Auntie Elphie

Chanter cradled his newborn daughter in his arms. She was sound asleep and wrapped up in a pink blanket.

He gently stroked her cheek and smoothed down her thick hair.

He had been admiring her for, well, it had to have been more than an hour. Raina's tiny feet and hands were what he was noticing at the moment. She gripped his finger with a surprising amount of strength.

Chanter leaned down and placed a soft kiss on her forehead. As much as he would have liked to hold her all night, he knew that there was someone else he needed to tend to.

The bassinet was in the corner of the room. The sheets were white, but now that they knew they had a little girl, the appropriately pink frilly sheets would be put on tomorrow.

Carefully he lowered Raina into the bassinet. He held his breath as she started to wiggle a little bit, but was relieved when she settled down.

He left her and went to the bed. Glinda looked so peaceful and he couldn't believe what she had been through just hours before. He was also in disbelief that they had created the most perfect little girl together.

He slowly lowered himself into the bed and snuggled up to her back. At his touch she awoke and turned to look at him. Chanter noticed that her eyes were red and she looked exhausted. He brushed the hair out of her face and placed his hand under her chin.

"Hello my beauty. How are you feeling?" He lightly brushed his lips against hers.

"Well, as good as can be expected I guess. I'm fatigued, but somehow I expect that may be due to the fact that I pushed an eight pound person out of my, well, you know." She smiled as she placed her hand on his chest.

"How's Raina?" She asked suddenly, with a hint of worry in her voice.

"Perfect. She stayed asleep after you fed her, and I was holding her for over an hour. I just now put her in the bassinet."

"Someone's got daddy wrapped around her little fingers already. I sense we're going to have one spoiled little girl on our hands." Glinda giggled and then grabbed Chanter's hands. She tangled her fingers in his and then went about meeting his lips in a deep kiss.

Their lips met in a rapid flurry of passion. Overwhelmed by their intense feelings, both new and exciting, they almost didn't hear Raina cry.

Glinda broke off the kiss and headed to the tiny baby crying out.

Raina pulled her knees up to her chest and wobbled her head around as Glinda picked her up. She stopped crying when she heard her mother's voice, "Hey sweet baby, its okay. Mommy's here. What's wrong? Are you hungry again?"

Glinda grabbed a pillow and placed it underneath Raina, then unbuttoned her shirt. The little baby gladly began eating.

Chanter smiled as he marveled at how quickly Glinda had adapted to motherhood.

"What?" Glinda asked when she noticed that he was staring at her.

"I can't even tell you how much I love you." He smiled and then decided to show her with a kiss instead.

Elphaba still couldn't believe it. A couple of hours earlier, she had come across Fiyero in the forest. His eyes were filled with tears and he looked so vulnerable. He was, well, normal.

She hated to think of it in that way; after all, what was normal? But he was back to his previously human state.

When she found him, she kneeled down and a hold of his hands. The hay was gone and his skin was warm to her touch.

The sapphire diamonds that once covered his skin were visible again. Elphaba couldn't wait to gaze upon each and every one of them as she slowly pulled him close.

Their embrace lasted for what seemed to be an eternity, and Elphaba was the one who ended it.

"Yero, are you okay?" Elphaba inquired.

"I'm fine, just in shock. I can't believe it. I was just walking and all of the sudden, I had this strange sensation. It felt a little bit like when your leg goes to sleep, you know that tingling feeling. Well went throughout my entire body and when I looked down, I saw the pile of hay."

"Is everything back to the way it used to be?" Elphaba asked looking over him to make sure he was alright.

"Everything seems okay, although I haven't really looked really well. Did you do this Fae?"

Elphaba looked up into his eyes, "Yes. I couldn't stand knowing that you might be stuck like that forever and I know that you wanted to be like you used to be."

"I'll never be like I used to be. Don't get me wrong, I'm happy that you found a way to change me back, but I never want to go back to the old Fiyero. My heart will forever be changed for the better, and all because of my beautiful Fae." He stood and took her hand in his.

"Fiyero, I have to leave. Remember how I told you that Glinda was going to have a baby? Well, today was the day. I must go visit her. It's going to take me around three days by broom, and I'll probably stay for a day or two." Elphie grabbed the broom that was hovering beside her and started walking towards the cave with Fiyero.

She had already packed her clothes, so when she got back to the cave, all she had to do was grab her bag. Fiyero pulled her close and held her tight.

"Be careful my Fae. I love you and I'll be waiting for you to return. Tell Glinda congratulations for me." He kissed her tenderly and then observed her as she left for Oz.

Elphaba sat atop the broom and watched as the trees began to look like tiny specks. The wind whipped her raven hair against her cheeks and the moonlight made her glow even more than usual.

She would only be able to travel until dawn, then she would have to find a place to hide until evening. Elphaba was surprised at how excited she was to see Glinda again. But most of all, she was excited to see Glinda's little baby.

