This chapter is a bit sloppy. I'm sorry about that, I really have no excuse other than I just really struggled with this one for whatever reason.

She didn't want to go to sleep. Aside from the fact that she wasn't tired at all, Elphaba just just couldn't seem to wait until tomorrow to ask him.

And really, why was she nervous? Fiyero had made it abundantly clear that they would be moving at her pace and she was sure he had no idea how much she really appreciated that.

Maybe that's why her nerves were more because of excitement rather than anything else.

This would be great for both of them, sharing a room again. It would be like moving in together. Did that even make sense since they lived in the same building already? Whatever, she really wanted to share a bedroom with Fiyero. Somehow it felt like things would be the same, only a little more intimate; getting ready for the day and for bed together.

Visualizing those things just made her smile, not fear it. So she'd decided that she was ready to move into Fiyero's - technically their - room.

A knock pulled Fiyero out of his thoughts. He turned around and saw Elphaba at the doorway. "Hey, Fae," he smiled at her.

"Hey, Yero. Can I come in?"

"Of course," he extended his arm out and she slowly walked inside.

She grabbed his hand, interlocking their fingers, and he pulled her close, their shoulders touching. "What are you doing?" she asked, glancing at all the numbers on the chalkboard.

"Calculating total costs for rebuilding the school. This is how much we'll spend on lumber," he pointed to some numbers on the left corner. "Paint," another number, "metal, glass, workers, this is what we've received in donations so far, and I honestly don't remember where these came from," Oz, all these numbers were starting to give him a headache. He quickly glanced at the papers then turned back to the chalkboard. "But basically; this is money coming in, these are deductions."

Elphaba nodded along. "And how are you splitting the costs?"

"Three groups, which are then split into…a good six, maybe seven, monthly payments; each. Maybe a bit more depending on if anything causes a delay on the schedule."

"Can I do the rest?" she asked, holding her hand out for the chalk.

"Go for it," he handed her the small piece.

Elphaba approached the chalkboard, oddly feeling like she was back in school. "So these are positives," she circled the numbers, "and these are negatives?" She put them in a box.

"Right," Fiyero nodded.

"Ok," she added and subtracted accordingly to get a total. "Divided by three groups," she muttered softly. It always amazed him how quickly she could work with numbers. "Bring down the zero. That goes in three times…divide this by…" she turned to Fiyero, "should I do six months for the heck of it? Or just go ahead and do seven?"

"Um," he thought for a second. "Go ahead and do six. It'll be a bigger amount and if we do need to add an extra month, we'll be ahead."

She nodded and divided the cost by six months. Then circled the final number. "So this is what we're looking at paying for the next six months or so?"

"If all of that's correct, then yeah, pretty much," Fiyero said.

Elphaba rechecked her math. "It should be," even if she was a bit tired, she was pretty confident she'd done it right. "Unless you caught something I didn't?"

He shook his head. "It looks good to me, too," before he forgot, he pulled out a piece of paper from the desk and wrote out the monthly payment. "I'll make sure to give this to the companies next week."

"Can I erase this then?"

"One second," he double checked that he wrote down the right numbers. "...four, one, nine. You're good," he said and she erased everything. "Are you alright, by the way? I would've thought you'd be in bed by now," he'd been a bit surprised to see her at the doorway, but he hadn't seen her all day so he hadn't questioned her then.

"I didn't do anything at all today; I'm not particularly tired."

"What did you do all day?"

"Read, hung out with Nessa for a bit, read some more, baked - "

"What did you make?"

"Cookies, I saved some for you," she said. She knew he loved her treats, so she'd made sure to make enough to have some left over for him.

"I could really use those right now."

"Fiyero, it's late."

"I'm not going to sleep anytime soon," he argued.

"You certainly won't if you eat sugar."

He playfully glared at her. "Fine. I'll have them for breakfast."

Elphaba rolled her eyes, smiling. "That works."

"But really, are you alright, hon?" Fiyero shut the door as they left the study and put his arm around her waist, squeezing softly.

"I am," she reassured. "I just wanted to ask you something."

