AN: So here is the final chapter, guys. I hope you enjoy :).

Day Twelve

Fiyero found his girlfriend on the porch once more, curled up on the rocking bench with a book. He sat down next to her and just beamed at her until she finally looked up from her book and scowled.

"You look way too happy," she stated. "What is going on? Should I be worried?"

He shook his head, grinning widely. "No." He drew her into his arms. "On the contrary. You should not be worried anymore."

She eyed him warily. "I don't trust this."

He laughed and kissed her. "Guess what?"

"I don't want to guess," she said, still scowling. "Just tell me already, Fiyero. Spit it out. What crazy plan have you come up with this time?"

He opened his mouth, but she cut him off again before he could make a sound.

"And no, we're not going to elope just so that we can spend the summer together."

He chuckled. "That would actually have been a pretty good idea. It's a shame I didn't think of that."

She arched one eyebrow at him and he cleared his throat and became serious again. "But we don't have to elope to be able to spend the summer together."

She looked at him.

"I talked to Nessa," he said. "She really does feel guilty about what she said; and when I asked her if she would mind you coming to the Vinkus with me for the rest of the summer, she was okay with that… sort of, anyway. Like, she wasn't really okay with it, but then I told her it would be a good way for her to make it up to you…"

"You guilt-tripped her," Elphaba concluded, but Fiyero protested.

"It was the only way to get her to agree, Fae, and you know me – I'd do anything if that meant I could spend more time with you. So Nessa agreed, and she promised to tell your father once she'd get home."

Elphaba frowned. "Wait. Tell him?"

"Well, if we ask him, he might say no," Fiyero explained sheepishly.

Elphaba chortled. "Your logic is flawless," she teased him and he grinned at her.

"So Nessa and Boq will be returning to Munchkinland alone and tell your father that you won't be coming home for the summer," he said, already feeling giddy at the prospect. "That way, they can deal with an exploding Frex, while I kidnap you to the Vinkus and we have the most amazing time together." He started beaming again. "What do you think?"

"I think…" She shook her head. "I think you're an idiot," she said, smiling. "And Frex is definitely not going to be happy with this, but with Nessa there to placate him… he should be fine. You're amazing, Yero. Thank you… for doing this. I mean, I'd love to come to the Vinkus with you."

A grin spread across his face once more. "Is that a yes?"

She laughed. "Yes."

He whooped and whisked her off the bench to dance around on the porch with her. She swatted at him until he put her down, after which she glared up at him, crossing her arms. "Don't make me change my mind," she said threateningly.

"Right." He lowered his eyes and shuffled his feet like a naughty schoolboy who was caught with his hand in the cookie jar. "I'm sorry."

She rolled her eyes. He grinned cheekily at her and pulled her to him again, kissing her softly.

"No saying goodbye for the summer," he said.

She smiled. "I like that."

"Me, too." He kissed her again and then sat down on the rocking bench with Elphaba in his lap. "So what are we going to do in the Vinkus? You'll meet my family, of course… Mum is probably going to spoil you rotten and Dad will want to talk to you about boring things like economy and politics all the time, and show you the library…"

Elphaba's eyes lit up. "Really?"

Fiyero sighed. "There we go. She will be in the Vinkus with me, but she won't be any closer than she would have been if she had gone back to Munchkinland," he declared dramatically, earning himself an elbow between the ribs.

He laughed. "Seriously, though – I think you and Dad will get along very well. Mum is probably going to want to take you on walks through the garden, to show off her Vinkun roses, and I'd love to show you the Thousand Year Grasslands and the villages around the castle where we live… it really is a beautiful place, you know. The Vinkus."

"I know. Or I've heard it is, anyway." She dropped her head against his shoulder. "I can't wait to see it for myself."

"There is one thing, though," Fiyero mumbled into her neck, making her look up, slightly worried at the tone of his voice.

"What?"

Fiyero shifted a little, pretending to be nervous. "I kind of promised Nessa that we would try to keep the 'fornicating' to a minimum," he said, laughing when Elphaba slapped his chest, "and that if we do 'fornicate', we would always use protection and not do it in any 'ungodly' places where people might see us." He grinned cheekily. "Honestly, that just made me feel the desire to do it in a church or chapel somewhere, purely to piss Nessa off. I mean, imagine her face if she'd find out about that. She'd explode. Possibly literally."

"Fiyero!"

He chuckled. "Relax, Fae. I'm kidding. Obviously."

Elphaba had buried her face in her hands in embarrassment. "Oh, Oz," she moaned. "This is horrible. I am never fornicating ever again."

He laughed at first, but then his face fell. "Wait. What?!"

She smirked. "Sorry, Yero."

"No!" he protested. "Hey! I thought we were okay now, and we talked it through!"

"We are okay," she said, "but that doesn't mean we have to fornicate."

"But Fae!" he whined, pretending to pout. "Please!"

She actually giggled at his face, then tried to shove him off the rocking bench; but he braced himself in time and caught her around the waist, tickling her sides. "Surrender!"

"Never!" she gasped, wiggling herself free and succeeding in pushing him off the bench and onto the porch after all. He grabbed a hold of her at the last moment, however, and with a startled shriek, she fell on top of him.

He grinned up at her. "I like this better."

She poked out her tongue. "Of course you do."

He made puppy eyes at her. "So no fornicating in the Thousand Year Grasslands?"

She scowled and tried to get up, but he rolled over, pinning her underneath him.

She glared at him. "No."

"Or in the gardens of the castle?" he asked her.

She shook her head.

He chuckled. "Not even in the Throne Room?" he teased.

Her eyes widened in shock. "You're not serious!"

