Alex's cell phone rang, jolting him out of a remarkably sound sleep.

"Ugh." Thomas groaned, rolling away from Alex.

Alex spared him an amused grin before reaching for his phone on the nightstand.

"Hello?" He pressed his phone to his ear and squinted against the morning light peeking through the curtains.

"Hi, Alex." Eliza's apologetic voice filled his ear. "Merry Christmas."

"Merry Christmas." Alex echoed, somewhat confused.

"I'm sorry to bother you while you're with your family, but one of your clients has hit the roof and none of us know what to do." Eliza continued uncomfortably. "It's Joe Chapman. He hasn't gotten his conversion documents cleared by the Secretary of State and his corporation's accounting year ends December 31st. He has been calling us every hour trying to see if it's cleared yet. I don't think the Secretary of State is processing documents for the rest of the year."

"Oh, fuck." Alex scrubbed his face with his hand. "Yeah, I think you're right. Okay. How mad is Joe? Like, normal Joe, or I'm-going-to-follow-Peggy-to-lunch-and-yell-at-her Joe?"

"Dad isn't letting Peggy answer the phone anymore." Eliza replied regretfully.

"Fuck." Alex sighed again. "Okay. I think I have a contact at the Secretary of State's office who can push it through before the end of the year. Let me try to give them a call and see what I can do."

"Thank you." Eliza sighed.

"Take the rest of the day off, Eliza." Alex urged her. "You can help me manage my asshole clients the other 364 days of the year."

"Hm." Eliza hummed. He could hear the smile in her voice. "Merry Christmas, Alex."

"Merry Christmas." Alex smiled as he hung up the phone.

"Eliza?" Thomas asked as Alex began to scroll through the contacts in his phone. "As in, your fake fiancé, Eliza?"

"Hm? Oh, yeah." Alex replied, frowning. "She's my paralegal. Apparently, one of my clients has decided that my Christmas present this year is to shovel some shit for him."

"Merry Christmas to you." Thomas remarked playfully.

Alex quirked an amused smile in Thomas' direction, then returned his attention to his phone. He pressed the 'call' button on his contact at the Secretary of State. His name was Ross. He was sort of a prick, but he helped Alex out from time to time.

"Hello?" He did not sound very amenable to helping Alex on this particular day.

"Hey, Ross. It's Alex Hamilton." Alex tried to sound as upbeat as he could at seven in the morning on Christmas day.

"Alex? What are you doing calling me? It's Christmas." Ross complained.

"I know, I know. Merry Christmas." Alex said as an afterthought. "Look, I've got a corporation trying to get conversion documents pushed through before the end of the calendar year."

"We're closed until the beginning of January." Ross replied sternly. "Your client can get the conversion through then."

"You know that's not helpful." Alex admonished.

"What do you want me to do about it?" Ross demanded.

"I know that you still have access to your account." Alex replied firmly. "Log on and approve his conversion. It'll take two seconds. Joe Chapman."

"Get me two seats at Derby for a Friday night and maybe I can help you out." Ross challenged.

"Bastard." Alex grumbled, frowning at nothing in particular.

Derby was one of the newer restaurants to open in New York. It had been featured in several prominent magazines, newspapers, and blogs. It was nearly impossible to get a table on any night - Friday nights were unheard of.

The owner of Derby happened to be one of Alex's clients.

"Do we have a deal or not?" Ross asked. "Joanne's parents are waiting to open presents. I don't have long."

"Fuck. Fine. Yes. Just approve the fucking conversion and I'll get you those reservations." Alex grumbled.

"Joe Chapman?" Ross asked smugly.

"Yeah." Alex grumbled.

"All right, and…approved. Don't forget about those reservations - you owe me one." Ross said.

"Uh huh. Thanks." Alex replied, hanging up the phone.

He shot Eliza a quick text.

Conversion went through. Tell Joe to fuck off.

He then set his phone down on the side table and turned to look at Thomas.

"Sorry about that." He said with an apologetic tone. "Lawyer stuff."

