A/N: This story will get intense as it progresses. I hope you like the certain things in it. Read & Review if you haven't already!
"Missy sure got bigger..." Pepper found herself not able to stop from saying then.
"Pepper!" Kate scolded the rough girl.
Annie frowned at Pepper too.
"She has actually..." Goldie murmured, trying not to sound rude about Missy's additional weight.
Pepper huffed. "Well, they must have noticed it too." she says.
"Maybe she's bloating... It happens to girls sometimes, you'll all find out when you're older." Goldie said, trying not to scare them when she said that, but as a big sister figure to them like she had been back in her aunt's orphanage.
"It's not bloating..." Pepper mutters.
Annie looked confused. However she was a smart kid and her eyes widened. "Leapin' lizards!" She gasps.
"What is it, Annie?" Molly noticed Annie's blurt out. She wondered if Annie had known what really happened or not.
Goldie looked at Annie as well as the others, except for Pepper.
Pepper smirked. "She got it..." she mutters.
Annie looked at Goldie with wide eyes. "She's got a roll in the oven..." she says, getting the saying wrong though.
"You're gonna be an aunt!" Molly was still excited about that, even if Missy was going to be a single mom.
"You don't think she'll not want it and send the baby to Aunt Agatha, do ya?" Goldie was sure Missy wouldn't do that, but wanted to know what the girls would think.
Annie gulped slightly. "I think I know what happened..." she whispers.
Pepper shook her head. "Nah, Missy told us she'd adopt us all if she could." she mutters.
Molly nodded to what Pepper said. Missy came to meet the girls, stopping as she heard them talking about her.
"Y'all do?" Goldie looked at the red-headed girl.
Annie covered Molly's ears. "Remember ya dad stopped chasin' us a while." she says.
Molly wondered why Annie did that, but stared blankly, feeling upset she was left out of the conversation now. Pepper blinked. Missy covered her mouth hoping she wouldn't say it.
"He's in jail now though." Goldie said.
Annie nodded. "He musta done something to Missy." she says.
Pepper scowled at the thought of anything like that happening.
Missy came up to try and stop the conversation "Come on, girls, how about some cookies?" She asks.
"Cookies!" the girls were distracted by the offer of baked goods they all loved.
"And I didn't have to steal them from Aunt Agatha this time." Goldie smiled at them all as they were going to have a little treat together.
Annie grinned also distracted by cookies. Missy took them to see if there were any cookies baked.
There was a maid in the kitchen who was drying her hands and there was a cookie smell near them, but they saw none. "If you're looking for cookies, they'll be ready in about ten minutes."
"Ten minutes!" July sighed. "That's like 80 years from now! Next thing you know by then we'll have these televisions that have documents in them and they'll control us with their viruses!" (A/N: She's talking about computers in case you're wondering.)
"Oh, come on, that'll never happen..." Kate told her in disbelief.
Pepper sniffed the air appreciatively. Annie chuckled.
"Ten minutes though..." July still sighed.
"It's alright, just have fun, time will fly by quicker." the motherly woman told them with a smile.
"Thanks, Mrs. Sanchez." Goldie told the woman with high admiration.
Annie nodded and gave the woman a hug. Missy watched from the back of the group.
"Oh!" Mrs. Sanchez called in surprise and chuckled down at the little girl.
Goldie couldn't wait for the cookies, but was more patient to wait for them than the other little girls.
"This is a very nice place Mr. Warbucks have and to let Annie, and Goldie, and Missy stay here." Duffy smiled approvingly.
Annie nodded. "Maybe Daddy would let you all stay the night." she says.
"Old Hannigan wouldn't." Pepper says.
Missy smiled softly at the girls.
"Maybe I should talk to her." Goldie suggested.
"Good luck, ya might be kin with her, but I don't know if she'll still go with it." Kate stated.
"Well, we'll have to return first, cuz I said I was taking all of ya on a walk." Missy says softly.
Pepper shrugged.
Annie smiled "I'll ask Grace and Daddy." she says.
"I'm sure they won't mind." Tessie told Annie about her adoptive family members.
"She's probably wondering what's taking so long." Goldie guessed, knowing her aunt.
