Children of the Emerald Hearts

Part 2

DG had somehow made it to the second evening without much boredom. She had not realized how much fun there was to be had catching up with her family. The night before, she had gotten permission to go with Azkadelia to a club for women in the heart of Central City. There were a few drinks, but most of the evening was spent talking, reminiscing and laughing. It made DG realize that the person who had ruled before her really was not her sister. Without the witch, Azkadelia seemed more laid back, more open, more caring. Even more fun as well. A couple of women from the Outer Zone came in too and hit the dancefloor, which was something DG and Azkadelia were avoiding. It just did not feel right to them, but they did watch the two Munchkin women for a while. Eventually their antics just became too much and DG and Azkadelia could no longer hold back a laugh. It had been fun. Much of the day after was spent catching up with her parents. She worked with her dad to fix a few broken clocks in his workshop, his old one which had been in the castle all along. The entire time, DG smiled, listening to her dad recount memories of dating her mother, of when they were married, of when Azkadelia and DG were born… If she became stumped, he stopped to show her what she should do next. DG wondered how much fun the rest of her childhood in the O.Z. would have been if she had not let go of her sister's hand that fateful day.

Now, in the evening, she was running about in the kitchen, showing her mother how to bake. The cooks were largely surprised that one of the princesses knew anything about cooking since the queen was not required to know much herself but they came to, realizing that DG had been raised away from the rules and limits of being a princess. "And what exactly will this be used for again, darling?" her mother asked, turning over a spatula in her hand. DG got up from peeking at a sheet of cookies inside the oven and walked over to her mother with a smile. "We'll be using that just to pick the cookies up off of the pan so they can cool down on a plate." she replied, unable to hold back a small giggle. She was almost as surprised as the cooks had become when she found out her real mother had never baked before. It was not something DG often did in the other world, but she was raised that knowing how to bake was supposed to be some kind of common knowledge for women, especially mothers. "Oh. I see." her mother giggled with her, realizing how silly the question had been. "What are you going to show me next, DG? I can see you've taken out the other pans and things as well." she gestured with another sweet smile. She was so glad to have both of her daughters restored to her. She had missed them so much.

"Well," DG put her hands on her hips and glanced over the other items on the counters, "Next is going to be a pie… After that, I don't know what.". "I know what." a familiar voice rang from the kitchen entrance, "You should show her a thing or two about how to make a nice, warm cup of muglug.". DG's jaw dropped for a second. Is that…? She wondered, turning to face the kitchen entrance. It was. There was Glitch, standing in the door way, head wrapped in bandages, that goofy grin on his face. "Glitch!" DG exclaimed as she ran up and threw her arms around him. "DG…" he wrapped his arms around her and held her just as tightly. DG collected herself, realized she had held him for more than a few seconds and stepped away, nervously twirling a piece of her hair. "H-How have you been? How did the surgery go?" she almost tripped over her words. Her mother stood watching from a distance, trying to hide a little grin. She could hear how frazzled her daughter was. Glitch beamed at DG's obvious concern. "It went great, I've been told. Both parts of the old noggin are back together again." he replied with relief, pointing to his head. "Oh, I'm so glad to see you're okay…" DG answered with a sigh, "I was so worried…". "That she was, Ambrose. The family has tried to help her stay occupied over the course of the past two days so she wouldn't worry too much." the former Queen spoke as she headed for the entrance. Glitch gave her a smile, too. "Hello, Queen Lavender… Wait." he motioned for her to hold on for a moment before leaving. "Hello to you too, Ambrose. It's good to have you back as well. What's the matter?" she asked, seeing the look of confusion on his face as well as DG's. "If you and Azkadelia gave the crown to DG… Shouldn't that mean that I should be bowing to her and calling her Queen DG instead?" he stumbled over the sentence a bit.

DG and her mother replied at nearly the same time.

"I think that depends on my own choice."

"That depends on what she chooses."

