Chapter Text
I don’t quite understand what the problem is. Why do they keep telling people not to adopt me? Why do the other kids say I’m damaged? Am I damaged? Is that why no one will adopt me? It that why the head lady keeps letting creepy men who have no intention of adoption have ‘alone time’ with me?
The girl sat down her pen and notebook and sighed silently. She shook her head. Today another family was coming wanting to adopt. She knew that, and normally she’d go hang out with the other kids and try to give herself a fair chance at getting adopted. But she’d finally given up. I’ll never get adopted. I’ll die here.
She sat back on her bed and piled up her teddy bears around her. Then she turned her back to the door and pulled the blanket up over her shoulders.
“Are you two ladies sure you wouldn’t rather adopt a young child, the toddlers could really use loving family such as yourselves,” the head of the orphanage said glancing over the paper the work that the two women had handed her.
“This has been something we’ve discussed among ourselves for quite a long time,” the woman to the left said. She was wearing an oversized hoodie from the local college, Shiz University, and black gloves. Her face was mostly hidden by her long black hair.
“Yes,” the blonde sitting on the right agreed. “Older children need loving families too.”
“Can we meet the children?” the raven-haired one asked.
“Of course, Miss Thropp. Right this way.” The head stood up and motioned for them to follow her.
The blonde stood up and pulled the raven-haired one out of her chair excitedly. “Oh Elphie,” she said quietly. “Do you think we could take our kid home today?”
“Maybe, Glinda. Just remember we’re only adopting one child and one pet for them,” Elphaba said lovingly.
They followed the head as she lead them through the orphanage that the older children lived on.
“Most of the kids will be in the common room at the end of the hall,” the head said.
“Most?” Elphaba asked.
“Some prefer their rooms, some are asleep, one is confined to her room because she has strep,” the head explained.
Elphaba nodded and walked with the head up the hall. Glinda smiled and walked with them a moment before stopping at an open door. She looked into the room curiously and saw a kid sitting facing the wall with teddy bears around her.
“Hello,” Glinda called to the kid. “What’s your name?”
The head looked back and shook her head before turning around and, followed closely by Elphaba, walked back to Glinda. “You don’t want to adopt her.”
Glinda turned to the head confused. “Why not?”
“You just don’t.”
Glinda frowned. “I want to talk to her.”
“Good luck with that,” the head said under her breath. “I’ll give you half an hour with her.”
Glinda nodded and thanked the head, pulling Elphaba into the room with her. The head closed the door behind them and walked off to check on the other kids.
“Hello,” Glinda said again.
The girl was scared. The head is leaving me alone with people again. What are they going to do to me this time? She stayed exactly where she was on the bed, too scared to move.
Glinda sighed and walked over to the bed. Elphaba followed slowly trying to read anything at all that might give her a clue what could be going through the girl’s head.
“Hello,” Glinda said for a third time.
The girl jumped slightly. She reached in front of her and grabbed the notebook and pen again. She turned to a new page and wrote on it: Hi. Please don’t sneak up on me. And handed it to Glinda without really moving from under the blanket.
Glinda read the page and handed the notebook back to the girl, saying, “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to scare you. I’m Glinda. What’s your name?”
The girl took the notebook and wrote again: My name is Cronan. Then handed the notebook right back to Glinda.
“Cronan? That’s a lovely name. I like it. How old are you?”
Elphaba walked up so that she was standing next to Glinda.
Cronan took the notebook back and wrote on the page: I don’t know. Too old to be adopted apparently. At least I think that’s why the head keeps telling people not to adopt me. She turned the notebook back to Glinda.
“You’re never too old to be adopted,” Glinda said seriously. “Right Elphie?”
“Well, once you turn 18 it’s harder for adoption to happen. Harder but not impossible,” Elphaba said.
Cronan took the notebook back. I’m not 18. They’d kick me out if I was. Who’s this new lady? She held the notebook up for Glinda to read.
“She’s my wife, Elphaba,” Glinda said cheerfully.
Cronan wrote on the paper again: It’s nice to meet you Elphaba. Why do you two want to adopt a kid anyway? You sound young.
Once again Glinda read what was on the paper, then Elphaba read it and smiled.
“That’s a good question, Cronan,” Elphaba said. “We think it’s a shame that there are so many kids without families, so we decided to give one of those kids a family that loves them.”
Why did you decide to talk to me?
Glinda read the question and responded quickly. “I was curious. Especially since I was told that I don’t want to adopt you, but not told why. So maybe you can answer the question.”
Cronan grabbed the notebook and started writing in it. About five minutes later she handed the notebook back to Glinda. The page read:
Isn’t it obvious? I’m broken. I don’t talk. I’m damaged goods. A broken kid with a broken past. My mom and dad were murdered, I saw it happen. I don’t sleep well at night. The man who killed my parents hurt me. The head makes money letting creepy me hurt me the same way that man did. I’m scared, scarred and alone. I’m a lost cause. Hopeless. I don’t understand why any of that matters. You’d think it’d just make them want me gone faster.
Glinda read the page three times before handing it to Elphaba.
“Cronan,” Elphaba said calmly. “Would you please come out from under the blanket?”
