Skin Deep Chapter 9, a wicked fanfic

Skin Deep

Chapter 9

A/N They're here :)

And an extra long one, too :P

He would have thought the three days Yackle had enforced upon him, would pass slowly. Slower than anything, but he was wrong. He never would have thought they'd go by so fast, but with three days left to take care of everything he would leave behind, and he refused to think he would be coming back, there was too much to do.

It was the day he was supposed to leave now. He was supposed to leave in just a few hours and he still hadn't talked to Glinda. He wanted to, he had to, but he couldn't bring himself to do it. He doubted it would be a surprise to her. She knew he wasn't in love with her. But she did expect him to stay with her. Just as he had done for the past years.

He took a deep breath. Glanced around him and knew there was no way around it anymore and no time to postpone it.

He'd made a choice a long time ago.

Now, the time had come to face the consequences.

She kept herself busy for three days. From sunrise to sundown, she kept herself occupied. She prepared more explosives, more potions, more meals. She did what needed to be done, many more things that didn't and took more risks than she had in a long time. Anything and everything to keep her mind off what was happening, what would happen, what could happen.

She told herself she'd leave before he came back. Told herself she'd take off. She was too busy. She didn't have time. She had no wish to see him.

Told Yackle the same thing.

She was lying through her teeth.

She wanted to mean it, she wanted to go. She wanted to want to go.

She wouldn't.

She wouldn't and she knew it. And so did Yackle.

Neither mentioned the Captain of the Guard, the Prince of the Vinkus.

But both had him in mind for three full days.

As he made his way through the streets of the Emerald City, crossing the invisible line between one life and another, fully aware of the choice he was making and feeling both lighter and heavy-hearted because of it, he knew, in reality, that there was big chance she wouldn't be there.

He knew that, but he refused to acknowledge it.

This was what he'd waited for for three years. He couldn't think of any other option than finally looking her in the eye and telling her how he felt. Couldn't think of any other outcome than that he would go with her, wherever she was going.

He wasn't leaving her. Ever again.

He didn't take the time to contemplate what her life might be like, what his life would be like, a life on the run.

He didn't take that time because it didn't matter. It wouldn't change the outcome.

No matter what she did and where she did it.

So she had to be there. She simply had to be.

If not...

If not...well...there could be no 'if not'. There was no room that option.

He came to a halt in front of the worn-down building and put his hand on the doorknob, but couldn't bring himself to open it.

She'd be there.

He told himself over and over again in his head.

She'd be there.

But even as he tried to convince himself, he knew he didn't fully believe it. He couldn't be sure. There might have never been anything between them, except for what he had wanted to happen. He'd been sure that she'd felt something for him back then but years had passed and he was no longer sure, as he stood on the brink of finding out, if maybe he'd just made it up. Maybe it had all been him. Maybe it had been wishful thinking and nothing more.

He would find out tonight.

For the second time that night, he took a deep breath before opening a door.

She stood in the dark and told her heart not to flutter. Her throat not to close up. Her head to remain calm. And failed at all of those.

She'd known for a very long time that she loved Fiyero Tiggular. That she was in love with Fiyero Tiggular. But she'd thought that, after all these years, she'd have more control over it. He'd have less effect.

She thought she'd be stronger.

She wasn't.

She heard the doorknob rattle and nearly ran. Her heart pounding so hard and so fast it made her body shake, her head swim.

The door opened and to her shock, she felt her eyes well up.

Fiyero.

Fiyero.

Oh Oz, what was she going to do now?

She watched him from the shadows. She was glad, once again, that she'd learned to blend into the darkness so well. Oz, he hadn't changed.

Well, he had, actually. She could see that. He'd grown, if that made any sense. He looked older, wiser. There were lines around his eyes, his hair was perfectly in place. His uniform was impeccable. He was... Oz, he was beautiful. She'd always thought so, of course, even when she'd been too intent on disliking him to admit to it, but now that he was right in front of her, after all this time, it struck her all over again. He was absurdly, utterly beautiful.

What could he possibly want from her?

"Hello?"

The sound of his voice, for the first time in years, made her jump a little. Made her shiver with want.

She knew she would have to face him eventually. Couldn't let him stand there, peering into the darkness.

She moved without sound, lit a candle with a flick of her wrist so as not to make a noise and stepped forward.

"Hello Fiyero."

He turned around so fast it made his head spin.

Two words from her and his heart nearly stopped.

Standing in the middle of the room, offense was the best defense after all, staring him straight in the eye was Elphaba.

Elphaba...

Nothing but her name filled his head. As if there were too many thoughts fighting for attention and they all came together in that one word, spilling forward again and again, each time with a different emotion attached to it.

Elphaba.

It took him a moment to remember how to breathe and when he drew one, it was shaky.

