I just realised... this is another fairly innocent and fluffy chapter. *horrified look* Sweet Oz, I'm losing my touch... Okay, there'll be a cliffy next chapter, at least. And after that, the big drama will kick in, so bear with me on the fluffiness for one more chapter - I needed to put some things in place that will be important for later chapters.

28. Surprise

Elphaba and Fiyero both awoke because Fiyero's phone buzzed on the nightstand, breaking the peaceful silence that had encompassed his bedroom before. With a groan, he reached over and took the call, bringing the phone up to his ear. "Tiggular."

He listened to something being said on the other side and then nodded, even though whoever the other person was couldn't see him. "Okay. Thanks." He hung up and put the phone away, heaving a sigh. "They've got Avaric's address."

Elphaba grumbled a little under her breath. "Did they have to call you this early in the morning to tell you that?"

"It's not that early," Fiyero said, chuckling a little. "It's half past eight. I'm starting to think I'm a bad influence on you, Fae. Did you ever sleep in before you started sleeping with me?"

She mumbled something unintelligible, already half asleep again, and Fiyero pulled her closer and kissed her softly. "I hate to be the one to tell you this, hon, but you can't go back to sleep. You have an appointment at ten with the director of an Animal rehabilitation centre, if I'm not mistaken."

Elphaba pulled the blankets over her head. "Screw that director," she said, her voice muffled by the blankets.

"I'd really rather you didn't," Fiyero joked. Elphaba's arm appeared from beneath the blankets to blindly smack him and he pulled the blankets away, laughing a little at her sleep-tousled hair and cranky face. He nuzzled his nose against hers. "Rise and shine, Madame Deputy Mayor. I'll go down to the station to see if we can bring Avaric in for questioning and you should probably get to work."

She glared at him, but when he didn't budge, she sighed and pushed herself up into a sitting position. She quickly read Nessa's morning text, replied, and then forced herself out of bed to get ready for the day. Fiyero, despite the fact that he'd been the one to push her out of bed, took even longer to get out of bed than she had; so she pelted him with pillows until he fell out of bed with a loud grunt whilst attempting to dodge one of them. Elphaba laughed at him and he grumbled as he rose to his feet and trudged over to the bathroom.

It took a while, but after half an hour or so, they made it to the dining room for breakfast. The twins weren't there, but Oscar was and he raised an eyebrow at the two of them when they entered.

"Good morning," he said. "Sleep well?"

"Not long enough," Elphaba muttered as she sat down.

Fiyero smirked and Oscar asked suspiciously, "What are you looking so smug about?"

"He's the reason I didn't sleep long enough," Elphaba said drily and Oscar flushed a little, cleared his throat, and then looked away.

"So, what are you two doing today?" he asked, obviously desperate to change the subject. Fiyero's smirk widened and Elphaba rolled her eyes, but she did reply.

"I have an appointment with the director of one of the Animal rehabilitation centres in about an hour and a meeting with some of my employees this afternoon," she said. "Fiyero's going after Avaric."

Oscar nodded, having heard that story from them the night before already. "Good. I'll be working in my office all day today, in case you need me for anything." He rose to his feet to leave the room, pressing a kiss to Elphaba's hair as he passed her. "Be careful."

"Always," she said, ignoring the sceptical look her father gave her before he exited.

She kept busy for the rest of the day. Cohvu was teaching the children and Galinda was at work, but the latter often popped into Elphaba's office to chat for a bit. After a while, Elphaba began to notice that her blonde friend seemed to be acting a little strangely and she called her out on it.

"All right, Glin, spill," she said. "What's going on?"

Galinda laughed nervously. "What? What makes you think anything is going on?"

The dark-haired witch simply continued to look at her until she caved. "I never could hide anything from you, could I, Elphie?" Galinda sighed and sank down onto the couch. Elphaba pushed herself away from her laptop so she could properly look at the other girl, waiting for her to explain.

Galinda took a deep breath. "Elphie, I'm pregnant. And I don't want you to worry about me," she added quickly. "That's why I didn't really want to tell you. I should have known you'd figure out on your own that something was up, I guess. You know me too well. Once I found out, I really wanted to tell you, but all I could think was that you have enough on your mind already with that stalker after you and you'd only worry about me. I don't want you to. I'm perfect. Really. I hardly even had morning sickness, or any other symptoms for that matter, and Cohvu's been great… since yesterday, anyway, when we found out."