Chapter Text
Cronan shook her head, almost causing the blanket to fall off of her. She didn’t want them to see her, and see how not pretty she was. Most families wanted a pretty girl, and the scar over her eye and the one on her lips did not constitute pretty. Quite the opposite in fact. She was called ugly by the other children on a daily basis because of them.
“Please, Cronan. I promise neither of us is going to judge you,” Elphaba said calmly, encouragingly.
Again Cronan shook her head but this time the blanket did fall off. Elphaba smiled a little. “It’s okay to be scared. May I sit on the bed with you?”
Cronan nodded, and wrote on her paper: People don’t normally ask my permission before they do things to me. Or sit with me.
Elphaba frowned a little. “Well, I’m not most people. I care about you.” Elphaba said quietly and sat on the bed beside Cronan.
You care about me? Why? You just met me.
Elphaba sighed and gently took Cronan’s hand. “I care because it seems to me like no one else has, and you need someone who cares about you.”
Cronan tilted her head a little. It confused her that anyone would bother caring about her. She turned and looked when Elphaba took her hand. She took in Elphaba’s gloves and oversized sweatshirt, but when she looked to see Elphaba’s face it was still hidden behind her hair. Cronan decided to do something brave, she lifted her free hand and gently moved Elphaba’s hair out of her face. She smiled when she saw that Elphaba was different too.
She used her free hand to write on the paper. You’re beautiful, Elphaba. But I bet not many other people saw it when you were little, like me.
Elphaba chuckled. “No, not many people saw it. Glinda did. But she was one of a few. Our friend Boq saw it too, I think.”
“Fiyero saw it. Too bad you couldn't marry both of us,” Glinda giggled.
Can I meet your friends?
Elphaba looked at the paper and smiled. She nodded at Glinda who also smiled.
“Cronan would you like to come home with us?”
Would you really want me? I’m not a pretty child. I’m not the best choice. There are others here, who are much more deserving of your love.
Elphaba took Cronan’s free hand with her free hand. “Cronan listen to me. You are not ugly. You are very beautiful. You may not be considered the best choice by other people, but I think you are the best choice. You deserve love. I mean it.”
Cronan shook her head. It didn’t make sense to her. She’d been told her entire life, since her parents were killed that she was worthless. Cronan pulled her hand away from Elphaba’s and wrote once more on the paper. I don’t understand. Why do you say these things? I’ve been told since the day my parents were killed that I am worthless. My life has no meaning. I was told by the guy who killed my parents that he was happy to hurt me a thousand times over, but he wouldn’t kill me because despite my parents being who they were…I don’t even remember who they were that made them important enough to be killed…killing me would give my life a meaning it didn’t deserve, a meaning it never had and never would have. I suppose it’s pointless now to think about that couple days. It was three days of him hurting me, of my parents being dead before anyone came to check on them. Three days. You know the only reason they even bothered to check on me was because I missed school. I never missed school. People would bully me, lock me in the janitor’s closet, throw rocks at me on the playground, purposely knock me down in gym class, put paint and glue in my hair and one boy even cut my hand with scissors one day. But I never missed school. Ever. Despite that. Never.
Elphaba let go of Cronan’s hand and pulled her into a hug. “Cronan,” she whispered soothingly. “Cronan it’s okay. I want you to do something for me, if you can. I want you to cry.”
Cronan looked up at her tears were already in her eyes but she had been holding them back from the moment she wrote on the paper that she was broken. She’d never allowed herself to cry. She held it inside, because she had always thought that crying about it meant that she lost, that she let everyone else, everyone who told her she wasn’t good enough, win.
“It’s not healthy to keep your emotions all bottled up inside. I should know, I used to do the same thing. Trust me, it’s okay to cry sometimes.”
Cronan nodded a little fearfully, and leaned her head against Elphaba’s chest, she stared down at her arms with all their tiny little white scars running along the inside and let the tears fall from her eyes. She knew, somehow she knew, that Elphaba was right. That it was okay to cry sometimes.
“Now Cronan, I’m going to tell you something, but first I have to make sure it’s okay with Glinda.” Elphaba looked up to her wife and mouthed ‘Let’s adopt her’. Glinda smiled and nodded. ‘That sounds like a wonderful idea.’ Elphaba smiled. “Cronan. You’re coming home with us. I’d be honored to have you as my daughter.”
Chapter Text
Cronan looked up. She tilted her head and looked at them both. A lot of new things were happening today, and that confused her. These people wanted to adopt her. There was no way the head was going to let them do that. No way at all. Somehow, she’d stop them and Cronan would be all alone again, and forced to suffer through whatever torture the next person had in store for her. She just hoped that Elphaba and Glinda were more stubborn about taking her with them, than the head was about keeping her here.
A knock on the door interrupted them. They all turned to the door when it opened. “It’s been thirty minutes.” The head stepped in. “Would you like to see the other children now?”
“No,” Elphaba said.
“We want this one,” Glinda added.
The head gasped. “Why on earth would you want to adopt her?”
“To get her away from you,” Elphaba almost snapped, but thought about it and decided that would not work. “We like her. I want to raise her.”
