I apologize again for the late updates. I think that might just be how I work... I don't know. It seems I've been busy with my roles and they are gaining severity and difficulty with every role I'm cast in and it seems to be taking it's toll - but I suppose that's what I signed up for.

Thank you to all of you that have continued to follow and support this story, and I will never cease to be grateful for you.

R&R, and please Enjoy. :)

Weeks go by and Galinda hears less and less of her friend, and sees her even less often.

Everything went back to the way it had been the months before they'd first started to realize the other girl was actually a person. Now Galinda felt as though they'd become strangers all over again.

Elphaba avoided her at all costs - finding different routes to go to her classes, staying out later and sneaking in at the last possible moment just to go to sleep, saying nothing more than a 'Hello,' or a 'Night,' at any given time. Even when Galinda made it a point to talk to her, the green girl could never kept in one place for too long. There was a night Galinda couldn't stop herself from crying. She felt her heart being torn apart more and more every day Elphaba spent building the walls up higher between them. The blonde tried to crawl next to her roommate, and for a moment Elphaba let it happen - even held the smaller girl close to her. Yet in a matter of moments, she went into the bathroom. Galinda woke up the next morning in the green girls bed alone.

That day had been the hardest to find the will to get up and go on with classes.

Worse than that, she figured the girl she'd fallen hopelessly in love with had only wanted to push herself further away by inserting someone else in her place. Elphaba had gone as far as setting up dates for her and Fiyero, leaving notes behind of when to be ready and where to meet him. At first, she thought she might see the green girl when she arrived to whatever location she'd been sent to, but she'd always been let down seeing the prince there instead of her roommate.

Then came her 'friends.' The very same ones she'd told Elphaba about hating spending time with showed up more and more. Again, it turned out to be Elphaba's doing. She'd taken the extra mile and filled Galinda's time with everything she used to do, as though she could erase herself from the blonde's mind.

Maybe Elphaba thought she'd be better off that way, but it turned out she was more miserable than ever. All she could think about was the night everything changed. How could she have felt so exhilarated and so devastated within those few hours? It ran through her mind again and again - seeing Elphaba knelt down in front of her, holding her face in her hands, feeling her breath on her lips. Too often she closed her eyes and imagined it all again, trying to grab at those last little scraps of hope before the cold, disappointing reality came biting back at her fingertips, making her heart feel like it was constricting her throat. Words played on repeat in her mind and strangled her lungs.

"...This can never happen again...Let them burn....You deserve more than me..."

But more than Elphaba didn't exist. Everything in the world at her disposal was an empty sea of disappointment without her best friend to laugh and talk with. It was like giving all of the colors you could dream of and every kind of brush, but no surface to paint on - there was only blank air and no hope of any inspiration.

Galinda didn't want any more air. She didn't want to go on another pointless date or exhaust words with people who didn't know what they meant. And she certainly didn't want another day feeling like the world had betrayed her in the worst way possible.

"I don't know what's wrong with her..."

"Neither do I! Yesterday she seemed fine, and toda-"

"Fine? Really?"

Galinda just sighed, staring out the window from her bed. She hadn't gone to her classes that day, or to breakfast, or lunch. Only around dinner had Milla stopped by to check on her - that must have been Elphaba's doing as well. She always locked the door, so she had to have given her the key to get in. But she wouldn't answer. She would just flip over and tuck her face back in the covers. It wasn't too long after that she left, only to come back with Shenshen, who'd also tried, and failed, to coax the blonde out of her bed.

"She's been quiet and anti-social for as long as..." Shenshen trailed off.

"What? What are you thinking?"

"Well, for a couple months there she didn't barely even talk to us at all!" She squeaked.

Galinda had to fight the urge not to correct her grammar.

"So? That's when she started going out with Fiyero."

"No, it was before that too... She just stayed in here and hung out with that horrible green thing. Now for the past couple weeks she's been quiet and all boring."

"...So, what does that mean?"

"It means that girl must have done something to her!"

Galinda had had more than enough. She rolled over sitting straight up. "I'm not dead - I can hear both of you perfectly well."

