Wait For It | a Hamilton fanfiction | wattys 2017

Chapter 17

Lin was so frustrated. The show should not be going this poorly. This was the international tour, for god's sake. They shouldn't be having these problems. It shouldn't be like this, and yet, disaster after disaster happened. This was only their second show. It should have been perfect. But it wasn't. He'd sat in the audience and watched the show to take notes on performances.

The Schuyler Sisters were the true problem. Jazzy was doing a fantastic job, and considering she was extremely sick the day before, Pippa had done an amazing job then, too. Lin wished that she had been well enough to perform for the first show of the two-show day. He'd wanted to scream at Lana when she ran into Brett and Kaitlyn. She couldn't just throw the blocking out the window. That's not how theatre worked- someone could get seriously hurt.

The first show was finally over, but they still had one more show to go.

Lana had showed up after 'Satisfied' was supposed to have happened and had gone back on as Angelica. Lin could tell that the cast was beginning to get irritated with her. He was, too. She was ruining the experience for the audience members, and that was what was important.

Pippa: jazzy told me what happened during the show

Lin: Yes. It's horrible without you and Renee.

Pippa: i'm sure kaitlyn was fine

Lin: She was very good. It's not the same without Renee as Angelica

Pippa: i'm sorry

Lin: How are you feeling?

Pippa: better. i was thinking of helping out backstage to guide lana, but i'm still not feeling 100%

Lin: This is a disaster. I'm losing my patience with everyone. Please come and make it better.

Pippa: i'll see how i feel in a half-hour and then i'll come if my headache doesn't get worse.

Lin sighed. He hated the fact that Pippa was so sick. It made everyone in the cast sad to see her in distress and pain.

He was so close to firing Lana. He would give her one more chance to redeem herself. And then he'd promote either Kaitlyn or Araella to Angelica permanently.

A half-hour later, someone knocked on Lin's dressing room door.

"Come in," Lin said, assuming it was Pippa.

It was Lana. "Lin, I wanted to apologize for messing up today," she said nervously.

Lin raised his eyebrows.

"It's been stressful to come into this cast and be expected to fill Renee's place in the original Schuyler Sisters trio. This has been my dream, and I feel like everyone expects me to be perfect and beautiful and amazing like Renee. There's so much pressure from the fans, and I think they hate me. I just want to be accepted," Lana said.

Lin felt a little bit of sympathy for Lana. "You need to forget about what the fans think for a moment. This you telling the story of Angelica Schuyler. It's not about you acting alongside Pippa and Jazzy. I hired you for a reason. I saw something in you. Let the world see it, too," Lin said finally.

"Thank you, Lin," Lana said gratefully.

"Focus. Breathe. Lana, this show matters a lot to every single cast member here. It's time that you showed them that you care about it, too," Lin added as Lana walked out the door.

Not a minute after Lana left, Pippa gave a gentle knock on the door.

"Lana said she'd just been to see you," she said, sitting down opposite Lin.

"She explained why she's been so frazzled. She thinks that you compare her to Renee," Lin said. Pippa sighed.

"It is impossible not to compare your closest friend to someone you don't know yet," she told him. "I try not to compare Lana to Renee, but with all these mistakes, it's becoming more difficult for me. It's hard to accept someone who messes up all the time."

"I told her that I hired her for a reason, and that it was time she started caring about the show."

"That's good. Why did you hire her?"

"To be honest, Pippa, I saw something in her that reminded me of myself," Lin said. "She's a determined actress that wants to make a mark on history. I understand that. And she has so much potential. She just needs to stop trying to be the best and be herself."

"I hope you're right," Pippa said, and sighed.

"Are you feeling better?" Lin asked.

"Yes and no. It's definitely better than last night. Last night I almost passed out," Pippa admitted. "I can actually do things today. The extra sleep helped."

"I'm glad," Lin said. He leaned down and opened one of his cabinets. "I have a gift for you. I was going to wait until the Monday birthday celebration but I think that I can give it to you now, since your birthday was yesterday."

"You didn't have to get me anything, Lin. You've given me the best role I could have ever wanted," Pippa said.

"Pippa, you're one of the best friends I've ever had," Lin corrected her. He handed her a box wrapped in white with a bright blue bow.

Pippa smiled. She carefully untied the bow and parted the pale blue paper inside.

First, there was a card from nine-year-old Sebastian. It read-

'PIPPA HAPPY BIRTHDAY, LOVE SEBASTIAN'. It had a drawing of a blue, red, and yellow stick figure along with a slightly crazed green stick figure. The blue stick figure was carefully labeled 'PIPPA' and the green stick figure was 'DADDY'.

"Tell him thank you. I love it," Pippa said.

"He wanted to come see you and give you cupcakes but I told him he'd have to wait until the Washington, D.C shows to visit and give you cupcakes," Lin explained.

"I look forward to it," Pippa laughed.

Next, was a white infinity scarf. Printed on it, in Elizabeth Schuyler's handwriting, was the entirety of the lyrics of 'Burn', combined with 'Helpless'.

"How did you do this?" Pippa asked, turning the scarf over in her hands.

"They scanned one of Eliza's letters and wrote out what I asked for. Vanessa suggested it."

"Tell her thank you, and send my love," Pippa said. She hugged Lin.

"I don't deserve friends like you, Lin. Thank you so much for both gifts. You've given me the most wonderful opportunity through your show."

"Places in thirty minutes."

"Are you ready? Do you need help with anything?" Pippa asked Lin.

"No. I have my makeup on. I just have to get in costume. Go find Jazzy."

"Thanks again, Lin," Pippa said gratefully.