AN: Thank you so much! :)
So many things could go wrong... and so many things will 3:). A cliffie, just because I can.
BlueD: Please, give me the phone number of your guy :P.
And yes, 1katiemariee & Ozian-in-Australia. The baby is indeed coming. *smirk*
Galinda returned in no time with Lori, Mimika, and Fiyero right on her heels. The blonde bounces on the bed next to Elphaba. 'I'm back!'
'I noticed,' the green girl said drily. Lori laughed softly while Mimi shooed Fiyero away into a corner to get him out of the way while she examined Elphaba. 'Your waters broke indeed, Elphaba, but it's only just beginning. Elyssah won't be born for a long time yet. Try to relax – we've got a long way ahead of us.' She looked at the pregnant girl. 'Have you felt any contractions yet?'
Elphaba hesitated. 'I think so… but it was only one.'
Mimi nodded. 'That's normal, don't worry. Try to keep track of how many contractions you feel and how much time is between them in the next few hours, okay?'
Elphaba nodded and Mimi gave her a reassuring smile. 'Don't worry. I'll admit it's early, but the chances of the baby surviving at this stage of pregnancy are good. Elyssah will be fine, Elphaba. Try to hold on to that.'
As soon as she stepped aside a little, Fiyero practically flung himself at his fiancée. 'Are you okay?'
She glared at him. 'If you're going to go into hysterics again, I'm going to have to ask you to stay away from me until Elyssah is born.'
He started protesting indignantly, but she maintained her glare until he gave in. 'I'll behave.'
She patted his cheek as if he were a small boy. 'Good.'
'Let's not make too big a deal out of this yet,' Mimi suggested. 'She's still far away from actually giving birth.'
'Can I go downstairs to eat, then?' asked Elphaba. 'I'm starving, and this isn't really helping.'
'Sure,' Mimi nodded immediately. 'I'm going to grab a bite myself, but if anything changes, if you feel anything, just send for me and I'll be there immediately. No worries, it'll all be fine.'
Elphaba thanked her and Mimika and Lori left the room, the latter after squeezing the green girl's hand reassuringly. When they were left alone, Elphaba pushed herself up from the bed and started walking to the door as well, but both Galinda and Fiyero grabbed one of her arms to stop her. 'What do you think you're doing?' Galinda demanded in a high voice.
Elphaba looked at her friend patiently. 'Like I said, I'm going downstairs to eat.'
Fiyero shook his head. 'I think you should stay in bed. I'll go get you something,' he offered, but she sent him her most deadly look and he backed off a little involuntarily. 'Stop this nonsense right now or someone is going to end up dead!'
Fiyero stepped closer again. 'At least let me help you-'
Luckily, Lori re-entered the room just then and noticed immediately what was going on. She sighed. 'Elphaba, sweetheart, if you need me to kill them for you, just say the word.'
Elphaba smirked. 'Nah. I take too much pleasure in killing them myself.'
Lori laughed and linked her arm with Elphaba's as they started walking into the hallway together. 'Oh, I remember when Yero was born! Hamold had never really been one to fuss over me all the time, but that day, I just couldn't get rid of him. Even the servants were hovering all the time. So I guess I know how you feel right now.'
Elphaba snorted. 'How did you get rid of them?'
Lori blushed a little. 'I exploded. I yelled at them until nearly every single one of them had fled the room in fear.'
Elphaba laughed and Lori chuckled, too. 'You'll see – if you're lying in a bed, giving birth, in so much pain, and everyone is constantly asking how you're feeling and telling you that it will all be okay and things like that… it's incredibly disturbing. All you want at that moment is to be left alone and yet there everyone was. Combine that fact with the hormones racing through your body and you do things you don't normally do.'
'In that case, let's all hope I don't lose control over my magic,' Elphaba mumbled. 'That would be quite the happening.'
Lori laughed and squeezed her shoulder. 'Don't worry, sweetheart, you'll be fine. Giving birth is a natural thing.' She looked around and gave a slight chuckle. 'On the bright sight: it seems like we have gotten rid of Yero and Galinda.'
Now Elphaba looked slightly guilty. 'I didn't really want to get rid of them… I just don't want them to freak out over it.'
'They understand that,' Lori assured her. 'They'll be downstairs with us soon enough, you'll see.'
