A Lazy Afternoon               

Disclaimer:  I don't these characters. 

Author's Note:  The O'Neill is a really cool place to work. I have a cast full of people who have been on Broadway, and I'm working on my first Equity show.  My cast was doing very mean Wicked impressions tonight, though…wasn't so pleased about that.

Chapter 24

Fiyero lay awak, watching Elpahba sleep.  Sleep was a relative term.  It was a very fitful slumber.  She kept rolling and thrashing, and her green skin was pearled with sweat.  He wondered if her own sweat hurt her.  Suddenly, she cried out, and kicked her foot into his shin.  He gasped, and wrapped his arms around her to calm her down, trying to swallow his own pain.

"Let go!  Let go!"  She yelled, fighting against him. 

She didn't seem quite awake.

"Elphie…"

"No!"

"Elphie, calm down."

"Leave me a…oww…oww."

"Shh…" he kissed her forehead.  "It's okay.  Just a bad dream."

She moaned, and shook in his arms. 

"Oh, let me get you something to dry off…"

"Don't leave me."

"You're soaked."

"I'll…I'll…be okay."

"You don't sound okay."

"I'm…just…shaken."

"Bad dream?"

"I just have this awful feeling…that something…something bad is going to happen."

"What do you think it is?"

"I…don't know."
She buried her head against his chest.  He rubbed her back with the heel of his hand.  After a moment he looked up.

"I fell asleep with everything out…"

"Don't worry, I put it all back in the folder, and tucked it under the mattress."

She nodded, almost imperceptibly.

"It's safe."

"I need to keep it with me."

"It would be more secure…"

"I just want to have it on me in case anything happens."

"Elphie…what do you think is impending?"

"I think…It just seems to me that…that this whole thing with Morrible is going to come to a head."

"Yes?"

"She knows I have the research.  Thus far, she's been unable to prove it.  But she won't stop.  She's stubborn and vindictive, and that damn clock!  I know she talks to it somehow.  But how the hell she does it, what we really need to look out for, I don't know…I just don't know."

"We can't live in fear."

"We have to be careful!"

"Okay, okay."

She rolled on her back and stared up at the ceiling.  Frustrated, she wiped her face with her sleeve.

"I'll get you a towel."
Fiyero slid out of the bed, and walked over to the closet.  Elphie sat up, and walked to him.

"Oh, you're more drenched than I thought."

She nodded, and he pulled a shirt of his out of the closet.

"You should change."

She nodded, and with shaking hands tried to undo the buttons of her blouse. 

"I can't do it."

She hit the wall, and turned from him, resting her head against the closet door frame.  Fiyero tiptoed up behind her, and lay his hands on her shoulders.  She was incredibly tense.  He gently turned her around to face him.  She looked exhausted, almost as if her sleep had drained her more than rejuvenated. Silently, he reached up, and undid the buttons, sliding the drenched garment off of her arms, and softly dabbing the towel to dry her.  She lay her head against his chest, and he wrapped his arms around her waist, staring down the long, green expanse of her back.  It was a little puffy from the aggravation of the moisture.

"Does this hurt?" he asked, running a finger along the skin.  She shivered.

"Mnhmmm"

"No?"

"Just a little sensitive?"

"Yeah?"  he traced his finger back.

"Fiyero…"

"Sorry.  Bad sensitive?"

"No…just sensitive…but…"

"Okay, okay.  Sorry."

"You can do that, but…just…warn me."

"Okay," he smiled.  "May I pet your back again?"

She turned her head to look up at him.  "Can I have that shirt first?"

"Oh…um…yes…I am sorry…I had forgotten…I…um…"

"You are so amusing when you're flustered?"

"How so?"

"Very formal."

His cheeks began to burn.  Sheepishly, he handed her the white shirt.  She pulled the sleeves on, then began to fight with the buttons.

"Will you?"
Fiyero nodded, and with careful attention, fastened each of the seven buttons.

"There."

"Thank you."

She looked up at him  He pulled her tightly against him once again.  Very slowly, he leaned in, and their lips met, softly at first, then increasing in intensity.  His hand ran up and down her back, and hers explored his hair.  He nudged her backwards until they were sitting on the bed.  Absently, his hands explored the skin peeking out from where the shirt had nudged up a bit.  She lay back against the pillow.  He looked down at her.

"You're beautiful."

"Fiyero…"

He leaned over her. 

"Gorgeous."

"I am not."

"Would I be laying on top of you if I didn't think so?"

"I don't know…you are male."

"Elphie…"

"Just kiss me, and stop talking…"

Fiyero chuckled.  "If you insist."

He pressed his lips against her forehead, then her nose, skipped her lips, kissing down her neck, up to her ear, then finally focused in on her lips, and intensified.  They kissed, all tangled for a while, before nestling into each other's arms, just holding one another.

"Think you can sleep now?"

"We'll see."

"You seem calmer."

"Well, yeah…"
"I'll hold you tightly."
"While nice, that can't fix everything."

"No?"

"My we get puckish late at night."

"Early in the morning."

"God, how late is it?"

He grabbed his pocket watch from the table. 

"4am."

"Ugh.  Sorry I've kept you up."
"I do not mind."
"Thank you."

She curled her head into the nook between his shoulder and his neck.

"Now try to rest."

"I will."

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One to go!  This story is coming to an end, as it cannot continue indefinitely.  The next chapter shall tie it back into the book, and finish this story.  Don't worry…there'll be more stories.