Of Iron and Steel (HAMILTON Steampunk AU) (LAMS)

Chapter 2

I woke up in the middle of the night to soft whispering.

"Hey, baby, you're gonna be okay. I'm right here."

"It hurts, Pegs..."

"I know it does. But it's not gonna hurt after a few more minutes, okay? I just gave you a sedative."

"I-I need to keep my mind off of this. U-um, how's that project going?"

"It's actually going not as well as I hoped. Eliza is refusing to work with me, so I actually have to go out and buy Ether from the market. She's making it three times more difficult."

"What was it again?"

There were unintelligible whispers.

"Wow. That's a huge project to do without animation magic. Y-you know, I could always ask J--"

"Absolutely not."

"But--"

"I said no, Maria. I don't want him to hurt you anymore."

There was a soft sigh and the sound of a gentle kiss. "I love you so much, Pegs. You mean the world to me."

"I love you too, baby girl."

There was a rustling sound, and then a voice of pure honeyed sugar.

"How is she-- oh, hi, Maria. How're you doing?"

"Much better. I'm feeling that sedative, Pegs."

"Excellent," Peggy said. "Hey, John, can you go and check on Lafayette for me? Make sure he's still breathing?"

"Yeah."

The sounds of footsteps. A few moments of silence, only filled by the rustling of the canvas in the wind.

"He's good. He looks a million times better, by the way. Are you using Angie's salve?"

"Yeah. I'm glad he hasn't experienced any allergic reactions to it. He's... delicate, from what Alexander has told me of him."

My interest peaked at the mention of my name.

"Speaking of which, how is he? I was kind of worried about him..."

There was a snort of amusement. "If by 'worried', you mean completely and utterly captivated by him, then I completely agree with you."

"HEY!"

"But, to answer your question, he's fine. He was in a little bit of shock earlier when he found out about his leg--"

"Wait, what happened to his leg?"

"We had to remove it. It was completely crushed, and..." She lowered her voice. "I didn't have the heart to tell him earlier, but we found a small bout of cancer in his calf. It was best to remove his leg in all circumstances."

Everything froze.

I had had cancer when I was a kid. Terminally ill, along with the fact that we couldn't afford the treatments. I was practically on death's door when a magician came and said he would remove a vast majority of the infected cells for a magical price. Mom eagerly paid it, and I was cured.

And then she died. We still don't know how.

"Wow. That's rough." The honeyed voice said. There were the sounds of footsteps, then a feeling of someone standing over me. "He's... um.... I-I mean..."

The other woman laughed softly. "John, we all know you have a gigantic crush on him, it's okay."

There was a sigh from above me. "No, it's not. He looks too young to be caught up in all this shit. He looks like he's 17, for Christ's sake!"

I was 15.

"He said his dad was abusive and that his mom died when he was 12. He lived with his cousin in London until he boarded that airship."

I felt a wet drop hit my cheek and heard the sound of crying.

"Shit," I heard the voice above me say shakily, still choked with tears. "Why can't people just accept their kids, man?!" I heard the voice shatter. "I thought this shit didn't happen anymore! This is horrible. God, I just wanna give him a hug..."

"Wake him up, then," Peggy said. "I need to replace his bandages. He suffered a real nasty concussion. How long was he out?"

"About two days," the other woman replied. "Same deal with Frenchie over here. He only woke up a few hours ago and almost screamed when he saw Alex's leg. I mean, I did too, but not for the same reasons."

I felt a soft hand on my face, brushing away the fallen tear. "Hey, Alex, can you wake up? We need to replace your bandages."

I opened my eyes and found one of the most beautiful faces I had ever seen.

His honey color face was matched perfectly with a pair of olive-colored eyes. His long, springy hair was tied back with a small ribbon. Freckles were smattered across his face like delicate stars.

The sight of him took my breath away. His teary smile dazzled me.

"W-who are you?" I asked, regaining some of my senses after a moment.

"I'm John Laurens," he said. "Peggy's ready to change your bandages."

He helped me sit up, and then Peggy began the excruciating process of taking off my bandages on my stump.

I winced quite a few times, but eventually, it was completely unwrapped. And what was there was a horrible sight to awful for words.

Let me just say this: whatever you're thinking it looks like, it's probably worse.

I almost vomited at the sight, but just looked away from the horror until she had cleaned the wound again.

While she was applying the stinging carbon dioxide, I felt John's hand slip into mine. "Squeeze if it gets too much," he whispered in my ear.

I'm fairly certain his hand was broken by the end of it, but eventually, Peggy put on a set of new bandages and moved up to the bandages on my head. I stared down at my lap while she worked, clenching my teeth in agony. John again held my hand in his, telling me to squeeze. I did, very aggressively.

"Alright, Alex," Peggy said, stepping away. "You're finished." She turned to John. "Hon, can you stay with him for the night? I wanted to spend some time with Maria."

John nodded eagerly. "Of course!"

Maria, a beautiful woman who looked a lot like Peggy, but slightly taller, smirked but didn't say anything.

The two ladies eventually left, leaving John and me alone. Well, mostly alone.

"So, you're John?" I asked.

He nodded, a sad little smile on his lips. "Yeah. Peggy told me what happened with your dad when you were younger. Mine did the same thing."

"Shut up, you disgusting excuse for a human being! You should have never been born!"

"Y-yeah," I said, surprised by the sudden memory. "I-It sucks."

"You should get some sleep," John said in a light voice. "Peggy's gonna start making your leg tomorrow, and Washington is coming to visit, as well."

I nodded, and laid back down, adjusting the blanket to completely cover me.

"Goodnight," I heard John say, but I was already asleep.

(Just because I love you guys.)