She turned out to be right and within minutes, nearly everyone had gathered around the dinner table to eat together. Fiyero kept throwing her worried looks and he refused to remove his arm from her waist, but he didn't say anything, for which she was thankful. It was the same with Galinda; large, worried blue eyes followed her everywhere, but no questions of how she was feeling and if she would be okay. Nessa just sat there beaming at her sister, saying proudly, 'I'm going to be an Aunt!' about every three minutes. Paro, Hamold, and Lori, all of whom had a little more common sense, constantly tried to steer the subject away from Elphaba's giving birth, but somehow, Galinda, Nessa, Boq, or Fiyero would inevitably start about it again. All in all, when dinner was over, Elphaba felt exhausted – and not because she was in labour.
She got up and announced that she was going to read a book in the library and that she was not to be disturbed; then she fled the room, relieved when she finally sank down in the window sill of the library with one of her favourite books. 'Don't get me wrong, I love your Daddy more than anything in the world,' she told her swollen stomach, 'but sometimes he makes me want to kill him.'
Elyssah kicked in response and Elphaba sniggered. 'I see you already know what I mean.' She sighed and leaned her forehead against the cool glass of the window, staring outside. 'I'm not due for another month, Lys,' she whispered. 'I don't want you to come out yet. What if something goes wrong? You're too small…'
She shook her head and told herself sternly, 'No, I'm not going to think like that. Mimika said that the chances of you surviving are good, Lys, so we'll stick with that, okay? Just… please don't scare me to death again. You've done that enough already and you're not even born yet.'
She heard the library door open, then footsteps coming her way, and she sighed tiredly. Of course they wouldn't listen when she said she wanted to be alone. 'Do you have a death wish?' she asked irritably.
The footsteps stopped. 'I just came to apologise.'
She half-turned to look at Fiyero and he gave her a faint smile. 'I'm really sorry. I shouldn't smother you like that. I know everything is probably going to be fine, but I panicked,' he admitted. 'And I'm sorry.'
'You already said that.' She sighed again, but moved over to make room for him. He sat down behind her and she leaned her back against his chest. 'It's fine. I understand. I just can't handle that right now, you see?'
She felt him nod. 'I do. It won't happen again.'
His fingers tentatively touched her stomach. 'Have you had any other visions? Feelings? Anything?'
She shook her head. 'I think – I hope – that she decided to take my advice and let her magic be for a while.' She laughed softly. 'She'll probably need her strength. She'll be so small…'
Fiyero gently squeezed her shoulder and kissed her hair. 'She'll be fine.'
Elphaba nodded, then cringed when a contraction seized her. 'Ouch.' She took deep breaths until the pain subsided. 'There's still much time in between them.'
'About two hours?' he asked her. She turned to look at him in surprise. 'Yes, actually. How did you know?'
He laughed softly and pulled her back against his chest. 'I read your pregnancy book.'
She snorted with laughter. 'For real?'
He nodded seriously. 'A contraction every two hours means you're still in the first stage of dilation. It'll take a while longer.'
She looked at him in admiration and snuggled up against him. 'I love you.'
He gently kissed her hair again. 'I love you too.'
Nothing happened for the rest of the evening, except for a contraction every once in a while, so in the evening, everyone just went to bed. They all rose early the next morning and Mimika came in to examine the green girl again, but she was still only about two centimetres dilated. 'Brace yourself, darling,' the woman told Elphaba earnestly. 'This is going to take a while.'
They spent the day in some kind of strange feeling of anticipation – going through their normal routines, but with the possibility of Elphaba giving birth any moment now continuously in the back of their minds. By late afternoon, Elphaba called for Mimika.
'I'm losing blood,' she said, frowning slightly, as the woman entered the room. 'I'm not sure if that's normal. I mean, my contractions are still two hours apart and there are no other signs that I'm about to give birth…'
Mimi examined her once again. 'You are indeed losing some blood… I don't think that's dangerous, but it might be a sign that you're about to make some serious progress in labour. You might want to wash up and change and stay in bed from now on,' she told Elphaba, who nodded, relieved. Fiyero, however, caught the glimpse of worry in his aunt's eyes and went after her to ask her about it, but she denied that anything was going on.
During the night, Elphaba lost more blood and the contractions seized her about every ten minutes now. Fiyero stayed with her through all of it; Mimika, Lori, and Galinda dropped by every now and then to check on her. Elphaba had asked them to let Nessa sleep – she didn't want to wake her younger sister as long as there wasn't really anything going on yet.
