The march to Virginia was interesting, to say the least.
Because he was a general, Lafayette got to ride a horse. Because I was his fiancée, I got to ride with him. Because Theodosia was pregnant, Alex made her ride his horse. Because most of us are friends, we all marched together. And because Lafayette and Theodosia hate each other, Aaron and I were expecting this to end badly.
But it didn't.
Lafayette and Theodosia weren't at each other's throats the whole time, and they even said polite goodbyes when she left. I'm pretty sure this was only because he didn't want to antagonize a pregnant woman. But that did nothing to stop Laf from celebrating the minute she was gone. He did manage to tone it down a bit though, only because Aaron was right there.
Naturally, something had to happen to ruin the streak of good things. Lafayette and his men, including Aaron, had to break off from the main group to shadow the British and get in position. The only problem with this is that nobody told me until it was about to happen. Dad made the plans and I couldn't smack him, so I slapped Lafayette twice to make up for it.
"Alright, Y/N," Alex said. "Lafayette has put me in charge of your safety, so please don't do anything stupid."
I glanced up at him and gave a mischievous grin. "I could do that. Or I could do something completely stupid and blame you."
He scoffed. "You didn't let me finish. I'm pretty sure both of us are already planning on doing something stupid. But if we do it together it should cancel out."
"That...is not how this works."
"Listen, I went to college. This is definitely how this works."
I gave him a smug look. "But did you finish college?"
He reached down to smack me upside the head. "At least I went unlike you. And I learned about math and stuff, and two negatives make a positive. I think it's PEMDAS or something."
"Have you ever heard the phrase 'two wrongs don't make a right?'" I said.
"Yes, and that's why we're talking about math, not philosophy. Keep up. And since when do you not want to do something stupid?"
I shrugged. "I can't explain it, but I don't think I have to this time. I feel like something big is going to happen and I don't want to risk messing it up."
Alex hummed in thought. "And what if that 'something' is a British victory?"
"I have a good feeling about this, though. We're gonna win this war, Alex," I told him with a confident smile. "We have to."
It took him a minute, but Alex smiled back. "I think you're right. But if you're not, I will smite you."
"Will there be flames?"
"Yes."
"Deal."
After we set up camp, Alexander actually thought it was a good idea to let me in on the plan ahead of time. Incase his plan was too stupid or not stupid enough, he said. But I thought it was brilliant.
"So," I said. "We're taking the bullets out so idiots don't give away our position?"
Alex nodded.
"Does that mean I get to stab them?"
He sighed. "No, we'll put the bullets back when we're about to fight."
"Okay fine. And we're moving at night because navy blue blends in the dark better than red?"
He blinked. "...Yes. Yes, that's totally the reason."
I laughed. "Okay little bro. Anything else?"
He put down his quill and glared at me. "First of all, I am fairly certain that I'm older than you."
"That has never been proven," I scoffed.
He ignored me. "Secondly, Washington is not my dad."
"He calls you son and his word is law. That, and you're the only sibling that I actually like. So shut up and let me have this."
His eyes rolled, but he didn't say anything. I graciously accepted his surrender.
"This is a good plan, Alex. But I have one question," I said.
"And what would that be?"
"If we happen to come across any sleeping redcoats, can I stab them to death?" I bat my eyelashes as innocently as possible and gave him a persuasive smile. But getting him to agree was super easy. Barely an inconvenience.
"Of course. But you probably shouldn't get that close to them with a kni-"
"Dad got me a sword for my birthday. I picked it up when we went past Mount Vernon and everyone was asleep."
His eyes went wide. "If I let my son call him Grandpa Washington do you think he'll give me a sword?"
I shrugged. "Maybe. Now about that stupid thing we're gonna do..."
Alex had a wicked smirk. "Way ahead of you, N/n."
Apparently, his stupid idea was to make bombs. We took a bunch of glass bottles and filled them with gunpowder that we totally didn't steal from the British, and some string. We didn't know how long the battle would last, so we made as many as we could. (A/N: I have no idea if this would actually work, it probably wouldn't, but it sounded cool, so...)
The gunpowder was safely hidden in our tent, but we had to keep getting more bottles and string. Dad saw us one time, my arms full of string and Alex's full of empty liquor bottles with the two of us whispering and giggling like teenage girls.
We stopped smiling and looked at dad with a straight face.
"Evening, father," I said.
He blinked at us. "Do I even want to know what the two of you are doing?"
"Probably not, Your Excellency," Alex answered.
Dad nodded. "Didn't think so. Whatever it is, get it done before your troops march out at sunset, Hamilton."
We nodded. "Of course, sir."
