Sorry, I forgot to update last night, but it's here now! A nice friendship chapter. With cliffy. But nothing too bad, I promise.

24. Friends

Duran and Gazilon were already waiting at the restaurant when Elphaba and Fiyero arrived, both of them grinning and hugging Elphaba in greeting when they saw her.

"It's good to see you, El," said Gazilon, kissing her cheek. "I was a bit worried."

"Same here," Duran agreed. "Good to see you in one piece. And you look beautiful," he added, eyeing her appreciatively.

Elphaba rolled her eyes at them and introduced Fiyero to Gazilon. "Gaz, this is Fiyero, my… boyfriend, I guess. Yero, this is Gazilon."

Gazilon shook the guard's hand. "It's nice to meet you, Fiyero."

Duran's eyes had grown wide. "Wait. Boyfriend?" he asked, stunned. "When did that happen? Last time I saw you, you were pretty insistent you didn't have a boyfriend."

"I didn't, at the time," she admitted a little sheepishly. "I do now, though."

"I suppose sparks just start flying when you're stuck in the same place for over a month," Gazilon said knowingly and Elphaba and Fiyero both made a face, exchanging a knowing look.

"Not just the good kind of sparks, though," said Elphaba. "Not at first, anyway."

Fiyero chuckled and nodded in agreement.

Elphaba gave Gazilon a brief update on everything that had been going on, saving the complete story for later. Needless to say, he was quite shocked, but he promised to be on the lookout that night, as did Duran.

The four of them went inside and ordered some drinks as they waited for Galinda and Cohvu to arrive. Unsurprisingly, that took another half hour.

"Sorry we're late," Cohvu apologised, looking flustered as he sat down next to Gazilon. "Glin needed some extra time to get ready."

"As usual," Elphaba quipped. The blonde PA scowled at her, but didn't say anything as she took a seat beside her boyfriend and beckoned the waiter.

"You clearly took your time to get ready, too, Miss Elphie," she said to her green friend as the waiter came over to take Cohvu and Galinda's orders. "You look very nice."

"But I managed to look nice and be on time," Elphaba teased, at which Galinda started scowling again and poked out her tongue at the dark-haired witch.

They ordered their food and chatted for a while about how they had all been and what they had been up to, catching up on everything that had happened since the last time they had seen each other. In the meantime, however, all six of them kept a close eye on their surroundings, looking out for anything suspicious.

"Elphaba?" Gazilon asked quietly after a while. "I would like to get the full story on what's going on later tonight, all right?"

She sighed, but nodded. "I'll tell you everything," she promised in a low voice. "But not here. We can go back to the Palace for a drink after we're done having dinner here."

The others nodded and Elphaba turned to ask Duran how things were going with his job in the military.

Naturally, after a while, Galinda was the one to change the subject to relationships and she asked Duran and Gazilon, curiously and none too subtly, if they were seeing anyone.

Duran laughed a little uncomfortably, rubbing his neck. "Um… no, not really. I mean, I'm working a lot, so I don't really have time to –"

"Why would you say 'not really', then?" Galinda pounced. "If your answer is 'not really', it means there's sort of something going on, right?" Her eyes were shining and she either didn't notice or completely ignored the exasperated and warning looks Elphaba and Cohvu sent in her direction.

Duran chewed the inside of his cheek. "There's someone I like," he admitted finally. "But I don't think she has any idea."

Galinda squealed. "You should tell her!"

"Galinda, no," Duran protested, but for the blonde, the matter was settled and she turned to Gazilon.

"And you?"

He looked faintly alarmed. Even if there was someone, Elphaba thought wryly, he'd probably be afraid to admit it now.

"No," he said quickly. "There's no-one."

Galinda pushed, of course, until at last Cohvu cleared his throat to interrupt his little blonde tornado. "There's our food."

"Saved by the food," Duran muttered under his breath. Gazilon and Elphaba, who were flanking him on both sides, heard and suppressed laughter, the three of them sharing a look.

Unfortunately, the arrival of the food didn't faze Galinda and she continued to ask questions. When Gazilon eventually, almost desperately, diverted attention from himself by asking about Elphaba's new relationship with Fiyero, the green woman was Galinda's next target. Instead of asking questions, however, she started telling Duran and Gazilon in detail all she knew about Elphaba and Fiyero, including the morning she'd caught them in Elphaba's room together – much to the latter two's horror.

