Giselle unlocked the door to the apartment and walked in. No sooner had she stepped in than she heard the sound of running feet. A half-second later an eight-year-old bundle of energy plowed into her at full speed. "Hi Mom!"

Laughing, Giselle hugged Morgan. "Hello, dear. How was school?"

"It was okay. Can I go to Geeta's?"

Geeta was a girl a year younger than Morgan who lived three floors down. "Why don't you bring her up here?"

"She has a Wii."

"We what?"

"No! A Wii!"

"Oh, like when you run?" Giselle lifted her arms above her head. "Whee!"

Morgan giggled. "No! Now you're being silly."

Giselle smiled. She had in fact seen the magical device before, and found it utterly baffling and wonderful. Feigning ignorance of the name with Morgan was one of their running jokes. "All right. Two hours, then back for dinner, okay?"

"Okay!" Morgan ran through the apartment door and down the hallway.

Giselle leaned out into the hallway and called after her. "Whee!"

"Whee!" Morgan raised her arms over her head and disappeared around the corner, her laughter echoing in the hallway.

Still smiling, Giselle closed the door and hung up her jacket. For the thousandth time she was thankful to have Morgan in her life.

Giselle turned towards the living room and stopped, her smile fading. Elle stood there, watching Giselle with an expression that chilled her to the bone.

Elle shook her head. "You are such a child. I imagine Robert enjoys ordering you around like he does Morgan."

Giselle swallowed. "Would you like a cup of coffee?"

"Non-dairy creamer if you have it." Elle turned her back on Giselle and walked into the living room.

Slowly Giselle put on a pot and went through the motions of fixing some for herself and Elle. She didn't really enjoy the taste, but Robert always started the morning with a cup and it felt good to share it with him. And the aroma was pleasant, and she enjoyed the warm sensation it created going down her throat, so the bitterness was worth it.

She walked into the living room where Elle was sitting on a chair, looking across the living room through the open window. She took the coffee without comment. Giselle sat on the couch opposite Elle, her mind awhirl. Now that she was alone with Elle, she wasn't entirely certain what to say to her.

Still looking out the window, Elle commented, "Morgan tells me that you're from some magical place called Andalasia."

"Oh, it's not nearly as magical as New York."

"And that's where Robert is now."

Giselle saw no point in denial. "Yes. He went to talk to Edward and Nancy."

"Edward?"

"We were going to be married, but he and Nancy got married instead."

"Well, how perfectly sordid. You all seem to have the morals of rodents."

"It depends on the rodent. My friend Chip is one of the noblest creatures I know."

Elle looked over at Giselle, her expression flat. "You are a little crazy, aren't you?"

"No." Giselle took a sip of her coffee. "I've just lived a different life than you have."

"You don't get to judge my life." Elle looked back out the window. "And you won't tell me why he left on this trip?"

Giselle took another slow sip. Then she steeled herself. "We've been trying to have a baby but can't. Robert thought that perhaps Nancy and Edward could help."

For the first time, emotion played across Elle's face: surprise. "Why would he think they could help?"

"Because Nancy went through a... a transformation similar to mine, and Robert thought that perhaps she knows how to overcome the same difficulties I'm facing."

"That makes no sense at all."

Giselle shrugged and didn't reply.

"You know, that's what always irritated me about Robert," Elle went on. "He's always trying to fix things. He decides what's best and imposes it on you without discussion."

Giselle frowned. "That's not true."

"Of course it is. That's what he wanted of me... he wanted me to be a wife and mother, and never mind what I wanted. He had this funny idea of what marriage and family was like. He had seen so many divorces as a lawyer that he thought he had become an expert on marriage. Stuff about stability and moderation." Elle snorted. "What an idiot."

"He's not." Giselle looked down at her coffee, set it on the end table. "He's very smart. And he's learned how to relax and have fun."

"Like hell," Elle retorted. "He's controlling you even now."

"No!" Giselle nearly spilled her coffee. She frowned down at it, surprised at the strength of her reaction. "No, he's not," she repeated a bit more softly.

Elle shook her head. "You don't even see it, do you?"

Her voice was shaking slightly for some unknown reason. "What makes you think you can see it?"

