14.

"We'll move on to the next item on the agenda."

Glinda resisted the urge to roll her eyes at the Grizzle Tech rep who was strutting about the meeting room. They had spent the last 30 minutes going on and on about their marketing plans for a possible Thropp Co. – Grizzle Tech project. Normally, Glinda would've paid more attention, except in this case she had already known from Elphaba that nothing would ever happen between Grizzle and Thropp.

"This is what we're proposing for the after-launch. Interviews, on all platforms. Traditional media, new media, everything. We'll plant the seeds – let people see Thropp Co's celebrity CEO with our own Elliot Todd."

Clarissa, Glinda's second-in-command, nudged her discretely and whispered, "They're pulling out the big guns today. Very detailed stuff."

"—we can see from this chart that over 50% of our proposed budget will be funnelled into this leg of the campaign. We'll have plenty of room for the interviews and tv exclusives. Of course, we'll have billboards on Theatre Lane –"

"—Wait. Hold on." One of Glinda's marketing execs sat up from his seat, "The entire stretch for Theatre Lane is owned by Tenmeadews. They've held 51% shares since the first three theatres popped up along that street. How are you proposing we do this? It's going to be too expensive."

The Grizzle Tech rep, a short man with jet black hair and wire frame glasses, smiled broadly. It wasn't a nice smile, in the sense that Glinda felt particularly uncomfortable at the sight of it. It was the kind of smile that she imagined on a rapist or a mugger stalking a young woman in the shadows of the night.

"I'm glad you asked. The news would've been released by the end of the day anyway, but I'll tell you this. Grizzle Tech has signed a 5 year deal with Tenmeadews Corp – just for this project alone. We're expecting great things from our partnership with one of the biggest business entities in the Emerald City."

Glinda felt her blood freeze upon hearing that. Her eyes widened slightly and she stopped tapping her pen on the folder. She could hear Clarissa take a sharp, audible breath, right next to her. Her marketing execs had a harder time masking their shock and their eyes darted from each other to landing squarely on Glinda – their leader. She smiled sweetly, pretending to not understand the proverbial bomb that had been dropped on them.

This won't be good.

It won't be good at all.

The hotel that Boq had put her up in was one of the nicest buildings on this side of Ev.

The land beneath it was owned by Thropp Co. and everyone who saw Elphaba walking by either stared brazenly, or were so terrified of her that they would immediately turn tails when they saw her coming.

In short, Evians were exactly the same as Ozians.

It didn't matter that their language, culture and skin colour were wildly different to the four major Ozian races. Underneath it all, everyone understood that Elphaba was most different. It seemed like it would be something that bound them all together.

She was sat down on a comfy chair, positioned nicely in front of the windows that dominated one side of her living space in her suite. She had barely gotten a bite of her room-service vegetarian falafel when her phone vibrated violently.

She checked the caller id and picked up immediately when she saw that it was Glinda.

"Green in Ev. How can I help you?"

"Elphie, we've got no time for jokes. I just got back from that meeting with Grizzle, you know – the one that you said I could throw out? Well something's changed."

"You tell me that we've got no time, and yet the only thing that I've gotten out of that was that 'something's changed'."

"It's big. You're going to have to ask Avaric directly, but the Grizzle rep just told us that Tenmeadews signed a 5 year deal with them. The papers were finalized in the afternoon."

Elphaba felt her eyes widen slightly, her brows raised to her hairline. "… That's…"

"I'm hoping that it's just for this project. Because if they start buying in together, we won't be able to hold them off for long with Tenmeadews as their backer."

"I'll get to the bottom of this." Elphaba said. Her mind was already reeling from the piece of information that Glinda had given her. She hadn't even considered what Glinda said to her before she hung up – she was too worked up.

The one jarring reason why Elphaba had refused Grizzle Tech so many times was because she knew that it was how they worked. They would propose a fantastic collaborative project, allowing them to work with a particular company, and slowly build a decently profitable partnership. Then bit by bit, they would start to include shares into their proposal conditions, or simply buy them themselves – only small numbers of course and usually for cheap because of their ongoing projects with the company.

