A/N: For the sake of this chapter there were zoo's around back then. And not the kind that housed Animals...but the kinda that housed animals. If that confused you i'm sorry, haha.

Chapter 35

"Good morning sweetheart." Glinda entered her daughter's room with Elphaba in tow.

"Morning mommy." Ella yawned.

Glinda went over to her daughter's bed and picked her up.

"Elphie has something important she wants to ask you." Glinda smiled at her daughter and then at Elphaba.

Ella was curious about what Elphie had to tell her this early in the morning. She turned her head towards Elphie.

Elphaba was sweating profusely. The moment had come. No matter how many times Glinda had reassured her that things would go well, she was still having trouble believing it.

"Ca…can we sit?" Elphaba stuttered and motioned towards the couch in Ella's room.

Glinda put Ella on the ground and grabbed Elphaba's hand. The three of them made their way over to the sofa.

"Ella I have something really important to ask you." Elphaba tightened her grip on Glinda's hand. The blonde only smiled at Elphaba in response.

"I..I would like it if…if you would let me adopt you." Elphaba spoke faster than she thought possible. "I would like you to accept me as part of your family."

Ella looked into Elphaba's eyes wondering why this question was causing her so much distress.

"What's adopt?" Ella asked her mother.

Glinda knew that this question was a possibility. She decided that she should answer it instead of Elphaba.

"It means that Elphie wants to be your other mommy. If I ever went away for a long time then she would be the one to take care of you." Glinda tried to explain in terms that Ella would understand.

"Oh." Ella understood now. "Okay then." She replied.

"O..okay?" Elphaba wasn't sure she had heard correctly.

"Yup. You can adopt me." The three-year-old smiled and jumped off of the couch. "Can we eat now?"

Glinda giggled at her daughter's dismissive behavior. This apparently wasn't a problem to her in the least.

"We can go eat." The blonde smiled and looked towards Elphaba. The green girl was still staring speechless at Ella. "Elphie you can close your mouth now." Glinda continued to laugh.

"I…I…" Elphaba started but couldn't find the words to express how happy she was. All her worrying had been for nothing.

"I…I…" Glinda mocked. "I love you Glinda? Is that what you were trying to say? Aww how sweet. I love you too." Glinda joked knowing full well that's not where Elphaba was going with her ramblings.

Elphaba smiled and looked at the blonde. "Well yes I do love you but that's not what I was going to say."

Glinda leaned forward and placed a soft kiss on Elphaba's lips. Her cheeks turned a darker color green.

"Ewww gross." Ella stated. Any kind of kissing seemed disgusting to her three-year-old mind.

Glinda just laughed at her daughter's comment. "Fine, fine. We will save that for later." She turned and winked at Elphie causing her to blush even more furiously.

"Food?" Ella reminded her mother that she was hungry.

"Yes food." Glinda responded and the three of them walked in the direction of the kitchen.

XXX

"Ella don't play with your food." Glinda chastised her daughter. "Food is for eating, not playing."

The two Uplands and one Thropp sat around the kitchen table enjoying some waffles and eggs the cook had prepared for them.

"I'm bored." Ella huffed. She had finished eating a while ago and was waiting for Elphie and her mother to finish.

"Table manners Ella…" Glinda shot her daughter a look that said do not mess with me.

Ella placed her fork down to get rid of the temptation to play with her food.

"Elphie, mommy is no fun." Ella complained to the green woman. She didn't care that her mother could overhear this conversation.

"I think she is plenty of fun." Elphaba stuck up for her soon to be wife. Now that things had settled down between them they had called the wedding back on.

Ella sighed. There was no way she was going to win this debate. "Can I go play mommy?" she turned her attention back towards the blonde.

"Me and Elphie are still eating. You can go play with your nanny if you want." Glinda was a little annoyed.

"Fine." Ella got up from her chair and stormed out of the room without even saying goodbye to either Elphie or her mother.

