Until the End of Time

By Vinkunwildflowerqueen

AN. Fun Fact: This story was actually inspired by a Mad About You episode!

This is the 100th FANFIC that I'm posting. Which is crazy. This is also the longest fic I've ever written (over 160 000 words) and I hope you all enjoy reading it as much as I enjoyed writing it.

Chapter 1

It was a sweltering hot August day, and Elphaba almost regretted leaving the dressmaker's shop, although it was no cooler inside than outside. The air was thick and still, there was not even a hint of a breeze to filter the scorching heat. The radio had said that morning that it was forecast to be the hottest August day in fifteen years.

The clock that perched about City Hall struck twelve as Elphaba locked the door behind her, making sure the sign proclaiming her return in an hour's time was firmly in place.

She mounted her bicycle and cycled through the village square, noting there seemed less people about than usual for a Wednesday lunchtime. It seemed Munchkins were staying indoors where possible, which seemed like a smart idea to her.

Elphaba arrived at The Apple Blossom café, locked up her bicycle and entered, sighing with relief as a wave of cooler air met her from the ceiling fans. She glanced around briefly, noting the many empty tables, before she headed directly to the table at the back that she had sat at every week for the past eleven years.

"Hi, Papa," she greeted her father, sitting down.

Frex looked up from the menu in his hand with a smile. "There you are."

"Sorry," she apologised. "I got caught up on work and lost track of time. Have you been waiting long?"

"Not at all. Have you been busy?"

Elphaba shrugged. "Not really. Just trying to stay busy to distract myself from the heat. I'm so worried about sweating all over the fabric," she complained. "But Miss Shyla still refuses to do anything about it. All I have is that tiny window that barely opens further than an inch."

Frex frowned. "I don't like you working in these conditions," he said, not for the first time.

Elphaba shrugged, her gaze turning to her own menu. "It doesn't matter. It's only for another week," she reminded him.

Frex smiled, but rather sadly. "And then you'll be gone."

Elphaba's expression was sympathetic, but she also couldn't hide her excitement. In a little more than a week, finally, Elphaba would be on her way to Shiz University.

She'd been dreaming of going to Shiz since she'd been eleven years old, and it had taken a bit longer than she'd expected to get there, although admittedly due to reasons of her own choosing.

It had been five years ago when Elphaba had overheard Frex and her stepmother, Annalie, discussing the prospect of whether Frex would run for another term of Governor in the next election. Elphaba had been fifteen at the time, and typically, had surprised her parents with her response.

"I want to pay my own way to college," she'd announced to them.

Frex and Annalie had been flabbergast. "But… why?" Annalie had replied.

Elphaba had a very good reason. Or rather, two very good reasons.

One being Nessarose. The other, being their younger brother.

Tomaz had only been three at the time of this conversation. A chubby cheeked, ridiculously energetic little boy who was adored by both his older sisters.

"If you retire from government, can you afford to put three kids through college?" Elphaba had asked Frex bluntly. "What would you even do?"

Frex looked faintly amused. "I do have a Law degree, Elphaba. And I'd have a pension. We wouldn't exactly be destitute."

"But you never practiced as a lawyer," Elphaba countered. "Nessa can't really help out financially, but I can."

Frex hadn't been keen on the idea at first, but Annalie had talked him around, and finally they had reached a compromise. Elphaba could contribute a certain percent of her tuition, but Frex and Annalie would pay the rest.

At first, while she was still in school, Elphaba had only worked weekends and summers in the local bookstore. But once she had graduated, she had gotten a job at the local dressmakers, thanks to the skills Annalie had taught her as a child and a reference from Annalie's godmother- a respected dressmaker in Glikkun.

Frex had ultimately decided to take another term, which he had won. Even now he was in the process of preparing for yet another election that was coming in November. He'd told both Annalie and Elphaba that this would be his last term, but they were both certain that wouldn't be the case, unless he was voted out of office.

