Hey, guys! I'm very excited because this is my first ever Glee fic. *squeals in excitement* Ok, so as most of you probably guessed from the summary, this is based off of the musical: 'Annie.' I was watching the movie yesterday (1980 something version.) And a crazy idea jumped into my brain. Why not have a Glee version of Annie? It seemed crazy, but I thought more and more about it, and it made more sense! I hope you enjoy this!
In some cases, I've had to change slight details for the sake of the story. Rachel is eleven in this, so she was born in 2003 instead of 1994.
Disclaimer: I don't own Glee nor Annie.
If the police officer in front of 'New York's Home For Girls' Had been doing his job on the night of December 18 2003, he would've seen a brunette woman, holding a small baby to her chest. But, as usual, Officer Figgins hadn't been doing his job, so the woman was as good as invisible.
She quietly walked down to the front steps of the orphanage and laid the sleeping baby down, tucking the note in her blankets. A tear trailed down her cheek, landing on the baby's forehead, which in turn woke her up.
The woman laid a kiss on her daughters soft cheek. "I'm so sorry." She whispered, her voice cracking. Then she knocked on the door twice, and ran into the shadows of the night.
The big doors to the orphanage were opened by a chubby and rather large woman. Her name was Mrs. Sweeney, and she had curly blonde hair and a rosy smile. Looking down, Mrs. Sweeney let out a collective gasp.
"Oh, you poor baby!" She reached out to the baby and lifted her, rocking the infant back and forth. "You're ok now."
Eleven Years Later:
Rachel groaned as a pillow hit her stomach and knocked the wind out of the brunette. "Its too early..." She mumbled.
"Wake up, Manhands." A voice called to her. Rachel's eyes trailed downwards to the lower bunk. Santana was standing there, hands on her hips and a sneer on her face.
Rachel sighed, and swung her legs over the rails of her bed. Jumping down, she came face to face with Santana. "Can't you wake me up some other way?!" She protested.
"Wheres the fun in that? Mrs. Sweeney wants to see you." Santana informed her. Rachel nodded, still drowsy from her fitful sleep. She had had 'The Dream' again. 'The Dream' was a recurring memory of a blurry woman dropping her on the front steps. The woman, presumably her mother, had whispered indistinct words that Rachel couldn't understand.
Approaching the door to Mrs. Sweeney's office, she knocked on it a couple of times.
"Come in." Mrs. Sweeney's lilting voice said
"Hello, Mrs. Sweeney." She answered, a fake smile plastered on her face. She knew what this was about and she didn't want to discuss it again.
"Rachel, we've had you in this orphanage since you were a baby. Now, I've loved having you. You're kind and caring and if I'm being honest, you're my favorite." She admitted.
"Mrs. Sweeney, thank you very much but where is this going?" Rachel asked, growing impatient.
"My point is, Rachel." Mrs. Sweeney began. "We've had many prospective parents who were willing to adopt you when you were smaller and you turned them down. Now, we have a new family who is willing to adopt you which, as you know, is very rare at your age. I think you should take them up on their offer."
Rachel sighed. "No. I can't take them up on their offer. My parents are going to come for my any day now! I can't just leave!" She protested.
Carole Sweeney was no idiot. She knew that Rachel's parents weren't planning on coming back anytime soon. But it killed her to see the look on this sweet girls face as another day passed. Sighing, she indulged her and nodded.
"That'll be all." She finished. Rachel nodded, stepping out of the tiny office.
Tina walked up to her and embraced the brunette in a hug. "What was that for?" Rachel asked.
"Rach, I would k-kill for the ch-chance to be a-a-adopted!" She stuttered. Rachel rolled her eyes at her best friend. "Oh, drop the stutter already! It doesn't work on me!" She protested.
Tina giggled slightly. "But honestly, I really think you should give up on this pipe dream of your parents finding you." She said cautiously,
"Its not a pipe dream! They left a note!" Before the two could argue any more on the subject, sharp knocks were heard on the door to the orphanage.
Mrs. Sweeney rushed forward to the door with Tina and Rachel not too far behind. A lady with extremely short blonde hair and a red tracksuit was standing in the door next to a boy who looked to be about their age. He had pale alabaster skin and brown hair which was coiffed up.
"Oh, uh, hello Sue." Mrs. Sweeney Greeted. Tina and Rachel shared a look. Who's Sue?
"Well, hello Carole. Still taking care of the brats, I can see." This so-called Sue answered. "Let me get to the point. I found this orphan trying to steal corn. Here." She shoved the boy into Mrs. Sweeney's arms.
"Sue, I take care of girls." She said, exasperatedly.
"Exactly." Sue answered dryly, whirling around and exiting the musky orphanage. Mrs. Sweeney sighed, and turned to the boy. "Hello, I'm Mrs. Sweeney." She greeted. "And these are Rachel and Tina."
"I'm Kurt." The boy answered.