"What the hell was that all about?" Elphaba asked Glinda once Ella was out of the room.

"I don't even know half of the time. That child drives me crazy." Glinda admitted.

Elphaba laughed at the comment and continued to eat her breakfast.

"So any plans for the day?" Glinda asked her love once the two of them had finished eating.

"None so far. You?" Elphaba got up from the table and began gathering their empty plates.

"I have work to catch up on." Glinda huffed. "I have been avoiding in lately so it's really piled up. I might have to work until five or six tonight. Do you think you can manage until then?" She too joined in the quest to clean up.

"I'll miss you while you are away but yes I can handle that. It'll allow me and Ella some time to bond." Elphaba smiled and walked over to where her lover stood.

"Good luck with that. She seems to be in one of her moods today." Glinda wished her love good luck and placed a kiss of her lips.

"So dinner tonight?" Elphaba confirmed that that was the next time she would see her love.

"Yeah dinner. It's a dreaded nine hours away." Glinda groaned. The green girl only smiled in response.

Glinda gave Elphaba one more kiss that she hoped would last her until she could see the raven-haired beauty next.

"Good bye my love." Glinda pulled back from their kiss and looked lovingly into Elphaba's brown eyes before exiting the kitchen.

XXX

"Elphie!" Ella was apparently really excited to see Elphaba come and save her from her nanny.

"Hey there little one." Elphaba smiled and went over towards Ella. "It's just you and me today. Mommy's got to work."

Ella frowned slightly but not for long. She still had Elphaba who was willing to spend time with her.

"I wanna go to the zoo!" Ella bounced up and down with excitement. "Pwease take me." Ella's face imitated a look Elphie had seen so often of Glinda's face. It was the puppy dog look. The one the green girl could not resist.

"Don't you think your mommy wants to see the zoo too?" Elphaba tried to hold off a visit out in public. It was one thing masquerading around in the palace as someone she wasn't, but to do it in public as well was terrifying. It was only a small staff of people here. Out there it was more people. What if any of them recognized her? A lot of people had attended Shiz University that lived in the area.

"No. Mommy doesn't like the zoo." Ella continued to pout. "I never get to go. Ever."

Elphaba could feel her resolve faltering. She could not resist Glinda's daughter just like she couldn't resist Ella's mother. There was the certain Upland charm about them. Elphaba hoped her daughter didn't have that or else she would be in real trouble. Two against one is bad enough, three is unimaginable.

"Don't you want to go on another day when it's prettier? It's kind of cloudy outside. It might rain today." Elphaba tried everything to convince Ella to change her mind.

"I want to go now." Ella whined.

Elphaba sighed. She knew she had lost a battle. She had promised to spend some quality time with Ella and if this is how Ella wanted to spend it then this is how she would spend it.

"All right you win. Go grab your coat while I write a quick note to your mommy telling her where we are going." Elphaba caved.

Ella's face lit up with excitement. She could barely keep from bubbling out of the room at the thought of going to the zoo.

"Okay!" She yelled and ran towards her closet to retrieve a jacket.

Elphaba laughed at Ella's antics and went to scribble a note on a piece of paper for Glinda to read.

Glinda,

I took Ella to the zoo for a couple of hours. Don't worry about us. I'll keep a good eye on her. We might even bring you something back…if you're lucky. I love you and will be back as soon as I can drag Ella away from the animals. Wish me luck. I'll need it.

Yours Always,

Iris + one

Once Elphaba was satisfied with her note she gave it to Ella's nanny to take down to Glinda's office. She knew Glinda had meetings all morning and so she didn't want to disturb her by stopping by in person.

"Ready to go?" Elphaba helped Ella into her oversized coat. It was a little chilly outside.

"Ready!" Ella smiled and grabbed a hold of Elphaba's hand.

The two women left the palace and headed towards the zoo.

XXX

"Delivery for you miss." One of Glinda's staff members knocked on her door and handed her an envelope.

