I loved reading your reviews - as always. ^_^ I know I've said this before, but I'm still surprised sometimes that you all like to read the things I write. It makes being a writer so much more fun!

8. Forgiveness

"Fiyero, please," Galinda beseeched him, watching with growing horror as he packed his last things. "Please reconsider. We need you."

"She made it pretty clear to me that she doesn't," he snapped, closing his bag. "I'm done, Galinda. It's obvious that you and the mayor want me here, not her. She hates me – which is great, because I hate her, too. Whatever that creep is planning on doing to her, she has it coming."

Galinda slapped him.

His hand flew up to his burning cheek and he gaped at the petite blonde woman, who now looked furious and almost intimidating as she planted her hands on her hips. He hadn't expected her to be capable of such anger, if he were honest with himself.

"You have no idea what you're talking about," she hissed at him. "You don't know what she's been through. You don't know how hard she worked to get where she is now. Yes, she is defensive and prickly and she can get on your nerves sometimes; but how can you blame her for that when she has grown up being ostracised and bullied by everyone around her because of the colour of her skin? When the first person who seemed to like her for who she was took advantage of her and her own father kicked her out when he found out she was pregnant?"

He blinked, gaping slightly. He hadn't known that. Of course he hadn't known – she'd never told him; she'd never had any reason to, either, but... well, it explained a few things to him. He suddenly felt very ashamed of the things he'd said to her the day before – especially about her pregnancy.

"She never ran away from her problems," Galinda continued. "She never started seducing random men or flunking out of every school she went to. She tried her hardest to make something of her life and to do good, even though it sometimes felt like the entire world was against her. She's been through enough in her life, Fiyero, and I won't let this guy get to her even if it costs me my own life. So stop saying such terrible things and make a decision – either you stay here and continue to protect her or you get the hell out of my way so I can find someone else."

He just stood there, still gawking at the woman in front of him. She seemed so small and unimpressive, a little blonde lady in heels and a fluffy dress, but she had more spunk than he'd thought.

When he didn't stop staring, Galinda huffed and crossed her arms. He scowled and mirrored her.

Her eyes narrowed and she started tapping her high-heeled foot. "So what's it going to be?"

Just then, however, someone knocked on the open door and a timid voice asked, "Fiyero?"

It was Elphaba and that was reason for him to start gaping once more, because since when did Elphaba sound timid? When she lingered in the doorway, however, he noticed that she looked pale and tired, with dark circles under her eyes.

"Please stay," she said quietly. "I'm sorry I suspected you. I just..." She took a breath and rubbed her eyes. "If only because it would make the twins feel better, I'd really like for you to stay."

He frowned. "The twins?"

She met his gaze. "I hardly slept all night," she admitted. "Fawn had a nightmare about a man coming after her and her brother and then attacking me... she's terrified. They both are. They don't know what's going on, but they sense that something is off, that there is some sort of threat, and I need my children to feel safe. Please."

"Poor Fawn," said Galinda sympathetically. "Is she all right now?"

Elphaba nodded. "They both are, but the point is that I sense it, too. There is a threat; I just don't know what, exactly, it is."

Fiyero and Galinda exchanged a look that did not escape Elphaba's attention. "What?" She narrowed her eyes. "Do you know more about this?"

"No!" said Galinda, a little too quickly.

Fiyero just sighed and said, "Fine. I'll stay."

As he had hoped, that took her attention off the secret they were keeping from her and she looked at him. "Really?"

He nodded, marvelling at the hope he heard in her voice. He'd seen the look in her eyes when she talked about her children being scared. It was like nothing he had ever seen on her before – not when she looked at him, anyway – and it genuinely had made him reconsider his decision. Maybe she wasn't as heartless as he had accused her of being, and maybe, just maybe, he was to blame for that a little bit as well. His temper seemed to be quite as bad as hers sometimes.

He would just protect her for a while, he decided, and track down this creep; and after that, he would leave again, hopefully with a fair amount of money in tow, and he would start building himself a life elsewhere.

"Thank you," she said, smiling a little, which seemed to melt all the sharpness away from her.

"Don't make me regret it," he grumbled and she scowled momentarily before relenting.

"I'll try."

He smirked at her. She rolled her eyes and turned around.

"So are you going out today?" he called after her and she replied, "I have a meeting this afternoon at four with a representative from the Vinkus at the other end of the City."

The Vinkus. His parents. He swallowed, but he pushed the mixed feelings that arose at her announcement away. His parents had disowned him and sent him away; the Vinkus wasn't his home anymore. So he said, "I'll be ready."

