AN: HAPPY ANNIVERSARY! :D

As Fiyero made his way down the sidewalk, a few different things were on his mind.

First of all, there was the fact that graduation was coming up in just a couple of weeks. He had spent the last four years of his life at Shiz University, so leaving campus for the last time was going to be strange, to say the least. Of course, he was grateful that he was about to be done with school, but it was just weird to think that he would never be coming back here again. So many things had happened to him at this college. He'd met and started dating the love of his life here, for one, and become friends with such wonderful people.

The thought of Elphaba brought up another issue that had been bothering him recently.

He wanted to get her a graduation gift, but not just anything. No, it had to be something amazing. She was the girl he wanted to spend the rest of his life with, after all, so she deserved nothing but the very best that he could give. Finding the perfect gift, however, had proven to be much more difficult than he'd anticipated.

And then, of course, there was that third thing:
How was he going to propose to her?

He had a ring already. It was simple and elegant and beautiful, the perfect sort of thing for her; a silver antique style band with floral-motif engravings on the top. He just didn't know how he was going to ask her the actual question, that was all. He wanted to do it either before or on the day they graduated, he knew that, but he didn't want to make a huge deal out of it because he knew that she wasn't big on that sort of thing. Galinda would probably kill him if he didn't do something at least semi-public, but he didn't want to make Elphaba uncomfortable in doing so. If he was going to propose to her, he wanted to do it in a way that would make it special for her, and staging some big, elaborate thing just wasn't going to do that. Of course, if he could, he would probably end up getting down on one knee onstage during the graduation ceremony where the whole damn school could see it happen, but he wasn't going to do that because he knew that it would only embarrass Elphaba and make her less likely to say yes, which was, of course, the absolute last thing he wanted.

Something in his peripheral vision caught his attention suddenly, and he stopped walking, turning to look at it, only to find that it was a group of kittens rolling around and playing together in the window of a pet shop. There were about eight of them, and they were all so tiny, enough so that he could probably carry one around on his shoulder with no problem at all. There was one in particular that stood out to him, though. Maybe he was imagining things, but it looked smaller than the rest of them. It was very pretty; cream colored with dark brown on the nose and mouth area, as well as on each paw, the ears, and the tip of the tail, and with beautiful blue eyes. It kept trying to get into the group and play with the others, but it couldn't seem to keep up with them very well, because it kept falling behind.

Fiyero frowned thoughtfully and tilted his head to one side as he watched the little thing. Then, after a moment, his expression shifted into a smile as he remembered something that gave him an idea.

He turned, went over to the door of the pet shop, and stepped inside.

Fiyero knocked on the door of Elphaba and Galinda's dorm room, then waited patiently for one of them to answer. After a moment, he could hear footsteps, and then the door opened to reveal Galinda, looking as lovely as ever in a powder blue dress and ivory heels, her blonde curls held away from her face by one rhinestone barrette on each side of her head. She smiled at him.

"Fiyero, hi!" she chirped. "How's it going?"
"Great, how about you?" he replied.

"No reason to complain at the moment, so pretty good, I guess. You here to see Elphie?"

"Am I that predictable?"

"No, but I don't see any other reason for you to be here right now, so, you know. Anyway, come on in. She's in the bathroom right now, but she should be out in just a clock-tick. What's that you've got there?" she asked, pointing at the wrapped package in his hands as he entered the room.

He flashed a lopsided grin at her.

"Wouldn't you like to know," he quipped.

"Aw, but Fiyero, I—Ooooh, I get it, it's a surprise for Elphie, isn't it?"

"Graduation present."
"Aww, that's so sweet!"

She seemed about to say more, but the bathroom door opened just then, and Elphaba stepped out.

"Glin, who are you—Oh, Fiyero. Hi there. I didn't know you were coming over," she said.
"I know. I wanted to surprise you," he replied, and then held out the package. "Happy almost-graduation."

Elphaba blinked in surprise.

