I went dress shopping the other day, and found myself feeling all the fabrics. Villy and Elphaba are rubbing off on me.
"You sure you'll be alright today?"
Elphaba turned, tying her hair into a low ponytail and slipping her glasses onto her nose. "I have no idea what to expect. Hopefully, she's cooled down and will be calmer today. I'll be okay."
The prince nodded, giving her a goodbye kiss. "Okay. I love you."
"I love you, too."
She arrived much earlier than usual, enjoying the feeling of being alone in the shop as she did her opening chores and sat behind the counter, lazily flipped through the store book as she waited for Villy. She heard their car, but didn't look up, keeping her gaze on the sketch of Raylyn's wedding dress as her boss entered.
"Elphaba?"
"Hi."
Villy's lips slipped into a small frown as she went into her office to get settled. When she emerged, she went to the counter and reached out her hand, but only grasped air. "Elphaba, where are you?"
"The mirrors are dirty."
She wiped her clammy palms on the sides of her dress, and made her way over to the modeling station, easily stepping up onto the raised platform and lightly brushing her fingers against her arm, stilling her wiping motions. "I'm sorry for snapping yesterday."
"You don't have to apologize," she said, averting her gaze.
"Yes, I do, so please let me. Yesterday was rough for both of us – and I'm not mad at Fiyero – but I didn't check on you."
"I'm sorry about Nyris. I know you don't like having decisions made on your behalf without your knowledge. I didn't mean it like that."
"I know you didn't. Are you alright?"
"I'm okay."
Villy noted the cool detachment in her voice. "I don't want you afraid of me."
"Cautious, not afraid."
She let out an exasperated sigh. "You've always been so good at knowing when to help or say something, and when not to, and I don't want my pregnancy to change that. We've been through too much together. I know I can flip from mother to monster at the drop of a hat, and I hate it just as much as everyone else, if not more."
"I know you're trying. I understand."
"Knowing I'm trying and understanding doesn't make it okay. Your feelings matter, Elphaba. Can you forgive me?"
She turned and her face melted. "Of course." She put down the spray bottle and rag, and wrapped her in a gentle hug, which Villy quickly returned. "And you weren't being a monster. I've dealt with actual monsters, and you're not one of them."
"Wanna bet? Last month, Geri and I had a very big argument – I can't remember what about – and I was so angry, I locked myself in our bedroom. Then, I took my seam ripper and methodically ripped every third stitch out of the seams from one of his work shirts and pants before rehanging them. It cooled my hot-headedness and calmed me down enough to be willing to talk to him. We had a long talk, apologized, and went to bed. I swore I would tell him in the morning about his sabotaged shirt and pants, but I forgot."
"You forgot?" Elphaba repeated skeptically, her lips curling into a sly smirk.
"I really did! Baby brain. Anyway, a few days later, he came home around an hour after leaving for work, with his clothes gently shredding off his body, and said, mildly shell-shocked –" She deepened her voice to mimic him, "'Dovey? Dovey… my clothes are broken'. It was very villainous of me, but hilarious!"
The green girl let out a loud cackle. "Thank you for never doing that to me."
"You'd fix the clothes. It would've defeated the purpose."
Their morning was fairly quiet. Villy hogged the register the entire time, alternating between sitting on the stool and standing, barely venturing further than her small section.
"Excuse me, is this 318 Ovelained Street? I'm looking for Mrs. Villy Moxx."
Villy looked up at the gruff voice. "That's me. What can I do for you?"
"I'm here to install your new air conditioner."
Her eyes widened in shock. "Oh, yes, of course."
The man nodded and got settled with his tools.
"I completely forgot about it. I told you my memory's shot," she said when Elphaba came over.
The green girl chuckled, but stopped when her boss playfully nudged her hip. The air conditioner being set up didn't stop them from working. They were doing their own things, since not a lot of customers came in, but Elphaba stopped when she noticed stains on her boss's dress.
She hurried over and lightly touched her shoulder, her voice dropping. "Miss Villy, come with me to the back."
