A/N: Okay, so I made this more romantic and angsty than it used to be. Hope you like it.

I'm working on a "Lost and Found" update, I SWEAR! But I'm having the most horrendible case of writer's block. Other than that, blame the extreme delay on babysitting and my new job, which between them have consumed every last clock-tick of what was once my free time.

Disclaimer: If I only owned the rights…

Oh, what a day! I really should be in bed asleep, but after everything that happened today, my mind is racing too quickly to let me doze off. Maybe if I write it all down, I'll be able to get some sleep.

It all started this morning before Doctor Dillamond's class. Today Galinda refused to let me out of the room unless I put on a different outfit than the one I usually wear. I pled, argued, and threatened, but she wouldn't budge. I, for my part, absolutely refused to wear what she had picked out for me. (You don't want to know. Trust me.) In the end, we reached a compromise – she let me wear my sleeveless dress, but I had to put on a white jacket over it that she gave me. Then she insisted upon fixing my hair, and used the pink flower barrette she gave me the night of the dance. She even talked me into letting her put some blush and that awful lip stuff on me. I know now that it's actually called lip gloss, but I just call it disgusticified. (Recognize that word from Galinda? She once used it to describe me.)

Anyway, much to my surprise, I was feeling a sight more confident than usual when I walked into Doctor Dillamond's classroom. I set my books down and tossed my hair like Galinda taught me, just in case anyone happened to notice. "Toss, toss," I repeated quietly to myself.

And as it turned out, someone did happen to notice. I turned, and there was Fiyero, watching me, the corners of his mouth turning up. "What?" I demanded.

"Nothing." He shook his head, chuckling. "It's just…you've been Galinda-fied." Then he lowered his voice and grew serious. "You don't have to do that, you know," he said softly.

Just for a clock-tick or two, our eyes locked. And the way he looked at me, just for that moment, I could almost have believed that there was a brain behind those gorgeous blue eyes after all.

Then Doctor Dillamond bustled in even more briskly than usual, without the usual apology for his lateness. "All right, take your seats, class," he began. "I have something important to say, and very little time." He heaved a deep sigh as he looked around the room. "This is my last day here at Shiz. I am no longer permitted to teach. I want to thank you for sharing your enthusiasm, your essays, however feebly structured, and even, on occasion – " he cast a quick glance at me, " – your lunch."

Just then, Madame rushed in, looking terribly distressed. "Doctor Dillamond! I'm so dreadfully sorry."

I hurried over to her. "Madame, we've got to do something!" I begged her.

"Miss Elphaba, they can take away my job, but I will continue speaking out!" Doctor Dillamond promised me. Two uniformed scientists entered the room and each grabbed him by an arm. "They are not telling you the whole story! Remember that, class! Remember that!" The scientists began to drag him towards the door. In another clock-tick, he was gone. Just like that.

"Doctor Dillamond!" I stared after them, dumbfounded. Then I turned to the other students. "Well, are you all just going to sit here in silence?" I demanded.

None of them answered. Some cast their gazes down to the floor; others seemed to suddenly find their textbooks utterly absorbing; still more let their eyes rove around the room – but no one looked at me. Finally Madame put a hand on my shoulder. "Miss Elphaba, there is nothing we can do," she said gently. "Please, take your seat."

As I dejectedly obeyed her, a new professor – a human professor – entered. He began a pompous and utterly nonsensical lecture on how all the laws restricting Animal rights actually represent progress in Oz. To demonstrate his point, he pulled aside a cloth that was covering a small table he had wheeled in, revealing a sort of box made of iron bars. Trapped inside was a tiny Lion cub. I began to feel sick to my stomach.

"This is called a cage," he explained smugly. "This remarkable innovation is actually for the Animal's own good."

Unable to help myself, I shot to my feet and took a few angry steps towards him. "If it's so good for him, then why is he trembling?" I asked sarcastically.

"He's just…excited to be here, that's all." The professor gave me a disgustingly fake smile, then looked down and angrily smacked the bars of the cage with a pair of metal tongs he had taken from a compartment on the side of the cart. I hated to give up without more of a fight, but I was afraid that if I kept on, he might take it into his head to punish me by hurting the Cub, and I wasn't about to let that happen. I reluctantly made my way back to my seat and sat down, still fuming. "Now, as I was saying, one of the benefits of caging a Lion cub – or any Animal, for that matter – while he's young is that he will never, in fact, learn how to speak."

