Sammie appreciates all the love. ^_^

LifelongLeahstar: I kind of liked that insult myself, haha.

3. Adjusting

She had hoped he would be gone by dinnertime, or at the very least that he wouldn't have dinner with her family, but she should have known better. He lived in the same building now, after all, however temporarily; and he seemed somehow intent on annoying her as much as possible, so of course he was at dinner. He talked happily to Galinda, who was tossing her hair, fluttering her eyelashes, and giggling endlessly. Elphaba thought this to be rather tasteless given the fact that the blonde was in a long-term relationship with Cohvu Daling, one of their friends from Shiz University who was currently sitting right next to his girlfriend, having been invited over for dinner as well. When Elphaba pointed this fact out to her friend, however, Galinda only shrugged.

"A little flirting never hurt anyone, Elphie," she told Elphaba before smiling at Cohvu. "Right, dearest?"

He simply sighed at her, but smiled when she gave him her best wide-eyed pout. Sometimes Elphaba thought he was way too easy on her best friend. Galinda needed someone who put his foot down every now and then, but Cohvu merely adored her and hardly ever refused her anything.

The dark-haired witch stabbed a carrot on her plate with her fork, fuming quietly over the fact that no-one seemed to be on her side.

"Auntie Galinda?" Xalo asked. "Will you and Uncle Cohvu take us for ice cream after dinner?"

"Of course!" the blonde said brightly. She glanced at Fiyero and then back at Elphaba. "Are you planning on going out tonight, Elphie?"

The young witch blinked. "No," she said slowly. "I was planning on doing some more work and reading for a bit. Why?"

"Great!" Galinda beamed at Fiyero. "You can come along with us, Fiyero!" she suggested. "That way, you'll get to know the children a little better. After that rough start you had with them this morning, I think it would be nice for you to spend some time with them, don't you?"

Elphaba shoved her plate away. "No."

Her father gave her a slightly bewildered look and Galinda sighed. "Elphie –"

"No. It's bad enough that he's here in the first place and that he's going to tag along whenever I leave the building," she said firmly. "I don't want him anywhere near my children."

"Aha!" Fiyero said triumphantly, pointing his fork at Elphaba. "You called them your children. That means I was right – Xalo is your son, too!"

"Of course he is," the little green girl, whose name he still did not know, said with a small scowl. "We're twins."

"I see." Fiyero smiled at her. "And what is your name, little lady?"

The girl mirrored her mother's glare again and crossed her arms. "What's yours?"

"I didn't introduce myself?" He gasped and dramatically clutched his chest with one hand, putting on a show. "I am so sorry – where are my manners? I am Fiyero Tiggular," he informed the kids. "I'm the son of Jorge Tiggular – you have probably heard of him, haven't you? He's a very important businessman. He owns the Tiggular Bank, so that means I'm very important, too."

If he had been hoping for them to be impressed, however, he was disappointed, because Elphaba cut in before the kids could say anything.

"Does it, though?" she asked innocently, swiping a loose lock of hair out of her face. "Didn't your father disown you and made your brother his successor in the company because your behaviour was so scandalacious?"

Fiyero flushed. Galinda hissed, "Elphie!" under her breath, which the green woman ignored.

The children looked intrigued. "What's scandalacious?" the girl asked.

"Nothing you need to know about, princess," Oscar assured his granddaughter, giving Elphaba a look.

Fiyero shrugged, even though his face was still a little flushed. "Yes, well, I think my father was right," he told the kids. "Being an important businessman can be very boring and you have a lot of responsibilities. I'd much rather do something else."

"Is that true?" the little girl asked Oscar. "Do you think being a mayor is boring, too?"

"Sometimes," Oscar admitted. He smiled at his granddaughter. "But every job can be boring sometimes, you know. I'm sure your mother doesn't always enjoy her job, either. Not everything can be fun, but as long as you like most of what you do, it's okay."

"And do you like being a bodyguard?" the girl asked Fiyero now and he nodded, flashing her one of those lopsided grins that made Galinda giggle and Elphaba want to bash his head in.

"I do," he said.

"Do you have to fight a lot?" Xalo asked excitedly and Fiyero laughed.

"Sometimes."

"That's enough with the questioning, kids," Elphaba said flatly. "I'm sure Mr Tiggular is tired and would like to retreat to his rooms now to get some rest."

"Oh, no," Fiyero assured her cheerfully. "I'm not tired at all."

She glowered at him.

Oscar cleared his throat. "Has everyone finished eating?"

The twins instantly nodded and Xalo asked hopefully, "Can we go get ice cream now?" He looked at his mother and then at Galinda.

