Fanfiction is not showing reviews again. :( I got the emails, though, so I'm still reading them and loving them, no worries - it's just mildly annoying that it keeps happening. I hope they'll fix it soon!

34. Recovery

After being reassured by both Blanca and Elphaba's doctor that she was stable and would at least sleep through the afternoon and until the next morning, what with the medication she was on, Oscar, Fiyero, Fawn, and Xalo all went back to their hotel for food and some much-needed sleep. They were sharing a room for the night and the twins, surprisingly, fell asleep quickly, even though it was only afternoon; Fiyero supposed the emotions of the past day must have exhausted them. It took him and Oscar a lot longer to fall asleep, but they eventually managed as well.

He only woke up once, at some point a little past midnight, because Fawn was crying in her sleep. Xalo was already sitting with her, stroking his sister's long, dark brown hair, but he looked relieved to see Fiyero.

"I don't want to wake her up," he whispered apologetically, "but she won't stop crying."

Fiyero ran his hand over the little boy's head. "Don't worry, buddy," he murmured sleepily, reaching out to rub Fawn's back. "Fawn? Come on, princess, it's okay. You're okay and so's your mum," he soothed her.

She opened her eyes suddenly with a soft cry. Xalo wrapped his arms around her and hugged her tightly. "It's okay, Fawn," he told her, but she was still crying a little. When she eventually calmed down and let go of her brother, she hugged herself, looking at Fiyero.

"Will you stay with us?" she whispered, watching him with dark green eyes that looked huge in the darkness.

"Of course, princess," Fiyero said, but he was a little surprised when she instantly snuggled into his side. He lay down with her, Xalo on her other side already half asleep again.

Suddenly, Fawn frowned a little. "Did you call me 'princess'? Only grandpa ever calls me that," she muttered.

"I'm sorry," he whispered to her, but she shook her head.

"No," she said drowsily. "I like it when you call me that." With that, she laid her head on his shoulder, wrapped her little arms around his waist, and drifted off within minutes.

Naturally, they returned to the hospital first thing in the morning, only to find the bubbly, curly-haired nurse there again.

"Good news!" she sang to them the moment they stepped out of the lift. "Miss Elphaba is awake and doing quite well. I'm assuming you'd all like to see her?" She smiled at the twins. "She's been asking for you two."

Fawn's face lit up at that and she and Xalo practically skipped down the hallway. Blanca, laughing, called after them, "It's room 394, to your left!"

"Is she really doing well?" Oscar asked the blonde nurse anxiously and Blanca nodded.

"She is," she assured the mayor. "She even managed to eat and drink a little by herself this morning. She'll be in pain for a while longer, but we'll give her medication for that." She patted Oscar's arm consolingly. "You go see your daughter now, Mayor Diggs."

He smiled wearily at her and followed the twins into Elphaba's hospital room. Fiyero wasn't far behind.

She was sitting up this time, her eyes open and her arms already around her kids, her face buried in Fawn's hair as she hugged them both tightly to her with her left arm – it must hurt to move her right, Fiyero thought, what with the bullet wound being on that side. The children were both crying, Oscar's eyes filled up as well, and Fiyero was pretty sure he could see Elphaba's shoulders shake slightly, too. He couldn't really keep himself from tearing up, either, when everyone else around him was crying.

Elphaba sniffled and looked up, smiling at Oscar when she saw the look on his face. He leaned down to kiss her cheek.

"I'm really glad you're all right, sweetheart," he mumbled and she nodded.

"Me, too, Dad."

She looked past him, at Fiyero, and held out her arm. He didn't say anything because he was afraid he'd sound completely choked up, but he did approach her. She surprised him by pulling him down and planting a kiss on his lips.

"It's good to see you," she said, smiling sadly. "Thank you for saving my life."

He looked at her. He couldn't believe she was thanking him when he'd failed so horribly at everything he'd been meant to do – keep her safe from her stalker, protect her, give his life for hers if he had to – but he didn't say that aloud. She'd argue with him, he knew, and she shouldn't be arguing so soon after coming out of surgery.

"Are you okay, Mum?" Xalo asked and Elphaba directed her smile at him.

"I will be," she assured him. "It hurts pretty badly, but I've got pain medication for that. I'm a little dizzy sometimes and somewhat nauseous, but that's from the surgery, so it'll pass soon." She winked at her son. "I'm tougher than I look, you know."

He grinned at her. "I know."

Fawn was still crying and Elphaba stroked her hair, whispering soothing words into her ear until her sobs slowed to sniffles and then stopped completely.

