Critical (Jamilton)

22. Andre Plays Pity-Mon Instead of Poke-Mon

"Thomas, I just want to say that I don't want you to feel like I'm a danger to Alexander--" Andre started. 

"John, I just want to say that the only reason I'm not beating you to the ground right now is that Alex has some sort of faith in you that I don't understand. All I need is his okay to beat you down, don't believe anything less than that," Thomas growled, glancing hopefully at the man next to him. Hamilton shook his head.

Andre nodded and sat back down, twiddling his thumbs. Peggy walked back in with a huge smile on her face. She sat down in her usual chair, told everyone that the drinks were up for grabs, and started with her first ever group session. 

"Okay, so I see all of you are aware of each other! Let's get started!"

She turned to Andre, asking him why he came back there instead of leaving the country or something far away from any reminder of what happened. 

"This is my home," he said. "I mean, true I wasn't born here, but this is where my family and I came to get away from a, uhm, situation in my hometown." 

"Situation?"

"My dad wasn't the nicest of people and he definitely relied more on alcohol than anything else," John explained, shifting uncomfortably in his chair. "My older sisters and I came out here with my mom, but Mom got sick and my sisters and I realy only had each other to rely on after that. They're here, so this is my home." 

Peggy nodded sadly. Alex looked at Thomas to see if he could find a reaction. Jefferson looked like he was trying to keep a straight, blank face, but it wasn't working out how he wanted because Alexander could see some sort of emotion in his eyes. Whether that emotion was sympathy or disbelief, Ham didn't know. 

After he was done, Peggy pushed a cup of tea over to him. The nervous vibe he had, in the beginning, was replaced with a completely sad one. He wiped his eyes and took a sip of the tea. 

"Alex, why do you think he deserves a second chance?"

"He never actually did anything other than help me and, like you said, I'm just associating him with the memory of what happened." 

Thomas grunted in disapproval. 

"Something to add, Jefferson?" Peggy asked. 

"Yeah, this is stupid," he said. Andre visibly flinched. "He's playing the victim card to play on our emotions!" 

"I'm not--" 

"It's just too coincidental. Why wouldn't you and your sisters at least go to a different state? And you shouldn't need Alex's forgiveness to get a fresh start!"

"That part isn't about me getting a fresh start," Andre clarified quietly. "I may not have the same memories of the situation but they still affected me, okay? I had to watch people the I knew go crazy or die and knowing that Alex was the only one to get out makes me think that if there's anywhere I can start to move on, it's the forgiveness of someone that was hurt because of my choices." 

"Just leave him alone, Thomas," Ham grumbled. "He didn't do anything." 

After a second Jefferson agreed to leaving him alone, but not before clarifying that he hated the idea of it and as soon as something went wrong Andre was going to regret coming back. John seemed okay with that though, and so did Peggy. She told the other guy to leave and turned to Alex and Thomas. 

"Now onto you two," she said. "I already talked to that one yesterday about what he did wrong, so Thomas what was going through that peanut sized brain?"

"I. . . I don't know, honestly," Thomas muttered. "I guess I just couldn't handle me being the reason you keep trying to leave." 

Alexander and Peggy both stared at Jefferson, silently urging him to continue with the apology. 

"I didn't mean to hit you, okay? That wasn't-- it wasn't supposed to happen and I wanted to take it back as soon as it happened, and I still do, but if you really want to leave, I'm not going to keep you here." He stopped for a second, taking a nervous glance at Alex through the side of his eye. "And I, uhm, I understand if you want to leave me." 

After that, Alex couldn't help but laugh. A hysterical, knee-slapping laugh that got him weird looks from both Thomas and Peggy.

"Sorry," he said, letting a few loose chuckles out. "you just look hilariously pitiful right now."

Thomas snickered and lightly pushed Alexander with his shoulder. "You're such an ass." 

"So, I'm assuming that part's resolved," Peggy said, clapping her hands together. "But now, we need to get through Thomas not knowing what to do when you get like that." 

Alex was going to disagree, but Peggy told him to can it before he had a chance to say anything. 

"Lex, tell Thomas something that you haven't yet about the situation."

"What?"

"You know, something that would typically start a fight." Peggy waved her hand, letting him know to stay along those lines, as she took a drink. 

"Oh, uhm, okay? I was out for a month before I came to you." 

Peggy choked on her drink and Thomas did a double take, both ending up staring at Hamilton like he was an alien. 

"What took you so long to come back?" Jefferson almost yelled. "I thought you were dead!" 

"Ah!" Peggy said, putting up a finger. "Stop right there, that's what starts the fights."

"What?" the two men said at the same time. 

"Jefferson, he's telling you something because he thinks you can handle it without flipping out--"

"You made me tell him."

"So you can't show that you're angry like that. Show you're upset, sure, but not angry. If you start yelling at him, he's going to get defensive because typically someone getting hit starts with yelling, so he's probably trying to distance himself to avoid getting hurt physically."

"I'm sitting right here, you know!" Alex reminded her.

Peggy turned to face him. "And am I right?" 

". . . Maybe."

"Exactly." She turned back to Thomas. "Try asking what he was doing in that time instead of why he didn't come right away."

Thomas did, and Alexander answered. They went on like that until Peggy was satisfied with how Thomas reacted to things, even if they were things he already knew. Their friend didn't let them leave until she was one hundred percent confident that Thomas could handle a situation without starting a fight and Alex could get through a mildly inconvenient conversation without getting defensive and saying something to hurt Jefferson. They were there for some hours.