The Emerald Woman and the Little Star
Chapter Five
As she sat watching the little girl play Elphaba couldn't help but wonder how anyone could want to be so cruel to such a beautiful little girl she was knocked out of her thoughts by the maid putting a tray down on the patio table.
"Prince Fiyero asked me to bring out some drinks for you and the little one" said the maid.
"Thank you Mary Ellen" said Elphaba the maid nodded and headed back inside, looking over to Alice Elphaba noticed the little girl had stopped playing with the ball and was looking through the toy box again "Alice sweetie do you want a drink"
The little girl looked up at the sound of her name she dropped the toys back into the box and sped across to where Elphaba was sitting she grabbed the beaker off of the tray and started to gulp the juice down. Elphaba reached out and put her hand on the little girls.
"Slowly sweetie no one is going to take your drink away" said Elphaba. The little girl stopped drinking and slowly put the now almost empty beaker back on the tray.
"I'm sorry I'm sorry" said Alice "I didn't mean to be greedy"
"Baby you are not greedy not at all you can eat and drink as much as you like here, come here sweetie " said Elphaba she pulled the little girl into her arms in a warm hug. The little girl looked at Elphaba fear in her eyes.
"More juice please Elphie" said Alice
Elphaba smiled "of course you can have some more juice, you go back to your toys and I'll go and get some more juice" the little girl smiled and rushed back to the toy box. Elphaba smiled at her then grabbed the beaker and headed inside to re fill it, she came back a few minutes later with the full beaker, Alice spotted her re entering the garden and came running over to her, Elphaba handed the beaker to the little girl who drank two thirds of the juice then handed the cup back to her before dashing back to the toys.
About half an hour later Fiyero came into the garden and sat in the chair beside Elphaba's as he did so he let out a frustrated sigh.
"Are you ok Yero" said Elphaba rubbing his arm
"It's just so annoying Fae I was trying to get information on Alice's father so I can have him dealt with, but none of my contacts can find anything on him" said Fiyero he looked over at Alice and noticed she had stopped playing and was shifting from one foot to the other he turned back to Elphaba "erm Fae I think a certain little lady might need a toilet visit"
Elphaba walked over to the little girl and knelt down in front of her "Sweetheart do you need to go to the toilet"
Alice's eyes widened with fear and she started to scream "No toilet Elphie don't need to"
"Are you sure sweetheart I promise you won't be in trouble if you do" said Elphaba.
"No toilet Elphie no no no" said Alice turning back to the toy box, Elphaba sighed and stood up she knew the little girl did need the toilet but she didn't want to force her and make her more scared than she already was " Ok baby come and tell me if you do"
The little girl nodded her head but didn't look up from the giant Lego bricks she was stacking, Elphaba walked back over to Fiyero and sat down with a sigh.
"She says she doesn't need to go Yero but I know she does, I don't want to force her and make her even more scared than she already is" said Elphaba.
"Oh Fae it will take time for her to realise she is safe here and nothing bad is going to happen to her" said Fiyero he looked at his watch and saw it was half past twelve "I don't know about you but I'm hungry"
Elphaba laughed "you are always hungry Yero, let's go and make some lunch"
A goofy smile began to spread across Fiyero's face " no need" he waved a hand towards the back door and Mary Ellen came out carrying a huge picnic basket.
"Yero I told you I like doing the cooking" said Elphaba but she started to smile "come on let's go and eat"
They turned towards the grass where Alice had been playing only to find the toys laying on the grass and Alice no where to be seen. Scanning her eyes around the garden Elphaba spotted the little girl on the other side of the lawn heading towards the shed where the gardener had left his buckets realising what the little girl was going to do Elphaba took off after her she managed to catch hold of her just before she reached the pile of buckets the little girl erupted like a volcano.
"LET ME GO" screamed Alice as Elphaba carried her back towards the house.
"It's ok baby you're ok but you don't need to wee in buckets here let's go and use the toilet" said Elphaba.
"NO TOILET NO NO NO" scream the little girl she kicked and wriggled about trying to get out of Elphaba's arms.
"Yes Baby it's ok to use the toilet" said Elphaba she carried the wriggling child into the castle down the hall and into the downstairs bathroom she managed to pull the little girls bottoms and underwear down without letting go of her then sat her onto the toilet the little girl immediately tried to wriggle off of the toilet but Elphaba held her waist "no baby come on do a wee wee for me it's ok"
Alice kicked and screamed trying to get off of the toilet, Elphaba remained calm and tried to get the little girl to relax after a few more minutes had past the little girl stopped wriggling she lent forward and buried her face in Elphaba's shoulder a second later Elphaba felt the little girl relax and then heard a soft tinkling sound as she started to pee.
