Maeve asked herself, yet again, what she thought she was doing as she peered around the corner. She wasn't sure what she was hoping to accomplish by coming to see her aunt. Yackle had stormed back to the apothecary the instant she realized Breena and Elphaba were gone, grumbling to herself about how irresponsible some people could be. And her aunt couldn't stand her under the best of circumstances. What would she be like now that she was in a truly foul mood?

Yet here she was, covertly watching her as she poured over a book, occasionally muttering to herself as she took notes on whatever it was she was reading. She was thorough, Maeve had to give her that. The things she taught Breena and Elphaba during their sessions were well researched and thought out. At least the part she got to stick around for.

Her eyes traveled to her aunt's left, coming to rest on the Grimmerie. The ancient tome was never far from the old woman's grasp... almost as if she thought it might come up missing again. Maeve couldn't help but notice the furtive glances Yackle gave her whenever she was around the book, almost as if she was daring her to try to touch it. Not that she would. Not until she convinced her aunt that she wasn't there for any reason other than to learn.

That's what this intended visit boiled down to. She never got the chance to talk to Yackle one on one. Everyone was around the day she arrived and Elphaba and Breena had been there every time she saw her aunt since. But that was going to change. She couldn't have the old woman treating her like some kind of plague victim. Not if she wanted to truly learn the family trade. So she was going to march into the room and tell her how she felt.

Just as soon as she worked up the nerve.

She sighed, leaning her head back against the wall in frustration. No one had ever accused her of being a coward. If anything she was too headstrong, independent and willing to do whatever it took to get what she wanted for her own good. But just the thought of Yackle giving her one of those stern glares was enough to send her running with her tail between her legs.

Not that she had much better luck when she tried to talk to anyone else in the house. Betak outright ignored her, Breena and Elphaba seemed nice enough but she knew they were only tolerating her because they had to, Glinda and Addena looked at her as some kind of obstacle to spending time with their girlfriends, Lion was too shy to say anything and Fiyero... Things were OK with him until she had to go and kiss him.

She sighed again, closing her eyes. There was no explanation for her behavior earlier so she wasn't even going to waste her time trying to come up with one. Yes Fiyero technically kissed her first, but that was only to keep her from spoiling the girls' escape. She acted like some kind of animal, grabbing his shirt and mashing her lips against his.

Not that it seemed to bother him. He just gave her a confident grin and asked her how it was for her once they parted. So maybe it wasn't a big deal after all. Maybe it was all just a game to him. After all, he was handsome as sin. He'd probably had girls eating out of his hand most of his life.

"I wondered how long it would take you to come sniffing around."

Maeve nearly jumped out of her skin when she heard her aunt's voice. Her eyes flew open to find Yackle standing in the doorway of the apothecary, staring at her. "I wasn't... I mean I..."

"Spit it out girl." Yackle shook her head. "What's with you and stammering all of a sudden? You certainly didn't do it as a child. But now you couldn't complete a full sentence if you tried."

"Yes I can!" That got Maeve's dander up. "Not that you would know since all you do is avoid me."

"Avoid you?" The old woman shook her head doubtfully.

"Well what would you call it? You don't speak to me, you don't look at me. Hell, half the time I wonder if you even know I'm alive."

"I would have noticed if you weren't breathing. And don't curse."

"Don't curse she says." Maeve threw one hand in the world. "Don't play the concerned aunt. I wouldn't want you to strain yourself."

She tried to stop the words as they left her mouth but couldn't. What was she doing? She never would make any progress with her aunt talking to her like that.

Yackle continued to stare at her for a moment before cracking up. "Now there's the Maeve I remember. Full of piss and vinegar."

She looked at her like she was crazy. "You mean you're not mad?"

"Mad? Why would I be mad?"

"I... I mean..."

"Don't start that again." Yackle walked back into the apothecary, knowing the girl would follow. "I figured if you hung around you'd want another go at me eventually. I'm surprised it took you so long."

"You've been expecting this?"

The old woman nodded.

"Couldn't you have told me and saved us both a lot of aggravation?"