"How about we go and then come back, and the cookies will be cool enough to eat then." Missy suggests.
Annie nodded.
"That's a lovely idea." Duffy said in a posh accent.
"Come on!" Molly chirped.
Missy chuckled and started to lead the girls. Annie went to find Grace first.
Meanwhile, Lily had decided she didn't want to wait so had already left to pay the bail money to release Rooster.
"Here you are, Miss St. Regis." the man who collected the money gave it to Lily and sent her off to do her mission in prison.
"Thanks..." Lily says with a smile and went to fetch the man she loved.
Rooster was avoiding some of the more aggressive prisoners around him that could kill him if they beat him up. He didn't say anything or wish to admit it, but he was scared like a new student in a new school.
A guard came to fetch Rooster. "This way." he says calmly.
"Huh?" Rooster heard the guard.
The guard didn't repeat himself and just pulled Rooster out to meet Lily.
"I paid ya bail Roost." Lily chirps. She linked arms with Rooster and walked out with him.
Rooster was more excited about being out on the outside world than being reunited with Lily.
Grace was wearing a fashionable hat with a big bow on it and looking in the mirror.
"Nice hat!" Molly chirped, much to the woman's surprise.
Annie smiled. "It looks good, Grace." she smiles.
Missy gave a soft smile to Grace.
Grace chuckled sheepishly. "Y'all done snuck up on me!" she playfully scolded.
"We just wanted to ask ya somethin'." Goldie stated their business.
Annie nodded. "Can everyone stay here tonight?" She asks.
Pepper tried not to show her hopefulness.
"Oh, I don't know..." Grace wanted to accept, but had rules to think about. "Does Miss Hannigan know you're all here?"
"She's probably comatose right now." Goldie joked.
Missy looked at her. "I left a note for Miss 'annigan." she says.
"Oh, then that should be fine," Grace smiled. "But you all have to follow rules different from Miss Hannigan now, alright?"
Missy looked at Grace. "If we leave the girls here then I could go down and talk to Miss 'annigan..." she says.
"Alright, it's fine with me and I'm sure Oliver doesn't mind either." Grace said softly to the girls.
"Does that mean we don't have to scrub toilets after lunch?" Duffy sounded delighted about the new rules.
Annie nodded. "Yeah, you don't." she says.
Duffy beamed along with the other orphans, but Pepper was still dull.
Missy smiled softly and then went to grab her coat again. "Oh, shall we go for that walk, Goldie?" She asks softly and handed Annie an envelope.
Annie took it, looking confused.
Goldie looked too and took her own coat. "Sure as pie, baby doll!"
Missy gave all the other girls a hug and left with Goldie. Molly looked up to Annie, curious, but tried not to ask too much of it since it wasn't her business.
Annie looked at Grace. "Should I open it?" She asks.
Pepper sighed "Just do it." she says.
"Why not?" Grace shrugged. "Maybe it's an early birthday present." the girl's birthday was about a couple of weeks now.
"What's it say?" Tessie asked, coming close to the curly-haired girl. "What's it say?"
Annie opened it and it wasn't a letter, but it was a photograph.
"What is it?" Molly hopped to get a look as the girls had crowded around Annie in curiosity.
Annie pulled Molly onto her knee and sat down as the others could all see clearly. She took the picture put carefully. It was of a man and woman with a younger girl and a baby in their arms. The woman holding the baby was smiling at the man who was holding the girl. The girl was laughing at something the man had done. The girls could see the baby had a tuft of curly red hair and the young girl had brown hair that could only match Missy's. They all wondered who the adults were, but seeing the baby and the girl made them think that it might have been a younger Missy with baby Annie. The man and woman must have been Annie's long-lost parents!
"This must be a picture of me and my parents with Missy..." Annie says quietly.
"Wow!" the girls sounded a little shocked, but not in a bad way.
"Grace, look!" Annie says holding the picture out to the woman.
Grace came to the girl and looked at the picture. She could tell the resemblance a lot quicker than the girls. "Oh, my..." she was surprised herself.
Annie looked up at her. "Is that a picture of my parents, Missy and me?" She asks.
