Chapter 51

Ella was the first one to find the pair of lovebirds snuggled up on Glinda's hospital bed.

"Morning!" Ella bounced into the room towards her parents.

"Good morning sweetheart." Glinda smiled at her daughter as she scooted over to make room for the little girl.

"Did you sleep well?" Glinda helped Ella into the bed as she asked how she slept.

"Yep." Ella confirmed that she had.

"Hey Ella isn't your nanny supposed to take you to the playground today?" Elphaba asked the three-year-old. She didn't mind that she was here; she was just a little surprised.

"I wanted to say hi to you first." Ella grinned. She knew how to suck up to her parents very well.

"Aww how sweet." Glinda cooed. She was falling into Ella's trap.

"I'm sweet." The three-year-old continued to act all cute and innocent.

Elphaba was wondering what Ella was up to. Normally she didn't play the adorable card unless she wanted something or something was up.

"Is there any particular reason you wanted to say hi to us this morning?" The green woman asked. She wasn't falling for whatever spell Glinda was under.

"Because I love you!" Ella continued to smile. She was unfazed by Elphaba's attempts to gain access to her secrets.

"Aww I love you too." Glinda smiled as she reached over to hug her daughter.

The green woman couldn't help but smile, but there was still a nagging in the back of her mind that told her this was all for show.

"Hey mama can I have a hug." Glinda pouted after not receiving a hug from Elphaba.

"Of course." Elphaba smiled before hugging her daughter. The green woman still couldn't figure all of this out. Was Glinda in on this?

While Elphaba hugged Ella she swore she could hear the little girl snickering. She was definitely up to something. Before she could pull back and ask what, the door to their room burst open.

The green woman jerked up to see a mass of people all huddled around a cart. On the cart was a cake.

"Happy Birthday!" The crowd cheered as they rolled the cart into the room.

Elphaba was beyond shocked. She had been so stressed out lately that she forgot it was her birthday. Birthdays had never been a big event for her anyways. The only person to ever celebrate her birthday before was Fiyero…

Fiyero...He would never get to celebrate with her again.

Elphaba's facial expression went from surprised to sad in a split second.

Glinda noticed this and whispered into her love's ear. "Are you okay? I didn't think a small party would upset you."

Elphaba turned to look at her love. The green woman's face was unreadable.

"This was your idea?" Elphaba finally found words to speak.

"Yeah…" Glinda didn't know how else to respond. Did Elphaba actually think that she would forget her twenty-sixth birthday?

"Happy birthday to you! Happy birthday to you! Happy birthday dear Iris! Happy birthday to you!" The crowd of people cheered as they lit the candles on the cake.

Elphaba looked up to see the ringleader of the crowd. It was Tahj. She couldn't believe that he had kept this from her when they talked yesterday.

"Blow out the candles birthday girl!" Tahj smiled towards Elphaba. He thought the look on her face was still one of shock. Instead she was feeling quite overwhelmed and all of a sudden wanted to cry.

And so she did.

Glinda watched as her fiancée began to tear up for no apparent reason. Had the surprise party upset her that much? Glinda suddenly felt guilty. She shouldn't have sprung this on the green girl like she did. She knew that Elphaba didn't like parties. Especially not after what happened at Ella's.

Tahj too noticed the change in Elphaba's attitude and immediately grew worried. Had they walked in at the wrong time? Were Glinda and Elphaba in the middle of their important conversation when they barged in? He didn't understand why Elphaba would be crying over this. And from the looks of it they weren't tears of happiness.

"Can you give us five minutes?" Glinda asked all of the people who had come to wish Elphaba a happy birthday. She needed to talk to her love, but she couldn't do it with all of these people around.

"Sure." Tahj knew that the two women needed to talk this over. "We'll be outside for when the birthday girl's up for it." He smiled encouragingly as he walked out. The crowd disappeared once again behind the door to their room. Tahj had taken Ella with him when they went outside and so now it was just Elphaba and Glinda alone in the room.

"What's wrong my love?" Glinda reached a hand up to wipe the tears that had fallen from the green girl's eyes.

Elphaba didn't know what was wrong. She all of a sudden had the urge to cry and she didn't know why. That seemed to be happening a lot lately.

"Was the surprise party too much?" Glinda continued to ask her love questions as the green woman tried to stop crying. "I tried to keep it to just our friends."

