I'm Not Sad Anymore
One-Shot 2: Glinda's Little Girl
AN: Please submit request for post-musical one-shots. I will do my best to do all requests. Please review, thanks! I also have a new If/Then story.
Disclaimer: I do not own these characters, except for Melena (but I do not own the name), and I came up with Lord Chuffrey's first name. Many people own these characters, but I am not one of them.
Lady Glinda was nine months pregnant with her first child. She and her husband, Lord Magnus Chuffrey, were ecstatic. They both couldn't wait to be parents. Ever since they met, Magnus had known that Glinda was missing something in her life, that there was a hole in her huge heart, and he desperately hoped that this baby would fill it up. Magnus knew about Elphaba somewhat. He had been told a rather condensed and undetailed version of what had happened before Glinda met him Magnus knew that his wife and the Witch had been friendly in college, but he had no idea how close they actually were.
Glinda stared out the window that looked out towards the Badlands, towards the west. It was something she did when she was nervous, a ritual almost, even though she was well aware that Elphaba could not actually be found in the western sky. Magnus was a sweet man, he was, and Glinda did truly love him, but he didn't understand her the way Elphie did, didn't challenge her. Glinda wasn't in love with Elphaba, but her feelings for her best friend were always quite intense, and her grief was even more intense because of it.
It was late evening, and the sun was setting in the west. It was a beautiful sight to behold, and Glinda enjoyed it immensely every night. She was standing by this window when she agreed to marry Magnus, she was here when she told her husband they were expecting their first child, and she was here when she finally accepted the fact that Elphaba was dead. She was here when she accepted her part in Elphie's death, and Nessa's and Fiyero's too. And when she wasn't by the window, she felt at peace with it. She understood that she couldn't change it, and it was never her intention to actually harm anyone. But when she was standing here, late this night, absentmindedly running her hands around her protruding stomach, she felt shame wash over her. She was a murderer. And now she was about to bring a child into this world. She could hardly bear it.
The citizens of Oz were celebrating the pending arrival and Glinda new she should too. It's not that she wasn't excited to be a mother; in fact, the idea thrilled her, but her sensitive soul was still traumatized by the events of the past several years. In her heart, she knew she was not completely to blame for all that happened, but that didn't change the fact that she was at least partially at fault. She did not stop it. She did not clear her best friend's name, even after her death. But she didn't do it for a reason. She promised. And that promise was all she had left of her precious Elphie.
Glinda was slapped back into reality by a sharp pain in her abdomen, the third of its kind in the past few hours.
"Magnus! Dear, where are you?" Glinda shouted.
Magnus ran to his wife's side. "What is it darling?"
"I think it's time." Glinda winced.
"For the baby?"
"No, for Lurlinemas presents. Yes, the baby!"
Lord Chuffrey immediately sprinted up the spiral staircase and into his and his wife's bedroom and grabbed the hospital bag they had packed several weeks before. He took a moment to center himself and prepare for the night he was about to have and ran back down the stairs.
"I'm gonna put this bag in the carriage and call for the driver, and then come back to get you!" he called out to Glinda without stopping.
Meanwhile, the Good Witch was still standing exactly where she was before she felt her third contraction. The most recent pains had ended and she took a moment to think about Elphaba as she took a last look out the window before motherhood.
"Elphie," she spoke softly. "Please watch over me and the baby."
"Come, darling," she heard from behind her. Glinda followed Magnus outside and he helped her down the stairs.
Their driver, Bartel, was seated in the driver's seat and ready to go. Luckily, the ride to the hospital was short, and Glinda only had one contraction on their journey. But that did not prevent adoring fans from following the carriage and shouting in excitement.
Bartel became frustrated and shouted at the obsessed Ozians. "Please provide room for the carriage to pass by. I promise you do not want Lady Glinda to deliver outside of a hospital!" Bartel blushed and addressed Magnus. "I hope that statement didn't reach beyond the bounds of propriety, Master Chuffrey."
"Do not think of it, Bartel. You were taking care of our Lady Glinda. And it is greatly appreciated."
"Yes, Bartel, it is, but do you think you can speed this up just a tick tock?" Glinda asked, becoming desperate and claustrophobic inside of the small vehicle.
The carriage continued for a number of minutes and then it stopped slowly outside of the hospital. Bartel held open the door of the carriage. "Good luck to you, Lady Glinda. I have no doubt your child will be as magnificent as you are."
"Why, thank you, Bartel." Glinda kissed the driver's cheek and he flushed. Bartel bowed and entered back into the carriage. "Have someone page me when you are ready to return home with our youngest Chuffrey."
Hospital staff began to stagger out into the street to meet Glinda and Magnus. "Lady Glinda, Lord Chuffrey, we received word that you were on your way and we have prepared a private room for the birth of your child. I am Miss Plavia Sujian, top midwife in the EC. "
"Thank you, Miss Sujian," Magnus greeted and was gratefully lead to Glinda's hospital room.
"I must warn you, Miss," Magnus said to the midwife after he pulled her aside, "my wife is terribly sensitive to pain and has an incredibly low tolerance for it."
"Don't let that worry you, sir, we will do our best to make Lady Glinda as comfortable as possible."
Glinda was heard calling out for her husband from the hospital room. "Thank you, Miss Sujian, I must go."
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After many hours of labor, Glinda had finally given birth to a beautiful baby girl. The midwife and nurses had left the new parents to have some time with their new daughter.
"She looks like you, darling," Magnus said to his wife.
"She kind of does, doesn't she?" Glinda smiled. Magnus loved to see Glinda smile. She didn't do it often, and when she did, her smiles hardly ever reached her eyes. This one did.
"I am incredibly proud of you, Glinda," Magnus told his wife with a proud smile of his own.
"Why thank you, dearest. But you did help some."
Magnus's smile became wider. "Well, I suppose I did." They stood in silence for several minutes, just soaking in the moments. "She needs a name."
"Yes, she does. I had a list of names, but none of them seem to fit, except I want her middle name to be Alleyin after your mother."
"I like that idea. Was one of the names on your list Elphaba?"
"Magnus, that is not funny! And no, I couldn't name her Elphaba even if I wanted to, everyone knows that's the Witch's name."
"Well, did she have a middle name? I don't know about a middle name," Magnus offered.
"Melena," Glinda mumbled.
"Can you speak up, darling? I can't hear you."
"Melena," Glinda spoke clearly. "It was her mother's name also. What do you think about Melena, dear?"
"Melena Alleyin Chuffrey. I like it."
"I do too. Will you go tell the midwife we're ready to officially name her?"
Magnus got up and left the room after kissing the heads of his wife and daughter. Glinda looked into her daughter's wide open pools of blue. "Your name is gonna come back to bite me in the bottom, isn't it? You're gonna cause me a lot of trouble, little Melena. Your guardian auntie will make sure of it." She laughed. "Be yourself, my precious girl, within reason. Always."
AN: I feel like I ended it badly. What do you think? I'll do an Elphie and Fiyero story next. What do you want to see? Please review and thanks for reading!
