Strength A.N. Thanks for the reviews. Yes, this does appear to be going in a Fiyeraba direction, doesn't it? Disclaimer: I don't own these characters
Most of the ride to the inn was spent in a tense silence. Elphaba was afraid to speak, as speaking might have caused the emotions she was struggling to keep inside to escape. Glinda and Fiyero sensed this and did not try to initiate any conversation with her, or with each other for that matter. What could they talk about after a week like this one had been?
They arrived at the inn around nightfall. For whatever reason, possibly due to them departing Nest Hardings at a different time of the day than at which they had left Shiz, it was not the same inn they had occupied two nights earlier. Elphaba was thankful for that; hopefully the roof at this inn wouldn't leak. All three travelers were pleased to find that this inn, unlike the previous one, had two beds in each room. Their stay at the inn was rather uneventful, as was the next day's traveling. Throughout the entire journey, no one spoke more than two or three sentences at a time. Fiyero noticed, however, that something strange was beginning to happen. He couldn't take his eyes off of Elphaba. There was just something about her staring out the cab window, oblivious to everything around her, that he found so, well, beautiful. He was now glad that he had chosen to come on this journey with her. He had learned more about Elphaba in the past three days than in the entire time he had spent with her at Shiz.
They arrived back at Shiz in the early afternoon the next day. Once luggage had been unloaded, Glinda and Elphaba headed to Madame Morrible's office to announce their return, as well as Nessa's prolonged absence. There they were treated to not one but two lectures, one directed at each girl. As Glinda pretended to listen it occurred to her that Madame Morrible had most likely written and memorized all of her lectures many years ago, for each lecture seemed to be more of a memorized speech than an on the spot talking-to. The title of Glinda's most likely was "The Responsibilities of Students" and was mostly, from what Glinda could gather, about how irresponsible it was to leave with Elphaba when she was not excused and when they had no idea when they would be returning. Elphaba's lecture seemed to be titled "The Responsibilities of Family", and seemed to be about how Elphaba shouldn't have left without Nessarose. As the lectures wore on, Glinda became more and more angry at Madame Morrible, who showed no signs of sympathy to Elphaba and Nessa's family situation. The way she was talking, it was as if the girls had gone on vacation!
As Elphaba and Glinda endured the lectures, Fiyero sat in his room in Ozma Towers, staring out the window. He could see Crage Hall in the distance, and wondered if Elphaba was back in her room yet. He wondered if she was all right. He wondered if she was crying, and if Glinda knew to hold the tissues under her eyes. He had never been this concerned for anyone before. Granted, he had felt sympathy and worry for people in this kind of situation, but never to this degree; never to the point where the person was all he could think about. He tried to focus on other things. He tried to start on the pile of make-up work he had for his classes. He tried to read. He tried to study. But his mind kept wandering back to Elphaba.
"It's too soon to go over there now." Fiyero thought to himself as he attempted to work on his life sciences assignment. He had just seen her an hour earlier. Certainly, she would be tired and not in the mood to socialize. "Unless I wasn't there to socialize!" Fiyero came upon a brilliant idea. He grabbed his life sciences book and ran down the stairs and out of Ozma Towers towards Crage Hall.
He knocked on the door softly, and was surprised to see Elphaba open it rather than Glinda. "Hi Elphie. I was just wondering…"
"Shhh." Elphaba shushed Fiyero and pointed to Glinda, who was asleep on her bed. She moved into the hallway, shutting the door behind her. "You're going to get in big trouble if you get caught up here."
"I know. I was just wondering if, well, if…"
"If I was alright?" Elphaba seemed to expect the question.
"No…Well, yes, but I was also wondering if you would like to come outside with me for a little while. We both have some catching up to do for life sciences and with Glinda asleep…"
Elphaba decided to stop his rambling there. "Ok, let's go. Just let me grab my book."
Fiyero was surprised at how quickly Elphaba had agreed to come. Perhaps she didn't want to spend all afternoon essentially by herself. Perhaps she really wanted to catch up with her work. Either way, five minutes later she was with Fiyero under a tree, about midway between their two buildings. Both had their books open to create the illusion of studying, but neither one was actually doing so. They stared up at the sky, an unusually bright shade of blue that day. Fiyero glanced over at Elphaba. This was it. This was his chance.
"Elphie, can I talk to you about something?" he asked.
"Sure, Fiyero. What's up?"
"Well, it's just…over the past few day's I've…well, I've…" It was harder than Fiyero had imagined to say "I've fallen in love with you."
"Fiyero, whatever you have to say, just say it."
"Well, Elphie, since we left here for Nest Hardings, I can't get you out of my head. I…I love you, Elphie."
Elphaba stared blankly at him for a moment. Those were three words that she never expected to hear directed at her. Although, she had to admit, she had been having similar feelings for Fiyero. After a moment she let out a quiet, breathy "What?"
"I love you, Elphie. I know it sounds crazy, but…" Fiyero continued rambling, but it was drowned out by the voices in Elphie's head. Part of her wanted to believe him and that part had the same feelings about him, but another part of her told her that he was only saying this in sympathy, as Boq had done with Nessarose at the Ozdust, and that her feelings were nothing more than products of her excessive emotions over the past week. She thought back on the past few days. Fiyero had been with her through the toughest time in her life. He had seen her at her weakest. He wouldn't hurt her now, right?
Elphaba decided to trust her instincts. She pulled Fiyero, who was still rambling, closer to her and gently kissed him. After she pulled away, she whispered, "I love you too."
A.N. Aww, isn't that a nice way to end the chapter? As for how long this is going to go, I'm not quite sure of that yet. I promise to have the next chapter up as soon as I can. Please review!