Thanks to Kennedy Leigh Morgan for beta-ing this. This is the final version (unless of course, one of you readers sees some hideous, horrible mistake, in which case tell me please) and should hopefully have little to no mistakes. I'm sorry if you had to deal with an un edited chapter, but I hoped that you all liked it anyways. So, again, sorry for the break although I said that I would update a least once a week. Yeah, no excuses. (Why am I uploading this at 1 am?) So, I hope you enjoy and I hope this version's better.

This chapter has Glinda. And Crope (but not Tibbett, sadly) because I adore them. I hope you enjoy it, however finished that it may be.

Disclaimer: I do not own Wicked, the characters in it, or anything else of the world Gregory Maguire created. I don't claim to own it, that's why this is here. This is a work of fan fiction for entertainment only.

Please enjoy. And review if you do!

That next morning, Elphaba got up earlier than usual. She would, firstly, have to dress up in different clothes than normal. Mostly she wore the plain frocks that she'd had in the mauntery with an apron over it because of flour and all the other baking materials. Today was different, of course. Thank Oz that the cake had been brought over to wherever the thing was by some servants employed by whomever was hosting it, she couldn't imagine hauling the delicacy over,

She slipped on the dress, where it had been hanging on a peg and tucked the hat (she really liked that hat) and her blue scarf into a bag. Elphaba then picked up Liir, who had awoken when she had, and whispered to him, "You're going out today, Liir, if Linnet's neighbor can watch you. Alright, dearie?" Liir nodded and sucked on his first three fingers. Elphaba sighed- she hated that habit of his- but let it go again. He might grow out of it soon.

So she picked him up, grunting a bit at his weight. "We're going downstairs," Elphaba said, and Liir nodded again. Linnet was waiting downstairs, as was a carriage and various small pastries and other baked goods as smaller snacks for the rich Gillikinese.

As she descended the stairs Elphaba caught a glimpse of Linnet and had a really hard time suppressing a giggle. The woman was in a lemon yellow tea gown, bedecked with false leaves and berries on the trimmings. Her hat matched, with a stuffed bird and cherries. She also had gems, most of which Elphaba was sure were false paste or glass. The entire effect was stunning, but not in the way one might say Glinda was stunning. (She might actually look decent in that outfit, her youth contributing to the fact). It was, Elphaba decided, more of a look that would literally stun you. With the yellow brightness, all those damned leaves and cherries, and just the overall hideousness.

"You look, you look nice." she managed to say. "It's quite bright."

Linnet preened. "Why thank you, Miss Annaele. You look very fascinating yourself."

Elphaba arched an eyebrow. "Fascinating? Do tell."

Linnet was stumbling over her words slightly, intimidated by the green younger woman. "I mean- it's just- I wasn't insulting you, you look quite nice."

Elphaba shrugged. "Well, at least I can achieve that then." Her tone was light this time around. "Who is the neighbor taking Liir again? I'm not sure I remember."

Linnet looked worried. "Oh, Miss Annaele, I'm sorry to say that Miss Fenna, who had so kindly volunteered to take your son, is sick. We'll have to take him along. He's able to behave, right?"

"He will if I tell him too," Elphaba said sourly. Oz knew she'd like to get Liir out of her hair for a while. Two-year-olds were exhausting. Linnet came over to her and gave her a friendly, clammy pat on the hand.

"Follow me to the carriage," her employer said. "The cake and goods are already loaded up."

"Well, that's good at least." Elphaba stated plainly, her tone and posture saying clearly that she wanted to be alone. Liir was settled on her hip, although she didn't look exactly pleased he was coming along.

Once again, Linnet wondered what had been left out of the outline to the other woman's life. She knew things, but how did they fit together. The green girl was a puzzle. They climbed into the carriage, Elphaba pressing herself stiffly into a corner of the thing, half hidden by the cake box. Linnet's skirt took up much of the opposite seat, and her hat that she had laid down occupied the remaining space. Elphie was much happier squished by the sugary confections with the boy sitting on her lap.

This day marked Glinda's second week in Gillikin. She had spent time with her mother and father while Chuffrey stayed at his mansion and had meetings and other dabblings in the money world of Oz. Her parents became slightly tiresome at times, although she did love them. So Glinda was back to being a socialite wife.

She woke up and rang for the maid, gazing at her huge closet. There was some sort of meeting party thingy she had to attend. She was looking forward to the second part, there would be other ladies (not all of them tiresome windbags, she hoped) and Crope was willing to be dragged along somehow, probably because of the food that was going to be served or something.

