AN: This chapter is a bit... odd... dirty... weird... and needs some explaining. I don't quite know how to explain it, and neither does Elphaba (though she tries). Being in the city for almost six months, being without Fiyero for four of them, watching other people do things (because she has to spy, no matter what she sees that she might not want to) makes Elphaba a bit more vocal during sex... lol... um... it kind of goes away, but this chapter she's doing it because she's changed a bit and because... well, she feels bad and wants to distract him, I guess.

Chapter Thirty-Five: Heat

The directions she gave him led him to an old, poor part of town, specifically to some abandoned warehouse. She was waiting for him in a side door that led up some stairs above what she told him then was a corn exchange, and the setting was meager and bare. He offered to pay for her to have more food, more clothing, something, but she refused staunchly and said it would seem odd to her, and odd to her coworkers. There was a cat – she'd named him Malky – that he asked if she'd be bringing back with her. His question seemed to shock her, as she hadn't really thought about it. Elphaba decided that, if it was okay with him, she would like to keep the cat. Fiyero told her it was fine; whatever would make her happy.

It was already dark, though it wasn't seemingly late in the evening. But winter was nearing and the days were shorter. Nights were colder. When she undressed in the darkness, she shuddered violently in the frigid air and he, still dressed, moved to her and hugged her warmly. She rested against him for a moment, taking in his warmth, and then turned and undressed him. They both shivered beneath the small blanket and made love with as much energy as possible for the sake of keeping warm, making it so physical that she collapsed in his arms when it was over, body limp and worn from the heat of their sex. He noticed she did not refuse when he offered to bring an extra blanket or two.

They wrapped their bodies around one another to go to sleep, making as much from the warmth of each other as they could. She was soon asleep in his arms, for several hours, until she woke him again and they repeated the entire night's bedroom adventure until she could take no more and pleaded with him to stop after this last time, and then maybe after the next last time, and maybe just one more…

When he woke up in the morning, he was half shocked to find that she was still there, lying peacefully in his arms, dried sweat and semen coating her skin. He nudged her and asked if she had running water. She read his mind and said that, yes, she did, but it didn't stay hot for very long and, if he must shower, could he please do so at the hotel? Fiyero told her that yes, he would. Elphaba stretched catlike under the covers and kicked him out. "I have some things to do. Come back late this evening."

He nodded and returned with scarves and blankets that evening. She let him tie her hands to the bedpost with the scarves the first time, writhing in agony when she couldn't move her hands to clutch at him, to let them fall weightless during climax, to touch his hands as they touched her. Then he tied one around her waist instead, and she teased him that he was getting way too much of her, and it was a good thing he wouldn't be coming every night or she'd never get up. Fiyero protested. Why could he not come back each evening and make love to her? Why could he not come back each evening, if it was just to hold her, to be with her?

"I have some things to do," she said again, "and so you cannot. In fact, tonight you can't. Two days from now. Leave me until then."

He thought she'd be gone when he came back after those two days, but she was there, still, ready for him. Her behavior became much more sexual the longer he'd been away, he would find, and she'd even venture to talk about it in ways she hadn't before.

Once, when she'd climbed over him, deciding to take charge of their lovemaking for once, she'd pulled her hips down on him and then murmured, "I could pull myself closer to you, love, but you're so deep inside me right now I'm afraid you'll break me if you get any deeper." She hissed as she adjusted to the penetration, but whispered erotic, encouraging words in his ear as she'd rocked against him slowly. "Mmm, that feels so good, so good… I love how you feel inside of me, so big, so thick, so hard. Sometimes I just think of your body, Fiyero, and I get wet, soaked." Her thighs tightened and she moved faster. "Oh, yes, Fiyero, Oz, yes! Please, Yero, touch me, please," she moaned as he slipped a hand to stimulate her further, "those hands…" Elphaba threw her head back as orgasm took over, "Yes! Fiyero, oh, oh, oh, yes!"

This new attitude of hers alarmed him slightly, and he wondered if she'd gotten it on her own, or if maybe, Oz forbid, she'd had some other lover. From the way it felt making love with her, he doubted she had, but he could never tell.

One evening as the month she'd begged him for was ending, she'd seen this doubt in his eyes and torn away from him, hurt and offended. "How could you think I'd ever do such a thing? No one but you, Yero my hero, no one but you." And with that she preceded to sway him to allow her another month or so, grinding her hips up against his until he gave in to sweet temptation and agreed so he could have her. And oh, how she let him have her.

When that month was over, she didn't ask for another. She told him calmly that her business was complete, and that suspicions would be low if she left then. He smiled, overjoyed. "You can't imagine how relieved everyone will be to have us back, Fae."

Her face turned to dread. "Oh, dear, how am I going to explain myself?"

"You have a three day carriage ride to figure that much out."

"Three days with hotel stays for the nights in between?" She asked seductively.

"Mmm, yes. Long hotel stays. We rest starting from dinner on, and we have a late breakfast and then return to the road." He answered, kissing her.

"Sounds wonderful. We can, uh, finish up what we didn't carry out fully during our honeymoon," she suggested playfully.

He knew everything wasn't worked out. Fiyero was aware he deserved an apology from her, if not more. She had gotten much of his forgiveness through sex, and she needed to know it wasn't going to fix everything. Apprehensively, during the first day in the carriage, as she leaned sleepily on his shoulder, he said, "I love you, Fae, but I want you to realize that I'm not totally contented with what you've done."

She nodded, as if she'd waited for this conversation to come. "I know. And I'm sorry, Fiyero, but it just felt like I had no other choice. I need to see things be fair, or I have to do something."

"At the cost of losing me?"

"I didn't want to. I never wanted to. I…" Her words faltered. "I never will."

