A/N: After a few opening paragraphs is the Annie Live! Scenario from the orphans' POV. (And more like '99 one, Disney villains just always have to do stuff themselves, or the orphans would have been pulling what they did to Lily on Miss Hannigan instead.)

Chapter Four – What Does She Know? (& Plan B Annie Live! Used)

As I'll show in a moment, Miss Hannigan coming back quickly means we wouldn't have had to walk there that evening; but we were ready.

I'd thought about performing in the office, but July hung up and had us race to our dorm area like a bunch of Olympic sprinters. This had been Mr. Warbucks' order. It made sense, I supposed; why be out of position when we didn't have to be?

We began to sing "Deck the Halls" as Miss Hannigan entered – after having put away her suitcase. She didn't want to hear it, though. Okay, this is actually more normal, I pondered.

So, now we were certain that Annie would be there till… what time tomorrow? Would we need to be up early just in case Miss Hannigan pulled a fast one? July said Mr. Warbucks knew this could be a trick, and that the Mudges – the first I'd heard the name – might not be real. Still, we all worried a little.

Tessie worried that night, "What if we hadn't been invited?" I sometimes wondered, what if there hadn't been a phone or we hadn't gotten through? Because even if we weren't invited, she'd be going, so we'd have just followed her closely.

We had a Plan B, though – thanks to Pepper we had them for most letters of the alphabet, in fact. Whether we're not invited and just call (not likely), invited but don't have a phone (more likely, she didn't have to put us through), or uninvited and with no phone, this was our plan:

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA

Miss Hannigan would have left to meet the Mudges anyway; she expected they could get Annie that evening. She'd never want Rooster skipping town with her share of the money.

We still have the worries and odd behavior in this scenario. So, I'd still go sleuthing – I'm nimbler on my feet than the others – and pretend to crash into her room clumsily and make it look like an accident. Tessie would still run from the office to tell the others.

Here's where things wold diverge. It would start with a meeting in the office.

"Okay, let's not panic; Pepper, watch the door," July said, sounding calm but no doubt praying fervently inside. "One of us needs to walk to Warbucks'; do we know the way there?"

"We know how to get to Fifth Avenue from that time Miss Hannigan got passed out drunk one evening," I reminded her. I told the youngest 3 to run back and get the map we'd drawn.

"Dead mice, too," July called out. Kate said "okay," but Pepper went, "Huh?" "If Miss Hannigan does come back, we can question her."

"If you say so, July. But I think we need to be more forceful," Pepper said as she turned back to watch the door.

"Pick your battles," July replied.

I agreed. "Like Annie says, we don't want to use force unless we have to." July explained her thinking as the girls returned; she thanked them.

"She's right. I know you want to go, July, but I think it's just like we planned when we talked about groceries-"

Pepper interrupted. "We all go! Even if the little ones slow us down, you can run ahead, July takes them, and I bring up the rear," she insisted. "Just like the fire drills."

We perused the map for a moment and began to plan our route. Then, Pepper announced that Miss Hannigan was pulling up.

"Take the map back and hide it again, Tessie and Molly. Then come back here," I commanded. "I take the lead on this. We'll start dancing and…."

"No, act casual. I've got this," July said softly. Our "quiet orphan" had a look we rarely saw, but which we knew meant business. "Mis Hannigan," she said with a smile, "we were wondering where you were. We were hoping to put on a show for you."

"Oh, knock it off, you rotten orphans aren't good enough to perform for anyone," she groused.

"Were you on a date? We thought you might be, but you're usually gone a lot longer on those," July said. I smiled; I knew where she was going with this now.

"None of your business!" Miss Hannigan groused. "Out of my way!"

I was blocking her way upstairs. So, I stomped on her foot as I brushed past. By the time she was done hopping around, Pepper was blocking her way.

"Where is Annie?" July asked.

"What do you mean, 'Where is Annie?' She's with Warbucks!" Miss Hannigan said as she rubbed her foot.

She no sooner got done saying that when Pepper asked, "Are you sure she's not with her parents?" while placing her hands on her hips. Kate pulled out a dead mouse, but July waved it away. Too early, I guessed.

"No, they'll.. they'll be back to get her in the morning… what is this! Get away from me, you rotten orphans!"