I stiffened in my seat. "Oh, no…"

The man gestured for the class to gather around the cage. I was dimly conscious that the lecture was continuing, but at the moment, that was the last thing on my mind. Out of the corner of my eye I caught sight of Fiyero sitting next to me. (It had been the only open seat in the room when we sat down at the beginning of class, or I'm sure he wouldn't have been there.) Apparently he wasn't terribly interested in the latest developments in modern technology, either.

As everyone pushed to the front of the classroom to get a better look at the Cub in the cage, I jumped up again and began to pace. "Can you imagine a world where Animals are kept in cages and they never learn to speak?" I asked Fiyero, for lack of anyone better to whom I could vent my frustration. His only response was to give me an odd look.

"Now, he may seem a bit agitated," the professor said just then, his smile stiffening, "but that's easily remedied…" He produced a giant hypodermic syringe filled with some green liquid.

I looked at Fiyero in horror. "What should we do?" I wondered aloud, trying not to panic.

He raised an eyebrow. "Um, excuse me… 'we'?"

Disgusted by his utter apathy, I turned my back to him and tried to figure something out. I thought of poor Doctor Dillamond, dragged off to who-knows-where just because someone believes that Animals should be seen and not heard. And this poor little Lion cub, doomed to a mute life of scientific experimentation unless I intervened. But what could I possibly do? I felt completely helpless. It made me so angry…! Exasperated, I shook my head. "Well, somebody has to… do something!!!"

Suddenly, sparks seemed to fly everywhere. There was a huge crash. Everyone sprang away from the cage and started jumping around crazily. Startled, I turned away… to find Fiyero staring at me, his eyes wide.

"What's happening?" he demanded frantically.

"I don't know," I told him, feeling as scared as he looked. "I just…got mad, and…"

"All right. Just don't move." He held up both hands. "And don't get mad at me." Fiyero quickly made his way through the maze of wildly moving people and grabbed the caged Lion cub. "Well, are you coming?"

I nodded wordlessly, and we ran together from the classroom.

"Careful! Don't shake him!" I scolded as we fled.

"I'm not!" protested Fiyero.

"We can't just let him loose anywhere, you know. We have to find someplace safe…"

"Don't you think I realize that? You must think I'm really stupid or something!"

I considered this. "No, not really stupid," I finally decided.

After a moment or two, Fiyero spoke again. "Why is it that every time I see you, you're causing some sort of commotion?"

"I don't cause commotions. I am one."

"Well, that's for sure!" he muttered under his breath. Or at least, he probably thought he did. But I still heard him.

"Oh, so you think I should just keep my mouth shut! Is that what you're saying?" I asked indignantly.

"No, I'm – "

But now my blood was up. "Do you think I want to be this way?" I interrupted him. "Do you think I want to care this much? Do you think I don't know how much easier my life would be if I didn't?"

"Do you ever let anyone else talk?" wondered Fiyero, sounding at his wit's end.

The question startled me out of my tirade, and I realized that I had been rambling, and that he had been trying for several clock-ticks to get a word in edgewise. "Oh. Sorry," I apologized a bit sheepishly. "But can I just say one more thing?" Fiyero rolled his eyes, but nodded permission. "You could've just walked away back there."

"So?"

"So…no matter how shallow and self-absorbed you pretend to be…"

"Excuse me, there's no pretense here," interrupted Fiyero, giving me a disdainful look. "I happen to be genuinely self-absorbed and deeply shallow."

I thought about that for a clock-tick or two. Then I shook my head. "No you're not. Or you wouldn't be so unhappy."

For an instant he stared at me in surprise, and a strange expression crossed his face – almost as if I had uncovered a truth about him that Fiyero didn't like to admit, even to himself. But he quickly masked it with a short, uncomfortable-sounding laugh. "Fine. If you don't want my help…" He turned and started to walk off.

"No, no, I do!" Thinking only to keep him there with me, to prevent him from leaving me alone to deal with the stolen Lion cub, I reached out and caught him by the hand, stopping him in his tracks.