And then, before you know it, Grizzle would owned enough shares in the company and enough influence over the shareholders and directors – because of their generous nature and profitable game plan – that they would outright buy out the company and incorporate them under their growing tech flag.

Elphaba hated it.

She'd seen some good people lose their livelihoods because of Grizzle. Most of the time, companies that couldn't assimilate to the take-over very well, tended to flop just months after being bought over. Grizzle would lose very little money over that because of insurance pay-outs. And just like that, innocent people lose their jobs.

She would rather chew her own arm off than to let Grizzle slither their way into Thropp Co. And now she'd have to quickly deal with her business here in Ev, settling a change in corporate management for the Thropp Co. Evian office after a local scandal with one of her upper execs, and book a flight back home – 3 days earlier than intended.

Elphaba sighed. She had wanted to spend one of the days visiting the Domus Scientiam, the largest library in Ev… She cut a piece off her falafel with a fork and shoved it in her mouth unceremoniously. Right after dinner, she'd have to do one of the most hated chores as CEO in the company, one that even she couldn't punt off to Boq or avoid forever.

Call Avaric Tenmeadews and set up a meeting.

"Have you called him?"

Crope looked up at Fiyero, who was standing by the kitchen counter, dressed only in his boarding school sweatpants and brewing a cup of tea. It was 11.40pm on a Wednesday, and today marked the first month since Crope had moved out of the apartment. One month since he began suspecting that Tibbett was getting himself into some serious trouble.

"I called last week." He said in a hushed voice, shifting slightly in his bed/Fiyero's couch. "He wants me to come home… He said that you visited him."

Fiyero leaned against the counter, the sound of water getting heated in the background, "I did. I wanted to see if I could get him to tell me what's happening with him. I haven't seen him around the office for a while now. Megan said that he clocked in for work, but his performance has been abysmal."

"I suppose, I wouldn't know." Crope sighed, stretching his legs out, "We've been getting these proposals from Grizzle Tech and we've got meetings with their representatives every other day. It's exhausting. I didn't even know that we were doing business with them."

"We aren't." Fiyero furrowed his brows in confusion, "We had the manager's meeting last Friday. Baldr mentioned that Grizzle had been showing an interest in working on some projects with us, but he hasn't made up his mind about them yet."

"Well then, out of my paygrade I suppose. Just an office drone." Crope offered a weak smile.

Fiyero shook his head, and pinched the bridge of his nose. A click went off behind him and he turned around to pour the hot water into his cup – the bottom of which was already filled with a spoonful of tea leaves. "Anyway. We can't keep this up, you know."

"Our scandalacious love affair?" Crope snorted.

Fiyero stirred his tea, and laughed, turning back around to face him. "You know what I talking about. I can't have you sleep on the couch for the next 10 years. As much as I love having you around… it's not sustainable… It's been a month, Crope." Fiyero walked towards the couch and sat down on the other end, placing the cup down on the coffee table and allowing his tea to seep.

Crope exhaled slowly, his eyes fluttering shut. "I know, Yero. And I know I'm overstaying—"

"—it's not that I don't want you here." Fiyero insisted again.

Crope laughed lightly, pulling a pillow to his chest, "I know. I've just been… I've been hiding and running away from the elephant in the room. It's ridiculous. But I don't know how to fix it, Yero. He won't tell me what's wrong. He won't even tell you what's wrong."

"Let me hire that P.I."

"I – I can't do that to him."

"He's self-destructing, Crope. We have to help him." Fiyero's lips were in a thin line, "And we can't help if we don't know what's wrong."

Crope stared at his friend, trying to fight back the idea. But the ugly truth was that if he truly loved Tibbett, and he knew that his best friend and partner was going down a path where he couldn't follow, he needed to help him – whether he wanted him to or not.

He couldn't let Tibbett do this alone.

