25.

His heart pounded in his ears, and he could hear nothing else - just the rhythmic beating that was going at a very consistent rate. There seemed to be something burning in his eyes, so he closed them, and tried to will the irritant away.

When he opened them again, something changed.

For one, his body seemed to be moving of its own volition, and he was lunging forward, his arms lifted and his hands were clenched into tight fists.

The first strike had come as a surprise to the both of them – just knuckle connecting powerfully with the quadling's high cheekbones, of which, he was sure he had at least fractured.

And then when the next one came, it had connected with his nose, and Fiyero was sure that he heard the painful crack of the bones getting snapped out of place… There was too much adrenaline in his body now because he could see that his own fists had turned purple and red, but he couldn't feel them.

Somebody had burst through into his office, and they were stepping towards them. Distracted, Fiyero felt something connecting with his jaw, and later, a kick that landed on the left side of his abdomen, and he grunted – the air escaping from his lungs. Royally pissed off now, Fiyero sucked it in and swung, his right fist smashed squarely against the quadling's already swelling cheek.

Seconds later, the quadling was pulled away from him. He didn't lunge after him – there was no point. He was already bleeding and swelling, the blood wouldn't stop flowing from his broken nose, most of which was dribbling down his face and getting smeared into his carpet. So Fiyero simply stood up, ran a trembling hand through his hair, and carefully straightened his tie.

Nobody dared to say anything, not even Brian, who looked absolutely horrified at what he had done to the qualding. There was noise, however, and people were trying to talk to him. Should they call the cops? Maybe get a first aid kit in here? What would happen to Mr Tiggular? Would the qualding press charges? What would Baldr say?

Fiyero couldn't care less.

His eyes were focused on the woman who was standing by her window, in the office on the opposite side of the street.

"Why did you do that?"

He didn't answer her, and he was just staring at the doctor who was attempting to get him to open up his fists. She knew that aside from that weird claw he was making, his knuckles had suffered too much damage to open up completely.

Elphaba tried again.

"Why did you do that?"

He blinked, and used his left hand to rub his eyes. After which, he finally looked up at her… Her heart ached at how sad he looked. The doctor said something about having to put him in a cast after getting his cuts disinfected and cleaned up, but neither of them were giving him the time of day, so he sighed and walked away.

When they were finally alone, Elphaba tried again.

"I need to know why you punched Thaddeus into a pulpy mess." She said seriously as she sat down next to him on his hospital bed.

After a while, Fiyero swallowed.

"… He told me about you and him." He said, and she felt her blood freeze over. "He said that you slept together, before my Lurlinemas party last year."

Elphaba was quiet as he glanced over to her. His gaze seemed so heavy now.

"I lost it." He said, almost monotonously. "He came to my office unannounced, and he said that he wanted you back. And he went on and on about how you two met, and how you were the love of his life."

He paused and took a breath.

"I wanted to hurt him."

She looked over at him, and she frowned. "You did hurt him."

"No." He exhaled sharply as if frustrated that she didn't understand. "I wanted to really hurt him… Not just knock his lights out… Elphaba, he came in and basically told me that he was going to go over and win you back. I couldn't let him do that."

She kept silent, not knowing what to say, or what to do. She hadn't meant for things to end up this way… This was why she should've left Fiyero alone, and maybe he would've moved on to someone who was less problematic.

He was still looking at her, however, and he reached over to her with his uninjured hand, intertwining their fingers.

"Don't leave." He said softly, already knowing what she was thinking.

She found herself saying, "… I don't want to."

"Then don't." He asserted, "Don't go."

Elphaba ached, feeling insurmountable guilt that she was the one who did this to him… This sweet, idiotic man who nearly killed another man because that was what he thought would make her stay. The truth was, she would've stayed anyway.

It was the feeling of completeness when she was with him. He was her home base, and like the many times he had told her before, she was his… For the first time, she believed him.

There was nobody who set her off more than he does sometimes, but it was only because she cared so deeply for him that he simply made her irrational.

She laid her head against his shoulder, and her grip on his hand tightened. She could feel him kissing the top of her head, and pressing his cheek against her hair.

When the words came out of her mouth, she wasn't even sure if it had been loud enough for him to hear.

"I love you."

And then again, because she didn't know if it was enough.

"I love you."

"Have you heard? Fiyero Tiggular beat up some guy who came to see him in his office yesterday! That was pretty hardcore."

"Whoa, seriously? Never thought he had it in him! What did that guy do?"

"Talked smack, I think. Nobody knows for sure. I heard that it was that quadling architect though. The one from Soloman."

"Didn't Arjiki fire Soloman? Maybe that's why the quadling went and picked a fight."

"Maybe."