Now, at long last, the money was saved and Elphaba would be starting Shiz University in the fall. The timing also worked out so that she would be attending at the same time as Nessa, which both sisters were rather glad about.

Nessa had a personal nurse and caregiver, Xia, who would be accompanying her to assist her everyday needs; but it wasn't quite the same as having a friend with her. Xia was only a few years older than Elphaba and had been working with Nessa for three years now. Although she was more than competent at caring for Nessa, Elphaba had never really been able to shake off the need to look after her sister. It was a comfort to both sisters that they would have each other at Shiz.

The only thing Elphaba was not looking forward to about Shiz, was leaving behind her family. She'd miss Annalie dearly, and she couldn't imagine not seeing Tomaz every day; but leaving her father and foregoing their tradition of weekly lunches was another matter.

Once upon a time, that thought would have been a completely foreign concept. But it was now hard to imagine there was a time when Elphaba and Frex weren't close. For his part, Frex could only marvel at the intelligent, strong, confident woman that his eldest daughter had become.

When Annalie had first arrived at the Thropp household, it had been obvious to all of Munchkinland that Frex doted on Nessarose and barely seemed to tolerate Elphaba's existence. Yet now, Annalie liked to tease her husband that it was the worst kept secret in Munchkinland that Elphaba was her father's favourite child. Which was not exactly true, although bond between Elphaba and Frex differed from that of her siblings.

"It will be a little hard to meet for lunch between here and Shiz," Elphaba said to Frex now, unable to refute that fact. "But Nessa and I will write home as much as we can," she promised.

"You'll both be far too busy to write home," Frex smiled, recalling his own university days.

They ordered their lunch, which was pretty much the same thing they ordered every week, chatting briefly about their mornings while they waited for their food to arrive.

"Your light was on late last night," Frex noted as they ate. "Were you working or writing?"

Elphaba decided not to point out that if he had seen her light on, he too must have been up. "Writing. I had an idea and had to re-write chapter twelve."

Frex raised an eyebrow. "I thought you were on chapter fifteen. Didn't I read that only last week?"

"Yes, but this will be better," Elphaba nodded. "It'll bridge the gap between Milosh and Tarina, and flow so much better."

Her father simply shook his head. "At this rate, you'll never finish it."

"It'll be finished when it's right," Elphaba said simply.

Elphaba had been writing since she was ten, mostly short stories. She'd won a Munchkinland writing contest at sixteen and had her story printed in The Munchkinland Post, but other than that, most people were unaware that she wrote.

She had been working consistently on a novel (currently untitled), since the summer after she'd finished school. That had been three years ago.

Elphaba was fiercely protective of her novel. Only Frex and Annalie had read parts of it- and only when Elphaba either deemed them worthy or was seeking a critical eye. Even Nessa only knew a few vague details of the story but had seen nothing of it. Tomaz was much too busy being a nine-year-old boy to be much concerned with what his sister was writing.

"Your work is good, Fabala," Frex said gently.

Elphaba rolled her eyes. "You have to say that, you're my father," she muttered. "Anyway, the professors at Shiz may disagree with you."

Deciding what to study at Shiz had been a whole other battle for Elphaba, and a non-monetary reason for the delay in her enrolment. She'd been torn between her interest in Law, and her passion for her writing.

"What's to stop you from doing both?" Annalie had ultimately suggested to her.

So, she would do both.

Nessa hadn't found it nearly as difficult to decide what to study. While Frex had once harboured hopes that Nessarose would follow in his footsteps as Governor, he had let those hopes go when she was young enough that she was freely able to decide what she wanted to do with her life. Nessa had always been interested in art and she was going to major in Art History, with a minor in a study of the Evian language. Nessa had a dream of one day being the curator of a grand Art museum (well, grand by Munchkinland's standards) and Ev had the richest art culture outside of Oz. Plus, she'd told Annalie and Frex, it was always a good idea to know another language.

