My god, you're beautiful.
Those were the first words I thought of when I awoke to Alex snuggled into my neck. He was breathing evenly, his nostrils vaguely flaring when he exhaled. I studied his face for a moment; noting the freckles lined up above his right eyebrow. Trailing down his face, I noticed he had another two dotting his right nostril. We had gone to bed wrapped around each other; like a baby hugging its mother. You know, since Alex is so much shorter than me.
"I'm only a few inches shorter…" Alex mumbled, startling me. I hadn't realized I said that out loud, and couldn't stop the blush rising on my cheeks. I pulled back a little, to see his face. His warm breath heated my neck, tickling my skin. He seemed to notice my blush, and tilted his head up…
And kissed my jawline.
A small peck, at first, but then he started peppering. A kiss here, a kiss there, and suddenly my entire face was being assaulted with love. I giggled, placing my hands on his chest and slowly pushing. He looked at me with his big brown puppy-dog eyes, the same ones that he showed when Eliza needed comfort.
"You're adorable." I uttered, raising my fingers to his face. I traced the edge of his cheek with my thumb, relishing the warmth radiating from him. I leaned over, planting a soft kiss on his forehead.
He slowly exhaled, pressing his head gently against mine. "I could get used to this, you know."
I nodded, basking in the comfortable heat surrounding us.
"We should get up, Alex." I reluctantly mentioned, backing up the slightest. "Hercules probably wants to get a head start on the plan."
"Yeah, but I'm so comfy…" He whined, snuggling deeper in to my chest. I cleared my throat, before gradually untangling myself from his limbs. "Joooohn."
"Alexander what-ever-your-middle-name-is Hamilton, up." I commanded, dragging the comforter off him as I clambered out of bed. "Now."
"Fine." He relented, crawling towards the opposite side of the bed. He stood on uneven ground, wavering for a moment before plopping back down. "Oh, god, I'm so tired."
I laughed, pulling a clean shirt on. "Fine, I'll give you five minutes. Then you must get up, okay?"
"Deal!" He grinned, flopping onto his back and dramatically sighing. As he dozed off, I changed from my pajama bottoms to my tan breeches. Checking to make sure I was presentable, I headed for the door.
"Don't forget our deal, Alex." I whispered to the softly snoring man. A tiny mumble let me know he had heard my reminder.
I walked down the hallway, pausing at Eliza's door. Muffled voices emerged from the cracks, and I listened for a moment. Smiling at the two voices telling each other that they loved them immensely, I continued down the stairs.
I meandered in to the kitchen, planning on making some oatmeal.
"Darling, you can't cook for shit." A gravelly voice announced, causing me to whip around. Alexander stood there, a blanket wrapped around his shoulders and creating a cape of sorts.
"Alexander, you sound like awful." I raised my brow, looking him up and down. He looked like a man-child, dressed like some outlandish pirate.
"Get used to it, this is how I always sound in the morning." He smirked, kissing my cheek as he sashayed past. "I'll make us some food, don't worry about it."
After breakfast, Hercules and Eliza joined us in the parlor to formulate a plan. They sat next to each other on the sofa, while Alex and I chose to stand. Well, I chose to stand, Alex was mostly pacing the room.
"I tried to read up on how to legally kill someone for revenge." He began, rubbing his chin. "I couldn't find a single damn thing."
"Alexander, you don't look up how to legally kill someone." Hercules laughed. "You just annoy them to no end with words. Like you do."
Alexander scoffed, causing Herc and I to chuckle at his affronted look. Eliza let out a small giggle before raising her hand.
"Gentlemen, let's be serious." Her voice caused the teasing to cease, as she continued. "We, of course, cannot legally kill someone. We can, however, secretly threaten and maim someone. Remember yesterday, Alexander, when you said we needed to launch a secret investigation? You're right. I've already thought the first part out, we just need to go to Ireland to for it to play out. We'll go to Hugh's home first, we have to see if the assailant left anything behind— "
"Okay." The three of us muttered, going over it in our heads as she spoke.
"-Then we'll ask around, discretely, if anybody's been hanging around Hugh's shop or home. If this person, or these people, wanted trouble, then they would've gone public and tried to out Hugh to the other side." She finished, nodding to herself.
"That sounds good, Eliza." I told her, nodding along with her. "But what will we do when we find him, or them? Just… beat the living shit out of 'em?"
She grimaced at my choice of words, and I shot her an apologetic smile. "Yes, John, we will beat the living shit out of them, as you so eloquently put."
"Darling, that sounds like a wonderful plan." Hercules commented, his eyes shimmering at her swearing. "But what if they're not the type we want to get messed up with?"
"What do you mean?" Alex piped up, looking inquiringly at Hercules. "Not the type…like, kids?"
"Well, maybe." He agreed, scratching the nape of his neck. "What if Hugh was, perhaps… an accident? What if someone was going after somebody working with Hugh and they got my brother by accident?"
"Accident?" Alex scoffed, halting his pacing to look at Hercules. "Yeah, Herc, they 'accidentally' shot him. They 'accidentally' left him to die in a pool of his own fucking blood."
"Alexander." Eliza cautioned.
