It's never too soon to call Fiyero an idiot. Yes, he and Elphaba will both come around eventually... but not yet! *smirks*

Again, thanks for your reviews! They make me happy. :)

4. Alarm

"And then the Big, Bad Bully came home," Oscar said, lowering his voice theatrically. Fawn and Xalo scooted closer, listening to his story with wide eyes. "He threw open the door and thundered..."

"WHO IS HERE IN MY HOUSE?!"

Both kids screamed and Elphaba grinned at them as she came further into the room. "I got you there, didn't I?" She ruffled Xalo's hair and sat down on the couch, pulling Fawn into her lap. "Did I scare you?"

"Yes!" Xalo said, scowling. Fawn huffed.

Elphaba pouted at them. "I'm so sorry, my darlings. Can you please forgive me?"

They both shook their heads.

"Careful, kids," said Oscar, smiling. "If you don't forgive her, your mother might cry."

Elphaba pretended to sniffle, bowing her head; and instantly, two pairs of arms went around her and the twins chorused, "We forgive you, Mum."

Elphaba laughed and hugged them both tightly. "I know you do, my little monkeys. Now shh – we should let Grandpa finish his story."

Oscar chuckled and continued the story. Fawn and Xalo listened breathlessly and Elphaba smiled as she watched them, utterly enthralled by their grandfather's voice. Back when she had first fallen pregnant with them, her situation had been dire and she'd been absolutely miserable. She'd even considered not having the baby at all, but eventually, she couldn't do it – especially not once she found out she was carrying twins. She'd been scared, convinced that she would be a terrible mother and worried that she wouldn't be able to give her children what they needed; but from the moment they had been placed in her arms, she'd known she'd made the right decision. She loved her son and daughter more than she could ever have imagined loving anyone.

They were alike in many ways, but they were also different – just like they sometimes reminded Elphaba of herself and sometimes... well, not. Fawn was a few minutes older than her brother and although she could truly act like the older sibling, there were also many times when Xalo seemed to be protecting her instead. He was taller than she was and had a sturdier posture, while Fawn was relatively small and skinny. Of course, he had inherited his father's normal skin colour – thank Oz for that – while Fawn's skin was as green as her mother's. So far, however, she hadn't suffered because of it, which Elphaba was relieved about.

They were both dark-haired and stubborn, sometimes serious and sometimes very playful; but Fawn was warier and more introverted than her brother, who made friends with everyone quite easily. Their facial features were quite alike – less sharp than Elphaba's own, but still resembling her. The only exception to that was their eye colour, since Xalo's eyes were mostly brown with some hints of green whilst Fawn's were a definite green, only a few shades darker than her skin. They were both perfect to Elphaba and she would do anything for them. She knew Oscar felt much the same and Galinda and Cohvu, who were their godparents, also loved them very much. At least they had the happy family she herself had never had when she was growing up, however unconventional that happy family may be.

Oscar finished his story and the kids both heaved a deep sigh, impressed with the story like they always were. Both of them loved to read, but they loved their grandfather's stories even more. He always thought up the most extraordinary tales.

"What's for dinner tonight, Mum?" asked Xalo and Elphaba chuckled.

"You'll have to ask Grandpa," she said. She combed her fingers through Fawn's hair, separating the strands and beginning to braid them. "I won't be having dinner with you tonight. I'm going out to eat with Mayor Lentering of Munchkin City – you remember her, don't you?"

The twins nodded. "Is Fiyero going with you this time?" Xalo asked curiously, which made his mother grin.

"If he shows up in time, then yes," she answered in amusement. Fiyero had been with them for a couple of days now and although he still irritated her, they had settled into some sort of routine. Galinda had given him Elphaba's schedule and he was usually waiting by the door when she went to leave the building, accompanying her to her appointments in the City. He usually drove, too – unless she wanted to walk, which she almost always did if she could. She was confined to indoor spaces enough already, so she took every bit of fresh air she could get, despite Fiyero's whining about her safety.

Xalo nodded solemnly. "Can we still not spend any time with him, Mum? I think he's kind of nice. I want to ask him if he can teach me how to fight!"

