For disclaimer and other stuff, see part 1 and thank you for the reviews to gilgrissomlover, Someonerandome and Akasharogue.
Chapter 21
Fiyero stormed out of the house. He was angry with Elphaba. How dare she! Tanith was his daughter too. He had every right to be part of her life. It was all Elphaba's fault that he had missed the first years of his daughter's life and he wouldn't let her take Tanith away from him again.
His mother and Glinda, who had been sitting in the living room, looked at his retreating form.
"I guess their talk didn't went well. Maybe I should go and talk to one of them," Glinda said as she stood up.
"Fiyero should be left alone with his thoughts for a while. He just learned that he had fathered a child." Kaikoura told her.
Kaikoura knew her son well. He needed a moment for himself to vent of his frustation. Talking with Elphaba about a possible future mustn't have been easy. Kaikoura knew that both were stubborn, her son and the woman he loved. She was sure that he still loved her. She had heard him say the three famous words to Elphaba. But they had Glinda and Tanith to think about too. Glinda was Fiyero's fiancé. He had told her that he would stick to his promise and still intended to marry Glinda. And Tanith was his daughter, he couldn't go on with dancing through life when he had a responsibility as big as a child but Kaikoura was unsure if Elphaba would let Fiyero be a part of his daughter's life.
"He is my fiancé, I am going to make sure that he is alright."
Glinda left Kaikoura alone.
She was happy that Elphaba was alive and she had gotten a second chance with her best friend but Glinda hadn't thought about the consequences. The Ozians wouldn't take the news that the Wicked Witch of the West was alive well. but she could think about a good explanation later. And the departure of the Wizard had been sudden. One moment he had been in Oz, ruling the country and the next moment, after learning that he was responsible for the death of his only child, had packed up his belongings and left.
But right now she had to make sure that her fiancé was all right. Right now Fiyero was her main concern and not her friend, Elphaba, who had come back from the dead.
Meanwhile Kaikoura walked into Elphaba's room. She sensed that she had to talk to the young woman. Maybe she could find out what made her son upset. It must have been something either of them had said.
Elphaba was sitting up in bed, listening to Tanith telling her what had happened. Tanith had started to tell her mother that the evil woman had locked her in a cupboard and had screamed at her. She had been given some kind of wooden stick to play with and then a nice man had come and found her. The nice man had brought her back to her mommy.
"She is a beautiful little girl. She looks a bit like Fiyero when he was a little boy," Kaikoura said as she entered the room.
"I am sorry."
"For what? I know that you had your reasons not to tell my son about his daughter. Part of me can understand."
"Tomorrow I will leave with Tanith," Elphaba said suddenly, determination in her voice.
"You aren't well enough. You should stay and rest. We still have to make plans for your future."
"I feel that I overstayed my welcome. I will leave tomorrow with my daughter," Elphaba repeated.
Kaikoura sighed. She had had the feeling that something was wrong with Elphaba. In the last couple of days Elphaba had been more distant and withdrawn. Kaikoura wanted to find out what was wrong. Maybe she could help her.
"Where will you go? Fiyero told me that your parents and sister are dead. You could come back with me to the Vinkus and stay with us. Tanith is after all my granddaughter. Or maybe, I am not sure, but perhaps you could stay here in Evergreen," Kaikoura told her.
"So you want me to stay and be your son's mistress." A mix of hurt and anger flowed through her, though she kept it under a tight leash.
Kaikoura looked shocked. It seemed that Elphaba had heard her talk with her son a couple of days ago and had misinterpreted her words. Kaikoura didn't know if Elphaba would believe her if she tried to explain why she had said this to her son.
"No. Yes. I want you to stay but not as Fiyero's mistress."
"But I heard you tell him…" Elphaba started.
"Elphaba, I wanted my son to realize that he can't have you both the way he wants to. Fiyero wants to keep both of you in his life. He doesn't want to hurt either of you. But in the end one of you is going to get hurt," Kaikoura tried to explain.
"That's why I am going to leave."
"And hurt him by doing so."
