Tell me it's not true
The two friends wrote to each other almost daily, both expressing regret and apology for the last few years, and filled each other in on what had happened over the last seven months. The blonde had even given her details on Hanssen's funeral arrangements.
Glinda returned to the Vinkus a month later as she had promised, arriving by train to the border and crossed the land by bubble until she spotted her friends home in the clearing.
She knocked on the door and waited. She paused, observing the building from the outside, and saw no obvious signs of life within. "Elphie? Fiyero?" she called out. She sighed and looked around her, hoping that they wouldn't be gone long. She cursed herself for being early.
An hour later, the carriage came to a stop outside the cottage and Fiyero jumped out, helping his wife down after him.
"Glinda!" Elphaba called, spotting her by the door. She ran forward and hugged her.
The blonde squealed and hugged back tightly. "Oz, I missed you! Goodness, look at you! You're glowing!"
She scoffed and smiled. "I'm huge, I'm too hot and I just want this over with."
"You're perfect," Fiyero smirked, kissing them both on the cheek before entering his home, not waiting for the two women to follow him.
"I got here early. I hadn't realised." Glinda explained.
Elphaba shook her head and walked inside. "Don't worry about it. I'm just glad you're here."
"Where did you go?"
"I had a midwife appointment, but for whatever reason, she won't come out here so we had to go to her."
"And what happens if you go into labour here?"
"The old croak expects Fae to travel an hour by carriage to get to the castle." Fiyero scoffed. "Mother trusts her and she says she's the best so I guess we don't have a choice."
"Your mother is hoping that closer to the time we'll actually move into the castle." Elphaba shrugged. "She was talking while I was being examined."
"Come, Elphie, let's walk," Glinda suggested before Fiyero could argue his case
The other woman nodded and allowed her friend to lead her outside, and the two of them walked in silence through the forest.
"How are you really feeling?" Elphaba glanced at her friend after the silence became unbearable.
Glinda shrugged, casting her gaze downwards. "Some days are better than others. I still miss him terribly." She admitted. "How did you do it, Elphie? When you believed Fiyero to be dead, how did you pick yourself up?"
The green woman barked a harsh laugh. "Pick myself up? Glinda the only reason I didn't throw myself off that tower was because I was too proud to do so." She told her bluntly. "If I was to die, to see him again, I'd go down fighting just like he did."
Glinda flinched and sighed. "I'm sorry... I didn't mean... I didn't think..."
Her face softened and she gazed upon her friend once more. "It's alright. I'm sorry, I was harsh. But it's all true. Think about it, at that point, I'd lost everyone. Doctor Dillamond couldn't remain alive after I found him. Nessa was killed as a ploy to get me out of hiding... I lost you the moment Fiyero said he was coming with me... I lost him when I had no choice but to run from him."
"Elphie... You never lost me." She looked up with tears in her eyes. "I was hurt. Of course, I was... But I was more angry with him... And when I saw you in the corn exchange and I just knew what you'd been up to... I just... I wanted to lash out and I lashed out at the wrong person."
"I know." She nodded. "I know... My mind tortured itself for twenty-one days. Every possible outcome of what I wanted, you name it, I thought about it." She sighed. "Chistery... And you... You saved my life that day. If I hadn't got that note... But... You will get there, Glinda. You'll move on eventually. And you'll be happy."
Glinda shuddered. "Elphie, don't say that." She scolded gently, smiling a little at her friend's last sentence. She reached into the ruffles of her pink skirt where the green bottle was securely hidden and she pulled it free, handing it over to her. "This belongs to you."
Elphaba gasped and took it, afraid that she'd drop it. "You kept it this whole time?"
"Of course I did." She gave her a half-smile. "But... Elphie there's something you need to know."
"What is it?" she grew concerned at the worried look on her friend's face. "Glin, tell me."
Glinda took a deep breath before she started to speak. "Not long after you and Fiyero left the Palace... The Wizard and Morrible were talking about another way to capture you... He offered me a drink... He... Uhm..."
"Glinda, spit it out. What happened?" she was getting agitated, she was overheating, overtired and was sick to death of her insides being used as a cushion for her baby.
"I didn't think anything of it at first, I only really made the connection when you gave me that and by then it was too late... He offered me a drink from a bottle looking exactly like that one. If I hadn't known any better I'd have thought he'd stolen it from you... "
"What are you trying to say?" Elphaba was increasingly confused.
"Elphie... Where did your mother get that bottle?"
She shrugged. "The hell if I know, she spent most of my newborn years drunk or drugged and fucking anyone who wasn't my father." She told her. "It could have been given to her by a lover, I guess... But that doesn't mean anything!"
"It means everything... Elphaba, the Wizard told me that only three of those things ever existed in the whole of Oz... And he was missing one of them."
Elphaba paused, trying to process the information. She laughed nervously. "That means nothing. So he had a fling with my mother. Name me one man in Munchkinland or Quadling Country who didn't." She glanced down at the bottle on her hands the exact shade of her skin.