He wouldn't.

Fiyero was still waiting for his response – and Crope wanted to tell him that his tea was getting cold, just a bit of his old snippy tongue coming back to make light of a serious situation. He sighed, and nodded. "… Alright, fine."

"Good." The vinkun smiled lightly. "I'll give my guy a call tomorrow. We'll rest easy tonight."

"Right." He found himself grinning. His heart lightened significantly, knowing that the end to this madness was soon. "Oh, I wanted to ask. Did you go to that scented oils store I told you about at the artisan's street? You need to stop buying from the department store for that thousand dollar oil warmer of yours. Have some dignity."

Fiyero seemed to flush lightly. "I did actually. After I visited Tibby… I saw Elphaba."

"Oh! Miss Green! She didn't seem like the scented oils type. Or the artisan's street type."

"Yeah, well. She's really into them apparently." Fiyero recounted, and a curious smile began to play on his lips. Crope wondered if he even knew that he was doing that. "Dropped big bucks that day. I brought her to lunch after that and dropped her off at Glinda's."

"You bought lunch for the green lady?"

Fiyero shrugged at that, not noticing the incredulous look on Crope's face. "We're friends now. We talk sometimes, when I visit Glin's apartment. I was at her birthday thing too."

Crope felt his brows rise slowly towards his hairline. He wasn't sure if Fiyero, himself, even knows what he's saying right now, because it's what he's not saying that makes it more damning. The little smile that he's wearing on his face was something that he haven't seen since Sarima.

And that was a period in time where he would prefer to never revisit.

He wasn't sure if he should share his observations with Fiyero, considering that he's currently seeing a particular blonde haired, blue eyed gillikinese marketing director from Thropp Co. It wasn't as if Fiyero had conveniently forgotten about Glinda either – Crope knew that Fiyero was still visiting his girlfriend often. Although, right now it seemed like his visits might've been spurred on by other reasons…

He sighed internally. This might be something that Fiyero would have to figure out himself. Lurline knows that he's got other things to worry about right now.

The Emerald City looked like a nightmare.

The streets were covered in ankle-deep snow, layering her boots in a sheet of white with each step that she took. Every foot print in front of her made by other people were almost immediately filled in by the white stuff that was still floating down from the grey, city skies.

Elphaba had seen the news on the flight from Ev.

A dastardly blizzard – the worst in many decades – had fallen upon the Emerald City, literally overnight. She had been stuck in Ev for an additional 3 days because of how unrelenting the snow had been. It took a million phone calls and angry email correspondences before she could finally catch a break and booked the first available flight out.

But of course, it had been a transit to Frottica. Air travel to the city was impossible at the time. Elphaba had to catch the Gillikin Express to Shiz – which had been a nightmare on its own; she hated the tediousness of trains – and finally hire a car that would take her from Shiz to the Emerald City.

She had forgotten how annoying travel had been without airplanes.

And so, when she had finally arrived in the city that she so loved, after many days of travel, Elphaba found herself squinting at the mountains of fresh powder – heaping on top of everything. She walked from the city checkpoint to a diner nearby, her boots already slightly damp on the inside because of the tiny mount of snow she had accidentally stepped in when she came out of the car.

Her driver would be coming in from the City Centre to pick her up, but many of roads were closed off because of the snow. He recommended that she find some place to hide out for a while.

The warmth from the diner's radiator felt like a friendly embrace when she stepped in and shut the door behind her. She was brought to a table by the windows, allowing her to observe the City denizens going about their daily life. An ancient looking tv was mounted on a metal wall shelf near the diner's counter, and the sound of an afternoon soap drama played in the background.

"Coffee, black." The middle-aged quadling waitress placed the white porcelain cup in front of Elphaba gingerly. Her bronzed-red skin was a rarity in these parts. "Would you like some sugars, sweetheart? Donny's cuppa is stronger than it smells."

"No thanks. I'll be fine." Elphaba replied gently. She watched as the quadling scrunched up her nose.