Grace took a closer look. "I really see Missy here... And this woman looks so much like you..." she pointed to the mother of the two girls in the photograph.
Annie beamed.
"Your mother is really beautiful, Annie." Grace smiled gratefully.
Annie smiled. "I wonder where Missy got it..." she says.
"Oh, you have your father's eyes." Grace smiled at the photograph, it was a lovely picture of the late Bennett parents.
Annie smiled. She hugged Molly who was still on her lap.
"David and Margaret Bennett with Little Annie and Missy." Grace saw there was writing on the back of the photograph.
Annie blinked. "Leapin' lizards..." she says quietly.
"You're lucky, Annie..." Duffy said softly, even if the Bennett parents were long gone, at least the girl knew who they were and what they looked like. Like the other girls, Duffy didn't know anything about who or where they came from.
Annie looked happy, but sad for her friends. "Maybe Daddy could help find pictures of your guys' parents." she suggests.
"Maybe real far or maybe near by," Tessie started to sing. "He may be pouring her coffee."
"Or she may be straightening her tie..." Molly added.
"Maybe in a house or on a hill, she's playing a piano, he's sitting, paying a bill..." Duffy added in.
"Betcha they're young, betcha they're smart." July was excited now like the others.
Grace smiled. It was so nice of Annie to consider that for her little friends. Hopefully Mr. Warbucks would be able to let that happen for all of them, even if their parents were possibly gone like Annie and Missy's, not to mention Goldie's mother.
"Bet they collect things like ashtrays and art..." even Pepper added.
"Are you girls singing?" Grace glanced at them.
Pepper looked at her.
"They just made one mistake," Kate stared at the floor. "Givin' us up."
"Oh, sweetie, I don't think your parents wanted to get rid of you on purpose..." Grace consoled them, even if she didn't know that for sure.
Pepper scoffed. Annie hugged Molly still.
"Really?" Molly asked.
"I'm positive." Grace soothed with a smile.
Annie smiled a little. Grace smiled to all the girls, even sour Pepper, who glanced and looked away.
"Cookies!" Mrs. Sanchez's voice rang from the kitchen.
Pepper looked up.
"Why don't you have a cookie, Pepper?" Grace saw how rough the 'bully' seemed and tried to settle her like a surrogate mother to the parent-less girl.
Pepper looked at her. She wasn't really used to kindness. The girls broke apart for getting cookies and allowed Pepper to go first. Pepper looked nervous but slowly took the first cookie on the plate and took a bite. Annie grinned. The girls smiled at Pepper.
"It's good." Pepper says.
Annie let the other girls have a cookie before herself. Molly smiled in agreement as she got hers. The other girls agreed they were the best cookies 'in the whole universe'.
"Glad you like them, Mrs. Sánchez is an excellent baker." Grace smiled fondly at all of them.
Pepper gave a tiny smile. Annie thanked Mrs. Sánchez.
"You're welcome, dears." Mrs. Sánchez smiled at them, then decided to do some dishes.
Grace smiled at them too, then decided to run along and let the girls catch up together. Pepper ate the rest of her cookie in one go.
Missy looked at Goldie as they walked. "I wanted to talk to you as well..." she says softly.
"Yessum?" Goldie asked as they happily walked together like two best friends.
"You obviously now know I'm... expecting..." Missy says quietly.
"Oh, yes... I admire y'all for tryin' to keep the baby and everythin' even though it was a surprise to have had it happen." Goldie nodded to show she knew what the other girl was talking about.
Missy nodded. "I know this may not be wha' you expected... but i'm going to keep the baby... and I'd like if you could help me take care of it, more so than th' others," she says softly. "It'll be your brother or sister..." she then adds gently.
Goldie nodded approvingly, then froze in the nod. "Say again...?" she sounded surprised at the brother or sister thing. Surely Missy meant she could be the godmother or something.
Missy looked aside nervously. "Well, half-brother or sister..." she says, her voice nervously breaking.
Goldie blinked in surprise. "Wait, is the daddy my very own?"
Missy nodded. She wouldn't hide this from the girl, she nedded to know. "I tried to stop him from chasin' after you an' Annie..." she says softly.
