After Nessa had left, things went back to normal. Occasionally Fiyero, Galinda, and 'Elias' would go to town together. Elphaba wondered if Galinda thought it was weird that Fiyero's servant accompanied them on dates, Elphaba herself wondered why Fiyero asked her to come every time. Galinda had gotten used to Elias's presence though and so the dates became rather outings for three friends.

"Today is Sunday." said Fiyero that Sunday.

"I didn't notice." Elphaba said sarcastically. Fiyero grinned.

"I mean today is Sunday, and I'll be out today. Today's your day off, so you don't have to follow me around." said Fiyero. In truth he didn't Elias there when he saw Elphaba again. He hoped she'd be there.

"Alright," said Elphaba, "I'll just be going now, you have fun...wherever you're going."

"The Plaza actually." said Fiyero. The Plaza! Oh, so that's why Fiyero was acting so weird about it being Sunday. She had said she'd be there the last time didn't she? How could she have forgotten? She'd been looking forward to her next Sunday off for a long time, Nessa must've distracted her.

"Well, like I said, you have fun." said Elphaba, before leaving the room quickly.

*************

Back at the Plaza, Elphaba almost immediately saw Fiyero. He was just coming out of a book store a book in hand. He seemed to skim the crowd for someone. Elphaba sucked in a breath as she approached him. She tapped him lightly on the shoulder. He whirled around and his face lit up.

"Looking for someone?" she asked.

"Not anymore." said Fiyero, "So, how have you been?"

"I've been fine." she said, "How about yourself?"

"You know the usual." said Fiyero, shrugging as he found his throat clog up with nervousness and his heartbeat quicken. A comfortable silence rested upon them, until Fiyero remembered the book in his hand.

"I—I um, I got you a present. It's the next Harry Potter book," he said, "I saw you reading the first one the last time we met."

"Thank you." said Elphaba, accepting the book. The gesture was so kind and so new to her that she was overwhelmed. Nobody besides Nessa ever got her gifts. And now Fiyero, whom she was a stranger to, was standing before her, giving her a gift, it made her feel wonderful and warm inside. Fiyero smiled at her as he breathed a sigh of relief.

"Do you want to head down to the beach?" asked Fiyero. "It's just behind the shops."

"Alright." Elphaba agreed. They began to walk towards the beach. Elphaba looked around her and was happy no one was staring. Here, nobody really cared about her green skin. She kept looking until she realized there was a variety of different skin colors, brown, yellow, white, red/brown, black. Munchkinland had never been this integrated. But here.....what was another color? And who cared that it was green? Elphaba's thoughts and musings were interrupted by a soft hand that held hers. She looked to the side and saw Fiyero smiling sheepishly at her. She looked down at their hands, and she felt a small smile creep onto her face. Fiyero noticed and his heart raced and his skin felt like it was on fire, but not a burning fire, a wonderful tickling fire. Elphaba raised an eyebrow at him and he realized he was taking very loud deep breaths of nervousness.

"Oh sorry, I uh..." Fiyero didn't know what to say. Elphaba laughed at him, he laughed too and after that, conversation quickly found its way naturally.

"My friend Elias, he believes in a god named Bob."

"Bob?"

"Bob."

"Bob?"

"It's Bob alright?!" Fiyero laughed.

"Well, I suppose that's not so different. I believe in a god named Fred." Elphaba ginned.

************

The sun was beginning to set. Colorful streaks of purples and oranges and pinks beamed across the sky. Elphaba and Fiyero were walking in the very shallow part of the ocean, not even two feet, their shoes in their free hand and their other hand in the others grasp. They hadn't let go of hands yet. As they walked, they talked and laughed and enjoyed the others company. Suddenly, a jogger who was jogging by tripped and skidded to a stop before falling. Water splashed all over Fiyero. The jogger apologized and jogged away. Fiyero stood there until Elphaba started laughing at him. He rolled his eyes and leaned down as though to splash water on her. She noticed and quickly let go of his hand before running down the beach, splashing water behind at him as she went. Fiyero grinned and ran after her. He caught up to her and pulled her into his arms. She laughed and pretended to try to get away, but Fiyero knew better. Suddenly, they lost their footing and they both fell into the shallow water, still laughing.

