11

The day before Elphaba's birthday, Fiyero and Galinda cornered Elphaba in the library to tell her the surprise they had planned for her birthday.

"We're throwing you a party at the OzDust!" Galinda squealed, unable to keep the secret in any longer, which earned her dirty looks from the librarian and nearby students.

Elphaba's eyes widened. "A party? With who? The five of us?" she hissed.

Galinda rolled her eyes. "Elphie, don't be like that!"

"Micah and Corin are both coming," Fiyero told her.

"And there's plenty of students in our classes who just… don't know you like we do, but they don't… not like you."

Elphaba understood what her friend was trying to say. "So, everyone who isn't afraid to go within a mile radius of the green girl gets an invite? Is that how you planned this party?" she asked with a raised eyebrow.

Fiyero took the chair beside his girlfriend and gently grabbed her hand. "Fae, come on. It's going to be a fun night, I promise."

Elphaba doubted that, but she knew Fiyero and Galinda had been planning this for about a month, so she sighed and nodded wearily.

"Ok," she agreed and Fiyero grinned.

Micah and Corin arrived from the Vinkus the next morning, and headed straight to meet Fiyero and the others for brunch at the Wilted Rose, where they were sitting outdoors and enjoying the beautiful Saturday sunshine.

"Happy birthday, Elphaba," Micah greeted her and she smiled ruefully.

"Says who?"

"Fabala," Nessa scolded her older sister quietly and Elphaba chuckled.

"Thank you for coming, you guys. It wasn't necessary."

Corin scoffed. "Elphaba, parties are always necessary."

They had a nice brunch, and then Galinda insisted that Elphaba and Nessa go with her to get their hair done for the party.

"The party that's seven hours away?" Elphaba asked dryly.

"Elphie," Galinda whined and Elphaba rolled her eyes in defeat.

Fiyero stopped her before she could get up and leaned over and kissed her. She smiled as she pulled away and squeezed his hand lightly as she left. Micah and Corin both stared at Fiyero quizzically, but Boq was oblivious.

"I still need to get Elphaba a birthday present. Any ideas, Fiyero?" he asked.

Fiyero laughed. "I'm not telling you anything, Boq. Otherwise, I'll use up all my brilliant ideas on you! It's Elphaba, she's easy to shop for."

Boq clearly thought otherwise. "There's always socks," he muttered to himself as he bid the boys farewell and left.

Fiyero chuckled and took a sip of his coffee, before noticing the way his friends were staring at him.

"What?" he asked defensively.

Micah leaned forward in concern. "Yero- are you and Elphaba okay?"

Fiyero tensed slightly. "Why do you ask?"

"Because at Lurlinemas, she was glowing. Now, she seems strained a little," Corin said slowly.

Fiyero sighed. "We had a pretty huge fight last week," he admitted. "Everything's okay now, but I think Fae's a little shaken. I kind of wish we weren't throwing the party now, but Galinda wouldn't hear of cancelling."

That was why he'd taken the extra moment to kiss her before she'd left. He wasn't pushing her to talk about what was wrong, but wanted her to know that he was here and he loved her.

Corin looked reassured and grinned. "Is that all it is? Isn't that what make up sex was invented for?"

Fiyero rolled his eyes. "That would be your solution, Corin."

Micah smiled. "B.E., that would have been your solution too."

"B.E.?" Fiyero repeated with a frown.

"Before Elphaba," Corin explained. "My idea."

Again, he rolled his eyes. "Of course it was."

Corin frowned suspiciously. "So, there was no make-up sex?"

Fiyero reddened slightly, knowing his friends would make a big deal of this. "I'm not sleeping with Elphaba."

"Is it because of the green?" Corin asked unthinkingly, and Micah punched him as Fiyero's eyes flashed dangerously.

"No!" Fiyero glared at his friend furiously. "Do you really think I'm that shallow?" he demanded and Corin looked apologetic.

"No, Yero, I didn't mean it like that," he explained sorrowfully. "I just meant… you've said that Elphaba is kind of insecure about her skin. I just figured that was why… I'm sorry," he apologised sincerely.

Fiyero sighed. "It's okay," he assured him. "And yeah… maybe that's a part of it. But… I'm not who I used to be, you guys. B.E.," he said with a faint grin at Corin, to let his friend know he really was forgiven.

"We can see that," Micah said quietly.

"It's different with Elphaba," Fiyero continued.

"Because you love her," Micah chimed in knowingly and Fiyero grinned. Yes, exactly that.