"Are Ottah and the family coming for dinner on Friday night?" Frex asked her as they ate.

Elphaba nodded. "Yeah, Melia came into the store to pick up a dress, and she said they'd be there. I don't really think it's necessary though."

Frex smiled gently. "Let Anna have this. She's going to miss you girls, and she's immensely proud of you both. We both are."

Annalie had insisted on throwing a going away party for the girls, but Frex and Elphaba had talked her down to a dinner instead. Nikita and Akio were attending, as was their youngest son Ottah with his wife and two boys, whom Elphaba adored. Annalie's best friend in Munchkinland, Ismene Alwyn (formerly Ismene Fairchild) would also attend with her husband and daughters, and a few of Nessa's classmates from school were coming too.

A lot had changed in ten years, but Elphaba's lack of friends wasn't one of them. Ottah was more like a big brother- an annoying big brother at that, and Melia was always friendly and warm, but they weren't close. She wasn't a friend. Even if she did have any friends in Munchkinland, most of them would have graduated university by now anyway, and she would have felt ridiculous inviting them.

Elphaba knew what Munchkins said about her, even now. It was far less toxic than it had been when she was a child, but to some Munchkins, Elphaba would always remain "the weird green girl". There had been rumours that she hadn't been accepted into university, or that her parents had had to bribe them to accept her, that she had been on the wait list for years and had only now been given a place.

But they didn't bother her as they once might have. Elphaba knew the truth and Frex and Annalie had both told her many times that they were proud of her for paying her own way.

If Elphaba had gone to Shiz straight from school, she would have graduated in the spring. But she rather thought she preferred to be sharing the experience with her sister, and it guaranteed at least one friendly face around campus.

"You know Nessa's already packed?" Elphaba said to Frex. "She's so excited."

"I'm not surprised Nessa's packed, but rather surprised you're not," Frex chuckled.

Elphaba figured that was fair. "I've got a list made up. Everything that was on the list the administration office sent out, and a few personal things I want to take. But I'm having trouble narrowing the list of books, I don't know how much room I'll have in the dorm."

"You'll have a whole library to explore," Frex reminded her. "I would just pick your favourites to take. If you find you really need a book that the Shiz library doesn't have, we can always send it to you."

"That's true," Elphaba had to admit, albeit reluctantly.

If she could, she'd take all her books with her, and they both knew it.

"Is your afternoon busy?" she asked him. "When's your last meeting of the day?"

"Not too bad. I'm meeting with the budget committee at four, but hopefully that shouldn't take long. Why?"

"Did you want to go to the cemetery before or after dinner?"

"Let's go after," Frex decided. "It may be cooler than."

Elphaba nodded in agreement.

It was a custom now, that Frex and Elphaba would go to the cemetery on Melena's birthday together, taking flowers to lay on her grave. Frex always went alone on Nessa's birthday, the anniversary of her death, but this day was laid aside for those who remembered Melena.

Nessa was always invited, but never went. The cemetery was difficult to navigate in her chair, but the simple truth was that she didn't remember Melena. Annalie was the only mother she'd ever known.

When Elphaba had to get back to work, Frex waved her off as he called for the bill.

"Go, go. Try and sit by the window," he advised her. "Drink plenty of water."

"I'll be fine," Elphaba reassured him. "See you at home."

The afternoon passed quietly, and while her hands may have been working steadily, her mind was back in her novel, trying to muddle a way through the next chapter. She only paused in her work to jot down a few notes that occurred to her for chapter thirteen of her novel. If nothing else, it was a distraction from the heat.

Elphaba was tempted, not for the first time, to magic up a breeze in the workroom; but although she'd come a long way in controlling her magic since she was a child, she could never really get the hang of weather spells. The last thing she needed was to create a hurricane through the store.