"Now look what you've done. You've gotten me all wet." Elphaba pretended to scold him.

"That makes two of us." Fiyero smirked. He looked down and realized their hands were interwoven again. He smiled, they hadn't even realized they'd reached out to hold the others hand. But suddenly, they were.

"I just can't let go of this hand of yours." Fiyero said. Elphaba blushed and began to stand up, pulling him with her. They began to walk back down the beach together in the shoreline, she leaned her head on his shoulder as they walked. They came to a cluster of giant rocks at the end of the shore where the mountain started. They climbed on top of the biggest rock and sat together, gazing at the ocean. The waves beat against the front of the rock in almost a rhythmic sequence. Beads of water rolled down their skin and their clothes and hair dried as time passed. Before long, they were nearly completely dry. Elphaba's hair was blowing in the wind and suddenly Fiyero was hit with how beautiful she was. Her hair swirled around her almost magically. Her skin seemed to glow in the soft light. And her eyes, oh they were beautiful. The many different colors of the sunset seemed to set in her eyes and they sparkled.

"You have beautiful eyes you know." said Fiyero, tucking a strand of hair behind her ear. She blushed. Suddenly, he found himself leaning forward. Her eyes closed almost on instinct and she leaned forward only the slightest bit. Then their lips met in what would've shattered the Earth. The ocean seemed to crash harder against the rock, sending water over the side. The sun seemed to glow brighter all of a sudden and fireworks went off in their minds. When they parted, they were both panting slightly and looking dazed and confused, wonderful and excited, scared and frightened all at the same time.

"I—that shouldn't have happened--" Elphaba began, "Y-you're in a relationship with someone else--"

"It's over, I'll end it, it doesn't matter." said Fiyero, grabbing her other hand, "Don't tell me you don't want this."

"I do, it's just..." Elphaba didn't know what to do. Would a relationship with Fiyero ruin everything? She'd have to be more cautious, but love. She'd never felt that before. It felt wonderful, and nothing was worth giving it up.

"Just what?" asked Fiyero, "Elphaba, everything will be fine. What are you so worried about?"

"Nothing," said Elphaba, looking away. Everything.

"Then what's the problem?" asked Fiyero.

"I—I have to go." Elphaba said and quickly left.

**************

Fiyero stood in the grand Upland entrance hall as he waited for Galinda to come down. She bounced down in a puff of pink fabric and curls. She bounced up to kiss him. She felt him tense and she pulled back to examine his face.

"Something wrong?" she asked, "You seem like something's wrong."

"I wouldn't call it wrong. I'd call it realizations, a final understanding if you will." said Fiyero, stepping back, "Listen Glin, you don't love me."

"Yes I d--" Galinda began.

"No, you don't. You think you love me. Because love is what everyone wants, so everyone is ready to say yes to the first person they think might love them back. People are so ready to jump into that...feeling; they forget what they were jumping for to begin with. You don't love me. Glin, we're not in love with one another, don't you see this is just a friendship anyhow?"

"No, it's more than a friendship," Galinda argued, "It's love."

"No, it's not." Fiyero said, "Galinda, I'm in love, but not with you. I know what love feels like now, and this isn't it. You're not in and I'm not. It's simple as that."

"What are you talking about Fiyero? Of course I'm in love with you." Galinda said, "Besides, how could you that I'm not in love with you, you're not me, you couldn't know what I feel."

"Galinda, on almost the first date, you said you loved me. Those words are supposed to mean something, we don't say them like they mean something. The way we say them, it's as though we're just saying 'hello'." said Fiyero.

"Well, that's our way of saying hello." said Galinda.