Blanca was watching all this with a smile on her face as she checked some things on Elphaba's chart, adjusted the IV bags hanging from the stand beside Elphaba's bed, and bustled around the room a bit. She looked at Elphaba. "Do you need anything else?" she asked kindly.

"To know when I can get out of here?" Elphaba tried hopefully and Blanca laughed.

"I'll see what I can do," she promised and left the room.

"Fae, you were shot!" Fiyero protested, spluttering slightly. "You can't get out of here already!"

She scowled at him. "I'm feeling much better already," she countered, "and I don't want to be stuck here. If only because they refuse to leave the door to my room open all the time," she added and Fiyero grimaced slightly. He could only imagine how much worse her claustrophobia had gotten after what happened at the gala.

"Mayor Samms and Evanne send their regards and best wishes," Oscar told Elphaba. "They were very shocked by what happened – everyone was. I spoke to Galinda on the phone a few times and tried to convince her not to worry too much, but of course she and Cohvu are frantic. I'll call them soon to tell them you're all right."

"She shouldn't worry," Elphaba said matter-of-factly. "It's bad for the baby."

Fiyero rolled his eyes. "Her best friend almost died, but no, she shouldn't worry," he said sarcastically.

She stuck out her tongue at him. "I didn't almost die."

"Did, too," Fawn countered, suddenly speaking up. "The doctor said you'd have died if Xalo and I hadn't healed you."

Elphaba fell silent at that, mildly shocked, and Xalo nodded enthusiastically.

"We saved your life, Mum!" he said, grinning again. "Isn't that cool? You saved us in Munchkinland and now we saved you!"

Elphaba shook her head. "I'm sorry I scared you, my darlings," she murmured, hugging them both close again with one arm before looking up at Fiyero. "What of Avaric?" she asked. "And… and Duran?"

Fiyero sighed. "They're both dead," he said, confirming what she'd deep down already known. "Duran's funeral will be sometime after the weekend. I've talked to the police and they'll want your statement, once you're feeling better, but they already said it seems like a pretty clear-cut case, so there shouldn't be too much hassle involved in that."

She nodded. "How many people know what happened?" she asked. "I mean, I'd hate for Nessa and Gazilon to worry about me when there's not much they can do and…" She trailed off when she saw the sheepish look Fiyero and Oscar exchanged. "What?"

"Elphaba, you're the deputy mayor," her father reminded her gently. "You're a public figure."

She moaned and let her head fall back against the pillow. "The press found out?!"

"It was hard for them not to," Oscar pointed out. "It's all over the news, on the front page of every paper and the main topic of conversation on every TV channel. Deputy Mayor Elphaba Thropp trapped in fire and shot at gala in Quadling Country. Galinda is handling your friends and Nessa, though. She promised she'd do her best to reassure them."

"She said she'd be coming today," Xalo told his mother, beaming at her. "Auntie Galinda, I mean. She wanted to see you, so she and Uncle Cohvu are coming as soon as Grandpa or Fiyero calls them to say you're okay."

Elphaba exhaled slowly. "Panic all over the place, then."

"I'll handle it," Oscar promised her. "You shouldn't concern yourself with such things right now. Just focus on recovering, all right?"

Blanca returned to the room and smiled at Elphaba. "I spoke with your doctor," she said. "You'll have to undergo a couple more tests this afternoon and you're definitely staying until after the weekend; but if the test results are good and your check-up on Monday morning doesn't show anything strange, you'll be able to go home then."

Elphaba heaved a deep sigh, then winced at the pain in her ribcage. Blanca noticed and gently ushered the visitors out of the room. "Let's not crowd your mum too much," she told Fawn and Xalo. "How about this: we let her rest for a bit, I'll show you the big kids' playroom, and then after the doctor has spoken to your mum about the tests she'll have to do this afternoon, you can come back and stay a bit longer. How's that?"

Fawn and Xalo's eyes had lit up. "There's a big playroom?" Xalo asked excitedly and Blanca laughed.

"You bet there is! Come on, I'll take you there!"

Oscar smiled. "I'll come with you." He squeezed Elphaba's hand. "I love you, you know."

She gave him a faint smile. "I love you, too, Dad. And sorry for scaring you, too."

He made a face. "I suppose all daughters are supposed to give their fathers premature grey hairs," he said and Elphaba chortled slightly at that, casting a meaningful glance at Oscar's head of almost entirely grey hair.

"It's not quite premature in your case, Dad," she teased and he laughed.

"Touché."

They left, but Fiyero lingered, wanting to talk to Elphaba but unsure if he should just yet. Maybe he should wait until she'd recovered a bit more…

As always, however, she saw straight through him and she patted the bed. "Come here."