Glinda thanked the staff member and carefully opened up the letter. She could tell it was from Elphie from her scrunched up and meticulous handwriting.

Her eyes scanned the page reading what Elphaba had wrote. How her love had signed the letter amused her greatly. It was Elphie and one now.

"Good luck my love." Glinda chuckled and sat the note on the corner of her desk. It would be much easier getting through the day knowing that Ella and Elphie both had something to entertain themselves.

Once the letter was positioned perfectly the blonde resumed her task of looking over documents.

XXX

"Elphie look! Look!" Ella tugged at Elphaba's dress trying to gain her attention.

"What? What?" Elphaba mocked Ella's excitement and turned to see where Ella's finger pointed.

"Birds!" Ella clapped and sure enough it was a cage of multicolored birds.

"They are birds." Elphaba smiled. "Good job." She patted Ella's head.

"Lift me." Ella requested and it didn't take long for the green woman to figure out what she was asking. She reached down and picked Ella up placing her on her shoulders.

"Do you know what kind of birds those are?" Elphaba quizzed Ella. She loved being able to pass her knowledge on to someone else.

"No." Ella responded. She didn't know much about the animals except they were birds and they could fly.

"They are toucans." Elphaba smiled and began reading off of the information card outside of their cage. "Toucans are usually first noticed flying from treetop to treetop in small groups. The bird's most distinguishing feature - its colorful, disproportionately large bill - is actually light, mostly hollow, and used for cutting down and manipulating the diet staple, tree fruit."

"Ooo." Ella awed in amazement. The birds were surely colorful enough for her liking.

"Ready to move on?" Elphaba asked and began walking to the next area.

In the next cage there were groundhogs.

"What are those Elphie!" Ella yelled in excitement.

"Hold still." Elphaba tried to keep Ella from bouncing off her shoulders. "Those are groundhogs." The green woman informed Ella and again read from the information card.

The two kept this up for what seemed like hours. When Elphaba was finally tired of walking and could tell Ella was tired as well she figured it was time to return to the palace. She needed to put Ella down for her afternoon nap.

XXX

"Did you have fun today?" Elphaba asked as she tucked Ella into her bed. The three-year-old grasped tightly to the new doll she had gotten at the zoo.

"Yeah!" Ella smiled back at Elphie. She really did like spending time out with the green woman. They always had fun together.

"Good." Elphie smiled and leaned in to place a soft kiss on Ella's forehead. "Now go to sleep. When you wake up it should be dinner time."

"Okay." Ella didn't put up a protest. She was actually exhausted from their zoo outing earlier.

"I love you." Elphaba said aloud for the first time. She had never told Ella she loved her.

Ella smiled. "I love you too."

Elphaba's heart felt as if it were going to burst from happiness. Ella loved her and wanted her to adopt her. What could bring her down now?

"Night sleepy head." Elphaba teased Ella, which had become their bedtime or naptime tradition. She walked over and shut the door leaving it slightly cracked for when Ella woke up.

XXX

The green woman practically skipped down the hall to Glinda's office. Well as close to skipping as the green woman could manage.

They had bought Glinda a stuffed bear at the zoo and she wanted to surprise her love. She knew work had to have been horrible that day.

She was smiled when she rounded the corner towards the staircase. She didn't even notice a couple of guards walking in front of her until she ran into them.

"Watch where you're going!" One of the guards rudely shouted.

"I'm sorry. I didn't see you there." Elphaba blushed. She had been too lost in her thoughts to see the oncoming traffic buildup in the hallway.

"It's all right. Just be more careful next time. We are escorting a prisoner at the moment. If you had knocked us any harder he would have gotten away." The guard glared at Elphaba trying to intimidate the woman. He apparently didn't know that she didn't scare easily.

It was when Elphaba heard them say they were escorting someone that her eyes fell on a familiar face. That person glared back at her for a little while. They continued to stare until their eyes widened with realization.

"Well hello lover." Fiyero smirked.