I love how last chapter makes you all want to punch people, haha!

amberleigh90: Never too much. Made me grin. :)

This is quite an eventful chapter. Not as bad as some of the upcoming ones, though. *smirks*

13. Caught

Elphaba had a head start on Fiyero and she'd run as fast as she could – she didn't wait for the bodyguard to catch up before yanking open the door to the utility closet, ready to punch someone in the face. She faltered, however, when she saw who was in there with Xalo.

"Avaric," she breathed, slowly exhaling. "What in Oz are you doing here?"

He looked startled at her sudden appearance. "Xalo was playing hide-and-seek," he explained. "I was looking for the bathroom and I found him here, so he told me to get in with him and be quiet so the others wouldn't find us."

"Has everyone else been found?" Xalo asked enthusiastically. "Am I the last one standing?" His face was hopeful and, frankly, he looked adorable the way he stood there in his now-rumpled birthday outfit, eyes shining at the idea of having won the game. Elphaba just couldn't get mad at him.

She exhaled heavily and knelt down to wrap her son in her arms, hugging him tightly for a moment and closing her eyes. Thank Oz, he was safe. "Yes," she said with a small, relieved laugh. "Yes, you're the last one, Xalo. You had your sister and me pretty worried, you know that?"

He looked suitably abashed. "Sorry. But I did win the game!" he said and she let go of him, shaking her head.

"That you did." She ran her hand over his head one final time and made to follow him out of the closet, but Avaric stopped her.

"Elphaba?" he asked. "Can we talk?"

She motioned for Xalo to go ahead and turned to face Avaric. "About what?" she asked warily.

He smiled. "They're beautiful children, Elphaba."

"I know," she said.

He sighed and ran his fingers through his hair. "Listen..." He brushed past her to close the door in order to give them some privacy. "I just wanted to –"

"Open that door," Elphaba said sharply.

"Don't worry," Avaric said a little irritably. "I'm not going to assault you. Oz, Elphaba, you must think very low of me to believe that –"

"I'm serious," she snapped, her breath high in her chest and her throat squeezed shut in panic. "Open that door."

"I just want a little privacy. What I'm about to do is something I don't do very often." He took a deep breath. "Elphaba... I'm sorry for what I did to you that night in the City, all those years ago."

She tried to push past him, not hearing a word he was saying. "Let me out!"

"Hey. Calm down, I'm not going to hurt you." Avaric placed his hands on her shoulders to try and hold her still; but she struggled against him in blind panic.

"Let me go!" she cried hysterically.

"For Oz's sake, Elphaba, I'm trying to apologise here!" Avaric snapped, tightening his grip on her. "Would you please listen to me? You're acting like I'm some sort of murderer! I know I hurt you ten years ago and that I shouldn't have done what I did, but don't you think this is a little ridiculous?!"

She didn't stop fighting him and he let go of her, holding up both his hands, but he didn't step away from the door. "Calm down. It's okay."

Just then, however, the door suddenly opened again. Fiyero quickly took in the scene – Elphaba pressing herself against the wall, hiccupping with panicked sobs and breathing fast, and Avaric staring at her wide-eyed with his hands up in the air; and although if the circumstances were any different, he would have been quick to jump to conclusions, he knew better now. He'd suspected this for a while and he'd seen that look of fear in Elphaba's eyes before, albeit much less prominent. He roughly pushed Avaric aside and grabbed Elphaba's arm, pulling her out of the closet and into the hallway and gently helping her sit down against the wall.

"I didn't touch her," Avaric said, looking a little shocked. "I swear. I know what this looks like, but –"

"I know," Fiyero cut him off, crouching down beside Elphaba. "I know you didn't touch her, but you shouldn't have locked her in there."

"The door was unlocked, I just wanted –"

"She's claustrophobic, Avaric," Fiyero told the other man. "You couldn't have known that, but you should have let her out when she started panicking."

Avaric paled slightly. "Oh. I – I didn't know that. I'm sorry."

"Can you get a paper bag somewhere?" Fiyero asked him, knowing he had to remain calm in order to be able to help Elphaba. "She's hyperventilating."