Both girls seemed to be lacking the mental capacity to do much more than stare open-mouthed at their friend.

The blonde rolled her eyes. "Fine, let me help you since you obviously can't take the hint all by your lonesome; LEAVE. NOW." She snapped and pointed at the door. "Both of you."

The girls looked at each other briefly before looking back to Galinda, again, completely dumb to life in general.

"You can tell anyone else that I wouldn't like to be bothered either."

With that, Galinda took her previous position and lay back down. She heard the girl whispering more nonsense on the way out, but blocked them out fairly well until she heard the door shut.

Most of the day up until then had been spent crying and sleeping. It was her plan now to corner Elphaba and make her talk to her, if only because nothing else had worked up until that point. She knew it would be hard, but she also knew that she couldn't keep doing this. She couldn't let herself feel like this and do nothing about it.

It would have been different if Elphaba told her that she didn't feel any of the same things she did that night. It would have been easier to resign herself into accepting the fact that there couldn't be anything between them, and just being a friend. But as soon as she felt what it was like to have the green girl close to her, to have her lips on her own and feeling her hands hold her close was more than Galinda was able to forget, and more than she was willing to surrender to simple memory. To not fight for something that had finally made her feel so complete made her feel as though she didn't deserve anything more than curling up in a ball and isolating herself from the rest of the world.

Yet hours passed and still no one came through the door. There was a knock that went unanswered, and Galinda didn't care who is was from. Elphaba wouldn't knock, she would just come in, in all of her quiet, anonymous glory like she always did, trying to been seen and heard as little as possible. The school day had ended and Galinda didn't expect the green girl to come home right away, but she didn't expect her to take this long. She never came home this far past dark, and it was steadily creeping further and further into night.

Anger and anxiety pooled in Galinda's chest with every scenario coming to mind. What if she just left? What if she really just didn't want to see her and just left? What if she switched dorm rooms without telling her? After that one, the blonde tore through the room just to make sure all of Elphaba's things were still there. Sure enough, they were all in their usual places.

Galinda put on Elphaba's extra over-coat just because she could, smelling the hauntingly familiar scent on it. Somehow it calmed her just the slightest bit. It wasn't a very heavy coat, and it couldn't possibly keep someone warm... but Galinda remembered Elphaba was warm on her own anyway. She remembered the way she just ran a little warmer than everyone else on her own accord. She remember cuddling up to her at night and feeling safe and not having to rely on the thin blanket because the heat radiating off of her roommate was enough.

Then the heat rose in her face as tears welled up in her eyes.

She had to get out. She had to leave and be away from everything. She just wanted to breathe the night air and feel a little less trapped in her own skin.

Galinda didn't bother with any shoes as she went outside. She knew she probably looked a mess, but she couldn't care no matter how hard she might have tried. The pavement felt rough and freezing under her feet but she kept walking, hugging Elphaba's coat tighter to her.

She found herself flinching as the lights came on along the walkway, and the buzz of electricity hummed around her. Then she realized where she'd wandered to, and wandered off the path to the tree she sat under before. Where she'd gone when she decided to give Elphaba the space she wanted they day they became friends. She sat underneath of it, feeling the cold creep further into her body. The damp ground spent no extra time seeping into the fabric of her clothes and steeling what little warmth she'd saved. The air bit every bit of her skin it could touch and dug up the goose bumps it seemed to crave.

Soon the thought of getting up took too much energy. Galinda could see her breath twisting in the air in front of her.

The edges of her vision kept getting darker, and she could have sworn she saw a lady bug fly quietly by...

"I don't think we'll need to keep her any longer, but she has to rest."

"Alright. I'm sure I can see to that."

"Good. And when you're back in the room with her, try and get her to eat good hardy foods. I don't know what's come over her but she's far thinner than I remember."

Galinda opened her eyes sluggishly to a room that was far too bright. The smell immediately hit her - cleaning products and the distinct odor of contained air. It took a few seconds for her vision to adjust, and even when it did, she wasn't sure she was actually awake, it seemed more like a dream. Light greys and slate blues colored everything around her, like a mortuary. There were beds with curtains hanging around them, and curtains on either side of her as well. And a woman's voice from behind the one to her left was quiet, but concerned.