"I heard he got beat into a pulp. Couldn't even open his eyes."

"Whoa, seriously?"

"Yeah dude. Pretty badass."

"Sounds like that guy's gonna be out for a little while. No way he ain't receiving stitches after that beating."

"Think he'd be back?

"Nah. If I were him, I'd take a hint."

Glinda knocked on the door to Fiyero's apartment, clutching on a basket of fresh fruits. Chuffrey had dropped her off by the lobby, but he had a dinner meeting with some of his investor buddies and couldn't stay, although he insisted that she call him when she was about to leave so that he could come pick her up in his car later.

Sometimes Glinda had to wonder what she did in her previous life to have deserved a man like him.

The door swung open after the fourth knock, although instead of the vinkun, Glinda was greeted by her bestfriend, who seemed just as surprised to see her. Surprise was quickly replaced by joy, however, as Glinda squealed.

"Elphieee!"

"Hey you." Elphaba smiled and she allowed herself to be pulled into a tight hug by the blonde. Glinda laughed and placed a quick kiss on Elphaba's jaw.

"So! How's Rambo?" Glinda winked at Elphaba, who snorted and gestured towards the hall.

"He just got out of the shower and he's getting dressed." She said, stepping aside to allow Glinda into the apartment. "Seriously, if you hadn't texted that you were dropping by, he would've stayed in his pjs the entire day."

Glinda laughed as she removed her wedges and placed them on the rack. The last time she had been up here was when Fiyero held his Lurlinemas party… She supposed that the party had been a sort of mixed bag, since it had been where she met Chuffrey, but also when Elphaba and Fiyero had their falling out.

She glanced over to the coffee table that sat in the middle of Fiyero's living area and noticed that a board game was in session.

"Were you guys playing something?" She asked as she handed the basket of fruits to Elphaba.

The green lady scoffed and walked towards the kitchen, placing the fruits into a large bowl. "For the first 20 minutes maybe. When he saw that I was winning, he started playing dirty… Now he can't stop complaining about how the game was rigged."

"It WAS rigged!"

Glinda's eyes brightened at the sight of the handsome devil who just walked out from the hall. Fiyero's hair was sticking out in multiple directions, and the tee shirt that he'd put on was a little crumpled.

"I mean, how was it possible that my token stepped into your property, which so happened to have hotels built on them, twice." He looked over to Glinda with a slightly bewildered expression, "Twice!"

"What can I say? I know how to run a business." Elphaba gloated and then broke into cackles. She picked up an apple from the bowl and proceeded into the kitchenette to wash it.

The vinkun rolled his eyes at her, and then turned to Glinda and grinned. "Hey, thanks for dropping by."

"No problem," she said with a large smile and her eyes quickly flicked towards his hand. Fiyero noticed it and lifted his hand to show her.

"Looks bad," Glinda said worriedly.

Fiyero shrugged. "Hairline fractures, dislocation… No scars though. So that's kind of disappointing."

"Disappointing?"

"Chicks love scars!" He laughed and Glinda scoffed in exasperation.

"When would you be able to get that cast out?" She asked when Fiyero had finally stopped chuckling to himself.

He pursed his lips and raised a brow as if trying to recall. After a long pause, he said, "I'm thinking 2 weeks."

"Fiyero, you don't get to decide that," Glinda said as she stared at him incredulously.

"He's going to be stuck in that for the next 3 weeks at least." Elphaba's voice came floating out from the kitchenette and she appeared from behind the counters with an apple in her mouth. "We're getting it x-rayed again next week to see if stuff is okay in there."

Glinda found herself smiling at that and at the two of them. Elphaba was looking over Fiyero's cast, and he was smiling back in adoration. There was that little glint in his eyes that she never quite saw when the two of them used to date.

Elphie tucked a long strand of her hair behind her ears and frowned at Fiyero when he tried to stick a finger down the cast to scratch at the itch. It was the little things they did that made Glinda realise how great the two of them were together. They went back to the game while she sat by Elphie and watched.

There's always a moment where Fiyero would have this look on his face when he watched Elphaba concentrate on making decisions in the game – and similarly with Elphaba, even when she would roll her eyes at him or scoff at the things he says, it would always be accompanied with a tiny smile that she tried to hide.

Sitting there with them, it felt like she was standing outside the windows and looking in.

Glinda was happy for them of course. There was no bitterness or jealousy. Elphie had been her best friend for many years, and she liked to think that she knew Elphaba well enough.

Even with her awkward and unfriendly exterior, Elphaba was also a gigantic closet goofball and entirely too compassionate. People never bothered to see who she was underneath because they were too busy judging her exterior – her unfortunate coloring, for one.

And Fiyero.