Fiyero was right, the week before had shaken Elphaba, more than she wanted to admit or could pretend otherwise. Nessa and Boq still knew nothing, because Elphaba insisted it was between her and Fiyero, and if she didn't room with Galinda, the blonde wouldn't know either. Plus, Elphaba was sure her sister wouldn't be above an "I told you so", after her comment on the idea of Elphaba and Fiyero dating on the way back to Shiz last summer.

The thing was, it had all happened so quickly- one minute Fiyero was persuading her to take a study break and the next they were arguing. So Elphaba was more than a little wary. She and Fiyero had both agreed to move on and forget about the fight, especially once they had discussed everything, but Elphaba couldn't help but be apprehensive. She wanted to go back to that place, where Fiyero was as much her sanctuary from the rest of the world as the library or her books, where… how had she put it the week before? He was the one person who she knew would never hurt her.

And she truly did want to, and she knew that Fiyero would never actually purposely hurt her. It hadn't escaped either of their attentions that she hadn't referred to him as "Yero my hero" since then, and Elphaba was trying her hardest to believe that everything would be alright.

Yes, Elphaba was scared. If their first fight was this bad, would they only get worse? Were they truly capable of hurting one another, even emotionally? One of the big things Elphaba had apologised for as they talked was for using her magic to keep him from running after her, and it had only partially been unintentional. She was still working on controlling her magic and the more emotional she was, the harder it was to do.

What if Fiyero hadn't slept out in the hall that night, determined to talk to her? What if her pride and refusal to talk to him had been enough to make him walk away? Elphaba knew she had a temper and a tendency to be stubborn, and she was worried that her love for Fiyero- and his love for her- wouldn't be enough to overcome that.

Fiyero had promised he would wait until she was ready to marry him. What if she never felt ready? What if he got tired of waiting? What if- as he had during that one awful moment that night- he interpreted her hesitation as her not wanting to spend forever with him? And then there was the whole issue of being the Vinkus princess and everything that went along with that. Despite having raised Nessa, Elphaba didn't have much confidence in herself as a mother, let alone the mother of the heir to the Vinkun throne. What if their children were green?

Elphaba knew Fiyero was confident in their future together, and she felt guilty she couldn't feel that same confidence. She wanted to move on and let herself just feel happy and in love again and not worry about all these things, but not worrying was something Elphaba had never been good at.

But for everyone's sake- Nessa, Galinda, Fiyero and even herself, Elphaba just put on a brave face and pretended everything was truly fine. That's why she didn't protest to the party, and why she sat for two hours in the hair salon with Galinda and her sister, letting her long black hair be curled and pinned back.

When they'd finally left and Galinda and Elphaba returned to their dorm room, Galinda pulled a large, wrapped box out of her closet and handed it to Elphaba.

"Happy birthday, Elphie!" she exclaimed happily.

Elphaba stared at the box, a sudden lump in her throat as she flashed back to the week before. Fiyero had just returned from shopping with Galinda for her birthday when he'd met her in the library that night.

Galinda saw her face and grew worried. "Elphie?"

She placed the box on her bed and put her arm around her friend's thin green shoulders. "Sweetie, are you okay?"

Elphaba startled out of her thoughts and forced a smile. "Yeah, I'm fine. Sorry, Glin… this is my first ever birthday present," she explained, which was the truth, even if it wasn't the real reason for her reaction.

Galinda looked relieved, surprised and excited all simultaneously. "Oh! I'm your first ever birthday gift?"

The blonde was thrilled at that honour, and then paused with a frown. "Maybe Fiyero should be the first…" she wondered aloud, then shrugged. "Oh well, I want you to wear this tonight, so he'll just have to be the second! Open it, Elphie!"

Elphaba chuckled as she obediently went to open the box, curious as to what her best friend had bought her. The first thing she saw when she opened it, was a smaller wrapped box on top. But underneath was a mass of black fabric.

Hesitantly, Elphaba lifted it out and held it against herself. It came to just below her knees with a split up one side. It had thin straps and Elphaba could tell it would be form fitting.

"Galinda-"

"I know it shows more skin that you probably like," Galinda interrupted before she could say anything more. "But trust me, Elphie… you'll look so beautiful."

Elphaba smiled and hugged her tightly. "Thanks, Galinda."

Galinda beamed. "Yay! Ok, now open the next one," she ordered and watched eagerly as Elphaba unwrapped it to find a necklace with an emerald and kunzite pendant hanging from it.

Elphaba laughed and Galinda giggled.

"Do you like it? See, pink goes good with green," she declared.

"I can see that," Elphaba replied in amusement. "Thank you. It's beautiful."

Galinda beamed and hugged her again. "Just wait until tonight, Elphie. You're going to have an amazing night, I promise you."