Avaric nodded and dashed off while Fiyero lightly ran his fingers through Elphaba's hair, pushing it behind her ears. "Fae, breathe," he instructed her. "Slower. That's it. You're okay now, calm down. Shallow breaths, not so deep, or your brain will get too much oxygen and you'll faint." He gently wiped a few stray tears from her cheeks with his fingers, cupping her face with one hand and forcing her to look at him. "There you go," he murmured when he noticed her breathing slowing down. "That's it."

Avaric returned with a small paper bag and Fiyero took it from him, giving it to Elphaba for her to breathe in. "Thanks," he told the other man – a clear dismissal, and Avaric understood it as such. He didn't look too happy about it, but he merely nodded and left again.

Fiyero waited until Elphaba had completely calmed down and didn't need the bag anymore. Then he plonked down onto the floor next to her and heaved a deep sigh. "Well, that was an eventful little party."

"You don't say," Elphaba wheezed and he had to grin at her sarcasm.

"Shut up, you," he told her, poking her playfully in the side. "Catch your breath. And next time, keep in mind that you don't need to keep things like this secret from me. I get that you wouldn't want the whole world to know that the unshakeable deputy mayor has claustrophobia, but I thought we were friends. I'm a little hurt you didn't trust me, Fae." He dramatically put a hand over his heart.

She eyed him warily. "How long have you known?" she asked, still a little breathless, but sounding better now.

He shrugged. "At first I just thought you had a weird health thing about exercise and fresh air," he said. "Walking everywhere whenever you could, always taking the stairs, only driving in a car with at least one window open even when it's cold... I started noticing other things, though. You not taking the lift with me after I'd been stabbed was a bit of a giveaway, because as I got to know you, I don't think you would have left me alone at that point. Not after being so worried about me and not even for ten seconds. Once I started paying attention, more things jumped out at me and it was easy to deduce. You not wanting the door to your office closed, for example – or any door to a relatively small room, for that matter."

"The cat's out of the bag now then, huh?" she mumbled, tiredly leaning her head back against the wall.

Fiyero nudged her shoulder with his. "That's not such a bad thing. I can help you steer clear of small spaces," he offered, which made her roll her eyes at him and drop her head against his shoulder instead of back against the wall.

He stretched his legs out in front of him. Elphaba did the same, her toes almost reaching his ankles when she flexed her feet. "How long have you been claustrophobic?" Fiyero asked.

Elphaba scrunched up her nose. "A long time," she confessed. "I'm not entirely sure how long. Since I was a child, probably, although some periods in my life are worse than others, mainly stressful periods. You should have seen me when I was wandering the Emerald City by myself after having been kicked out whilst pregnant with the twins," she said with a short laugh. "I think it was caused by Frex," she confessed. "Remember what I told you about him locking me in my mother's old walk-in closet for hours sometimes?"

Fiyero jerked away to stare at her, horrified.

She gave him a half-smile that didn't reach her eyes. "Don't look so shocked. I told you the Big, Bad Bully is a jerk," she said, but he didn't laugh. "Seriously, Yero, I'm over it. All right, apparently not quite," she conceded, "but he has no power over me anymore. He just wanted to protect Nessa from what he thought was a bad influence on her. He won't get a Father of the Year award, but it could have been much worse."

Recognising from her tone that she didn't want to talk about the man who raised her, he asked, "How many people know?"

She thought about that. "Nessa knows, although I don't think she knows quite how bad it is. Galinda and Oscar, too, and the other university friends I was close with – Cohvu, Duran, and Gazilon. The twins... well, they know I don't like small spaces, hate lifts, and prefer doors and windows open, but I don't think they completely understand what claustrophobia is. That's it."

He whistled between his teeth. "I would be honoured to be among the select group of people who know – you know, if you'd actually have told me yourself instead of me finding out because you were panicking in a closet with Avaric."

She looked pained, fidgeting with the hem of her dress. "Please don't phrase it like that."

"Don't worry," he said. He pretended to zip his lips shut. "I won't say a thing to anyone. Avaric might, but I hope he knows better than that."