"You got me a present?" she asked. "Yero, you didn't have to do that."
"Yeah, but I wanted to. And besides, when I saw this, I thought of you, so..."

She smiled.

"Thank you, love," she said.

She took the package from him and went to sit down on her bed. After she was settled, she placed the package on her lap and untied the ribbon on it, then took the top off and gasped when she saw what was inside, her eyes growing huge.

"Fiyero, I...I don't...know what to say, I..."
"What?" Galinda asked. "What is it? I wanna see!"

Elphaba smiled at her boyfriend, then reached into the box and gently lifted out the kitten that was inside. Galinda's hands flew over her mouth as she gasped.

"Oh my Oz!" the blonde cried. "A kitten! Fiyero, you got her a kitten!"

"Yep," Fiyero said, grinning and feeling quite proud of himself. "I remembered you telling me that you'd always wanted to have a pet, but your dad would never let you, and I was passing by the pet shop earlier, and this little girl was in the window with a group of playmates, but she was smaller than the others and having trouble keeping up, and something in me just went, 'You know, I'll bet Fae would love having a slightly outcast kitten for a friend,' and that was when I knew I'd found the perfect graduation gift."

"Fiyero, she's adorable," Elphaba said. "I...Thank you."

"I also remembered you telling me your name ideas for if you ever did get a pet, so I went ahead and picked one of them for her."

"And which one did you pick?"

"Skye."

Elphaba smiled at the kitten. "She does kind of look like a Skye, doesn't she?"

"Which was exactly my thought process when I picked it. The person at the shop told me that she's about eight weeks old and the runt of her litter, which is why she's so small. I don't know if you noticed, but there's also a collar in the box with a little bell on it. I figured that since she's so small, the bell will help us know where she is so she doesn't accidentally get stepped on or something."

"That's a fantastic idea, I'm glad you thought of that."
"And, um...there is one more thing I haven't mentioned yet."

"And what might that be?"
"This is a two-part gift. Skye is only the first part."

"Then what's the second part?"
"Well...look at what's around her neck."

Elphaba frowned in confusion, looking more closely at the purple ribbon tied in a bow around the kitten's neck, only to find that there was a ring tied to the end of it. She carefully untied the knot keeping the ring in place and shook her head.

"Fiyero, I don't under—"

She cut herself off with a gasp as she looked up and found Fiyero down on one knee before her.

"Fae," he said, "I love you more than mere words could ever even hope to express. You are absolutely everything to me, and I honestly don't know what I would do if you weren't in my life. To me, you are the reason that the sun rises and sets every day, you are the one thing in my universe that everything else centers around and gravitates towards, the thing that lets me know I'm still alive and breathing, my reason for waking up every morning, and I love you more than I knew it was even humanly possible to love another person, so much that it puts a physical ache in my chest every time I think about it. But it's a good ache. One that makes me want to stand up tall. Your very breath soothes my soul. You are all I have ever needed in life, and all I ever will need in the years to come. Every time I try to picture my future, no matter what my mind comes up with, there is always one thing that remains the same, and that is the fact that you are always right there beside me in every scenario. I don't ever want to lose you. I would never forgive myself if anything ever happened to you, even if it wasn't my fault, even if I wasn't there and there was nothing I could do to prevent it. I want to spend the rest of my life with you, which is exactly why I'm down on the floor like this right now. Elphaba Sophelia Thropp...will you please do me the absolute highest of honors and become my wife?"

Elphaba sat there with her mouth hanging open, holding the ring in her hand as Skye climbed off her lap and began wandering around the bed.

"Fiyero," she breathed, "I...I don't know what to say, I...This is...It's so unexpected."
"Is it?" he asked. "I mean, we've been dating for three and a half years now, so..."

"Pssst!" Galinda said in a stage whisper. "Elphie! You should say yes!"
"Glin," Fiyero said, "now's not really the time, can you give us a few?"

