Still very much appreciating the reviews. :)

13. The Love's Ways

Oh, but it was so hard. Not even to get him to go away, since she hadn't actually tried that yet. She was already having too hard a time getting herself to actually start pushing him away in the first place.

When Fiyero returned to the brothel on Monday evening, he was greeted by a knowingly smirking Morrible. "Good evening, Your Highness. I'm assuming you're here to see Emerald? That will be five gold pieces for the whole night."

His eyebrows shot up. "Excuse me?" he asked, blinking at her. "What happened to two?"

She gave him a triumphant little grin. "Well, Your Highness, since you have been getting so much more out of Emerald than simply a couple of nights of fun, I don't think my asking a higher price is too bold, do you?" she purred innocently.

Fiyero stared at her.

"She knows," Galinda informed him as she brushed past him with Pfannee and Olia on her heels. "About you and El– Emerald."

Fiyero grimaced. "Oh."

Morrible smugly held out a hand. "Five pieces of gold, then, please, Your Highness. In return, though," she offered, "I won't kick you out at three in the morning. You can spend the night if you want to – it's not like it matters much at this point."

Fiyero brightened a little at that and he dug into his pockets, searching for more money. He supposed this shouldn't surprise him. Elphaba had been right: Morrible was bound to find out about their relationship sooner or later. He supposed they were lucky she didn't do anything else, since of course she would try to take advantage of it in some way. It wasn't like he really minded, either – as a crown prince, he had more than enough money to spare – but it was a matter of principle.

"For the record," Pfannee whispered in his ear as she followed Galinda and Olia past the bar and further into the common room, "I still think you should have picked me. We would have been wonderful together." She batted her eyelashes at him.

He ignored her, shoving the gold pieces across the bar at Morrible, and her grin widened as she pocketed them and gestured to the stairs. "Have fun, Your Highness."

He quickly moved up the stairs and down the hallway, slipping into Elphaba's room and quietly closing the door behind him. He didn't see her at first and he frowned, stepping farther into the room; but then he saw that she was sprawled on the blankets, arms wrapped around a pillow and her lips slightly parted. She was fast asleep.

He decided to refrain from waking her and instead sat down in the armchair by the bed, watching her sleep as he had done a few times before already and thinking about things. She stirred after a while, yawning, her eyes blinking open, and then she suddenly shot up. She looked around wildly before noticing him and she relaxed visibly.

"Thank Oz it's you," she sighed, rubbing her eyes and then running her hands over her face and through her hair. "If someone else had found me asleep... I'm sorry," she apologised, but he waved her away.

"It's fine, Fae," he said, abandoning the chair in favour of the bed. He reached out to push some hair away from her face, running his thumb along her cheek. She looked exhausted, with dark circles under her eyes. "Are you all right?"

She yawned, quickly covering her mouth with her hand. "Yeah," she said tiredly. "I'm fine. I just haven't been sleeping well," she admitted.

"Delani?" he asked knowingly and she nodded.

"Sort of." She tilted her head a little to the side. "I do think about her a lot, about what drove her to do what she did... and I think we've all gotten a little jumpy, keeping a close eye on one another, afraid that someone else might follow." She sighed and pushed her hands through her hair again. "And then there's Lulu, who still isn't coping well. She's planning on getting away, but she's afraid to leave on her own, especially so soon after this happened... I don't think she'd be okay if she left right now." And then there was the matter of Morrible not letting her go if Elphaba didn't break things off with Fiyero, but of course she didn't tell him that.

"So she's staying longer?" Fiyero asked and she nodded again.

"For a little while," she said quietly. "She's having a lot of nightmares. She comes into my room almost every night after waking up from one; she doesn't like to sleep alone. I don't know how she can ever leave this place by herself, but she has to." She sighed. "One of us has to, if only to show the others that there is still hope."

"There's always hope," Fiyero insisted, pulling her into his arms. "Just... don't give up."

"Never," she assured him and she meant it.

He slid his hand up to her neck, cradling the back of her head as he leaned in for a long, heated kiss. She kissed him back eagerly, allowing herself to get tangled up in him and forget about everything else for a little while. She'd worry about all that later. For now, she wrapped herself around him, his scent enveloping her, and he pulled away a little to be able to look into her eyes.

"Fae," he breathed.

"Mmh?"

He took a deep breath. "I love you."

She studied his face, looked deep into his bright blue eyes to try and discern his emotions, gauging if he was sincere or not. Just like last time, however, she saw no indication that he was lying. That didn't necessarily mean he was telling the truth – maybe he was simply feeling something else, some kind of affection that he was confusing with love – but before she could analyse it further, she found herself confessing, "I think I might love you, too."

His eyes lit up, a smile breaking through on his face that nearly took her breath away, and he tried to kiss her again. She pressed her finger to his lips, however, stopping him.

"That doesn't mean I don't still believe you'll walk away," she warned him. "And it certainly doesn't mean I think it'd be a good idea for us to get married, even if you don't walk away. I could never be a princess, Fiyero. I'm not princess material, your people wouldn't accept me, and there are a thousand more reasons why us having anything more than a short-term fling would be a bad idea."

"Less talking," he muttered against her finger. "More kissing."

She rolled her eyes, moving away from him. "You are insufferable."

He gave her a lopsided grin. "It's one of my many qualities."

She huffed, but he drew her closer again, cupping her face with both hands and stealing another kiss before she could protest. Grinning, he twined his fingers in her hair. "I told you I was still working on all that," he said. "We'll find a way. I have a plan, you know. First, I will need to convince you that you really do love me. After that, I'll find a way to free you and take you out of here without you murdering me because I damaged your pride and without Morrible being able to do anything about it. Only then am I going to work on the whole royalty issue. Okay?"

