O-tay... this chapter... ohh, this chapter. I hate this chapter. It upsets me. Anyhow...

017. Brown

Another painful month went by and Elphaba still didn't get her cycles. She was without a doubt pregnant and she was increasingly tired. School was wearing her out with exams around the corner (even though, for her, 'around the corner' meant months from now), and she still awaited the unavoidable death of her unborn child. Despite the unwavering support from Fiyero, Glinda, and Boq, the situation still felt like a dead-weight that seemed to get heavier and heavier as time wore on.

"Elphie," Glinda said to her one day, "I don't think you should go to classes today. You look terrible and you need sleep."

"I need to go to class. I can't fall behind," Elphaba argued. For a brief moment, a look of pain flashed across her face and she swayed on her feet.

"Are you okay?" Glinda asked. "Tell the truth."

"It's nothing, Glinda. It's only a stomach ache, nothing to worry ab--"

"Where does it hurt? Describe the pain." Glinda cut her off. Elphaba motioned vaguely to her lower stomach.

"It's not terrible, really," Elphaba assured her. She was lying, of course.

"Has your back been hurting or anything like that lately?" Glinda placed her hand on Elphaba's forehead and compared it to her own. She's a little warm… Elphaba just observed the blonde as if she were crazy.

"Nothing to make a big de--"

"Yes or no!" Glinda yelled at her. Elphaba was taken aback.

"…Yes, but—"

"You're not going to classes today," Glinda told her. "And neither am I. We're staying here."

"Give me a good reason besides that 'I need sleep'," Elphaba countered, folding her arms across her chest.

Glinda looked solemn. "Sit down." Elphaba did.

"I think you're going to miscarry."

Elphaba remained silent.

"I think you should go to the bathroom and check for any blood," Glinda advised quietly. Elphaba nodded and did as she was told. Lo and behold, she was bleeding. She couldn't believe that she didn't feel the blood there before. She suddenly felt ten times sicker than she did before. She cleaned herself off as best she could and rejoined Glinda in the main room, deadpan.

"So?"

Elphaba shook her head. "Tell Fiyero that we can stop worrying. It's over." Glinda's eyes welled up with tears for her friend.

"I'm sorry…" Glinda offered, "I…I'll tell him now, then." Glinda left and Elphaba disappeared into the bathroom again. Her 'stomach ache' was worsening by the second. It was as if now that she knew what was going on, her body decided to speed up the process. She was bleeding heavily, she felt. She grabbed a large bottle of oil and set it near the toilet. Then, she just sat, her eyes squeezed shut, willing the world away.

What felt like hours later, Fiyero and Glinda burst into the room. Despite her partially unclothed state, Fiyero rushed to Elphaba's side, stroking her hair.

"Fiyero, go to class." Elphaba's voice was muffled by her hands. "There's nothing to see here."

"I'm not going to leave you like this. It's my fault… you shouldn't have to suffer alone."

"It's not your fault. It takes two to tango, Yero." She took her head out of her hands to look into his worried blue eyes. "Whose notes am I going to copy if you're not in class, huh?" she joked.

"Boq's," Fiyero answered seriously.

"Fiyero, please just go to class," she pleaded. "Please."

"But I—Alright," he conceded, "But I'm coming back."

Fiyero returned, true to his word. For the last few hours, Elphaba had been experiencing what he could only imagine were contractions. Her body would seize, each of her muscles would tighten. There was an expression of pain that would flash briefly across her features; she seemed to be sweating from the effort of keeping her face blank, though it could have been caused by the contractions or the fever that she was keeping. He hated that he couldn't do anything to ease her pain. She didn't cry. She refused to cry. Instead, she bit her lip so hard that it bled. Glinda had to leave the room.

"I'll be right back," Fiyero told Elphaba. He followed Glinda to the bedroom portion of the dorm. She was crying.

"How can you stand to see her like that?" her voice cracked.

"I can't," he admitted, "but she needs me—and you—right now, so I'm there for her. Please come back. I don't know what to say to her. I can't even imagine what she's going through right now. You're a girl. You get it better than I do."

Glinda sniffed. "Alright. I'll go back. For Elphie." She composed herself as best she could and returned to the bathroom with Fiyero. Her composure didn't last long.

A few hours later, the bleeding stopped. Elphaba forced Fiyero and Glinda out of the room so she could clean up. She washed herself off with oil as best she could in her worn state. She went to flush the bloody toilet and saw grey-ish purple clumps floating in the mess. She felt like would vomit, seeing the red-brown water and tissue spin down the drain. She turned quickly out of the bathroom and let herself collapse on her bed facedown.

"Are you alright?" Fiyero asked.

"Physically, it feels like someone stuck rods vertically through my spinal cord and made me run a few miles uphill while being punched in the stomach," she muttered. She flinched when Fiyero rested his hands on her back and lifted the bottom of her shirt. He began kneading her sore muscles and she relaxed.

"What about emotionally?" Glinda wondered softly.

"I'm not sure. I know I'm not happy about it. I'm just not sure how unhappy I am."

"Fair enough. If you start feeling really bad, promise you'll tell someone?"

"Sure…" Elphaba responded tiredly. She was in the realm between sleep and consciousness.

"But sleep now. It's been a rough day," Fiyero told her. His mind screamed at him, 'it's been a rough day'?? That's an understatement if I've EVER heard one.

"Stay?" she murmured.

He kissed her temple. "Of course."

...sigh Depressing.

Anyway, thanks to my AWESOME reviewers. You make me smile.

E.R.