aN: Hi guys! I know Elizabeth already updated today, but this is the final one-shot in the Valentine's Day series and I wanted to post it on Valentine's Day.

Any errors are my fault - I spent all day writing this, so my concentration was a bit off at some point. Nevertheless, enjoy and see you next time!

Maddy

Dates and Valentines

It wasn't until the emerald green City came into view that Elphaba finally glanced out of the window and stared at the view in bewilderment.

"What in Oz…?" She clambered forward and yelled at the driver, "Hey, you! Where the hell are we?!"

"We're almost at our destination, miss," the driver said drily.

"But the Emerald City is not my destination!" Elphaba yelled. "It's Munchkinland, I told you that! Colwen Grounds! Please don't tell me you've made a mistake?"

The driver just shook his head. "Don't worry, miss," he said mysteriously. "We are going exactly where you are supposed to go."

Her eyes narrowed suspiciously. "Stop the carriage."

The driver cast a quick look over his shoulder. "What –"

"Stop the carriage," she snapped again. "I have to use the bathroom."

The carriage slowly drew to a stop and Elphaba jumped out of it; but instead of disappearing between the bushes by the side of the road, she stomped over to where the driver was sitting.

The man quickly tried to pull his hat over his eyes to hide his face, but Elphaba snatched the hat away from him.

"I don't believe this!" she screeched, angrier than he had ever seen her. "So now you're not only stalking me, you're also kidnapping me?! Have you completely misplaced your mind?!"

"Fae," Fiyero tried, but she was fuming.

"What did you do, bribe the driver?" she hissed at him.

His sheepish look told her enough.

She threw her arms up into the air and turned around. "That's it. I'll just walk to Munchkinland."

"Fae, please wait," he begged her.

"Don't call me that," she spat over her shoulder.

He leapt forward and grabbed her wrist, stopping her.

"Elphaba," he said pleadingly. "Just listen to me."

She crossed her arms and she didn't turn to face him, but at least she stopped walking.

"Yes, I paid the driver so that I could take his place," he conceded. "But I only did it because I love you."

She snorted.

"Hear me out." He ran his fingers through his hair. "I love you, F- Elphaba," he corrected himself. "I love you so much, and I'm so sorry about what I said. I want… no, I need you to forgive me."

She didn't say anything.

"Tomorrow is Valentine's Day," he said. "I've spent weeks planning the perfect date for you and me… here in the Emerald City. Because I know how badly you've been wanting to come here your entire life long." He looked at her, even though she still wouldn't look back at him.

"All I'm asking for is one chance," he said. "One date. We'll sleep in separate rooms tonight, if you want to; and tomorrow I'm going to take you out and I'm going to prove to you how sorry I am and how much I love you. If you're still not convinced after that, I promise I'll take you back to Shiz and I will never talk to you again, if you don't want me to. You can't just quit Shiz, Elphaba. You're so smart, you could achieve so much… don't throw that away because of me."

She turned towards him – a little. "So…" She cocked her head. "If I don't forgive you, you promise you won't bother me anymore?"

He nodded solemnly. "Promise."

"No more flowers, no more attempts to talk to me, no more sleeping in front of my door?"

He shook his head. "None of those. I swear."

She hesitated.

"And if you're not willing to do it for me," he added, "then think about this: no matter what happens, at least you'll have seen the Emerald City."

She sighed, her shoulders slumped, and he knew he had won.

"Fine," she said flatly. "But we'll sleep in separate rooms tonight, and the night after that as well – not just separate beds, mind you, but separate rooms. I'll give you tomorrow. If I'm not convinced, you're going to take me back to Shiz first thing in the morning afterwards, and then I don't want to talk to you ever again. Okay?"

He knew he had to agree or she wouldn't let him prove himself, so he said, "Okay."

He just hoped he would be able to convince her.

She sighed again and climbed back into the carriage, leaning her head against the window as he quickly urged the horse to walk again, heading for the Emerald City Gates.

"Hey, Fae," he greeted her brightly the next morning. "Sleep well?"

She glared at him. "I told you not to call me that."

