Hello! New story!

Yeah, it seems like Telling Her Story is going the way of Memories and my sequel to The Little Witch. C'est la vie.

But this story was inspired by my new favorite TV show, Speechless. It's basically about a family with a son who has CP and a tough as nails mom who fights for him. It's awesome. But as I was watching it one day, I thought, "I bet Frex was just as fierce as Maya when Nessa was in grade school." The comparisons aren't perfect: Maya doesn't blame JJ's disability on either of her other children, Nessa isn't a straight up jerk like JJ. But it was enough to form this plot bunny.

This will mostly take place pre-Shiz, but some of your other favorite characters may appear in flash forwards.

And yeah, this has Shell. Because I like Shell.

Enjoy!

Chapter 1

"Everybody UP!" Governor Frexspar Thropp barked as he entered his children's section of Colwin Grounds. "We're going to Lolli's for breakfast. They're having a four for one sale on pancakes. I don't want to miss that!"

Twelve year old Shell was the first to emerge from his room. "What's going on, Father?" he asked sleepily.

"We're going out for breakfast! There's a sale. Get dressed; it ends at nine." Frex then banged on his eldest daughter's door. "Elphaba! Up! Now! And get your sister up!"

"We're rich," Shell pointed out. "We don't need to take advantage of a sale."

Just then, Elphaba's door opened and she poked her head out, still looking half asleep. "What in Oz is going on?" she asked, mostly to Shell.

"Father has decided that he, one of the wealthiest men in Munchkinland, needs to take advantage of a restaurant sale this morning," Shell informed her.

"Oh." After taking a deep breath, Elphaba went into her sister's room. "Nessa! I have to get you up for reasons that I will let Father explain to you so you can hate him and not me."

Fifteen clock ticks later, amazingly, all four members of the Thropp family were dressed and outside the house. A carriage was ready to go out front, but Frex was still trying to get Nessa's wheelchair into the back of it. Nessa, meanwhile, was in Elphaba's arms, and Shell was standing around awkwardly. After watching his father struggle for a bit, Shell finally said, "Father, can I please go and wake up Nanny? Fabala's arms look like they're about to snap off."

"Thanks for being so concerned about me falling," Nessa piped up.

Shell ignored her. "Or I could help you. You never let me help!"

"There's no time to get Nanny," Frex said with a grunt. "And you know you're not allowed to touch your sister's equipment until you're sixteen."

"Fabala literally turned sixteen FOUR MONTHS AGO, and she's been helping Nessa forever!"

"That's … a different … matter!" Frex said between pushes. "Alright, it's in there. Everybody in."

So they all piled into the carriage, and, since he didn't want to bother with servants that morning, Frex took the reins himself. The horses started cantering with a jolt, and they were off. Unfortunately, Frex was not a very experienced driver, so there were several moments when Elphaba, Nessa, and Shell were sure they were going to end up in a ditch.

"Ow!" Nessa exclaimed after a particularly sharp turn. "I just hit my head against the window! Father, you really need to slow down."

"We're almost there, pet, don't worry," Frex reassured her. "And when we get there, we're going to have the best, cheapest breakfast ever. I guarantee it."

"Again, we don't need a cheap breakfast!" Shell said for what seemed like the one hundredth time that morning. "We're not some poor farming family; we're the First Family of Munchkinland!"

"Shut up about that!" Elphaba shouted, exasperated. "Father doesn't care about that, and I feel like I'm about to vomit!"

Luckily, they got to Lolli's without Elphaba throwing up or Frex crashing the carriage. Frex parked right in front of the restaurant and got out. As he was going to the back to get Nessa's chair, an old woman got out of the nearby carriage and went over to him. "Excuse me, only the handicapped are supposed to park here," she said disapprovingly.

Frex said nothing as he retrieved Nessa's wheelchair and placed it near the door of the carriage. He got his satisfaction when Elphaba came out of the carriage with Nessa, and the old woman's mouth dropped. "I'm sorry, miss, you were saying?" he said, unable to resist smiling a little. "This is my daughter; she's all there upstairs, and she doesn't like it when people stare at her. You see, my poor Nessa's spinal cord was injured when she was born …"

"Father," Nessa said quietly, a little embarrassed.

"Oh, and I've always been green," Elphaba added, seeing that the old woman's bewildered gaze was on her now.

"And I'm just Shell," Shell said, stepping down from the carriage. "We just drove from our mansion to get a discounted breakfast, when one of us is the governor of Munchkinland, and another one of us is the future governor of Munchkinland."

Frex grabbed Shell by the scruff of his neck. "Let's go get that discounted breakfast, son."

Longer chapters coming soon! Hope you liked it!

Thanks for reading!

Cheers,

Elle Dottore