Hey guys! Wow, it's been a while. I meant to post this as soon as I got back from Philadelphia, but my laptop is out for repairs and I couldn't find my files on my parent's computers (I just stumbled across them about five minutes ago, which is why I'm posting now) and my dad just landed himself in the hospital and the Harry Potter book came out and everything's been crazy.

So anyways, I went to Long Beach Island and to a medical forum in Philadelphia. My best friend ditched me the day before we left for LBI, so that vacation was rather crappy, but the medical conference was amazing. Basically it meant we dormed at Villanova for ten days and visited hospitals and went to "MED sessions". It was so much more fun than it sounds. I met tons of awesome people from all over and did some really cool stuff. I held a human brain, saw an operation, suchered a banana and played a 70 year old having a psychotic episode when we did triage. I also learned this really amusing game called Wa (or is it Wah?), which I won't go into explaining right now. After going to it, I'm pretty sure I want to be a pediatrician.

I also went to a midnight party for the seventh Harry Potter book and finished it that day. I won't say anything else about that at the moment. So yeah, that's the abridged version of my July. Sorry for taking up so much room with that. On to the fic!

For a few moments all coherent thought fled Fiyero's mind. He seemed to lose all sense of self and rationality and was suddenly focused on what was a very rash and unexpected move. He was not Fiyero Tiggular, he was not engaged, and the woman on the receiving end of this action was most certainly not the supposed Wicked Witch of the West.

All attention was focused on the kiss taking place. Fiyero had never felt anything quite like this, not even when kissing his own fiancée. Unexpectedly, something about it just felt so right that Fiyero could not bring himself to question what was happening or why the kiss had been initiated in the first place. What was even more surprising was that Elphaba seemed to be responding just as eagerly.

Suddenly Fiyero was overcome by need, and the kiss deepened. He was completely lost in the moment and was quickly losing his sense of restraint. He wanted to take the kiss to the next level, and was about to do so when she suddenly broke away. Fiyero was quite surprised by this, and his eyes shot open to the sight of a very flustered witch.

Elphaba seemed completely shocked by what had just happened. Her eyes were wide, and hands had flown to her lips as though she couldn't believe they'd just been pressed against Fiyero's. She held this pose for a couple of moments, before a look of anger flashed across her face, "What the hell do you think you're doing?"

"I-I-" he stuttered. Reality came crashing down around Fiyero rather abruptly. He blinked a few times as the haze began to clear and his mind actually began to process what had just taken place. He'd just kissed the Wicked Witch of the West. What in Oz's name was wrong with him? He hardly even knew this woman! She was his captor for the love of Oz, and he was engaged.

And yet, even as his rational thought began to return, Fiyero could not shake the memory of the way he'd felt in those brief seconds when their lips had been pressed together. It made absolutely no sense, and yet he could not deny the fact that something had most definitely happened between them.

By now Elphaba was on her feet, running a hand through her hair and looking extremely distraught. Fiyero decided that it was definitely not the best idea to leave this incident unresolved, "Elphaba, I-"

She whirled around and cut him off. "Stop calling me that!" she said suddenly, throwing her hands up in exasperation, "You hardly even know me, and I know nothing about you. I have no idea what you're trying to do, but whatever it is stop it. I already have enough problems without you playing mind games."

Fiyero was only mildly surprised by this sudden outburst. By now he'd noticed that Elphaba actually did that rather often. Still, he understood that she was confused right now. Hell, he was too. He wasn't sure where these feelings had come from, or why they were there. All he knew was that he had them, and he had a sneaking suspicion that Elphaba was feeling the same way.

Looking her straight in the eye, he said, "Tell me…just now…did you feel anything?"

This question seemed to catch Elphaba off guard and she stopped for a moment, looking like a deer in headlights. All of the anger she'd harbored moments ago evaporated and was instantly replaced with a sort of nervous anxiety. "Look, I don't know why you're doing this, but stop. You-are-my-prisoner. I know you haven't seemed to notice that yet, but you are, and this should most certainly not be happening right now!"

At this point, Fiyero was beginning to lose his cool as well. He didn't understand anything right now; it was as if he were back in college staring at an exam paper. All he knew was that he felt something strange and unexplainable for the woman before him, and he wasn't just going to let this go. Standing up, he said firmly, "It doesn't matter if it's supposed to be happening or not, because it is, and I don't think you can honestly tell me that you don't feel it."

