AN: Another update, because Xanne-Li asked me so nicely :P.

Thedoctor24601: That made me laugh so hard. Out loud.

I could have done many mean things with this, but I promise this one would be happy, light, and summer-y, so I didn't. (This is where you chorus, "Oh, you really didn't have to do that!" and I just wave you away like, "I know! That's what makes me so nice!" only I'd add in a cackle for good measure because I am, after all, still the Queen of Cliffies.)

So I'm seeing Sister Act NL tomorrow, which is both EPIC (because I love it so much and I'll be in the first row!) and sad (because it's the final time I'll ever see it, it closes this Sunday ;_;).

Day Seven

Fiyero had expected – and hoped – to find the house dark, with everyone asleep; but when he approached it, he could distinguish Elphaba sitting on the rocking bench on the porch.

When she caught sight of him, she jumped to her feet and leapt down the few steps to the beach.

"For Oz's sake, Fiyero!" she yelled and he winced, bracing himself; but instead of tackling him or slapping him, like he had expected, she threw her arms around him.

"Where have you been?!" she demanded in a high voice. "We were worried sick about you! We thought something had happened, or… or… I don't know! Where did you go? And why have you been out all night?"

He stared at her, not really comprehending. She was upset, that much was clear, but she didn't seem mad. Just worried.

"You…" he began, dazed. "I mean… I… we… what happened…"

She let go of him and wrapped her arms around her own waist instead, stepping back. "So it was because of last night," she concluded softly.

"Yes." He sighed. "Fae…"

"It's okay, Fiyero. I get it." She shook her head. "You were drunk and you made a mistake. It's fine. I'm not going to kill you over it. It was my own fault just as much as yours. Let's just pretend it never happened and go back to being friends, okay?"

"What?" He blinked at her. "You're… you're not mad?"

She sighed. "Of course I'm not mad. I was there, you know. I would have stopped you if I hadn't wanted… well, that."

"Wait." Only now did he realise what she had been saying before. "You think it was a mistake?"

"I think that you think it was a mistake," she corrected him. "And that's fine, Fiyero –"

"But you don't think it was a mistake?"

She took a deep breath and avoided his gaze. "Honestly?" She looked down. "Not really."

"Even though we were both drunk and it was outside on a beach?"

She shook her head.

Fiyero all but gaped at her. He felt like kicking himself. He had been away all day and all night, ashamed and worried and feeling guilty… for nothing. She wasn't mad at him. Not over that, anyway.

"B-but…" He shook his head. "I took advantage of you!"

"What?!" Now she gave him a look that clearly told him that she thought he was crazy. "Fiyero, like I said – I was there. Okay, maybe I was a little tipsy… or very tipsy… but I wasn't so drunk that I didn't know what I was doing anymore. If I hadn't wanted it, I'd have pushed you away. Or kicked you in the groin. Or hexed you. I'm not some frail little doll that is completely helpless against a man, you know. Trust me – I could take you."

She turned to sit back down on the rocking bench on the porch, and Fiyero sat down beside her.

She looked at him. "So what exactly is going on here?" she asked.

He sighed and ran his fingers through his hair, feeling stupid.

"When I woke up," he began, "Boq was there."

He told her everything that had happened since he had awakened that morning – everything Boq had said to him and everything he had been worried about afterwards, and why he hadn't wanted to come home.

When he finished, she just sat there for a while, looking thoughtful.

Then she stomped his arm.

"Ow!" He rubbed the sore spot. "What was that for?!"

"For you being the biggest idiot alive," she snapped. "Do you have any idea how I felt when I woke up and you were gone? I thought…" She trailed off and shook her head, not finishing that sentence. "And then I went inside and Nessa and Glin told me they hadn't seen you at all. We went to look for you, but we couldn't find you anywhere. When Boq woke up and we told him you were gone, he just went pale and said that was his fault, but he refused to tell us what that was about. We've been looking for you all day long. At first I thought it was just you doing your regular thing, you know – sleeping with a girl and then taking off…" She tried to make light of it, but he could see in her eyes how much that thought had hurt her.

"But then when I realised you were really gone… you wouldn't believe the things we thought could have happened to you. And Galinda didn't exactly help, with her stories about sharks and strong currents in the lake. Neither did Nessa, for that matter – she started rambling about robbers and murderers. Eventually we decided that if you weren't back by morning, we'd go to the police station in the village." She hugged herself again. "The others went to sleep and I tried to sleep, too, but I couldn't. I couldn't help but feel that if something really had happened to you, it would be my fault…"

Much to his shock, he realised that she was crying now. "How would that have been your fault?" he demanded, stunned. "You didn't do anything wrong!"

