Critical (Jamilton)

5. The Talk

Jefferson

Thomas sat watching the seconds tick down on the clock. Just one minute until he could finally get back to Eliza's and make sure Alex was really there. A part of him wanted to believe that he was just hallucinating and Hamilton would be gone and there'd be no trace of him anywhere. But the bigger part of him really wanted Alexander to be real. 

He didn't know why he wanted Alex to be fake. Maybe because he couldn't get hurt anymore because of it if Alex wasn't really there. Maybe because that would mean that everything really was over and that he could finally move on from the handsome, annoying, amazing loudmouth.

But if Alex was real. . . That meant that he wouldn't get hurt anymore not knowing whether or not he was still out there, hurt and afraid and alone, or dead somewhere in the ground because no one was there to help him. 

Thomas gathered up all his things as soon as the clock said it was time for him to leave. He was in such a hurry that he forgot someone was in the room with him.

"Someone's in a hurry," George, Thomas's boss, laughed. "Got someone waiting for you at home?" 

Jefferson smiled at the thought of Hamilton waiting for him at home. George was probably so used to Thomas using his work as an excuse to not have a special someone that it was a rhetorical question. Oh how the turntables. 

"Actually, I do," Jefferson said proudly. 

Washington looked at him surprised for a second. "Well, let me walk with you. You can tell me all about your special gal." 

"Guy, actually," Thomas responded, yet again, proudly. 

"Hm?"

"You said my 'special gal', I corrected you."

For a second, he lost his pride, thinking maybe Washington wasn't going to be as interested as he'd hoped. Or that he'd flat out lose his job because of the discrimination of his sexual orientation around pretty much anywhere. 

"Oh," Washington said, dragging out the word. "Well, then tell me about your special guy."

Thomas let out a breath he didn't know he was holding. He went on describing Alex, more than he even thought he remembered, but it was enough for Washington to get the Proud Dad look that he got whenever any of his employees did almost anything. At this point, Thomas didn't even fight it, George Washington definitely unofficially adopted everyone younger than him, whether he admitted it or not. 

When they parted ways to go home, Thomas was still smiling like an idiot at the idea that when he got back to Eliza's house, Alexander was going to be there. He wasn't missing anymore, he was sitting with Eliza and Philip and he's alive and that made Jefferson pretty happy, even if that meant dealing with the attitude again. If anything, Thomas missed the attitude the most.

When he got back to Eliza's place, she silently waved him into the kitchen. 

"He's taking a nap on the couch," she whispered. "I figured he really needed it. I know that he's been sleeping pretty well, you know, considering. . ." 

Thomas wasn't too excited about how she trailed off. "But?"

"I think you should talk to him about seeing someone," she muttered. 

His heart dropped for a second. "You mean, like, romantically?"

"What? No, I'm not suggesting that you set up your lover up with someone else, I mean a psychiatrist or something." she glanced in the living room worriedly. "I don't believe him when he says that nothing happened while he was gone."