"Oh… Well what would you like me to do?" he asked DG a bit nervously as the former Queen left the kitchen, "I'm so confused about this whole thing.". "I can tell." DG grinned. She paused for a moment. "You should probably just keep calling me DG. I'm a bit uncomfortable with my friends calling me Queen." she found herself chewing her bottom lip again. Glitch seemed relieved again. "Okay… Phew. Would've been a bit weird to me too to call you Queen… That'd be like I didn't even really know you! Which would be wrong because…" he stopped. DG had been staring. "What is it, DG? Do I have something on my face?" he asked, reaching up to feel around on his head. "Oh!" she looked away, "No… No, you're fine, Glitch. I just zoned out is all." she tried to hide. The way his eyes look when he goes from confused to happy… I couldn't stop staring and he noticed… she found her heart was racing and assuming the embarrassment would show on her face, she kept her face angled towards the floor to avoid him seeing.

"Are you sure you're okay, DG? You don't look okay…" he said as he looked her over. "No, I'm fine, Glitch. Really I am… If you're hungry, we should try and make some of that soup you like so much." DG perked up, relieved that she might be able to use cooking to get rid of her embarrassment. "Ooh! Muglug! Yes, that would be great. I'll help!" Glitch cheerily began getting the supplies together. He hasn't changed… I was worried getting his brain back together would change him somehow… But I guess that really is fantasy. "Great! So. What do we do? I know soup needs boiled water, but what's the rest?" DG approached with hands on her hips and a happy look on her face. Her cheeks were already beginning to return to their normal color. "The rest? Ha, that's easy. One thing I love about this recipe is it's just so darn simple!" he replied, taking an armful of various vegetables out of the fridge and laying them out on the counter. Pumpkin, squash, cabbage, ginger root… Just a few of the things he had taken out. DG began to wonder what "simple" meant to Glitch now that he had both sides of his brain back.

Everything was chopped up and tossed into a boiling pot while Glitch hummed something familiar. "Hey," DG interjected while stirring her own pot of the stuff, "I think I know that song you're humming.". They had decided to make two pots of the stuff since DG wanted to memorize the recipe hands-on and Glitch was too excited not to do it himself as well. Not to mention the food would spoil faster after being cut so they thought why not use all of it? Anyway… "You do? What song is it? I don't think either half of my brain is having an easy time remembering it right now…" he answered her, giving his pot another stir. "I think…" she started, "That's a Broadway song from where I grew up.". "Broadway? Whats Broadway?" he asked, his interest piqued. "Well… You remember that time we found the Wizard and you said he must be a patron of the theatrical arts?" she replied, giving her pot another glance to see how the stuff was settling. "Yeah… So… Broadway is theater?" he enquired, taking notice of what DG was doing and figuring he should check his own. DG smiled. "Yeah. It's musical theater. Where everyone dances and sings… Usually. There are some plays where they don't dance. That song you were humming is from one of those musicals that doesn't have too much dancing." she tasted the soup with a ladle to see if it needed anything.

Theater had always been something Glitch enjoyed on the side. It was always a lot of fun to watch people put on shows. "… Which musical? You got me wanting to know more about it, DG!" he forgot for a moment about his soup but now had begun to pour some into a bowl and take it to a table to eat. DG began to clean up some of the mess before doing the same. "It's a musical called 'Wicked'… Normally I wouldn't have brought it up here, but my sister's not around so I guess it's okay. Its about this girl around my age who lives in a world like this one. Everyone misjudges her because of the way she looks and her firm beliefs and they think she's a witch. But there's this boy she falls for… He sings that song you were humming. The chorus goes…" she stopped to look up from her soup and she noticed how Glitch had picked up the bowl and was drinking the stuff. It made her giggle a little. "What?" he put it down, "Was I doing something wrong?". "No", she smiled, "I just forgot there was more than one way to eat soup is all.". "Oh. Well there's the way people eat it now and there's the way it was meant to be eaten. There's a good reason this stuff often gets served in cups more than bowls… Anyway, how'd the chorus go?" he leaned in, showing his curiosity. DG opened her mouth to begin singing. "Dancing through life… skimming the surface… lighting where turf is smooth… Life's more painless for the brainless…" she sang softly. "Woah! Wait, wait, wait. 'Dancing through life'? 'Life's more painless for the brainless'? Those are the lyrics?" he interrupted, shocked look on his face. "And you say he's the love interest?" he added, brain obviously racing about this character. Oh no! What if he's put something together here? What if he's jumped to the conclusion that I…? DG put down her spoon. "Well… He turns out to be a great guy in the end. Captain of the guard or something, I think… and he realizes the importance of his love for her…" she tried to explain.

