AN. Merry Christmas! Happy Lurlinemas! Joyful December 25th! Whatever you festivate or do today, I hope you all have a beautiful day.

My parents bought me the 2014 Wicked calendar! Which I already had... Mum said "you should have told us you had it" and I just said "I got mine in SEPTEMBER!"

Chapter 2: The Interview

When the letter arrived at the offices of Modern Ozian Weddings in the Emerald City, Carleeh the editor, jumped at the chance to have exclusive coverage of the wedding of Fiyero Tiggular and his fiancée. It was the kind of story that made her miss her days as a reporter.

Instead, she assigned two of her best writers to cover it. Ioulia would work with Fiyero and his friends, whilst Kellye would work with Elphaba Thropp. Ioulia was ecstatic, she had been dying for a chance to meet the formerly scandalacious Vinkun prince for about three years now, and she had never expected that chance would come while working at a bridal magazine. Kellye was very curious about his bride to be, and thought the assignment was incredibly interesting. She had been hoping to work with the competition winners, but this was even better.

After about a week of communication between Carleehand the bride and groom to be, it was decided that Elphaba and Fiyero would come to the Modern Ozian Weddings offices to discuss everything and allow Ioulia and Kellye to meet who they would be working with over the three weeks.

"Ioulia, please at least try and act vaguely professional around Fiyero, ok?" Carleeh said teasingly.

It wasn't a secret around the office that Ioulia had a huge crush on the prince.

"Yeah, he's engaged, remember?" Kellye reminded her.

"And from what my sources tell me, Elphaba Thropp is really good at Sorcery," Carleeh added.

Ioulia snorted. "How do you even have sources when you edit a bridal magazine?"

Carleeh laughed. "Hey, I love a good wedding as much as the next girl, but you really think I want to be doing this for the rest of my career?"

Kellye grinned at their boss. "Fine. You quit, and I'll have your job."

"Why do you get her job?" Ioulia complained.

"I'm older and more experienced."

"And if you get my job, you don't get to do things like work with Fiyero Tiggular," Carleeh pointed out.

Ioulia considered that for a moment. "Good point."

They had everything ready by the time the couple arrived, set up with tea, coffee and refreshments in an empty conference room. Carleeh went down herself to meet them in the lobby and brought them up to the offices. She couldn't help but roll her eyes as they passed through the offices and pretty much every staff member tried to look desperately busy and then sneak peeks at the couple once they had passed by.

"Here we are," Carleeh said brightly, ushering Elphaba and Fiyero into the room.

"Elphaba, Fiyero, allow me to introduce two of our staff writers, Kellye and Ioulia."

Kellye smiled and held out her hand. "Hi, I'm Kellye. It's so nice to meet you both. Congratulotions on your engagement."

Elphaba appeared a little surprised as she shook Kellye's hand, but she gave a small smile. "Thank you."

"So, you must be Ioulia?" Fiyero asked, after shaking Kellye's hand and offering his hand to Ioulia.

Ioulia seemed a little star struck at first, but then she cleared her throat and took his hand.

"Yes, I am. It's nice to finally meet you. I'm really looking forward to working with you."

Carleeh quickly intervened.

"Shall we get started?"

They all sat down, and Elphaba and Fiyero were offered tea and coffee.

"So, what we're thinking is that we basically structure this like the competition," Carleeh explained.

"Meaning that the two of you will have no contact for the whole three weeks. Ioulia will work with Fiyero and your groomsmen, just accompanying you with all the wedding planning. Meanwhile, Kellye will work with you, Elphaba and your bridesmaids. And basically you'll be planning your version of the wedding, so we can see how your ideal wedding compares with the wedding that Fiyero plans. Does that make sense?"

"Sounds reasonable," Elphaba agreed.

"What we'd really like to do today is ask you both a few questions, just a general interview before you both go your separate ways," Kellye jumped in.

"And then we might do a follow up interview at the end of the three weeks after the wedding," Ioulia added.

Fiyero nodded easily. "Sure, ok. Fae?"

He glanced over at Elphaba, knowing publicity wasn't his fiancée's favourite thing. Elphaba's theory was that she attracted enough attention as it was without seeking it out. But Elphaba just nodded.

"That's fine."

"Before I let you all get started," Carleeh interrupted. "There's just one decision we need to make, and that is where you want to have the wedding and spend the next three weeks. Munchkinland, the Vinkus?"

Elphaba and Fiyero exchanged a look. "We've discussed this with our families," Fiyero said. "And we decided that, given the... how did you phrase it, Fae?"

"Given the nature of the wedding," Elphaba reminded him.

"Yeah, that. We decided that it would be best to do this and have the wedding in a neutral location. So, we thought it would be nice to have the wedding here, in the Emerald City."

"We're trying to keep this out of the limelight until the actual wedding," Elphaba explained. "We'll attract less attention here."

