If you follow me on Twitter, you already know my update's a little late because I had my first official day of work last night, so I was home late. It's here now, though, and the next update will probably just be tomorrow evening again (although I'm not sure what time I get home tomorrow, so that one might also be postponed until Sunday morning).

In any case, thanks for all your reviews and special kudos to Indy's Green Hat for being the 100th reviewer! I hope you all like this chapter. I know I do. :)

11. Calls

"Fabala, I'm scared," said Nessarose through the phone, her voice trembling a little. "What if something happens to you?"

"Nothing is going to happen to me, Nessie." Elphaba clutched the phone between her ear and shoulder and typed something on her laptop. "It'll be fine. Please don't worry about me. Maybe I shouldn't have told you at all."

"Of course you should have," the younger girl argued. "I want to know when you're in danger. You'll keep me posted, right? Tell me if anything else happens. And get enough rest," she added. "I know you and I know how exhausted you get after using your magic. You did an awful lot of it now. I also know you probably didn't get enough sleep to catch up on that loss of energy."

Elphaba smiled, even though her sister obviously couldn't see that. "I slept in yesterday."

"And how much sleep did you get last night?" Nessa asked pointedly.

The green girl grimaced and heaved a sigh. "Six hours?" she guessed. "That's a lot for me already, you know. I had a lot on my mind, Ness."

"Uh-uh." Nessa sounded amused and exasperated at the same time. "Take a nap this afternoon, Fabala. I can't even imagine how much sleep you'll need to replenish the energy you lost by doing magic of this calibre. Saving someone's life... I remember you needing four-hour naps after healing a scraped knee when you were younger. I know you're stronger now, but still. Please take care of yourself," she beseeched her sister. "And not just in the physical sense. Don't you think it would be a better idea if you came to Munchkinland for a while? Get away from the threat? We have plenty of room, you know that. Even though the house isn't that big, it'd be easy to house you and the twins for a while. Even Oscar and Galinda, if they want to come as well – and Fiyero, too. You could always share rooms."

"And then what?" Elphaba asked logically. "Either my stalker will follow me there or he'll wait for me to get back and strike again then. My going to Munchkinland wouldn't solve anything. Besides, Frex would never let me stay with you," she added, smirking a little. "The odds of casualties would be greater if you put Frex and me in the same house than they would be if I stayed here with a stalker on the loose."

"That's not funny," said Nessa, but Elphaba could hear her suppress a giggle. Nessa had had a difficult time accepting her father and sister's terrible relationship for a long time, but she'd come to terms with it now and understood that there was no love lost between them. "It'd make me feel better. Father will be going away to Quadling Country for ten days next week – you could come then."

Elphaba frowned at the email showing up on her laptop screen. "I'll think about it," she said into the phone. "Don't count on it, though. I'd like to have this situation resolved first before I endanger you as well. It's bad enough that the twins could get caught in the middle."

"You could bring them here," Nessa suggested. "They can stay with me, at least, if you refuse to. They'll be safe and well away from the City... and I'd love to actually see them for their birthday, rather than just video-chat with them."

"Maybe," Elphaba said, unconvinced. "I'll give it some more thought. Listen, Ness, I've got to go now. Some idiot just emailed me about my speech at that charity gala in City Hall next week and there are some problems I need to figure out. I'll call you back later, okay?"

"Okay," said Nessa, sounding a little disappointed.

Elphaba sighed. "I'm sorry. I know we hardly ever speak anymore, let alone see each other..."

"I understand, Fabala," said Nessa. "I do. But yes, I wish we'd see one another a little more often. You're always so busy, and then there's Father... I miss you and the twins," she admitted. "That's also part of the reason why I'd love for you to come out when Father is gone next week."

"I promise you I'll think about it."

"Thank you. Stay safe, all right? I love you."

"Love you, too." Elphaba ended the call and tossed her phone onto her desk. She pushed her glasses farther onto her nose, irritably blowing a stray lock of hair out of her face as she angrily started typing a reply to the offending email on the keyboard of her laptop.

Someone popped his head around the doorway and without looking up, she said, "Hey, Yero. I was just about to go look for you. How's the extra security for the twins' birthday? Is everything accounted for?"

"Yeah." He leaned against the doorway. "How did you know it was me?"

She smiled, still not looking up from her screen. "I recognised your footsteps. Good ears, remember?"

He laughed, recalling she'd mentioned that during one of their fights. "I remember. Everything is in place for the weekend, don't worry."

She nodded. "Good." Then she sighed and leaned back in her chair. "Also, the speech in City Hall..."

"I'll be there," he said. "I'd prefer it if you called it off, though. You'll be out in the open and anyone could get to you. I'll put extra security in place for that as well, but I'd rather you didn't go at all."

"I can't just put my entire life on hold, Yero," she said, heaving another sigh. "This is an important event and I'm the deputy mayor. I have duties. Besides, it's in public. Hardly anything can happen as long as someone stays with me all the time."

"True," he agreed, crossing his arms, "until your love-struck psycho stalker decides that if he can't have you, no-one can, and starts attempting to kill you rather than seduce you."

