By the next day, Elphaba was feeling much better, but was still wary of food. Neither she nor Fiyero mentioned the events of the night before, she chalking it up to her fever (perhaps it was a hallucination? Or a dream?) and he deciding to simply forget it ever happened. He was with Galinda. Galinda was pretty, and sweet, and popular, and made him happy with her little ways. He'd have never done anything to jeopardize that, never.

"Is there anything you might want to try eating? Some dry toast?"

Elphaba made a face much like fear, only Fiyero had never seen her look afraid. "I think I might just want to wait," she said. The next couple days passed slowly, with Fiyero leaving for longer and longer spells, trying to plan something for her for Lurlinemas. Elphaba tentatively began to eat again, and Fiyero was more than happy to feed her. By the time he'd set up her gift, she was doing much better, eating normal food, and he felt certain that they'd be just fine.

A theatre in the Emerald City was performing her favourite play, about a girl who, orphaned at a young age, went to live with a brother and sister, made friends with the prettiest girl in town, and eventually fell in love with a young man who admired her brazen brilliance. She always laughed with glee when the girl was described as a "terror" and a "tartar", and, he had to admit, he got a good laugh out of her descriptions of the goings-on in the schoolhouse between the girl and said romantic interest. He was curious about the show, though he'd never have admitted it to anyone but Elphie.

"Oh, Fiyero, that's too much," she said, when he presented her with the tickets.

"Not at all, Fae," he smiled, happy to see her look so happy. "It'll be an adventure!"

"But all the way to the Emerald City? ...I've never been," she said, her voice full of wonder.

"Well, you're about to," he said. "Tomorrow night." He tried to read her expression. "Are you happy?"

Her face glowed when her eyes met his. In her mind, he could have stood there just as himself, no tickets, no anything, just Fiyero, and asked the same thing, and she would have felt the same. "Very happy," she smiled.

"I know it's not something you can keep... But I just didn't want to get you some book that I didn't know if it was good or not, or -"

"Fiyero, it's perfect. This is my favourite play, and I haven't seen it since..." she stopped. "I haven't seen it in years."

He had to admit that he liked the play - some of the songs were funny, some were moving, some were absolutely beautiful. But what he liked more than the play was watching Elphaba watch it. Her lips moved softly along with the songs, and even some of the lines, displaying her incredible memory. She was practically on the edge of her seat the entire time; it even took her a few moments to come out of the spell of the first act at intermission.

"That was hilarious," Fiyero laughed. "He deserved to get that ice cream in the face."

She smiled mischievously. "That he did." She gazed around the lobby of the theatre, at all the people in their green glasses, laughing and chattering about the play. "Fiyero, I love it here."

He observed her joy without thinking about its place of origin for half a minute before realizing he should respond. "Oh, you do?" He cleared his throat. "It's pretty," he observed, looking around.

"And all anyone sees is green," she said, breathlessly. "Nobody thinks I'm any different." She wasn't looking at him, and he observed the look on her face with a mixture of sadness and pride. It was unfortunate that she went through life being gawked at, but she didn't wear any misery about it on her face. If she felt sorry for herself, she was strong about it. She was strong, in general.

The lights dimmed briefly shortly after that, and they returned to their seats to watch the rest of the show. The whole way back to their hotel, Elphaba hummed the songs, Fiyero joining in on the ones that had been sung more than once. "Hey, that's good," Elphaba laughed, when Fiyero hummed along to the song the boy sings about the main girl and then they eventually sing together.

"I heard it a couple times tonight," he shrugged. "It's kind of catchy."

Their hotel room was lovely, with a great view of the Emerald City. Elphaba disappeared into the bathroom to change into her pajamas, then emerged to find Fiyero still changing. "Oh, sorry," she said, spinning around. Then, she chuckled, and wryly commented, "One would think you could wait a few minutes to change."

"I'm a heathen Winkie," he reminded her. "I have no sense of decorum."

"Fiyero Tiggular," she scolded. "Don't refer to yourself that way."

He grinned. "Alright, I'm done now," he said. She turned to look at him in his sleeping pants and shirt, and smiled at the view behind him. She moved to the window, enchanted, and he stepped to stand next to her, wrapping an arm around her waist. "Happy Lurlinemas, Fae."

She smiled. "Perhaps Lurlinemas isn't as terrible as I once asserted," she relented. Turning her face to look at him, she looked deep into his eyes. "Thank you, Fiyero. This was perfect."

"I still feel bad that it's not something tangible," he said. "Something you can hold onto."

"I'm holding onto you," she reminded him, hugging him tight around the waist as she gazed out the window at the glowing green metropolis below them. "Plus," she added, feeling far too serious (it might have been the first time in her life she'd felt that way), "I have a programme!"

He chuckled. "I forgot about the programme."

They slept in their separate beds that night, after quiet "Goodnight"s, and dreamed of fiery, easily-angered outcasts, pretty, gentle best friends, and the boys who don't always choose the most obvious girl.

AN: Lurlinemas Dinner leftovers (via the internet aka imagination) for the reviewer who knows what play it is!! Also, sorry it's so short. The next one will be longer, I promise.