Fiyero was born into money, and he was ridiculously good-looking and charming. This alone alienated him from everyone else – nobody believed that there was anything more to him than that. Glinda had known that because she was one of those people who only really saw him with his mask on, and it was now that she watched him with Elphie that she realised that there was a whole other side to him.

The two of them were the loneliest people she had ever known, and they finally found each other – and that was great. In some strange way, Glinda felt that she might've been the one to bring them together.

Evening came around and Fiyero began to complain that his hand was beginning to hurt. Elphaba made him take his painkillers and shoved him off to take a nap, promising that she would order some pizza for when he wakes up.

Glinda watched in amusement as Fiyero tried to sneak in a kiss but Elphie dodged very expertly as if she's had plenty of practice. When things had finally settled down, the girls then made themselves comfortable at on the couch as Glinda grinned slyly at her friend.

"So…"

Elphaba made a face at her and she laughed.

"What's going to happen?" She asked carefully.

Elphaba sighed, and shrugged lightly, leaning her head back slightly while picking up one of the cushions and pulling it to her chest.

"Thaddeus won't be pressing charges at least." She said. "We had a talk at the hospital while Yero was getting his hand set."

"He was conscious? I heard from some people that you could hardly tell that he had a face." Her eyes widened.

"The swelling came down by the time they got to the hospital." Elphaba said. "He admitted that he started it."

"What did he do?"

"I'm thirsty. Would you like a drink?"

"Elphie…"

Elphaba smiled slightly, almost as if she were guilty. "I'll get you a glass."

She pulled herself off the couch and went off to the kitchen. Barely a minute later, she was back with two glasses of iced water. Glinda took the water gratefully and sipped, not realizing how parched she actually was.

"So. This Thaddeus thing." She poked at Elphie with her finger.

Elphaba took a long gulp of the iced water and flinched at the dull ache in her brain. "I made him promise to stay away."

"And that's it?"

"That's it."

"Well, that was easy." Glinda raised a brow. "After all that damage he did?"

Elphaba exhaled sharply and leaned back into the couch. "It was a long talk."

"You have to share these kinds of thing, y'know." Glinda pouted, and Elphaba laughed affectionately.

"We talked a lot about our time in Nest Hardings. He asked about Nessa… By the way, she's doing very well in the Conservatory—"

"—Get to the good stuff, Elphie."

Elphaba laughed again.

"He goes on to list the various ways I'm better off with him than Fiyero, and then he was talking about how much better it had been back in Munchkinland."

"Was it?"

"Was it what?"

Glinda hit her on the shoulder lightly. "Was it better?"

Elphaba paused and shrugged.

"I was gawky and uncomfortable all the time. People there knew me since I was a baby… The green freak, they would say."

"Oh sweetie…"

"It's fine." Elphaba picked at a loose thread from the cushion. "But I wouldn't say that my time in Munchkinland was very pleasant… I mean. I met Avaric in boarding school, and I met you and Boq in Shiz."

"You would consider Avaric your friend?" Glinda laughed amusedly.

"He's got his uses." Elphaba snorted.

"Well, I'm glad you left Munchkinland." Glinda said seriously.

Elphaba looked at her almost sadly, although it didn't last long enough for Glinda to all her out on it, and she broke into a smile.

"…Me too."

An email came in at 4.30am.

Milla rubbed the sleep out of her eyes and frowned slightly, picking up her phone and noticing that it had come from corporate – or at least, it had come from the shell company that corporate was using to communicate with them.

The Calico Summit was happening in 3 months time. This was as they say their end game – and Milla couldn't help but feel anxious. This had been the longest assignment she had ever been on. Most assignments lasts for a year, tops. Many ranged between 3 to 6 months on average. They usually consisted of photocopying documents, destroying the odd file or hard drive, maybe even tempering with important information…

The corporate spies usually worked alone. They came in, looked around, and got out. It was quick, clean, and professional. There weren't any 'spy rings' or networks – it wasn't as glamorous as those kinds of spies. They worked on contracts and their names spread by word of mouth and recommendation.

But this assignment had been different.

They had supervisors, specific quotas and an Oz damned chain of command – and for an assignment to have spanned across 3 companies at once? Unheard of.

Whoever who was pulling all these strings had to have been planning this for a long time – it was either that, or that they were simply insane. It was easy to tell that the corporations were closing in on them. There were rumors of Avaric, Baldr and Elphaba meeting each other on separate occasions, and aside from parties, the three of them were never in the same room.

Milla could only hope that she could get out before she got caught.

She sat up from her bed and pulled her blanket down to her lap, squinting in the darkness and feeling a slight chill from her window – a single, wooden framed thing that was barely more than a hole in her tattered wall.