"Why?"
"I need to tell you something."
Villy blinked, but followed Elphaba to her office. "What's going on?"
"You're… wet."
Her brow furrowed. "What do you mean 'wet'?"
"There are large stains on your chest."
She cautiously ran her hand across her chest, feeling the wet, somewhat sticky, spots on her breasts. "What… what is this?"
"I don't know." She hurried to the bathroom and grabbed a bunch of paper towels.
Villy tried to dry it as best she could, but it was still very visible. "I'm probably leaking colostrum, the thick, yellowish precursor to breastmilk." She rubbed the back of her neck. "Thanks for telling me. But I don't know what I can do. I refuse to let others see this, I don't have a change of clothes, and nothing in the shop will fit me."
"I could try…" She trailed off, not knowing if she wanted her boss to hear the rest of that sentence.
"What?"
"If you want, I could use a drying spell."
Her boss stiffened. "Your magic?"
She had gotten better at controlling her magic even in the most emotional situations. She barely used it, finding it much easier to ignore. But it was their only option. "Yes, but only if you're comfortable with it. I took Madame Morrible's sorcery seminar with Galinda last year. She was my toughest professor, but I still got an A-minus."
"I don't… will it hurt the baby?"
"I don't think so. It's not a lot of magic."
"Will it hurt you?"
"I'm drying a dress, not a river."
The seamstress bit her lip, but nodded, hearing her whisper something in a language she didn't understand, and feeling the heat emanating from her hands hovering over her chest, but stayed still.
"Let me know if it gets too hot."
"Okay."
It took a few minutes, since she was working really hard on temperature control, but the wet stains slowly disappeared and she stopped the spell, shaking her hands. "You alright?"
Villy gently patted her stomach, checking on the baby. She got a few flutters and a kick to her kidneys, telling her everything was normal. She checked her dress, and the stains were gone. "Thank you, Elphaba. I appreciate this."
"You're welcome. Perhaps this is a sign we should start making maternity clothes."
She chuckled, grabbing a few paper towels and folded them into squares. "Hopefully, this will soak up any more leaks." She disappeared into the bathroom, stuffing them into her bra.
When they both came back to the front, the man announced he was done with the air conditioner. After testing it out, Villy thanked and paid him, finding her new favorite spot right in front of the cold air.
"I don't know how I survived without this," she sighed, closing her eyes as the cold air hit her face. "And Elphaba?"
"Yes?"
"When – if you want to share, I'd love to hear about your new home."
Elphaba grinned. "I'll bring the photos tomorrow."
Integrating Maven and Scarly into their system wasn't as hard as Elphaba thought. The young women were very nice and she got good vibes from both of them. Maven only needed the store-specific aspects, leaving Villy to spend most of her time with Scarly, since she was a student and her main focus was to learn from her. Her sewing skills were very good, much better than Elphaba's when she first arrived, and Villy teasingly pointed that out.
"I think you'll be the one to give her the test," she admitted, sitting next to Elphaba behind the counter as they went through the newest fabric catalogue.
"You want me to blindfold her and shove fabric swatches into her hands?" Elphaba asked.
"It's the most effective way of doing it. I think she'll become the new you."
"You told me I'm indispensable." She fake-pouted, exaggerating her whine. "But I can give her the test if you're not here. If she'll be the new 'me', I want to leave an impressionable legacy."
"Geri wants me to change my schedule; to take it easy. But I'll be stuck in the house for a while once the baby comes, so I want to do as much as I can now. There's a lot I want to do before I go on maternity leave, and before you move to the Vinkus. Maven and Scarly will be alone for a few months until I return."
"You know I'll support whatever you decide."
"In that case, I think I'll start taking Saturdays off."
Elphaba glanced at her. "You were ready for that."
"It gives me more opportunities for quality time with Nyris. I don't want her to feel neglected. When she comes today, I'm taking her out for ice cream. So much will change soon, and I want to make sure she's okay. She's only six, and the center of both mine and Geri's worlds. I don't know how she'll adjust to having to share our attention."