"I figured." Thomas replied with a small shrug. "Do you need to go?"

Alex shook his head.

"Nope, it's all figured out." He replied. "More or less."

"More or less?" Thomas echoed with a small smile.

Alex shrugged.

"Hey," Thomas started, suddenly looking somewhat uncomfortable. He wasn't meeting Alex's eyes anymore. That was never a good sign. "Can I ask you something?"

"If this is about the tattoo again, I already told you -" Alex started.

He had gotten a tattoo in college that read 'Property of NYU'. It was on a rather regrettable, though blessedly hidden, location on his body. Thomas had teased him about it relentlessly the night before.

"No, not that." Thomas shook his head. He didn't even smile. "Uh…it's kind of about when we were kids. You know…before."

Alex didn't know exactly what 'before' referred to, but he watched Thomas warily. He did not want to rehash the past. He did not want Thomas to ask about Alex's decision to drive to New York, even after Thomas' confession. He did not want to have to explain himself. He didn't know if he could explain himself.

"Why did you stop being friends with me?" Thomas finally looked up to meet Alex's eyes. "It seemed like one day, we were best friends, and then the next day you were…I don't know, you were gone. Was I not popular enough for you?"

Alex felt his heart sink.

"God, no. No, Thomas, it wasn't anything like that." He responded, shaking his head.

"That's what it seemed like." Thomas remarked, frowning. "You can be honest with me - we're adults now."

"I didn't stop being friends with you because you weren't popular enough." Alex insisted. "I just had a lot of personal stuff going on."

"In middle school?" Thomas asked dubiously.

"I had a crush on you." Alex admitted with a sigh. "All right? I had a crush on you and I didn't know how to handle it, so I just didn't."

"Really?" Thomas still seemed dubious.

Alex nodded.

"Why didn't you tell me?" Thomas asked, his voice softening a bit. "You know I had a massive crush on you."

Alex had not known this.

"I told you, I didn't know how to handle it." Alex replied with a small shrug. "I didn't know what it meant to have a crush on a boy, rather than a girl. What was I supposed to do, tell you that I liked you and walk down the hallways holding hands with you? I couldn't do that."

"Did you date John Laurens in high school?" Thomas changed the subject.

Alex sighed.

"Yes." He admitted.

"I thought so. John wouldn't tell me yes or no - he said that it wasn't his to tell, whatever that means." Thomas replied, his brows furrowing. "How long did you date for?"

"About a year." Alex said.

"Wow." Thomas seemed surprised by this. "That's a long time. Did Martha or George ever…?"

"Martha saw us once." Alex explained, frowning. "But George - no. Never. I can't imagine what he would have said if he knew."

Thomas nodded, considering this.

"After you guys broke up - was that when Martha wanted you to go over to my house?" He finally asked.

"Uh…yeah." Alex had tried not to think about that night. He had tried not to think about the way that Thomas' father had called him trash. He emphatically refused to think about the implication that his mother had been a whore - George's whore, no less.

"Alex, I've always wanted to apologize to you about that night." Thomas said, the words bubbling out of his mouth like an overflowing pot of water. "I saw you leaving after my dad said all of horrible things about you and I just…I didn't know how to say sorry. I didn't know how to even try to go about fixing it."

Alex shook his head, his lips pursed.

"It wasn't yours to apologize for. Your dad was a fucking asshole." He replied tightly.

Thomas nodded, seeming to sense that Alex did not want to talk about it. He was good about that.

"Do you ever talk to your dad?" He asked. "Your biological one, I mean. I know you went to New York to try and find him."

Alex shrugged.

He had been expecting a much more lighthearted morning. He'd been hoping for some morning sex, maybe a brief exchange about the holiday season, then a quick breakfast before he was on his way.

"Sometimes." He replied guardedly. "Mostly when he wants money."

Thomas' brows furrowed again. He frowned.

"Jeez." He said. "Alex, that's…I'm sorry. You deserve better than that. If he can't see how special you are, with or without money - fuck him. He doesn't deserve to know you."

