AN: Finally, the chapter you've (hopefully) all been waiting for! The title says enough, so I'm not going to add anything - just start reading and you'll find out ^^.

Elphaba did get better over the following days, mainly because Doctor Dillamond practically forced her to rest. Fiyero stayed with her all the time and the doctor allowed Glinda in every now and then as well, but she wasn't to see anyone else, not even Maráni. She wasn't allowed to leave her bed and she wasn't even allowed to read, because of her concussion. Fiyero tried his best – he kept her company, told her stories, read to her and talked to her, but still – she was starting to get just a bit irritable. After a whole week, Doctor Dillamond finally decided she could get up for a short time a few times a day, but she wasn't to put weight on her broken ankle – he had gotten her a wooden crutch to help her with that - and she had to have someone with her. Despite those constraints, she was happy to be up and about.

The first time she left her room was to go see Maráni, who was very pleased to see her. 'I see you're getting better, Fabala,' she observed, rubbing her head against Elphaba's side in an affectionate gesture. 'I'm glad.'

'So am I,' the green girl told her sincerely, which made the Wolf chuckle. 'I know it must be difficult for you to have to rest so much, little one, but Doctor Dillamond wouldn't make you do that if he didn't think it to be necessary. Now, are you allowed to stay up for just a bit longer? There are some friends here who would like to see you – not to mention see you alive and well with their own eyes.'

'Of course I want to see them!' Elphaba said eagerly. Maráni smiled. 'I thought so. You can come out now, kids!' she called and not a clock-tick later, a quite impressive number of younger Animals came running in – Maráni's cubs were among them, as well as a few young Cats, Lions, Bears and Dogs. Elphaba kneeled down, a broad smile lighting up her face, and the young ones practically jumped her. 'Elphaba! You're alive!'

'What, did you think I'd leave you all alone out here?' she asked, smiling despite the fact that the Animals leaping upon her had actually hurt quite a bit. She wrapped her arms around them and hugged and petted them. 'I've missed you guys.'

'We've missed you, too!' one of Maráni's cubs told her. A small Cat sitting on her lap was nuzzling her neck and the green girl's smile broadened. 'How are you, Nuki?'

'I'm quite well, thank you,' the Cat replied politely. Then she jumped on Elphaba's shoulder and started rubbing her head against the witch's cheek. 'I've really, really missed you.'

Elphaba picked up the small tortoiseshell Cat and held it close against her. 'I know you did, Nuki. It's all right – I'm here now.'

It wasn't long before Maráni decided it to be enough and she sent the young ones off to play somewhere else. 'You'll have plenty of time to talk to Elphaba later,' she told them sternly, at which they reluctantly left. The large Wolf looked at the witch with her golden eyes. 'You'd better get back to your room now, Fabala. We wouldn't want you exhausting yourself.'

Just this once, Elphaba didn't make any objections – she was feeling rather tired, after all. Fiyero, of course, sensed this, and so he scooped her up again to carry her back to their room, where he gently lay her down on the bed. She didn't feel like sleeping, however, and so she snuggled closer to Fiyero. 'I don't think I've ever spent this much time in bed before,' she told him with a small snort.

He laughed softly. 'I would have found it surprising if you had. These are quite unique circumstances, after all.' He fell silent for a while before speaking up again. 'It made you really happy to see those cubs again, didn't it?'

He felt rather than saw her smile. 'Yes, it did. You must understand – this has been my home for years, some time ago. These Animals have become my family. Maráni… she's the mother I never had. She's always looking out for me, giving me advice when I need some, worrying about me getting myself in trouble…'

'Which obviously doesn't prevent you from doing so…'

She chuckled. 'Obviously.'

'Why does she call you Fabala?'

'It's the Quadling form of my name,' she explained. 'Maráni was born in Quadling Country, you see. It's some sort of nickname she has for me. She calls me either that or 'little one', which I think is a bit silly, since I'm not that little at all – but then again, compared to a big Wolf like her, I probably am.'

'And those cubs… you know them all by name?'

She nodded. 'I was there when Maráni's cubs were born and I've known most of them since they were just a few days old. I used to play with them whenever I had the time.'

'You seemed to be particularly fond of that little tortoiseshell Cat,' Fiyero noticed. 'Nuki, I think you called her?'

'I think you might say Nuki is a special case,' she conceded. 'She's an orphan; I found her when she was just a small kitten, barely two days old. I took her home with me – and by home I mean this hideout – and I practically raised her. She grew to be particularly fond of me, and I'm very fond of her, too. I hated leaving her here, but I hated sitting still and not doing anything even more, so I left her with Maráni every time I flew off on a mission. She took care of Nuki as if that little Cat was one of her own cubs.' She smiled fondly. 'I hadn't seen Nuki for quite some time, now. She's grown – although she'll probably always be small compared to the average Cat.'

