AN: This is a weird time to bring this up, but we don't have an official name for a Glinda-Boq pairing. And yes, this is really weird because I don't even plan on usinga Glinda-Boq pairing in THIS story, so why I'm mentioning it here is only because I was reading someone's review who didn't know what to call it... Okay, guys, link to my special Wicked forums is in my profile. Thankgoodness... I'll start a discussion.

Chapter Fifty: Old Scars and New Ideas

He ran his fingers along the line of her cheek later, as she slept. Glinda had been by, meaning to check and see if Elphie was all right (she'd obviously known something had been going on) and had smiled when she'd opened the door and found Fiyero holding a very faintly conscious Elphaba, who was smiling slightly in her sleep. She'd made eye contact with him and nodded approvingly, everything that had happened recently understood in one glance. Elphaba had sighed a little and stretched out, but hadn't opened her eyes. They had both held back a laugh.

Fiyero's fingers traced the rivulets along her cheeks that had confused him for a few minutes, until speculation and close following had led the exact line of them to the tear ducts of her eyes down to the sides of her chin. The scars her tears had made as they burned their way down her cheeks were not visible, but they were there. He could feel it under his fingertips, created only by days and weeks of tears. So she had cried for him. Well, he had noticed that her tears came easier now, especially in regards to him. He'd loved Elphaba's strength, but he also cherished the idea that she had fallen apart without him, that her rarely mentioned need of him was real. "Oh, my Fae," he murmured, kissing the indented line gently.

"Mmm," she mumbled, her eyes scrunching more closed and then open. "How are you, my sweet?" Elphaba reached a hand up to touch his face and he took it in his and kissed it, causing her to giggle.

"I'm doing pretty darn good, I think. I'm lying in bed with my beautiful wife, who loves me, and we don't have to get up for another few hours, at least I think we don't. Unless there's a storm making it so dark, it's still nighttime." He observed. "But I am a bit curious."

"You are?" She smiled. "What about?"

He settled down next to her, keeping their eyes level. "Well, Fae," he said, propping his head up in a hand, "why didn't you tell me everything right after I'd woken up?"

The smiled dimmed a bit and she shifted in bed. "I'm not going to lie. A big part of it was that I thought I could get away with it and you'd never have to know. But the other part was the fact that I didn't want to do that to you all over again, cause you all of that heartache when you'd already faced it once, whether or not you remembered."

He nodded. "That's reasonable enough. I just thought that, knowing you, and how guilt tends to eat away at you, and how you pride yourself on keeping the truth where it needs to be, you would've said something earlier."

"I guess I'm a bit more selfish than you think, my love, or more concerned for your feelings… or both. Either way it was some fear of losing you that made my decision, and there was no changing that." She took her hand out of his and adjusted her position, her head cradled in the curve of his neck. "Just the few days when I'd woken without you holding me so desperately tight made me nervous, and I couldn't just live like that. I had to crawl into the sick bed with you at nights, actually."

"You did? And you admit to it?" He kissed the top of her head and wrapped his arms around her, loving the intimacy of the smell of her hair, the feel of her bare skin against his – even in a non-sexual way. Fiyero hadn't realized how much he'd missed these small familiarities that came after or during lovemaking. He'd been too busy trying to avoid the lure of her body altogether.

"I do. And I won't take it back. I couldn't sleep well, otherwise. It's true." She snuggled into him more, brushing her chin against his lower shoulder and chest. "I love you, Fiyero. I always have. No matter what I say or do, never doubt it."

"Hopefully you won't do or say anything that would cause me to doubt it again." He replied. "But even so, even if you did, I do believe I'd still love you. That doesn't stop. I should be angry with you right now. I should've yelled and turned you away, but I couldn't help but make love to you and hold you. I need this, and I need you."

"I need you, too," she informed him again, "I really do."

The school year started up again under tense circumstances. Elphaba had written a letter to Kalendrio, of course, and told him that Fiyero knew everything that had happened. She'd also insisted that Drienna continue attending the school. Thus, Fiyero insisted not only on coming right after school would be let out, but at least half an hour before. Elphaba knew this would create an unwanted reaction in the children, but she couldn't argue with him. He had a right to want to be there, and she didn't mind him. The only thing she could do was tell him to not let the children see him and to behave if Kalendrio happened to come to pick Drienna up, which he did.

