1Disclaimer: I don't own Wicked. I wish I did, but I don't. This is meant strictly for entertainment purposes.

"I am so excited about today."

"Really?" Elphaba's voice dripped with sarcasm. "I never would have guessed."

"Don't be a mean green thing, Elphie."

"I can't exactly control the green part but I'll work on being mean."

Glinda giggled, giving her reflection one last glance before starting into the bedroom. "Maybe I can help you with that." Her grin disappeared when she saw her girlfriend sitting on their bed, her nose buried in a book. "What are you doing?" She sighed when she didn't get a response. "Elphie?"

"Hm?" The green witch didn't look up.

"What's so interesting?" She walked over to the bed, cocking her head so she could see the title of the book. "Elphie!" She put her hands on her hips. "I thought we agreed no magic today."

Elphaba finally looked up, her forehead sheepishly creased. "I know. But there is this fascinating essay about the ramifications of mispronouncing words when casting spells and I..."

Glinda cut her off by ripping the book out of her hands and plopping down on her lap, bringing their lips together. She deepened the kiss when she felt Elphie respond.

"Wow." Elphaba smirked when they finally parted. "I thought I was going to be in trouble."

"You were." Glinda assured her. "And then you started sounding so smart and..."

"Wait a minute." Elphaba pulled back to get a better look at her. "I knew putting myself in danger to keep you safe gets you worked up, but now sounding smart does too?"

"Everything about you turns me on Elphie." She caressed a green cheek. "Just some things more than others."

"I'll keep that in mind." It was Elphaba's turn to initiate a kiss. She grinned as she let the blonde lower her onto her back. "Remember, we're supposed to leave in a few minutes."

"I know, I know." Glinda sighed. "The clothes have to stay on."

Meanwhile Addena and Breena were in a liplock of their own upstairs.

Addena stared into the green eyes she adored once they parted. "Does that make us even?"

Breena grinned. "I'll add it to your tab."

"I still have a tab?" Addena pouted. "I would have thought after last night and this morning and our shower and..."

"I'm going shopping with you and Glinda today doc." Breena cut her off. "You're going to owe me for a long time to come."

That got her a smile. "Don't think of it as a shopping trip, think of it as a chance to get out of the house and spend some time with me." She pecked her on the lips. "And Linny." She pecked her again. "And Elphaba."

Breena pulled her closer, crushing their mouths together. "Wouldn't you rather just stay here? In this room?" She cocked her head toward the bed. "Over there?"

"And run the risk of having Yackle come wondering in because Betak's not around to keep her in line? No thank you." Addena tightened her grip on Bree. "Is shopping with us really going to traumatize you that much?"

"If I say yes will you kiss me again?"

A panicked, "Breena!" split the air.

"Was that Lion?"

"I think so."

"Come on." Addena pulled out of their embrace. "We'd better go see what he wants."

Breena groaned. "Do we have to?"

Addena's only answer was to drag her down the stairs. Glinda and a disheveled looking Elphaba came rushing out of their room as they reached the second floor hallway.

"Nice look there sis." Breena teased as she took in Elphaba's appearance. "When are you going to learn not to tell Glinda your clothes have to stay on?"

"Hey!" Glinda smacked her on the arm.

"It must be a genetic thing." Breena grinned. "Addy has the same problem."

Glinda raised her eyebrows. "She does?"

Addena gave them a 'shut up' look before returning her attention to Lion, who was practically prancing in place. "Why were you yelling?"

"It's awful. Just awful." The oversized feline whined.

"What's awful?" Elphaba frowned as she straightened her shirt.

"One minute everything's fine and then BOOM!" Lion made them all jump when he yelled. "It starts all over again."

Addena gestured impatiently with her hands. "What starts?!"

"Lion." Penny's tone was exasperated as she appeared at the top of the stairs leading to the first floor. "What did I tell you about bothering them?"

"I'm not bothering anyone." Lion defended himself.

"Really? Then what do you call it when Elphaba doesn't even have a chance to finish dressing?" The Lioness pointed at the witch, who was now fastening the top buttons of her shirt.

"Would one of you just tell us what's going on?" Glinda asked in an attempt to cover for her blushing love.

"Yackle and Betak are arguing." Penny answered.

