A/N: I have a habit of wanting to keep our golden trio together, don't I? This is what happens when you leave me alone with a laptop and a Google search for angsty and fluffy ideas for Sadness and Secrets.
Tell me it's not true
"No... No this just isn't possible..."
Elphaba Tiggular stood, frozen to the spot at that oh so familiar voice. Slowly turning around she came face to face with the one person she never thought she'd see again, standing in an emerald green gown which glittered in the afternoon sunshine.
"Tell me this is some sort of dream..." the voice trembled with emotion, staring up at the green figure dressed in a flowing blue dress.
Seconds later Elphaba turned and ran through the trees, not stopping until she reached the small cottage in the woods that she shared with Fiyero. She slammed the door closed and fell against it, breathing heavily. She curled an arm around the curve of her stomach, the child within clearly hadn't liked the sudden burst of energy and kicked its mother from the inside. "I'm sorry, sweet one." She whispered softly.
"Fae?" Fiyero heard the commotion and abandoned his task with the nursery and walked down to meet his wife. "Did something happen?" he caught her frightened look.
She shook her head. "I... Glinda saw me..."
He looked confused. "How? What is she doing all the way in the Vinkus?"
"I don't know... I was... The baby wouldn't settle so I took your mother's advice and went for a walk... I was about to head home when I heard her..." She looked up at him. "I couldn't even speak to her I just... I ran... I haven't seen my best friend in six months and I couldn't say hello..."
Fiyero put a hand to her stomach and the other hand gently brushing her hair from her face. "You weren't expecting to see her again. Fae, we've been lucky in the fact that nobody here believes the rumours about you. Truth be told, I didn't expect that." he admitted.
She scoffed. "Fiyero, it's only your mother who accepts me. The people accept me because their queen does. Your father as good as renounced your title as long as we remain together."
"He forgets that it must be a joint declaration, and since my mother is the one who ascended the throne, it falls to her to make that choice," he smirked. "Anyway... I think it would be good for you to have Glinda back in your life. Now that we know my people will not betray us, we won't be in any danger from angry Ozians wanting to try and melt you again."
"But... What if she doesn't forgive me?"
"She will. You know her. She'll sulk and then she will be fine."
"Fiyero, this is slightly different than leaving her behind in the Emerald City. We staged my death, she was there the whole time. You don't just get over that." Another disgruntled kick to her right lung. "Even your child agrees with me."
"Just mine?" he smirked.
"When it's kicking my insides purple, yes." She nodded. "When it's sleeping, then, of course, it's ours."
"Elphaba. Stop stalling and get yourself out there." He gently pulled her away from the door only to open it and lightly push her out of it. "Go. Glinda needs to know you're alright."
Elphaba hated when he was right, and said nothing. She sighed heavily and slowly walked back through the forest, Glinda seemingly meeting her part of the way there. The two women stood in silence for a long moment before Glinda tentatively reached out and held her friend's arm.
"Elphie...?"
"I'm sorry, Glinda..."
The blonde woman promptly burst into tears and threw her arms around the taller, green-skinned woman in a tight hug, a hug that was reciprocated. She gasped when she felt the bump protruding from her friend's middle and she took a slight step back, staring up at her with wide-eyed wonder. "How long...?"
Elphaba blushed and looked at the grass beneath her feet. "Six months..."
A pause. "Elphaba Thropp, you scandal!" Glinda teased lightly, smiling. "Congratulations."
'The forest floor wasn't exactly ideal for us either.' she thought. "Thank you." She smiled a little. "What are you doing here?"
"Oh... Well, I was on my way back home actually..." Glinda sighed and the two of them began walking, arms linked together. "The leader of the Ugabu tribe wanted to talk trade with the city and he wouldn't leave his province... What happened? You died!"
Elphaba winced and looked away once more. "Fiyero and I... We had a plan... You know as well as I do we couldn't be safe if the rest of Oz knew I was alive... It was all smoke and mirrors after that little farm girl Dorothy threw the water... I hid under a trapdoor..."
Glinda stopped and glared at her, her face burning hot with anger, with sadness, her blue eyes full of hurt and betrayal and she poised, ready to slap her. "So you let me believe you dead?! I cried for you! Both of you! How was Fiyero able to help you fake your death? You told me he'd died!" she was only pausing because her friend was pregnant.
