Beauty

Rifiuto: Non Mirena

Summary: Fiyero shows his wife what true beauty really is.

A hand tightened around the buttons on his pajama top.

He looked down, seeing the pearl angel snuggled on his chest. Peacefully asleep, a smile draped gently on her face, her long raven hair in tangles down her back, she snuggled closer, her legs tangling with his. Finally she was asleep. After a night of tossing and turning, she was getting a good night's rest. Tenderly, his arm moved tighter around her waist, and he rested his hand on her stomach.

She sighed, and shifted, moving closer to him. He felt her nightgown adjust with her movement and under his hand. Gently, he stroked her belly. In three months, their little girl would enter the world. She sighed, and still asleep, she reached down, covering his hand with hers. Their fingers laced, and he gently squeezed her hand. He looked down at her, before kissing the top of her head.

At the contact, she awoke, her eyes fluttering open slowly. She shifted, and looked up, meeting his eyes, sleep in her dark eyes.

"Morning." Her sleepy whisper filled his heart with joy.

"Good morning my love. Did you sleep well?" She nodded, and sat up, snuggling next to him, her hand going to her stomach. Absent-mindedly, she rubbed her belly, feeling slight movement as her child moved inside her.

"What time is it?" She asked, sleep filling her voice.

"Four." She nodded, resting her head on his shoulder. He kissed her hair, before getting out of bed.

"Yero?" She watched him dress, before he came over, kissing her gently.

"Come one love. Get dressed. I want to show you something." He helped her out of bed, before helping her get dressed. Then, he pulled his coat on before helping her into her cape, and took her hand, leading her out of the bedroom. They went through the living room, and out the front door. Elphaba waited as Fiyero closed the door to their cottage, locking it. He then took her hand, and led her down the small stone path leading from their house.

"I can't go that fast, Yero." She told him, following behind. So he stopped, waited for her to catch up, and then wrapped an arm gently around her waist, taking her other hand.

"Close your eyes, my love." She looked up at him.

"Why?"

"Just close your eyes." She searched his face for a minute, before sighing and doing as told. "No peeking." Satisfied, he led her along the beach. Not long after leaving Oz, he and Elphaba had wound up in another world. It turned out, they'd ended up in America, in a small cape cod town named Bar Harbor. When they'd stepped through the clock, it had transformed Fiyero back to his human form, and removed Elphaba's green skin. Not long after arriving in Bar Harbor, the couple had gotten married, and decided to stay.

Now, a year later, the couple had a nice little life in Bar Harbor; both held steady jobs- they'd opened up their own small town restaurant, which turned out to be a major hit with locals and tourists alike- and were going to add a new member to their family. Elphaba had announced back in April that she was pregnant, and their daughter was due in December. Being on the east coast, it was cold, even in September, and they curled up at night under several blankets, with a fire in the fireplace to keep the house warm. They had a nice little cottage that Fiyero had built himself. Elphaba called the cottage their Seaside Hideaway. It was on the coast line, tucked away near the shoreline, the ocean leading to their door.

It was customary for them to walk along the beach at night after dinner, or before the sunrise, however, their walks were getting less and less frequent as Elphaba's pregnancy progressed. Today, however, was different. The last couple weeks, Elphaba hadn't been feeling beautiful, so today, Fiyero was planning on showing her what true beauty was.

"Yero, will you just tell me where we're going?"She asked, as he slowly led her further down the beach.

"Not yet Fae."

They walked further on, until Fiyero stopped, and turned her to face the sea.

"All right Fae. Open your eyes." She did, taking in the most breathtaking sunrise she'd ever seen.

The light reflected off the ocean, casting a mix of orange and pink onto the blue water. It looked like burning parchment, a fire upon the waves. The sky became drenched in gold and red, purple and blue, as the sun slowly rose into the sky. She looked back at her husband, mouth open in wonder.

"Oh Yero. It...it's gorgeous." She whispered. He didn't say anything, just smiled at her. "But...why did you bring me here?"

It was now that he turned to her.

"You've been feeling...hideous the last couple of weeks, because of your pregnancy. If I remember correctly, 'a bloated cow' were your words." She lowered her head.

"It's not that I don't love being pregnant. I do. I love feeling our baby grow and move inside me. But...sometimes I just...feel like...like I'm never going to be beautiful for you." He lifted her chin, looking into her eyes. Gently, he wiped a tear off her cheek.

"You will always be beautiful for me, Fae. And this baby growing inside you," He lightly laid his fingers on her tummy, before she pressed his hand down, covering his hand with hers. "this baby makes you even more beautiful. You're gorgeous, Fae. You have our child forming in you, you... you glow. Like the sunrise. You're absolutely beautiful. You have your own breathtaking beauty. And you will even after our baby's born."

They turned back to the sunrise, when Fiyero took her hand and led her to one of the big rocks near the shore. When they'd settled down on the rock, Fiyero wrapped his arms around her, kissing her temple. Their hands laced, and rested over her round tummy. Elphaba looked back at her husband, sharing a gentle kiss, as their baby kicked against her parents' hands.

When they broke the kiss, they turned back to the sunrise, watching it bathe the shoreline in color.