"Well, it shouldn't be," said Fiyero, "How many dates have we been on where we've had nothing to say to one another? How many times have we just sat there, feeling awkward as ever. We thought we were in love, so that things would work out in the end anyhow. Glin, we're not in love, and it's time we realized that. I've spent this relationship wishing something would happen that would prove that I'm in love with you. Nothing's happened, and it's not ever going to. I wanted this to work out, but it's like running a circle. We can run the whole way around, but it just leads back to where we started."

"I really thought I loved you." Galinda admitted, "But now that you mention it....I'm not so sure."

"And I thought I loved you," Fiyero said, "It just took me a while to figure out that I didn't."

"We can still be friends though...." said Galinda, "Right?"

"Of course. There's not much to change in our relationship anyway." said Fiyero, "We can still go on those outings together if you want."

"Oh good," said Galinda, "Elias will still come then too?"

"Yeah." said Fiyero, a bit surprised Galinda was asking about Elias. In truth, Galinda had actually grown to like Elias. Of course she didn't think of him in any romantic, but he was good company, a nice friend if Galinda could even consider him that.

"Well, in that case," Galinda said, "I now dub thee, Fiyero Tiggular, my official friend."

***************

"I broke up with Galinda." said Fiyero to Elias the next day.

"Why is that?" Elphaba asked, pretending not to know.

"I've found someone else." said Fiyero.

"Who is it?" asked Elias.

"Her name is Elphaba, she's the most beautiful girl you've ever seen. And I'm not just saying that because I love her." said Fiyero. Elphaba almost choked when he said that word.

"How did Galinda take the break up?" asked Elphaba.

"She's on the same level of understanding on that. She knew we didn't love each other. But we're still going to be friends. I think she was mostly scared about the ending of our relationship because she thought it would stop her friendship with you." Fiyero smirked.

"I thought she hated me." said Elphaba.

"I suppose not." said Fiyero.

************

And so began the friendship of Galinda, Fiyero and Elias (Elphaba). They went to town together nearly every day, talking and laughing as friends did. It was easy to forget that Elias was a servant and with each day they got closer. And as Galinda, Fiyero and Elias became closer, so did Fiyero and Elphaba. The servants days off had changed to every Sunday for some and every Saturday for others, that way servants got more time off and taking shifts was better anyway. Elphaba was on the Sunday's off crew so now she saw Fiyero every Sunday. Well, she saw Fiyero as herself every Sunday.

It became a routine. Every Sunday, Fiyero and Elphaba would meet at the beach and each Sunday, Fiyero gave her a different book. They would sit on their rock at the edge of the ocean and the base of the mountain and Elphaba would read the book. Fiyero would either watch her read or he would read over her shoulder. When Elphaba had either finished the book (she was a really fast reader, which is why Fiyero usually just watched her read, he could never keep up) or decided she was done reading, they would walk along the shore, or go to the ice cream parlor. The dates always ended when Elphaba said she had to leave and so now Fiyero knew that when the sunset was almost over, she'd leave, but he wished for more time with her. Longer Sunday's, that's what he wanted.

****************

Frex paced around his hotel room. He was in the Gillikin, looking for that damn daughter of his, but she wasn't here. He would've hung wanted signs, but if people found out his daughter had run away, what would they think of him as a governor? His time was running thin though, his two months were almost up. He was not going to go to jail, nor step down from his place as governor. His thoughts were interrupted by a knock on his door. He swung open the door.

"What?!" he yelled.

"Letter for you sir." said the concierge, not even flinching. He was probably used to nasty greetings by guests of the hotel. Frex read the letter, it was from the King of Vinkus. There was to be a meeting in the Vinkus, negotiations needed to be taken into order between Munchkinland and the Vinkus. He'd forgotten all about that. Agh! Well, he couldn't very well not go, this was an important meeting, but this would cut into three days he could be searching for Elphaba. But if he didn't go, he'd probably get impeached or something. He slammed his fist into the wall and began packing his things again, ready for the Vinkus. He knew for a fact Elphaba wasn't in the Vinkus, his Nessa had sent him a letter earlier saying she and Fredrick had looked there, but hadn't found her. Damn, he could be in Quadling country looking for her, but no, he had to attend stupid meetings in the Vinkus!