Hey,
I had a list of chapters I was going to do. In the beginning this was supposed to be 3 chapters, but I decided to make it one. I thought it would be better to give a longer chapter, than give you 3 short chapters. I thought that were better and I feel the pacing is better because of that.
So I am still doing it. People might wonder, is Fiyero ever going to figure out if Elphaba is real? To them I say yes. Wait and see, if things are working out the way I want too, the epilogue will be up the 10th April.
Enjoy this chapter,

TempeGeller


Chapter 12: Back to your beautiful mind

The friend who can be

silent with us in a moment of despair or confusion,

who can stay with us

in an hour of grief and bereavement,

who can tolerate

not knowing... not healing, not curing...

that is a friend who cares.

Henri Nouwen

As Fiyero woke up, he heard Glinda squeak. She was watching him sleep and was kneeling, her hands on her against her head. A smile was decorating her face, like she was trying to pull something from him. He turned around for a few seconds, but as he turned back he saw her still in the same position. There was something in him that wanted to send her away, yet he knew that the power was all in her camp. If he brought rage upon her, he could send her to his parents with a truth that could send him back to that god forsaken place.
"Sooo…" She smiled as he hang closer.
"What?"

Glinda made a movement with her eyes, he knew it meant to tell her more. What more was there to tell? Oh yeah that Elphaba was a spirit, that he had never truly seen her, just heard and that he was completely in love with the face of a phantom. She would think he was insane. Telling her about Elphaba, would only create more questions. Glinda moved closer.
"We're friends." Glinda whispered. "I think you should think about using my perfect record as a love expert and a match maker."
"Emma much." Fiyero laughed, to his surprise Glinda didn't follow that. She had the same serious and curious exterior, she looked like a dog begging for food and a dog that was not going to give the next five minutes. Glinda was simple, when she wanted to know something, she would figure it out. No question.

"I don't get it…" She shook her head. "My name is Glinda.."
"You know, Emma…" Fiyero moved his hands to help her get it. "From the classical Jane Austen book, Emma. You know the master writer before the great drought."
"Oh yeah, mean the goat."
"no, another Jane Austen."
"The chicken?"

"no."

"Then I don't know who this…" She moved two fingers next to her head and moved them moved them up and down. "Jane Austen. "
"I leant you a book of it."
"Oh, I was using that as a coaster." Glinda smiled. "I could read it too, but than what do I use as coaster?"
"How about an actual coaster?"
"Off course…" Glinda smiled "But I'm using that to keep to door open."
Fiyero raised an eyebrow as Glinda started to laugh. She was laughing about something he did not understand, was she trying to be funny or was she trying to make him look stupid.
"Off course, I started reading it." Glinda smiled "I'm not loving the behaviour of Darcy, if he stays behaving like an ass, he does not disserve Lizzie. Maybe Lydia..."
"So tell me something about Elphaba?" Glinda hang even closer. "Anything."
"Anything, huh?" Fiyero shook his head. She raised her eyebrow in anger. "You're not letting this go, right?"

"It's simple." Glinda smiled "Either you tell it on you r own will or I'll make you."
"A Glinda with a bone does not give up right?" She shook her head in pride. He pushed himself a bit farther from her, he didn't enjoy the closeness they were in. She didn't move closer anymore, but her eyes were on his. "It's her birthday next week."
"Her birthday?" She opened her eyes wider. "Are you saying because of me, you're missing the birthday of your soon to be 'girlfriend'. This can simple not stand, you're lucky that I'm putting my interest wide in your love life, if it weren't for me, your soon to be love of you r life would be without a her favourite man on her birthday. What are you doing for her birthday?"
"I haven't planned much." She smacked him in the head with almost all her force. "What did you do that for?"

"Your soon to be girlfriend and you haven't planned anything?" She rolled her eyes. "Do you want to be friend zoned? Do you want another boy to get your girlfriend?"
"Who's going to steal her away?" She smacked his cheek with her other hand. "What was that for?"
"For thinking there are no other fishes in this girls pond." She raised an eyebrow. "There's always some other boy on the horizon of a girl and if you don't think so, you are more stupid than I thought."
"She doesn't talk to anyone else?" She rolled her eyes. "Do you honestly think that you are the only man in her life, you are even more stupid than I thought? You always treat a girl, like you are one suitor of many, you have to woo her. Have you ever done that?"
"No." She smacked him again.
"Have you honestly been doing nothing for this girl in all this years?" She spoke again. "Have you ever gotten her anything?"

