Chapter 44. Dead End
Rifiuto: Non Miniera
Thanks to Elphaba1fan and populardarling for reviewing 43.
Elphaba looked around the tower room she and Fae were sharing. After the Superior Maunt came, they were taken upstairs to the only available room left.
A bed was pressed against the wall, a clothes press was against the opposite wall, with a small desk in one corner and a table with a basin and pitcher stood near the door.
Fae sat on the floor, staring into space. Elphaba knelt now in front of the older woman.
"Fae?" She reached out and gently touched the woman's shoulder.
Elphaba sighed, getting up and going to the basin. Bracing herself, Elphaba dipped her fingers in the liquid, and relaxed when she felt the cooling effect of oil.
Removing her fingers, she wiped the oil off, then picked up a towel and the basin and returned to her place in front of Fae.
"Come on. Let's get cleaned up. We both need to clean ourselves off." She said, dipping the towel in the oil and reaching for Fae's hand. The older woman, like Elphaba, was covered in blood, her hands coated in the thick, sticky liquid.
She shook her head.
"Fae, listen to me. You can't quit. You have to stay alive. You hear me?" She asked, wiping the blood off the long emerald fingers.
Fae shook her head.
"No. You can't give up. You have to stay alive. You have to keep fighting!" Elphaba cried, sitting in front of Fae.
"I can't…..I can't….."
"Listen to me! You can and you have to!" Elphaba cried, dropping the towel and grabbing the woman's face and forcing her to look into her eyes.
"No….blood. So much blood." Elphaba sighed, dipped the towel in the oils again, and returned to cleaning Fae's hands.
"Yero wouldn't have wanted you to give up, would he?" Elphaba asked, cleaning Fae's hands.
"I'm late."
Elphaba looked up.
"What?"
"I'm late." She repeated, not meeting Elphaba's eyes.
"What do you mean, 'late'?" Elphaba asked.
Her voice void of all emotion, Fae said,
"I'm pregnant."