He sighed. "Humour me?" he asked her. "Just for today?"

She grumbled, but didn't protest.

"Let's go and get breakfast," he suggested, steering her out of the hotel and into the streets of the Emerald City.

Just like the night before, her face lit up upon seeing the City in all its green glory and there was a look of wonder on her face that he had almost never seen there before. Despite herself, she held her breath in excitement when she saw the huge library across from their hotel.

"Oh, can we go there later?" she asked, eyes shining.

He smiled – he had hoped the City would melt her a little. "Of course."

They chose a small restaurant nearby to have breakfast; and once they had ordered, Elphaba started shifting in her seat, feeling a bit uncomfortable.

He looked at her. "Fae," he said.

She looked up and met his gaze for just a moment before looking away again. "Was this what you and Galinda were planning?" she asked quietly. "A date for you and me in the Emerald City?"

He smiled and nodded. "Yes," he said. "I ran out of ideas, so I asked her; and when she came up with this, I knew it was perfect. I know you've always wanted to see the City… Glin has some connections here, so she pulled a few strings to make all this… extra special. You'll see," he assured her when she shot him an alarmed look.

Their coffee arrived, and Elphaba stirred hers for a few moments, lost in thought.

"Galinda says you stayed in the hallway until three in the morning, that one night," she said softly.

He grimaced. "Yeah."

He sighed and took her hand. She didn't pull away, which he took as a good sign.

"Fae," he said softly. "I meant everything I said that night. Every word of it. I love you –"

"You said you love me so much it hurts," she interrupted him, pulling her hand away.

He looked at her and nodded. "I did say that," he said.

She wrapped her arms around herself and said crossly, "Yes, well, it hurts me, too."

He closed his eyes for a moment and took a sip of coffee, choosing his next words carefully.

"Elphaba." He took her hand again and waited until she would meet his gaze.

He locked his eyes with hers. "I am so, so sorry," he said, trying to convey his sincerity to her, "for what I said. I crossed a line, and I shouldn't have. The thing is… you may not know it yet, but you're not the only one with a temper. When I get frustrated about something, I just… snap. I snap and I say all kinds of things I don't mean, and I'm sorry for that. I didn't mean it. I swear I didn't. Fae…" He squeezed her hand softly. "I know – I know – that your skin and your father are things that you will always be insecure about, and I understand that. I should have understood it back then, too. I treated you like your father treats you – I gave you the feeling that it's your own fault that other people treat you the way they do… and you have no idea how horrendible I feel about that. It's the last thing I ever wanted to do. Because it's not your fault, Fae. Not at all. You know that, right?"

She tried to look away, but he caught her chin and gently tilted her head back, making her look back at him again.

"It's not your fault," he stated firmly, "that they can't see what an amazing, wonderful, beautiful person you really are. I love you, I love you so much; and I promise, I promise, that if you just give me one more chance, I'll prove that to you. I can't promise you that I'll never say anything stupid again, because we all know that I am a bit brainless…"

She chuckled weakly.

"…but I promise you I will try," he continued. "And I will always do everything I can to make it up to you. Because you're worth it. Elphaba… you're worth everything."

She stared at him for a few long moments, clearly processing his words, mulling them over in her head. He waited patiently for her to say something.

Then the waitress suddenly appeared by their table. "Here you go," she said way too cheerfully. "Scrambled eggs and toast for the lady," she put the plate in front of Elphaba, "and pancakes for you, sir." She set the other plate down before Fiyero and smiled widely at them. "Enjoy!" Then she left again.

Fiyero looked at Elphaba, but she was staring down at her plate now, poking at her eggs with her fork. He sighed, realising the moment had passed.

He wasn't going to give up, though. They still had the rest of the day.

After breakfast, he allowed Elphaba to drag him into the huge library; then she took him to at least seven bookshops and three museums, forced him into some historical buildings, and stood in front of the theatre for at least ten minutes with a longing look on her face.