It was a nice night, relaxed and fun, and it was good to catch up; but unfortunately, by the time they had finished their dinner, dessert, and an extra drink three hours later, there was still no sign of anything amiss. Elphaba briefly considered staying at the restaurant for another hour or so, but realistically, she knew it wouldn't be of any use. If the guy hadn't shown up yet, he wasn't going to.

They paid and left Square One, returning to the Palace. The deputy mayor almost hoped they would be attacked or something, just so they could catch their guy; but nothing happened and they entered the Palace feeling relieved and disappointed at the same time.

They gathered in the sitting room upstairs – Duran and Gazilon taking the stairs along with Elphaba, while Galinda, Cohvu, and Fiyero took the lift – and Elphaba poured them all a glass of wine, sitting down on the couch and heaving a weary sigh.

"Well," she said, swirling the wine in her own glass around and staring at it miserably. "That wasn't really a success."

Gazilon touched her knee. "I'm sorry, El."

"Will you tell us the full story now?" Duran asked and Elphaba, Galinda, and Fiyero told them everything, including the parts the two men already knew, from the very beginning. Duran and Gazilon were both horrified.

"But…" Duran leaned forward a little. "Don't you agree with Nessa that it's pretty likely your guy is Avaric?" he asked. "He has the motive; he's been in your house, so he would know the way to your bedroom…"

Elphaba nodded reluctantly, biting her lip. "Fiyero and I talked about that," she confessed, "but we're not entirely sure. There are some things that don't make sense. How would Avaric know we were in Munchkinland? Why would he try to kill his own children? Those kinds of things."

Duran nodded slowly. "Those are good points."

"Do you have any other suspects?" Gazilon asked and Elphaba and Fiyero exchanged a look.

"Not yet," said Fiyero.

Galinda heaved a deep sigh. "It seems so hopeless, doesn't it? We're completely in the dark here."

"Don't worry," Duran said confidently. "You'll figure it out sooner or later. Just be careful, okay?"

Elphaba smiled at him. "Always."

Cohvu coughed meaningfully. Duran, Gazilon, and Galinda also all looked sceptical and Elphaba threw her hands into the air. "All right, fine! I'm not generally very careful," she conceded, glaring at her old friends. "I am now, though. I won't risk the twins losing me, but I also don't want to put my entire life on hold and lose everything – my career, my friends – just because some man is being creepy, do you understand that?"

They all nodded. "We do," Cohvu assured her.

The rest of the conversation was mainly about lighter topics, none of them wanting to dwell on the subject of the stalker when there was nothing they could do about it anyway. Of course they were all disappointed that the evening hadn't led to any new discoveries, but they decided to have a nice rest of the evening together rather than spend it moping around.

Galinda and Cohvu bade them good night around half past midnight. By that time, they were all a little intoxicated and they were still having lots of fun, but Galinda felt tired and Cohvu decided to take her home. Not long after that, the other two men also decided to leave.

"Where is your bathroom?" Gazilon asked Elphaba.

She started pointing him down the hall, but Fiyero rose to his feet. "I'll show you," he said. "Trust me – you won't be able to find it on your own. This place is a maze."

Elphaba grinned. "Fiyero still occasionally gets lost here," she informed the other two men. "Even after having been here for well over a month."

Fiyero mock-scowled at her and she stuck out her tongue, a gesture he returned before showing Gazilon out of the room. The moment they were gone, Duran turned to face Elphaba, suddenly serious. "El, there's something I've been wanting to talk to you about."

"What is it?" she asked, looking at him a little worriedly. "Are you okay?"

He nodded. "I'm fine. It's just…" He hesitated.

"Whatever it is, you can tell me," she encouraged him. "That's what friends are for."

"Right." He nodded again. "Okay. Well… this is a little awkward, but… do you remember, back when we were at Shiz, when I… um… had a crush on you?"

She laughed at the memory. "Of course I remember. It was awkward as hell, although I'll admit it was flattering." She shook her head. "What about it, though?"

She saw the look on his face and her smile melted right off her own face. "Oh, Duran… I'm sorry. That was insensitive of me," she apologised, slightly horrified with herself.

He forced a wry smile. "Well, I guess I've got my answer, then, don't I?"

