Tell me it's not true

Three days later, Elphaba was sat with Glinda in a meeting with the representatives of the city, her youngest son curled against her chest fast asleep. She remained quiet while she listened to the ramblings of the old men throwing accusations at her friend, watching in silent pride as Glinda stood up to them.

"I told you, Stansfield, that everything you heard before was complete defamation of character, Elphie has been my best friend for years, there's not a wicked bone in her body!"

"She supports the Animals!"

"So do I! Does that make me wicked?"

The man paled once he realised what he had said and he shook his head. "No, Your Goodness."

"Glinda, if I may?" She sat up straight in her chair.

"Of course." Glinda smiled.

"Alright, let me make it perfectly clear, that the only maiming I have ever done was a complete accident. A spell went wrong for me, what I thought was a simple levitation spell ended up being something worse and unfortunately it gave some Monkeys a set of wings. I never seduced or killed anyone. I certainly never put a spell on the former Captain of the Guard." She told them, although Fiyero would joke and say differently, as he had done from the moment they met. "I have never intentionally harmed anyone. All of these attacks the Wizard claimed I made are all a fabrication. But let me tell you something. That man was a fraud. A liar and a fraud and believe me, I wish I never agreed to meet him when I was a naive nineteen-year-old. Maybe my life would have been so much easier. Maybe I'd have graduated with my best friends. But none of that matters now. I'm done hiding, and that man does not have a hold over me anymore."

A pause as the men in front of them made a mental calculation. Glinda watched on with pride as her best friend spoke, almost certain that these men would meet the infamous harsh tongue of Elphaba Tiggular, and she was surprised at the diplomatic truth that came from her.

"You're only twenty-nine?!"

Elphaba smirked lightly. "I was a child, sir. Do tell me how a young scrappy nineteen-year-old can hold a reign of terror over the seemingly most powerful man in all of Oz?" she tilted her head. "I was twenty-three when I was supposedly killed. Fiyero was twenty-five."

Stansfield spluttered and his face turned red with shame.

"And nobody knew at the time that she was pregnant," Glinda told them, ignoring the glare from Elphaba.

"Yes, thank you, Glinda." She rolled her eyes, glancing down at her son when he coughed and he whined, she adjusted him in her arms. "Shh... It's okay, baby," she whispered.

The men still looked between each other uneasily, clearly torn.

"If she was as evil as the Wizard and Morrible claimed she was, her son would be scared of her. And so would her other children. And the Vinkun people wouldn't accept her as their queen. Those deals we now have with the Vinkus are hers and Fiyero's ideas." Glinda told them.

"Your Goodness... How do you expect to get this message across to the rest of the Ozians when you yourself proclaimed your relief of the Wicked Witch of the West being killed."

"That was my doing," Elphaba told him. "I told her not to try and clear my name. I faked my own death because I knew the people wouldn't rest until I was gone. Even when I hadn't done anything wrong. I'd like to say I'm used to it, but it still hurts." she raised an eyebrow at the man so desperately wanting to question her. "And no, my children are not green. Although I wouldn't be at all surprised if my daughter has painted herself green. She likes that colour at the moment."

Glinda giggled. "She loves her mama."

"Indeed she does." Elphaba smiled softly. "And as for what we're going to do... Well, Glinda and I decided to tell everyone the truth. You've all had at least some information from her and my husband."

Stansfield nodded thoughtfully. "If there is an uprising-"

"Then they declare war with another nation." she cut him off as Ashender began fussing more. "Glin, I'm sorry, I'm gonna have to..."

"Of course." she kissed the boy's head and watched her friend stand. She saw the worried look on her face as she left.

Elphaba quickly made her way to the nursery, seeing the nanny tidying the room up. "Gia... I need your help... There's something not right about Ash."

"Of course, Your Majesty." the young woman took the now screaming toddler and lay him in the cot. "He feels hot..." she muttered and took off the sweatshirt he had been wearing, and immediately spotted an angry, blotchy rash on his arms. "It could be a heat rash... we'll let him cool down and see if it goes... It could be nothing too serious."

Elphaba nodded, feeling numb from the moment she spotted the rash on her baby. "Gia... he... is he in pain with it?"

"I think it's an irritation at this point, " she told her as Ashender's crying slowed to a quiet sniffle. "Would you like me to get your husband?"

"No... no, he's spending some much needed time with the twins."

Gia nodded, looking back down at the little boy. "It's not a happy time for you, is it, little one?"

