The virtual what-was-it-again-I-promised-in-my-last-AN for the 100th review goes to Emerald Minded Fictionist! :) But of course I want to thank you all for your lovely reviews.

And Elphaba'sGirl, it's nice to see you again! Is it me or have you been gone for a while? I can't PM you, so I'll just have to ask you here - how are you?

8. The Small Town's Secrets

He did meet her the next day, of course. When he arrived at the library, he didn't see her at first, but he eventually located her curled up in an armchair with a book. She was so engrossed in the story that she didn't even notice him until he stopped right in front of her and loudly cleared this throat.

She started. "Oh, Fiyero! I'm sorry, I lost track of time," she apologised. Then she smiled, showing her dimples again. "You came."

"Of course I came," he said a little indignantly. "I meant what I said about wanting to be friends and not wanting anything else from you. I just want to spend time with you."

She closed her book and rose to her feet. "Shall we go for a walk?" she asked, holding the book to her chest. "It's lovely weather today."

He agreed and watched her sneak another wistful look at her book before putting it away and following him outside.

"Do you go to the library often?" he asked her as they walked.

She nodded. "I love to read," she said. "I don't have a library card, though, so I have to read most books here and can't take them with me. I have some old books back in my room, too. Two of them are still from when I lived at the orphanage – we got gifts, occasionally, just second-hand things people donated to the orphanage. Everyone knew I loved books." She smiled a little. "One book is from my time on the streets… and yes, I'll admit it, I stole it," she confessed. "It was just an old, damaged book lying at the back of a market stall and I couldn't resist." She was blushing a little, but Fiyero just laughed.

"The other one I got from Galinda and Lulu," she said, her smile returning at the memory, "for my eighteenth birthday. Lulu had only been with us for a short while then, but she insisted on thanking me for helping her through her initial time at Morrible's and she and Galinda asked Morrible for some of their earnings to buy me a second-hand book. It's the only real gift I've ever gotten," she confided in him. "I love it."

Fiyero tried not to look too stricken at the thought of never having received a present – or of two of the girls saving what little they earned (he assumed it was little, anyway) to buy their friend a birthday present. "Galinda and Lulu?" he asked instead.

She bit her lip. "Oh. I suppose I can trust you… right?" She didn't wait for him to reply, but clarified simply, "Topaz and Sapphire."

"Ah." He nodded. "You mentioned that Topaz is your best friend."

She nodded and told him about the other girls – at what ages they had come in, how well she knew them, and which ones of them she had befriended. She explained that there was a handful of girls who worked at Morrible's because they actually liked their job, but that most of them were there out of pure necessity.

"How often do you work?" he asked her at some point as they wandered the streets.

"Usually, we have one night off each week," Elphaba answered, "and one day in weekends. We don't work during the day on weekdays because almost no-one comes in then, but we do work on Saturdays and Sundays. It's not so bad, really," she said a little defensively when she saw the look on his face. "It's only from eight to three – one in the afternoon to three at night in weekends – and it's only the… well, the regular stuff." She flushed, averting her gaze, and tucked her hands deeper in the pockets of her old cardigan. "Some madams make their girls work every day and make them do everything."

Everything. Fiyero didn't even want to try to imagine what that would entail. "So Morrible does protect you from such things? Things like… well, other things? Say, if two men wanted to… um…" Now he flushed, too, but Elphaba didn't see that. She still kept her gaze firmly trained on the ground. "For example… share one girl…?" Fiyero ploughed on, his face feeling like it was on fire. "Morrible wouldn't allow that to happen to you, right?"

Elphaba hesitated.

She hesitated. Fiyero instantly felt nauseous.

"It's a general rule," the green girl said slowly, choosing her words carefully. "Most customers know the rules and abide by them. When two men ask to share a girl or when they ask for something else that isn't… well, regular stuff… she'll tell them she won't allow that, but she doesn't monitor anything too closely. It happens, and it's not like she'd do anything if we complained to her about it – except perhaps for making us work on our free night and telling us to be grateful the rules even exist."

