A/N: Your reviews are amazing Thank you all so much… Yeah, this one is slightly delayed in schedule to my first day in college. It's been crazy XD
Book references XD Gregory Maguire's the one with a creative imagination for unique names.
Chapter Nine: Number 4155
"Elphie, come on!"
"No."
"Please—"
"Glinda, I said no."
"But Elphie…"
Elphaba looked up from the Grimmerie, her verdant face impassive.
"No," she deadpans, once more lowering her gaze on the tome's dizzying squiggles.
Glinda huffed indignantly. I will not be ignored, she decided. Rising from her chair, she marched over to the other side of dining table. She grabbed the yellowing edges of the thick book and yanked it out of the green woman's reach.
"Hey!" Elphaba protested, leaning forward, but the blonde had slid the Grimmerie to the other side. She frowned. "I was using that!"
Glinda didn't seem to hear her as she bounced slightly on the spot. "Come on, Elphie, I'm sleepy!" she whined petulantly.
Elphaba rolled her eyes as she eased back to lean on her chair, crossing her arms in defiance. "Nice try, but I'm not buying it," she answered, beginning to smirk.
The blonde was as adamant as she was. Glinda tugged at her arms, attempting to haul her off the chair, but Elphaba wouldn't budge. The green woman was having a good time teasing her, but when she finally had her fun, she let the other girl win, and they sauntered to the bed.
Ever since that fateful night after the storm, the two began to physically express their desires. Wrapped in each other's arms every night, they were an indescribable, entangled mess of endless kisses, searing passions, and sweet whisperings, and they would bury their faces on the pillows when things got too much.
Elphaba had resumed her sporadic visits to Munchkinland, and despite of knowing what she was up to, Glinda took it all in with a trusting ease. Whenever Elphaba would choose to stay at home, they began to try out spells from the Grimmerie.
The green woman was doing an exceptionally good progress with her spells. Meanwhile, Glinda unintentionally humored her when the two of them discovered that, by some unfortunate but hilarious twist of fate, Glinda's forte had been spells about bubbles.
"Elphie, shut up!" Glinda hissed hotly one day when the two of them were practicing just outside the cabin.
The apple she'd been meaning to transfigure into wood turned into a bubble instead, and was now lazily floating skyward. Elphaba had fallen on the ground, laughing hysterically, hammering her fists excitedly on the ground in pure exhilaration.
"I'm… I'm sorry, Glinda, but—"
She tried to say, but ended up cackling with girlish joy. And that was pretty much the reason why they weren't able to practice more that day, since Glinda chased her madly throughout the grounds, wildly pelting apples at her head.
Elphaba was still in such a good mood by sunset, in which Glinda wasn't certain whether to feel satisfied or affronted. They were having their usual strolls in the forest. Recently, they've added a twist in it. Other than their "nightly escapades" in the cabin, they've also extended their physical intimacy under the shadows of the trees.
They were heading over to their favorite spot, when they abruptly halted on their tracks as they neared the borders of the small lake.
"Tell me I'm not imagining that…" Glinda said breathlessly, jumping to take cover behind Elphaba.
There was a small dark mass by the rocky edges of the lake. It had a built of a child.
"Definitely not, my sweet," Elphaba agreed as they cautiously scooted over to the immobile body.
It was a young boy. He looked no less than five years of age. The odd assortment of clothes—or rather, rags—was badly tattered. The pale skin was covered in dirt and grime. The bare soles of his tiny, calloused feet were slightly bleeding. They couldn't see his face, for he was lying on his stomach in a twisted position.
"Is he dead?" Glinda inquired, looking over Elphaba's shoulder.
"He's still breathing," said her emerald companion, looking at the child warily.
The two of them edged nearer until they were both kneeling over him. Elphaba grabbed the bony shoulder and carefully turned the child over.
The boy's eyes suddenly snapped open. The instant he saw Elphaba, he sat up straight. He looked utterly terrified, but kept his cadaverous lips sealed.
Elphaba rolled her eyes cynically. "Yes, I've always been green," she said, sounding incredibly bored to be gawked at again.
Glinda shot her a reprimanding glare, and then pulled off a concerned face as she turned to the frozen boy. "As mean as she looks, she's really nice, you know," she said gently, ignoring Elphaba's renewed skeptical grimace, "What are you doing all the way here?"
Instead of answering, the child bowed his head, and held out his small, chilblained palm, looking as though he was asking for some alms.
When Glinda looked confused, Elphaba said, "I know that gesture. It's done by the slaves in Munchkinland, asking their masters for permission to speak."
Glinda's blue eyes rounded in disbelief. As she looked at the boy again, she still couldn't render the fact that someone so young could be subjected to a fate worse than being imprisoned. "Of course you can speak," she said gently, feeling her heart go out, "No one else is here to say otherwise."
"You're not going to take me back, are you?" the boy asked in a quivering, soft voice.
"Back to where, my dear?" Glinda asked, wanting to cry for the child.
"Back to Munchkinland, I assume," Elphaba interjected instead, "Where I suspect his master will be waiting for him."
The boy shuddered involuntarily. "Just let me go," he meekly said, keeping his eyes lowered, "I won't trouble you any longer."
Glinda looked up at Elphaba, her eyes swimming with unshed tears. "Elphaba, he needs a home," she said, "Besides, winter is coming. He'll freeze to death out there."
