Author's Note: I am sorry for the confusion. This story is based on the characters from Wicked, but I am changing some of the events. Some characters that appear in this story may have died in the original production play and or book. I have altered the story a little bit for entertainment purposes.
Ten Fingers and Ten Toes
Elphaba was awakened from her slumber suddenly by a book dropping on top of her chest. She was startled and it caused her to lose her breath.
Was it a book? Or was it a creature trying to attack her? She couldn't be sure because she was so startled and confused.
Upon regaining her senses, she realized that it was indeed a book that had landed on her. The Grimmerie had apparently decided to come to life.
For days she had been doing research, and she hadn't been able to find anything useful.
She hadn't told Fiyero, for she could not risk disappointing him in the event that she could not find the spell she was searching for.
But now, as the book opened up and began to flip its own pages, Elphaba was sure that the spell was finding her.
Suddenly the pages stopped on a seemingly simple spell. Elphaba gently swung her feet over the side of the bed, and crept outside.
The chill of the night caused a shiver to shake her body, and the anticipation of what may result made her hands tremble as she prepared to read the words.
Should she read the spell? What if the spell actually ended up resulting in a larger problem? Her head was reeling with the possible outcomes of the spell, but every one of them seemed worth the chance.
She sat the book on a rock and kneeled down in front of it. The words began to dance out of her as she began to chant them in rhythm, "Uni ellekah bachi naman, seri seri naman kah. Uni ellekah bachi naman, seri seri naman kah."
As the words spilled from her lips, she began to feel a sudden burst of energy rise from within her core. On the last words, "ellekah bachi naman," Elphaba collapsed from the loss of power.
She was panting and gasping for breath, but stood despite her exhaustion. Elphie noticed that spells drained her physically and emotionally, but she didn't care.
For Fiyero Elphie would have done anything to restore him to his original self. After all, she was the one responsible for his current condition.
She tiptoed back to bed, quietly and as softly as she could, to see if the spell had been successful.
Elphaba gradually crept back into bed, but felt her heart fall when the all too familiar sprigs of hay brushed against her leg.
She felt the anger at herself rise because of the ineffective attempt at restoring Fiyero.
She knew she shouldn't have gotten her hopes up. Life had never been easy for her, so why should it start changing its course now?
The night grew still and Elphaba didn't hold back her tears. She knew that the pain from the tears would never be as bad as letting Fiyero down once again.
Glinda sat at the head of the table. She was quite miserable this morning, but she was fulfilling her obligatory duties anyways.
She was doing her duties despite her impending childbirth that Aldo had warned could come at any moment.
Today an old acquaintance sat across the table from Glinda. Nessarose, the younger sister of Elphie, sat only feet away from Glinda. Nessa had come on official business, for she was now the Eminent Thropp of Munchkinland.
Glinda tried to concentrate on the woman's words, but her eyes kept focusing in on Nessa's shoes. Those horrible shoes! They were the cause of much jealousy and much obsession from Elphie.
Also, the woman wearing them was a huge pain. After Elphie had "died" Glinda felt obligated to continue taking care of Nessa, but it was pure agony!
Now, several years later, Nessa seemed like a new person. Not only could she walk in on her own, Glinda made a mental note to find out the details on her sudden healing later, she also seemed like she was more aware of her power.
"Now, we would like to have our rights equally and fairly stated in the Oz Constitution. That is why I appeared here today, and I would like it if you took it under consideration." Nessa forced a smile and crossed her hands in front of her on the table.
Glinda was about to reply when she felt a horrible pain in her stomach. It shot up her body and she nearly doubled over.
"Oh no," Glinda managed to say despite the new phenomenon taking place in her body.
"Well really, Glinda, you won't even consider what I said?" Nessa replied angrily, thinking that Glinda's response was directed towards her proposal.
"No," Glinda said while trying to stand to her feet, "I think it's time! Someone please find Chanter and hurry! I don't want to have this baby in the middle of the meeting room!"