Elphaba smiled a little, watching her with him, she loved seeing the maternal side to the girl. She had to be no older than she herself had been when she first gave birth to the twins. "You're good with him."

And there is was that sad little smile which she covered up very quickly. "Thank you. I guess it's years looking after my siblings and then my nephews."

"You lost one, didn't you?" she asked gently.

"Is it that obvious?"

"To somebody who has experienced loss of another kind, yes."

Gia shrugged, her smile turning sad again. "I was fifteen... I had no idea until I started bleeding, and it was a lot more than my regular cycle so... I was rushed to a doctor who took one look at my down below and told me I was losing a baby and I would have to give birth. He guessed it to be around twenty weeks."

"You had gone halfway through a pregnancy with no idea?" Elphaba gasped softly, placing her hand on hers.

"Back then, I wasn't as regular, so it was no surprise when I reached 4 months before I bled... the shock was I had a dead newborn daughter in the womb."

"Oh, Oz, Gia I'm so sorry."

She shook her head with another smile, her eyes full of acceptance. "It's alright. The pain isn't so bad eight years on... Except on birthdays... but that's why I do this. It helps me."

Nevertheless, Elphaba wrapped the girl up in a tight hug. She could not even begin to imagine losing her children. When she was younger, she didn't even believe that she'd find love, let alone have his children, now she couldn't see her life without them.

"Thank you, You-"

"Oh, please. None of that. I hate it." she smiled. "Just Elphaba. Please."

Gia giggled and nodded. "Yes, Miss Elphaba." she stepped out of the hug and grabbed for her bag for a tube of cream. "This will hopefully soothe any irritation," she told her and put the cream over the child's arms.

"How do you know this?" Elphaba looked on in wonder.

"I want to train to be a nurse... so I read and I visually study a lot... With the money I get from this job, I want to use it to go towards my training."

She smiled at that. "I think that's wonderful." she wondered what would have happened to her if she'd had the chance. Her dreams didn't extend to outside meeting the wizard, she had never once stopped to think about a plan B, because in her mind, back then, there wasn't one. Who, outside of the little family she had built, would want to be anywhere near the green girl? "You're the only one of the staff members who hasn't screamed at the sight of me."

Gia blushed. "I... well... I admire you a little bit, Miss Elphaba."

"Me? Why on earth would you do that?"

The bluntness of the question made the young woman laugh. "Because I remember hearing all these stories, seeing all the good you were trying to do for the Animals... and I couldn't possibly match the stories up to the things I was seeing. Yes, I was still just a child, and it was still scary. You saved someone very dear to me... and I never got to thank you for it."

"Oz, you're gonna start me crying again." Elphaba's voice shook and she laughed.

"I'm sorry." the girl's smile was kind.

"I thought I could hear talking." Fiyero grinned from the doorway and walked inside.

"Hm... where are your shadows?" Elphaba asked and she was greeted with a kiss.

"Eating. Which is what you both should be doing also."

"Yes, well... you just ruined a heart to heart, now go away," she smirked.

He laughed and kissed her again. "No." he dragged her to her feet and looked over at Gia. "Are you coming?"

She shook her head with a smile. "No, thank you. I think I'll keep an eye on this little one for a bit."

He nodded. "I'll get something sent up to you, I'm sure Glinda won't mind." he smiled and pulled Elphaba away. He kissed her head as they walked. "Has something changed?"

"A... Uhm... a heat rash of some sort," she told him quietly. "Yero, what's happening to our baby?" She cuddled against him as he held her tighter. "I just feel so..."

"Helpless?"

She nodded. "You too?" she looked up when he nodded and they shared a tender kiss.

"He'll be alright though. He's a fighter, just like his mother," he told her with a smile, he had to believe it. "How did your meeting go?"

"Sometimes I wonder why Glinda doesn't just get rid of them and get new advisors. They're so... stuck in their old ways. Although... they did have the nerve to feel guilty for launching a witch hunt on a pregnant twenty-three-year-old." she smirked.

"How... Glinda?"

"Yep. I must say, it was quite a sneaky way of getting the sympathy. Not that I wanted it, but I could have laughed and killed her for saying it."

"I imagine twenty-three makes you sound like a baby compared to them." He laughed.

She nodded with a grin. "Yes, I suppose so."

"Does this mean everything is set for tomorrow?"

"Oh, Oz!" she complained and closed her eyes. "Do I really have to?"