Fiyero tried to process what she was telling them. He imagined how her life had been here – living among the Animals, being treated by them as an equal, considering them her family… He had always imagined her to have been very lonely in the years between her fleeing the palace and her coming back to free the flying monkeys, but apparently, that hadn't been the case at all. She probably loved these Animals more than she had ever loved her own father, Fiyero thought. He couldn't blame her for that – after what she had told him about her father, he had came to hate the man for what he had done to her.

No, not her father, he corrected himself. The Governor, her mother's husband, her sister's father, but not her father. Her father was locked up in a dungeon right now, not half a mile away from the room they were in…

She must have drifted off to sleep anyway, because the next thing she knew, she woke up upon hearing a soft meow. Slowly, she opened her eyes. Sitting on top of her chest was Nuki, looking at her with large orange eyes. Elphaba carefully stretched and the Cat made a soft mewing sound. 'I'm sorry, I didn't mean to wake you!'

'That's all right,' she assured the little Animal as she carefully pushed herself up. Fiyero was lying next to her, fast asleep, but she herself was wide awake now. 'Did you need my help with something?' she asked Nuki. The Cat shook her head. 'Not exactly. It's just…' She drew a deep breath. 'I overheard this conversation between Maráni and your friend Glinda a few minutes ago, and… well, it was about something concerning you. They're not planning on telling you anytime soon, but I feel like you have the right to know.'

Elphaba, a bit alarmed now, took her crutch and slowly got up from the bed. 'Know what?'

'I think showing you would be best,' Nuki told her a bit hesitantly. 'Are you able to come with me?'

'Of course.' Elphaba followed the young Cat through a few caves and carved out hallways, until they came to a halt in front of a wooden door. She tried the doorknob – it was locked. 'The keys are up there,' Nuki told her and she reached out to grab them. Then she unlocked the door and it swung open.

At first, she couldn't quite believe what she was seeing. She was sure she was dreaming. Or being delusional, maybe – yes, that would definitely be much more probable that the only other option: that this was real, and that the former Wizard of Oz was actually sitting in front of her.

The man looked up with a miserable expression on his face – an expression that was quickly replaced by one of utter shock when he saw her and jumped up. 'You!' he exclaimed. 'You're supposed to be dead!'

'And you're supposed to be…' She wasn't really sure how to finish that sentence, so she just snapped, 'well, not here, that's for sure!'

Her mind was raging. What was he doing here? She had assumed Glinda to have locked him up, but why would she lock him up here instead of at the palace dungeons? Did Glinda even know he was here?

His shock seemed to be fading a bit and he now looked at her in a way that made her a bit uncomfortable. It was an expression she couldn't quite read – as if he was seeing her for the very first time. He lifted his arm, as if he was about to reach out for her, but he froze in the middle of the movement and dropped his arm to his side again. Her whole body was tense now, ready to respond to whatever he might try in order to kill her, or hurt her, or escape.

At that moment, they were interrupted by a high-pitched shriek that could only come from one person. 'Elphie!' Glinda rushed into the room… and came to an abrupt halt when what she was seeing got through to her. A painful expression crossed her face. 'Oh.'

'"Oh",' Elphaba repeated, her voice dripping with sarcasm. 'Is that all you have to say?'

'Well, uhm…' The blonde tried to make up an excuse, but she couldn't think of anything and so she just let her shoulders hang. 'Yeah, that's about all I have to say, really. Besides perhaps "I'm sorry I didn't tell you", except that I'm not really, sorry that is, because you were sick and dying and I really don't think I had a chance of telling you.'

Fiyero came dashing around the corner. 'Glinda? Have you found – oh,' he finished, taking in the scene. Elphaba turned to stare daggers at him. 'Is that really all you two can come up with?'

'What do you want us to say?' Glinda asked. The green girl turned to face her friend. 'Well, for a start, I think I'd like you to explain the meaning of this,' she said sarcastically. Glinda nodded quickly. 'All right. Yes. That sounds reasonable. Uhm… Well, the original plan was for me to send him back to where he came from in the first place – the other world. But by then I had discoverated something about him, and then I found out that you and Fiyero were still alive, I decided to keep him around for a while, and I couldn't leave him back at the palace because someone might find out and he might escape and I really didn't want that to happen so I just decided to take him with us…'

'Glinda,' Fiyero interrupted her gently. 'You're babbling.'

