AN: Thanks again so much for the reviews! I really appreciate them :).

All right, since it seems I'm the only Crossing Jordan fan out here... it was the bit where Fiyero asks how many fingers and Elphaba says 'Friday' because she thinks he is being ridiculous. I kinda stole/borrowed that one from a Crossing Jordan episode. Jordan is a lot like Elphaba, witty and sarcastic and independent, and I really love that bit, so I borrowed it.

I decided against Gloq in the end, partly because of your reviews on the topic. They'll just stay very close friends. Instead, I went with another idea I had about a man for Glinda - because, well, I can't very well leave her without a man, right? I didn't want to do that. She deserves someone to love her.

So, some fluff to precede some action. I love fluff, don't you? ^^

Disclaimer: Unfortunately, I don't own Wicked.

One afternoon, Fiyero took her for a picnic in the giant gardens of the castle.

'No one will see us there,' he explained, arranging a blanket on the floor for them to sit on. 'This is the private part of the garden – only the Royal Family can be here. And I've explicitly told this Royal Family that if they even dare to come and peek at us, they're dead.'

Elphaba chuckled at that and sat down next to Fiyero, who started unpacking the basket he brought. Wine, juice, bread, fruit, cheese – no meat, she noted, and she smiled at his thoughtfulness. 'Thank you, Yero. It's wonderful.'

They stayed in the garden all afternoon, not really feeling the need to go back inside. At one point, Elphaba fell asleep with her head in Fiyero's lap. When she woke up a few hours later, she caught him watching her.

'Hey,' he said, smiling. She merely glared at him. 'For how long have you been staring at me?'

He chuckled. 'Ever since you fell asleep – about mid afternoon. It's a rare opportunity, really – you always wake up before I do. You look beautiful when you sleep.'

She sighed and he grinned at her. 'Although you always look beautiful, you know that.'

'Stop lying.' She would always say something like that, and he wasn't sure whether she actually meant it, that she really didn't believe him, or if she just liked to tease him with it.

'It's not lying, it's-'

'Well, then stop looking at things another way.'

He chuckled and played with her hair, curling strands of it around his fingers. 'You never sleep during the day,' he remarked, absent-mindedly noting how soft and silky her hair felt against his skin. 'You must have been really tired.'

She closed her eyes again, allowing him to play with her hair some more. 'I was. It just… it doesn't seem to end, you know? Every time I think things are going to work out, something happens that shatters everything to pieces again.' She sighed again. 'I guess I'm just not meant for the ever after.'

'Hey.' He caught her chin and she opened her eyes to look directly into his sapphire ones. 'Don't say that. We'll get through this, and we will have our happily ever after one day.'

She managed a faint smile, not entirely convinced, and she sat up. 'Is there some more left of that delicious pie your mom baked this morning?'

'At least I don't have to reprimand you about not eating anymore,' he teased her when she had her third piece of pie. She raised her eyebrows at him, swallowing the last bite. 'Blame your mother and her delicious pies.'

'I will,' he promised her, and she laughed. She snuggled closer against him, he put his arms around her and they watched the sunset together, the sky exploding in shades of orange, pink, red and yellow, and she sighed with content. 'This is the most beautiful sunset I've ever seen.'

He kissed her hair. 'Better than the sunsets in the Emerald City? You know, when the sun lights up all the green and every building seems to glow?'

She hesitated for a moment. 'I used to love the sunsets in the Emerald City,' she conceded, 'but this one is much more beautiful.'

He smiled and started waving wild flowers into her hair. 'Good.'

They watched until the sun had completely disappeared and the sky started to turn a shady gray. Then she asked hesitantly, 'Yero?'

'Hmm?'

She sat up again, looking him in the eye. 'I need you to promise me something.'

Her serious tone made him worry instantly. 'What is it?'

She hesitated again. Then she said, 'We don't know what will happen next, right? I mean… Morrible got to me before, she almost had me kill myself and I didn't even have a clue of what was going on.'

He had a feeling he knew where this was going. 'Fae…'

'I need you to promise me that if something happened to me, you carry on with your life.'

He looked at her, shocked. 'Fae!'

'Please?' Her large, dark brown eyes were pleading. 'I meant what I said before - I don't want to drag anyone with me anymore, Yero. I'm not saying I'm giving up – you know me better than that,' she said with a soft chuckle, and he couldn't help but smile faintly at that. Elphaba and giving up was like… Glinda going to a mall without buying anything. In other words, it would never happen.

'I just need to know that you'll take care of yourself while I'm gone,' she whispered, and he bent forward to kiss her. 'If it makes you happy for me to promise that, my Fae, I will,' he told her truthfully. 'But I need you to promise something to me as well.'

