WickedlyAsh

Elphaba sighed as she slowly woke up, letting her eyes adjust to the light. She hadn't been asleep that long, but the baby's kicking was insistent and would give her no sleep. Taye was still asleep, his arms still wrapped around her, a smile on his face. Elphaba's smile matched his as she thought about the last few hours, thinking of everything they had shared, both physically and emotionally. It was one of the most comfortable, honest days she had ever experienced, and was certainly the first good day she had since Fiyero's death. Elphaba's smile disappeared when her mind went to Fiyero, but she couldn't help but wonder, if Fiyero hadn't died…would I still rather be with Taye? But she knew it didn't matter, that Fiyero was long-gone, and that she should simply enjoy the moment with Taye. However, she wanted a fresh change of clothes, so Elphaba took advantage of Taye sleeping. She slipped out from under his arm, stood up slowly, and moved towards the door. She smiled as she watched him sleep for a moment, then slowly crept outside, planning on being back before he even woke up.

Fiyero was walking through an upstairs hallway looking for Elphaba when he heard a crash coming from the foyer. Fearing the worst, he ran towards the noise, ready to fight off the Wizard himself if necessary. But as he turned the corner, he was surprised to see Kristin, Glinda, Jae, and Idina all involved in some kind of scuffle. Idina looked confused, Jae looked scared, and Kristin and Glinda just looked mad. Fiyero was just about to interrupt when the group began talking again.

"Kristin," Jae stammered, bracing himself as he spoke, "let us figure this out, okay? This isn't your battle."

"NOT MY BATTLE?!" Kristin screamed, looking like she was about to pounce and attack. "Why I outta…."

Kristin started charging towards Jae, but stopped when Idina stepped in between the two of them. "Kristin, he's right, it's not your battle," Idina said calmly, although her eyes were still wet from emotion.

"But Idina I-"

"I'm serious Kristin!" Idina was stern in her response. "I think it's time for Jae and I to talk, we clearly have a lot to discuss," Idina finally looked Jae in the eye, and he nodded solemnly in response.

"What? But I…" Kristin started, but could not think of a good response, and finally threw her arms up in the air. "Fine," she finally caved in, "but if he utters so much of a syllable of disrespect towards you or Glinda, then I get to kick the snot out of him!" And with that, Kristin stomped off angrily.

The room seemed to clear out quickly, with Idina and Jae walking off together, Kristin stomping off by herself, and the WoO kids moving to the dining room while having a hushed conversation. With so many people moving out of the foyer, only Glinda and Fiyero were left in the room. He had hardly even noticed her presence with all the commotion, but now he couldn't take his eyes off her. Glinda was one of his best friends and his former fiancé, so seeing her so upset was hard for Fiyero.

"Glinda, what's the matter?" Fiyero asked as he quickly approached, watching tears streak down her face.

Glinda, in hysterics, let everything out very quickly. "Oh Fiyero, everything's gone so wrong! I mean first Jae loses his memory, but then he gets his back…oh but then Elphaba loses part of her memory! And now she thinks you're dead and is probably off with Taye somewhere, so now Idina is all alone, except now she's pregnant with Jae's baby, so I'm really the one who's all alone!" Glinda dissolved into sobs, leaning her head into Fiyero's shoulder.

Fiyero pulled in Glinda for a hug, trying to comfort her while simultaneously trying to comprehend everything she had just said. "Wait," he said slowly, "you said Jae left you?"

"Yes!" Glinda sobbed, "he went and got Idina pregnant!"

"Idina!?" Fiyero said incredulously, having clearly not heard everything in her hysterical rant moments earlier. "But I thought Idina was with Taye?"

"Well apparently Taye and Elphaba have run off together!" Glinda finished, sobbing loudly again.

Fiyero stood stunned for a minute, struggling to comprehend what Glinda had said. "Elphaba, with Taye?" Fiyero couldn't understand what would make her leave with Taye.