"No..." Elphaba took a breath, steeling herself for the slap she knew was coming at some point. "I said we'd seen his face for the last time. I genuinely believed him dead too until that note... You know I was ready to hand myself over before I got that." She told her. She hadn't even known, couldn't have known that at the time she was pregnant. If she'd have known, would she still hand herself over to the witch hunters? She didn't know the answer to that.
" Then... How...?"
"You saw him again, Glin... You just didn't know... He was the Scarecrow... My spell... As jumbled up as it was... It worked. It had a temporary effect on him and turned him into a Scarecrow, we didn't know that either until one night he woke up in terrible pain." She shuddered, remembering his screams and crying. A flash of his wounds crossed her vision and she shook her head. "Unfortunately with the transformation being temporary, it returned him to his original state before the spell took hold and... I had to heal him all over again... But I didn't do it alone."
"Your baby helped its father..." Glinda guessed. She still tried to wrap her head around the fact that her former love had been the Scarecrow, couldn't comprehend how or why he'd joined a group of people who wanted to end Elphaba's life when he was so desperately in love with her.
She nodded. "Well it was certainly a way to find out about it, that's for sure." She smiled. "Three months in."
"Where is he now?"
"Home... He's been building things for the nursery, and he won't let me see anything yet."
Glinda giggled. "And you hate surprises. But at least this will be a good surprise."
Elphaba hummed a response and the two of them ended up back at her cottage. "This is home. It's not much, but..."
"It'll be perfect for you both. Well... The three of you." Glinda smiled and she walked inside uninvited. Elphaba followed with a roll of her eyes.
Fiyero had seen them both talking, heading back towards the cottage from the upstairs window and he made his way back down to them. "Glinda. Hey."
The blonde paused in her inspection and turned to face her ex-fiancé, glaring at him. She stalked across the hallway until she stood in front of him and she slapped him hard. "That was for both of you. The only reason she didn't get it is because of her condition."
"Pregnancy, Glinda. You can say it. It's not a disease." Elphaba told her sarcastically, hiding a wince at the slap. She remembered all too well how hard she could hit for someone so small.
Fiyero frowned, rubbing his stinging cheek and nodded. "Fair enough, we deserve that," he told her.
"You deserve a lot more, but for Elphie's sake I won't."
"I'm touched." the green witch rolled her eyes. "Now if you could refrain from hitting my husband, that would be greatly appreciated. I don't want to have to explain to his mother why her blue-eyed-boy now has a black eye."
"Hu-... Wait, what? When?" Glinda blinked.
Elphaba smiled and held her friend's hand. "It was only a small ceremony. I wish you could have been there, though... Obviously, everything had to be rushed through with the baby and everything..." She allowed Glinda to admire her ring on her left hand.
"It was my father's idea. It would have been better for everyone involved if our baby wasn't an illegitimate product of a one-night thing while running for our lives." Fiyero had always been very blunt with it, making his annoyance clear at the reasoning.
"Yero, you need to understand, you're not just anybody. You're a Prince." Elphaba smiled softly. She hadn't liked the insinuation of her child being born a bastard any more than he did, but she wouldn't change it now. "In a way, it wouldn't have mattered so much if you were just you without your title and your responsibilities."
"Elphie is right. But you're not just anyone either." She looked at her friend. "Governess and Eminence should have rightly gone to you, not Nessa. It was only your family's prejudice and going against the Wizard that stopped it."
Elphaba shrugged. "I guess. But I'd have refused it anyway. So I wouldn't have a title."
"But you did have a birthright. Just like Fiyero."
"I like her. Can we keep her?" he laughed when he received a light slap to his arm. "What? This is perfect, you were always so sad that Glinda didn't know the truth, that she couldn't be here. Now she gets to help you through the rest of the pregnancy."
"He can't handle my mood swings more like." Elphaba watched as he disappeared into the kitchen to make some tea.
Glinda giggled and watched them both. She missed them both terribly, and she wanted to bring them home where they belonged. They shouldn't have to hide... She started to come up with a plan.
"Glinda?"
She blinked, looking at her friend. "Elphie... You should come home now..."