He swallowed and wondered for a moment what he was supposed to do now. What was he supposed to say? He knew what he wanted to tell her, but it seemed too strange now, too crazy, too impossible to start spouting off declarations of love to a woman he hadn't seen in three years, hadn't spoken to. A woman he didn't know.

She stood at the far end of the room, on the very edge of the darkness behind her, ready to pull back into it, it seemed.

"Yackle tells me you wished to see me."

She sounded so...business-like. He wanted to step forward, but didn't.

"See you..." He scraped his throat.

"Yes, I wanted to see you."

He could not stop the nervous laughter that erupted at that. He'd wanted to see her, yes. That was the mildest way to put it.

"Would you care to sit down?" She needed space between them. Distance he wouldn't be able to close. She pointed at a chair, as she sat in the one opposite.

"I guess"

She nearly smiled at that. It was such a Fiyero thing to say. A small shrug accompanied it, the way it had always done at Shiz, when she'd suggested they study and he'd had no choice but to agree. Or hadn't wanted to disagree. She'd never been brave enough to wonder.

"So..." Her hands were twitchy, wringing. She was nervous, and she detested herself for it. He saw it too and it made him feel a little better.

"What brings you here, Captain?"

He frowned at that. He hadn't expected that. None of his daydreams and fantasies about this moment had included his job at all. Strange as it may be.

This had always been about them.

Elphaba and Fiyero.

He didn't want anything else. He couldn't deal with anything else.

"Elphaba..."

She looked at him, expectantly. She really wanted to know what he was doing there.

What was she expecting?

He started over.

"Elphaba..."

He couldn't finish it because he didn't know how to. What was he supposed to say?

"Elphaba."

She was losing her patience, he could tell. He'd always been able to tell.

"Elphaba."

He smiled at the sound of her name from his lips. It had been such a long time. And here she was. Right here.

Where had she been all this time?

He couldn't stop the question from tumbling from his lips.

"Where have you been?"

He wanted to know more than anything, but realized this was not the time, nor the most important question.

"Never mind. You can tell me that later." Her eyes widened at that, her eyebrows raised.

He ignored it. He didn't know why she was so surprised. He considered for a moment telling her everything right then but knew immediately that wasn't the best approach. If she was anything like she had been, it would only scare her away. He opted for what he'd always found the most successful tactic; don't give her a choice.

He looked around and plowed on, aware of what he was doing and that it might not work, but also aware that he had to do something, because she clearly wasn't going to, and this was his best shot. Might be his best shot.

"So where are we going?"

Her eyebrows nearly disappeared into her hairline.

"We?"

He was treading on very slippery ice, but there was no turning back.

"Well...yes.." Obviously. Seriously.

She looked at him as if he were a child that needed to be explained something he should already know.

"Fiyero."

He ignored that too. He couldn't afford to get distracted.

"Can that infamous broom of yours carry two?"

He didn't want to hear what she had to say. He didn't want to hear her protest.

"Fiyero..."

He would not let her.

"I'm not sure there's another way so I really hope it does.."

Desperation and panic made her voice pitch.

"Fiyero!"

She'd had enough. Patience had never been her virtue.

He'd always had plenty, especially with her but it was nowhere to be found today.

"Elphaba! You can't honestly believe I am going to let you leave here without me!"

They stared at each other, over a wall of silence, simmering anger and longing.

Too much of the latter.

It was a whirlwind then. He couldn't hold himself back anymore. He leaped forward, to where she stood, shell-shocked, one hand found its way to her face, cupped her cheek, his fingers in her hair. The other landed on her hip, nearly crushing bone as he pulled her to him.

His lips were on hers before she could protest. She would have, had she known, had she seen it coming, had she not wanted it this much. She'd have stopped him, she was sure she would have, but she didn't know how to stop something like this.

Fiyero.

She'd dreamed about this for three years. Longer than that. How was she supposed to stop this? But she knew she had to. She could not allow him to distract her so easily, to sway her from what she knew was the best thing. From what she knew was right. And this wasn't right. This was the Captain of the Gale Force. Her best friend's boyfriend and, if the gossip was anything to go by, soon-to-be-husband.

She managed to pull back. To pull herself away.

He was out of breath and his fingers clenched and unclenched, their grip on her waist so tight it should hurt. She put her hands against his chest to push him away but his grip only tightened further.

"Fiyero. No."

She struggled for breath as she took a few steps backward, straightened her dress so she wouldn't have to look at him.

He watched her retreat. 3, 4, 5 steps away from him, and the panic he felt at that made his chest cramp up.

"Elphaba..."

"No. Fiyero." She took another deep breath. Why was she always out of breath when he was around? Oz...nothing had changed.

"No. We...I need to think. You need to think. For a minute, you need to think of what you're doing."

He looked at her in confusion.

"You think I need to think? The last thing I need to do is think."

The look on her face took him back three years.

"Fiyero. Why are you here?"