“There are plenty of better kids here, are you sure you want her?”
Elphaba held Cronan close to her. “Yes.”
Cronan looked up at Elphaba. Her eyes were still full of tears. She didn’t understand how anyone could be so nice to her.
The head sighed. “Your loss. One or both of you come with me to fill out the required paperwork.”
“I’ll go,” Glinda said. “Elphaba you stay here with Cronan. Help her gather the things she’s allowed to take with her.”
Elphaba nodded and Glinda left with the head.
“So Cronan, what can you take with you?” Elphaba asked with a smile.
Cronan thought about it then decided. She gestured over the bed to signify that she could bring her stuffed animals, then she jumped down off the bed and walked over to her dresser. She pulled out the little bit of clothes she had and brought them over to the bed. Then for the last thing she could bring with her she went to the nightstand beside her bed and opened the drawer and pulled out her notebooks and pencils. She also pulled out a little box labeled ‘private’ and brought them all over to her bed.
“This stuff and your teddy bears right?” Elphaba asked.
Cronan nodded.
“Do you have anything you can carry them in?”
Cronan thought about that, the only thing she had she could put things in was her book bag and she didn’t know if it would all fit, but she went and got it anyway. She held it up for Elphaba to see. She hoped it would work, it was all she had.
Elphaba looked over the bag and the stuff on the bed. “I’ve fit more in a smaller container before,” she said with a smile. “I think this will work just fine.”
Elphaba and Cronan set to work putting the things into the bag. Soon, they had everything in the bag, it all fit, except one bear that Cronan refused to allow to be squished into the bag. She held that bear in her arms as though it was the most important thing in the world, and to her it was. She looked at Elphaba when the packing was done.
Elphaba smiled. “I think you’ll like living with me and Glinda. You’ll have a nice room, with anything you want in it. We’ll even get you a pet if you want one. Whatever you want, you can have. It’s the least we can do to help you.”
Cronan tilted her head a little, then smiling hugged Elphaba. She didn’t have her notebook out, so she hoped this would be a good way to show Elphaba that all she had ever really wanted was someone who loved her. She had been standing, but decided that she didn’t want to do that anymore, so she climbed back up onto the bed and sat beside Elphaba.
Elphaba hugged Cronan back, then when she climbed up and sat beside her, gently put an arm around her. It was a small thing, but it made Cronan smile. They sat on the bed together until Glinda came back.
“We’re all set,” Glinda said with a smile. “Are you ready to go home Cronan?”
Cronan nodded and stood up off the bed again. Elphaba picked up the bag and Cronan still held tight to her bear. They all walked out of the room together. Cronan turned around when they were just outside the door and glanced over the room to make sure she hadn’t forgotten anything. Satisfied that she hadn’t, she closed the door and turned back around to go with them.
A few other kids were standing in the hallway, they had heard from the head that there was a family here looking to adopt, but they hadn’t been told that the family picked Cronan.
“What’s the freak doing with them?” one kid stage whispered to the others.
“Maybe she tricked them into adopting her?”
“Do you think she actually talked to them?”
“No way, that little weirdo doesn’t know how to talk. That’s why she was in the ‘special’ classes in elementary school.”
“Special. Yeah, she sure is special. I’m glad she’s leaving. With little miss broken gone, maybe we can have more fun, since we won’t have to worry about her.”
“Pfff I never worried about her. She’s too stupid to worry about.”
Elphaba frowned, but didn’t say anything. She hated hearing what those kids were saying about Cronan, but she knew from personal experience that if she said something it would only make the teasing worse. Instead she just gently put a hand on Cronan’s back and smiled down at her, and mouthed, ‘Don’t listen to them. You’re wonderful.’
Cronan just kept walking, going the way Elphaba and Glinda were leading her. She heard the other kids, but ignored them or tried to anyway. It wasn’t like she could tell them off for being mean to her. Even if she did want to, and actually spoke, she’d be too scared to. Not just too scared, too shy as well. If she was completely honest, she was grateful that she never talked. Those bullies didn’t deserve hearing her voice. She was grateful now that she was leaving. She knew that no matter where she went she’d still be made fun of, but at least now she wouldn’t have to live with the people doing the bullying.
Elphaba and Glinda led Cronan out of the building. Soon the bullies were far behind them and Cronan smiled in relief. She felt better being outside, she always had. Now just felt a million times better because she knew she wouldn’t be coming back.
“Do you want to drive or should I?” Glinda asked as they got closer to the car.
Cronan looked at the car, amazed. Sure it wasn’t a very fancy car. She didn’t even know exactly what kind of car it was, it didn’t look new. She walked around to the back of the car and saw that the trunk said it was a Hyundai Accent. She liked it, it didn’t look very big, but she looked to Elphaba and Glinda who were still trying to figure out who was going to drive, it was perfect for just the three of them.
Finally it was decided that Elphaba would drive, she was better at not getting distracted while driving. She walked over to Cronan and opened the trunk. She put the bag in with a smile. “Do you want to put your bear back here with the bag, or keep it with you?”
Cronan responded by holding it closer to her.
Elphaba smiled again and closed the trunk. “Glinda want to sit in front with me or in back with her?”