He obeyed, sitting down in the chair beside her bed, and she looked at him. "What's wrong?"

"How do you do that?" he marvelled, but she just smiled.

"I know you," she said. "Spit it out."

He shrugged. "Just… you know." He didn't know how to explain it to her – how he had felt about her being shot, the guilt, the despair he'd felt upon realising she might not make it. It turned out he didn't have to, though, because her gaze softened and she took his hand.

"I do," she said.

He looked at her and she gave him a little smile. "And I love you, too."

That did it. He burst into tears like a little kid, laying his arms on the side of the bed and burying his face in them as he cried. Elphaba ran her fingers through his hair, not really surprised by this. She'd seen it in his face the moment he entered the room and as she'd said, she knew him. Fawn and Xalo, and even Oscar, would have cried and dealt with their feelings. Fiyero would have pushed them away in order to be there for everyone else.

"It's okay," she murmured. "I'm okay. You saved my life, Yero."

"I almost got you killed!" he protested between sniffles. "You caught a bullet for me, Fae! Why did you do that? I was supposed to protect you, not the other way around!"

She rolled her eyes. "What, this is some manly complex about not wanting to be saved by a girl?" she asked and he raised his head long enough to glare at her through red-rimmed eyes.

"No," he choked out indignantly. "This is the complex of the bodyguard who was supposed to die for his client and the woman he loves and who had to watch that woman almost dying for him now."

She shook her head slightly. "Oh, Yero… that's exactly why I did it, don't you see? Because I love you, and I couldn't bear the thought of you getting hurt – or worse. I'm sorry, I should have realised that you wouldn't like the thought of me getting hurt any more than the other way around, but there wasn't exactly much time to think." She touched his face. "And besides, you got me out and you and the twins saved my life. I'm safe now. Everything's all right."

He nodded half-heartedly, wiping his tears away. She opened her mouth to say something else, but just then, a man in a white coat came in and smiled at them both.

"Hello," he said, holding out his hand to Fiyero. "I'm Laroy Irding, Miss Thropp's doctor."

Fiyero cleared his throat, straightening up. "Fiyero Tiggular, her boyfriend," he introduced himself and the doctor nodded before looking back at Elphaba.

"The surgery was a success," he informed her, "but there are still a few more things I need to check. I want to make sure there is no internal bleeding left, for one. Also, during the surgery, I couldn't make sure the bullet didn't fracture your rib, so I'll check for that, too, just to be sure. Don't worry," he added when he saw Elphaba's face fall. "It wouldn't be too serious if that were the case, but we do need to know. I don't expect there to be any complications; I'm just being cautious."

She nodded and Fiyero, holding her hand tightly, asked, "What kind of tests do you need to do?"

"Nothing much," Dr Irding said. "I want to do a blood test to rule out any infections from the bullet and I want to do a CT scan to look for internal bleeding and fractures."

Fiyero didn't miss the way Elphaba tensed at that. Apparently, Dr Irding didn't, either, because he smiled reassuringly at her. "It's a short procedure, Miss Thropp, and there is no pain involved, not to worry."

"That's not it," Fiyero said before Elphaba could say anything. "She's claustrophobic."

She gave him a look, obviously not liking him spilling her 'secret'; but she also looked resigned, which told him she knew the doctor should know.

Dr Irding's face softened. "I understand why the idea of a CT scan would seem frightening to you, Miss Thropp, but it is really a fairly quick and simple procedure. It's not like an MRI scan, which can take up to forty-five minutes," he explained. "This scan will be over within five to ten minutes and there will be much more space around you while it is happening. You wouldn't even really be in the machine; you can compare it to being pushed through the hole in a doughnut. You'll be fine."

Elphaba nodded stiffly.

The doctor nodded, too, satisfied, and excused himself. "A nurse will come and get you for the scan in a couple of hours," he told her and then left the room. He clearly thought he'd completely reassured Elphaba and taken away her fears, but just one look at her face told Fiyero that this was going to be quite the challenge for her and he turned out to be right.

She was mostly calm in the hours leading up to the test. Fiyero talked to her for a while longer and she explained everything that had happened at the castle in detail, including the things he'd missed – mainly Duran's confessions. After that, he left her alone so she could rest a little and after a while, Fawn and Xalo came back in to see her, Oscar tagging along. He informed her that Galinda and Cohvu would be arriving late that same afternoon. Blanca helped her eat something light and then they left her to rest again until her CT scan.

Oscar had taken the twins down to the hotel to meet Cohvu and Galinda there and to bring them up to date on everything before taking them to see Elphaba, so Fiyero was alone in the waiting room when Blanca came to get him, her face for once not sunny, but worried.

