(AN: To any who may have been reading A Second Chance as well as this story, this is where the second chapter I promised is going.)

(I'm on a role today! Hopefully I can keep this up. If I disappear again, it's probably because I've fallen off this 'Crazy Train' of inspiration, or because I finally got shoved back into society's brick wall and have a job. [don't sue me, Ozzy and Floyd!])

(Some nice, fluffy Fiyeraba moments in this chapter, though important stuff does happen. And it sets the scene for our next chapter, where more intrigue occurs.)

Apples and Fairies

Elphaba heard no more from Koiyo after her sudden appearance. Nor did she see anything more of the Chancellor. Aside from the Ozma and her repertoire of 'oddities', Elphaba didn't really have much freedom. It pained her, as much as being trapped in a tight tunnel made her afraid: she was born to 'fly', which was how, sometimes, especially after she exploded from the Emerald Palace's roof that clear afternoon, it was as if she was flying rather than the broom she had enchanted. It made her pregnancy even harder on her. She wanted to be out and about, doing something rather than just lying in bed, sitting quietly at court, sitting on the stool or pacing about, reading and watching her stomach slowly growing.

Glinda, however, tried to meet with her as often as she could. They passed as much information between each other as they could, though that itself was scarce. Fiyero, it seemed, was feeling much better. So much, in fact, that he wanted to see Elphaba alone in her room together. Though Fiyero had been ignored by the people at Shiz Palace, it would definitely cause a stir if he was found in the green woman's room.

To that end, the two women spent many visits planning a time when they could be in opposite rooms and Fiyero could visit Elphaba in privacy. This was what the two were up to right at the moment. Glinda had managed to bribe a servant with extra food in order to receive a map of the Shiz Palace. After finding ink and a pen, Glinda began making marks on the map she had procured. She was lying on her front, with the map up on one of the pillows and her legs idly kicking the air. Next to her was Elphaba, lying on her back, with one hand behind the back of her head and another resting at her side.

"Okay, Elphie." Glinda said. "I've marked our location on the map." She held up the map from the pillow. The green woman turned to look at it. "Here," She pointed to a room marked with a tiny x. "That's your room." She then traced with her finger to another room on the far side of the castle, marked with two x's. "This is where Fif...Fiyero and I are located."

"Look at you, Glinda." Elphaba commented fondly. "Planning and thinking all on your own."

"Well, when you've got so much time on your hands with nothing else to do." Glinda commented. "How are you, Elphie? Feeling any better?"

"Yes." Elphaba nodded. "I'm not as nauseous as before, just really restless. I wish I was doing something."

"Then help me plan." Elphaba rolled over onto her side as Glinda placed the map in between them.

"You're better at hiding, Elphie," Glinda said. "So you'll go to my room. I guess I'll just stay here in your room. Just give me a knock and tell me its you when you get back."

Elphaba nodded.

"I can't believe it, Elphie." Glinda sighed.

"What can't you believe?"

"You're going to be a mother!" Glinda was smiling, but trying to force back tears of joy from streaming down her face.

Just then, there was a knock at the door. Glinda grabbed the map and threw it under the bed.

"Come in." Elphaba replied.

She barely kept a cry of shock from escaping her lips as she saw who entered the room. About average height, with auburn hair tied back into a tight bun, this woman bore herself with even more grace and poise than Ozma did. But it was the face that Elphaba was drawn towards. Late middle-age, with the last bits of beauty still clinging stubbornly to her body, there was something very unsettling about the way she looked in Elphaba's eyes.

Almost like a fish.

"Lady Aelphaba," the woman said. "I am secretary to the High Chancellor. I heard that your friend was last seen coming into this room, the Gilikin woman."

Glinda gasped. She thought she had been more clever than that.

"Ozma wishes to speak with you, Lady Glinda," the fish-faced woman said. "Regarding your claim as a member of the clan Arduenna."