Fiyero had come in through the back door of the schoolhouse, unnoticed by any of the children. When Elphaba had dismissed the children, he'd come out of the shadows only slightly so she knew he was there. She'd smiled at him and hugged him lovingly when there were only a few kids left. It was then that Kalendrio came to get Drienna.

"Hey, Elphaba…" He trailed off, seeing Fiyero standing just behind her, her hand in his. "Um…"

Elphaba tensed, feeling Fiyero's grip on her hand tighten so much she thought she'd lose circulation. "Relax love," she murmured from the side of her mouth, "please." She squeezed his hand and, staying where she was, told Kalendrio, "Drienna's doing wonderfully."

Glinda, who'd been half-teaching (they were beginning a routine where she would teach one day and Elphaba the next, giving Elphaba time to spend the day with Fiyero every other day, but they hadn't gotten to the point where Elphaba thought Glinda could take the children for an entire day yet), walked up to Kalendrio and stuck her hand out. "Kalendrio, I take it?"

Kalendrio stared at her for a moment, unable to understand, perhaps, or entranced, confused, possibly something else. It was unreadable. He then looked to Elphaba for an explanation.

"Kalendrio," Elphaba began, still holding Fiyero's hand behind her, "this is Glinda, a good friend of mine. She's going to be taking over every other day, at least for the first half of the year. We all agreed," she caught Fiyero's eye for a moment, "that it was best for me not to spend so much time here."

Kalendrio nodded. "Probably," he said quietly. "Look, Prince Fiyero, I'm sorry."

"Don't," Elphaba said quickly. "Wait until it's blown over. Not now, Kalendrio."

Fiyero didn't even look at Kalendrio; he only stared down at Elphaba, watching her as if he couldn't take his eyes from her – as if he never had. She turned to him with an apology in her eyes and he just kept looking at her, holding her with his eyes. Elphaba smiled at him comfortingly. "Maybe we'd better head back."

"You two head home," Glinda decided on whim, "I'll stay here. I think I'd like to meet a few of the parents that are still around."

"But there's barely anyone else…" Fiyero began.

Elphaba elbowed him in the ribs. "Yero!" She dragged him outside and then said, "I think she just wants to know about him, all right? She knows what happened, of course she's curious."

Fiyero shrugged. "Whatever. You're with me and that's all that really concerns me at the moment."

"I'm glad you care if something happens to Glinda," Elphaba said sarcastically, leaning into him.

"You know what I meant, Fae."

"I know." He wrapped an arm around her waist and walked with her in silence, contentedly. When they reached the Palace, they sat together in the study reading and cuddling. He ran his fingers through her hair when he became bored of his book, but she was still enthralled by whatever she was reading.

She turned a page, looked up at him and smiled sweetly. There was some talking downstairs and she muttered, "Sounds like Glinda's back."

"Do we have to get up and greet her?" Fiyero asked, too comfortable to want to move.

"She'll find us. We can be lazy. I don't want to stir even the least bit. All I want is just to stay here, with you. I wish I'd known a long time ago that something so simple is really all I needed. But I know now." She kissed him and went back to her book.

"What in Oz are you reading that's so interesting?" He stole the book from her and examined it. Fiyero raised his eyebrows at her.

"I was curious!" She claimed, holding her hands in the air like a robber caught red-handed. "And I only meant to… with you… I mean…"

Fiyero grinned and opened the book. "I think I want to read this, now, too. I didn't know we had this sort of thing in the castle."

"You never looked. At least you never looked at a time when it was actually possible for you to possess it. It was pretty high up, anyway. I had to practically climb the shelves to reach it."

"You were that insistent on it, were you?" He chided.

"Yero!" Elphaba groaned, burying her face in her hands.

Fiyero pulled her even closer. "So, what do you say we read this together?" He flipped through some pages. "Oh, look! Diagrams."

"I was saving that part for a time when you weren't right next to me." Elphaba muttered. She tried to crawl out of his grasp but he had her too tight. "Yero, no. It makes me uncomfortable to read this with you." Pathetically, she covered her eyes.

"Yet you were fine by yourself?"

"I guess. I don't know. Don't do this to me." She pleaded. "Besides, Glinda's coming up. If she sees us reading that, she'll never get over it."

"Fine." Fiyero closed the book. "But I'm definitely going to be reading this as my 'before bed' reading." He quickly placed it under a pillow as the door opened.

"You know, Elphaba," Glinda said, looking rather excited, "even if he was willing to let you cheat on Fiyero, your friend is quite interesting."

Fiyero and Elphaba looked at each other and gulped.