"I love you, Glinda, you know I do and you know I would give anything to go back... But I can't. Home is here now. I'm safe, I'm protected. Nobody here believes or even knows about the Wicked Witch of the West, except Fiyero's parents... And he told them the truth about it, but his father still has a hard time accepting me. I don't blame him... If he knew I'd almost certainly sent his son to his death and unknowingly cast a spell to turn him into a Scarecrow, I'd probably be having this child in Southstairs, which is where I would end up if I went back there."
"But Elphie, the Wizard is gone, I sent him away the day you... The day you died. And Morrible was executed three days ago for breaking out and attempting to commit treason."
"What happened?"
"She tried to have me killed."
"What?! What did she do?!"
Glinda smiled sadly, seeing the old fiery passion and fierce protective look in her friend's eyes. The old Elphaba was definitely still kicking around in there. "She tried to poison me. She was only found out because... Because someone else had the same meal and he..."
Elphaba gasped softly, all colour draining from her face. "Oh, Glin... Was he... Was he special to you?"
She nodded. "His name was Hanssen. I trusted him with everything, including you and he didn't judge. He wasn't angry or anything he was just... Sad he never got to meet you, the one who influenced the 'great Glinda the Good'." She giggled slightly. "His words, not mine... Anyway... I knew something wasn't right, he told me not to touch my food. I took him back to our room and... It took him six painful hours to finally let go... I told him to sleep, I said I'd be okay... And he did."
By the time Glinda finished her tale, they were both crying, and Elphaba hugged her friend. She glanced at Fiyero over her shoulder and knew he'd heard everything. "Glinda I'm so sorry..." She whispered. She was thankful that even inside the womb, her child felt it a good idea to rest.
A couple of hours later, the three of them were sat around the coffee table, talking, laughing together as though the past few years had been but a dream. Glinda had marvelled at the feel of her friend's child kicking and wriggling within, she had laughed and cried with her. It felt right to Glinda, it was as it should have been all along.
"I thought royalty didn't do small ceremonies?" Glinda tilted her head.
Fiyero shrugged. "We don't, usually. But I think you can tell already, Elphaba and I are not a usual case." He smirked. "We had to make it official, but once the baby is born, we will have a celebration across the country, and she will be officially crowned Princess."
Elphaba fidgeted in her seat. "I'm still trying to get out of it."
Glinda giggled at her friend. "Elphie, you knew what you were letting yourself in for when you married him and got pregnant with his child."
"We didn't plan this," Elphaba smirked.
Fiyero rolled his eyes with a grin. "Well, you might not have..."
"Oh, so your intention was to leave me with your child?"
He just laughed and shook his head. "Alright, so it didn't exactly go to plan..."
Glinda stood up and brushed down her skirt. "I'd better get going back to the Emerald City... But I'll come back and see you. I have something of yours to return to you."
Elphaba nodded and stood up with her and she hugged her once more. "I'll miss you."
"I'll miss you too." the blonde smiled. Motherhood was changing her best friend, making her more emotional, and the child hadn't even been born yet. She said her goodbyes and left her friends alone in their cottage.
"Do you think she'll be alright?"
Fiyero nodded. "Of course. She's got you back. Even if it has to be a secret." He wrapped her up in his arms and kissed her head. "You have your best friend back, my love. Just as you always wished for."
She smiled and nodded. "Everything is perfect again." She told him. "I love you."
He grinned, planting a soft kiss to her lips. "I love you too. Now go on, rest. You look tired."
"You try having another human being inside you sapping all your energy." She bit, and a small squeak escaped her when he lightly slapped her behind and pushed her to the stairs. "Alright, alright, I'm going!" she giggled and walked upstairs.
She still wondered how he had managed to crawl beneath that hard shell of hers, how he had managed to send her heart into such a frenzy. How exactly had he managed to turn her from a cold, unloving, unforgiving witch to a warm puddle of green goo just like any other woman on the planet who had experienced love? She'd never get the answers, and she found that she didn't care. She was happy and loved by someone who had already given his life for her more than once, had even risked his future and his family for her even when she had nothing to give him in return. She stood at the top of the stairs, staring down at him with a soft smile on her face for just a moment before she turned on her heel and headed for their bedroom. Nothing could destroy her perfect, happy home.