"It's always been a fantasy of mine," he said earnestly, but he relented when she started poking his abdomen and he burst out laughing. "I was joking, Fae."

"Sure you were." She managed to push him off and scramble to her feet. "No way, Fiyero. You're disgusting."

"Hey!" He caught her hand and pulled her back down to the floor, despite her protests.

"I was just kidding," he said, his blue eyes serious. "I love you, Fae, you know that. Fornicating or not," he added teasingly, which earned him a stomp in the shoulder.

"I mean it, though." He looked into her eyes. "It's not about that with you, you know. Even if you told me now that you never want to do that again, ever, until the day you die, then I wouldn't mind."

At her sceptical look, he relented, "Okay, I would mind, a little… but it wouldn't really matter, you know? It's not the most important thing. The most important thing is that you're with me and it doesn't matter whether we'll be doing that, or just kiss, or talk, read, or study together, whatever… Oz, even if I could just spend the rest of my life sitting still and merely looking at you, that would be amazing, because you would be there."

She scoffed. "That is so incredibly cheesy!"

"I'm serious!" he said, feeling slightly offended, but she just shook her head.

"No," she declared. "That was the corniest thing I have ever heard."

It took him a moment to realise that she was teasing him again and he narrowed his eyes. "Are you making fun of me?"

She blinked innocently at him and he tackled her and pinned her down beneath him once more. She swatted at him, but to no avail.

He grinned. "Now I have you where I want you."

"I thought you wanted me in your parents' Throne Room to fornicate," she teased with a wicked grin of her own.

Galinda chose that unfortunate time to step out onto the porch and her eyes nearly bulged out of her head when she overhead Elphaba's words. "Excuse me – what?!" she demanded in a high voice.

Elphaba flushed with embarrassment and Fiyero was having difficulty stifling his laughter. "She was joking, Glin," he assured the blonde, still chuckling. "Don't worry."

Galinda breathed a sigh of relief. "Are you sure? Oz, Elphie… Nessa would murder you." Her eyes lit up. "Even though it would be kind of exciting… in a Throne Room!" she gushed. "I mean, that must be about the most special place you can do it, right? It's kind of romantic… in a slightly strange way. But –"

"Galinda!" Elphaba cut her off in exasperation and embarrassment, her face still so red it looked almost purple. "We are doing no such thing, so please stop talking about it!"

"It's making her uncomfortable," Fiyero informed the blonde in a stage whisper and Galinda giggled.

"I love topics that make Elphie uncomfortable," she said mischievously.

Elphaba hurriedly got to her feet and fled inside, where she bumped into Nessa.

"Fabala!" Nessa smiled at her, still a little apologetic. "Did Fiyero tell you?"

"About you helping us so that I can spend the summer in the Vinkus?" Elphaba smiled back at her sister. "He did. Thank you, Nessie."

Nessa shrugged modestly. "It was… the right thing to do, I guess," she said with a small sigh. "I was horrible to you."

"It's okay."

"It is now, I guess. I'll deal with Father for you." Nessa looked up at the green girl. "I hope you'll have fun."

"I will." Elphaba squeezed her hand. "But we still have a few days left here, you know."

Nessa's face lit up. "I know! Fiyero and Boq were talking about lighting a bonfire tonight – wouldn't that be simply wonderful?"

They did, indeed, light a bonfire that night; and they all sat together around it, cradling mugs of hot cocoa. Elphaba was curled up against Fiyero, with his arm around her and Galinda on her other side, resting her head on her roommate's shoulder. Nessarose and Boq were sitting in the sand not far from them and Boq pulled out marshmallows.

"Let's make a toast," Fiyero said, holding up his cup. "To the best holiday ever."

"To friendship," Galinda declared with a beaming smile at them all.

"To love," Elphaba added softly, glancing up at Fiyero, and he smiled and planted a kiss on her hair.

They toasted and drank their hot cocoa, and Galinda squeezed her best friend's arm. "Elphie?"

"Mm?"

Galinda's blue eyes were solemn for once as she asked, "Are you happy?"

Elphaba thought about that for a moment. She had never really asked herself that question; maybe because she was afraid of what the answer would be. She had never felt particularly happy. Maybe after Galinda had befriended her and she had really felt like she was a part of something, that had started to change…

Was she happy now?

She looked at her best friend and then up at her boyfriend – her boyfriend! – and she knew the answer.

Maybe things would change once this holiday was over. Maybe it would be different when they all went back to Shiz. Maybe she and Fiyero would break up, or Galinda would fight with her, or other bad things would happen… but that was all in the future. Right now, she felt accepted. Right now and right here, in Fiyero's arms and with Galinda right next to her, she felt warm, and loved, and cared for.

"You know what?" she said, leaning her head back against Fiyero's chest and smiling at Galinda as she squeezed her boyfriend's hand. "I think I am."

Galinda wrapped her arms around the green girl in a hug and Fiyero leant down to kiss her gently; and in that moment, Elphaba knew that she was, indeed, for the first time in maybe her entire life, genuinely happy.

Okay. So, um... remember the part where I said 'no hiatus this time'? I lied. Okay, I didn't lie, per se, but... well... yeah.

The thing is, I'm starting uni again next week and I'm starting off with a course in Law, to prepare for my new Master, which is going to take up a lot of time. Because of that, I'd like to get a bigger head start on my next fanfic in order to avoid update gaps in the future.

Aside from that, I also want to spend some more time on my original stories right now. I'm not sure how long this hiatus will be. Knowing me, it probably won't be long... just don't expect my next story tomorrow ;).

I hope you enjoyed and thank you so much for your reviews - they mean the world to me!

Maddy