The words flooded into Isabelle's ears and she could not believe what she was hearing. Raiden was actually proposing marriage to her. Thoughts filled up her mind as she contemplated what to say to him.

He is actually proposing to me. Ok, just breathe, she thought to herself. Not working. I cannot get married yet. I am only eighteen and I have not had the chance to experience life enough to know if I am ready to get married. How do I tell him without completely killing him?

Slowly, she took her hand and ran it across his cheek. The words started forming in her mouth and finally started coming out.

"Raiden, I love you and you know that. I just do not want to rush into things when they are so wonderful as they are. It is not that I do not want to marry you, I just want to wait a little longer before we consider marriage," she said.

"I understand," he said, but Isabelle could see the pain in his eyes.

"We will get married, just not right now. I just reunited with my parents and now we have to deal with how to get them safely into the Emerald City. Then we have to figure out a way to make all of Oz realize that my mother was innocent of all the crimes she was blamed for," she explained.

"I did not mean for us to get married right away, but I wanted to ask you now," he answered frustrated, then walked away.

"Raiden…" she called, but he kept walking.

"Why do I have to mess everything up?" she cried in frustration. "Who would not want to marry him? I love him with all of my heart, but I am just not ready for marriage yet."

Isabelle paced the ground back and forth under the tree. Nothing in her life had ever felt like this before, so she had no idea what to do. It was true that she did love Raiden with all of her heart, but just was not ready to be married. A few minutes later, her mother appeared out of the shadows.

"You look stressed," Elphaba said.

"Can I ask you a question, Mom?" Isabelle asked.

"You can ask me anything," Elphaba replied.

"Would you get married at my age?" Isabelle inquired.

"Raiden asked you to marry him," Elphaba said.

"Yes," Isabelle said.

"What did you say to him?" Elphaba asked.

"I told him that I wanted to wait a little longer before we considered marriage. I also told him that I had just reunited with you and dad. Then he stormed off angry at me," Isabelle replied. "Now I do not know what to do."

"It is your decision when you marry someone, but if you love that person, you will know when the time is right. If Raiden loves you, he will understand that. For now, I would not say anything to him for a while, just to let him calm down. Men are less apt at taking rejection than women, believe me I have learned this lesson many times over with your father," Elphaba said, smiling at Isabelle.

"Thank you, mom," Isabelle replied, embracing her mother.

That night, the traveling was awkward for Isabelle as Raiden was not his usual warm self. She could not help but think that he was still angry with her. It wrenched her heart to hurt him like that, but he was also hurting her by not talking to her. She was glad that they would reach the Emerald City by dawn, so that she could let him spend time to himself to calm down. Perhaps this would let him become level headed again. No matter how angry he was with her, she still loved him nonetheless.

The night air was cleansing to Isabelle as it blew into her cape. She tried to stay awake as long as she could, but she began to feel herself nodding off a few hours later. Without thinking, she laid her head on Raiden's shoulder blades. Surprisingly he eased his tension to allow her to sleep there. As she slept, she listened to the rhythmic sounds of his heartbeat through his back. When she woke several hours later, she looked up to the gates of the Emerald City. They had finally arrived.

Raiden dismounted his horse and helped Isabelle down. Both she and Elphaba kept their hoods up as they entered the palace. It was still early morning, so they all snuck into Raiden's room, which was the closest. Once they were inside, Isabelle and Elphaba pulled their hoods down.

"We should be safe in here for a while," Raiden said. "When my mother wakes and is ready for visitors, Isabelle and I shall go into the throne room and announce our return. Then we will bring you both out."

"All right, until then Fiyero and I are going to sleep for a while longer," Elphaba said, winking at her daughter.

Fiyero and Elphaba disappeared into Raiden's adjoining guest room, leaving Raiden and Isabelle alone. There was a long silence between the two of them. Isabelle looked at Raiden and could feel small tears welling up in her eyes, threatening to fall onto her skin. Finally, after a few moments, Isabelle sat on the edge of the bed and began to cry, not caring that the tears burned her skin. Almost immediately, Raiden sat beside her.

"Shhh," he said, reassuringly. "I did not mean to get so angry at you. I just cannot control it sometimes."

"No," she replied, "it is my fault for what I said."

"Isabelle, look at me," he said, gently pulling her chin up, "I love you and it does not matter to me when we get married, as long as I marry you. We will take things as slowly as you want to."

"In that case, yes," she replied.

"Yes?" he asked, confused.

"Yes, I will marry you," she replied, her tears drying up.

