Hamilton Spy AU

Tae Talks

"John. John, wake up man. We gotta go," I woke up groggily, but perfectly on time. It was 4:45 am, and we were currently sleeping in the library like usual. The library opened at 8:00, but we had other places to be before the city woke up.
“Go back to sleep, Tae,” John groaned, yet still getting up.
John's father had disowned him over an ugly dispute when he was about 11, I was around nine. My mother had just passed away and my father was arrested for poisoning her. Stupid doctors didn't notice until the otopsy. I was an only child, while he had several siblings. We ran away to my Aunt's in downtown New York. Not New York City, but as close as I ever wanted to be to that place. John was my best friend, and we were almost family. We were brilliant kids, just no way to channel that brilliance.
We went about our morning routine as we used the library restrooms to get ready for the day. I put on a dark purple tank with my sweatshirt and black leggings, and decided to braid my hair today. When I came out John was packed and we snuck over to the McDonald's across from the library. We both had 5:15 shifts at our workplace. We made just enough to get through. It had been a full six years since we left South Carolina. My aunt passed away 5 years after we moved in, so now we basically live at the restaurant, working all day and late into the night, wherever we're eating, or the library. We were pretty good at staying low, and we made just barely enough get by, but as long as I had my brother, I would be okay.
We made our way through the morning, working at a French Restaurant until late in the evening. A group of 4 walked in that evening and I immediately noticed their hushed and secretive tone. Not just the way they talked, but their body language.  I noticed a small mic or some other communication device in one of the girls ears when I watched her pretend to fiddle with her earring. I got John's attention and nodded my head. Then I put on my waitress face and walked up to their table. Speaking fluent french to the group, they all seemed to understand and then I realized the lady with the com device must be receiving messages and I needed to find out what was going on, because there was something special about this group. It looked like two couples, one of them American and the other were clearly from France. Everything about them screamed France.
"So tell me where y'all are from? Our tourists always have awesome stories," I asked, after a small introduction on me. The french couple spoke up immediately.
"My name is Gilbert du Mortier, Marquis de Lafayette. And this is my wife, Adrienne. We are from France so I dragged them here tonight," the male said, in a thick french accent. The woman leaned over and snuggled next to her husband in her booth.
"Ah, I have always wished to visit France," I replied, then the other couple spoke.
"I am Alexander Hamilton, and this is my wife, Eliza. I am an immigrant from somewhere south, but she's from New York,"
"Very nice. You people seem lovely. I'll be back with some drinks in a minute and then I will take your order. If you need anything, let me know," I knew the group couldn't have been too much older than John and me. I noticed Eliza's hoop earring was "stuck" in her hair and offered to help. She hesitantly obliged, and I snatched the device in helping her. Then I quickly exited  and put the device in my ear. About five minutes later, someone started talking to someone.
“Agent 07, how’s it going so far? Any sights of the subject?” the voice said. So they were looking for someone. Apparently in the restaurant.
"Agent 07, come back," it said again. I listened and ignored it.
"Agent 07, are you there?" I kept listening intently while silently filling up glasses with water and our best wines. They seemed like a moscato group.
"Agents 08 and 09, come back, are you there?" The voice asked.
"Agent 08, present,"
"Agent 09, present," two voices said.
"Where is Agent 07?"
“What do you mean? She’s right here, been here the whole time,” presumably Agent 08 said.
“Is her com broken?”
“Oh crap. It’s gone,”
“Find it. Now. We can’t just LOSE stuff like that,” the irritated voice said. Just then I noticed one of the men from the group- Alexander, I think- excuse himself to the bathroom. I dropped off the drinks. I grabbed John to the side as soon as I got back to the kitchen.
“John, I need you to follow someone into the restrooms,” I said, then I realized how weird that sounded. He scrunched up his face in disgust.
“Do you know how weird that is?” he responded.
“Yes, but he’s with a group of people who are up to something. I may or may not have stolen a com device and eavesdropped. You’ll see what I mean if you go check it out,” I urged. He rolled his eyes and muttered, “crazy little sis” as he headed towards the bathrooms. I walked back to the group and they seemed a bit anxious.
“Can I get y’all anything else?” I asked, and Mr. and Mrs. De Lafayette looked confused. I face palmed in my mind.
“Sorry, I’m from way down South. Je vous ai quelque chose les gars?” They looked pleased to hear their own language spoken.
“I think we’re good, but thank you,” Eliza said sweetly. I nodded and made my way back to the kitchen, when I heard a crash in the restrooms. I made sure no one was looking then slipped in to see what was going on. John was laying on the floor and Alexander was working on some holographic apple watch sort of thing.