Elphaba, meanwhile, was staring at her friend. After a while, she said in a choked voice, "Sweet Oz, Galinda," and she got up and wrapped her arms around her old friend in a tight hug. "Congratulations. I'm so happy for you both." She pulled away slightly to look Galinda sternly in the eye. "Glin," she said seriously, "I don't ever want you to feel like you can't tell me something because I already have enough on my mind. Especially something this big. Okay? You're my best friend and I know you want to protect me…"

"…just like you always try to do for me," Galinda interjected and Elphaba smiled faintly.

"Yeah. But that's what friends are for, right? To share things with?"

Galinda nodded and hugged her friend again. "Oh, Elphie, I'm so happy!" she said and suddenly she was weeping a little. "I've been feeling a little weird lately, you know? Just… not like myself, I guess. I've been more emotional than usual…"

"Like when you started crying at Fiyero's reaction after you dressed me up for our date," Elphaba realised and the petite PA nodded again.

"And I've been more tired the past few weeks," she said. "Like when Cohvu and I went home so early on our group date with Duran and Gazilon. Nothing big, just little things that felt a little… off. I've been blaming it on the stress of what was going on, but a while ago, I realised that I hadn't gotten my period in a long time – I've been so busy with all kinds of things that I completely lost track of it. Of course, I had my suspicions then and I intended to buy a test to make sure, but I kept forgetting. When we were in town with the twins last Saturday, I remembered to get one and I did it yesterday when I stayed home with Cohvu. It was positive, Elphie." She wiped away her tears, but she was glowing. "I still need to see a doctor, of course, and I've planned an appointment for later this week, but… I'm pregnant. I'm about three months along already, too, according to that test I took. I just… didn't notice anything off."

Elphaba was beaming almost as much as Galinda was, but she didn't even care. "I'm going to be Auntie Elphaba!"

"Auntie Elphie," Galinda corrected her and Elphaba laughed.

"We'll have time to argue about that." On an impulse, she hugged her best friend again. "I can't believe it, Glin. You and Cohvu are going to be parents!"

"He says he's been wanting to propose for at least a few months already," the blonde continued. "He wasn't sure about how to do it, though, and he wanted to wait until you were safe again to do it."

Elphaba pulled away abruptly. "No," she said fiercely. "Galinda, it's bad enough that I have to put my own life on hold for this guy and that the twins can't go outside without security anymore. I will not have it affect your lives, too. If anything, we could use some happiness right about now."

"You're right about that," Galinda admitted. "I'll talk to him. Oh, Elphie, I'm going to be a mum!" she exclaimed, making her friend laugh.

She caught Cohvu at the end of the day, when he was just preparing to go home after the twins' lessons, and she surprised him by wrapping her arms around him as well. "Congratulations," she said, smiling widely. "Also, I think you should propose as soon as possible."

He blinked at her. "That was quick."

She flashed him a grin. "I've known Galinda for a long time already, Cohvu. She can never hide something from me for very long." Her grin faded. "She told me why you haven't proposed before," she said. "Don't wait because of that. Please. She's been dying to marry you ever since she first laid eyes on you, basically, and we'd all love to see it happen. Just plan the perfect proposal and execute it as soon as possible."

"I will," he promised her. "Do you think she'd like this?" He told her what he had planned and Elphaba smirked.

"She'll love that," she assured him. "Don't worry."

"Good." He looked relieved. "Thanks, El."

She gave him another smirk as she turned to walk away. "You can thank me by naming me the baby's godmother," she said to him over her shoulder before leaving the room.

"That goes without saying, you know," he called after her. "Just like your status as maid of honour at our wedding!"

"Looking forward to it!" she called back. Despite the pink dress she'd undoubtedly be forced to wear, she meant it, too.

The rest of the week seemed to fly by. Fiyero returned to the Palace on Monday night looking tired and frustrated. He told Elphaba he'd sent out men to try and apprehend Avaric right that morning, but he wasn't at the address his men had tracked down. According to the neighbours, they hadn't seen Avaric around for months already, implying that he had to be living somewhere else by now. No-one knew where, though. He didn't respond to any emails and he didn't pick up his phone, no matter how many times they called. It didn't exactly help Elphaba's nerves, no matter how hard she tried to hide it. Fiyero, too, was frustrated about it, but she could tell he was trying to stay optimistic for her sake.

