AN: No, no, don't worry. No cruel plot twists, just Fiyeraba ^_^.

Hm... so do you guys think I should change the title? Several of you said you liked it, so I'm re-considering it now...

WHAAAAAH *chases after BlueD with scepter and bolts of lightning* FEEL THE REVENGE OF THE QUEEN FOR NOT REVIEWING! No, of course I'm not gonna kill you :P. Welcome back... *grins wickedly*

Epilogue II: Not Broken, Just Bent

It wasn't easy.

Especially in the beginning, it wasn't. While Fiyero was convinced that he had gotten the meaning of Melena's words right, Elphaba kept on fearing that something would happen. She didn't let him out of her sight for a clock-tick in the first week; it was only after that that she slowly started to relax a little, but when she woke up one morning a few days later to find him gone, she nearly had a panic attack again.

He had only woken up early and stepped behind some bushes to pick some of the berries he'd seen there before, but she had been frantic upon not finding him next to her; and it had reminded him once again of the fact that she had been the one going through all this alone. They'd both been through a lot, but he knew it had been so much worse for her, and he needed to give her time.

She only left him alone once – two weeks after she'd gotten him back, they decided that it was too dangerous for them to stay in Oz and that they should move somewhere else. She was determined to make things right with Glinda first, and he promised to wait in the small traveller's hut they'd taken refuge in until she would come back.

She flew to the Emerald City on her broom and snuck into the blonde's bedroom. Apologies were exchanged, broken bonds mended, a friendship restored. They both cried as Elphaba told her that she and Fiyero would be leaving, but they also both knew that it was for the best.

'Will we see each other again?' Glinda asked in a trembling voice, and her friend shook her head. 'I don't know, Glin,' she said. 'But I'll never forget you.'

Glinda sniffled. 'I'll never forget you, either.' She hugged Elphaba one last time. 'Stay safe. Both of you.'

Elphaba let out a soft, mirthless chuckle at that – if only her friend knew – but she didn't elaborate. 'We'll try,' was her only reply before she flew off, back to Fiyero.

On her way there, she made herself all kinds of illusions of what she would find when she would get back – all scenarios involving Fiyero dying in some way. Him having gotten sick while she was gone. Having gotten an accident. Having been found by the Gale Force and killed.

When she arrived at the traveller's hut, however, he was still there; he came out as soon as he saw her through the window and she flung herself at him, clinging to him as if it was the last time she would ever see him, burrowing in his chest.

He had noticed that about her, too: she had changed, and in more than one way. She had pulled up those walls again, the ones he had seen in her back at Shiz, and she was more wary and vigilant than ever; trying to protect her heart with all her might, because she knew that this time, she couldn't take anything else anymore. She was more careful and less impulsive, she thought things through before she acted instead of the other way around, and she was quieter and even more cynical than before.

She had also changed with respect to their relationship. Where she had been in need of her own space before, not wanting him to coddle her and needing her independence, she never left his side now. He could sense about her that she tried to make the most of every moment she had with him, because she felt like he could disappear any clock-tick. He didn't, of course, but he understood her fears. Compared to her old self, she was almost clingy – not that he minded. He understood it all, and he wanted to be patient with her and slowly convince her of the fact that this time, he really wasn't going anywhere.

They left Oz and went to Quox, where they built a small home for themselves and settled down. It was then that Elphaba found out that she was three months pregnant.

'Yero?'

He looked up. He was sitting on the porch, where they had placed a rocking bench, and he smiled at her when he saw her, but his smile quickly faded into a frown when he saw the nervous expression on her face. 'Fae? Are you okay?'

She took a deep breath and nodded, then shook her head. 'No… Fiyero…' She sighed and sat down next to him. 'I have to tell you something.'

All kinds of horror scenarios flashed through his mind, so when she said softly, barely audible even, 'I think I'm pregnant', he could only stare at her as his brain processed the news.

She wasn't looking at him and she was fidgeting, as if she was afraid of his reaction, and he shook his head a little. 'Fae…'

She bit her lip. 'It's not 'thinking', really,' she confessed softly. 'Actually, I'm sure. I've been suspecting it for some time now, but with everything going on, I thought my symptoms were just… I don't know. Stress. But I'm sure now… Look, Yero, I don't… I mean, if you can't… I don't know if I can…'

He cut her off by softly pressing his lips to hers, his arms going around her, and he could feel her relax a little. 'I love you,' he told her when he pulled away. 'Fae, I love you so much… and I can't imagine anything more amazing than having a baby and raising a family with you.' A goofy grin spread across his face and he kissed her again. 'I'm going to be a father, Fae!'

