December 24

"I can't believe it's already the last day," Elphaba said as Fiyero pulled her inside his suite. "The days have just flown by so quickly."

"I know what you mean," Fiyero agreed, closing the door and immediately heading over to get a fire going.

"After today, whenever I come to your suite, I'll probably go straight to the shelves expecting there to be a box for me to open," Elphaba joked.

"Well, I can always –"

Elphaba cut him off with a stern look. "I was joking."

Fiyero grinned. "I know."

Elphaba rolled her eyes in exasperation as she went over to the shelves. "Well, I haven't come across a princess or dragon figurine yet. Is it in today's box?" At that moment, however, she noticed in surprise that the final box was missing. She turned around to face her boyfriend quizzically. "Fiyero? Where's the last box?"

Fiyero paused. "I…want to give it to you personally," he told her quietly.

Elphaba frowned. "Okay…"

"You remember what was in each box?"

Elphaba nodded. Of course she remembered – it was imprint on her brain.

December 1: Heart-shaped chocolate
December 2: Pinecone
December 3: Owl feather
December 4: Book about other lands
December 5: Customized tape measure
December 6: Drawing of Elphaba and Fiyero at their future graduation
December 7: Balloon
December 8: Green carabiner
December 9: Dinner date
December 10: I.O.U. for a trip to the Vinkus
December 11: Pocket Ozian-Vinkun dictionary
December 12: Blue diamond necklace
December 13: Photo of Fiyero's family
December 14: Letter from Nessarose
December 15: Photographic collage of different types of weather
December 16: Customized thermometer
December 17: Bandage covered with artwork
December 18: Knight figurine
December 19: Mini scrapbooking album
December 20: Castle figurine
December 21: China figurine of two children playing
December 22: Photograph of Elphaba and Nessarose
December 23: Official document detailing Fiyero's life thus far

Fiyero led Elphaba over to his bed where he had lined up all of the boxes. "Well, I know some of the gifts seemed odd," he admitted, "but there's a reason behind each one. A message, if you will." He pointed to each box in turn as he spoke. "I want to love you.

"I want to share the beauty of nature with you.

"I want to help you help the animals.

"I want to learn with you.

"I want to grow with you.

"I want to finish university with you.

"I want to have fun with you.

"I want to seek adventure with you.

"I want to spoil you.

"I want to show you new places.

"I want to teach you my language.

"I want to share my culture with you.

"I want to share my family with you.

"I want to discover everything about you.

"I want to be with you through all kinds of weather.

"I want to be with you through sickness and through health.

"I want to care for you.

"I want to protect you.

"I want to create memories with you.

"I want to provide for you.

"I want to have children with you.

"I want to share your life.

"I want to share my life with you. I want you to be the next chapter of it."

Fiyero turned a picked up the final box. He opened it and extracted another box, smaller this time, and of black velvet. With a deep breath, he faced Elphaba again and slowly got down on one knee. "I want you to become my wife. Will you marry me, Elphaba?" He opened the box to reveal a stunning engagement ring of white gold. The band was studded with tiny chips of blue diamond and emerald.

Elphaba gasped and her hand flew to her mouth. Her eyes widened before suddenly filling with tears. She could do nothing for several long minutes but stare at the ring.

Those few moments felt like an eternity to Fiyero. It did nothing for his nerves.

Finally, Elphaba's eyes flicked to Fiyero's face, and she managed to choke out, "This isn't a joke? You…you really…want to…?"

Fiyero nodded slowly, his eyes never leaving Elphaba's. "I really want to marry you. I've never been more serious about anything in my life."

A couple of tears began to trickle down Elphaba's cheeks. "I…" She felt her throat begin to clog up.

Fiyero bit his lip. "Do you need time to think?"

Elphaba shook her head frantically. "No, I…I know my answer. But…there's a problem…"

Fiyero felt his heart begin to sink. "I'm a bit afraid to ask," he confessed, "but I need to know. Please, Elphaba, tell me your answer first."

"Of course I want to marry you."

Fiyero beamed and stood to take her in his arms, but then stopped and frowned as her wording registered. "Wait, 'want to'?"

Elphaba nodded. "I do, really, but…but my father…he would never allow it. My responsibility is to Nessa."

Understand dawned on Fiyero's face and he led her around to sit on the window seat. "You don't have to worry about any of that," Fiyero told her gently. "It's all been taken care of."

"What do you mean?"

"I told Nessa I was planning on proposing and asked her to talk to your father about it. I had already written him asking his permission, but I knew it wouldn't be granted without him knowing how much an advocate of it Nessa is. So…she wrote him about it, too, and he agreed."

