After their late-night stable chat, Eliza became Mulligan's go to guy. Whenever he needed an extra pair of hands he called upon Eliza. Usually this was just getting her to help him collect the equipment for whatever training activity they were doing that day, but it was still nice to know that Mulligan valued her.

One day, after shooting practise, instead of dismissing all the recruits, Mulligan kept them all lined up and walked out in front of them, "I'm sure you'll all be pleased to hear that this is your last day of training,"

There was an excited murmur among the recruits at this announcement, however, everyone quickly fell silent again when Mulligan glared at them, "Tomorrow morning you will all receive new postings from your new commanders. The postings will be coming directly from General Washington, who will be arriving in camp this evening,"

A murmur once again rose from the crowd; however, this time Mulligan's glare did nothing to quiet them, "Until then," Mulligan shouted above the noise, causing everyone to finally shut up, "You are dismissed."

As the crowd dispersed Eliza walked over to Mulligan and started helping collect up all the guns.

"You don't have to help, Schuyler," Mulligan said, "You should go and join the others; celebrate your last night as a cadet,"

Eliza shrugged, "I don't mind helping you,"

Mulligan smiled at her, "I am going to miss you when you get assigned somewhere else."

Eliza smiled in return at Mulligan, "Thank you sir," she said as she passed him the last of the guns.

-x-

That afternoon the cadets threw a large party in camp. Eliza stood awkwardly by herself at the edge, not quite knowing what to do.

Just as the party was starting to wind-down everything suddenly fell quiet. Eliza took a step out of her corner and looked around to see the crowd of cadets parting and General Washington riding into camp. He was accompanied by six other men. One of the men caught Eliza's eye, he had dark hair, tied up in a ponytail and he was chatting animatedly to the man on the horse next to him. Eliza couldn't quite put her finger on what it was about the man, but she couldn't take her eyes off him.

Mulligan pushed his way to the front of the crowd and stood in front of the General. "Sir," Mulligan saluted.

The General nodded at him, "I trust you have a report ready for me,"

"Yes sir,"

"Excellent, you can deliver it to my tent."

The moment the General and his party were out of sight the party started up again. This time though, instead of standing awkwardly in the corner, Eliza just kept thinking about the man with the General. Who was he? Why couldn't she get him out of her head. She didn't know how long she stood there but she was drawn from her thoughts by somebody tapping her shoulder,

"Elijah Schuyler?"

"Yes?"

"General Washington would like to see you,"

Eliza's eyes widened in shock. What could the General possibly want with her? She nodded slightly at the man as butterflies exploded into her stomach, and she followed him to the General's tent.

Eliza entered the tent to see General Washington sat at a desk with Mulligan standing to his left and a man she didn't know standing to his right.

"Elijah Schuyler, sir," the messenger announced before turning around and leaving.

"General Washington, sir," Eliza stuttered, "You asked to see me, sir," Eliza hastily saluted at the General, who smiled kindly at her,

"At ease solider,"

Eliza relaxed slightly but it didn't ease her nerves,

"I'm sure you're wondering why I've called you here,"

"Yes sir,"

"While I'm here I need another aid and Lieutenant Mulligan has put your name forward,"

Eliza turned to look at Mulligan with wide eyes, "Thank you sir," she said to him before she turned back to the General, "Thank you, sir," she said again, "I would be honoured, your excellency, sir,"

The General nodded at her, "Report here tomorrow morning and Hamilton and Laurens will show you around,"

"Thank you, sir,"

"Mulligan, please show Schuyler out, Lafayette and I need to go over the new positions."

"Thank you, sir," Eliza said once more, the moment they left the tent.

Mulligan smiled at her, "You're very welcome, Schuyler, and I'm not your commanding officer anymore so you don't have to call me sir now, in fact, now you're Washington's aide you out rank me,"

"That's a very weird thought,"

"Don't worry, you'll be excellent,"

"Thank you, sir. Mulligan. Sir," Eliza frowned. Mulligan smiled at her, "I'll see you tomorrow, Schuyler,"

"Good night, sir."

-x-

The next morning, Eliza hurried through the crowds of recruits getting their postings, as she made her way to Washington's tent. She hurried inside, worrying that she was late, however, once she entered the tent, she found there were only two men in there. Eliza blushed slightly as she realised that one of the men was the man she'd been enraptured by the night before.