"Oh… Well that's more like it. I mean, I might have both sides of my brain now, but being brainless doesn't make ya so bad… On the other hand though…" he sighed, "I can see how it sounds a lot like me.". "Yeah… Well, there's stories in the other world based on this place. You're in them but I didn't realize it at all until I heard you humming that song… 'Wicked' is one of them, obviously. Although the character portrayals are a bit… off. Usually you're a scarecrow…"she added. "A scarecrow?" he shuddered. Those things really creeped him out. Now he supposed he knew why. They were just all too familiar to him. They WERE him in a way. "And… Who are you usually?" he asked. He was not upset, but a little spooked and yet still curious. "Well… Usually my part of the story seems to be played by a young version of my great great great great grandmother… I guess the same exact story happened to her… Except the witch wasn't in her sister." she replied, taking another spoonful of the soup. Glitch had been right- it was pretty tasty stuff. "Hey, this stuff's not half bad, Glitch." she decided to try to change the subject. She did not want to overload Glitch too much with stories from her world about the O.Z. He almost instantly switched topic along with her. She supposed that the old Ambrose might have pressed her on it more, but mixing Glitch and Ambrose probably took traits from both. The ability to switch so quick was something from Glitch. "Heh. Yeah… Wasn't lying when I told ya how amazing this stuff was!" he replied with a grin, raising the bowl again for a sip.

DG finished her bowl and caught herself again staring at him before he noticed. I guess there's a reason that scarecrow was always my favorite character… The real him is just as sweet and funny… and… she snapped out of it, reminding herself that Dorothy never wound up with him in those stories. He finished around the same time and she took both bowls to be washed in the sink. "Thank you for making the muglug with me, DG." he spoke up as he began clearing some of the mess himself to help her out. This broke her out of her thoughts for a moment. "No problem. Thank you, Glitch, for showing me how to make it… and how good it tasted." she smiled at him before finishing up the bowls and putting them away. The cooks had long been gone she noticed, which meant it must be pretty late. "Hey, Glitch…" she called after shutting the cabinet door. "Yeah? What is it, DG?" Glitch replied after getting the last of the soup into the storage. "Would it be alright if I walked you back to your room before going back to mine? It's late and I'm worried that if I let you go by yourself, you'll fall or something." she asked him, hoping he would say yes. "Sure. I don't see why not. I am kinda clumsy when I'm not dancing." he shrugged and half giggled at himself.

When they were finished, Glitch put an arm around DG's shoulders and walked out with her. She had forgotten when she asked him that he would most likely have to lean on her due to fatigue and her cheeks flushed again imagining going out like this with him someday. Sure, he was slightly leaning on her, but some part of it felt like being held. Her heart was racing as she walked him to his old room. He told her he had been moved to that room after recovery since it would be more comfortable for him. She went in and made sure he got into bed alright. But she watched him for a moment as his eyes closed before leaving. The moonlight coming through the window lit up his now relaxed features in such an entrancing way… She told herself it was just a trick of the light, although she could not deny the flushing in her cheeks and her racing heart. DG closed the door to his room and went up to her own.

As she laid awake in bed, moonlight also covering her own face, she stared up at the ceiling. Her heart and mind were racing with all kinds of questions. Does he like me back the same way? How can I find out for sure without being too obvious? What should I do? I'm going to go nuts when he's well enough to be up and walking around all of the time… thoughts raced back and forth until sleep finally found and overtook her…