She nodded and left and the bodyguard glanced at Galinda, who was still anxiously biting her lip.

"I suppose that gives us most of the day to work out a strategy to lure out and catch our guy," he said and she smiled at him, the anguish fading from her blue eyes.

"I suppose." She took in his wolfish grin and frowned a little. "Do you have an idea?"

He nodded, still grinning.

"Am I going to like it?" she asked warily.

"Nope," he said, far too cheerful for her liking. "And Elphaba is going to like it even less."

Galinda sighed. "Oh, dear."

When Fiyero ran into Fawn and Xalo in the hallway, the little boy said, "Fiyero?"

"Yes?" he asked, stopping and turning around to face them. They were standing close together, as always, and Xalo had his arm around his sister protectively. It was a very sweet sight to behold, Fiyero thought, and it reminded him a little of his own childhood. He used to be that protective of his younger brother.

His younger brother, who would now take over their father's immensely successful company and inherit their parents' fortune. He'd be up for the job, Fiyero didn't doubt that. Honestly, it wasn't so much his parents he missed, or the future he was supposed to have, or even the money (all right, fine, he did miss the money a little). He did miss his brother, though. He missed playing together in their large mansion, sliding down the hallways on their socks and running around in the garden. He just missed that feeling that meant he was home. No place had felt like home since his parents had kicked him out and he missed that.

Swallowing away the lump in his throat, he looked at the twins. He was startled, however, when Fawn said quietly, "Thank you for staying here to protect Mum."

"Yeah," Xalo added. "We know you wanted to leave, but we're really glad you didn't."

Fiyero could only stare at them for a moment before shaking himself out of his stupor. "You're welcome," he said, still dumbfounded; and that only got worse when the two approached him and gave him a tentative hug.

He hugged them back, running his hands over their heads. "I'll protect your Mum," he promised them and two pairs of eyes settled on him. He looked into Xalo's specked brown ones, which were hopeful; and Fawn's green ones, equally hopeful but also slightly wary. He couldn't let them down. For whatever reason, these kids already didn't have a father anymore – he would be damned before he let something happen to their mother as well, regardless of how he felt about Elphaba personally. "I promise."

"Thank you," said Fawn quietly and he smiled at her.

"Fiyero," Xalo added as an afterthought. "Will you be at our birthday party this weekend, too?"

Fiyero grinned at the younger boy. "Sure, kiddo. I'll need to keep an eye on your mother, after all, right?" He winked at them and they grinned back at him happily before skipping off.

Only once they had run along did he groan and rub his forehead. He was letting his personal feelings get in the way of his job. Hadn't he told himself not that long ago that Elphaba was just another client? Why was he now making promises to her kids, then? He wasn't supposed to get sentimental. He never had before and he wouldn't start now. From now on, he would keep a professional distance with Elphaba and her family and that was it.

The thing he had to do now in order to try and find Elphaba's stalker, however, was definitely not professional. He mentally braced himself for her reaction and then went in search of her.

He eventually found her in the library, once again curled up with a book. He wanted to tease her about being here reading instead of being at work, but swallowed the words, unsure if she would understand that he was joking. He didn't feel like getting into another fight with her. "Elphaba?"

She glanced up from the book and furrowed her brow. "Yes?"

"Will you go on a date with me?"

She stared at him, her eyes wide and unblinking as she took him in like he had suddenly grown an extra head.

"Not an actual date," he hurried to reassure her. "Just... a friendship date, I guess. It looks like we're going to be stuck with one another for a little while yet, with this threat going on, so I thought maybe it would be a nice idea to go out and get to know one another a bit better. Since most of our fights seem to be about us not knowing enough about the other, I mean."

Much to his surprise, Elphaba actually started nodding slowly. "I guess that might not be such a bad idea," she conceded. "All right, then."

"Drinks at Square One?" Fiyero asked, referring to a café a couple of blocks away from the Palace. "Tonight?"

She nodded again, a little faster this time. "Sure," she agreed. "But just a friendship date, right? Nothing more?"

"Nothing more," he promised. He wasn't looking for anything like that – especially not with Elphaba. She'd probably eat him alive, anyway, if he tried anything with her... or at the very least hex him. Not that he wanted to. Did he? He hadn't really thought about it. He'd been too busy disliking her, mostly. And besides, it was forbidden, too – hitting it off with a client would give him a bad reputation and that was the last thing he needed. His reputation was bad enough as it was and his work was about the only thing he had left now.

"All right," Elphaba said, her voice pulling him back to the present. "I'll go with you tonight." She put her book away and rose to her feet. "I have to go now, though. I should get ready for that meeting with the Vinkun representative."