She froze. "Do you think that will happen?"

"I don't know," he said truthfully. "It's something we need to keep in mind, though."

She moaned, burying her face in her hands. Fiyero came into the room and stepped up behind her. He started rubbing her shoulders in an attempt to console her.

"If it's that important, just do the speech," he said. "I'll keep an eye on you and I'll have enough security guards around to make sure nothing can happen. So far, it still seems like this guy wants you alive, not dead, so I don't think you're in any immediate danger if you go to the charity gala; but we'll need to discuss strategy soon and try to find a way to deal with this once and for all, okay?"

She nodded, her head still in her hands. "Okay."

"Hey," he said, pulling his hands away and regarding her in interest. "I've been meaning to ask you – do you only wear glasses for reading?"

"What?"

He grinned sheepishly. "I've noticed you wearing glasses before, but not all the time. I've been trying to discover a pattern there," he confessed, "but I can't for the life of me figure out when you do need glasses and when you don't, so now I'm curious."

She rolled her eyes at him. "It's easy, Yero," she explained with exaggerated patience. "If I'm not too lazy to put in my contacts in the morning, I don't wear glasses. If I can't be bothered poking the stupid contacts into my eyes, I do wear glasses. That's all there is to it." She smirked at him. "Is that a satisfying explanation for that mystery?"

He opened his mouth to make a witty retort, but just then, her phone rang and she grunted, reaching for it. She didn't recognise the caller ID and she picked up. "Hello?"

"Hey, Elphaba." The man on the other side of the line cleared his throat. "It's me. Avaric."

She nearly dropped the phone.

"Please don't hang up on me," he added quickly, with a small laugh. "I just want to talk."

"What do you want, Avaric?" she asked, trying to keep her voice level. Upon hearing the name, she saw Fiyero's eyes widen and she made a face at him before focusing on the conversation again.

"I, um... I emailed you," he said.

"Yeah. I saw."

"Right." He paused. "Listen, Elphaba... I meant what I said," he said. "I won't try to be a part of your life, or the twins', if you don't want me to. I realise I have no right to ask that. I just... I'd like to meet them. That's all. Now that I know they exist, I can't just pretend they don't, you know? And if you don't want me in their lives, I can understand that, too, and it's fine, but... I just want to meet them in person once. Please."

Elphaba chewed on the inside of her cheek, considering. "How did you find out about them?" she asked finally.

He hesitated. "I ran into someone," he said carefully. "Someone who... knows you. I asked how you were, and this person told me about the twins, and like I said in my email – I can do the math."

"Who?" she asked tiredly. "We knew one another for two days. You never met my family and I never talked to you about my friends. How did you even know that this person you ran into knew me?"

He sighed. "Don't blame her for telling me about you, okay? She didn't know who I was. I pretended to be an old friend of yours who lost touch with you."

Elphaba exhaled slowly through her nose. "Nessa."

"Yeah. I met her when I was in Munchkinland for work and when she introduced herself as Nessarose Thropp, I knew she had to be your sister. You did tell me about her, you know – your little sister in a wheelchair."

"Yes," she said quietly. "I know."

Fiyero was watching her closely and she turned away from him, fidgeting with a pen on her desk. "So you pretended to be someone who used to know me but wasn't in touch with me anymore, asked Nessa how I was, and then she told you about the twins?"

"Yes."

"And now you want to meet them."

"Just once." He sounded pleading. "Come on, Elphaba. I know I haven't been a father to them and I hold no claim to that title, but they are my children, too. The least you can do is let me see them."

"I don't owe you anything and they are not your children," she snapped and he was quick to agree.

"Biologically speaking, though..."

She couldn't really deny that and she saw where he was coming from, so she relented. "Fine," she said, pushing against the desk with her foot to spin her desk chair around in circles. "You can see them. Their ninth birthday is this Saturday and we're having a small party in the afternoon; you can come to the Palace then. They'll be there, but my family and friends will also be there, just like my security guards."

"Got it," he said immediately, catching the veiled warning for what it was. "Thank you, Elphaba."

"One more thing."

"Yes?"

She spun the chair again, the room blurring around her. "They can't know who you really are. I'll tell them you're an old friend and you can talk to them, but you cannot tell them you're their biological father. Okay?"

"Deal," he said.

She nodded, even though he couldn't see that. "Great. I'll see you Saturday, then." She hung up before he could say anything else and she spun around once more, laying her head in her neck and closing her eyes. "Well, this is going to be awkward."

She opened her eyes when the chair stopped moving, only to find Fiyero holding it still. "Avaric is coming to the party?"

She nodded and he said, dumbfounded, "I thought you said you hadn't seen or talked to him since... well, since you were seventeen."

"I haven't," she said. "He found out recently about the existence of the twins, though, and he sent me a few emails to ask me if he could see them. I deleted them without replying, so now he called. I'm not sure how he got my private mobile phone number, but clearly, he did." She removed her glasses and rubbed her eyes. "I've always been careful to keep Fawn and Xalo out of the public eye as much as possible, so it makes sense that he wouldn't know about them until now, but I really wish he never found out about them at all. Nessa told him and I don't really blame her, especially if he lied to her to try and find out how I was doing, but I just... I don't want to have to deal with this. Especially not now."