Alex was surprised by the tone in Thomas' voice. Thomas was rarely angry. He was the levelheaded one. Alex was always angry. Beyond that - Thomas rarely swore. He preferred to express himself more eloquently. Alex went for the more satisfying experience of common, coarse language.

He shrugged, not knowing what else to say.

"Merry Christmas, anyway." Thomas said with a tentative, lopsided smile. "I guess I kind of started the morning off on the wrong foot, huh?"

"Hm." Alex hummed his agreement with a tentative smile of his own.

"How about you let me see the tattoo again?" Thomas suggested, his smile growing more genuine with each syllable.

"Shut up." Alex chuckled, pulling Thomas in for a kiss.

Both George and Martha were awake when Alex returned to the house that morning. George was in his office. Martha was waiting in the living room, gazing at a massive pile of presents.

"There you are." Martha brightened when Alex passed the living room. "You were out and about mighty early this morning."

"Uh…yeah." Alex was glad that he had the foresight to change his clothes before leaving for Thomas' the night before. He hoped that Martha didn't notice the blush he could feel creeping up to his face. "I went out to take a walk, then I ran into Thomas and we got to talking. Sorry - I didn't know when you wanted to do all of the Christmas stuff."

"Right now is just fine." Martha replied with a smile. "George, honey, Alex is here!"

George appeared in the doorway behind Alex.

"Hey." George regarded Alex with a suspicious expression. "I didn't hear you leave the house this morning."

Alex swallowed hard. George woke up at four in the morning every day. His office was on the side of the house, but he had a window that would grant him access to the comings and goings of the house.

"Yeah, I, uh, I went out down the driveway." Alex lied.

The driveway was not easily viewed from George's window.

"To take a walk?" George arched a skeptical eyebrow.

The walkways around the house were on the opposite side of the house. Unfortunately, so was George's viewing ability.

Alex nodded stupidly.

"He's here now." Martha interjected, casting George a sharp look. "Why don't we go ahead and open presents?"

"Hm." George agreed at length. He walked to his usual chair and plopped down. He watched as Alex took his seat at the couch.

Martha forced a cheerful smile as she set to work distributing gifts.

After all of the gifts had been opened, Martha hurried to the kitchen to complete Christmas lunch. Both George and Alex offered to help. She rejected both of their offers. Neither of the men were surprised. Martha wanted everything done her way.

"Have you spoken to Eliza today?" George asked Alex in Martha's absence.

Alex nodded.

"Yeah, we spoke this morning. Said Merry Christmas and all of that." He replied.

For once, it wasn't a lie.

"I'd really like to speak to her one of these days." George remarked thoughtfully. "Maybe you could set up a Facetime or something while you're here."

"Maybe." Alex agreed vaguely.

"Have you set a date yet?" George persisted.

"Not yet." Alex replied, grimacing. "With work and everything…we just haven't had the time."

"Hm." George did not seem to believe this. "And how is work going for you these days?"

Alex sighed a breath of relief. This was a much safer topic; one that he had answers for. The cloak of client confidentiality would help him along the way.

"Good, good. I mean, the clients are assholes, but the work itself isn't too difficult and the pay is good." Alex replied, nodding his head.

"Are you still contemplating a run for the Senate in ten years?" George asked, cocking his head slightly.

Alex nodded again.

"Eight years." He corrected George.

George nodded.

"Have you spoken to anyone in politics in New York? I could put you in touch with some people, if you'd like." He offered.

"I've met a lot of people through my line of work." Alex replied quickly. He disliked capitalizing off of George's success. He wanted to earn each and every one of his accomplishments. "I probably know everyone that you'd put me in touch with, at this point."

"You're probably right." George agreed, nodding slowly.

"Boys, lunch is ready!" Martha called from the kitchen.

George and Alex exchanged uncomfortable glances before rising to their feet and starting for the dining room.

"Alex, honey, why don't you take some leftovers next door? Poor Thomas probably doesn't have a nice spread like this." Martha suggested as they cleaned up from the lunch.

