John's POV

We sit in the hospital waiting room anxiously. Both Peggy and Philip were in terrible shape, and the doctors haven't really given us any updates. They just keep coming in with these sad glances at us.

Angelica and Eliza were sitting together, Angelica holding onto a crying Eliza. She hadn't stopped crying since we got here, and it was honestly about to make me cry as well. Angelica seemed put together, but I knew that was just her "big sister act" she felt like she had to put on.

Lafayette and Hercules were worried, but obviously not as much. They were sitting together, Herc was staring at his phone and Laf was staring at the entrance to the hospital rooms. He was most likely worried about Peggy, but I mean we all were.

Alex was sitting next to me. He won't let me touch him and he hasn't moved, he's just holding his knees to his chest and staring at the ground. I can't even imagine what he's going through right now. The thought of a child dying would not be a pleasant one. I sat next to him, occasionally telling him everything would be alright and rubbing his back, though he would flinch every time I tried to comfort him.

"Are you guys with Margarita Schuyler?" The nurse asks us. We all look up at her and slowly nod. She lets out a small smile, a sign of hope. "She's going to recover. She is still asleep right now, but there is some bad news.."

Eliza and Angelica try their best not to look super sad, but they can't help it. They look crushed. "What...What is it?" Angelica asks.

"Well, Margarita has suffered severe trauma to the head, and there is a good chance that when she wakes up, she will not remember who she is or anything else." The nurse explains. "We can't quite tell yet whether this will last permanently or temporarily, but we will be running a few more tests before she wakes up to see for sure. Any questions?"

Lafayette stares at the nurse in shock. "She..She won't remember anything at all?"

"It's not likely. She may come to remember little bits and details, but it's going to take some time."

"But she'll be alive, right?" Angelica asks.

The nurse nods. "Yes, she will survive."

"And what about Philip? What about my baby boy?" Eliza asks, now standing. We hadn't heard any word on him this entire time.

The nurse freezes and looks over at her with a sympathetic look. "We're doing everything we can." She replies before nodding at us and turning, exiting the waiting room. Alex's face drops at this and I pull him into a gentle hug. Eliza falls back into Angelica and sobs again.

I hold Alex and I notice he seems very, very afraid. "Hey, I'm sure everything will be okay... The doctors are taking good care of him.."

I look around. The waiting room was a very depressing place. I could see a little girl sitting in the corner by herself, and she looked just as terrified as Alex. She was waiting on someone, but it seemed like she had been waiting a while. I look down at Alex and he pulls himself away from me, returning to his self comforting position and I sigh.

"I'll be right back." I whisper to him and he allows himself to give a small nod.

I stand and walk over to the corner the little girl was in. She couldn't be more than four or five years old. "Hey there." I say quietly.

She jumps and looks up at me. "Oh...Hello.." She says quietly.

I sit down next to her. "I'm John." i say, extending my hand out to her.

She looks up at me but shakes my hand. "I'm Frances..." She says quietly.

"Well, Frances, it's nice to meet you." I tell her. She gives me a small smile, though I could tell she was shy. This poor thing was by herself even before we got here.

"Where are your parents?" I ask her.

She points towards the hospital rooms and I look over and frown. "My mom's been in there for a few days now.." She says in a tone just above a whisper. I look over at her to see tears threatening to escape her eyes.

"Hey hey hey," I say, placing a hand on the child's shoulder. "It'll be okay, okay? Tell me about your parents." I say, offering a smile. She nods slowly.

"Um.. It's just me and Mommy. She likes to sing and bake, and sometimes she plays pretend with me." She says, giggling softly. "But she's always working. She has a very important job."

I nod. "Ah, I see."

"What about you?" She asks. "Why...Why are you here?"

I look over and point at the group I was with. "My friends and I, we're waiting on a couple people. His son and their sister," I say, pointing them both out, "Are in the rooms, too."

Her face lights up a little. "You mean, my mom's not the only one?" She asks.

I nod at her. "There's a lot of people in there. But the doctors are doing everything they can to help them all get better." I tell her. She smiles and wraps her tiny arms around me suddenly. I hug her back, smiling down at her.

"Frances?" The nurse calls out. She looks over and waves at her. "I'm over here!" She calls.

The nurse walks over with a very, very sad smile. I knew what this meant. My eyes widen and I look down at the little girl, who seemed oblivious. "Look, I made a new friend!" She exclaims.

The nurse looks at me and nods. "Well, that's some good news.." She says. I look over at her and she sighs and kneels down to face Frances. "Frances, sweetie, you're going to have to say goodbye to mama, okay?" She says gently.

Frances tilts her head. "Why? Am I going somewhere? Mama told me to wait right here until she came out." She says.

"Well, Mama won't be coming home with you. Come on, let's go talk to her." She stands up and holds out her hand. Frances furrows her eyebrows and looks up at me.

