AN: COME ON REVIEWERS! I'm WAITING. Okay, maybe it's my fault because I'm updating so darn quickly. Anyway, as you can see, Elphie and Yero's problems are not quite over. I love how paranoid some of you are getting. Don't worry, there shall be no non-Fiyeraba sex. End of story.

Chapter Forty-One: Just Making Sure

Fiyero looked at the clock. Finally. He could leave now and head out to the schoolhouse. Normally he had no problem with Elphaba's two-hour rule, but today he was the slightest bit nervous. She'd been coming straight home to him for several days now, and the fact that she hadn't made him worry that something had stopped her. He supposed he was being foolish, but the thought of anything happening to her made his head spin and his world look bleak. But now it was a quarter after four and he could see her and make sure for himself that she was fine in a mere fifteen minutes, the length of time it took him to walk to the schoolhouse.

He hadn't asked why she was coming home so quickly the past few days. Every time he'd come near bringing it up, she'd lead him away. It did amuse him that, when he said something she didn't want to hear, instead of turning cold, she became more loving, hoping to take his mind away from anything more on the subject. She knew it worked as much as he knew she was doing it. But he'd never stopped her. The last thing he needed was for something to go wrong between them.

Eventually, he'd reasoned that she came home to him right away because she wanted to more than she had before, after their talk. It was a wonderful thought, and he spoiled himself by relishing in it and believing it. She'd let him think it, too. Elphaba had encouraged it. Even now, he was still grasping it tightly, firmly refusing to let it go.

He heard voices and laughter from even outside, and noted that the lights were on. In some ways, this relieved him, because Elphaba had to be in there, and safe, if she was laughing. But the voices were put to a sudden halt as he opened the door.

Elphaba looked towards him and smiled. "My hero," she said, "I thought you'd never show. You're two minutes late."

He laughed at her comment, but it didn't stop him from thinking he'd walked in on a conversation full of happiness and giddiness that he wasn't allowed to be a part of. "I guess thinking too much while I walk slows me down."

"Don't hurt yourself thinking to hard, dear." She teased.

Kalendrio, the only other person in the schoolhouse, laughed.

"Elphaba," Fiyero said quietly, but firmly, "please do not talk to me that way in front of anyone else."

Elphaba nodded slowly, a little disturbed. She rose to leave and then turned to let Kalendrio out the door. Suddenly a little awkward and stiff, she shook his hand and said, "It's good to talk with you again. I'll see you when you come get Drienna tomorrow."

"Talk to him again?" Fiyero asked, confused.

Kalendrio and Elphaba looked at each other for a moment and then Elphaba said, "He's been sick for a few days."

Kalendrio agreed quickly, "Yes, not doing too well for a little while." He bowed his head at them and left.

Fiyero watched Elphaba clear off her desk, following her movements with his eyes. He loved the way her hair – though it was braided at the moment – contrasted her skin. Her voice snapped him out of his slight trance. "Ready to go, darling?"

"Of course," he took her hand as he opened the door. "So, the reason you've been coming home so early the past few days was because Kalendrio was sick?"

"Yes." She said.

"Oh." He tried to keep the disappointment out of his voice. There would be no more delusions for him.

She heard it. Seeing the hurt in his eyes, she added, "That and the fact that I like spending time with you."

But Fiyero was not that hopelessly set on convincing himself that she was that attached to him. "I know." He squeezed her hand.

"Oh, damn it! Don't start this now." Elphaba yanked her hand away.

"What?"

"I know you were hoping that me coming home to you all the time was a permanent behavior and I'm sorry it wasn't. I love you, Fiyero, but I need other human adult contact. Can't you understand?"

He nodded, took her hand again and pretended to be looking around. Fiyero was afraid she'd see he didn't quite think everything was right, and he knew how she'd react to that. But mentioning that she'd also acted very odd the past few days wasn't going to get him anywhere. Why had she come running home, looking so distraught, so hurt, early that week? Why had she thrown herself into his arms and begged and pleaded with him not to ask? These thoughts drove him mad, knowing that there had to be something more and she just wouldn't tell him. After all, if it had only been that Kalendrio hadn't been around, why didn't she want him asking her about it?

Elphaba seemed happy enough, though. She played with his fingers idly and hummed as they walked. After a long pause, she spoke. "Yero my hero?"

He looked at her, wondering what she wanted. "What?"

"I've been thinking about having school continue through summer. There's just so much I have to teach them, and…"

Searching desperately for something to stop this, he interrupted, "I thought you wanted Glinda to come out?"

"You'd let me ask?" She looked up hopefully.

Anything to keep her at home and away from Kalendrio, he decided. There was something there he just didn't like. "Of course. I told you I'm not going to try and control you."

She hugged him fiercely. "Thank you."

He smiled down at her and kissed her nose. "Anything for you."

"So… you wouldn't mind if I still continued the school through summer?" She blinked innocently.

"But… Glinda?"

"She could come with during the days. She loves kids."

Well, at least Glinda would be with her and Kalendrio couldn't try anything, Fiyero realized. Resigned, he said, "Whatever you want. I told you."

They were approaching the castle by this point and she stopped him at the door. "I love you." She kissed him intensely and playfully led him up the stairs.

"I thought you were completely opposed to sex before dinner." He commented, watching her undress after she'd closed the bedroom door.

"Not exactly," she smirked. "I'm just opposed to you thinking you can have sex before dinner on whatever days you please. Besides, I'm not that hungry."

Later, when they'd told the servants they wouldn't be down for dinner and had snuck down for a snack when they heard things being cleared up, Fiyero said, "Fae, I need to talk to you about something."

They were both lying comfortably in bed and Elphaba was stretched out next to Fiyero's body under the blanket. "What is it, Yero?"

"First of all, I love how you told me you weren't hungry and then downstairs just now you practically shoveled food into your mouth."

"How could I not be hungry after that?" She teased.

"Good point." He curled up against her and rested his head against her chest, for once. "Second of all," he began, shifting slightly when she began to stroke his cheek and run her hands through the hair at the top of his head, "there's something that's been bothering me. I want you to know I'm not accusing you of anything, Fae."

"What do you mean?"

"I know you wouldn't do anything, but I still don't like Kalendrio. There's something in the way he acts that just makes me nervous."

She pulled the hand on his cheek away and stopped moving the other one through his hair, letting it rest on his forehead. "He's my friend. It's not as if he's going to hurt me."

"That's not necessarily what I'm getting at," he said, and she knows it, too.

"Go on," she sighed.

"Have you ever thought he might try to… touch you?"

She was silent.

"I mean, I know you wouldn't allow him to, but what if he tries to force something on you?"

"I can take care of myself. And he doesn't think of me like that." She responded immediately.

There was a thickness in her voice when she'd denied that the man might have feelings for her. Had he already tried something? No, he couldn't have. Elphaba wouldn't have put up with it and let him still be around her. "If you're sure."

"I am. I'm very sure."