Elphaba bit her lip, exchanging a look with Oscar. She didn't really want to let the twins near Fiyero too often; but on the other hand, they didn't really have a father figure in their lives and maybe Fiyero could fill some of those holes for them while he was here. Didn't all fathers teach their sons things like fighting and playing sports? Besides, Fiyero was here to protect her. Annoying as he could be, she knew he would never let anything happen to her children – or she hoped he wouldn't, anyway.

"If you really want to," she agreed hesitantly and Xalo beamed at her.

Fawn scowled. "I'm not sure I like him," she said as Elphaba finished braiding her daughter's hair and secured it with an elastic hair band. "He forgot to protect you the first day and he sometimes talks to us like we're four years old. He's really stupid, isn't he?"

"No, sweetie," Elphaba reprimanded her mildly, but she was smirking. "Not really stupid."

Fawn and Xalo giggled. Oscar hid his grin behind his coffee cup.

Fiyero had to admit that the deputy mayor looked sort of pretty when she was dressed up the way she was now. She was wearing a long, black dress with thin straps across her shoulders, paired with a pair of low heels and a black wrap. Her long, ebony hair had been swept up into a bun and she was wearing a little make-up, too. Still, her pace was brisk as ever and she didn't look any less annoyed than usual when he caught up with her.

"So you're meeting the mayor of Munchkin City tonight?" he asked as they got into the car and Fiyero started the engine. He wiggled his eyebrows suggestively at her via the rear-view mirror. "Is he your secret lover?"

She didn't dignify that with a reply – not even to tell him that the mayor of Munchkin City was actually a woman. Instead, she pressed a button to open the window, scooting closer to it to breathe in the fresh air.

"Do you have to open that window?" he complained. "It's cold."

"Yes," she told him curtly, taking her phone out of her purse and checking it. When she glanced up, she noticed the window sliding up and she pushed the button again. "Stop that."

Fiyero grinned at her and childishly pressed the button he had in the front to close her window once more. "It's cold outside," he informed her again. "I'm here to protect you – not just from other people, but also from getting sick."

"I won't get sick," she snapped. "Open the window." He thought he detected an edge of panic in her voice, but dismissed that. It had probably just been annoyance he'd heard. He did stop, though – if only because there were more interesting ways at hand to irritate her.

"Seriously, though," he said. "You're a woman and you have a job and two children, but no husband or anything even remotely resembling one. Don't you go on dates or something? Never had a boyfriend?"

"Once again," she said slowly, as if she were talking to a dense child, "what makes you think that is any of your business? I won't have you prying into my personal life, Mr Tiggular."

"Fiyero," he corrected her and she narrowed her eyes at him.

"Fiyero," she echoed, gritting her teeth. "You're here to do a job. So either do your job or go back to where you came from."

He huffed, scowling at her in the rear-view mirror. "There's no need to be rude, Miss Thropp. What have I ever done to you?" he demanded.

"To me personally? Nothing, aside from being terribly annoying," she shot back. "But I know of your reputation, Fiyero. I know of all the women you slept with and all the universities you flunked out of despite your father's money. It's almost impressive. Why did you do that, anyway? Why not just study and make something of your life?"

"As you keep putting so pointedly, Elphaba, that is none of your business," he snapped. "Here I am, attempting to be nice to you, and all you do is snap and snarl at me without so much as bothering to try to get to know me. I don't know why I would bother if you refuse to."

For a moment, she started feeling bad for him. She was on the verge of apologising, because she realised he was right – he hadn't given her a real reason to treat her the way she did, aside from his supposedly funny but in fact very annoying remarks and flirting, and she was being rude to him mostly just because of his reputation. She, of all people, should know that reputation wasn't everything and that rumours often did not even remotely approach the truth.

Feeling a little ashamed, she already opened her mouth to say she was sorry; but then he muttered, "I suppose my first impression of you was right and you're just an arrogant, rich little Miss Smarty-Pants with a big mouth and a stick up her arse who thinks she is so much better than everyone else."

At those words, ever last trace of compassion melted away like snow in summer and she hissed, seething, "You have no idea what you're talking about."

"You're right," he said. "I don't. Because you won't tell me anything. But you know what? I don't care. You're not worth getting to know, anyway. After all," he sneered, "who wants to get to know a vegetable?"