"Why darling, you told me yourself. Robert went to find Nancy, not you. Robert thinks it's a good idea, and I noticed you never said you thought so. Robert is dictating the course of your life, and all you can do is smile and let him do it."

"You're wrong." Giselle tried to find the words, but the only things that flashed through her head were images. Edward, stating that they would be married in the morning, Giselle's consent a formality. Robert trying to cut off her song in Central Park, to push her along the path rather than let her express herself to him. Narissa, dragging her to the well, then later convincing her to bite the apple. So many people pushing her in so many directions, and Giselle somehow unable to stop them. "You're wrong, you... you don't know me."

"I know everything about you," Elle said contemptuously. "Look at you... singing your way through housework, demurring to Robert on every decision, taking care of Morgan while he goes on adventures. What a weak, weak woman you are."

"That's not true," Giselle spluttered. Edward leading her up the stairs from the ballroom, about to take her away from the love and happiness she'd uncovered in New York, and all she could do was faintly protest that she was fine. "I run Andalasia Fashions, we, we have a show coming up, and, and we do a lot of business, and-"

"And I bet Robert makes all the hard decisions while you just make dresses." Elle smiled slightly. "Isn't that right, darling?"

"No." Giselle found her voice was barely more than a whisper. "No, it's not. He doesn't know a thing about fashion." Robert angry and dismayed that she had made a dress out of the drapes. Giselle shuddered at the memory, tried to move beyond it. "I had to learn the New York fashion world all on my own. And I did. And I was good at it."

"Oh, I bet you were. All it takes is a girl's fancy dress and that smile and those big eyes and they eat out of your hand. Of course, your actual competence isn't a factor at all."

Giselle smoldered, felt a tightness in her jaw she'd never experienced before, realized that it was because she was gritting her teeth. Thinking a painted castle on a billboard was Edward's castle. That had been dumb, of course it hadn't been his castle, how could she think otherwise? So much of this world she didn't know, so much she constantly got wrong.

Elle sniffed and looked away. "Well, that's it then. Robert's found some solace in having a docile, compliant little thing like you. But it's time he moved on. It's a good thing I arrived before you did get pregnant, so there won't be any loose ends. I imagine you won't mind if he tells you it's in your best interest to make way for me."

Giselle felt the world fade away. There was nothing else in the universe except for the space that separated her from Elle. Her hand on Robert's chest, leaning in towards him, Robert turning away and walking out of the room, leaving her alone, causing a deep pain she'd never known before. "How dare you."

"Oh, don't worry, you can keep the studio. And I'm sure you'll find some other man to dominate you soon, you do have such a pretty face." Elle took a sip of her coffee. "Or you can go back to your fairy land and sing with your rat friends and leave real-world problems to competent and sane people."

"HOW DARE YOU!" Giselle shot to her feet and slapped the cup out of a startled Elle's hands. "How dare you say I'm incapable of dealing with problems! How dare you insinuate that I let other people shape the form of my life! How dare you imply that I sing other people's songs and don't sing any of my own! How dare you say that I'm nothing but an empty shell, incapable of real thought or emotion, mimicking other people's feelings but incapable of true love! How dare you say I will never be capable of feeling or thinking deeply enough to be a mother to my own children! How dare you!"

Giselle collapsed back onto the couch and dissolved into tears. Water flooded down her face and she covered her eyes and cheeks with her hands, unable to stop the tears from flowing. She couldn't think, couldn't feel anything but sadness. Desperately she reached for her song, anything to keep her from descending into despair, but it wouldn't come. Morgan wasn't here, Robert wasn't here, and the music was draining out of her and she couldn't stop it and the tears flowed and flowed and Giselle couldn't stop the water from draining from her eyes or the song from draining from her soul and with every passing second she felt herself becoming more and more empty, more and more unreal.

Still sobbing into her hands, Giselle barely heard Elle make an annoyed sound, stand up, and leave the room. It only increased the feeling of emptiness and Giselle continued to wail, her whole chest aching, her eyes burning. She'd never feel better, couldn't even imagine happiness or laughing. Cold misery filled her head and heart.

