The change was amazing. More of a transformation really. Just a few short hours ago the house was like a tomb, a sense of misery permeating the air as everyone walked around on pins and needles, waiting to see what would happen next. It was almost like nothing good would ever happen again. Then Elphaba and Breena woke up. Things were still a little shaky at first, like one of them could be taken away again at any second. But as word of their regaining consciousness spread, so did the undercurrent of hope that now flowed through the place.

Addena couldn't afford to let herself get swept up in all the excitement. It was great that Elphaba and Bree were back with them, but they'd both been in some strange state of unconsciousness for two days. As much as she wanted to believe they were both going to be fine, the doctor in her told her she better be ready for the other shoe to drop.

Her examination of Elphaba proved the witches right though. She was completely healed without so much of a trace of the knot that should have been on the back of her head for at least another week. Elphaba took the news as permission to do as she pleased but Addena was quick to rein her in. She wanted Glinda back just as much as anyone else but she knew her sister would never forgive her if anything else happened to her precious Elphie. So she made the green woman promise to at least get something to eat before she starting brainstorming with Fiyero on ways to find Glinda. Siccing the Wizard on her was probably taking it a little too far but she didn't want him in the room while she was working on Bree's leg and she knew he would make sure Elphaba followed her orders.

"Ow."

Speaking of Bree. The barely audible sound pulled Addena out of her thoughts, making her look up at her patient, who had finally gotten her to agree to let her sit up. Breena's fever had come down even more but she still looked drawn and tired propped against a mountain of pillows. "Are you all right?"

"Peachy," was Bree's clipped reply.

"I could still give you..."

"No."

"But..."

"I said no, Addy."

Addena sighed. "Why are you being so stubborn about this?"

"Would whatever you're wanting to give me knock me out?"

"No." She lasted all of about a second under that green eyed stare before saying, "Maybe."

Breena quirked an eyebrow. "Addy?"

"Fine. It would make you sleep. But only for a couple of hours."

"Then no. I've been out of it enough lately."

"But..."

"Is this your way of trying to tell me you're sick of having me around already?" Breena spoke over the doctor when she tried to protest again.

"What? No!" Addena frowned. "How could you even imply something like that?"

"I was teasing." Breena gripped the doctor's hand when she ignored her. "Addy, why don't you tell me what's really going on here?"

"Bree!" She chastised her. "You can't grab my hand like that! I'm trying to stitch your leg."

"Is that what you're doing? I hadn't noticed."

"There's no need to be such a jerk."

"Jerk? How does wanting to know what's eating at you make me a jerk?"

"Because I'm trying to make even stitches so you won't have as much of a scar and you keep interrupting me."

"Once all of the infection is gone I won't have a scar anyway, so make whatever kind of stitches you want. Leave the damned thing open for all I care. It'll heal eventually."

Addena clinched her jaw. "That was a stupid thing to say."

Breena sighed. "I know it was."

"Then why did you say it?"

"I don't know."

"Maybe you should think a little more before you speak next time."

"Tell you what, I'll just shut up and then neither one of us will have to worry about it."

Addena felt guilty as Breena leaned back against the pillows and made good on her promise not to say anything else. What was wrong with her? She should have been glad, no make that overjoyed to have Bree back. Instead she kept trying to pick a fight with her. That's how she ended up so lost in thought before. And Bree, who had every right to be cranky considering she had been poked and prodded and now had someone shoving a needle and thread through her skin, wouldn't rise to the bait. She started to a couple of times but then she backed down.

Was the witch right? Was Addena tired of having her around already?

She gave herself a good swift mental kick in the pants. Of course she wasn't. She wanted to spend the rest of her life with the woman for crying out loud. Then what was it that was making her such a grump?

The wound a little voice in the back of her head piped up as she finished with the stitches and started bandaging Breena's leg. That's what was putting her in such a bad mood. She hadn't dealt with the knowledge that Breena had been hurt as a direct result of something she's done. True she hadn't asked to be engaged to Eadlyn or made Bree jump on the horse and ride away after she lied to keep her safe, but she still felt responsible. She could have told Bree about Eadlyn before they got the summons from her father. She also could have told her a modified version of the truth instead of making up that ridiculous story about Eadlyn being her childhood sweetheart. But she didn't and ended up hurting Bree.

And she was hurting her again right now. Yes her leg needed restitched to keep other bacteria or dirt from getting in the wound and causing a secondary infection but she could have given her something for the pain without letting her know what she doing. But did she? No. She was so glad to have Bree back that she started closing the wound and then got mad at the poor woman when she didn't want to let her give her the pain medicine she should have just given her in the first place.