Glinda nodded in recognition. Elphaba, however, was nervous. There was probably no record of a Glinda in the Arduenna clan at this time, and therefore she would be in hot water once Ozma discovered this fact.

"Okay, then we'll go to her at once." Elphaba said.

"Not you, Lady Aelphaba." the woman said, raising her hand palm out in her direction. "The Ozma has not summoned for you to appear before her today."

Elphaba was even more nervous than before. How could Glinda get herself out of this mess unless she was at her side? Or maybe Elphaba was feeling useless, trapped here in this room of hers, and wanted to do something important? Or perhaps she thought herself too important as it was...

"I'm sorry," she mouthed to Glinda.

"Fiyero." was what she mouthed back.

Glinda walked over to the fish-faced woman.

"Lead on." she said.

"Right this way, dearie." she offered her the arm. Glinda did not accept, but they walked out just the same.

"Uh, Madam Secretary?" Elphaba asked.

"Lady Morrible, if you will." the auburn-haired, fish-faced woman returned, before closing the door.

She knew it. It was a distant ancestor of Madam Morrible's, there was no doubt with that cod-like face. A very funny thought came into Elphaba's mind: what if that was actually Madam Morrible herself? She looked old enough in her time. But it was only in jest, and Elphaba did not take that thought very seriously. People lived long in Oz, that was for certain, but people also died during the reign of the Wizard. This person was definitely an ancestor, she confirmed.

But she was also puzzled by Glinda's last statement. Did she want her to go and see Fiyero? Quickly, she took the map and made her way over to the door.

In the hallway, the Lady Secretary to the Chancellor led Glinda down to the throne room. She had only been before Ozma once, and she did not like how she had treated Elphaba. This left no doubt in Glinda's mind that, whatever might happen, it would probably not end well for her.

Just then, the Lady Morrible knocked into a Munchkin servant, sending the clean pans she had been carrying down onto the floor.

"Mind yourself!" she growled. "Clumsy little child."

Glinda recognized the Munchkin. It was Daisy Fromica, the one Elphaba had mentioned waited upon her. She had often-times seen her leaving Elphaba's room just before she herself made her secret entrance.

But once Daisy saw Glinda, she dropped the pans she had been carrying, her mouth gaping open like a cavern.

"Oh, sweet Lurline!" she gasped. Before Glinda could say 'toss toss', Daisy threw herself down prostrate before her. "Forgive me, O gentle Queen of the Fairies!"

"This one?" Lady Morrible said, pointing to Glinda. "Queen of the Fairies?" She laughed in mockery.

"I'm afraid she's right." Glinda said. "I'm just Glinda."

"Oh," Daisy said. "But you must be a fairy, one of Lurline's band! Please, I beg you, bring peace to Oz!"

"Peace to Oz?" Lady Morrible returned angrily. "There IS peace in Oz! As long as the Ozma lives, there is nothing to worry about." She then turned to Glinda. "Hurry along, dearie."

Glinda wanted to say something, to convince this little Munchkin woman that she wasn't Lurline or even a fairy.

"Speak kindly to Lurline of me, Glinda!" Daisy called back.

Finally, she thought, she was doing something.

It felt good to stretch her legs out with a nice walk across the castle, especially if it was towards the room that Fiyero and Glinda shared. Keeping watch on the halls, making sure she didn't run into any patrols, she made her way as quietly as she could. Her blood was pumping and her heart was beating heavily beneath her chest, just above the steadily growing mountain that was her expanding womb.

At last she was in the corridor. There was still a good deal of castle left to go, but the secret tunnel that Glinda had shown her cut off a good deal of that trek and led directly into their room. However, now almost five months along, Elphaba wasn't sure she could still fit through such a small tunnel.

She would have to risk the long way.

Taking out the map again, she followed the corridor through its end. She only paused to jump behind suits of armor in the cutaway alcoves in case a patrol passed through that way. Only once did this happen, but it was enough to make her feel unnerved.