The fact that she seemed nervous made Fiyero frown slightly. She shouldn't be nervous to ask him anything.

"Go ahead. What is it, Fae?"

"It's just…um…about our…sleeping arrangements," Elphaba looked down, trying to hide her blush.

"Oh," Fiyero cleared his throat. "What about it?"

"Well…Can - can I move in to your - our…your? Bedroom?"

"Our," he said. "Of course," he answered, squeezing her shoulder and feeling her exhale. "Can I ask why, though?" Not that he didn't want her sleeping in their room again, but he wanted to make sure she was absolutely ready to move forward with their relationship. He doesn't want her to do anything she's uncomfortable with.

"I - I…I don't know."

"Elphaba - "

"No, no; it's not that I'm not sure. I just don't really know how to word it."

"Could you try? I really need to make sure you want to."

"Of course I want to," she locked eyes with him and they stopped walking, but maintained their hold on each other. "Fiyero, you've…these past couple of months have just been…amazing," she sighed. "And I want to take this next step with you. I want to move into our room. I'm excited, that's why I couldn't really sleep. I couldn't wait until tomorrow to ask you."

Elphaba didn't know where her confidence came from. As she kept talking, her smile widened and she interlocked their fingers together. Their eyes never left each other.

Dear Oz, what is this man doing to her?

Fiyero's heart was beating so fast. They were moving forward. She was happy, he was making her happy. She wanted to sleep in the same bedroom as him.

He could've jumped for joy right then and there and woken up the entire castle. But he settled for pressing a lingering kiss to her forehead. He smiled against her skin at hearing her hum contently and she leaned closer to him.

Fiyero wrapped his arms around his wife.

He was getting her back, slowly but surely, he was sure Elphaba's feelings were growing for him.

Fiyero pulled away. "Do you want to start moving your stuff tomorrow or - "

"No," Elphaba cut him off and blushed. "I mean um…" suddenly the nerves were back. She told herself to calm down. This was Fiyero, she could tell him anything. "Can we move my stuff…tonight? Like, can I start sleeping in your - our room tonight? Is that ok?"

Sweet Oz, 'is that ok?'. "Of course it's ok, hon," he rubbed her back up and down. "Let's go start packing you up then."

Elphaba beamed which made Fiyero feel over the moon and she led him to the bedroom she'd been sleeping in.

"I actually don't have that much in here," she said, starting to open up her closet and drawers. She tried to calm herself down a bit, but she was just so excited to take this next step with Fiyero.

"Alright. How do you want to do this?" Fiyero stood on the other side of the bed where she dropped the clothes that were on hangers.

"I think if you just take what's on hangers and I take as much of what's folded, we can have the room cleared in like two…" she scanned her clothes again, "Maybe three trips."

"That works," Fiyero said, gathering as many clothes as he could in his hands.

He waited for Elphaba at the door while she grabbed as much as she could carry and followed him to the bedroom.

It was actually really nice to do this with him. He made her laugh as they walked in between rooms, which almost made her drop what she was carrying a couple times. And they got you to tell each other about their day.

"Ok," Fiyero closed the door to their room once they'd gotten all of Elphaba's stuff. "This is your closet," he opened one of the doors and her eyes widened at all the clothes. Fiyero smiled at seeing her face. "What, you didn't think that was really all you had, did you, hon?" He asked, gesturing to the bed.

"Actually, yes," it made sense that she would have more clothes, she just never really gave any thought to it.

She laughed softly at seeing a bit of pink fabric. She had a feeling she knew what it was as she walked towards it. Sure enough, it was that pink dress Galinda had told her the story about.

"I remember that one," Fiyero said behind her.

"Galinda told me about it," she touched the fabric softly, watching the way the color actually seemed to compliment her skin.

It was a pretty dress.

"And these are my drawers, I'm guessing?" Elphaba pointed to the ones next to the closet. He was staring at her and she smirked. "Fiyero?"

Fiyero blinked, snapping out his daze and blushed at having been caught.

"Um…what?" He coughed and Elphaba giggled.

"Are these mine, too?" She asked, touching the drawers.

