(Theo P.O.V)

Alex walked into the kitchen and stood in front of James.

"I'm sorry." Both boys said at the same time.

Alex looked at James and bit the inside of his cheek, fiddling with the hem of his shirt nervously. I watched both of them stare at each other, tension in the air. I caught John's eyes and he looked at me with a look that I perceived as 'just let them sort stuff out'. I nodded to him slightly but felt like I was doing something wrong. I was a psychology student, I should be helping. But I watched as the two boys looked at each other awkwardly. I hurried around the room, ushering everyone out, and closing the door despite to protests from Peggy, John and Eliza. I pulled out a chair and sat down casually. I pointed to another chair for Alex to sit down. He looked at me and tugged on his sleeves anxiously, but sat on a chair opposite from James.

"So, what's wrong?" I asked, cocking my head slightly.

"Nothing." Alex said. I raised an eyebrow. "Beside the obvious of course."

"Care to tell me what the obvious is?" I pressed lightly.

Alex squinted his eyes and furrowed his brows a little.

"Ok, take your time." I leaned back. "Vent to whoever you want. Me or James, your choice."

He took a deep breath but just stared at his brother. I waited for him to say anything, but, surprisingly, it was James who spoke up.

(Maria P.O.V)

Peggy, her sisters and I decided to go for a walk. John tagged along, so Laf and Herc decided they wanted to come too. Basically everyone who'd been herded our by Theodosia was going for a walk. We went to the park and all sat around a bench. At some point, I noticed a little girl who was looking hopefully at their bench. I walked over to her, wondering why she was out alone. The little girl looked at me defiantly, which made me smile. Peggy teleported to my side using her magic girlfriend powers and I looked at the little girl, mustering all the kindness I had stored away.

"Hi, are you waiting for someone?" I asked.

"Yep!" She grinned. "Alexander Hamilton!"

"Are you sure?" Peggy asked, shooting a glance at me.

"Yeah, he told me he'd come back, he was here this morning."

"We know Alex." I informed her.

"You do? Where is he?"

"He's..." I looked at Peggy, debating what to answer.

Getting therapy from our psychology majoring friend because he just learnt that his brother who he believed was dead isn't dead and that appears to have triggered traumatic memories in him.

"Back out our place." Peggy filled in.

"Are you the friends he was visiting?" The little girl asked, wondering, as if she couldn't believe it.

"Not just us. There's the two girls back there too, and he met John here..." I wasn't sure how she'd reply if I told her they were dating.

"Martha!" A new voice yelled, walking up to the girl. "Martha where the fuck were you?"

"Usnavi said that was a bad word!" Martha said sternly, which made me chuckle softly.

"Yeah, and Usnavi used it while he was telling you not to." The boy pointed out. "C'mon Martha, we need to go."

"But whyyy?" She whined, refusing to follow the boy. "I met Alexander's friends! Please Phillip? They seem nice!"

"I'll go tell Usnavi." The boy, Phillip, sighed and walked away.

I sat down cross legged in front of Martha, who copied me more clumsily. Peggy sat down beside me, legs tucked to the side under her. She held my hand and I smiled at her sweetly.

"Are you two dating?" Martha asked sincerely and I laughed.

"Yes, yes we are." I informed her.

"What're your names? I'm Martha, and I'm 9!" She said it so proudly, it was adorable really.

"I'm Peggy, this is my girlfriend Maria."
Peggy introduced.

Martha leaned forewords and stared at us with wide eyes. "You two look similar."

I laughed. "So we've been told."

Martha looked over my shoulder, pointing. "Who're they?"

I looked back at my friends. "Those are our friends."

"Can I meet them?" She asked, then paused. "Are they nice?"

"Yes, they're all nice, but Laf can be a bit much and oh god when you get Angelica started on something." I sighed jokingly and Martha laughed.

"Hey! You're only supposed to insult them once they're your sister-in-laws!" Peggy chided and I blushed a deep crimson.