He heard the uncertainty in her voice. Fiyero wrapped her in him arms desperately. "I love you."

"I love you, too, I always have. I always will. It's just…"

"No, please don't." He begged.

"Fiyero, the more you try to repress that, the worse it's going to get. I'm just saying I hope this works. I hope so for you and for me."

"You have to promise to be patient."

She nodded and let him hold her, cradling her like a baby. Elphaba nuzzled against his arm lovingly. "I promise, love."

"You have no idea what I was thinking when I saw you'd run off."

"I also have no idea what I was thinking when I did run off," she joked. "Okay, I do. But I know there were a lot of things I wasn't thinking. Fiyero, I didn't mean to push you away so cruelly some of those times. I just knew if I stayed close to you, I would give in and let myself only love you, not do what I swore was right. Darling, you are more to me than what I pretend you are. I'm so sorry."

"I… I know you are." He thought about saying "I forgive you", but he wasn't sure he had. Fiyero looked at the sad eyes of his wife and said, "Will you be happy, with me?"

"Of course."

"But as happy as you'd be working in the city?"

She lowered her eyes. "Much happier. It's not that I'm not happy with you, Fiyero," she assured him, "not at all. It's this sense of right and wrong I've got. If it's 'off', I've got to do something about it."

"You will," he told her, "but give it time."

"It just seemed so terrible, being so happy when all of those things are going on in other parts of Oz."

"People do it every day."

"People are ignorant."

I wish you were. He thought to himself. But no, he realized, he didn't. She'd be nothing like who she was if she was ignorant, and he loved her for who she was. There was no easy solution to that, he figured. Fiyero felt thin fingers trailing along his chest and he looked again at Elphaba, who was smiling sweetly. "What?"

Her hands now made a distinctive path downwards. "Nothing," she grinned. She slipped her hands into the waist of his pants and yanked them down.

"Fae, don…" Fiyero closed his eyes as she closed her hands around him. He opened one slightly when he felt her slide away from him, hands still on him. She was sinking to the floor.

"Better angle from here," she murmured. She brought her mouth down and kissed him, lightly teasing with her tongue just for a moment. Then her hands took control again. "Oh, darling, you're so large," she whispered, "I would almost think it was swollen, if I wasn't used to you being so huge. I think I'd better help you ease that throbbing, though, shouldn't I?" Elphaba slipped off an undergarment and hiked up her skirt as she sat back in the seat. "Come here, love."

Fiyero helplessly obeyed, turning to her, crouching over her and sliding himself inside of her, driving into her eagerly. He tangled his fingers in her hair and pumped into her. "Oh, Fae…" He was encouraged into more frantic movements as Elphaba whimpered into his ears.

"Oh, you're amazing; you feel amazing inside of me. You make me want to just… ooh, darling! The pleasures you bring me, mmm, so good. I love your… I love… so enormous, moving inside of me, so deep inside of me, touching me everywhere. Reaching everything. Yes, like that. Please don't stop. I want to feel you, all of you, hard and pulsing and just coming inside of me again and again. Take me until there's nothing left. Don't hold back, move as rough as you want, anything that keeps you inside me like this, like this… oh, Yero!" She screamed, he groaned and it was over. Elphaba dusted off her skirt and pulled her underwear back up. Heatedly, she commented, "So good, as always."

"Why do you talk like that?" He asked suddenly.

"Hmmm?"

"You never used to talk about sex."

"I did. I've told you before it was good."

"I meant when you talk about my body…" He answered.

"Shouldn't I praise something that gives me so much pleasure? Besides, I know I'm right. You're not exactly, well, small."

"What do you have to compare it to?" Fiyero demanded.

Elphaba was immediately timid again. "Several of my assignments have required…"

"Sleeping with people?"

"No!" She scooted away from him crossly. "Several of my assignments have required following suspected traitors, no matter where. Many of them have had lovers. There've been times when I've had to watch someone 'closely' for days."

"But why do you talk that way? You were never comfortable talking that way. I remember." He pressed.

She sighed heavily. "I only knew what felt good to me. And that wasn't enough for me to say something about you when it was all I knew. It is all, but not all I've seen."

"But it's so sudden. And you're more… sensual. All you ever try to do with me is arouse me." He argued.

"I… Fiyero…"

"Is that all you love me for?"

"No, Yero my hero." Quietly she said, "Honestly, I just… I'm trying to solve this and make it easy. I figured if I tempted you a little, it would distract you from everything and you wouldn't keep making me so uneasy."

"How am I making you uneasy? I don't mean to."

"All of these promises and these assurances."

"What? You don't mean any of them?"

"I do. Oh, Yero, I do," she moved to touch his face. "Please believe me. I mean them now. But you and I both know how I get when I'm angry; there's no stopping me. I wish I could tell you that I can stop that from happening, but you know me."

He put his hand over hers. "Can you swear to me that you'll come talk to me, first? That even when you're in a rage and fuming, you'll at least inform me, so I can attempt to calm you down?"

"That I can do."

The carriage stopped and the driver opened the door. "We're at the third-way point. I've taken your bags out and I'm going to go around and get the horses settled."

Fiyero grabbed their overnight bags and walked inside with them, Elphaba following softly. They ate a quick dinner in silence and headed upstairs. He undressed and jumped into bed right away. Elphaba said she thought she'd shower first.

When she got out, she entered the room to find Fiyero sound asleep. She leaned over, kissed his forehead and climbed in beside him. Elphaba snuggled next to him and was grateful when his arms found her and tugged her close.

Sleepily, Fiyero opened his eyes and stroked her cheek. "Never leave me again."

"Never." She replied, drifting off. "Not ever."