Hope for Our Ass After All

t h i r t y - f o u r

Elizabeth Schuyler had just thrown her entire stupid life into Alexander's face, and completely made him question everything he'd ever wanted.

No, she was meddling in things she didn't understand. And Alex was pissed. The stupidness that was exploding through the air was overwhelming, and Alex couldn't believe he ever liked Eliza in the first place.

And John. Damnit, John, breaking up with him and giving him no chance to explain himself. Alex could do nothing but latch onto Lafayette, whose fears of Hercules hurting him overwhelmed the Frenchman.

Lafayette was scared. Scared to the center of his body that Hercules would hurt him, physically, and emotionally, because of his... "condition," or whatever Hercules had cruelly decided to call it. He was petrified. Nervous. Every time the pair were in a room together, Lafayette would grasp onto Alexander's shirtsleeve.

Alex didn't like the fear coming from Lafayette. It felt almost uneasy to the point where Lafayette would jump when he heard noises, and Alex could tell that he'd become fearful that his sweet Hercules would turn into a sort of James Reynolds, abusive and cowardly.

But Alex was wrapped up in John. In John's stupid smile, in John's grins. John was hurt by Alex, and he genuinely believed that Alex had cheated on him with Maria Lewis.

They were in love. The four of them loved eachother and they were too petrified and angry to do anything about it.

Alexander was pissed, but he was always pissed.

Hercules and John had grown closer, chatting about Hercules' designs like normal friends; but when Alex or Lafayette would walk into the room and get too close—they'd both shut up. Hercules seemed like he wanted to talk to Lafayette desperately, but Lafayette was too scared to let him. John didn't want to talk to Alex, ever.

Meanwhile... Eliza saved the day. Or, she tried to. The girl needed her friends to be okay. Alexander not reciprocating her feelings wasn't important, not while everyone was being hurt.

Maria Lewis.

Alex was adamant that he hadn't cheated on John; but the voice had seemed so sure. It was someone who had it out for both Hamilton and Maria, or at least Hamilton.

Charles Lee sprung to mind, but she remembered his complete cowardice and shoved him off the suspect list. Who was close enough to Maria and had connections to John?

Eliza stood from her spot on the couch. Both Peggy and Angelica were out.

The second issue was Lafayette and Hercules. Lafayette was scared; but Eliza didn't know enough about why to fix that problem just yet.

Maybe... maybe John would talk to her. He was bound to know what Hercules knew.

Yes! Yes. Eliza had a plan. She let a smile grace her face for the first time after the incident. She would fix this.

She had to.