“I’ll sit with her,” Glinda said with a smile.
Elphaba walked to the driver’s side of the car, and opened the back door for Cronan, who smiled and got in. She sat her bear in the middle seat and fastened her seatbelt. Glinda got in beside her, and once all the doors were shut and Elphaba was in and started the car they left. Cronan smiled, leaning against Glinda, happy to be on her way to her new life.
Chapter Text
Cronan stared out the window for a lot of the ride to her new home. After a while she got bored of that and turned her attention to trying to get Glinda to tell her about where they were going. It was harder to do than she thought it would be. Glinda didn’t speak silence and Cronan had left her notebook in the trunk. Cronan thought about what she could do to get Glinda to understand. There was always the thought that maybe she should talk, but like every that thought passed into her head when she was around other people she pushed it away.
There had been a time when she did speak, when she did talk to people. It was a long time ago and she’d learned that no one cared to hear what she had to say, so she stopped trying. Perhaps Glinda did care, but she couldn’t bring herself to actually try to see if that was true. She was too afraid of the possibility that Glinda didn’t care. Thinking about it this was probably exactly the reason most of her teachers didn’t bother trying to help her with class work.
Glinda looked down at Cronan who was leaning against her and seemed lost in thought. “You’re really going to like our house,” she said with a smile.
Cronan looked up at her. That was such a seemingly normal comment, Glinda probably didn’t even know that that was exactly what Cronan wanted her to talk about. She smiled up at her eagerly, hoping that would get her to tell her more about it.
“It’s a lovely place.” Glinda smiled. She didn’t realize how much Cronan wanted to hear her talk about it so she didn’t say anything else about it for a while.
“We’ll be there soon. Cronan, you’ll have a room of your own, and after lunch we’ll go pick out some furniture for your new room. Anything you like,” Elphaba said from the driver’s seat.
“Oh it’s going to be so much fun Cronan. We’ll go shopping! Have you ever had a pet? We’ll get you a pet if you want one. Oooh and new clothes. You can fit a lot of clothes in your closet in your room. I guarantee it. The house is blue on the outside, but we can paint your room any color you want. There’s also another bedroom too, so if you ever have a friend over they can sleep in there. The neighbors are really nice too, you’ll love them. Boq is a computer technician. Abigail works as a chiropractor. Tom is a pharmacist. You’ll just love the neighbors I promise. I hope you get to meet Fifi. He’s the best. There’s a school right nearby. I don’t know if it’s the school you already go to or not, but it’s there. And there’s a library. Elphie works there, the library I mean. I work downtown. You’ll love our neighborhood. There’s trees behind our house if you like that, and a meadow and stream on the other side of the trees.”
“Glinda, you really should take a breath sometimes,” Elphaba said with a chuckle.
Cronan just smiled happily and turned and hugged Glinda. This place, her new home, sounded marvelous. There were a few questions she wished she could ask, but without her notebook it was impossible.
“I didn’t hear you mention Michael, Susan, Jade, Arriane or Frank. Did you forget about them? Glinda, I think Cronan would probably like to know that there are people probably her age in the neighborhood.”
“Oh yeah,” Glinda said mentally facepalming. The expression on Cronan’s face was unreadable, but Glinda started talking anyway. “There’s a few kids in the neighborhood that are probably close to your age. Susan lives three houses down on the other side of the street, her house is green. Michael lives up the street two houses, in the brick house. Next to him is Arriane, she has two mom’s just like you do and she gets a little annoyed when people ask about her dad because she doesn’t know who he was just that he was a bad man. Frank lives in the orange house. It’s the only orange house on the block, so I doubt you’ll miss it. Jade? If I remember right Jade is Arriane’s little sister? Or was she Michael’s little sister? Elphie I’m confused.”
“Jade is Arriane’s sister. Fiona is Michael’s baby sister’s name.”
“Fiona is like two years old though, you probably won’t see her much. No one does. Oh and there’s Lisa. She live a street away but you’ll probably see her a lot because she walks the little kids home from school.”
Cronan nodded wondering just what kind of people these other kids might be. Hopefully not the kind that make fun of her for not talking. Maybe one of them even sees the value in silence. That would be wonderful, but she wasn’t going to count on that happening. If she was alone, so be it, she’d be alone. She’d always been alone. It didn’t really bother her much anymore.
“We’re here,” Elphaba said bringing the car to a stop in the driveway of their home.
Cronan looked out the window and saw a beautiful blue two story house. It was prettier than anything she ever could have dreamed of, with lovely white trim around the windows and a garden between the porch and red stepping stone path that led to the front steps. She tried to make out what the little orange thing on the roof was, but couldn’t quite see it from where she was so she impatiently unbuckled her seat belt and got out of the car.
Glinda and Elphaba wondered what could have made her so impatient. They followed her out of the car, Glinda making sure to grab her bear from the seat first. Cronan stared up at the roof for a moment before figuring out what the orange spot was, when it meowed. She looked around for how it could have gotten onto the roof and noticed that there was a big oak tree in the yard and one of its branches hung over the roof, a little higher up than the kitten could jump. So Cronan did the logical thing, she walked over to the tree and started climbing it.
