AN: I'm so sorry this took so long. Not only have I been doing one community theater show and working overtime, I also thought it was a great idea to try out for yet ANOTHER show. Good news, though, I'm back down to doing just one show and my boss finally hired another person. So... maybe I'll have writing time again!

Chapter Ten: Love

As much as she enjoyed what she supposed was their honeymoon, she was eager to get back to school. She did not enjoy feeling idle, which is how she felt laying around doing nothing. And she was missing the likeminded beliefs of the other students at Shiz, even if many of them thought she was a freak. Elphaba set out to find Glinda almost the moment she returned, having missed intelligent conversation with anyone other than Fiyero.

Glinda pulled her into a tight hug the moment she opened the door. "Elphie! The wedding was beautiful!" She stepped back, raising her eyebrows at her former roommate. "How is married life?"

"It's interesting," Elphaba could think of no better way to describe it.

"And how was your wedding night?"

"None of your business." Elphaba strode into the room. Nanny and Nessa were now moved in, it appeared, though they were not there at the moment. She looked at the bed that was once hers, thinking of the time she'd spent sitting there reading, alone and at peace.

"Elphie, please!" Well, maybe not so much alone. Or at peace. Glinda had never been one for silence. "I'm just curious. It sounds so scary!"

"It's not scary, Glinda. That's all I'll say." Elphaba shrugged. She didn't want to share these sorts of things with anyone else. Besides, the entire day had been thick with tension thanks to his family, even if Glinda hadn't been able to feel it during the ceremony.

"Are you happy?"

"Sure, why not?" She didn't honestly feel much different. Outside of the fact that her living situation was now different, her life was pretty much the same.

Glinda sighed dramatically. "Oh, Elphie, when did you know?"

"Know what?"

"Know," Glinda repeated.

"What?"

"Know that Fiyero was the one. That you loved him."

That she loved him? Swallowing hard she said, "I don't think it's something that you just know. It takes time."

"Then when were you sure enough to say it?"

Elphaba blinked slowly. It occurred to her, then, that she still hadn't told him she loved him. She had married him, slept with him, and those words had left to leave her lips. "I… I never did."

Glinda looked lost. "You married him, Elphie! Of course you've said it."

"No, no I haven't," the words came out slowly. "But I thought I could…" Elphaba went to the door. "I have to go."

She didn't hear what Glinda called after her as she strode intently towards the apartment she now shared with Fiyero. He seemed confused when she threw her arms around him. "Fae?"

"Fiyero, I love you."

"I love you, too."

"I love you," she repeated, pressing her face against the soft cotton of his shirt.

"I got that."

"It's just… I realize now that… I never said it before."

At that, she felt him stiffen. "No, no you haven't. Why, exactly, haven't you?"

"I don't know. I forgot."

He wasn't buying it, clearly. "Really, Elphaba?"

"I didn't forget, exactly," she said hesitantly, "I just wasn't sure."

"You weren't sure?" He looked at her incredulously. "You married me, Elphaba, and you weren't sure?" Fiyero took a step away from her.

"I'm sure now," she insisted.

"I should've noticed," he wasn't talking to her. He wasn't even looking at her. "How could I not have noticed? I was so certain and you were just silent." He finally looked at her again. "Why in Oz did you marry me if you weren't even certain that you loved me?"

"I… I didn't know if I could love anyone. But I knew if I could, Fiyero, it would be you." She stepped towards him, not knowing how to comfort him. Part of her was almost angry at him for being angry at her. It wasn't as if she'd had a choice to wait until she knew if she loved him for sure! It had been now or never.

He shook his head at her. "I don't think I can be in here right now. I'm going to go take a walk." Fiyero brought nothing but his key with him, shutting the door behind him before she could even put words together.

Elphaba went into their bedroom. She knew going after him wouldn't be the best idea, and she wasn't certain that she wanted to go after him, anyway. The emotional whirlwind she felt was exhausting. She fell asleep, tossing and turning as she struggled to block out the mess that was going on inside her head.

When she woke, it was raining fiercely, complete with lightning and thunder. Fiyero had not returned. She hoped he was inside somewhere. Elphaba paced the apartment, walking from room to room (there were only three of them, so it wasn't much of a walk) until Fiyero burst in over an hour later. He was soaked and shaking. "Sweet Oz, Fiyero, you'll catch your death!" Elphaba ran into the bedroom, grabbed a towel from the closet and threw it at him. "Why didn't you stay inside wherever you were and wait out the storm?"

"Because I wasn't anywhere. I was in the storm."

"Are you crazy? You stood outside in that without even a coat for over an hour! Why didn't you go into a store, a restaurant?"

