Strength

A.N. Thanks for the reviews.

Disclaimer: I don't own these characters.

Fiyero sat for a while, watching Elphaba sleep. He tried several times to get up and focus on something else, but he couldn't do it. Although he knew it wasn't true, he had this feeling that if he took his eyes off of her she would be taken from him. He had to protect her, even if there was nothing to protect her from.

Glinda came back in eventually, She looked relieved to see Elphaba asleep after all of the nights she had spent awake with her. Soon after she got back, there was another knock at the door. Fiyero quickly found a hiding place inside the closet in case it was an Ama while Glinda answered the door.

Luckily, it was only Boq. "Here, Miss Glinda. I've finished the petition" he said, his voice still shaking from the nervousness that came with speaking to Glinda.

Glinda smiled, thanked him for his speed, batted her eyes a few more times, and then bid him goodbye. The last thing she needed to deal with right now was a hopeless suitor like Boq.

"Well, let's hear it." Fiyero said. "How did Boq do?"

"Let's see…it says, "Fellow Munchkins, as you are most likely already aware of, our Governor Thropp passed away on November 28th. His daughter, Elphaba Thropp, is next in line for the position. Elphaba, smart and capable as she may be, is only 19 years old and is in no way prepared to take on a position such as this. This petition is being circulated throughout Munchkinland in order to have a more qualified leader put in place.""

Glinda stopped reading when she heard Elphaba stir in her sleep. She leaned over and whispered to Fiyero, "Do you think this will work?" Glinda knew next to nothing about petitions, so she couldn't tell if Boq had done a good job or not.

"Yes, I'm sure of it. It sounds very formal. I don't know much about Munchkins, but I do know one thing." Fiyero said.

"And what would that be?" Glinda asked.

"Well, if Boq is any indication, Munchkins are easily swayed by a smooth talker."

Glinda then went to bring the petition back to Boq so that he could send it back to Munchkinland. Fiyero remained with Elphaba. He knew he could get into a lot of trouble for being in the girl's building for so long, but he didn't care. He didn't even want to think about what his roommate must have been thinking about him by this point. It didn't really matter. It was funny. All of his life Fiyero had been telling himself that nothing mattered. Anything that happened could be brushed off easily. It was different now. Things that happened to him could still be brushed off as easily as ever, but even the slightest thing going wrong for Elphaba brought his whole world down.

"….Yero?"

Fiyero jumped slightly at the sound of her voice. He had expected her to sleep for much longer. She didn't appear tired, though. "Hi, Elphie. Did you have a nice nap?" he said.

"Yeah, I guess. So did Boq agree to write the petition?"

Fiyero nodded. "I think our plan is working."

Elphaba smiled at the idea that something was actually going right. She sat up in bed and asked Fiyero "So…what do you want for Lurlinemas?"

At first Fiyero found the question rather odd. "Um…I haven't given it much thought to be perfectly honest. I thought you said that you didn't celebrate it."

Elphaba shook her head. "I said that I'd never received any presents for it. My parents always spent all their extra money on gifts for Nessa. They told me that the rest of us had to make sacrifices so that Nessa would be happy."

It was beyond Fiyero's comprehension how Elphaba could have grown up like that and still not resent Nessarose for any of it. "Well, this year is going to be different. This is going to be your best Lurlinemas yet."

"As long as this plan holds up I don't doubt you there." Elphaba grabbed her legs and rested her chin on her knees.

"Something wrong?" Fiyero asked.

"Not really…I'm just kind of bored. This is the first time in a while that I haven't felt scared or sad or just mentally drained. I forgot what it felt like to just feel normal. It's actually kind of nice."

There was a short silence, and then Fiyero turned the conversation back to the approaching holiday. "Is there anything special you would like for Lurlinemas? It's a lot of pressure on me, you know."

"Why?"

"Well, if you never got any other presents before, this would be your first Lurlinemas gift. And I have to make it good. I want to make sure I get you something you really like."

"While that's very sweet, it's not entirely true. I did receive one Lurlinemas gift; the year before Nessa was born." Elphaba reached inside her pillowcase and hesitated a bit before pulling out a very raggedy old stuffed animal of some sort. Fiyero couldn't determine what sort of animal it had once been. He looked at it inquiringly and hoped that Elphaba would fill in the blanks.

Fortunately, she was able to read his facial expression. "It used to be a dog, I think. Either a dog or a rabbit. When I was little I always called it bunny."

Fiyero moved closer to get a better look. Upon closer inspection, he could see that "bunny's" fur was a very faded, but very real, shade of green. "Was it always that color? You don't see very many green stuffed dogs or rabbits."

"Well, you don't see very many green people either, but here I am. No, he wasn't always this color. When I first started school, it felt awkward to be without someone or something to care for. Even by that point I was used to caring for Nessa. So I brought this to school with me. One day one of the boys in my class decided that me and my toy should match, so he grabbed it from me and shoved it in some green paint." Elphaba said this without much emotion, but it was clear to Fiyero that this, like the many other moments of taunting in her life, hurt more than she let on.

She looked down and shook her head. "Fiyero, I'm sorry. I know you probably don't need to hear me talk about all of this."

"Actually, I'm quite intrigued. So how old were you when you got that?"

"About, well, maybe a year at most. Nessa was born when I was a year and a half, so it had to be when I was one. I was born in November, so I don't think I'd remember getting it if they had given it to me when I was less than a month old."

"Your birthday was this month? When? Why didn't I…"

"Yeah, it was back at the beginning of the month. The 5th. And you didn't know because we weren't dating and I hadn't bothered to tell anyone at Shiz what my birthday is. Glinda didn't even know. It doesn't matter, no one really makes a big deal out of my birthday. I've never had a real party or anything."

"Well, that is because you haven't spent a birthday with me, the party master! Now, while you're at it, do you have any other childhood events that didn't go well? Any other celebrations you've never experienced? Let's see…what happened when you lost your first tooth?" Fiyero quickly came up with the first childhood milestone that popped into his head.

"My parents sighed with relief." Elphaba said, half jokingly.

About half an hour later, with Elphaba happily reading in bed, Fiyero pulled Glinda,who had since returned to the room, into the hallway.

"We have some work to do" he said.

"What for?"

"You have to help me plan a birthday party for Elphie."

"It's her birthday? In the middle of all this?" Glinda couldn't imagine having her birthday amidst all of the events that had occurred in Elphaba's life.

"No, it was on the 5th but she didn't tell anyone. So we're just going to have her party a little bit later. Wait, maybe we shouldn't be doing this in the hallway…"

Fiyero stuck his head in the door and told Elphaba that he and Glinda were going to get food. When she accepted his reason for leaving, he and Glinda hurried down to the common area, but eating was not on the agenda.

A.N. So…anyone know how to celebrate an Ozian birthday? Please review.