And then something amazing happened. It was like someone had switched on an electric current between us. I've never felt a connection so strong with anyone before in my life. I looked down at our hands in surprise, then up at Fiyero – and found that he was looking right back at me, an expression on his face that exactly mirrored what I was feeling. We stared at each other for several agonizingly long moments. Then I finally released my grip on his hand and looked away, trying to keep from blushing. (I don't think I succeeded…)

We went on in silence a little longer until we were on the edge of the woods that surround Shiz. "This looks like a good spot," Fiyero suggested.

I agreed with a nod. "He'll be safe here." Fiyero set the cage down, and I knelt beside it to peer at the cub. "Oh, poor little thing, his heart is racing! I didn't mean to frighten him…"

"What did you mean to do?" asked Fiyero quietly. He knelt down beside me and fixed me with an intense look. "And why was I the only one you didn't do it to?"

I had been asking myself the same question, but with him so close to me, looking at me like that, I suddenly found that I couldn't form a coherent response. So instead of answering, I turned my attention to the cub. When I glanced back up at Fiyero, I noticed a smudge of red across his cheek. "You're bleeding," I realized, not sure why I was so concerned.

"I am?" He raised a hand to his face near where I had indicated, and then checked his fingertips for any sign of blood.

I nodded. "It must have scratched you."

We were now looking directly into each other's eyes. "Yeah," Fiyero said softly. "Or maybe it scratched me…or something." We sat like that for a moment or two. Then, very slowly and hesitantly, I reached up to wipe away the blood. I ran my fingertips across his cheek, and for some strange reason I had the strongest urge to let them rest there. Suddenly I was terribly embarrassed, though I wasn't sure why, and I pulled my hand back at the same moment he moved slightly away from me. We both stood quickly, and I noticed that Fiyero seemed as flustered as I was. "I'd better get to safety…" he began, and moved towards the cage just as I was taking the exact same path to move away from it.

We stood face to face for a clock-tick, and then I quickly stepped aside with a short, awkward laugh, gesturing for him to go first. "Yes, of course."

"I mean the cub…get the cub to safety," he corrected himself hastily as he picked up the cage.

"Right."

Fiyero trekked off into the trees to set the cub free, and I stood looking after them until they were out of sight. Then I headed back to class, where I found it strangely difficult to focus on anything. I saw Fiyero a little while later while I was eating lunch, and he gave me an almost imperceptible nod, which I took to mean that the Lion cub had been successfully released.

I didn't let myself think about the time I had spent with Fiyero for the rest of the day. But now, sitting here alone in my room, I can't help but remember it. The way he looked at me…he didn't seem to see Elphaba the weird green girl, or Elphaba the freak with strange powers. To him, I was just… Elphaba. Just me. And I can still feel the connection that seemed to form between us when our hands touched. And I can't stop thinking about that strange impulse I had to let my hand linger when I touched his cheek. And looking into his eyes was everything I had dreamed…

Sweet Oz, what am I saying?! I must have lost my mind! I've got to get a hold of myself. Fiyero and Galinda are a couple, as everyone at Shiz knows. There's no way he'd choose me over someone like her. She's everything a girl is supposed to be – pretty, rich, popular…and not green. I'm just deluding myself if I think I'll ever get him to notice me again.

I'm sure it's all for the best. I mean, Galinda would probably become unbearable (as if she isn't already!) if I stole her alleged future husband. As if that would ever happen. Still, I realized today that Fiyero has more of a brain than I previously gave him credit for. Now I find myself wishing for the opportunity to find out just how much of a brain he truly has. And I wouldn't be at all averse to getting another chance to stare into those amazing blue eyes of his, either.

Oh, who am I trying to fool? I can't let myself start wishing like that. It's far too dangerous. Wishing only leads to heartache. One more dream that will never come true. I wasn't born to get everything I want, like Galinda seems to have been. It's no use wishing for something that you know will never happen no matter how hard you want it. I'm certainly no stranger to wanting things I can never have; it's the story of my life… so why does this hurt so much?

Ordinarily I could ask Galinda about something like this. She's an expert on dealing with boys; she'd be able to tell me what to do. Except, of course, I can't go to Galinda, because I mustn't ever let her find out that I've fallen hard for her boyfriend. She'd never speak to me again if she knew. No, I have to deal with this just like I do with every other problem I have: alone. Sometimes I wonder if I'm destined to be alone forever.

Oh, curse these tears. So embarrassing. I'd better stop before they smear the ink.