Elphaba looked impressed, even as she wiped away a stray tear. "Anything for his darling Nessa…who'd have ever thought it would work in my favour?" She chuckled weakly.

"So…?"

"So I guess that's a 'yes', then." Elphaba smiled.

Fiyero's face lit up. "Really?"

"Really."

Fiyero carefully took the ring out of its box and slid it over Elphaba's ring finger; then, he pulled his fiancée – oh, how sweet that sounded! – close and kissed her gently.

"How am I going to face him, though?" Elphaba asked worriedly.

"You won't have to."

"What?"

"You won't have to," Fiyero repeated. "When I said that it's all been taken care of, I meant everything. Remember that I.O.U. for a trip to the Vinkus?"

"Yes…I wrote Father asking to spend Lurlinemas there, even if it meant bringing Nessa along…but I never heard back…"

"Well, that's because I got there first."

Elphaba's eyes widened.

"This afternoon," Fiyero continued, "we are taking the express coach to the Vinkus. We should reach my home by midnight."

"You mean…?"

"Yes, my darling fiancée, you are spending Lurlinemas with me in the Vinkus. And you won't ever have to face your father again if you don't want to. Once all the arrangements for the wedding are in motion, he's agreed to send your belongings over to the Vinkus, where you will be living from now on – when we're not here at Shiz, of course."

"But Nessa –"

"Your father is going to hire a professional nurse to care for her. Which is really what she needs, anyway."

Elphaba shook her head, overwhelmed. "Everything is moving so fast…"

Fiyero grinned. "I'd apologize, but I'm not really that sorry. I'm excited, I'm in love, and I don't want you around that man any longer. I want what's best for you. I want to give you the best life I can possibly offer."

Tears started gathering in Elphaba's eyes again. "I can't believe you…" she whispered. "I can't believe you're doing all this for me…"

"I love you," Fiyero said simply. "Just like you would do anything for Nessa – I would do anything for you."

Elphaba had a sudden thought. "Speaking of Nessa, did she know about this when she wrote that letter?"

"Actually, she didn't. I asked her to write something about you, and she saw it as an opportunity to finally tell you everything she's been wanting to say for a while now. And somehow, it just ended up fitting so perfectly with this whole thing. I didn't tell her about my plans for proposing to you until afterwards." Fiyero stood up and pulled Elphaba to her feet. "Anyway, you'd better get packing, because the carriage will be here in just under an hour."

"This is all so surreal…"

Fiyero smiled. "I know; it feels surreal to me, too."

"It's not just a dream that will go away when I wake up?"

Fiyero laughed. "No, it's all real," he assured her. "Now, you'd better go and pack."

"Come with me," Elphaba suggested. "I'll have to tell Galinda where I'm going and why, and if we're…engaged" – she smiled softly with a slight shake of her head – "we should tell her together."

"Galinda's still here?"

Elphaba nodded. "She didn't want me to spend Lurlinemas alone. Only now I'm leaving her…"

"Don't worry about her," Fiyero advised. "It's not far from here to her home; if she organizes transport soon, she could be home for Lurlinemas in a couple of hours."

"That's true. And maybe she can take Nessa with her. I don't like leaving Nessa like this, and I'm sure Galinda would be thrilled to have the company – especially if it's someone who's not averse to being made over!"

They both laughed, knowing how true that was.

Elphaba reached up and slid her arms around Fiyero's neck. "I love you, Yero."

Fiyero kissed Elphaba gently. "I love you, too."

Author's Note: I really hope you all enjoyed reading this story as much as I enjoyed writing it! A special shout-out must go to LillyFae, because she guessed quite early on what was going to happen, the clever girl. And I quite enjoyed her theories on the motive behind each gift - some scarily close to target, and some not, but all very interesting nonetheless. Thankyou, LillyFae! And thanks to everyone else, too, for reading, reviewing, faving and following. It really means a lot.

Please don't forget to review and tell me what you liked, disliked, and whether I should do something like this again next year. Also, can we just take a moment to appreciate this milestone? - i.e., my first-ever Fiyeraba engagement! I'd love to know what you think so I can hopefully improve any future attempts at similar scenes.

I'm also considering doing a sequel about what happens next, and it's been suggested that I do some follow-on drabbles for this, so please let me know if you're interested in either of those.

Thanks again, everyone. I hope you all have a wonderful Christmas and I'll see you in the New Year! xx

Disclaimer: I DO NOT own any of the characters mentioned in this story; they belong in their entirety to L. Frank Baum and Gregory Maguire. I DO, however, own the story itself, and it is protected in my name under Australian Copyright Law dating back to 2014.