AN: I decided to make this one a cliffy and add one more chapter, so the next one will really be the final chapter. And no, no Graydon-wants-revenge-action, but I guess this is some other action.

Anyways, thank you all again so much for your reviews - I really appreciate them, it always makes me happy to see them and know that there are still people out there who enjoy what I post :). So this chapter is for all of you.

Chapter 14. Never too late

A doctor soon came to examine Elphaba, ordering her to stay on bed rest for at least a week, preferably longer. Normally, she wouldn't have been happy with that; but she was still too drowsy, and too much in pain, to really mind.

What really lifted her spirits, though, was her family. From the moment they got home, she had never been alone. Fiyero stayed with her pretty much all the time, not wanting to leave her out of his sight for a clock-tick. Elyssah had dragged her dolls and her fairytale book over to her parents' room and barely ever left, either. Everyone else had come to greet them right after they had first come in – most of them with tears, the women also with hugs, and Galinda, of course, with loud squeals. And after that, everyone just kept walking in and out of the room for all kinds of reasons. To see how they were doing. To bring them food. To take Elyssah away for a bath. To hear the story again, even though Fiyero, Elphaba, and Elyssah had already told them a thousand times. To tell them about the search that had been conducted for the remaining rebels; the Vinkun soldiers had found and arrested dozens of them. Some of them had known about Sortres' evil plans, some of them had been in it just for the money, like Graydon, but they had all been arrested and were currently awaiting trial in the dungeons.

'Daddy?' Elyssah whispered, climbing onto the bed with her parents, holding out her book. 'Will you read me a fairytale?'

Fiyero brought his finger to his lips and pointed at Elphaba, who had her eyes closed. Just then, however, Elphaba opened one eye. 'Yeah, Daddy,' she mumbled. 'Read us a fairytale.'

Fiyero chuckled and smoothed his wife's hair away from her forehead. 'I thought you were asleep.'

'Well, obviously, I'm not.' Elphaba smiled sleepily at her daughter, extending one arm towards her, and Elyssah cuddled close to her. Then they both looked up at Fiyero, and once again, he was struck by the similarities between them. Save for her fair skin and blue eyes, Elyssah was almost an exact carbon copy of Elphaba.

'How can I say no to those faces?' he teased them, and he opened the book and started reading. 'Once upon a time, there was a prince in a kingdom far, far away…'

'Daddy?' Elyssah interrupted him, and he stopped reading to look at her. 'Yes, princess?'

'Are those men going to come back to lock me up again?'

Elphaba suddenly felt a lump in her throat. Here they were now, a family, together again, but she realised that even though they seemed to be alright on the outside, there were still wounds that needed healing – and not just in the literal, physical sense. From the moment she had started talking to her unborn baby, she had promised it to keep it safe; and when Elyssah was born, Elphaba and Fiyero had sworn to do anything they could to protect her.

And they had. She knew that. Only it hadn't been enough.

'No, a chiste,' Elphaba said quietly, wrapping her arms around her daughter and holding her close. 'They won't come back. Not ever again. They were bad men, Elyssah, and they will be punished for what they did.'

'You're safe now,' Fiyero added, stroking his daughter's hair. 'I promise.'

Elphaba caught his gaze over Elyssah's head, and he knew what she was trying to say – he couldn't promise such a thing. They'd done that before, and they'd had to break that promise.

'Or at the very least,' Fiyero added, 'I promise that we'll try anything to keep you safe. Okay?'

Satisfied, Elyssah nodded, putting her thumb in her mouth and leaning against Elphaba. 'Okay.'

Fiyero continued to read the fairytale, and after a while, Elyssah fell asleep.

Fiyero scooped her up into his arms and disappeared into the hallway, where Galinda and Nessa were already waiting to put the little girl to bed. The happenings of the past few weeks had left them all a little on edge, and so no one was ever really alone; they always made sure there was at least two of them, lest something else happen.

The two girls went to put Elyssah to bed and Fiyero returned to his wife's side, knowing that she was bothered by what Elyssah had said. 'Fae?'

'Do you think…' Her voice sounded strangely calm, but he could sense the tears behind her façade. 'Do you think we failed? As parents?'