"It seems she's dropped under the recommended weight for her age and height by more than is healthy, and it's worrisome to say the least."

"I understand."

That voice she knew.

"Hello?" she said, feeling the coarse sleep shake out of her throat.

A woman dressed in a nurse's uniform pulled back the curtain, followed quickly by her roommate, who's eyes had seemed to be glossed over.

The woman put on a big smile and hurried over to her side. "Hello, Miss Galinda. You might not remember me, but I was there for your registration. I'm Nurse Patill, or Ms. Patill - either way, I'm on the staff here." She patted her hand and took a seat in the chair to the right of Galinda's bed. Elphaba stayed a little further away by the curtain, eying her friend as though she were a stranger. "Now, you were found outside by a tree late last night. I'm sorry I have to ask, but do you remember how you got out there?"

Galinda nodded. "I.. I went out."

"By your own free will?"

She nodded, before choking out a cough.

"I only ask, because it seemed you'd been out without shoes or in proper dress for it." She said. "How are you feeling now?"

"Awful."

The nurse smiled again. "Well, I would expect as much..."

"Who found me?"

"Why, your friend here..." She pointed at Elphaba, who again refused to make eye contact. "She brought you here and stayed with you the whole night."

Galinda looked at the green girl, wondering what must be going on in her mind. She could see the wheels turning as she stood away from the both of them, arms crossed and eyes fixed on the floor. Even with her looking down Galinda could tell she had circles under her eyes dark enough trace a few times, and a pained expression that Galinda didn't know how to describe.

"...now, can you promise me, no more late night adventures?"

she was pulled out of her thoughts by the nurse's kind words. She hadn't paid attention to all of it, but Galinda nodded anyway.

"Alright." She nodded. "I'll leave you two be then." She turned to leave, stopping by Elphaba and putting a hand on her arm. "You may take her back with you in an hour or so - I'll finish up her chart now, and then you're both free to go."

Elphaba gave the smallest ghost of a smile. "Thank you." She nodded.

Then there was a few beats of relative silence, punctuated by the soft clicking of shoes and the door closing. And then hollow air swirled around them. They were finally alone together again, and there seemed to be no words to say that could convey what they needed to get out in the open.

"It took me two and a half hours to find you." Elphaba said, finally. Her eyes were still far away, unable to look back at her friend. "I came back to the room, hoping someone had talked you into eating something because I knew you hadn't left all day, and apparently no one could get through to you." Her voice cracked and Galinda could see tears welling up in her eyes. "I sent Fiyero to check on you, but apparently you didn't even answer the door for him. But I walked in the door and you weren't there. At first I thought you'd gone with one of those air-heads, but you weren't with them when I checked and... and then all I could think was that something horrible had happened." Tears started streaming down her face, though she quickly wiped them away. "I walked around the campus for an hour before I found you and I had to carry you here. You were shivering and cold and wet and in my coat and all I could do was think that it was all my fault that you were going to die... and I didn't get a chance to say goodbye."

"Elphaba..." Galinda tried, but ended up sputtering in more coughs that racked her body.

With that the green girl finally looked at her. She came hurrying over, but couldn't bring herself to touch the other girl.

As Galinda's hacking stopped, she found Elphaba's eyes wandering over her small frame. "You're so small. I can't believe I haven't noticed..."

"You haven't spoken to me in weeks."

Elphaba shook her head. "I'm sorry... I-"

"I told you I loved you and you stop all contact, and push other people at me that I can't stand to be around." She said, trying to hold back her tears just until she can get out her thought. "You just leave me in the middle of everything without you without any reasoning, or explanation, and worse than that, you try to substitute yourself with people who will never be as good as you. And I feel alone and heartbroken, and you don't expect me to lose it?"

"I shouldn't be that important to you."

"That's not your decision to make! These are my feelings! You don't get to decide what's best for me!"

