Strength

A.N. Thanks for the reviews!

Disclaimer: I don't own these characters.

Fiyero sat in shock, gently holding Elphaba by her shoulders. This was not the reaction he had been expecting. It was wonderful, yes, but it wasn't what he was expecting. He had been prepared to argue, to fight, even to be rejected. He was not prepared for Elphaba to so quickly accept the idea of being in love. What was he supposed to do now?

He looked across at Elphaba and stared into her eyes. There was a new feeling to them, something that he had not seen before. In fact, there was an openness and venerability throughout her entire face that Fiyero had not seen. Well, he had seen it before, but not to this degree. He pulled her close to kiss her again. He moved her hands down onto her arms, and she flinched away.

"What is it? What's wrong?" Fiyero said in a panic. This was not a situation where one wants the other to flinch away.

"Nothing…it's just my arms are still burned from the rain the other night and…"

"Oh, right. The burns. Sorry, Elphie. I forgot about them."

Elphaba nodded, and focused her eyes downward on the grass. She blinked her eyes quickly a few times, and for a moment Fiyero thought that she was going to cry again. He reached out and touched her shoulder. "It's ok, Elphie" he said, not exactly sure what he was comforting her about.

Then Elphaba did something that surprised both of them. She looked up from the grass, and she smiled. And it wasn't the fake smile she had been putting on to keep people from worrying about her either. This one was a real, genuine smile. And it was the most beautiful thing Fiyero had ever seen.

As the two continued their meeting under the tree, someone else watched them from a far off window. Even from a distance, Glinda could tell it was Elphaba who had been kissing Fiyero. How many others at Shiz had green skin?

"How could he? How could she?" Glinda stood fuming at the window for several minutes, watching her friend and the object of what was apparently their mutual affection. She never considered Elphaba to be the type to even have a boyfriend, let alone steal one. This just could not be. She had to stop this before it went to far. "If I go now, maybe I can get Fiyero back." Glinda said to herself as she headed out the door.

If she had been hoping to catch them by the tree, she was too late. In her rage, she had failed to notice that Elphaba and Fiyero had left their meeting spot. Instead, she ran into them in the hallway. Elphaba could tell by the look in Glinda's eyes that she had seen them, and she kept her own eyes to the ground. She suddenly felt very ashamed of what she had just done.

Fiyero understood the look as well. He looked at Elphaba and quickly said "I'll see you tomorrow in life sciences then" before quickly exiting the building. Glinda let him go; she could yell at him later. Elphaba brushed past Glinda and entered their room.

Glinda entered shortly after. "Elphie, how could you do this to me? You knew how I felt about Fiyero!"

"Look, Glinda, I don't know what happened! We were just sitting there under the tree and all of a sudden he said…"

"He said?" Glinda was anxious to hear any words that Fiyero could have said that would have justified Elphaba's actions.

Elphaba paused a moment, and said "He said that he loved me."

"He said what?" Glinda was in shock. She hadn't even heard those words from Fiyero.

"I know. Who would have thought, someone actually loving me?"

"Oh, Elphie. Let's not go there again, shall we? I told you before, plenty of people love you. Nessa loves you, Fiyero apparently loves you, I love you…as a friend." Glinda was quick to cover up what she had just said. She didn't want Elphaba to get the wrong idea. Elphaba giggled a little at this. "The point is, Elphie, you are a sweet, lovable person." Glinda sighed at what she had to admit. "And Fiyero is lucky to have you."

"You're not mad?" Elphaba was amazed at how quickly Glinda could change her emotions.

"No, if you got him to say the "l" word you must really be the one he wants. I know you didn't do anything wrong. Now if you'll excuse me, I think I'd better talk to Fiyero so he knows I'm not going to kill him. It'd be a shame if the new love of your life had to go into some kind of protection program from me."

Elphaba giggled again as Glinda left the room. She flopped back onto her bed and stared up at the ceiling. A smile had once again come over her face. It was a strange feeling for her, but she liked it. "Maybe this happy thing is alright after all" she thought.

Glinda entered the courtyard, and saw Fiyero sitting on a wall with his back to her. She slowly snuck up behind him and positioned herself next to him on the wall.

"Glinda, listen…about me and Elphie…" Fiyero immediately started to explain himself.

"Fiyero, I don't mind. You love her, not me. But I need you to promise me something."

Fiyero's mouth hung open a minute at the idea of Glinda accepting his love for Elphaba. That was such a, well, un-Glinda thing to do. He nodded his head in anticipation of what Glinda's demand would be.

"Don't hurt my Elphie, ok?"

Fiyero smiled and nodded. "Now you go back up there and see your girlfriend." Glinda said. As he walked away, Glinda watched him for a moment. She wondered how she was doing this. The boy she thought she would marry just weeks earlier was going off with her roommate, and she was not crying or plotting revenge. In fact, she was happy, even though nothing good had happened to her. "Happiness for other people…interesting."

Glinda perched herself back on the wall and looked up toward her room. From their window, Elphaba could see Glinda, like a pink flower against the green grass. She heard a knock at their door. Predicting who was on the other side, she glanced out the window one more time and whispered,

"Thanks, Glin."

A.N. I know, not a lot of plot development. It's coming soon. Oh, and by the way…18 DAYS until I see Wicked!