The only thing his men had found out was that Avaric had been discharged from the military about six years ago for several types of misconduct, including sending threatening, sexually tinted letters to female colleagues. That pretty much proved their suspicions about him, but it didn't help them find out where he was.

On Wednesday, Galinda went to see her doctor and when she returned to the Palace for work, she was almost floating. She headed straight for Elphaba's office. "I'm thirteen weeks along!" she gushed. "That means the baby will be born in November. November, Elphie! About six months from now I'll be a mother!"

Elphaba congratulated her again and asked her what else the doctor had said, which hadn't been much; the baby was healthy and growing well and that was the most important thing. The doctor had also reassured Galinda that it wasn't strange at all that she hadn't noticed anything before, especially if she had been under a lot of stress lately. The blonde was glad about that, since she'd been feeling a little guilty for not realising before what was going on, but the doctor just advised her to enjoy not having any pregnancy symptoms while it lasted. Galinda would have to return for an ultrasound at twenty weeks and then they'd probably be able to see the gender, which she was quite excited about.

She floated on not long thereafter to find Cohvu, who, of course, was also thrillified. Fawn and Xalo were fascinated by the whole concept of a baby growing in Auntie Galinda's belly; they asked a thousand questions and were almost as excited about the prospect of a baby as Galinda and Cohvu themselves.

"He or she will be like our cousin, right?" Fawn asked. "I mean, not really, just like you're not really our aunt, but sort of, right?"

"Of course," said Galinda, smiling widely. "The two of you can teach him or her all kinds of things!"

"If it's a boy, you should name him Xalo," Xalo suggested.

Cohvu laughed. "That would be a little confusing," he said. "If we called 'Xalo' then, you'd both come running. Maybe we should try to think of something else."

Xalo had to admit that that was true. "Can we help pick out names, though?"

Galinda directed her smile at him. She didn't really seem to be able to stop smiling, but Elphaba was just glad to see her friend so happy. "If you come up with names you like, Cohvu and I will consider them," she promised and Fawn and Xalo instantly started thinking of different names to call the baby.

Again, Fiyero was mostly absent that week, trying his hardest to find Avaric, but to no avail. He spent hours in his office calling all his contacts, asking them for clues as to Avaric's whereabouts. Whenever he did find a lead, he'd jump into his car and drive all around Oz to follow up on it, but no tip ever got him anywhere. At the end of the week, he was exhausted and cranky and he was slowly starting to get desperate. It was like Avaric had vanished into thin air.

When he returned after going after yet another dead end late Friday night, he went straight for his rooms only to find Elphaba there waiting for him. She was curled up in one of the armchairs in his foyer, a book in her lap and her glasses perched on her nose.

She looked up from her book when he entered. "Hey," she said with a sympathetic smile.

"You didn't have to wait up for me," he protested.

She shrugged. "I wanted to. I've barely seen you all week." She put her book and glasses away and walked up to him, kissing him softly. "Still nothing, I take it?"

He shook his head unhappily. "Nothing at all. I've never had a job this hard before," he admitted. "I've done a few stalker cases, but usually the victim already knows who the stalker is or at the very least has an idea of who it could be. Sometimes the jobs I work on take a long time, but this…" Was he losing his touch? Or was he just too distracted by his feelings for Elphaba and his fondness of her family to think clearly and to properly do his job?

Elphaba laid a hand on his arm. "Hey. Don't beat yourself up over it," she scolded him mildly. "You're doing the best you can. You have been from the beginning. It's not your fault my ex is a slippery cockroach."

He snorted a laugh at her phrasing and took her in his arms. "I guess."

She kissed him again, pulling him with her. "Come on. You look like you could use a good night's sleep," she said, ushering him into his bedroom. She was already in her pyjamas, so she waited in the bed as he changed and then crawled in beside her.

"It's really not your fault, you know," she said once he was settled, his arm around her and her head on his shoulder. "That it's taking so long, I mean."

"Isn't it, though?" he asked miserably.