Elphaba wondered if her parents had the same conversation before Nessa was born. She liked to imagine her mother being concerned about her feelings and wanting to make sure she knew she was still loved, since it balanced out her father's known and clear hatred for her.
"Excuse me, Miss Villy, where's the rainbow thread?" Scarly asked shyly.
Villy turned. "The actual rainbow thread or the kit?"
"The actual thread."
"I'll show you." She pushed herself up and led the young girl to the workroom.
While they were in the back, Elphaba and Maven handled the rush of customers. "Do they always come in large packs like that?" Maven huffed once it was over, leaning against the wall.
"Most of the time. The trick is to never talk about how quiet it is. I think they hear us."
She chuckled. "Understandable. In Qhoyre, even the rushes are quieter. It's a lot to get used to."
"Delivery for Mrs. Villy Moxx."
Elphaba looked up at the delivery man. "I'll sign for it." She quickly scribbled her name, accepting the large box.
"Is that the new stool I ordered?" Villy asked, reemerging with Scarly.
She grabbed the scissors and cut the tape. "I think it is."
"This one is cushioned, with a back and armrests. And you can adjust the height. Safer on all fronts."
The two newbies didn't know about her fall, but Elphaba gave her a knowing glance. "Nice."
"I ordered the pink one."
"Rouge." The other two were still getting used to Villy's color chart, and she wanted to save them from being tested. "I think we can put it together."
"'We' meaning the three of you."
"How hard could it be?"
Villy was subjected to listening to an hour of "Which side is this?" and "Where did that screw go?" and "Elphaba, you're holding the instructions upside down!" and "Are we supposed to use brute force?" and other mini arguments and paper rustlings. Eventually, her three employees managed to put the stool together, and Scarly tried it out.
"You adjust the height with this lever on the right. Pumping makes it go up, and pushing brings it back down," she read before testing it. "And the seat spins."
"I don't think I'll be using that feature very much," Villy admitted, trying it out for herself. She sank against the cushion and relaxed, the strong back supporting her. She tested the lever and learned its workings. "Is there a way to lock the spinning?"
"Um…" Scarly scanned the instructions. "Yeah. Push the lever in."
She did and the seat locked in place. "I like it. What do you two think?"
"Two?" Maven asked.
"You and Scarly. You'll be using it more than Elphaba and me."
"Hey!" the green girl protested. "November is ages away, remember?"
"I like it," Scarly offered as Villy slid off to give Maven a turn.
"I do, too," Maven agreed.
"Looks like we're keeping it," Villy grinned. "If I may reclaim my throne, please?"
"Who's princessing now?" Elphaba questioned, her eyebrow quirked.
The seamstress regally sat, her back erect, and did her best impression of a royal wave, making all four women laugh. "I think this is – oh." She stopped, her hand flying to her stomach.
"What's wrong?" Elphaba asked, but her boss waved her away.
She shifted her weight. "It's… tight. Ow." She shifted again and the uncomfortableness slowly ebbed. "I think that was a Braxton-Hicks contraction. Scarly, my water tumbler is on my…" She closed her eyes, "uh… my desk or in the workroom. Could you get it, please?"
"Sure." The young girl disappeared and quickly reappeared with the bottle.
Villy took a few sips, keeping her eyes closed and rubbing her stomach. Maven opened her mouth – no doubt to suggest taking it easy – but Elphaba shook her head. Both newbies were still learning their boss's limitations, both visual and pregnant, and while Villy was very patient with them, the green girl didn't want either of them to learn the hard way. Maven nodded and closed her mouth.
"It's almost four. I'm getting my daughter. We're going out for ice cream, so you three hold down the fort while I'm gone." Villy slowly stood and went to her office to retrieve her cane before leaving the shop.
"Hello, ladies."
The women looked up as Fiyero entered. "Hi, love. You just missed Miss Villy. She took Nyris out for ice cream."