"So do I," Elphaba muttered. She sighed. "Oz, this is such a mess." She started pushing herself up. "We should go back to the party. Before everyone realises we're missing and they all start jumping to conclusions," she said sarcastically, but Fiyero caught her hand and pulled her down.

"Sit down," he ordered. "They won't miss us for a while yet and you need some time to catch your breath."

"I'm fine," she protested, but he tugged at her hand again and she let him pull her down.

They sat in comfortable silence for a while, but then they were interrupted by Galinda, who came to check up on her friend.

"Elphie," she sighed. "Are you all right? Avaric told me what happened." She smiled bleakly at Fiyero. "Bodyguard saves the day, I heard?"

He chuckled and Elphaba groaned. "Please tell me not all the party-goers know now," she begged Galinda, who shook her head.

"Don't worry," she assured the green woman. "He only told me, but he said Fiyero was with you now. I think he felt ashamed for what happened. He asked me to convey his apologies to you, Elphaba, and then he left."

Elphaba heaved a deep, relieved sigh. "At least that went well. What did he even do while he was here? I hardly saw him."

Galinda shrugged. "Xalo told me that he and Fawn gave Avaric a brief tour of the house, since he had never been here," she said. "Avaric asked the twins a bunch of questions about themselves and they asked him some questions, too, but he didn't really answer those. I think Fawn suspects something."

"I think so, too," Fiyero agreed, recalling the conversation he'd had with Fawn when Elphaba had left the room to cast the spell to sense Xalo.

Elphaba moaned and buried her face in her arms. "Just wonderful. How am I ever going to explain this to them?"

"Just tell them the truth," Galinda suggested. "Daddy was a jerk who took advantage of Mummy and then left her, but now he wanted to see his kids just once before disappearing again."

Fiyero chuckled, but Elphaba just raised her head to glare at her blonde friend. "Not helping, Galinda. They're nine years old – they wouldn't understand!"

"They already know the jerk part, anyway," Fiyero piped up. "They told me that all they knew about their father was that he was a jerk who never really cared about their mother. I think they'd understand if you told them a simplified version of the truth."

Elphaba grumbled something under her breath and then heaved a frustrated sigh. "Maybe they won't ask questions after all. Or maybe I can wave them off with some vague answer."

"It'll be fine," Fiyero said consolingly and she gave him a faint, weary smile.

"Thank you, by the way," she said. "For getting me out of there and for helping me afterwards. And I'm sorry for not telling you."

He laughed. "Don't be. You had no reason to tell me – we only even started to actually like each other less than a week ago," he said teasingly, which made her grin as well.

"True."

Galinda giggled. "I'm so glad the two of you get along now, though," she said happily. "It makes things much easier for all of us. Now come on." She held out her hands to help Elphaba to her feet. "Let's go back to the party and have fun for a while longer. It's nice to not have to worry for a few hours – well, Fiyero will have to, what with being in charge of security and all..."

"Don't worry," Fiyero assured her, pushing himself up as well. "It's my job. As long as I get my pay check, I don't mind." The truth was, though, that he was no longer doing it only for the money. He suspected Galinda and Elphaba knew that, too.

Galinda smirked at him and linked her one arm with his and her other with Elphaba's, pulling them both with her as she chattered about the guests at the party and how handsome Cohvu looked today and if Elphaba and Fiyero had any idea of when he might finally propose to her, because she was growing impatient.

After the party, the adults spent a long time cleaning everything up while Fawn and Xalo played their new video games in the living room upstairs; and once the twins were in bed, the others all sat together with a glass of wine to chat for a while. It was late by the time they finally rolled into bed and it felt like Fiyero had only slept for a couple of minutes when his phone suddenly rang, playing an annoyingly cheerful tune into his ear.

The bodyguard groaned, blindly reaching for the phone on his nightstand and bringing it up to his ear. "Hello?" he mumbled.

"Fiyero," Galinda's high voice said in his ear, a definite edge of panic to her voice. "My office. Now."