"You won't have to, though, right?" Fiyero asked. "If I understood your end of the conversation correctly, he'll only be there this weekend and then he's going to leave you alone again."

She nodded. "I hope so. That's the deal now, but we'll have to see if he sticks to it." She narrowed her eyes at him suddenly. "How did you know I was seventeen when he knocked me up?"

He grinned sheepishly. "The twins are a source of information once you know how to use them."

She groaned. "Great. My own children betraying me." She didn't look angry, though, which must surprise her as well, because she said, "If you had talked to them about these things two weeks ago, I would have gutted you alive."

"I was just thinking the same thing."

She chuckled. "I guess you must have grown on me after all," she teased him. Then she sobered. "How are you feeling now? Are you still in pain?"

He shrugged. "I was never in too much pain to begin with, thanks to you," he said. "I slept well, so I think I'm all peachy again."

"You were stabbed not even two days ago," she pointed out sharply. "Yesterday around this time, you were still unconscious. Don't brush that off so easily. Can I see the stab wound?"

He obediently sat down on the couch and Elphaba knelt down in front of him. He rolled up his shirt and she gently prodded the spot where the stab wound had been, making him wince. She murmured an apology as she continued to examine the skin and then sat back on her heels, nodding in satisfaction.

"It seems to be healing quite well on its own now," she said. "Congratulations, Mr Tiggular. It's going to take another while to completely heal, though, and you'll definitely have a scar. My magic mainly healed the inside, not the outside."

"Oh, but that's fine," he said, lowering his shirt again. "I mean, come on – you saved my life. I can hardly complain about that. And besides," he gave her a lopsided grin, "many women find scars attractive."

She rolled her eyes at him and rose to her feet again, but then swayed, her face blanching; and Fiyero quickly shot to his feet to steady her. "You okay?"

She started nodding, then shook her head. "I probably didn't sleep enough," she conceded. "And I probably didn't eat enough, either. Doing magic always takes a huge toll on me – I slept for nearly sixteen hours after healing you."

"Then go to bed," he told her firmly.

She shook her head stubbornly. "I have a lot of things to prepare for the party this weekend, and then there's my regular work – I still have to write the entire speech for the gala and –"

"Fae," Fiyero cut her off gently. "Stop. I'll tell Galinda to take care of the party – she'll love that. The speech will come next week. You still have plenty of time for that."

She looked about to protest again, but he shook his head at her and slipped his arm around her waist, guiding her out of her office. "Come on."

He led her to the lift, but she protested. "I'm not so weak that I can't climb two sets of stairs," she argued and because of his earlier suspicions, he didn't protest, instead keeping a tight hold on her as he helped her up the stairs. He guided her to her own room, promising to ask someone to bring her something to eat for when she'd wake up.

"Thanks," she mumbled sleepily after she'd quickly changed into a pair of flannel pyjama trousers and a tank top in the bathroom and came out into her bedroom again. "I mean, you're being really annoying by insisting I take a nap, but I probably need it, so thanks."

He rolled his eyes. "You're welcome."

She swayed again and he caught her, giving her a stern look. She groaned, resting her forehead against his chest and closing her eyes for a moment. "Yeah," she admitted. "I definitely need sleep. Don't look so worried," she said almost indignantly when she saw the look on his face. "It's just a loss of energy. I'll live." She looked up at him, tilting her head a little to the side. She only now noticed that he was only about half a head taller than she was – the top of her head almost reached his eyes. She also suddenly realised how close they were. If she leaned up on her tiptoes now and pulled him just a little bit closer, she could kiss him.

Not that she wanted to. She quickly drew away from him, mentally scolding herself. Why in Oz would she want to kiss Fiyero Tiggular? What was her brain doing to her? It was probably just exhausted, she decided and she quickly stumbled over to her bed, crawling under the blankets.

"I'll go, then," said Fiyero, giving her a lopsided grin. "Fresh dreams. I'll be in my office if you need me once you wake up. And don't worry about this whole Avaric situation," he added, as if he knew what she was thinking about – or maybe he was worrying about it himself, too. She was afraid of what would happen: that Avaric would want more after all, or that the twins would understand who he was and start asking questions, or that Avaric would want to get back together with her or some nonsense like that...

But Fiyero was right. She should save those worries for later.

He winked at her. "It'll work itself out," he said. "And if not, we have lots of security on the spot this Saturday. Just say the word and I'll make sure he's escorted out of the Palace."

"Thanks," she said, heaving a sigh.

"You're welcome. I'll go now, before you fall asleep on me," he said with a grin and she smiled a little, knowing he was right.

"Leave the door open," she murmured.

"Will do," Fiyero said, moving towards said door. He was amused to find that she fell asleep before he had even completely left the room.

It's definitely slow going, but Fiyeraba is on its way, slowly but surely!