“Cronan what on earth do you think you’re doing?” Elphaba admonished and started to rush over to the tree, ready to catch her should she fall. To which Cronan responded by carefully climbing up to the next branch where she had a steady footing and pointed to the roof. Elphaba looked up and saw the bundle of orange fur meowing on the roof. “Be careful Cronan. Don’t get hurt. I’ll catch you if you fall.”
Cronan nodded and continued up the tree and onto the branch that hung over the roof. The orange fluff ball kitty looked up at her on the branch and meowed. She scooted forward on the branch a little and it dipped down towards the roof and the kitty jumped on it and ran across it to climb on her shoulder. Cronan was extra careful climbing back down as she didn’t want the kitty to fall. When she was safely on the ground she took the kitty off her shoulder and put it on the grass wondering if it would run off to wherever it lived. However the kitty just started climbing up her pant leg.
“Cronan, sweet, I think you may just have a pet now,” Elphaba laughed.
Cronan looked down at the kitty making its way up her pant leg and smiled. She reached down and gently plucked the kitty off her pant leg and cradled it in her arms. The kitty purred and nuzzled its head against her arm. Cronan smiled again feeling more loved than she ever had before. Somehow she knew this little kitty loved her, even though it had just met her. She remembered reading somewhere that animals can tell good people from bad, and she slightly hoped that was why the kitty liked her so much.
Glinda bounced up and down excitedly. “Your very first pet! How exciting! What should we name it? I’m thinking Peaches.”
Elphaba chuckled and shook her head. “Lyndie we really should let Cronan decide what to name her pet. Don’t you think?”
Glinda grinned and nodded. “Sorry, I just got a little carried away. Maybe we should go inside, and let Cronan unpack enough that she can have her notebook to talk to us.”
“I think that’s a wonderful idea Lyndie.” Elphaba walked back to the car and got Cronan’s bag out of the trunk. “It’d be hard to unpack without this don’t you think?”
Cronan nodded and smiled. Elphaba led them into the house Cronan walked slowly admiring the beautiful railings on the porch as she walked up the stairs. When she walked through the door she was absolutely floored by how beautiful the house was on the inside. The interior walls were a deep russet brown color. She placed the kitty on the floor so he could go explore the house on his own terms. Elphaba and Glinda headed into the first opening off the entrance hall, while Cronan meandered along running her hand over the wall trying to figure out what it was made of. She stopped walking and just and her fingers in circles over the wall wondering what made it that beautiful color.
Elphaba peered out from the living room and smiled. Her heart just melted at the look of concentration on Cronan’s face that easily rivaled her own looks when studying for exams not to long ago. She almost didn’t want to interrupt her, but Glinda was making them a light lunch, just some sandwiches, and they needed to know if Cronan was allergic to anything.
“It’s solid oak paneling,” she said walking over to Cronan. “I don’t really know much about it, Lyndie is the one with a love of architecture. I’m sure if you ask her she’ll tell you all about it. I bet you’re hungry, why don’t you come eat.”
Cronan nodded, she had only been slightly startled when Elphaba spoke so it was a quick recovery for her and she gladly followed Elphaba through the living room into the dining room. She noticed immediately that her notebook, pen and teddy bear were sitting at the dining room table already. She walked over to the table and smiling sat down in the chair that her notebook was in front of. She opened the notebook to a clean page and picked up the pen.
This house is beautiful. It must have cost a lot of money. She wrote then held the notebook up with a sort of happy glimmer in her eyes.
Elphaba chuckled and walked over. She pulled out the chair beside Cronan and sat down. “No, actually it didn’t cost us anything. The house itself was a gift.”
Gift from who? Cronan wrote on the paper. It must have been someone really important to be able to afford to give someone a house.
“My sister Nessarose, the governor.”
For a brief moment there was a glimmer of something in Cronan’s eyes fear but not as strong a glimmer as if she was actually actively afraid more a memory of fear, but it lasted only for a second and was gone. Cronan noticed it but Elphaba didn’t. The governor? She’s related to you? Are you sure?
Elphaba chuckled for a moment. Normally she didn’t like to answer these questions, but for Cronan she’d answer anything. “Of course I’m sure, I practically raised her. Ever since our mom died giving birth to our little brother Shell. I guess this is kind of shocking for you, suddenly you have not only moms but an aunt and uncle too.”
I’ve always had an uncle. He works at Shiz. Cronan was rather pleased by this knowledge of hers. Of course he’d lost a custody battle with the state and was only allowed to see her once a month so she was legally able to be adopted.
“Wait, what.” Elphaba read those sentences again to be sure she’d read it correctly. “Then why were you in the orphanage? Works at Shiz? Is he a professor?”
He is. His name is Dr. Dillamond, and the government says he’s not able enough to be my parent. I think it’s because he’s alone and spends nearly all his time either teaching or in his lab doing some kind of weird research that he says I’m not allowed to know about. They only let him see me once a month. Cronan shrugged and put her pen down. She couldn’t really think of much else to say about him. She loved him, but he was so odd.
