"Good morning Elphie." Galinda blinked in the bright sunshine of the freshly opened curtains.

"And what is so good about it?" Elphaba replied, covering her eyes with her pillow. Galinda shook her and pointed to the bathroom.

"I'm going to take at least a half hour in there, so do what you must now before I take up my time." Elphaba stood and shuffled to the bathroom, spending only ten minutes.

"I'm going to meet with Doctor Dillamond today, so I'll be back around afternoon." Elphaba pulled on some fresh clothes and headed out the door.

"Doctor Dillamond?" There was no response. "Doctor Dillamond?" Again, there was no response. Elphaba wondered where he could be, how engrossed in his work he had to be before he began ignoring callers.

Galinda heard the scream. Probably all of Shiz heard the scream. It was wild, animal, furious, frightened, and pained. With her hair only half-curled and barely a touch of lip-gloss on, Galinda rushed outside to see the problem.

Elphaba barely recognized that she had screamed, but her vocal chords were raw. Involuntary tears welled up in her eyes. Elphaba was numb to the pain. She was not, however, numb to a rolling in her stomach. She fell to her knees and vomited, regurgitated all of last night's dinner. Madame Morrible came rushing to the sound of the scream, followed by terrified girls and professors.

Galinda forced her way to the front and knelt beside Elphaba, who was still nearly turning herself inside out.

"Oh, Elphie." Galinda couldn't look at the Goat. She would be sick too. She carefully held Elphaba's hair and waited for the vomiting to subside.

"Someone get the girls out of here." An imposing voice ordered. The shuffling of many slipper-shod feet signaled the retreat of the residents and professors.

It seemed finally that Elphaba was ready to stop being sick. She gasped for air and let Galinda find a handkerchief and wipe her mouth. Galinda held out her arms and Elphaba fell into them, sobbing. She could not stop the tears, but the pain somehow made her feel better. Like she could still feel, at least.

The two girls were led, after Elphaba had regained some control over herself, back to their room, where they were advised to stay.

"Elphie, will you do something for me?" Galinda held Elphaba still while she tried to overcome the urge to be sick again. Elphaba moaned gutturally and Galinda took that as a yes. "I'd like you to start calling me Glinda, not Galinda. Doctor..." Glinda broke off, not wanting to upset Elphie more. "He called me that once, on accident." Elphie moaned again and Glinda smiled weakly.

Late in the night, Glinda could hear Elphaba forcing back the tears that burned her so. Elphaba finally crawled into Glinda's bed and wrapped her arms around her roommate, taking shallow, uneven breaths, and speaking in a whispered, broken tone.

--------

"Dear Elphie, please stop crying. You'll burn yourself into oblivion. You'll simply melt away!" The newly renamed Glinda gently wiped every stray tear that fell from Elphaba's eyes.

"It won't matter anymore. I have no one." Elphaba sniffled. Glinda shook her head.

"What about your family?" Elphaba laughed bitterly.

"Nessa was always Father's favorite. And I'm just green, so what parent would love me?" Elphaba replied.

"I would love you." Glinda stated softly. Elphaba looked into her eyes and saw no glimmer of jest or guile.

"You...no. Not if I was your child. Not for anything, you wouldn't love me." Elphaba buried her head into Glinda's stomach, her words now muffled by Glinda's pajamas. "You would be just like my dear mother. You'd be frightened and hateful and careless and you'd go and have an affair with a Quadling and ruin my sister with your stupid pinlobble leaves and your damned anti-green skin pills just so you wouldn't have to face another green child and then you'd have a son finally and just up and die when you were bringing him into the world and--"

"Elphie!" Glinda cut her off sharply. "I am not your mother. I would not be frightened and hateful and careless, and for Lurline's sake, why would I have an affair with a Quadling? No, Elphie, I would love you."

Tears burned trails of fire down Elphaba's face and she was surprised there was still face for them to run down.

"Elphaba Thropp, stop crying this instant and let me kiss you." Elphaba sat up, her red-rimmed eyes wide with surprise.

"What?" Glinda wiped the final few tears from Elphaba's face and kissed her gently on the lips. Elphaba smiled wanly. "So the truth comes out, as it were." Glinda blushed gracefully and Elphaba turned a slightly darker shade of green.

"It would seem so." Glinda replied. Elphaba thread a green finger through Glinda's golden curls and kissed her roommate.

--------

"At least we get another day to recuperate." Glinda still held Elphaba, after hours and hours of simple talking. It was dark as pitch outside and it seemed that, no matter how many girls were affected by Doctor Dillamond's murder, Elphaba and Glinda were the only ones still awake discussing it.

In the past twelve hours, the two girls had overall: discovered a corpse, cried enough tears to burn off Elphaba's face, changed Glinda's name in honor of the doctor, and discovered a new level to their relationship. Glinda proposed that in the evening the next day, the two girls, Boq, Avaric, Fiyero, Crope and Tibbet, and Nanny and Nessarose all go out and have a funeral for Doctor Dillamond. Elphaba nodded and sighed.

"Well, I think it's nearly sunrise. Let's get some sleep." Elphaba sighed again and made to stand up, but her legs shook as she tried to walk back to her bed. "Do you...mind if I...?" Glinda giggled slightly and made room for Elphaba to curl up under the covers.

Glinda could not help smiling as she felt Elphaba's regular deep breathing against hers. She wrapped an arm around Elphaba's stomach, snuggled her head into the crook of Elphaba's neck, and fell asleep.

----------------------------

Love it? Hate it? Reviews equal chapters.