Mr Jefferson is Coming Home (Jamilton)

Chapter 22

A/N:

Please don't hate me, I'm so sorry they broke up, the reason will eventually come clearer in this chapter and the next one ;-;
I too love them better when they cuddle, but right now they need to work their shit out and it'll get a bit sad, but good things come to those who wait!

Love you guys, thanks for your support <3

***

Alexander entered Jefferson's house from the back door with the keys Thomas had given him some months before and called him out loud to announce his presence. Jefferson hadn't been at work that day and even Madison hadn't heard from him; Alexander had decided to stop by before going home, just in case he needed anything.

"Jefferson," he called again, "I know you're scared of losing again against me, but you'll have to come back to work eventually."

No one answered, so he went to check in the library. Thomas had fallen asleep on the couch, he was dressed as if he'd been ready to go out but had suddenly changed his mind; a three-page-long letter was lying on the floor, right next to his relaxed hand that was swinging loosely from the side of the couch. Alexander smiled at the sight. He was silently tiptoing closer to wake him up, when he noticed the letter's signature: it was Adrienne de La Fayette's, the Marquis's wife. Perhaps it was his sixth sense that alerted him that something wasn't right, or maybe it was the shivering that went through his spine at the sight of the name, but he found himself reading the letter without even asking Thomas for permission to go through his private mail.

"Holy shit!" He read quickly, even though the handwriting was blurred, as if someone had poured water on it on it – or were they tears?

"Alexander?" Thomas's sleepy voice distracted him from the letter. "What are you doing?"

Thomas's eyes were red and puffed, his face was tired and afflicted. Alexander immediately moved closer to him and took his hand, scanning his face with a concerned look.

"I came here to check on you, since you weren't at work," he explained, "and then I found this."

Thomas looked at the letter with a dreaded stare, his mouth opened but he couldn't talk and his eyes filled with tears again. He lowered his head and started crying again, confirming Alexander's fears.

"Is he – dead?" Alex asked in a cracked voice, too afraid to find the answer into the letter to go on reading it.

"No," Thomas sobbed. "He tried to flee to come here, but he'd been captured. He's in prison in Westphalia, Prussia."

Alexander knew that could have happened; in his last letter he'd recommended Lafayette to be careful, listing several aspects that worried him about his friend's position as the Head of the Guard, leading the French revolution.

"We have to do something to help him." Thomas looked up at him. "His wife and children risk to meet the guillotine, we need to protect them."

"I'll do whatever is in my power to help you, Thomas," Alexander said, a worried note in his voice. "Lafayette is like a brother to me, we'll help him."

[Lafayette's imprisonment, August 1792]

***

"The issue on the table: France is on the verge of war with England. Do we provide aid and troops to our French allies or do we stay out of it?" George Washington introduced the problem to the Cabinet members before leaving the word to Thomas.