For the next half of an hour, she wound her way through the castle halls, all the while tracing her steps on the map. Glinda was not joking when she said that their room was on the opposite end of the castle, for it seemed to Elphaba has though she had walked a long distance already, dodging patrols and meandering aristocrats, for too long.

At last, there it was. Her heart began to pound loudly against her rib-cage. Quietly she raised a hand and rapped softly upon the door.

"Who's there?" a voice called from the other end.

"It's Fae." she whispered.

The sound of shuffling footsteps was heard, and then the door came open. Elphaba threw herself into Fiyero, who barely had time to bring up his arms around her.

"I've missed you, Yero!" she sobbed into his shoulder.

"Hey," Fiyero said, closing the door behind them. "Don't cry. It's okay. We're here, together now."

Elphaba kissed him again, wrapping her arms around his neck. From her tight grip, she did not want to let go any time soon.

She kissed him again, and it was then that she noticed something.

"Yero," she said, with a hint of surprise. "Are you...growing a beard?"

"Well," he blushed. "I mean, they don't let me shave, and Glinda's not been able to swipe a knife or mirror, so...yeah, I guess I haven't had time for that."

"I like it," she returned, kissing him again. "You look...like a man."

That made Fiyero feel just a bit more confident. For so long he felt still like a youth, trying to act like a man. To be called a man and recognized as one in the eyes of his beloved meant more to him than all the emeralds in the Glikkus or all the rubies believed to be in the swamps of Quadling.

The two locked lips again, sighing and breathing heavily as both of their mouths were wrapped around the other.

"The Lady Glinda." the servant announced.

Ozma clapped her hands together madly as her Monkey jester performed before her. When the servant announced that Glinda had arrived, she looked up at her servant.

"What is she dressed in?" she asked.

"A blue travel dress." the servant returned.

"Is it nice?"

"It's a bit shabby, Your Majesty. It's been torn in places. It hardly compares to the clothes of Your Majesty."

"And her face," she continued. "Is it...pretty?"

"Oh, yes, Your Majesty." But the servant spoke out of turn. He knew that the moment Ozma glared at him. She then turned to the Monkey.

"Push off, fool! You're done here."

"Your Majesty." the Monkey bowed before her and then walked out of the room with a low-hanging head.

"Ladies!" Ozma summoned her ladies-in-waiting. "Bring out the royal artists! Her Majesty - namely me..." She giggled at what she thought was great wit on her part. "Must look her absolute best. No one must ever outshine Ozma, nope nope nope!"

A few minutes later, Glinda was ushered into the room of the Ozma. None of the other courtiers were about. Lady Morrible brought her forward to the center of the room.

"Out, leave us." Ozma said. The guards began to leave. "You will stay, Lady Morrible."

The doors resounded ominously as they closed behind the exiting guards. Glinda felt suddenly alone.

"You are not from the Arduenna clan," Ozma spoke at last. "As you so deceptively claimed to be."

"What?"

"It took many months to hear back from the clan," Ozma continued. "And nowhere do they have any records of a woman named...Glinda. Therefore, it seems to us, that...you have deceived us."

"Your Majesty, please." Glinda began.

"You are a liar!" Ozma shouted. "I don't like lying!"

"I..." Glinda was at a sudden lost for words.

"Your Majesty," the Lady Morrible spoke up. "I beg your pardon upon this simple creature."

"Why?"

"The people!" she said. "I've heard one of the servants say that she is Lurline returned to us."

"I see," Ozma replied facetiously, turning to Glinda. "So you want to steal my throne?"

"No, Your Majesty." Lady Morrible walked over to Ozma, bowing low as she approached the pedestal upon which the huge ruler sat. She then whispered something to Ozma that Glinda could not make out clearly.

To Glinda's surprise, Ozma's demeanor changed.

"You are not Lurline, that much is certain." she said. "If my divine mother needed to send someone, she would have sended me."

Glinda used the fancilocious dialect of upper-class Gilikinese, but 'sended' was just not right.