"No. Because then I would have been making the effort."

"And I need to be the one doing all the work if this is going to pan out."

"Exactly."

Maeve shook her head. "You're a complicated one Aunt Yackle."

"And proud of it." She sat on one of the stools at the work table. "Now let's get on with this so I can get back to what I was doing."

Her nerve suddenly disappeared. "Get on with what?"

"If you wanted to keep me company you could have done it without peaking around the corner a thousand times. So try to convince me to accept you belong here." She made a 'give it to me' gesture with her hand.

"I..." Maeve swallowed hard. "No."

Yackle frowned. "What?"

"I said no." She nodded, hoping she was doing the right thing.

"What do you mean no?"

"Just what it sounds like. I'm not going to plead my case so you can throw the rest of my family in my face again. I told you I'm nothing like them but obviously you don't believe me. So I guess I'm just going to have to prove it to you by taking whatever you want to dish out."

Yackle raised an eyebrow. "You think persistence will win me over?"

"Yes."

"Why?"

"Because you're just pigheaded enough for it to work." Maeve shrugged. "And I can't think of anything else to try."

Yackle nodded as she pursed her lips. "Let me know how that works out for you."

"OK." She was unsure of what she should do next, especially when Yackle went back to her book. "I guess I'll be going now."

"You could stay." Yackle didn't bother to look up. "Read something on transportation spells so you'll be of some use during our next session."

"Really?" Maeve realized how excited she sounded. "I mean, yeah. I guess I could do that."

Yackle watched her skimming the titles on the bookshelf for a moment before saying, "But don't think this means I like you."

"I know better than that." Maeve couldn't stop herself from grinning.

"Yum." Breena purred in the back of her throat as she popped another bite of sandwich into her mouth.

"Geez Bree, do you like that or something?" Addena rolled her eyes at the others.

Glinda giggled. "What tipped you off?"

"Probably the fact she barely gave the rest of us a chance to eat anything before she cleaned out the basket." Elphaba chuckled.

"There's still cheese and wine. Besides, it's not my fault Oznut spread and Munchkinberry jam sandwiches are my favorite." Breena licked her finger. "They always have been."

Addena laughed. "Cooking for you will be easy."

Glinda gasped. "You're going to cook for her?"

"Don't give me the 'mother would be so disappointed' look."

"There's nothing wrong with cooking." Breena said as she chewed.

"I didn't say anything about cooking."

"Yes you did." Glinda disagreed.

"No," Addena stressed the word, "I didn't."

"Actually you did." Elphaba decided to help out. "Your exact words were 'cooking for you will be easy.'"

Glinda nodded. "And the 'you' in question was Breena."

"But did I say I would be doing the cooking?" Addena shook her head, adding an emphatic, "No," to prove her point.

"Good." Breena snuck a stray piece of sandwich off her girlfriend's plate. "Because you strike me as the type that could burn water."

"Hey!" Addena frowned.

Breena chuckled. "Don't worry. I can cook enough for the two of us."

"Oh really?"

"Yeah. Betak made sure of that." Breena furrowed her brow quizzically when Addena continued to stare at her. "What?"

"You're such a brat." Addena gave her a playful shove.

Breena grabbed her arm as she started to fall over, laughing as the doctor landed on top of her.

"I hope you don't think I'm going to cook." Glinda pointed at herself.

"Why not?" Elphaba's eyes sparkled in the sunlight.

"Because that's what cooks are for." She said it like it was the most obvious thing in the world.

Elphaba pursed her lips. "I see."

"I mean, if everyone could fix their own food, all those poor cooks would be out of a job."

"That would be horrible."

"It would." Glinda didn't notice her scooting closer. "That's some people's livelihood."

"And who are we to take away their livelihood?" Elphaba didn't stop until she was mere inches away from the blonde's face.

"Exactly." Glinda frowned. "What are you doing?"

"This." Elphaba pressed a soft kiss to her lips.

"Oh." Glinda grinned before grabbing her for a steamier liplock.

"Look at them." Breena shook her head.