Elphaba chuckled. "You can go," she agreed and both of them leapt to their feet and started dragging Galinda and Cohvu along.

The blonde looked questioningly at Fiyero; but before he could open his mouth, Oscar swiftly interjected, "Fiyero, Galinda has told me that you might have some suggestions to improve security of this building, is that correct?"

"Yes, sir," Fiyero answered and Oscar smiled.

"Good. Would you mind coming with me to my office to discuss some of your ideas?" he asked. Fiyero nodded and Elphaba gave her father a grateful smile. When the bodyguard turned his attention back to the departing twins, Galinda, and Cohvu, Oscar winked at the dark-haired witch, who grinned back at him. She was glad at least her father was on her side. She didn't like Fiyero one bit and she could only hope whatever this threat was would vanish soon so that there would no longer be an excuse to keep him around.

The next morning, Fiyero was awakened by a knock on his door and a high voice chirping, "Mr Tiggular? Are you awake?"

He groaned, pulling his blankets over his head. It was way too early for him to be up in the first place. Why were those kids already awake? And why had they come to him when Elphaba was so adamant on keeping them away from him?

"Grandpa sent us to tell you that breakfast is ready."

"What time is it?" he asked, his voice hoarse and raspy with sleep. He blindly reached for his phone, which he had left on the nightstand.

From outside the door came the sound of giggles. They had probably deduced from the sound of his voice that he had still been asleep and were laughing at him because of it. "Eight o'clock."

"Ugh." He grunted and peered at the screen of his phone, which confirmed their words. He pushed himself into a sitting position. "Just start without me," he called sleepily at the door. "I'll be down in a minute."

"All right!" More giggles as the two moved away from his door. Fiyero heaved a deep sigh and forced himself out of bed. He showered, got dressed, and combed his hair, taking his time to make himself look presentable. When he was finally ready and left his room, he got lost in the big building and it was almost an hour after the twins had first come for him that he arrived at the dining room, only to find that everyone had left already except for the twins themselves.

They giggled once again when they saw him and the girl asked innocently, "Did you sleep well, Mr Tiggular?"

"Fine, thank you." Fortunately, the food had not been cleared away yet, although he was sure it had gone cold by now. Not that he minded much. Food was food, after all. He loaded his plate with pancakes, scrambled eggs, toast, cheese, ham, marmalade, and fruit, and poured himself a large mug of coffee – which was thankfully still hot – before sitting down at the table to eat his breakfast. "Where is everyone?"

More giggles. "Working, of course," Xalo said, watching in interest as Fiyero shoved forkfuls of food into his mouth. "Grandpa is in his office and Mum had a coffee meeting with a Glikkun ambas... ambassador? Is that the right word?"

His sister nodded and finished for him, "At The Six Sisters, that café just off the square in front of the Palace. Auntie Galinda is at work in her office, too."

"We'll have to leave in a while as well," Xalo took over again. "We have lessons today."

"Aha." Fiyero chewed on a piece of fruit, regarding the twins in interest. Now was a chance for him to get to know them better without Elphaba getting involved somehow. "Do you go to school?"

They shook their heads. "We have a private tutor," the little green girl said. "Uncle Cohvu."

"Galinda's boyfriend?"

They nodded. "They've been together for a long time," Xalo said. "Mum thinks they're going to be married soon."

Fiyero smiled. "That would be nice, wouldn't it?"

More nodding. The girl still looked slightly wary of him; the boy seemed to like him well enough.

"Listen, buddy," Fiyero addressed the latter. "I really am sorry about yesterday."

Xalo shrugged. "I thought it was kind of cool," he said. "Mum doesn't want us to spend time with you, though. Because she thinks you're annoying and because she's still mad that you hurt me yesterday."

Fiyero nodded. "I can understand that," he said as kindly as possible. "I would like to get to know you two, though. Especially since I am working for your mother now."

The girl was once again taking him in with narrowed eyes, clearly suspicious, and he suppressed a sigh. "Could you at least tell me your name?" he asked her. "That can't hurt, can it?"

She seemed to consider that for a moment before apparently deciding that it indeed couldn't hurt to tell him her name. "Fawn."

"Fawn and Xalo." He smiled at them. "Those are very beautiful names. Did your mother pick them?"

They both nodded.

Fiyero decided to prod a little more. "What about your father?"

Xalo instantly frowned and Fawn said curtly, "We don't have a father."

Okay. Touchy subject. Fiyero made a mental note to look into that later – maybe Galinda would be willing to tell him a few things. After all, the twins had to have come from somewhere… right? He suddenly wondered if Elphaba's being a sorceress entailed being able to conceive children without a man getting involved. Would there be a spell for that, maybe?