The green woman shook her head as more tears threatened to flow. "I…I can't do this."

"Do what Elphie?" Glinda continued to try and soothe her fiancée. She had never seen Elphaba this emotional. These past two days she had seen more emotion out of the green woman than she had ever seen before.

"The party." Elphaba's voice hitched as a knot formed in her throat. She continued to cry.

"I can get them to leave. I never meant to upset you." Glinda felt horrible. She should have never planned this without Elphaba's consent.

"I…It…" Elphaba began to explain but found that she couldn't speak anymore. The knot in her throat was too much and so she cried to get it out.

"Shh sweetie. It's okay." Glinda reached out and once again wrapped her arms around the green woman. She pulled her close and placed her the green woman's head upon her chest. Glinda's ribs were killing her at the moment but she didn't care. She hated to see the woman she loved crying again.

Five minutes passed as Elphaba clung to Glinda and cried. She felt completely vulnerable and didn't want to let go for anything. Glinda continued to try and calm her love but nothing seemed to be working. She couldn't figure out what she had done to upset Elphaba so much.

Another couple minutes passed before Ella popped her head in the door.

"Is mama okay?" The three-year-old asked cautiously as she stepped into the room.

Glinda looked up at her daughter as Elphaba tightened her one handed grip around her back and dug her head further. She wasn't ready to be seen yet.

"Mama needs some more time. Can you please go tell Tahj to call the party off?" Glinda hated canceling everything but she knew that they would wait around for an hour before the green girl would let up. "And then when you are done get Tahj to take you to your nanny."

"Okay." Ella agreed as she took one last glance at her mama clinging to her mommy. She couldn't understand why the green woman was so upset. Ella loved birthday parties.

A couple more seconds passed before Ella exited and left Glinda and Elphaba alone once again.

"It's just you and me again Elphie. No one else to worry about. I'm not going anywhere." Glinda whispered into her love's ear once Ella had left.

Elphaba had stopped crying by now but she still hugged Glinda a little too tightly for her comfort.

"Are you ready to talk about it now?" The blonde didn't want to upset the green woman further but she knew that Elphaba wouldn't feel better until she talked about it.

"I don't know if I can." The green woman admitted. She knew what had triggered her meltdown but she didn't understand the magnitude of it.

"Do you at least want to try?" Glinda encouraged as she led Elphaba's head away from her chest so she could stare into her eyes.

"It wasn't the party. I mean I was surprised and all. But that's not it." Elphaba sniffled as she stared at her love.

"Then what was it my love?" Glinda stared back. She could see that Elphaba's emotions were all conflicted.

"I…I've never had my birthday celebrated before…except…except for the past few years." Elphaba couldn't say Fiyero's name. She knew that Glinda would understand what she meant though.

Glinda took a second to think about what this meant but when she did she immediately felt sorry. How could she have been so stupid to think that Elphaba wouldn't think about Fiyero on her birthday? He had been the first one to ever celebrate it after all. Not even Glinda celebrated it back at Shiz because it occurred when they loathed each other.

"I'm so sorry Elphie I should have known." Glinda apologized as her own eyes began to water. She couldn't believe that she had forgotten how Fiyero's death might still effect Elphaba.

"Don't cry Glinda. Please." Elphaba didn't want her girlfriend crying as well. She had had enough of a breakdown for the both of them.

"I should have know that you weren't over this. I shouldn't have sprung all of this on you like this." Glinda continued to apologize as she tried not to cry for her love.

"It's not your fault Glinda. Even without the party I would have still thought about it once you wished me happy birthday." Elphaba tried to get her girlfriend to see this wasn't her fault. "I'm just overly emotional right now."

"You're pregnant, it's expected." Glinda chuckled a little bit at Elphaba's last statement.

"I hate feeling so sad and helpless all the time." The green woman sighed. She hated not having control over her hormones.

"It will get better sweetheart. I promise." Glinda smiled encouragingly as she placed a hand over Elphaba's enlarged stomach.

"You know today was the first time I truly cried for him." Elphaba interrupted Glinda's action. She needed to talk about this, it had been eating her up for long enough.

Glinda didn't know what to say. She was grateful that Fiyero had risked his life to save the both of them, but a part of her still didn't like him. At least not the way that Elphaba still seemed to care for him.