'You're five centimetres dilated now,' Mimi told her when she examined her again, around four in the morning. 'But I think she's in a breech position. I can't deliver her when she's not head-first, so I need you to do some exercises to try and turn her around.'
After a few hours of doing the exercises Mimi explained to her, Elphaba was feeling exhausted, especially since she hadn't slept much in the first place. Mimi gently prodded her stomach, put her hands on it and tried to feel the baby, then nodded, looking satisfied. 'She's in a normal position now. You're still going to have to wait, though – you're only six centimetres dilated.'
Elphaba moaned and buried her face in Fiyero's shirt. 'What's taking so long?'
'Some women have difficult childbirths,' Mimi told her sympathetically, 'and some women have easy ones. This is just a case of bad luck.' She stacked her instruments away in her bag. 'Try to get some sleep, Elphaba. You'll need your strength.'
Fiyero helped her lie down and held her close to him, stroking her hair, while she drifted off a few times, snapping awake again every time a contraction hit her. She managed to get a little sleep that way, but when Lori and Mimi came back around noon, she wasn't feeling any less exhausted.
She was actually dozing off again while Mimi examined her, but she caught the worried look the woman shared with Lori and she sat up a little in alarm. 'What's wrong?'
Mimi smiled at her, but it seemed a little forced. 'I'm not sure, to be perfectly honest with you… I'm sure it's nothing, but I'm going to do a few more tests, just to be sure, okay?'
Elphaba nodded tentatively. She felt Fiyero's grip tighten around her and just this time, instead of feeling annoyed because he was overreacting again, she felt grateful that he was there.
Mimi deliberated with Lori for a moment, both of them speaking in hushed voices, before Fiyero's aunt turned back to face the green girl again with a solemn expression on her face. 'Elphaba… I'm going to be honest with you – I'm not liking the blood. It's not unusual to bleed a little during childbirth, but these amounts, and especially while you aren't even fully dilated yet… It worries me.'
Elphaba swallowed. 'What about Elyssah?'
Mimi hesitated. 'I'm not sure. I can't tell exactly where the blood comes from – Elyssah might be fine. Like I said, her chances at survival are good. It's you I'm worried about right now.'
Fiyero's grip on her became almost painful.
'So what do we do?' Elphaba asked, trying to keep breathing normally, to not get a panic attack. 'Is there anything we can do at all?'
Mimika shook her head. 'Not much, Elphaba – I'm sorry. I just hope you can fight through this on your own. Trying to relax might really be all you can do right now.'
She left with the promise to check up on her again later, but Lori stayed, pulling in a chair to sit next to the bed.
Elphaba just sat there for a while, trying to wrap her mind around what was happening and meanwhile clenching her teeth at a new contraction, when she felt something wet dripping in her neck. She turned, only to find Fiyero crying.
Her heart broke at the mere sight – she had almost never seen him cry. She lifted one hand to gently wipe the tears from his face. 'Yero…'
'I'm sorry,' he sniffled, but she kissed him softly. 'Don't be. But please don't cry, Yero. Elyssah will be fine.' Frankly, she said that as much to reassure herself as she did it to reassure Fiyero.
He looked at her incredulously. 'Elyssah isn't the one Aunt Mimi was worried about, Fae!'
'I'm not going anywhere,' she told him firmly, kissing him again. 'After everything that's happened, everything we've been through, you really think I'm going to die in childbirth, of all things? Na-ah. Billions of women have done it before me and I'm going to get through it, too.' For a moment, she sounded like her old self again, determined with just the slightest touch of sarcasm, and it reassured him. A little.
'I just hope Elyssah makes it,' Elphaba whispered, laying one hand across her stomach. Fiyero took her other hand and kissed her fingers. 'She will.'
Another contraction gripped Elphaba and Lori leaned forward to squeeze the green girl's shoulder. 'Breathe deeply. Yes, like that. Very good.' She kept talking until the contraction subsided and Elphaba rested her head against Fiyero's shoulder, exhausted. Lori took her hand and said, 'Elphaba, listen to me. I'm going to teach you a rhythm in which to breathe, to make the contractions easier, okay?' The green girl nodded and Lori demonstrated the breathing technique, telling Elphaba to repeat it until she had it under control. She tested it out at her next contraction and found it did indeed make it easier.
'I would really like to wash up,' she admitted. 'I feel bloody and sweaty and gross and since Mimika says it can take another while… Do you think I can?'
