AN: I apologise for the lack of updates on this story and on my crossover. It's just that I learnt I have to resit one of my exams because I failed it (seriously, I had a 5,2 out of ten - if I would have had a 5,5, I would have passed ) and so I have to study a lot... I don't have much time to write in between, and when I do have time inspiration for Always There just seems to come a lot easier than inspiration for my other two fics.

Anyway, I think there's one more chapter and an epilogue after this one, or something.

PocketSevens, the predictions in your review on Ch. 7 are very interesting ^_^. Just keep reading, just keep reading... (Does anyone get that reference?)

Vinkunwildflowerqueen: she hasn't said yes yet... details, details :P.

wickedwitchgirl: why, thank you ^_^.

Ozzie: YES, it's based on Just Like Heaven ;).

Musicgal3: Elizabeth, dearest non-biological twin, I love that you're still trying to break your own 'aww'-record; but you've already broken it ten thousand times and no matter how much I appreciate your 'aww's, they're eating up my review page! :P


Chapter 12. Helped

She doesn't remember anything that happened after the accident.

Nessa's words kept playing over and over in Fiyero's head as he was lying on his bed, staring up at the ceiling.

He didn't care, though.

Okay, that was a lie. He did care. Of course he cared. She didn't remember everything that had happened with the Wizard and Morrible. She didn't remember their kisses, their time together. She didn't remember any of the times she had cried in his arms, or he had cried in hers. She didn't remember their goodbye.

So yes, he did care… but it wasn't important. Not in the light of everything else that had happened. He would get her back. He was sure of that. She didn't remember that they had both admitted their feelings, but those feelings – her feelings – were still there. She still loved him. They just needed to start over – he'd have to convince her that he loved her again, get her to admit that she loved him, too… things weren't lost, he reminded himself. Just… postponed.

The most important thing was that she was alive and that she would be alright, and he was so grateful for that.

He had only seen her once since she had woken up from her coma – the nurses had shooed them out of the hospital for the night - and that one time, she had been asleep. They had kept her at the hospital overnight and they had wanted to keep her for a few more days, just to be able to keep an eye on her a little bit longer. She grew more and more restless, however; and the next morning she had threatened the doctor that if he didn't release her from the hospital right this instant, she would climb out of the window and walk all the way back to Shiz herself.

Nessa had swiftly intervened and pleaded with the doctor to sign her sister's release papers, promising him that she and her friends would make sure that Elphaba would take it easy and not strain herself. The doctor had finally conceded and signed the papers. That had been this morning; Galinda and Nessa were at the hospital right now to pick her up.

He wanted to be around her. He really did. He wanted nothing more than to talk to her, to help her, to hold her, to just… be there for her.

But he couldn't. Because no matter what he was telling himself, no matter how hard he tried to convince himself that it didn't matter that she didn't remember… it did. And he just couldn't bear being around her, talking to her, the way he had before her accident. So much had happened in only twelve days. His whole life had been turned upside down. She had quickly grown to be the most important thing in his life… and now she didn't remember. It would be too painful.

Plus, he realised, he wasn't sure if he'd be able to restrain himself around her; and he was sure that if he were to slip and kiss her, she would run off and never come back.

He sighed and studied the ceiling of his dorm room as if it were the most interesting thing in the world.


"Fabala?" Nessa asked her sister softly. "You really don't remember anything that happened after your accident?"

Elphaba frowned. "No," she said. "Of course not. Nessie, I was in a coma. What in Oz am I supposed to remember?"

"This is horrendible!" Galinda wailed. "Elphie, you don't remember that you were a spirit-ghost-soul thingy?"

Elphaba blinked at her.

"You were still hanging around, or, well, your spirit was," Galinda rambled, "and you could touch things but no-one could see or hear you, no-one but Fiyero. And then you went to the Throne Room in the Emerald Palace, and you discoverated that the Wizard and Morrible were both evil and that they were the ones that were hurting the Animals, and you haunted the Wizard until he fled Oz, and you scared the wits out of Morrible, Elphie! But then she found out it was you and she convinced your father that it was better for him and Nessa to stop your life support, and he did! And Elphie, Fiyero told you he loved you, he loves you, Elphie, and – oh Oz, you should have seen him that day at the hospital!"

"Or before that," Nessa added quietly. "When I came to his dorm room to tell him and you that Father was going to the hospital to sign the papers that allowed the doctor to let you go… he was devastated. It was really awful to watch."

"He wanted to marry you," Galinda said, almost in tears now. "And now you don't remember and it won't happen and that's all just so sad!"

