Original Publishing Date: 12-14-19 (I'm v behind, send help lol)

Author Note: Day Eight of Hamliza month: Domestic Family Life

"PAPA! NO FIND SHOES!"

"MAMA! ALEX IS HOGGING THE HAIRDRYER AGAIN!"

"I GOT A STAIN ON MY SHIRT!"

"MY BLUE DRESS IS DIRTY; MAMA HELP!"

"PAPA!"

It was going to take a true miracle for either Alexander or his wife to be able to get ready themselves, it would seem. Under normal circumstances, neither of them would mind terribly, least of all Alexander, but today was family portraits and they were all already running late. He abandoned trying to iron his dress shirt and strode into the hallway, scooping up the closest child that was screeching for him and settling said three-year-old against his waist as he walked into the living room.

"Here they are," he announced while producing William's nicest shoes from just beneath the couch. "Now, can you put these on for me like a big boy? Papa isn't dressed yet, either."

"I do it!" William assured, his tiny hands gripping one of his equally tiny shoes and beginning to shove it over one foot.

"Remember to undo the straps, buddy," Alexander advised gently, plucking one of the Velcro covers up to prove his point. "See? That makes it a lot easier to get on."

"Bill'ant!" William exclaimed, glowing with youthful excitement as he looked up to his father.

Despite all of the chaos and stress wearing him down, the father of seven could not help but return a genuine smile and gently ruffle his youngest boy's rumbled hair. "Thank you, son, but you are the brilliant one."

"PAPA!" James marched into the living room, his arms crossed over his untidily buttoned shirt and face ablaze with anger. "Alexander Jr. is being a butt and won't let me use the hairdryer!"

"Alex, stop being selfish and share the hairdryer!" Alexander called down the hallway, earning the son in question poking his head out from nearby bathroom with a scowl.

"I just started using it, and besides, this is mine! He can use the smaller one if he can't wait!" Alex insisted, head disappearing and quickly being replaced by his hand holding a travel-sized hairdryer by its' tangled cording as the larger hair tool clicked back to life.

"Jaime, we don't have time for your two's endless quarreling right now," Alexander said firmly, softening slightly when his fourth child looked up to him with clear signals that he felt betrayed and hurt among his frustration. "Look, you can use Mama and I's for now, okay? Go on and stay out of her way, please."

"Thanks Papa!" The boy took off in the direction of the master bedroom immediately, and Alexander simply shook his head with an exasperated but fond sigh as he turned to catch his oldest daughter on her way back toward him room.

"Dear, can't you wear another dress? You know we don't have time to finish the laundry right now," he noted gently.

"But I told Alex to be sure and wash it multiple times!" Angelica exclaimed as the angry tears in her eyes slipped down her face. "He never listens!"

"Angie, darling, you are welcome to borrow one of my dresses if you'd like." Eliza appeared in their doorway now, nearly glowing in how perfect she looked despite how clearly unready she was. "Jaime and I are in the bathroom right now, so you'll need to go back to your room to change-"

"Really, Mama?" The sixteen-year-old was immediately rosy with excitement and hope once more. "I can wear something of yours?"

"Yes, of course, baby. I would suggest looking toward the back of my clothes if you want it to fit a little better, okay?"

"THANK YOU MAMA!" Angelica squealed as she dashed toward the room, pausing briefly to tightly embrace her mother before ducking into the closet.

"That crisis is averted; what's next?" His Betsey said with a small, tired smile to Alexander; even that made his heart flutter, even all their years of being together later.

"I assume somebody is going to try and burn down our house," Alexander replied while mirroring her expression. "At least our little one and eldest are behaving themselves…"

"ACK! Lizzie!" Phillip's voice cried out from somewhere in the house.

"…for the most part," Alexander amended with a small grimace.

As it turned out, their youngest child had decided to take a handful of strands out of her oldest brother's hair and was now attempting to eat them while Phillip tried to hold her and clean up a very evident spot of spit-up from his suit jacket. Alexander quickly took little Lizzie and threw the strands of hair away, giving him a sympathetic smile to him as he soothed the baby's fussing.

"Just toss that top in the laundry and find another one," he advised. "I'll take her from here. Thank you, son."

"Anytime," Phillip replied with a twisted-up expression, which was perfectly understandable if not relatable for his father.

"My, my, little one," Alexander cooed nevertheless to his daughter as he carried her back into his bedroom. "You're quite the little ball of energy today! Aren't you? Aren't you, Lizzie?"

Lizzie babbled happily in response, in turn causing her father to smile genuinely despite all of the stresses of trying to get a big family ready and out of the door for a formal affair. As he entered his room again, Alexander took note that John, their fifth child, was standing patiently in front of Eliza as she combed out his mass of curls. The boy's jacket was also sitting beside her on the bed with baking powder on top of a large wet spot located on the right side of the fabric; he assumed this meant his wife was trying to remove and dry whatever stain he'd yelled about earlier. As for himself, he gently set their youngest in her playpen and ducked into the bathroom to finish cleaning up the edges of his facial hair. Unsurprisingly, James was still in there and using the blow dryer, but the lack of talking between them for several minutes was bound not to last.

"When am I going to grow hair on my face like that?" James inquired, touching his own youthful face while studying his father's intently.

"Well, let's see…You're eight now, so it shouldn't be terribly longer before you'll begin seeing hairs pop up around your lip and chin," Alexander mused with a reassuring smile to the child. "But don't be in too much of a hurry, son. There is a lot of upkeep involved to make facial hair look nice, and it can be a big pain in the summertime."