'What?' she asked, peering at him. He took her hands. 'To never leave me alone if you can help it in any way.'

She kissed him fiercely. 'Never.'

She wrapped her arms around him as he kissed her back fiercely, tangling one hand in her long, raven hair and resting the other one on her back, pressing her closer to him. She closed her eyes and melted into his embrace as he deepened the kiss, and all her worries and problems seemed to vanish, just as they always did whenever he was around. Somehow, he always made everything better. It scared her, but it felt amazing, and wonderful, and right at the same time. She smiled against his lips, and she started trailing kisses down his neck and his chest. He moaned softly, burying his face in her hair and taking in her smell. ´Fae?'

'Hmm?'

'You smell good,' he murmured against her neck. 'You smell like…' He frowned, not sure how to describe the smell.

'Artichokes?' she suggested with a mischievous twinkle in her eyes. He pulled back a little to give her a stern look. 'No. I was going to say… you smell like spring.'

She smiled at him and he kissed her again, gently pushing her back until she was lying down. She tangled her fingers in his hair and moaned softly as he kissed her jaw line, her neck, her collarbone. He traced her features with his finger. 'You are so beautiful.'

She merely smiled again and pressed her lips against his until they both had to pull back again to breathe. 'Do you really not believe it?' he asked her. 'That you are beautiful?'

She shook her head. 'No,' she said, and he couldn't help but feel just the slightest bit disappointed. He had hoped that all these months of telling her that she was, in fact, beautiful, would help her to finally get to believe it herself. But then again, he supposed it would take more than a few months to undo an entire lifetime of hearing how ugly you are.

Elphaba rested her head against his chest and continued softly, 'But I feel beautiful when I'm with you. Because I know I'm beautiful to you, and that's all I could ever ask for.'

He heard the sincerity in her voice and it almost made him cry with happiness, but he swallowed his tears and kissed her hair instead. 'I love you so much, Fae.'

She lifted her head to look at him and she smiled. 'I love you, too,' she replied, before she kissed him again.

'Corrin!' Glinda chirped, hugging her newly arrived guest warmly. 'How are you?'

The man smiled, removed his hat and bowed for her. 'It's a pleasure to see you, as always, Lady Glinda.'

'Oh, stop the Lady-ing already!' she protested, waving her hands in a dismissing gesture. 'It's just Glinda to you, you know that! Seriously – how are you? I haven't seen you in ages!'

'I had work to do,' he explained, following her to her chambers. Boq was already there and he smiled at Corrin as he came in. 'Boq, this is Corrin,' Glinda introduced them. 'Corrin has been working for the Wizard for years and now he works for me – sort of, anyway. He's been the one to pull me through everything for the past few years and he's been the biggest help to me with making decisions about how to rule Oz ever since I became the new ruler. Corrin, this is Boq, a very dear friend of mine.'

The men shook hands before Corrin turned to Glinda, looking slightly puzzled. 'A dear friend? I thought you said in your last letter that the two of you were dating.'

She blushed as she remembered that. She had, in fact, gone on the promised date with Boq, but soon she had had to acknowledge that she felt a lot of things for Boq, but that love was not among them. She had been very reluctant to tell him about that, but had decided it to be even worse if she kept him on a string and so she had solemnly told him that they needed to talk right after the date. 'I don't know how to tell you this, Boq,' she had said hesitantly, 'but I… well…'

He had smiled at her reassuringly. 'You don't love me.'

She had been a bit shocked. 'Is it that obvious?'

'I was kind of hoping you'd feel that way,' he confessed, which left her even more confused. Upon her puzzled frown, he had explained to her that he, too, had realised during their date that he didn't love her anymore. They had both changed, and she wasn't the bubbly, popular Galinda she had been back at Shiz. They had laughed about it, both of them relieved, and they had agreed to stay the best of friends. Boq would remain in the palace to help her with her duties, but as a close friend, not as a lover.

She told Corrin that she would tell him about all of that later. 'Please, sit down!' she said, gesturing to the sitting area. 'Would you like some tea?'

'Yes, please,' he replied politely, and she breezed off to find a maid who could get her some tea and biscuits. Boq eyed the man sitting across from him curiously. 'So who are you, really? I don't recall ever seeing you before.'

Corrin shook his head. 'I don't spend much time around the palace. I travel a lot throughout Oz, to be able to report back to Lady Glinda everything that's happening out there. I do love being here, though, if only because that means I get to see Glinda again. She means a lot to me.'

'I can tell,' Boq smiled, taking a mental note about this man obviously being head-over-heels in love with Glinda, even though perhaps he didn't even realise that himself.

Glinda most certainly didn't, Boq noted when she breezed back into the room, flashing them both a smile. 'So, Corrin, how are things out there?'

