A/N: I am so sorry for not publishing in days. I honestly thought I published this already and them when I logged in today to write the next one I found out that i didn't. Sorry again, and I'll try to make sure this doesn't happen again in the future. :)
Laurens went to Washington's study. He knew he needed to tell him that he remembered and that Henry was in the clear.
The door was open already, but he went ahead and knocked on the door anyway.
"Hey, you feeling better?" Washington asked as he saw him come in.
"Much." Laurens smiled. "And I wanted to talk to you about something."
"Ok, what is it?" Washington said.
Laurens took a seat and took in a deep breath. "I remembered what happened. And it wasn't Henry."
"What happened?" George questioned.
"My car broke down. I tried to walk back but I got jumped by some guy. He must've stolen my phone and wallet. He hit me on the head and I woke up here." Laurens explained. "He was telling the truth."
"Thank God." George sighed in relief. "Ok, I got to go talk to Henry. Did Eliza check you for a concussion?"
"Yeah, she said I'll be fine." Laurens nodded.
"Ok." Washington turned and went out the door. He went to find Henry and saw that he was still in Laurens' room looking at all the pictures in his wife's box.
"Oh." Henry jumped when he saw Washington. "I'm sorry, John wanted to show me something. But I'll leave..."
"It's fine." Washington began. "I wanted to apologize. Laurens said he remembered what happened. I shouldn't have blamed you without proof."
"It's ok. I understand." Henry replied. "I did some bad things. I appreciate you trying to keep him safe. He's a good kid."
"I don't know about kid. He's all grown up now." Washington sighed. "I guess I just always saw him as a kid because he needed me. But he doesn't anymore. Also because he's the only one of my sons who wasn't married before his 20th birthday."
"Hey, there's still time." Henry joked.
Washington looked over at the box in Henry's hands and saw the picture he was holding. It was of Eleanor. Her school picture from junior year.
"Wow. He really looks just like her." Washington gasped. "How old was she?"
"She was sixteen there. She died two years later." Henry frowned. "I felt like her dying was my fault. That if she had never met me, she would've been able to live. Find love with another man. Maybe if she was older she could've survived having a baby."
"We may be two completely different men, but I know that if I lost my wife, I couldn't go on without her." Washington said. "Even if you made some very, very bad decisions, I still respect that you were able to keep going."
"It wasn't easy. I'd say it's even harder now." Henry whimpered, he started to tear up. "Especially if she knew what I did to her son. My son."
Washington didn't know what to say to that.
"I know I may not have portrayed it in the past, but you'll never know how grateful I am for you taking care of him." Henry wiped his eyes. "He needs a good father. You're a good father."
"I try to be. Just the other day, Laurens got mad at me because he said I don't trust him." Washington sighed.
"The conversation was about me, wasn't it?" Henry laughed.
"Yep." Washington chuckled. "But he was right. I'm sorry for doubting you. I'm also sorry for doubting him."
There was a brief pause.
"Eleanor used to do this thing. When she would draw, she would talk to you, but she wouldn't take her eyes off the drawing. It's like... she was both present and yet off in another world at the same time." Henry explained. "Does John do that?"
"Yeah. Half the time though, he forgets whatever I'm saying." Washington laughed. "Which sucks when you're asking him if he needs anything from the store and then needs you to go out again the next day."
"Yep, that's Ellie." Henry smiled. "Not a day goes by that I don't think of her."
"Looks like she left Laurens a nice way to know her." Washington looked through the box.
"Yeah, I kept that from him too." Henry sighed. "Honestly I'm just glad he found the key."
"I probably should get going, but I wanted to ask one more question." Washington stated.
"Shoot." Henry replied.
"Where does Laurens get his inability to keep track of the time?" Washington laughed.
"Heh, that's 100% me." Henry smiled. "Eleanor had a good sense of time. If it wasn't for her, I would've been late for my own marriage ceremony."
Washington smiled as well and stood up. "It was actually nice talking to you. It's a lot easier when you're not yelling at me."
"Who would've thought?" Henry joked.
"Seriously though. I will forever be furious with you for what you did to that kid in the past, but I won't stop you from trying to make things right now." Washington smiled.
"Thank you." Henry smiled. "That really does mean a lot to me."