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The wedding was small, for by the time it happened, anyone could guess that part of the reason the two lovers were getting married was Elphaba's obvious pregnancy. She'd dropped out of school her third month in and had good timing in doing so indeed, as she began to show soon after. For a thin, bony person like Elphaba, it was hard to hide something like pregnancy.

It was hardly a surprise to Glinda when Elphaba wouldn't leave Fiyero's apartment after the spring holidays. However, she was surprised to see Elphaba holding a baby in her arms when she made her weekly visit the day she returned from her trip home. "Elphaba!"

She hadn't heard Fiyero answer the door. Looking up from the cradle that they'd placed in Fiyero and her bedroom, she asked, "What?"

"You had the baby? I didn't know you were due this early."

Laughing, Elphaba said, "Neither did I."

Glinda raised her eyebrows.

"I never went to see a doctor during the pregnancy. I just guessed at the dates and I guess I was further along than I'd thought I was."

"It seems like it!" Glinda walked towards the cradle. "Is it a boy or a girl?"

"She's a girl. Her name is Mylana Amara." Elphaba said proudly.

Glinda looked down at the baby. "She's beautiful."

"She gets it from her father." Elphaba said.

Fiyero, who entered the room just then, said, "And her mother," and wrapped his arms around Elphaba's waist.

Elphaba waved away Fiyero's comment with one word. "Delusional."

Fiyero only held Elphaba tighter. "You know it's true."

"I know you need to get your eyes checked." Elphaba teased.

"I happen to think green is a very appealing color." Fiyero argued.

"Thank Oz the baby isn't green." Elphaba said.

And the baby was, indeed, in no way any color unnatural in humans. She had Fiyero's dark complexion mixed with what Elphaba's father's complexion looked like. Her skin was a deep olive and her eyes a dark brown. There was no telling what color hair she would have (though Fiyero suspected it would be black, seeing as both his and Elphaba's hair was black), for the baby was only a week old.

Glinda let the little girl tug at the golden curls that hung untamed from behind a headband. "May I?" She reached to hold the baby.

Elphaba nodded. "Be careful, though. She doesn't like anyone holding her aside from me, usually."

But the baby did not mind Glinda's touch. She looked up with her deep brown eyes staring into Glinda's gray ones. Glinda smiled. "Hey, Mylana. I'm Glinda."

Elphaba whispered, "She likes you."

"And she doesn't even like me that much." Fiyero piped in.

"Aw, Yero, she loves you. She's just a baby."

"Well, she had better love me. I am her father, after all."

Glinda stared at the baby girl, entranced by such a small life. "She's so cute. I could just hold her forever."

"No you couldn't, she's mine." Laughed Elphaba.

"You're a lot happier about this baby now that she's born than you were before," Glinda observed.

"Well, you can't help but love such a wonderful little miracle." Fiyero said. "Fae, you still haven't written your father about anything, our marriage or the baby."

Elphaba bit her lip. "I know. I just don't want him to be angry with me for neglecting to tell him before. Besides, he'll be angry that I got pregnant before we were married."

"He doesn't need to know when we were married." Fiyero suggested.

Elphaba found this prospect amusing. "'Dear father, Fiyero and I have been married for quite some time now. Oh, and by the way, you have a granddaughter.' I can imagine that would go well."

All three of the adults laughed, and baby Mylana cooed from Glinda's arms, making them all laugh again. Suddenly, Elphaba looked at the clock. Fiyero made a face. "Don't tell me you have to go again."

She frowned. "I have to."

"Would you at least tell me where you're going?"

"Darling, you know I can't."

"I don't like this."

"Yero, I can't just tell you. It's not that easy. I promise I'm not being a bad girl." Elphaba laughed.

Fiyero smiled lightly at that. "I believe that. But I don't like that you refuse to tell me where you go all the time now."

"I have to run," was all Elphaba would say. Quickly, she planted a kiss on Fiyero's cheek and left the apartment.

Glinda blinked. "That was fast."

"She always does that."

"Where does she go?"

"Did it sound like I know?"

"She really won't tell you?"

"I'm not allowed to know, supposedly for my own safety."

"Do you trust that?"

"I trust that she's being faithful. I just don't like whatever else it is that she's up to."

"Of course she's being faithful, Fiyero, she loves you more than I've ever seen her care about everything else. Both you and I know that."

"I agree with that. But I don't like that she can't tell me what's going on. It makes me uncomfortable."

"Do you have any clues?"

"It involves a group of people."

"What?"

"She slipped and said at one point, 'I've got to go with the group'."

"Hmm. I'm worried about her, Fiyero."

"So am I."

"You don't think it's dangerous, do you?"

"I'm almost sure it is." Fiyero said sadly. "She says she doesn't want me involved because she's afraid I'll get hurt."

"That would mean..."

"She could get hurt." Fiyero finished. "I know."

When Elphaba returned to the apartment that night, her cloak was wrapped around her tightly, like she was hiding from something, or at least hiding her identity. This made Fiyero even more uneasy.

