Aaron blinked several times, wondering if he would find himself waking up from some sort of strange dream. He didn't. Several questions ran through his head, the most prominent being how? and why me?
He groaned as he pulled out his phone to call George. It took a few rings, but his boss finally picked up.
"Have Thomas and Alexander killed each other already?" George's voice sounded exasperated.
"Not quite." Aaron bit his lip, wondering how to explain the situation. He decided it would be easier to believe by seeing. "We might need some help, though."
"What happened?" Though the exhaustion was still there, Aaron could hear concern lacing the words.
"Uh… It might be better to see for yourself, sir," Aaron told him, cringing at how vague he sounded. "We're near the spot we were in yesterday, just inside the forest. I'll send you a picture," he added as an afterthought.
"Okay," George sounded unsure if he wanted to get involved, but Aaron was just relieved that he didn't have to deal with this alone. "I'll see you in a few minutes." He hung up, and Aaron lowered his phone from his ear.
The babies were starting to wake up as Aaron snapped a few pictures with a camera quality that would have made Alexander cringe. It was clear who was who; they looked very similar to their older selves and their clothes had managed to shrink to their new sizes, a fact for which Aaron was immensely grateful. He sent the pictures to George and took a closer look at the babies. They all looked small, especially James. And there were six of them. Even with George's help, they would be hard to handle. Aaron let out a long sigh.
At this point, Alexander had managed to sit up and was looking around with wide eyes. John, who was still next to him, seemed fascinated by Alexander's small ponytail and reached out toward it with a tiny hand.
Thomas had crawled right up to James, who was trying (and failing) to push himself off the ground. He eventually gave up and settled for rolling onto his back, and Thomas lay down next to him, babbling incoherently.
So they seem to remember each other, Aaron mused, storing the piece of information in the back of his mind. Something bright caught his eye, and Aaron found himself looking down at the device that had caused all this to happen, laying on the ground and glistening in the sunlight. He cautiously walked over to it and gently nudged it with his foot. When nothing happened, he bent over and picked it up cautiously.
"What happened?" Aaron jumped, startled by George's bewildered voice.
Aaron turned to face his boss and held out the device. "Alexander threw this at Thomas," he explained. George took it from him and turned it over carefully in his hands. "There was a flash of light, then they got…" he trailed off and gestured at the babies around them.
George nodded slowly, looking around at his de-aged employees. His gaze stopped at Lafayette, who was staring back at him, never breaking eye contact. Unsettled, George turned back to Aaron.
"Why didn't it affect you?" George asked, trying to ignore the feeling of being watched.
"I walked a bit away from them," Aaron admitted. "I think I was too far away."
"Hmm." George's eyes swept back over the children, purposely skipping over Lafayette. "We can't keep them here," he said, almost to himself. Turning back to Aaron, he asked, "Do you know anyone who lives nearby?"
Aaron thought for a moment. "Actually, I think so. You know Philip Schuyler?"
"I know of him, yes."
"His three daughters have a house near here, maybe about ten minutes away," Aaron told him. "I don't know if they'll be there, but unless you know anyone around here, we don't have any better options. And, if I remember correctly, the oldest studied some sort of science in college. She might be able to help reverse what happened."
George sighed. "I guess we'll take them there, then. Like you said, we don't have any better options. Lucky we all drove up in my car; we would not be able to deal with all theirs."
"I don't know if I would call that lucky, sir," Aaron disagreed. "Remember the drive here?"
"Don't remind me," George said, eyeing Aaron. "Come on, let's get them into the car." He walked over to where John and Alexander sat playing with each other's ponytails and picked them up, one in each arm. Alexander began to squirm.
"Would you stay still?" George hissed, trying to hold onto both babies at once.
"No," Alexander said loudly, putting a hand into his mouth.
Aaron groaned. Great, he thought. He still talks. He went over to where James and Thomas lay in the dirt and scooped them. He silently followed George to the car, deep in thought.
"Maybe one of us should stay with them, sir," Aaron suggested to George as Alexander and John were deposited in the second row of the car. "Even as children, I don't think leaving Alexander and Thomas alone together is a good idea."
"Put them in the third row," George instructed, referring to James and Thomas, who were still in Aaron's arms. Aaron did so, and George continued. "Stay here with them, I'll go back for the other two."