Her bedside table was a metal thing that she had picked up on the ground floor of her apartment building when she had moved in – at least, it was better than nothing – and the screen of her phone shone blindingly in the stark darkness.

She picked it up and tapped on the email, reading its content with a thin frown on her chapped lips.

…

We're going ahead with the plan.

All actives – consolidate what you can and exit within the month.

"It's happening, isn't it?" Boq asked as he chewed on a thin piece of liquorice. He was seated casually on the chair that Elphaba had in front of her desk, dressed nicely in a brown shirt and black pants.

Elphaba nodded solemnly, feeling something bad sitting in the bottom of her stomach.

"It's been sent out. A different one for different channels… We'll wait till the end of the week." She said, pinching the bridge of her nose with her thumb and index finger. When she heard Boq make a little noise, she opened her eyes and blinked blankly at him. "What on earth are you doing?"

The munchkin shrugged and pulled another licorice from his little plastic bag and shoved it into the right side of his mouth… There was already another half-eaten one in the left corner of his mouth… She supposed that he was trying to imitate a vampire.

"What?" He said indignantly. "You know how I hate waiting around. One week, just sitting out there and watching everyone like hawks. It's creepy."

"Yeah well the summit is in 3 months. It's coming up fast and it's our most vulnerable period. If they're going to do damage, it would be then… Baldr and Avaric have already sent theirs out."

Elphaba walked over to her chair and sat down, her body swiveling automatically towards the window… Where on the opposite side was an empty office without its usual occupant. For some odd reason, she felt herself deflate a little.

Boq followed her line of sight and she could make out the smallest little smirk on his lips as he sucked in his licorice and chewed knowingly. He brown eyes sparkled at her.

"So… Not back yet?" He asked almost jovially.

Elphaba rolled her eyes. She pulled open her top drawer and threw the first thing she could grab. Boq yelped and swatted at the stapler that flew right at him, nearly tipping the chair over.

"Y'coulda killed me!" He nearly squealed as his eyes widened in horror.

Elphaba simply beamed victoriously.

Boq watched her for a minute, then straightened himself out. There was a hint of a blush on his cheeks as his eyes flicked over to the door as if worried that people might've heard him.

"But seriously." He said after regaining his composure. "How is he?"

She looked at him, and then found herself glancing over to the other building on the opposite side of the street. Just a few days ago she remembered standing right here, watching in horror as Fiyero leapt up at Thaddeus and beating him to a pulp.

She didn't have to be there to know what Thaddeus had said to set him off – she knew him well enough. Ted had always been… a little mean. There was always this hoity, arrogant part of him that Elphaba had never really come to terms with, and when she saw him that day at the elevator, she could already see the lines connect in his head.

Fiyero, on the other hand… Fiyero would never do that.

He would never walk up to another man and gloat about sleeping with his girlfriend… well, maybe the old Fiyero would, but not the man she knew now. He just wasn't the man who would play this sort of mind games with people.

Admittedly, he's a fairly simple man when it came to matters of the heart.

There are complex parts to him that baffled her all the time – like the fact that he hated math but somehow he's surprisingly good at it, or the fact that he enjoys watching hockey but hates playing it.

In any case, she's come to terms with the fact that he loved her, and she loved him – and it was simple as that… It was still so very strange saying that word, even in her head.

She loved him.

She loved him.

He's been saying that way before her, but she had always pretended not to hear it. But now… having seen him rain down on Thaddeus that way, and the only thing she found herself thinking about was how that idiot was going to hurt himself if he didn't stop punching – she didn't even care that Fiyero might've killed a man, but she was worrying about how he might've hurt himself.

Elphaba figured that that must've been it – the elusive love.

"He'll get over it." She said finally, and her eyes flicked back to meet Boq's.

The munchkin raised a brow at her, curious at her long delay, but said nothing of it. He simply shrugged and stood up, brushing himself down. "Ah well. Heard from Crope that he would be coming back to work in a week or so, after anger management trainings."

"HA." Elphaba scoffed, amused.

"You're in no place to laugh," Boq snorted as he walked over to the door, "Not 2 years ago, you've been slapped with a mandatory A.M class yourself."

Elphaba leaned down and picked up the stapler, and before she could straighten up again, Boq was already out the door – the sound of his laughing penetrated the thin walls.

A/N Entirely too short for such a long wait, I know. Things are going to pick up in the next chapter however, and let's just say, it's not a good time to be a corporate spy.

I'm really entertained by the reactions and reviews from the previous chapter btw, but I won't be responding to them here this time! It's early, and I've been swamped with work lately. :\ I'd love to hear what you guys have to say, still, and I can't wait to upload the new chapter! It's not as disappointing as this chapter, I assure you ;)