He nodded and watched her leave, following not long afterwards. He had no business being in a library, after all.

He returned to his own room and brought his laptop with him to the living room, which was basically just one of multiple sitting rooms in the building, but the only one consistently – and only – used by Oscar, Elphaba, the twins, and any personal visitors of theirs. Fiyero had graciously been allowed access to it and he felt more like seeking out some company than working in his office all by himself. It was a comfortable room, modern yet cosy, decorated in black, white, and different shades of red and grey. Fiyero liked it. It was so very different from the classic interior of the place where he'd grown up, but it had the same homey feel to it.

The twins were both lying on their stomachs in front of the television, each holding a controller as they played a video game on the big flatscreen. Fiyero chuckled when he saw them and set up his laptop on the small table by the window. "Hey, guys."

"Hi, Fiyero," they chirped in unison, followed closely by an indignant cry from Fawn. "Hey! That's cheating!"

"Is not!" Xalo retorted. "You're just a bad loser!"

Fawn poked her brother in the side with her foot.

Xalo stuck out his tongue at her. "Girls can't race, anyway."

Fawn flushed at that, her emerald green face growing a faint shade of purple, and she returned to the game with renewed resolve. Minutes later, Fiyero heard a triumphant cry from her direction. "I beat you!"

He glanced up from his laptop. Fawn was doing a little dance of victory and Xalo was watching her sullenly, pushing the controller aside. "I don't want to play anymore."

"Fine," said Fawn, giggling. "Fiyero, do you want to play?"

The bodyguard blinked, but then grinned. "Sure."

He sat down on the couch in front of the TV and listened attentively as Fawn explained the game to him. She really was a lot like her mother in the way she behaved, he noted. He studied both her and Xalo and mentally compared them to Elphaba, trying to create a picture in his head of what their father would look like. Elphaba's hair was black and straight and the twins' was dark brown and wavy, so he supposed their father must have brown and wavy hair, too. Fawn mostly had her mother's facial features – the high cheekbones, sharp nose and jaw, and large eyes – but Xalo's face was rounder and his nose shaped differently. The brown in Xalo's eyes came from Elphaba, but the streaks of green as well as the full green colour of Fawn's eyes must be their father's as well. Piecing the puzzle together, he imagined a handsome man with strong facial features, brown hair, and green eyes, probably taller than Elphaba was and sturdier, given Xalo's posture.

"Hey," he said, suddenly curious. "Do you guys actually know who your dad is?"

Xalo and Fawn exchanged a cautious look. "No," Fawn replied, fidgeting with the controller in her hands. "Mum never told us."

"We only know that she never told him we existed, because he didn't really care about her," Xalo added. "He's a jerk."

"Xalo!" Fawn scolded him. "You can't say such words!"

Fiyero grinned. "It's fine, Fawn, don't worry. I say bad words all the time."

Xalo's face lit up. "Really?"

Realising he had made a mistake – encouraging kids to use bad words would hardly be considered good parenting and he was afraid Elphaba might find out and punish him for it later – Fiyero quickly moved on. "You don't know anything about him?"

"Only that he's a jerk," Xalo said immediately, clearly proud of his newly-approved vocabulary. "And that he and Mum weren't together for very long. She was still really young."

"How old was she?" Fiyero asked in interest.

Fawn considered that and then replied, "Seventeen, I think."

Fiyero was shocked. Elphaba had fallen pregnant at seventeen?! He couldn't imagine the woman he had come to know making such a choice – but then again, he didn't presume it had been a conscious choice on her part. He couldn't imagine her as an insecure teenager, either, however, even though Galinda had revealed to him before that Elphaba had been taken advantage of by the twins' father. He did some quick math, knowing the twins would turn nine years old that weekend, and he realised Elphaba must only be twenty-six now. Twenty-six years old and she'd made it to deputy mayor of the Emerald City with two eight-year-old children. He suddenly felt a rush of admiration for her, followed by a rush of shame for himself. Twenty-eight and he hadn't actually achieved anything, other than becoming estranged from his parents and breaking hearts all over Oz.

Maybe, he decided, he should try to make more of an effort with Elphaba. She obviously hadn't had an easy life, so he supposed it made sense that she would be wary of him. It would be beneficial for her safety as well if they got along and she wouldn't mind his presence so much anymore. He'd just go on that friendship date with her tonight, perhaps they'd even have a good time; and with a bit of luck, this date's actual purpose would be achieved as well and Fiyero would find out who was sending Elphaba those letters.

Next chapter will have a lot of back story. :)