A Sunday update, as promised. Thank you all for the reviews, they really made my weekend! :) As for your questions about the kids, their parents, and everyone's ages: you'll find out about all that not much later in the story, don't worry.

2. Annoyance

Elphaba pointedly ignored every mention of the Vinkun idiot supposedly here to protect her for the rest of the day. She had retreated to her office to get some work done – there was always more work, after all – and she hadn't intended to talk about the man again. Preferably ever. Her family, however, seemed intent on bringing him up at every possible opportunity.

"Elphaba," Oscar tried as he came through the open door to her office to bring her lunch, "I really think you should consider giving Mr Tiggular a chance. You said yourself that you were followed by someone a couple of times in the past few weeks and I know you can take care of yourself, but Galinda and I are still worried. We just don't want anything to happen to you."

"I'll be fine," the green girl said dismissively, reaching for her cup of coffee without even looking up from the reports she was reading on her laptop. "There will always be people who try to intimidate me, Dad. If you want to protect me from all that, I'd have to be guarded twenty-four hours a day and seven days a week and I'm not doing that." When he didn't reply, she looked up at him and blinked. "Why are you grinning at me like that?" she asked suspiciously.

His grin only widened. "You called me 'Dad'."

She rolled her eyes, but she was grinning, too. "I've been calling you 'Dad' for years now, Dad."

"I know. I just… never get used to it, I guess." His smile faltered a little. "I only wish I could have been there when you grew up…"

"All right – stop," she interjected sternly. "We've been over this. You didn't know you even had a child until you discovered Morrible's betrayal and even then, you still had to track me down."

Madame Morrible had been working for Oscar before Elphaba had come along; she'd been his PA and she'd helped him gain the political power he had now, but she had also manipulated him and gone behind his back, which he hadn't known until later on. He had eventually discovered her lies and deceit, she'd attacked him, and she had been arrested for assault and imprisoned soon after that. She was free again by now, but she had left the Emerald City a long time ago.

As Morrible's office had been cleared out right after her arrest, however, a couple of letters had been discovered among her things – letters addressed to Oscar from one Melena Thropp, telling him she was pregnant with Oscar's child and, later on, informing him that the child was a girl named Elphaba and that she had been born with green skin. Melena had pleaded with him to contact her, but he had never, given the fact that Morrible had hidden the letters from him and he'd never seen them. He was determined to make up for that fact, though, and he had instantly started the search for his daughter, using all available means: he hired a private detective and searched everywhere for mentions of a girl with green skin.

From some other clues found in Madame Morrible's room, it became clear why she had kept the letters for so long, rather than destroying them: she had been looking for Oscar's daughter herself, presumably because of the power this child of two worlds – Oz and the world Oscar had come from – would have. She had never found Elphaba, however, and the raven-haired witch still shuddered to think of what could have happened if she had. She'd come quite close to finding her, too: Elphaba had gone to Shiz University only a couple of years after Morrible had been imprisoned and thus removed as Headshiztress. Oz only knew what the older woman would have done if Elphaba had come to study with her.

As it was, Oscar had tracked Elphaba, six months pregnant back then, down and invited her to come to the Palace. That was how their relationship had begun. Elphaba had been shocked, of course, to find out that the mayor of the Emerald City – arguably the most famous and politically powerful man in Oz – was her real father; but she'd also been happy to finally have a parent who cared, especially since she'd been pregnant at the time and kicked out of her Munchkinland home by her own father (or the man she'd thought to be her father, anyway) because of it. Oscar had invited her to live with him in the City and she'd accepted his invitation gratefully. She'd been living there for over nine years now, working herself up to her current position through her intelligence and her determination so study seriously. She wanted to really earn her job, not have Oscar hand it to her on a silver platter just because she happened to be his daughter.

Her biggest dream had been to go to Shiz University and Oscar had made that possible for her after a year or so, arranging an apartment for her to live in and a babysitter to stay at home when she was in class. That was also where she had met Galinda. Somehow, she'd managed to get her degree in Politics, with a minor in Sorcery, and she'd returned to the Emerald City to live with Oscar in the Palace. She'd worked hard to be the best she could be – the best mother, the best daughter, the best friend, and the best politician – and her efforts had been rewarded only a year or so ago with the position of deputy mayor, only one level below Oscar himself. She loved doing what she did and she loved the fact that she had her family close – including Galinda.

The only thing she missed was Nessarose; she had hardly seen her sister since she'd left Munchkinland, which hurt, especially since they had been so close before, but Frexspar was determined to keep them apart as much as possible. They could only call and email, and sometimes Nessa was able to video-chat. During the three years Nessarose had been at Shiz University, sometime after Elphaba herself had graduated, they'd seen one another a little more often; but the attendant who had accompanied Nessa to care for her had been instructed by Frex to keep Elphaba away as much as possible as well, so even then it had been hard.