“Dr. Dillamond,” Elphaba gasped she couldn’t believe it. She’d adopted her favorite professor’s niece without even knowing it. She shook her head slightly trying to clear away her confusion. “I’m a good friend of his. If you ever want to see him, just tell me and I’ll take you to see him.”
REALLY? Cronan was nearly bursting with happiness she wanted so badly to jump up and give Elphaba a hug, but at that moment Glinda came in with the sandwiches.
“Cronan I hope you like tuna, it’s pretty much all I know how to make,” Glinda said chipperly and sat the plate on the table.
“Lyndie guess what. Cronan has a living biological relative. And we’re going to see him after this before we go shopping.”
Chapter Text
Glinda’s smile faltered for half a second. “She does? We are?”
“Yes and yes,” Elphaba said. “She’s Dr. Dillamond’s niece.”
“I see,” Glinda mused and sat the sandwiches down on the table. “I wonder why he didn’t get to take her in when her parents died.”
“That’s one thing I’m wondering too. Cronan told me that the government said he’s not able enough to be her parent. I think there might be more to it than that.”
Ask him about my mom. He loved her. He told me all kinds of stories about her, like how she once fell off a roof and broke her arm because she climbed out a window on the second floor of her house to help a squirrel who had gotten tangled up in the Lurinmas lights. I think he wanted me to remember her. But he said I wasn’t allowed to know what she did for a living.
Glinda sat down across from Elphaba. “This is interesting information. Elphaba do you know what kind of research Dr. Dillamond does?”
“Something to do with animals, he’s never really told me any specifics. He said the less I knew the better, and that’s why I was only his assistant never partner.” Elphaba thought for a second. “He did tell me one time to gather a list, and copies of everything on the list, of every story in Oz that even mentioned a talking animal. I have no idea why he’d need that information though.”
Cronan looked down at her plate and picked up her tuna sandwich. She never understood the fascination with talking animals. She thought everyone knew they were just myths. Something about the whole prospect of studying animals and researching talking animals in myths bothered her, but she couldn’t put words to why it bothered her. It just did.
Glinda smiled a little. “Well maybe if you ask he’ll tell you, if not what it is he’s researching. Maybe what her mom did, or at least her mom’s name.”
“I hope so. I’m really interested in finding out why she was killed.”
Cronan looked up at them when Elphaba said that. I wanna know too. He won’t tell me. In all his stories about her he just says ‘your mom’ never her name. It was hard to write with only one hand, but Cronan was a talented girl.
“Odd. He wants you to remember her, but won’t give you her name. I’ll have to ask him about that.” Elphaba picked up her sandwich and started eating it.
“Maybe it’s something to do with how she died. Or rather why.” Glinda mused. “After all, she was murdered. Maybe there’s a reason other than just someone decided to kill and picked her.”
Cronan looked at her plate when she finished her sandwich. She was still a little hungry, but didn’t want to say anything about it. A tiny meow caught her attention while Glinda and Elphaba were talking. She looked around but didn’t see the tiny kitten anywhere. So she got up and decided to find it. He was probably hungry and maybe wanted some tuna too.
She wandered around the house trying to find the kitten. He couldn’t have gotten far, but then again he is a kitten. Kittens travel pretty fast. He mewed again. She followed his mewing and found him by a door up stairs. She leaned down and picked him up, silently wondering what might be behind that door. She didn’t try to open it though figuring that it was shut for a reason and simply petted the kitty as she headed back down to the dining room, where Elphaba and Glinda were still discussing the possibilities of her parents.
“Maybe they were spies,” Glinda said.
“Spies? You really think a relative of Dr. Dillamond could be a spy?” Elphaba chuckled.
“Anything is possible Elphie.” Glinda smiled. She was rather enjoying this conversation despite the grim nature of why they needed to figure out who Cronan’s mom was.
“Scientists?” Elphaba offered.
“Why would anyone want to kill a scientist?”
Cronan sat down at the table right as she did so hearing an echo of a voice call out ‘It’s time for dinner, sweetie.’
She looked around but there was no one there. So she shrugged and tried to get Glinda’s attention.
‘Cronan, I discovered something important at the lab today. When your uncle picks you up from school Monday tell him that I left the results in the hidden compartment of his coffee table so I wouldn’t lose it. It’s very important for science that he get it. Can you remember to tell him?’
‘Yeah mommy. I’ll tell him.’
She looked around again trying to figure out where the voices were coming from before deciding they must be in her head. She couldn’t figure out exactly why she was hearing voices in her head that weren’t her own.
Not until there was a knock at the door.
“I’ll get it.” Elphaba stood to answer the door. Cronan started to reach out and not let her leave, not knowing why she was scared.
‘Who are you? What do you want?’
‘Mommy, who is it?’
‘It’s not here. Leave. Please.’ Then a loud bang and a scream. Cronan jumped up out of her chair quickly, in shock, knocking it over.
“Cronan, what’s wrong?” Glinda asked her. “Elphaba are you alright?” Glinda called to Elphaba wondering if the noise had frightened Cronan and maybe knowing that Elphaba was okay would help calm her down.