Aaron watched him leave, then turned his attention back to the babies in the car. John was content to lie on his back in a starfish position, making noises and giggling to himself. Alexander, however, found it interesting to stand up on his seat and look around the car. Aaron didn't think much of this, until he remembered Thomas and James would be visible if Alexander decided to turn around.
Unfortunately, he realized this about the same time it happened. Alexander began to scream, startling the other three. John sat up briefly before deciding that it wasn't that unusual and he would rather go back to making noises. Only this time, they were much louder so they could be heard over Alexander.
Thomas began to babble angrily at Alexander, who was still screaming and looking over the back of his seat at him and James. James looked distressed at the noise and began to cry, which did nothing to help the situation.
Aaron winced and tried to gently pull Alexander into a sitting position and face away from the third row, but Alexander pushed him away with more force than Aaron would have expected from his now–small body. He then tried to pick up James to calm him down, but Thomas glared at him with such intensity that he decided it wasn't worth it.
For the second time since the Incident, Aaron found himself asking why me?
George came back with Lafayette and Hercules in him arms. He looked from the car to Aaron with a questioning look of disappointment.
Aaron sighed. He seemed to be doing that a lot. "I tried, sir. But Alexander discovered that Thomas still exists, and he didn't take it that well."
"I see," George responded with a hint of a smile on his face. He set Hercules down, who promptly took three steps and fell flat on his face. He wasn't deterred, though, and he stood up and made to take another few steps. Aaron grabbed his hand before he could and was rewarded with a pout from Hercules.
George handed Lafayette to Aaron before moving to calm Alexander and James down. Aaron looked down at the young frenchman in his arms and immediately regretted it. Lafayette stared unblinkingly back at him with wide eyes and one hand entirely enclosed in his mouth. Aaron found that he couldn't look away from the intense stare, so he continued to look the child in the eye, growing more uncomfortable with every passing second. Without warning, Lafayette took the hand out of his mouth and pressed both palms against the front of Aaron's face, as if to block him out. Aaron let out a long exhale and resigned himself to the fact that he would have to put up with this behavior until they could figure out how to get his six co-workers back to normal. He couldn't see due to the tiny fingers spread over his eyes, but he could hear Lafayette's little squeals of delight. At least he wasn't screaming.
Unlike someone.
George had taken Alexander out of the car, which had seemed to alarm John. Now he was faced with the difficult task of keeping him within John's line of sight, preventing him from seeing Thomas, and calming him down all at once. He tried giving him a little bounce, but that did not seem to work, so he settled for holding him against his chest and gently rubbing his back. At first, he regretted taking up the position due to the short distance between Alexander and his ears, but he was persistent, and a few painful moments later, the screams were reduced to small whimpers, then silence.
Setting Alexander back in the car, George wondered how to keep him from discovering Thomas's existence once again. He needn't have worried; a moment later, John draped himself across Alexander's lap and showed him a few of what seemed to be his favorite noises. Soon they were contentedly making absurd noises at each other, and George had to smile fondly at the adorable scene before turning to James. He picked him up, ignoring Thomas's death glare and babbled protests. Where bouncing had not worked for Alexander, George soon discovered that the opposite was true for James. That combined with a few soothing words murmured into his ear, James was fairly easy to calm down.
Thomas was happy to have James back, and with all the babies calmed down, George turned back to Aaron and had to stifle a laugh. Hercules was trying to pull away, even though it was obvious that if Aaron were to let go of his hand, he would fall to the ground. Lafayette was still covering Aaron's face and giggling. Not wanting to disturb the bonding that was clearly happening between Aaron and Lafayette (really, he didn't want to be in Aaron's position), George scooped Hercules up and plopped him in the car next to the pile that was John and Alexander.
"Put Lafayette in the back with Thomas and James," George instructed. "He gets along with them, and four in the second row would be too crowded."
Aaron held Lafayette out at arm's length to get to the small hands off his face. Lafayette narrowed his eyes at him, and Aaron quickly looked away and obeyed his boss.
With all the babies in the car, George turned to Aaron. "You know the address, I'm assuming?"
Aaron nodded, wiping his face on his sleeve in disgust. "I'll put in in the car. You know, Lafayette had his hand in his mouth before putting it on my face."
To Aaron's frustration, George only chuckled. "Watch out for that one," he warned. He slid into the driver's seat, leaving Aaron to walk around the car to get to the passenger side.