"I had no money with me. They kick you out if you don't buy anything, Fae. That's how they handle the homeless population." He began to peel his clothes off and headed into the bedroom for some dry ones, shaking his hair out.

"I understand you were angry, but did you have to be so careless?" She followed after him.

"I wasn't thinking. I just knew I couldn't stay here… with you. And you would've fared much worse outside than I would've."

She pretended that didn't hurt her. "We have more than one room."

"I needed more distance." He pulled on another pair of trousers.

"And do you still need it?"

He turned to her, the diamonds on his chest still sparkling with moisture. "I don't know."

"Fiyero, please, you have to understand. The situation gave me no choice. If I hadn't married you, we could never have been together. You know that better than anyone. And so I took a chance. I care about you and I did then, even if I was still trying to sort out the depth of my feelings. But I've never loved anyone. No one in my life has ever loved me. I wasn't even sure exactly what love is. But I knew I wanted to be with you. That had to be enough."

He bit his lip. "Why couldn't you just tell me that instead of sneaking around the words? The more I thought about it the more I realize how many chances I gave you to say them. And somehow you managed to talk your way out of it every time."

"How would you have reacted? If, when you told me that you loved me, I replied, 'that's nice and all, but I'm not sure if I feel the same,' I'm fairly certain you wouldn't have handled it well."

"And I'm handling it well now?"

"I like the think that you're handling it better than you would have had I still not been certain. I love you, Fiyero, and I'm sorry. Would you rather I not have married you?"

"Never." He took her hand. "I am the happiest man in Oz with you for my wife. It just hurts to know that while I was so in love with you, knew I wanted to be with you forever and yet you… you didn't feel that."

"I did. I knew I wanted to be with you. Fiyero, I barely understood what love is. I only read about it in books. I don't think I've ever seen it. And I'd certainly never felt it, not until you. Just because I hadn't given those feelings a name yet doesn't mean that's not exactly what I was feeling."

"I guess I can accept that." Fiyero threw himself on their bed.

Elphaba joined him, noting that his chest was still bare. She took advantage of that and kissed the remaining drops of water off of his body as she said, "That's good enough." As she reached his abdomen, she slowly unbuttoned his pants. "Let me finish drying you off."

Fiyero's eyes widened and he finished undressing eagerly. "If you're trying to distract me from the issue at hand, it's working."

"I can tell," she murmured. "And I thought we had finished that conversation. I'd be happy to stop if you have more to say."

"No, no, I think you're right. We are most definitely done talking."

Elphaba grinned and licked her lips.

The next morning, she woke to him shivering in the bed. When she reached to wake him, he was hot to the touch and he could barely open his eyes. "Fae?" His voice was hoarse, his lips cracked and dry.

"I told you it was a bad idea to go out in the rain like that," she muttered, climbing out of the bed. "Let me make you some hot oatmeal. That will soothe your throat. I'll make you soup later, too."

"Classes start again today."

"Not for you."

"But what about you? You've never missed a day."

"Not for me, either. I'm going to go make you something. The only class I have today is sorcery, and Glinda will take good notes for me. I know you were supposed to be in economics class this morning. I think Boq is in it. His handwriting is atrocious, but I'm sure he can relay his notes to you another time."

"I love you."

"I love you, too. Now hush and rest." Elphaba walked into the kitchen. She didn't know where much was, since most of it had been moved there while they were in the Vinkus. After a few minutes, she found what she needed and heated some oatmeal for him on the stove. When she re-entered the bedroom, she found that he'd fallen back to sleep and was snoring loudly. "Oh, lovely." She put down the bowl on the bedside table and shook him roughly. "Yero."

He groaned but sat up. "I just want to sleep, Fae."

"You need to eat or you will never get better." She shoved the bowl into his hands. "Then you can go back to sleep."

"We've been married only a few weeks and you've already turned into my mother," he grumbled, spooning some of the oatmeal into his mouth.

She smacked him playfully. "Never. Your mother lets your father treat her like a slave. And no matter what I do for you, that will never happen."

"You are kind of taking care of me."

"Only because you're sick and can't do it yourself. I hope you would do the same for me."

"I don't think I recall you ever getting sick in all the time that I've known you, not even a cold."

"I don't get colds. When I get sick, Fiyero, I get very sick. I've only been ill once or twice before, back in Munchkinland. I could barely move. I don't like feeling that helpless. And I don't usually do anything stupid, like run around in the rain for over an hour. Not that I could."

He finished the oatmeal and put the bowl on the bedside table. "You can go to class if you want, Fae. I'm just going to sleep."

She didn't respond to him and merely took the bowl into the kitchen and put it in the sink. Elphaba wasn't going anywhere.