One would argue that one of Alexander Hamilton's keys to success is his voice. One could argue, as Aaron Burr has on more than one occasion, that if Alexander would just shut up and observe a little, he might get a little farther. Not that that's surprising, since Aaron prides himself on his ability to observe the world around him.
That's why it's so surprising that he's having to do the talking for both of them. It's a role he's not familiar with, but if he wants Harvey to get acquitted on this murder trial, he'll have to try. But the painful rattling coughs from his co-counsel is making it hard to focus.
Aaron's never been so relieved for a recess to be called. He grabs Alex by the arm and begins dragging him outside into the humid July air. Alex leans against the wall, coughing.
"Are you alright, Alexander?" Aaron frowns at his compatriot and friend.
"Aaron Burr, sir. I'm fine." Alex rasps out. Only to immediately be proven a liar by the coughing fit he has next, which leaves him doubled over and wheezing. Aaron steps in to put a hand on Alex's back as the coughing fit slowly subsides.
"You're sick." He helps Alex stand and presses a hand to his forehead. "Very sick. Go home, Alex."
"I'm fine." Alex tries to argue.
"You're slurring your words. You can barely talk. You're wheezing. You have a fever. Need I go on?" Aaron grits his teeth together. Why does Alex always have to be so damn stubborn?
"Important... trial." Alex's voice, if possible, sounds even worse than it did a few seconds earlier.
"I'll ask for a postponement. Stay here, don't move." Aaron places a hand on Alex's back, guiding his stumbling form over to a bench. "I'm serious, Hamilton, don't move."
"Okay." Alex slumps down on the bench, his gaze growing unfocused. Aaron bites his lip, watching his friend struggle. Should he really be leaving Alex alone like this?
He squeezes Alex's shoulder and takes off at a jog back to the court room. Judge Hansen looks up from where he's resorting parchment.
"Mr. Burr. What can I do for you?" Aaron spares a small sigh of relief that Hansen didn't use the obvious Burr-Sir rhyme. Oddly, the only person he tolerates it from is Alexander.
"I came to request an emergency postponement. My co-counsel has taken ill and his family is out of town. I will need to get him home."
"Of course, Burr Sir." Damn; he didn't get away from that stupid rhyme after all. Still, Burr forces a smile and a nod of thanks before heading back outside.
Alex is exactly where Aaron left him. Aaron should feel relieved; he didn't have to try to find the workaholic. Instead, he's hit with a massive sense of wrongness; Alex shouldn't ever be sitting this still. Even when sitting, Alex is always tapping his foot or his fingers or his quill. It drives Burr crazy; you have no idea how hard it is to focus when someone is tapping his quill on the desk next to yours.
"Alex?" Aaron presses his hand against Alex's forehead, only to yank it back a millisecond later. Good Lord, Alex is burning up.
Aaron grabs Alex's elbow, and leads him through the streets of Albany. Alex stumbles along, barely keeping his footing, with Aaron having to occasionally catch him before he fell on the uneven sidewalk.
"Almost there, Alex." Aaron hauls Alex's arm up around his shoulders and starts up to his door. He unlocks it and ushers his sick friend up the stairs to his spare bedroom. With a light shove, Alex falls onto the bed and Aaron begins the process of removing Alex's boots.
"Aaron Burr, sir?" Alex's voice is so incredibly raspy that it hardly goes above a whisper.
"Alexander, stop talking." Aaron presses his hand against Alex's forehead again. "We've got to get this fever down."
"To be sure, Burr sir." Alex's lips quirk up in the corners.
"That rhyme is so obvious." Aaron doesn't really mind; it is a name of affection from his first friend, but he has a reputation to protect, dammit.
"You cannot deny that the fun of rhyme is pure, Burr."
"That was worse. You're delirious." Aaron tries to bite back his smile.
"There are so many rhymes with Burr that occur, sir."
"That's a little better." Aaron dips a cloth into a basin of cool water and presses it to Alex's forehead. "Now stop talking and rest."
"Maybe rhyming will be the cure, Sir." Alex tries again.
"I doubt it." Aaron fills a glass with water and guides it to Alex's lips. "Now, drink this and then get some sleep."
The next few days a bit of a blur for Burr. Great, now he's doing the rhyming thing, too. Alex's fever bounces around, spiking and falling erratically. The harsh gasping coughs still shake his whole frame. Aaron is spending what would have been his downtime tending to his sick friend.
It takes a full week for Alex to improve enough that Burr feels safe sending him home alone. It takes two weeks for Burr to let Hamilton continue working on the Harvey trial. Burr has never been more relieved to hear the insistent tap-tap-tapping of Alexander's quill on the desk next to his. It was way too quiet when Alex was sick.
A/n: I loved the idea of a delirious with fever Alex throwing around rhymes at Burr.