Raiden smiled at Isabelle and lovingly caressed her cheek, bringing her close for a kiss. As soon as their lips met, she felt right. All day she had missed that kiss and now kissed him back possessively. He was hers and no one else's. Raiden liked this side of Isabelle because she was dominant. Without breaking their kiss, Isabelle laid back onto the bed and pulled Raiden with her. They continued kissing until she broke their kiss and looked longingly into his eyes.

"I love you," she said.

"I love you too," he replied.

As they laid side by side, Isabelle pulled herself closer to his chest and snuggled her head onto his shoulder. Slowly, she drifted off to sleep thinking about the life she would have as Raiden's wife.

A few hours later, Isabelle woke to Raiden gently kissing her forehead.

"Time to get up," he said.

"I was having a good dream," she replied, smiling.

"Oh and was that dream about me?" he asked, smirking.

"Do you even have to ask that question," she answered, kissing his neck.

"I love when you do that," he said.

"Well, you will get that and a lot more when we are married, but for now that is all you are going to get," she said, getting off the bed and fixing her dress.

"Do you enjoy provoking me?" he asked, getting off the bed himself and wrapping his arms around her waist.

"Yes, in fact I do," she said, turning around to face him.

She placed her hands around his neck and began kissing him. His kiss was intoxicating to her lips as she felt herself getting lost in it. Before she could completely lose herself, she broke the kiss.

"We need to go," she reminded him. "I am going to make sure my parents are ready. I will be right back."

Raiden watched her leave the room. Her scent still hung in the air as he finished getting ready. He loved it and wished that it would linger a little longer as it faded. Fortunately for him, she returned moments later and her scent filled the room once more. Raiden stared at her as she came in.

"They are ready," she said as he continued to stare. "What are you staring at?"

"Just the most beautiful woman in all of Oz," he replied.

"Stop, you are making me blush," she said, walking over to him and play hitting him. "Besides we need to get going down to the throne room to see your mother."

Several kisses later, the two of them finally made their way down to the throne room. They reached the door and stopped for a moment to compose themselves.

"Are you ready?" he asked.

"I am, are you?" she asked in reply.

"Yes," he said.

Raiden pulled open the door to the throne room. Glinda was sitting on her throne with Boq at her side. She was wearing a formal pink skirt suit with diamonds lining the collar of the top and pink, satin shoes. Isabelle and Raiden entered the room.

"We have returned home safely, mother and father," Raiden said.

"Thank goodness, I was beginning to worry," Glinda exclaimed. "I am so happy that both of you are home, safe and sound. Tell me, how was the trip my dears?"

"It was interesting," Isabelle began.

"Oh, come sit by me and we will talk," Glinda stated.

"Well, first we have a surprise for you," Raiden cut in.

"Indeed, we do," Isabelle agreed. "Glinda, would you close your eyes for a moment. We need everyone to exit the room for a moment. This is a family only event."

"Well, you heard her. Shoo, all of you," Glinda ordered politely.

Once everyone had cleared out and all that was left were Glinda, Boq, Raiden, and Isabelle, Glinda shut her eyes. Quickly, Isabelle went to get Elphaba and Fiyero. A few moments later, everything was situated.

"Glinda, you can open your eyes now," Isabelle said.

Slowly, Glinda opened her eyes. When she did, she saw Elphaba and Isabelle side by side and Fiyero on the other side of Elphaba. She could not believe the sight before her eyes. Tears streamed down her cheeks.

"Elphie?" she asked, not knowing whether it was real or not.

"It is me, Elphaba. Glinda, it is not an illusion," Elphaba said.

"Oh, Elphie!" she squealed as she jumped from her chair and ran to her friend. "I had no idea that you were still alive. How…how is that possible? I watched you…melt."

"Glinda, I promise I will explain everything. I am just so happy to see you," Elphaba said. "Had it not been for my daughter, I would have never seen you again."

The two embraced for a long time for they had not seen one another in nineteen years. It was a happy reunion with lots of tears and laughs. Even Boq, who thought Elphaba had turned him into the Tinman until Glinda corrected him and told him the truth, was glad to see an old friend from school. Raiden and Isabelle stood back and watched their parents. Both of them were delighted to see them all so happy.

"We are sorry to interrupt, but there is something that Isabelle and I have to say," Raiden said.

"What?" all the parents asked in unison.

Isabelle looked at Elphaba knowingly and said, " Raiden and I are engaged!"

"Oh, dear sweet Oz! That is wonderful news," exclaimed Glinda. "There is so much to do to plan a wedding!"

"Mom, we are going to take our time in planning. We are not even going to plan a date yet, at least not for a while," Raiden explained.

"Oh, that is perfectly fine dear," Glinda chimed.

"First of all, we need to figure out how to prove my mother's innocence to all of Oz," Isabelle reminded them.

A/N: So this chapter isn't as long as I promised it would be, but I didn't want to get into the drama just yet.