'Settling down,' Corrin replied, impatiently brushing his hair out of his face. It was brown and slightly too long, Boq noticed, which was why it kept falling into his face. Corrin went on with a serious expression on his face. 'Not everyone is too happy about you lifting the Animal bans, but they're not making too big a fuss of it – they trust you to do the right thing. The Munchkins are even downright happy with you – you know, for getting their country back on track. That new Governor girl is really doing an amazing job.'

'Good,' Glinda replied with a genuine smile, and Boq looked at her, then at Corrin, and then back at the blonde again. They seemed to suit each other, he had to admit; Corrin was just the kind of man he would have imagined Glinda to end up with. He was good-looking, too, with his piercing blue eyes, weathered face and muscled posture. He obviously felt some kind of warm affection for Glinda, and the feeling seemed to be reciprocal.

'He is so totally into you,' he told Glinda later when they were alone. She scowled at him. 'He is so totally not.'

'He so totally is!' All right, he needed to move on now – he was starting to sound like a girl. Perhaps he was spending too much time with Glinda after all. 'Just wait and see – he's going to ask you out sooner or later.'

'If he did…' Glinda's voice trailed away and he encouraged her to continue. 'If he did…?'

'Would you mind?' she asked softly, and he took a deep breath before shaking his head. 'No. I don't think I'm completely over you yet, but… well… you deserve to be happy, Glinda.'

She smiled at him, a bit sadly, and she hugged him. 'Thank you, Boq.'

Suddenly, he thought of Elphaba, the way she had been at Shiz, and he gave the blonde girl a grin. 'I'm so going to tell Elphie about this next time she visits,' he teased her, and she gasped in shock. 'Don't you dare!'

'She'll be thrillified for you, I'm sure,' Boq said, and she nodded sourly. 'I know. But first she'll laugh at me and make a few extremely sarcastic remarks about Corrin needing to get used to giant wardrobes and hundreds of shoes and above everything, lots of pink… No thank you.' Her face softened. 'Not yet, anyway. Not until anything actually happens.' She looked at Boq hopefully. 'Do you really think he likes me?'

He rolled his eyes. 'Sweet Oz, Glinda, he's practically drooling all over you. If he doesn't like you, then…'

'Lady Glinda?' someone called from outside the door and Boq grinned at Glinda. 'Speaking of the devil…'

'If you say but one word about this!' she hissed, hurrying over to the mirror to smoothen her dress and fix her curls before she cleared her throat and called, 'Come in, Corrin!'

'I'll just leave you two lovebirds alone, then,' Boq smirked, earning him a pointed glare from Glinda before he left the room, chuckling to himself. This was going to be quite interesting.

'I'm so sorry,' Rayenna said quietly one day as she and Elphaba were sitting in the castle library. They were alone, except for Nuki, who was sitting on Rayenna's lap purring as the Princess caressed her. Nuki had quickly befriended both the Vinkun Princesses, mostly, she had told Elphaba a few days before, because Anwen and Rayenna reminded her of Glinda and Elphaba. The green girl had smiled at that, agreeing that they were indeed a bit alike. Nuki had been spending much time with the two girls ever since – either that, or she had been in the palace kitchen, sneaking around in the hope of finding herself some meat or fish to steal.

Elphaba looked up in surprise at Rayenna's sudden words. 'What? What for?'

'It's just...' Rayenna hesitated for a moment. 'I can't even begin to imagine what you must have been going through all your life.'

Elphaba merely stared at the younger girl, shocked. No one had ever said such a thing to her – especially not someone she had only met days ago. Rayenna didn't even know her that well, and yet she seemed to know about everything that was going on in Elphaba's mind. It scared her a little – but then again, the girl was the younger sister of the only person that had ever known about everything that was going on in Elphaba's mind.

Rayenna blushed a little at the green girl's look. 'I'm sorry, I didn't mean to…'

'No, no, it's okay,' Elphaba hurried to reassure the girl. 'You just… surprised me, is all.'

The Princess smiled faintly. 'Is it that uncommon for someone to recognise and sympathise with what you have been going through?'

Elphaba gave her a look, one eyebrow slightly raised, and Rayenna's smile immediately faded. 'It is, isn't it?'

The witch shrugged. 'I'm the Wicked Witch of the West – don't tell Fiyero I said that, he hates it. But the point is, no one has ever even so much as tried to think about my side of the story, let alone sympathise with me.'

'But… before that?'

'Before that I was green,' replied Elphaba, as if that explained everything. 'People never wanted to know me – I can count the people that know about my past on one hand.' She wiggled her fingers, then frowned. 'All right, maybe two, now that your family knows as well.'

'I really am sorry,' Rayenna said sincerely, and Elphaba smiled at her – one of her rare, genuine smiles. 'Thank you, Rayenna. That means a lot to me.'