She was drawn from her memories by Oscar's sigh. "I know. You're right. But I can't help but wish sometimes that I'd known about you sooner," he said wistfully.

Elphaba simply shrugged and reached for a sandwich. "Don't wish, don't start," she told him, taking a bite. "Wishing only wounds the heart. I'm here now, aren't I?" She'd learned a long time ago that it was no use dwelling on the past.

"Still. You're my only daughter," he said, looking a little pained, "and it took me ages to find you, Elphaba. Is it so wrong of me that I want to protect you? I don't trust this. You'd only have to put up with Mr Tiggular when you go out – not all the time. And I'll make sure he won't invade your privacy."

She shot him a sceptical look and he amended, "Any more than necessary in order to protect you. Please, Elphaba. You know how much I hate the thought of you being in danger. I've already missed so much of your life – don't make me lose you now."

She heaved a deep sigh, removing her glasses and rubbing her eyes. She really should start wearing her contacts more often – these glasses pinched her nose. "Fine," she said tiredly. "If you're so intent on having that buffoon follow me around, I'll humour you." She could never deny him anything when he played the 'you're-my-daughter-and-I-care-about-you'-card. She'd never had a parent who cared about keeping her safe before and it had quickly become her weak spot with Oscar, which she hated – especially since he knew and made use of it whenever he could. "But if he annoys me, I'm getting rid of him."

Oscar smiled, victorious. "Fair enough. Thank you, Elphaba."

"You're welcome," she glowered at him, "Dad. Will you let me work in peace now?"

He nodded, rising to his feet and leaving the room, still smiling. "I'll leave you to it."

"Leave the door open!" she called.

He gave her a look. "I know, Elphaba." He left.

However, that did not mean that she got any peace at all; because he'd only been gone for half an hour or so when Galinda burst into the office. "Elphie! You agreed!"

Elphaba sighed once more. "You and Dad aren't going to let me get any work done, are you?"

Galinda ignored her and flung herself into the armchair Oscar had occupied a short while ago. "I'm glad, Elphie, really. It makes us feel so much better and I'm sure you and Fiyero will get along. He's a real gentleman."

The green woman raised her eyebrows. "So he's Fiyero now, huh? What happened to 'Mr Tiggular'?"

Galinda giggled. "Well, since he's officially working here now, I thought it'd be nice to at least be on a first-name base," she explained, fluttering her eyelashes, and her friend rolled her eyes.

"You probably just fell for some cheesy line he gave you, didn't you?" she asked knowingly. "I know you, Glin, and I know Fiyero Tiggular's reputation. His own father disownedhim and kicked him out of the house because of his behaviour. He flunked out of pretty much every university the whole of Oz has to offer and he has slept with every female between sixteen and sixty years old."

"Oh, Elphie." The blonde tossed her hair over her shoulder. "That's not true. You don't know what you're talking about. He's really quite charming, once you get to know him a little."

Elphaba grunted. "I'm sure."

"And besides," Galinda continued, "I have Cohvu. I would never cheat on him – we're going to be married!"

Elphaba refrained from pointing out that Galinda hadn't actually broached the subject of marriage with Cohvu yet, even though she, too, was sure a wedding would be planned relatively soon. The two of them had been together since their last year at university and it was clear that they loved one another a lot, even though Galinda couldn't seem to stop flirting with other men. She was devoted to her boyfriend, though, and so he didn't mind it so much.

Elphaba tried to return to her work, but Galinda kept pestering her and it took her a long time to finally work the blonde out of her office. She managed to work without interruption for a couple of hours, but then the kids came running in, asking excitedly if they could go and get some ice cream with Auntie Galinda.

"No," she told them sternly. "It's nearly dinnertime. You know the rules."

"No sweets before dinner," they both repeated the lecture they'd heard a thousand times before, looking disappointed.

Elphaba grinned at them. "Exactly. But if you're lucky, maybe Auntie Galinda and Uncle Cohvu will take you into the City later tonight to get some ice cream for dessert," she suggested and the children instantly perked up again.

She settled down again after they had left and, for the umpteenth time, clicked open an email she had received a couple of months before, but hadn't known what to do with.

Elphaba,

I know what you must be thinking, but please at least read the rest of this email. I recognise that I don't have any claim on you, and maybe I have no right to even talk to you after what happened so many years ago, but... well, I recently found out that you have two eight-year-old children and I can do the math.