"Mr Tiggular," she said the moment she was within hearing distance. "We need you."

He was slightly startled at that. "What?" he asked, but he was already on his feet and following Blanca. When they arrived in the examination room where the CT scan was, he understood why the nurse had come to get him.

The technologist who had to administer the test looked completely baffled as he stood on one end of the room, next to the machine. Elphaba was leaning against the wall on the other side of the room, obviously in pain, but her panic was greater than her pain. Fiyero instantly recognised the look on her face. She looked like she was on the verge of hissing at the technologist.

"Miss Thropp," the technologist said patiently, "it is really only a short procedure –"

"No," she snapped, leaning against the wall and crossing her arms like a stubborn child. "I'm not getting into that thing."

Fiyero recognised the look in her eyes and nodded at Blanca that he understood. The nurse gestured for him to go further into the room and he did, calling, "Fae?"

Her head swivelled around and she curled into herself a little bit more, her eyes flicking between him and the machine behind him.

He sighed and moved over to her, gathering her in his arms. "I was afraid you'd react like this," he muttered. "Fae, I understand you're scared, but they have to do this test to make sure nothing's permanently damaged."

She didn't say anything, just buried her face in his shoulder.

Blanca knelt down beside the two of them, placing one hand on Elphaba's shoulder. "Listen to me, Elphaba," she said gently, forsaking the honorific, and she patiently and elaborately explained the entire procedure once more, describing everything that would happen in great detail.

By the time she finished, Elphaba had stopped trembling and Fiyero pressed a kiss to the top of her hair. "Will you be all right?"

She nodded, albeit reluctantly, and Fiyero gently helped her over to the machine. As they approached it, he felt her tense again and he made a decision. "Don't worry," he said to her. "I'll stay with you."

"Mr Tiggular," the technologist began. "Due to the X-radiation, it's not common for other people to be allowed –"

"I don't care," Fiyero interrupted. "I'm staying with her."

The technologist sighed. "Mr Tiggular, even if we were to allow someone to stay with her, a family member would be more –"

"You have eyes, right?" Fiyero asked, a little sharper than he had intended. "You can see she's terrified? She's claustrophobic and she almost died after being locked in a small space not two days ago. I'm staying with her."

The technologist, looking dumbfounded, opened his mouth again; but Blanca spoke first. "That's fine, Mr Tiggular," she said, smiling reassuringly, before turning to the technologist. "Really, Norbert, it's not that much of a problem. Let it go."

The technologist, Norbert, closed his mouth again and didn't argue further.

Elphaba was good at hiding her emotions, but for Fiyero, who'd come to know her well, the relief was clear in her face and he ran his hand over her hair. "You'll be fine," he said quietly to her. "Just breathe. It'll be over before you know it."

She took a slow, careful breath, mindful of the bullet wound between her ribs, and then let it out again. She nodded. "Thank you," she whispered.

"Anytime." He bent down to kiss her softly on the lips, then moved away from her and looked at Blanca. "Can't you give her a sedative, or something?" he asked her quietly.

"We did," she replied drily. "Elphaba's claustrophobia is rather more serious than our average patient's. I could have given her something stronger, but I thought it'd be better to have you talk to her so she'd get in voluntarily, rather than drug her."

Fiyero pressed his lips together and nodded. "It wasn't this bad before," he said. "I hope it'll pass again in a little while, but with what happened… Thanks for coming to get me."

"It was no trouble. I understand." Blanca placed a hand on his arm. "There's a good chance her fear will lessen again in time, don't worry. You can stand right there," she changed the subject, pointing him to a spot, "so Elphaba will be able to see you most of the time. Put this on against the radiation." She gave him something that looked like a lead apron.

"Now, Elphaba," Blanca said, raising her voice a little so the young witch could hear her, "Norbert and I will do the scan, which really won't last very long. Fiyero, you can talk to her, if you'd like; as long as you, Elphaba, make sure to keep still. There'll be some buzzing and clicking sounds, but you should be able to at the very least hear his voice. Just focus on that, okay?"

"Okay," Elphaba said quietly and Blanca smiled at Fiyero.

"It'll be all right," she promised. "Are you ready?"

"As ready as I'll ever be," Elphaba muttered and the blonde nurse left to join Norbert in the adjoining room, from where they'd be administering the test.

"Hey, Fae," Fiyero said cheerfully as the whirring sounds of the machine started, determined to distract her to the best of his abilities while she was in there. "Did I ever tell you about that time my little brother got a hamster for his birthday and I set it loose in the living room during his birthday party?"

I've been really busy lately, and really stressed, and very emotionally unstable, so reviews would cheer me up... *puppy eyes*