Disclaimer: I don't own Wicked.
Ellie could tell Elphaba was completely nervous and afraid to face the love of her life. Rejection was something the woman was used to, and Ellie could tell she was preparing herself for it. Eira had been sent up to go get Glinda to bring her over to the sitting room where the two were currently waiting. "Elphaba, she told me a while ago that she forgives you. She'll definitely take you back, you know," Ellie assured her and leaned against the bony shoulder.
"How long does it take for her to go get Glinda?" Elphaba asked, avoiding her feelings yet again. Ellie rolled her eyes.
"If I know them well enough, I would assume Eira went into the parlor and told Glinda an important person was here to see her. So, I bet Glinda had to put herself together, and since she saw Eira still in her ballet attire, Glinda's going to want to put her in proper clothing and redo her hair," Ellie said, probably getting every detail spot on. Those two could take forever to get ready sometimes, especially if said important person was a long lost family member (although Glinda didn't know this of course).
"I've missed so much. I mean, I've missed you growing up, having a baby of your own…" Elphaba trailed.
"It wasn't your fault. You were captured and couldn't do a thing about it. If I was captured, I wouldn't be blaming myself," Ellie replied.
"We both know that isn't true. About you blaming yourself, I mean."
"Well, yes, now I would. I memorized the whole Grimmerie, so if I was captured, that would be pretty sad, don't you think?"
"You memorized the whole Grimmerie?" Elphaba questioned with a shocked expression.
"Aparently when I was a child, voices told Dorothy to teach me this old language," Ellie shrugged. "My whole childhood was quite confusing, and I can't make much of it nowadays."
"You really do have a photographic memory, then," Elphaba replied.
"I do, and to be honest, I don't think that's a good thing, well, not entirely anyway. I bet there's something off about me."
"Or you're just a genius. After all, you are Nessie's girl," Elphaba said.
"True, but from what I know about her, she wasn't the sharpest pencil in the box; she was intelligent, don't get me wrong, but I mean, this photographic memory I've been cursed with is quite different."
"Maybe your father was an intelligent man," Elphaba enquired. Ellie hated talking about herself, but this small talk was keeping Elphaba calm about the whole situation, so she just went along with it.
"I honestly don't even know how I was conscieved. I mean, my mother claims she wasn't pregnant with me when the house fell on her. Somehow, with the help of some kind of magic, I assume a spell or something, she replaced Dorothy's, umm…eggs," Ellie said, not entirely glad about having to talk about any kind of reproduction with her aunt. The first talk they had about "Ellie's changing body" was incredibly awkward, and Elphaba ended up trying to give her pamphlets of sex and the female reproductive system. Eventually, Glinda had to take over in that department. And for some reason, she was nowhere near as awkward about the whole thing. "She replaced Dorothy's eggs with her own. So, when Dorothy was, well, I don't even know, to be honest. She claimed she loved my father and followed him to South Carolina, but then there were other times when she said he raped her. I don't even know. And if my father was anything like the men from South Carolina, well, I sure as hell didn't get my photographic memory from him. It must be some mutant genetic thing."
"That is plausible," Elphaba considered. "Have you ever thought of going back there, to that other world?"
"Honestly, no," Ellie said. "Even during the stupid invasion. It never even crossed my mind even though I had the shoes to take me away from it all. I figured if something bad is going on here, maybe something worse was happening back there."
"Now that you're older, I feel we can have more intellectual conversations," Elphaba replied.
"I do have a doctorate in chemistry and sorcery now," Ellie chided. They laughed, but it was short lived when they heard the familiar heals clicking on the ground and Eira suppressing her own excited laughter. They could hear her down the hall.
"This person just wanted to surprise you. I thought you liked surprises, so stop complaining! You told me complaining isn't ladylike once, remember?" Eira said to Glinda.
"You're right. But my dear, you are walking much too fast for me," Glinda replied. Elphaba stiffened at the sound of the blonde's voice. Ellie took Elphaba's hand and squeezed it in her own.
"You can do this," she whispered to her aunt. Suddenly, the door to the parlor opened. In stepped Eira holding Glinda's hand in her own. For a moment, Glinda didn't recognize the person sitting beside Ellie. However, once she saw a flash of green skin, she nearly fainted. If she hadn't been holding Eira's hand, she probably would have.
