AN: Only a few more chapters to go! I think only one after this... maybe two.
Elphaba'sGirl, I loved your title suggestions :P.
Watercolor: Thank so much for the virtual painkillers ^_^.
Artsoccer: You just broke yourself another record. Congratulotions.
Chapter 29. Take A Chance
'Fae?'
The first thing she became aware of was Fiyero's voice, immediately followed by the painful throbbing in her leg. She bit her lower lip to hold back a yelp and forced herself to open her eyes.
Fiyero was hovering over her. He smiled gently when he saw that her eyes were open. 'Hey.'
She moved closer to him, burying her face in his chest, and he held her to him. 'You okay?'
'Just peachy.'
He chuckled softly, running his fingers through her long raven hair. 'I love you.'
Now she looked up at him. 'Love you, too,' she murmured. He kissed her forehead. 'Mey says that we can take you to a real hospital now.'
She shook her head stubbornly. 'I don't want to go to a hospital. I hate hospitals.'
'I know you do, Fae, but Mey said herself that she has been improvising,' he said. 'Someone needs to take a look at that leg in a more professional setting, or it might end up permanently damaged. It's bad enough the way it is.'
Elphaba grunted something unintelligible. He carefully helped her sit up a little. 'Come on. I think I can carry you, if I'm careful, but the moment it hurts, you tell me, okay?'
'Okay,' she mumbled, and he wrapped her up in a blanket, then lifted her up in his arms. She rested her head against his shoulder, closing her eyes, as he carried her outside to the waiting carriage.
'Elphie!' Glinda came running out of the house, stopping in front of Fiyero, slightly out of breath. 'Where are you taking her?' she asked.
'Hospital,' he said, and she nodded. 'Okay.' She moved to Elphaba's head. 'Elphie?'
The raven-haired witch cracked open one eye and Glinda hugged her a bit awkwardly, taking her hand and squeezing it. 'Get well soon.'
'You know me,' Elphaba muttered. 'Ill weeds, and stuff.'
Glinda chuckled, then kissed the green girl's cheek. 'Well, anyway, good luck. I'll see you when we get back to the City, okay?' She let go of Elphaba's hand and watched as Fiyero took her inside the carriage, positioning her so that she was lying with her head cradled in his lap and her broken leg stretched out, as Mey had advised him.
She was still drowsy from the sedatives, and she slept most of the way to Munchkin City.
He stroked her hair, twirling strand of it around his finger as he watched her sleep. Truth be told, he was anxious. Mey had told him solemnly that it didn't really look good, and that's why they needed to get to a hospital as quickly as possible – to save whatever could still be saved. Still, the Sheep had told him sadly that she feared that Elphaba would never walk normally again.
'What do you mean?' he had demanded, slightly panicky. 'She'll be in a wheelchair?'
Mey had shaken her head. 'Not necessarily,' she'd assured him. 'But she'll probably have a limp and have to use a cane for the rest of her life.' She had placed her hoof on his shoulder. 'It's not a given, though. Elphaba is a strong young woman. Anything could happen – she might fully recover.'
He had held on to that, and he hadn't told Elphaba about what the Sheep had said. It would only stress her out even more and he didn't want that.
When they arrived at the hospital, he carried her inside. She was still sleeping , and she didn't wake up as she was admitted into the hospital and assigned a room, where Fiyero gently put her down in the bed.
'Sir?' A nurse sympathetically placed a hand on his shoulder, making him jump. She smiled at him. 'The doctor will have a look at that leg soon. She's in the best hands. If you could just come back during visiting hours-'
He didn't even let her finish, just shook his head. 'No.'
'But sir,' the nurse tried again. 'It is hospital policy that-'
'I'm staying,' he declared. 'Either that, or I'm going to get her out of here and bring her to a hospital that will let me stay.'
The nurse looked cross and her smile had faded, but she nodded curtly. 'I see.' She left.
He looked at the dark-haired witch, still sound asleep. Of course he wanted to just be there for her, but that wasn't even the main reason he wanted to stay. It was possible that someone might put the pieces together and realise that Elphaba was the Wicked Witch of the West, and when that happened, he had to be the one to save her, since she was in no condition to do that herself.
She stirred in the bed, eyes slowly blinking open. 'Yero?' She yawned. 'Where are we?'
He sat down in the chair next to the bed, taking her hand and lacing their fingers together. 'We're at the hospital,' he told her. 'In Munchkin City.'
She nodded sleepily. 'Okay.'
Just then, the doctor came in – a friendly-looking middle-aged man. 'Hello, Miss…' He looked at the notepad in his hands. 'Elphaba?'
She nodded.
He put the notepad down and moved to the other side of her bed, lifting the blankets to have a good look at her leg. 'How are you feeling?'
'Wonderful.'
