Work Text:
Alexander dipped the tip of his quill into the ink. The sun from the parted curtains shined down on the lone piece of paper under his hand. He was having a shortage of his most important supply. Part of the reason was because of the letter he was to write. The letter he'd attempted to start ten times before this one. This had to be the last for this was the only empty page left in stock.
He re-dipped the already darkened edge to stall his time. This time leaving it there. It would be useless to even mark the sheet when he had no idea what it was he wanted to say. Only that he must say something meaningful.
Angelica's last letter left him giddy. Like an adolescent boy attempting to court a maiden for the first time. There was no direct confessions of feelings or suggestively dirty language. Angeclia was much too loyal to her sister to betray her trust so openly. But there was love in the letter. Paragraph upon paragraph of her begging him to sleep. Reminding him to put down the quill and pick up a meal. Explaining to him depth at which she missed her family back home. How she longed to see them. She couldn't wait for them to play the game of chess they frequently wrote about. She'd even dreamed of beating him at the game.
What Alexander got from the letter was how much she cared about him. The way she needed him to stay in good health for her. She longed to set eyes on him. She even dreamed of him. It was all in there. Written between the lines better than Alexander himself could have achieved.
He'd never been subtle enough with his feeling to hide them short words and pointless phrases. Secrecy be damned! He wished to write a flood of pages of flowery language to his sister. Confirming that he understood her letter the way only the two of them could.
But hesitation in the fact that Mr. John Churh could read over her dainty shoulders stopped him. Instead he lifted his pen and spilled onto the page the stresses of his new job in the government. Comparing the ignorant set he worked with to no other than the set from Macbeth. Making himself the ambitious king of course. Half through the page his resolve broke. He begged her to cross the ocean. He apologized for how long it took him to write her. He confessed how he tried to forget her. But always ended with his mind consumed of nothing but her after just the mention of her name by his wife.
A month passed before he received a letter in return. Elizabeth, who always carried his mail to him, sat Angelica's on top. Aware of how it warmed him to hear from his favorite older sister. Alexander wasted no time in breaking the seal. Scanning the beautifully stroked lines on the page. Even her penmanship was pure grace. She urged him to speak with the Macduff, the stomach churning Thomas Jefferson of Virginia. Promising a compromise with that devil would end in his favor. She was on his side as she said she would forever be.
In the letter I received from you two weeks ago there was a most critical comma in the middle of a phrase. Between the dearest and my own name. It changed the meaning. Did you intend this? Because with just the stoke of a pen you've managed to consume my waking days.
His eyes darted to the top of the page. Wondering, blindly hoping, Angelica's quill made an identical stroke. It did not. Did his truly? He couldn't remember. He didn't believe so. But he'd been without sleep for two days when he finally finished the letter. So his memory of it was not at its sharpest. He couldn't have intended to be so bold in his affections. Yet alas, he had and Angelica noticed. She wondered if it was intentional. It was not. At least not with his mind. No, his heart was the master of the quill when he wrote to his dearest, Angelica.
Despite the protest of reason, his heart demanded to tell her his emotions. His hand followed the command blindly. But how deeply did he mean it? Of course Angelica was dear to him. But he was also a married man. Surprisingly more in love with his wife than he thought possible. Was Elizabeth not the dearest thing to him? Did the woman he loved, courted, married, laid and beared with children not step higher on the pedistal of his love than the woman who snatched his soul with the first meeting of their eyes?
Weeks later he found himself pondering over the same question. He'd yet to write his London held sister back. It wasn't deemed necessary considering her last letter informed him of her summer arrival. Invited by his wife; her sister. When he'd questioned of her decision to call upon Angelica, she simply provided that she knew he missed her as much as she herself did.
Alexander threw himself into his work. Letting the days pass with his head never lifting from the ink filled sheets covering the surface of his desk. His sweet Eliza begged him to stop. To relax. To take a break. But he couldn't. Every day he wrote until his fingers were numb, was a day passing. A day that would bring Angelica closer to their home. It couldn't have been mere coincidence that he was holding her very letter -folded between his stained fingers- when his wife's angelic voice called for him to report downstairs.
He would follow the command as soon as he finished this page. Eliza should know he couldn't walk away with empty inches left at the bottom, mocking him. They'd had a similar disagreement only nights ago. On the day of their first born's ninth birthday. She was forced to drag him from his study. Surely she knew the same would need to be done if she expected him to just get up and leave the comfort of his desk.