"So what if I do," she was practically shouting now, and she looked so completely lost that Fiyero felt a twinge of sympathy. He had the feeling that Elphaba did not show this much emotion very often, "What difference does it make? I'm a fugitive and you're the guard sent to capture me! There is no 'this', there can most certainly be no 'us' and I'd appreciate it if you'd just go back to hating me!"

Fiyero was almost shouting now, "I don't want to hate you Elphaba! I realize you have trouble trusting people, and that you're a fugitive, and everything else you just mentioned, but I'm not going to hate you. What reason have I given you not to trust me?"

"You're the captain of the Gale Force!" she shouted, her voice had risen an octave and was now sounding more like the one she used when playing the Wicked Witch of the West.

"I know that! But have I given you any other reason not to trust me since I've been here?" Fiyero responded. He was aware that they were now having a shouting match and calmed himself down a bit before he spoke again, "You're right when you say you don't know me, I don't even know myself anymore. I've changed since I've been here and I can't ignore it anymore. I know that I don't know you very well either, but I'd like to if you'd just let me. Why do you have such a problem with letting people in?"

Though Fiyero had calmed down a bit, it was apparent that Elphaba hadn't. Her eyes blazed as she responded, "Why do you think I have trouble letting people in? What has that ever gotten me but grief? I've been perfectly fine by myself, and I would have continued to be perfectly fine by myself if you hadn't been hunting for me!"

Deciding that his goal at the moment shout be to calm Elphaba down, Fiyero spoke in what he hoped was a more comforting voice, "Elphaba look, I know you have trust issues and that there's no way I could possibly hope to get through to you now, but just hear me out. I don't know how or why, but there is definitely something going on between us whether you want to acknowledge it or not. Ignoring this is not going to make it go away, and I don't think you should push me away like this until we can sort this out."

Elphaba still looked disgruntled, but thankfully she wasn't screaming like a lunatic anymore. Dropping back onto the stone behind her, she said, "And what exactly is 'this'?"

Fiyero paused for a moment, before responding tentatively, "I don't know…what do you want it to be?"

Elphaba dropped her head into her hands, obviously not sure how to answer this question, "How am I supposed to know? I've never even been kissed before this, and it's all happening way too fast."

Fiyero scooted a bit closer to her, but didn't dare touch her for fear of scaring her away. Lowering his voice to a whisper, he said, "Look, I know you're confused. I'm confused too. I don't know what this is or what it's going to be, but for now we can just take it slow and see what happens. You can trust me Elphaba, I promise,"

Elphaba raised her eyes to his, and he could tell he'd almost won her over. "Why are you even doing this? Surely you can do better than me," she said, a sort of half-determination in hr voice. Fiyero could hear what was really meant by her words. She wanted this, but she couldn't bring herself to believe that someone else could want it with her.

Briefly Fiyero thought of Glinda, and a wave of guilt rushed over him. He shouldn't be doing this; he was engaged. However, he'd begun to realize that he'd never really loved Glinda. Sure he liked her well enough, but he'd never actually felt anything around her. He wasn't sure what these feelings he had around Elphaba were, but he was almost positive it was more than he would ever feel for his blond fiancée.

Taking a deep breath, Fiyero made his decision. Forcing all thoughts of Glinda from his mind, he turned to Elphaba and said, "I don't want to do better."

Elphaba studied him a moment, as if trying to discern whether or not he was being sincere. After a moment, she said, "Fine, but we're taking this very slow, and don't expect much to come of it.

Fiyero smiled, glad he'd managed to talk her into it. Still grinning, he leaned in to kiss her again, but was surprised when a green hand pressed against his lips and stopped him.

"We're taking this very slow," Elphaba said sternly, still looking a bit unsure of herself. Fiyero was slightly surprised as he pulled back, never having been denied before, but obeyed Elphaba's wishes all the same.

"Fine then," he said, taking her hand and shaking it jokingly. She rolled her eyes but allowed a hesitant smile to appear on her lips. Fiyero couldn't help but allow himself to admire her openly now. She really was rather beautiful when she smiled. "Good night Miss Elphaba."

She gave him a look such as a mother would give a misbehaving child, but played along all the same, "Goodnight to you too Master Fiyero."

Still light hearted, Fiyero flashed Elphaba one more winning smile before turning and trotting toward his cavern like a trained puppy. He was still grinning goofily when the boulder slid into place, blocking him from view.

OK, so what do you think? I was really trying hard not to make this sound overdone or drawn out. I hope it was believable and didn't sound too sappy. Please leave a review and tell me what you thought. I should get my laptop back in a couple of days, so I'll post the next chapter once that happens. Hope you enjoyed the chapter and aren't too annoyed with the wait.

S.P.