The blonde stopped talking. 'I am, aren't I? This probably isn't making any sense. Oh Elphie, it's just that… I didn't know how to tell you!'

'Tell me what?' Elphaba demanded, looking from Glinda to Fiyero and back. The blonde girl cleared her throat, but didn't answer, and Fiyero merely stared at his feet. Nuki, in the meantime, had snuck into the room and was now poking her head inside the pocket of the Wizard's coat, pulling out a small, green bottle with one of her front paws. 'Elphaba? Does this mean anything to you? I heard them mention it…'

Elphaba went just a bit pale. 'He stole my bottle?! That was my mother's, you obnoxious piece of…'

'He didn't steal it,' Glinda suddenly spoke up. 'I still have yours.' She pulled it out of her own pocket to show it to Elphaba, who became even paler. 'But… But that means… Are you saying that… No!' She spun around to face the Wizard and spat her words out. 'I don't know why you own the exact same bottle my mother has passed on to me, and I don't want to know either. I don't care! I just want you out of my sight for the rest of my life!'

He winced at that. 'Elphaba…'

'Don't you 'Elphaba' me!' she snapped. 'You know nothing about me! Nothing at all!' A few rocks that were lying here and there on the floor, suddenly started to shudder, and Fiyero stepped forward with a worried look on his face. 'Fae? Maybe you should…'

'Quit telling me what to do!' She spun again, to face Fiyero this time, her eyes blazing. She wasn't even quite sure why she was yelling at him – perhaps because being angry was far easier at the moment than stopping to acknowledge the truth that was slowly worming its way into her mind. The rocks now rose from the floor, still shuddering, and Fiyero quickly pushed Glinda behind him and they both stepped back a bit.

'I'm sorry, Elphaba,' the Wizard said genuinely. 'If I'd known this before…' He didn't finish what he had been about to say, but instead was able to duck away just in time to avoid the rocks flying at his head. Nuki gave a small yelp of fear and hid under Glinda's skirts, while the rocks flew wildly throughout the room and finally exploded in a shower of smaller gravel.

Elphaba was trembling, trying to get a hold of herself. It had been a long time since she had lost control over her emotions this badly, so badly her powers flew off the handle, but she felt like this time it was kind of justified. She still refused to believe what she understood must be the truth.

'Fae…' Fiyero tried to take a step closer, but she held up one hand to stop him. 'Don't.' She was a little out of breath and she was leaning heavily on her wooden crutch, trying to compose her thoughts and feelings.

Surprisingly, it was Nuki who finally managed to snap her out of it. 'It's true, Elphaba,' the small Cat said to her in a small, slightly quivering voice, cautiously leaving the safety of Glinda's skirts. 'I heard them say it. He's your father.'

'No, he's not.' Suddenly, she was feeling very calm. What did this really mean, after all? Frex hadn't been that much of a father, either – so whoever her father was, he sucked. End of story.

'Fathers,' she went on in an icy tone of voice, 'don't destroy their daughters lives. Fathers don't declare their daughters wicked. Fathers don't send people to kill their daughters – and they certainly don't throw parties to celebrate when they succeed in doing so.'

'That was Madam Morrible, not me!' he protested, but one look from the green girl made him shut up in an instant. 'This doesn't change anything,' she told him flatly, before turning around and leaving the room. Fiyero and Glinda both started to follow her, but she told them, without even looking back, 'Leave me alone. Both of you.'

She didn't go back to her room – that would be the first place for them to look for her, so she just wandered about the caves a bit, not really seeing where she was going, until she found an empty room. She slid down with her back against the wall, pulled up her legs and buried her face in her arms.

She looked up when she heard someone enter the room. 'Go away,' she started to snap, 'can't you see I'm… Oh. It's you.'

'Yes it's me.' Maráni came closer and sat down next to Elphaba, who shot her a huffy look. 'How did you find me?'

'I may not be the youngest Wolf anymore, but my nose is still excellent, Fabala,' the Wolf told her. 'Nuki told me what had happened. Are you all right?'

'I'm fine,' the green girl grumbled. Maráni tilted one eyebrow and Elphaba sighed. 'All right, maybe I'm not. I'm not sure at the moment, to be perfectly honest.'

Maráni nodded. 'That is only understandable. But, little one, you were right. It doesn't change anything if you don't want it to.'

'But… I'm not sure if I want it to,' Elphaba confessed. Maráni smiled a little. 'Ah. Now we're getting somewhere.'

Elphaba shifted her fingers a bit to glare at the Wolf; then she sighed. 'I just don't know what to do…' She buried her face in her arms again and Maráni nuzzled her arm. 'It's all right to cry, Fabala. Anyone would after what you've just been going through.'