"It's been four months and I haven't shed hardly a single tear. What does that say about me?" Elphaba stared up at the ceiling. She felt disgusted with herself.

"Elphie you can't blame yourself for anything. You've been stressed out beyond belief these past four months." The blonde tried to get Elphaba to see that none of this was her fault.

"Too stressed to even say a proper goodbye? I only went to his memorial because I was forced." Elphaba bit her bottom lip. "He died saving us and I don't even have two minutes to thank him."

"Elphie don't look at it like that. You are thanking him just by being alive. That is all he ever really wanted." Glinda rubbed soothing circles on her love's stomach as she spoke.

"I feel selfish Glin. Like I took something that belonged to him and never gave it back." The green woman continued to stare at the ceiling.

"Like what?" Glinda asked. She was intrigued as to what Elphaba had thought she had stolen from Fiyero.

"His heart." The green woman stopped looking at the ceiling and over to her girlfriend.

Glinda had stopped her motions on the green woman's stomach as she looked into conflicted brown eyes.

"I…I can't help you with that Elphaba." Glinda finally spoke up. She didn't know why Elphaba had to bring the matter of love into the subject. Glinda was not the person to talk to about this.

"I can't help myself either." The green woman stared into blue eyes before returning her gaze to the ceiling.

The pair of them remained quiet for a little while longer before a light tapping sounded at the door.

"Come in." Glinda called out once she say that Elphaba was doing all right.

Tahj peeped his head through the door. He was concerned about his two friends. He had never seen Elphaba cry like that before.

"Is everything okay?" Tahj asked in a big brother fashion. He kept his body outside of the door and only his head inside.

"You can come in Tahj. Everything is better." Glinda lied. Everything wasn't better. Elphaba would not allow herself to let go of the guilt that held her down.

Tahj walked into the room and glanced over to the position the two women were in. Glinda was lying almost flat on the bed and Elphaba was in a curled up position staring at the ceiling.

"How are you feeling Elphaba?" He spoke to the green woman as he took a seat next to the pair.

"Pregnant and hormonal." Elphaba tried to form a joke. She needed a distraction from her own guilt at the moment.

Tahj chuckled lightly. "Yes. That will often cause women to change emotions in the matter of milliseconds." He smiled encouragingly as Elphaba flipped over so she was now facing him.

"Did I completely ruin the party?" The green woman asked her friend. She didn't know what else to say to Glinda at this point.

"Nope. And as a matter of fact…" Tahj whistled and the same birthday crew entered the room once again.

"I figured you'd need some sugar and ice cream after your debacle earlier." Tahj smiled hoping that he had done the correct this in ignoring Glinda's wishes.

"You didn't have to wait." Elphaba was frustrated but she didn't let that emotion show. She had already ruined her first party.

"Well it's your birthday and as such, it is means for celebrating." Tahj got up from the chair and went over to the cart where he grabbed a hat that read 'Birthday Girl'.

"Here put this on." Tahj tossed the hat over the to the green woman.

"Are you serious?" Elphaba looked down at the hat in disbelief. How was she expected to wear something that was…well pink?

"Yep." Tahj smiled as he began to light the candles with the assistance of his helper Ella.

Glinda didn't know what to think of all of this. She knew that parties seemed to upset Elphaba now but she seemed to be doing all right. Or maybe it was just an act. She couldn't tell.

"Will you cry if we sing to you again?" Tahj poked fun of Elphaba.

"If you're the one singing then probably." The green woman shot back.

"Ouch." Tahj acted offended. "Fine then. Ella will you do the honors." Tahj moved Ella to the front of the group.

"Happy birthday to you…" Ella started the song off as the rest of the crew joined in.

By the end of the song Elphaba was feeling a little more balanced and in control of her emotions.

"Now blow out the candles!" Tahj pushed the cart forward so Elphaba could do as she was told.

As soon as the candles were out everyone cheered and went about the normal birthday festivities.

Somewhere between cutting the cake and a moderated version of pin the tail on the donkey, Elphaba found herself smiling.

"Are you feeling better my love?" Glinda asked as she tried to eat her cake.

"I am." Elphaba smiled over at her love. "Thank you for this." Elphaba felt bad that she had ever brought any of this up with Glinda. She should have been more considerate towards the blonde's feelings.