"Is that why a lot of guys just shave it off when it's hot?"

"That's exactly why."

"Then why don't you do that too, Papa?"

The tips of his ears warmed, and Alexander was immediately grateful that said facial hair covered the light blush now adorning his cheeks. "Because I'm afraid I have a baby face, son."

"What's a baby face?" James screwed up his nose and peeked out of the bathroom to his younger sister. "Like…your face looks like Lizzie's?"

"Kind of," Alexander conceded with a small chuckle. "It means that my face looks a lot younger than I actually am, and it makes me look…silly. Does that make sense?"

James considered it for a moment before nodding. "Okay! At least it's better than having a girl face. If you had a girl face and a baby face, I bet not even a big beard would fix that!"

"I'll consider myself lucky," the father of seven chuckled. "If your hair is dry, run along and finish getting ready, okay? And tell your brothers and sister that we're leaving in fifteen minutes, so to get on it!"

"Okay Papa!" The boy brightened at the responsibility and quickly dashed out, yelling into the hallway with new energy, leaving his father to sigh softly and roll his eyes fondly as he turned his electric razor back on.

"Children," Eliza offered from behind him when was finally satisfied with his face. "What I would give to have that much energy again."

"Hear here," he grunted without any real malice, turning to kiss her and blinking in alarm when she took his face hostage in one hand while reaching for something on the bathroom counter immediately thereafter.

"You're certainly one to talk," she teased before beginning to rapidly pat beneath his eyes with some kind of tan sponge. "You work more tirelessly than anyone I've ever known!"

"I didn't make it here by being sedentary, dear," he reminded with a bit of a pout. "And what on Earth are you doing to my face?"

"Well, Mister Workaholic, I'm covering up the circles and bags beneath your eyes!" She declared as she recovered her strangely shaped sponge with similarly colored liquid makeup. "Maybe if you took breaks and got more sleep, I wouldn't have to put makeup on you~"

"Sure you would!" He teased back with a small snort. "Have you seen my face? I need it far more than you ever have or ever will need!"

"Alexander Hamilton, what did we talk about?" Eliza's expression filled with worry, and he immediately regretted slipping in a self-deprecating joke against his better judgement.

"Sorry," he said bashfully. "I'll…I'll keep working on it, baby. I promise."

"I know you will!" Eliza said firmly before spritzing his face with something in a black bottle and kissing him gently. "There."

"Thank you, love," he said affectionately while brushing a few stray hairs from her face. "You look as flawless as ever."

"You're quite the flatterer, Mister Hamilton," she crooned back while tapping his nose lightly. "But I thank you for it."

"MAMA MY HAIR ISN'T COOPERATING!" Alex. Jr and Angelica yelled simultaneously, pulling both parents apart at once.

"PAPA!" William shrieked immediately thereafter.

"Back to work," Alexander said with a small smile to his exasperated but doting wife. "We can get back to cuddling when this is all done and we get everyone down for naps, yeah?"

"Right," she agreed with a determined smile. "Let's do it."

It took nearly twenty more minutes for everyone to be fixed up properly and loaded into the family car, but they managed to only be eight minutes tardy to their original appointment with their well-loved photography business. Alexander and Eliza sat off to the side for much of the first hour, largely occupied by keeping the younger ones entertained and happy for the cameras. After that, they were filtered in and out with their seven angels, and Alexander could not help but practically drool every time his wife held their children close and gave a genuine smile to the photographers snapping away. She was perfect and so were his kiddos, even when they acted flawed or difficult, and he affirmed yet again that he was the luckiest man in the world for having known them, more so than for any of his other achievements.

"Alright, let's start wrapping this up with some shots of the whole family!" The head photographer announced during the final twenty minutes of their booked slot. "Mom and Dad, I want you to sit on the bench here, alright? Phillip, Angelica, and Alex Jr., I need all of you to stand in the back, and we'll adjust the rest of you in a minute, okay?"

Alexander laced his hand with his Eliza's as their children were arranged around them, smiling to her with a mixture of relief and affection before their youngest was placed in his lap and she began trying to stand up against him. "Whoa there, Liz! Where are you going, hmm? Where are you going, silly girl?"

He could feel his wife's eyes on him for a few moments longer, causing him to flush happily and give her a wink before their youngest son leaned against her lap with a sleepy whine. Eliza began to murmur comfortingly to the boy, gently rubbing his back as James stood directly behind his youngest brother and John stood horizontally flush to him on Alexander's side.

"You've done really great today, son," Alexander offered to his six-year-old, as the boy looked just as tired as William and slightly irritated as he fidgeted lightly in place. "I'm very proud of you, my little lamb."

At this, John brightened up while giving his father an affectionate, adoring grin that positively melted the man's heart all over again. The photographers began snapping away and waving different toys to get the younger ones' attention, and once Alexander was sure that they'd taken at least half of their memory cards up with the full-family shots, the crew encouraged the children to sit back and relax while they 'took some nice shots of Mommy and Daddy for the wall.'

"Of just us?" Alexander questioned, admittedly surprised.

"Of course," Eliza answered before the photographers could. "After all, we are the reason all of our beautiful children came to be, and I love posing with my most handsome man."

"As I do with my most gorgeous wife," he crooned.

Their younger children naturally gagged and complained while the other ones teased, and Alexander was once again grateful for his facial hair mostly concealing his embarrassment, but if truth were told he didn't truly mind at all.