Alex sighed as we walked off. "I can't believe we got away with that."
"Me either," I laughed. "But I'm not complaining. And these should be the last of them. How many do we have? Fifty?"
"Fifty-one. And we need to use them strategically. We don't know how long we'll be fighting. I don't think we should use more than five a day."
I nodded. "Sounds fair. How about we each get twenty-five and give the last one to my dad as a destructive peace offering."
Alex looked at me weird. "'Destructive peace offering?' Say that again, but slowly."
"I know what I said! Things between us and dad will be peaceful once he sees how destructively awesome this plan is."
"I'm so glad we're friends," he said with a smile.
"Me too."
Dad loved the idea. He even decided that him throwing his bomb would be the signal for us to start fighting. And the scariest part was that he actually trusted them to work. Alex and I weren't stupid by any means, but still. Even I was half expecting this to be a failure.
I was disappointed twice in the next 24 hours. Once because I didn't get to stab anybody in their sleep, and twice because I was wrong about the bombs. That last one was a happy disappointment though. As it turns out, dad can throw pretty heckin far and the blast radius of those bombs was pretty heckin big.
I let out a low whistle and Alex gaped at the carnage. We grinned wildly, high fiving in victory.
"You heard the man! ATTACK!" General Hamilton commanded.
We opened fire on the British and advanced. Catching them by surprise was fun.
Well, it was fun until someone in front of me got blasted in the arm and their musket came flying towards my face. Time was kind enough to slow down so I could see the hand still attached to the flying weapon. I turned away at the last second and it hit me in the side of the head.
The next thing I knew, Alex was shaking me and shouting. At least I think he was. The only thing I heard was the ringing in my ears and some muffled gunshots. But I could see his lips moving through my blurry vision. I must have responded because he said something else and hauled me to my feet. My leg threatened to collapse again, but Alex caught me and helped me stumble along with the rest of the battalion.
That was the first day. I made sure to wrap my leg before charging into battle again. Days two and three were much better. The British had us at a stalemate and even started to push us back a bit, but three well placed bombs from me and Alexander helped change things back in our favor.
Days four and five came and went. Miraculously, I hadn't been hurt again. Four days of battle without injury? That's a new record. Personal win. Lafayette would be so proud of me.
If he's still alive.
But I can't think about that when I'm in the middle of trying to cause as much death as possible without causing my own. Bombs were good for that. Flaming destruction is the best destruction. Lafayette wouldn't be proud of that, but what he doesn't know won't hurt him. And he couldn't exactly play the husband card, now could he?
Theodosia would be so proud of me.
Day six is when things started getting difficult. We were pushing the Brits closer to Chesapeake Bay and they were fighting harder. Like they knew they were going to lose. That in itself was a good thing, because it meant we were winning, but it had a terrible side effect.
Boosting the ego of Alexander Hamilton.
He started getting cocky and trying to pull off the stuff Lafayette and John can do because he thinks he's as cool as them. In reality, he was just making himself more of a target. I saw the bullet whizzing straight at his face, and so did he. But he didn't move. He looked offended that the bullet would even dare come within ten feet of his person.
So, I tackled him.
"MOVE, DUMMY!" I shouted. We hit the ground with a thump, me landing on Alex and knocking the breath out of him. I rocked back onto my feet and smacked him.
"What did you think you were doing?! You almost died! You can't space out in the middle of a battle like that!" I yelled, channeling my inner Theodosia. "I'm not ready to lose one of you, Hamilton!"
He blinked himself back to reality and gave me an apologetic smile. "When you imagine death to point that it feels like a memory, you forget to run sometimes."
I pinched the bridge of my nose and helped him to his feet. His expression turned more sincere and he reached a hand up to wipe my tears. I let him.
"Nobody is dying, I promise you that. But if that was the end of me, I'm glad I have a friend with me. And you're one of the best," he said.
I cracked a smile and wrapped him in a quick, but tight hug. "Same here, Alexander. Now let's win this war!"
Our victory didn't come until a week after the fighting started. I was too focused on the actual fighting to see what was going on, but that's what the gremlin is for. He nudged my arm and pointed somewhere in the sea of red.
The sea of red that was broken up by one small, white handkerchief.
I slowly lowered my gun as my fellow soldiers did the same. My hand found its way to Alexander's shoulder and I squeezed it. My heart beat faster and my eyes burned with tears that I didn't bother to hide.
These were tears of joy. I wondered if Lafayette was crying.
I put a hand to my mouth in shock. My chest was tight with hope and I didn't dare to breathe. "Does that mean..." I trailed off in a whisper.