"Do you mind staying here? I know it's for girls but..." She trailed off. Kurt gave her a megawatt smile. "I don't mind. As long as you have gel, shampoo, and conditioner." He added.
Rachel awoke with a start. An intense heat was burning her face and she smelt smoke. Her eyes widened as she registered the scene in front of her, and she let out a high pitched scream.
Quickly getting off of the bed, she shook Santana. "Ugh, what do you want Manhands?" She asked.
"The orphanage is on fire!" Rachel shrieked. Santana jumped up and let out a string of colorful curses that made Rachel flinch. "What's going on?" Quinn asked, running a hand though her blond hair.
"Get up!" Rachel yelled. The girls were all separated into different age groups. For example, all five year olds were in one room. In Rachel's room, there were six girls: Mercedes, Quinn, Santana, Brittany, Tina, and of course, Rachel. Kurt was recently added to their little group.
All of them began to scream in fear. That is, except for Brittany. "Guys, it's going to be ok! My unicorn says that he can teleport us to safety!" Kurt looked at her as if she'd gone insane.
"Are you suffering from smoke-induced hallucination?" He asked. Rachel shot him a serious look. "No. She's not."
"Alright, listen! We all need to get out of here." Mercedes commanded.
"I agree with Effie." Quinn said. Mercedes glared at her, and Rachel stepped in the middle. "There are pressing issues at hand! We need to get out of here, but the fire is covering the doorway!" She reminded them.
"My hair is very flammable right now!" Kurt informed them
"Rainbows says that she can fly us out the window." Brittany offered. Kurt looked at Rachel quizzically.
"Her unicorn." She explained.
Quinn walked over to the windowsill and looked out. "We can't climb out, we're too high up." She said, dismayed.
Rachel and Tina walked over to where Quinn was standing. "Didn't Mrs. Sweeney tell us that there was a ladder on the right of the windowsill?" Tina asked.
Rachel's eyes brightened as she threw her arms over the Asian girl. "That is genius!" She announced.
Carefully crawling out, the brunette scaled the wall and reached the ladder. Everything was going great until she made the mistake of looking down. Gasping, her hands clammed up and she remembered her fear of heights.
"Rachel, are you sure that its safe?" Kurt asked.
"No, but it's a risk I'm willing to take. I'd rather not die, thank you very much!" She answered. The six girls (and Kurt) followed Rachel out, all of them trying to keep their courage.
Rachel's foot slipped and she had to grip the bars tightly to get het balance back. Gulping down the lump in her throat, she kept going until she reached the floor.
She let out a sigh of relief, until a thought occurred to her. Mrs. Sweeney! Did she get out in time? Running towards the front door, she stopped when she saw that the whole building was engulfed in flames. Silent tears trailed down her cheeks as she realized that Mrs. Sweeney must be dead. She was the only mother figure Rachel had known, and now she was gone.
"Rachel!" Tina yelled, pulling her away from the flames.
"She was in there, Tina!" Rachel whispered, sobbing loudly. Tina rubbed her friends back, blinking away her own tears.
Sue paced back and forth. "I'll have you know, I am very busy coaching a cheerleading team!" She roared at the small Indian officer.
"I'm sorry Sue, but my hands are tied! You are Carole Sweeney's only living descendant, and in her will she leaves the girls to you! There's only seven of them in total!" Figgins yelled back.
"My cousin didn't trust me as far as she could throw me! Which wasn't very far, that large build didn't contain any muscle whatsoever."
Figgins closed his eyes, rubbing his temples. "You and the girls will reside in the other orphanage." He stated calmly.
"And that is the end of this discussion."
"I've heard that its haunted!"
"Really? Because I heard that they had to close it down because strange noises were echoed throughout!"
"Well, I heard that someone was murdered in it!"
Rachel rolled her eyes at the silly urban legends about their new home. It was stupid, there were no such things as ghosts! How could they even think about it at a time like this? They didn't even care that Mrs. Sweeney was dead!
She tried to block them out and sleep but, two hours later, she was still lying awake. The others had fallen asleep a long time ago, but Rachel just couldn't bear to close her eyes.
"Maybe far away, or maybe real nearby." She sang softly. "He may be pouring her coffee, she may be straightening his tie." Rachel knew that they were out there, they had to be.
"Betcha they're young, betcha they're smart! Bet they collect things like, ashtrays and art!" She giggled softly at this, a warm feeling over taking her.
"Betcha they're good, why shouldn't they be?" Her face softened slightly. "Their one mistake, was giving up me..."
She sat up, and pressed her hands in a praying position. "So, maybe now it's time. And maybe when I wake. They'll be there calling me baby." She wiped away her tears.
"Maybe."
Soooo? What did you think? I'm going to need reviews to keep me going, so you know that little white box in the bottom corner? Show it your love! Please? And I know that the characters are OOC... Sorry! Things will pick up soon!