"Don't say I didn't warn ya."

When the waitress had left, Elphaba turned to her coffee. It seemed unsuspecting enough. Dark and strong, just like any other black coffees she had sampled. Cockily, she took a large sip, and immediately regretted her foolishness. She internalized a cough, not willing to allow the waitress the sense of satisfaction for having besting her.

Donny's cuppa was certainly something else.

Her phone vibrated in her jacket pocket, and Elphaba had contemplated ignoring it until the sensation begun to irritate her. It wouldn't be her driver – it was much too soon… and he knew better than to call her. Elphaba very much preferred texting. Without even glancing at the caller id, she picked up.

"Who is this?"

The person on the other line scoffed. "Is this any way to speak to your old friend and pal?"

"Avaric." Elphaba rolled her eyes, and her free hand had immediate reached for the coffee again.

"A little birdy told me that you'd like to meet up. That's a first, coming from you."

She could almost hear the smirk on Avaric's handsome face right now, and she wanted nothing but to push that same face into a nice, brick wall.

"It's business, Avaric."

"I'll tell you what. I'll book a nice place, restaurant maybe. One with good munchkin food, you'll like that. And after that we can go to a club in the City Centre—"

"Business." She interrupted harshly. Her eyes were narrowing, despite not having this conversation face to face, although in part, it had been because of the coffee that she had just sipped… Oz's balls, what did Donny put in this thing?!

Avaric made a noise, which sounded like he was put off by her response. "We'll talk." He assured, "But Tenmeadews do business in style. I'll get my secretary to contact your little P.A." Avaric laughed meanly, "I'll be seeing you."

And he was gone.

She pulled her phone away from her ear and stared down at it as if it was the filthiest thing she had ever held in her hand. She knew damn well that a deep scowl was featured on her lips, but did nothing to rectify that. Speaking to Avaric Tenmeadews – and setting that meeting with him – had been as unpleasant as she had imagined. Except, she hadn't thought that he would actually call her himself.

"Arrogant son-of-a—"

"—Elphaba?"

She hadn't had time to register the voice. It was much too familiar and much too close. The voice came from behind her, and she turned just in time to see that he had stepped over to the seat directly opposite to hers and made himself comfortable.

The familiar scent of his cologne – a very pleasant combination of woodland smells – brought her back to a happier time. Her eyes had finally set themselves on his face. Lightly bronzed-red skin, aged slightly from the last she had seen him. His eyes were deep-set, and painfully expressive. The warm amber of his eyes had always been the features that stayed with her. His sunset red hair was cut short from the last time they had met – it was shaved down on the sides now in a very professional fade.

He was looking at her as if he were waiting for her to speak.

Elphaba couldn't, however. She felt as if speaking would break the illusion. It couldn't be him sitting in front of her right now. It didn't feel real. They've lived in the same city for the last few years and had managed to avoid each other rather effectively. Why did he have to choose now to appear?

When it was clear that she wouldn't be speaking to him, he took his satchel off his shoulders and placed it squarely on the seat next to him. "I've missed you." He said, voice like melted butter.

She finally managed to clear her throat, a little too forcefully. Her heart was pounding in her ears.

"I don't care."

It was almost stupid how easily both of them could tell that she was lying. His lips pulled into a little smile as he pushed his glasses a little higher on the bridge of his nose.

"Isn't it funny? We've been living in the same city for the last 2, 3 years? And we haven't even met up for a cup of coffee."

"We meant for it to be like this, remember?"

He wasn't smiling anymore, and she had almost regretted saying that. Even after all this time, at his mere presence, she had reverted into a girl almost 10 years younger. He reached for the menu that she had tossed aside just minutes ago and begun looking through it.

"You meant for it to be like this. I wanted us to stay friends." He lowered the menu slightly, his eyes levelled hers, "remember?"

Elphaba shifted uncomfortably.

He sighed. "I wanted to call, y'know?"

"It's okay, I don't have a phone."

