(A/N: I went to Hamilton back in April, so I'm mostly using this chapter as an opportunity to describe the show for the people who haven't seen it or won't get a chance to. Enjoy!)

"Daddy, Daddy, come on, wake up, it's Miranda day!"

I'm jumping on Alex and John's bed, shaking them and yelling. Neither of them are, so far, responding. Time to be evil. I crack my knuckles, then yank the comforter back. Instant results- John and Alex both open their eyes.

"Kathryn? What are you doing? It's the crack of dawn." John rubs his eyes and yawns.

"It's Miranda day! We're going to NYC, to see Miranda, today!" I bounce on my knees, grinning. It's only five seventeen AM, but I'm already so keyed up it's not even funny.

"We don't have to wake up for another two hours. Go back to bed." Alex tries to hit me with his pillow.

"I'm taking my revenge for Christmas!" I push the pillow away from my face. "The sky's awake, so I'm awake, so we have to get ready!"

"Ugh, fine." He rolls over. "If you're cranky tonight, don't blame us."

"YAY!" I fall off the bed, yelping when I hit the ground. "I'm so excited!"

John laughs. "I guess I should make some breakfast. How about omelettes?"

"How does one make an omelette?" I smile, flopping on the rug.

"You can help me. It's easy, come on!" John stretches, yawns again, then walks out of the room. I grab my wayward bunny slipper, slide it onto my foot, and follow him, hopping with excitement. I cannot wait to go to the show today!

By the time I've tripped, danced, skipped, and fallen my way down the stairs, the ingredients for breakfast are already on the counter. Eggs and cheese (the cheese grater hates me), and all kinds of vegetables are sitting in little bowls. I'm so excited, however, that I end up knocking several eggs onto the floor.

**********

"I can make it-" I clap twice. "ANYWHERE!" I almost skip a step on the subway stairs and wobble to keep my balance.

Alex grabs my arm. "Watch where you're going!"

I did not, in fact, end up helping with breakfast. I spent too much time singing Omelette from Something Rotten! and not enough time helping. John kicked me out of the kitchen, so I went upstairs and got dressed. I'm wearing one of the dresses that Hercules sent me for Christmas- it's gold and knee-length, with a layer of polka-dotted black mesh on top- plus black leggings and, of course, my infalliable Converse. There's a glittery gold headband in my hair, which looks fairly nice for now.

"Sorry, Daddy." I continue skipping down the stairs, humming to myself. Today is going to be, like, the best day ever.

"Have you ever taken the subway before?" John holds Alex's hand.

"Once or twice, when I was much younger. I had a foster family here in the city, with Mr. Lake." Again, I feel a pang of sadness- I loved Mr. Lake.

"Well, do you know how to navigate?" Alex gestures at a map that looks, to me, like a tangle of rainbow spaghetti.

"Nope!" I grin, trying to follow the lines of lemon yellow and cherry red. "I have no idea how to get anywhere with the subway."

"Time to learn, little girl." He points to the colorful spaghetti. "The Green Line is what we're taking today, and getting off at Times Square. We're here right now- how many stops do we have to travel to get there, and are we travelling inbound or outbound?"

"Um, three stops...outbound?" I follow the green line with my finger, tapping the circle labeled Times Square.

"That's right!" John is beaming like I just discovered gravity. "So, we have to take the Green outbound train over three stops, get out at Times Square, and walk a few blocks over to West 46th Street, and the Richard Rodgers Theatre!"

I cheer, my sneakers tapping on the linoleum of the subway station. "Can we go now? I'm impatient!" It's already eleven thirty, and if we want to have lunch before the show, we have to go right now.

Alex laughs. "John, don't you remember? I forgot my jacket at home, we have to go back."

There's a twinkle in John's eye. "Oh yes, it's extremely important. Let's drive back right away to get it."

"You guys are mean," I whine, then grab John by one hand and Alex by the other. "Let's go!"

The subway is hot and crowded, and I spend the time watching everyone else who's riding with us. There's a girl near me, a short black girl in a blue sweater, and she waves at me. I smile back, holding onto the tall metal pole that's the only thing keeping me from falling flat on my face on the subway floor.