He stopped outside the dining room and he turned her to face him, his hands softly placed on her cheeks and he stroked the emerald-hued skin beneath his fingertips. "You don't have to do anything that you don't want to, my darling girl. I want you to remember that. As excited as Glinda is to have her best friend home for good, she wouldn't want you to upset yourself."

She opened her eyes as he spoke and looked up into those deep blue eyes she trusted and loved so much. "Thank you, my love." she smiled.

"Right, come on. There are two little people in there who have missed their mother today."

She giggled and nodded, walking into the dining room with him, and within moments, her heart jumped at her twins' yelling for her and wrapped her arms around them as they crashed into her legs. She chuckled quietly, looking down at them. "Well, hello to you too." She took them both back to the table and helped them back into their chairs.

"We missed you, mama." Leila pouted.

"Can you play with us tomorrow?"

Elphaba looked at them. "We have one final thing tomorrow, but I promise, you will have me for the rest of the week."

"Can't we come with you?" Liir asked.

"Ashy was with you today."

She bit her lip as the guilt prodded at her stomach. Had she really been neglecting her attentions with them? She knew her daughter's comment was innocent enough, and the child hadn't realised the weight of the words on her conscience. "Oh, Leila... Liir, I'm sorry..."

Fiyero watched as Liir gently nudged his sister in a bid to tell her off for her poor choice in words, something he knew Elphaba hadn't seen. "I don't think she meant any harm by it."

Leila shook her head wildly, her blue eyes impossibly wide and remorseful. "Mama, really I didn't...-"

"My sweet girl, don't worry. It's alright." she gave her daughter a smile, which seemed to appease her, but hadn't fooled Glinda or Fiyero. She remained silent throughout dinner.

Later in the evening, she threw herself into the usual nighttime routine of getting them ready and settled for bed, and she didn't leave them until she was sure they were both asleep. She stood in the doorway watching them sleep, trying to ignore the guilt she felt for leaving them. "I've been absent... Fiyero, her face-"

"Come on." he stopped her, tightening his hold around her. "You're not absent. We just happen to have a child who isn't very well and he's taking up more of your time than he would normally. Fae, you are there for everything they do. You never want to miss a moment and that's a good thing, but you also have a job to do and that's why you're here."

She shook her head slightly and looked down at the floor.

He sighed, resting his chin on her shoulder and he looked over at his sleeping children. "They love you. And anybody can see that you love them more than anything else in the world."

"Yero..."

"Am I wrong?" He allowed a small grin on his lips when she visibly slumped against him as her arguments left her. "Get this speech out of the way tomorrow, and go back in there and hug them and be with them. Alright? You can do this."

"What if I can't?"

"I didn't think you even knew the meaning of the word." he teased.

She rolled her eyes and a ghost of a smile curved her lips. "Fiyero, I'm serious. What if something goes wrong? What if this has all been for nothing?"

"If something goes wrong, then we will fix it. But this won't have been for nothing, Fae. We will still have links with the city. And regardless of whether the Ozians accept you or not, you still have Glinda. I can't see her letting you go any time soon. And I will not let anything happen to you."

She turned around to face him, a small smile on her face again and wrapped her arms around his neck. "Just as long as you don't go giving your life up again. I already know I wouldn't be able to handle that."

"I'd like to think I've grown up since then." He smirked and made a face when she levelled him with a look. "Shut up."

She giggled and she kissed him. "You wouldn't want me to. Not really."

"Oz, no!" he laughed at that. "Although... given the chance, Leila-Rose can argue and debate with the best of them."

"A good trait to have."

"Hmm... I do wonder where she gets it from," he smirked, his eyes shining with amusement at the sudden innocent look on his wife's face.

"I don't know what you're talking about."

"I bet you don't!" He pulled her away and lead her to the meeting room where Glinda was waiting for them.

"Should I even ask what the delay was?" Glinda teased when she spotted her friends

"I was simply giving the love of my life a bit of a confidence boost."

"Is this 'confidence boost' going to end up with another baby for me to spoil?"

Elphaba snorted. "He's good but not that good."

"Hey!"

Glinda giggled and the two friends shared a look.

"I think what my darling wife meant to say was that we weren't gone long enough."

"Something to that effect." she drawled sarcastically, smirking at his glare. "If you're gonna keep walking into it, Fiyero." She crossed the room to sit with Glinda, laughing with her. "I promise I'll make it up to you later."