“Yeah Glin, that bang was just a car backfiring. As for the scream it must have frightened someone,” Elphaba said walking into the room. “Arriane wanted to know if either of us had seen Frank’s bike. You haven’t seen it have you? It’s missing.” She hadn’t noticed Cronan’s chair when she walked in, but when she glanced over at Cronan she did. She walked over to Cronan and bent down to see eye to eye with her when she asked, “Are you okay? Did the bang scare you?”
Cronan nodded fearfully, she was shaking and nearly crying.
“It sounded like a gunshot, Elphie,” Glinda said quietly. “Are you sure it was just a car backfiring?”
“Yes, I’m sure,” Elphaba said seriously. To her the sounds were distinctly different, but she supposed they did sound similar. “Cronan,” Elphaba said quietly. “Cronan, it’s okay. There’s no one here but us. You’re safe.”
Cronan nodded again. She understood the words, but not why she had heard the voices in her head. She closed the short distance between herself and Elphaba hugging her tightly, partly because she was scared, partly because she wanted to convince herself that Elphaba really was there and she really was safe.
Elphaba hugged her back. “Maybe there’s something to that gunshot comment of yours Glinda. If you thought it sounded like one, Cronan here probably did too.”
Cronan nodded against Elphaba’s chest. She wasn’t so sure why the sound of a gunshot would scare her so bad but she knew it did. She hugged Elphaba a little tighter and then pulled away still shaking. She tried to remember what the voice in her head had said something about some research being at her uncle’s house. Then it clicked, that must have been her mom’s voice she heard. If that was the case, then she understood. It was a memory. She didn’t really understand a lot about it though. She’d never really remembered much about that day. At least she never thought she’d remembered much about that day, but thinking about it, she did remember what her mom had made for dinner, tuna casserole, her favorite.
Cronan pointed to her notebook trepidly. Elphaba got it for her, handing it over along with her pen. Cronan looked at the page then flipped it over to a new one and wrote:
My mommy left something at my uncle’s house and I don’t think he ever found it.
“She did? Do you know where?”
I’m not sure, a coffee table I think.
“If it was on the coffee table I’m sure he’s found it by now.”
Not on it. In it.
“In? Then perhaps he has not found it.”
That’s what I’m thinking. We need to go tell him. It was the last thing I promised my mommy I would do before the loud noise.
“Loud noise? Like the one that we heard a few moments ago?”
Yes. There was a knock at the door right after mommy called me down to dinner and told me to tell my uncle she’d left some research hidden in his coffee table and it was important he get it. Then when she answered it, there was an argument, a loud bang and a scream. And that’s all I remember right now. But it’s scary either way.
Elphaba looked over to Glinda. “We’ve got to go see him, now.” She looked back at Cronan. “Do you remember what kind of research it was? Like historical—“
Science. She said it was important for science that he get it.
“Science. She was a scientist,” Elphaba said quietly trying to connect dots in her head. “Whatever Dillamond and his sister were working on must be super important. Important enough to kill over.”
Cronan gasped silently. She’d never thought that her mom might have been killed over science. She’d always thought it was about money or politics or jealousy, never science. But it did make sense. Her uncle was a scientist too, probably an important one. The government was probably trying to protect her if his research was that important.
Does my uncle work for the government?
Elphaba thought about that for a moment. “Glinda do you think Dillamond works for the government?”
“Sweet Oz no,” Glinda said a horrified look on her face. “You should have heard him in the courtyard when the PolySci majors were discussing how the government handles things like animal rights and women’s rights, though I don’t see a connection, he certainly put those guys in their place for thinking that the government had done everything it could in those areas.”
“He does seem to have a strange hatred for when anyone even remotely official comes to his lab, he has separate experiments apart from the really big one he’s working on, just for those such occasions.” Elphaba shook her head. “No, I don’t think he works for the government Cronan.”
Then whatever he’s doing is making the government mad. That’s got to be why they didn’t want him to have me. Maybe they were trying to get him to stop whatever experiment and research he’s doing that my mom was helping him with.
Cronan held the page up for Glinda to be able to read too, feeling as though she was somehow leaving Glinda out of the conversation.
“That makes sense, but wait,” Glinda said feeding the little kitten tuna off her sandwich. “Does that mean the government had something to do with your parents’ deaths?”
Cronan just shrugged. She had no idea who killed her parents or why, but she thought her uncle might have the answers they needed. That and she had to tell him about the research her mom left in his coffee table. She didn’t even know what it was, but apparently it was important, and she had promised her mom she would.
Can we go see my uncle now?
Elphaba looked to Glinda. “What do you think Glin, ready to pay Dillamond a surprise visit?”
Glinda nodded and stood up. She stretched a moment then looked down at the little kitten. “Hang on a second,” she said and left the room.
Elphaba and Cronan exchanged a look, neither knowing what might be going through Glinda’s mind. Not too long later Glinda returned with a small little purse. She sat it on the table beside the kitten and stared between the two for a second, as though trying to determine if he would fit in it.
“Glin, you’re not planning on carrying the kitten in that bag are you?” Elphaba asked.