Elphaba was staring at the both of them in bewilderment, not at all understanding what was going on. "What in Oz are you talking about?" she asked faintly.

Nessa and Galinda then took turns explaining everything to their sister and roommate as slowly and understandably as possible. Elphaba was very quiet afterwards and the two girls shared a look.

"Maybe telling her all that at once wasn't the best idea," Nessa whispered softly to Galinda at some point, when Elphaba had fallen asleep with her head against the carriage window.

Galinda shrugged. "Maybe," she conceded. "But we did, and we can't take it back now, and… well, she needed to know, anyway."

"She just got out of the hospital this morning," Nessa reminded the blonde. "Maybe this was all a bit much for her."

Galinda bit her lip. "Maybe," she said again.

They were quiet for a while. Then Galinda said, "Funny, how you start noticing things that happened in the past only now. So much falls into place."

Nessa looked at her questioningly.

"Take Morrible," Galinda said. "She always scared me, she didn't do anything to help Dr. Dillamond the day he was being taken away, and everyone thought she was horrible; yet no-one really paid that much thought. And only now do we realise how horrible she really was."

Nessa nodded silently.

"And Fiyero," Galinda went on. "It explains so much. Why he was so moodified, why he started thinking, the way he always acted around Elphie… and the way she acted around him, too."

"How did she act around him?" Nessa asked curiously. She had never noticed anything strange about her sister's behaviour when she was with Fiyero – but then again, the wheelchair-bound girl didn't have a lot of experience with love.

"Just… different." Galinda got a faraway look in her eyes for a moment. "A bit… nervous, sometimes. You know, jumpy, and she blushed a lot… but at the same time she always seemed more at peace around him. Does that make sense? Like he has some magical healing effect on her, or something. He always made her smile, even when she was having a crappy day…"

"Nothing can make Fabala smile when she's having a bad day," Nessa muttered, but Galinda just smiled.

"Fiyero can."

She hesitated, looking at her green friend for a moment. Then she turned back to Nessa.

"I think we should bring her to Fiyero's room when we get back to Shiz."

Nessa gaped at the blonde. "Wait. What? Galinda…"

"Like I said," Galinda interrupted her. "She's more at peace around Fiyero, and I think she needs that now more than ever. Plus she's stayed in his room for at least nine out of the twelve days she was in a coma. Maybe… maybe staying there again will help her remember." She looked at the other girl. "And I think it might help Fiyero, too," she added softly. "To have her there. As happy as he is that she's alive, he's also heartbroken because she doesn't remember."

Nessa still looked disapproving. "But –"

"They're going to get married," Galinda said. "Okay, maybe those plans are a little farther off than we had first imagined, but it's still going to happen, isn't it?"

"If Fabala even says yes."

Galinda waved her hand dismissively. "Of course she says yes. Anyway, Fiyero is going to do everything in his power to make her love him again…"

"She already does," Nessa corrected her, ad Galinda nodded.

"Exactly," she said. "I think it would be good for both of them."

Finally, Nessa nodded slowly. "Okay," she said in a small voice. "If you think that's best."

Galinda smiled at her. "Do you want to spend the night in my dorm room? Have a sleepover?" she suggested.

Nessa returned the smile. "I'd like that." Neither of the girls wanted to be alone right now.

The carriage stopped near the boys' dormitory, but since Nessa was in her chair and Galinda was too small to carry Elphaba by herself, they had to wake the green girl up. Galinda slipped underneath Elphaba's arm to hold her up and helped her out of the carriage after helping Nessa into her chair.

"Where are we?" Elphaba mumbled sleepily. She was slurring a little, still half asleep. The doctor had told them that she might be a bit drowsy because of the medication she had been given that morning, but she was supposed to be fine again by tomorrow, when the medication would have worn off.

Nessa smiled up at her. "The boys' dorm," she said. "We're taking you to Fiyero."

"Mm…" Elphaba blinked a few times and yawned. "Why?"

"We just think that's best," Galinda said vaguely as she practically dragged Elphaba through the hallways. "Come on, Elphie, work with me here. I know you're tired and it's good that you want to sleep – according to the doctor, anyway – but you can't sleep yet. Sleeping in hallways isn't healthy. Just one more hallway, okay?"

Elphaba grumbled something unintelligible and Nessa wheeled in front of them to knock on Fiyero's door.

He opened it almost immediately. "Hey, Nessa," he greeted her, but then he saw Galinda and Elphaba behind the girl in the wheelchair and his eyes widened. "What… what are you doing?"