"I've never been to the theatre," she told him with an absent smile on her face and a faraway look in her eyes. "But I've always wanted to go… Galinda always told me how amazing it was – she used to go quite often with her parents. Father took Nessa sometimes, she was always very enthusiastic about it as well." She sighed. "It's such a shame I don't have enough money to pay for it…"

He pushed away the annoyance he felt upon hearing that Frex had taken Nessarose to the theatre, but not Elphaba – he would probably never get over the fact that the two sisters were treated so unequally. Instead, he just grinned to himself. Galinda had told him about Elphaba's secret wish to see a theatre show once, and apparently, she had been right. He was already looking forward to seeing her face when they would get to the extra special part of today.

He managed to squeeze in lunch, because otherwise she'd just downright forget to feed herself in all her excitement; but other than that, he let her determine their programme for the day. She seemed to loosen up a bit over the course of the day - which he was grateful for - but he didn't really get another opportunity to talk to her the way they had talked during breakfast.

When the clocks of one of the nearby churches chimed five times, Fiyero gently urged Elphaba back to the hotel.

"No! Why?" she protested. "Aren't we going to eat out in the City? Galinda is always swooning over all these restaurants that she read about in OzBeat magazine, and I know I probably can't afford any of those, but there must be somewhere we can go – and I haven't seen everything yet, and I –"

"Fae," he cut her off, laughing. "I'm glad you like it, really, and I promise you that we're going to eat out in the City, but we need to change first." Upon her questioning look, he clarified, "Clothes."

She glared at him. "I got that much, Fiyero. I was just wondering why."

His grin widened. "Because," he said. "From now on, this will be an official date; which means I planned everything and I'm paying for everything, and the things I have planned will require us to dress up."

She wrinkled her nose. "I didn't bring anything fancy," she protested weakly, and he grinned at her.

"Don't worry," he said. "I took care of it. Or, well… Galinda did," he admitted.

She looked at him for a long time. "You're really serious about this, aren't you?" she mused, more to herself than to him. "About… about trying to make it up to me, I mean."

He risked wrapping his arm around her waist. She tensed a little, but didn't pull away.

"I asked you what I could do to make it up to you," he said quietly. "And I'm willing to do anything it takes, Fae. I hoped that by doing this, I could show you that I really meant what I said… that I could maybe make a start in apologising to you properly. I love you so much, Fae, and what I said that day is true – I don't think I can live without you. Not anymore. You are my life."

She shook her hair in front of her face to hide from him the fact that there were tears in her eyes.

"Fae?" he asked, concerned, when he heard her sniffle.

She waved him away. "It's cold," she said, wrapping her arms around herself as if to support that statement. "I just have a bit of a runny nose."

He didn't press the issue. "Okay. Come on, let's get inside."

He walked her to her room and held up one finger. "Wait here."

He disappeared into his own room and came out again minutes later, carrying a large box.

"Galinda gave me this," he explained upon seeing Elphaba's questioning look. "She told me you'd know what to do with it."

She opened the box curiously, but groaned when she saw what was inside.

She reached into the box and pulled out a mascara wand, waving it around. "I'm about as clueless when it comes to make-up as Galinda is when it comes to Literature," she complained.

Fiyero grinned and quickly kissed her cheek before she could stop him. "You'll figure it out," he said, walking back into his own room, which was right next to hers. "Be ready in an hour!"

Elphaba went back into her room, unpacking the box. There was a dress, a pair of shoes, a purse, a curling iron – honestly? – and some make-up – a mascara wand, eyeliner, blush and some lipstick. There was also a note.

Dearest Elphie, I hope that by now, you'll have forgiven Fiyero for being stupid (I mean, really, how is that different from his usual behaviour?) and you're having the bestest time ever! That time is just about to get even better!

Okay, so the mascara should go on your eyelashes, the eye liner just below your eyes. Lipstick on your lips and blush on your cheekbones – just in case you forgot. I added some instructions for the curling iron because honestly, Elphie, you look SO pretty with your hair curled!

Have a great time and I want you to tell me EVERYTHING when you get back!

Hugs and kisses,

Galinda

P.S. Wear the necklace Fiyero gave you before Lurlinemas break! You know, the emerald-and-sapphire one? It matches the dress so perfectly!