"But I wanna see you put the ring on her fingeeeeer!" the blonde whined.
"Galinda, please, I'm asking you as a friend to give us some privacy."

She huffed and crossed her arms. "Oh...fine! You're lucky you're so cute, Tigelaar, otherwise I might have to do bad things to you for this!"

Having said this, she went to the door and opened it.

"One of you has to tell me all about it later!" she announced, and then the door closed, and she was gone.

Fiyero put his attention back on Elphaba.

"Please, Fae?" he said quietly. "Marry me? It would make me the happiest man alive to hear you say yes."

Elphaba stared at him for a moment, then looked at the ring sitting in the palm of her hand, and then at the small kitten that had curled up on top of the pillows and was looking around the room with wide eyes, as if she were utterly fascinated by these strange new surroundings that she found herself in. She then looked at Fiyero again, still down on one knee and watching her anxiously with a look in his ice blue eyes that bordered on pleading. Looking at him in that moment, the green girl was suddenly overcome with a wave of emotion, as well as memories from the past three and a half years.

She remembered the day Fiyero had pulled her aside to talk to her privately and nervously confessed his love, their first kiss, the first time he'd taken her out on a date, the first time they'd made love, the Lurlinemas break of their sophomore year when he'd invited her to come spend the holidays with him and his family in the Vinkus so that he could introduce her to his parents, and then, when she'd expressed concern that her father wouldn't let her, had turned right around and invited Nessa, Boq, and Galinda, as well, just so that Frex would be unable to refuse to let Elphaba go since Nessarose would be there. She remembered what a wonderful time she'd had over that holiday break, how welcoming and friendly his parents had been towards her and the others, how sweet his three young niblings had been, and how his cousin and the younger of his two sisters had both been so kind and thrilled to finally get to meet "the famous Elphaba" that Fiyero had apparently told everyone so much about in his letters.

That was when she realized that as much as she had enjoyed their past experiences together, she had just as easy of a time picturing her future with him, and this epiphany was enough to put tears in her eyes.

She smiled.

"Yes," she whispered.
"...Yes?" he echoed uncertainly.

"Yes," she repeated. "Yes, yes, a thousand times yes, Fiyero, I will absolutely marry you. Oz, nothing in this entire world could ever possibly make me happier."

A relieved smile came onto his face as his shoulders dropped slightly with the small exhalation he let out. He took the ring from her and slid it onto her finger, then got off the floor and sat down beside her on the bed, gathering her into his arms and kissing her fervently. When they pulled apart, both their faces were flushed and tear-streaked.

"Oz, I love you," Fiyero said. "I love you so damn much, and you have no idea how happy you've just made me."

He was about to kiss her again, but they were interrupted by a tiny mew. They looked down to find little Skye standing on the bed looking up at them with those big, innocent blue eyes of hers. She cocked her head to one side slightly and blinked, then let out another meow. Elphaba and Fiyero laughed lightly, and the green girl picked the kitten up.

"Seems like someone's feeling a little left out," she remarked, and kissed the top of Skye's head.

"Something tells me the two of you are gonna get along great," Fiyero said.
"She really is adorable, Fiyero. I love her. Thank you so much, she's absolutely perfect."

"You know what you should do with her on graduation day?"

"What's that?"

"Put a ribbon around her neck in the school colors and have someone hold her for you while we're up onstage so that she can watch you graduate."

"You know, that's actually not a bad idea. Maybe I can talk Shell into holding her for me."

"Oh, is he coming for it?"
"Yep. Said he wouldn't miss it for the world."

"Awesome, I can finally meet the elusive big brother that I was beginning to think might not actually exist."

"Something tells me you'll hit it off with him right away."
"Maybe we can even ask for his blessing...since I know his opinion means so much to you."

Elphaba smiled.

"That would be wonderful," she said.

Fiyero returned her smile and gently scratched between Skye's ears, then kissed Elphaba's cheek.

"I love you, my beautiful green girl."
"I love you, too, Yero, my Hero."