He laughed. 'Good.' He carefully unwrapped the bandage Mey had applied to the leg, but then his smile faded. 'Miss Elphaba… what happened?'
She hesitated – she couldn't very well tell him the whole truth – and Fiyero answered for her. 'Someone stepped on it.'
The doctor looked shocked. 'An accident?'
Fiyero shook his head. 'On purpose.'
The man studied first Elphaba, then Fiyero. He pointed at the latter. 'You're the Captain of the Guard.'
He nodded. 'What does that have to do with anything?'
The doctor looked at Elphaba again, then shook his head and smiled. 'Nothing. Let's have a look at that leg of yours, Miss Elphaba.' He bent down to examine her leg, but suddenly, she spoke up.
'Are you going to tell anyone?'
The doctor's head shot up as if he had been stung. 'What?'
Fiyero looked confused. 'Fae? What is it?'
She ignored him, however, and locked eyes with the doctor instead. The man slowly straightened, and her gaze was fixed on him as she clarified, 'Are you going to tell anyone who I am?'
'Fae!' Fiyero exclaimed, shocked. What was she doing? He frantically wondered for a moment if this was a side effect of the sedatives Mey had given her – was she thinking straight?
The doctor blinked. 'I don't know what you're talking about, Miss Elphaba.'
'Yes, you do,' she said, pushing herself up a little. 'I know that you know – I can see it in your eyes. So don't bother denying it.'
He sighed, then nodded in acknowledgement. 'You have a sharp eye, Miss Elphaba.' He ran his fingers through his hair. 'No,' he said finally. 'I won't tell anyone that you're the Wicked Witch of the West.'
Fiyero gasped in surprise – both at the doctor knowing and at Elphaba knowing that the doctor knew – but the green girl herself just cracked the man a grin. 'I'm not that bad, you know.'
The doctor laughed. 'I can see that.' He sobered. 'But to me, you're just a patient. You need my help, and I will give that to you. It's what I do. Whether you're a princess, a Goat, or a Wicked Witch. Or… not-so-Wicked Witch.'
She chuckled faintly. 'Thank you.'
He took his time examining her leg, gently prodding it, nearly causing her to cry out, but she gritted her teeth and didn't make a sound. When he finished, he looked worried. 'I'm going to talk this over with a colleague of mine,' he said. 'I'll be right back.'
The moment the doctor left, Fiyero said, 'Fae.'
She looked up at him.
'How did you know?'
She immediately knew what he was talking about and smiled mysteriously. 'It's not all that hard, Fiyero. Usually when someone recognises me, I can see it in their faces, no matter how well they try to hide it.' She shrugged. 'It's a skill I picked up during my years on the run. It was a matter of life and death then – if someone recognised me and I didn't notice it, I might just get arrested.'
He nodded, impressed. 'I certainly didn't realise that he knew.' He paused and Elphaba scrunched up her nose, looking worried. 'What do you think it means?' she asked quietly. 'That he's going to consult someone else? Is that a bad thing?'
Fiyero bit his lower lip. He probably had to tell her now. 'Fae…' He scooted closer and took both her hands in his. 'Before we left, Mey said to me-'
'Miss Elphaba.' The doctor came back in again, interrupting the prince. Fiyero faltered, then pulled back and stared at the floor, just hoping that the man wasn't going to say what he feared he was going to say.
'Whoever has already operated you has done a neat job,' the doctor assured her, standing next to the bed. 'I'm assuming it was rather improvised…'
'It was,' Elphaba admitted, and he nodded. 'But still, it's done very nicely. We won't even need to operate you again.'
She breathed a sigh of relief and she felt Fiyero nearly crushing her hand. That had been what she had been most afraid of.
'However,' the doctor continued, and she immediately tensed again. He looked at her solemnly. 'The sharp edges of the bone have damaged some muscles and tissue inside your leg.'
She held her breath, and when she didn't say anything, Fiyero croaked out, 'And?'
'And…' He sighed. 'I don't think it will completely heal, Miss Elphaba. In fact, it's highly unlikely that it will.'
She looked at him with wide eyes. 'Meaning?'
'Meaning you're going to have to use a crutch, or a cane, for the rest of your life,' he replied gently. 'But even before that, it's going to be a long way towards recovery. You can't put any weight on that leg, any at all, for at least four weeks; after that, I need you to start doing exercises to strengthen the leg, but you're still going to have to rest a lot, to give it the time it needs to grow back together.'
Elphaba seemed completely shocked, and Fiyero asked tentatively, 'How long will that take?'
'Before she can properly walk with a cane?' The doctor looked at Elphaba, then at the Prince. 'Probably about nine to ten months, though it could also be a lot less. It depends from patient to patient.'
Elphaba sucked in her breath and Fiyero's face fell. The doctor just gave them a sympathetic smile. 'I will come back later, alright?' Without waiting for an answer, he left.
The moment he stepped outside the room, Elphaba burst out, 'I don't believe this!'