"Oh, yeah. Yes. You want to organize what goes in that and I'll just hang your clothes?" He asked.

"Mhm," she agreed.

Once everything was neatly put away, that's when it hit Elphaba that she didn't have to leave him for the night. And she was happy about it. They were going to sleep together.

Well not like that.

Elphaba scoffed at her own thoughts, smiling softly.

"What?" Fiyero smiled at her.

"Nothing," she shook her head. "I'll just…change and wash up then," she grabbed a change of clothes and went into the bathroom.

"Did I tell you what one of the workers said to the principal of the school?!" She heard him say from the room.

Elphaba froze, her pajama pants only half way up her thighs. "No?!" She yelled back, confused; but smiling, nonetheless. He told her about the funny little spats he'd overheard and had during the day. It was actually very relaxing to chat with him as they got ready for bed. "I'm good," Elphaba opened the door to the bathroom once she was fully dressed.

Once they were both completely ready for bed, Elphaba automatically went to the right side. "Wait, do I sleep on this side?"

"Yeah, actually," Fiyero smiled and turned off the last light.

Once they were both under the covers, Elphaba turned to face the middle and smiled when she saw Fiyero had already turned towards her. "How are you feeling?" she whispered.

"I'm actually really tired now," he answered honestly.

"Sleep," she touched his hand and he pressed a light kiss to her fingers.

"Goodnight, hon."

"Goodnight, Yero."

She felt closer to him, that was for sure.

Now that they were sharing a room and bed, waking up and going to sleep together; it was a whole new level of intimacy, both physically and emotionally.

It was very easy to fall asleep in his arms, she actually slept better. And the room was their safe haven. They poured out anything they needed to at the end of the day; any stressors, worries, or even if they just needed some peace and quiet.

And Fiyero always, always, listened whenever she needed to go on a small rant. Whether she was upset about a test or she had had it with the staff's drama, he always paid attention. She wouldn't have been mad if he zoned out and just let her talk, but he would ask her questions after she was done, letting her know he was listening, and that made her so happy.

Elphaba hoped she was doing enough for him as well. Whenever he was upset or stressed or needed some more help overseeing the construction of the school, she always made sure to be able to be there for him.

He was really like her best friend. Oz, if Galinda could hear her thoughts, she would never hear the end of that one.

But he really was. How lucky was she to be in love with her best friend? Wait. Was she in love? Dear Oz. Elphaba stopped reading and stared straight ahead, unable to refocus on the story.

Fiyero made her so happy, there was no question about that. He always brightened up her day, sometimes even by just being there; he always knew how to make her laugh or smile. He was kind and caring and so full of life and energy, when he was gone she missed him so much. And Oz, when he came back she wanted to hear all about his day and never leave his side. He made her feel important and cared for, and she knew she could always be herself around him. And now thinking about him just made her want to have his arms around her.

She…she needed to be sure.

Elphaba knows she feels something for Fiyero, she's not stupid. But she's stubborn; she doesn't want to put such a big label on her feelings unless she's absolutely positive that's what she felt

The green girl put the book back on its place in the shelf and went to search for her husband. He shouldn't be too busy, it was a weekend after all and whatever reports he had to do, he actually finished pretty quickly. And she was certain she knew the way to his office by now.

As she's approaching the open door, she hears another voice inside with him. Oh. she probably shouldn't bother him if he's busy. Just as she's about to walk away, the other voice became clearer. It was the voice of a woman.

She got closer to the door and, careful to remain out of sight, laid eyes on the woman. She wasn't a staff member, that was for sure. From what she could see, the woman was dressed a bit more elegantly and her reddish hair was up in a simple bun, small flowers decorating it here and there.

Elphaba's eyebrows furrowed. She didn't remember Fiyero telling her about having work to do with a woman, other than some of the teachers from the school. But if the woman was in fact a teacher, why was she here? Not business, judging by the way they seemed to be engaging in casual conversation.

"I better go," she said, "I told Mom I'd let her know when I arrived."

"Of course," they both stood up and Fiyero walked closer to her. "I'll see you at lunch right?"