Breena rolled her eyes. "What a shocker."

"Let me guess," Addena sighed. "Yackle still thinks Bree and Elly shouldn't go into town with us today."

Lion nodded. "And their arguing got Fiyero and Maeve started."

Addena furrowed her brow. "I thought they weren't speaking to each other."

"They're not." Lion shrugged. "They're yelling."

Penny chortled. "It's all that pent up sexual tension."

"Too true." Glinda giggled. "Have you seen the way they circle each other?"

"Who could miss it?" Breena shook her head. "They should just get a room and…"

"Can we focus please?" Addena cut her off.

"Yeah." Lion agreed. "Someone better get downstairs before they all kill each other."

"He's right." Elphaba was back to her normal color. "We should probably go see if there is anything we can do."

"All right." Glinda slipped her hand into her girlfriend's. "But you're not volunteering to stay here today to make Yackle happy."

"That goes for you too." Addena pointed at Bree.

"I wouldn't dream of it." Breena led the way downstairs, wincing when she heard yelling coming from the living room and kitchen. "Any idea where we should start?"

"I said no such thing." Maeve came out of the living room, looking over her shoulder as she yelled, "So why don't you go to h…" Her voice trailed off when she turned to find the group looking at her. "Hi." She gave them a fake smile. "How is everyone this morning?"

"You most certainly did say that, otherwise I wouldn't be so damned pissed…" Fiyero stopped in his tracks when he saw they had an audience. "Off." He finished his thought before clapping his hands. "Hey. How is everyone this morning?"

"I already asked them that." Maeve sniped.

"Well how was I supposed to know?" Fiyero grumbled.

"Maybe if you would shut your mouth for two seconds you could have heard me."

"Excuse me, you were the one bellowing as you left the living room."

"And you were the one screaming like a banshee when you followed me."

"Men don't scream!"

"Maybe that should be a hint for you!"

"Hey!" Breena yelled to make her voice heard. "What is with you two?"

"There's nothing 'with' me." Fiyero pointed at Maeve. "She's the one who started the whole thing."

"Me?!" Maeve screeched. "You're the one who bit my head off for asking you if you wanted breakfast!"

"You didn't just ask me if I wanted breakfast! You asked me if I wanted to have breakfast with you!"

"Because I was fixing my plate so I thought I would be nice and ask if you wanted me to fix yours too!"

"No! You were doing that dreamy eyed, wanting to spend time with me thing again!"

"Oh please, don't flatter yourself!"

"I'm not! Ask Lion! He was there!"

"Whoa." Lion's eyes got big. "Don't drag me into this."

"I was there too." Penny added her two cents worth. "I didn't notice her looking at you in any particular way."

"Of course you're going to side with her," Fiyero chortled. "Women always do."

Lion frowned. "Hey, Penny's not a woman." He fidgeted when all of the girls gave him the same look. "I mean, don't talk to her like that."

Penny put her paw on his shoulder. "It's all right."

"No it's not." Lion puffed out his chest. "He can show you some respect."

"You tell him Lion." Maeve cheered him on.

"You stay out of this!" Fiyero snapped.

"According to you I'm the cause of all of this so how am I supposed to stay out of it?!"

"That's enough!" Elphaba went to stand between Maeve and Fiyero. "It's clear that both of you are at fault here."

"What?!" Fiyero looked at her like she was crazy. "Even you're against me Fae?"

"I'm not for or against anyone Fiyero."

"Thanks Elphaba." Maeve spoke at the same time as the witch. "It's about time someone told him like it is."

Elphaba shook her head. "I wasn't…"

"She just said she wasn't siding with you!" Fiyero cut her off.

"I didn't say she was!" Maeve yelled.

"Stop it!" Glinda joined her lover. "I think we all need to sit down so the two of you can talk about this like rational adults instead of screaming at each other."

Fiyero crossed his arms over his chest. "I'm not sitting down with her."

"I'm not sitting down with her." Maeve mocked him. "How am I supposed to compete with such maturity?"

"Would you two give it a rest already?" Addena joined the conversation.

"I guess I can be the bigger person here and let the fact that he's a complete and utter jerk go."

Fiyero chuckled dryly. "Don't do me any favors."

