Author's Note: Yayyyy about time! Okay so I have some backstory with this movie: I watched it on the plane ride and missed the end (except I fast-forwarded to Philip and Anne's kiss so that I could see it), and went away thinking the movie was really bad because Finn cheats on his wife and everything.

But thennnn I watched it with my parents, like actually all the way through, and I LOVED IT!

Then last night I watched it with my sister and cried FOUR TIMES (which is like REALLY unusual I never cry at things), and we are literally sitting now and watching it again. Yes. The night after.

Soooo imma write some Philip and Anne and watch at the same time because I can type without looking 'cause I'm cool like that yayyyy XD

Smoke was everywhere. Even outside of the collapsing circus building, Philip could barely see through it. He scanned through the crowd, clocking each face before moving on.

"W.D.!" Philip yelled over the cries of onlookers and the circus performers. "Where's Anne?!"

W.D.'s eyes went wide and he began to desperately search the crowd along with Philip for his sister. But Philip had a feeling in his gut that it was useless. Anne wasn't there.

Phineas Barnum had just arrived with his wife and two girls. He stopped in horror at the sight of his circus burning to the ground, but Philip wasn't going to wait to explain what had happened. He turned, eyes locked on the theatre, and took off running.

"Philip!" Barnum yelled after him, and then Philip was through the entrance and his ears were filled with the roar of the flames.

"Anne!" he yelled, holding up his arm to shield his eyes from the intense heat around him. "Anne!"

There was a creaking from above and Philip stared upward. His foot caught against a beam of wood and he tripped. Ash blew up in front of him as he crashed to the ground, hand raking through the flames. Then his head made landfall, and everything went black.

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Anne had gotten caught behind a tower of burning, falling beams and had had to take the long way around out of the back door. By the time she got out of the burning circus, everyone was gathered. W.D. let out a cry when he saw her and she barreled into his arms, relieved beyond belief that her brother was alright.

"Where's Philip?" she asked Phineas when she pulled away. He didn't reply right away. "Where is he?!"

Phineas gritted his teeth. "He went in after you," he said, and then, with one last look at his family, he took off running into the burning circus.

"DADDY!" Caroline screamed, trying to follow. Charity grasped her daughter's arm and held her back, tears welling up in her eyes.

Anne gripped W.D.'s bicep, staring at the flame-covered building. Then, in horror-induced slow motion, she watched as the entire roof caved in.

"Phineas," Charity gasped, hand over her mouth. Anne's eyes went wide and she let out a dry sob before burying her face in W.D.'s shirt.

Then a figure burst out of the flames. He was covered in soot and ash and carrying a body in his arms. "Daddy!" Caroline cried again, and she, her sister, and Charity all ran forward to meet Phineas.

Phineas stumbled forward, laying the figure he had been carrying on the ground. "He's taken in a lot of smoke," he said, brow creased with concern as he laid his fingers on Philip's pulse. "He's still breathing. Come on!"

Anne watched as W.D. stepped forward and helped Phineas lift Philip onto a stretcher supplied by the hospital workers that had rushed to the scene. She twisted her hands in front of her, aching to touch his face and feel that he was actually breathing.

"Hey." W.D. laid a soot-marked hand on her shoulder. "Go with him."

Anne's eyes went wide again and she stared at him. He gave her a half-grin and shrugged. It was as if he was giving her his approval, and Anne felt a smile bloom on her face before she took off and ran after the stretcher.

She was shoved out of the way when they reached the hospital by a group of nurses. They swarmed around Philip and Anne tightened her hands into fists, shifting restlessly.

It took what felt like forever, but finally Philip had the deep cut on his forehead stitched up and his burned fingers bandaged. He had a white sheet tucked around his chest and his face was still covered with smudges of soot, blending into the rapidly darkening bruise around his eye. As the nurses filtered away Anne stepped forward. Gazes fell on her and there were looks of shock, like there always were. But maybe for the first time in her life, Anne didn't even notice.

She found a chair by Philip's bed and sat down, keeping her eyes on Philip's face. His bandaged hand was lying on top of his chest and she reached for it, wrapping her fingers through his.

"What if we rewrite the stars," she whispered, her thumb stroking the bandages. "Say you were made to be mine. Nothing could keep us apart. You'd be the one- I was meant- to-"

She couldn't go on, tears welling in her eyes and making tracks in her dirty cheeks.