"You're just jealous." Addena, who was still on top of the witch, moved in for a kiss of her own. "Let me see if I can help you with that."

Several minutes later Glinda snuggled into Elphaba's side. "Today has been perfect."

"Just what the doctor ordered."

Breena chuckled at her sister's response. "No pun intended, right Elly?"

Addena lifted her head from cuddling Breena to look at her. "What's that supposed to mean?"

"You don't remember trying to browbeat Yackle into leaving us alone when she came upstairs this morning?" Breena kept laughing. "Elly and I were taking bets on how long it would take you to rip her head off."

"You were not." Addena punched her on the shoulder.

"Could you blame her if she did?" Glinda pouted as she tried to get even closer to her Elphie. "Being in the same house as you but not spending time together is hard."

"I know." Elphaba tightened her grip on the blonde. "We'll talk to Yackle when we get back to the house."

"Maybe we won't have to."

Addena furrowed her brow. "You keep saying things that don't make sense, Bree."

"Sure it does." Elphaba grinned. "Our message is from Father."

Glinda looked as confused as her sister. "So?"

"He was planning some talks with the Animal leaders of the underbelly when we left." Breena supplied an answer. "Talks he very much wants us there for."

"And an invitation from the Wizard outweighs lessons with Yackle." Elphaba piped in.

"Who knows how long the talks could take." Breena shrugged. "We could be gone for a while."

Elphaba waggled her eyebrows. "You can bet we'll have plenty of alone time at the palace. Remember what he arranged for us last time?"

The Thropps smiled at each other.

Addena glanced at her sister. "Are they freaking you out just a little bit?"

Breena gave her a squeeze. "Now who's being a brat?"

"Are you saying you're going to the Emerald City?" Glinda waited for Elphaba to nod. "And we get to go with you?" Elphaba kept nodding. "But Yackle has to stay here?"

"Now she's got it." Breena confirmed.

"Yea!" Glinda gave Elphie a kiss on the cheek before springing to her feet. "Well don't just lay there, get up." She grabbed the green envelope, shoving it at a struggling to sit up Elphaba. "Open your letter." She wiggled expectantly. "Hurry!"

"OK, OK." Elphaba chuckled as she accepted the envelope.

"You should open yours too." Breena smirked. "Maybe we'll have to make a side trip to the Uplands on our way back. Hey." She rubbed Addy's back when she felt her tense. "Are you all right?"

"Peachy." Addena pulled out of her arms to climb to her feet.

"Here you go." Glinda handed her their message, waiting at least half a second before motioning for her to hurry up too. "Don't you want to see what Popsicle wrote?"

Addena mumbled, "Not really," under her breath.

Glinda wrinkled her nose. "What?"

"Can I see you over there for a second?" Addena gripped her sister's arm, frogmarching her away from Breena and Elphaba, who seemed oblivious to anything but the letter they were reading. Once they were alone she waved the still sealed envelope in Glinda's face. "Don't you know what this is?"

"A note from our parents?"

"No Linny, it's a summons." Addena growled when her sister still looked clueless. "Do you know what two days from today is?"

Glinda thought about it for a second. "Saturday?"

"My birthday, Linny. My twenty-fourth birthday."

"Oh." Glinda put her hand over her mouth. "I can't believe I forgot. I'll..." Her eyes suddenly got big. "Oh!"

"Yeah, oh."

"Maybe you're wrong. Maybe..."

"Maybe Morrible was someone's fairy godmother. We both know what this is." Addena gestured with the envelope again.

"Then we'll just ignore it."

"And never go home again? We can't do that."

"Then we'll..." Glinda scrambled for a more suitable solution. "We'll talk to him. Daddy's not an unreasonable man."

Addena chortled. "Maybe not with you."

"What do you mean?"

"My relationship with him is completely different from yours."

"No it's not. He's..."

Addena put her finger over her sister's lips to keep her from saying more. "You've always been his favorite, Linny. I got over that a long time ago. If it was you, he would listen. But it's me. Even if we took your original idea a step further and changed our names and learned to glamour ourselves into men from Bree, he would still find me." She sighed. "It's my obligation." She shook her head. "I bet he even worded it that way in the message."