"I..." What was he supposed to say? Why was she even asking?

"For you." Of course. He couldn't make it any simpler. It couldn't be any simpler. Wasn't it obvious? Hadn't it always been obvious?

"Why?"

"Well...I..." He wanted to tell her, he did. But the way she looked at him unnerved him. She was scarier than he remembered. More intimidating now that she held all the power. Even if she didn't know it.

"You're Captain now, after all." The time to breathe, his internal struggle, had allowed her to put her defense back up. Full force.

Dammit.

"Elphaba..."

"What do you want from me, Captain?"

She was being nasty and she was doing it on purpose.

She never did have any people skills. He supposed three years spent alone hadn't done much to help.

"Elphaba..."

"You found the Wicked Witch of the West. Congratulations. Now what do you plan to do?"

Oz, she was impossible. He told himself to stay calm. Reminded himself that he loved her. That strangling her wouldn't make him happy, in the end.

"Elphaba. Enough."

His mouth was set. Grim. Determined.

"Enough of that. You know that I'm not here to hurt you."

"I know nothing of the sort, I..."

She never finished her sentence. He didn't let her.

"You know that, or you wouldn't be here. You wouldn't have come."

She said nothing at that, so he knew he was right.

He didn't want to argue. She was so self righteous! Oz, this woman. How had he forgotten about how absolutely insane she drove him?

He took a tentative step forward. Her eyes narrowed but she didn't move. He bit back a grin.

He hadn't forgotten.

He loved that.

"Elphaba..I'm here for you. I came her looking for you, like I've been looking for you, searching for you, for three years. I am Captain, I joined the Gale Force, to find you. Or have a chance at it, at least. To keep track of you, as much as you let me."

Her face didn't change, but something in her eyes did.

"Why?"

"Elphaba.." How many time had he said her name? More in the last ten minutes than in the last three years.

"Why, Fiyero?"

He closed the distance left between them, and looked into her eyes and smiled, gently, innocently, adoringly. His face lit up, sparkles in his blue, blue (oh...too blue) eyes, let his finger trace down her nose.

"Because I love you, Elphie."

He shook his head lightly, as if he couldn't believe that he was there, as if he couldn't believe he still had to explain this to her. He kissed the tip of her nose, then her forehead, then her lips. Softly.

"Why else would I be here? What else would I be doing but look for you?"

His hands cupped his face now, his thumbs stroking her temples, her cheeks and he let his nose touch hers, rubbing teasingly, before he pulled back only the slightest bit to look straight and unflinching, into her eyes.

"I love you."

She stared at him.

What else would I be doing but look for you?

I love you.

The words echoed in her head, danced around, bounced off the walls.

I love you.

Never, not once, had she expected to hear those words.

Dreamed about them, Hoped for them. Wished.

But never expected it.

Not from him.

Especially not from him.

Now here they were. Hanging in the air. Filling the silence between them.

What now?

Oz, Oz, Oz, what now?

She didn't get a chance to think.

He leaned forward, ever so slowly, and kissed her.

Not like the first time. Slower his time. Gentler.

Softly.

Whispers of kisses. His lips hovering over hers, no more than butterfly touches.

It unraveled her.

No one had ever been gentle with her.

No one.

She wasn't sure, wasn't sure at all, how she was supposed to keep herself together.

But he kept going. Kept letting his lips flutter over hers, the tip of his tongue darting to touch hers, but only barely.

She'd read about it, she'd heard about it, but she hadn't known that a kiss...that a kiss could be like this.

Could do all this.

There'd be nothing left of her.

She needed to stop this.

But how?

How was she supposed to pull back, now that his hands had wound themselves into her hair, were gliding through the black, as gently as his kisses were. His fingers running, winding, through it as if he were handling silk.

She was going to pull away, she really was, but his lips found their way to her neck, were working their way up to her ear, one of his hands on her back. Warm. Solid.

Loving.

She lost.

She wound her arms around his neck and pressed her body against his.

He was pretty sure he was dreaming.

This was way too much like on his many fantasies.

He'd felt her internal struggle, the voice that would tell her she shouldn't. He'd known it would be there and he'd felt her fight.

So he felt her give in.

Felt her arms wind around his neck, her body pressing against him, hesitantly.

She still wasn't sure about it.

Wasn't sure she could trust him.

Wasn't sure she wouldn't regret it.

But she gave in.

She was giving it a chance.

Them.

She was giving them a chance.

He took it.

He used the hand he had on her back to press her closer to him, every inch of her body touching his. Let the hand that was playing with her hair, cup her cheek and deepened the kiss.

His lips were still on hers, his hand dropped down from her back to around her waist, when he heard it.

Something.

A door.

He pulled back, panting still, taking only a second to take in her disheveled hair and flushed face and turned towards the door.

It opened the same moment he reached for the handle.

Green and gold glittered.

His men were here.

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