"Yes," Glinda sighed, finally having calmed down a bit. "Elphaba and Taye are together, Idina and Jae are together, which just leaves…me and you."

Fiyero released Glinda from the hug, trying to understand what she was getting at. He looked at her pleading blue eyes, still wet from tears. Fiyero still had no idea what was going on, but didn't receive much chance to find out. Before he had the opportunity to react, Glinda pulled him in for a kiss. Fiyero had always found Glinda incredibly attractive, the familiarity of her lips was soothing to Fiyero, and the kiss brought back memories of when he was in love with Glinda. However, his mind was still on Elphaba, and the child she was carrying.

Ironically, just as Fiyero started to think about Elphaba, he could view a speck of green out of the corner of his eye. Fiyero broke the kiss with Glinda as he saw Elphaba standing at the other end of the foyer.

"Fiyero, you're alive?! And your with…?" Fiyero could see Elphaba's legs giving out from under her as she stopped mid-sentence, beginning to faint. Fiyero rushed forward, able to catch Elphaba just before she hit the ground.

Galindafied

Back in the entrance hall, the WoO members stood huddled together, planning out what they would do next.

"So I think that you and Mikayla should go search the woods for Taye and Elphaba while we try to figure out what to do to get these people in line!" Kaylee said to Nicole, who shook her head vigorously.

"No way! I'm not going in those woods! Are you crazy?" Nicole exclaimed, then crossed her arms stubbornly. Allen sighed and rolled his eyes.

"Fine, I'll go with you two. Girls," he said in exasperation. He then grabbed the two by the arm and dragged them out of the double doors. As the group neared the dark entrance to the forest, they slowed to a stop.

"Ladies first…" Allen said. They heard a howl off in the distance as he said this.

"Hey! You volunteered to come, so I think that you should be our human shield! Now start walking!" Mikayla said, then pushed him up to the front.

They walked for about an hour before they spotted a small wooden cabin in the center of a clearing. Smoke was steadily making it's way out of the chimney, so the group agreed to ask the inhabitants if they had seen a certain green girl and her male companion. Nicole firmly knocked on the door, and footsteps could be heard coming from the other side. The door swung open and the group jumped back in surprise. There stood Taye, decked out in nothing more than a huge smile. Annie would say that he's fully dressed, but the stunned group had to disagree. Mikayla squealed, yes squealed, and turned around quickly, Allen was paralyzed from the shock and Nicole…Well, Nicole just stood there giggling. As Taye assessed the situation, his smile disappeared rapidly. He dashed behind the door to cover up, but Nicole still laughed.

"What!" he finally managed to get out. Nicole stopped giggling immediately. She looked at him with a stony expression.

"Ash would love to see this!" she exclaimed, then burst into hysterics. Taye blushed furiously and murmured something about putting on some clothes before slamming the door. Mikayla slowly turned back around, her face completely red. Nicole took one look at this before keeling over and laughing some more, holding her stomach. She didn't regain her composure until Taye finally opened the door again, this time fully dressed.

"So…what are you three doing here?" Taye said, awkwardly trying to avoid the subject.

"We were looking for you! Elphaba's here too right?" Nicole questioned, then pushed past Taye and surveyed the cabin. Elphaba wasn't there.

"I think she left a little while ago. I was just about to- Wait, what? How did you know about me and Elphaba?" he stared at the group, a bewildered look plastered on his face.

"What? Like you thought you were being discreet? Come on, we have to go NOW! While you two were cuddling and being all cutesy, ALL hades HAS BROKEN LOOSE!" Mikayla exclaimed, then whirled around and sprinted out of the woods, Taye tagging along behind the group in confusion.

Upon their arrival back at the castle, they noted that it was unusually quiet. The only other two people around in the entrance hall were Eden and Megan. They were talking in the corner in hushed voices.

"Did you see how Elphaba just fainted like that? Fiyero is such a jerk for putting her through this right now!" Megan huffed and Eden nodded in agreement.