Elphaba, however, arched an eyebrow. "If you're suggesting to adopt this boy—"
"I am," the blonde replied, suddenly brining the bedraggled child into her arms, much to the boy's shock and confusion, "Those people who own him—Oz, I don't even want to think about them!— have tortured him enough!"
The young slave, despite of himself, inched nearer into the warmth she was emitting.
"Glinda—"
"Oh please, Elphie," Glinda pleaded, cradling the boy, "For me?"
Elphaba hesitated for a moment, her jaw tightening. She'd had her share of taking care of a child. In fact, her entire childhood had been casted aside for that duty, that responsibility. The mere thought of the countless years wasted on nurturing Nessarose was driving her to the sharp brim of anger.
But that fleeting annoyance floated away as her eyes collided with Glinda's.
"Oh fine," she said, trying not to sound off spirited, "We can keep him."
Glinda practically bounced, her silly giggles from her Shiz days finding her again. "Oh thank you, thank you, Elphie!" she squealed.
The boy looked like he didn't register what had really happened at all, but he seemed to realize that he will be staying with the nice blonde lady and her mean green friend for a long while.
"What's your name?" Glinda asked excitedly, smiling brightly at him.
"4155," the boy answered simply.
The blonde's smile faltered slightly. "Come again?"
"4155," the boy reiterated, "That's my house number."
"Oh we'll have none of that!" Glinda announced happily. "I am Glinda, and she is Elphie—"
"Elphaba," the green woman snapped, staring coldly at the child. Dare to call me "Elphie" and I swear you'll be flying back to Munchkinland at the snap of my fingers, she thought savagely.
"And we'll call you…" Glinda said thoughtfully to 4155, trying to come up with a suitable name.
Elphaba felt herself stiffen in hesitant anticipation. She was aware of Glinda's "hobby" of christening newly hatched chicks with strange names. Once she had used all the names of their classmates, she began inventing silly ones, like "GingBing", "Flufflop", "Trumbling", and even "Fifi" (which slightly annoyed her when Glinda explained that she wanted it to rhyme the moniker "Elphie").
"How about Liir?" she suddenly said, wanting to spare number 4155 from further enslavement from his own name. The child's eyes lit up, and he looked like he wanted to settle on that one.
"Where did you get that?" Glinda inquired, but she sounded highly interested.
"It's a tribal name from the Vinkus," Elphaba explained, coming across it once in a history book back at Shiz. The Liir she had read about was an infamous insurgent who had been rebelling against his own tribe. He was imprisoned and served labor for years until finally escaping, never to be seen again.
Glinda pondered for a moment before jovially announcing, "Liir it is, then!"
After a while, the three of them made their way back to the Apple Press Farm.
Elphaba watched from a corner as Glinda became overly compliant to the boy's nonexistent needs. The blonde flew around the house, cleaning the boy and offering various provisions, but the child looked too shy to accept most of them.
To Elphaba, given that maybe Glinda was too childish most of the time, she could be a wonderful mother. She smiled to herself, thinking how the loving blonde had also acted more like a wife to her ever since their stay by the farm.
Before tucking in, Glinda hugged Liir. "We're going to have so much fun together!" she said excitedly to the smiling child, "You, Elphie, and I."
Despite of hearing it, the green woman smiled softly, letting the controversial use of her nickname slide.
Liir even walked over to her, though more shyly than he was to Glinda. He bowed slightly before her, saying in a small voice, "Goodnight, Miss Elphaba."
Elphaba openly smiled this time, answering, "Sweet dreams, Liir."
The boy looked up, as if trying to see if the mean green person was mocking him. He was pleased to see that he had been wrong. Elphaba, meanwhile, began to notice the boy's eyes for the first time. They were blue, a wonderful and glorious shade of crystal blue, contrasting perfectly with his raven black hair.
While Liir quietly went to sleep on their bed, the two women watched him by the dining table.
"Poor thing..." Glinda sighed, looking at the child in awe, "He's a really good-looking boy. Too bad he had to go through so much, though."
Elphaba looked over at her. Her words escaped her lips before she even got the chance to stop them, "He has your eyes."
It was merely meant to ease the moment, but she couldn't help it. Glinda's way with the orphan seemed to make her the mother.
To her relief, the malicious glint in Glinda's eyes had toppled the glazed look that she had been giving Liir. "And he has your wonderful hair," she said, scooting closer to her green lover.
"Not now, my sweet," Elphaba whispered urgently, glancing at the sleeping child.
"You know, my Elphie," Glinda said, technically purring as she nonchalantly dropped herself to sit on Elphaba's thighs. Her fingers slowly traced her love's firm jaw, "Don't tell me we're going to stop humping around just because Liir is here..."
Elphaba's cheeks darkened in a surprising speed, her breathing became shallow as Glinda's face hovered dangerously near hers. "Well we can't do this even though he's sleeping," she reasoned, "What if he wakes up?"
Glinda's malignant smirk didn't help soothe her nerves at all. "There's always the barn, Elphie."
A/N: Yes, well... I had unintentionally made Glinda slightly coquettish here T_T Didn't realize till I was halfway through.
There. I gave them a child through possible means XD ... Not in my original draft, but okay. My brain is getting wilder every chapter.