Anne stayed in her chair for the next two hours. They ticked slowly by, her tears eventually drying into a stiff mask on her face and Philip lying unmoving on the bed. At one point, a nurse came by and she got up the courage to speak. "Will he... is he going to wake up?"

The nurse had her hand on Philip's sheet, straightening it. "We're hopeful," she murmured. "But it may be a long night. There's a washroom down the hall if you'd... like to clean up."

Anne nodded and gathered her skirts, slowly getting to her feet with stiff legs. She found a bucket in the hospital washroom and rubbed the soot off her face and arms before returning to Philip's side.

The nurse she had spoken to returned with a cloth and a pan of water. "I would normally do it myself, but if you'd like to clean him off then please go ahead," she said kindly, holding out the cloth to Anne.

"Thank you," Anne murmured, taking the objects and leaning over Philip slightly. She avoided the large blood-stained splotch on his forehead as best she could, gently rubbing the grime off of his face until all that was left was bruises and the shadow of his facial hair on his jaw. Then she sat back and picked his hand back up, ready to wait for as long as it took.

It ended up taking five more hours. Anne slept for a few of them, but the chair was uncomfortable and there was always some sort of noise in the bed-lined corridor. Sometime in the night someone was rushed in and for a long time nurses and doctors were swarming around someone a few beds down from Anne and Philip. A little while later, a nurse checked up on the patient right next to them. It seemed that the hospital never rested, even late at night.

The bell tower had just chimed eight when Anne felt the first movement on her hands. Her gaze leapt from the sheet to Philip's face as his fingers began to move, shifting against hers. His eyelids fluttered, and Anne's eyes filled with relieved tears as they finally flickered opened.

The pressure on her hand increased slightly, and then Anne was leaning down and kissing him hard on the lips. Kissing Philip was like the first time she had ever gone on her trapeze- breathtaking and wonderful, with some sort of innate knowledge attached that what she was doing was right and would continue to be right for the rest of her life.

When she pulled back, the smile on Philip's face made her lean down and kiss him again. She would have kept on kissing him if she hadn't heard a throat cleared behind her. Anne spun to find Philip's doctor standing and the end of the bed, holding a clipboard.

"I'm glad to see you awake, Mr. Carlyle," the doctor said stiffly, not acknowledging Anne. "I would like to perform a last check up on you before I release you."

Philip nodded absently, but then his gaze slipped to Anne and he spoke for the first time: "Hi."

The doctor frowned but Anne smiled widely. "Hi," she whispered, reaching down and putting her hand on his cheek. "It's good to see your eyes open again."

"You're a nice sight to open them to," Philip told her, a mirroring smile spreading across his face.

The doctor cleared his throat again. "If you please?"

"Right, yes," Philip pushed himself up a little in bed and winked at Anne. She blushed and folded her hands in her lap, staying firmly in her chair. "Examen away."

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Philip was released from the hospital a few hours after he woke up. Anne helped him out of the bed and got a carriage to bring them to his apartment. Then she went home.

They cleaned themselves up and changed, then without planning it met up again at the now-decimated circus building. The performers had already starting the arduous processes of pulling out usable items from the wreckage, and Anne had just begun helping them when Philip arrived.

"What are you doing here?" she asked, looking at him disapprovingly as he stepped out of his carriage and walked towards the ruins. "You should be resting."

"I have been resting," Philip huffed. "But I needed to be here to help my family."

She pursed her lips. "Well, 'your family' would rather you sit right over there and let us do the work."

He leaned down and kissed her cheek and she blinked in surprise. "What was that for?"

"Well, I just thought..." Philip trailed off, embarrassed, and stuck his hands in his pockets. "I thought that I could, you know, do that now. Now that we're..." He swallowed. "I love you, Anne Wheeler."

For the third time in 24 hours, Anne's eyes went wide with shock. She dipped her chin bashfully for a second before looking back up at him. "Philip Carlyle... I love you, too."

So much so, in fact, that she didn't even get that mad at him when he refused to sit down and let the rest of them do the work.

Author's Note: Jeezum I actually managed to write a good chunk of that while watching the movie. Multitasking talent right there XD XD

I hope you guys enjoyed! I have a few more ideas for the two of them that I'm looking forward to exploring, so stay tuned!