Critical (Jamilton)

5. The Talk

"Neither do I, Liz, but maybe leaving it alone is the best chance we have at keeping him." 

"No, you don't understand, he refused to even pick up the movie Aladdin. Do you know why?" 

"Because of the jail scene?"

"Exactly." 

"Eliza, he was gone for six years. Just because nothing happened doesn't mean it was the most comfortable situation. He might just not want to think about it more than he has to." 

"But why would he want to skip over it unless it was at least somewhat related to what they did to him?" she sighed. "If you can't get him to a professional, at least ask him to talk to Peggy?" 

Thomas nodded. Truth be told, he agreed with the woman completely. He just didn't want to risk making Alex feel like he was backed into a corner. He only wanted to live in his happy, gay relationship with his super great semi-romantic something and just overall have a nice life.

Was that really too much to ask?

Jefferson went over to where Alex was sleeping soundly on the couch. He tapped the sleeping man on the shoulder lightly once and almost jumped back when Hamiton jerked awake immediately. 

"Hey," Thomas said quietly, moving in front of Alexander. "it's just me. I was going to go back to my place, you're welcome to come with me or you could stay here with Eliza. It's your choice." 

"I'll go with you," Alex replied, stretching. "We should probably talk anyway." 

And with that, the two said goodbye to Eliza and her son and left for Jefferson's home. 

While they were in the car, Thomas thought of all the ways he could initiate the conversation that he knew they needed to have before they talked about a psychiatrist. He could outright say it, but then that would make it too easy for Hamilton to avoid. Luckily, though, Alex just started it himself in that exact way. 

"So, what are we?" he asked, almost impatiently. 

"Depends on what you mean," Thomas responded. 

Alexander shot him a look from the passenger's seat. "What I mean is are we back to square one with our relationship or are we just picking back up where we left off?" 

Jefferson made a throaty sound of acknowledgment while he thought. He wanted to just pick it back up, but that might not have been the best option. . . 

"What do you want?" he said instead of actually answering. 

"I'm just glad to be back here," Hamilton muttered. "I'm fine with either one." 

Thomas didn't know if he was even supposed to hear the first part, so he didn't bring it up. 

"Well, you sort of kissed me," Jefferson said with a smirk, remembering their first kiss and ultimately what led to their relationship at all. 

"Or maybe you kissed me." 

Jefferson's smirk turned into a full-blown smile as he realized that just that small comment meant Alex remembered too. 

"Why don't we renew that old business deal, huh?" 

"I think that sounds like a great idea." 

They sat in silence until they got back to the Jefferson household, where yelling was audible, even from outside. 

"Okay, before we go in," Thomas started, turning to face Alex. "If Lizzy and Martha aren't visiting, Jane, Mary, Lucy, and the twins are inside. The younger kids. . . They may or may not remember you, I'm not actually sure, just don't take it personally if they don't. And they're still pretty overwhelming even on their own--" 

"Tommy, I handled them once, I can handle them again," Alex reassured with a smile. Thomas nodded and led him inside. 

Almost immediately, Jane and Mary were at the door, hugging Alexander yet again. They were both going off about how happy they were that he was back and okay. It went on until Thomas cleared his throat and reminded them that he was there actual brother, to which they responded with protectively holding Alex's head between them and glaring at Thomas. Hamilton smiled innocently.

The oldest Jefferson brother just rolled his eyes, letting another smile creep onto his face. He shouted for his younger siblings to come in. They all did and it took everything he had not to laugh at Alex's reaction. 

They all did look pretty different, but six years could do that to a person. Lucy wasn't a chubby dorky girl anymore. She was actually pretty tall and thin, especially compared to her kid pictures, but her puffballs of hair were still sitting on top of her head in matching almost-buns. Anna had her hair in matching dreadlocks as her twin and they almost looked identical. Mostly because neither of them hit puberty yet so they had the babyish look still going for them. Anna tried to undermine it with makeup, but she still looked like a little kid to Thomas. 

"Okay!" Thomas almost shouted. "Who all remembers Alex?" 

Lucy stared at him for a second before a huge smile found its way onto her face. "I remember you! You're the one that sucked at Mario Kart!" 

"Hey, I was not that bad! You were just a freakishly talented nine-year-old!" 

Lucy laughed and joined her sisters in the hug. Anna and Randolph looked at each other, then at Alex, then to Thomas, obviously not remembering. 

"Anna, Randolph, this is Alexander Hamilton, remember? You two were pretty little, but he came to our house for Thanksgiving one year and played with you two while everyone else cooked." 

"I think I kind of remember you," Randolph said. "Maybe." 

"Well that's fine," Alex said with a smile. "you were, what, six last time I saw you? I wouldn't expect you to remember much, especially since you saw me a total of one time." 

Randolph smiled back, relieved to not be pressured into remembering something.

The group spent some time catching up before Thomas and Alexander left the room to figure out sleeping arrangements, but they got bored of it and just decided to share a bed since they were both grown humans capable of being too lazy to go out and get another bed to deal with.