He sighed and sat next to her. 'Fae…'

'Because…' She swallowed with difficulty. 'Because I can't help but feel that we did,' she said almost inaudibly, and he wrapped his arms around her and softly rocked her back and forth as she buried her face in his shoulder.

'Fae,' he said gently. 'I know how you feel. Really, I do. I've thought that, too, many times, in the past few weeks. But you know what? Perhaps we were being foolish by making ourselves believe that we could keep her safe in the first place.'

Elphaba looked up at him, her face stained with tears.

He softly kissed her forehead. 'We're only human,' he whispered. 'And so is she. We couldn't protect her from the world forever, Fae. Sooner or later, she would find out that there are also bad people out there. That turned out to be sooner rather than later, but in the end, she would have found out, anyway, and it probably wouldn't have hurt us any less. No one likes to see their children getting hurt, but it's part of life, Fae. And I think we should be grateful that nothing worse has happened. She's still alive, and even though she's not as innocent as she was, she also hasn't changed all that much. We're still here, all of us, and we're together again. Isn't that the most important thing?'

She buried her face back into his shirt, and he softly stroked her back as he hummed an old Vinkun lullaby for her until she drifted off to sleep.

'Fiyero, hi.' Hamold smiled at his son, then at his daughter-in-law, as he came into the room. 'Elphaba, good, you're awake. Can I talk to you for a clock-tick?'

She pushed herself up to lean against the pillows. 'Of course,' she said, and Hamold sat down at the end of the bed. 'As you know, most of the rebels have been arrested,' he began. She nodded. 'I heard.'

'Sortres has been buried with his and Graydon's parents,' Hamold said. 'We tracked down their family and found out where their graves were. We thought that would be fitting.'

Elphaba nodded again. 'That's good.'

'And as you also know, Graydon's family is being looked after,' Hamold continued. 'I've made sure they were transferred to a different house, less drafty and cold, which is healthier for the girl; and they'll be provided with enough food and medicine. I'm already working on taking measures to make sure that no family here in the Vinkus will have to live in that kind of poverty ever again. At least that came from this entire situation – it's opened my eyes to the circumstances some of my people live in without me even being aware of it, and I want to make some changes.'

Elphaba smiled at him. 'That's amazing,' she said softly, and he returned her smile. Fiyero squeezed his wife's hand, then said sincerely, 'It really is, Dad.'

'Thank you, Yero. Elphaba.' Hamold looked at them both. 'That's not what I came here to tell you, though.'

Elphaba leaned her head against Fiyero's shoulder as Hamold continued. 'The rebels are all going to stay locked up for some time – some longer than others, depending on whether they knew about Sortres' bigger plans or not. It's all happening according to the Vinkun law, of course. Those are all things you shouldn't be concerning yourself with, I can take care of that. I just wanted to ask you to be present at Graydon's execution tomorrow.'

Fiyero was shocked, and Elphaba immediately shot up. 'What?'

Hamold looked at them both. 'Like I said, everything is happening according to the law,' he said. 'And what Graydon did was unforgivable. Every single rebel played some part in it, of course, but Graydon's case is different, Elphaba. Surely you can understand that. He has personally threatened you and Elyssah. He's hurt the future Crown Princess-'

'Hamold, I know,' Elphaba cut him off. 'I know. And that was wrong of him in so many ways. But Elyssah wasn't seriously hurt, Hamold – you can't condemn Graydon to death! He has a family of his own!'

'I'm sorry,' Hamold said with a sigh. 'I don't have much say in this, Elphaba. He committed crimes against the Crown, and so the law says-'

'I don't care what the law says! You can't do this!'

'I have to. I'm sorry.' Hamold rose to his feet. 'You two need to be there tomorrow,' he said. 'It's an official thing. I'll send someone to get you ready in time.' With that, he left.

Fiyero quite literally had to hold Elphaba down to keep her from jumping out of bed. 'Fae,' he tried, but she was furious. 'No, Fiyero! He can't do this!'

'It's not his fault. And besides,' Fiyero couldn't help but add grimly, 'Graydon deserves it.'

Elphaba stopped struggling and stared at him with a combination of anger and disappointment. 'How can you say that?' she demanded.