"Johnny, what's going on?" She asks. I sigh and place a hand on her shoulder.

"You're going to go talk to your mom for the last time, Frances. Come on, go with the nurse and then when you come back, I'll be right out here, mmkay?" I tell her. She nods slowly, seeming like she might be getting it.

"Um..Okay.." She pauses and takes the nurses hand before letting go and holding onto me. "Will you come with me?" She asks, looking up at me with pouty eyes.

"Uh, Frances, I think-"

"Sir, I think you may need to. We don't have much time.." The nurse says softly. I nod and stand up, holding the little girl's hand.

"Um..Okay, I'll come with you then." I say and she holds onto my hand with both of hers, terrified. The nurse leads us to her mom's room and I tilt my head at the woman. I thought I knew her from somewhere.

Frances's eyes light up and she runs up to the side of the bed. "Mommy!" She squeals. The girl smiles softly at her and holds her hand.

"Hi, baby girl.." She says, coughing into her other arm. She looks over at me and furrows her eyebrows. "John?" She asks.

I raise an eyebrow and look at the girl in the bed. "Martha?" I ask back and she nods, seeming afraid. She looks over at Frances and her fear is replaced with a small, kind smile.

"Good to see you, old friend.." She says softly.

I nod. "Right back at ya. I'm just sorry it had to be like this.." I tell her. She nods.

"Me too." She looks over at Frances and she climbs up on her bed to give her a hug. "Frances, sweetie, Mommy is going to be going somewhere better very, very soon." She says weakly.

I purse my lips as I watch the two. "Can I come, too?" Frances asks.

Martha just shakes her head softly before coughing. "No, no you can't. You're going to be staying here."

Frances slowly nods, frowning. "The doctors couldn't help you, could they? You're still sick.."

"Yes, sweetie." She pauses to couch and then looks over at me. "Don't worry, your father is going to take care of you."

"Daddy? I've never met him, though." She says, pouting slightly.

She nods and coughs as she points over at me. I raise both my eyebrows in response to this. There was no way.. "Frances, how old are you?" I ask gently.

She smiles at me. "This many!" She says as she holds out five fingers. "Mommy, have you met my new friend, Johnny?"

She smiles gently and nods. "Yeah, last time I saw him was around five years ago.." She says. I look at her and shake my head.

"Martha, why didn't you tell me?" I ask, stepping closer.

She opens her mouth to answer but just lays her head down on her pillow. She smiles at Frances and holds her face. "I love you, Frances." She says weakly.

"I love you too, mommy.." Frances says, leaning into her hands. The heart monitor then goes flat and I see Martha's hand slowly fall down to her side. Frances frowns. "Mommy? Mommy, wake up.."

I bite my lip to stop tears from falling. I was a father, too? I think back to around five or six years ago. I was sixteen. Home-schooled by my father. The only out I had was at the roller skating rink.

"Well, hello there pretty lady." I say as I approach the pretty blonde standing by the arcade games.

She raises an eyebrow and turns towards me. "Hello, can I help you?"

"Actually, yeah. I seem to have lost my phone, can I borrow yours to call it?" I ask, though my phone was in my back pocket.

She lets out a small giggle and shakes her head. "That was lame, but cute. You got a name, freckles?" She asks.

"John Laurens, in the place to be." I gesture to the skating rink. "What about you, blondie?"

She smirks. "Martha Manning. Pleasure to meet you, John."

"Right back at ya, Martha."

We skated for a couple hours, and then one thing led to another and, well, let's just say this is how I found out I don't like females.

I look over at Frances. She has her mom's blonde hair, and is covered in freckles just like me. The nurse ushers Frances and I out of the room and Frances grips onto my leg. One of the doctors approaches me with a clipboard and raises an eyebrow.

"Sir, do you know Ms. Manning?" He asks.

I nod slowly. "Yeah, yeah I did." I say.

"Oh, what's your name?"

"John Laurens." I say.

He looks at his papers and nods. "Oh, you're the father. Way to show up and be here for your daughter." He says sarcastically while rolling his eyes. "You realize she's been here by herself this whole week, right?"

"Sir, I didn't even know she was mine until about two minutes ago.." I explain to him. His eyes widen a little bit.

"Oh...I'm sorry, I just assumed you didn't care... I'm sorry for your loss." He says.

"It's...It's okay.. I'm just going to take Frances over into the waiting room with my other friends." I say softly. I lift her up and she buries her face into my shoulder as I walk back to the waiting room. Herc looks up at me and raises an eyebrow.

"Um, John, who's the kid?" He asks. The other four look up at me and have the same reaction as Hercules. I sigh and rub her back.

"Um.. This is my daughter, Frances."

2002 Words

Long chapter and it's written soon, whaaat?? Truth be told, I wrote this during school. Zoom classes makes it easy to do that for now haha. See ya in the next chapter :)

(Be prepared)