She had to smile a little. "I guess that does sound like a plan. You're certainly persistent."

"I never give up," he informed her. "I'm probably even more stubborn than you are. It drove my parents crazy, my grandparents, my teachers, and even the royal advisors; and I can tell you now that it's going to drive you crazy, too."

She smirked. "I have no trouble believing that." A part of her wanted him to be stubborn and persistent about this. A part of her wanted him to not give up on her, no matter how hard she pushed.

But no. It couldn't happen. She had to stop this – she'd already let it go too far.

"So Morrible knows about us?" Fiyero asked, changing the subject. "She charged me more than double the price tonight, but she also told me I could stay here the entire night this time."

Elphaba bit her lip. She knew Morrible had only let him stay all night so that she could get more money out of him while he was still here and so that Elphaba would have more time to break things off with him, but she also knew that she wouldn't be able to do it. Not tonight, anyway. Morrible hadn't really given her an ultimatum and Lulu wasn't yet planning on leaving, anyway, so she just needed a little more time. "Yeah. She knows," she said timidly. "She saw and overheard us after our walk the other day."

Fiyero stretched out on the bed. "Thank Oz she doesn't really seem to mind as long as I keep paying," he muttered.

Elphaba chose not to reply to that, having no idea what she could say.

Fiyero asked her about what she was reading and her face lit up as she started telling him about the book she'd picked up from the library, the story and the characters, and how much she loved it.

"Have I ever properly thanked you for that library card?" she asked him and he laughed.

"Only about a thousand times."

She gave him a sheepish grin. "Well... I'll just thank you again," she said. "it was the best gift ever. I've been able to read more books in the past few weeks than in the year before that, not having to go to the library all the time to read there."

He smiled, but then grew serious again. He crossed his legs. "Fae?"

She stretched out on the bed on her stomach, her feet up in the air as she propped her chin up on her hands. "Yes?"

"I've been wanting to ask you something."

When he didn't continue, she raised an eyebrow at him inquiringly.

He took a breath. "Why do you all stay here?" he asked bluntly. "Why don't you just run away?"

She blinked at him.

"I mean," he continued, "of course you need money to provide for yourself once you're out of here, but why not take the money you have saved so far and run? Why wait until Morrible lets you go once you're twenty-five?"

Elphaba smiled a little sadly. "Don't you think the thought never crossed our minds?" She shook her head. "It's a simple question with a simple answer, Fiyero. We don't have any money," she said. "Morrible keeps it all locked away for us. We can ask for small portions of it to buy ourselves something when we want to, but she'll never give us our entire savings until we're twenty-five. She keeps it all very neatly written down in a book – what we have earned, what we have spent, what she took for her own, and what we will then have left to use for ourselves. It's her way of controlling us. One of us can only go if she decides to let us – otherwise we're stuck."

"Oh," he said, disappointed. He supposed he hadn't thought of that, but he now remembered her mentioning something about Delani having gotten hold of her money despite Morrible keeping it locked away. "I was just thinking about ways for you to get out of here, and then I thought about this... but of course you already thought of that first."

She gave him a little grin. "Don't worry, Yero, I know you're new to this whole thinking thing," she teased.

He shot her a dirty look, which she countered with an innocent smile, showing off her dimples and melting him in an instant. He sighed irritably and then launched himself at her, tickling her sides, making her squirm and shriek as she tried to get away from him. Someone pounded on the wall, which made them stop instantly, and a woman's voice shouted for them to "Keep it down!".

Elphaba and Fiyero shared a look and then burst out laughing.

"Milla," Elphaba said, still giggling as she rolled onto her back, gasping for air. "Sweet Oz, she must think we've really got things going in here."

Fiyero snorted a laugh and fell down on the bed beside her. Their laughter died away and he looked at her, studying her face. She turned her head to look back at him and they remained that way for a brief while before Elphaba tentatively leaned in a little and kissed him.

He was a little surprised at that. She'd never initiated a kiss before – not really – and he was happy with this new development, because it felt like it was another of those tiny steps in the right direction. He kissed her back eagerly, leaning over her a little in order to be able to better reach her lips.

He'd love to do more with her than just kissing, but he wouldn't dare suggest it or try to make a move in that direction. He knew how skittish she was, how afraid that he only wanted her for that, and he didn't. He'd never wanted sex for any other reason than for fun or pleasure, but it didn't feel that way with Elphaba. It just felt like he wanted to know her, all of her, inside and out, and to be with her in every possible way. He inwardly groaned at his own cheesy thoughts. One more of those and he'd make himself sick.

It was true, though, he thought as he kissed her, and then he stopped thinking at all because kissing wasn't an activity that required thinking and it was, in fact, much more enjoyable if he just focused on the kissing and not on the stupid thoughts running around in his head.

As usual, they kissed and talked for a while and Elphaba eventually changed into her nightgown and curled up in his arms, drifting off to sleep with him not far behind. It was nice to be able to sleep with her like this without having to worry about Morrible finding them or kicking him out at three, he thought drowsily before sleep claimed him as well. He just hoped the old fish didn't have anything else up her sleeve.

Poor Fiyero. He has no idea.

I'll be leaving for London early Tuesday morning, so I'll post chapter 14 on Monday and chapter 15 on Saturday. I'm sure you'll be happy to know I won't leave you on a cliffy, haha.

Guest: We're going to try to see Wicked (of course), Les Mis, Matilda, and Phantom of the Opera :).