~Lin POV~
February 26th
So Jasmine and Anthony apparently got a puppy on our day off. They are bringing her to the theater with them today. The cast is really excited to meet her. Also, Jasmine gets her knee checked out again pretty soon, and she may get off her crutches. The show is going well, we are sold out every night. I feel like Lillian is just nonstop growing and she's acts so grown up, sometimes. Groff really brings out the crazy side of her. Groff came back to the show three days ago and Thayne came back two days ago. His ear is okay now, he is just waiting on the stitches to fully dissolve and then he will be even better. But he's back in the show. We really worked Yorktown to make sure there are no more accidents. I'm always at the theater early, and here I am again, four hours before the show. I don't know what I am even doing here, the show looks and sounds fine. I guess it I came early just out of habit or something. There is a snowstorm outside right now, and it is February. Seriously New York? Anyways, the cast should be getting here soon for call and to meet Nala, Anthony and Jasmine's dog. Pippa texts me that she is on her way with Lillian and I walk down to the doors to let them in. When I open the door, I see Pippa and Lillian walking, but they are still a decent distance away. I wave to them and they wave back, Lillian's little arms restricted in her puffy jacket. But I also see something else. There is a little boy, who looks about four shivering and crying on a bench outside the theater. I quick put the doorstop between the doors and walk up to him.

"Hey. Are you okay?" I ask him gently.

"I lost my mommy." He tells me, shivering and crying. I sit down next to him.

"Alright. What's your name?" I ask him gently.

"Colton Brant." He says. I nod.

"How old are you?" I ask him. He holds up four stubby little fingers. I nod again. "How did you get lost?"

"My mommy crossed the street but I got lost."

"Do you know where your mommy was going?" I ask him. He shakes his head no. Just then, Pippa and Lillian arrive next to me, and Daveed and Oak arrive from the opposite direction.

"What's going on?" Pippa, Oak, and Daveed all ask at the same time. Colton looks a little scared and overwhelmed as Renèe walks up as well, with Leslie walking up from the other side. I hold up a finger to tell them to wait.

"Alright. That's okay, we will find your mommy. Can I bring you inside this building?" I gently ask him. He nods slowly, his eyes darting from person to person. "What's your mommy's name?"

"Rebecca Brant." He says quietly.

"Hey, everyone head on inside to your dressing rooms and then to the stage, please." I say. They all head inside, Pippa giving me one last worried glance. I give her an assuring glance and help Colton off the bench and into the theater behind her. I take him into my dressing room, where Pippa and Lillian are. He is still crying and shivering. I put a blanket on him to help warm him up before continuing to ask questions. "Do you know your mommy's phone number?" I ask him. He shakes his head. Things just got more complicated. All I've got is a name. Maybe I can get a description, but Colton is saying less and less as he gets more scared. "Colton, we are going to find your mommy. Can you tell me what she looks like?" I ask him.

"Mommy has brown hair and blue eyes." He says. Okay, at least it's something.

"Do you know where your daddy is?" I ask. He nods.

"Daddy went on a trip for work." He says. Great.

"What's your daddy's name?"

"Daniel Brant." He says. "Daddy has hair like me and blue eyes." He says, his shivering starting to go away, as well as the crying getting quieter. He still looks scared, though.

"Do you know your daddy's phone number?" I ask. He shakes his head. "Do you know where mommy or daddy work?" I ask. He shakes his head again. I only have names and descriptions.

"Okay. I'm going to try and find out where your parents may work." I say, pulling out my phone and heading to Google. I check the news for anything on a missing little boy, but I know searches and stuff can't start until after 24 hours of them being missing. I hear Jasmine and Anthony come into the theater and I hear Chris come in as well. I get a text from Groff saying they may be late due to the snow. I'm busy so I don't reply, but I tell Pip to text Groff saying that's okay and telling them that I'm sorry I couldn't reply. Pip nods, texts Groff, and then leaves the room and takes Lillian with her. There isn't anything on the news, so I search Rebecca Brant. The only thing that shows up are two Facebook profiles. One says Rebecca Branch, and the other says Rebecca Brank. I have one last hope. I type in Daniel Brant. I get lucky and a business page comes up. There is a phone number labeled to Daniel Brant on the page. I quickly call that number. He picks up after two rings.

"This is Daniel Brant from Roth and Brant Co. How may I help you?" He says.

"Hi. My name is Lin-Manuel Miranda. I don't really know how to phrase this, but do you have a son named Colton?" I ask.

"I do, is something wrong? I've never met you before and I know all of Colton's daycare providers." He says, genuine concern laced in his voice.

"I work at the Richard Rodgers Theater in New York, and I opened the stage door and saw Colton sitting on bench. He was alone and crying. I asked him if he was okay and he told me he was lost. I asked him the typical questions like does he know names or phone numbers. He told me your name and I remembered your business." I say. I didn't want to tell him I Googled him, because that would be strange. "I found your website and called the number labeled to you." I tell him.

