AN: Here I am again! Not many more chapters to go - maybe two after this one? Twelve in total? That seems like a nice number... I know I said they'd be at the beach house for two weeks, but I don't think I can think of enough to happen in this story to fill five more chapters.

Musicgal3: That song thing is awesome! (Loved your 'aww's on Dances with princes, by the way. They made me laugh :P.)

LetWickedNeverDie: Maybe... ;)

Fae'sFlower: I know, I know *curtsies elegantly* you're all welcome, it's just how goodly I am.

Day Ten

When Elphaba came downstairs the next morning, she found Nessa and Boq at the breakfast table, both still in their nightwear, feeding each other pieces of fruit. Fiyero was sitting across from them with a letter in his hand and a slightly anxious look on his face.

"What's wrong, Yero?" she asked immediately and he looked up, forcing himself to smile as he crumpled the piece of paper in his hand.

"Nothing."

Her eyes narrowed.

He sighed and put the letter on the table again. "It's, um…"

"Did something happen?" she asked worriedly. "Who is it from?"

"My parents." He sighed unhappily. "Fae, they… um… want to meet you."

Elphaba's eyes widened in surprise. "What?"

Boq and Nessa tore themselves away from one another for just a few moments to blink at Fiyero owlishly.

"What is all the worrying about, then?" asked Boq. "Don't you like your parents meeting Elphaba? You told them she's your girlfriend, right?"

"I did," Fiyero said. "And I'd love for them to meet. That's not the point."

"What is the point, then?" asked Nessa, clearly confused.

Fiyero nodded at Elphaba, who was already looking pale and nervously biting her lip, and Nessa understood.

"Oh, Fabala, it will be fine," she tried to reassure her sister. "Fiyero's parents won't bite!"

"They won't," Elphaba agreed softly. "But what if they hate me? What if they think I'm not good enough for Fiyero? Or that I'm too ugly? Or what if I really am pregnant – what would they say?!"

"Hey," Fiyero said, beginning to calm her down, but Nessa's eyes had widened.

"What?!" she demanded, nearly screeching. "Elphaba, please tell me you didn't! As if it's not bad enough already that you did that stuff – you didn't even use protection?! Have you completely misplaced your mind? Are you crazy? Do you know what Father would say? Do you know what everyone else would say?! Fiyero's parents… for Oz's sake, Elphaba, I thought you were smarter than this!"

"Nessa!" Fiyero yelled, effectively shutting the younger girl up.

He glared at her. "This isn't helping."

"He's right, love," Boq murmured to the wheelchair-bound girl. "Calm down."

Fiyero wanted to turn back to face Elphaba, but she had already fled outside.

He followed her, sitting down next to her in the sand and pulling her into his arms.

"It'll be okay, sweetheart," he said, kissing her temple. "Really. Don't worry, my parents will love you."

"Nessa is right," Elphaba whispered. "What would everyone say if they found out? It was a bad idea, Fiyero. We shouldn't have done it."

He sighed. "Maybe not," he conceded. "But we can't change anything about it now."

She closed her eyes for a moment.

"And I don't regret it," he continued. "I love you."

She didn't say it back. She didn't say anything at all, but he could see that she was fighting back tears.

"Hey," he said softly, cupping her face and making her look at him. "It will be okay."

"What if it won't be?" she asked, her voice shaking.

"It will be." He pressed a kiss to the top of her head. "My parents are not horrible people, Elphaba. They already know many things about you. They already know I love you. And they're going to love you, too, I'm sure of it."

"But what if –"

"If you do turn out to be pregnant, they won't blame you," he said. "If anything, they'll get mad at me for not being more careful. They'd probably make me take responsibility and marry you, but since we – I," he corrected himself, "was already planning to do that, anyway, there won't be a problem there. Unless you don't want to…"

Despite her tears, she snorted.

He wiped her tears away with his thumbs. "Don't cry. I knew you'd be nervous – that's why I was so reluctant to tell you – but it will be okay, Fae, don't worry. Trust me."

"I trust you," she whispered and he kissed her.

"Good."

They went back inside, where Nessa was still brooding, arms crossed and a frown on her face. She glared at Elphaba as the green girl came in, but she didn't say anything.

Galinda joined them – also still in her pyjamas – and they all ate breakfast… or, well, that's what they meant to do. Nessa didn't eat anything else – she just kept on staring daggers at Elphaba, who, in turn, was staring down at her plate without taking a bite. Fiyero, sitting next to her, had his arm around her and murmured reassuring words in her ear, while Boq tried to talk Nessa out of her angry state. Galinda was the only one really enjoying her breakfast, oblivious to the tension around her.

She skipped back up to her room to wash up afterwards. Boq went to his room to get dressed, too, after giving Nessa a few nervous glances over his shoulder.

Fiyero kissed Elphaba's cheek. "I'm going to get dressed, too. Are you coming?"

She shook her head. "I'll do the dishes."

He looked at Nessa for a moment, then back at his girlfriend. "Are you sure?"

"She's not going to eat me," Elphaba said. "I'm fine."

He hesitated, but she shooed him away and he finally left, determined to hurry up as to not leave Elphaba alone with her furious sister for too long.

Elphaba collected the dirty dishes, ignoring the fuming looks Nessarose sent her. Finally Nessa hissed, "I can't believe you did this."

"I didn't do it on purpose," Elphaba said softly. "We were all a little drunk."