"A guitar."
"And how long have you known her?"
"Almost 12 years."

"Almost 12 years and all you have gotten her is a lazy guitar, that you probably had hanging around. You can do better than that." She rolled her eyes. "You're a bigger mess than I thought, no wonder you two aren't dating. Are you actually that stupid."
"I know a lot…"
"Well none of that knowledge is about how to satisfy a girl." She stood up. "You may have read Tolstoy more than once, but I know everything there is to know about matchmaking."
"Are you sure you have not read Emma?"

"Completely sure." She rolled her eyes. "If I did, I would have a friend called Hariette."
"okay." He raised his shoulders. "What should I do?"
"More than you have been doing for the last twelve years, that's a sure thing." She spoke "Plus, we'll have to blow impress her, since you've been doing anything but that. So, we need to plan her a surprise birthday party with all her friends."
"She won't like that…" He turned to her. "She's rather shy."
"okay." She nodded her head. "No surprise birthday party, I have more under my wing. You could be surprised with the things that live in my head. We could give her a make-over."
"She wouldn't like that." He stared to the floor. "She's sensitive about her looks."
"okay, doesn't want to be made over." She stepped from the one side of the room to the other. "Don't worry, I have more I can do. Usually the first two are the ones people like, but.."
"Glinda?"

"How about we make over her room?"
"How about that's a horrible idea?"

He stared at Glinda, she started to walk from one side of the room to the other side of the room. It seemed like she was planning for Elphaba to like any girl. Well, how could she know what she was like, she knew nothing Elphaba, because he had not told anything about her. Anything beside her name. So how could she find something great for her name.
"So what does SHE actually like?" She sat down on the bed. "I mean you have told me nothing about her. How could I know what to do for her. You tell me all I need to know about Elphaba, how does that sound?"
"okay." He paused "She likes books, music. She likes to write songs. She's a creative person."
"Why didn't you say she was a creative type?" She shook her head. "I was picking the ideas from my girly, not every girl is an artsy girl. Okay, what do artsy people like?"
"Art?"
"I know what you have to do." She sat down. "I am going to convince my parents to cut your trip short with a week, so you can be there for her birthday. You make her a birthday cake, you make her all her favourite food. Anything, you get paint and get her a brand new guitar. I mean it will be broken, or any other instrument. You could also buy her some other instrument. You could write her a song!"
"That sounds difficult…" Fiyero stared at his fingers. "I am not the talented songwriter, remember."
"Well, you are going to get up…" She stood up and pulled on his arm. "You are going to follow me to the music room and we are going to write her a song and in the afternoon we are getting her a big gift, and not something cheap. So…"


Elphaba stared at the walls, Fiyero was going to miss her birthday. She had forgotten that it was her birthday next week, he didn't miss any of her birthdays and the only ones he missed were the ones in the institution. He never forgot her birthday; she was the only one that ever forgot her birthday. She knew he would be back in two weeks, they would celebrate her birthday.

She wanted someone to talk to, but right now there was no one she could talk to. So, she stared at the books she was using for writing. She could use some new ones, maybe she could ask Fiyero. She took the book, she hoped Fiyero would be back soon. She didn't exist without him. She needed him. Every time she thought about Fiyero, she felt something inside. Love.

Elphaba admitted it to herself, she was in love with Fiyero and she would never have him. And if she did, she would need to come clean. She needed admit that she was alive and that she was green. Maybe he would not care, but Elphaba didn't believe in miracles. No one could ever love her in that way, not even Fiyero.
Maybe if he knew everything about her, she would lose him forever.


Fiyero stared to Glinda, she was staring at the keys of the piano. She was trying to figure out how to play the piano.
"You don't know how to play the piano?" Fiyero touched the keys. "I know how to play piano, I don't know how to write a song."
"How hard can it be?" She stared at him. "I mean you touch the keys and put words to it right?"
"I think it's a bit harder." Fiyero stared. "What do I need to write?"
"How about what's in your heart?" She smiled "I mean that's what Elphaba says, she says it's easy. I guess she has talent for it. "
"I think I need time alone." He stared at Glinda. "How can I write a song about Elphaba, with you here. Do you mind?"
"Off course."