"Yeah, it can't be healthy for the baby. But he's really in for it when she wakes up."

The two whispering women had seen the entire scene play out before their very eyes without being noticed. As they continued to speculate further about what might happen to Fiyero, their conversation drifted over to the group.

"Elphaba? Fainted?" A worried look appeared on Taye's face and he raced up the stairs to find her.

Taye soon found her still unconscious in her bedroom. He kneeled at her side, holding her soft hands in his own. He then reached over and placed his other hand on her stomach. He knew that the baby wasn't his, but he couldn't help but imagine what it would be like to be a father. As if in response to his thoughts, the baby gave an almighty kick, and Elphaba's eyes fluttered open instantly. She took in her surroundings for a minute before laying her eyes on Taye. A smile lit up her features, and she moved over so that Taye could lay down next to her.

"Feeling better?" he asked, once he had settled down beside her. She frowned slightly.

"Other than a nightmare, I'm fine. It was just so vivid though…" She shook her head to clear her thoughts, "But you're here now, so it doesn't matter."

She smiled up at him again and leaned into his strong grip. They laid there peacefully for a while until voices could be heard from outside the room.

"You shouldn't go in there, right now. Just let her rest! You're the one who caused all this mess in the first place!" Megan tried her best not to yell, but was finding it difficult as her temper continued to rise.

"I just need to see if she's awake! And what's going on between us is none of your business!" a male voice yelled angrily. The door finally creaked open and Fiyero stepped inside the room. He noted Taye's shocked expression, whose arms were still wrapped around a lightly sleeping Elphaba, and felt himself shaking in anger.

"So it's true!" he yelled, glaring wildly at Taye. Elphaba's eyes snapped open and she nearly fell off the bed once she saw Fiyero standing there, shooting invisible daggers at the pair.

"Oh my Oz, Fiyero!" Elphaba forgot about Taye and forgot all about the "nightmare" that she had just previously had. She ran up to Fiyero and hugged him tightly, overwhelmed with joy. But he roughly pushed her away and turned on her.

"What in Oz is going on here!" he could barely contain his rage as he looked back and forth between the two. His shouts must have been heard throughout the entire castle, for moments later, Glinda burst into the room behind him. Seeing Glinda brought back the events that had happened earlier that morning, and Elphaba gasped but stayed where she was as Glinda helplessly tried to explain everything to Fiyero.

"Fiyero, it's not Elphie's fault! When she cast the spell to restore Jae's memory, it took away a part of her own! She only remembers up until the news of your death!" Fiyero absorbed very little of this however, and it took Glinda a few more attempts to explain before he finally understood.

"But then she….She hooked up with this scum?! Elphaba, now I see the extent of your love! What did you do? Mourn for an hour before forgetting me altogether and moving onto this pathetic excuse of a human being?" he spat out, then turned his attention back to Taye.

"And you! You have no excuse! You knew that I was still alive and you didn't even tell her!"

"No, I never knew that she lost-" Taye tried, but only got to mid-sentence before a fist connected with his nose. Taye stood there for a minute holding his nose, but quickly retaliated.

As the fistfight continued in the bedroom, a catfight began right outside the door.

"How dare you do this to me, Glinda!" Elphaba shouted at her former friend.

"Well, Elphaba, I suppose now you know how it feels!" Glinda knew that she should've been apologizing, but former scars were now being reopened and she remembered how she had felt when Fiyero had first left her.

"What? Is that what this is about? That was years ago! And you even knew he never loved you!"

"Oh really? That's not what it seemed like while he was kissing me," Glinda lied. That one really stung, and Elphaba only stood there, suddenly speechless. Glinda's anger subsided almost immediately and she regretted what she had said.

"Oh, Elphie. I'm so sorry, he really didn't-" she started, but Elphaba only pushed past her and hurried down the stairs.