Another P.S. I know the heels are high, but these shoes just go so perfectly with the dress… Please try not to stumble and break them. The heels, I mean. They're mine and I still want them back – preferably in one piece.

Elphaba chuckled and put the note aside, staring down at the heap of things on her bed for a moment before getting to work.

When Fiyero knocked on the door to her room an hour later, calling, "Fae! Are you ready?", she quickly grabbed her purse and glanced herself over in the mirror one more time before opening the door for him.

The moment he laid eyes on her, his eyes widened to the point where she feared they might fall out of their sockets. "Wow," he breathed.

She fidgeted with her purse. "Really?" she asked hesitantly. "I mean, I don't know the first thing about applying make-up, and I think something went wrong when I was doing my hair, but –"

He cut her off with a kiss and had to hold back from dancing with joy when she didn't pull away and/or slap him for that.

"You are the most beautiful girl I've ever seen," he said honestly.

She just blushed and lowered her eyes. "Shall we go?"

He offered her his arm, which she accepted. As they walked into the lobby and then out into the cold, he just couldn't keep his eyes off her.

She was wearing a dark blue, strapless dress with a form-fitting bodice and a skirt that flowed in soft layers down to the floor. She was wearing high heels in the same blue colour, with small silver decorations on them that matched the jewellery she was wearing – the silver necklace Fiyero had given her a few days before Lurlinemas, the one with the emerald and sapphire blue gemstones. She had curled her hair and left it to fall down her shoulders in loose, silken waves. She truly did look breathtaking.

When they arrived at the restaurant, Elphaba's eyes widened. "Yero…" she said hesitantly. "I'm really sorry, but… I can't afford that."

"You don't have to," he told her firmly, wrapping his arm around her shoulders. "Like I said, I'm paying for everything. It's a date, after all. The guy is supposed to pay."

She shook her head. "It's too much," she began, but he cut her off by pressing his finger to her lips.

"Then consider it an apology," he said, not leaving room for argument. "Come on."

When they entered the restaurant, Elphaba blinked and looked around her, frowning slightly in confusion. "Where is everyone else?" she wanted to know.

There was one waiter standing there, waiting for them. Other than that, there was no-one there. No staff members, no customers.

Fiyero gave her a sheepish grin. "Well…" He rubbed his neck. "I, um… originally I had just planned to take you here, but… I figured a little bit extra effort wouldn't hurt." He gestured towards the empty restaurant. "So I just rented off the entire place," he finished casually.

She gaped at him. "You did what?"

He grinned at her and led her further inside. Her jaw dropped. There were candles on every surface, and one of the tables was set with two plates, two glasses, a thin, white candle in the middle, and rose petals spread all across the table linen.

"I know, I know, the rose petals and candles are a bit cheesy," he acknowledged. "But hey, it's the sentiment that counts, right?" He helped her sit down and then sat down across from her, looking at her expectantly. "So…"

She hesitated.

"You're not forgiven yet," she finally said.

"But?" he prodded, holding his breath as he waited for her reply.

When she smiled at him, he felt like dancing with joy.

"But you're well on your way," she finished.

A broad grin broke through on his face, so broad that Elphaba feared for a moment that his face was going to split in two. Before she knew it, he had risen to his feet again and swept her off her chair and into his arms, taking her to an empty space in the middle of the restaurant and starting to sway with her.

She blushed. "Fiyero, there's no music," she pointed out to him.

"Yet," he corrected her, still grinning. Suddenly, four violin players appeared right next to them and started playing a song.

Elphaba gawked at Fiyero.

He laughed. "Prince," he said, shrugging. "Between my position and Galinda's connections…"

She shook her head in disbelief, but she smiled as he continued to dance with her. She rested her head against his shoulder.

"I missed you," he murmured, kissing the top of her head.

"I missed you, too," she admitted reluctantly. "But, well…"

He squeezed her hand. "You don't have to explain yourself, Fae. You were hurt. I understand." He pulled away slightly to look into her chocolate brown eyes. "I'm just really happy that we'll be okay," he said softly. Then he frowned anxiously. "We will be okay, won't we?"

