Chapter Twenty-Six:

She appeared in the living room of Mockbeggar Hall with tears streaming down her face as she wrapped her arms around herself. Hiccups and sobs came from her mouth as she dropped to her knees on the carpet.

The door suddenly opened.

"And here is the living room-" Glinda heard Chuffrey's voice stop mid sentence. She looked up at her husband with tears blurring her vision.

"Excuse me," said Chuffrey quietly to whomever he was talking to as he stepped inside the room and shut the door behind him. He walked over to her.

"Glinda, what happened? You've been gone for several hours and I've heard no word since you left to see the Wizard."

Glinda's tears fell from her eyes as she remembered what happened at Colwen Grounds with Elphaba.

"I don't want to talk about it," she mumbled as she tried to summon enough strength to stop crying. Her fingers wiped away the tears, "Just go away."

"What's upsetting you?" he asked.

Glinda's lips trembled as she turned her head away from him, whacking him with her coiffed curls.

He sighed, knowing her and her feelings all too well.

"Something happened with Elphaba I see," he said without even waiting for answer. He could just tell. Maybe it was the way she was crying with her eyes all watery and her lips quivering or the way she was wrapping her arms around her body.

"She hates me," whispered Glinda still turned away from him. Her mind was hurting from all the memories that were coming back to her.

"Why?"

Glinda whacked Chuffrey with her hair once again, but this time it was to face him. Her facial expression was one of deep self-loathing.
"Why shouldn't she hate me? After everything I've done to her I would expect nothing less from her. My mind accepts it, but my heart is unwilling to let such feelings from her enter it," said Glinda as she regained some control of her emotions.

She heard Chuffrey take a breath of air and then exhale it quite slowly. Her muscles tensed up as more tears blurred her vision. She was getting tired of all the times she had let tears fall. It was exhausting and did no good. But it was the only way to let her frustration and pain out that wasn't self-mutilation.

"Sometimes you have to let the people you love go," he said after a while. The blonde was a bit startled when she felt her hand being covered by his hand. Her eyes traveled to his and confusion was plainly written all over her face.

"Why are you being so understanding of this?" her voice went cold and icy, "Don't you remember the times when I used to just bring up her name and you'd throw me to the ground and force yourself on me?"

It was a forceful and harsh reminder to the blonde of what her life had used to be. She swallowed hard as her eyes looked away from her husband's for a split second and then returned.

"I do, and I am sorry. But I've realized something."

Glinda snorted in disbelief as a cruel smile crept up her face, "Oh, really?" she mocked.

"Yes, I've realized that no matter how hard I try and to keep you two apart, you always somehow find each other. You can't live without her and she can't live without you," he said gently. His words circled around her mind like a breeze. She figured that at one time they were true. But what about now? Elphaba said she never wanted to see her again? Glinda was sure that Elphaba could live without her.

Shaking her head slowly, "I don't think that's true anymore," said Glinda sorrowfully, "As I told you, she hates me."

The tense air seemed to shift as the seconds passed by and Glinda found herself suddenly relaxed with Chuffrey besides her, even though in her heart she wished Elphaba was next to her.

"Well," started her husband, "Hate is an emotion, a feeling. So she still has feelings for you."

Glinda pondered over this for a moment, "I guess you're right."

He smiled at her just for a split second, "Now, come on. Let's get you up from this floor, because your parents are waiting just on the other side of that door."

Getting up first he held out a hand to her, and she took it. For once in her life without Elphaba, Glinda felt the empty hole in her heart slowly healing. There was no way that Chuffrey could replace Elphaba in her heart but maybe, just maybe that he could lessen the pain if he stayed accepting of her problems.

Wiping away her tears, and straightening her dress out Glinda looked like she had never even cried in just mere minutes.

"Alright," she said to him as she fluffed out her hair once more, "Let's go out and see them."

She crossed the room and opened the door to be greeted by the familiar faces of her parents.

"Momsie, Popsicle!" she said brightly as she embraced them both in a hug. Chuffrey remained behind her and gave a quick nod of acknowledgement to both of them knowing fully well that they were not here to see him.

"Darling, are you alright? All we could hear was crying on the other side of the door?" asked Larena Upland who stepped forward in her light blue dress to hug her only child once more.

"I'm fine," Glinda reinforced with a smile, "Really, Mother it was nothing."

Her mother's eyebrows narrowed. Glinda's father gave his daughter a stern gaze.

"How are you two?" she pressed, desperately wanting to change to a different topic.

After a moment, her mother answered the question.

"Fine," she said softly brushing away a strand of her blonde hair from her face, "We were just in town and decided to pop in and see you two."

Highmuster Upland, Larena's husband nodded in agreement.

"Well," said Glinda trying to figure out in her flustered mind what to say next, "Thank you for that. But as you can see we're really busy with everything. We've got a memorial service to go to for Nessarose Thropp and we really can't be late, now can we dear?" she looked at Chuffrey, who without a pause nodded.

"It was nice to see you two again, but our driver is waiting to take us to Munchkinland and you know how far the drive is," excused Chuffrey from the both of them as he took Glinda's hand. The reason behind why Glinda wanted her parents gone was one that Chuffrey could very quickly figure out, there was no explanation needed.

"Oh, yes of course," dismissed Highmuster with a glance towards his wife. Though Larena was not looking at him, she noticed his glare. She was too busy trying to read her daughter's face, to busy trying to see what emotions were filling it but she was confused by what she saw.

Without another word, Larena and Highmuster left the mansion and Glinda and Chuffrey watched them wordlessly.

"Come on," pressed Chuffrey in her ear softly, taking a gentle hold of her forearm, "Let's go."

They made their way outside to where a carriage was waiting for them. Silence stayed lingering throughout the entire ride. Neither Glinda nor Chuffrey spoke to each other but at least this time Glinda sat on the same side as Chuffrey. That was a first.

She leaned her head against his shoulder for a bit, and then he wrapped his arm around her, letting her head fall against his chest.

Staying true to his new manners, he did not yell nor acknowledge the fact that at some point during the ride that tears had started to slide down his wife's cheeks. He knew why they were falling. Part of him was angry at those tears, angry at how one woman could be so devoted and hopelessly in love with another woman and not him. But the other part of him was trying to understand, trying to understand that fine line between love and friendship.

When he noticed that his wife had fallen asleep, he pressed a kiss to the top of her golden curls.

"Just for once, don't dream about her," he whispered in her ear as he held her.

But for once Chuffrey understood.

Elphaba would never be out of Glinda's head and Glinda would never let her leave her memory.

And that's just the way it was going to be and the way it always was.

For all you Chuffrey hunters out there, do not despair, the old mean Chuffrey will return in a later chapter. Sorry for taking so long to upload this, but I was having writers block.

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