When the door closed up, he noticed that his feelings started to boil under his skin. There had to be a way to put it to music, that was Elphaba said. He needed to get to a place in himself, a place where words flooded around. Where he could put them to music, something that Elphaba could carry around if he wouldn't be with her. He couldn't be there all the time, some day he would be a king, get married and lose her. He couldn't think about it. As he stared to the keys, he thought of Elphaba. As he thought of her, the words came to him.

"So I decided I would go with you to cook and prepare for her birthday. I guess your parents can't know, so we could already bake some things over here, but we need to make things like ice cream there." Glinda paused "How does that sound?"
"Question: do you really need to hand make the ice cream, what difference does it make?"
"Fiyero!" She gave him a playful punch to the cheek. "Are you learning anything this weekend? You do everything so you can make the Elphaba happy."
"About Elphaba, can you please not mention her name in the house?"

"Your parents don't like her, huh?" She rolled her eyes. "We're more alike than we thought. My parents don't like Boq either. They say he's a slack and he'll never be worthy of me. I hate that, that they think I'm better than him, just because I'm rich. I could be unworthy of him, he could be a way better human being than me. Don't you feel that way, just because our status is respected, doesn't make us good people. It makes us, people."
"Everything with Elphaba is…" Fiyero looked down. "Difficult."
"I know parents make our lives harder. "She stared at him. "So I know if we ever needed to get married, Elphaba would still be in your life. I mean you can't just ask someone to make…"
"with Elphaba there's some other thing making our relationship harder…"
"Does she have issues with self-esteem?"
"Well, prepare for Sunday, we'll be cooking all day and we'll go to your home so we'll be home on Monday, so you could make Elphaba's birthday on Monday as great as possible. But you will need to do your best. Okay?"
"Thank you Glinda." Fiyero stared at her. "For everything."


So the next days were completely formed by Elphaba, Glinda wanted to shop more than one day. She was always convinced that the presents they had for Elphaba would not do, so she took a shopping spring about every day. They took a brand new guitar, with something painted on it. It was a flying monkey, which was Fiyero's favourite animal and it was Elphaba's at the same time. There were a bit of flowers painted around it. He had bought the guitar and asked someone to paint on it. He knew Elphaba's favourite flower and made the guitar hers.
He swung by the book store and bought a few books he heard Elphaba talk about. He also bought a few new releases he knew that she would love. In total he left the stores with twenty books, Glinda had taken a chance to buy her some clothes, she hadn't said. Off course Glinda didn't know about Elphaba's spirit thing, so she bought a few beautiful dresses. 'She will definitely like it. Girls like dresses.' But he knew that Elphaba wouldn't like it. When he passed by another store he bought her a small white violin. He was so lucky that his parents didn't mind about him spending money. He bought her a flute. Then they went next to the art store and bought all kinds of paint and other art supplies. The last stop was a store where they sold writer supplies.

"She's going to love this." Glinda whispered. "And when you get kids, you can name them after me! That would totally be perfect. "

On Sunday, Glinda woke him up before the break of dawn. They spent the entire day making all kinds of stuff Elphaba would like. Most of them were things with chocolate in it. A gallon of vanilla ice cream. Fiyero had to admit being around Glinda was nice and she did everything so Elphaba's birthday was perfect.
"So what makes you fall in love with Elphaba?" Glinda smiled "Is it her eyes? Her lips or whatever guys like? I mean what drew you in…"

"Her voice." He admitted "Her mind."
"Wow, if I didn't have Boq you would be a catch."
"His name is Boq?"

"It is." Glinda shook her head. "I hope they will let us go for our own dreams, that we get to married the ones we love. You get to marry Elphaba, I get to marry Boq. I mean it's not like the ones were are in love with are invisible. Right?"
"Right…" His eyes were opened wider.

"Well let's get you home, to the love of your life."


Elphaba had a strange feeling about the day as she woke up. Her bedroom had the same decoration, there was no light coming in. She got up and the feeling that something was different was still in her stomach and as she watched through the hole in the wall, she knew why. The complete room was decorated in happy object, there was a large cake. And the banners said Happy birthday Fiyero. To the left there were couple of things to decorate a room, there were posters with smart quotes on it. Who had done this? Fiyero was in the Gillikin right? He couldn't have returned for her, his parents would not allow it.
"Happy birthday, Elphaba." He said as he pushed a breakfast through the hole. She was very lucky that she said ghosts ate, if she didn't she wouldn't be seeing all of this. "Glinda send me home when she knew it was your birthday."
"Glinda knows about me?" Elphaba rolled her eyes. "Why did you tell?"
"Because she caught me using your name." Fiyero smiled "I had no other solution, but to tell. She was pretty mad when I said it was your birthday and I was with her. She doesn't know about the whole ghost thing. I didn't find a way to tell."