Elphaba smiled "that's a good girl well done baby" after a few more seconds the tinkling sound stopped Elphaba was about to lift the little girl off of the toilet when she heard a soft grunting noise, a splash then a smell hit her nose she carried on rubbing the little girls back until she pulled away from her.
"I'm sorry" said Alice fear in her eyes " please don't tell Fiyero he will be cross"
"Oh baby girl Fiyero will not be cross sweetie I promise, now are you done sweetie" said Elphaba the little girl shook her head and started to grunt again a few seconds later Elphaba heard a small splash then the little girl looked at her.
"I'm done Elphie" said Alice she slipped off the toilet and Elphaba handed her some toilet paper the little girl wiped her bottom and put the paper into the toilet Elphaba handed her another piece and the little girl repeated what she had done before then pulled her bottoms up. Elphaba flushed the toilet then both of them washed their hands before returning to the garden where Fiyero had set up the picnic.
Alice shot back to the where she had left the toys and started to stack the Lego blocks again, Elphaba plopped down beside Fiyero on the grass with a sigh
"How did it go" asked Fiyero handing Elphaba a sandwich.
"She threw a fit but I managed to relax her and she peed and pooed" said Elphaba.
"Well done Fae I'm proud of you" he looked over to where Alice was sat and couldn't help but smile " you know Fae she's only been her one day but I couldn't imagine not having her"
"I know what you mean, now one fight is down for now, time for the next one" said Elphaba.
"Getting her to eat some lunch" said Fiyero.
Elphaba nodded then looked at Alice " sweetie are you going to come and have some lunch"
Alice looked at Elphaba then at Fiyero "no lunch Elphie not allowed to eat after breakfast" she then turned back to her bricks Elphaba was about to get up when Fiyero stopped her.
"Hold on Fae I have an idea" said Fiyero he slowly moved around the picnic blanket making sure not to get too close to the little girl he picked up a carrot stick and crunched it loudly "oh yummy these carrots are so nice, what do you think Elphie"
Realising what Fiyero was doing Elphaba grabbed a carrot "yes they are Fiyero, she grabbed another sandwich and took a bite "have you tried these ham sandwiches Fiyero"
They carried on for a few minutes then Elphaba noticed the little girl drop the Lego bricks and slowly shuffle towards the blanket then her hand shot out and grabbed a sandwich the little girl stuffed the small triangle shaped bread into her mouth she swallowed it in two big bites then grabbed another once she had finished the second sandwich she made a grab for the carrot sticks then the sausages on sticks.
Elphaba and Fiyero watched the little girl smiles on both their faces, Fiyero looked into the basket and pulled out some small cartons of juice.
"Alice would you like some juice princess" said Fiyero.
The little girl froze at the sound of Fiyero's voice and dropped the piece of tomato she had in her hand she backed away from him and dived on to Elphaba's lap burying her face in Elphaba's coat.
"Baby it's ok Fiyero is not going to hurt you he has a drink for you" said Elphaba. The little girl didn't move Elphaba felt her fingers gripping onto her coat in a vice like grip then the little girl started to cry.
"I'm sorry Elphie please don't let him hurt me" sobbed Alice
"it's ok baby you're ok Fiyero and I are not going to let anyone hurt you ever again" she looked over to Fiyero he looked so heart broken for the little girl he reached across the blanket and handed the little girls drink to Elphaba.
Elphaba took the carton from Fiyero then looked back to Alice only to find she had fallen asleep she put the carton down on the blanket and carefully stood up making sure she didn't drop the little girl "I'm going to go and take her upstairs"
Fiyero looked at the sleeping child then to Elphaba "Fae do you think .. no never mind it's a bad idea"
"What is it Fiyero" asked Elphaba adjusting the sleeping child on her hip.
"Do you think I could maybe hold her while she's asleep without waking her" asked Fiyero
"We could give it a try" said Elphaba she walked closer to Fiyero and gently handed the sleeping child to him careful not to wake her, Fiyero held Alice close to him for a few minutes and kissed the top of her head.
"I love you so much baby I just wish you could trust me enough to love me back" said Fiyero he kissed the little girls head again then gently handed her back to Elphaba "thank you Fae"
"Any time Yero and one day you will be able to hug her while she's awake" said Elphaba she carried the sleeping child into the castle and up to her room she gently put the little girl onto the bed then removed her coat and shoes tucked a blanket over her and kissed the top of her head "sleep tight sweetie I love you" on her way out of the room Elphaba noticed that the maid had cleaned and put the little girls waste bin back in the room she quickly lifted it up and put it on top of the wardrobe so the little girl couldn't pee in it again then headed back down to the gardens to help Fiyero clean up the picnic.
Back in the garden Fiyero had cleared the remains of the picnic away and was folding the blanket up when Elphaba came through the door he watched as she walked over to him one eyebrow raised.