"Not till we get some answers," July said kindly. Miss Hannigan was surrounded, but we let her have a path to her office chair if she wanted. She took it as we closed. "Why did you know about them if they went right to Mr. Warbucks?"

"He- he thought I'd like to know. He thanked me-"

"Why did you confine us to our dorm area? Did you not want us to see you leaving?" I asked hastily as July signaled Kate. Now, it was time for the dead mouse.

July had a better question. "If you didn't know they were coming before tonight, why did you start saying they'd come two days ago?" July asked. She signaled Kate, who brought the dead mouse closer and closer.

"Wanna see another one?" Kate asked. Tessie held one up further back.

"Get them … get them away," Miss Hannigan ordered, somewhat terrified.

"They'll put them away once you answer our questions," I insisted. We spelled out several of our questions about Miss Hannigan's odd behavior. She remained silent till Pepper spoke.

"Are those really Annie's parents?" Pepper asked harshly. She pounded the desk. "They left her in 1922. This is 1933. How did they suddenly get out of that traffic jam?"

"All right… I was checking to make sure… they might not be…but I'm sure Mr. Warbucks knows that," Miss Hannigan said, suddenly very jittery as two dead mice inched closer and closer, the girls waving them by their tails. Kate's was within a foot or less of her face, Tessie's within a few feet.

"Who are they?" July asked in an almost sickeningly sweet manner. "Tell us the truth, and the mice go away."

"Okay… okay. Listen, it's… it's my brother Rooster and his girlfriend." The girls backed away with their mice but kept them out. "I was going… I was going to get Annie; I had money for a train ticket. I was gonna go in disguise, put her on a train, say they had to take her to Canada first while they finished the deal for a farm nearby… she'd be out of harm's way in Denver or someplace, but with no way to get back." She breathed a sigh of relief as the mice went behind the girls' backs. We remained around her, though.

"And is Annie in any danger?" I asked pointedly.

"N- I don't know." We thought that meant "yes" but we didn't push the issue, since she continued speaking. "Look, I'm supposed to meet them tomorrow morning, and then I'll take care of things. They'll come for her early, maybe 8:30 or 9…."

"We're going, too." When Miss Hannigan began to protest, July signaled, and the girls pulled out their mice again. Miss Hannigan relented.

"If you're pulling a fast one…" Pepper said angrily. July politely told her to tone it down. "All right, we'll trust you that Annie's there." Miss Hannigan promised that she was and let us go.

Once we were in the dorm area, Pepper spoke again. "We leave no later than seven; it'll be less than an hour walk, faster if we run. Earlier if we can," Pepper said. "July, take first watch, Duffy, you get the middle, I'll go to bed and you can wake me up at about 4:30. I'll get us some food so we've got energy for our run. The sun probably comes up about 7:30, we better time it so we're getting there soon after that."

"Sounds like a good plan; I'll get things organized and the route mapped," July said.

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA

And, that would have been that. Miss Hannigan probably wouldn't have heard us, but would have run after us once she noticed us leaving. She hadn't wanted to hurt Annie. She had a plan to put her on a train, promise a relative would be waiting in Denver or someplace and they would fly, which was more dangerous then. Then, she'd be alone in a small Rocky Mountain town with no money, no family, and no way to get back till the so-called Mudges had vanished.

Even if Miss Hannigan hadn't revealed the truth, I was biggest and likely fastest. I would have run there myself that night, or maybe with Tessie; I do wonder if we'd have been able to do it as well that late, but if we race ahead, I guess the others could have managed if we all went.

Either way, knowing Miss Hannigan, she'd have probably acted like she was going to try to save Annie's life, even though that would only have brought her a temproray repieve, as once the evidence was in she'd have been sent to prison anyway, for the sweatshop if nothing , we'd have really been the ones to stop the bad guys.

Luckily, that wasn't needed. And yeah, I know, it's really faith that got us through; July would credit prayer, and God working. Our quest orphan was very contemplative, as I've shared, often thinking about that "spirit of adoption" from Romans. Either way, the important part is, we didn't have to go through with that plan.

But, it shows how resourceful we were. Later that evening we actually discussed waking up early and walking there as it was. Sure, we'd made the phone call, and decided that it wasn't needed. However, we had decided that – just in case – it was best if we got up bright and early anyway.

You never knew what Miss Hannigan would pull.