She smiled and leant up to kiss him softly. "We will."

He grinned against her lips and lifted her off her feet, spinning her around. He put her back down on her feet and kissed her again. "I love you."

She sighed, the last remnants of hurt and anger melting off her. "I love you, too, Yero."

They danced together until their food came, after which they settled down at the table and ate, talking all the while about everything and nothing.

"I remember how shocked I was when you gave me this necklace," Elphaba said, chuckling. "I really thought those gemstones were real. Galinda was disappointed when I told her that you'd told me they're not real, but honestly, I was kind of relieved – I wouldn't want you to spend that much money on me."

He laughed, but it sounded a bit forced. "Yeah…"

She eyed him suspiciously. "Fiyero?"

He sighed and bit his lip. "They're real," he admitted reluctantly.

Her eyes widened.

"They're real emeralds and sapphires," he said. "I only told you they were fake because I knew you would complain about me spending so much money on you, and you just wouldn't understand that you're completely worth it – that and a zillion more emerald and sapphire necklaces. I'm sorry I lied to you."

She kept on staring at him, taken aback.

"That's… mean," she said, frowning slightly. "And… sort of sweet, I guess. And Glin would probably say 'romantic'."

He gave her a grin. "Does that mean I'm forgiven?"

She rolled her eyes, but complied. "Fine," she said. "Just don't do it again."

"I'll try," he promised her, making her roll her eyes again, but she was smiling.

"And now that we're talking presents, anyway…" Fiyero pulled out a wrapped up present and moved to Elphaba's seat to kiss her softly. "Happy Valentine's Day, Fae."

"Happy Valentine's Day." She accepted the present from him, though she was looking a bit guilty. "I don't have anything for you…"

"Fae, just this morning, you would rather have strangled me than bought me a present," he reminded her. "I don't need a present. All I need is you. The best present you could have given me is your forgiveness," he said dramatically.

He glanced at her face once and grimaced. "And now you're going to punch me for being overdramatic and cheesy."

"I would have," she conceded, "but it's no fun if you suggest it yourself."

She pulled off the wrapping paper, revealing a book with a royal blue cover, decorated with green vine-like shapes. When she opened it somewhere in the middle, she saw that it was empty.

"It's supposed to be a journal," he explained. "Or a scrapbook, or something. About our time together. I saw it a few weeks ago, and I thought it was perfect." He knelt down next to her chair. "Here – flip back to the first page."

She did, only to find a beautiful drawing there of a dark red heart. Surrounding it were all kinds of things symbolising their friends – jewelled shoes for Nessa, pink heels and dresses for Galinda, cornfields for Boq. There was also a hoof for Dr. Dillamond, a Lion cub, books and more hearts.

Inside the large heart were two silhouettes of a boy and a girl, the girl lightly accentuated with green, the boy with blue. Above the couple was written Fae + Yero; below the silhouettes was written Forever.

She held her breath. "Oh, Yero…" she said in awe. "It's beautiful. Did you draw this?"

"I have my talents," he said modestly, and she smiled and flipped a page. There was the story of how they had first met, accompanied by drawings of a carriage and a pile of books. A picture someone had made of her when she was doing what was now known as 'the Elphie-dance' that night at the OzDust Ballroom. The story of the Lion cub – as written down by Fiyero – with some drawings of lions around it, as well as a small article from the local newspaper about the removal of Dr. Dillamond and a picture of the Goat from the yearbook.

The story of Lurlinemas was also there, including a photo of Boq and Fiyero dressed as Elf and Santa and a drawing of Elphaba's necklace. After that, the book was empty.

"The rest is up to you," he said, resting his chin on her shoulder as he looked at the book with her. "Or… us, if you want to. I was hoping you'd be able to forgive me one day," he admitted. "I'd been working on this already when we got into that fight, and… well, I wanted to finish it and keep it up to date… just in case."

She surprised him by flinging her arms around his neck and kissing him deeply.