"Makes sense," Carleeh agreed. "Well, if you'll excuse me, I've got a few writers to meet with, and I'm sure I'll just be getting in the way. Kellye, Ioulia, if you need me I'll be in my office."

Kellye and Ioulia nodded, and after bidding Elphaba and Fiyero farewell, Carleeh excused herself.

Both Ioulia and Kellye knew how lucky they were to be getting this interview, even without the next three weeks and the wedding. Although the couple were mentioned in the press frequently, and were popular amongst the gossip columns in the tabloids; they had never given an interview before. As far as the media could tell, Elphaba was fiercely private, and since they had begun dating, Fiyero respected that and was also incredibly protective of Elphaba and their relationship.

"So, I understand that the two of you met when Fiyero enrolled at Shiz University," Kellye began. "Was it love at first sight?"

To their surprise, Elphaba scoffed derisively, and Fiyero grimaced noticeably.

"Um, no. Not exactly," he replied awkwardly.

Elphaba raised an eyebrow at him. "Not exactly?"

He sighed. "Ok, not so much," he conceded.

"How exactly did you two meet?" Ioulia asked curiously.

"My driver kind of knocked her over when I arrived," Fiyero admitted. "She came and yelled at me. And I was completely charming-"

"You said 'maybe the driver saw green and thought it meant go'," Elphaba reminded him. "You call that charming?"

Fiyero made a face and didn't answer.

"So, anyway, eventually we became friends and got to know one another, and then we started dating and now here we are," Fiyero summarised.

"Just like that? How long was it before you went from friends to something more?" Kellye questioned.

Elphaba took a sip of her water before answering. "Well, Fiyero left out the two months at the beginning of that friendship where he was dating my best friend," she said dryly.

Ioulia frantically flicked through her notes, thinking they should have known that.

"Really? That would be... Galinda Upland?"

"Of the Upper Uplands, yes," Fiyero nodded.

"So, I'm assuming it was an amicable break up, then? I mean, she's your maid of honour, isn't she?" Kellye asked Elphaba, who nodded.

"Yes, she is."

"It was a mutual breakup. We weren't that serious. Anyway, I guess it was like... three months after that when I asked Fae out?"

Fiyero looked to Elphaba to confirm, who nodded.

"Something like that."

Elphaba hoped they weren't going to ask about how their relationship changed from friendship to more. The moment in the clearing with the Lion Cub was sacred, and she didn't want to share it with all of Oz. Thankfully, however, they moved on.

"And Fiyero, when did you realise that Elphaba was the One?" Kellye asked him.

Fiyero smiled softly at Elphaba, his fingers tightly entwined with hers.

"From the very beginning," he said firmly.

Elphaba blushed softly, but Ioulia and Kellye were both completely entranced.

"How?" Ioulia asked in a hushed voice, her eyes wide.

Fiyero paused, thinking carefully. He wanted to get this exactly right.

"She just... Elphaba has... this amazing ability to... see the best in me. To see what I could be. She knows me better than anyone. And she makes me want to be a better man, and to be everything she thinks I can be. She's just... the most amazing person I've ever met."

There was a moment of silence as he finished speaking.

"And Elphaba? How about you?" Ioulia asked softly, sounding suspiciously like she was trying not to cry.

"Elphaba doesn't believe in The One," Fiyero informed them.

Elphaba rolled her eyes, even as Fiyero looked very smug at the horrified expressions on the girls' faces.

"I don't," she admitted.

"So... if you don't believe in 'The One', how did you know that Fiyero was the one you're going to spend the rest of your life with?" Kellye asked.

Elphaba hesitated. "I just... I fell in love with him. And for some reason, he fell in love with me, and I eventually realised that I couldn't imagine my life without him."

It was a simple answer, and much less gushy than Fiyero's had been, but there was no mistaking the sincerity in her tone. With Elphaba, it was simply fact- she loved Fiyero and had chosen to spend the rest of her life with him.

"So you've been together for two and a half years now. Has it been hard to manage your relationship long-distance since you graduated Shiz?" Kellye asked.

The couple exchanged a brief glance.

"Not really," Elphaba finally answered. "We write a lot, and we make trips to see each other as often as we could... it's obviously not the same, but I wouldn't say it's hard."

"What's the longest you've gone without seeing one another?"

"Two and a half weeks," Fiyero said. "I couldn't handle any more than that," he admitted, looking at Elphaba softly.

"I guess these three weeks will be interesting."

Elphaba smiled faintly.

"It's um... it's not always easy for us to get away," Elphaba explained. "Fiyero obviously has royal duties; and I have responsibilities in Munchkinland for my sister. I'm... I've looked after her all her life."

"Had you discussed marriage before you got engaged?" Kellye asked them.

"Well... sort of..." Elphaba replied vaguely. "I'm not... I guess I'm not very traditional, and I've never seen marriage as something that was important to me. I've always felt if you love someone and you're committed to one another... a wedding really just seemed like a piece of paper and a ceremony, that doesn't mean much unless you're religious. But when you're dating royalty..."