Elphaba looked down at her daughter, unable to say anything in return. She couldn't stay. If she did stay she would have to see the happy couple, Fiyero and Glinda, everyday. She couldn't bear to see the man she loved with another woman even when the other woman was her best friend. And to think that he would leave Glinda for being with her, she couldn't bear the thought of hurting Glinda either.
Meanwhile Fiyero sat outside in the garden that surrounded Evergreen, thinking about what he should do.
He wanted a wife, children and his happily-ever-after. He still hadn't made a decision if he wanted all those things with Glinda or Elphaba.
Fiyero still remembered the talk he had a long time ago with Elphaba, back before everything had gone wrong in their lives.
They lay together in the grass, Elphaba's head resting on his chest, his fingers were playing with a strand of her hair.
"Have you ever thought about the future?" he asked her.
"The future in general?"
"Our future," he said.
Elphaba pushed herself up on her elbows, looking down at Fiyero.
"No, why?"
"You never pictured your life? Getting married? Having children?"
Elphaba shook her head.
"You know, my parents want to buy me a house when I finished Shiz. Maybe we could live there. I will make sure that there is enough room for a library, a garden you can tend to," he suggested.
"We can't live together."
"Why not?"
"People will talk."
"You never cared about what others said about you before. And even me, I don't give a damn. Believe me, people won't talk about us. They won't have a reason since a man and a woman can share a house when they-" he started but Elphaba silenced him by putting a finger to his lips.
She had sensed what he had wanted to say, that he wanted to suggest marriage.
"You love her," he heard a voice behind him say.
As he turned around he saw his fiancé, Glinda. He had forgotten that his mother and Glinda had been in the house too.
"What do you mean? Glinda we are-"
"Please. Fiyero."
"We were together, back at Shiz," he admitted.
"And Tanith?"
"She is our daughter," he said, confirming what both had suspected.
"Why haven't-"
"I didn't know. She never told me about her pregnancy. There was no way to contact me. We were in the Emerald City, working for the wizard and she was his enemy; the enemy of Oz. She couldn't contact me. She couldn't tell me about Tanith. But if I had known-"
"What would you have done? Left me? Joined her? You would have been an outcast! Fiyero. Remember who you are! You are the next King of the Vinkus!"
"I know. I don't know what to do. Elphaba is angry with me and I don't know why."
Glinda sat down next to him.
"After she had defied the Wizard I saw her for the last time. I had begged her to stay with me but you know her. She had decided that she needed to do things on her own. It wasn't until the day we intended to get married that I saw her again," he continued.
They sat together in silence for a while.
"If things had gone different, would you, what I mean… would we still be a couple?" Glinda asked finally.
Fiyero looked down at his hands, he couldn't face Glinda. His answer would hurt her.
"No," He answered truthfully.
"You should go inside and tell her that you love her. She deserves someone who loves her. Fiyero, I know she still loves you," Glinda told him, fighting her emotions.
Ever since she had learned that Elphaba was still alive she knew that if the two of them still had feelings for each other she couldn't stand in the way of true love. Glinda still had the letter she had found in Elphaba's belongings. She knew that no woman would keep such a beautiful love-letter if she didn't want to remember the person who wrote it.
"No. She made it clear that she doesn't love me, that she doesn't want me in her life anymore. All those years I longed for her. I hoped and prayed that she was safe. Glinda, suddenly, when I thought I could go on with my life and love another woman, she comes back. And then I find out that I have a child that she never gave me the chance to get to know. I don't know what Tanith's first word was or when she took her first step. I wasn't there during Elphaba's pregnancy, watching her getting round, or during childbirth. She never gave me the chance to experience anything in my daughter's life and now I am going to lose them again. Glinda, tell me, is it selfish of me to want her in my life? To keep her and love her? I want her to stay. I love her, I still do."
Glinda nodded. She knew that there had to a decision made and that Fiyero couldn't decide. Maybe he didn't want to decide with whom he wanted to spend the rest of his life because he didn't want to hurt either of them. It was now up to Glinda to make the decision for Fiyero.
She slipped of her engagment ring and held out the ring to Fiyero.
"I was never meant to wear this ring," she said before she stood up and left him alone.