"Alexander, come downstairs." She repeated. His fingers tightened on the quill. Pressing down hard enough to tear the page. Didn't she know how important this was? "Angelica has arrived."
His hand froze. Fingers freeing themselves of the tool they'd been holding on to for so long. Subconsciously his left hand wrapped about the folded note before dropping it onto the paper pile. Both legs were made of lead as he pushed away from the desk for the first time in what felt like ages. It was as painful as it was was unavoidable. Like pulling a bullet from a body.
As soon as he was freed from the wooden prison, he could feel Angelica. Her presence was one that demanded acknowledgement. When she entered a room the walls would lean in to listen. Her arrival was felt before it was seen. Like the first night they met.
The Schuyler sisters pounced on each other with hugs and compliments. Feminine squeals of 'Your hair has grown', 'Your skin is flawless' and 'Your figure makes me envious'. Their distraction with each other gave Alexander the perfect opportunity to study them. Compare them, if he was being honest. Their beauty was evenly matched. Neither face shining more bright than the other. Elizabeth's beauty was gently and mesmerizing. Angelica's bold and captivating. Similar their personalities. Angelica was slightly thinner. His wife's hips more prominent after carrying their children. Both sets of pretty eyes landed on him. The eldest full of an emotion that tugged at something deep within him. It was calling out to him. And for the first time since their souls merged, he couldn't read her with accuracy. Had the language of her heart shifted away from one he could understand? Was it modified to match the man whose name she now held? The thought was a painful one.
"Alexander!" Her arms seperated welcomingly. Almost commanding. Of course he obliged with no other option in the matter. It's been too long since the meeting of their skin. His body gravitated towards hers. Allowing her to engulf him gingerly. His eyes closed in content when the side of his face pressed into her bosom. His wife being only a few feet in separation thwarted him from burying his nose into her and inhaling the sweet scent.
"Hi." Admittedly the greeting was a modest one. Especially compared to the sonnets he composed in his letters.
Angleica wasn't offended or thrown looped by his seeming lack of enthusiasm. She could probably feel the excitement radiating off of him in waves. Her fingers gripped the upper part of his arms. Holding him at length to gauge his expression. Alexander felt vulnerable under the scrituny. But he refused to hide from it.
"It's good to see your face."
Eliza watched them by her place at the entrance where she'd greeted her sister. Her delicate hands clasp in a prayer's hold under her chin. A smile with a warmth only his dear wife could muster decorated her lips. There was an odd air to her body language. Almost considerably condescending. Like she was watching two infants interact for the first time. The word 'adorable' likely dancing on her tongue's edge. Alexander could only image how they looked. Standing so close. Lost in each other's eyes.
"Angelica," She made her way to them. Standing in the middle without separating. "Please tell this man even John Adams spends the summer with his family."
Alexander tried to resist the urge to roll his eyes. He failed. This was a constant argument in their household since the start of the summer months. She expected him to just drop the most important work of his life and spend weeks wasting time at her father's upstate estate. Neglecting the country that needed him desperately. Him and his plan. A plan that he needed to tweak just a little more. A plan that he could draft to perfection if he could stop being interrupted with with talks of breaks and sleep and food and other stupidity.
Angelica's hands released him. She took a step back to distance herself as Eliza stepped closer. Looping her arm with her husband's.
"Angelica," Even annoyed by her adding their sister into their martial argument, he couldn't help the sweet look he casted his wife. "Tell my wife John Adams doesn't have a real job anyway.
The crinkle between her brow smoothed. Confusion was replaced with worry... disappointment.
"You're not joining us?"
Phrased as a question but spoken as an accusation. Eliza's eyebrows rose. Encouraging her sister to continue the chastisement. This was her plan all along. The sly witch. Invite Angelica to feed on Alexander's weakness. Shift the balance of power. Sure he could deny a break to Eliza as she begged over dinner. And he could refuse the trip skillfully in his writings to Angelica. But what man could be strong enough to look in the faces of both the women he loved - his soul's keeper and his heart's handler- and tell them no? He didn't think he was. But damned if he wasn't going to try.
"I'm afraid," He looked away from Angelica's puppy eyes and Eliza's pouty lip. "I can not join you upstate."
"Alexander." His chin was suddenly pulled to look down at her. Held tightly between her thumb and forefinger. "I came all this way."