She had to laugh at his enthusiasm, but she wasn't all that sure herself. 'And you'll be a great father,' she said softly. 'I just don't think I'll be a very good mother.'

He shook his head. 'Don't say that,' he said, stroking her cheek and cupping her face to kiss her again. 'You're going to be an amazing Mommy, a chroí, I know it. And I'll be by your side. I don't know if I can be of much help, but I can most certainly try.'

She bit her lip again. 'But…'

He put one hand over her abdomen, lacing the fingers of his other hand with hers. 'Don't do this, Fae,' he said softly. 'I'm still here, aren't I? It's been over two months now. I'm here, and I'm going to be with you for another long, long time. I'm going to be by your side to the point where you'll get so annoyed with me that you're just begging me to go away, and even after that I'm going to be there.'

She smiled a little. 'I'd never do that.'

He brought their joined hands up to his lips and kissed her knuckles. 'I know. But it made you smile.'

Her smile became more genuine. She leaned against his chest and sighed, and he could almost see the tension leaving her body. 'I love you so much, Fiyero.'

He kissed the top of her head. 'I love you, too.' His goofy grin returned. 'We're going to have a baby, Fae!'

'Three months?'

Both Elphaba and Fiyero stared at the doctor, who nodded confidently. 'Yes, Miss Elphaba. You're just over three months pregnant now – thirteen weeks, to be exact.'

Elphaba and Fiyero exchanged a look. 'But…' Fiyero began, but Elphaba cut him off by shaking her head. The doctor smiled at them. 'Congratulotions, this looks to be a very healthy baby. I'm going to have to see you a few more times over the next six months, just to check up on you; and if you feel anything that doesn't seem right to you, or that you're worried about, just drop by and I'll have a look.'

They thanked the doctor and went home, both of them speechless all the way there. When they got there, Elphaba let herself fall back onto the bed, staring up at the ceiling in amazement. 'Thirteen weeks…'

Fiyero sat down on the edge of the bed, confused. 'But, Fae… That's not possible,' he pointed out. 'It's been two and a half months since that night I ran away with you. I hadn't even seen you before that. There must be a mistake somewhere.' His eyes darkened a little, not with anger, but with slight hurt, as an idea came to him. 'Or have you-'

'No!' she cried, horrified, knowing exactly what he was thinking. 'Of course not! I could never do that – I loved you! And you were my first, you know that!'

He flushed a little. 'Sorry,' he said apologetically. 'I know you would never lie about that, it's just… I don't understand.' He wrinkled his nose. 'Do you think the doctor made a miscalculation somewhere?'

She shook her head. 'I just think this baby's time schedule got messed up a bit.'

At his questioning look, she sat up again so that she could look at him properly. 'Think about it. I'm not sure how it all works, exactly, but when I turned back time…' She swallowed. 'I don't think I got turned back. Does that make sense?'

He stared at her blankly and she chuckled. 'Okay, I guess not.' She tried again. 'What I'm trying to say, is… Remember the scar I had on my leg after the first time? From the… the shooting?' When he nodded, she said, 'Doesn't that mean that even though time was turned back, I – my body – wasn't turned back with it? If I was turned back as well, I would have been exactly the same as the night we went back to,' she tried to explain. 'I wouldn't have had that scar and I wouldn't have had any memories of what had happened. So technically…'

'Technically, that baby has had nearly a month to grow during the period you kept on travelling back in time,' he said slowly. 'Is that what you're trying to say?'

She nodded. 'Exactly.'

'So,' he tried to comprehend her train of thought, 'while we – everyone, and everything – all got… let's say rewound, every time you cast the spell… you stayed the same you. Doesn't that mean that you're a month older now than you're supposed to be?'

She shrugged. 'I guess.' She placed one hand over her abdomen. 'And so is this baby.'

He shook his head. 'This is messed up.'

'You could say that,' she muttered, but he smiled and kissed her cheek. 'It just means we've got a miracle baby here, growing inside its miracle mother.'

She blushed and swatted at him. 'Shut up.'

He laughed. 'I love you.'

She let herself fall back on the bed again, curled up on her side with her back towards him, two hands on her as for now invisible baby bump. 'I can't believe we're actually having a baby.'

He lay down next to her, rolling over on his side, spooning against her. 'I know.' He kissed her shoulder blade. 'But it's going to be amazing.'

She snuggled up against him and he wrapped his arms around her, pulling her closer and resting his hands over her stomach as well, lacing his fingers with hers. He nuzzled her neck and she murmured, 'I love you.'