"I was going to help you with that" said Elphaba
"Well its all done now" said Fiyero grinning at her "now how about we take a little walk around the gardens while Alice is asleep"
"I'd like that" said Elphaba with a smile she took hold of Fiyero's hand and the two of them headed off across the huge gardens "Yero I don't think Alice is going to be ready to start school on Monday"
"Fae don't worry I've sent word to the school that Alice is not going to be ready for a while, I was think perhaps you could teach her for a while" said Fiyero "I mean you managed to get me through my exams as Shiz"
"You really think I could teacher her I mean she can read so that's a start" said Elphaba the two of them stopped walking and sat on the bench beside the pond at the rear of the gardens.
"Fae you can do anything you put your mind to" said Fiyero "you know I think you are brilliant"
Elphaba blushed and nudged Fiyero's arm "stop that Yero I'm nothing that special"
Fiyero opened his mouth to tell her to stop being to hard on herself when he spotted Mary Ellen running down the path towards them the pair of them stood up as she reached them.
"Sorry to interrupt Sir Madam but the little one is screaming the castle down" said Mary Ellen with a pant.
Elphaba took off towards the castle Fiyero right behind her she could hear the little girl before she even got through the back doors dashing up to the little girls bedroom Elphaba found the little girl sitting up in bed shaking and screaming at the top of her lungs.
"Hey baby it's ok you're ok" said Elphaba she lifted the little girl into her arms and rubbed her back the little girl continued to sob into Elphaba's chest.
"Daddy hurt me daddy hurt me" sobbed Alice.
"Oh baby it's ok it was just a dream you're ok Elphie's here" said Elphaba rocking the little girl in her arms "I'm right here baby I won't let anyone hurt you ever again I promise it's ok"
After a few minutes the little girl began to quieten down she pulled away from Elphaba and looked at her through wet eyes.
"I'm sorry I'm sorry" said Alice
"Baby you have nothing to be sorry for nothing at all" said Elphaba holding the little girl close to her and trying not to cry herself.
After a few more minutes had past Alice pulled away from Elphaba and again looked at her with wet eyes.
"Juice please Elphie" said Alice
Elphaba smiled "of course you can have some juice sweetheart" she carried the little girl out of the room and downstairs as she reached the bottom of the stairs she spotted Fiyero taking on the phone. Hearing Fiyero's voice Alice buried her head into Elphaba's shoulder and grabbed her coat in a vice grip. "Baby it's ok you're ok" she carried the little girl into the kitchen noticing the picnic basket was on the table she opened it and grabbed a juice carton out of it the put the straw through the tiny hole on the top then handed it to Alice who took it and immediately started to gulp it down. Once she had finished her drink the little girl turned to Elphaba.
"Garden Elphie please" said Alice.
"I'm sorry baby but we can't go back into the garden it's raining now look" said Elphaba she carried the little girl over to the kitchen window and pointed to the rain that was coming down in sheets.
Alice started to wriggle in Elphaba's arms so she put the little girl back on her feet, as soon as she was on the floor Alice took off out of the kitchen and down the hall towards the back doors Elphaba shot after the little girl and grabbed her before she could open the door.
"No baby you can't go out it's raining" said Elphaba. The little girl started to fight to get out of Elphaba's grip.
"Let go I want to go in the garden" said Alice kicking her legs and wriggling trying to get free of Elphaba's grip.
"Alice I said no baby it's raining, stop kicking me please or you are going to have a time out" said Elphaba Alice stopped kicking and looked at Elphaba.
"I'm sorry im sorry please don't hurt me" said Alice.
"It's ok baby no one is going to hurt you here" said Elphaba "let's go and do some drawing"
Elphaba let go of Alice and she shot down the hall and into the sitting room. Elphaba took her coat of and hung it up before following the little girl into the sitting room they had been drawing for a few minutes when Fiyero entered the room.
"Fae I need to talk to you" said Fiyero in a serious voice.
Elphaba turned to the little girl beside her "I will back in a minute sweetie ok" the little girl nodded and Elphaba stood up and followed Fiyero into the hall.
"What's wrong Yero" said Elphaba.
"That was Mrs Hunter on the phone Alice's mother hung herself this morning" said Fiyero.
Elphaba stayed silent for a few seconds then turned to Fiyero her eyes glistening with unshed tears "Oh Yero as if that poor little girl hasn't been through enough now she's lost her mother" tears started to run down her cheeks.
"Oh Fae come here" said Fiyero pulling Elphaba into his arms and kissing the top of her head "it's ok my Fae' after a few seconds Elphaba pulled away.
"Yero how am I going to tell that little girl that her mother is dead" said Elphaba.
Just then a small voice spoke from behind them "my mummy is dead"