Goldie took that in and nodded, curious and needed to know about this.
Missy took a shaky breath. "It worked... until he was done." she says softly.
Goldie bit her lip. "How far along are ya?"
"A couple of months." Missy says. She saw they were nearing the orphanage.
"It doesn't show as much as ya think, but you can defiantly notice a change, no offense." Goldie said back, happy for her new friend, but wasn't sure how to feel about her father being the same father to Missy's unborn baby.
Missy smiled softly. "Thanks..." she says quietly. She steeled her nerve and knocked on the Orphanage door.
Goldie looked a little nervous and weird about going to the orphanage after so long. She didn't mind her aunt though, Agatha was mean and rotten to her children, sure, but she seemed more maternal and 'loving' compared to Rooster.
"So, where do you wanna go, Roost?" Lily asks.
"Wanna surprise my sister again?" Rooster offered, loving to tease Agatha no matter how old he was.
Lily chuckled. "Sure, Roost!" she says, just happy that she could 'hang off his arm' again.
Rooster smiled in agreement, so they made a stop at the orphanage.
Lily walked in again, but didn't shout this time. She headed to where she had left Agatha.
Agatha had fallen asleep on her cot.
"Hey, sis!" Rooster greeted, hitting the sole of her foot.
Agatha grunted and widened her eyes to wake up. "It wasn't me, occifer..." she said, groggily.
Lily smirked. "Agatha, wake up... You have someone at the door" she says.
Agatha groaned as the knocking did more than just alarm her, but it was worse that she had to hear Lily's voice. "This better be good..." she muttered, then went to the door. She stumbled along the way. "SHUT UP!" she snapped at her visitors snickering before answering the door.
Missy put an arm around Goldie. She waited for the answer. Goldie smiled gently to Missy as there was now comfort.
Lily looked at Rooster. "Let's peep out the window..." she suggests.
Rooster followed Lily's example. Lily gasped quietly as they saw who it was. Rooster's eyes nearly fell from his head in surprise and shock. He wasn't sure whether to be more surprised to see Goldie or Missy. Lily looked at Rooster to see what he would do.
"Hi, Miss Hannigan... Can we come in a short while?" Missy asks, respectfully.
Agatha heaved a sigh and rubbed her forehead. "When did you leave...?" she muttered to Missy.
"Sorry, I need to take a breather and I didn't want the girls to disturb ya." Missy explains.
"Oh, I see... Hello, Goldie..." Agatha said, a little gentle.
"Hi, Aunt Agatha." the teenager greeted her drunken aunt in a calm and pleasant tone in case she was hungover yet again.
Rooster wasn't sure what to do, but just look in shock. Lily nudged him to 'bring him back to Earth'. Rooster shook his head, staying focused. Lily hadn't known what had gone on in prison and so wouldn't have known what the inmate had suggested.
Missy smiled a tiny bit. "Can we come in? We want to ask you somethin'." she says.
Agatha yawned, but did so. "Come on in... Excuse any messes... Those kids don't know better without parents to teach 'em right from wrong."
"Not their faults." Goldie told her aunt as they were invited in.
Missy came in after allowing Goldie in first. She gave a tiny smile to the woman.
"So, what can I do for ya?" Agatha asked as she got herself adjusted to their company.
Goldie gestured for Missy to explain their purpose for being there. Rooster was a little nervous with Lily and Missy on his mind now.
"Well, when I took the girls on a walk we headed to see Annie and Goldie and we'd like for them to spend the night... It gives ya a break..." Missy says. They headed to the office to talk.
Lily wondered how they were going to be reacted to.
"Come again?" Agatha snorted about the girls spending the night away from the 'only home they had ever known'.
"Just think, Auntie," Goldie spoke up. "If they had a 'sleepover' you would have a night of peace."
Lily looked at Rooster as the door being opened.
Missy nodded and apologized to the girls in her head for describing them like this, it was just to get Agatha to agree. "No more girlish giggles tonight, or crying from any nightmares..." she says.
Rooster backed up with Lily.
Agatha hummed, that offer was tempting. "Alright, they can spend the night away from here, but don't come crawlin' to me at 3:00 in the morning when Miley is havin' dreams about a macaroni man and marshmallow man 'joinin' forces." she warned sharply.