It barely registered on her senses that someone was walking into the room and sitting on the couch next to her. Someone forcibly grasped one of her hands and thrust something into it. Giselle looked at it, saw that it was a tissue. She blew her nose, surprised at how quickly the tissue was used up. It was taken away from her and a clean one put in its place. This process was repeated no less than ten times as Giselle attempted to staunch the flow of fluid out of her eyes and nose.

And, strangely, the sadness started to lessen. Just the fact that someone was here, with her, helping her, was enough to hold the despair at bay. And more than that, simple curiosity was stronger that her budding despair. She looked up into the eyes of the person sitting next to her.

Elle looked back at her, irritation etching her features. "You owe me a new skirt."

Giselle could only blink in puzzlement, at the same time blowing her nose again. Elle took the tissue, tossed it into a wastebasket she had evidently taken from the kitchen, and handed her another clean one from a box on her lap. Giselle's eyes were drawn to the dark brown stain that covered a great deal of the fabric of Elle's skirt, and she hiccupped in embarrassment. "Oh, oh I'm sorry."

"It was a vicious and childish thing to do. But perhaps it wasn't unwarranted." Elle looked took another tissue from the box and began wiping Giselle's cheeks. "Stop me if I'm wrong, darling, but do you think it's possible that the reason you're not pregnant yet is because you don't want to be?"

Giselle squeezed her eyes as fresh tears began to spill. Frantically she wiped them away with her tissue.

Elle took away her tissue and Giselle's, dropped them in the wastebasket, and offered Giselle another one.

Giselle hiccupped again. "It's, it's so important to him, and I want a child so badly but... I'm afraid, I'm so afraid. This isn't my world, there's so much I don't understand, and I'm not even sure I'm... I'm real enough to understand."

"Well, that's just about the stupidest thing I've ever heard," Elle replied with a fair amount of annoyance. "What makes you think you're not real?"

Giselle looked up at Elle. "I don't... I don't understand people. I thought, I thought Edward was my one true love, and I thought, I thought my song about true love's kiss was my song, but it wasn't, it was his song all along, I didn't have a song. Robert... and Morgan... I can't, I can't make my song big enough for them. They're too complicated, and... and if I can never have a song for them, how can I have a song for my own child?"

"Oh, you are hopeless." Elle looked away, staring out at nothing. "You understand people all too well, even the complicated ones. For instance, you saw when a woman too concerned with appearances to admit she was heartbroken was too proud to ask for help when she needed it. She might have done something terribly stupid if you hadn't understood what she was truly feeling."

Giselle dabbed at her eyes, carefully watching Elle. She was still showing very little emotion, and Giselle wasn't certain how to take her self-denouement. Giselle tentatively reached out, put one of her hands on top of Elle's.

Elle looked down at the hand, then back up to Giselle. "It's difficult to hate you, darling. And believe me, I tried my best. But my daughter adores you, and my husband loves you, and I know from experience that he's very particular about who he lets into their lives."

"I... I never doubted their love. But..." Giselle dabbed her nose again. "After two years living in this wonderful place I still feel inadequate."

"New York is like that. It would help if you were a little less insane. Just get your head out of Neverland and you might actually survive."

"Andalasia," Giselle corrected automatically while her mind whirled around Elle's words. "I don't... don't know what you mean by insane. There are, are things I have trouble comprehending, but Robert helps me with those.

"Oh, well, there's your problem." Elle took one of hands out from underneath Giselle's and gently grasped Giselle's chin. "Welcome to the club."

Having seen Elle do this twice to Morgan, Giselle decided she didn't much like it. "What club?"

"The Wives of Robert Philip." Elle's voice was harsher and sharper now. "He likes to manage us. He considers it his job as a husband to assume control and issue directives to us. You have to stop him from doing that, darling."

"It's..." Giselle frowned, turned her head enough to break Elle's grasp on her chin. "I... the magic of this world, it's so different, I... sometimes, I feel it's better to let Robert decide some things."

"Magic? You're an odd little thing." Elle sighed heavily and tapped the back of Giselle's hand with her finger. "All right, let's strike a bargain. I'll tell you what you need to know about being a woman in Robert's New York. I'll help you learn enough to make decisions on your own, without his help."

"But... but I want Robert's help."

"But you can't always depend on it, can you darling? Sometimes he's not here, and sometimes he's wrong. I'll teach you enough that, if necessary, you can decide things on your own."