"Happy birthday." Glinda smiled as she leaned in to give her love a kiss.

"Eww not in front of the kids!" Tahj interrupted the two. He was really full of himself today.

"You're right. Tahj you leave and then there will be no kids to worry about." Elphaba pulled back from the kiss to tease her friend. The room erupted into laughter as Elphaba one-upped the head guard.

"Hey! What about her!" Tahj pointed towards Ella who was eating her third helping of cake.

Ella looked up from her cake as the room stared at her. She had frosting all over her face and hands.

"Whav I voo?" Ella tried to ask with her mouth stuffed with cake.

Glinda giggled at seeing her child covered in frosting. She was so like her mother at that age.

"You ate too much cake that's what you did!" Elphaba leveled a glare at her adopted daughter.

Ella smiled sheepishly as she tried to swallow what was in her mouth.

The little girl was distracted which Elphaba took as an opportunity to attack.

Before Ella knew it, Elphaba had sprung from the bed and picked the three-year-old up.

"I'll get you my pretty." Elphaba chuckled as she gracefully threw Ella onto the bed where her mother was.

Ella was giggling as she fell to the soft mattress.

The green woman then instigated a tickle war with the help of Glinda and Tahj. The other party guests just sort of watched with amused expressions on their face.

"Mama! Sto…stop!" Ella tried to yell between giggles. Elphaba didn't let up.

"You ate too much cake! Now you have to face the consequences!" Elphaba joked as she continued to tickle the child. Glinda was smiling and would reach a hand over every now and then to help, but mainly she just watched. She knew that Elphaba was going to make a great mother to Ella and to their child whenever she arrived.

"I'm sorry!" Ella tried to squirm away from Elphaba's grabbing hand. Tahj chuckled as he let up and allowed Elphaba to finish her off.

"Sorry won't bring back the cake you ate!" Elphaba chuckled as she continued to tickle the backside of Ella's knee. The three-year-old was almost in tears she was laughing so much.

Elphaba continued to tickle her daughter until her hand grew tired. Since she could only use one, tickling was a little harder for her.

"Are you done harassing our daughter now?" Glinda asked playfully as she saw Elphaba stop her motions.

"I wasn't harassing! I was teaching her a lesson." Elphaba stuck her tongue out in a very unlady like move.

"And what would that be?" Tahj chuckled as he picked the wiggling three-year-old up and placed her on his shoulders.

"If you eat too much cake you get tickled." Elphaba put on a serious face as she turned towards Tahj.

"Hum…I don't remember being taught that lesson when I was younger." Tahj tried to wrack his brain for a memory.

"That's because you were never a kid grandpa!" Elphaba teased Tahj once again.

"Hey! Just earlier you said I was the only kid in the room and now I'm a grandfather?" Tahj acted offended.

"Eh. You can be both." Elphaba chuckled.

"Okay you two. Playtime's up." Glinda interrupted the banter. She loved seeing Elphaba happy and comfortable around Tahj but now she wanted her to herself.

"Sorry mother." Tahj apologized in a playful tone.

"Yes." Elphaba agreed. "Sorry mom!"

"Oh no. You two are not ganging up on me now. And dear I do hope that you think of me as something different than a mother. Or else we have some serious issues." Glinda chuckled.

"We'll see about what I think of you later." Elphaba winked to her love, which caused Glinda to blush slightly.

For the next two hours the party guests began to wither away until it was only Elphaba and Glinda left. Tahj had taken Ella to the playground himself.

"Did you have fun today my love?" Glinda asked as she snuggled up against her love.

"I did actually. I'm sorry about earlier. I shouldn't have let my emotions take over like that." Elphaba still felt guilty about earlier.

"It's expected when you're pregnant." Glinda chuckled. "Just don't do it once the baby gets here."

"I won't." Elphaba smiled as she began to play with Glinda's right hand.

"Mmm Elphie. That feels good." Glinda smiled as she closed her eyes to enjoy the sensations Elphaba's hand was making her feel.

"It's a small token of my appreciation." Elphaba smiled as she continued to caress Glinda's hand and eventually her arm.

The two of them continued to lay like that for a while. All thoughts of guilt and birthday parties long forgotten. In that moment it was just the two of them.