Her employer, Miss Shyla, arrived just as Elphaba was beginning to pack up for the day, as the clock neared five o'clock. She critically examined the garment on the mannequin Elphaba was working on and finally sniffed.

"Adequate."

That was high praise from Miss Shyla.

"Thank you, ma'am. Have a good evening, Miss Shyla," Elphaba said tiredly and left for home.

It was no cooler now than it had been at noon, and she was parched by the time she cycled through town and up the hill to the Governor's house.

"Fabala's home!" she heard Tomaz sing out from within the house, as she climbed the front steps to the door, the familiar greeting that welcomed her home from work most days.

Normally, Tomaz liked to do his homework in the living room, sitting at the window to watch for his eldest sister to return home. But as it was still summer vacation and he had no homework, Elphaba suspected he was just bored.

"Hello," she called out as she entered the house.

"Hello," mimicked Tomaz in return.

Elphaba rolled her eyes and entered the living room. "Hi. What are you doing?"

"Reading."

"Reading what?" Elphaba asked, coming closer to see the book on his lap.

The fact he was tilting it at such an angle so she couldn't see the cover made her suspicious.

"Tomaz. How many times have I told you to stay out of my room?" she demanded, snatching the book from him.

"But you have all the cool books," Tomaz whined.

"You don't need to read my Sorcery books. You can't do Sorcery," Elphaba scolded him. "These books are dangerous, Tom. If you don't pronounce this exactly right, Oz only knows what could happen. Where's Ima? Is she home from the library yet? She can't know you're reading this, I'm sure."

Tomaz looked appropriately shamefaced, which told Elphaba she was correct. "She's in the back garden with Nessa."

He scurried after her as she headed in that direction. Sure enough, Annalie was kneeling in Nessa's vegetable garden, pulling carrots and handing them to Nessa to put in the basket on her lap.

"Hi, Fabala," she greeted her with a smile. "How was your day?"

"Fine. Can you talk to your son?"

Annalie sighed. "Why?"

"I didn't do anything!" Tomaz said hastily from behind Elphaba.

Elphaba shot him a glare and held up the Sorcery book. That was enough for information for Annalie, and she sighed again.

"I'm going to magically seal my room shut when I leave for Shiz," Elphaba informed her.

"You can't do that," Annalie laughed. "Nikita will need to clean in there. Just lock the door and leave the key with me. Or just take your Sorcery books with you."

"Why? I'm not going to study Sorcery," Elphaba pointed out. "I can control it, and I don't want a career in it."

"Well, sweetheart, you're not magically locking your room," Annalie said firmly as she got to her feet.

"Tomaz, go inside and wash your hands, please. You can help Nikita prepare dinner. It's a much better use of energy than stealing from your sister."

Tomaz sighed. "I didn't steal. I borrowed… without permission. I was gonna put it back," he grumbled as he headed inside.

Elphaba turned to Nessa. "Remember when he was cute? And not a pain in the ass?"

Nessa laughed. "He's not that bad, Fabala."

"Well, of course you think that. He doesn't steal your things," Elphaba complained.

"Borrows without permission," Nessa corrected lightly.

"Your father and I will talk to him," Annalie promised Elphaba.

"If he tries to read any of the spells aloud- "

"I know," Annalie interrupted gently. "I mean it, Fabala. We'll handle it. Now, when are you and your father going to the cemetery?"

"After dinner," Elphaba replied, taking the handles of Nessa's chair to help her inside. "Hopefully it'll be cooler by then."

"I cut you some roses from my garden," Nessa said quietly, tilting her head back to look up at her sister.

"I thought you might like to take them."

Elphaba smiled and squeezed her shoulder lightly. "Thanks, Nessie. They'll be perfect."

Frex returned home from his budget meeting at half past five. After leaving his briefcase in his study, he followed the sounds of voices to the kitchen. There, he found his wife and eldest daughter helping Nikita cook; and from the voices he could hear in the dining room, he guessed Tomaz and Nessarose were setting the table.