Nicole

Glinda scampered after her friend, hiking up her skirts. Her bare feet hit the stairs with little slaps. "Elphaba, get back here right now. Do you hear me?"

"No, Glinda, I can't hear a word you're saying." The sarcasm dripped off of Elphaba's voice as she turned, facing the blonde who was still coming down the steps. "And why would I want to?"

"Elphie, listen to me! He's just a guy. Let it go.." Glinda threw her hands up in the air, letting her skirts fall back to the ground with a rustle as she hovered three steps before hitting the bottom of the stairs. Her and Elphaba were now eye to eye.

"Oh, what a touching show of sensitivity." Elphaba glared at Glinda. "All I've ever wanted in this life is Fiyero, and now you go traipsing off with him!"

"Elphie, listen to me. First off, you have Taye, too! And secondly, don't go blaming this on me. Accidents will happen..."

"You call this an accident?"

"Well, I never really-"

"No, you never really. You're too busy telling Jae how much you love him and the kids how good you are and everybody else how wonderful everything will be!"

"Well, I'm the only cheerful person in this house, people expect me to-"

"To lie?"

"TO BE ENCOURAGING." The Hilty-like scream burst from Glinda's throat. "And what have you been doing, besides shacking up with every guy you see?"

Elphaba stared at her. "Well, we can't all just have one guy like Jae. And whose was he originally anyway, Idina's? Of course, even if he was somebody else's you'd still take him."

"Well, we're all taking things that don't belong to us, aren't we." Glinda sighed, going down the steps to grab her friend's hands. "Elphie, you need to hold on just a clock tick. I know it may be difficult for your big brain to comprehend that two people as good as Taye and Fiyero have chosen someone like you. But it's real. It's happened. And you can't stop hurting them by not being able to choose. I believe Taye's just infatuated with you, he loves Idina."

Glinda let out a small oomph as she fell back on the stairs, her hand flying to her stomach. Elphaba had ripped her hands out of Glinda's grip and shoved Glinda rather forcefully back onto the staircase. "Feel better now," the blonde said softly, looking up at the witch.

"Yes. I do." Inside, though, Elphaba's stomach was in a knot. /Glinda's spoken only the truth.../ Elphaba looked away from her friend.

"You're so lucky you're pregnant right now," snapped Glinda, standing up and brushing off her behind. "Or else this would've turned into one huge fight."

Pushing past Elphaba, she swept down to her room, shutting the door. She needed time to think.

While the catfight was going on...

Fiyero and Taye were rolling around on the floor, fists fighting. Any other time, Megan might have found this entertaining sport - two hot men rolling around fighting. Right now, however...

"You two stop it! Right now!" The two men continued fighting. Blood was gushing from a cut on Fiyero's leg - how had he gotten that? - and Taye's nose was bleeding from where Fiyero had broken. "Right now!"

Megan's eyes narrowed. Okay, if they wouldn't listen...

"STOOOOOOOOOOOOOP!" The high note caused them both to freeze, and it gave her enough time to kick Fiyero off of top of Taye and to sit on Taye's chest.

"Fiyero. Sit on the bed. Now."

"I'm not done beating the crap out of him," Fiyero said, eyes flashing as he looked at Taye. Taye was too busy trying to squirm out from under Megan to notice.

"You two need to talk this out like civilized people."

"Oooo, we can help with that, Megan! HI TAYE!" Nicole waved vigourously to the man pinned under Megan as she skipped into the room, followed by Kaylee and Holli, who promptly started giggling at the sight of the man pinned under Megan. Not only was the sight amusing, but Nicole had had to explain why Mikayla and Allen weren't able to speak upon bringing Taye back to the castle. Needless to say, they had been easily entertained.

"How can you possibly help?" Fiyero looked at the three Witches of Oz kids. To tell the truth, they terrified him.

"Well, we know Taye, and we know you. And neither of you are the type to fight. I think it's time we put you guys in your place. NO MORE FIGHTING." Nicole crossed her arms, satisfied.