While Aaron put in the address, George glanced back at the innocent-looking babies. "Hopefully they behave while we're driving."
Alexander looked up and met his eyes. "No."
He was right.
About three minutes into the journey, Thomas decided to stand up on his seat in the back. George nearly had a heart attack when he glanced up at the rear view mirror and saw a small head blocking the back windshield.
"Thomas is standing up," he Aaron, looking for a parking lot to pull into.
"Great," Aaron muttered, turning around and trying to motion for Thomas to sit down. Thomas giggled and waved back at him. Aaron resisted the urge to bury his face in his hands.
When they were finally able to stop, George got out of the car and reached into the back row.
"Thomas," George scolded, picking him up and sitting him down, "you need to stay seated when you're in the car."
Thomas found he could make an enjoyable game out of standing up every time George sat him down.
Meanwhile, Alexander's curiosity was proving to be a difficulty. He kept trying to stand up to see what was going on behind him, and Aaron had to keep pushing him down. After a few repetitions of this, Alexander was on the verge of tears from not getting what he wanted. Panicking, Aaron picked up John and placed him across Alexander's lap in the position they had been in earlier. This cheered Alexander up and effectively kept him sitting down, so Aaron counted it as a double victory.
James fell asleep sometime during Thomas's game, and George discovered that he could keep Thomas in place by leaning James against him.
"Stay," George commanded, pointing a finger at Thomas.
Thomas glared back. George and Aaron got back into the car, and they drove off.
Seven minutes left.
Two minutes later, they heard a thunk. Aaron whipped his head around so fast he hurt his neck. Wincing and rubbing the back of his neck, he noted that Alexander and John were in the same position, but Hercules was nowhere to be seen.
"I think Hercules fell off the seat," he reported. George let out a long sigh and looked for a place to pull over once again.
When they stopped, Aaron got out of the car and found Hercules lying beneath the passenger seat. He pulled him out and placed him back on his seat. There wasn't much else he could do to prevent it from happening again. At least he didn't seem injured.
That stop was much shorter than the previous one, and both adults were thankful.
Five minutes left.
Four minutes later, Aaron felt something brush against his arm. He looked to his left to see John crawling on the center console. Not even bothering to mention this to George, who he suspected was deliberately ignoring the situation, Aaron picked John up and decided to hold onto him for the remaining minute of the ride. John was obviously not expecting this, and Alexander began to protest as soon as John disappeared from his line of sight. He, too, crawled across the central console, leaving Aaron no choice but to hold onto him, too.
Was George smirking? Aaron couldn't tell.
Hercules was not about to be left alone, but he decided he was above crawling. He put a foot on the central console and took a few wobbly steps before Aaron noticed him. In a flash of panic, he twisted around and grabbed Hercules before he could fall onto George.
George was definitely smirking now.
By the time they pulled up to the Schuyler's, Aaron, still holding the three babies, was hating his life.
"I've got these three, sir," Aaron told George as they got out of the car. "Could you get the others?"
"Drop the 'sir'," George requested as he took Lafayette, Thomas, and a now-awake James out of the back. "We're going to be looking after them for a while, no need for formalities while we do so."
"Okay." They walked up the the door, each holding three babies. With their hands full, they couldn't knock, so Aaron let John press the doorbell. He held the button down way too long.
They stood at the door for an uncomfortable amount of time, waiting for an answer. Hercules began squirming first, then Alexander, then John. Aaron struggled to hold onto all of them and wondered why they hadn't put those three in the third row.
Lafayette saw his friends in Aaron's arms and reached his arms out toward them, making small whimpering noises.
"Sorry, he's got his hands full," George told him, bouncing him lightly. "You can't join them yet. It won't be long, though."
The door finally opened to reveal a young woman in a gray hoodie and yellow sweatpants. She stared at the babies.
Aaron stepped forward. "Peggy, is Angelica here?"
"My god, Burr, are all these yours?" she asked, bewildered.
Aaron sighed. "No," he said firmly. "Can we come in?"
Peggy held a hand up. "Hold on. Who's this?" She pointed to George.
"That's my boss, George Washington," Aaron hissed. Peggy didn't take the hint, or rather, she ignored it.
"Peggy Schuyler," she introduced herself and held out a hand. George shook it and she continued. "So, how did Burr manage to impregnate six different women and how did you get involved in this?"