He planted a kiss just below her ear. 'I love you, too.'

And that's how they fell asleep.

Six years later…

'Ouch!'

'Fiyero?!' She dropped the basket of berries she was carrying and ran up towards the house, instantly panicking. She knew she shouldn't, but she couldn't help it. 'Fiyero, are you alright? Fiyero!'

He came out of the house rubbing his head with one hand, but when he saw the expression on her face, he drew her into his arms and kissed the top of her head reassuringly. 'I'm fine, Fae, don't worry. I just bumped my head, that's all.'

She exhaled slowly and let out a nervous laugh. 'Sorry.'

He shook his head, smiling. 'It's okay. Let's blame the hormones.'

She glared at him. 'I'm not that hormonal!' she protested, and he thought it wise not to argue otherwise. His smile only widened. 'Whatever you say, a chroí.'

She pushed him away. 'I'm not!' she declared hotly. 'I'm not crying all the time, I don't throw temper tantrums, I don't have weird cravings-'

He sniggered. 'Oh, so you think everyone likes to eat mashed potatoes mixed with pickles and strawberries?'

Her cheeks flushed. 'Shut up.'

He laughed and pulled her closer again, kissing her. 'I love you.' He looked at her. 'But it's true, you know,' he said, serious now. 'Being pregnant makes you worry more. It did when you were carrying Liir and when you were pregnant with Roselin, and it's happening again now.'

She huffed and crossed her arms. 'Fine. Whatever you want. Hormones make me worry more. Happy now?' She glared at him, but he only smiled. 'It's okay, Fae.'

She heaved a shaky sigh. 'I hate it,' she said miserably. 'I'm just glad the kids weren't there to see it. Liir even asked the other day why I always worried so much about you.'

Fiyero grimaced. 'What did you say?'

Liir, being five years old now, naturally didn't know anything about his parents' past. He had never heard of the Wicked Witch of the West, he didn't know his father was a prince and he most certainly didn't know about everything his parents had been through in order to be together. Neither did Roselin – their youngest, whom they had named after both Nessarose and Glinda and who had been born three years after Liir. They hadn't told them any of those things and they were going to keep it that way for now. Their children didn't need to know about the horrors of the world yet.

Elphaba blushed a little. 'I blamed my hormones,' she admitted, at which Fiyero grinned. 'Did he understand that?'

'I explained to him that Mommies sometimes act weird when they're carrying babies,' Elphaba said, furrowing her brow. 'That seemed to explain a lot for him.' Fiyero chuckled.

She looked at her son, playing with his little sister a small distance away, and Fiyero wrapped his arms around her from behind, following her gaze. 'I think we did a pretty great job with them.'

'You say that as if our job is almost done,' she muttered. 'Wait until he goes into puberty.' She made a face. 'Or Roselin. If they're anything like me, they're going to give us a hard time.'

'If they're anything like you? Are you kidding me? My dancing-through-life stage started in that period,' Fiyero said with a grin, and Elphaba moaned mockingly. 'So either way, we're doomed.'

He laughed again, tightening his grip on her, one hand covering her baby bump. 'We're gonna be fine.'

'Yes,' she said softly, leaning back against him as they watched their children playing in the grass. He'd told her that before, that things would be alright; many, many times before, but she was only now slowly starting to accept it. It had been six years and he was still here, and slowly but surely, she was starting to believe that he was here to stay.

And she was happy, she reflected, much to her own surprise. They were together, they had a family. They had two beautiful children and a third one on the way. Sure, things weren't perfect. There were still times when she had nightmares about what happened, or when they missed their old lives; they both missed Glinda, and Fiyero also missed his parents, even though he never had such a great bond with them.

But they were together. They were alive. What more could they ask for?

As she stood there with Fiyero's arms around her, watching their children together, she felt a strange calm coming over her. She wrapped her arms around Fiyero's waist and rested her cheek against his chest, her eyes never leaving Liir and Roselin, and she sighed happily. She felt him kissing her hair and she smiled.

'Yes, we are.'

So... the end. I hope you all liked it. Thank you so much for staying with me, for reading, reviewing, following, adding the story (or me!) to your favourites... it all means so much to me, and it's very much appreciated.

So on with Wonderwomen and Shadows, and I'm sort of embarrassed to say that I've already kind of started, in my mind anyway, on yet another fic as well... *looks down at feet in shame* I'M SORRY, I HAVE A SHORT ATTENTION SPAN. And I finish every fic I start, don't I?

Besides... the new fic might just be the sequel to Yero my hero... *innocent Galinda-look* Are you up for that?