Elphaba panicked when she suddenly realized that she was flying above a river. If she slipped or if her broom lost its magic, Elphie would be dumped into the water. That was the most terrifying fate Elphaba could imagine.

The landscapes began to melt together into one continuous patch of grass and houses after several hours of flying.

Elphaba found she was yawning about every five seconds and fought desperately to stay awake.

She began to think about Fiyero and how she had come to love him. She couldn't pinpoint the exact moment, but she suspected that it was that day he arrived at Shiz. He was seemingly arrogant and shallow, yet she could see through his façade.

That day when he grabbed the helpless Lion's cage, he had also unexpectedly taken a hold of her heart.

They had both disappeared from their world without a trace. They were the invisible couple, yet to Elphaba, Fiyero was all that she could see.

His arms held her during cold nights when storms would threaten to reach them inside the cave. Having his body against hers was the most comforting feeling she had ever known.

His lips were perfect and she loved the tender kisses he always placed across her sea of emerald skin.

Her thoughts were so caught up in shared intimate moments that she didn't realize that the sun was beginning to rise. She continued going until she felt the faint heat of the sun kissing her face.

"Great. Where am I going to sleep?" She frenetically looked around but the only place she saw that would be good for hiding was a small cornfield.

"Looks like I have no other choice," she sighed then slowly brought herself down to the ground. She weaved into the tall plants and finally climbed off of the broom. She found that she was exhausted almost instantaneously. Her bag made a perfect pillow and she fell asleep as soon as she closed her eyes.

Glinda was staring out the open window. It was getting really late and she was about to go to bed when Raina started crying.

"Hold on sweetheart, mommy's coming."

The little baby had a big voice and Glinda wondered how something so small could produce such a large sound.

Raina was now four days old and Glinda had already gotten used to the feeding schedule. She knew that ever two hours and fifteen minutes, Raina would cry to be fed.

She brought Raina out of the bedroom and sat down in the chair that was in front of the window. Raina was eagerly anticipating her late night dinner, but would have to wait a moment.

Glinda was startled by a sudden noise that came from the balcony. She was tempted to go wake up Chanter because she was sure that she heard something.

Raina began crying because she wasn't happy that she wasn't eating yet, so Glinda began feeding her. The noise came again, except this time, Glinda also saw something moving as well.

She was startled when someone came inside. If she hadn't been so shocked, she would have screamed.

Elphaba didn't mean to scare Glinda, but there's really no easy way to just walk into someone's home unexpectedly.

Glinda sat in a plush chair, chest fully exposed, and nursing her little baby. Elphaba chuckled at Glinda's expression.

"Did I scare you?" She teased.

"I knew it was you the whole time," Glinda replied stubbornly.

"Sure you did, that must be why all of the color drained from your face then."

"How did you? When did you? What are you doing here?" Glinda finally managed to ask.

"Remember my old broom? Well, I kind of rode it here." Elphie giggled at her confession.

"I don't even want to know how you did that, well, not right now anyways."

Raina wasn't very hungry and she was already done eating. Glinda buttoned her shirt and put Raina on her shoulder to expel the tiny burp.

Elphaba walked closer to Glinda and the baby. Glinda turned the baby towards Elphaba.

"Raina, meet your Auntie Elphie." Elphaba reached out and took the little girl in her arms.

Looking down at the little face, Elphie was surprised at how much Raina looked like Glinda. She was probably the cutest thing Elphie had ever seen. She was wearing a little purple nightgown, with daisies on it. Her gorgeous dark hair showed promise of sprouting into curls and Elphie was surprised at how she felt about the baby.

She was content in holding the little girl and staring into her face.

"Wow, Glinda. She's gorgeous. How's motherhood? Oh, I almost forgot to tell you that Fiyero wanted me to congratulate you for him."

"Aw, tell him I said thank you and thank you too. Motherhood was a surprise at first, but now I think I have the hang of it. Pretty much I just feed her every couple of hours, and change her diapers in between the time she eats. Other than that, I just gaze at her and try not to hold her every second of the day."

Elphie looked over at her friend. She looked beautiful and she was so happy that she was beaming. She looked down at the little bundle in her arms and decided to tell her a secret.

"Raina, you know what? You're the luckiest little girl. Not only do you have the most brilliant Auntie in the world, but you also have the most amazing mother too. She will care for you like no one else ever did. She will make you realize that you can reach for your goals and she will push you to do things you never thought were possible. You want to know how I know all of those things? Because she did all of that for me." Elphaba kissed the tiny girl's forehead.

"Just don't let her sing you that silly song about being popular, I'm sure you'll be fine on your own." Elphaba giggled and walked over to Glinda who stood too. The two embraced gently with Raina in between them.

There was a small silence that none of the women in the room dared to break.