He didn't question her order. He hung up, shot into a pair of jeans and a shirt, and ran out of his room bare-footed, taking two steps at a time down the stairs and skidding to a halt in front of Galinda's office. She was pale as a sheet, staring at a piece of paper with Oscar right beside her looking just as shaken; and he knew without asking what must have happened.

"What does it say?" he demanded and she handed it to him silently. It was only one sentence and Fiyero swore fervently before looking back up at Galinda and Oscar.

"I need to see the security footage," he said and she nodded.

"I already called the head of security," she said. "He's waiting for us downstairs."

She led him and Oscar to the lifts and they went down to the ground floor, through another short hallway and into a room with multiple screens set up on desks and tables as well as on the floor. A man was sitting on a desk chair, turning around when they came in.

"Miss Upland," he said, rising to his feet. "Mayor Diggs. Mr Tiggular. What was so urgent that it could not wait?"

"We need to see the security footage from Deputy Mayor Thropp's rooms last night," Oscar told him and he frowned.

"There are no cameras in her bedroom or bathroom," he said, typing something on a keyboard. "Obviously – I mean, there is such a thing as privacy, of course. I think I have a camera up in her foyer, though." He clicked a few times, typed something else, and then nodded in satisfaction when an image popped onto the screen. "There you go. What time are we looking for here?"

Galinda shook her head. "I don't know, but we're looking for an intruder," she said. "Someone must have been in her room last night."

"Unless someone has been there before and placed a camera in her bedroom, or something," Fiyero muttered, feeling nauseous.

Galinda shuddered at the thought and Oscar said tightly, "Let's try this first."

"Someone in Miss Thropp's rooms?" the head of security asked with a frown. "That's all but impossible. I'm fairly certain someone would have noticed."

"Even with the improvements I tried to make, security here still isn't nearly as good as it should be," Fiyero said irritably. "Most of the guards working here are lazy and there are holes in the security that you somehow seem to be refusing to fix, even though I pointed them out to you several times already."

The man looked a little taken aback, but he started searching through the footage. Fiyero twisted a little to find a better angle to look at the screen, but then he turned towards the door of the room and suddenly gave a yelp when he caught sight of someone standing in the doorway. "Fae!"

Everyone but the head of security instantly spun around, but she merely pushed past them and leaned forward to get a better view of the screen.

"What are you doing here?!" Galinda demanded in a high-pitched voice.

Elphaba shrugged. "I was just on my way down to get some breakfast when I saw Fiyero dashing down the stairs like a madman, looking as if he'd jumped straight out of bed," she said. "So I followed him, and then all three of you, since I didn't figure you'd be willing to let me in on whatever is going on. It's another letter, isn't it? And now you think someone has been in my rooms? Why?"

No-one said anything. Oscar placed a comforting hand on his daughter's shoulder, but it was clear that did nothing to reassure the young witch. She was just about to demand answers again when the head of security suddenly said, "There."

They all stared intently at the screen, where a dark figure had appeared. Like every time and much to Fiyero's annoyance, the person was clad in all black and wearing a black hood, hiding his face from view. The camera, which apparently followed movements, tracked the person as he moved across the foyer and into the room beyond. They could barely discern him standing there in the dark, just inside the other room, watching something.

"My bedroom," said Elphaba in a strangled voice. "He's standing in my bedroom. What is he doing there?"

No-one answered, because no-one had a reply for her – not one she would like, anyway. The head of security skimmed through the footage, showing that Elphaba's stalker stood there for nearly half an hour before turning around and leaving again the way he had come.

"I want you to search all footage from last night to find out how this guy got in," Fiyero ordered the head of security, who looked a little pale around the nose. "We have to know where this breach in Palace security is and we have to fix it. Now!" he barked when the man just sat there, shocked. He quickly shook off his bafflement and got to work.

Fiyero turned to face Elphaba, who looked at least as stricken as the security head.

"The letter," she said, her voice shaking. "What did it say?"

Fiyero silently handed it to her, figuring there was no point in trying to hide it. She read it and then reached out to seek support at the wall. She looked terrified and Fiyero gently placed a hand against the small of her back to steady her, re-reading the short, but terrible note over her shoulder.

You look so pretty when you sleep.