He grumbled a response which the girls chose to ignore and he sat with them.

"Elphie, the good news is that I think we won the counsellors around."

"You think? Lin, at this point, we need to be certain."

"I am! They asked me a few more questions and I managed to answer them. Things about our past and things like that, things I could answer with or without you because I was there too."

"The bad news?"

"We've gotta give one hell of a performance tomorrow." Fiyero guessed correctly, and Glinda nodded.

Elphaba groaned and put her head on the desk. "Don't be a patronizing little shit," she grumbled as she felt her friend pat her shoulder gently, and the blonde laughed. "Can't we just go home now and forget about it?"

"We've come this far, Elphie. We can't turn back now... if it doesn't work, at least we can say we tried." Glinda told her gently. "Besides, I think your threat worked well."

"What threat?" he raised an eyebrow.

Elphaba scoffed. "It wasn't a threat of sorts..."

"What did you say?"

"I said if there was an uprising against us then they'd declare war with another nation."

He shook his head and laughed. "Well... it's not wrong... Save for the odd few who shared my father's views, there are a lot of people who would do anything to defend their crown."

"I must stop being nice to these people. It's giving them the wrong impression," she smirked. Though she teased, she knew full well that the Vinkun people, the Arjiki tribe especially, took to her straight away, and she had seen the love they held for their king and queen firsthand and knew without a doubt that they would defend them if they asked. She only hoped that she would never need to.

Early the following morning, Fiyero woke to a small, olive-toned arm slung across his face, and he groggily pulled it away to reveal his son being the owner of said limb. How the hell do they manage to squeeze into such a small space?! he thought at the sight of the sleeping twins and his wife. He rubbed his eyes and got out of bed slowly so he didn't wake them and he sighed, shaking his head with a smile. Leila had sprawled half of herself across Elphaba, while it seemed like Liir had done the same to him before he was moved. He quietly left the room to the bedroom Ashender was sleeping in, Gia was also most likely asleep. He approached the child and sat on the edge of the bed. "You're making us lose sleep over you, kid." he smiled. "You need to hurry up and get better." he watched him sleeping, not knowing what to do with himself.

He looked up at the door opening, seeing Glinda walk in.

"How is he?"

He shrugged. "I'd have better luck trying to understand Astrological theory."

She smiled a little and sat with him, checking the young boy's temperature with her hand. "His fever has come down..." she frowned slightly. "But he feels cold..." she gently lifted Ash off the bed. "Fifi, pass me that sweater."

Numbly, Fiyero did as he was asked and passed her the red article of clothing and Glinda put it on him.

Ashender whimpered and slowly opened dark eyes to look up at her. "Mama..."

"She's sleeping little bug," she told him gently and hugged him close. "Well, that's more than he did yesterday." she looked over at Fiyero.

He nodded. "Fae said all he did was sleep." He gently pulled Ashender into his lap when Glinda handed him over. "Everything all set for this afternoon?"

She nodded. "I have a feeling she won't want to let the children out of her sight today given what Leila said."

"That's probably how we ended up with two of them with us this morning." he smiled. "It's been a while since they snuck into bed with us."

They both stood up and headed down for breakfast, Fiyero deciding to try Ash with some soup.

Upstairs, Elphaba eventually woke up, feeling a weight on her, and a child's hand pressed on her collarbone. She smiled sleepily, her arms curling around whichever child was using her as a pillow, she didn't open her eyes for another five minutes, and when she did she looked down at Leila-Rose, still sleeping on her chest. "Come, my sweet," she whispered. "It's time to get up."

Leila whined and shook her head, hiding her face into the fabric of her mother's nightdress, which got a soft chuckle.

Elphaba kissed her head with a smile and then she slowly sat up, cradling the five-year-old against her. The movement woke Liir up and he looked around him as if looking for his father and Elphaba held out her free arm for him as she settled against the headboard. Liir shuffled across the small space and he cuddled his mother's side.

"Love you, mama." he yawned, his eyes drooping closed again.

Elphaba smiled, feeling her heart melting at the simple, small words she heard. "I love you too. Both of you. More than you'll ever know." She looked up at the sound of knocking on the door. "Come in." The door opened to reveal a young man carrying a tray full of breakfast food and it was left on the table before he quickly took his leave without looking at her. Elphaba chose to ignore it.

Liir pouted in confusion, wondering why they were ignored, and he was the first to crawl out of bed to retrieve the food.