Glinda tried to keep herself calm, but she was petrified. Her body was a stranger to her as she experienced pains in places she didn't even know existed. She lay in her bed and tried to concentrate on Chanter's face starting down at her.
Aldo was standing next to the fireplace boiling some water and came over to check on Glinda's progress.
Glinda propped up her legs and was pleased when Aldo patted her on the knee.
"Well, it won't be long now Glinda. I'd say only about another hour. You must be ready for that baby to come, usually first time mothers take many hours to deliver their child. You've only been in labor for three hours and you're speeding along."
Glinda was pleased to hear that she was nearing the end, the pain was getting worse, and she was tired of being exposed for all to see. Her modesty had been thrown out the window the very moment her labor had begun.
Now as she lay naked, covered only by thin sheet, Glinda realized that someone very important was missing. A green someone.
At that very moment, Elphaba was sitting outside on the ground. She had been feeling depressed and right now she was staring at her hands. She was feeling horrible because Fiyero still didn't seem to be showing any effects from the spell that she had done earlier that morning.
If it didn't work, he was doomed forever to be a human scarecrow, and that was something that Elphie couldn't stand to have on her conscience.
Fiyero had gone out to the woods to find some dinner and she was alone. She had checked her cauldron earlier, but a nagging voice in her head told her to check it again.
Elphie peered into the murky waters that came to life with the wave of her hand. In the cauldron, she could see Glinda lying on a bed, and a woman was at her feet.
"Oh Glinda, it's time already?" Elphaba covered her mouth and gasped. She wanted to be by Glinda's side, but she knew that it would take her at least a couple of days to reach the city by broom.
She contemplated her journey for only seconds, than ran out to find Fiyero. She knew that she had to meet that little Glinda baby.
Glinda screamed; the agony of delivering a baby was so hard to bear. Glinda couldn't comprehend how so many other women did this very thing numerous times and voluntarily too.
Chanter wiped away her beads of sweat with the rag and then went back to holding her hand. She knew she was squeezing way too hard, but when the contractions came, she didn't care.
With her legs pulled up to her chest, Glinda pushed. She felt a strange sensation in her body and it wasn't one she wanted to repeat, but was forced to anyways.
"Okay, Glinda. This time, chin to your chest and push as hard as you can."
Glinda did as Aldo said the next time she felt her stomach cramp. After pushing, she saw the color drain from the midwife's face.
"Oh." Aldo said in a less than encouraging voice, "Hold on Glinda, don't push. I need to think for a moment." Aldo's face was serious as she took a step back.
"What's wrong?" Glinda frantically asked, "Is the baby okay?"
Aldo stepped back up to Glinda, "Well, the stubborn little thing has decided to come out feet first. I think I'm going to have to try to turn the baby. Now, Glinda, this is going to be the worst part. It's going to hurt a lot, so just take a deep breath and grab on to Chanter."
As Aldo tried to turn the baby, Glinda yelled in pain. She twisted the cloth of Chanter's shirt between her fingers and bit down on her lip. The fiery pains made tears come to her eyes as the midwife tried to twist and turn the baby.
Aldo wasn't successful. "This little baby wants to come out walking, so I guess I have to comply. Glinda, you can start pushing again, but we need to try to speed this up."
The next push was excruciating, and the pain shot all the way up to her temples. Glinda pushed with every ounce of her strength.
"Alright, great job Glinda. A few more pushes, and you should have your baby."
"How many more? I don't think I can take too much more of this Aldo." Glinda cried, and trembled at the thought of having to endure this for much longer.
Chanter stroked her cheek, then went to the end of the bed, "Come on Glinda, I can see the baby's toes!"
Glinda leaned up and forced the baby down, the sensation was strange as she felt the baby beginning to come out.
"Come on Glinda, you can do it! Push! The baby is almost here!" Chanter encouraged as he placed a hand on her knee. The cramp was coming again and Glinda prepared herself to push once more.
Elphaba navigated through the woods and carried her broom under her arm. The crisp leaves crunched beneath her feet as she searched for Fiyero. Then, she spotted something strange on the ground. She had to crouch down on her knees to examine it closer.