"Hello," he greeted them.

"Hi, Papa!" Tomaz yelled from the dining room.

Elphaba barely spared her father a glance and a smile before turning back to Annalie.

"It's not that I don't trust him, but… I don't trust him."

"Fabala, I think you're overreacting," Annalie laughed. "Is it possible you're projecting some of your nerves about leaving home onto this?"

Elphaba scoffed. "I'm not nervous."

"Overreacting about what?" Frex asked, kissing Annalie lightly.

"Tomaz has been 'borrowing without permission' from Elphaba's bookcase again," Annalie informed her husband. "Elphaba now wants to magically seal her room up when she's at Shiz."

Frex raised an eyebrow. "Is a normal key no longer sufficient?"

Elphaba sighed. "Normal locks can be picked."

"Elphaba, he's nine."

"So what? When I was nine-" Elphaba cut herself off abruptly. "You know what, never mind."

Nikita stepped in to save her before Frex or Annalie could demand an explanation.

"Here, Elphaba. Take this into the dining room, please," she said, handing her a salad bowl.

Dinner was slightly quieter than usual, perhaps because of the heat, or because of what the day was. Even Tomaz knew what today meant, and why it was important to his father and sisters.

Annalie told them about her day at the library, where she'd worked for the past five years since Mrs Fairchild had retired. Annalie had never really anticipated a return to her former profession, but she had always loved being a librarian.

When everyone had finished eating, Elphaba cleared the table while Annalie helped Nikita start the dishes. And then as Nessarose and Tomaz settled in to complete a puzzle in the living room, Elphaba collected the roses Nessa had cut from the garden, and she and Frex left for the cemetery.

It was cooler now that the sun hung lower in the sky, Elphaba was relieved to find, but the air remained thick and unbearably still. They hadn't gone halfway down the hill before she could feel the sweat starting to trickle down her neck.

There were few other mourners around as they trod the familiar path to Melena's grave. Elphaba gently lay down the flowers before the tombstone and pulled out a letter from her skirt pocket to lay with it. It had been something she'd done since she was eleven years old. She'd never quite been comfortable with the idea of talking to the tombstone, but she could write a letter to her mother.

That being done, Elphaba stepped back and settled herself under the nearby tree, drawing her knees up to her chest and resting her chin on her knees while her father crouched down before the stone.

The letters were never overly long, they only included the news and events that had happened in the last year that Elphaba thought her mother might like to know. In case she didn't know. Elphaba could never decide how she felt about the idea of an afterlife.

This year's letter was mostly about work, and that she and Nessa were finally about to attend Shiz. There really wasn't much else to tell, but it made Elphaba feel a little more connected to her mother. She had only a precious few, very faint memories of her mother, although Frex had made more of an effort to share stories about her with Elphaba and Nessa over the years.

Through their father, they knew Melena had never attended university herself- her father hadn't allowed it, although she had wanted to go. Elphaba hoped that meant her mother would be proud that both her daughters were attending together.

Frex stayed crouched by Melena's grave for a few minutes longer, before he straightened up with a small grimace, his knees creaking.

"Shall we head home?" he asked Elphaba, who nodded and unfolded herself, rising to her feet.

As though he knew what she had been thinking, Frex put an arm around Elphaba's shoulders. "Your mother would be very proud of you and Nessa."

Elphaba smiled slightly. Her father said that every year. "I know, Papa."

He squeezed her shoulder lightly, dropped his arm and they turned for the cemetery gate.

Every time Frex made the walk from the cemetery to the house alongside his daughter, he could never help but remember the question she'd asked him the very first time they'd made the walk together on this very day.

Is this kind of what it feels like to have a mother?

It had been such an innocent question, but the one that ultimately led to him to pursue Annalie. And everything was so different now.

