Disclaimer- I do not own Wicked or Rent.

A/N- Again, thanks for the reviews! If you were wondering, these are the actors I picture playing the main characters-

Idina Menzel as Elphaba and Maureen

Sebastian Arcelus as Fiyero

Kristin Chenoweth as Glinda

Taye Diggs as Emrys

For the moment, there seemed to be a lull in activity. While everything was quiet and he had Maureen to himself, Emrys decided to strike, so to speak. Gathering up his courage, he approached Maureen, who smiled brightly as he came towards her. Stopping just before her, he decided now… it had to be now.

"Maureen, you've made all the difference by being here. Not just with the prophecy, but in this place, this home. I know you must miss your life… your life before all of this started, but I want you to consider something for me."

"Sure, Baby, what's that?" she asked, wrapping her arms around his neck. Her smell… Maureen's smell a mixture of perfume and magic and chemistry so unique only to her that he paused to savor it and relish his body's reaction as it assaulted him pleasantly. He decided to jump, let go, and pray.

"Stay! Stay here with me. Please, I really don't think I want to live my life again the way it was before. It was efficient and orderly and totally colorless. I need you. I need your fire, your laughter, your joy and your life, to make this place…to make me whole. Stay with me. Marry me. Love me… the way I love you."

He watched as the color began to drain from her face and she started to breathe quickly.

"Marry?... Love?... Oh my God!"

Emrys felt her soft, pliable arms, so comfortably situated around his neck, go stiff. He watched her begin to back away from him, shaking her head… shaking all over, in fact.

"I… I need… Oh, God!"

At this point, Emrys was not even thinking about his own feelings. He was watching the woman he loved back away from him in fear, her eyes large and unblinking, shaking and searching all over the room for an exit. As she backed away, arms wrapped tightly around her body, she shook her head, over and over –as if unable to stop it from doing so.

"No. Emrys, no! I can't…. You can't do… It's not… God, no… Oh damn!" Maureen had backed herself into a corner in her search for an exit, a way to flee. Realizing her predicament, with tears streaming down her face, her knees buckled and she sat on the floor in the corner. All the while she kept shaking her head as if there were no way to stop it.

Carefully, quietly, and all the while holding her eyes to his, Emrys came toward her. Seeing her like this made him feel totally helpless and at the same time stunned. This woman, this witch, was capable of tremendous power; she had an immense heart, and had faced difficulties that would have caused many others to balk. He had trouble keeping the tears from his own eyes but they would serve no purpose right now except to upset her more.

"Maureen? Maur, it's alright. Easy…." He soothed softly.

Still, she cried and shook her head, now held in her own lap. Her knees were close about her and she was sitting in a ball.

He heard her soft voice over and over, "No. Not now. I can't…"

The King of Burzee thought his heart would break. He could not understand the ferocity of her reaction even if she did not love him. Then he remembered Fiyero saying, "What's difficult for some is easy for Fae, and vice versa." Like a bolt from the blue, he understood. Love. Maureen was frightened of love. It was easy for most people, but for Elphaba and Maureen, it was hard at times and painful at best. Most of all, from what he'd learned from Fiyero, they feared the pain they would cause the people they cared for. Which meant….

"Maureen, listen to me, Love. You don't have to be afraid. I understand…"

She looked at him earnestly, "No, you can't. I suck at relationships! I try, but then I blow it… big time! I ruin things! Every time! I won't take you there too!"

She jumped to her feet suddenly, as if shot with adrenaline – or magic. He was unprepared and while he watched she ran from the room as if all the dark forces were at her heels. Maureen flew out the door and he heard her running down the hall. Jumping to his feet, he gave chase. Emrys was not about to give up… not when the best thing to ever cross his path was so close.

Knowing he loved her had stuck him suddenly and totally. Now he understood what Fiyero had counseled. There would be no waving flag… not unless he paid attention. He had paid attention. He only hoped it would help him win Maureen over. But he decided as he chased her down the halls, if she could not give him her heart freely and openly, he would wish her only well and treat her with the respect she deserved.

Maureen ran from the castle. It was not as if she was heading anywhere in particular, she was just heading for space. The route she took brought her to the gardens that sat near the south side of the castle. Winded, she stopped, leaning against a tree in the shadows. She thought back on her life.

"Damn!"

Her life and relationships to date had been rather haphazard. When she fell in love there always seemed to be a time when she became bored or needed more than her partner of the moment could give. Not, she realized, that she gave them much chance to. Moving on always seemed to be the answer. Mark… Joanne… and many others.

She had caused them all pain she realized now. With everything she had within her, she determined not to do the same thing to Emrys. His smile, his gentle, loving eyes, and his heart were all precious to her. His heart would be the one she would never, never break… even if it broke hers to do it.

