AN: Glad I wrote ahead. I have thought lots about this fic today, but haven't been able to write. I get carsick if I try to read/write or basically do anything that isn't listening to music. I might get some writing done tonight at the hotel, but I don't write this kind of stuff well when I'm in the same room with my mother…

Chapter 25: Extended Stay

Elphaba was hesitant to let Fiyero leave at the end of the three days he'd stayed there. "You're still limping a little bit, Fiyero. I know you can hide the cut down your arm with long sleeves, but I'd like it if you just stay one more day so you don't make it so obvious that you were injured."

"Who am I to say 'no' to that?" Fiyero grinned at her. "I couldn't refuse another night in your bed."

"Why do you insist on making it sound so inappropriate, Fiyero?"

"Because it's all I can do to keep from going crazy when I haven't been able to do much of anything but read your old schoolbooks for the past three days." He got up and limped across the room to Elphaba and put a hand on her waist. "Although I will admit, if I had to be stuck in the same room for this long with anyone, it might as well be you."

"Glinda lives here, too."

"She's only here half the time. You've stayed here with me for the most part." He kissed her nose.

"Only to make sure you didn't try and get up too soon and do something stupid."

"So that's the only reason?" He pretended to pout. "It had nothing to do with wanting to spend time with me?"

"Oh, stop twisting my words." She waved him back to her bed. "You need to prop that foot up."

"I also need to actually walk around to get used to walking so that I don't continue to limp."

"Fine." Elphaba walked away from him, instead. She plopped down on her bed, knowing he'd probably follow.

He did follow her. "Are you going to make me chase you around the room just to kiss you?"

"You said you needed to walk around." She teased. Elphaba kissed him softly. "I'm just helping."

Glinda began to unlock the door and Elphaba jumped into her desk chair in case Glinda had brought anyone with her. Her roommate smiled at the two of them as she closed the door behind her. "Hey, you two."

"Thank you for picking up his books for him. I didn't want him limping all the way across campus and then limping back with all those books." Elphaba said.

"I had a little change from what you gave me, Fiyero. It wasn't a problem." Glinda placed a few coins and the books on the bedside table.

Fiyero smiled at Glinda. "I appreciate it. I could've done it myself…"

"You'd have looked suspicious. We can't have that. Morrible hasn't announced anything about her precious little contraption being 'killed' or something of the like, but she's found it by now. She's probably trying to see if someone comes out of the woodwork." Elphaba lectured.

"Oh, Elphie," Glinda looked up at her, "I just remembered. I talked to Madame Morrible this morning. She said you can attend the first class and she will evaluate you to see what your skill set is."

"Anything I should know?"

"You'll be fine."

Elphaba shrugged. She moved back to the bed and sat beside Fiyero again. "I've gone over the stuff in your books well enough, I'd hope. I certainly can't show her anything I've done that's in the Grimmerie or she'd be much too curious."

Glinda nodded. "So, Fiyero, when is she walking you back to your dorm?"

"Tomorrow."

She raised her eyebrows.

Elphaba threw her hands in the air. "He's still limping. I don't want someone seeing him. He's doing much better and I'm sure by tomorrow he'll be fine."

"Whoever thought you'd be so protective?"

"I'm not! I just won't have him get in trouble and possibly killed for something he did, however stupid, because of me."

Fiyero put his arm around her. "If you don't want me to stay, I am perfectly fine going back to my dorm."

"No, no, it's fine, Fiyero. I was actually going to spend the night downstairs with Pfanee and Shen-Shen. We're going to have chocolates and talk about boys. I was about to invite Elphie."

"You seriously thought I'd go?" Elphaba laughed.

"No. But you are my friend and I figured I'd at least ask." Glinda grinned.

Elphaba paused for a moment. This meant that she and Fiyero would be spending the night completely alone in her room. Part of her wished that she hadn't asked him to stay another night. It wasn't that she didn't trust him to be respectful, but she didn't know what she would do alone in a room with Fiyero for an entire night. "Well, at this point asking would be useless."

"I know. I need to grab a few things. I promise to lock the door on my way out." She winked.

"Glinda!"

"What? I'm just saying that if Nanny came in here and found him still here and me gone, she might not be very pleased." Glinda tossed a pink nightie into a bag and grabbed a bag of makeup that was bigger than the nightie. She stood in front of her closet trying to figure out what to wear the next day. "Are you uncomfortable, Elphie? I can stay here."

Elphaba rolled her eyes. Asking her that in front of Fiyero was like not asking at all. If Elphaba wanted to say that she was uncomfortable, she wouldn't say it in front of him. But she didn't want to, anyway. At least, she didn't think she did. "I'm fine, Glinda."