Alex had to bite back a smile at the thought of Thomas' spread and how nice it may or may not be.

"Fine." He agreed with a carefully studied shrug.

"I can take it." George volunteered from across the kitchen. Alex turned to look at him in surprise. "You've been having to run over there a lot lately. I don't mind stopping by to check in on Tom this time around."

"Oh, let Alex do it." Martha urged George, clucking her tongue. She cast Alex an affectionate smile. "The boys are just getting reacquainted. It's nice for Thomas to have someone to pal around with for a little while."

"George can go, if he wants to." Alex glanced in George's direction.

He wanted to go to Thomas', but something about George's attitude made him feel as though he needed to conceal this fact.

"No." Martha said, her voice growing stern. "It's nice for you to spend some time with Thomas. Here you go. Go on now, before the food gets cold."

She handed Alex a bag full of tupperware. Alex accepted the bag with a resigned expression.

"Be nice to Thomas." Martha advised him. "He could use a friend."

"Alright." Alex didn't have to pretend to be confused by Martha's statement. He trudged to the foyer and shrugged on his coat, ignoring the low conversation taking place between Martha and George. George was probably asking Martha if she expected to get the tupperware back from Thomas. She had, after all, put the leftovers in the good tupperware.

He opened the door and stepped through, allowing a smile to cross his face. He hurried across the way to Thomas' house, bounded up the front steps, then rapped his knuckles against Thomas' door.

Thomas opened the door, looking somewhat confused but undoubtedly happy to see him.

"Alex." He said, by way of greeting him.

"Merry Christmas again." Alex grinned, stepping through the door. Thomas closed it behind him. "Martha sends her well wishes and some turkey."

He held up the bag.

Thomas smiled as he accepted the bag.

"She doesn't have to do all of this." He remarked, starting for the kitchen. Alex followed after him. "I'm not going to starve to death if she doesn't send over leftovers on every major holiday."

"She likes taking care of people. She always has." Alex replied, shrugging.

Thomas placed the bag full of tupperware in his fridge. So much for Martha's concerns over the food getting cold. He then turned around and looked at Alex.

He didn't say anything. He just looked. Alex squirmed under his gaze, afraid that, if Thomas looked at him for too long, he would see something that he didn't like.

"What?" Alex asked at last.

"It's just hard to believe that you're here." Thomas replied sheepishly. "After all of these years. I don't know. Ignore me."

Alex smiled uncomfortably.

He didn't want to lead Thomas on. He liked Thomas - god, he'd forgotten how much he liked Thomas - but he knew that he couldn't stay in Virginia. Not for anyone.

"How was your Christmas?" He asked by way of distracting Thomas.

He lowered his voice and crooked a smile that he knew Thomas liked.

Sure enough, Thomas' pupils dilated. He looked momentarily distracted. Seemingly without meaning to, he leaned closer to Alex like a flower toward sunlight.

"Alex," Thomas warned once he had recovered. "Are you not exhausted from last night and this morning?"

"No." Alex replied as though it was perfectly obvious. He cocked his head. "Are you?"

Thomas' brows furrowed. He smiled.

"No," He replied, sounding both confident and puzzled by the conclusion that he had reached. "No, I guess I'm not."

Alex grinned.

A few hours later, Alex and Thomas were sprawled out on the couch, watching The Muppets Christmas Carol. Thomas had put on a hideous Christmas sweater he'd gotten as a gift years ago, solely to make Alex laugh. Alex had pulled a throw blanket off the back of the couch and covered them both with it.

"I think that, if I was a muppet, I'd be Gonzo." Thomas remarked thoughtfully.

"Hm?" Alex considered this. "I don't see it. I think you're more Rizzo."

"The rat?" Thomas turned to look at Alex, frowning in false indignation.

Alex smiled.

"They're the mascot of New York City." He replied.

"Then maybe you should be the rat." Thomas huffed.