"That's better."
"So, I have some gifts." He pushed a big box through the hole. It was Glinda who had wrapped the presents, Fiyero hadn't want to do it. Glinda had made him and since he didn't want to do it, Glinda did. Elphaba let her hands move over the wrapping. She opened the box and found books that would be hers. She place them a wooden structure that resembled a book case. She had about 100 books now, some were from the library others she had gotten from Fiyero. Right next she found the flute and the guitar.

"Elphaba, firstly I need to give you a present that can't be unpacked."

Baby girl, close your eyes.

You don't know the strength you have inside

If I could I'd shelter you from all the pain that we all must go through

But it's up to you.

The road is long - it twists and turns

But everything in life you live and learn

No one ever said that life was easy or that all in love is fair

But look inside your heart you'll find the answer waiting there

If you ever lose your way

You don't have to be afraid

Look inside to find a friend

Who'll be with you 'til the end

Many different roads to choose

Searching for the strength to make it through

But it was always there in you

Hopes can fail and dreams can fade

Rain can fall down on your big parade

Maybe love will take your heart or break your heart

There are no guarantees

But love will always find you when you just believe

If you ever lose your way

You don't have to be afraid

Look inside to find a friend

Who'll be with you 'til the end

Many different roads to choose

Searching for the strength to make it through

But it was always there in you

The strength you're longing to find

You know it's true

It was there all the time

If you stand stronger, work harder, reach for the sky

I know you will eventually fly

If you ever lose your way

You don't have to be afraid

Look inside to find a friend

Who'll be with you 'til the end

Many different roads to choose

Searching for the strength to make it through

But it was always there

It was always there

It was always therein you.

"You wrote me a song?" Elphaba had tears in her eyes. "That's the best thing you could get me for my birthday. Thank you, Yero."
"How do you feel about cake?"

"perfect." He smiled. Elphaba stared at the cake, it did not look like something Fiyero would make. It looked like a girl helped him with it. Fiyero was clumsy when it came to baking,
"You know this may be the best cake I have ever ate." She laughed "How did you decorate it?"
"Glinda did." He laughed
"I thought so." She laughed "You don't have the patient to do this."

Fiyero and Elphaba spent the next two hours painting, she used her powers to move the pencil over the surface and Fiyero used one colour to paint the background. She painted a picture of a flying monkey, because she liked them so much. He did too, they were something they had invented.
"Wouldn't it be fun if flying monkeys actually exist?"
"The best." Elphaba laughed "Maybe we should use a spell that make wings appear on a monkey, making it a winged monkey."

Elphaba moved the things inside, she put up the decoration Fiyero had gotten her. The posters brought something to the room that she had never seen before. There was little space for a bedroom, but it was big for the space between the walls. At the 8 o'clock both of them were asleep. The day could not have been any better. The words thank you had left Elphaba's mouth more than once. This day would be the best day in Elphaba's life.

"Do you understand why Fiyero and Glinda came back today?" Baxiana turned to her husband "And why did Glinda go home all by herself, wasn't he supposed to stay for two weeks? They worked in the kitchen all day. Do you know what' going on?"
"It's good for their relationship to bake." Marrilot spoke "They have to like each other."
"Aren't you wondering why they baked cake?" His mother stared at Marrilot. "Why did they have a big present? I don't get it…"
"They will have a reason." He spoke "They are making fun together."
"I just don't get it."
"Why don't we ask Fiyero?"

With that Baxiana and Marrilot went to Fiyero's room. They walked through the room, Baxiana kept speaking about the strange situation between Glinda and Fiyero. She said that both Fiyero and Glinda were keeping a secret. When they entered a room, there were no words spoken. Glinda liked to giggle, but that didn't seem anything new. It was Fiyero that became red.
"Come on." Baxiana whispered.

When the opened the room, they saw the decoration Fiyero had made for Elphaba's birthday. The words 'Happy birthday' were the first thing they saw, the thought about it being Glinda's birthday. Than they read 'Elphaba'. His father stared to the floor.
"He still thinks she's real." Baxiana shook her face. "Where did we go wrong?"

"Fiyero needs to return to that place."