A/N: Special thanks to my newest supporter, Clio1792, and to everyone who has continued to follow and enjoy this story! I have a lot of fun writing this regardless, but it's great to know that people are enjoying it!

I'm sorry that there's not a lot of actual 'film' in this chapter - This is Me is such a special part of the Greatest Showman, and I didn't want to just 'squeeze it in'.

Enjoy!

Lettie's had Enough! (Strange Barnum Encounters of the FIfth Kind)

MOMENTS AFTER BARNUM READS LETTIE'S LETTER

Phineas Taylor "P.T." Barnum went sprinting out of his office. Meanwhile, his thoughts were racing nearly as fast as he was. He didn't know what the hell he was going to do, but one thing was for certain: he couldn't keep this a secret from Charity. Not only would he fail miserably (he hadn't been able to keep a secret from her in years, not even something like a surprise party) but also, she would kill him. Dead. And then when she was done, she would resurrect him and kill him again.

He raced around a corner - and smacked right into Charity.

"Ow! Where's the fire, Phin?!" Charity exclaimed, alarmed. Phineas had to stop and catch his breath.

"You - you have to read this," he wheezed, handing her the letter. "It's not my fault - I don't know what to do, but I swear I didn't have anything to do with this, I promise-"

"Phineas!" He looked at his wife. "Breathe. Deep breath." He obeyed, his chest rising and falling slowly. "Let me see what this is all about before you go off the deep end - if you're not already there!" she teased. Phin didn't even crack a smile, and Charity raised an eyebrow, concerned. This must be pretty serious. She took the letter and began to read.

When she finished, she looked back up at Phineas. Her husband's face was so terrified it was almost comical.

"Phin." He flinched. "Phineas, I'm not angry. I'm not even upset." Phin's jaw dropped.

"But you - and she - and I - agh!" he stammered. Charity correctly interpreted this as, You're my wife, and I don't want you to be hurt, but you just found out another woman is in love with your husband, and it's a woman that we're both friends with!

"I know. But it's obvious that you came to me right away. And if you'd calm down Phin, you'd see why I don't think everything is as it seems here." Phineas' heartbeat began to slow as he realized he was no longer a man slated for execution. Charity sat down next to him on the floor. "First of all, I'm pretty astute at noticing when women are interested in my man. I've never seen any indication that Lettie might be interested in you that way. She's never subtle about expressing any of her feelings, either. To anyone."

"She's an actress, though!"

"True, and she's a good one, but if she really loves you as much as this letter says, there'd be something out of the ordinary, some sort of sign. Plus, look at this, here," she pointed again to the letter. "'I can't help but smile every time I see you?' I don't think it'd be impossible for a tough woman like Lettie to have a secret romantic side, but that doesn't even remotely sound like her."

"She definitely doesn't smile every time she sees me," Phineas chuckled. "In fact, she's told me, to my face, that seeing me always irritates her!" Charity laughed.

"Can you blame her? You're a demanding director."

"And dedicated, passionate, inspired…" Phineas hinted. Charity rolled her eyes.

"Yes, those things, too." The couple was quiet for a moment, before Phineas said,

"If Lettie didn't write this letter, though, who did? And why do they want me to to think Lettie loves me?" Charity shrugged.

"Do you know anyone who has it out for Lettie?" Phineas hummed thoughtfully.

"Well, Lettie can be a bit abrasive, and she doesn't sugarcoat things, but she seems pretty well-liked by everyone. Well, except for maybe -" he and Charity turned to look at each other, each having come to the same conclusion.

"Jenny Lind." Charity spit the name like a curse.

"It makes perfect sense!" Phineas exclaimed. "She can't stand Lettie, and Lettie can't stand her, and if another woman was in love with me it would hurt you, which she would just love." Charity was already in motion, furious, and Phineas grabbed her before she could go sprinting to find Jenny Lind and rearrange her face. "Dear, hold on. I think we need to be cautious here."

"What?" Charity was astounded. "Why?"

"Well, first of all, nobody else is in the building. Everyone's gone home, including Jenny." Assuaged by logic (rare for Phineas), his wife sat back down. "If Jenny really did this," he continued, "than it needs be dealt with. But, what if we're wrong, and Lettie really did write me this note? I think we need to observe Lettie. Someone who's just written a confession letter isn't going to be acting normally." Charity gave her husband a fake-shocked look.

"You want to sit back quietly and observe, instead of just jumping right into things? Who are you and what have you done to my husband?" Charity joked. Phineas chuckled, but then his expression turned serious.

"If Lettie really has feelings for me, than I need to be kind to her and do my best to let her down easy. She deserves that." Charity smiled and gave him a loving kiss. Patience may not have been his strong suit, but the compassion he showed, that was definitely her husband.