"I think that we both know that I'm both of the Marley brothers." Alex retorted in a tone of superiority.

Thomas let out a laugh.

"Is it bad that Sam Eagle reminds me of George?" He asked, glancing back at Alex with a squinted eye and a wrinkled nose.

Alex threw his head back and laughed.

"I think he'd kill you for saying that, but you're fucking right." He replied, still laughing. "Maybe he should put it on his campaign posters."

Thomas chuckled as he reached for the plate of leftovers he'd made for himself when he'd finally regained enough strength to crawl out of bed.

He settled back against Alex, letting out a contented noise and refocusing his attention on the Muppets.

This was nice.

This was a nice moment of domesticity, unlike anything that Alex had experienced in any of his other relationships.

He liked the feeling of Thomas curled against him. He liked the easy conversation about something as meaningless as the Muppets. He liked Thomas' hand resting on his leg without any sort of innuendo or expectation behind it.

This wasn't just sex. This was something else.

Alex wondered how he was going to fuck it all up.

Thomas yawned and threw his head back against Alex's shoulder. Alex smiled at him.

"Is it only six-thirty?" Thomas asked in a way that made him sound much older than his twenty-seven years. "It feels like midnight."

"Wake up." Alex encouraged him. "That fucked up Rudolph movie is going to be on next."

"Which one is the fucked up one?" Thomas asked, yawning again.

"The one with the hippo." Alex replied. "With the terrible music. The trauma will return to you when you see it."

His phone buzzed. He glanced at it, hoping that it wasn't another work crisis.

Instead, Martha's contact information showed.

Alex's eyebrows shot up. A text from Martha was rarer than a text from the President.

Coming home soon? George wants to play cards…

On the rare event that she did text, she always used ellipses at the end of her texts. No matter how many times Alex told her that one period would suffice, she continued with her ellipses.

He sighed as he typed out a response.

Headed home now. Thomas says thanks for the food.

"I've got to go." He told Thomas.

Thomas groaned and leaned against Alex.

"No." He complained. "The fucked up Rudolph movie hasn't even come on yet."

"I'm sorry." Alex gently pushed Thomas off of him, then removed the throw blanket from his lap. He rose to his feet and stretched out with a groan. "Martha wants me to come home. George likes to play cards on Christmas. It's kind of a tradition."

He glanced down at his phone.

Invite Tom to come…he is always welcome…

Alex quirked a small smile.

"Martha says you can come." He remarked, looking up from his phone to meet Thomas' eyes. His grin broadened. "Do you want me to tell her you already have?"

"Don't you dare." Thomas protested, his eyes widening.

Alex chuckled.

"So, how about it?" He asked.

Thomas shrugged.

"Sure." He said in a tone of practiced casualty.

"All right." Alex hunched over to put on his shoes, then trudged into the foyer to recover his coat.

Thomas followed after him, seemingly forgetting that he was still wearing the ugly Christmas sweater. Alex certainly wasn't going to tell him. He liked seeing Thomas in that ugly Christmas sweater. It was a kind of adorable softness that Alex liked to believe was specifically reserved for him.

They started for George and Martha's house, both of them bracing themselves against the damp cold. Neither of them spoke much. The wind was whipping around, threatening to make them choke on their words if they tried.

When they reached the house, Martha was upon them in an instant.

"Tom, honey, I'm so glad you could join us!" She cooed, taking both of their coats and throwing them over the coat rack. "These card games are always fun when there's a bunch of people playing. Oh, I love your sweater!"

Thomas looked to Alex, his face reddening and his eyes widening.

Alex disguised his laughter by coughing.

Martha looked at them both for a moment before leading them to the living room, where George was waiting at the card table.

"I didn't know that you'd be joining us, Tom." He remarked as they walked into the room. Thomas trailed behind Alex, as though Alex would shield him from the obligation to socialize with the other two people in the room.

"Isn't it nice?" Martha chirped.

"We're always happy to see you." George agreed. "Have a seat."

"Thanks." Thomas mumbled, taking a seat beside Alex.