"Freedom," Alex finished, his own tears threatening to spill.
"Not. Yet." General Washington told us. Not yet.
He beckoned Hamilton and another of his officers to follow him out to meet General Cornwallis and his officers. I raised my gun ever so slightly and kept a finger on the trigger in case things went south. But there was no need. After a few hours of both armies standing around with baited breath, George Washington shook hands with Charles Cornwallis.
My father smiled. The war was over. We won.
Dad gave the orders for our men to lead the redcoats out of Yorktown, single file. But that would have to wait.
We WON.
Everyone started cheering and crying and hugging and it would have felt like the world's biggest party if we didn't have to go through so much to get here. I was bawling my eyes out in joy and disbelief. I looked over to see Alexander in a similar state of shock.
I threw my arms around him and hugged him. He spun me around a few times before setting me back on my feet.
"ALEX WE WON!" I screamed.
"I KNOW!" he screamed back.
"I CAN'T BELIEVE IT!"
"I CAN'T BELIEVE IT EITHER!"
I was grinning madly and bouncing on my toes like a little kid. "WE GOTTA TELL LAFAYETTE!"
Alex shrugged. "I think he already knows, bUT LET'S GO!"
He grabbed my hand and sprinted away in search of Lafayette's battalion. We didn't get that far before the Almighty General Hamilton crashed into somebody and sent us both to the ground. I was still running off adrenaline and not phased in the least. I looked up at the guy and it was-
"HERCULES MULLIGAN!"
"ALEXANDER AND Y/N!"
Herc pulled us to our feet and into a bone crushing hug. "WE DID IT GUYS! WE'RE FREE!"
He set us back on our feet and I sucked the air back into my lungs.
"Do you know where Lafayette is?!" I asked.
"When did you get here!?" Alex asked.
Herc just grinned. "You didn't really think I would miss this, did you? And Lafayette is-"
Right behind him apparently because the Frenchman crashed into me and dipped me with a deep, passionate kiss. He pulled away with his hands on my waist and looked at me with those stormy eyes of his and a beaming smile.
"We did it, mon amour!" he cheered. I kissed him again, just to be sure.
I was beaming too. "We did it Laffy. We did it."
After the war, Alex and Herc went back to their houses in New York. Me, Laf, and dad went back to Mount Vernon. Mom got there a few days after the three of us, and for once I was glad she wasn't there. It gave me the time to think about how to tell them that I would be moving to France.
Laf held my hands as we sat on my bed. "Just tell them, mon amour. They'll understand."
I sighed and started out the window. "I know. I know they'll understand, and I know they wouldn't do anything to stop me even if they could. But..."
"But?"
I sighed again, louder this time, and leaned back against his chest. "Mom doesn't even know we're engaged! And I don't think she's even met you! And I'm dad's only child! Those evil step brats don't count. I don't know if he'll like me moving so far away. And..."
Laf hugged me as I buried my face in his chest. "And?" Bless this man and his patience.
I took a deep breath. "And I'm an adult. I can make my own choices. I'm Y/N M/N Washington-soon-to-be-Lafayette, and they gotta deal with it."
My fiancé smiled at me and kissed the top of my head. "That's ma belle wife. Now, when do we tell them?"
"Mom should be arriving sometime today, so... we can tell them at dinner."
Laf nodded "Sounds like a good idea. And until she gets here and we're forced to socialize..."
He pulled me fully into his lap. One of his arms tightened around my waist and his hand came up to cup my cheek. He held my gaze for a heartbeat before connecting our lips.
The kiss started out slow but eventually got pretty heated. Lafayette slipped his tongue in my mouth and ran his hands along my sides. He ended up on top of me again, leaving small kisses along my jawline. I messed with his curls a bit and traced my nails along his cheek. He finally let me go with one last lingering kiss to my lips.
"We should take a nap," he said, yawning a bit.
I yawned too. "We should."
He got under the blankets and held me close to his chest, wrapping an arm around me.
"Goodnight, mon amour," he whispered.
"Gilbert, it's three in the afternoon."
He put a finger to my lips. "Shhh, ma ange. I said goodnight."
I giggled. "Alright Laffy Taffy. Goodnight."
When I woke up it was around seven, and I could smell f/f. Mom's the only one who makes f/f. I blinked the sleep out of my eyes and looked down at my sleeping Lafayette. He looked so peaceful, but this is a matter of food.
All foods before dudes.
I pressed light kisses to his cheek until his dark eyes fluttered open and he gave me a half smile.
"J'adore me réveiller avec ta voix (I love waking up to your voice)," he murmured. "I can't wait to do this every day."