"Peggy, please," Aaron groaned. George chuckled, and Peggy gestured to him.
"See, he knows you're a joke. You wanted Angelica? Come on in." She stood back to let them into the house, then closed the door behind them, then yelled into the house. "Yo, Angie! Burr wants you!"
"Why?" a voice yelled back.
"I think he wants to add to his collection of babies."
Aaron only gave Peggy a look. Of the three sisters, why did she have to be the one to open the door? "It's an emergency," he called out to Angelica.
"Yeah, he's really horny," Peggy added. Aaron groaned.
"You'd better be joking Peggy, for his sake," came the disembodied voice of Angelica. They heard a sigh, and moments later, another young woman joined them in front of the doorway.
Angelica noticed George right away. "Who're you?" she asked.
"George Washington, Burr's boss," George introduced, extending a hand. Angelica shook it firmly then turned to Aaron.
"Sit down and explain what's going on," she demanded. "And I swear, if Peggy wasn't making things up, you will regret it." Peggy smirked and raised an eyebrow at Aaron, who simply let out a long sigh. "Peggy–" Peggy's head whipped around to face Angelica and smiled sweetly. "Before we start, can you get Eliza?"
Peggy only turned her head, presumably in the direction Eliza was in, and yelled, " 'Liza! Angelica wants you!" She looked up at Angelica with a smug look.
Angelica rolled her eyes fondly at her younger sister, then led them over to the living room to sit down.
"What's going on?" Eliza asked as she arrived. She pushed Peggy's legs off the loveseat the latter had flopped down on and sat in their place. Her eyes widened as she noticed the six babies who were now sitting (or standing) on the other couch next to Aaron and George, but she didn't say anything.
"We were just trying to figure that out," Angelica responded. Turning back to Aaron, she added, "Care to explain?"
Aaron took a deep breath before starting. This would be an interesting story to tell, to say the least.
By the time he had finished, Alexander was pacing back and forth across the length of the couch, muttering mostly nonsense to himself. John had used Aaron's head to pull himself into a standing position and was giggling at Peggy, who was making faces at him. Lafayette had crawled next to George and was content to sit by his side. James was waving his arms around in large circles, and Thomas was glaring at Alexander. Hercules was very unhappy at the fact that he was being held hostage by George, but the man had seen no other option, since Hercules had repeatedly tried to walk off the edge of the couch.
Angelica and Eliza exchanged troubled glances. "Do you still have the device?" Angelica asked. Aaron nodded and pulled it out of his pocket, where he had stored it earlier.
Eliza frowned at it. "If it really did this to them, maybe there's a way for it to undo what happened." She looked up. "But it's risky. We could end up in the same situation as them," she said, gesturing to the babies.
"I know," Aaron agreed, wincing as John pushed down on his head. "That's part of the reason I came here, actually. I remembered that Angelica studied some kind of science in college," he said, looking up at the woman in question. "I was hoping you'd be able to help figure it out."
Angelica gave him a weird look. "That was political science, I don't think it would help in this situation." Peggy let out a laugh as Aaron flushed.
George took pity on the other man and came to his rescue. "Well, we didn't know anyone else who lived nearby, and you might know others who could help us."
"Actually, I think I might know someone," Peggy interjected thoughtfully. Then, with more confidence, she repeated, "Yep. I know someone." She pulled her phone out of the pocket on her hoodie and began tapping. A few moments later, she put it back in the pocket. "She'll help you."
"Okay," Aaron said, still grateful for the save from his moment of embarrassment. He handed the device over to her, only slightly wondering if it was a smart idea. "Do we get a name?"
The device joined Peggy's phone in her pocket. "Just call her 'the Helpful Friend'," she said, not without a hint of a smirk. "And they stay here until they get back to normal," she added, pointing to the babies. Lafayette pointed back with a wide smile, exposing his few teeth in the front of his mouth.
"We don't want to impose," George protested somewhat half-heartedly. He was hoping they would insist, he did not want to have to drive them back to New York City as children. At least they would stay seated as adults.
"Please," Angelica scoffed. "You need somewhere to stay near here until the Helpful Friend fixes the device. We need something interesting to do. Anyways, Eliza used to babysit young children, she probably knows what to do." Eliza nodded, and Aaron had a thought.
