There, just over the courtyard wall, above the whipping plum trees, Lightning flashed, the earth trembled and the cold night was alive with a murderous storm.

"Ouch."

Elphaba glanced up, blinking through the haze of her daydream. Galinda's reflection in the window stuck a finger in her mouth, biting a little to squeeze the blood forth before she continued her embroidery. "Stupid...Why am I even..." Unconsciously, Elphaba strained to hear her roommate's muffled words.

"Supposedly, it's to be raining all night." Elphaba looked over her shoulder, the blurry mirage of her friend no longer being enough. They locked eyes for a heartbeat before Galinda receded back to her work.

"Well I hope not, I'm sick and tired of - ouch!" This time Galinda threw the malicious project off the bed in a fit of anger. "oh, no more of that - ridiculous pass-time!"

Elphaba's breath fogged the glass as she turned away to giggle, ignoring Galinda's curses. On the other side rain pelted down with fiery, trying to break the glass and harm her. A memory numbed her senses, demanding and gaining her full attention as she listened, saw, smelt the burning wood and the warm quilt wrapped around her and baby Nessa. Nanny tying yarn around the window knobs, shaking her head and vehemently cursing Melena as she plundered about in haste, fixing leaks and closing doors, her plump bosom heaving. Rain pitterpatt-thrummed on the roof, the aggression lost on such a young Elphaba.

A theatrical sigh was preformed behind her. "Amuse me, Elphie." The nick-name brought out something like a key to Elphaba's heart, her stoic manners dropping but the memory still fresh as frost.

"Nessarose and I have never been in the rain. Nanny said we'd catch our death if we were ever to get wet... Did your Ama say such things, Galinda?"

Elphaba moved away from the beaded window, her arms crossed and a dyed shawl around her shoulders to ward off the chill that was creeping through the room. Galinda fixed herself on the bed so that she could look her roomie in the eye and talk to her whilst lying, stretched out and comfy on her voluptuous cloud of a mattress. Her eyes trailed along the slope of Elphaba's hips, admiring openly since the temperamental green girl wasn't looking her way.

"Don't be silly. Ama Clutch tended to my needs and supervised me, but even if she opposed going out in a storm I wouldn't have stopped. If I wanted it, anyway. I've always loved the rain, Elphie, I just hate this lounging about with nothing to do. I'm going -" A light blinked over Galinda's golden head, her face awash in its glow. "Oh Elphie!"

The blonde scrambled off the bed and grabbed her roommate's cold hand, almost tripping in her excitement as she rushed to a closet. "Oh Elphie! I've just had the best idea, let's go out now, while the storms at its peak!"

Elphaba thought of the last 'best idea' Galinda had had: the hat. But said nothing and followed obediently, slinking her limbs through the coat Galinda tossed her and out the dorm door they went, sneaking down the stairs.

They stood in awe just a breath away from the chaos, standing in shelter under an arch. Vines that hung swayed and dribbled streams of waterdrops right at the ends of their noses. they couldn't speak. The night was too quiet with noise to speak.

They looked at one another, their fogged breath colliding from their proximity. Galinda slipped out first, Elphaba in suit almost, almost simultaneously.

Galinda tilted back her head, and Elphaba watched. Galinda lifted her arms til they were horizental, weighted down a little by the beating of rain, her hair damp now. Elphaba did the same, her eyes wide as she put her head back, the hood she'd crafted from her shawl falling away to expose her fully. Galinda's laughter reached her in a close muffle, a smile spread across her green face. She felt...ripe. She felt like she could just lift off the ground and go.

Tiny hands filled hers and swept her into a circling dance. Elphaba's soul sunk back into her body and she let Galinda lead her outwards, further. The stone tiles of the courtyard scuffled beneath their boots when they were not moving too fast to touch the earth. The water ran down her cheeks, into her mouth and along her nose and down her neck, the cold penetrating but even more reason to rejoice; Elphaba chortled in choked happiness, wanting to cry, wanting to fly, wanting to stay in that patch of heaven forever -

She brought their lips together, her green hands sliding through sleek golden hair, a poignant, sweet smell drowning the scent of rain. She kissed and kissed and the world spun around her, and she couldn't breath.

Galinda's fingers slithered along her jawline, loving and warm, her ear sliding between fore and pointer finger. Their yearning mouths unlatched, the kiss ended and rain filled the space between them.

The Gilikin didn't give her a chance to be appalled by herself; her smile eradicating any sudden doubts and stomach-dropping realizations easily. "Elphie..."

Elphaba stepped closer, no longer feeling the need to repress, to hide. "Old Nan used to say to me, 'stay inside, Fabala, the rain will make you sick and you'll melt away!'" Elphaba whispered, and Galinda melted into her embrace, listening with a lover's attention. "...Cracked in the head I was for believing her. And after all this time..."

She drifted down to Galinda's rosy lips, and Galinda reached upwards, wanting Elphaba more than she knew, having wanted her for longer than she could have imagined.

"It's magical out here."

A.N. Gelphie! *throws confetti and blows kazoo* Gelphie! -Gillies (beautiful Gelphie written while listening to beautiful Patti Lupone's Meadowlark) (beautiful)