A/N: I hope you all had a wonderful holiday or Wednesday last week. :)

Chapter 25

"Yero, we need to talk," Elphaba said, now that they were alone in her room. His room had to be cleaned and the debris removed before anyone could inhabit it again and her room would be the best privacy they could get.

"We do," he admitted as he tried to adjust himself on the chair she had put him in.

"You know that I would do anything for you. There is no one else but you and yet you tried to burn our love. Why?" The look on her face betrayed her. She was hurt, confused, and most definitely angry.

"There is nothing that I can say that will take back what has happened and feelings inside persist. I love you but I cannot love you as I am. You deserve so much more Fae, so much more, and I cannot give it to you like this," he made a sweeping gesture with his hand, emphasizing the point.

"It's my fault," the way she said it made him realize that what was about to come was not good.

"It is not your fault. I take full responsibility for everything that has happened. From the moment I threatened Glinda to now. I love you but I want you to be happy. You are not happy with me like this. I know you aren't. If we start lying to each other now then we are doomed," he told her.

"We're never going to have a normal life Yero. No matter what we do," she told him. Her anger abated and the sadness that she had been pushing away flooded her. Tears threatened to fall onto her cheeks.

"Yes, we can. There is always hope for that but it cannot begin to happen until I'm me again," he wished he could hold her in his arms but his body was fairly useless in its current state. A knock on the door interrupted their thoughts and Elphaba stood to get it. She willed her eyes to not tear up and hoped she didn't look weak to whoever was at the door.

"Sorry to interrupt but Mr. Brown has offered to restuff your Scarecrow in shining armor for you. We will need him tomorrow when we ride into the village to sort out the trouble going on," Glinda smiled slightly.

"I need a new punching bag and would be much obliged if Mr. Brown could accommodate," Elphaba smiled slightly.

"I thought so. We can't have you damaging those lovely hands of yours on an improperly stuffed punching bag," Theodore smiled. In his arms he held a large bag of straw.

"Then I shall let you get to it. If you'll both excuse me, I need to clear my head," with that Elphaba ducked down the hallway. Glinda almost went after her but she figured it would be unwise. She'd seen that look on her best friend's face. Alone time was the only thing that was going to help her now.

"Don't forget what I said, Yero," Glinda smirked in the Scarecrow's general direction and headed off to find her beloved. Ever since she had gotten to the village she was craving his touch to stave off the cold seeping into her bones. Reminding herself that she needed to update her winter wardrobe for trips such as these, she wondered how her fashionable look would suffer.

Down the hall, Zetti could see Elphaba coming and he wondered if she was all right. He didn't like the look on her face and he worried that the supposed love of her life had done something stupid again.

"Miss Fae, I was just about to get a drink with the boys before tomorrow's little venture. Care to join me?" He asked as she tried to get by him.

"I don't think that's a good idea," she said and continued to try to move.

"Then how about you and I have a little liquid courage then?" The Sergeant offered. Elphaba stopped in her tracks. The last time she had alcohol things had ended rather unseemly and she had told Glinda to never again allow her to get so drunk. The blonde had shrugged it off, claiming that she had only had one beer and they hadn't left the dorm room. Still the images that flashed back in her head made her wonder if Glinda hadn't put something in her drink. She'd never asked the blonde directly but she still couldn't figure out how she found Glinda's lip gloss was all over her own lips the next morning. Needless to say, the bottle was a demon she tried to avoid. It was just another problem in her laundry list of problems.

"Just one," she said. He extended his elbow and she graciously took it.

"Not to worry. The stuff isn't very strong. Mr. Dillamond has been trying but the access to the good stuff is a little tough out here," Zetti chuckled.

To Be Continued…