That did nothing to settle Fiyero's stomach and he blanched. "Has anyone ever…? I mean, has anything like that ever…?"

"…happened to me?" she finished for him. "Nothing too bad, thank Oz. Mostly just, um… regular stuff with some… embellishments, I guess you could say." She grimaced, feeling awkward. "You know, some men like to feel dominant and powerful… I think you get the picture," she said, knowing her face was probably an interesting shade of purplish green right now. "Please don't make me explain any of that."

"Oh, no, I got it," Fiyero assured her. He looked exactly the opposite of her now, she noticed – pale as a sheet. "But no… multiple men, or anything?"

She shook her head. "No," she said quietly. "Although that's only a matter of time. Things like that have happened to a lot of the other girls, especially the ones who have been there for a longer period of time." She shrugged. "Morrible only protects her favourites – the ones who actually want to be there, such as Pfannee and Milla. When they complain to her about the clients' behaviour, she'll deny those men access to the girls. Then again, they also get more days off and more money," she said bitterly. "It's not exactly fair, but life never really is, in my experience."

Fiyero's heart ached for her.

"Turn left here," she told him as if they had just been talking about the weather. "Have you ever been to the park?"

He shook his head dumbly and she smiled. "You have to know about it to be able to find it." She beckoned him and led the way, slipping between some houses and walking at the back of them for a while, past the river flowing there. She crossed a small bridge over the river and Fiyero followed her until they indeed reached a park. Elphaba sat down on a bench, pulling her feet up underneath her.

"I come here a lot," she said. "To get some peace and quiet, and to think. Sometimes to read. In summer, when it's warmer, you can find me here all the time."

"I'll remember that." He sat down beside her and stared across the park. A mother duck with a bunch of ducklings waddled past some distance away in the direction of the river and Fiyero could hear the birds singing in the trees. He understood why Elphaba liked to come here. It was a nice, peaceful place. "Speaking of warmth..."

"No, I don't have anything warmer than this," she said, guessing what he meant to ask. She drew her cardigan tighter around her and Fiyero noticed how threadbare it was. "Madame Morrible only provides us with clothes for work – silk robes, undergarments, and tiny dresses – and the rest we have to buy from our own money. We're all saving that as much as we can to be able to provide for ourselves once we get out of here, though, so we only rarely spend it on things like clothes. Even Galinda values her freedom more than her fashion sense." She chuckled softly, but Fiyero didn't laugh with her.

"You'll catch your death," he muttered, eyeing her. "Especially in winter."

Elphaba shrugged. "I mostly stay inside in winter," she said. "Spending the silver Morrible saved for me on a winter coat would mean at least four less months of being able to feed myself once I'm free and I don't want that."

He could see her point and he admired her for it. He noticed how she huddled in her raggedy cardigan, though, the goose-bumps on her skin and the way she shivered, and he shrugged off his own jacket and draped it across her shoulders.

She protested. "You don't have to –"

"Shush," he told her and much to his surprise, she closed her mouth and didn't say anything else, merely pulling the jacket tighter around herself.

They got up and started walking again a while later, with Elphaba showing him around the little town, and they exchanged more information about themselves as they went. Fiyero told her about his life, the riches his family owned and the way he had grown up; and Elphaba shared her stories from the orphanage, her time on the street, and her time with Madame Morrible. When he asked her if she'd eaten yet, she just shrugged and told him she hadn't had anything since breakfast, but that was okay because she usually skipped lunch, anyway, and she'd just have dinner back at the brothel. Of course, he then took her to one of the small restaurants Reins had and forced her to pick a proper meal from the menu, insisting on paying for her.

"You don't have to," she said, shifting uncomfortably. "I can just go back to Morrible's and have dinner there. It's fine."