"Peggy!" I hissed.

"You two are cute." Martha pointed out.

"Why thank you, I try my best." Peggy grinned mischievously. "Not so sure about Mari, but she's adorable anyways so it's fine."

I pressed my face in my hands, laughing, to cover my blush.

Martha got up energetically. "Let's go meet your friends!"

I laughed at the little girl and led her over to the bench where everyone was perched, chatting. John was the first to notice me come over with Martha. He smiled and nudged Eliza, who turned to look at the nine year old, her warm eyes lighting up. She whispered something to her sister, and Angelica whipped her head around too. When she saw Martha, a smile spread on her lips.

"Hey Pegs!" She called. "You found a wild kid!"

"I didn't find her, Mari did!" Peggy countered.

"Aww would you look at that Laf, you owe me five bucks." John poured mockingly at the Frenchman.

"Why?" I asked.

"We made a bet. He thought you'd gone to make out, I said you hadn't. Look who won." John smirked.

"That no fair, your côté of the bet was too... vaste... vague." Laf retorted.

"I agree with Laf." Herc commented.

"Of course you do!" Peggy smirked.

"Is no one gonna ask about the kid?" Eliza raised an eyebrow.

"Yeah, who're you?" Laf asked in his thick French accent, his questioned echoed by Herc and John.

"Shut up you three parrots." Angelica scolded, then she turned to Martha, who feared no human clearly. "So kid, what's your name, your pronouns, your age and why do you not have parental supervision?" Angelica asked, somehow managing to say brackets out loud.

"I'm Martha! What are pronouns? I'm nine and Phillip went to go tell Usnavi that I met you."

Eliza walked over and smiled at Martha. "I assume you know Peggy and Maria?" The little girl nodded. "You know, it's very dangerous to trust people you just met."

"Apparently she met Alex." Peggy explained simply.

"Yeah, he let me read his journal!" She smiled proudly.

"Damn, that's new." Peggy muttered.

"Peggy! Language!" Eliza scolded.

"If she read Alex's journal, she probably doesn't mind." Peggy replied.

"I don't." Martha told them earnestly.

The Phillip kid came running back over, a man on his heels. I stared at the man, he looked oddly similar to Alex. I took it the man was the famous 'Usnavi' and her come to collect whatever Martha was to him.

"Martha, sweet Jesus, you need to tell me before running off." He told her firmly but kindly.

"I didn't run off." Martha pouted. "I was standing in one spot, you just didn't find me."

"She makes a point." Peggy piped up.

"Who're you?" Usnavi raised an eyebrow.

"If I had a dollar for the amount of times I've heard that in the past five minutes." I trailed off, not really wanting to do the math. "I'd have a decent amount of dollars."

Peggy laughed and grabbed my hand lovingly.

"I'm Peggy, that's Maria." She introduced. "Those are my sisters Angelica and Eliza, those two are Hercules and Lafayette, and that's John."

"Ok, how do I know you? How come Martha trusts you?" He asked again.

"See, now you're asking the right questions!" Peggy smiled. "We're all Alex's friends, except John, he's his boyfriend. Martha trusts us because we're Alex's friends."

"Yeah, he should show up any minute now, Theo says James and Alex have calmed down and are now joking about stuff she doesn't understand." Angelica told us.

"Aww, were you texting your girlfriend?" Eliza teased.

"Shut up Liza!" The older sister cried, face flushing pink.

"But we all think it'd cute, mon amie." Laf smirked.

"So? Leave us out of it!" Angelica protested, her cheeks turning crimson.

I glanced at Usnavi and Martha, the little girl seemed to be extremely interested in the conversation, and Usnavi just looked confused.

"Out of what?" Theodosia had arrived at the park, Alex and James nowhere to be seen, but probably somewhere behind.

"Oh fuck, Alex is coming back." I murmured, and Peggy nodded in silent agreement.