Rifiuto: Non Miriena

A/N: Written: 2010. Rewritten: 2015. Found: 2018.- Licia

"What was it like? Kansas?"

He looked up, unashamed to admit that he was surprised at her question. Over the last year, he had let slip very minute details of his life, mainly because she wasn't often interested. But over the last several months, as Elphaba got more and more comfortable, not just in her role as his Grand Vizier, but in her role as a member of his family, she had asked more and more questions. And slowly, the two were getting to know each other, discovering more and more of their shared interests and disinterests.

"It's... very flat in some places. There are no hills or mountains, but farmland. There's a few cities, but not many, and many farmers have acres and acres of land, so their nearest neighbors are miles away. The cities and towns are small, but filled with people."

She nodded, reaching out and picking up her cup. Silence settled between the pair again, before she spoke again. "Tell me about her."

His gaze met hers, and she waited, giving him time to think. "About who? Melinda or Melena?"

Her dark gaze narrowed in annoyance, and she pursed her lips briefly. "They're both my mother, aren't they?"

A soft chuckle escaped his throat, and he nodded. "You're right, they are." She set her coffee cup down as he spoke after several minutes. "She was... phenomenal. She would have done amazing things, had she not fallen into the life she had here. Or if she'd been able to survive in my world. Exceedingly brilliant, with a mind that never stopped. A lot like yours." She blushed. His voice softened as he spoke, as he was carried back to a time long-since passed. "The time we spent in my world was filled with laughter and light and happiness, despite the depression that was going on. Yes, we struggled to survive, there were times when we didn't have enough food to eat or enough wood to keep us warm at night, but we had each other, and that was what was important. And when you came along in thirty-eight, our life just became even more wonderful." He reached across the small table to take her hand. "You were the most precious gift we could have received."

"On the back of that photo, it says Melinda and Eleanora-"

He nodded. "We named you Eleanora after my mother." He sighed. "Her pregnancy was difficult, but it was worth it in the end, because you were in our lives. You were beautiful. Thick auburn hair, just like her. A dimple in each cheek when you smiled." She blushed, a small smile tugging at her lips, and he grinned. "You still have them." She ducked her head, blushing. He chuckled. "You were the light of our lives." Sadness filled his gaze, and after a moment, he set his fork down. "And then Melinda... then she started getting sick, a little over a year and a half after you were born- not long after I took that photograph. No one knew what was causing it; the doctors didn't know what it was or how to treat it. And then... one day after I got back from work... the Depression was just starting to fizzle out; I took what jobs I could just to make enough money to put food on the table. Melinda did some work as a seamstress, but you were a full-time job, as babies are." He chuckled softly.

She swallowed, waiting patiently. "She got sick?"

"She did. I got back from... I don't even remember what the job was, to be honest, but I got back, and she was curled up on the kitchen floor. You were sitting beside her, crying. She was conscious, but weak. It took me the next three days to nurse her back from the brink, and when she did have enough energy to from any sort of words, she just looked at me and whispered, 'Must go back'. It broke my heart."

"So we came back? Here, to Oz?"

He nodded, sniffling softly. "I was reluctant to. No matter the hardships in Kansas, it was our home, our life was there, our family had been built there. But I also knew that if we stayed any longer, I would lose her, and I couldn't raise a child alone. You needed your mother. So we returned."

"And when you got back here, I was gone. Or... my mother was pregnant with me."

"Yes." He took a deep breath. "I let it drive us apart, and I watched her walk away and didn't go after her."

"Why didn't you?"

Tears glistened in his eyes. "Honestly? I thought she would have been better off without me. I could barely provide for her in my world, how was I supposed to provide for her in hers? And now, all these years later, I realize how wrong I was, how much I missed out on watching our little girl grow up." He gently squeezed her hand. "I'm so sorry you grew up thinking that monster was your father, Elphaba. Had I known where you were, I would have come and gotten you immediately."

She squeezed his hand reassuringly. "It's in the past. Frex is... dead and gone now, or he should be," She amended. "And Nessa is back in Munchkinland, where she belongs. And... I'm here. I'm the Grand Vizier of Oz and I live in the Emerald City with my father, who's the Wizard." Her voice had steadily been rising with each listed reason, and eventually it became too much and she stood, breaking contact with the man and starting to pace. "I'm the most powerful sorceress since Ozma herself, and-"

He sat back, allowing her to rant, watching as she waved her hands in the air, small sparks of light escaping into the air with each movement. For the briefest of moments, he saw her, and the all-too common reaction she often had to something that had been bothering her or excited her. Oh, Melinda, my love, I see so much of you in her, it's scary. She grows more and more like you every day. You would be proud of her.

"And now I find out that my mother lived in your world for at least two years, and that I was actually born in your world, so therefore, if we look at the technicality of everything, I'm never even Ozian! I have no right or reason to claim to be so! And I certainly have no right to be!"

"Elphaba!" She stopped, turning to him. He stood, making his way towards her. "I don't ever want to hear you say that you have no right to being Ozian- you are Ozian. Half or whole, you are still Ozian, and you have just as much right, if not more, to be not just here, but in Oz in general, as anyone else." He reached up, caressing her cheek; the tears slid down her cheeks, and he could tell that she'd been bottling this up for a while. "Oh, my sweet girl, don't you ever doubt your worth, you hear me?"