“John, John, come on get up,” I said, trying to help him as he sat up. Alexander whirled around, and I stood at his equal height, since I had heels on.
“You guys just can’t stay out of other people’s business can you?” he said angrily.
“As an employee in this joint, it's my job to help ensure the safety of our customers and staff. When I heard a crash, I assumed someone was hurt and came to offer my assistance,” I replied sweetly. He looked at me with disbelieving eyes, and I shrugged. “I had also sent my brother in here after you, Agent 08,” he looked surprised.
“You stole my wife’s property. That is punishable by sentence to a trial,” he fought back.
“Again, I knew something was up, and it’s my job to ensure safety in this restaurant. Keep quiet about this and we won’t have issues,”
“Who do you think you’re talking to?” he spat.
“A sketchy married man with high tech in my workplace,”
“I really don’t wanna have to hurt you,” he warned.
“That’s nice,” I said, and flashed my leg out, landing my heel just above his kneecap. Then I swiftly exited and returned to work, John following a couple of minutes later. Gilbert, I think- I’m not sure what to call him, he had a lot of names- went in to check on Alexander. I went back to the table, bringing some appetizer bread with me, and a note. It read: The man you’re looking for is at table seven, seat nearest to the exit. I nodded to the ladies as their husbands returned, a scowl of their faces. Alexander looked at me wearily.
“Hi babe,” Alexander said, wrapping an arm around her and kissing her temple. I left the table after taking their orders, then watched from the kitchen as they read the note. Eliza looked alarmed. Eliza went to the restroom and I followed her.
“Ma’am, can I help you?” I asked.
“Cut the act, who are you?” she said.
“A 16-year-old from South Carolina who knows that y’all are into something and I want to help. There’s a man in my restaurant that I want gone and I’m poor so I haven’t got much to lose.” I folded my arms over my chest.
“Really? You want to help? I thought that you were an ally to the guy we’re trying to find,” she frowned, confused.
“My brother and I, we’ve been on our own since I was 10. We sleep at the library after hours and work here. What have we got to lose? My mom is dead, dad’s behind bars, and he was legally disowned-” my voice caught in my throat. I hadn’t meant to tell her everything. She looked at me sympathetically.
“I’m so sorry. I know I’m not supposed to tell people anything on the job, but if you could help us, we’d be incredibly grateful. Do you have any other family members?” she asked.
“I used to have an aunt… Natasha. I haven't seen her since I was five. But the man you’re looking for is in the green plaid button down and khakis at table seven. I have been watching him all night and I certainly don’t trust him,”
“Thank you very much. We just need a distraction now,” she thought out loud.
“I could call a fire in the kitchen. I’d most certainly get fired. But I’m willing,” she nodded and agreed, and we walked out. I went to find John.
“John, I need your help again,” I pulled him aside. He frowned, disapprovingly.
“I’m not following anyone into the bathroom,” he said, rubbing his head.
“Nope. I need you to start a fire in the kitchen,” he looked at me like I was crazy.
“We’ll lose our jobs,”
“I know, but I talked to one of the customers and she needs our help catching a federal level criminal. I’ll explain everything later,” he sighed.
“Okay. Let’s go get fired,” I giggled at the irony.
    Once we got back to the stove, he put a paper under the skillet and it caught on fire soon thereafter. I ran out and yelled “FIRE!” and watched as he struggled to put it out and watched everyone flee. Apparently, the manager was ill and not there tonight. I grabbed John after it was just smoke and ran outside to where Eliza said to meet her. Alexander was cuffing the green shirted guy with an angry scowl. Eliza went over and rubbed his back, whispering into his ear. I wondered what happened. Sitting on the bench, laughing and having fun, was the french couple. They looked so happy, yet the Hamilton's looked sullen. I decided to walk over and see if they were okay.
"How are y'all doing?" I said, my tired, southern accent appearing. Alexander growled at me. Then Eliza scolded him.
“It’s not her fault you haven’t slept in three days, Alexander. And thank you for your help. We are very grateful for your help… um…” she stuttered. I was about to tell her my name, when John walked up. He slung an arm around me and gave me a nuggie.
“It’s Tae. How’s my crazy little sis after helping me start a fire?” he slurred. I could tell he was tired, and he’d likely slipped a glass of wine. I was grateful that the walk to the library wasn’t far from here. I laughed as I knew he was dozing off right where he was standing, and kept talking to Eliza and Alexander.
“Do you guys live far from here?” Alexander asked. I looked down, and Eliza answered for me.
“Um, Alex, they don’t have a house,” he looked confused.
“Oh, well I hope the apartment complex isn’t too far,” he tried. Eliza was about to speak up when I cut her off.