Giselle studied Elle, saw a confident, brash woman who even in the midst of what had to be one of the worst crises in her life was taking the time to reach out to help Giselle. And at last she understood why Robert would have married Elle, and where Morgan got some of her capacity for love. "And... and what about you and Robert?"

"Oh, don't pay any attention to what I was saying before. You just reminded me why I divorced him in the first place. But he is going to help me with my current husband." Elle's eyes flashed. "Robert is going to work very hard for me and get half of everything that pig owns. At least half. And Robert won't charge me a cent. He owes it to me."

Giselle tried a wan smile. "That seems like a fair bargain."

"Oh, that's not the bargain." Elle lifted her chin. "I said that's what he owes me. You, on the other hand, will still need to pay for my lessons."

"Oh." Giselle couldn't help a small sense of disquiet. "Then how can I repay you?"

Elle looked away, spoke in a quieter tone of voice. "I want... I mean, if you would please, teach me how to make my daughter laugh."

A sudden warmth filled Giselle's chest. "Oh, that's easy. I'll be glad to show you."

"Then it's settled." Elle rose to her feet. "Now, get me out of this skirt. Do you have anything that doesn't look like a Donna Reed reject?"

Giselle eyed her critically. Elle was a few inches shorter and her body contoured differently. "I... I don't think I have anything that's quite right."

"Darling, it doesn't have to be right. At this point it just has to be functional."

"Well, there's no reason we can't get you both." Giselle got to her feet, and already felt her song surging forth again, not vocalized but still a part of her mind and body, filling her with inspiration. She walked over to one of the curtains and began taking it down. "I can make something for you very quickly. It's what I'm best at."

Robert stepped into the elevator, more impatient than usual. The trip back through the well had been much like the first trip, except this time he'd found himself pressed up against a manhole cover. He'd forced his way into Times Square with only a mild amount of difficulty and honking. After Andalasia's bright colors and uniformity, Robert had found himself taking longer than expected to adjust back to New York's grittiness. At least he didn't have an outline anymore.

The doors slid open and Robert sprang out and into the hallway. He wasn't certain why he felt so anxious, but he needed to see Giselle as soon as possible.

It wasn't until he got to the apartment door that he realized that his keys had been in the pocket of his jacket, still back in Andalasia. Shaking his head in annoyance, he knocked on the door.

A minute later it was opened. "Hah. There you are. It's about time you got here, you know I don't like to be kept waiting."

Robert's jaw fell open, his brain not wanting to believe what his eyes were telling him. "Elle?"

"Daddy!" Morgan shot past Elle and hugged Robert fiercely. "You're back!"

"Hi Morgan." Robert looked down, smiled, and hugged her back. Then almost despite himself, his eyes were drawn back up. "What are you doing here?"

"We were playing!" Morgan bounced up and down, releasing her hug from Robert and grabbing Elle's hand. "Mother has two hotels already."

Robert just stared blankly. This couldn't be happening. He must have gone back to a different New York, one where he'd never divorced Elle. Despair began filling him as he looked back at Elle's impassive expression.

"Robert, hello!"

Robert's gaze whipped away from Elle's to the approaching figure of a red-haired woman, and he sagged slightly in relief. "Giselle!" He stepped into the apartment and hugged her. "Oh, I've missed you."

"Me too. Did you have a good trip?" Giselle broke the hug, grinning at him. "Did you see Nancy and Edward?"

"Let's... let's talk later." He didn't want to bring up Anadalsia in front of Elle. She had closed the door and was leaning against it, watching him and Giselle more closely than he felt comfortable with.

At his look Elle raised an eyebrow. "Robert, you need to get to work. My pig of a husband served me with divorce papers, and I need you to answer them immediately. He's cut off my access to the bank accounts, so your first step will be to restore that."

"Oh." Elle getting a second divorce didn't surprise him, but her seeking him out for help did. "Do you have any money on you?"

"Not a cent." Elle released her grip on Morgan's hand and took a step forward. "Hence the urgency. Can you start writing something up here or do you need to go into the office?"

"Wait, slow down." Too much was going on at once, and he needed to prioritize. "Listen, we can't do anything until the morning anyway. Why don't I put you up at a hotel, and we can make an appointment for tomorrow morning to look at the papers and formulate a plan."