Glinda slipped the envelope out of her sister's hand, her own shaking ever so slightly as she opened it and pulled free the paper it contained.

"Go ahead." Addena gestured with her hand. "Read it."

"Addena." The smaller blonde swallowed hard. "It's time for you to fulfill your obligation. Come home immediately and bring Glinda. Just the two of you."

"Is that it?"

Glinda nodded numbly. "Yes."

"Well at least he didn't disappoint." Addena pinched the bridge of her nose. "What am I going to do?"

"You're going to tell Breena."

"What?!" She realized how loud that had been and looked at the witches to make sure they weren't going to react before turning back to her sister. "Have you completely lost it?!"

"Think about it, Dena. Keeping things from her hasn't exactly worked for you up until now. Can you imagine what would happen if she found out about this on her own?"

"Yes, and that's exactly why I'm not going to tell her."

"But..."

"We'll just go home and I'll tell Father the way it is. What's the worst he could do?"

"Dena..."

"But you have to come with me, Linny. I don't think I'll have the nerve to stand up to Father if you're not there."

"Of course I'll come Dena, but..."

"Oh, here they come." Addena moved in closer to her sister, keeping her voice low. "We have to go home right away because..." She clinched her fist. "Because Mother isn't feeling well. Nothing serious, just a cold that Father wants me to check out. And you're going too because... well because it's Mom and you want to make sure she's all right."

Glinda's jaw nearly hit the ground. "We can't lie to them Dena."

"Then you come up with a reason why we're going to be heading to the Uplands while they go to see The Wizard. Because this time it's not Yackle keeping us apart, it's Father."

"I..." Her heart hammered in her chest as Breena and Elphaba got closer. "Fine. But if this blows up in our faces you're taking full responsibility."

"Deal." Addena plastered on a fake smile when Bree came to stand beside her. "So, were you right?"

"Yes we were." Elphaba slung her arm around Glinda's shoulders.

"He almost cut it too short." Breena slipped her hand into Addena's. "We'll have to leave tomorrow if we want to get to the palace in time for the start of the talks."

"That soon?" Glinda pouted.

Elphaba looked down at her. "I thought you'd be happy to be away from Yackle so quickly."

"She would be, it's just..." It was Addena's turn to swallow hard. "We can't go."

"Excuse me." Breena turned to look at her better. "Did you just say you can't go?"

"Yes. Mother's sick and Father wants me to come home to check on her." Addena shot her sister a look as she leaned against Elphaba, still pouting.

Glinda finally caught on. "It's Momsie. I have to go too."

"This stinks." Elphaba frowned.

"Is your mother really sick?"

Addena was taken aback by Breena's question. "What?"

"Is she sick or did your father ask you to come home and you're too ashamed to take us?"

"Bree!" Elphaba looked at her in disbelief.

"Breena Thropp." Addena had an actual spark of anger amongst the myriad of guilt she was feeling. "Of course that's not it! How could you think we're ashamed of you?!"

"I don't know. I just..." Breena sighed. "I'm sorry."

"We are too." Addena gave her hand a squeeze. "How long will the talks last?"

"Father wasn't sure." Elphaba fielded the question.

"Then maybe we'll be able to meet you in the Emerald City."

"Maybe." Glinda mumbled as she leaned closer into Elphie.

"I'm sure Mother just has a cold." Addena shot her a warning look. "Father's just overprotective."

"It's better to be safe than sorry." Breena sighed. "I think we should get dressed and head back to the house. We all need to pack."

Elphaba nodded. "I'll get the clothes."

Breena was quick to say, "I'll help."

Glinda waited until they were out of earshot to turn to her sister. "I don't like this Dena."

"I know Linny." Addena sighed. "Me either."

She hated to see the dejected set of Breena's shoulders but what was she supposed to do? She couldn't tell her the truth. It would crush her.

Bree could never know she had a fiance.