Phineas was wrong, as it happened. They weren't the only ones still in the building. Not far from where Charity and Phineas were sitting, another couple was enjoying some together time the only way they could - in secret.


When Lettie Lutz came to work the next day, something felt...off. She felt Barnum's eyes on her the whole morning, just staring. As an actress, Lettie never really minded being the center of someone's attention, but coming from Barnum it was just weird. He almost appeared concerned, and he was studying her as though she was a puzzle that needed figuring out.

It was creeping her out. And when she asked him, point-blank, why he was acting so strangely, he actually blushed. Barnum, getting flustered or embarrassed about something? "I'm not acting weird! Who's acting weird? Maybe you're acting weird," was all he stammered before rushing out. Lettie watched him go, more confused than ever. What the hell was that?


NEVER ENOUGH, TAKE ONE

"What's taking her so long?" P.T. peered out nervously at the (in his mind) impatient crowd. "They're still taking their seats," Phillip soothed. "Speaking of which -"

"Yeah?"

"Tom and Lettie, the others, they've just arrived." Phillip wasn't sure he'd ever seen P.T. so distracted, but he pressed on. "Where should I put them? Your box?"

"That box?" P.T. was jarred out of his thoughts. "No, no, no, that's a bit visible."

"Visible?" Had he heard P.T. correctly? Did he really just say that?

"The acoustics are actually better in the standing room, that's where they should be," P.T. said hurriedly. Phillip opened his mouth to say something, anything, but before he could slap some sense into his colleague, Jenny Lind was ready to go on. Phillip headed towards the troupe and herded them in the standing room, as Barnum wished. The troupe was solemn, unsurprised that they were being renegaded to someplace less, as Barnum had so succinctly put it, visible. Phillip stood next to Anne as the ringmaster stepped on stage, the nervous wreck of before replaced with a calm, confident showman.

"Ladies and Gentlemen, thank you for your patience…" Barnum began his introduction. Caroline's face fell as she heard the high and mighty snobs around her whisper about her father. The troupe's faces turned stony when they heard their leader assure the crowd that this was no "sideshow novelty" act. "The Swedish Nightingale," Barnum finished with a flourish, "Miss Jenny Lind!"

Polite applause sounded. The lights dimmed. And...the curtain didn't open.

"Oh, come on!" We do the entire scene perfectly and then the curtain doesn't open?" The set people scattered out of the path of Barnum's frustration.


"Charity, why are you looking at Jenny like you have lasers coming out of your eyes?"

"Err…" Charity didn't know how do answer without going into everything that had been happening behind the scenes, which was not an option. "...The usual reasons?"

"...Fair enough."


TAKE TWO

-"Miss Jenny Lind!" Applause. Soft piano music began. P.T. raised his eyes to the heavens, praying, Dear God, please let this work!

"I'm tryin' to hold my breath…" Barnum let out a breath of his own as it became abundantly clear that Jenny could sing - and very well!

"Getting louder now, can you hear it echoing? Take my hand…" Standing next to Anne, Phillip looked down at her hand and at his, so close they were nearly touching. Could he…?

"All the shine of a thousand spotlights" - on the first spotlights, the lights on Jenny were supposed to brighten subtlely, then brighten more dramatically the next time Jenny sang the line. However, instead of doing either of those things, all the lights went out.

Charity burst out laughing at the irony before she could stop herself. Luckily, the noise got swallowed up in the sudden confusion - not just in the audience, but especially in the orchestra pit. Unbeknownst to her, Phineas was having the same reaction backstage.

Interestingly, but perhaps unsurprisingly, Jenny didn't complain or whine one bit about the incident. She would've sang that song as many times as necessary.


ONE OUT OF THREE CHAT MEMBERS ARE ONLINE

Anon_1: Guys?

THREE OUT OF THREE CHAT MEMBERS ARE ONLINE

Anon_3: Yeah?

Anon_1: Did any of us tell/warn Charity about what we were planning on doing?

Anon_2: ...

Anon_1: We are SO dead. Dead dead DEAD.

Anon_3: Maybe she'll be cool with it?

Anon_2: Oh, God, we are DOOMED.

Anon_1: When we get caught, I'm blaming YOU.

Anon_3: Thanks, feeling the love.

Anon_2: Which one of us?

Anon_1: Either. Or both!

Anon_3: We just gotta play it cool for now.

ANON_3 HAS LOGGED OFF

ANON_2 HAS LOGGED OFF

ANON_1 HAS LOGGED OFF


TAKE THREE

"Towers of gold, are still too little; These hands could hold the world, but it'll, never be enough, never be enough…" Phillip's hand closed around Anne's own as Jenny sang, and the couple let out a breath.

Up above in the box, Caroline leaned further forward to get a better glimpse of the opera diva. She raised the opera glasses to her eyes and-

"OWW!"

Screeeeech!

Crash!

Thump!

