"I know but that's a risk I'm willing to take, besides its for Fae". He bent down and kissed Elphaba on her head before he made for the door and headed out into the night.

Fiyero ran through the town faster than he thought he could go, every doctor's clinic was shut and the nearest hospital was a carriage ride away.

"Crap" he cursed. Fiyero stopped momentarily in front of one of the closed clinics in order to catch his breath.

The door to the clinic creaked open and a woman who Fiyero assumed was the doctor emerged from the doorway.

"Hey!" yelled Fiyero as he jogged up to the woman.

____

Not long after Fiyero had left both Elphaba and Galinda, Galinda had begun work on cleaning up the mess on Elphaba.

"Well Elphie, I hope you don't mind that I'm about to remove your top, well Fiyero's top" said Galinda to a sleeping Elphaba. Elphaba remained sleeping.

____

"Please Madam could you please help me, my…my friend is in pain and there is no one to help her" pleaded Fiyero to the doctor.

The Doctor seemed to ignore Fiyero as she kept on walking down the dark road.

"Please Ms I will give you everything I own just for a bit of your time to look at Fae"

"Look young man I don't want your things I just want to get home to my family"

"Family…well she's like my family, please Madam could you please help her?" The doctor stopped then sighed, "ok, fine then but I'll have to be quick".

"Thank you Madam, Fae will be ever so happy" beamed Fiyero.

_____

Once Galinda had finished with Elphaba and made sure she was still ok she ran downstairs to get herself a cup of tea.

Elphaba's eyes slowly fluttered open; she instantly grabbed onto her stomach and closed her eyes as pain's shot though her already broken wrists. She groaned and looked around, no one; she was alone for the first time since the attack, she began to panic.

"Yero… are, are you there? Galinda…?" When she got no response Elphaba sat up slightly and called a bit louder. "Fiyero? Please where are you? I…this isn't funny Yero please…I, I'm scared…what if…" She stopped and gazed over the room her eyes darting towards the door and then the window. Elphaba's breathing became ragged, she slammed her eyes shut, tucked her knees to her chest and grabbed a fist full of her hair, "what's happening to me..." she pulled her hair and shook her head furiously, she was now becoming angry with herself " Stop this! Stop please, what is wrong with me!!? I…I just want to be like my old self! Why won't you let me for…for Lurie's sake!!" screamed Elphaba so hard her throat now hurt.

Fiyero burst through the front door with the doctor in toe, Galinda had fallen asleep at the kitchen table with a cup of tea in her hand. He walked up to her and gently shook her awake, "Galinda where's Fae?"

"Oh…she's, she is um I left her in your room"

"What? By herself what happens if she wakes up and there's no one there?"

"Sorry I thought- well you left her before-"

"-shh listen…did you hear that?"

"No". A muffled cry in the distance rang through the house

"It's Fae, come on!" Fiyero grabbed Galinda's arm and ran up the stairs, the doctor following.

He flew along the corridor almost knocking a vase of a shelf and flew into his room, the doctor and Galinda waited outside. Elphaba was on the floor breathing hard and fast her face was all red and angry, she was crying and looked very much so frightened.

"Fiyero… Help…please…" she croaked her throat protesting. He pulled her onto his lap and hugged her tight.

"I'm here now Fae shh, nothing's going to harm you"

"This is silly why…why am I like this?"

"It's ok Fae you just panicked that's all. Would, would you mind telling me what happened?" She closed her eyes resting her head on Fiyero's chest and nodded

" I woke up… no one was around…I called for you and…well I panicked and then I got angry at myself for panicking…I…I tried to get up and find you because I kept thinking that the man…the man who attacked me would come back, but I just fell over… Yero I'm such an idiot, and now I am even more of a freak than I already was…seriously I…I panicked over nothing…"

"Fae-Fae, you're not a freak and what is happening right now is normal the doctor said to expect this"

"I…I know Yero its just it makes me feel weak and embarrassed"

"Fae you're anything but weak you're the strongest woman I know". Elphaba smiled and wiped away the tears once again coming down her face.

"But Fae I am a bit worried as to why you were sick all the sudden before, I don't want to take any chances so I brought a doctor to help you"

"A doctor?"

