AN: Once again, lots of thanks and virtual cupcakes for all of you for all the kind reviews you left me! I'm honestly not sure what makes you all so enthusiastic about this story - frankly, I feel like it's just another one of my Fiyeraba-meet-fall-in-love-have-some-drama-and-live-happily-ever-after-fics, but of course I'm very glad you all like it.

Elphaba'sGirl: No matter what the reason, it's good to have you back! :)

This chapter is for NellytheActress. It's a day early, but happy birthday to you! I hope you have a nice day tomorrow!

9. The Grandparents' Judgement

At Elphaba's insistence, Fiyero didn't come to see her every night anymore. She claimed it made Morrible suspicious and that some of her regular clients had been slightly annoyed to find her unavailable all the time, so she asked him to limit his visits at night to a couple of times a week.

He wasn't happy with that, of course. "But I want to see you," he complained. "More than just a few times a week, I mean."

"We can still spend time together during the day, if you want to," she offered. "But really, Yero, you can't come to Morrible's every evening and claim me for the entire night, even if you do pay for it. There are other customers, too."

"That's what I'm trying to shield you from," he said unhappily. "I don't want you to have to do that kind of work, Fae."

She smiled a dimpled smile at him. "You're sweet," she said. "But I've been doing this for a long time already, you know. I can handle myself."

"It's not just that." He grimaced, running a hand through his hair. "I just… I hate the thought of other men…" He shuddered. "I told you I'm in love with you, Fae, and the idea of other men being with you quite literally makes me sick to my stomach," he blurted out.

She huffed a wry laugh. "The idea of those men being with me always still makes me sick to my stomach, too," she informed him, "but it's what I have to do to stay alive and so I will do it. If I can deal with it, I think you can, too, Yero. Don't get me wrong, I love the fact that you care, but I can't change it and I'm sorry to say this, but you don't have any claim to me."

"I'll pay," he offered instantly. "I'll buy your freedom. Galinda's, too, if you don't want to leave her. I have plenty of money –"

She held up a hand, silencing him. "You can't."

He scowled at her. "Is this some stupid pride thing?" he demanded sullenly.

"My pride," she snapped, "is one of the only things I have left."

He acknowledged that, albeit reluctantly, but she added, "And besides, that's not it. It's that Morrible wouldn't allow it. She keeps us all until we're twenty-five, no exceptions, to get the most money out of us. If you were to try to buy me free, she'd refuse and probably find some way to use your attachment to me against both of us – or even against your family. Leverage against the royal family of the Vinkus could always come in handy for her."

He tried to find a way around that logic, but wasn't able to find one and so he limited his visits to The Fish's Lair to three nights a week at most. On the other days, he usuallymet her somewhere in town and they'd take walks, read together in the library, or go out to eat something – always at Fiyero's suggestion, since Elphaba would never spend her hard-earned money on food, but he insisted on spoiling her in every way she'd let him. He'd even gotten her a library card so that she didn't have to read at the library all the time, but could take books back to her room with her instead.

They'd kissed lightly a few more times, but nothing more than that had happened. Fiyero didn't want to pressure her; he instinctively sensed that she needed him to give her time to process everything that was going on between them and to get used to it, so he tried to give her that time. They mostly stuck to light conversations and activities during their time together.

"I have a proposition," he said one time when they were in her room together. He lightly ran his fingers down her bare arm, marvelling at how soft her skin was. "Don't say no right away."

She gave him a wary look and he took a breath.

"I want to introduce you to my grandparents," he said.

She sighed wearily. "Really? Why?" she asked him. "They won't be pleased to meet me. 'Hi, Grandpa,'" she imitated him in a low voice. "'This is the green prostitute I constantly insist I'm in love with. Can she stay for dinner?' I'm sure they'll be thrilled."

He had to grin at her imitation of him, but he didn't like what she was implying. "Fae, they already know about you," he pointed out to her. "They'll love you. Really. They're not so shallow that they would care about your skin colour or your profession."