She was still waiting for the maid, where was the girl anyways? Glinda twirled a golden curl around her index finger and contemplated the tiara like headpieces lined up on a shelf. One had garnets; she rather liked that one. Then there was the thing she'd worn at her wedding; that had the veil attached. It wouldn't do.

There was a knock at the door; there was the maid.

"Come in," Glinda said, still absently staring. The handmaid, a youngish Munchkinlander called Reen, curtsied.

"Good morning, my lady," she said.

Glinda responded in kind. "Good morning to you, child," although the girl wasn't much younger than she was. Reen followed her gaze to the tiaras and then the dresser.

"Oh, yes, you need a dress for today, right my lady?"

Glinda nodded. "Something cheery, I would think."

"Of course," Reen said. "How about something in a spring color, yellow or green? Perhaps pale blue? My lady, will that suit you?"

"Yes," Glinda said. "It'll work, Reen."

Reen pulled out a light green dress with a vine pattern on the bodice, capped sleeves, and a bell shaped skirt.

"That's a lovely dress," Glinda told the girl. "I don't remember buying it, though."

Reen shrugged, and then remembered it was Glinda she was talking too.

"I'm not sure either, my lady. Perhaps a gift."

"Perhaps," Glinda agreed.

She started dressing with her usual assistance from Reen. The green reminded her of Elphie. She missed her dear friend so, wherever had she disappeared to? After Shiz, and that meeting with the Wizard. She shook her head, somewhat troubled.

"My lady, I think that you need to go." Reen had finished with the intricate lacing on the back of the gown and had arranged her curls and such since Glinda had been thinking in that haze.

"Oh. Yes, of course. Thank you, Reen."

"My pleasure, my lady." Reen curtsied and left. Glinda sighed. Time to go, thank gods Crope was here at the Chuffrey place, and meetings and parties and all. Elphie would hate it. She smiled wanly and started making her way downstairs.

Elphaba, in fact, was in quite a sour mood. Her hat was doing its job and disguising most of her face. She had fished out gloves to wear for serving food, and in the fancy dimming lighting she looked fairly normal. She was on a break now, so she had Liir in her arms. He was asleep again, his first finger and thumb in his mouth. She heard a coo at the boy from her right.

"His name is Liir," she said in response to the coo and tried to walk off but some middle-aged woman had a firm grip on her arm.

"Why, he's adorable," she said. "So sweet and innocent, don't you think?"

"Yes," Elphaba said and tried to smile. It didn't work, she already didn't like the woman and she wasn't good at lying, she despised lying. Lying like the Wizard did. "I have to go, I am working as you may know and not on a break, so thank you." She said and stalked away, her black skirts rippling in her wake.

She had never cared much of what others thought of her, anyways.

She knew that Glinda was there somewhere and was trying to avoid her. Thank Oz the woman had not gone near the cake yet, preferring (from what she could see) to nibble on pastries that were set out at intervals. Elphaba groaned slightly, she had been carrying Liir for quite a while now. She could put him back with the staff in the servant quarters; they hadn't minded taking him. The head maid was very motherly and had called Elphaba a "poor dear" a few times. Elphaba had smiled and nodded and left Liir there. Time to bring him back.

Crope, bored by the conversation (if you could call it that) had wandered off to a corner of the room. He had a cup of coffee with him and a slice of that huge cake in a hand and was quite content just leaning against the wall, watching the people. Suddenly he jolted to the side.

"Sorry," said the woman who'd just bumped into him.

She had a baby on her hip. "My fault," she turned to leave.

"Wait a moment," he said, peering at the woman closer. She was swathed in black, a sharply pointed hat on her head with a veil covering her face. Her sleeves were long and the dress had a high neckline and brocaded bodice. It was a pretty dress. Its purpose was to cover her, he guessed, and it was doing its job quite well. But there was still something about her that he recognized.

"I know you," Crope said. "Don't I?" He shrugged and although he couldn't see it, Elphaba scowled.

"No," she said, although she was lying through her teeth. She and Crope knew each other quite well, from that summer researching for Doctor Dillamond. How she'd love to continue his work.

"Yes, I do," he said, his nose in her face. He thought he saw green through all that damned netting. Green... Elphaba. "Miss Elphaba?" he asked.

"Again, no." said the figure. "The name is Miss Annaele, not this Elphaba that you talk of. Will you please let me through so I can go put my child where he needs to be? You are in the way."

All right, that clinched it. He knew it was Elphaba then, the sharp manner practically proved it.