Elphaba felt as if though she had been slapped. Of course she'd endured a lot of name-calling in her life; she was used to that. Ever since she'd left Shiz to come work for Oscar, however, no-one had dared to call her names anymore and she supposed she'd gotten used to having people around her who loved her despite her skin colour and claimed not to mind it in the slightest. To hear him jab at what was still her biggest source of insecurity now, after years of not hearing it... well, that hurt.

She jabbed a finger at him, sparks dancing between her fingers. "I strongly suggest," she hissed, "you keep your mouth shut from now on and just leave me alone."

She slammed her hand on the button that would raise a screen between the back seat and the driver and watched as it slowly came up, hiding Fiyero from view. She exhaled slowly, the magic crackling around her hands dying down as she calmed herself. A little. She was sure if she'd had to look at that smug, arrogant face a clock-tick longer, things would have gotten nasty.

She spent the rest of the drive in silence by herself, checking and answering her email on her phone and sending Galinda a text message.

Fiyero Tiggular is a pig.

The blonde replied not a minute later.

Give him a chance, Elphie. I'm sure he can't be that bad and you need him.

Elphaba gritted her teeth.

I can take care of myself.

Apparently, Galinda didn't want to dignify that with a reply, so Elphaba typed another message.

He called me a vegetable and said I have a stick up my arse.

She knew she sounded like a whiny child, but she didn't care. Fiyero brought out the worst in her. She didn't understand why he had to be here, anyway. What was going on this time that worried Oscar and Galinda so much more than the regular threats and intimidations?

Her phone beeped and she checked Galinda's latest text, which didn't make her feel much better.

I'll talk to him, Elphie, but you should also keep in mind that he's only trying to help. Knowing you, you probably snapped at him for no reason first.

She tossed the phone to the other side of the back seat with a huff and crossed her arms. So not even her best friend was on her side this time. Just great. She realised she was probably only this angry because she knew Galinda was right, but still – did that give Fiyero the right to call her petty names and say all those things about her when he didn't even know her? Just because she'd been acting childish, didn't mean he had to do it back.

She grimaced a little at her own twisted logic and picked up her phone again with a sigh, tucking it into the small purse she had with her and glancing out the open window. Thankfully, the restaurant was in sight already and the car stopped not long thereafter. Without waiting for Fiyero, Elphaba threw open the door and got out of the car, stalking over to the restaurant. By the time Fiyero had locked the car and reached the restaurant's front door, Elphaba and the Munchkin mayor – a woman, he discovered to his surprise – had already been seated and were talking over the menu.

He sat at a table by the door and ordered a drink, keeping half an eye on the green woman. Just because he didn't like Elphaba, didn't mean the threat to her was any less imminent and he still had a job to do. He couldn't just let her go to dinner and then go back by herself. If something happened to her and word got out to the press that he was employed to protect her, his career would be ruined.

And so he casually looked around the place, searching for any threats. He was immensely bored as he sipped his drink and waited for Elphaba to finish her dinner. Unfortunately, it looked like that was going to take another long while. He fished his phone from the pocket of his jeans and started playing a game on it in an attempt to kill time.

Many people seemed to recognise Elphaba – of course, she was hard to overlook because of her skin – and some of them came up to her and the Munchkin mayor to chat and shake her hand. Probably congratulating her on the new policies Fiyero knew she had been promoting – something to do with nature and animal protection in the Emerald City and with re-integration of Animals into society. When people pulled out their phones for pictures, however, Fiyero stepped in, trying to look as menacing as possible as he crossed his arms and barked, "No photos of the deputy mayor, please."

Elphaba rolled her eyes at him. The people trying to take her picture glared at him, but then a girl gasped, "Oh my Oz. You're Fiyero Tiggular!" and the attention was suddenly on him.

He could see Elphaba's smirk from the corner of his eyes as the girl came up to him, all but bouncing. "You were in Ozmopolitan," she informed him. "The magazine? You were in OzBeat, too, and I saw an item about you on the OzBeat TV channel the other day as well."

"That's nice," he said grumpily, not feeling like being swooned over for once. He hadn't felt like that ever since his father had disowned him. Most people who still came up to him after that only seemed to want to gloat and rub it in that he had ruined his chance to follow in his father's footsteps as Governor of the Tiggular Bank. Besides, the whole thing had changed him and his attitudes in life more than he had been willing to admit.

"Are you Deputy Mayor Thropp's bodyguard?" the girl wanted to know now, her eyes shining. "That is so romantic!"