I smiled, rubbing my ring. "Neither can I. But we still have to tell my parents. Get up Laf, my mom's here and dinner's almost ready."
He groaned. "Why are you making me get up?"
"Food."
"Fair enough."
We got out of bed and I went to my closet to pick out a dress. I didn't want to wear one, but my parents would make me change if I just showed up to dinner in a night gown. At least I didn't have to wear a corset.
I turned around with the dress in my hands to see a smirking Frenchman.
"What are you waiting for, amour?" he said.
I raised an eyebrow. "You to turn around."
He pretended to think. "Now why would I do that?"
"Is my name Lafayette?"
"Not yet.~"
"Not yet isn't good enough. Out!"
"But-"
"Begone, thot!"
And I shoved him out of my room so I could change. When I opened the door, he was standing there pouting at me. I rolled my eyes and pecked his lips.
"Don't worry, Laffy. There will be plenty of time for that on our wedding night," I told him.
He looked at me seriously and held up his pinky. I looked at him just as seriously and shook pinkies with him.
His serious look turned into a devilish smirk and he got close to my ear. "Tu ne sais pas dans quoi tu t'es embarqué (You don't know what you got yourself into)," he purred.
I grabbed his collar and yanked him down to my height so we could see eye to eye. My own devilish smirk graced my lips.
"I'm looking forward to it~"
I released his collar and he looked down at me, the smirks still evident on both our faces. Laf was the first to break the staring contest by kissing me on the forehead.
"Well then. We should plan this wedding as soon as we can, shouldn't we mon chou?" he said.
"I agree, mon cher," I said.
He offered his arm and I took it, him leading me down the stairs and into the dining room. We didn't get two steps in before my parents noticed us. Dad nodded for us to take our seats, and Laf pulled out my chair for me. I was about to sit, but mom cracked me on the wrist with a wooden spoon.
"OW?!" I said.
"You don't get to say 'ow'!" mom exclaimed. "Can't even tell your own mother you got engaged!"
I rubbed my wrist. "I felt like it was something you should hear in person!"
Mom held her glare for a heartbeat. "You were right. But still!"
I threw my hands up and petulantly sat in my chair. Laf and Dad were smiling at us like we were an inside joke of theirs.
"What?" Mom and I asked them, identical looks of annoyance on our faces.
"Père, would it be wrong to say that she's just like her mother?" Laf said with a smirk.
Dad allowed himself to grin. "Not at all, son. I see it too."
I glowered in my chair even further. "I will divorce you."
"Aw, but you're not even a Lafayette yet," Laf pouted. "Isn't that what you told me upstairs?"
"How dare you throw my words back in my face?"
He grinned. "Je t'aime."
"I don't like you."
Laf laughed at me and kissed my hand, making me crack a small smile. It faded a bit when I saw mom make her way around the table to him, silently observing us. But mostly Lafayette.
She put her hands on her hips. "So, you're my latest son in law?"
Laf gulped. I squeezed his hand to reassure him. He gently took his hand out of mine and bowed slightly to mom.
"Oui Madame Washington. It's an honor to meet you. I've heard good things about you from both Y/N and General Washington," he said.
Mom didn't ease her glare. "I've heard good things about you as well, Monsieur Lafayette. Tell me, do you love my daughter?"
Laf nodded. "With all my heart."
Mom looked at him for another long moment. Laf glanced between me and dad, trying to get some help. Dad leaned back in his chair, clearly enjoying the show. I was going to intervene, but mom beat me too it.
She hugged him, but Laf was too shocked to hug her back. Mom looked at me and dad indignantly.
"What did you think I was going to do? And besides, he's my cutest son in law yet," she said over her shoulder. She walked back into the kitchen to get the food, leaving me and Laf blushing in embarrassment.
"MOTHER!" I exclaimed. "See, this is why I'm glad I'm moving to France."
Regret. As soon as I opened my mouth, regret.
I heard something fall in the kitchen. Dad glanced between me and Laf with eyes as wide as saucers, and the look Laf was giving me wasn't much better.
I gave them all an awkward smile. "Surprise!"
******A/N******
Hiya! First of all, I just want to thank everyone who's stuck with this book so far. I never thought my garbage would get this much attention!! Y'alls comments keep me smiling for days!
Secondly, I need your opinion on the future of this book. Some people (AKA my dad) said that this book is getting too long and that my readers are getting bored and that I need to end the book soon. Idk if he's right, so I need y'all to tell me what you think and what you want!
Option 1: I end it after the wedding, which would be the next chapter
Option 2: We keep going through Act 2 and all that drama that comes with it