“Yes, I’ve still got the soft cloth in there from the baby squirrel we nursed back to health, this isn’t much different. He’s too small and unfamiliar with the house to be left here alone, plus we need to buy him a collar and we won’t know what size without him with us.” Glinda picked up the fluff ball gently and placed him in the bag. He didn’t protest. “But I’m not carrying him. Cronan is. It’s her kitten after all.”
Cronan smiled and walked around the table and gently took the purse and put it on. She nodded happily.
“Now, we can leave,” Glinda said with a smile.
Chapter Text
Cronan followed Glinda and Elphaba back out of the house. The kitten purred inside the bag wanting to fall asleep but a little too excited. It was a nice day. Cronan got in the back of the car while Glinda and Elphaba got in the front.
Elphaba drove them to the college and parked in the lot beside the science building where Dr. Dillamond’s lab is.
“He should be here,” Elphaba said. “He’s almost always here.”
Cronan nodded and got out of the car with them. She glanced at the bag that the kitten was in and noticed he was sleeping peacefully which made her smile. She held her notebook close. This was a very important time and she couldn’t afford to be without words. Elphaba led her and Glinda into the building and asked the grad student checking IDs if Dr Dillamond was in his lab.
“He is, Miss. But he doesn’t want to be disturbed. Sorry,” the grad student said.
“You tell him Elphaba Thropp wants to see him and she won’t be stopped by a grad student that’s at least six inches shorter than her,” Elphaba said with a playful menace in her voice.
“Right away, Miss.” The grad student went off to find Dillamond. He knew Elphaba worked here, and he couldn’t exactly tell her not to do her job, but he was just doing his own job. There was no way he was getting in trouble for this.
Elphaba turned and knelt down beside Cronan. “There’s one thing that needs to be very clear,” she said in a slightly more serious tone than she normally talked to Cronan in. “Do not touch anything in the lab. This is for your safety, there’s a lot of dangerous chemicals at use in there and you could lose a finger or an eye and nobody wants that.”
Cronan nodded. She’d never been to the lab before, but she had heard some pretty gross stories about things that have happened in science labs.
The grad student came back soon. “The Dr. is waiting.”
Elphaba smiled. “Thank you.”
“Miss Thropp,” the grad student said with a slight frown. “He’s not expecting them,” he said pointing. “So don’t be bothered if he tells them to leave.”
Elphaba nodded. “Thank you.”
Glinda and Cronan smiled politely as they walked past the grad student. They did hope that being with Elphaba that Dr. Dillamond wouldn’t actually kick them out, but they couldn’t be too sure. Still, Cronan was excited, it had been a while since she last got to see her uncle. She and Glinda followed Elphaba down a hallway and into the lab that Dr. Dillamond was working in.
Cronan gasped slightly, it looked incredibly clean, and she hadnt been expecting that. Though she wasn’t sure why she hadnt been expecting that. She supposed that it was because of the warning about how dangerous the lab could be. She smiled when she noticed her uncle working at the back of the lab, his usually unruly hair pulled back. He was wearing a labcoat and looked super important. She shivered slightly and wondered if lab coats were warm. Sonething about seeing him in his labcoat bothered her, but she wasnt sure what.
“Elphaba, I dont appreciate you visiting without warning,” Dr. Dillamond said as he turned away from the experiment he was working on. He was looking down at a clipboard in his hands as he did so. “But I am glad that youre here, theres something I have been meaning to ask you about.” He paused. Then seemingly just noticed that Glinda was there too when he glanced up briefly. “I take it youre not here because you got the sudden urge to come to work on your day of then.”
“No, sorry doctor. There’s something... someone you should see,” Elphaba said.
Cronan smiled and stepped out from behind the table so that her uncle could see her better.
“Cronan!” Dr. Dillamond had honestly never sounnded happier in his life. He set the clipboard on the table next to him and knelt down, holding out his arms for her to give him a hug.
She handed the purse with the kitten in it to Glinda carefully, so the kitten wouldn’t be jostled around too much, then ran over to him and hugged him fiercly.
“Cronan, what are you doing here? Did Elphaba and her wife adopt you?” he asked, his voice sounding like he might cry in relief that his neice wasn’t in that horrible orphanage anymore.
Cronan nodded happily then looked at Elphaba.
“We didn’t know she was your neice until we brought her home,” Elphaba said. “She told us something that I think you need to know. About her mother, about the day she died.”
Dr. Dillamond nodded carefully and gently ran his fingers through his neice’s hair. It was never ever good when someone mentioned the day his sister had died.
“She told us that her mom had given her a message for you. That she’d left some important research in your coffee table, and that it was important for science that you find it.”
Dr. Dillamond’s eyes lit up and he stood up quickly after letting Cronan out of the hug. “Inside the coffee table!” he gasped. “Of course why didn’t I think about that sooner! Cronan, how would you like to come to your uncle’s house later? I’ll need your help getting that research out of the table.”
Cronan tilted her head. Why does he need my help? Still she would like to. She pulled her pen out of the spirals of her notebook and flipped it to a new page and wrote on it. Is that okay? Then held it up for Elphaba and Glinda.
“If it’s okay, professor,” Elphaba said. “I’d first like to know why you need her help for that.”
“It’s simple Elphaba,” Dr. Dillamond said. “She’s the only one who knows the password.”