Kaylee rolled her eyes and picked up where she had left off. "Meaning you guys need to stop fighting. Elphaba needs time to choose. Eventually Taye, though, you'll have to go back to Earth - even if it's just to divorce Idina."

Taye's eyes grew wide. Idina. In everything that had happened - his whirlwind romance with Elphaba, Elphaba's pregnancy, everything - he had forgotten about Idina. As memories of her came flooding back to him, Holli turned to Fiyero. "And responding to Glinda's kiss was wrong, but you have to give Elphaba a little time. She must be confused right now, with her pregnancy and Taye and everything that's going on."

"Which reminds me, does Taye know Idina's preggers?" Taye's head swung to stare at Elphaba, and time seemed to stop for him. And then he fainted.

And while all of this had been going on...

"Idina, I've been thinking." Jae finally had a chance to interupt Idina's frantic worries and concerns and random mumblings. "This couldn't be my baby."

"And then there's-what?"

"You're stomach's already hard, and we... did what we did... a month ago. Your stomach wouldn't be as hard as it is, I don't think."

"But that means... it's Taye's?" Idina blinked, her hands sliding over her stomach. "No, no, the test said it was yours..."

"Maybe the test was wrong. Nothing is perfect, Idina." The woman nodded her head, walking backwards to sit on a bench. She didn't have a chance to sit long.

Mikayla and Tiana swept into the hallway, Tiana grinning at the two of them, Mikayla pointedly focusing on Jae's face. If she looked at Elphaba, she had a feeling the scene from a little while ago would replay in her mind.

"Up, up, up, up," Tiana said, a big grin on her face. "We're assembling everybody in the main room. Us Witches have something to tell you all, and we need you both to be there." Idina numbly got up and followed Tiana, who had already turned to head back down the hallway. Allen, Carley, and Elise had gone to assemble the rest of the Elphabas.

"Um, Mikayla, are you alright? You look a little..."

"Nervous? Yeah." Mikayla let out a giggle. "I have to go find Elphaba, that's my other job. Tiana's is to find Glinda, which wasn't that hard because she was in her room; she's already down there. And..."

"And?"

"And-I-saw-Taye-naked-and-I-really-don't-want-to-face-anybody-he's-slept-with-right-now." Speaking quickly, she turned and darted down the hallway to Elphaba's room.

Jae stared after her. And burst out laughing before following Idina and Tiana.

Poor Mikayla...

Mikayla knocked on Elphaba's door, chewing on her lip. "Elphaba? You, uh, in there?" Another tentative knock. "Elphaba?"

Creaking open the door, she peeked in - and was immediately red faced. "Uh, sorry, you didn't say anything when I knocked and-"

Elphaba, who had whirled around, hastily pulled over a dress to cover her front. "I was getting changed. What?"

"Um, we're - the Witches of Oz kids - are summouning everybody to the main room to talk to you guys..."

"I cannot be summoned like some mongrel pup," snapped Elphaba. "Could you turn around, please, so I can get my dress on?"

Mikayla nodded absently, turning around. The sounds of fabric rustling could be heard behind her. "Okay, I'm dressed. I'll come to your little meeting, but this is a one time deal."

Together, they headed down to the room. A room full of people divided on the issue of Taye for Idina or Taye for Elphaba, Fiyero for Glinda or Fiyero for Elphaba, Jae for Idina or Jae for Glinda... not to mention the recently revived Taye and Fiyero, who looked ready to lunge for each other's throats. Glinda and Jae, who was keeping an eye on the wand propped up in the corner of the room. Idina and, soon, Elphaba, who were both in love with Taye. Not to mention the Witches of Oz kids, who had an agenda on their own.

As Elphaba took a seat on the floor, Nicole stood up, followed by Holli Kaylee, and Tiana - Mikayla had needed time to recover.

"Fellow Ozians. We are gathered here today..."