Glinda bit her lip. She knew her friend wasn't as stupid or dim as she was feigning, baby brain or not.
Elphaba shook her head. "No. No, it's nothing. She just... No."
"Alright... Alright, Elphie..." She nodded and linked her arm with hers. "Tell me what else you got for the baby?"
Elphaba shook her head again and sighed, trying to banish her thoughts. No, it wasn't possible, there's no way, as out of her mind Melena was, no way she'd have slept with a man like him. "Uhm... I was given this... Sort of... Sling to go around my body... It's meant to hold the child in place against me so I can still do what I need to."
Glinda smiled and nodded. "Yes, I've heard of those... They're supposed to be good." She said absently. She felt guilty for springing her revelation on to her, awkward that their conversation had become strained small talk. "Elphie, you don't look too well..."
"I'm fine... Just... I'm just tired I guess."
Glinda nodded. "Come on, you need rest..."
"I'll be fine. Come on, I'm hungry." She smiled, though eating was the last thing she felt like doing. Her best friend's revelation and old insecurities assaulting her mind at a hundred miles an hour and there was nothing she could do to stop it. Suddenly her world was spinning, and a moment later, she'd fainted.
"Elphie!" Glinda squeaked, watching horrified as her friend sank to the floor. "Fiyero!" she shouted.
The Prince stopped what he was doing when he heard Glinda's shrieking. Dropping his paintbrush to the floor he stood up and ran out to the two of them. "Fae?" he knelt down beside her, checking her over. "What happened?" he looked up at Glinda.
"We were talking... We were just about to come back when she fainted... I didn't mean to stress her out..."
"Glin, I'm sure she'll be alright." Fiyero sighed and stood up, picking Elphaba up with him.
"Physically... Maybe... But not after what I just told her." She followed him back to the cottage. "I think the Wizard was Elphie's father..."
"What?!" he lay his wife on the sofa and whirled around to face the blonde.
His face, his voice sent a shiver of deja vu up and down her spine. He hadn't looked this way for almost a year, ever since he heard the rumours about water melting Elphaba. "I... Fiyero I know it sounds crazy... I know it's an awful thing to land her with and she doesn't need the stress at this late stage of her pregnancy... But I had to tell her my suspicions."
"And you chose... Why now?" He shouldn't be angry with her. Logically, he knew that.
"I don't know! I just... It came out!"
He sighed and nodded. "Okay... It's alright. She's gonna be fine." He told her, though he wasn't sure who he was trying to convince more, Glinda or himself.
A short while later, Elphaba stirred and slowly woke up to find the doctor in mid-examination. "What...?"
"Ah, Mrs Tiggular, welcome back to us." the older male smiled gently. "Can you tell me what happened?"
Elphaba shook her head slightly, looking around for Fiyero and Glinda. "Where...?"
"I sent them to another room while I looked you over. Your friend seemed quite upset and your husband is comforting her."
She smiled at the concerned look on his face. "Oh, you do not need to worry about them. They're old friends." She told him. "We all went to school together."
He nodded. "Nonetheless, it's imperative you avoid stress, especially in this late stage. Your blood pressure was quite low."
"Understood..." Elphaba nodded, shivering a little as she sat up on the sofa. "You can let them in now."
The doctor had barely moved when the two in question burst back into the room, and Elphaba allowed a small laugh.
"I'm alright, no need to look so panicked." she smiled. "That fainting was probably the most unbroken sleep I've had in four months."
"That's not funny, Elphaba." Glinda scolded.
She smirked in response. "I thought it was."
Fiyero rolled his eyes at the pair and he showed the doctor out of their home. "Thank you for coming to her."
"It's no trouble, Your Highness." the doctor bowed his head. "I was simply doing my job. She is still a young mother after all."
Fiyero nodded. "But still..."
"Ensure she gets plenty of rest," He smiled at the Prince's scoff and eye roll. "I imagine for someone so restless, it's a difficult task."
"You'd have better luck raising the Ozma Regent back from the dead," Fiyero commented with a smirk and headed back inside. It wasn't surprising to him to find Elphaba already on her feet and examining the pieces of wood he'd started painting. He bit back a comment, knowing it would serve him no purpose, and instead snuck up behind her and wrapped his arms around her swollen stomach. He grinned into her hair at the firm kick against his palm.
Elphaba smiled softly, putting her hands on top of his and she melted completely in his arms. "What's this for?"
He shrugged. "I'm not entirely sure yet," He kissed her head. "But when I figure it out, I'll let you know." He paused feeling another nudge at his palm. "I think he feels left out." he laughed.
"He? What makes you so sure?" she smirked.
"Just a feeling." He grinned.
She rolled her eyes at that. "Just for that, I hope it's a girl." she teased and turned in his arms to face him.
"Then I'll be in love all over again." He laughed, picking her up and spun her around on the spot, revelling in her laughter as he put her back on the ground. "I'd love our baby no matter what."