She snorted. "'Profession'. That almost makes it sound fancy. Fiyero, I sleep with men for money," she stressed. "I'm about as low on the social ladder as you can get."

He scowled at her, drawing her a little closer and absently combing his fingers through her hair. "That's not true and even if it were, they still don't care. Please come with me," he beseeched her. "I'd love for you to meet them."

"I don't know, Fiyero," she said hesitantly. He gave her his best puppy-eyed pout and she heaved a deep sigh, but relented. "Fine," she said grudgingly. "I can never deny you anything when you use that face on me. It's annoying."

He grinned at her and pressed a kiss to her temple. "I must say I quite like it."

Fiyero was oddly nervous as he and Elphaba walked down the road to his grandparents' farm the following day. She was dressed in her best clothes, which honestly didn't say a lot other than that she was wearing the only dress she had that didn't look completely faded and worn. She had brushed her ebony curls until they shone and Fiyero thought she looked beautiful, despite the old dress and despite the fact that her own nerves caused her to look pale and tense.

"Relax," he told her, even though he wasn't relaxed himself. He took her hand and squeezed it gently. "They're good people."

"I know," she muttered. "But still."

When they approached the small farmhouse, Kevon and Calinne were already at the door. Elphaba swallowed and Fiyero squeezed her hand again.

"You'll be fine," he assured her, but she wasn't so sure of that.

Calinne smiled at her grandson as she came forward. "We saw you coming through the window," she explained as she quickly took Elphaba in and then held out her hands. The green girl took them a little hesitantly and Calinne's smile widened. "Welcome, Elphaba," she said. "My name is Calinne Tiggular. I'm Fiyero's grandmother."

"It's a pleasure to meet you," said Elphaba nervously. Fiyero's grandmother was a tall and elegant woman with greying brown hair and a kind smile. Elphaba knew Calinne wasn't royalty, but she thought the woman would have fit into such a life perfectly nonetheless, at least where her looks were concerned. "I'm Elphaba Thropp, Fiyero's..." She faltered, unsure of how to finish that sentence, and Calinne laughed.

"No-one knows exactly what you are to Fiyero," she told the girl, not unkindly. "Not even Fiyero himself – or maybe he's just scared to admit it. Important, that's what you are to him. Let's just stick with 'friend', for lack of a better term."

Elphaba exhaled slowly and nodded.

"Kevon Tiggular," the man then introduced himself to Elphaba. He was a little taller than his wife; about the same height as Fiyero, actually. His eyes were the same shade of blue as Fiyero's own eyes, his hair was almost entirely grey, and he had a short beard. He looked a little intimidating, but he shook Elphaba's hand warmly. "We have heard so much about you. Too much, actually," he added with a look in Fiyero's direction. "Sometimes we wished he'd just shut up about you."

"Kevon," Calinne chided him. Fiyero cleared his throat awkwardly and Elphaba felt like her cheeks were on fire.

"Come in," Calinne said, linking her arm with Fiyero's and motioning for Elphaba to follow. "I've made tea and there's lunch, too, in case you're hungry. Are you?"

"Starving," Fiyero said immediately.

Elphaba snorted before she could help herself. "You're always starving."

"It's a common trait among the males of the Tiggular family," Calinne informed the younger girl with a pointed look at Kevon, whose face had brightened considerably at the mention of lunch as well.

Elphaba chuckled and followed the others into the house, looking around. It wasn't very large, but it was cosy and tastefully decorated. Calinne led them into the kitchen, which was light and spacious. The table was already set and she moved to the counter to fetch the dishes she'd already prepared for lunch.

"That looks wonderful," said Elphaba as she took in the food. In fact, it looked more like the food Fiyero had bought her at the restaurants in Reins a few times than it did like the things Morrible gave her girls every day. It looked delicious and she wondered if other people always ate like this.

Calinne waved her away, however. "It's nothing special, dear."

Elphaba bit her lip. If this was nothing special, then what was supposed to pass for 'special' for these people?