Fiyero moved to sit on the edge of the bed, taking her hand again. 'Fae…'
She pushed herself to a sitting position, ignoring the pain in her leg. 'No, Fiyero! I can't… I mean…' She bit her lip. 'I hate that stupid old fish!' she blurted out. She rubbed her face, suddenly feeling very tired. She wasn't even sure what she was feeling right now. Just the mere thought of being dependent for the rest of her life, whether that was on a person or on a cane, made her stomach churn – not to mention the fact that she was Elphaba Thropp, and Elphaba Thropp was not able to stay in bed for four entire weeks . How could this have happened? When Morrible had been killed, and then Nessa, she had thought it would be over…
'I can't do this,' she whispered, and Fiyero moved closer to her in an attempt to comfort her. She pushed him away. 'Don't do that! I don't need any help!'
'Fae, I get that-'
'No, you don't!' She scooted away from him the best she could with her broken leg. She wrapped her arms around her waist, hugging herself. 'Listen,' she said quietly, not looking at him. 'If what the doctor says is true, and… and I really am… I mean, I really can't…' She took a deep breath, but still didn't look at him. Then she shook her head. 'Just go.'
He was stunned. 'What?'
'You heard me. Just go.' Now she did raise her gaze, meeting his eyes. 'You're a prince, Fiyero. You're the Captain of the Guard. You were never supposed to be with me in the first place – what does a prince like you want with a weird, green fugitive like me, anyway? But now…' She shook her head again. 'I know you'd probably stay with me because you'd feel obligated to, you know, now that I'm… crippled… but you don't have to. You can go if you want to. I won't blame you. You deserve better than this… better than me.'
'Elphaba,' he said in a low voice, clearly fuming, though he was trying to hold it in. 'You stop this nonsense right this instant.'
She fell silent, stunned.
'I love you,' he stressed. 'Do you hear me? I love you. I don't care if you're weird or green or a fugitive or crippled. I would have loved you if you had been a giant purple cockroach with orange dots all over. I love you for you. For who you are inside. And whether you like it or not, I'm not going to leave you. Ever.' She moved away again when he came closer, but he just wrapped his arms around her and pulled her to him despite her quiet protests. 'We'll get through this,' he promised. 'Together. I'm going to help you, and I bet Glin and Corrin will want to help you, too; and you're going to recover. Perhaps not fully, but at least to the best of your abilities. And who knows? Perhaps the doctor is wrong. Perhaps you will walk normally again one day.'
She didn't say anything, and he kept quiet, too, as they both just processed what was happening.
They went back to the City after that, but nothing was the same. Elphaba was stuck in bed for four weeks, with Fiyero taking care of her at all times, even when she got completely fed up with it all and didn't do anything but snap at him. Glinda and Corrin took to ruling Oz, which actually went rather smoothly, considering the circumstances; of course the people needed some convincing, but with help from Fiyero, and the support of several rulers – including the Sorceress of the South from Quadling Country and the King and Queen of the Vinkus – they accepted the two as their new leaders. It probably also helped that they were the perfect picture of good-looking, intelligent rulers; everyone could see how calm, intelligent, and kind Corrin was, and the Ozians were immediately entranced by Glinda's pretty, bouncy, blonde-and-pink bubbliness.
Especially Glinda often visited her friend, listening patiently to the green girl's endless rants about how much she hated to be cooped up inside a single room, her doubts about Fiyero and his love for her, and her struggles with her own feelings on the matter of being disabled. One day, however, about five weeks after the accident, the blonde was finally fed up with it.
'You know what?' she said to Elphaba. 'You need to do something.'
Elphaba stared at her, confused. 'I just told you – the doctor won't let me do anything but some exercises, and I can't be out of the bed for more than five minutes for those, either. Plus, Fiyero won't ever let me do anything else. He's watching me like a hawk.'
Glinda smiled. 'Leave it to me, Elphie.' She sobered, suddenly looking serious as she met her friend's gaze. 'Elphie, this has been going on for too long. I know you're in pain and what you're going through must be awful, but it's not like you to be wallowing in self-pity and I don't like it. I need you to snap out of it, and I'm going to help you.' She squeezed her friend's hand. 'Tomorrow, I will come back,' she promised. 'And we're going to make you walk again.' Her face darkened as she added dramatically, 'Even if it's the last thing I'll ever do.'
Also, I just wanted to tell you guys that I put up the Yero My Hero sequel :). It's called You're Still The One, after the Shania Twain song. I decided to drop the princess-and-disaster-title and just go with something that would fit nicely with the first one - you know, like, Yero her hero, and he's still the one, meaning he's still her hero. And that's a good thing, because our dear Elphie is probably going to need some more saving in this sequel ^_^.
Anyway, thank you all so much for your support - on all of my stories! - and please review, they make my day!