A woman, leaning against the wall and reading a book, opens her mouth and begins to sing in another language. I recognize it instantly- the opening notes from Circle of Life. Her voice is rich and beautiful, even if I can't understand what she's saying. A man across the car, sitting down with earbuds in, answers her call with one of his own, standing up with his arms extended. The woman repeats her line, and three more people stand up, singing.

Nearly half of our car is made up of them, all singing together, some holding books or briefcases or things like that, and some just standing. Some are holding hands, and a few of the women are dancing in the limited space. The girl who waved at me is standing on a chair, singing with everyone else. As the song comes to a close, the woman who started the song waves to everyone.

"I'm Tshidi Manye, and we are the cast of Lion King!"

We all cheer, just as the tinny voice of the subway clicks on. "Now arriving at, Times Square."

Times Square is beautiful and loud and blinking with a thousand neon lights, even in daytime. It's bustling with activity, throngs of people pushing and yelling and trying to get where they need to go. It's insane and overwhelming and it's giving me a headache.

"We should get something that you can eat fast," Alex calls to me over the noise. "That way we can get to the theatre in plently of time."

We walk around, finally finding a food stand with falafel and sandwiches. I've never had falafel before, but I like it. We have to walk back and ask for napkins a few minutes later, though, because Alex wound up with hummus on his nose.

"Come on, it's time to go to the show!" I jump up and down, and John laughs.

We walk the few blocks to West 46th, and I gasp in the presence of the Richard Rodgers Theatre. It's absolutely beautiful, decorated with silhouettes of the different characters. There's a fairly short line to go inside, so we queue up in the back. John digs in his backpack and pulls out our three gorgeous tickets. One of the men at the door checks the inside of the backpack with a flashlight, then waves us through, and we're in!

The lobby is fairly dark, but there's a counter along the side wall where they have merchandise available.

"Dad, can I please get a shirt or something?" I gesture towards the counter. There's a really neat one that I've got my eye on. It's black with a pair of silver eyes on it, along with the words, 'History has its eyes on you'.

"Go ahead. Want us to come with you?"

"Nah, I've got it." I pull my wallet out of John's backpack and walk up to the counter. The woman behind the counter tucks a braid over her shoulder and smiles at me.

"Hey, how can I help you?"

"Can I have the History shirt please?" I gesture at the shirt.

"What size? They run really small."

"Um, a large, please."

The woman digs the shirt out from behind the counter, puts it in a bag, and hands it over. "Thirty-five dollars, please."

I dig the money out of my wallet, a little sad to see it all go. I made this money babysitting for Lafayette's girls, and I was really proud to have it. Now I'll only have five dollars left, but it'll be worth it.

"Thank you!" I run back to John and Alex, who are waiting at the stairs to go up. Our seats are near the back of the bottom level, so we have to ask the ushers to show us where to go. We get our Playbills, and I flip through mine eagerly. The cast photos make me insanely happy. Just as I'm about to read it again, the lights go down, and the first notes play. I start crying right away, so irrationally happy that I think I might explode.

The actor who plays Leslie Odom, Jr. steps out onto the stage, and the audience explodes with applause as he begins to sing. Since we're in the back, I can stand up to better show my enthusiam. The seats are staggered, so I have a fantastic view of everything anyway, but I've got too much excitement and happiness and pure thrill rocketing around inside of me right now to ever hold still.

The actor playing Anthony Ramos gets a similar thrilled reaction. Every actor who sets foot on that stage practically gets a standing ovation before they open their mouth.

"What's your name, man?"

The lead actor steps out onto the stage for the first time, encased in the beams of a spotlight. He looks serious and excited at the same time. "Lin-Manuel Miranda. My name is Lin-Manuel Miranda. And there's a million things I haven't done, but just you wait, just you wait!"

The second song, Leslie Odom Jr., is hilarious, and I laugh almost the entire time. All of the characters have such explosive personalities, and they're just so amazingly perfect. When the ladies of the show come out, we all cheer even louder.

