Chapter Eleven:

The note read:

Dearest Elphaba,

I know you said to contact you if anything happened, and luckily what I have to tell you, my dear friend, is the most wonderful of news.

Sir Chuffrey has proposed! It was such an elegant affair but I dare not reveal too much of the story for that would ruin the purpose of this note.

Sir Chuffrey and I would like to cordially invite you and Fiyero to tea tomorrow afternoon, 2 o' clock sharp at Mother and Father's place.

I do hope that you can come. You can't imagine how utterly happy I am and how excited I am to share this news with you.

Till tomorrow darling!

Yours,

Glinda

Relief flooded her body. All of her worries left her mind like a warm summer breeze. She allowed herself to finally breathe after she finished reading the note.

"What was that about?" Fiyero asked as he leaned against the doorway. He was lurking just to make sure it wasn't bad news.

"Glinda," Elphaba answered simply.

"What about Glinda?" pressed her husband, the slight edge of anxiety in his voice.

Elphaba sighed, too tired to give all of the details of the note. But she relented anyways, he needed to know. They were in this together.

"She's engaged to Sir Chuffrey, a man she's only known for a few weeks and she's invited us to tea tomorrow."

Fiyero pursed his lips.

"You'll have to make apologizes for me, you know how much I love having tea with Glinda but I have to go to work tomorrow."

Elphaba nodded, "No, no that's fine. I'll take care of it." She yawned and stretched her arms.

Fiyero looked at her with a concerned eye. She seemed overtired, overworked, and frankly lifeless. Her eyes seemed to be hiding dark secrets within those irises.

"You alright, Fae?" he asked suddenly, wrapping his arms around her shoulders and burying a kiss into her neck, "You seem distracted and I'm starting to get worried about you. What's on your mind?"

She wanted to tell him about Glinda, about how worried she was and how she thought that she was sick too but she decided against it. She couldn't be sure.

Her mind was made up, she would go visit Glinda tomorrow and if she suspected anything wrong, then she would tell him.

"Just tired, that's all," she lied. She folded the note up and left it by the table.

"Let's just go to bed," she suggested and without any further remarks, they went back into their bedroom and shut off the lights.

The ring sparkled in the sunlight as Glinda thrust her hand forward in front of Elphaba's face to show her.

"Isn't it just gorgeous, Elphie?" gushed the blonde excitedly. Elphaba glanced at the diamond, impressed by its size and glimmer.

"It's very beautiful, Glin," she praised as she sat opposite her friend and Sir Chuffrey, all three of them sipping on tea in the drawing room. The blonde looked positively radiant in a blue pinstriped dress with a dark blue hat to match and compliment her golden hair. Elphaba was wearing something a bit more subdued, one of her dark purple ensembles. But as always, Glinda looked the most beautiful out of the two of them.

She was glowing in her new found happiness, but Elphaba could sense that something was off about the blonde, but as to what she could not tell.

"I'm so happy you could come today, so that I could tell you all about it! Oh, Elphie it was just so romantic! We were outside the Bellington Theatre on Grand Avenue and he just popped the question right after the show! Everyone around us cheered, and he gave me a lovely bouquet of roses too! I do wish you could have been there!" the blonde slightly pouted.

"I feel like I was there with your description!" said Elphaba with a warm smile.

Glinda beamed, her eyes sparkling and giddily clutched Sir Chuffrey's hand in her own. Elphaba observed the exchange quietly. To her eyes, it looked a little forced, a little overworked but then again this was Glinda she was watching, and Glinda loved the dramatics even when retelling a story.

"We already have the date picked out, May 6th. A spring wedding, it will be so wonderful. And of course, you'll be my maid of honor, won't you Elphie?" proposed Glinda with an excited grin.

Hope gleamed in her eyes.

Elphaba paused. She wasn't planning on saying no, no one ever could say no to Glinda. But she had to take a moment.

"Of course I will," she said. But inwardly Elphaba was thinking about if Oz was even going to be inhabited by next year. What future did her country have? She guessed her gaze went blank for before she knew it Glinda was trying to get her attention.

"Elphie," Glinda's gloved hand reached out and touched Elphaba's bare one, "Are you quite alright darling? You look distressed."

Elphaba put on a quick smile, "Never better. I'm so happy for you, Glinda, really I am."

She then looked at Sir Chuffrey, he was as old as she had expected him to be that came as no surprise. Graying hair, slight wrinkles, dressed in a fancy black suit, but his face was kind, his eyes were warm whenever they glanced Glinda's way. He seemed to genuinely care for her, which was all that mattered to Elphaba.

"Momsie and Popsicle are pleased too, soon we'll be moving out, back to the countryside in Chuffrey's mansion. Oh, it will all just be so wonderful."

Elphaba's smile dropped a fraction.

"You're leaving?" she asked.

Glinda looked at her, looking not too pleased about it herself though her previous statement said otherwise. Nevertheless, the blonde forced a smile on her face.