"She came all this way." Eliza repeated for confirmation. Soothing his ruffled hair with the flat of her hand. Involuntarily, he leaned into the caress. "Take a break."
The words snapped him from the trance of their combined touch. Alexander pulled himself from their holds.
"Run away with us for the summer. Let's go upstate." Angleica grabbed his hand before he could avoid it. She intertwined their fingers. The connection relaxed the ache from holding his quill night and day.
"I-I'll lose my job if I don't get this plan through congress." His resolve was weakening. His own words meaning less to him. They noticed. The sisters shared a victorious glance.
"There's a beautiful place in a park near the house." Elizabeth coaxed. As she spoke, Angelica placed Alexander's hand into her younger sister's. Giving her the chance to sway him now.
"I know." She'd spoke of it to him before. It did sound lovely.
"You and I can go." Their combined hands were being cradled against her chest. Pulling him impossibly closer. "Together. After dark."
"I don't know."
"You know I'll miss your face so much. I just got it back." Angelica leaned into her own hands pathetically. Framing the perfection of her face. Making Alexander want to be near. He missed her so much. He would miss her as soon as she was gone again. "Just... screw your courage to the sticking place." The Shakespeare quote made him smile. Considering he compared himself to Macbeth not long ago to her.
"We want to spend more time taking care of you. Away from this house. Away from your study."
Had he imagined the inclination of her voice? The suggestive way her mouth formed the words 'taking care'? The use of the word 'we'. Was she proposing what he thought? Was her hope for him to take a break so dire that she would compromise the sanctity of their marriage? Of course not! The sin of his darkest wishes must be clouding his mind. Eliza... Angleica... would never!
"Eliza's right." Again, Angelica read his mind. His gaze snatched away from his wife and went to the smoldering heat of her sister's eyes.
"Angelica?" Eliza wasn't bothered when he spun to fully face the older of the two. His stance challenging their scandalous offer to him. Or what he imagined they were offering. She didn't back down. She never would.
"Please just take this break. I need you to." There was another promise behind those words. A more private one. It made Alexander's gut twist deep with need. Indifferent to his wife's view, his hand reached out to touch Angelica's lips. Beautifully plump lips he'd been aching to touch. Lips she were now using as a bargaining mean.
"Let's all get away for a while." Eliza's voice sounded years away. As if he were hearing it though a tunnel. A tunnel in which Angelica was blocking the light coming in from the end.
"If you take your time," her hand hovered over his a second longer than what was considered polite. She pushed it down. Ending the touch. "You will make your mark."
On her? The thought delighted him. Alexander relished in leaving sucked bruises and bites on lovers. He imaged Angelica's dark neck covered in hickeys. The print of his teeth on her shoulder....
Wait. No! She was speaking of his plan to congress. It struck a cord. Reminding him why he could not do this. Could not afford a break.
"I imagine they'll call for your removal. So you need to figure it out, Alexander."
He wouldn't let the southerners win. He refused to bow out to that bitch of a man, Thomas Jefferson. Congress needed him. He couldn't take this time off. Waiting would only result in him ending up like Burr. He stared at his hand in Angelica's. His pale, ink marked skin against her clear skin. His fingers were stained for a reason. An important one.
"Look around at how lucky we are to be alive right now." Obviously they saw him hardening against their efforts if Eliza was desperate enough to pull those words.
Words she spoke when Philip was being held in her. Words he spoke at the beginning of his success. She was right. He was lucky to be alive. And he had no idea how long it would last. What if he was running out of time? He didn't have any to waste on a break.
"Close your eyes and dream." Angelica maneuvered around him to stand behind her sister. She was an expert at reading him. Able to feel his dismissal approaching. She held Eliza's waist. Supporting her. Bracing her for the coming rejection. "When she night gets dark." She added quietly. A final offer for the sake of her sister's happiness.
"Take a break." They spoke in unison.
Angelica sped back over to hold his left hand. Eliza clasping the right. Pulling his arms in each of their directions. Connecting the three of them. Alexander brought his hands together at the center of his chest. Pushing their hands together until the sisters fingers connected. His own fingers wrapped around ther wrist. Putting him back in control.
"I have to get my plan through congress." Alexander stepped back. They remained holding hands even when he was no longer in their reach. "I won't stop until I get this plan through congress.
Angelica went to grab him again but Eliza stopped her. Alexander smiled sadly. A silent apology. They would thank him for this later. When the country was out of dept and their nation was the most powerful, they would thank him. Just you wait.