"Because bad things always happen to the people I love!" she shouted at him. Then she clamped both hands over her mouth in horror, as if she could take her words back that way.

He stared at her again in wonder. "You… you love me?"

She looked away.

He cupped her face with his hand and turned it back so that she would look at him.

"Fae… I love you, too," he told her.

She choked on a sound that was something between a sob and an incredulous laugh. "You do?"

He nodded. "The only reason I left, Elphaba, was because I thought… I thought you'd hate me. I mean… Boq was right in everything he said. It's true that you didn't have any experience with boys whatsoever and that you would never have done such a thing if you had been completely sober. I… I felt like I had used you."

She fidgeted with the hem of her dress. "I can't believe you attached so much value to something a frustrated Munchkin said after a night of chasing Galinda and cleaning up vomit. He was just pissed, you know. He felt guilty when he found out that you were gone. He said he had said some things to you that he shouldn't have."

"But he was right," Fiyero said, confused.

"Of course he wasn't right." Elphaba shook her head. "And even if he had been right, you should have talked to me about it first, instead of running off and giving us all heart attacks."

"You're right." He felt even more ashamed of himself now than he had before. "I'm sorry."

She carefully looked to the side. "So… you don't regret it?" she asked him hesitantly.

He shook his head. "If you don't, then I don't, either," he said.

"And it also wasn't like… like before?"

He grimaced. "Fae… I'm not that guy anymore. I'm really not. And I've done many things in the past that I'm not proud of, but I would never do that to you. Ever. I'm in love with you."

She smiled faintly, but she still seemed worried. "And now what?"

"Now I apologise again for listening to Boq and jumping to conclusions, and for worrying you – all of you, but especially you," he said, taking her hands in his. "And then I'm going to ask you if you would like to be my girlfriend."

She blushed. "Really?"

He nodded and her blush deepened.

"I'd… like that very much," she said shyly.

He grinned goofily. "Really?"

She chuckled. "Yeah. Really."

He cupped her face and kissed her softly on the lips. She kissed him back, leaning into him a little bit more, and he deepened the kiss; but when she wrapped her arms around him, she suddenly pulled away, scowling at him.

"Fiyero, you're freezing," she scolded him. "You should have told me that you were cold – we could have talked inside. You're like an icicle."

"It's summer, I'm not that cold," he protested, but she shook her head.

"You've been out on a beach all night long," she reminded him. "And your skin is like ice. Come on." She took his arm and tugged at it until he rose to his feet and followed her inside. She pushed him up to his own room and pressed a sweater into his hands before going downstairs to make him a steaming hot cup of coffee, which she brought up to him.

"Thanks," he said gratefully, sipping the warm liquid. "I'm feeling better already, really."

She looked out of the window. The sun was just rising in the east. She had no idea what time it was, but she was exhausted – she had been up worrying about Fiyero all night long. "I think I'll go and get some sleep," she said.

Fiyero nodded. "Good idea." He scooted over and patted the bed beside him.

She lifted one eyebrow.

He did, too.

She raised the other one as well.

He cocked his head. "What's wrong?"

"You want me to sleep here?" she demanded. "In your room?"

He shrugged. "Well, yes, why not?" he asked her reasonably. "It's not like we haven't slept together before."

She flushed, the colour of her face actually approaching that of a tomato, which he found fascinating. It was pretty logical that she'd blush red, rather than a darker green – she had red blood, after all, like any other person – but it was remarkable how red her green skin could become.

He grinned at her. "Just come here, Fae."

She sighed, but complied, sitting down on the bed beside him. He put his empty mug away and pulled her down with him, wrapping his arms around her and dragging the blankets up around them both.

She squirmed. "Fiyero –"

"Lie still," he murmured. "I'm cold. You're warm. You're like a living hot water pitch. You don't want me to get cold again, do you?"

She scowled at him. "Stop guilt-tripping me –"

He cut her off by capturing her lips with his own. She melted immediately, giving in, and he pulled her tighter against him and buried his face in her neck, sighing happily. "'Night, Fae."

She nuzzled his hand, pressing a kiss to his palm. "Goodnight, Yero."