He set his jaw. 'He hurt Elyssah. He played a role in Sortres hurting you,' he said. 'He kept you two away from me. He had it coming all along.'

She just kept on staring at him like that, an accusatory look in her eyes. 'Funny,' she said finally in what was almost a hiss. 'I would have thought better of you.'

He was stunned. 'Excuse me?'

'Imagine being him, Fiyero.' Elphaba inched away from him, looking at him with enormous dark eyes from the other side of the bed. 'Imagine that Elyssah was born sick and we didn't have enough money to keep her healthy. Our house leaks, we don't have enough warm clothes, no luxuries whatsoever, and we can barely afford Elyssah's medication. Then your brother comes along and tells you he can help you get enough money to take care of your family. It involves you holding someone captive, but your brother tells you that no one will get hurt, it's just about money, and the one you're supposed to guard will be returned home safely. Imagine that, Fiyero.'

He did. It was awful, even in his imagination.

'Now tell me that you would rather see your family suffer than accept that offer.'

He opened his mouth, then closed it again. She kept on looking at him until he gave in. 'You're right. I'm sorry.'

'We have to do something, Fiyero,' she said softly, and he moved over to her again and kissed her cheek. 'I'll go talk to my father and the council,' he promised. 'Why don't you get some more sleep? I'll ask my Mom to stay here with you, perhaps she can help us, too.'

Elphaba smiled at him. 'Thank you, Yero.'

And Fiyero did try his best. However, as he was told at least a dozen times, the law was the law, and they couldn't make an exception for one single man. Fiyero and Hamold requested for the council to change Graydon's sentence to prison, but they didn't agree and so their request wasn't granted. There was nothing they could do.

And so the next day, Fiyero and his parents took their places in the official happening. Elphaba had flatly refused to be there, claiming she didn't want to see it, and Fiyero had told everyone that she was still not feeling well enough to be up and about, which they all believed and understood. And so here he was, watching as Graydon was being led to the middle of the square, where a firing squad was already standing, weapons in hand, ready to shoot the convict the moment the King gave the sign. Elphaba's words from the day before resounded in Fiyero's head, and he felt a pang upon discovering Graydon's wife and daughter amidst the small group of people that had come to witness the execution. The woman was crying, crushing her daughter against her as she stood with her back towards her husband, unable to watch. The little girl was looking over her mother's shoulder with wide eyes, staring at her father standing in the middle of the square. Graydon gave her a shaky smile, and Fiyero could only picture those three people being himself and Elyssah and Elphaba.

'Any last words?' a voice boomed across the square, and Graydon turned, looking, much to Fiyero's surprise, straight at the Crown Prince. 'Your Highness,' he said in a strangled voice, meeting Fiyero's gaze. 'Doing what I did to your wife and your daughter was the hardest thing I've ever had to do, and I just want you to know how sorry I am for doing it.' He looked back at his own daughter once more, then hung his head, ready to accept his punishment.

Fiyero turned towards his father sharply. 'Dad, we have to stop this.'

'Yero…'

'Just look at him, Dad! That could be me, standing there! Look at his wife and daughter – do you really want to do this? Do you really want to take their father and husband away from them? We have to stop it!'

Somewhere in the middle of Fiyero's rant, Hamold's face had grown slightly shocked, and his son asked anxiously, 'What? Dad? Are you okay?'

Hamold pointed at something apparently happening on the square. 'It seems like you weren't the only one with that thought, Yero.'

Fiyero turned to look as well and he gasped, the colour draining from his face, when he saw what was going on.

Because there, on the square, was Elphaba. She was dressed in a royal blue gown, ebony hair cascading down her back, her chin up high and her jaw set in determination as she moved. You could barely even notice her limping slightly because of her not yet fully healed wound; she looked every bit the princess she was, and the people on the square fell silent the moment they lay eyes on her. She crossed the square until she was positioned right in front of Graydon – between him and the firing squad.

Her eyes found Hamold's. 'I won't let you do this,' she said simply, and the King gaped at his daughter-in-law as she turned to face the men in front of her, head held up high.

'If you're going to shoot him, you're going to have to shoot me first.'