"Is the food good there?" he asked pointedly and she made a face, which was all the reply he needed. They continued to make easy conversation as they ate their dinner and when they started walking again, Elphaba tucked her arm through Fiyero's, much to his surprise. He told her about the talk he'd had with his grandparents and the letter he'd sent to Adurin Iir and she smiled, displaying her dimples again.

"I'm proud of you," she said. "You really did change, didn't you?"

He thought about that for a moment. "You know what?" he said finally, actually surprised himself. "I think I did."

She chortled.

They walked in silence for a while and then Fiyero blurted out, "So… was this a date?"

Elphaba instantly let go of him, stopped walking, and stared at him. "Excuse me?"

"Well," he said sheepishly. "We met up, we spent time together, and I bought you dinner… That sort of sounds like a date, right?"

Elphaba looked very weary, suddenly, and she leaned back against the wall. "Fiyero," she said tiredly. "I honestly do not have any idea what to do with you."

He barked a laugh. "No-one does, I think."

She shook her head at him, sighing as she pushed her hands deeper into the pockets of Fiyero's jacket. She didn't even seem to realise she was still wearing it, but Fiyero wasn't going to mention it. "I really just… don't understand what you want from me," she confessed. "It's hard for me to accept you wanting to be friends, let alone something more, because I just can't understand it. Why? What do you see in me that makes you want to come closer? I don't get it."

"How can you not get it?" he asked fiercely. "Elphaba, you're beautiful – that's one thing. Your skin, your hair, your eyes, your everything – you're beautiful. Then there's the fact that you're also incredibly smart, and passionate, and that you're kind and you care a lot and you see right through people and… Oz, I could go on for hours. How can you not get that?"

She smiled sadly and shook her head again. "I don't see any of those things in myself. All my life, I've been told I was ugly – because of the green, and because I'm skinny and pointy and sharp everywhere… I'm not like Galinda."

"You don't have to be," he insisted. "You're beautiful exactly because you're not like Galinda. You're unique."

She sighed. "If you say so. And all the other things you mentioned… they never mattered, you see? Maybe I am smart, but it's not like I could ever put my intelligence to good use. Who cares if I'm kind or passionate? There was never anyone there to care. All people see is a raggedy green girl who has to sell herself to men for money."

"People are ignorant and blind," said Fiyero, stepping closer to her. She flinched away from him a little and he held up both hands, feeling slightly hurt. "Hey. I'm not going to hurt you."

"No," she murmured, feeling heat creeping up into her cheeks once more. She ducked her head. "I know. I'm sorry. It's an instinctive reaction, I guess."

"No-one ever came this close to you?" he asked, understanding and hating it, and she nodded.

"Not many people, anyway," she said, "and not often. Certainly not men – not without ulterior motives."

He touched her arm – gently, carefully. "Let me show you what it's like, then," he implored. "To have a friend, to have someone who cares about you – really cares about you. Just let me help you, Fae. Let me in. I promise you won't regret it."

She glanced up at him through her eyelashes. "Is that what you said to all those other girls you bedded?" she inquired sceptically.

He recoiled and she bit her lip. "I'm sorry. That wasn't fair," she apologised, ashamed of herself. "I have a big mouth and no filter, in case you haven't noticed yet. You didn't deserve that, not after everything you've done for me."

"Stop talking about everything I've done for you," he told her in exasperation. "I don't want anything in exchange for that. You don't owe me anything, Elphaba. Not even an apology, because you're right to question my motives and my sincerity when I tell you such things. Anyone would, knowing about my reputation."

She nodded, not entirely convinced.

He moved closer again. "It's different with you, though," he told her, raising his hand to gently brush some stray strands of raven hair away from her face. "You're different. You make me want to be different. Believe it or not, but I really am in love with you, Fae, and I'll prove it to you, too."

"How?" she breathed, her dark eyes searching his face, and he leaned in closer and captured her lips in a soft, gentle kiss.

"Like this," he whispered, drawing away from her again and smiling at the slightly dazed look on her face. "One tiny step at a time."