"Fae…"

"Don't call me that."

He frowned, and even as he did, his face still looked like it belonged not on a person, but on the cover page of a magazine. He put the menu down completely, and without warning, he reached over and grabbed her hands, cupping them in his own. He was warm, and his hands were rough… They were familiar.

Elphaba wasn't sure why, but she found it difficult to pull away… So she let him hold her.

"We can forget that that night never happened. I never left, and you never said those things." He said, his thumbs were slowly rubbing little circles on the back of her hands. He watched for her reaction, but she didn't know how to respond to that. It was too sudden… and things, well… Things had changed.

"We're not in Shiz anymore." She said dryly, retracting her hands from his, but immediately missing the warmth from the contact. "I'm the chief executive at my own company and I live in my own apartment."

He smiled slightly. "You're not rooming with Galinda?"

"It's Glinda. She had it changed in our third year."

"Of course, I should've remembered that."

Elphaba snorted. "You really should. You were the Teacher's Assistant for Lurline's sake."

"Lurline? I didn't hear from Frex that you were religious again." He tilted his head slightly.

"It's just an expression." She took a sip from her now lukewarm coffee, "I've never been religious. You should know."

"What about that box of fun things that your father sent over on your first weekend in the dorms?" He grinned at the memory, obviously still amused by the incident. "I sincerely thought that you hid them under your bed because you didn't want Galin – sorry – Glinda knowing."

"You lived with us in the house before you left for Shiz, you should've known how much distaste I had for religion. It wasn't as if I hadn't been vocal about it."

"Yes, but you've also spent majority of your time hiding out in the library and refusing to speak to me. And you spend your weekdays with your great-grandfather in the city anyway."

Elphaba flushed slightly. "You were Nessa's tutor. Why on earth would I speak to you?"

He chuckled. "Honestly, I thought you hated me. I tried to make myself feel better by pretending that the reason you didn't want to open up was because you had a crush on me." He pulled his lips into a lopsided smile. "Turns out, I was right."

She knew that her cheeks were engulfed in a fierce blush, but could do nothing about it. "I was 14." She reasoned. "And you were handsomer back then. Less wrinkles."

He laughed, and she fought back a smile. She really should be angry at him. He was the one who left, and now he thinks that he could waltz back into her life – coming and going as he pleases. But it's hard. As strong and cold as she liked to believe that she was, Elphaba knew that this was a hard battle to win.

It was hours before her driver would arrive.

By then it was already too late.

He had somehow managed to worm his way back into her life, and she was left staring at his name and number in her phone's contacts page. Elphaba groaned in the backseat of the car as her driver struggled to find a route that would've involve running into a roadblock.

Thaddeus Huntley.

His nickname as a Teacher's Assistant had been 'Turtle Heart'. The students in his architectural classes had given it to him because of his quadling ancestry. Ted had mostly embraced the nickname, saying that it was a form of camaraderie between him and the students. Elphaba simply said that it was a cruel joke – one that had been started by her roommate's stupid friends.

…

They were together a week into her first year.

He left her in her final year.

…

Ted had received an offer from a renowned architectural firm in the Emerald City, and he figured that they wouldn't be able to work things out... He was – at the time – 31. The age gap would've caused a scene if anyone in his new firm had found out that his girlfriend was barely out of her teens. He couldn't risk that. And she needed to focus on her career anyway. Thropp Co. was a huge responsibility. Her place was there.

But now…

Why did it have to be now…?

Her car drove along 34th Main Street. On one side was the building that belonged to her. The very modern, grey slated Thropp building. On the other side, directly opposite to them, was the Arjiki building. It was a warm, brown building. Very classy.

But it wasn't the buildings that caught her attention.

It was a particular russet haired vinkun who was walking down the street.

"You're back!"

Fiyero found himself beaming at Elphaba as she exited her car. He had just been out to grab a coffee from the Old-Hen's café after lunch when he noticed a familiar car making an illegal turn and stopping right next to him. It was illogical how fast his heart was beating right now, just at the sight of the green woman in front of him.