Rayenna returned her smile and scratched Nuki between the ears, which made the Cat roll over with delight. Elphaba was glad that the two of them got along. She had grown fond of Fiyero's entire family – she liked being around them. Anwen indeed did remind her of Glinda in some ways – she was bouncy and just a bit hyperactive. Rayenna was much calmer and they often talked about books or politics, serious topics that the others mostly found boring, but fascinated Elphaba to no end. The King would tease her and tell her embarrassing stories from Fiyero's childhood, stories that made him flee and her double with laughter, and the Queen asked her more personal questions, being genuinely interested in Elphaba's life so far. She could tell Fiyero was happy, too, that she liked his family – and the other way around, of course.

Gaze still fixed on Rayenna and Nuki, she picked up a paper from the table and let her eyes wander over the front page absent-mindedly, only to be jerked back to reality when she read the headline of an article that covered the entire front page. Glinda the Good attacked by Wicked Witch of the West.

Wait a minute. 'What?'

'What?' Rayenna and Nuki repeated at the same time, confused. She looked at Elphaba, then at the paper the green girl was holding. 'What's in there?'

Elphaba quickly scanned the article. It said that Glinda was shaken, but not hurt – thank goodness. She read on and discovered that no one had actually seen the Wicked Witch – obviously, since Elphaba had been nowhere near the Emerald City for the past few weeks. Glinda had been attacked by a woman dressed in a black cloak, whose identity was in fact unknown, but everyone was absolutely certain it had to be the Witch. Elphaba, however, knew better. Only Morrible would do something this low – attack her best friend to get to her, to coax her out of hiding.

'That awful old hag!' she hissed, tossing the paper aside and starting to pace up and down the room. Rayenna and Nuki both eyed her in confusion. 'Elphaba?' asked the Princess. 'Will you tell us what is going on, please?'

She did, and they were both shocked. 'But… why would she attack Glinda?' asked Nuki, wrinkling her nose. 'That doesn't make any sense.'

'To get to me,' Elphaba said simply. She shook her head. 'This has to stop. First the ambush in the forest, then the hallucination spell, and now Glinda… Sooner or later, someone is going to end up getting hurt, and I will not let it get to that. Rayenna… could you fetch your parents and siblings for me? We need a plan, and we need it now.'

After filling them in on the recent developments, Elphaba locked herself in the library with a pile of magic books beside her, in the hope of finding a way to deal with Morrible. The King had his men comb out the entire Vinkus for any sign of Morrible, and the girls tried to think of a plan, discussing several possibilities, but not finding a decent one. Days passed and Elphaba grew desperate; she didn't seem to be making any progress at all, and finally, she decided to go for a walk to get some fresh air.

She took her cloak from the chair she had dumped it on earlier. Something white fluttered towards the floor, and she narrowed her eyes. Was that…? She dropped the cloak and picked up the piece of parchment from the floor. It was the spell she had copied from the Grimmerie.

She sat down and read it, all of it, thoroughly, for the first time. When she was done, she knew they had a plan. Not a pleasant one, but a plan nonetheless.

'I found something,' she announced when she dashed into the room where the Tiggular family was sitting. They all looked up expectantly.

'It's not perfect, but it's something,' she said, not explaining herself any further. She looked at Rayenna. 'Rayenna… would you mind taking care of Nuki for a while?'

The girl shook her head, clearly confused. 'No, of course not, but… why? Are you leaving?'

Elphaba nodded. 'I have to set things in motion, and I have to do it now, before anything else happens,' she explained. 'I have to go and check on Glinda, to see if she is really okay, and I need to go and have a talk with Maráni, and Master Gold… I'll probably be gone for a week or two. And no,' she said sternly, running ahead of what she knew to be Fiyero's next question. 'You're not coming with me.'

He twisted his face in an expression of determination. 'I wasn't asking.'

'I'm going alone.'

'No, you're not.'

They glared at one another, until the King cleared his throat, rather awkwardly, breaking the silence. 'Elphaba… will you be back?'

She nodded, tearing her gaze off of Fiyero and directing it at his father. 'Yes, I will. Like I said, probably in two weeks time – give or take a few days, depending on how everything turns out.'

'Fae, I'm not letting you do this by yourself,' Fiyero said, clearly not ready to drop the subject yet. She sighed and ran her fingers through her hair. 'Yero… I have to do this. We have to defeat Morrible and we have to do it as soon as possible. I'm not risking your life again.'

He stuck out his chin, stubborn, and she sighed. 'Let's go over this in the morning, all right? I'm going to sleep now – I'm really rather tired. Are you coming?'

He nodded, letting the subject slip for now, and they bade his family goodnight before going up to his room.

The next morning, she was gone.