Giselle stirred from where she'd been standing quietly. "Elle will be staying here with us."

Robert blinked at her. "She will?"

"Yes. For as long as it takes."

That could be weeks, even months. Robert slowed his breathing, forcing himself into calm, steady thinking. Giselle didn't know Elle, didn't understand the kind of poisonous influence she could exert. He turned back towards Elle. "Listen, maybe you can stay tonight, but we don't have a bedroom for you. You'll be a lot more comfortable in a hotel, and-"

"Robert." Giselle's voice was quiet, gentle, and surprisingly firm. "Elle will be staying here with us. For as long as it takes."

"Darling, I'll be fine on the couch." Elle's voice contained a hint of satisfaction, the source of which eluded him. "Just consider it motivation. The sooner you get my pig of a husband to agree to our demands, the sooner you'll be rid of me."

"Not too soon!" Morgan skipped into their midst, grabbing Giselle's and Elle's hands. "I like having two Moms."

Giselle laughed and, to Robert's complete shock, Elle smiled warmly as well.

Robert tried to process it all. In the short time he'd been away, something fundamental had changed in his life. He wasn't certain what it was, or if it was a good change or not. All he knew was that things were going to be a lot more complicated.

"So, Robert," Elle said casually. "How did your meeting go with your old girlfriend?"

"Uh... fine." Robert eyed her, unsure of her motivations. "She helped me find a possible cause to a problem I was facing."

"Oh, that." Elle sniffed. "Giselle and I figured that one out on our own."

"Er, you did?"

"Yes," Giselle said with a smile. "I don't think there will be any more problems. We should try again." She cupped his cheek with one hand. "Soon."

Robert gulped, then ruefully shook his head. "So my trip to... to see Nancy accomplished absolutely nothing?"

"Oh, I wouldn't say that," Elle replied. "I know from experience that sometimes a woman needs to be separated from you in order to gain some proper perspective."

"Now Elle, that's not nice." Giselle took her palm from Robert's cheek and clasped his hand. "Robert, you wanted to help me. That's why I fell in love with you in the first place. Thank you."

"You're welcome." Robert chuckled. "When does it get to be my turn to ride to the rescue?"

"You can be my white knight." Elle started leading Morgan back into the living room. "Remember, not one penny less than half."

Robert frowned. "Did your skirt used to be our curtains?"

"Don't concern yourself with such petty details," Elle replied chidingly. "At least half."

Morgan giggled as they disappeared into the living room. Robert shook his head again in amazement. Elle's reaction to Morgan's birth had been so negative. She'd put up no fight when Robert had gone after full custody in the divorce. To see her like this... he didn't know what to make of it.

He looked at Giselle and grinned. "You're amazing. I didn't think anyone could connect with Elle as easily as you have."

"No, you're wrong. She was the one who connected with me. We're learning a lot from each other."

"Not too much, I hope," he couldn't help but saying.

"Oh Robert, trust my judgment." Giselle leaned in, her face an inch from his. "I know what I'm doing."

"I... I know you do," he replied somewhat huskily.

They kissed, a slow and soft kiss, a promise of things to come.

"If you two are quite through we have a game to finish here," Elle's voice called from the living room. "You owe me nine hundred dollars for Virginia Avenue, Giselle."

They broke the kiss, and Giselle looked up at him, her eyes dancing with a vision of the future, one that began with Elle somehow coming back into Morgan's life and continued with babies for Morgan to play with. The clarity of the vision took his breath away.

Giselle's smile was strangely knowing, as if she could see what he was seeing and was acknowledging it as correct. Robert found himself almost afraid to ask how true that was. Something had changed in her; she had broken through some barrier Robert hadn't even been aware of.

Before he'd gone to Andalasia, Giselle had been capable of tremendous things. Robert wondered what she'd be able to accomplish now. It would be a joy to find out.

Grinning, Robert allowed Giselle to pull him into the living room and the beginning of yet another story.

THE END

(Author's Note: Sorry this took so long. I went through a dozen drafts and I was never entirely satisfied with the outcome. If you have any comments or criticism, please do let me know, I'm always open to suggestions.)