"However," Ozma continued. "As my esteemed colleague has so aptly put it, the people flock to you like midges to the frog-people of the Quadling marshes. Therefore we think it meet that you will stay at court, given the finest dresses, the best food, the best lodgings - all within reason, of course - and appoint you a commission as Her Majesty's...ambassador of good-will among the people."

She had heard Madam Morrible use similar words before.

"You want me to tell the people to trust you in all things." Glinda returned.

"And smart as well!" Ozma giggled. "How inspiring!" Glinda could not help thinking of a very large pig with white face and huge red lips painted onto its face, bouncing up and down upon its cushioned throne, when Ozma giggled.

"And my friends?" Glinda asked. "Aelphaba and Yero."

"I want my little green ducky here with me," Ozma said. "She's very bright, you know. Whenever she enters a room, everything becomes beautiful because she is in there. As for the wild man, I couldn't care less if he bludgeoned himself to death with a club, so long as he doesn't cause any disturberances."

Glinda still felt a little uneasy at this request. She was being forced back into 'propagandament', just like with the Wizard.

"Do you accept this offer?" Ozma asked.

Do I have a choice, Glinda thought. A nod was sufficient enough.

They were together on the bed. All they had done was make out, at Elphaba's request. She was excited to be back with Fiyero again, but not so excited that she would do anything that might jeopardize the life of the baby within her. They were lying down upon the bed, completely oblivious to the coarseness of the straw mattress. Elphaba's hair was unbound, strewn about on the grey pillows like veins of black gold trailing spider-like across a wall of granite.

Both of them were looking into each other's eyes.

"Can I see it?" Fiyero asked.

Elphaba rolled her eyes.

"You and Glinda both!" she sighed. "It's always 'Can I touch it?' or 'Can I see it?'" Her imitation of Glinda made Fiyero smile. "Sometimes I don't want to be poked and prodded, Fiyero."

"Okay, okay! Forget I asked." Fiyero said, getting up and sitting on the edge of the bed. So much for their post-make out mood. It was now in pieces, and all he wanted to do was recover from whatever he had said wrong. After all, it was his child, he should be able to see it.

He felt a soft hand come to rest on his shoulder.

"I'm sorry, Yero." she returned. To punctuate her feeling, she planted a kiss on his right cheek. He turned his head and kissed her back. She moved around him, moving now to plant herself sitting in front of him, resting her head on his shoulder.

One emerald hand reached up and came to rest upon the side of Fiyero's chin, while the other one adjusted her dress just a little bit, revealing what Fiyero had desired.

His first thought was of a large, green apple. He smiled, trying not to say anything so silly, and instead placed his hand upon it. Her flesh was soft and warm beneath his fingers, and his nose was filled with the sweet smell of her hair. Elphaba sighed, placing her own hand upon his.

Just then, Fiyero gasped.

"What is it?" she asked.

"Did you feel that?" he returned.

"Feel what?" Now she was interested.

"Right here." He moved her hand to one side of her stomach, and then waited.

"Ah!" Elphaba cried out in joy. A smile erupted across her face, and he smiled as well.

They both felt the baby move in Elphaba's womb beneath their hands.

(AN: Yes, I can be cute too!)

(Sorry if my idea of romance is dry and not to 'your liking.' I'm not experienced with romance, and the one original story that I was writing, a romance called Red and Gold, I'm considering not continuing because its going to be digging into very personal matters and I'm not sure if I want to relive that. I know I said I wouldn't abandon a story, but I'm seriously considering it.)

(If you have no idea what I just said, go on over to FictionPress and check out Red and Gold by me. Leave your opinion if you want me to continue or not. If I get enough feedback, maybe I will.)

(Yes, I had one of Madam Morrible's ancestors in this tale. But no, I'm not going to have her get killed off, because she is just a 'supporting' character, not one of the main cast. I'll try to think up some in-depth, good intrigue for the next chapter and have it over as soon as possible.)