Requested by: indYgophoenix11d

Angelica had suppressed her jealously and disgust for too long. Years had slipped by, and she watched her sister be swept off by someone who left a sickening taste in the back of her throat. Something about him had never seemed to fit right in her heart.

Her suspicions proved themselves true upon one fateful evening. Word got around the town, a whole ocean away, that her brother in law had cursed himself terribly. She questioned this at first, but soon realized they were right.

"You mustn't leave at this hour, love. Think of the children, oh how they need their mother here." Much to her own husband's pleading, all she could do was hurriedly pack her bags.

"John, I will not let this man believe he has escaped the worst. He has blackened both his name and my sister's heart. The children there need comforting too." Angelica shuffled through the dark to find her belongings as she furiously spat back at her husband.

She received a rather loud sigh. "Well, you're correct, dear. It will take time to get there, but if you insist, it's in our best interest to go." Her husband moved past her to the door of their room, and she grabbed his arm suddenly.

"I owe you for this," she breathed hesitantly, before letting him walk off. For all the times they went to the land of the free, she never had time to repay him for his constant kindness.

He never failed on being off on the calculations of the length of their journey either. Winds billowing up her skirts, Angelica poised herself on the side of the ship, looking into the distance. She could barely contain her fury with every sway of the ship.

But they arrived in time to save her sister and her children from that monster. Angelica held down her tongue the entirety of the trip for her children's sake, but couldn't once they landed.

"He'll be regretting every second he ever spent in that woman's bedchamber," she hissed under her breath to no one in particular as they approached the house. She tightened her grip on her husband's hand.

"Mind you, it was his, my dear," John murmured back, and that one comment left his wife to only storm faster to the door.

Angelica didn't need to ask for permission to enter. The children looked quite shocked to see their aunt arriving, but they asked no questions of it. Even the littlest ones waved at her and giggled nonsense as she wandered by.

She halted in front of the parlor door. On the chair before the fireplace, knitting calmly, could only be her sister. From behind her, Angelica felt her husband's encouraging touch, and she almost gained the courage to speak.

However something stopped her. She heard the sound of creaking floorboards from the study and the ripping of parchment. Angelica stepped back from the parlor door, and she whispered to her husband, "Take care of her, John. I'll be back shortly."

She stumbled down the hall, keeping a sort of composed posture and attitude. The door opened before she could grab it, probably because he expected one of his children. His face said otherwise.

"Angelica..." Her brother in law had never looked more pathetic. Unshaven face, dark circles beneath his eyes, and ink on his hands, he was not a sight for sore eyes.

"Alexander," she firmly replied, shoving past him into the study, and observing the room momentarily. He closed the door behind her quickly. By the sudden tension, it seemed that he had caught on to her disgust.

Angelica turned on her heel the moment she heard his footsteps approaching her. Don't, she silently thought, and he halted halfway. "You have invented a new kind of stupid, do you understand that?"

With a horrified expression, he shook his head helplessly. "Please let me-" She stepped further back as if his words had slapped her in the face.

"No, you didn't think this through. You took this-" She inhaled deeply. "Affair, which no one accused you of and wrote yourself into a deeper pit than before. That's stupid."

Becoming less comfortable with her surroundings by the second, she traced one finger along a line of dust on the wall. The scratching of his shoes against the floor startled her and she turned her back to him.

"Your enemies are the thing you're most scared of, but you only lose to yourself. Jefferson is one of the many and yet he can hold his tongue better than you can." Angelica knew how deep she had just cut him.

She loved the feeling of knowing that.

Alexander looked shaken to his core. His eyes flashed over her and then he thought better of it by avoiding her eyes. Rubbing his eyes, he became physically defeated with each word that left her mouth.

"It's been about redefining your legacy since the start, right? How does this make it-"

"It was an act of political sacrifice!"

Oh, so he finally speaks. Angelica observed the way his eyebrows furrowed up and his hands curled into fists. She couldn't see beyond that to recognize the frightened boy melting out of his heart in that very moment.

She wanted to yell back. The dryness that filled her mouth when she opened it again stopped any such action. Angelica swallowed as much of that shock down as she could.

"Sacrifice? This is what you call sacrifice?! I have languished in a loveless marriage, Alexander. Your letters kept me alive, and they were the only reason for anything." She felt a part of heart breaking at her own words.

Alexander suddenly walked forward and took her hand. His didn't mix with her tight, warm, and unwelcoming one. She ignored the gesture as much as she could, since all the strength to pull away was gone.

The touch reminded her of her younger, naive self. How she would have sunk deeper and fallen under his spell. She momentarily smiled at it, watching as his fingers circle her skin. He seemed to be so gentle in that second.

God, what are you doing? Her heart shuddered and all she managed to do was push herself back. His hand limply let hers go.

"I recall when she told me all those years ago that she loved you. I couldn't say that trust was the word I felt in my heart, but all I did was stand by her. Do you know why?" She stood a littler taller, feeling intensely guilty for remembering all she ever felt for him.

"Eliza is the best thing our lives. She has given me happiness, and I imagine she has presented you with the same. She gave you children, despite the pain, and continues to give you them. For you to make her feel like she isn't worth it and another woman can satisfy you more than she can-"

"Angelica!" He silenced her before anything else could be said. There were lines crossed, or so he believed, and it wasn't happening again under the roof of his home.

"If you can't even discuss this in front of me, a grown woman, how will you ever explain it to your children?" She uneasily gave the him a final look and then moved for the door.

Alexander didn't let her go right away. He grabbed her arm, pleading for her to stay, and for some sort of sympathy. "Angelica, please."

She almost felt like something should be said just to keep him alive another day. She knew deep down that leaving him there would only tear him apart even more.

But the part of her heart that he once manipulated and played with so well had perished, and she wasn't wasting another damn second on his pleas and lies.

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A/N: Thank you indYgophoenix11d for the request! It's been long awaited and it was such a joy to write. This is one of my favorite cut songs and I'm so pumped to hear it on the mixtape! I've been pretty inactive, but trust me, even if I'm not updating, writing is happening rapidly. Love you guys, thanks for reading!