Fiyero accepted the kiss from his fiancée. "You've told her I'm not purposefully avoiding her, right?"
"She knows, Yero."
"Mmhmm. Hello, Maven, Scarly."
This wasn't the first time the new employees were meeting her fiancée, but Scarly still got a bit starstruck every time she saw the Vinkun prince. "Your Highness," she dipped into a curtsy.
Fiyero had insisted on a casual approach when he was in the shop, and wasn't able to shake off the formality. He wanted to enjoy being just 'Fiyero' before all the titles and pomp became permanently attached.
"What brings you by?" Elphaba asked.
"Can you come by tonight? There are some papers you need to see."
"Are they bad?"
"No, just important and time-sensitive. Mostly wedding stuff, all very boring."
She gave him a look. "Planning our wedding is boring?"
He pecked a kiss on her faux-pouting lips. "Of course not, but the paperwork is long and I have to read every single word."
"Oh no! How horrendible for you! Reading all those words on the page!"
"It's all logistical stuff, invoices, and the like, but it included a packet about your wedding dress. I didn't look at it, knowing that it's bad luck to see the dress before the wedding, but I took the packet out."
"You know Miss Villy's still unhappy that she's not making my wedding dress."
"I told her there's nothing in royal tradition or protocol that prevents her from making your dress."
"I know, but we nearly killed ourselves last time, and that was us working together. We both agreed to never do it again, and here she is volunteering to put herself through it again without my help. She didn't make her own wedding dress, so I don't know why she's fussing over mine. I convinced her she'd be in over her head trying to do it by herself with everything else going on right now." She smiled softly. "She wants to do something special for me, but I told her she's done so much already. You know she takes credit for bringing us together."
"She does?"
"If it weren't for her persistent insisting, I wouldn't have given you a chance. And, I mean, she's not wrong."
"Have you decided on a date yet?" Maven asked, restocking the wrap dresses.
"April fourth, the first Saturday of the month."
"Nothing is more perfect than a royal wedding to begin the wedding season," Fiyero chirped. "And Fae wants a warm wedding."
"And Yero doesn't want to wait forever to marry me," Elphaba smiled.
"I'd wait one hundred years for you, Fae," he insisted, kissing her cheek.
"You would?"
"Well, I wouldn't want to, but the fact that I would is very romantic. We'd be the first Vinkun royal to get married over the age of seventy-five."
The prince stayed for a bit longer, talking to the women and engaging with a few customers, and was able to see Villy for the first time since the paparazzi incident two weeks prior.
"Hi, Fiyero!" Nyris giggled, letting go of her stepmother's hand as they entered and running to the prince.
"Hey, kiddo. I love your cat ears," he smiled, referring to her pink, plastic headband as he knelt and pulled her into his arms.
"Thanks! Elphie showed me pictures of your new house! You have a garden, just like me, but yours is huge!"
"Yes, we get a huge house and garden. Did she show you our apple trees?"
"Yeah! She said we can come visit and eat yummy apples from your trees!"
He stood, lifting her into the air and spinning her around. "Of course, Nyris! We'll have all the yummy apples you want!"
"Careful, Fiyero. She just ate," Villy warned, hearing her squeals, and not wanting her to throw up.
The prince obediently returned her feet to the floor, but the talk of apples and gardens persisted. Villy happily joined the conversation, silently letting him know all was forgiven between them and she was glad to have him back.
That evening, Elphaba went over to Fiyero's apartment to look over the paperwork with him. He had been right about it being a lot, and everything was worded in a way that forced them to scrutinize every word to fully understand.
"You were right about this being a lot," Elphaba said, taking off her glasses and leaning back against the couch pillows. "But we got through most of it. And I think we deserve a reward."
He perked up with a smirk. "A reward?"
She faux-gagged. "You're such a man."
"Was that not what you meant?"
"No, it's exactly what I meant. But you still such a man. But I suppose I can forgive you since you're mine." She snuggled closer, nuzzling her cheek against his collarbone, shivering when his hand slid up her back.
