Chapter Twenty-Seven: Immunity

Fiyero was constantly watching Elphaba sleep. He couldn't move much to adjust his view, since she often fell asleep on his chest, but he enjoyed watching her contented form breathe calmly. She seemed most at peace, and happier recently than she had been. Her green chest rose and fell with her breath, and he kissed her forehead. Every morning, he would do this. These were his most cherished moments, aside from the moments making love. Perhaps these still were his most treasured moments, nonetheless. There was love here, still, even if it wasn't being communicated completely physically. It was moments like these, watching her, whether awake or sleeping, that he realized how much he loved and needed her.

The summer had begun and Fiyero's parents had welcomed them home gladly. They had reminded Fiyero that he wasn't expected to begin his duties as soon-to-be king for at least a year, and Fiyero had known that. He looked forwards to spending an easy year with Elphaba. She'd already had trouble adjusting from their lonely life at Shiz to life with the servants serving everything. But she'd become contented and they were spending their days together, doing whatever they pleased. At nights, they'd often make love and fall asleep soon afterwards, able to sleep until whenever they wished.

Elphaba murmured something in her sleep and nudged Fiyero. He looked down at her expectantly, but she was back to being sound asleep. With a loving arm, he pulled her closer and pressed his lips to her ear. "Elphaba. It's time to get up now."

"Really? I thought we could get up whenever we wanted." She teased. Nonetheless, she stood up and stretched, giving Fiyero a look because he was still in bed. "What?"

He stared at her and a grin snuck into his features. "I love looking at you."

"That's nice, but I'm getting dressed now." She moved towards the closet. "I, for one, don't see why you like looking at me so much."

"I'm not even going to start." Fiyero was too used to Elphaba's argument of her looks. He made sure to tell her every evening that she was beautiful, but he wouldn't press it further; he knew better. "You know what I think."

"I'm well aware. But you're my beautiful diamond boy," she reminded him gently, pausing and going back to the bed, sitting on top of the covers casually.

He was amused at how comfortable she was with him. Somehow, even though they were married, he'd expected her to be more private, more reticent. Perhaps he had changed that much of her. "I'm not a boy, Fae."

"No, you're right. You are a man, at twenty-one. And I would know better than anyone." She smiled widely.

He laughed lightly. "Fae, you are so crass sometimes."

"That wasn't crass!"

"It was… well… very blunt."

"No. I never said why I would know better. That would be blunt. I can tell you why, if you'd like."

"That's okay, I can guess."

"I'm glad you're confident in yourself." She replied. With a quick kiss, she rose again and opened the doors to the closet. "Come get dressed."

"All right." He looked dejected, but stood up anyway and joined Elphaba. He was reaching for something when her body slammed against the door. "Fae!"

"Nothing. Just… feeling a bit faint." She looked up weakly, now sprawled on the floor. "I'm fine." She reached a hand out for Fiyero to help her up.

He bent down and scooped her completely in his arms. "Are you all right?"

"Fine." She smiled. "Thank you, though."

He put her on the bed. "You're not fine. You collapsed."

"I didn't collapse. I just fell. I'm okay. Really." She stared up and him and he roughly shoved her back down in the bed. "What are you doing?"

"Stay here. I don't want you getting up if you might fall down again. I'll get us breakfast in bed."

"Get dressed first. You look ridiculous."

He shook his head, but obeyed what she asked. It couldn't hurt. He flung open the door and screamed, "Mom!"

She laid back and groaned. "I can't believe you're doing this. I'm not a baby."

"I'll take care of you. Remember, that was part of the marriage vow?"

"I take care of you. You don't need to care for me, I can do it myself." She argued, sitting up.

"Lie down!" He commanded harshly.

She backed off. "What's wrong with you?"

"I'm worried, all right?" He turned towards the doorway and found himself face to face with his mother. "I think she's sick. Can you have one of the servants bring us breakfast in bed? Can you help me? She pretty much crumpled to the ground two minutes ago."

"I did not crumple!" She snapped. "I fell."

"She fell into the door. She claimed she felt a bit faint."

"You need to leave it alone! I'm fine! Stop overreacting…" Elphaba stood angrily. All at once, darkness came in from all sides and she lost her footing, only to wake a minute later on the blankets of her bed with Fiyero hovering over her. "I swear I'm fine."

"My mom went to get one of the servants. You need food." He was simple. "I'm sorry."

"Sorry for what?"

"Letting you get up. Sometimes you don't know what's best for yourself."

"How can you tell me that?" She glared, finding her head to heavy to lift.

"Look where you are. If I hadn't caught you… The floors are hard, Fae. You could have killed yourself."

She looked over the side of the bed and her head spun. "I wasn't sick until you accused me of it."

"No, you were better at hiding it when you were half asleep." He sighed and sat down next to her. "I'm going to take care of this, I promise. My mom wanted me to ask, though. There's no way you could be pregnant?"

"Not at all. I bled last week. Besides, I'm still taking that medicine. We agreed we didn't want kids until we'd had a nice, simple year. Right?"

"Right. I was just making sure. I wouldn't have a problem if you were pregnant. You know that, right?"

"I'm well aware. You tell me that often enough, Fiyero, that I'm not going to hide it when it does happen."

There was a knock on the door and Fiyero's mother peeked in. "Is she up?"

"I'm fine." Elphaba answered.

"I saw you fall. It wasn't pretty. We need to get you to a doctor immediately."

"Why? It's just a little dizziness. Everyone gets sick occasionally."

"You haven't been immunized for Vinkus diseases, have you?"

"What?"

"There are diseases out here that we're immune to, but people from, let's say Munchkinland or Gillikin or the city aren't."

"Like what? The magic dizzy sickness?"

"Like the fatal Vinkus flu."