"Listen, Fiyero," Nessa said softly. "We told Fabala everything on our way back here in the carriage, and she's a bit… overwhelmed, I guess… but she'll be fine. We thought… Galinda and I, that is… we thought it might be better for both of you if she stayed here for a little while." She smiled at him and squeezed his hand. "Everything will be okay, Fiyero," she promised him. "Really."

He gave her a faint smile and rushed forward to take Elphaba from Galinda, whose legs were about to buckle under her roommate's weight.

"Maybe I shouldn't have been wearing heels," the blonde muttered to herself, adjusting her stiletto on her foot. Nessa giggled.

Fiyero scooped Elphaba up in his arms as if she weighed nothing –really, she didn't weigh much at all – and looked at the two girls. "Are you sure?"

They both smiled at him.

"We're sure," said Galinda firmly.

Nessa nodded solemnly. "She needs lots of sleep," she told Fiyero. "Though looking at her right now, I don't think that's going to be a problem."

Fiyero looked down and inadvertently smiled. Elphaba had curled up in his arms, her head against his shoulder, and she was sleeping peacefully.

"And she needs medication," Nessa continued. She handed him a small bottle. "Two of these before bed tonight and another one when she wakes up. She's supposed to be at the hospital again tomorrow morning at ten for a check-up – she hates having to go back there, but it was the only way the doctor would let her go. You can come and find us to take her, if you want –"

"No, no, that's fine," Fiyero hastened to reassure the girl. "I'll take her."

Nessa smiled at him. "Good." She turned back to Galinda. "Come on, then – let's go get my things for that sleepover tonight."

Galinda giggled and took hold of Nessa's wheelchair, skipping as she pushed it through the hallway.


Fiyero carried Elphaba back into his room, kicking the door closed behind him. He carefully placed her down on his bed and she immediately snuggled into his pillows, pulling one towards her and cuddling with it as she heaved a content sigh. The sight made him smile.

He slowly pulled off her boots and took his blanket, pulling it up over her sleeping form. As he pressed a soft kiss to her forehead, her eyes half-opened.

"Yero?" she murmured drowsily, and he smiled at her. A sad smile, but still a smile.

"It's me," he confirmed, sitting down on the edge of the bed.

She blinked up at him. "Is it true?" she asked softly. "What Glin and Nessa told me?"

Fiyero bit his lip, knowing full well what she was talking about. He considered lying to her for a moment, to make things easier on her; but he couldn't.

"Yes," he said, trying to make his voice sound steady, but failing. "Yes, it's true."

She looked up at him, her dark eyes still foggy with sleep. "I'm sorry I can't remember."

He shook his head, wanting to hold her and kiss her more than anything else, but he fought that feeling. "Don't be sorry," he said. "It's not your fault. You're going to be fine again and that's the most important thing right now."

She scowled even as she drifted back off to sleep, eyes slowly closing. "I am fine," she muttered indignantly as sleep claimed her.

He chuckled softly and kicked off his own shoes, lying down on the bed next to her. He didn't touch her; he just studied her. It struck him that right now, alive and well, she resembled her former spirit more than she did her comatose body. Her body, in that hospital bed, stuck to all those machines, had looked… empty. Pale and empty and almost dead. He shuddered to even think about it.

She looked more like she had as a spirit now. More like herself. Her emerald skin was glowing again, there was a healthy colour in her cheeks… to him, she looked more beautiful than ever.

He watched the way the blanket rose and fell in time with her breathing. He saw the way her eyelids fluttered every now and then, though they didn't open. He studied her features: the elegant slope of her neck, her straight nose, her soft lips, slightly parted because she was breathing through her mouth. He reached out to run his fingers through her long, silky hair, relishing in the feeling. She stirred slightly, but she didn't wake up.

He slowly started tracing her features with his finger, his touch so light that she probably didn't even feel it. Slowly, he inched closer to her, until their foreheads and noses were almost touching.

"I wish you could remember," he whispered.

Then he bridged the last few inches between them and kissed her softly.

Her eyelids fluttered again, but she still didn't wake up. He stroked her cheek and she murmured something in her sleep as she curled into him, wrapping her arms and legs around him and snuggling her head under his chin.

He was startled for a moment, but then his arms automatically closed around her and he held her close to him.

"I love you," he whispered into her hair. Again, she murmured something unintelligible that could have been a 'love you too'. He knew how unlikely that was, but he held on to the hope that maybe in her dreams, she remembered.

Eventually he drifted off to sleep himself, comforted by the feeling of having her in his arms, alive and well.