor." I sat up, yawning, turning to see Hamilton and Alice deeply asleep in the other bed in the room. A smile brushed my lips as I saw them curled up against each other. Then I remembered I was being talked to and turned back to the guard.
"Really?" I asked, wondering if maybe Laurens was in the area. "Um, sure. I'm up."
My blood ran cold when the man stepped inside quietly.
He blinked when our eyes met and I could immediately tell he hadn't planned on being seen.
"What… what are you doing here?" I whispered. For a couple of seconds, he said nothing, staring at my husband instead. His gaze shifted to the floor and he said nothing.
"Constance?" Hamilton stirred and opened his eyes, instantly straightening and holding Alice protectively. His voice came out ice cold, "Burr, why are you here?"
"I just wanted to make sure she survived."
"Conscience weighing on you?"
"Enough." I said gently, "I'll be fine, Burr."
"Alright." He turned to leave.
"Hey, Burr!"
"Yes?"
"Don't you ever come close to my wife again."
"You know," He sounded slightly annoyed, "Our duel did get interrupted." I saw Hamilton's eyes harden.
"I have a family to look after Burr. I suggest you do the same." He was a quiet a moment before leaving. I looked at Hamilton, my eyes full of tears, and he was instantly fumbling. "Are you in pain? Afraid? I won't let him hurt you… I can call the nurse if your shoulder his bothering you… or is it your leg?"
"You said no." I said in a shaky voice, "He wanted you to duel again and you…" I was crying now, "Alex, I love you so much." He blinked and gave a slight smile, leaving Alice and sitting beside me, wrapping an arm around me tightly.
"Of course I did." he said softly, "To him? I have nothing to prove."
"We shouldn't be angry." I whispered, "I know he's sorry."
"He should be!"
"I know."