"Absolutely," she hugged him and kissed his cheek. Elphaba bit the inside of hers.

She absolutely refused to be jealous. There was literally no reason for her to be and she knew that. That didn't mean she didn't feel the strong urge to wipe that kiss off of Fiyero's cheek. Or that there was a small bruning in her chest at seeing him so close to her. She held her stomach, wanting the pang she felt in it to disappear.

She swallowed. She wasn't jealous. No, of course not. This was ridiculous. Why did that sight bother her so much? Great, now her brain was running wild, filling it with images of him with someone else. Get a hold of yourself! Her eyes were tired, that's why she felt them burning. At least, that's what Elphaba told herself.

The woman walked towards the doorway and Elphaba turned the corner to avoid running into her. She sighed a bit at the fact that the woman walked off in the other direction.

Elphaba walked to the doorway and knocked on the side.

Fiyero turned around and smiled at seeing his green girl. "Hey, hon."

"Hi," she said quietly and stayed outside.

That confused Fiyero a bit. She seemed…off, was the best way he could put it. Something was up.

"Are you alright?"

"Mhm," she nodded.

"Are you going to come in," he chuckled softly.

"Hm? Oh, right," she walked in and played with her hands to avoid looking at him.

Something was definitely up. "Fae, what's wrong? Are you feeling ok?" Fiyero put his hand to her forehead. She didn't feel warm.

She smiled and gently removed his hand from her forehead, keeping it in her hands. "I'm fine. I swear. It's just um…" she trailed off and started playing with his fingers.

It couldn't be anything bad. She didn't seem on edge and wasn't stuttering, but she did seem a bit nervous, maybe even uncomfortable.

"Who was that?" Elphaba pointed behind her, her voice breaking a bit and she cleared her throat.

Fiyero's eyebrows shot up. "Who was who?"

"The um…the woman who was just here?"

People who don't know Elphaba may have missed the ever so slight distaste in her tone when she spoke. But Fiyero's known ELphaba for years, and he knows her better than anyone else. He certainly didn't miss it, and a lightbulb went off in his head.

"Are you ok?" he made sure to hide the small smirk that was threatening to show on his face.

"Yes," Elphaba kept her chin up and crossed her arms. Another defense mechanism; she was trying to hide something. "Just answer the question."

"That was Rain. Rain Schrodier. She's going to be staying with us for a little bit," he knew it was a bit of a foul move to not clarify who Rain really was, but it certainly wouldn't be the first time he's done this to Elphaba. Sue him; she's adorable when she's jealous, and her small possessiveness over him is a bit hot, he won't lie.

"Oh," Elphaba nodded, her arms still crossed. "Do I know her? Or - I mean - did I meet her before…you know," she waved her hands in the air to silently reference the accident.

"Um…" Fiyero thought about it. He could bet that he'd mentioned Rain at some point to Elphaba, but, "I don't think so, actually."

"Oh."

"You will at lunch though. Rain's really funny and nice, she may have a bit of a mouth at times but - are you jealous?" Fiyero couldn't hide his smirk anymore at seeing that Elphaba's stare hardened little by little as he kept talking.

She turned her death glare to him, still biting the inside of her cheek. "No," she scoffed.

Yes she was.

"Anyways, like I said, Rain's awesome; she's my favorite cousin," Elphaba locked eyes with Fiyero, and he smirked.

A look of realization hit Elphaba's face; she realized he'd done that on purpose. "I hate you," she said with a barely there pout.

"No you don't," Fiyero pulled her close by her still crossed arms. She tried to pretend that she was still mad at him, but came willingly after a couple tugs. He hugged her tightly, then pressed a kiss to her hair. "You're the only woman I have eyes for," he whispered.

He felt her uncross her arms between them, and then come around his waist, hugging him as well. "I'm still mad at you."

He playfully rolled his eyes, her and her stubbornness. "Yeah, ok," he went along.

Dear Oz, he loves her.

'I love you' was on the tip of her tongue.

I'm sorry again, but I hope you still liked it a bit, tell me what you thought :)