The Greatest Showman: March One-Shots

23. Paint With Light

"Oh, there you are," Phin says, reaching the top of the hill where Charity sits. "What're you doing up here?"

He stops behind her for a moment, watching the way the wind catches the blonde strands of her hair in the dim light of dawn. She sits with her knees pulled up, her arms resting over them, staring off into the horizon line. Where the ocean meets the sky, the faintest hints of oranges and yellows peek through.

Charity's so quiet that Phin is unsure whether she had even heard him or not, or whether she's in some kind of trance as she watches the colors of the day emerge from the darkness.

He takes a sip of coffee, then softly makes his way over to his wife, sitting down beside her on the lush green grass.

"Just waiting," Charity says at last, her light brown eyes unmoving.

Phin guesses that she probably doesn't want to say more, so he just follows her gaze to the other side of the world, lifting his hand up to take another sip of his coffee. It's quiet for another several moments; not even the birds have come out of their nests yet to await and announce the daybreak.

"What're you doing up here?" Charity suddenly asks, but she's so still that Phin almost wonders if he just imagined her speaking.

"I came to find you," he answers, watching as the sky begins to light up with more streaks of warm colors. "I heard you leave a few minutes ago, but didn't know where you went."

He takes the opportunity to look at his wife, at her beautiful features and the way that even the darkness can't hide them. Her nose and chin are perfectly proportional, her light brown eyes the color of his coffee. The platinum blonde hair that she's been blessed with hangs in loose curls over her shoulders, the soft breeze combing its fingers through some of the strands. Phin's smiling before he even realizes it, and then unintentionally breaks Charity's concentration.

"May I help you?" she asks him with a playful smile, the apples of her cheeks turning a faint shade of pink.

"Not at all," he responds, smiling, as he nonchalantly raises his mug back up to his lips.

"Can I have some?" she asks, a hint of hopefulness in her tired eyes.

Phin hands it over, watching as she lifts it to her lips and takes a long sip. When she's done, she licks her lips and lowers her hands. Her eyes return to the beginning of the day. "I've never liked how you make your coffee, you know," she admits, and Phin can't fight the laugh that escapes his lips. Charity's doing a better job, though. "There's too much sugar in it for my liking."

"Well, sugar supposedly helps to wake you up," Phin tells her. "That's the only reason I put some in there."

"'Some'?" Charity coughs in disbelief, though she raises the mug back up to her lips for another sip anyways. "Oh, honey, if this is 'some,' I don't wanna know what 'a lot' is."

Phin just rolls his eyes. "Well, if you don't like it, then don't keep drinking it all, huh?" He reaches for the mug and takes it back, setting it down on the grass on his other side.

The sun itself is now rising, a mixture of bright oranges and yellows and reds, illuminating the sky as if God had just flicked a light switch. Ribbons of the sun's rays shine through the clouds, creating an effect that could only be described as breathtaking. It's like the clouds themselves have changed color, too—no longer white or gray, but now a slightly lighter shade than the colors that streak the sky. Some clouds are still black, though, as if they're afraid to come out of the shadows and greet the day.

Phin watches with awe as the sun continues to slowly crawl up out of its dungeon, bidding hello to the world in the most extravagant of ways. An overdramatic apology for having been hiding for the last twelve hours.

Charity suddenly scoots closer to him so that their bodies are touching, and then she leans her head on his shoulder. Phin reaches his arm around her back and sets it gently by her side. Neither of their eyes stray from the color wheel illuminating the sky; how quickly the world is rising out of the ground and its ribbons are disappearing.

Phin watches them all, counting them as they blend in with the new sky as the day arrives. Watches the faint reflection of the orange ball against the ocean off in the distance, the steam that seems to be coming off of it as it melts underneath and around the beauty of the world around it.

It's strange how just one simple thing, five quick minutes, can open one's eyes to so many new perspectives. Who would have thought that watching nature run its course would be so mesmerizing? Or that watching the rays of light dissipate as if they were never even there in the first place would send a stab of fear through your heart?

Phin knows his motive as to why he came up here in the first place: to find Charity after she had gotten out of bed and left before the break of dawn.

But now he knows why he's stayed up here in the first place: to watch God create a new day for the world, painting it with light.