"Yes Fae she's here to help you nothing more. Come on let's get you back on the bed so she can examine you…please…for me?"

"Ok Yero I'll…I'll do it for you" She winced slightly as Fiyero placed her back on the bed.

The doctor came in and Elphaba instantly grabbed hold of Fiyero's hand.

"It's ok Fae; she's not going to hurt you"

"Can…can you stay with me… please?"

"You needn't have asked Fae" replied Fiyero as he sat down beside her, still with her hand holding his.

The doctor had finished the exam and Fiyero was outside talking with her. Galinda was with Elphaba in Fiyero's room. Elphaba look detached from reality while Galinda sat there rambling on about anything she could think of.

Fiyero came back into the room and sat on the bed next to Elphaba.

"Where's the doctor?" questioned Galinda

"She left, she was in a rush"

"Oh ok. Did she say what was wrong with poor Elphie?"

"She did"

"And"

Elphaba cleared her throat "um guys I can hear you, you know, I'm not poor either Galinda" scoffed Elphaba.

"We're talking about you not to you Elphie" giggled Galinda as she poked Elphaba's arm. Elphaba huffed, folded her arms across her chest and closed her eyes.

"Ok, fine, whatever I'm…I'm tired anyway"

"Fae don't be silly, you need to listen to this" Fiyero looked at her seriously.

Elphaba could see he wasn't joking "What did the doctor say?" Elphaba's eyes were wide as she scanned Fiyero's face for an answer. Fiyero could sense Elphaba's distress so he took hold of her hands and continued.

"The doctor said you have the early stages of PTSD"

"W…what…what is PTSD exactly Yero?"

"It's an anxiety disorder caused by a traumatic situation in your life, it can affect the way you behave and think"

"Will, will it go away?"

"Yes Fae, it will go in time"

"Well that explains a lot" added Galinda

"Yeah…" Elphaba's sentence faded of as she lay back down again.

"Um Galinda do you think you could give us a moment?"

"I was just going to go anyway Fiyero, it's really late and I'm starting to feel tired like Elphie always does lately" yawned Galinda as she turned and left through the door.

Fiyero lay down next to Elphaba so his chest was facing her back and his arms were wrapped around her waist.

"Thank you for being here with me Yero I…I really appreciate it"

"Anything for you Fae, I want you to feel safe and I know that's the one thing I can provide for you" grinned Fiyero, Elphaba smiled back shyly. The two fell asleep that way.

Fiyero woke up during the night to the sound of Elphaba's voice. She had her eyes closed, her arms were trying to push away something that wasn't there, and she started to whimper.

Fiyero was beside himself he sat up and gently tried to wake her up.

"Fae, wake up you're having a nightmare" he shook her shoulders but it just made her cry harder.

"Get off me…please…please…I'm sorry" her breaths were short and fast "please…please don't…don't do that…ouch! Please stop… no…no please that hurts. Fiyero, I'm so sorry…help, please help me". Elphaba pleaded with her invisible attacker to stop as Fiyero hugged her tight.

"Fae, Fae shh you don't have to apologize, I'm right here, shh". Elphaba went limp in his arms suddenly, her eyes remained closed but she was now awake. She let her tears fall softly as she rested her tired head on Fiyero's shoulder. He rocked her softly whispering soothing words in her ear.

They sat there in the dark room for a while then Elphaba spoke up.

"Can I tell you something Yero, rather personal?"

"Go ahead Fae, I'm all ears"

"All my life Yero I've never really been scared or frightened of anything, other people were always the ones that were scared of me. When…when I was raped; for the first time in my life I felt scared. Then at the hospital I tried not to think about it hoping that I would get over it but…but I couldn't. And…and now with this PTSD thing I feel even more frightened. I'm just so scared Fiyero and I'm afraid that I will never be like my old self and that…that you will never see me…well normal again and that's what frightens me the most."

"Fae…you…you just opened up, to me...And, and I didn't have to ask you to, I love you so much Fae". Before anything further was said Fiyero's hands were on Elphaba's face and his lips were kissing hers. Her arms tightened around his neck as she returned the kiss.

This defiantly was the best night of his life.

TBC