"I just came back a couple of hours ago." She replied blandly, awkwardly. It felt almost as if she hadn't intended to come up to Fiyero in the middle of the street… and now that she did it, she didn't know what she should be saying.

He appreciated it nonetheless.

It was only a few days but it had felt really boring around Glinda's apartment without Elphaba to make some sort of off-color joke… He missed their banter. Glinda had been a little odd lately, and Fiyero didn't really know why. It was almost like she was trying to distance herself from him. He made a mental note to talk to her about it, but for now, he had his hands full with his situation with Tibbett and the new annoyance that was Grizzle Tech.

"I can't believe you managed to get a flight in from Ev. I heard that nobody had been able to fly in or out in the last couple of days."

Elphaba shrugged lightly, her eyes refusing to meet his. "I flew to Frottica. They're still refusing to let us fly into the city, so I had to take a train to Shiz and get a car the rest of the way."

"What's so important that you'll be willing to travel by planes, trains and car?" He blinked, astonished.

Elphaba pulled her coat a little closer to her body. To the untrained eye, her expression betrayed very little, although he could tell from the little turn to her grey lips that it wasn't anything good. She glanced around, as if to make sure that they weren't being eavesdropped.

"Grizzle Tech. Annoying little bastards." She grumbled.

Fiyero crushed his brows together in confusion. "You too? I keep hearing their name recently… Baldr hasn't made up his mind about them."

A little crease appeared on Elphaba's forehead. "I don't like them."

"You don't like anyone." He felt his lips pull into a smile.

"Well, I haven't had the best of relationships with most people." She deadpanned, "Might be the green. Maybe I should try a different color for the next season."

"I'm a big fan of hazel." He grinned, wriggling his brows at her.

She tried to keep her face stoic, but he could already tell from the tiny twitch on the corner of her lips that she was amused. This only made his grin grow wider. They stood by the sidewalk, just two people smiling at each other unassumingly. It was almost like a scene straight out of a romantic movie.

Except that this was different.

This was two people who happened to be friends, and they were simply sharing a quiet moment together before they had to go their separate ways. One back to his office in the big city and later that night, into the loving arms of his partner – and the other to an empty apartment with a water fixture that she rather detested…

…

…

…

Fiyero didn't like this at all.

He didn't like that he could stand so close to her, and yet he couldn't touch her. He wanted to hold her hand, and never let go. He wanted to wrap his arms around her waist, and just stay there for a little while. He wanted to hug her and be with her, and just hold her all the god damned time.

It was wrong.

He couldn't think that.

He was supposed to be with Glinda.

They were supposed to get married and have two beautiful children.

This was supposed to be the end.

He hadn't felt this way about someone since Sarima – and this time, it was even stronger than when he was with her… Because Elphaba wasn't out to destroy him. Elphaba wasn't a lying hell spawn who was only interested in him because of his family's money.

…

…

…

Elphaba might not even feel the same for him.

A/N First of all, this chapter might be a little shorter than you guy would've liked... Rest assured, good things are coming up ;)
Secondly, I'd like to apologize for the late posting. I've been very busy with work and my hobbies had to sit aside for a little while. I'd still love to hear what you guys have to say about this chapter though... The identity of T.H is finally revealed! Was it at all who you guys had thought it was?

Just Me - I love Martha too. She's the sort of woman who've seen and done alot in life and now that she's old, she's just hanging around and trying to set her customers up with each other.

Ultimate Queen of Cliffies - Have a little faith in me ;) We'll get to our Fiyeraba. As for the others in the story though... :P

nonnybitch - Sorry for the delay! Hahaha! I don't have as much time as I'd like to sit and write unfortunately. I've got 25 chapters planned right now and I do have some other ideas swimming around in my head that are modern Oz, so I wouldn't want to drag this story on for longer than it should!

Mother yackel - Your reviews are always so interesting to read haha! We'll see about the Bessa though :P