Critical (Jamilton)

28. This Story Needs An Ending

Jefferson

Against everything that Thomas said, Alexander insisted that Eliza invite Andre over. When the Schuyler got word that her friend had forgiven John, she was hesitant to start talking to him again. Her reasoning was the same as Thomas's, she didn't want to risk trusting him, even though Hamilton decided to. 

Another thing that Thomas realized was that Alexander was doing exactly that, whether he'd admit or not. He was definitely trusting John Andre and Thomas Jefferson absolutely hated it. 'Hate' didn't even seem like a strong enough word for it. Even the mention of Andre's name brought up the years that Thomas had to live without Alex and the years that Alex had to spend alone in a cell being psychologically and physically tortured, which made Jefferson want to beat John Andre down. 

As far as Thomas knew, that wasn't changing. If anything, when he heard the knock at the door, he immediately got irritated.  

"Don't," Hamilton warned, sitting up from their blanket bed. 

"Don't what?" 

"Don't be an ass." Alex got up and stretched, pulling his hair back into a half ponytail, leaving the bottom half of his hair still resting on his shoulders. "If he was going to do something, he would have by now." 

"I don't trust it," Jefferson grumbled. 

"You do remember he got me out of a building that was supposedly burning, right?" 

"But it wasn't actually burning."

"You didn't know that, did you? And you remember him getting me to you when I thought I saw King?"

"He could have planned it." 

"What about him actually respecting that I didn't want to be around him. He didn't try to get ahold of me unless we were in a public place at the same time." 

"That doesn't mean anything." 

"You're being unfair."

"You're being too fair."

"That's not even a thing. I'm not saying that you have to be all buddy-buddy with him, just don't be an ass."

Thomas heard Eliza cheer and Andre's voice, but he couldn't hear what either of them said. He groaned, which made Alex glare at him. Hamilton went and greeted Andre at the door, leaving Jefferson to collect himself and think of the downsides of beating the guest down.

Thomas actually considered going upstairs with the kids. If the heavy thuds and screaming laughs said anything, it was they were having way more fun than he was. He had to deal with one his boyfriend's kidnappers, who apparently is just on everyone's forgiveness list, while they fought dragons or something. Since when is that fair? 

Before he had a chance to retreat upstairs to hide with the kids, though, Eliza came into the room, followed by Hamilton and Andre. 

"Thomas," Andre said. "It's really nice to see you again."

Jefferson nodded and pushed himself to sit on the chair. "I'm sure it is."

Alexander glared from behind Andre and Thomas looked at him innocently. The guest sighed and sat down on the end of the couch farthest away from Thomas. Alex sat between them. 

"Well," Eliza said, crossing her arms. "You two still want to act like children, so you can sit in the same room until you get along." 

"He just got here, you didn't give me a chance to act like a child yet!" Thomas argued. 

"Nope, but it's all part of the plan." Alex got up and followed Eliza into the kitchen. But not before reminding Thomas that being an ass wasn't an option. 

Andre pulled out his phone and scrolled lazily while Thomas just glared at him. If he was going to be near the person he hated most, he was going to make them as uncomfortable as possible. It's just the Jefferson code. He stayed glaring for a solid few minutes before Andre groaned and set the phone down. 

"Okay, look," he started quietly. "I don't want Alexander to associate me with that anymore. I'm working on my own memories of that place, just like he is--"

"Oh, don't compare your side of things to his. You were on the giving end while he was stuck getting stabbed."

"What do you have against me? I'm trying to make amends and you just won't listen!" 

Thomas hardened his glare if that was even possible. 

"Well let's start from the beginning, shall we?" he listed everything that Andre had done, good and bad, showing that the bad that he'd done definitely outweighed whatever good he was trying to do. Truth be told, Thomas wasn't happy with the amount of bad on the list, though, so he may or may not have twisted some of the good to seem bad. 

But it was all with good intentions because he could practically swear by Andre being bad, despite everyone insisting that he was 'trying'. 

"I admire that you're sticking to your decision, but Alexander doesn't need this--"

"You don't get to tell me what my boyfriend needs, dickhead."

There was another knock at the door, so Thomas assumed it was Burr coming to pick up Theodosia. Georges was probably staying for a second night since that's usually how long Hercules and Lafayette took to have their "date nights". Alexander answered the door and muttered something before jogging up the stairs because apparently nobody knows how to actually walk up a flight of stairs. 

"I'm just trying to be a friend, Thomas." 

"You aren't a friend. You're a person that I don't like and I--" 

Thomas was cut off by Hamilton yelling for someone to help him upstairs. Naturally, Thomas was the first one up and the first to see Alex frantically looking around the entire floor of the house. One of the windows open and Thomas didn't like where the situation was going. He got Alex to turn around and stop hyperventilating enough to actually say what was going on. 

"The kids are gone."