"Hey."

She felt a hand grip her chin.

"You're crying."

Tears she didn't even know she was shedding started falling faster as she looked into Breena's concerned eyes.

"I'm sorry Addy. I didn't mean to make you cry."

"You..." She sniffled. "You didn't."

"Yes I did, by being a jerk." Breena disagreed. "You're the doctor here. I should have listened to what you had to say."

Addena took the hand holding her chin and held it in her own. "You can listen to me now."

Breena nodded. "Whatever you want to give me is fine. I'll..."

"Not about that." Addena interrupted her. "I..." More tears filled her eyes. "I'm the one who should be apologizing to you."

"For what?" Breena frowned. "Trying to take care of me?"

"No, for getting you into this whole mess in the first place. If I had told you about Eadlyn..."

"Addy..."

She put her finger over the lips she adored. "You're supposed to be listening to me." She paused for a beat, wanting to make sure Bree wasn't going to try to say more. "If I had told you about the whole arranged marriage fiasco in the first place, none of this would have happened. You wouldn't have come here wondering what the hell was going on with me and I wouldn't have had to make up that stupid story about him being a war hero. Instead I kept it from you under the guise of keeping you safe because I was afraid of what you would do. I..." Tears continued to slide down her face. "I was afraid I'd lose you." Her chest tightened with emotion.

"But you didn't."

"Yes I did." Addena disagreed. "You died in that camp Bree. Yes by some miracle I got you back but you were gone. And then infection set in and your temperature kept going up and I thought I was going to lose you for good."

Breena wiped at her tears. "I'm right here."

"I know." Addena cupped her cheek. "And I've thanked the Unnamed God too many times to count. But what I need to know is..." She swallowed hard, trying not to break down completely. "Can you ever forgive me?"

"Forgive you?" Breena furrowed her brow. "There's nothing to forgive. What happened with Eadlyn wasn't your fault."

"But I hurt you, Bree. And don't say I didn't because I know I did."

"Yes, you did. But it's human nature to hurt the ones we love. And as soon as I got over the initial shock of finding out about Eadlyn you know I would have been right back here telling him he couldn't have you. I just never got the chance."

"I love you."

Breena pulled her into her arms as she started crying harder. "I love you too."

"I don't deserve you." She mumbled as she burrowed against her chest.

"Well that's too bad because you're stuck with me."

Addena half chuckle was muffled by the fabric of Breena's night shift. They held each other close for a few minutes before another voice broke their comfortable silence.

"Oh, I'm sorry."

Breena looked up, a grin pulling at her mouth when she saw Ginny standing in the doorway. "Hey."

"I didn't mean to interrupt." The older woman started to back out of the room.

"You're not." Breena was quick to assure her. "We were just talking."

Ginny returned her grin. "Do you always make my daughter cry when you're just talking?"

"Mother!"

Breena laughed as she tightened her grip on the doctor to keep her from moving out of her arms. "She was just joking."

"I'm sorry dear." Ginny apologized. "I should have known you weren't in the mood."

"And I should have known you two would get along too well." Addena relaxed against the witch.

"Come on in." Breena moved one hand from Addena's back long enough to gesture at her.

"No." Ginny shook her head. "I just wanted to see how you were doing. And now that I have I can..."

"Breena?" Maeve came bustling into the room, taking the older woman with her. "Can you, oh!" She wasn't expecting to find the two women in an embrace.

Elphaba was right behind her. "Maeve, I told you not to..." Her voice trailed off when she saw her sister and Addena on the bed. "We, uh... We didn't mean to interrupt anything."

"Why does everyone keep saying that?" Breena shook her head. "It's not like we were having sex or something."

"Bree!" Addena smacked her on the side.

Breena grinned at the disgusted noise her love made. "What can I do for you two?"

"We were wondering if you could..."

"Nothing." Elphaba cut Maeve off. "Obviously you're busy. We'll come back later."

Maeve frowned. "But she can probably..."

"I said we would come back later." Elphaba spoke over her again.

"Fine." Maeve shrugged. "You were the one who was so gung ho to find the locator spell."

"Locator spell?" Breena asked.

Maeve nodded. "I remembered Aunt Yackle mentioning a spell that could pinpoint someone's location. Elphaba seemed to think she could use it to find Glinda. But she was rifling through the pages too fast to find it." She gestured with the ancient tome she had tucked under one arm. "So I thought maybe you could help her."

"Maeve." Elphaba hissed her name.

"What?" Maeve gave her a look. "She asked."

"We shouldn't be here.'" Elphaba insisted. "Now let's go."