“I’m sure to believe that our living situation is profoundly none of your needed concern Mr. Hamilton. Have a good night,” I said curtly before dragging John back to the library. Then I realized the doors were locked. I grabbed our small bags of stuff and dragged us to the alley way, hidden behind some palates used to transport goods and whatnot. That night, I didn’t sleep very well, and John had yet another nightmare about his father coming to get him. It was currently two in the morning and we were trying to fall asleep. We ended up talking for a good while.
“John, you’ve never answered this when we were young, but did Henry ever, you know hit you, or abuse you in some way?” I asked, only half listening from the lack of sleep. I wasn’t really expecting a good answer.
“Well, yeah. I mean, all dads hit their kids right? To punish them, er, you know, when you do something wrong?” he asked. My heart broke. John’s dad had hit him. John’s dad had hit my brother. The kid’s own flesh and blood had physically abused my brother. The words echoed through my head until they were abruptly stopped by light snoring next to me. But all I could think about that night was the fact that John had grown up thinking it was normal for parents to physically abuse their kids as an acceptable punishment. Instinctively, I pulled him closer to me and protectively tucked his head under my arm, on the watch for anything that might try to harm him. I eventually dozed off.
The next morning, I got up, and we walked to the McDonald's restaurant to get ready. I put on my work heels and jeans and put my hair in a messy bun. When we arrived for work, the boss was mad. He was yelling in french and fired us on the spot. We spent most of the day wandering around looking for open jobs, with no luck. When it was finally nighttime, we went back to our alley way and curled up to go to sleep, when we heard a group of guys enter the alley way. John pulled me behind himself, but they yanked him up and grabbed me. They laughed and dumped our stuff everywhere. Then they punched John and it was as if I could feel his pain too. I bit my lip to keep from screaming. He has to go through this all over again.
Eventually, when they left, I ran over to John who was slumped against the brick wall, holding his side. There was a small trickle of red dripping down his side.
“John, you’re bleeding,” I said worriedly.
“I’m fine,” he grunted.
“You’re bleeding,” I repeated.
“I’ll be okay,”
“John,”
“Tae, I swear I will be fine. I’ve suffered much worse,” his eyes shot open with pain when he tried to sit up.
“John you aren’t okay. You need some medical assistance, at least let me look at it and make sure you aren’t infected,” I instructed. He hesitantly pulled his shirt up, and there was a red gash and purple bruise blooming. He needed a doctor, that was for sure. But we were really broke. We might’ve had 10 bucks between the two of us. I grabbed a bottle of water and poured some on the wound, then wrapped an old, ratty sweatshirt around him that I didn’t care about. He winced and I helped him stand up. We walked to the hospital and I was grateful it wasn’t far, because I think John was about ready to collapse. We got into the hospital and they rushed him to ICU, which was bad. And expensive. Then a nurse approached me.
“Are you here with Mr. Laurens?” She asked sweetly. I nodded.
“How is he, and how much will it cost?” I was really worried. I didn’t know what to do. I just tried to breathe and think of a way out.
“Well, luckily, all his vital organs are intact, and the wound isn’t all that deep. We can clean it and decide from there whether or not he’ll need stitches. However, that can be an expensive procedure, but the whole trip should cost no more than 100 dollars,” my eyes bulged. ONE HUNDRED DOLLARS?! I started breathing heavier and nodded.
“Ma’am, my brother really needs this, but, we’re broke,” I whispered.
“I understand. Do you have any other relatives?” I almost shook my head no, but then I had an idea. I doubted it, but I was desperate.
“Um, I might have an aunt I can call. Do you have a phone I can use?” she nodded and led me behind the desk. Crap. I don’t know her number.
“Okay, this is really weird, but I don’t know her number since I haven’t seen her in over a decade. Is there anything you can do to help me?” I pleaded, begging with my eyes. She thought for a moment, then nodded.
“Her number might be in her file. What is her last name?”
“Romanoff,” I said with a deep breath.
“Ha, she’s been here on more than one occasion. Here’s her number,” she wrote it down on a sticky note and I dialed, getting voicemail. The nurse frowned.
“Do you mind if we wait? I left a message, but please, I need this for my brother,” I was on the verge of tears from stress.
“Sure honey, you can go see him while we wait if you’d like. Room 208 on the second floor. He’s probably asleep right now,” she said, and I thanked her. This nurse was so kind, she reminded me of Mom. I took the elevator and walked quickly through the hall till I found room 208 and a sleeping John. I pulled up a chair and took a nap.

A/N: Okay, so this first part is SUPER DUPER long. The rest likely won't be as long. But enjoy!!