"Sorry!" squeaked Caroline as the man who had the opera glasses dropped on his head scowled and the orchestra recovered from the (literal) screeching halt they'd come to at the man's shout.


Anne yawned as she reached the main lounge where everyone usually hung out. Fun this job may be, but that didn't mean that Barnum let them slack off! Trapeze rehearsal with Philip was...well, he was trying his best, but she couldn't remember the last time she'd been so sore. Stretching and yawning again, she opened the lounge door and raised an eyebrow at her brother and Phillip, the only two people in the room. For some reason, both men looked as though they had been caught with their hand in the cookie jar.

"What's with you?"

"We're having a passionate, secret love affair," W.D. deadpanned as Phillip elbowed him. This only confused Anne more. Her brother wasn't typically sarcastic by nature.

"Oookaaay, whatever, don't tell me then," Anne muttered. She would have said more if Lettie hadn't walked into the room at that moment.

The woman in question had just come from her second Strange Barnum Encounter of the day, and she was not pleased.

"What's with Barnum today?" she groused to her co-actors, "I didn't think it was possible for him to act even stranger than he already does, and yet here we are."

Had Lettie been looking up as she entered, instead of rummaging through her bag, she might have noticed how Anne's eyes widened slightly, how W.D. fumbled the script he was holding, how Phillip turned red and looked away. But she wasn't, so she didn't. Anne recovered first.

"Barnum, acting strange? In other obvious news, the sun rose this morning!" she exclaimed. Unlike her brother, Anne and sarcasm had been close friends for a long time. She glared at the two men as if to say, Get it together. W.D. cleared his throat.

"I don't think even Charity understands how Barnum thinks one hundred percent of the time." Lette gave a wry laugh.

"That's probably true, but this isn't his normal brand of "I want to set off fireworks indoors while animals perform" strangeness. It - " here Lettie paused. She didn't often hesitate in saying what she thought, but would it sound too self-absorbed to say that Barnum seemed to be specifically concerned about her? They didn't need a second Jenny Lind. "He just keeps giving me weird looks is all," she settled.

"Well, maybe you could ask Charity?" Phillip blurted out before he could stop to think about it. The two furious glares sent his way went unnoticed by Lettie, who was rummaging through her bag again.

"Dang, I forgot my script," she grumbled. "Later." After she'd gone through the door, Anne and W.D. whirled on Phillip.

" 'Maybe you could ask Charity'?! What were you thinking?"

"The last thing we want is to draw more of Charity's attention to what's going on."

"I'm sorry, okay?" Phillip cried. "I panicked!" Anne buried her face in her hands.

"I am never pranking anyone again. This is too stressful!" W.D. snorted.

"I'll remember that the next time you come over."


"Dear, I think you're freaking Lettie out."

"She's giving me strange looks!"

"Yes, because you're giving her strange looks. How is it that you've won so many acting roles and awards, yet you can't act normal in this situation?"

"This is different! I don't need to worry about hurting anyone when I'm acting on a set."

"That's a good point." A pause. "I think the best thing to do would be to have a talk with Lettie this afternoon, or maybe tonight. If she did write the letter - and that's a big if - it doesn't look as though she knows we found it. Which means at the very least, she didn't deliver it."

"Okay, Charity." A pause. "Both of us, do you think?"

"Yeah, I'd say so. If we're right and Lettie didn't write the letter, there's no reason for me not to be there. And if we're wrong, well, we don't want to give her the wrong idea."

"Makes sense." Another pause. "Hey, Charity -"

"No, Phineas."

"But - "

"You are not ordering any more fireworks."

"Aww."


AFTER THE SHOW, TAKE ONE

"Ahhh! How do I turn it off?!"

"Turn it o - Barnum, it's a bottle of champagne, there's no 'off' button!"

"Just don't shake it so much next time."

"I barely touched it!"


Lettie was watching Charity watch Phineas and Jenny Lind conversing. The expression on her face couldn't quite be called irritated, but there was definitely an edge to it. Lettie leaned over.

"What are you thinking about?"

"I'm trying to figure out how to spill champagne on Jenny and make it look like an accident," Charity replied before her brain could catch up with her mouth. She blanched. "I - I mean -" Lettie burst out laughing.

"Oh, I dare you!" she exclaimed, She gave Jenny an appraising look. "It wouldn't be too hard…" she mused thoughtfully. Charity gazed at the pair as well, considering, but then she shook her head and sighed.

"If I go 'round the bend, who's left?" she asked rhetorically. Lettie paused.

"Well, Phillip, maybe?" Charity snorted, a rare, unlady-like sound for her.

"All respect to Phillip, but he never prevented what would have become the Great Caffeine Incident of 2012." Lettie blinked.

"The what now?" Charity rolled her eyes.