She bit her lip. "That girl you were talking about earlier, when Galinda asked… that was me?"

He nodded, making a vague gesture towards her. "And this is why I didn't really want to tell you."

She sighed, scooting a little closer to him and touching his arm lightly. "Dur, you're one of my best friends and I love spending time with you, but I've never felt that way about you. I didn't then and I don't now. I'm sorry," she said again. "I wish I could be that girl for you, but I can't. Besides, I've got Fiyero now," she pointed out.

He looked a little sour. "You do, I guess, but… I know his reputation, El. I'm guessing you do, too. Do you really think that could last? At least you know you can trust me," he said a little bitterly. "We've been friends for years. You know me a lot better than you know him, so why would you give him a chance and not me?"

"Because I don't believe love is something logical, nor is it something you can force," Elphaba said calmly. "With Fiyero, there's a spark. Something special. I care about you, Dur – a lot – but you're more a big brother to me than boyfriend material, just like Cohvu and Gazilon."

He nodded, resigned. "Fine. It's all right. I understand. I hadn't expected anything else, really." He paused, watching her closely. "Just… please do be careful," he begged her. "I don't want to see you getting hurt, okay? Either physically or emotionally, and since you've got a stalker after you and just got into a new relationship, either scenario seems pretty likely right now. And please don't let things be awkward between us now," he added, making a face. "Even if you don't feel the way I do, I'm still your friend. I want to be there for you."

His worry for her lately, the phone calls and texts to check up on her, made more sense now. She felt horrible, having to reject him again, but she'd just never felt that way about him and she didn't want to lead him on, either. "Of course."

He smiled a little. "Thanks. And I meant what I said before. If there's anything I can do to help you find out who is after you, or to help you with anything at all, really, just let me know."

Gazilon and Fiyero returned and Duran quickly glanced at the two men before abruptly rising to his feet. "Where did you say that bathroom was?" he asked Fiyero a little brusquely.

The bodyguard pointed the way again, walking with Duran out into the hallway, and Gazilon gave Elphaba a questioning look. "Is everything all right?"

She plastered on a smile and nodded. "Fine. Duran just wanted to talk about something." She wasn't about to betray his trust, even though Gazilon was a good friend of them both.

Once Duran and Gazilon had left, though, she did tell Fiyero, who grimaced.

"Ouch," he said. "That's painful – both for you and for him. Are you okay?"

She smiled a little and leaned against him. "I'm fine, really. It's just a lot all at once, and I hate letting people down. I know I did the right thing, but it didn't really feel that way. That look on his face… he really was devastated. He's never been very good with girls," she explained to Fiyero. "He's handsome and friendly, but he can also be a little awkward and shy, especially around the other sex. That was already the case back at Shiz and he hasn't had a serious girlfriend ever since." She bit her lip. "I feel bad for him."

He kissed her softly. "You did the right thing, hon."

"I know. He'll get over it. It's just yet another thing happening, on top of everything else. He really wants to help find my stalker, too – probably even more so than my other friends, due to his feelings for me – and he's frustrated that we don't seem to be making any progress. He's scared for me."

"He's not the only one," said Fiyero and she gave him a slightly wry smile.

"I know." She sighed and turned around. "Come on, let's go to bed. I'm tired and I think that wine went to my head."

His eyes twinkled mischievously. "Your bed or mine?"

She elbowed him between the ribs. "You in yours and I in mine. I didn't have that much wine," she said sternly, which made him pout.

Fiyero dropped Elphaba off at her room, kissing her good night before turning around to head to his own chambers. He hadn't even made it to his door, however, when he heard her voice calling from her rooms, trembling slightly and sounding a little strange.

"Fiyero?"

He quickly went back. "Yes?" he called back, moving through the open door into Elphaba's foyer. The young witch was standing in the doorway to her bedroom with a strange expression on her face.

She looked at him. It instantly became clear to him that she was putting on a brave face, trying to be casual, but he could see the fear underneath. "I guess this answers the question of your bed or mine," she said, attempting to sound light, but her voice was still shaking. "It'll have to be yours."

He cautiously glanced into her bedroom and instantly cursed when he saw it. There was a knife stuck in her pillow, feathers everywhere and red paint splattered not just over the pillow, but the rest of the bed as well. On the wall was written in the same red paint, I'm coming for you, my love.