The blonde grabbed a lilac dress off of a hanger, then rifled through her drawers for her undergarments. She threw them into the bag, as well. "I'll see you tomorrow, okay?"

Elphaba sighed and looked at Fiyero as the door closed (and locked) behind Glinda. "That was interesting. Seriously, I wonder if she needs help sometimes."

"I'm sure she wonders the same thing about you." He teased. After a pause he spoke. "I love you, Elphaba."

"That was random."

"Perhaps. I haven't said it in a while."

"Your definition of 'a while' is since yesterday?"

"Basically."

Elphaba smiled at him sweetly. "Do you want to look through some of your books? We start classes the day after tomorrow."

"Well, I think I'll look through my modern Ozian politics book so that I can see all the things I'm going to have to ask you for help on." He reached for his books.

Elphaba shook her head at him, grinning. "You do not need my help. You just pretend to be stupid. You realize that I don't find it attractive, right?"

"So you'd be even more attracted to me if I stopped asking to study?"

"We can study, but not because you need my help. We can study because studying together helps me go over the material, and because we still need excuses to be together."

Fiyero opened his book. "Are you going to read, too?"

"Do I ever not?" Elphaba's books were already on the floor next to the bed, most of them already at least halfway read. She grabbed the same book Fiyero was reading and curled up beside him happily.

After a few hours, Fiyero stood up and stretched. "I'm going to walk around the room for a few minutes before bed."

Elphaba giggled. "You look so determined when you walk. It's pretty funny. In a cute way."

"Why, Elphaba Thropp, I never thought I'd hear you say the word 'cute,' especially in reference to me." Fiyero walked over to Elphaba's dresser, where his pajamas sat. "Now, I need to change. Should I go hide in the closet again?"

"I need to change, too. I'll hide in the closet. It's my closet, anyway." Elphaba quickly pulled on her nightdress in the dark of her closet. She hugged herself as she stepped back into the room.

Fiyero smiled at her. "I'm kind of sad that this is the last night I have an excuse to sleep next to you."

"Oh, hush." She sat down on her bed and began to curl up.

Fiyero lay down next to her and wrapped his arms around her. "Did I thank you for saving my life?"

"You may have. But you saved me, too." Elphaba kissed him.

Fiyero ran a hand down her neck and climbed over her, pressing his lips against hers fervently. "What would we do without each other?"

"Have a lot less drama," Elphaba teased, running her fingers along his bare chest. The weight of his body sent warm blood through her veins. His hand was at the hem of her nightgown and she wrapped her arms around his neck.

His fingers crept up her calves, her knees, her thighs, tugging at her clothes and he smiled against her mouth as she shifted slightly so that her legs were open the tiniest bit. Fiyero ran a finger along her flesh, hot to the touch. "I love you."

"I love you, too, but if you try to put any body part that I can't see right now where your fingers are, I'm sleeping in Glinda's bed."

He laughed genuinely. "I am perfectly fine with that." Fiyero caught his breath as she threw her head back against the pillows, feeling her skin tingle beneath the caress of his fingers.

Elphaba closed her eyes, feeling Fiyero's fingers exploring her, desire pooling below her abdomen. A small whimper escaped her and she clenched her fists. The quick gentle movements of his hand sent her head spinning and she'd never imagined such pleasure existed. "Fiyero, you're driving me crazy," she murmured breathlessly.

"Well, you're always driving me crazy every time I think of you, so I thought I'd return the favor." He looked at her eyes with a lopsided grin. "Just a question… does my tongue count as something you can see?"

Elphaba swallowed hard and nodded. "You're not serious…?"

"Oh, I am." He pulled back and pulled her nightdress up, gently pressing her legs further apart with his hands as he lowered himself to her. He placed a hand on her side, feeling her thighs trembling beneath his touch.

Elphaba's eyes widened as it became very clear that he was, indeed, incredibly serious. Sensation ripped through her body and she moaned softly. His hand tightened on her hip and his kisses burned her flesh. "Sweet Oz…" What felt like an painfully tempting and pleasurable hour later (but really couldn't have been more than fifteen minutes, she thought), she felt a rush of pleasure tear along her veins and she bit her lip so hard it bled. "Fiyero, that's… that's enough," she could barely breathe.

He looked back at her. "Did I bite you earlier?" He gestured to her lip.

"I did," she flushed. Her eyes traveled along his cotton pants as she put herself back together. "Can you see my hands?"

Fiyero merely grinned.