I want you to know right away that I'm not asking for anything here. I can understand if you want to keep them away from me entirely. I'd just like to see them, if only once. I've been a lousy father and an asshole for what I did to you, but I'm not like that anymore. I was young and stupid. I want to take my responsibility now – see them, maybe contribute something to help you care for them, or something.

Please give it some thought. You have my email address now and I'll leave you my phone number as well; I hope to get an email or a call from you soon.

There were two other emails just like that first one, begging her to reply and making her all kinds of promises and excuses for his past behaviour, but she still didn't know what she could even say in response. What do you say to the man who changed your entire life? Of course, in the end, the change had been good – amazing, even; but if she'd had a choice, things would have been so very different. He was right – he had been an asshole and she wasn't sure if she'd ever be able to forgive him for that, let alone let him back into her life in any way.

Just then, yet someone else came into her office and she slammed her hands onto the desk, making her new visitor jump.

"Why in Oz does no-one want me to get any work done today?" she demanded of the person standing in her office now, who just happened to be the one person she really, really didn't want to see.

Fiyero looked startled. "Whoa," he said, holding up his hands. "What did I do? If you didn't want to be disturbed, you should have closed the door."

Elphaba bit back a sharp retort and quickly closed the emails still opened on her laptop before glaring up at Fiyero again. "Why are you here?" she demanded.

"Galinda sent me here to talk to you about my schedule, and... stuff."

Elphaba scowled. "Galinda sent you? Well, then I'm sending you back to her," she said snippily. "Galinda knows very well that she is supposed to be handling you, not me." She suspected her friend had done this on purpose, hoping to get Elphaba and Fiyero to get to know one another better.

"Really? 'Handling me'?" He scoffed. "That's not very nice."

"I'm not a very nice person. Especially not when my patience is being tried and you, Mr Tiggular, are trying my patience."

He gave her a grin that most girls would probably find charming, but that only annoyed Elphaba. "Fiyero," he said pleasantly. "Please. If we're going to be stuck with one another, you may as well call me by my first name."

"I don't have time for this," she bit at him. "Leave me to my work. I'm sure Galinda will talk to you soon. Good-bye, Mr Tiggular." With that, she pointedly turned to her computer screen again.

Fiyero, however, merely plopped down on the leather couch, stretching out on it. "Mmh. This is comfortable. Can I take a nap here? I promise I can still protect you when I'm asleep."

She ignored him.

"So the little girl is your daughter," he mused. "That was hard to miss even before she called you "Mum", of course. Not just because of her skin colour," he hastened to say, even though Elphaba wasn't reacting at all. "Mainly just because she looks too much like you in general to not be related to you. Not even necessarily in terms of looks, but the way she glared at me after I – accidentally – hurt the little boy was just exactly the glare you gave me not a minute later. It was almost scary."

"What can I say?" said Elphaba without looking up from her screen. "I taught both of them well and they have good judgement of their own."

"What about the boy – Xalo?" he continued. "Is he a friend of hers? A brother? Cousin, maybe? He's not Galinda's kid, is he? Galinda seems to be a little young to have kids that age already." He cocked his head to the side. "Come to think of it, you're a little young to have kids their age, too, aren't you? You can't be much older than twenty-eight, or something like that. How old were you when you got pregnant?"

"I have a feeling that I am going to be saying this a lot in the near future," said Elphaba through clenched teeth, "but that, Mr Tiggular, is absolutely none of your business."

"I'm going to bet that he's her brother," Fiyero decided. "They look alike. Are they twins? How old are they?"

Elphaba didn't reply, but she was seething. She couldn't recall a single word coming out of this man's mouth that hadn't irritated her. She'd promised Oscar she'd give it a try, but she was already regretting that decision.

"Fine. I'll just ask them," he decided and she spun around, eyes blazing.

"Listen to me, you over-sized baboon," she hissed. "You will stay away from my children and you will be quiet whenever you're around me or I swear to Oz I will hex your nuts all the way to Quadling Country. Are we clear?"

He blinked at her, unfortunately not as taken aback as she'd hoped he would be, which only irritated her more. "Crystal." He rose to his feet and moved over to the door, blowing her a kiss. "If you need me, I'll be settling into my new rooms. Fifth floor, just down the hall, second-to-last door on the right." He wiggled his eyebrows. "Just so you know."

She grabbed her stapler and made to throw it at him, but he quickly ducked out of her office and she put the stapler down again. She grumbled something colourful under her breath and then turned back around to focus on her work once more.

On a side note, some news - we've got a new little fluffball. :) He's dark grey and white with blue eyes, his name's Sammie (sort of, anyway; we've considered so many names, we're all confused now, haha), and he's absolutely adorable. We'll never forget sweet Brownie, but it's nice to have a cuddle-bunny again!

Reviews are Sammie-love! :P