"Mmm… and I like having you all to myself."
When Villy entered the shop a few weeks later, Elphaba immediately noticed something different.
"The baby has dropped, and is no longer pressing against my lungs, so I can breathe," she smiled with a relieved sigh. "I've never breathed this well in all my life. It feels so great to be alive." She took a satisfying deep breath and paused. "However, now my bladder is smooshed, so I'll be right back."
Though thirty-seven weeks pregnant, this development gave Villy a surge of newfound energy. She moved around the shop more, feeling more like her old self than she had in a while. Her three employees took this all in stride, not missing a single beat, and offering silent helping hands when their boss started getting a bit too ambitious.
"Miss Villy, the mirrors are clean," Elphaba said, reaching to take the cleaning solution and rag away from her boss.
She sprayed the mirrors and started wiping in meticulous, circular motions, shrugging off her hands.
Elphaba exchanged a look with the others, but waited until her boss finished her task. "And now they're spotless."
Villy sighed, but handed over the supplies. "Sorry. Nesting. Last night, I reorganized all the kitchen spices alphabetically. The weird thing is that I know I would've had a heart attack if Geri did the same without telling me." She rubbed her belly. "He talked me out of reorganizing the shop. We haven't done that in a while. It's not the most ideal in my current situation, so we'll keep the same layout for now."
"I think –"
"Sorry, hold that thought," Villy excused herself to the bathroom. Elphaba hid a chuckle behind her hand, watching her boss waddle away. She returned, rubbing her stomach with an exasperated expression. "I swear, this baby is using my bladder as a body pillow." She received a seemingly indignant kick to her ribs. "Sorry, but it's true," she said to the baby, giving her belly a gentle pat. "But I still love you." A softer flutter followed. "There was something I had to do today…"
"The fabrics' test?"
"Yes! Scarly!"
The younger girl made a noise and glared at the green girl, who simply shrugged. "You have to do it sooner or later. And I think you'd rather do it while Miss Villy's here."
"You're ready," Villy said with an encouraging smile. "I know I've been tough on you, but you're ready now. Elphaba, get the supplies ready, please."
"Okay." The green girl disappeared into the back and got the basket of fabric swatches and blindfold ready.
A few minutes later, Villy and Scarly came to the back, leaving Maven in the front to mind the store. Scarly glanced at the basket on Villy's desk, but before she could get a good look, Elphaba instructed her to close her eyes and gently wrapped a thick fabric over them.
"Breathe," Villy instructed when the younger girl started hyperventilating. It was unclear whether her nerves were from the darkness that just encompassed her world, or the impending test, or a mix of both, but she knew she had to get her to calm down. She placed a hand on the small of her back. "Deep breaths."
"Do all seamstress have to do this?" Scarly asked as Elphaba led her to the desk.
"You're here to learn from me, and I'm going to teach you the way I learned. While you've had a front-row seat to my color obsession, I mostly judge clothes by the way they feel. Fabric identification is very important in a seamstress, whether you can see or not, and getting specific isn't just a 'Miss Villy thing'. It's what makes us different from other shops. Now, there are thirty fabric swatches in the basket, and I need you to get at least eighty percent correct."
She did the mental math. "That's twenty-four." She only had room for six mistakes.
"Yes. Elphaba and I will hand you the fabrics and you have to correctly identify them by touch. We won't tell you which ones you get correct or incorrect until the end."
"O-Okay. I'm ready."
"Good. We'll start easy." Elphaba handed her the first fabric and the test began.
The two seamstresses took turns grabbing fabrics for her to identify and placing them into two different piles. Scarly took her time, focusing on the textures and willing her fingers and brain to work together.
"Alright, you're all done. You can remove your blindfold," Elphaba announced.
Scarly slowly removed the fabric from her head, blinking her eyes open to allow them to adjust to the light. "Well?"
"You got twenty-six correct. Good job!"