She looked up to see Angel regarding her from a nearby path. Maureen could think of nothing better to do at that moment than run into the safety of her friend's arms. To all the others, Angel was, to put it simply, angelic. But to Maureen, she was a friend from a place and a lifetime very far from here. She was also a truly wonderful soul. Angel held out her arms and hugged Maureen, patting her back and soothing her.

"There, there, honey. Nothing to get that upset about yet, is there?"

"Yeah. I mean…no. God, I don't know what I mean!"

"What's got you all upset? Tell Angel."

"Emrys…He's…in love with me. Or that's what he says."

"And the problem with this is…?"

"I don't know! Angel, do I belong here? This place? But, more important…do I belong with him? I mean, he's a king!"

"So?"

"A king, Angel. I had trouble in a relationship with a lawyer!"

"Well, I gotta say, I see your point." Angel said. "But I've gotta ask, do you love him? Do you love him, or do you not love the king?"

"Angel, you're my best friend, but you're giving me a headache."

Angel laughed and continued. "I mean, do you really and truly love Emrys, that man, or are you afraid to be in love with a king?"

"I think I'm afraid to be in love with anyone. You know me, Angel. How many relationships have I screwed up? Even I can't count them! I need to know if when all this is over, is this the place I should be…or do I need to try to go home? Do I belong there? I have friends there still…some."

"Looks to me like you have friends here too. Good ones. Why are you so scared of trying something new?"

Maureen thought and then answered, "Probably because while I may have screwed up at home, everything was known, you know? But here, I'm an open book. A clean slate with no baggage. But, what if I ruin it here too? What'll I have here? I'll lose everything…everyone."

"Honey, you gotta stop being so scared of ruining things. It's the surest way to do it. You have to have some faith in yourself. I do, and I know your sister does. I mean, think. The girl is powerful but she trusts you, she believes in you, and she's no fool. She's willing to share any power and anything she has with you because, chica, even if you can't see your soul, you can be damn sure Elphaba does."

"I think you're right. I think I'm scared of a lot of things…I'm scared of a relationship with Emrys, I'm scared of losing a sister that I didn't know I had, but more than that, I think I'm scared of how disappointed they may be in me if I mess up."

"Well then, as I see it you have only one choice. Choose not to mess up. Choose to realize what you're capable of. I figure the rest'll just fall into place after that. Y'know, it's like I told Mimi. There she was, looking toward that nice white light, and I told her, 'Turn around, girlfriend and listen to that boy's song.'"

Maureen looked stunned. She remembered Mimi telling them about seeing Angel.

"Well now I'm telling you. Turn around and listen to that man's heart, 'cause it's singin' too. You just have to listen."

Angel gave her a quick squeeze and started to slowly walk down the path she had been on before, vanishing around a hedge, leaving Maureen with something to ponder, and still stunned at her revelation.

Emrys had seen her under the tree. He slowed down and watched her. She seemed to be at war with herself in her mind. Cautiously, he approached her. He needed to get this right.

"Maureen", she looked up and seemed as if she would bolt again. "Please, please listen. I won't hold you, not if you don't wish to be here, not if this place and my life aren't what you choose to share. YOUR choice, Love. Yours. But I have to tell you, I don't care about your past. I only want to create our future. Our future, Maur. It's worth nothing without you."

"But you don't understand", she said sadly, tiredly. "I ruin the lives of the people who love me. I hurt them!"

"What about Elphaba?" he asked. "You haven't ruined her life. You've enhanced it. She has her sister back. You can see the love and joy she feels for you in her face. You won't hurt her. You won't hurt me, either. Unless… unless you don't stay and love me. That would be the only way you could hurt me… if you gave us no chance at all!"

Emrys watched all of this sink in. She looked at him forlornly. "But what if I do hurt you? My heart would break… I want to… but I don't know how to…"

"We'll learn together. You and I will teach each other. Please, tell me you'll try."

Maureen nodded and fell forward into his arms.

"If I didn't, I think I'd leave my soul behind. Here, with you. Be patient. But not too patient. I want to share with you, and sharing is kinda new to me."

They began to walk towards the castle slowly, hand in hand. Her head on his shoulder, she noticed when he stopped dead in his tracks.

"What's wrong?"

He smiled and pulled her closer.

"Nothing; an omen, I guess. This is my mother's lavender bed. I don't like being here. The smell reminds me of losing her. But now, with you, I have never been so at peace…"

Slowly, very slowly they went back to the castle…together. That night when he held her in his arms as she slept Emrys thought of how they had made love for hours until her body needed only sleep. Instinctually, he knew they would never be apart again.

With that thought, the King of Burzee slept peacefully holding his Maureen in his arms.