"And yet Galinda and I didn't sleep with random guys and forgot to use protection!"

Elphaba whirled around, eyes blazing.

"Fiyero is not a random guy," she said fiercely. "You know that, Nessa. You know me better than that. I would never have done that with just anyone. I love him. I loved him then, too. The only thing the alcohol did was –"

"What?" Nessa snarled. "Turn you into a slut?"

Elphaba stared at her and Nessa immediately clasped her hands over her mouth, horrified with herself. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to say that…"

"But you thought it, didn't you?" Elphaba turned back to the counter, trying to breathe slowly and calm herself down. "Is that how you see me?"

"No!" Nessa protested weakly. "Not at all! Fabala…"

"Don't call me that."

"Elphaba." Nessa sighed. "You're not a slut… I'm sorry. It's just… it's not how Father raised us, and it's not right. You're not married. You weren't even together!"

"We are now." Elphaba turned around again. "And we will be married, one day."

She looked at her sister. "It wasn't smart of us to forget protection, I agree, but it's not your problem anyway, so can you please just leave us alone about it?"

Nessa looked reluctant, but she nodded. "Alright. You… you're right," she admitted. "I won't mention it again."

Elphaba nodded brusquely and finished the dishes, letting the water drain away and drying her hands on a towel.

"And Elphaba?"

She couldn't look at her sister. "Yes?"

Nessa took a deep breath. "I'm really sorry about… what I said."

"I know," said Elphaba. Then she left.

She knew Nessa was sorry. She believed that. But she also knew that deep down, it was what her sister thought of her because of what she'd done.

She went out onto the beach, where Galinda beckoned her enthusiastically to join her on a towel and "sunbathe with me, Elphie, I want to put my theory about you becoming a darker green in the sun to the test!". She tried to forget about Nessa and just have fun. They swam and Galinda read her another 'fill in the blanks' story.

Fiyero asked her how it had gone with Nessa, but she'd waved him off with a muttered, "Fine," – which he most definitely did not buy, but he decided not to press the matter now. Instead, he watched her playing around in the water with Galinda. After a while, the girls came back and stretched out on their respective towels to dry up in the sun. Fiyero, who had found some wildflowers in the grass behind the beach, sneaked up behind Elphaba and pulled her head in his lap. He started waving the wildflowers through her long, raven hair.

She smiled, but didn't even open her eyes as he fidgeted with the soft strands, trying to braid them around the flowers. It kept him busy whilst allowing him not only to touch Elphaba's hair – he loved her hair – but also to look at her face all the time without her complaining about it, since her eyes were still closed.

She fell asleep after a while, but he never stopped playing with her hair. Nessarose and Boq joined them around lunchtime, Boq pushing Nessa's chair across the stone path that lead from the house. She had a picnic basket sitting in her lap.

Fiyero's eyes lit up. "Ooh, food!"

Galinda, sitting up as well, rolled her eyes. "Oz, Fiyero, you're such a guy," she said, but then her stomach grumbled and she blushed furiously, quickly reaching for the basket. "What's in there?"

"We spent all morning in the kitchen," Boq explained, opening the basket. "We made sandwiches, put in some fruit and juice, and we even attempted baking a cake with banana and nuts, but we're not sure that one worked out…"

"It was Fabala's recipe," Nessa explained quietly. "She left some written-down recipes in the kitchen… I figured maybe it would make a good apology."

Fiyero frowned. "For yelling at her this morning?"

Nessa averted her eyes. "For calling her a slut," she muttered.

Fiyero was flabbergasted. "What?!"

"I said I was sorry," Nessa said, still not looking at him. "But I don't think she really forgave me. It just… slipped out. I was angry, and…"

Elphaba stirred in her sleep and Fiyero stroked her hair, but he was still looking at Nessa. "How could you say such a thing to your own sister?" he demanded. "She's not a slut, Nessa. I can't believe you would even think such an awful thing, let alone say it out loud. She practically raised you, she took care of you all her life! Did you ever even thank her for that? Did you ever tell her you appreciate what she's done for you, or that you love her? Ever?"

Nessa was beet red now and staring down at the arms of her chair, near tears. Boq covered her hand with his own, but he kept quiet, not trying to reassure Nessa, because he knew Fiyero was right.

Galinda, though, took pity on the girl in the wheelchair and said softly, "That's enough, Fiyero."

He looked at her and she placed her hand on his arm. "You're right, of course, but getting mad at Nessa won't change anything," she said. "I know you feel horrible about Elphie's childhood. I do, too. But we can't change it. We can only change how she will be treated in the future."

He nodded reluctantly and Galinda let go of him.

Nessa sniffled. "I really am sorry…"

"Save your apologies, Nessa," Fiyero said, suddenly tired. "Just… forget about it. You shouldn't be apologising to me, anyway."

"I'll apologise to Fabala once she wakes up," Nessa promised.

Boq and Galinda dug into the food after that, but Fiyero suddenly didn't feel very hungry anymore and Nessa just looked like she was about to burst into tears. It was a little awkward, right up until Boq announced that he and Nessa would be going into town together and stay for dinner. Fiyero felt a little relieved when they were gone.

He realised that Galinda was right. He would change Elphaba's past in a heartbeat, if he could – but he couldn't, and he would just have to deal with that.

He could change the way she was treated in the future, though, and he was determined to do just that.