"Fae, we need to talk."

She looked up, untying her cloak quickly as she dressed for bed. "What is it, Yero my hero?"

Immediately he didn't know if he could bring himself to argue with her. The use of his nickname had softened him and he knew she'd only said it as a way to get out of her predicament. Well, he thought so, anyway. Once he'd convinced himself of this fact, he said, "You can't keep hiding from me."

"What are you talking about? Fiyero, I'm not hiding from you. What do you mean 'hiding'? I tell you almost everything."

"Then tell me where you go all of the time."

"So that's where you were going with this." Elphaba sighed. "Fiyero, that's different. If I thought you needed to know, I'd tell you."

"I think I need to know."

"You don't. Fiyero, my darling, I can't tell you. It's too risky for me to do that. There's no way I will put you at risk."

"Risky? If it's risky, and you're at risk, I think I'd better know."

"Here we go again." Elphaba rolled her eyes.

"This isn't a routine. We have to talk about this. I need to know what's going on with you. We're married. You should tell me these things."

"You don't need to know everything that happens in my life. I mean, yes, we're married, but you are not my keeper."

"But I should know the majority of what you do. And the majority of it takes place wherever the hell it is that you go all the time."

"Fiyero, I'm here most of the time."

"These days, it's getting pretty close to being equal time spent here and equal time spent wherever else it is you go. You've left me alone to care for Mylana more times than I can count."

"I take care of her a lot, too, Fiyero." Elphaba paused. "Are you bothered by that? Having to take care of her? Is that it?"

"No, Fae. It's this entire secrecy thing that I don't like. I'm sorry to say there's nothing else going on in my mind."

"If you don't worry about it, then it'll all be fine." Elphaba attempted to reassure him, lying blatantly.

"I could not worry about it if you'd tell me what it is."

"No, that would make you worry more."

"See, just you telling me that worries me more. The more you hide all of this from me, Fae, the more I want to know. If it's putting you in danger, I can't let it go. It's not that easy."

"And it's not as easy as just telling you." Elphaba replied harshly. "This is my life, not yours."

"You're my wife!" Fiyero snapped, enraged, "And this is our daughter." He gestured to the cradle. "You should be home with the baby and me, not out doing god knows what."

Elphaba stopped fiddling with her cloak, shocked at the way her husband had yelled at her, shocked at the person she'd become. All at once, she dropped her cloak, gave up changing, sat on the bed and began to cry. "I'm sorry, Fiyero. I'm so sorry. Don't hate me."

He hadn't meant to break her down, only to talk her into informing him of what was going on. Sitting down on the bed himself, he took Elphaba into his arms and stroked her hair. "It's okay. It's okay, Fae. Just tell me and everything will be okay."

She shook her head and looked at him through the tears pooling in her eyes. "I wish."

He picked up her cloak and used it to dry her tears. "I love you no matter what, you know that. You shouldn't feel afraid to tell me things."

"Fiyero, if you were to get involved, I'd put you and Mylana in danger. I can't do that."

"I won't get involved in whatever this is. I just want to know what it is."

"To tell you would be to involve you. It's not something we're allowed to talk about easily."

The infamous "we" again. "Who is 'we', Elphaba? What sort of organization are you in?"

Giving in at least, she said, "Politics."

"That's not so bad."

"Terrorism."

"Okay, maybe it is."

"It's... the Animals, Fiyero. I never told you this, but before you came to Shiz, we had a professor, a Goat, and he was big on Animal rights. His name was Dr. Dillamond."

"What does a Goat have to do with anything?"

"He was my favorite professor. He was murdered." Elphaba said simply. "And he was murdered because of his involvement in Animal rights. I've got to avenge his death, Fiyero. It's not fair that he should've died for nothing. And don't you see? The Animals are being treated unfairly."

"Well, they're not being treated with complete respect, but I don't see why you need to involve yourself..."

"I do, I just do." She cut him off. "But anyone who opposes the Wizard gets killed in this world. This is no democracy. This isn't even a republic. This is a dictatorship under disguise."

Fiyero shrugged. What did politics matter? "Fae, don't put yourself in danger just for..."

"But don't you see?" She cried, helpless. "I'm not only putting me in danger. That's where I've gone wrong. Just by being a part of this, I've put you and Mylana in danger, too."

"What?"

"The Wizard's guards will do anything they have to in order to get to someone, Fiyero, including kill or injure a person's family."

He blinked. He wasn't sure if he should yell, cry, or just hold her. In the end, he chose the latter, kissing her forehead. "I love you, still."

Tears continued to well in her eyes. "Oh, Yero, I'll quit. I'll quit tomorrow. And I'll stay home with you and Mylana. I promise."

"Good," he said, glad she'd made the decision on her own, for he'd begun to wonder if he'd have to force her to decide something. "And I'll take you out for a nice romantic dinner when you come home. How does that sound?"

She smiled, really smiled, for the first time in weeks. "It sounds wonderful."