Hamilkid - Adopted by Hamilton

56

Lin's POV

"Lin, relax," Vanessa muttered.  "Your shoulders are going to fall off if you keep them so tight."

I breathed deeply and tried to relax my shoulders.  I glanced over at Evie again.  She was seated in between V and I.  Across from her was this Eduardo man's lawyer.  So far, we were just waiting for Eduardo himself and the doctor who performed the paternity test.

My shoulders immediately tensed again as the door opened, but it wasn't Eduardo Chase.  I wasn't sure what the man looked like.  Evie had asked us not to look into him.  She wanted as little to do with the man as possible.

"So," the doctor began, looking at all of us, "are we still waiting for Mr. Chase?"

His lawyer cleared his throat importantly before speaking.  "Mr. Chase is unable to join us.  He sends his regrets and asks that we proceed without him.  I am speaking on his behalf."  He gestured for the doctor to proceed.

"The test proves that Miss Jacobs is the biological daughter of Mr. Chase."

"Thank you, doctor," Diana said.  The doctor nodded and left the room, giving copies of the test results to both lawyers.  Diana turned to the other lawyer.  "So, will your client sign the papers now?"

"Mr. Chase takes family matters very seriously.  He wishes to meet Miss Jacobs, so that he can get to know her.  He extends an invitation to her for an early Christmas lunch with him and his family on December 23rd.  Discussion about the papers will take place after Christmas."  Without saying another word, the lawyer slid a piece of paper to Evie and left the room.

"That son of a-"

"Evie," I warned, though I agreed with her.  This man, who thought that he had any right to do this.  Who made us jump through hoops to please him and apparently is making us jump through more.

"So, what are we going to do," I asked as we walked back to our car.

"There's not much we can do," Vanessa admitted.  I knew she hated it.

"I have to go to this lunch," Evie said.  "And hopefully he'll agree to sign the papers."

"At least he's not making you go on Christmas.  Still, any Christmas event might not be the best place to meet your biological daughter for the first time.  So, who do you want to go with you?"

"The invitation only says me."  Evie held out the invitation to me.  Even the paper looked pretentious.  "I don't think either of you are invited."

"If you want us there, we'll be there anyway," Vanessa told her.

Evie smiled slightly at us.  "I know that.  I think it'll be better if we try not to upset him though.  I'll go by myself."

"Are you sure that's okay with you?" I asked.  Evie smiled at me and nodded.

Evie's POV

"I mean this douche just thinks that he can snap his fingers and I'll do whatever he says.  Go get a paternity test.  Come have Christmas lunch with my family.  Do a backflip.  Like who does he think he is?" I ranted as Jazzy, Pippa, Renee, and Jonathan sat silently.  "And the worst part is that I have to do what he says."

"This sucks," Jazzy finally said.  The others nodded in agreement.  I was happy that I had agreed to go out to a cafe with them before we all had to be at the theater.  There was no way that I would be able to talk this freely at the theater.  Lin could overhear and he wouldn't let me go if he knew how much I didn't want to go.

"I'm sorry that this is happening, Evie," Pippa said.

"It's just . . . as soon as I think things might be going my way."

"I'm sure that everything will turn out fine in the end," Renee said, trying to sound cheerful.

"And until then, you have plenty of teddy bears to throw or cuddle, depending on how you feel," Jonathan pointed out.  He and Oak still took great pleasure in the fact that they had started a trend of giving me teddy bears.  In fact, fans had taken up the challenge of trying to find the best stuffed animal since seeing Lin's tweet about the cast's competition and were leaving them at stage door for Lin.  I hoped that this would make people think that I was like six instead of sixteen.  Of course, now both my room and Lin's dressing room were overrun with stuffed animals that I was trying to find a use for.

"You're so annoying," I laughed, hitting Jonathan's arm lightly.  I knew that Jonathan had brought it up to make me laugh.  I was glad that, despite everything else going on, I could count on the cast to make me feel better.

We had to head back to the theater shortly after that.  Once we got there, I let everyone else go get ready, except for Jonathan, who refused to get ready until the show had already started it seemed, and went to Lin's dressing room, but he wasn't in there.

I figured that Lin was hanging out in someone else's dressing room or maybe doing a Twitter live thing, so I decided to entertain myself until I had to go work.  I grabbed my guitar, which I had brought to the theater to keep myself entertained during the show when I didn't have to be at my merch stand.  I opened my folder full of music that I was trying to learn when I noticed an unfamiliar song at the top.  It was some Adele song, but I didn't recognize the title.

Shrugging slightly to myself, I started playing the song.

"When the rain is blowing in your face and the whole world is on your case, I could offer you a warm embrace to make you feel my love," a voice began to sing once the music reached the words.  I glanced up quickly to find Lin standing in the door.  He gestured for me to keep playing and took a seat next to me.  I continued to play the song as Lin sang until Lin reached the last words.  "There's nothing that I wouldn't do.  Go to the ends of this Earth for you to make you feel my love."

"Thanks, Lin," I said quietly, setting my head on his shoulder.

"Of course, mi sirenita," he responded.  "I know that this is a difficult time for you.  I want you to know that V and I are here for you.  If you need anything, just let us know."

"I need soccer stuff," I said before I could stop myself.

"What?" Lin asked, laughing.

"Well, I sort of tried out for the soccer team at school and I made it.  It's not a huge deal, but I need some socks and shorts."

"What about the spiky shoes?"

"I still have my old cleats, Lin.  They're fine."

"When did this happen?"

"I while ago.  It's really not a big deal.  I wasn't even sure if I was going to do it, but Yara made me try out and I made it, so why not."

"I really need to meet this Yara sometime," Lin commented.

"No you don't," I said, thinking about Yara's reaction to meeting Lin and the possibility of her telling him about the musical.  We had almost worked out a way for us to miss the least amount of soccer practice and musical rehearsal as possible without me missing work or making Lin suspicious.  I didn't know how Lin would react to me being in his musical, so I was putting off telling him for as long as possible.

Lin laughed.  "Whatever you say, Evie.  Now get out of here.  I need to change."

I stuck my tongue out at Lin and made my way over to the door.

"Evie," Lin said suddenly.  I turned back to look at him.  "You know that V and I really do love you, right?"  I nodded slightly.

"Yeah.  I know."