"I say, it is you!" he said gaily. "Wonderful seeing you here, although I didn't know that you had any interest in stocks and the like. I'm only here to keep Glinda company, you know. Why are you here? And I didn't remember any talk of you having a child. We all miss you terribly, poor Tibbett, Glinda, Fiyero though I haven't seen him for ages, and Boq and the rest, except maybe Avaric. How are you, Miss Elphaba?"

"I'm fine," she said quietly. "Crope, Fiyero's dead. The reason you never heard anything about Liir is because I tried- and until right now was quite successful- to disappear. And you will not tell Glinda I'm here. I'm here because I made the cake, alright? Now let go of my arm."

He loosed his grip on her arm. "Fiyero's dead? When did that happen?"

"A while ago," she said, looking down. "He's been dead for a long while. A few years"

"How?" Crope asked. "Poor Fiyero."

"Gale Force," she said. "And I really need to put Liir away now."

Liir. He indicated Liir with his free hand.

"How old is your son? Who's the father? And aren't you awfully young, Elphie? What are you, twenty five?"

"Don't call me Elphie," she snapped at him. "Liir is two, his father is dead, and I am fine thank you very much."

He held up a hand to calm her down.

"He's adorable. The father's dead, who's the father, I never heard you were married either- oh." Something came together in his mind, Elphaba's look when he mentioned Fiyero, the dates adding up.

"Wasn't Fiyero married?" he asked her. "To Sarima, I think her name was?"

"That doesn't stop two adults from having an affair." she said. "And it certainly doesn't stop those two adults from accidentally conceiving a child together, does it? And now that you've pestered me enough, will you finally let me by?"

He moved out of her way. "Elphaba, sweet Lurline, I'm sorry."

"Don't be," she said. ""It was my fault."

"What?" he said, but Elphaba ignored that. She moved to leave but Glinda, come to visit Crope in his hidey-hole, had spotted her.

Too late, Elphaba thought,and shit.

"Elphie!" the blonde woman squealed before she could help herself. She rushed over and started to give Elphaba a hug, and then realized that Liir was in her way.

"Oh, oops," she said. "Who's this?" Glinda asked.

"My son Liir," Elphaba said. "Must we go all through this again?" she asked. "I was already interrogated by Crope here. Glinda..." she set Liir down for a moment and gave Glinda a proper hug.

"It's nice to see you," Elphaba said. "And I'm sorry for leaving you in the Emerald City. It was a good thing to do and a bad thing. I can regret it at times."

"Why?" Glinda asked curiously.

Elphaba looked down at Liir, and then up.

"I have to go," she said. "Now."

Glinda didn't argue, but asked her one question. "When can I see you again?" She asked. "I want to see you again."

Elphaba sighed. "Maybe never. Maybe soon. Glinda, I have to go." She tried to leave, but Glinda had grabbed her.

"Where are you staying? Elphie, I want to see you. I want to know what you've been doing for the last seven years."

"You can't," Elphaba said. She walked towards the stairs, having picked up Liir again. "I'm sorry, but I'm safer this way. And so are you, too." She left down the stairs.

"Is she gone?" Glinda asked Crope sadly. He shook his head. "She'll probably be back. I asked, she's not here a guest. She's here because of the bakery. If she manages to slip out from under your nose, contact the bakery that did the catering."

She hadn't thought of that. "I'll do that," Glinda said. "Thank you."

Crope grinned. "No problem. I always liked Miss Elphie. That summer when we all researched, I and Tibbett and Boq, we learned a lot."

Glinda nodded. "I miss her. She was my best friend, did you know? But then, then things happened."

"The Emerald City?" Crope asked. "Elphaba said so."

"Yes," Glinda said. "She had to do what she thought was right, and I guess that was it. Although I never expected that Elphie'd be a mother."

"I don't think that it was planned," Crope told her. "She's not married."

"Oh," Glinda said, looking at where Elphaba had went. "Then who?"

"Fiyero," he said, grinning slightly. "Remember when we ran into him and his dozen scarves that time? They were for her, and you said that he'd be having an affair because he was so happy. Fiyero's dead," Crope ended his sentence sadly.

"Oh," Glinda said. "Poor Elphaba. I don't think things turned out how she wanted, what she thought, anything."

"No," Crope said. "Lady Glinda, is there any liquor at this party of yours?" She shrugged.

"I don't know. I need to find the caterer, I need Elphie," she said. She did need Elphaba. She'd missed her horribly when she had been left alone at Shiz with only Nessa for company.

"She's alive, thank Oz, and I need to talk her at least." There was an empty light in Glinda's eyes.

Crope nodded, and she walked out.

Sometimes Glinda was like a small child, in a way. She needed something to hold onto. In this case, it was her best friend, who had been restored to her just now. And she intended to keep it that way.