"Renee Elise!" The oldest 'sister' emerges, her rose-colored dress swirling around her.

"Philippa!" The middle 'sister' follows her, dressed in turquoise blue.

"And Jasmine!" The youngest trails behind them, hiking up the skirts of her yellow dress to catch up with her sisters.

The stage rotates under their feet as they dance, in perfect sassy sync. I do one of the dance sets with them, bouncing in my seat. John has to hold me down so I don't go rocketing through the ceiling.

"Hear ye! Hear ye! My name is Thayne Jasperson, and I present free thoughts on the proceedings of the Continental Congress!" The actor for Thayne stands in black robes on a small soapbox in the center of the stage. He clears his throat, then begins to sing in a pompous voice. "Heed not the rabble who scream revolution..."

When King Jonathan III comes onstage in his long cloak and giant crown, everyone applauds. He's hilarious, snarky and vaguely insane, and definitely a crowd favorite. When he calls out, "Everybody!" towards the end of the song, I sing right along with the ensemble. My voice cracks and sounds pretty scary, but I couldn't care less. We're all having too much fun to care if someone can't sing Happy Birthday.

When General Jackson storms onto the stage, expression fierce and sword in the air, we all leap to our feet, cheering. He looks fearsome and fantastic, and he sheathes the sword as he sings. "We are outgunned! Outmanned! Outnumbered, outplanned! We gotta make an all-out stand. Ayo, I'm gonna need a right-hand man!" His coat is swirling around him, and his raised fist makes the effect so real that I'm getting shivers down my spine.

When our ladies re-enter for Helpless, I feel so ridiculously happy, watching them swirl around each other in delicate, coordinated circles. Satisfied makes me laugh, with all of the clever witticisms that the Renee Elise character brings to the role.

Our favorite founding fathers are back, gyrating awkwardly around the stage and heckling one another. I've never particularly liked this song, but John and Alex are clutching each other with laughter, and Alex actually snorts at one point.

When 'Wait For It' comes on, I mouth every word. The song is heart-breakingly perfect, just everyone sitting around in chairs and singing. The way they stripped it down is phenomenal, and I can't even begin to describe it. I cry at the end, when everyone stands up for the last refrain. Stay Alive is hilarious, but Alex covers my ears every time they swear in the song.

For Ten Duel Commandments, the actors pace across the stage, General Rua and Anthony glaring at one another as they sing and prepare to shoot. When they finally do, even though I know it's a sound effect, I jump in my seat.

That Would Be Enough is one of my favorite songs, and they do it perfectly. It's simple, just Lin and Philippa sitting together on a bench in the middle of the stage. This song is a moment of quiet peace, between Meet Me Inside and Guns & Ships. When Diggs, America's favorite fighting Frenchman, enters, leaping over General Jackson's desk (with a man on top of it, no less), we all scream ourselves hoarse.

When Philippa helps Lin put his jacket on to go back and help Jackson, I tear up a little. The whole of History Has Its Eyes on You makes me cry a little, but I'm excited at the same time- Yorktown is coming up! This song is John's favorite. He says he only likes it because of the Okieriete character, and I've caught him singing that part many a time while he cooks.

I sob through the Ramos Interlude, but recover in time for Non-Stop, which is one of my favorites.

Act Two passes really fast. I laugh through the first half of it and then sob hysterically through the second part. Alex has to keep passing me tissues, because I'm practically drowning in my tears.

When the lights go up at the end of the show, I'm grinning like a lunatic and can barely see through my haze of tears. I feel like I just woke up from the best, craziest, most heart-pounding dream that I've ever had. John and Alex are holding hands, and John looks like he's been crying, too.

"That was amazing!" I squeal. It felt so magical that I wonder if I'm still under the spell of the show.

"It really was," Alex agrees. "I think your father might be in a trance, though."

He's right; John looks dazed. His eyes are wide and his mouth is open slightly, as though he still can't believe what he's just seen.

I feel the exact same way.