'Of course you can!' Lori encouraged her. 'You and Fiyero go to the bathroom – I'll ask some servants to change the bedding, too, so you'll feel a bit cleaner. Don't worry, sweetheart, everything will be just fine!' She patted Elphaba's arm once more before rushing out to find the servants.
After taking a bath and settling herself back in the bed, she found the contractions speeding up a little. She was still bleeding, but not as profusely as before, which was a relief. Mimi came back, to stay this time, and Galinda poked her head around the doorsill as well. 'How are you, Elphie?'
The green girl, in the middle of another contraction, sweat gleaming on her forehead, groaned. 'Kill me now.'
Galinda giggled and went to sit at the bedside to hold her friend's hand. 'I bet you're almost done now!'
Elphaba looked hopefully at Mimika, but the woman shook her head with a sympathetic smile. 'Sorry, darling. Eight centimetres. You're progressing very slowly.'
Elphaba grunted and her head fell back onto the pillows with a soft thump. 'This is torture. If you want more children, you can deliver the next one,' she told Fiyero, who chuckled softly. 'I'm sorry, Fae. I wish I could help you, but there's not much I can do.'
'I guess I'll just go again,' Galinda said, reluctantly getting up. 'You probably don't want too many people around when you're delivering a baby, do you?'
Elphaba caught her friend's hand. 'No… please stay,' she managed to choke out from between clenched teeth, focusing on her breathing once again at the next contraction.
Galinda hesitated. 'Are you sure?'
Elphaba nodded frantically. 'You're my best friend. I want you here. Please?'
'Of course,' the blonde agreed softly, squeezing her friend's hand. 'You're doing great, Elphie. Just a few more… um… hours.' She started counting on her fingers; then her face twisted in horror. 'You've been in labour of two days already?!' she nearly screeched.
Elphaba chuckled breathlessly. 'I guess it runs in the family. It took my mother thirty-four hours to deliver me and twenty-six for Nessa.'
Galinda looked horrified. 'Sweet Oz… That's horrendible! Awful! How do you stand it?'
'I'm not sure myself,' Elphaba grunted. She was practically squeezing Fiyero's and Galinda's hands to mush, but neither one of them made a sound, even though she knew she must be hurting them.
After an hour or so more, along with her losing more blood again, Mimi finally told her the words she wanted to hear. 'You're ten centimetres dilated, Elphaba. At the next contraction, push.'
Elphaba gritted her teeth and tightened her grip, and pushed. She felt awful, exhausted, and the pain was blinding, but she knew she couldn't give up now. Just a few more moments and she would be able to hold her daughter in her arms. That thought gave her the strength she needed to push again.
Fiyero had moved behind her, so that her back was against his chest in a half-sitting position, and she could brace herself against him as she pushed. He was gently stroking strands of hair from her face, whispering comforting words in her ear; Galinda, on her other side, kept silent for once as she watched the whole happening in awe. Lori was standing with Mimika, assisting her when needed, as the woman urged Elphaba to push a few more times. 'I can see the head, Elphaba. I can see the head! Just a little while longer!'
The room was spinning around her. She felt as if she couldn't go on any longer, as if there wasn't an ounce of strength left in her body, but somehow, she managed to push again. And again.
Galinda was squeezing Elphaba's hand just as hard as the green girl was squeezing the blonde's as she watched Fiyero's aunt and mother as they helped Elphaba delivered her baby. Please let them be all right, Galinda begged in silence. Elphie wouldn't be able to bear it if something happened to Elyssah. And Fiyero wouldn't be able to bear it if something happened to Elphaba – and neither would I.
Elphaba looked dreadfully pale and tears filled Galinda's eyes as she watched them, Fiyero and Elphaba, together, him encouraging her, her clinging to him, to his touch, to his voice, to stay conscious and finish this. 'Just one more!' Mimi called and Elphaba squeezed her eyes shut and pushed. Galinda gasped as her friend nearly crushed the bones in her hand, but her own pain was soon forgotten when she watched in awe as Mimi held up a small creature. A baby. Elphie's baby.
Fiyero cried as he saw his daughter for the first time. She was small, but she was perfect. He cradled Elphaba close to him and whispered, 'Do you see that? That's our baby girl!'
Only when she didn't respond and he noticed that her eyes were closed, he became aware of two horrible things at the same time. One: Elphaba's body had gone completely limp against his and she wasn't moving. And two: neither did Elyssah. She neither moved nor cried.
An awful, eerie silence filled the room.
MUHAHAHAHAHAHA.
