To My Dearest, Enemy (Lams Soulmate AU)

♣ THIRTY ♣

John's POV

I sit down on the couch in the livingroom, staring at the wall. Frances was still asleep, so I had a little bit of time before I had to be responsible. For now, I get to be a heartbroken mess. I stare at my arms to see the cuts fading a little on my arm. They started appearing not long after Alex left me. 

I don't even know why he did it. We were mourning the loss of his son and then suddenly he just turns and breaks up with me. Who the hell even does that?

"Hey John." Martha says gently as she sits down next to me. "How are you doing?" She asks, placing a hand on my shoulder. 

I shake my head. "I..I don't know. It was all so sudden.. And with Philip and Peggy as well.." I say, staring at my arms still. Martha sighs. 

"He didn't want to break up with you.. He's going through a lot right now, but I promise everything will be alright between the two of you." She says, now wrapping her arm around me in a side hug. "You two are soulmates, you'll figure it out I'm sure."

I roll my eyes. "He doesn't believe in soulmates, Martha. And yeah, I get that that's my fault, but I don't know how to fix it." I say, staring at my arms.

"John, none of this is your fault.." She says.

"If I had just written to him when I was younger..If we'd gotten to know each other sooner, maybe he'd believe in love and he wouldn't have... He wouldn't have.." I can't even finish my sentence before I hold my head in my hands, trying to stop the tears from falling.

"Alex has gone through a lot more than I'm sure you know... This just adds on to the trauma. John, Alex doesn't want to lose you." She explains to me.

I raise an eyebrow at her. "He's sending some pretty fucking mixed signals then." I mumble.

She gives me a stern mother look and I sigh. "Sorry, I didn't mean to cuss in front of you.."

She sighs. "It's fine, I get you're hurting..."

The door opens and I look over to see Alex walking in. He freezes and looks at me. He left yesterday to stay with Lafayette, and was coming back today to finish packing his stuff so he could move next week. He stares at me before waving slightly at Martha. "Good morning...Laf is waiting outside." He says before walking past us and going to his room.

Frances walks out, holding the bear I gave her the first day and rubbing her tired eyes. "Morning, Daddy. Morning Martha." She yawns.

I give her a small smile, though I felt no actually joy. "Morning, Frances." I reply to her. The door opens again and Lafayette enters.

"Hey, we're going to meet up with Peggy and Angelica, see if we can help her remember some stuff. You should come, and bring Frances. You know Peggy loves kids." Lafayette says.

I shake my head but Martha answers for me. "That sounds lovely, I'll go get a lunch packed for Frances." She says before going to the kitchen.

Frances tilts her head. "We're going somewhere?" She asks me.

I bite my lip and look over at Laf, who was nodding at me. I sigh. "Fine, yeah. We'll go for a little bit. Come on, let's go get you ready." I say, standing up and walking with Frances to the bathroom.

Timeskip brought to you by the standard reply (lots of tests, lots of papers)

"Oh, you guys made it!" Angelica says, seeming shocked to see me. I sigh and rub my face with my free hand (my other one holding Frances's), and stand next to the bench Angelica and Peggy were sitting on. 

Peggy looks over at Frances and frowns gently. "She's so small.." She mumbles. 

Frances hides behind my leg, peeking around it to look at the others. "Yeah, I figured I'd bring you to meet her, since you like children so much." I say tiredly. 

She gives me a strange look and shakes her head. "No...No I don't..Um, I mean no offence but I hate children.."

Angelica raises an eyebrow. "What are you talking about? Just last week you were talking about how you wanted to adopt like five million children just so you could be surrounded by them all day." She says. "Then I called you crazy, but you still love kids.."

Peggy shakes her head. "Um.. No. I don't recall that, maybe that was someone else." She says. 

I look over her outfit. She seemed entirely different. She wore a read tank top with some dark ripped jeans and had bright lipstick on. She sort of looks like Maria Lewis, if I'm being honest. The only memories I have of that woman was from the time Thomas, James, Aaron, and I exposed her secret relationship with Alex. I frown at the thought of him. He hated me so much back then. 

"Peggy, listen, I know you're a little confused-" 

"Peggy? Who the hell is Peggy?" She asks before nodding. "Oh, you guys must think I'm her."

We all furrow our eyebrows in confusion at her. We had already informed her she was Peggy before, she should remember everything after the accident. "Um, you are Peggy.. We went through this at the hospital, you're Peggy, I'm your sister.." Angelica says, trying to hold back any frustration she had. 

Peggy shakes her head. "No, I don't have any sisters." She looks around at us. "I'm an only child... I'm sorry, do I know you guys?" She asks. This was starting to get weird. Just a few seconds ago, she was fine. 

"Peggy, I think that maybe you-"

"My name's not Peggy, it's.." She pauses as she thinks it through. "Mar..."

There was a moment of silence. "Margarita?" Lafayette offered. 

Peggy smiles. "No, but that's a really pretty name." She says, before returning to thinking of her name. "It's close to that..Mar...Marie.. Oh, Maria." She says smiling up at us. 

We all stare at her, not sure how to respond. She did look very much like her, but this is definitely Peggy, not Maria. "W-what do you mean?" Lafayette asks. 

Peggy/Maria looks over at Laf and smiles, standing up and walking towards him. She gets really close and he bushes madly. She looks up at him with a flirtatious look and I raise an eyebrow. "My name is Maria Lewis. No siblings, no boyfriend.." She pauses and giggles. "What's your name?" 

Lafayette looks over at us, his face a cherry red color but also very confused. He wasn't sure how to respond. "Why don't we get you to the doctor, Pe- Maria." Angelica says gently, standing up and grabbing her arm, pulling her away carefully.

"Why? I feel fine." She says, shrugging. 

"No, we're going now. You guys coming with?" Angelica asks. Lafayette nods slowly. "I'll uh..I'll drive my own car, though." He offers and Peggy/Maria pouts. 

"Wait, ride with us!" She says. "I'll sit next to you, if you want."

Laf shakes his head. "Uh..I'm okay." he says flustered. "Are you coming?" He asks me. 

I nod and pick up Frances. "Yeah, I'm a bit concerned about this.." I admit and we walk to our separate cars, beginning the drive to the doctor's office.  

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