It was almost hard to remember there was a time when his daughters had called him anything other than "Father" -or in Nessarose's case "Daddy". Elphaba had switched to "Dad" when things had begun to change between them; but when Tomaz had begun talking, Annalie had taught him to say "Papa" and his sisters had picked it up.

The memories of those years before Annalie came to the house would haunt Frex forever, and it seemed surreal and almost impossible that now both his daughters were about to leave home, but it was a small comfort to know he had his wife and son still to stop the house from feeling overwhelmingly empty.

When they returned to the house, Frex retreated to his study and Elphaba to her bedroom. It wasn't long before Annalie tapped gently on her bedroom door, bearing a bowl of chocolate ice cream.

"Thanks," Elphaba said as she accepted the bowl.

Annalie settled comfortably on the bed, pushing a sweaty lock of blonde hair back from her face.

"Sweetheart, are you sure you're not nervous about Shiz?"

Elphaba looked to her stepmother and raised an eyebrow. "Because I want Tom to stay out of my room while I'm gone?"

Annalie sighed. "Elphaba. Your father and I-"

"-Have been talking about me," Elphaba said knowingly. "Why aren't you talking about Nessa?"

"Nessa will have Xia with her. You won't."

"Yeah, but I'll have Nessa. I'm not nervous, Anna," Elphaba assured her. "I'm excited."

Annalie looked at her. Elphaba knew she didn't truly believe her, but also knew Annalie wouldn't push.

"Try not to stay up too late tonight," she said and got to her feet.

Elphaba nodded absently through a mouthful of ice cream, already turning back to her work. "Ok."

There was nothing quite like the feeling of losing herself among her characters and the world she'd created. Elphaba scribbled away, forgetting about the time and the heat as she incorporated the notes she'd made that afternoon. She wrote until nine-thirty, only stopping when she could feel a headache coming on. Then she showered, changed and prepared for bed.

The final week before they left for Shiz crawled by, at least for Elphaba. Their last night at home, Elphaba closed the last of her suitcases and double checked everything on her list had been packed. There were three books sitting on her desk that she was still uncertain about whether or not to take with her.

Elphaba grabbed them and headed downstairs to tap on Nessa's bedroom door.

"Hey," she greeted her sister, who was lying in bed reading. "Do you have any room in your bags?"

Nessa laughed knowingly. "How many books?"

"Only three," Elphaba replied, holding them up. "Little ones. All paperbacks."

Nessa pointed to one of her suitcases stacked neatly by the door. "Try the one on the left."

Elphaba moved a few things around to make her books fit and then sat on the end of Nessa's bed. The door that led to the bathroom that connected her room to Xia's was shut.

"How are you feeling?"

"Nervous," Nessarose admitted. "You?"

"Excited," Elphaba replied. "It's going to be great. Why are you nervous?"

Nessa hesitated and lowered her book to her lap.

"We've never been away from home for longer than two weeks. Even then, we've only been visiting Grandma and Grandad. What if I can't cope being alone?"

Elphaba sighed and moved to lie down on the bed next to her sister, linking pinkies.

"Nessie, you won't be alone. You have me, and Xia, and you're going to make a bunch of friends when we get there."

Nessa's eyes drifted over to her wheelchair, which stood next to the bed.

"Will I?"

Elphaba squeezed her hand. "Yes," she said firmly. "Don't worry about it, ok? Try and get some sleep."

Nessa nodded. "Ok. Fabala?"

"Yeah?"

"I'm really glad you'll be there with me," Nessa told her quietly.

Elphaba smiled and hugged her sister. "Me too. It'll be fine, Nessie. Shiz will be an adventure," she promised.

"An epoch?" Nessa smiled, quoting from the speech Annalie had made at their farewell dinner.

Elphaba chuckled. "Exactly," she said.

And she, for one, couldn't wait to see what awaited her.

AN. How do we feel about the new and improved Thropp family? Are we excited for Shiz?

I appreciate each and every review! Your thoughts are what make me excited to post these.