"Do you know how old they are?" he questioned. Eliza stood up and walked over to the couch the babies were on. Lafayette squealed and lifted his arms up towards her, so she picked him him, smiling.
After a few minutes of Eliza inspecting Lafayette and Lafayette staring deep into Eliza's soul, Eliza had an answer. "He seems to be around eleven months old," she told the others as she held Lafayette against her hip. Peggy held out her arms, not unlike the way Lafayette had before, and Eliza handed him to her before picking up a protesting Hercules.
"I take it he's a bit of a troublemaker?" Eliza asked as she looked over Hercules. Aaron nodded, thinking back over the events since the Incident. "Have you been making life hard for Burr?" Eliza cooed at the baby in her arms. Hercules only continued to squirm. "I'll take that as a yes," she laughed to herself. To the group, she added, "He looks about thirteen months." She gave him back to George and picked up James next.
Thomas watched James carefully the whole time, but James seemed happy enough. He gurgled in Eliza's arms and waved his tiny hands in the air until Eliza finally announced that he was seven months old. He was promptly returned to the couch where he cuddled up next to Thomas.
Peggy climbed off her loveseat and knelt in front of them. She pulled her phone out and snapped a picture of the two before moving back to her original position. Angelica gave her a funny look.
"What?" she defended herself. "They're adorable. And when they get back to normal, they're gonna love my pictures"
Aaron wasn't so sure about that, but he kept his mouth shut.
While this was happening, Eliza had determined that John was close to ten months. Now she was holding Alexander, who was playing with her hair. "I think he's seventeen months," she said, gently pulling her hair out of his fist and setting him on the ground. He sat down in the center of the room.
Eliza picked up Thomas next, who let out a squawk of protest at being moved from James's side. He glared at her until she reported that he was close to fifteen months and placed him back down. James leaned his head against Thomas's poofy hair, and Thomas's expression visibly softened. Peggy not-so-discreetly snapped another picture.
"If they're going to be staying here, they're going to need supplies," Angelica reminded them. Peggy jumped up, causing Lafayette to let out a startled sound.
"Eliza and I can go, then stop at the Helpful Friend's place," she suggested.
"You're going to have to tell me who she is to do that," Eliza said, raising an eyebrow.
Peggy shrugged. "I don't care if you know. It's Burr who can't know." She made a face at Aaron. He rolled his eyes at her.
"Do you want to go now?" Eliza asked Peggy.
"Yes!" the youngest sister responded immediately. "Lemme get changed first." She set Lafayette down on the couch and dashed upstairs.
While they were waiting, John managed to carefully climb down the couch, crawl across the room, and pull himself into a standing position in front of Lafayette. The two babies babbled happily at each other.
Peggy rushed down the stairs, now wearing a yellow blouse and short jeans with a pair of sunglasses resting on the top of her head. "Can we please take a few of the babies?" she begged Eliza.
"I don't know." Eliza turned to Aaron and George. "Can we?"
The two men exchanged a glance. "I don't know if that's a good idea," Aaron began. "James would probably be the best behaved, but I doubt you would be able to bring him without Thomas."
George broke in. "Lafayette's been pretty well behaved, he might be a good choice." Lafayette looked up at the sound of his name.
Peggy cheered and picked the baby up. She spun around, holding him out in front of her, and he squealed excitedly. John made a noise of indignation.
Eliza noticed this and picked him up. "Should we bring you too?" she asked him. John waved his arms around and made a gurgling noise.
"Alexander and John seem to have attachment issues," Aaron told her. "It might not be the best idea to separate them."
"It won't be for long," Peggy argued, bopping John on the nose. John laughed so hard he fell against Eliza and reached out to grab Peggy's nose.
"Okay," George agreed somewhat reluctantly, hoping he would not have to deal with a screaming Alexander again. "Just go as fast as you can."
"We'll be back before you know we're gone," Eliza assured him. Peggy waved at Angelica, Aaron, George and the four remaining babies, and Lafayette copied her, though his waving was much clumsier. Eliza grabbed a bag, and the two younger Schuyler sisters left the house with John and Lafayette.
Alexander watched them go, and once the door closed, he let out a small whimper. Then, looking around, he noticed Thomas and James sitting peacefully on the couch.
Aaron sighed, wondering for what felt like the millionth time why the universe seemed to hate him so much.
