Author's Note: I think Elphaba's more open with him in this version, physically, but emotionally she's still trying to keep him at a distance. And he figures that out fairly quickly.
Chapter 8
That same evening, he came to her with an idea. "I've been thinking."
"Well that's good. I think I'd be concerned if I had a husband who didn't do that on occasion, at least." Elphaba remarked.
He laughed. "You know what I meant."
"So what were you thinking about?"
"We've talked a bit about how strange it is that we didn't know one another very well and even though I feel like we're getting somewhere, I was thinking maybe we could try something."
She was suspicious. "What?"
"Why don't we go on a date?"
"A date?"
"Yes. We can pretend we aren't married, that we're a real couple and we're getting to know one another. On a date."
"Fiyero, if we weren't married, I would not be dating you."
He bit his tongue at that and looked away from her.
"Oh, Fiyero," she realized what she had just said, "I don't mean it that way. I just meant that I wasn't prone to dating at all, and not just because I knew I was supposed to get married. I just wasn't interested. If I were here on my own, I'd probably just be doing a lot of studying. It's not about you, you understand that, right?" Elphaba moved towards him and took his hand, something she was almost certain she had never taken the initiative to do.
Fiyero looked down at their hands and smiled gently at her. "I suppose I do understand that." He squeezed her hand. "But I still like the idea."
His eyes were so full of hope, so tender, she couldn't refuse him. "Then we can try that."
"I've never been on one. Generally people go to dinner and such, correct?"
"I wouldn't know. I've never been on one, either." Elphaba caught a small giggle slip out.
"I guess then we should do dinner."
"I guess we should."
"There's that cafe we saw just off campus. We could go tonight."
"Tonight?"
"Why not?" His eyes were wide with excitement.
"Why not indeed." Elphaba began to head into the bedroom. "I'll change."
Fiyero got a concerned look in his eyes and went to the window. "Never mind. Don't bother."
"What?"
"Elphaba, it's raining."
She sighed. "I'm sorry. I ruined it."
"You didn't ruin anything. We can eat here, pretend we're out to dinner somewhere. You don't have to change, though. Why don't I cook?"
"You can cook?" She didn't think she was masking her surprise very well, so she tried to recover a little. "I mean, at Kiamo Ko servants were always serving us and I didn't think you'd ever learned…"
"I wasn't supposed to, but I wanted to. I can make us some pasta. What do you think?"
"I'd like that. Is there anything I can do?"
"No, no." He gestured to the chair she'd basically been living in for the past few days reading to her books. "You sit and relax for a few minutes."
Fiyero really was a sweet man, and he only wanted to make her happy. Perhaps she shouldn't be so hard on him. It wasn't his fault they'd been forced to marry and he was trying to make the best of it instead of being miserable and rude. Not to mention that he was a better husband than she could've hoped for. She watched him over the top of her book, so attentive to the work he was doing as he stirred the sauce.
When he turned around, he looked at her strangely. "You're smiling."
"Maybe I was." She shrugged. "I was just thinking… you're very good to me, Fiyero. I didn't really expect that. That's all."
"What did you expect?" He asked, putting their food into two bowls and bringing it to the table.
She got up and sat across from him. "I'm not sure. I spent most of my time dreading our wedding day, actually. I did hope that you wouldn't be mean or abusive. Other than that, I didn't know what to expect. What did you expect? I mean, I'm certain you didn't expect me to be green."
"No, that I did not expect. I expected a girl who was prim and proper, actually. I was told that your father was a preacher."
"So you thought I'd be more like… like my sister?"
"Is that what your sister is like? You don't talk much about your family. I didn't want to bring it up because I thought maybe it was a sensitive subject."
"Fiyero, if I don't want to talk about something, I'll tell you when you ask. Don't treat me like a doll. I can hold my own."
"I've definitely come to that conclusion. So then, tell me about your family."
"You saw Nessa briefly the day of the wedding. I'm sure you noticed her…"
"Disability?" He supplied.
"Yes. That would be my mother's fault. Or mine, depending on how you look at it."
"How could it possibly be your fault? It looked to me like you were only a few years apart. I'm fairly certain a toddler cannot be held responsible for something like that, Elphaba."
She shook her head. "When my mother found out she was pregnant, she was afraid that Nessa might have my skin. She didn't want that. She didn't want another child at all, not after me. So she chewed pinlobble leaves and drank poppy milk trying to force a miscarriage. It didn't work. But it is what they believe caused Nessa's issues."
"And that's your fault? It sounds like your mother's fault. She couldn't accept your beauty, your uniqueness. That isn't your problem."
Elphaba looked down at her food. "I told you I didn't like it when you said kind things about my appearance."
"Well, I don't like to lie or hide how I feel, so I guess you're stuck with it. But I will go back to the topic at hand, Elphaba. You don't really blame yourself, do you?" He took her hand across the table.
She still didn't even glance in his direction. "I'm not exactly certain." Elphaba twirled her pasta around her fork.
"You had no control over your mother's actions. And you had no control over how you were born. Elphaba, you're a smart person. How can you even think that you could possibly be to blame? Look at it logically."
He was right, but it didn't make the guilt any less. "I realize that. But Nessa is my little sister, and she's so good. I'm not. She doesn't deserve to be punished for my deformity."
"She wasn't punished. Your mother was, for her ignorance."
"You're probably right. She wasn't stupid enough to try any of that with Shell, though, and he came out perfectly normal. And a boy. That's what she'd wanted all along. But she never got to see that."
"I never wanted to ask why your mother was absent from our wedding."
"She didn't make it through birthing Shell."
"I'm sorry."
"I'm not," she said honestly. "She was more of a burden on my father and my sister and my Nanny. It was probably a relief to them, though none of them would ever admit such a thing. They're too godly."
"It sounds like maybe family life wasn't the best subject," Fiyero observed, biting his lip. "I apologize."
"And like I told you before, I can handle it. You meant well. This was very good," she told him, indicating towards her empty bowl.
"Thank you. Did you want more? There's a little more on the stove. I can find us something for dessert, if you'd rather."
She gave him a mischievous grin. "I have other plans for dessert."