Villy reached over and felt the ones she missed. "Modal, baize, cashmere, and gingham. Well… gingham is more pattern-based, but has a very distinct, woven texture. But you did very well, Scarly. I'm proud of you."
"Thanks," the younger girl beamed.
"You did much better than Elphaba." She smirked at her assistant. "How many times did I make you take this test?"
"Four," the green girl recited glumly. "To be fair, I was fifteen." She turned back to Scarly. "While she was extremely tough on you, she was a straight drill sergeant with me. I felt like I was in Gale Force Boot Camp."
"I wasn't that bad!"
"Yes, you were!"
"Well, I'm sorry for traumatizing you. But it worked out in the end. Scarly, I'm especially surprised that you got the chenille. We don't work with it much, but you still identified it correctly."
The intern grinned. "My baby blanket was made of chenille. It was very soft and fuzzy, and I remember it had a very distinct smell."
"You did smell it," Elphaba pointed out.
"I don't smell fabrics," Villy said, wrinkling her nose. "If I notice a scent, great, but I'm not going around, sticking my nose into all the fabrics."
"It saved me a point," Scarly defended herself.
"That it did. So I won't fault you for it. Let's go back to the front."
Later that week, the four women were refolding and rehanging the clothes left in the fitting rooms. Villy had stopped their unofficial mid-shift break to give them a task, claiming that 'there's always work to do'.
"People leaving clothes in the fitting rooms isn't the problem. That happens at every clothing store," Villy said, folding the black pencil skirts and bringing them back to the proper section. "It's when they rehang the clothes on the wrong hangers or not at all that aggravates me personally. If a dress isn't properly labeled, I won't know what it is. I hate thinking a dress is purple when it's actually yellow, or the wrong size."
"It's only happened a few times," Elphaba offered, handing her boss the correctly labeled hanger for the dress she was holding. "Despite the organization."
"That's 'a few times' too many. I enjoy throwing people off with my seemingly magical color knowledge, but it ruins the illusion when I'm wrong. There are signs on the doors asking people to please rehang the clothes on their correct hangers."
"I thought you liked our system of you reading the braille label on the hangers and I make sure it's the right dress. I considered it our bonding time."
"Yes, I do enjoy our special bonding time doing that."
"Perhaps you could tag the clothes instead of the hangers. And then remove them when someone purchases it," Maven offered.
"We used to do that, pinning them with safety pins. Then I ran out of tagging labels. I planned on using the tape labels for a little while – as a substitute – but never bought new tags, and it just stuck. Perhaps we'll start back up again."
Once they finished, Villy retreated to the workroom to iron and prep the fabrics for their next custom order, leaving her three assistants to relax in the front, waiting for customers or another task. Elphaba was showing them the store sketchbook, reminiscing on old custom orders they had done.
"Okay, there's been a slight change of plans," Villy said, emerging from the back doorway without preamble. "Maven, Scarly, I need one of you to mop underneath the workroom table. Elphaba, I need you to run to Tip Bank and get Geri."
It took a moment to sink in, but once it did, the two new women looked to Elphaba to guide their reactions.
"Alright," Elphaba said calmly, her voice hiding the excitement displayed on her face. "Do you need anything else?"
"Not right now. But please hurry."
"I'll get the mop," Maven said, disappearing behind the corner as Elphaba disappeared out the door.
"Are you alright, Miss Villy?" Scarly asked, at a complete loss of what to do.
Villy rubbed her stomach. "Yeah. The baby's just coming home a bit earlier than expected." She smiled, but the younger girl could see the nervousness in her eyes.
"You're thirty-seven weeks?"
"Mmhmm."
"Are you worried about that?"
"No, just…" She trailed off, reaching for the young girl's hand. She quickly obliged, and Villy relaxed a bit, the physical contact grounding her. "Distract me until Elphaba comes back with my husband."
Scarly glanced at the open sketchbook. "Can you tell me about this hot pink party dress, with the spaghetti straps, corset bodice, and ruffles on the short skirt?"
She smiled and sat. "I'll tell you the whole story. It's quite a tale."