Fiyero saw her uncomfortable look and he caught her gaze, giving her a reassuring smile. She hesitantly smiled back.

When Kevon asked her to tell them a little about herself, she started biting her lip again, unsure of what she could say; but Fiyero said, "It's fine, Fae. You can be honest with them. They won't judge."

She gave him a look, which he returned, both waiting for the other to back down. She was the one who eventually relented and she had to admire his stubbornness. She hadn't thought anyone could quite be as stubborn as she was, but he'd been proving her wrong for weeks now.

She gave Fiyero's grandparents the short version of her story – how her father had hated her because of her skin, then blamed her for her sister's disability and mother's death and taken her away. She explained that she'd grown up in an orphanage here in the Vinkus and that she'd never seen her family again; that she'd been kicked out at age sixteen, like all the other kids were, and that she'd roamed the streets for a while before Madame Morrible took her in and introduced her to a different way to make money.

She didn't meet Kevon or Calinne's eyes as she talked, instead keeping her gaze trained on the table. When she finished, she waited, convinced that there would be tight smiles and a polite request to leave now, probably combined with an order to stop contaminating Fiyero's life by being in it. Or worse – maybe they'd pity her. She hated being pitied. She wasn't a charity project and she wasn't some stray kitten whom everyone was supposed to feel sorry for.

Calinne merely sighed, however. "Oh, Elphaba. It sounds like you've been through a lot," she said. "I can see why Fiyero took an interest in you, though."

The green girl blinked, finally looking up. "You can?" Oz knew she couldn't see it, even after a few months.

Kevon nodded earnestly. "She reminds me," he said, raising his gaze to meet Fiyero's, "of your mother."

Calinne stared at her husband for a few moments, baffled. Then she burst out laughing. "She does, doesn't she?" she asked gleefully. "Sweet Oz, first Hamold and now Fiyero." She laughed again and leaned over to pat Elphaba's knee. "I think you're a keeper, dear," she declared. "If your influence on Fiyero is going to be half as good as Lori's is on Hamold, then your involvement with him is going to save the Vinkus from the brink of disaster and we won't let you go ever again."

"You're so funny, Grandma," Fiyero said sarcastically.

Elphaba, for her part, felt a little dazed and just looked from Kevon to Calinne and back again. "But... but what about my skin?" she asked uncertainly. "Or what I... well, what I do? Do you really approve of Fiyero's friendship with me?"

"Of course," said Kevon, shaking his head. "As long as Yero is happy, Elphaba – really happy, not the fake kind of happy he was before – then we're happy, too."

"We personally don't care about your background, your looks, or your profession, Elphaba," Calinne said gently. "If you two were to get more serious, however, then those things might be worth worrying about – mainly because Fiyero is, and always will be, a prince and that means he is out in the public eye a lot. Which means you would be, too, by association."

"Wait," said Elphaba, holding up two hands. "More serious? What do you mean? It's not like we're ever going to get married or anything." She gave a short laugh. No-one said anything, however, and her laugh died in her throat. She added, "Right?" with a pointed look at Fiyero.

He cleared his throat. "Well, not in the near future," he muttered and she scowled at him.

"Fiyero," she said. "You don't know what you're talking about. We've only known one another for a few months. You're going to be sick of me within a few more weeks – months, if I'm lucky – and then that will be it."

"What?" he protested. "No!"

She raised an eyebrow at him.

Kevon coughed a little awkwardly. "It seems to me like you two have a few more things to work out," he said.

Fiyero glared at Elphaba. "We'll save that conversation for some other time," he told her pointedly. "But we will have it."

"Fine," she retorted. "There's not that much to say." Fiyero opened his mouth again to counter that, but she cut him off. "Some other time, Yero."

He huffed, leaning back and crossing his arms, but he didn't say anything else. He'd convince her. Somehow, someday, he'd make her see exactly just how serious he was about her.

Next chapter has a cliffy. Because it's been too long since I did one of those.