"You kind of need the piece of paper and the ceremony," Fiyero finished in agreement. "I guess we'd been together for about a year when it just sort of... became a thing that one day we'd be getting married. There was no real conversation, we both just knew it was going to happen."

"How did you propose?" Ioulia asked Fiyero eagerly. "I'm sure our readers would love to hear the story."

Elphaba chuckled. "Well, Fiyero loves telling it, so that works perfectly," she grinned at Fiyero, who didn't deny it.

"Hey, if you put that much effort into a romantic gesture, you'd want to tell the story to everyone too," he said cheerfully and she rolled her eyes.

"Well, tell us!" Kellye beseeched him.

Fiyero cleared his throat. "It was just over a month ago, and Elphaba was visiting the Vinkus. And I took her to the Tree."

"The Tree?' Ioulia repeated.

"It's a tree on the grounds on Werillah Ev, our other castle," Fiyero explained. "It was the main royal residence until a few years ago. It was where the royal family was living during the time my parents courted and where I grew up. There's an oak tree on the grounds that my parents had planted on their wedding day."

"So, why take Elphaba to this tree?"

"Well, she'd heard about it before, but she hadn't seen it. And because the point of the tree, is that my parents had it planted as a symbol. That as the roots dug into the ground and the tree grew, so would their love and their marriage would get stronger... all that stuff. So, it seemed like an appropriate spot to propose."

"It sounds beautiful," Ioulia said wistfully.

"Maybe before the magazine goes to print we could get some photos of the two of them with the Tree to run with the article?" Kellye suggested to Ioulia.

"Anyway, I had a picnic organised under the tree. And after we ate, I told her the story of what the tree meant and how my parents came up with the idea. And then I gave her a present-"

"The ring?!" Ioulia exclaimed excitedly.

"An acorn," Elphaba informed her dryly.

It was the same thing Galinda had said when Fiyero had told them the story. And exactly as Galinda and Nessarose had, Ioulia and Kellye's faces fell in both disappointment and confusion.

"An acorn?!"

"From the tree," Fiyero explained. "So, I made this big speech, and suggested that we could plant the acorn on the grounds at Kiamo Ko and have our own tree... and then I asked her to marry me. And she said... no."

"What?!" gasped Ioulia.

"He's kidding," Elphaba said, glaring at Fiyero in exasperation. "I said yes."

Fiyero laughed. "Yeah, but the reaction from people when I say that you turned me down is always hilarious!"

"You didn't think it was so hilarious when Galinda almost punched you," Elphaba reminded him.

Fiyero grimaced. "Yeah..."

"Why don't you tell us what brought you here today, what made you decide that our competition was something interesting for even royalty?" Ioulia prodded.

Elphaba fielded that question. "Well, my sister found the competition in your magazine, and that led to a discussion about whether men could actually put together a wedding. Fiyero was very confident that it would be easy. So, the suggestion was made to put his money where his mouth is... so to speak."

"Is there a wager with this? What happens if Fiyero can't put together the wedding in three weeks, or it's a failure?"

"That's what we've been working on this week," Elphaba said with a smirk.

Then she hesitated. "Would you mind if we kept the conditions of the bet... off the record? I'd rather not all of Oz weigh into this."

"Of course," Kellye reassured her. "It's off the record."

Fiyero glanced at Elphaba and as she nodded gratefully, he answered the question.

"Basically, the success of the wedding will be decided upon by Elphaba and the wedding guests," Fiyero explained. "If I can't do the wedding in three weeks, or it's declared to..."

"Suck?" Elphaba supplied helpfully.

"That was Corin's word. You said that was distasteful," he reminded her.

"Yeah, but it seemed to fit," Elphaba shrugged.

"We've actually used this to settle another discussion we've having about children," Fiyero admitted.

Kellye raised an eyebrow. "Oh?"

Elphaba rolled her eyes slightly. "Fiyero wants to have children right away, whereas I'd like to wait a year or two," she explained.

"So, if I do a good job on the wedding, I win. If the wedding "sucks" to quote my lovely wife-to-be, we'll wait a while," Fiyero nodded.

"That's a really clever way to compromise," Ioulia said, impressed.

"Well, it was either this or keep going in circles on the subject," Elphaba confessed.

There was a gentle knock on the door and Carleeh returned.

"How are we going, guys?" she smiled.

Kellye and Ioulia gave a quick recap to their boss, and Carleeh nodded improvingly, even laughing slightly when she heard the conditions of the wager.

"Well, why don't we just phrase it in the article as 'a social experiment'?" she suggested. "We'll just leave it at that. The whole 'battle of the sexes' angle? The readers will love it."

Elphaba and Fiyero agreed.

Then Carleeh smiled at the four of them. "So, are we ready to do this?"

Elphaba and Fiyero exchanged a glance and nodded.

"Let's get to work," Elphaba said.

"Prepare to revel in my triumph," Fiyero told her.

Elphaba just laughed.