Alex smiled at him, then looked down at his phone. The screen had lit up.

It was a text from Eliza.

Joe is happy. Thank you so much! :)

Alex smiled at his phone, then returned his attention to the card game. He accidentally met eyes with George, who appeared to have been watching him.

"Are you talking to Eliza?" He asked.

"Uh...yeah." Alex replied uncomfortably.

He resisted the urge to look at Thomas.

George nodded approvingly.

"She seems to be good for you." He remarked. "I'm glad that you found someone who makes you happy."

Guilt clawed at Alex's chest.

"Enough of that." Martha clucked, picking up the stack of cards in the middle of the table. "Let's play some cards."

Alex nodded, swallowing hard. He tried to focus on Martha shuffling the deck and describing the rules of the game that they would play. He couldn't help but notice Thomas watching him out of the corner of his eye.

He knew how he would fuck this all up.

He knew that a relationship with Thomas – or, hell, any man, really – wasn't a sustainable model. He would have to find someone like Eliza, eventually.

He afforded Thomas a single, guilty look before returning his attention to the game.

"I think I'm going to head out." Thomas remarked around ten o'clock. He yawned for dramatic effect.

"I'll go with you." Alex offered.

Thomas looked at him with a mixture of surprise and suspicion.

Feeling George and Martha's curious eyes on him, he quickly added, "I can grab the tupperware from your place and bring it back here, since you're done with it."

Thomas nodded, suspicion taking over his expression.

They walked to the foyer in silence, neither of them looking at each other as they toed on their boots and shrugged on their coats.

Once they were outside, though, they turned to look at each other.

Alex wanted one last look at Thomas before he ruined a good thing for the second time.

"I love you." Thomas said before Alex could ruin anything.

Alex blinked, too startled to say anything in response.

Thomas began to walk towards his house. Alex followed after him automatically, as though he was tied to Thomas by a string.

"Why did you say that?" He demanded, unable to resist.

"Because I do." Thomas replied.

"No, you don't. I've only been in Virginia for a couple of days. It's been ten years since we spent any real time together." Alex argued.

Thomas finally stopped and turned around to meet Alex's eyes. Alex forced himself to maintain eye contact. Thomas looked determined - or quite possibly angry. His brows were furrowed. His mouth was scrunched in that little frown that Alex had always found charming, so long as it wasn't directed at him.

"I love you, Alex." Thomas spoke quietly, but firmly. His voice trembled a bit. "I have loved you since the sixth grade. There hasn't been a moment in the past fifteen years that I haven't loved you. Every single second of every single day, I am excruciatingly aware that it will only ever be you for me, whether you want me or not."

Alex felt himself shrink. He wished that he could turn around and run away. He was guilty. He was afraid. He was, for once, at a loss for the right thing to say.

"Don't do this, Alex." Thomas' voice wavered. "Don't do to us what you did back then."

Alex jutted out his chin stubbornly.

Thomas shook his head. Alex could see tears welling up in his eyes.

He was well underway to fucking this up once and for all.

"Martha would still love you. George would still love you." Thomas continued, his voice growing more and more pleading with each word. "And if they didn't, I'd love you enough for all of them."

"Thomas, I can't…" Alex had to look away.

"I love your smile." Thomas interrupted quickly. Desperation colored his words. "I love that you have a different smile for just about everyone you meet. I love that you spend more on books than you do on groceries every month. I love that you smile at every dog that you pass on the street. I love that you over-tip at every restaurant and bar you go to. I love that you have to swear at least once in every sentence you say. I love the way you make me feel when I'm with you. You're my home."

Alex continued staring down at the ground.

"I'm sorry." He mumbled.

He heard Thomas suck in a sharp breath. He glanced up and saw three picture-perfect, movie-like tears spilling from Thomas' eyes.

"Tom…" He started without knowing what to say.

Thomas swallowed hard and nodded. He turned and started for his house. This time, Alex didn't follow him. He watched, knowing that he would relive this moment every day for the next ten years of his life.