When the door opened again a short while later, Fiyero walked in with a grin on his face, and Ashender a little more alert in his arms. "Where's your mother?" he raised an eyebrow at Liir who was trying to reach something he couldn't see on a shelf, but Fiyero recognized it as one of her spellbooks. "And what are you doing?"

"He wanted to look at what I was reading, I wouldn't let him," Elphaba smirked as she came from the bathroom, her face lit up at the sight of her youngest.

"There's mama." he grinned and passed the giggling little boy over to her and he took in the floor-length navy blue gown that hugged her frame that still seemed too thin even six years and three children later, and to him, she was still the most beautiful woman in the whole of Oz.

"Oh, you're looking so much better." she hugged him close and then put him on the bed, Liir hugged his brother moments later, happy to have his playmate back.

"Where's Leila?"

"With Anna, they absolutely must match and choose each other's dresses today." Elphaba shook her head.

"What for?" Fiyero shook his head at his wife's expression. "The announcement this afternoon?"

"You were right, Leila doesn't want to miss it, Liir won't be left out and Anna doesn't want to be away from her best friends, " she sighed. "Ash will just have to stay inside with Gia. If he's getting better, I don't want him to have a setback by being out in the cold."

He nodded in agreement. "Are you ready?" he wrapped his arms around her waist.

She shook her head, curling against him for comfort. "No... But I don't think I ever will be. I just... I don't want the children to have to see how awful people can react to me. It would just upset them, and it might make them susceptible to another outburst."

He kissed her head. "I know, my love. But they're not going to leave you alone, not today, not when they have an idea that today is a big deal for you." he rubbed her back.

She nodded, smiling a little and she sighed. "I'm more worried about them than me right now." She looked up at him, losing herself in thought for a moment and she gasped. "I have an idea... wait here." she fled the room to get to Glinda's room and hesitated at the door. "Glin?"

"Come in, Elphie!"

"Glin, do you still have the Grimmerie?" she asked as she walked in.

"I do." Glinda nodded, looking through the mirror at her friend curiously. "Why?"

"I need to see if there's a spell that will temporarily bind magic. We both know the children will want to stay with us and see what the fuss is about... And with... some people's initial reaction to me, even without knowing about the lies told, it's not the greatest..."

"Why do you need such a spell?"

"Because there's one sure-fire way to know that those twins are mine," she smirked. "They have my temperament. And my talent for making things go boom."

Glinda couldn't help but laugh and she nodded knowingly. "Fair point." She stood up and walked to her closet, disappearing inside for a minute or two before she came back out with the old, familiar ancient book. "I tried to read it once... I didn't get very far."

Elphaba smiled and took the book and started to skim through it. Five minutes later she found what she was looking for with a triumphant yelp. "It will wear off after twelve hours. The speeches should be long finished by then."

Later that afternoon, the spell was cast on the children and the adults made their final preparations for the speech Glinda was due to give.

"You see, Elphie. I told you that pink and green look good together."

"What?" she pulled herself away from Fiyero for a moment to look at her friend, and then followed her line of sight at Anna dressed in pink and Leila had chosen an emerald green dress, Elphaba found herself unable to be angry or annoyed, simply looking at them both with an amused look. Oz, I've gone soft!

Fiyero grinned like an idiot. "Fae, it's you and Glinda if you grew up together." he ducked to avoid a smack and he laughed, dashing around his wife to scoop up his daughter in his arms making the child squeal with laughter as he did. "Green just happens to be her favourite colour, just like mine."

She scoffed and ducked her head, blushing and she left the room to look for Liir.

An hour later, he found her again, watching over Ashender and waiting for Liir to say goodbye to his brother. "Fae? It's time... you ready?"

She looked up with a smile and shrugged. "Not really... but I'll have to be."

"It's okay, mama, you got us."

"I know, my sweet. Thank you." she kissed her on the cheek, and allowed herself to be drawn closer to Fiyero's side, and held out her hand for Liir as he ran back to his mother. Slowly, the small family made their way to Glinda who was waiting in front of the doors to the balcony, ready to make her announcement.

"Elphie..." Glinda looked up and hugged her tight, closing her eyes when her friend hugged back as though the blonde we're her lifeline. She wrote 'I love you' on her green friend's shoulder.

"I know." Elphaba smiled, and they shared a look as only best friends would, and she nodded. "Go on, your public are waiting."

Glinda nodded and took a deep breath, turning to face the doors.