Fiyero didn't miss the way Elphaba choked on a bite of food at that, obviously having overheard; and although that amused him, he was quick to assure the girl that no such thing was going on. "I'm just doing my job. It pays well."

"So the rumours are true," she gushed. "You're working as a bodyguard now because your parents cut you off and kicked you out and you have nowhere else to go?"

He scowled at her darkly and she took a step back. "I strongly suggest you keep your nose in your own business, Miss," he told her before stalking back to his table.

"Well, you haven't become any more fun over the years!" the girl called after him.

That was true, he knew, but he didn't say anything else about the matter and went back to the game on his phone.

Eventually, after a few long hours, Elphaba and the mayor both left the restaurant, Fiyero trailing after them. Oz, he was hungry. He hadn't gotten anything besides his drink because the place was way too expensive for him to be able to afford a proper meal there these days. He just hoped there would still be something to eat left at the Palace or he might have to venture into the City again to find some late-night fast food shack that was still open.

Elphaba and the mayor shook hands and they parted ways. Fiyero approached the dark-haired witch, but she sent a scowl in his direction.

"Get the car," she commented. "I want to walk a few blocks first to get some air."

"Yes, Your Highness," he mocked her, turning on his heels to return to the fancy car Elphaba drove. He'd actually been surprised that she'd let him drive it. Then again, she didn't seem like the type of person who really worried about her car. She did seem like the independent kind of person intent on doing everything herself, but maybe she just found it convenient to be able to do other things, like checking her mail and reading reports on her phone, while he drove her around.

He trailed her with the car at a painstakingly slow pace, waiting for her to stop being stubborn and get into the car with him, but she didn't seem to be willing to do such a thing anytime soon. Luckily there wasn't a lot of traffic in this part of the City at this hour, since they were quite a distance away from the city centre. He sighed, drumming his fingers on the steering wheel as he watched Elphaba stride down the pavement, his window down.

"Are you stalking me now?" she asked over her shoulder after a while, without looking at him.

He huffed at her through the open window. "I'm just doing my job. You don't have to acknowledge my presence in any way."

"Good," she said nastily, going back to ignoring him.

"Good," he mimicked her mockingly, careful to keep his voice down so she wouldn't hear him. "Prickly cactus."

"I heard that," she snapped.

He nearly took his foot off the pedal, startled. "How? I was being quiet!" he protested.

She pointed at her head menacingly. "Good ears. Now one more word from you and you'll find yourself missing a limb, understood? I'm completely fed up with you."

"Fine," he said curtly. He was completely fed up with her, too.

Suddenly, he noticed someone creeping in the shadows. He narrowed his eyes, trying to study the person, but he couldn't see anything; it was too dark. The person kept up with Elphaba, never straying far from her, yet sticking close to trees and buildings and thus staying out of sight. The dark-haired witch didn't appear to have noticed the stranger yet, but Fiyero didn't trust it. Was this Elphaba's supposed stalker? He stopped the car on the side of the street and slowly got out of it, keeping his eyes on the man in the shadows. He tried to get a closer look at the stranger, but the creep suddenly glanced over his shoulder. Upon noticing Fiyero, he slunk into the shadows, disappearing from view completely. Fiyero cursed and ran over to the spot where he had last seen the man, but he couldn't find him anymore. He seemed to have vanished into thin air.

Elphaba raised an eyebrow at the guard, noticing his strange behaviour and apparently curious despite herself. "What are you doing?"

"Nothing." He glanced once more in the direction the stranger had disappeared in and then hurried over to Elphaba, guiding her over to the car with his hand at the small of her back, continuously looking around for a sign of the other man. "Get in the car. And next time please just take the car back instead of walking part of the way in the dark."

"I like walking," she said, scowling. "Especially after a big meal. What in Oz are you doing?"

"Just get into the car," he told her.

She protested, but he ignored her, continuing to propel her forward and into the vehicle, closing the door behind her and getting behind the steering wheel again.

She lowered the screen between her and Fiyero and leaned forward, her eyes blazing. "What was that all about?" she demanded.

"Just for fun," he said sarcastically, starting the car. "Enjoy the ride back, Miss Thropp." He could feel her eyes on him as he pressed his own button to raise the screen between them again, but he didn't look back at her even once.