"Oh my goodness, thank you for helping. I'm currently out of state on a business trip, but I can give you my wife's number. She should've been with him." He says.

"He said that they were separated in a crowd when she crossed the street." I tell him. I get a piece of paper and a pen to write down the number.

"Okay. Thank you so much. Here is my wife's number: (xxx)-xxx-xxxx." He says. I write it down.

"Alright, I will call her and have her come pick him up. Thank you." I say.

"No, thank you so much." He says. "I have to go, I have a meeting. Tell my wife to text me and update me. Thank you again." He says, hanging up. I look over to Colton. He's crying still, but he is quiet.

"Hey, Colton. You're going to be okay. I just got off the phone with your daddy. He gave me your mommy's phone number. I'm going to call her and she can come pick you up, okay?" I say. He nods, his bright blue eyes shiny with tears. I dial the number Daniel gave me into the phone and hit call. Rebecca picks up right away. "Hello, is this Rebecca Brant?" I ask.

"Yes." She replies, her voice sounding like she has been crying.

"My name is Lin-Manuel Miranda. I work at the Richard Rodgers Theater in New York. I found your son, Colton outside the theater. He told me he was lost. He told me you and your husband's names, and I was able to find a number to your husband, who gave me your number. Colton is here and safe. Come to the theater and I will let you in to get him." I tell her. She starts sobbing on the other end.

"Thank you so much!" She sobs. "I got separated from him and I thought I would never see him again." She says, sobbing. "I'm on my way." She says, hanging up. I look over to Colton, who is crying still.

"Hey, your mommy is on her way. She will be here very soon to get you. Come with me and we will meet her at the door." I say. His eyes light up, despite the tears in them. He stands up and I help him off the couch and I take his hand. We walk down the hallway to the stage door and wait there. There are already fans out there, because they didn't know that everyone was coming early and that they probably wouldn't see anyone, but most of them are probably here for the Ham4Ham. I yell to Pippa down the hallway and she comes running down. "Hey, so I have to open the door to look for his mom, who is almost here, but there are already people out there. He's already overwhelmed and scared, and I don't want them to take any pictures of him. Can you help keep him out of sight?" I ask her. She nods.

"Lin, you found his parents! That's great!" She says, kissing my cheek. I nod.

"Yeah. It took a while, but I found them and Rebecca is on her way." I say. I turn to Colton. "Colton, this is Pippa. Can you stay with her while I let your mommy inside?" I ask. He nods and walks closer to Pip.

"Hi Colton. Can I pick you up?" She asks him. He nods again, no longer crying. Pip picks Colton up and goes off into the empty dressing room next to the stage door. (A/N Idk if that really exists but let's pretend it does) She closes the door to that dressing room just to make sure nothing happens. I open the stage door and step outside, holding it open. Screaming and yelling ensues. I wave to everyone, but don't get closer. I spot a woman walking up with brown hair and blue eyes, like Colton said, who looks like she's been sobbing. I put the doorstop in and descend the stairs to help her through the fans. I move a barricade.

"Excuse me everyone. Thank you all for coming, but can we make a path right here for a second?" I ask. The fans part and I wave Rebecca over. She walks over to me quickly and I put the barricade back and lead her inside, removing the doorstop and closing the door behind me. "Colton is in here." I say, leading her into the dressing room. I open the door. Colton is sitting on a couch and talking to Pippa. Colton sees Rebecca and jumps off the couch and runs to her. She squats down and opens her arms, accepting him as he runs into them. She hugs him tightly and stands up with him in her arms. Rebecca's is crying and Colton is too. He buries his face into her shoulder and hugs her super tight.

"Thank you so much for finding him." Rebecca says to us. "Thank you for going through all that trouble to find me. I don't know how to thank you." She says, wiping away her tears with her free arm, the other one holding Colton on her hip.

"You don't have to. I did what anyone else would've done. I saw a child who needed help and I helped him." I say.

"Well, thank you so much for it." She says. I just nod slowly and smile. "I have to go, I have to get to work and explain why I'm late. Thank you so much." She says. I lead her out the front entrance, so nobody takes any pictures at the stage door. She thanks me a thousand more times before walking away with Colton still on her hip. He picks up his head and waves to me before they get too far away. I wave back, smiling. Then they turn a corner and I go back inside. I head to my dressing room. Pippa finds me and hugs me.

"You are the best person I have ever met." She says. I chuckle.

"Well, you're the best person I've ever met." I say, kissing her passionately. She smiles and then grabs my hand, dragging me to Jasmine and Anthony's dressing room to meet the puppy.

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2149 words-excluding A/N

A/N
I'm so sorry I didn't update for last couple of weeks. I was up north and then I was on a mission trip. So I made this chapter extra long to make up for it. I was running out of ideas and then this just kinda hit me, so yeah. The picture is from IHAD, but it isn't a crossover, I was just too lazy to find another picture. Sorry my other books have been slow too, I've been focusing on this one lately. I hope you enjoyed this chapter!! Thanks for reading, voting, and commenting!

❤️~K