'I'm not crying,' Elphaba sniffed, trying to sound offended, but by that time the tears were already pouring out of her eyes. She wrapped her arms around Maráni's neck and buried her face in the Wolf's thick fur, crying like she hadn't cried in a long time.

'Elphaba?' a small voice asked. She looked up and saw Nuki tentatively enter the room. She grumbled, wiping away her tears. 'And I thought I had found a decent hiding place. Am I that predictable?'

Nuki giggled softly. 'No. I followed Maráni.' She came in further, but hesitated. 'I'm sorry.'

Elphaba looked at the small Cat in surprise. 'Why? You did the right thing, Nuki.'

'No.' The Animal shook her head. 'I should have waited for Glinda and Fiyero to tell you themselves. Now you're mad at them and it's my fault…'

'I'm not mad.' Elphaba shook her head and reached out to pick up the tortoiseshell Cat and set her on her lap to pet her. 'I'm just a bit confused, that's all. I don't blame you for anything, Nuki. I'm glad you did what you did.'

Nuki didn't look convinced. 'Really?'

The green girl nodded earnestly. 'Really.' She looked at Maráni, who was smiling at her. 'Then there's only one more decision left to make.'

Elphaba nodded again, making a sour face. 'What do you think I should do, Maráni?'

'You should do what your heart tells you to do,' the Wolf told her. Elphaba gritted her teeth irritably. 'That doesn't help, Maráni.'

'Elphaba?' Nuki said quietly. 'If it's any help… I do believe he really feels bad about what happened. Like I said, I overheard Glinda and Maráni talking earlier…'

'Eavesdropping is a very bad habit, young lady,' Maráni interrupted her sternly, but Elphaba merely smirked. 'Not necessarily so – it's a habit that I have found to be quite useful in the past. Go on, Nuki.'

'Well…' The little Cat hesitated again for a moment. 'Your friend Glinda said that he nearly collapsed when he found out you were his daughter, after he thought he had killed you.'

Elphaba looked at Maráni, who nodded a bit reluctantly. 'It's true. Morrible – well, she didn't show any remorse at all, the witch - she merely found it kind of fascinating. But the Wizard himself has been a broken man ever since.'

'You have to decide for yourself, of course,' Nuki hurried to say. 'But… well, I think you might want to give him a chance. To make things right again.'

'It won't be possible for him to 'make things right again',' Elphaba declared a bit hot-headed. Then she calmed herself down a bit and admitted reluctantly, 'but you might be right. I'll… I'll think about it, I guess.'

Maráni nodded earnestly. 'You do that. Now, do you think you can see Fiyero now? I think I can hear him wear a ditch in the floor in the other room.'

Elphaba smiled faintly at that. 'Sure… I'll come with you.'

Fiyero stopped his pacing immediately when she appeared. 'Fae…'

She stood there for a few clock-ticks, not able to bring herself to come any closer. She looked at him and said flatly, 'I can't believe you didn't tell me.'

He opened his mouth to say something, but she wasn't finished yet. 'I know you worried about upsetting me, Fiyero. But I'm a big girl. I can handle myself. You should have told me.'

He hesitated for a moment, but then he nodded. 'You're right. I'm sorry.'

'When did you find out?'

He thought about that for a moment. 'Not too long ago. Glinda told me about it just before you got that fever.'

All right, so perhaps it was understandable that he hadn't told her before, she realised; she had been alternately unconscious and delirious for days, and this wasn't the sort of thing to drop on someone right after they had woken up from something closely resembling a coma. She hated to admit it, but perhaps she had overreacted – about them not telling her, that was, not about the news itself. That reaction had been perfectly justifiable.

She sighed. 'Fine, then. I'm sorry. All right? I shouldn't have blamed you for not telling me when you really didn't have a chance to do so.' She always hated admitting that she was wrong about something, but she felt like it was the right thing to do.

She saw the relief in his sapphire eyes. 'You're not angry with me?'

She laughed and limped forward to wrap her arms around him. 'I could never be angry with you, silly,' she told him truthfully, looking in his eyes. 'Not for long, anyway.'

He smiled, slid his arms around her waist and leaned in to kiss her. 'I'm glad.'

'Now there's someone else I'll have to apologise to,' she sighed as they pulled apart again. 'Someone I imagine to be just the tiniest bit hysterical at the moment because of my… outburst.'

Fiyero made a face, then chuckled. 'You'd better go and find Glinda, then – before she gets herself so worked up that she faints again.'

Whoo. I've already written the next chapter - it ends with a cliffhanger, so be prepared. Please review - your reviews are what keeps me going! :)