Hay in the middle of the forest? And there was a big pile of it too. It was strange, but Elphaba had seen stranger.
Then she saw him, he was sitting on a log, with his head in his hands. Was he crying? Elphaba had never seen him cry. She approached him, and when he looked up into her eyes, she realized where the pile of hay had come from.
Chanter stared at Glinda; her face held traces of agony and sweat poured down her face. He wanted so much for her to be finished with labor and he also felt horrible that he couldn't do anything to ease her pain.
Glinda screamed, and Chanter saw the baby's tiny legs appear. He didn't know how Glinda was doing it, because from what he was witnessing at the end of the bed, he knew that it couldn't feel too great.
He was getting a little bit squeamish, but before he had a chance to think about getting sick, a rather odd looking creature slid into Aldo's hands.
Aldo inspected the baby, and turned it around towards Glinda. The baby screeched and wasn't too happy about being born. Aldo cut the baby's umbilical cord.
"Well, Glinda, you have a gorgeous baby girl. She seems healthy and there are ten fingers and ten toes." Aldo grabbed a towel and wiped the baby down.
Glinda was crying at the sight of the perfect little girl in front of her. She noticed the head full of mahogany hair, the perfect lips, and the little nose which she recognized as very similar to her own.
Aldo placed the adorable little girl in Glinda's arms. The baby stopped crying when Glinda held her close and began talking to her.
"Welcome to the world my beautiful little girl. Mommy is so glad that you're finally here, but did you have to be so stubborn and come out feet first? You're taking after your Daddy already." Glinda kissed the top of her daughter's head and then looked over at Chanter.
Tears fell from his eyes and he leaned down to get a closer look at his little girl. She was beautiful and he could already tell that despite the dark hair, she looked exactly like her mommy. Her eyes were wide open and she was staring up at him.
"Hey sweetheart, I'm so glad that you're here. Daddy has been waiting to see your lovely little face." He kissed the baby and then leaned over to Glinda.
"I'm so proud of you. You showed me how strong you really are and I admire your perseverance. And, look what a gorgeous little girl we created." He kissed her and it was like they were kissing for the first time.
The kiss felt different. The thing that had been missing from their lives was currently secure in her mother's arms. They both looked down at their newly born pink bundle of sweetness.
"So, what is her name?" Aldo asked suddenly coming up to the side of the bed.
"Raina," Glinda said confidently, "it means queen. After all, she is royalty, I think it fits her."
Chanter gently picked Raina up out of Glinda's arms, "Welcome to the world Raina."
Chanter was surprised at how tiny she was. He could barely even tell he was holding her, and she squirmed a little bit in his arms.
Raina started to put her fists up to her mouth and suck on them. When she realized that she was not being satisfied by the tiny hands, she began to cry.
Chanter looked up, terrified, and handed her back to Glinda, "Oh no, something's wrong. What happened? Did I hurt her?"
Glinda chuckled at his unease. "No, you didn't hurt her. Looks like she's hungry. See the way she's attacking her fists, she wants some food."
Glinda lifted the baby up to her exposed chest, and Chanter was amazed.
Here he was totally clueless as to what to do with the baby, but Glinda seemed to know exactly what to do with her.
The baby seemed to know exactly what to do too, and she began to take in the nourishment that Glinda was providing.
Chanter sat down on the bed and watched the scene in front of him. It was quite possibly the most beautiful sight he had ever witnessed.
The two most important people in his life were before him and they had a connection that could not be shared by him. He could love her more than anything, but he would never be able to provide for her the way Glinda could.
Glinda stared down at her child, and found it hard to believe that the little girl was only minutes old. It seemed as though she had always been there and she already felt extremely connected with the small person.
At that moment, Glinda thanked Elphaba for stopping her carriage that day many months ago. Looking down at the beautiful gift, she knew that she would never want to live without Raina. She couldn't even imagine that she had ever wanted to get rid of such a perfect miracle.
Raina looked up at her mother and Glinda could swear that she saw the baby smile.