When Elphaba entered the OzDust, she was genuinely surprised by how many people were in the room. And she noted that Galinda had outdone herself on the decorations, with a huge banner reading "Happy Birthday Elphaba!" along the back wall.

"What do you think?" Fiyero whispered in her ear and she smiled.

"I think you both went a little overboard. Twenty-two is not that impressive."

He shrugged. "Maybe not, but this is counting for the twenty-one years before this one as well."

She looked at him pointedly. "I really hope you didn't use that excuse to buy me a ridiculous amount of presents."

He looked back at her innocently. "Would I do that?"

"Yes," she laughed and he grinned as he slipped his arm around her waist.

"Have I told you how beautiful you look tonight?"

"Yes," she replied simply, blushing faintly and Fiyero kissed her cheek softly.

Elphaba even consented to dance a few times, which thrilled Fiyero, dancing with Elphaba in his arms had quickly become one of his favourite things in the world. Elphaba had to admit she was having fun, and she was surprised by how many of her classmates had not only come, but stopped by to wish her a happy birthday and even bought her small gifts.

Galinda held back from saying "I told you so" but did smile smugly at Elphaba from time to time, which made Elphaba roll her eyes.

It was close to midnight when Fiyero gently pulled Elphaba away from where she was talking to Nessa and a girl from her law class, and led her out of the ballroom and into the back hallways where the bathrooms, janitors closet and kitchens were.

"Fiyero, what are we doing?" she asked in confusion.

"I didn't want to give you this in front of everyone, but it's freezing outside," he explained.

He pulled out a small box from his jacket pocket and handed it to her. "Happy birthday, Fae."

Elphaba smiled faintly as she took the box from him. Just as she made to open it, a crowd of people rounded the corner, headed for the bathrooms; just as two waiters exited the kitchen. Fiyero grimaced, he really didn't want any witnesses around to see this.

"Wait- come here."

He grabbed her hand and pulled her into the closest door he saw, which turned out to be a janitor's closet.

"Really, Fiyero?" Elphaba laughed as he shut the door behind him and fumbled for the light.

"Just open it," he insisted, turning on the light.

Elphaba rolled her eyes and opened the small box. When she lifted the lid, her breath caught.

It was a ring, a simple silver band meeting two delicate deep red garnets in the shape of hearts in the centre, two much smaller diamond hearts floating around the edges.

"These stones are mined in the Vinkus- deep in the Lesser Kells," Fiyero told her quietly. "They symbolise loyalty, sincerity, grace and eternal love. This ring…" he said, taking her hands in his.

"This ring is everything I love you for, and everything I promise you for the rest of my life. I love you, Elphaba and I'm going to love you forever."

In that one moment, although Elphaba would never be able to explain how, all her fears and insecurities that had been troubling her for the past week were gone.

Fiyero seemed to take her inability to speak as a good thing, and he took the ring off her and slipped it onto the ring finger of her right hand. Elphaba would have thought that the red stone would clash with her skin, but it just seemed to fit, which she took as another sign and she knew immediately this ring would never leave her finger- just as whatever happened between her and Fiyero, their love would never die.

Elphaba wound her arms around Fiyero's neck and kissed him deeply, pressing her body against his. Fiyero didn't hold back, firmly pressing her back against the wall of the closet as his arms slid tightly around her lower waist and down onto her hips. Elphaba gasped as he firmly grasped one leg just above her knee and lifted her leg to rest on his own hip. Using the wall as support, she wrapped her other leg around his other hip, lifting her dress to give her more mobility. Fiyero groaned slightly and moved one hand up into her hair, and his lips moved from her lips to her throat and neck, making her whimper. As her long green fingers grasped his hair at the back of his head, Fiyero groaned reluctantly as he pulled away.

"What is it?" she asked breathlessly and Fiyero rubbed small circles with his thumb on the inside of her knee, still wrapped around his hip, as he answered.

"We have to stop," he replied hoarsely. "Because if we don't, I won't. And… I want to… I am going to do this right with you. Which means the first time I make love to you is not going to be in a janitor's closet."

Elphaba blushed at his words and Fiyero grinned as he kissed her one final time, deeply and sweetly before sighing and pulling away, lowering her emerald legs to the floor.

Not trusting his willpower to stay alone in a closet with Elphaba for much longer, Fiyero waited until she'd straightened her dress and hair before opening the door.

"Fiyero?"

He turned back before re-entering the ballroom when she called his name. He met her gaze with a small smile and wrapped her back in his arms as her arms came to rest on his broad shoulders.

"Yes, Fae?"

"I love you, Yero my hero," she murmured and Fiyero's smile widened as he kissed her.

Elphaba had to admit, maybe celebrating her birthday wasn't all that bad.