"Long story." This made Lettie raise an eyebrow

"Isn't it always?" Charity smiled in agreement. Lettie smiled back - and then noticed something strange. Now that Charity's attention was on her instead of on Jenny and her husband, Charity was studying her much like Barnum had that morning. It was much more subtle and understated - no surprise there - but it was there just the same. Lettie scowled and was about to dema - that is, ask politely what was going on, when Barnum called everyone together.

What was with everyone today?


TAKE TWO

"It's hard to understand wealth and privilege when you're born into it. I sometimes don't feel like I belong here," Jenny confessed to Phineas.

"You?" Jenny leaned a little closer and lowered her voice.

"I was born out of wedlock...and that brought shame upon my family. And life always manages to remind me that I don't deserve a place in this world. And that leaves a hole that no ovation can ever fill."

"Cut! Nice job, Jenny." Charity didn't like to admit it, but she meant it. She wasn't certain someone who'd only had musical training would be able to act, but while Jenny was no Meryl Streep, she did just fine. Once Jenny had left, Charity noticed Phin's frown. "What's wrong, dear?" Her husband was rifling through the script and muttering to himself.

"Who wrote these lines? I don't like these at all."

"You did, dear." Truth be told, Charity wasn't taken with them either. Who tells an almost-stranger that she was born out of wedlock?

"I wrote them? Oh, yes - I remember." He straightened up and beamed. "I change my mind, then - they're wonderful." Charity discretely rolled her eyes.

"If you're happy, then so I am I."


Sitting in a chair before Barnum and Charity in Barnum's office, Lettie felt - oddly - like a misbehaving child in the principal's office. She had corned a startled Barnum in the hallway after work that day - demanding to know what was going on - when Charity had snuck up behind her, scared the daylights out of her, and invited her here. "There's something we both needed to talk to you about," she had said. Her instincts had been right - something was up.

"Do you have any idea why you're here, Lettie?" Barnum asked her softly. The feeling of being in the principal's office increased. Unlike all of her elementary school (and middle school...and high school) visits, Lettie really didn't have any idea what she'd done to upset Barnum and Charity. She certainly didn't think she was getting fired - Barnum only seemed pleased with her work, and while she gave some people a hard time, it was all in good fun.

"No, I don't. What's this about?" she replied as calmly as she could manage. Charity reached into a desk drawer and pulled out a piece of paper.

"This was slipped under our door yesterday evening," she said, handing it to Lettie. Lettie took it, and with a nod from Charity, began to read. She wasn't any less confused - until she saw the signature.

Lettie could count on one hand the number of times she had been struck speechless in her life. But she'd never been faced with something quite like this. She gaped at Barnum and Charity; who were studying her with apprehension and concern respectively.

"I didn't write this!" she squeaked when she finally found her voice again. Her face, which had paled drastically after reading the letter, now began to turn redder and redder. "I didn't slip it under the door and I didn't write it!" she said, louder, more defiant. Barnum sighed in relief while Charity smiled.

"We were fairly sure you didn't - at least, I was," Charity said, glancing at her husband with more than a little amusement. "But we wanted to approach you carefully about it, in case there was the slightest chance it was really you."

"So that's why you were acting crazy all day - crazier than normal, I mean," Lettie exclaimed, looking at Barnum.

"Don't you start," he said good-naturedly, "Charity's already given me a hard time about my inability to act natural." Lettie rolled her eyes.

"And Anne wanted me to believe...that…" Lettie's eyes widened as she realized what exactly had played out. "Oh, I'll kill her," she growled. She started to get up before Charity threw an arm out to stop her.

"Jenny? We know, we're on it -"

"No, not Jenny. Anne."

"Anne?" Barnum was surprised. "I thought you two were friends?"

"We are. I - I played a prank…" Lettie trailed off. Barnum chuckled.

"Ahh, yes, the supply closet," he chuckled. Lettie winced at Charity's raised eyebrow.

"Among other things." Charity sighed.

"You know what, I don't want to know. Hold on," she said to Lettie, who had started to get up again. "Before you go hunt Anne down, why don't we have a little fun?" She smiled a very un-Charity-like smile, a sort of devious smirk. Phineas looked at his wife in surprise while Lettie grinned.

"What did you have in mind?"


"ANNE WHEELER?!" Anne jumped about a foot in the air, spilling her coffee and dumping her magazine on the floor.

"Y-yes?" she squeaked. Should she run? Should she blame Phillip? Before she could decide, Lettie poked her head through the door.

"Nothing. You forgot your script." Lettie handed her the booklet. Anne put a hand to her heart.

"You startled me, Lettie!" The woman just shrugged.

"Sorry. Just keeping it spontaneous." Anne sighed and laughed a little nervously.

"Right." After Anne had turned away, Lettie smirked inwardly. Just because she had agreed to play the long game with Barnum and Charity didn't mean she couldn't have a little fun in the meantime.