"I'm doing it so no one else gets a migraine like the one I have." Maeve assured him. "Now if you'll excuse me I need to take an aspirin before we leave."

"You could always just stay here." Fiyero called after her, sighing once she was out of earshot. "I can't believe she's coming with us."

"Well she is." Breena stated. "And you're going to behave yourself or you'll have me to answer to."

"And me." Elphaba added. "You two have got to learn to be around each other without arguing all the time."

"You need to back off and leave them alone."

Yackle rolled her eyes as she walked out of the kitchen. "I don't take orders from you!"

"And they don't take orders from you!" Betak raised her voice to match her tone.

Fiyero raised his eyebrows as the old women continued to bicker. "Why don't you try telling them that?"

"Good morning ladies." Breena piped in.

Yackle frowned at her. "What's so good about it?"

"Don't snap at her." Betak growled. "She was just trying to be nice."

"Sure she was." Yackle sounded less than convinced. "I think she's being overly chipper to rub it in my face that she won't have to put up with me today."

"Actually I was trying to make small talk so you two would stop arguing but it obviously didn't work." Breena interjected.

"We're not arguing." Yackle contradicted her.

"You're not?" Addena asked.

"No." Betak agreed. "She's pouting because we're all going into Munchkin Proper and I'm pointing out what a baby she's being."

"I'm not pouting!"

"You've been storming around the house all morning. That's pouting in my book."


"Would you two cut it out?" Breena sighed. "Betak, you know we appreciate you watching out for us but going at her all the time isn't helping anything."

Betak frowned. "I..."

Breena gave her a look.

"Sorry." Betak backed down.

Yackle chuckled. "What a wimp."

"And you," Breena turned to the ancient woman. "What you're doing this morning has nothing to do with Elly or I learning anything about the Grimmerie."

"It doesn't?"

"No, you're throwing a temper tantrum. So stop acting like we're going to miss out on some important lesson."

Yackle scowled. "Why you ungrateful little…"

"Don't you dare." Betak's temper flared again. "That girl has too much respect for you to be ungrateful." She looked at Elphaba. "They both do."

"Respect?" Yackle snorted. "If they respected me they wouldn't be going anywhere today."

"It's not fair to try and emotionally blackmail them into staying here." Glinda frowed.

"She's right." Addena agreed.

Yackle made a shooing motion with her hand. "You two stay out of this. Didn't you hog them enough when you went to the Upper Uplands?"

Penny gave her a disbelieving look. "You're making it sound like they were on vacation or something."

"They might as well have been. We lost a lot of valuable time when I could have…"

"Shoved more information down their throats?" Betak spoke up again.

"I don't shove anything down anyone's throat." Yackle spoke through clinched teeth.

"Yes, you do." Elphaba countered.

"I..." Yackle looked shocked. "What?"

"We know you do it with the best of intentions." Elphaba tried to sugarcoat what she was saying. "But you're always throwing something new at us without giving us time to process it. We want to learn what you have to teach but too much too fast is going to make us burn out."

"I…" She was obviously still stunned. "I never knew you felt that way."

"Hello? Have we been in the same house?" Betak shook her head. "They've tried to tell you so many times it's not even funny. And you either ignore them or get so mad they drop the subject."

Yackle looked back and for the between the witches. "Is that true?"

"We always think of it as more along the lines of selective hearing." Breena answered her question.

"Are you two finally telling her you need to slow down?" Maeve asked as she rejoined them. "It's about time. Spending all day with her, trying to squeeze in a few minutes with your girls and then meeting up after everyone else is asleep to go over what you learned was bound to catch up with you eventually."

"Meeting up after everyone else is asleep?" Glinda echoed her words as she looked at her girlfriend. "Elphie?"

Addena did the same thing, quirking an eyebrow when she didn't a response right away. "Bree?"

"It only happened once or twice. And yickety yak over there," Breena glared at Maeve, "wouldn't have known about it if she didn't get the midnight munchies."

Lion nudged Fiyero when he chuckled. "Stop it."

Breena rolled her eyes when Addena continued to stare at her. "It's not like we did anything wrong."

"We just regrouped to help each other understand what we saw in the Grimmerie or improve on a spell we performed." Elphaba tried to help her sister out, keeping her eyes on Glinda the whole time. "We still slept. Just not as much as we did on other nights."