"They 'accidentally' took important papers that showed some of our secret bases!" Alexander barked, stepping closer to Hercules with every word he spat.
"Alexander." Eliza warned, rising from her place on the sofa. "That's enough."
"Apparently not, Elizabeth! It wasn't enough when they murdered some poor kid who was in the wrong place at the wrong time! It wasn't enough that he was just a messenger for revolutionaries, yet they killed him to make a goddamn point!" Alexander roared, challenging Eliza. Hercules quickly rose, standing himself next to Eliza, and his eyes met mine. No, I shook my head slowly, let them be, it'll be fine.
Alexander stood in front of her, his nostrils flaring and ragged breaths coming from his parted lips. She stood straight and raised her chin in defiance, staring right into his stormy eyes. Her eyes narrowed, and her small hands clenched into fists at her sides.
"Do not challenge me, Alexander Hamilton." She gritted out, putting an arm out between Hercules and Alex. He glanced at Hercules, who had crossed his arms and was now glaring at him, and heavily sighed.
"Fine, whatever." He grumbled, turning and trudging towards the large armchair across from the sofa. He plopped down with a grimace stuck on his face, and pinched the bridge of his nose.
I exhaled, blinking my eyes shut for a moment. I could hear Alexander's labored breaths, and Eliza's teeth grinding from across the room.
"…Okay," My voice cut through the tension layered in the air. "I think Herc's right, we need to know what to do if we find out it was an accident, like he said, it could've been some kids messing around."
Alexander scoffed, eliciting a glare from both me and Eliza. Which he, of course, promptly ignored. "John, that's ridiculous and you know it."
"No, Alex, I don't know." I sighed, pressing a certain finger to my pounding temple. His eyes widened at my gesture, and he began to study the floor. "All I know is that we need to find who did this."
"I just… I can't help but think of the worst possible outcomes to this mission." He confessed, propping his elbows on top of his knees. He looked like a small child bored in a lesson, leaning on the palms of his hands with a pout.
"None of us can, Alexander." Hercules added, interlocking one of his calloused hands with Eliza's smooth fingers. They both slightly blushed at the familiar action, glancing at each other with small grins.
"I know it doesn't seem like we can do this safely." Eliza quietly remarked. "But we need to take a risk. We need to go to Ireland and we need to find whoever, be it a child or an adult, harmed one of our own and we need to show them the consequences of their actions."
We all nodded in agreement, our minds going to work on how we can execute this plan.
The Crosskeys Inn, Antrim, Ireland
"Seamus, you moron."
"Well, what the hell did you want me to do, Eamon?" A gangly boy, no older than seventeen, retorted. "Slap a bloody bandage on 'im and pray to the lord that 'e lives?"
The other man, a stout ginger, grimaced across the table. His features were partially hidden by the shadows created by the oil-lamp to his left, hiding the gnarled skin on his right cheek. Seamus had only seen his entire face once, but once was enough for a lifetime. Whispers traveled through the towns between Antrim and Coleraine, whispers of arson and a man stealing away into the night with a barrel's worth of euros. Seamus wanted to know if the tales were true, and that's how he ended up an hour away from his cottage in Coleraine, sitting in a pub with a prat of a fugitive.
"No, you bloody sprog." Eamon growled, gripping his glass of whiskey. He took a swig, wiping his face with the back of his hand, and continued. "You could've just gone a tad easier on the man, instead of mucking it all up like a damn stook."
"What do you know, old man?" Seamus countered, bringing his own drink to his lips for a sip. He slammed it down onto the table surface with a grotty grin. "You're bloody legless, that's what you are, don't even know what you're talking about."
Eamon's eyes darkened, and he downed the rest of his booze in a swift move. He stood, wavering next to the table for a moment.
"Get stuffed." He sneered, turning on his unsteady heel and leaving.
Seamus sat still for a moment, his eyes blazing at the closed door Eamon had slammed shut.
Bloody eejit was in such a drunken stupor, didn't even ask what I got from the lad's house.
Seamus smirked, taking a final sip of his whiskey.
His loss.
A/N: WOOHOO CHAPTER 8! Finally, I've finished this one, that took forever XD Thank you, dear readers, for reviewing and telling me your thoughts on what should go down or if I'm doing something horribly wrong. You guys have honestly brought my muse back, I'm going to try and update this bi-weekly from now on. A few reviewers told me I need to plan it out more, and that would help with writing the chapters, since I'd know where I was trying to go. Well, thank you, folks, it DID help and I have a rough outline for this story THANK GOODNESS. Also, I'm Irish/Scottish and ,growing up, I heard Scottish and Irish slang from my mother who grew up in Scotland and occasionally visited Ireland. I've always wanted to write Irish characters, and I hope I did well with our two mystery characters! I think I kinda merged Scottish/Irish slang (and maybe British but sshhh who has to know), so I apologize for that. If you have any slang that you'd like to see in the next chapter, slap that sucker in your review and I'll try my best to use it! (Damn this is a long AN note, sorry, I'll go now)
Anyways, let me know what you thought of this chapter with a review! What do you think the gang will get up to in Ireland? Who were the two mysterious Irishmen in the pub?