"I love it," she said breathlessly, her eyes shining. There were actually tears in her eyes, he noticed, which unnerved him a little.

She kissed him again. "I love you. We'll write about this trip together once we get back," she promised him. "I want this to be something of us both."

He smiled. "I'd love that."

He rose to his feet and extended his hand towards her. "It's half past eight," he said. "Shall we go? There's somewhere we have to be at nine."

She looked at him questioningly, but accepted his hand and allowed him to lead her outside, back into the cold. She rolled her eyes when he took off his jacket and draped it around her shoulders – wasn't that something only boyfriends in books did? – but she accepted it nonetheless; and when they finally reached their destination, she forgot all about that and could only stare at the theatre in front of her.

Fiyero held up two tickets, smiling widely. "Front row seats."

She threw herself at him with a soft squeal. "Oh, Fiyero! It's too much!" she protested, but he cut her off by holding up one hand.

"Humour me," he said sternly. "Just this once, let me spoil you."

She looked down at her very real and very expensive necklace; and then back up at him with one raised eyebrow.

He made a face. "Okay, then let me just spoil you every now and then."

She laughed and linked her arm with his as they entered the theatre together.

"Today was wonderful," Elphaba said softly when they were saying goodnight in front of their rooms a few hours later. She smiled at him and hugged him tightly. "Thank you."

"You're welcome." He rested his chin on the top of her head. "I'm just glad to have you back, Fae. I'm just going to say it one more time – I'm so sorry for what I said, and I love you so much, and I promise you that I won't disappoint you. Thank you for giving me another chance."

She leant up and kissed him. "I love you."

He deepened the kiss, pulling her flush against him. Then he rested his forehead against hers.

"Goodnight, Fae," he said softly.

She smiled and kissed him again. "Goodnight." Then she pulled away and disappeared into her own room, and he went into his.

She moved around restlessly for a while, suddenly wondering why she had insisted on sleeping in separate rooms; but then again, she had still been mad at him the night before.

She sighed and washed off her make-up, then changed into her nightgown. Her bed was cold and too big, and she found herself unable to sleep.

Instead, she rolled onto her side and took the scrapbook from her nightstand, flipping through it and smiling as she read all of the stories he had written down. She looked at the necklace, which was sitting on the nightstand right next to where the scrapbook had been.

She put the book back and rolled onto her other side, but she still couldn't sleep. Instead she just found herself thinking about today, and the days before that, and their relationship, and their fight…

She sighed and rolled onto her back, staring at the ceiling.

When there was a knock on the door, she started at first; but then she heard Fiyero's voice.

"Fae?" he called softly. "It's me. Are you awake?"

She quickly got out of bed and padded over to the door, opening it for him.

He flashed her a small, lopsided grin, but it seemed a bit quivery. "Hey."

"Is something wrong?" she queried, taking in his dishevelled appearance.

He sighed and ran his fingers through his hair. "I couldn't sleep at first," he confessed. "And then… I did sleep, and I had a nightmare, and… it was about you, and… um…" He cleared his throat awkwardly. "I… I should probably go."

"No!" She grabbed his arm, stopping him. "You can stay," she said softly.

"Are you sure?" he asked worriedly. "I mean, I don't want to…"

"I'd like for you to stay," she confessed, and he smiled faintly and followed her into the room.

She closed the door behind him and crawled into the bed, patting the spot next to her, indicating that he could sleep there. The moment he was properly settled, she cuddled close to him, her head on his chest.

She looked up at him. "Was it a bad dream?" she asked him softly, trailing random patterns on his chest.

He swallowed and said a bit hoarsely, "Yeah."

She laid her head back on his chest. "I'm sorry."

"It's okay." He kissed the top of her head and pulled the blanket up around the both of them, then wrapped his arms around her.

She listened to the steady sound of his heartbeat, allowing it to lull her to sleep. "I love you," she murmured as her eyes fluttered shut and she drifted off.

He held her even tighter, burying his face in her hair. "I love you, too, Fae," he whispered.

Then he, too, fell asleep, happy in the knowledge that they were together again and they were going to be okay.