"Which was why you would be tired the next morning." Betak pursed her lips. "And she would accuse you of being lazy."

"I never called them lazy." Yackle grumbled.

"Yes you did." Lion nodded. "Just yesterday."

"That's not the point." Breena kept anyone from saying anything else.

"Then what is?" Addena challenged her.

"I've been pushing them too hard." Yackle answered. "And I didn't even realize it."

The expression on the old woman's face made Elphaba feel awful. "We didn't mean to upset you."

"What?" Yackle looked like she was coming out of a trance.

"She said we didn't mean to upset you." Breena repeated her sister's sentiment.

Yackle waved their concern away. "You didn't. All you did was open my eyes to the fact that I'm becoming what I always swore I wouldn't... just like my mother. She pushed my brother to the point he wanted nothing to do with magic and me to my breaking point. I don't want that to happen to you girls." She shook her head. "No, I can't let that happen to you girls."

"It won't." Elphaba assured her.

"Damn straight it won't. Because you're going to make me listen from now on even if you have to tie me to a chair to get my attention."

Betak chortled. "That could be interesting."

"No one asked you." Yackle informed her. "Now everyone get out of here. I have a lot to think about."

Elphaba looked at her sister. "Maybe we should..."

"No." Yackle cut her off. "You're going. We'll pick up bright and early tomorrow."

"There's the Yackle we all know and love." Breena grinned.

"Speak for yourself." Betak mumbled.

"I think we should get going," Penny spoke up in the hopes of avoiding another argument.

"Agreed. Just let me grab my list." Betak hurried back into the kitchen.

"And we need our purses." Glinda spoke before grabbing her sister's hand and running upstairs.

"We'll, uh..." Penny thought for a second. "We'll wait outside."

"We will?" Lion frowned when the Lioness pushed him toward the door.

Breena waited until everyone was out of earshot to say, "Thanks for listening, Yackle."

"Yes, thank you." Elphaba added her gratitude.

"Don't do that." Yackle scolded them. "Don't thank me for taking the two of you and what I'm trying to accomplish for granted." Her expression softened as she looked at the witches. "I only want what's best for you."

"We know." Breena gave her a smile.

Elphaba nodded. "And we appreciate it."

"Good." Yackle gave them a rare grin. "That means there's hope for us yet."

"Let's go." Batak bustled past them.

"Yeah." Addena agreed as she and Glinda walked out the front door.

"Go on." Yackle motioned for them to go. "I'll see you when you get back."

She watched as they all made sure they had everything they needed, letting out a ragged sigh when the front door finally closed behind them.

What was the matter with her? How could she have been so blind to what she was doing to Elphaba and Breena? She was lucky they hadn't sent her packing. Because truth be told, they didn't really need her. Yes she knew about the Grimmerie but they were both more than capable of figuring it out on their own.

And there was the root of her problem. She was afraid they would realize the true extent of their powers and tell her they didn't want her around anymore. Maeve would be accepted because of her feelings for Fiyero but she would be out in the cold. Alone again. Destined to spend the rest of her seemingly endless days by herself.

A noise coming from somewhere in the general vicinity of the kitchen drew her out of her morbid thoughts. She looked around, slightly confused as to what she was doing standing in the doorway to the living room thinking about her own mortality but a second noise told her that could wait until she figured out what was going on.

"Hey!" She frowned when she saw a figure come walking out of the kitchen. "Who are you and what are you doing here?!"

"Holy Oz!" The man in question put his hand on his chest. "I didn't think anyone was here!"

"We're here to do a job." Another man appeared behind the first one, shoving past him to walk toward Yackle.

"What do you mean you're here to do a job?" Her frown deepened as he kept coming toward her. "Who are you?!"

"Who I am isn't important." The man grinned. "And neither are you."

That was the last thing Yackle heard as he his fist connected with her jaw.

A/N: There you have it, the first chapter in a new Gelphie/Bredena (as Gorgeous Smile nicknamed them) tale. I hope you liked it. Sorry about this taking so long but my muse wanted to relax over the holidays. LOL Here's hoping you and yours enjoyed whatever it is you celebrate. And may you all have a wonderful new year.