"Wait." Breena stopped them from moving. "It couldn't hurt for me to take a look."

"No."

She frowned. "Excuse me?"

"I said no." Addena sat up to look at her. "No magic for you until you're completely healed."

"But..."

"You heard me." The doctor pointed at her. "I'm not going to let you wear yourself out, Bree."

"She's right." Elphaba agreed. "I'm sorry Addena. I told Maeve not to come up here but she's faster than she looks." She gripped the woman in question's arm. "Come on, Maeve."

"Sorry." Maeve apologized as Elphaba started to drag her out of the room.

"Just a minute." Breena spoke up again. "Looking in the Grimmerie isn't doing magic."

Addena frowned at her. "What?"

"Looking for a spell and actually casting it are two different things. Why can't I help Elly find what she's looking for in the book?"

"Because you're not in any condition to, that's why."

"I thought I was doing better."

"You are."

"Then why are you making it out that I'm so bad off I can't even turn pages in a book?"

"I wasn't." Addena sighed. "But you and I both know that if you find the spell you'll want to help Elphaba with it."

"It's a locator spell. Even Elphaba can handle one of those on her own." Maeve bit her lip as she looked at the green witch. "Sorry. I didn't mean to offend you."

"No offense taken." Elphaba assured her. "And Bree, if Addena doesn't think you're up to helping then maybe you shouldn't."

"What if I promise to just look and not touch?" Breena kept her attention on Addena. "It's to help Elly find Glinda."

Addena pursed her lips. "No magic?"

"No magic." Breena used her finger to make an 'x' over her heart. "Cross my heart and hope to..."

"Don't go there." Addena warned her.

Elphaba said, "Don't!" at the same time.

And Ginny stated, "I've always hated that saying. I used to forbid the girls from using it."

Breena chuckled. "Would you like to add your two cents worth too, Maeve?"

"I think you got the point." Maeve grinned.

"So does this mean I can help Elly?" Breena gave Addena a hopeful look.

"I guess so." Addena reluctantly agreed.

"Bree." Elphaba shook her head. "I don't think you should."

Breena waved her sister's comment away. "You just don't know how to win an argument with an Upland. I'll give you lessons once we have Glinda back safe and sound. Now let me see the book, Maeve."

Maeve looked at Elphaba.

"You don't need her permission." Breena gestured for her to come over to the bed.

"I..." Maeve still hesitated.

"Go ahead." Elphaba told her. "She won't give up until you do."

Addena went back to bandaging her girlfriend's leg. She might have agreed to let Breena help but that didn't mean she couldn't keep an eye on her.

"Here you go then." Maeve sat beside her on the bed.

"Thanks." Breena suddenly winced. "Ow. Addy."

Addena was too busy frowning at Maeve for being so close to Bree to realize how tight she was making the bandage. "Sorry." She quickly started to redo it.

"It's all right." Breena gave her an understanding smirk as she put the finishing touches on the bandage. "Why don't you go get something to eat with your mom?"

"I can't."

"Of course you can." Breena disagreed. "I know you haven't been out of this room today. And I can only imagine how much time you spent here while Elly and I were off in lala land."

Addena furrowed her brow. "But..."

"It's all right, Addena." Elphaba joined in. "I'll keep an eye on her."

"Great, my own private babysitter." Breena grinned at her sister.

"I think it's a good idea, dear." Ginny jumped on the band wagon.

"See, even your mother wants you to go." Breena took the doctor's hand. "You've got to take care of yourself, Addy. I know you haven't been lately."

Addena met her gaze. "I've been busy."

"Which is why you need a break." Breena's tone was gentle. "You can go and come right back. We'll have found the spell by then and you and I can finish the discussion we were having."

"Alone?" Addena asked.

"Completely alone." Breena let go of her hand to cup her cheek. "Now go with your mom. And bring something good back for me. I'm starving."

Addena grinned as she leaned in to give her a kiss, not caring who saw them. She touched her forehead to Breena's once they parted. "I love you."

"Love you too."

Ginny was all smiles. "Aren't they absolutely adorable together?"

"And that's your cue to leave before she starts gushing." Breena gave Addena another quick peck on the lips.

"I'll see you soon."

"And I'll kick everyone out when you get back." Breena gave her a pat on the butt as she stood to join her mother.

Addena blushed. "Bree."

"Come on, sweetie." Ginny steered her toward the door before she could change her mind. "And you behave yourself." She gave Breena a look over her shoulder.

"Yes ma'am." Breena waited until they were out of the room to take the Grimmerie from Maeve. "Now let's see what we can find."