The Greatest Showman: March One-Shots

3. Rain

It's around five o'clock on a Thursday night off when there's a knock on Phillip and Anne's front door. Phillip opens it to see none other than P.T. standing on the steps, in his best suit, top hat, and smile.

"Hey, what's up, P.T.?" Phillip greets his visitor enthusiastically, opening up the door a little wider. He spots a carriage waiting at the edge of the front lawn, and Charity waves to him through the open door.

"Well, Lettie has the girls tonight, so Charity and I were thinking about heading out for a dinner date," P.T. tells him. "Care to make it a double?"

"Oh, there's no way I could be ready to go out tonight," Anne says with a small laugh, coming down the hall. "Considering you're dressed up so nicely."

P.T. just shrugs, though. "Really, I'm exaggerating it a little bit. We're not going anywhere fancy. The Rooftop Lounge, perhaps?" He raises his eyebrows expectantly.

A small smile fights its way onto Phillip's lips as he glances down at Anne, silently giving her his answer. His eyebrows, too, are raised expectantly. It takes another moment before Anne finally concedes. "Alright, I suppose it'll be fun," she says with a smile, pulling away from Phillip. "I better go get ready, though. We'll meet you there, P.T." She turns to run up the stairs.

P.T. nods, smiling. "I'll call a carriage for you, if that's alright. Charity and I's treat," he says to Phillip.

Phillip nods, gratefully smiling. "Thanks, P.T. But it might be awhile." He rolls his eyes and shakes his head playfully.

"I heard that!" Anne shouts from upstairs. Both men start laughing.

It's only a hour later when the young couple finally joins the Barnums at The Rooftop Lounge. They both wear simple, yet elegant, attire. Anne is in a mostly black gown, purple embroideries adorning the torso and long sleeves. From the mid-thigh down is see-through. Phillip wears a typical black tailcoat, but this time with his maroon-colored top hat. Charity embraces them both with hugs and smiles, while P.T. watches with a smile.

"So, I hear it's supposed to rain tonight," Anne says as they sit down at their four-person table. She takes a small, polite sip of her drink, careful as to not ruin her lipstick.

"Oh, a little rain never hurt anybody," Charity responds sweetly, flipping her long blonde waves over her shoulder so she can look over at the young trapeze artist.

"That's why we chose this place, actually," P.T. admits, leaning back in his chair with a sigh of contentment. "It's a beautiful evening, isn't it?"

"That it is," Phillip says, nodding, as he sets down his drink. He links his ankle with Anne's underneath the table, and gives her a small smirk. She, in return, can't help but laugh.

The four of them eat and drink, laugh and talk about life, their pasts, the circus. Charity, of course, brings up the fact the girls seem to like Phillip and Anne more than their own parents. This elicits more laughter, and, naturally, a mention of wedding plans and children in the young couple's future. They admit they've talked about it before, but would rather take things slow.

"Life moves so fast at the circus, it's like... you're only able to catch up on a day off," Anne says, while Phillip nods his head in agreement. "We don't want to jump into things too fast."

Phillip, in turn, inquires about P.T. and Charity's relationship: how they met, how they knew the other was "the one," when they were married and started having kids. P.T. admits how terrified he was at the thought of not being able to support his family, but Charity says she's stayed calm through it all.

"Except when he opened a museum full of waxed figures and taxonomy lessons," she jokes, laughter echoing around the table. "Then I was a little concerned."

Around eight o'clock, the weather starts to change: the wind begins to blow, and the air just smells of rain. And, as if on cue, the skies open up.

Anne shrieks, while the other three laugh with joy. Charity stretches out her arms, turning her head up to the sky, as if basking in the falling cool water. P.T., as best as he can through the waterfall, watches her in awe and love, his heart full. Phillip grabs onto Anne, laughing as he pulls her out onto the dance floor, illuminated with lanterns.

"I'm gonna fall!" Anne shouts, happily spinning around in her heeled shoes. Phillip laughs, the water spilling into his mouth and trickling down his shirt. He's already completely soaked, and it's only been less than two minutes.

Charity grabs ahold of P.T.'s arm and leads him out onto the dance floor. They begin slow dancing, laughing as the rain finds every possible way to trespass. She nearly slips and falls in a puddle, and P.T. easily catches her as if it were intentional.

"Thank you for this, Phin," she says after regaining her balance, her eyes shut tight. Her head rests against her husband's chest, and, despite the pounding of the rain, she can hear his heartbeat steadily drumming. She softly smiles.

P.T., with a smile, suddenly pulls Charity's hand out, and twirls her around. Her dress is so wet it's suctioned to her legs, but neither of them have a care in the world. She blindly bumps into Phillip, and they both laugh it off.

"I can't see anything!" Charity giggles, reaching for P.T.'s hand to spin her back into his arms, where his heartbeat makes her feel safe and secure.

Anne suddenly shrieks again, and that's when P.T. opens his eyes a little to look over at the young couple. The smiles are permanently painted on their faces as Phillip lifts Anne off the ground, his arms wrapped around her stomach. He spins around in a circle, and then goes to set her down, but she slips on a puddle and they both go tumbling to the floor. Laughing the entire time. Both Phillip and Charity watch fondly as Phillip struggles to regain his footing to lift Anne back up.

"I think we're stuck on the ground!" Phillip says as he falls back on his butt beside Anne, who's laughing so hard it's hard to tell whether the moisture on her cheeks is raindrops or tears of joy.

Charity smiles. "Young love is such a peculiar thing," she says to her husband.

"It's refreshing," P.T. adds, then smiles down at Charity and plants a kiss on the top of her head.

Just like the rain.