"Well we can't possibly stay here, darling. Too much fuss, too much everything, and besides Chuffrey has his operations set up back home. I can't just ask him to part with it just for my sake," explained Glinda.

"We'll make sure to visit though," piped up Sir Chuffrey, if not out of courtesy then out of pity for Elphaba was fairly certain her face had gave away her disappointed feelings that Glinda would be leaving.

"And I'll write everyday, I promise," swore the blonde with a reassuring smile.

"Of course, of course you will. I just can't believe you'll be gone. You're my best friend, Glin," admitted Elphaba honestly.

Glinda smiled heart-warmingly and took one of Elphaba's hands in her own.

"You're mine too, Elphie. You're mine too."

There was a moment of sweet silence before Glinda opened her mouth again, and excitedly exclaimed:

"You just have to come and see the sketches for the wedding dress!" trilled Glinda happily as she clutched Elpaba's hand and dragged her upstairs, promising "Chuffers" that they would only be a few minutes.

The blonde calmed down a little once the two women were in the seclusion of her room. Her voice wasn't as animated as it had been downstairs, her anxious trilling was absent from her speech, she seemed more tranquil.

"Glin, I'm sorry if I seemed a bit out of sorts down there. I just have a lot on my mind, but I do want you to know that I am so incredibly happy for you," said Elphaba after a few moments of silence as Glinda searched for the wedding dress sketches on her desk.

The rustling of papers stopped, Glinda looked back at Elphaba teary-eyed. The green woman, surprised at the reaction from her friend, moved closer to her.

"Glin, what is it?" she asked cautiously. She was desperately afraid Glinda was going to reveal that she wasn't feeling well, that Elphaba's deepest fears had a right to be valid.

The blonde nervously glanced at her, her eyes the slightest bit frightened.

"I don't love him," she whispered.

Elphaba frowned, "What?"

Glinda sighed regretfully, as if she was wishing that she had never said anything. Elphaba stood next to her, patiently awaiting an explanation.

"I said I don't love him, not truly anyways. He's a fine man, Elphaba, he's kind, gentle, wealthy, but... I... I love someone else."

That piqued Elphaba's interest. Her eyebrow arched.

"Who?" she asked gently.

Glinda gulped for air, and looked down at her skirt. Elphaba moved in front of the blonde and softly put her hand under Glinda's chin and forced her to look at her.

Tears were already in the blonde's eyes. She looked frightened, scared.

"Glin, you know you can tell me anything, my sweet. And if you don't feel as though Sir Chuffrey is the one who you are supposed to marry then so be it. But you have to tell me who stands in his way. You'll feel better afterwards, I promise."

Glinda laughed nervously, a watery smile on her face. She placed a hand over her mouth while she contemplated her next choice of words.

"So who's the lucky guy?" teased Elphaba.

Glinda let out another burst of anxious/ hysterical laughter. Elphaba furrowed her eyes quizzically.

"Glin," she goaded on softly.

The blonde looked up at her, the picture of miserable perfection. Elphaba could never figure out how she looked so beautiful even when she was on the brink of falling apart.

Her bright lips trembled.

She muttered something, but Elphaba did not hear the exact words that fell from her lips.

"Come on, Glin. Out with it," she said a bit sharply.

Those blue eyes locked onto her own brown ones.

"You," Glinda stammered, her tears brimming the edges of her eyes,"I love you."

Elphaba took a step back.

"I always have loved you. I don't want Chuffrey, I want you. Can't you see that?" pleaded Glinda in sobs, "It's always been you."

"I don't understand," Elphaba managed to get out in a tight voice. She stared at Glinda who at that moment in time seemed like a complete stranger to her.

"I'm in love with you," the blonde confessed again quietly, and then her voice grew angry, "And I know, I know you're married and that you could never possibly love me back but Elphie, I am so desperately in love with you. I don't know what to do without you. Elphie, please," she begged as she tried to reach for the green woman's hand.

Elphaba turned away fiercely.

"We're friends, Glin. Nothing more."

A pause.

Elphaba continued with, "I don't know if I even want to be that with you anymore."

A heartbreaking cry broke from Glinda's lips. She covered her face with her hands in misery, in desperation, in heartbreak.

Elphaba looked back at her friend and felt a pang at her heart. She despised seeing Glinda this upset, but she couldn't give her what she wanted. She couldn't be that for her. It was slightly unsettling to think that the blonde had been in love with her after all this time and she hadn't even realized it. She felt like she didn't even know her anymore.

"I need time," she got out slowly, "to think about things. I need time away, Glinda," expressed Elphaba hollowly.

The blonde didn't say anything. She didn't even seem to have registered what Elphaba had just said.

"I'm sorry," Elphaba said and then she left, swinging the door closed behind her leaving a distraught Glinda in her wake.

Next chapter should be up soon!

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