"Hi, you must be Elijah Schuyler," the other man said, offering his hand. Eliza recognised him as the guy the first man had been talking to the when they arrived. Eliza took the man's hand and shook it,

"I'm John Laurens and this is Alexander Hamilton,"

The other man raised his hand and smiled at Eliza, "Hi,"

"Hi,"

Hamilton offered Eliza his hand, "Alexander Hamilton,"

"Elijah Schuyler,"

"It's a pleasure to meet you,"

"You too,"

Laurens let out a loud cough, making Eliza jump slightly, "If you're quite finished," he said to Hamilton, who rolled his eyes,

"I was just introducing myself,"

"I'm sure,"

Hamilton smiled at Eliza, "Come on, we'll show you around."

Hamilton led Eliza across the tent to a section of desks, "This is my desk," he said, indicating to the messiest desk. They may have only arrived the day before, but Hamilton had already managed to accumulate several stacks of paper, "Then this one can be yours," he said, pointing to the one next to his,

"Whose are the other desks?"

"This one is my desk," Lauren's said, patting the one behind Hamilton's, "And the one over there's Washington's,"

Eliza leaned gingerly on the edge of her desk, "And what exactly do we do as the General's aides?"

"Whatever he needs really," Lauren's replied, "There's a lot of writing to Congress, trying to get supplies, trying to gain support. There's also some allocation of supplies and troops and occasionally there's some delivery work if Washington has something important that needs sending,"

"That's…"

"A lot?" Lauren's grinned, "Don't worry about it, you'll pick it up quick enough, and if you ever get stuck, I'm sure Alex will be more than willing to help you,"

Hamilton had gone back to rummaging through the papers on his desk, however he looked up at the sound of his name. He grinned at Eliza, "Oh I'd be delighted to help you Elijah,"

Eliza smiled at him, "Thank you." She looked around at the mess on his desk, "How do you have so much work already?"

"Oh, I didn't sleep last night," Hamilton said dismissively,

"Alexander!" Laurens chastised,

"What? We were on the road most of yesterday, so I didn't get anything done,"

"So, you decided to work through the night?" Eliza asked in confusion,

"Naturally,"

Laurens rolled his eyes, "You'll get used to Hamilton's horrifying work habits," he said, "If you come over here, I'll show you what I'm working on."

For the rest of the day Laurens gave Eliza a complete run down of his work with Hamilton chiming in when he had something to add. Eventually, John stretched and stood up, "I'm hungry. Do you want to join us for dinner, Schuyler?"

"Us?"

"Me, Herc and Laf," Laurens turned to Hamilton, "I assume you're not coming?"

Hamilton looked up from his work, "What? No, I need to get this finished,"

Laurens turned back to Eliza, "He never comes to dinner. He'll stay here until Washington kicks him out tonight. So, are you coming?"

Eliza nodded, "I'd love to," she said and followed Laurens out of the tent.

Mulligan and the other man who'd been in Washington's tent the night before – Lafayette – were both already at the table when Eliza and Laurens approached. Mulligan smiled at Eliza as the two of them sat down, "How's your first day been?"

"It's been good, a little bit overwhelming. Laurens has very kindly been showing me what he does,"

"What did you make of our Alexander?" Lafayette asked in a thick French accent,

"He's very charming," Eliza said with a slight blush,

Mulligan let out a snort, which he tried to muffle, "That's one word for it,"

"You just say that because you haven't tried arguing with him yet," Laurens said,

"You managed to spend an entire day with him and not get into an argument‽ My, you are impressive," Lafayette mused.

Eliza smiled shyly, not quite knowing what to say to that, thankfully, Laurens came to her rescue,

"How have your two's days been?"

Lafayette and Mulligan both groaned loudly, "Absolutely terrible," Lafayette cried,

"They just don't seem to understand that I don't want to hear their complaints about their postings," Mulligan exclaimed, "Ugh, I'll be glad to get rid of all these new recruits. No offense Schuyler,"

"None taken. Besides, you've not gotten rid of me,"

Mulligan smiled at her, "I don't mind you still being around, it gives me someone to gossip about these guys to,"

"You do not!" Laurens cried,

Mulligan grinned at him, "What do you think me and Laf do while you and Alex are working stupid hours?"

Laurens scowled at the two of them,

"It's most fun," Lafayette agreed, "John and Alex are not the only topic of conversation, but they come up more than most,"

Eliza smiled at the two of them, "I look forward to joining you,"

Laurens threw his arms up, "I need to persuade Alex to join us, I need somebody to back me up here,"

"I promise we only talk about the good things," Lafayette teased. Laurens pouted and the others laughed. Eliza smiled to herself, this was the closest Valley Forge had felt to home since she'd arrived.