Xalo asked, "Do you have a middle name, Mr Tiggular?"

"You can just call me Fiyero," the sandy-haired man assured him. "And yes, I do. I was named after my father, Jorge Tiggular."

"Fiyero Jorge Tiggular?" When Fiyero nodded, Xalo said, "That sounds cool. I was named after Grandpa, so I'm Xalo Oscar Thropp. And Fawn was named after Grandma Melena."

Fiyero's interest was piqued by that new piece of information, but he decided to store it away for later and focus on the twins themselves now. "How old are you two?"

"Eight," said Fawn and her brother added, "But we'll be nine in a few weeks."

"You're already getting big, then!" Fiyero praised them, knowing how much children liked to be considered mature at a young age. "What about your mum? How old is she?"

Fawn and Xalo looked at one another, clearly uncertain. "Um... twenty-something," Xalo guessed. "I don't know exactly."

"Me, neither," said Fawn, "but I do know that she's not thirty yet for a few years, because Auntie Galinda told her the other day that she really needed to find a husband before she turned thirty or she'd be alone for the rest of her life and she said 'luckily you still have a few years'."

Fiyero tried to hide his shock. Assuming that what the children said was true, Elphaba must have still been a teenager when she had fallen pregnant. He hadn't known that. Frankly, he didn't know much about Elphaba Thropp at all – not even why her last name was Thropp when the mayor's was Diggs, even though he was her father. It probably had something to do with the fact that she'd only appeared in the public eye a couple of years ago and no-one in Oz had even known of her existence before that. Fiyero had always assumed that the mayor had simply wanted to keep her sheltered from the press and the people, but he now wondered if there was maybe something else to it... such as a scandal involving an illegitimate pregnancy at an early age. The twins had never been out in the public eye, either, after all.

The little girl frowned at him. "Mr... I mean, Fiyero?"

He smiled encouragingly at her. "Yes?"

"Aren't you here to protect my mum?"

"Whenever she leaves the building, yes," he confirmed. "I have been trained as a bodyguard and many people say I am the best in all of Oz, which is why your grandfather wanted to hire me. Why are you asking?"

Fawn tilted her head a little to the side. "Well... you're here, eating breakfast."

Fiyero laughed. "Yes."

"And Mum is at that meeting with that Glikkun ambassador," Xalo chimed in, clearly recognizing his sister's train of thought. "Outside the building."

Fiyero looked at them both blankly for a moment before the meaning of their words sank in and he cursed vehemently, pushing himself away from the table and scrambling to his feet. The twins were giggling again when he ran out of the room.

Elphaba ran into the Vinkun just as she was on her way back from The Six Sisters and she glanced up from her phone and raised her eyebrows when she noticed how panicked he looked. He was panting, too. "Hello, there. Where's the fire?"

He took a moment to catch his breath. "I, um..." He rubbed the back of his neck and grimaced. "I heard you went out this morning."

"Yes," she said. "I was just on my way back."

"Why didn't you wait for me?"

She sighed, tapping impatiently at the screen of her phone even as she addressed him. "Mr Tiggular, just because you chose to sleep in and then took your time going through your morning beauty routine, doesn't mean I have the time or the patience to sit around and wait until you are ready. You're here to protect me, so protect me. It wouldn't hurt you to take a more active approach to this, you know. You could ask Galinda for my schedule, for example, and make sure you are ready before I head out of the Palace. I never asked for you to be here and I certainly won't accommodate my schedule to you."

He bristled. She brushed past him and he caught up with her in a few long strides. "Now wait a clock-tick. If you don't want me here, then why am I here to begin with?"

She shrugged, her attention still on her phone. "Because my father and Galinda insisted, I suppose."

"Look," he said, walking backwards. "I messed up this morning. I can admit that. But I'm going to need you to try to at least be a little friendlier towards me and help me out a little, otherwise you're making it very hard for me to keep you safe."

She looked disgruntled, but she gave in. "Fine."

"Thank you. So, Elphaba..."

"That's Miss Elphaba to you," she interjected and he gave her a look.

"Elphaba," he said again, smirking a little at the annoyance flickering in her eyes. "You're stuck with me now, you know, and trying to be civil with one another includes calling each other by our first names, all right? Elphaba. When are you planning on going out again?"

She took him in and then relented. "I am mostly going to work in my office today, but I have another meeting in the City at three this afternoon," she told him.

"Perfect." He bowed, still walking backwards. "Then I will be ready to accompany you."

She rolled her eyes. "Fine. Watch out for that..." She winced when he slammed his back straight into a lamppost. "...lamppost."

He grunted. Grimacing, he gingerly straightened his back and Elphaba tried to suppress her chortles as she walked back to the Palace.