She frowned, propping herself up on one arm so she could look at him. "Yero, if you start blaming yourself for not having found him yet because you're a bodyguard, then what am I supposed to think of myself? I'm the deputy mayor and a witch at that. I should know better than anyone who my enemies are and I should have been able to discover it was Avaric, or at the very least his whereabouts now. I wasn't, and I'm still not. Does that make me stupid or incapable?"

"Of course not," Fiyero protested and she raised an eyebrow.

"So why would it say something about you?"

He faltered. She smiled smugly at him, knowing she'd won; and he heaved a sigh.

"Fine," he said. "I see your point. That doesn't mean I'm not frustrated, though."

"I never said you couldn't be frustrated," she reminded him. "Quite frankly, I'm frustrated, too."

He pulled her to him again and kissed her gently. "I know." He wanted to tell her they'd figure it out in the end, but he'd told her that so many times already lately that the words had lost their meaning. The only thing that would really dissolve their frustration was to find Avaric, confirm he was the one they were looking for, and lock him away.

An idea suddenly struck him and he looked at her. "You wouldn't be able to use that locating spell to track down Avaric, would you?" he asked hopefully, but she was already shaking her head before he'd even finished speaking.

"Even though I know who it is we're looking for right now, it'd still take a lot of power and concentration for me to focus on him, since I don't know him that well," she explained. "Besides, I can only search relatively small areas. I don't have nearly enough magic in me to search all of Oz."

Fiyero sighed and rested his forehead against her temple. "It was worth a try."

Elphaba toyed with the strings on Fiyero's pyjama trousers. "I've been wanting to ask you something else, actually."

"Hmm." His lips migrated to her jaw, his fingers slipping beneath the hem of her T-shirt to caress the bare skin of her stomach. "What? If I'd be willing to share my bed with you more often? Why, yes, I do believe I am. In fact, if this is the welcome I get, I think I'll make sure to return to the Palace earlier each night from now on."

She rolled her eyes. "You are such a man," she said, but her words lacked bite – if anything, she sounded a little breathless. She didn't push him away, either, which told him all he needed to know.

He grinned widely at her, but she didn't see that, because she'd closed her eyes. When she didn't say anything else, he asked, "So what did you want to ask me?"

"Huh?" She blinked. "Oh, that." Ignoring the smug look on his face, she grew serious and said, "The gala next Thursday. You know, the Quadling City mayor's tenth anniversary in office? We've all been invited – Oscar, Xalo, Fawn, and I. He's an old friend of my father's and though the gala is quite official, there is no press allowed, so I'd like to bring the twins along. They love fancy parties and some other officials are bringing their children, too, so they'll have playmates. I was wondering, though…"

"…if it's safe?" Fiyero finished for her, continuing to stroke her skin. "Well… relatively. I mean, we're fairly certain we know who it is now, so we should be safe if we just install enough guards at the entrances and instruct them to look out for Avaric and to arrest him if he shows up."

Elphaba nodded. "So if we do that and thus make sure he can't come in, we're fine?"

"Yes," Fiyero said. "Essentially. You know, if the guy is actually really Avaric, which we don't know for certain…"

"Oh, come on, Yero, who else could it be?" Elphaba demanded and he had to admit she had a point there.

"Speaking of which," he said, tracing circles on her stomach now. It made her shiver. "Have you talked to Duran since… well, since we let him go?"

She sighed. "No. I tried to call him a couple of times, but he won't pick up," she said sadly. "I guess he blames me for what happened, which I can understand, but I wish he'd let me explain. He answered when Galinda called him, but all he said to her was that he was fine, just a little pissed and shaken, and that he needed some time."

"I'm sorry," Fiyero murmured. "That's probably my fault."

"We agreed it was likely that Duran was the one we were looking for," Elphaba disagreed. "It's not your fault any more than it is mine. Of course I wish I'd thought of Avaric sooner so Duran didn't have to go through this, but there's no changing that now. He'll come around eventually."

They lay in silence for a while, both of them lost in thought, before Elphaba shook off her thoughts and nuzzled Fiyero's cheek. "You should sleep. It's late and you've been gone all day again."

"Yeah," he mumbled, already drowsy, and she smiled and kissed him softly.

"Sweet dreams," she whispered, curling up against him. She felt him smile as he drew her closer, burying his face in her hair as they both drifted off.