"Molly." Goldie corrected, knowing which girl she was actually referring to.
Missy nodded "I know how to deal with nightmares, Miss Hannigan." she says softly.
Lily looked at the women and girl as the door opened.
"They can be scary to a l'il girl, but nothing we can't handle." Goldie added for her aunt.
"Well, I hope so." Agatha opened her office door.
Missy looked into the office and her eyes widened.
"Daddy...?" Goldie whispered.
Rooster blinked at her and at Missy, not sure how to react. Missy just about fainted, her face pale and sweat beading at her forehead. Lily beamed up at Rooster, but seemed shocked that Missy was practically fainting.
"Oh, that's not how ya pass out." Agatha sighing at Missy.
Lily, though not good with kids knew how to revive her. She grabbed a glass of water and flicked water at the fallen young woman's face. Missy whimpered softly, and sat up slowly checking her stomach.
"Are y'all okay, sugar?" Agatha asked, surprisingly soothingly.
Lily saw her checking her stomach and looked surprised and a tiny bit upset. Rooster and Goldie glanced at each other.
Missy nodded. "I'm okay, Miss Hannigan..." she says softly. She stood up slowly and pulled Goldie behind her. "What is he doing here?" She asks softly.
"What? Can't a man visit his favorite sister and possibly daughter every now and again?" Rooster sounded insulted, though it was unclear whether he actually was or not.
Goldie merely glanced at her father. Lily stood up and took the glass to the desk again. Missy looked at him, the fear clear in her eyes. She had good reason to be after what happened.
"Well, I think I'm gonna sleep like a baby tonight." Agatha reflected about the girls spending the night away from the orphanage.
"Don't forget your bottle." Rooster teased, seeing another alcoholic drink and merely glanced at Missy like Goldie did to him.
'I think she needs help...' Goldie thought about her poor aunt.
Lily watched.
Missy gave a faked smile, because of her fear, "Okay, we asked... We should be goin' now..." she says nervously.
"If you want to." Agatha said.
"Where are you going?" Rooster demanded.
"To my new home, Daddy!" Goldie said, rather firmly.
Lily watched, for once keeping quiet. She wondered if Rooster had noticed the fact Missy had checked her stomach specifically.
Missy flinched at his tone. "Come on..." she says, sending an apologetic look to Agatha and started to gently push Goldie out ahead of her, between the girl and Rooster.
Goldie nodded and followed Missy out. Rooster did indeed notice the bump in Missy's belly and rubbed the back of his neck a little anxiously.
"Good girls... Why can't children just grow up already and be like 'em?" Agatha grunted as the older girls left her office and the orphanage.
Lily shrugged. "I wonder if Misty is gonna have a boy or gir.l" she says aloud.
Missy looked relieved that they had managed to get out.
"Who knows...?" Rooster shrugged his shoulders.
"I have a gut feelin' it'll be a boy, there's too many girls in the world already." Agatha theorized.
Lily laughed. Rooster hummed, wondering what to do about what was 'rightfully' his when he had met the rogue, Stevie Gree. Lily looked at Agatha.
"What?" Agatha felt her gaze.
"Just ponderin' something." Lily says.
"That requires at least five brain cells." Agatha teased.
Lily stuck her tongue out. Agatha did the same, pulling her eye lids down to make a goofy face. Rooster slightly rolled his eyes.
Lily snorted. "Heh, I was thinking that the baby would be as handsome as his father if it was a boy." she says.
"Maybe." Agatha laughed.
Rooster glared at his sister for that remark. Lily chuckled.
"Baby maybe..." Agatha muttered softly.
Lily looked at her then Rooster. "What do ya wanna do now, Baby?" She asks.
"I want payback... I don't know how, but Annie will pay for gettin' me sent in the big house..." Rooster showed anger towards the girl he kidnapped and almost killed.
Lily blinked. "How ya gonna do that?" She asks.
Rooster told her from 'a little birdie told him' perspective of what Stevie Gree told him in one of the cells in that urine-soaked dungeon he was forced to sentence life into. Lily looked a little unsure.