"I'm not!" Elphaba yelled, finally breaking the quiet streak she had going. "I'm not good for anyone, and I refuse to hold you back!"

Galinda sat up in her bed. "Hold be back from what? From a pointless life as a housewife and stupid gossip at book clubs and tea parties?! What do you think you're holding me back from?"

"EVERYTHING!" Elphaba sobbed. She ran her hands through the front of her hair as the stalked away. Then she turned around and grabbed the end of the bed for support, taking deep breaths. "I can't give you babies, or a life, or any of that. I can't support you, or put a ring on your finger, or give you the love you deserve because I don't know how to give it - I'm not that person. I've never had love, or comfort. I would take more than I could ever give to you and that's not fair, I won't do that to you." She shook her head.

Galinda got out of her bed and had every intention of getting in Elphaba's personal space and coming back with a counter argument, but her legs wouldn't carry her that far. As soon as she put her weight down, her legs gave out and she hit the floor.

The mood changed instantly. Elphaba went and scooped Galinda up as gently as she could, placing her back in the bed and tucking the blankets back over her. Then Galinda stilled her hands, grabbing them and sliding her fingers in with the green ones fixing the sheets.

"What are you doing right now?" She asked.

Elphaba shook her head. "Putting you back into bed..."

"No." Galinda tilted her head to make eye contact again, trying to get her attention. "You're taking care of me."

The green girl's face twisted in confusion for a moment.

"You're caring for me, and being gentle with me... and before you were just arguing with me about what was best for me."

Elphaba looked down again.

Galinda scooted closer and took the green cheeks into her hands. "Tell me you don't love me, then."

"What?"

"If you're so bad for me, and will be holding me back from my life, then tell me you don't love me. If you don't love me there's nothing to fight for, and I won't try to make you do something you don't want to."

"It's not about that... there's more than just love."

"Nothing that's important."

"Providing for you, giving you a life, making you happy, Galinda it's-"

"You make me happy." A tear rolled down her cheek. "Do I make you happy, Elphaba?"

Her bottom lip quivered, but she nodded.

"Do you want me to be happy?"

She nodded again, but started to say something Galinda wouldn't even hear.

"Then know that I am absolutely miserable without you. Every second since that night has been hell for me, and all I can think about is if you miss me as much as I miss you." She choked down a sob and kept going. "This is the first time I've been able to breathe since that night. Being able to touch you... something inside of me feels better - it feels right with you here. And when I don't have you..." She shook her head. "I feel like all of the will to do anything is just taken out of me. I feel lost, and I'm not lost anymore. You found me."

"I don't want to find you shaking under a tree..." Elphaba sobbed.

Galinda made her look back up at her again. "Do you love me?"

Elphaba stared for a moment, gears turning behind her eyes. But she nodded, slowly, then faster. "I do.. I love you, I'm so sorry."

She broke down in tears and kissed Galinda's forehead, pulling the smaller girl into her and holding her with a force. Galinda let out her happy tears, and held the green girl back, feeling her heart let go of her throat finally. Her chest took in as much as it wanted to, and the weight that had held her down was simply removed. She didn't know where they would go, but having Elphaba back in her arms was a start.

Elphaba pulled back first, and although Galinda didn't want to let go yet, being met with a pair of green lips on her own wasn't unpleasant at all. She leaned into the kiss, feeling her heart swell at the sudden change of feeling within her body. Suddenly her head was light and dizzy, and her hands quickly found their way back to Elphaba's face, stroking her cheeks with her thumbs. And with the final pop of their kiss ending, the feeling of relief reached into her soul and finally let her smile as their noses dotted and touched one another's playfully.

"Take me home, Elphie..." Galinda breathed, dotting another small kiss on Elphaba's bottom lip.

She could feel the green girl smiling. "Yes, Ma'am" She said with a laugh, before she leaned into the blonde again, sharing small playful kisses as they relished the feeling of freedom and happiness that washed over them.

Even if tomorrow was hell, Galinda was happy with the heaven that resided in that moment with her heart rapped around one very green finger.