She nodded with a wide grin that lit up her face. "I know." She still had her reservations about the child being born green, she hadn't let on about her increasingly repetitive nightmares about it, about Fiyero disowning the newborn just as Frex had done with her. Maybe there was more than one reason for Frex's extreme dislike for her... Maybe it was true... that the Wizard was her father... She would never be good enough for him because she was never his. No, she was not her mother. Fiyero was not her father, whoever it was. History would not repeat itself.
Later, Fiyero showed Glinda up to the nursery, showing her the progress he'd made. The blonde smiled widely, taking in the painted soft yellow walls, the cot in the corner, rocking chair by the window, to the chest which kept the baby's clothes.
"It's beautiful, Fiyero. Elphie's gonna love it."
"I hope so."
She giggled. "It's alright to be scared you know. She's absolutely terrified, though she won't say out loud... so Oz knows how you must be feeling..."
He nodded, his entire body deflating in seconds. "Probably on the same level as she is... What if I do something wrong? Or... Or I hurt it in some way or it grows up hating me because we can't leave this place?" he admitted. "But I can't show her that."
"Why not?"
"Because as a man, it's my job to be strong for her when she can't."
Glinda scoffed. "Oh, really!" she lightly slapped his arm. "Fiyero that's ridiculous! You're human just as she is! It might help her to know you're just as scared of this whole thing as she is. It can get quite lonely dealing with things like that by yourself. What makes me any different to Elphie? Why admit it to me and not her?"
"Because you're... I don't know." He sighed.
"I get that you don't want to see her hurt, or you don't want her to worry any more than she needs to... But Elphie doesn't need a hero. She's never needed wrapping up in cotton wool, Fiyero. She's your equal in every way, treat her like it."
He smiled a little and nodded. "This new guy really changed you, huh?"
A delicate sniff and she threw her head upright. "Elphie told you about him?"
"I may have caught one or two of her letters." He acknowledged.
She gave a stiff nod then. "Yeah... I guess he did. You'd have got along with him, I think..."
He hugged her shoulders gently. "I'm sorry you had to lose him."
"It's alright... I don't think I'd trust anyone with this secret after him though. It was risky enough telling him. He was one of the guards..."
He nodded. He vaguely remembered him, he had only just started training when Fiyero himself had just been made captain. He got a sense that the younger soldier didn't believe the Wizard's propaganda any more than he did. He probably would have been a better match for Glinda the Good.
Glinda left the couple a few hours later, and now husband and wife were curled up together in their bed, Fiyero toying with her still-damp hair.
"Are you going to tell me what you were crying over in the bath?" He gently probed, kissing the bare green skin of her shoulder.
"It's nothing... It was a silly thing..." Elphaba whispered in a broken tone, scolding herself for showing such weakness.
"Elphaba, it's never nothing when you cry." he pointed out. "Please, my love, let me in."
She bit her lip, her eyes stinging with tears at his pleading and she turned over to face him, the moonlight from their window illuminating his face in its soft glow. "Oh, gentle heart..." she whispered, reaching up and softly caressed his cheek. "I guess I'm just..."
"Scared?" She nodded, her dark eyes wide at his guess. "Me too."
"But... how? You're not scared of anything."
He chuckled. "I could say the same for you," he remarked.
She rolled her eyes, smiling a little at him. "It's just... Growing up... I didn't exactly have the best role model... If it weren't for Nanny... I probably would have died long before now... My mother couldn't stand to look at me, much less hold me. And my father wasn't much better..."
He brushed her hair away from her face as he listened to her.
"What if I end up like them? Fiyero, I was never shown maternal love, and I probably don't have an ounce of motherly instinct... What if I can't love this child?"
Any further worries were silenced by a forceful kiss, and he rested his forehead against hers when he broke it. She had the same fears that he did, albeit two very different reasons, but the same fears nonetheless. "Fae... of course you won't turn out like them."
"You don't know that."
"Yes, I do. D'you know why?" She shook her head. "Because you're nothing like them. Elphaba, you will love this child because you know what it's like to not be shown a parent's love. You will not be your mother, because you care too much, you love too fiercely." He kissed the tip of her nose. "You are the Tigress personified, and Oz help anyone who stands between a mother and her cub."
She blushed deeply and giggled quietly. "And you, my hero? What scares you?"
He groaned, he should have known he wouldn't get out of it. "I guess... something similar," he admitted. "I worry that I won't be able to protect my family, or that because we can't venture out of these lands, he'll grow to hate me for it. Or I'll do something stupid and it ruins everything."
She smiled softly, and she kissed him. "My sweet, foolish man..." she chided fondly. "We won't be perfect as parents... But we will try. You have nothing to be afraid of, Yero. I know you would do anything in your power to make sure we're safe. And I just know that no matter what happens, he, or she will love you so much." She watched the worry melt away, leaving him contented, and she smiled as he then lay his head on her stomach, allowing his soft whisperings to their unborn child lull her to sleep.