Stuck In A Moment

The hospital...again.

Alexander jumped in his car and drove to the hospital. Funny enough, he happened to see Lafayette in Adrianne's car driving by. They past each other as they both drove to the hospital. Never mind, nothing about this is funny. Bad choice of words. When they did finally arrive, Eliza met them in the lobby.

"Hey." She gave Alexander a hug.

"What's happening, why is he here?" Lafayette asked.

"I'm not quite sure. Alister said he got really sick and was coughing up blood. Then I got a call from his girlfriend saying we needed to meet them at the front of the dorms to drive Laurens to the hospital." Eliza began. "I think it might possibly be pneumonia or something like that."

"Is he dying?" Alexander asked.

Eliza tried to answer him without giving him false hope and without making him fall apart. She knew his mother died in the hospital due to illness. She didn't want to make things worse than they already were. She decided to just tell him the truth.

"I-I don't know." She whimpered.

Alexander took a deep breath then went to sit down. Memories of when he and his mother were first hospitalized ran through his head. They told him it wasn't that bad, that his mother would probably be better in no time. Unfortunately, because they couldn't afford for both of them to be treated, Alexander got better but his mother went quick.

"What's going on?" Washington said as he arrived. Martha wasn't with him, but they figured she was on her way.

"I-I'm not quite sure." Eliza replied. "Ali... his roommate said he got sick this morning, but Laurens didn't do anything. Then at lunch me and Alexander saw him coughing, but he said he was fine." She continued. "Then he said that Laurens started coughing up blood. So now me, him, and his girlfriend are all here."

Washington nodded his head. He didn't know what else to do. He had gone through this many a time, yet every time he had to remember. If Laurens is dying, one day he may not pull through, and that's life. For him at least, sadly. But he still held hope that history would repeat itself and his son would fight it. 

The problem with illness vs. injury, is that even if Laurens were to start getting better, they wouldn't let his family see him until he wasn't contagious. That is, if he did get better. Not to mention the fact that he could relapse. It was about an hour after Martha finally arrived that they heard anything from the doctor.

"So?" Washington asked. "Is he ok?"

"Well, we definitely think this is pneumonia. Right now it's hard to say what will happen. His body seems to be jumping around." The doctor said.

"What does that mean?"

"He was worse an hour ago then he was thirty minutes ago, and he was better thirty minutes ago then he is now. He's randomly getting better or worse." The doctor explained.

"And you said he's not doing well now?" Washington questioned.

"No, but he could be by the time I get back in there."

"Thank you for the update." Washington nodded.

"I wish you could see him when he gets better, but I'm afraid not until we get the fever and the mucus out of him." Doctor said. "We do get patients here with this type of pneumonia from time to time. A lot of them do get better."

"Ok."

The doctor left and Washington took a seat in one of the chairs in the miniature waiting room. He explained everything the doctor had told him.

Eliza sat with Alexander. He was scared and worried, afraid that this would end up just like last time. Laurens had been injured many times before, and he did have appendicitis, but he had never been hospitalized for sickness before. At least not since Alex had met him. She tried to get him to calm down, but he just wouldn't listen to her. He knew she was rich and probably had the best doctors treating her all of her life. He knew she wouldn't quite understand what it was like when his mother passed away after choosing for him to be treated instead of her. 

"Alex, it's ok." She began, whispering softly into his ear.

"No it's not! I know how bad illnesses can get when you don't start treatment early. I know how the doctors to pretend everything is fine and give you false hope. I know what it's like to see the life of someone you love leave them. I had to watch my mother die!" Alexander snapped at her. "Eliza I'm sorry..."

"It's ok, I know you're just upset." Eliza replied soft and sweetly. "But you know this has happened before, and you know Laurens isn't the type to die without trying."

Alexander laughed slightly, not that much, but just enough to make Eliza smile.

"You're right, this has happened before." Alexander nodded. "So why does this time feel so different?"

"Trauma. Do you want to talk about anything?" Eliza asked, sympathetically.

Alexander didn't say anything, he just shook his head no. Eliza didn't press him any further either. She knew she had no shared experiences, no shared trauma. She barely had that hard a life. The only thing they both had in common was losing their mom at the age of twelve. But even then, Eliza got to say goodbye to her mother before she was asked to leave. Philip didn't want his daughters' last memories of their mother to be her dying, he wanted to keep it as that happy moment when they all said they'd see her again in heaven. Angelica also made a separate promise to take care of her little sisters. Alexander's brother, James, did something similar when their mother was about to die. But sadly, James only got to keep it for so long.

Just then, Eliza happened to get a text from Angelica.

Work!Work!Angelica❤: Any news?
Work!Work!Eliza💙: They said that a lot of their patients with pneumonia do recover, but that it's still pretty early to tell.
Work!Work!Angelica❤: Can you sneak away for a moment? This is kinda important.
Work!Work!Eliza💙: My brother-in-law is in the hospital and my husband is about to have a mental breakdown. What could possibly be so important that you had to text me right now?
Work!Work!Angelica❤: Stephen and Peggy called off their engagement.

A/N: What!!!! But how will Peggy take it?