"Sweet Oz," Glinda said under her breath. Eira pulled her towards Elphaba, who stood up and smiled at the blonde. "Elphie?" she managed to choke out. Tears poured down her face, but she didn't sob.
"It's me," Elphaba confirmed. "I apologize for everything I've done. I am so sorry, Glinda. I lost my sanity and I didn't know what I was thinking." Eira had run over and sat on her mother's lap. The two watched the scene unfold before their very eyes. Ellie contemplated on whether or not they should even leave the room; it would have been the polite thing to do, but leaving an unstable Glinda with her lover who had broken her heart was the wrong thing to do, so she opted to stay.
"I know it's you, you mean green thing," Glinda said through her tears. "Why are you back?"
"Ellie brought me here, my sweet. Eira actually found me," Elphaba replied.
"You can't just come back and think you're welcome in my home! Not after what you did!" Glinda yelled and clutched her tiny hands into fists.
"Eira, go play in your room. Just do it and don't fight me today," Ellie whispered to her daughter. The seven year old nodded and ran out of the room. She wouldn't go play, though. She knew she'd end up just sitting at the edge of her bed.
"Please Glinda," Elphaba said at loss for words.
"If it's forgiveness you want, you are forgiven. But your actions aren't forgotten," the Throne Minister snapped, but the tears still fell down her face. "It was twice, Elphie. You left me twice." Somehow, she had made her way over to Ellie and sat on the couch beside her. She held the younger girl's arm for either comfort or reassurance that she still had a family intact and Elphaba had left it behind.
"You don't know how sorry I am," Elphaba said and knelt down on the floor facing Glinda.
"You don't know how many nights I've cried myself to sleep, Elphie," she cried.
"Please my sweet, I wasn't in my right mind. I went insane. I love you too much to just give up. It pains me to know that you've cried over me for so long," Elphaba said, choking back her own tears.
"Don't cry, Elphie. You'll burn yourself," Glinda said and gently wiped away the green woman's tears. "I do wish that I didn't love you because it would make this whole situation easier. But damnit, Elphie, I love you too much to let you slip through my fingers when you're right here."
"I promise I won't leave you again," Elphaba replied.
"You said that last time, Elphie. There is a pattern in this relationship; you are in my life for a small amount of time, but then you leave it for long periods of time by choice, and then you come back begging me to take you back," Glinda said. "Now, the fact that you were captured by Ixians doesn't make me angry because it was out of your control. But now you come intruding my home and my family, and I just don't know anymore, Elphie. I just don't know."
"Are you saying I have no family?" Elphaba questioned her.
"I never said that, Elphie."
"But you called them your family, not our family. Hate to break it to you, but they are my blood relatives-my sister's daughter and grandchild," Elphaba pointed out, although she didn't intend this to be a mean comment. She just had a tendency to get insulted easily and had to stick up for herself somehow.
"Just stop it, Elphaba," Ellie said when Glinda couldn't say anything else. "As much as your blood runs through my veins, it doesn't mean I should consider you a member of the family. Even though I'm not biologically related to Glinda, she's more of a mother figure than you are. She has always been there for me when I needed her most. Back when I was going to have my baby, what did you do? You ran away when I needed you most. But Glinda, she dropped everything to help me. And she's always been here. I can rely on her. You, I just don't know anymore. I love you, Elphaba, don't get me wrong, but the things you've done…you've really hurt us. I-we want you to come back, but the thing is, we just don't want to get hurt anymore," the brunette finished.
"I don't want to hurt you anymore. I'll do anything," Elphaba said and let tears burn her skin. She put her head down on Glinda's lap. The blonde stroked her raven locks lovingly.
"Please stay," Glinda whispered through her tears. "That's all I want from you."
"I promise with all my heart that I'll stay and make you happy," Elphaba said and looked up at the woman she loved.
"Oh, Elphie, I love you," Glinda cried.
"And I love you as well, my sweet," Elphaba said and sat on the couch to kiss her. Silently, Ellie slipped away from the two seeing that Glinda was all right with everything. She crept out of the room and shut the door without making a sound. She quickly made her way up to Eira who was sitting on the edge of her bed, simply waiting for someone.
"Well?" Eira said and looked up at her mother.
"She's staying. Elphaba's staying."